Alright, I’ll admit it. There’s one really random thing about horses that grosses me out.

First, to appropriately understand my level of tolerance, I have experienced all of the following and rarely so much as batted an eye:

– Been elbows deep in horse placenta.

– Stepped on a horse turd barefoot (never do night checks barefoot, people, even if it’s just a matter of down the stairs and into the aisle. An errant turd will find you.)

– Had mare pee splashed all over me.

– Wiped off foal scours with my bare hand.

– Cleaned a sheath without gloves.

– Been nailed all over the back of the head by dirty stall pickings when I got a little overenthusiastic with my speed while pulling a manure spreader (several times, because I just don’t learn).

– Had puss shoot ALL OVER MY FACE when cleaning a really gross shoulder/neck wound on a lesson horse.

– Been bled all over. A couple times. By both people and horses.

– Had horse hair in literally every single crevice and orifice of my person after days of body clipping several horses.

– Been sneezed on. With my mouth open.

– Had a staple from a bag of shavings go right through my finger

So really, I’d like to think I’m pretty hard to phase. What’s my kryptonite?

ERGOTS AND CHESTNUTS

Blech. Nasty. I cannot pick/trim these things to save my life without wanting to gag. Usually I ask someone else to do it, because in addition to not being able to trim them myself, I definitely can’t stand to even look at overgrown ones. Shudder.

Now that I’ve fessed up – anyone else out there with weird “gross out” things when it comes to the ponies?

 

First the YAY… guess who gets to go to Georgia to visit her favorite squishable at Rising Star Farm in a few weeks? Valentino, I’m coming for you!!! I’ll also be there for the sBs (Belgian Sporthorse) inspection. Pretty excited, should be a fun few days.

There’s really nothing else noteworthy from my weekend. Henry’s feet are looking pretty long and overgrown so I decided to just take it easy until the farrier comes on Tuesday. We went for a long trail ride on Saturday morning but that’s the only riding I did.

So where’d the OUCH come from you might ask? Cyclocross practice. Rear tire slid out on dead grass, I went down hard on the left hip and wrist. Yesterday the wrist hurt the most, today my entire body hurts the most. As long as I don’t move or breathe it’s ok. Seriously, why do my ribs hurt on the right side? What the hell? I’m starting to feel like I no longer bounce the way I did when I was younger.

The only other particularly fun thing that happened this weekend: fuchsia hair. We won’t even talk about how long it took my OCD self to do that. Oh yeah, and the new season of Doctor Who was pretty exciting too.

Also a big smoochy thank you to Hillary for the birthday present! How awesome is this new belt from Mango Bay? I’m in love, the pattern is gorgeous.

 

Some of the super cool eventer folk at my barn started making a few cross country jumps around the property (I hereby volunteer to help make more!) and I of course can’t resist anything that looks like it might be fun to jump over. So last night I dug out my old XC vest and took The Beast out for an adventure.

We started small with a teeny little ramp, which he was not so very impressed about. Then we moved on to the bigger pile of rail road ties. He wasn’t that impressed with those either, but it did inflate his ego enough to where the last time over it he did a gleeful gallop away then promptly spooked at a pole sitting by the arena fence. Sadly there isn’t video of that part but trust me it was funny. It was kind of a “I am HENRY, conqueror of all things! Ahhhhh, horse eating pole, run away!” type of moment.

HenryXC1 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

Then we walked over to the skinny log jump. It’s hard to tell on the video but the approach makes for a pretty narrow jump, with a tree trunk on one side and lots of bushy weedy stuff on the other. Henry marched over towards it feeling more and more excited with himself. I let him walk past it a couple times to get a good look at the takeoff and landing (there was little room for error in either direction due to the width). When I cantered to it I could feel him just light up. And the more he jumped it, the more proud of himself he got.

HenryXC2 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

By the time we were done he STRUTTED back to the barn like he just won Rolex. I couldn’t help but laugh at him, Henry rarely looks excited about anything that isn’t edible. Pretty sure he told all his horse friends that William Fox-Pitt was coming to pick him up tomorrow and take him to WEG.

He’ll be available for autograph signing this weekend, cuz he’s a pretty big deal y’all. Those three little XC jumps feel totally conquered by the great and powerful Henry.

Maybe there will be a few baby events in his future to add a little levity to our jumper lifestyle?

I will have you
Yes, I will have you
I will find a way and I will have you
You are an obsession
You’re my obsession

That’s enough 80’s music for one morning. You’re all welcome for having that song stuck in your head the rest of the day.

Last month the obsession was PS of Sweden’s gorgeous bridles. I did end up ordering one although they’re backordered til September. Sad face.

This month’s obsession is Aztec Diamond Equestrian. I’ve mentioned them on here before, briefly touching on their super cute breeches with a unicorn on the butt (everyone needs more butticorns in their life). I’d been planning on checking them out eventually, mostly because they’re styled very similarly to my beloved Animo breeches but with a MUCH more reasonable price tag. Then they posted this picture on Facebook and boom it was done. Insert intense grabby hands times a million.

Those are their black tone on tone Houndstooth Luxe breeches. Of course being black they won’t go with my brown boots, but I will happily wear my black ones sometimes just so I can rock this beautiful creatures. GET IN MY CLOSET.

Wanna know the best part? Here’s the great thing about ordering from overseas when you live in the US… usually the prices you see on their websites include VAT. VAT is 20%. We’re exempt from VAT. Know what that means? They’re instantly 20% off! Logic, I has it. These beautiful creatures come in at only around $138, and these are their second most expensive model! The Butticorn and adorable blue birdie ones are only around $110. Of course shipping is a little more than we’d pay here, but it’s not that bad especially if you can sucker someone into splitting an order with you.

Since I was already ordering the breeches I decided to throw in some socks too. I always need good socks. They’re not nylon, they’re cute, and they’re $8. Yup, in the cart they go.

I’m so excited. Fingers (and toes) crossed that I like the breeches and the fit works. I’m in love with the styling and would be absolutely thrilled to find something I like as much as Animo but for a lot less money. If I like them it’ll be buh-bye TS, hello closet full of ADE!

HenryAug19 from amanda chance on Vimeo.