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Belgium, here I come! And Philly…

Published on January 8, 2015 by Amanda C29 Comments

I’m off to a good start with personal goal #4 for 2015. Yesterday we figured out our itinerary for our Belgium/Paris trip in March and booked our flights. I never squeal with excitement about anything but I’m squealing myself senseless on the inside right now.

A couple days/nights in Paris, a day and a couple nights in Brussels, 3 days and 2 nights in Gesves. At least one tack shop trip planned, a few farm tours (Nabab de Reve, anyone?), and the sBs Selection Show. That’s basically as good as any horsey vacation can get, and even better to be doing it with a couple of good friends. Many eternal thanks to Rising Star Farm for the opportunity… it’s once in a lifetime. Of course, I really really hate flying so I might need a whole suitcase full of Xanax, but it’s worth it. Especially for the food, and I think my friend and fellow traveler Michelle agrees…

This is why we’re friends.

Looks like I’ll also be in Philadelphia at the end of January for the AETA trade show/market. My friend Megan, owner of Luxe EQ, asked me to come along to help scout new product lines and check out all the new products coming out from her current suppliers. I am very flattered that she trusts my opinion and thinks I have good enough taste to want to bring me along. Three days roaming around a giant room full of cool horse stuff? Um… yes. Yes times a million. It’s both extremely awesome and extremely dangerous, especially when you check out the companies that will be in attendance. I have a feeling I’m going to look a lot like this the entire time:

I’m sure I will take a few thousand pictures and find at least a couple dozen things that I NEED. Brace yourselves, blog land.

On a different note, thanks everyone for all the supportive comments and messages from yesterday’s post. Henry got a nice big serving of hay last night and both blankets, since we got a ridiculous cold front. He’s warm and toasty with plenty to munch on.

Henry also says thanks to auntie SprinklerBandit for selling his mom some new dressage boots. He loffs them. Well, I loff them, which means he’s required to love them too.

Time to move along

Published on January 7, 2015February 17, 2015 by Amanda C65 Comments

It sucks to be writing this so soon after the new year with all those ambitious goals, but I’m at an impasse with my horse’s current facility. I’ve had several care issues in the past few months (mainly centered around how much hay has been fed lately) and unfortunately it has gotten to the point where I can’t keep waiting it out and giving chances in the hope that it will improve. The health and well-being of the horse comes first, so it’s time to pack our things and go.

I am the most important thing, and the most important thing is ME. And cookies.

On one hand it will remove me from current trainer’s “umbrella”, which isn’t ideal considering our goals for the year. But I will still have some access to her at the new facility, plus a really good dressage trainer. The care at the new place is EXCELLENT (basically exactly what I would do if I was taking care of my own horse), and it’s a really small place with several other eventers. I know a few of them already and we get along great. The facilities are not quite as vast, obviously, as the big barn I’m at now, but they’re absolutely more than adequate and the footing is good. Getting to shows could potentially be more difficult but hopefully I’ll be able to work it out. The drive is a little further, but the board is lower. There are some trade offs but I think we’ll both be really happy there so I’m excited for the change.

My once chubby horse is chubby no longer, so he will have to gain some weight back. I’m sad and extremely disappointed by the turn things took in the past few months, and to be frank I feel like I waited a month longer than I should have… I’m definitely carrying guilt about it. I was really hoping to find a way through this and resolve the problem but in retrospect that was pretty futile and naive. To be clear: he’s fine. He’s certainly not starving or anything, I’ve had him on rice bran for a month and I’ve been giving him as much extra hay as I can possibly sneak, but despite that he’s gotten thin and his coat looks dull and he doesn’t seem as happy in general as he did a few months ago. There are really several care issues I’ve had but the main one is that there is very little hay being fed, and that does not work for this horse. When the vet was out a couple weeks ago I asked him what he thought and he half-frowned and said “I liked him better with more weight”. Sigh. Me too, man. Me too. I really really don’t like my horse losing condition, physically or mentally.

I don’t care how many times you tell me this much hay twice a day is enough… it’s NOT.

I debated about just how much to say about this here, but I feel like it’s important to speak my mind and tell the whole story. It makes me angry, if I’m being totally honest. It makes me even more angry when I present my concerns and they are brushed aside. But ultimately the deepest feeling is of extreme disappointment. As horse owners we put A LOT of trust into the people that care for our animals. They are the ones that see them all day every day. They are the ones in charge of their general well-being. When I sign that board contract and give you my board check every month, it’s me saying “I trust you to take care of something that is very very important to me. Irreplaceable even. Please take that as seriously as I do.”. And when that trust is violated, it really sucks. Because at the end of the day those horses rely on us – the people around it – to care for it properly, and when we don’t, the horses are the ones that suffer. That’s a very serious thing, and if you can’t care for them properly you shouldn’t offer to do it at all.

bareback noms – his favorite perk of the hackamore

There are a lot of things I like about the current barn, and I really appreciate the opportunities I have had there, but my horse’s health is a non-negotiable. I also ordered him a course of Omeprazole because I’m pretty suspicious of ulcers, especially with how little turnout and hay he’s gotten lately, and it sure can’t hurt. It’ll be interesting to see if that changes anything or not. He’s naturally kind of a tight tense creature so maybe he’s long overdue for some ulcer treatment anyway. I’ll ride him just enough to keep him loose and keep some condition, but for the most part he’s getting a really light next month or two until everything gets sorted out.

Counting down the days to a new beginning and a happier Henry, and looking forward to new opportunities with a great new group of people.

Stories from Spin Class

Published on January 5, 2015January 6, 2015 by Amanda C20 Comments

As you have probably already read, barn/blogger friend Brandy of Auf der Autobahn and I joined the gym in December and have been hitting spin class hot and heavy. I used to spin all the time but haven’t in a year or so, and as I get back into it I’m starting to remember all the fun experiences you only get by partaking in spin. And since it’s the beginning of January, aka Gym Season, I figured now is the time to publicly explore all that spin has to offer.

The people:

If you can talk, you aren’t pedaling hard enough. SHUT UP.

That guy who shows up dressed like he’s ready for the Tour de France

Or even worse, the instructor who thinks he’s in the Tour de France. “C’mon team, who wants that yellow jersey? Let’s go get it!”. You have got to be freaking kidding me right? “Hill climb! The Alps are beautiful!”. I’m sure they are. Unfortunately we’re in a tiny stinky room in a semi-decrepit old gym in the middle of Austin. And no I do not want to high five you after class, I’m never coming back here again because you’re obviously a complete nutjob.

spinning cycling stereotypes rateyourburn types guy having the best time of his life — the Way Too Perky people. I really hate these people and want to punch them right in the face. Nothing ruins my workout more than a bunch of WOOOOO’s coming from some perky chick. Sweat in miserable silence like the rest of us fatties.

We had a lady in last Saturday’s class who looked like she walked straight out of an 80’s Jazzercize video… short hair with the sweatband around her head pushing the hair up, big bright white sneakers and a super colorful top. I think she considered herself Queen of Spin, because she WOOHOO’d just about every two minutes. At 10:00am. On a Saturday. I spent the entire class daydreaming about choking her out with that damn sweatband.

That guy who spends three hours lifting weights then comes into spin halfway through class and tries to get his cardio in. They’re too big to pedal normally, it’s fantastic to watch. Like a gorilla on a tricycle.

The ones who breathe loudly, complain audibly, and are waaaay overdramatic. HTFU (google it) people, and have some dignity. I don’t need to hear the details of your impeding death, I’ll get the message loud and clear when your body hits the floor.

The experience:

Don’t worry, the pain in your butt will mostly go away in 2 or 3 days. Mostly.

If you don’t suffer from Overactive Boob Sweat syndrome, consider yourselves lucky. I can make puddles.

Right before your heart explodes, when you’re on death’s doorstep, motivational exercise quotes start flashing before your eyes in rapid succession.

YEAH! I’m a champion! I need a medic! But I’m a champion!

You can’t break me, spin instructor. I’ll quit when I’m dead. Which will be very soon.

But I swear I saw another inspirational quote about how nothing is forever…

and wasn’t there also a quote about never say never? What the hell, now I’m just confused.

This is also when you think, “I’m not sure which is stupider – me or spin class. What a bunch of idiots we all are…”

The aftermath:

First you go home and whine about it. Bonus points if you also whine on facebook.

For real… it’s a near death experience every single time.

But the fun really begins when you wake up the next day

The sentence “I broke my whole body” comes out of your mouth on a regular basis.

God be with you if you happen to develop a chafing problem.

Don’t worry, the pain in the rest of your body will mostly distract you from the pain in your lady bits. See, that’s me having a positive outlook. You’re welcome.

and you’re not so steady on your feet.

as long as you don’t have to lower yourself onto a toilet seat or walk up stairs, you’re golden.

But hey… you can burn 400-800 calories in an hour long spin class. So get your butt to spin and have a few more donuts, it’ll all equal out in the end. And if you eat them right before class you’ll probably puke them up anyway.

weekend recap: goin’ junkin’

Published on January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 by Amanda C20 Comments

I wish my weekend recap was filled with reports of riding and lessons and horsey things. Unfortunately Texas has decided to participate in winter this year and it rained boatloads so I haven’t been on my horse since last Tuesday. I have given up.

On Friday I went out to handwalk and deworm and give Henry his monthly Pentosan shot. The dogs were thrilled to tag along but they were really the only ones happy to be out. I stood there and let Henry graze until my hands went totally numb, then went home.

I also bought some winter riding gloves, because if anything has become obvious to me in the past month, it’s that I’m woefully unprepared for any weather below 60 degrees. I just bought the cheapie $10 Ovation gloves, hoping they’ll work for as (relatively) little as I need them. Of course… if it doesn’t stop raining I’ll never use them and they’ll last forever!

There’s no junk mail on the floor in the passenger seat, I dunno what you’re talking about.

Saturday was spin class (worst ever due to ridiculously annoying people – but that’s a story for another day) then a field trip also to be discussed later, then our barn holiday party. The party was great fun although we discovered that Auf der Autobahn can’t have ~~tacky~~ nice things, because within seconds of opening her ever-so-classy white elephant gift of a horsey wine bottle holder, she dropped him and broke his head off. Then his head was relocated to a slightly different position. Personally I think it was an improvement.

Sunday morning SO and I got up early to go to the junkyard! Weird, I know. But last week when I was leaving the barn I kinda sorta killed the left front wheel on my car…

And because it’s a car that a) isn’t made anymore b) has weird parts, I couldn’t find any place in town that had a new wheel that would work. We could buy one online and ship it, but that would be expensive and take a week, so we decided to try our luck at the junkyard. And whaddya know – they had ONE car just like mine, so for $50 we took home the wheel, which had a pretty decent tire on it, slapped it on my car, and voila. The junkyard is magical.

I took a couple of hours in the morning to watch some of the GM clinic online, which I still haven’t really completely organized my feelings about. In some ways I love him, in some ways I don’t, but the videos are an education in themselves, regardless of whether or not it’s all applicable to you and your sport.

Then I was off to check out the place I’ll be barnsitting several times in the coming months. Such a cute little property – totally my dream place! And it’s full of gorgeous Trakehners, including this studmuffin. Taking care of a big gorgeous black stallion and earning money for the Belgium trip at the same time… such a tough life I have. Plus kitties and adorable dogs and a mini!

I’m sure I’ll get many candids of him during my time there, but that’s next week. For this week, hopefully it’ll just stay dry enough to ride Henry. We’re supposed to go XC schooling and to an eventing derby this weekend, weather permitting. I’m not holding my breath…

Is winter over yet? Apparently Texas isn’t far enough south to escape this one.

Logo contest WINNERS!

Published on January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by Amanda C22 Comments

First of all – a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to make a logo (or many logos) and send them in. There was a total of 42 different logos submitted! I never expected that kind of participation. I also never expected to really like so many of them… picking a winner was no easy task. As you may have read in some follow-up posts after the original contest announcement, due to the level of quality and participation I decided to offer prizes to the top two runners-up as well.

When I tasked y’all with the job of creating a logo, I didn’t give you much direction. Really that was because to be honest I had no idea what I wanted. As they started to roll in and I paged through them, the criteria that I really found myself putting forth were:

Is it pretty? Meaning – is it clean, are the colors (if any) ones that I like, if it’s a picture do I like the picture.

Is it COOL? Does it look like something I could have done myself or is it totally beyond me.

Is it original? Did I get several more logos in almost the exact same style. Was it personalized or was it just generic clipart.

Is it us? Do you look at it and immediately get a sense of Henry, or me, or things that I like.

Did it speak to me? Of course this just has a lot to do with individual preference. Some things I immediately loved and some things I was more meh about.

Is it easy to use? How well/cleanly would it embroider, how easily could the shape of it be worked into the blog, etc.

So without further ado (and in reverse order pageant style for maximum suspense):

Second Runner up: Karen M of Bay with Chrome. This one really struck a chord with me because it’s my very favorite picture of me and Henry. You had me from hello when you used this picture. And it almost looks like a stamp, which I thought was really cool too. Karen wins the Ogilvy baby pad from Luxe Eq.

First Runner-up: Britt G from Our House on a Hill. Looove the splish splash and the fact that she used my second favorite picture ever. It looks like an eventer and I know it’s us. Unfortunately the embroidery people were less enthused about the splashes. Still, Britt… you win a gift certificate for a Firefly custom bonnet up to an $80 value!

Grand Prize Winner: Rachel R, who is not a blogger but a reader! Rachel took one of Henry’s pictures, drew it in a cool swoopy outline, and added two of my favorite accessories. My pony + my favorite things? That’s a done deal. I also really liked the soft colors she chose, the simplicity of the logo matches my personal style and will embroider well, and it’ll be easy to incorporate into the blog. Rachel wins the Firefly logo baby pad, a Mango Bay belt, a Kastel sunshirt from Luxe Eq, and snap-on rein stops from PS of Sweden.

Winners, keep an eye on your email inbox over the next few days so I can get in touch with you about your prizes. Congratulations and Happy New Year!

To give you guys an idea of the enormity of this task, here are most of the other entries. Not quite all, because some of them only had small variations like text or shape, but you get the idea. Thanks again for making it such a great contest.