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.

Some of you might remember my first helmet makeover experiment from a couple months ago. It went so well and looks so good, I decided to finally take the plunge and do my GPA.

I bought my GPA on clearance and got a ridiculously good deal (like less than half price) on it, mainly because it was a “weird” model that had very faint dark gray stars in the middle part. They were so hard to see that I just didn’t care enough to pass up a deal that good. However what had bothered me more and more was the silver vents. I really like the all black look, it’s just more subtle. So since it’s been a couple months since I did the first one and I was now very confident that I could do it and it would turn out well, I painted it a solid matte black.

The GPA is still in really good shape, so all I did to prep it was wipe it down with alcohol, tape over the front logo and back harness (no I still don’t have painter’s tape so leave my hot pink duct tape alone!) and stuff the inside with paper towels to catch the spray that goes through the vents. I used the same brand of paint as the other helmet – Rust-Oleum Universal which is intended for plastics – in Flat Black.

Before:

Say goodbye, stars! I have to admit, they’d really grown on me…

After the first coat, still wet.

I only did two coats. Everything covered so well and so easily, I didn’t see a need for more than that. So I let it dry for about 15 minutes then took it inside for more pics.

And some closer shots so you can see more detail

I’m pretty thrilled with how it came out, it looks even better than the first attempt. You really would never in a million years think it was spray painted, it looks just like a regular finish. And being all black makes it look smaller and more flattering on my head. Pictures of that… someday?

After my successful experiment #2, Auf Der Autobahn’s trainer Lisa (of Austin Eventing) asked me if I’d do her Tipperary schooling helmet. Lisa said she hated the color so much she usually wore her other helmet instead. I still had more than half a can of paint left and I’m getting a little addicted to the helmet makeover thing, so I was totally down with doing another. This one was in rougher shape… it had some pretty decent scratches along the top and a couple of spots where the top layer of finish had been rubbed off. And she wasn’t kidding about the ugly.

I had to do a lot more prep work for this one. First I cleaned it really well with some kitchen cleaner (no residue) then did a very very light sanding to minimize the scratches a little and even out that one spot that was already missing the top layer of finish. It looks like a lot of sanding in the picture but really it’s just a couple swipes with a fine grit sandpaper. Then I wiped it down again with more cleaner to get the dust off.

This helmet also required a lot more taping and covering, because of the harness. The tan part covers a good part of the back of the helmet plus some of the liner fabric is exposed around the ears so I spent a while taping and trimming to get it all just right, then stuffed the inside with paper towels and tucked up the harness underneath. I also took a while to get the front logo taped just right. Lisa said she didn’t care if I painted over it but it’s just not in my little OCD capacity to actually do that, so a-taping I went.

For this one I did three coats. The color was a little harder to cover well and I wanted to make sure it was all even.

This is after the second or third coat, still wet.

And inside later, after it had dried and I removed all the tape.

Hopefully Lisa likes her “new” murdered-out Tipperary! No more weird blue.

And yes, I’m having way too much fun with helmet makeovers.