CONTEST: Filly or Colt?

Published on by Amanda C97 Comments

It’s finally that time – the girls have fetal sexing appointments today! Sadie and her BFF (seriously, they’re obsessed with each other) Lissa were both bred on the same day, so they’re both currently 63 days in foal. They’re both going in for one last ultrasound checkup, and to see if we can get a good guess at the gender of their foals. Naturally, this seems like the perfect opportunity for a contest!

sadielissabesties
❤ BFFs ❤

The window for fetal sexing in early gestation is pretty small, somewhere between day 55 and day 75 of the pregnancy, with the ideal window being from 59-68 days. Around day 55 is when all the “bits” are moving into place to determine if its male or female, and after day 75 the fluid of the pregnancy pushes the uterus over the rim of the pelvis, making it difficult to reach via ultrasound until it gets a good bit larger. Since there’s not a wide range of time to check while the mare is still early in the pregnancy, fetal sexing isn’t off-the-charts accurate. Sometimes it’s just really tough to tell, and sometimes the mare or baby don’t cooperate for the ultrasound and the fetal sexing is inconclusive. So it isn’t really a guarantee, more of a “best educated guess”. If you want to read more about it, knock yourself out.

MMxSadie

EmeraldxLissaEnough about the sciencey stuff – whether or not the results of the sexing end up being accurate, we won’t know til next March. Let’s have a little fun with it in the short term via a contest!

coltorfilly

I’m gonna make this a really easy one. All you have to do is submit a guess for each mare as to what you think the vet’s fetal sexing verdict will be (either filly or colt, or if you’re feeling cheeky – “baby is stubborn like it’s mother and refused to cooperate: inconclusive”, because that could happen too). One guess for Sadie, one guess for Lissa. The people who get both of them correct will be pooled together and I’ll randomly select a winner from that group. If no one gets them both right, I’ll randomly select a winner from those who guessed Sadie’s correctly. Because that baby is mine and it’s my contest, so there.

The more fun part – what do you win? I’ve teamed up with KJ Creations to offer a cute “baby themed” gift basket, stacked full of a ton of awesome stuff both for human and equine.

KJprizes1

KJprizes2

“Momma Mare” pamper pack

“Foaling Season” pamper pack

So. Much. Stuff.

I’m gonna make this a quick contest so that I don’t have to keep the news a secret for very long. You’ve got two days to channel your inner fortune teller – entries close at 11:59 PM CST tomorrow, June 14! Leave your guesses in a comment below, and make sure that you leave either a link back to your blog or an email address so I can reach you. Winner (and gender reveals) announced Wednesday June 15!

Review: Leistner Hoof and Leg bundle

Published on by Amanda C10 Comments

Yep, Teddy’s Tack Trunk strikes again, this time with a whole set of grooming stuff that I never knew I needed. They’ve already won me over with their awesome Leistner brushes and the Zephyr’s Garden Anti-fungal line, converting me to a total grooming supply snob in the process. Really nice brushes are a vital part of life now.

This time I got the “Hoof and Leg bundle“, a package deal put together and sold by Teddy’s Tack Trunk. This set arrived just as the torrential rains started here in Texas, which proved to be impeccable timing. The bundle includes:

Leistner Natural Coco Fiber Brush – Pure coco fiber bristles with a lacquered beech wood base. This medium stiff brush has dense bristles that are great for removing mud and grime. Coco fiber is water resistant, impedes break down by salt water, and will last a long time. The smaller, hand-held size is comfortable to use, especially on the legs.

Leistner Natural Hoof Brush with Handle – Hoof washing brush with beech wood handle. Stiff, natural fiber bristles on the end for tough scrubbing with natural Mexican fiber (also known as Tampico) bristles for cleaning. Also makes a great bucket brush. Helps to keep hooves healthy. Use after picking and during bathing.

Leistner Natural Bristle Hoof Oil Brush – Premium brush made of natural bristles with a natural beech wood handle. Use to apply hardener or medication to hoof.

The Ultimate Hoof Pick, Jr. – The Ultimate Hoof Pick, Jr. features a superior ergonomic design and pick angle to help remove the toughest packed-in dirt, mud and snow. It is designed for comfort with a soft rubber grip handle that fits solidly in your hand. The Ultimate Hoof Pick has a durable stainless steel pick, which makes it unbendable, unbreakable and built to last a lifetime.

The bundle with the hoof pick included is $42.45, or you can get it without the hoof pick (brushes only) for $27.50.

Typically I shy away from any brush with bristles that would be considered even remotely stiff. Princess Henry does not like hard/stiff bristled brushes, and I try not to upset the Princess. The coco fiber wasn’t super stiff, but definitely more than I’ve used on him before, and it had me a little bit worried about what his reaction would be. To my surprise he actually doesn’t mind it at all, and it works really well at getting the heavier dirt off of his butt and the chunks of mud off his legs. The coco fiber bristles are actually really cool, I like it a lot.

The hoof brush was interesting to me. We have really thick, clay based mud here in this part of Texas, and it builds up on the horse’s feet like crazy and sticks like glue. If it’s muddy I usually hose off as much as I can then use my hands to pick away at the rest. Who knew there was a brush that was actually meant for that job? This thing works great to help get the mud off faster (and does an especially good job of getting it all out from the sensitive area behind the pasterns, something that I usually failed to do but is really important if your horse lives in bell boots like mine does) and it’s really easy to rinse clean. The size and shape make this brush useful for lots of different things (I’ve also used it to scrub out a bucket and get mud/poop off of some XC boots), so it’s definitely earned a spot in my trunk.

There’s not a lot to a hoof oil brush, but it’s definitely a useful thing to have around. In the summers I use Effol on Henry’s feet to keep them from drying out, and in the wet seasons I apply thrush medication, so I can pretty much always find a use for it. My last one (a cheapie with an ugly red plastic handle and plastic bristles) fell apart last summer, so I had been slathering the Effol on his feet with my hands. This one is way nicer than the previous one, so hopefully it will last quite a while. The natural fibers lend to better application and are much easier to clean, too.

I have been a long-time fan of the Ultimate Hoof Pick (I prefer the Junior size, I think it’s easier to hold than the bigger one) and already have one in my regular grooming kit. It’s never a bad idea to have a spare, though, so this one went into the little trunk that lives in my trailer. Now I’ll have one with me wherever I go! Nothing works as well as the Ultimate Hoof Pick and they last forever, so it’s a definite must-have item.

Overall this is a great little bundle full of several “essential” items, all of which are great quality and do their jobs really well. The Leistner line continues to impress me with their high quality materials, excellent construction, and beautiful finish. I have yet to be disappointed with any of it.

Blank Canvas

Published on by Amanda C25 Comments

As I unpacked my most recent box from Riding Warehouse, I found myself holding Henny’s boring little white Flair strips in my hands, lamenting the fact that they don’t come in navy. Or rainbow. Or unicorn. They do have hot pink and aqua but ew no. Then it hit me… it’s not really a plain white Flair strip, it’s a blank canvas!

FlairStrip

I mean… if he’s gonna wear a nasal strip at summer horse shows to help him breathe, he may as well own the hell out of it, right? Just picture it:

Flairstrip2.jpg
ok, granted, badass Henny Flair strip will most likely not turn me into BDJ.

This is happening. The wheels are already in motion for a Flair DIY and no one can stop me.

It wouldn’t be the first fancy Flair strip in existence.

Henny is the biggest weirdo I know, he definitely deserves more than the standard plain white Flair strip on his nose.

HHmoarcookies
he’s a special snowflake

Side note: hey Flair, how much bribery and sweet talk would it take to get a custom thing going for me? Because HENNY.

My Strange Obsession: French Classifieds

Published on by Amanda C10 Comments

I think we can blame this one on my derriere’s love for French saddles combined with my wallet’s general state of emptiness. It all started back in 2011 when I desperately wanted to get my hands on a CWD but, with two horses to pay for, had a tiny budget. I combed the internet for the exact configuration I was looking for and, miraculously, one popped up on a French classified site. Many awkward half French/half English emails and $1050 later, I had my unicorn saddle and a new internet obsession.

cwd
not a bad investment

Once you get a taste of victory it’s hard to stop. No surprise, French saddles are just a lot cheaper in Europe. My Devoucoux Makila came from Germany; also a really good deal. Now that I’m super obsessed with getting a Loreak I find myself wandering around French classifieds at least twice a week. Not that I have the funds to actually buy one right now, but ya know… details. Despite taking French for 2 years, I really don’t speak much of it. I know numbers, colors, days of the week, basic food items and, now, literally every single tack related word you can imagine. If you need a sangle, collier de chasse, or some guêtres, I’m all over it.

Those guetres cuir though, girl

I can read enough to decipher the classified ads, but I’m not so great at forming coherent emails. I got a fluent friend to help me out, and now I have a generic inquiry email saved, just in case I need to ask about a saddle. I also have a wanted ad drafted, for when I’m ready to actively seek out that Loreak. I’m not crazy or anything. I prefer the word “prepared”. And hey, my obsession served me well in Paris last year… I could read all the tags on everything at the tack shop.

padd
important life skills

I’ve spent enough time on Le Bon Coin (sorta like their craigslist) to where the search bar already knows what I want before I get more than one letter typed. Attractive Saddle is set to email me any time one comes up that meets my criteria. Otherwise I filter through all of my main sites and do general searches… Selle Expert, Equirodi, Selles Occasions, Notabene, Du Cheval, and a few others. I go hit up a French horse message board every once a while and page through their classified forum. I may or may not be a member of a couple difference French used saddle facebook groups (side note: super annoying facebook sellers are universal).

The real question is why do I do this? Some people like to window shop for horses, I like to window shop for saddles. I can’t help it. Just seeing them gets me daydreaming. You never know… the day might come where I finally find my unicorn Loreak or, my secondary pipe dream, a monoflap version of my CWD. Gotta keep on believing.

Back at It. Ish.

Published on by Amanda C17 Comments

I was really excited to write this post about how it finally stopped raining. How everything is still pretty wet and muddy and gross, but the arena is dry enough, the horses are back to turnout, and we can technically get back to a regular riding schedule that doesn’t exclusively feature trotting down the shoulder of the road. How we’re 6″ of rain over the average for the year so far and I’m quite done, thanks. Until I got to the barn yesterday and SOMEONE had pulled a shoe. Womp womp.

granted, it’s really muddy

Luckily I randomly decided to buy an Easyboot several months ago when Riding Warehouse had them on sale. I’ve never been able to get any other boot to stay on him for more than 5 minutes and I wasn’t hopeful that this one would either, but last night we did a fairly intense dressage ride and it didn’t even budge. Score one point for the Easyboot Trail! If the farrier doesn’t make it out today I’ll slap the boot back on and jump him tonight.

because we’re finally to the point where this doesn’t look big anymore, and I want to keep it that way

In more exciting news, Trainer is moving a little bit closer to us. Hopefully soon she’ll be able to drive out to our place for lessons on at least a semi-regular basis. That could really be earth shattering for me… hauling 2 hours to meet her somewhere just doesn’t happen often between my schedule, her schedule, and the weather. Being able to take jump lessons more than once every couple months would be such a luxury at this point, especially if it didn’t require hauling out somewhere and paying an additional grounds fee. Maybe I could actually get my shit together? Hey, miracles happen. 

Tomorrow we’re hauling out for a lesson with Dressage Trainer, the first one in quite a while (oops). Hopefully it’s not too big of a mess. I’m just so happy to have some nice weather again! I would be even happier if Henry had all 4 shoes.

also thrilled