Today marks day 161 in Sadie’s pregnancy, putting us close to the halfway point. My anxiety level has not decreased, and probably won’t for oh, I dunno… ever? I stalked the hell out of the Burghley young horse championship results and the Bundeschampionate results, obsessing over the Mighty Magic babies. Fun fact: a MM won the 4yo final at Burghley.

It’s fun to keep track of where Sadie is in her gestation though (it keeps my mind off of how ridiculously long this takes and how easily it could all go wrong) and I particularly love this little timeline:

Currently Baby Presto is about the size of a rabbit. A big rabbit.

Day 150 – Gaining more than a pound every 10 days, the fetus now is about the size of a rabbit. Hair graces its chin, muzzle, and eyelids. If you look closely, you’ll see that eyelashes have emerged.

Considering how giant and floppy Sadie’s ears are, there are lots of jokes to be made here with the rabbit thing. My friend Michelle’s favorite looks something like this:

Momma Mare, however, seems unperturbed by our attempts at comedy and keeps right on doing what she does best: eating food and growing babies. Good girl, Momma Mare. Good girl. ❤

6 more months… just 6 more long, agonizing, anxiety-ridden, super obsessive, crazy months…

aka the best day of the year to buy a new helmet! Tomorrow is International Helmet Awareness Day, and tons of brands and retailers (ahem Riding Warehouse – with coupon code HAD20 on 9/17 only) are offering great discounts on a new helmet.

Even if your helmet appears to be in good shape, don’t forget that the protective materials break down after 4-5 years (check the tag inside for the manufacture date) and are no longer as effective at taking an impact. It’s also recommended that helmets be replaced after a fall, as a helmet can appear to be undamaged on the outside while actually sustaining significant damage to the internal protective layers.

The list of participating brands:

Jin

Resistol

Charles Owen

IRH

GPA

Champion

Troxel

LAS

Gatehouse

Tipperary

One K

Ovation

Samshield

Uvex

Kask 

 

Those of you who have been looking for Kask – Luxe EQ has them (and Samshield) and is a participating retailer! Use code 4helmets to apply the discount, and get free shipping too with code 4ship.

Find other participating retailers here: http://www.riders4helmets.com/helmet-awareness-day/participating-retailers/

Whoever wants to sign up to be my new BFF is welcome to pick up a navy Kask (I’ll take any of the Dogma models) or a navy Samshield XC for me, size 7 1/4… k thanks.

Drum roll, please…

My Summer Update, by BOBBY!

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As you all know, the pinnacle planned event of the summer was Coconino Horse Trials in Flagstaff, AZ.

In preparation for Coconino we had to have the horses extra fit for the altitude, which meant an amped up conditioning schedule. Of course, it seems like when you really need to ride in Texas, it rains and rains and rains so that everything is flooded. I still had to keep Halo fit so I started trotting on the side of the road – the same road we’ve trotted on the side of for years. Apparently all the rain washed away the topsoil, and guess who stepped on a very very old Coke bottle and punctured his frog by about ½ an inch?  Yes, my poor sweet Halo.  I lept off of him and had to pull the glass out. We were still a ways from home and if he’d walked on it, it would have shoved in deeper.  You know how paper cuts never stop bleeding?  You get the picture. Blood bath. I immediately took him to the vet, where they flushed it, found no major damage, and said it just had to grow out.

For weeks I couldn’t ride Halo on anything except asphalt, otherwise he’d limp.  This is a little concerning when you’re leaving in a month to haul halfway across the country to horse show.  So I did what I could to keep him fit and went all Ireland-style, with lots of road trotting and long forward walks (a forward working walk in a frame works the same muscles the horse uses when galloping!). If I never trot on the road again, it will be too soon.  It worked though, Halo was the most fit he’s ever been. The weekend before we were set to leave I went and XC schooled with Trainer to get the green light or red light… we got the green light!

As for Coconino itself…  Chance already blogged about it so I’ll spare you the details and post cute pictures of Herrlerr and I instead.  Can anyone guess the most shocking thing about the whole trip?  I spent 13 days pretty much 24/7 with Chance and she’s still alive!  I know, I am shocked too.  You never know your own personal strength until you’re put in that kind of extreme circumstance. Plus the ride home would have been BORING alone, so I resisted the urge and didn’t push her into the Grand Canyon. It would have been SO easy to scoop her up and flip her over. There’s always next year… 😉  (Editor’s Note: I think Bobby is just mad because I like to refer to him as “my sidekick”)

Here are the boys at our overnight layover location in Clovis – Halo didn’t stop staring at the Air Force base the entire time. “Herrlerr nerrr lerrrrk plerrrrrns”

DUSTIN!  He rode with us to his parent’s place in New Mexico (in the truck… not on that horse…).

“Herrlerr good boy, Herrlerr cart daddy’s ass around show jumping.”

I am just a passenger at this point…

My rule of the thumb: NEVER EVER under any circumstance walk up to a BAT (Big Ass Table), just shield your eyes as you walk past!  Look how huge is that F***ING thing is!!!

Two weeks and I didn’t walk up to that thing until the last day, and guess what? It jumped like a dream!

This was the Training corner (see rule above about BATs).

Halo has so much heart and so much talent, I’ve never ridden a horse who loves his job so much.  #BestHorseEver  P.S.  Can you see Chancercise’s further influence on me in this picture?  Halo is actually poulticed and wrapped (in red  – color coordination, duh!) and he has hoof pack in his feet. (Editor’s Note: The poultice and hoof pack in question are mine. See my good deeds? Bobby basically counts as a charity case.)

Halo and I were 1^st in Training the first weekend and 4^th the second weekend.  This  picture was probably Chance’s 20^th attempt at the ribbon photo – Halo doesn’t like to pose with ribbons and isn’t shy about making his opinion known.

Da boyz…  Herrlerr love Henny!!!  Total besties… but only AT the show. When they get home they’re all pinned ears and threatening to bite each other.

I cannot wait to go back to Arizona again next year – it was the most fun ever!

Three weeks after we got back from Coconino, Dustin and I departed for vacation in Iceland and Greenland.  I really hate writing so here’s more pictures with captions…

YAY Iceland!

Upon arrival we went straight to the Blue Lagoon where someone (ME) got a surprise marriage proposal!

And of course I said yes!! Remember the saddle?  He supports my horse addiction – KEEPER!  Chance is still in tears about the fact that I’m officially off the market.

After our Icelandic wedding, the second week was our honeymoon – so naturally we had to experience the ‘Tölt ’ on Icelandic Horses. Dustin is such a sport.

And, well… that was my summer in a whirlwind, so….

I’m glad Hillary posted this the other day, because way back when Karen first broached this subject I drafted this post, then promptly forgot about it. Oops. My Drafts folder is a scary, crowded, very random place.

It’s always interesting to me to see how other people manage to fit horses and riding into their regular lives. Some of us have other big responsibilities to work around (like kids), or long commutes, or considerably more active social lives. I have no kids, a relatively short commute, and basically zero social life, so my only real challenge is making sure I actually get to see the SO for a couple hours a night, lest he become grumpy.

Luckily he has his own hobbies and much more of a social life, so he’s pretty good at keeping himself entertained. I do pretty much all the cooking though, and neither of us would like to eat dinner at 9pm, so I try to tailor my life to where I’m home at a decent hour. Basically this just means that I wake up and go to work a lot earlier than most.

I’m up between 5:15 (if I go running, like today) and 5:45 every day, and at work by 6:30-6:45. I’m a really light sleeper and cannot sleep if there’s any kind of noise or light outside, so the schedule works well for me. As soon as there’s even a hint of dawn or I hear cars starting/people driving by, I’m awake anyway. To answer some common questions in advance: No, I do not drink coffee, it’s disgusting. No, I’m not a perky morning person, I just wake up wanting to get shit done and out of the way. I’m never perky. If I seem perky, just assume I’ve been body snatched. Do not talk to me until after 8am. Or never. Never works too.

I don’t take a lunch break, I just eat at my desk and work through until 3:30ish. My commute to the barn is 30 minutes, so I’m there around 4. Of course, that’s usually right around feeding time, so I usually toss Henry a handful or two of his grain to avoid Drama Queen theatrics when the other horses get fed, then get him out of his stall.

Unless I’m in some kind of major hurry, I curry and brush him thoroughly every day. This is finally possible now that I have the Leistner brushes that he likes… I used to just wipe him down with a towel and be on my way so I didn’t suffer the Wrath of Henny. He seems to enjoy grooming now though, and his coat looks better, so I take the time to be thorough and just enjoy being with my horse. I also use that time to check him over for lumps, bumps, scrapes, fungus, or whatever other fun new thing he’s decided to do to himself.

Then it’s picking his feet, putting his boots on (which, every single day its like he’s never worn boots before in his life), then tacking him up. I usually have a rough schedule planned out in advance that dictates whether we’re doing a dressage ride, conditioning ride, jump school, etc. I’m usually on by 4:30, maybe 4:45 at the latest.

After I ride he gets hosed off then fly sprayed, and I either spray him with fungus spray if needed, or rub some Healthy Hair in the base of his tail, or slather him with Swat, or whatever else. Usually by then I’m running a little later than I want to be, so I just wipe off my bit and then toss my stuff back in the tack room. Cleaning/conditioning tack is usually a weekend thing for me, just like really long rides or shampoo baths or anything that I’d like to be leisurely about.

I try to be out of the barn by 6:30 so that I’m home by 7, then start dinner, take a shower, and have a little bit of time to hang out with SO and the dogs. I go to bed at 9 and read until I fall asleep (usually around 10) so I’m kind of a grandma like that. I need quiet time and I need sleep, sorry not sorry.

I was cruising through Instagram hashtags recently and stumbled across this:

So…

Like…

This is not the first tack/equipment item that has confused me recently (there was also the KEP helmet that looked like a unicorn shat on it and the ear bonnet made out of lace that just ended up looking like you put your underwear on your horse’s head) but this one probably has me the most stumped. Someone explain.