This is my 3rd year participating in the Blogger Gift Exchange, and the 3rd time I’ll say this: I always feel really sorry for whoever gets me. I know I’m really difficult to shop for and I can never think of any good hints. Yet, for the 3rd year in a row, my Secret Santa (this time it was Kaity at Leo the Saddlebred) managed to hit it out of the park.

I’ve mentioned here before that I seem to collect hats. That didn’t start on purpose, but now I always try to nab a ballcap with my favorite brands or shops on them whenever I can. Kaity took it one step further and had one embroidered with Henry’s hashtag: #hennythingispossible. And in our XC colors, no less!

She also included tons of treats for Henry, some chocolate, and some cute socks. Many thanks, Kaity! Henry has already eaten 75% of the treats… all the peppermints went into his usual Christmas Day bran mash:

 

Aside from all the treats and his mash, I also got Henry a new Ogilvy baby pad for Christmas (boy is he thrilled… I feel like saddle pads are the equine equivalent of a human getting socks) and our Lund anatomic girth arrived around the same time so I’m pretending that was a present for him too. Shhh… don’t tell him.

As for myself, it was a very adulting kind of Christmas. From the SO I asked for a cover for my horse trailer (for the long wet months, since the sides are open) and a clothes steamer. Yeah I know, a clothes steamer… am I 50? Whatever, it’s a little handheld miracle machine when you’re a super wrinkled type of person who also hates ironing.

The SO also dragged me to the mall with him on the 23rd to pick up a few last minute gifts that he needed (he’s one of those people) and when we walked into the Gift World store, I locked eyes with this beauty and had to take it home.

Merry Christmas to me! SO is not thrilled about the new addition to our dining room. Meh… shouldn’t make me go to the mall two days before Christmas. I love my ridiculous unicorn salt and pepper shakers, especially considering the living room is filled with his fancy horror movie posters. Now our house just looks super confused. Plus I picked up a tiny little laughing Buddha that is now sitting on the mantle. That store is amazing.

I also got a couple of fun surprise gifts from friends and family, including but not limited to:

Remember these custom Tucci Marilyn’s that I’ve been lusting after for months? Guess who’s finally getting measured so they can be ordered??? I AM SO EXCITED. Especially because my show boots have giant holes in them. My friends are the best ever.

And, some of you may recall that time I asked for a wheelbarrow full of money. My dad is a smartass… a very very clever smartass. He made (yes, made) me exactly that:

If that’s not impressive, I dunno what is. Dad Humor: level Pro.

Overall our Christmas was pretty quiet… we had Indian food for lunch (my most favorite tradition), took the dogs to the barn to run around, hung out with my dad for a little bit, and then capped it off with the Doctor Who Christmas Special. My kind of holiday.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! Did you get or do anything fun?

But he still wants to say:

“Merry Christmas, everyone! 💚 Henny” 

(I had to type it for him since hooves and keyboards don’t mix)

This is your official reminder about the Willow Tree Warmbloods logo contest! You have until January 2nd to submit your entries and we’ve only gotten a handful so far. I also have a couple of notes to add:

There have been additions to the winner’s prize pack! Aside from the custom painting, Lund figure 8 bridle and reins, custom ornament from Hamer & Clay, saddle pad or jacket featuring the logo, Leistner brush, and a free download of the All Ears app, you will also get a super cute Ogilvy baby pad with the Hamer & Clay logo. Only a few of these exist and they are not for sale!

We’ll also be offering Riding Warehouse gift cards to the top 2 runners-up.

One other thing: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read the rules on the original contest post thoroughly before you submit your logos. We’ve gotten a few that say “Willow Tree Farm” instead of “Willow Tree Warmbloods” in particular. Unfortunately that means they’re automatically unusable, which makes me sad. Please don’t make me sad.

It seems like everyone else in the world is off work and/or traveling for the holidays right now, but since this is our super busy time of year, I’m stuck working. This makes me extra grumpy. Thus I’m posting about a few things that are making me happy right now (in general) lest someone near me get stabbed.

Electro-acupuncture

I marveled on here already about the magical voodoo that was Henry’s first appointment. He had his second appointment two weeks later, a few days after our XC school. He was still a little bit out in all the same places, and still a bit sore in the SI, more so on the right. Overall though, he was considerably better than the first appointment. There was a noticeable increase in the range of motion of his right hind, and he was generally less sore all over.

This time she bumped up the needle size a little bit, but basically hit all the same spots. When she hooked up the electricity I noticed that Henry seemed to, um… like it. He isn’t a horse that drops very much (his junk is his business, he says, and if you try to touch it he will kick your face off) but I looked up to see him completely dropped and slapping away at his stomach. NEVER seen him do that before, ever, not even remotely close. The vet just said “Oh yeah, I get that a lot.”. That’s awkward, Henry. I guess he really likes being poked and electrocuted? Then she started probing in his butt crack for some ligament and his good time was quickly ruined. That was one step too far, I guess.

The acupuncture continues to make him feel great though, so we’re keeping on a regular schedule.

HUG blankets

This horse has worn 5 different brands of blankets in the 3 years I’ve owned him. Aside from the fact that he’s excellent at ruining his clothes, every single one of them gave him rubs on his shoulders. I tried lots of different cuts and never had luck with any of them – even WITH a shoulder guard. Since he shredded his blankets last year, I decided to go for a new approach this year and bought him a HUG sheet and blanket. So far, so good; nary even a broken hair to be found on his shoulders even though he’s been wearing them a lot lately. I don’t typically review things like blankets, so this is probably the extent of what you’ll see from me on this subject, but I definitely recommend these if you have a delicate flower.

Thumbholes

Ok, this could more specifically be called “The New Riding Warehouse swag”, but it’s the thumbholes on the half zip that are making me happiest at the moment. I’m pretty sure I owned every piece of clothing from the first collection of RW branded stuff – it’s all super reasonably priced, but good basic items of apparel that has their logo on it in a tasteful way. When they released some new RW branded items this fall I was quick to snatch up a few more things, because I’m not sure if you’ve noticed from the amount of whining we’ve done, but Texas has had some seriously intense (but thankfully fairly short-lived) cold snaps. I’ve been layering like a mofo.

Cheap layering pieces that have the embroidered logo of one of my favorite tack shops? That’s not a hard sell for me. I’ve basically been living in the softshell vest and/or half zip pullover (because THUMBHOLES!) for the last couple weeks, and they’re fantastic for this roller coaster weather.

Which… it was 70 degrees yesterday, and that went a long way on improving my mood. Too bad it’s supposed to rain all weekend.

I’ve slowly come to the realization over the last 6 months that my horse is finally not green anymore. He’s legit “broke”. Like… more broke than I am educated. This is a first for me.

I’ve always had green horses. Forever and ever and ever, green horse after green horse after green horse. My education has always exceeded theirs, and it never really got to the point where I felt like I was sitting on an animal that knew more about it’s job than I did; I sold them and moved on to the next project before it got to that point. Even as a kid, I grew up at a barn where I rode whatever I was told to ride, and usually those were green or sometimes semi-rank horses.

like – “first person to throw a leg over it” kind of green

My first horse was, uh, not exactly rideable (I got run away with A LOT) so while he was experienced o/f, he wasn’t a horse that taught you how to be a good rider. Mostly I just tried not to die. Every once in a while I would luck into getting to hack one of the fancy jumpers in the barn, and there was the summer I got to ride and show the semi-retired one (and ate dirt), but I never had a really well educated horse and therefore I never really got a super intense, intricate education. Every horse I had after the first one was very very green, either off the track or not started at all. I come from the school of Get ‘er Done.

My very first dressage ride back on Henry after his rehab I came to the very obvious conclusion that he’s not only caught up to me, he’s surpassed me. The trainer rides he’s had this year put more polish onto the education I’ve given him, and he learned things from her that I have yet to replicate. For me this is completely uncharted territory.

At happy hour last week with my horse friends I started telling them about this, and what a strange thing it is for me. This is a place I haven’t really been in before. I’m really good at making a green horse quiet, I can deal with all kinds of idiotic behavior, and I think I’m pretty good at giving them confidence and making them rideable and putting on the basics of flatwork and jumping, but when it comes to the real minutia, the things that take lots of finesse and separate the “sufficient” from the “good”… I’m lacking. Like Karen touched on in her post yesterday (a product of this exact happy hour conversation), the ride has evolved from being mostly reactive to being solidly proactive. I used to have to swing a leg over and see what kind of horse I had that day, usually spending most of the ride getting him to relax and come into the contact. Now I can just get on and go to work, and as long as I ride him well, we can have a good ride pretty much every time. If we’re going to get better from this point, it’s on me.

The good news is, it’s made me a lot more aware. More aware of exactly where my body is and exactly what I’m doing. If one thing isn’t working, I try changing little things until I get what I want. I often catch myself sitting a little too far to the outside, or being a little too restrictive with my inside rein, or blocking him with my seat bone, or whatever other stupid tiny thing is making a big difference in my horse. Mostly it’s a game of always asking for more – more bend, more balance, more angle, more lengthening, more power, faster responses. Better with my hands, better with my body, better with my seat. Every single step has become very deliberate for me, and if I want to ride the horse to his potential, I really do have to ride every single step. At this point the horse pretty much knows all this crap, it’s just a matter of me being able to a) get it b) develop it further. Sometimes I miss the days where trotting around quietly on a loose rein or picking up the correct canter lead were our main priorities. (not really)

I brought this up to trainer last weekend too, and I thought she put it really well – “You’ve done a great job of making him really rideable, now you just have to learn how to ride him.”. This is the part I’ve really never really gotten to before. Not having a green horse anymore – it’s a little daunting. But on the other hand, this is kind of a really fun point. This is the point where I actually get to work on myself as a rider and start learning all that minutia that I’ve missed out on for so long, and my horse gets to help me. We’re flip-flopping our roles in this relationship.

I’m finally starting to really understand the phrase “Good horses make good riders”. As trainer pointed out – I’ve got my good horse… now I just have to learn how to ride him.

No biggie?