Category: Uncategorized

Well I finally decided last week that the Micklem just isn’t the answer for Henry. He was a little bit better in it in some ways but worse in it in other ways, so I just couldn’t pull the trigger on buying him one. I decided to go with the figure 8 instead. After tearing up the internet for two days trying to find a figure 8 noseband that would go on my monocrown bridle and still kinda match but not be super expensive I totally gave up. Then I decided to go look at everything the local tack shop and Dover had in the store… grand total of 6 options (why you no has jumper bridles?), none of which were both the price and quality that I wanted. So again I gave up and just came home and ordered an Ovation bridle online. I’ve had a few of that brand already and I think for $135 (yay internet deals) with rubber reins they just can’t be beat. Therefore Henry does have a new bridle on route, just not a Micklem. Maybe someday we’ll upgrade to a really fancy figure 8 bridle but for now this one will do perfectly.

I have nothing particularly exciting to report on the riding front right now. Monday we just flatted in the ring and then went out on a long trail ride around the property with a barn friend. Yesterday we flatted for a bit then I jumped a few fences on a circle, trying to both remember and execute all the things I need to work on. Sometimes I even succeeded. Henry was pretty sweaty after that (god it’s hot) so again we went on a walk around the property. When I came in to untack him there was no one else in the barn so I just pulled everything off him then slipped around the corner into the tack room to grab cookies and fly spray. I turned back around to this:

Also, remember how on Monday I talked about those awesome Peruvian made Jenny Krauss belts I saw at the horse show? Remember how I patted myself on the back for not buying one? Yeah… about that…

So I started googling/ebaying and found out that there are a few sellers out there from Peru selling them around or under $30ish bucks. $30ish bucks is a lot different than $65 bucks. I mean, I could get TWO! (See how my logic works?)

Unfortunately since I just bought I bridle (and may or may not have fairly immediate plans for a new Ogilvy cover- shhhh) I’m trying out this weird thing called self control and only allowing myself to buy ONE. The problem is I like lots of them, so I figured I’d get y’alls opinion. I narrowed it down to three finalists:

 

I’m going all the way back to Thursday night here, so I guess you could call this the extended edition of Weekend Update. I’m also starting with something non-horsey but bear with me fellow equine-obsessed friends, it gets better.

Thursday night was our weekly pre-season cyclocross practice. This week the focus was cornering, which actually went really well and was fun. After doing several exercises we went off on a lap around the park as a group. It was going really well until we got to a curb, which my dumb ass decided to try to hop at a 45 degree angle approach. It was also raining a bit so the pavement was wet. Guess where I ended up? I got a lovely half pavement/half grass/all curb close up view of the ground and managed to scrape up my front tire bad enough to put a hole in it (womp womp). No blood though, so it was only a 99% fail.

Thursday night it rained and stormed like crazy… areas around Austin officially recorded anywhere from 2.5 to 7″ of rain and there was a hardcore lightning storm for over 2 hours. I know this because I sat awake with the dogs from 1am til almost 4am, because the thunder was so loud it shook the whole house. None of us could sleep. I was very glad the grooms opted to leave the horses in that night.

Of course that meant that the barn was totally soaked. We got about 3″ out there so puddles were everywhere. I went out Friday after work to handgraze Henry so he could at least get out of his stall. Saturday morning was much the same. Pony got an unscheduled 3 days off, and I don’t think he really minded.

Saturday afternoon after handgrazing I went out to the local h/j  show to spectate a bit. I also, true to form, fell in love with these Jenny Krauss belts. Luckily, not true to form, I resisted the urge to buy one. So pretty though. I do have a birthday coming up, people…

On Sunday it was finally dry enough to ride. I fully expected a wild pony since he hadn’t been turned out or ridden since Wednesday night, but he was actually really fantastic. You’d never know he’d missed a single day. We hacked for a while (the footing was perfect), cantered over the circle of death pole exercise that was set up in the ring, then went for a long walk around the property. He seemed happy to be out of his stall because a couple times I turned to head back toward the barn but he wanted to go somewhere else. We pretty much explored every nook and cranny of the property.

Then a few of us went out to help Trainer bring in the the mares/babies from turnout. Wrangling babies is an adorable job. These two are coincidentally both by Mezcalero, the same stallion Sadie was bred to last week.

I also want to thank Kastel for the swag. Love my new shirt (the peach color is AWESOME) and I got my much-coveted hat. It’s always great to see a company that is supportive and appreciative of the blogging community. Now I need a yellow and a navy and a light blue to add to my collection so I have one for every day of the week! Did I mention I have a birthday coming up?

I might be biased, but I think the peach looked pret-ty darn awesome paired with my navy Animo’s, my cornflower Mango Bay belt, and my HARRY POTTER SOCKS! Gryffindor for the win.

I capped off the weekend with a Sunday night work picnic with the SO… and since he works for a bike shop that meant BBQ, the park, and a bunch of really sweet mountain bikes. Totally awesome weekend! Hopefully the good momentum will carry into the work week.

My mare Sadie is at October Hill right now and was bred to Mezcalero on Tuesday. Fingers crossed for a nice healthy black dot on the ultrasound in a couple weeks! The mare manager said that she is just a doll and loves working with her. Such a little thing, but there’s something about that comment that makes my heart swell with maternal pride… it’s different when you breed one and raise it yourself. Kinda makes me understand how people might feel about 2-legged kids.

Since I’m thinking about Sadie (aka Sadiebug aka Bug) so much today, I thought I’d share some more pictures of her from the past 7 years. Y’all saw some when I introduced her in this post, but obviously I have a ton. Some day I will write a post about the trials and tribulations of breeding and raising your own horse, but that’d be a novel in itself, so for today just enjoy watching our journey in pictures.

June 2006 – she officially exists! Cutest black dot ever.

May 12, 2007 – only a few hours old. She looked like a baby moose.

Confused+sadie.

Two weeks

17 months. We call this the Hardcore Donkey stage.

First time wearing a saddle, coming 2yo

At her RPSI inspection, summer of her 2yo year

The great hock infection incident – late summer of her 2yo year

Fall of her 2yo year – trying to eat her older brother Weston

Coming 3 – 0ff to Kindergarten! 60 days at Dan Keen Horsemanship.

My first time ever riding her (I know, I know, no helmet. I had no idea he was going to let me ride her when I went to visit after the first 30 days, but I couldn’t resist the chance to sit on her.)

 

Her first big trail ride – only a month after coming back from the breaker. She’s the one in the lead.

Late summer of her 3yo year, hacking out

fall of her 3yo year – first horse show, English Versatility class (sorta half trail class half flat class – she won!)

winter of her 3yo year – first XC school, mainly just trotted tiny logs but she had a blast galloping through and out of the water.

Coming 4yo

Summer of her 4yo year – first o/f show

  

Fall of her 4yo year – looking more mature

Spring of her 5yo year – first A show

still spring of her 5yo year – first time in the jumper ring (sorry so tiny)

Summer of her 5yo year – schooling bigger fences at home

Coming 6yo

Winter of her 6yo year

And a few months ago, now age 7

Sorry for the MASSIVE photo dump, but hope you enjoyed the nostalgia as much as I did.

Today is a very random smattering of thoughts, so hold on to your seats and try to stay with my very ADD mind.

First, BellEqui (which you may remember from this Small Business Spotlight) revealed a sneak peek of their new coat colors on facebook. I thought this was too cool not to share. Loving the royal blue and the purple.

 

Second, I’m still on the strugglebus as far as how I feel about the Micklem. While he’s not going behind the bit in it, he also feels much less supple in it/borderline resistant, so I’m trying to figure out how I feel about all that. In essence I feel like I’ve kind of traded one problem for another, but maybe with more time he’d settle in? He does seem to prefer it with the french link eggbutt (of course he does, because I think eggbutts are ugly, so combine ugly bit with ugly bridle and YAY thanks Henry) and he did jump pretty well in it on Sunday… it’s the flatwork I’m kind of meh about. I also went by our local Dover to see/feel the brown version and was not very impressed with the quality. Looks and quality-wise I like the Perfect Sit a lot more, but I haven’t had much luck getting info from them on purchasing in the US. So, uh… that makes things difficult. I still want to try him in a figure 8 too and see if it’s that simple. I’m currently in the middle of a hunt for a monocrown figure 8 noseband.

 

I gave Henry Monday off and did a quick hack yesterday, after which I took him for a short gallop in the field and he gleefully crowhopped his way around. In his mind he’s bucking, but really it’s just enough of a hop to make you giggle. Then he stood there in the barn looking sweaty and pathetic from his 2 minute feat of extreme athleticism and struck his best Quarter Horse pose. I swear his hind end doesn’t really look like that, but I found the picture hilarious. Halter class, anyone?

Today is kind of rainy so we’ll see if I actually get to ride or not!

It’s been a while since I participated in one of Viva Carlos’ blog hops, but I can’t resist this one. Stalkers unite.

What Equestrian Blogger out there do you really want to meet?

It’s hard to narrow it down because there are so many out there that seem awesome and I hate to feel like I’m playing favorites. In reality my list would include a lot of folks. See all those fine people on my sidebar under “Other Fun Horsey Blogs”? Every single one of those weirdos would qualify. I haven’t been blogging for very long but the amount of support and camaraderie I’ve received in the equestrian blogging community has been a really unexpected treat. In a way it already feels like a lot of us are friends, so meeting them all would be pretty cool.

I do already know Lauren of She Moved to Texas in “real life” (in fact, she’s the reason I started blogging so everyone feel free to send her hate mail) therefore she’s an automatic toss. Although we’re no longer at the same barn and that gives me a bit of the sads.

Over the course of the past few months I’ve discovered that Hillary of Equestrian at Hart and I seem to have much in common. Honestly, we’re a little creepy (I’m just being nice, we all know she’s the creepy one). We have scary similar taste and seem to be really good at enabling harassing encouraging each other to buy cool stuff. Not that I really need any help with that. I’m not really sure if meeting her would be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. My pocketbook is crying just thinking about the possibilities, but I have to say that anyone who has an intense love for all things navy and rocks brown tall boots has to be pretty damn fantastic. Not too many people will indulge me in deep conversations about Mango Bay belts and weird Swedish bridles. For that reason I suppose I would have to pick her, purely because I’m nothing if not a masochist.

^ That goes for all of you.