I’m not saying that funky colored full seats are the key to making dressage more fun, buuuut

 

Bring me my UNICORN!

Lauren’s post yesterday got me wondering “why DO people actually read this blog?”. There are a couple dozen blogs that I read on an almost daily basis, the reasons for which vary from me thinking they’re awesome to me finding them to be absolute train wrecks and I just can’t look away.

Personally I don’t read anything without pictures, or anything super rambly, or anything “educational”. But I know we’re all different and find different things appealing so, like I’m sure most of us did, I started doing a little introspection about the why. I don’t have a lot of rhyme or reason or structured plan behind my content (which is probably not news to most of you), I just write about whatever I feel like writing about, so I’m sure this place mostly seems to contain a lot of pointless rambling. I would never have imagined when I started that I would end up with as many regular readers as I do now, or that anyone would ever really give a crap about anything I had to say. And that one time this silly little slice of the internet got 1,049 unique visitors in one day.. whaaaa?

So – out of genuine curiosity (and please be honest) – what brings you here?

Again – be honest! Even if it’s not nice. I don’t have internet feelings, so whatever.

Super busy day for me, so I’m just popping in quickly to share a few sales in case y’all haven’t seen them yet!

First – Annie’s USA has their Tiffany Blue with chocolate full seat breeches on sale this week for 50% off plus free shipping.

For the eventers (or runners or cyclists or trail riders or whatever) Road ID is having a sale on all of their products today. Road ID’s are 25% off!

Buy yourself something nice for Christmas from Luv Inspired Jewelry and Charms. Get 30% off through midnight tonight with the coupon code royalrush30.

Divoza has 30% off winter apparel (with lots of other random stuff on sale too), if you’re feeling particularly euro chic this season.

 

The timing on this blog hop is pretty good since a few friends/family have already asked what I want for Christmas, which prompted me to make a list anyway. Now I just get to copy it over here! Yay for minimal effort. It’s a rainy gross week so I have nothing else exciting going on. Sorry.

Stories From the Saddle asked:

First, I wanna know: what is the ONE piece of tack (or clothing) that you simply cannot live without?  Second, I’d like to know what you’re currently saving up for or lusting after. Basically, what item do you have your eyes set on right now? If someone handed you enough money, what would be the first thing to buy on your list? 

The first one is easy – I can’t live without my CWD. I love it to bits and it fits my pony well. It makes my butt happy every single day.

The second part is pretty simple too… there’s not a whole lot left right now that I really really need, but there are a few things that aren’t completely superfluous wants:

Optimum time watch, in blue of course. Because it looks like something a blind smurf would wear, and that’s awesome.

Navy Roeckl gloves. Because navy.

Dublin River boots. Because apparently I’m an eventer again but I don’t roll deep enough for Dubarry.

Dressage boots for all 4. Because I’m tired of wrapping polos or using my open fronts for flat rides.

Shipping boots. Because I’m tired of wrapping standings at the crack of dawn to throw the horse in the trailer.

So basically the overall theme here is that I’m lazy.

If we wanted to get into everything I want we’d be here forever, but those things are a good start. Anyone who knows me should not be surprised that I couldn’t pick just one.

Since I’ve recently been doing a lot of internet stalking trying to find as much info as possible about the local XC courses, I’ve stumbled across a couple of phone apps. First is Course Walk, which has an online counterpart at http://en.mycoursewalk.com/.

You can do showjumping courses too!

Maybe it’s just because I’m a nerd and back when I evented the first time all you got was a piece of paper and maybe one of those god awful yellow wheel thingies to figure out your course and pace, but I’m super intrigued. When you walk your course you open the app, it tracks you via GPS, you can take pics of the jumps along the way if you want to, and in the end it’ll figure out minute markers for you (no math = better life). Plus you have your whole course right there on your phone, which is very appealing to someone super visual like me who memorizes by sight. You can also choose to share the course, which makes it available for viewing online by anyone. GREAT for getting an idea of what each course looks like.

Here are what they list as the main features of the Course Walk app:

• Recording the course track and distance in meters
• Identifying minute markers – NEVER wheel your course again and improve your ability to meet optimum time!
• Take photos of fences and mark the location of compulsory flags
• Fence and photo galleries for easy viewing of the pictures
• Play function retraces the entire course, displaying the fences as you go
• Share your course on MyCourseWalk.Com
• Download courses from MyCourseWalk.Com onto your phone.
• Event Organizers can print course maps off of MyCourseWalk.com
• Conveniently links to Eventing Dressage tests and Live Scoring
• Auto correction of minute marker position if optimal time is given
• Elevation profile displays the terrain along the course with minute markers and fences
• Uphill, flat, and downhill slopes can be shown in different colors on the map
• No cellphone reception or data connection required to record and view course walks

The other app, Cross Country, seems pretty similar.

Same general idea, slightly different execution. On this one I like that you can add notes about each fence if you want, and from what I can see it seems to have a little bit “prettier” interface. The big negative to this one IMO is that you can’t view recorded courses online – only on the app. Which means you can’t view them unless you’ve bought the app (either the full version or the Lite version). I haven’t bought the app, so I can’t see what they actually look like once they’re recorded. That’s a bummer. Here’s the description of features for Cross Country:

• Record and measure the course
• Photograph jumps, video lines, record voice and striding
• Automatic minute markers and reminders
• Email courses
• Pre-recorded courses and guided course walks from around the world

You don’t need cell reception or internet for that one either.

Course Walk is $9.99 right now and Cross Country is $8.99, so both are at basically the same price point. Does anyone have either of these apps? The geek in me is tempted to get them both and compare them head to head, but the tightwad in me screams in protest. So to start with I bought Course Walk because it just seemed to have a few more useful features for me (plus a bunch of features that are awesome but I will never use – like horse heart rate). Wish they both offered a trial! What do you think of using tools like this instead of doing it the old fashioned way?