Horses & Other Interests
Last year, with Alvin
This year
Coach, in general email: “Please let me know if you intend on doing this one.”
Me, in response: “Sure, sign me up. I still have a few flickering shreds of confidence and optimism left to be stomped out.”
My nearest and dearest found this hysterical.
Sigh.
I need new nearest and dearest.
What is your shopping IQ? Mine is abysmal.
A while back, I attended a blogger meet-up. Since then I have been following some of the bloggers I met. I read Budding Fashionista because she’s local and as a glimpse into an alien landscape. I am as likely to go clothes shopping for pleasure as I am to sell everything and move to Paris. But I like to read about people who engage in these unlikely activities.
I have nothing against the fashion industry. Surrounding one’s self with beauty is a noble aim. I’m sure Budding Fashionista spends less on her clothes than I do on horse shows.
Recently, she posted a Denim Guide. She talks about boot fit versus skinny, distressed versus color. She talks about how to style the jeans. She talks about balance. And fun. And color-blocking.
Say what?
I have two types of jeans. Ones I wear to the around the barn and ones that are suitable for the general public. This is how I tell the difference:
A fashionista I am not, neither budding nor otherwise.
BTW, the site referenced above has a jeans giveway that ends tomorrow tonight at midnight. Definitely not barn jeans.
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Failed attempt at this week’s art photo.
Great colors. Good shapes. The whole is less than a sum of its parts. Reveal on Monday.
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Show tomorrow. One-day, there and back again. Perhaps packing tweets later today.
Here are two of my favorites.
My mother:
Me:
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Gratuitous Cat Picture
Mystery #1: Butt Wrinkles
At the end of the summer, Rodney developed wrinkles around the top of his tail. I have never seen the like. They are now fading. WTF? Any ideas?
Mystery #2: Hay Holes
I sweep old, unused hay out to the dirt area in front of the barn for erosion control. Some critter comes along and digs perfectly round, 3″ holes. Over a dozen in one night. Again I say unto you, WTF?
I love me some ribbon [RibbonFest Invitation]. Doesn’t matter what the venue. This was sent in by a reader attending the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival, Greenwich NY, last month.
The same photographer contributed the road-side balloon photo in Mail-Order Horse.
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Gratuitous Cat Picture
Previously seen as a sign of weakness, the neck strap is the latest hot new thing in eventing. Big Name Rider William Fox-Pitt wears one. Now everybody must. The goal is to have a piece of leather around the horse’s neck to grab when plans go astray.
Back in the dim, dark past, I fashioned one out of a stirrup leather for my first Training Level stadium jumping course. My horse was braided. The rest of the time, I am all about grabbing mane. It’s right there. My horses have never objected. No extra equipment required. When I had to roach Mathilda’s mane one summer due to sweet itch, I left a soul patch right where I might need a handhold.
At the risk of the Internet falling down on my head, I must confess that I don’t like neckstraps. They seem unsafe to me. If the horse has a simple strap around the neck on a regular basis, what is to keep said strap from sliding down the neck when the horse lowers her head during, say, a stretchy circle? A moment of inattention from horse or rider and the front foot is caught. What if the horse reaches down to itch a leg? Takes a bite of grass during a hack? Seems to me that remembering to grab onto a strap to keep it from sliding is just one more thing to go wrong.
While we are on the subject, I also do not understand western tie-downs that go from girth to nose without benefit of breastplate. This is a foot-tangler waiting to happen. OTOH, I don’t know much about Western tack. Anyone care to enlighten me on this one?
Yet, I am not one to sneer at safe concerns. So I bought a yoke. It has a piece that goes through the legs to the girth to keep the neck section in place. Yokes are used at racetracks to attach martingales and as general panic straps. I figure if they can work with hysterical two-year olds, I should be covered. Most of the time. No, it would not have helped me on Milton. There was no time to grab anything.
There have been a lot of purchases lately. Husband says he starts to worry about me when I stop buying tack.
Post update: Breastplate – I could spin a theory but most I forgot about them. Big in Eventing but not as big in Jumpers, so they fell off my radar. I suspect the whole exercise is moot. Come the heat of the moment, I’m gonna grab mane the way I always have.
Fire ants – Burn on contact. Bites take forever to heal. They are the work of the devil.
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Horse Update
Poor Milton learned about fire ants the hard way. His whole back is covered with devastingly itchy bumps. I suspect he lay down on an anthill. Not a mistake one makes a second time.
Blurry, but shows how much he cranks his head around when I scratch him.
We are having trouble coming up with Milton’s “color” [Barn Colors].
Blue – A appropriate color for a competition horse. Milton has already inherited some of Mathilda’s blue gear, e.g. grooming slip. OTOH, shouldn’t he have his own color?
White – His serving bucket is white. OTOH white in anything other than plastic is impractical at a barn.
Grey – Snooze. Not always available.
Silver – Pretty. Hard to come by. Indistinguishable from gray in some applications.
Red – Blue for Canadians.
Any thoughts?
Source:
Virtual Brush Box 