Cyber Monday: Brushes, Britches, & Books

Television will be the death of movies! The Internet will be the death of bookstores! Yet bookstores and movie theaters are still full on Saturday nights. I have a nasty Amazon habit, yet I still go brick & mortar to pat the books.

Similarly, online ordering will never replace a knowledgeable tack store or feed store. Before I buy, I want to feel the bristles on the brushes and try on the britches. Also, some things don’t ship well: bottles of liquids, bulky buckets, feed. The Internet works when you know exactly what you want &/or the item is too specialized/exotic for local stores to carry.

For example, my recent online, equine purchases:

Specialized – A stack of horse agility books to inspire our groundwork exercises [Retail].

Specific – Supplements. Yeah, I know the arguments that supplements just make expensive manure. I even partially agree with them. However with her fairy dust, a) Mathilda has sounded a little less like a bag of castanets falling down the stairs & b) she’s made it this far. We aren’t changing anything now.

Scarce – Saddleseat britches [Day 1, pictured]. No saddleseat vendors near me.

OTOH, I have had no luck at all with online classifieds, which is ironic as Previous Horse & Mathilda both came from newspaper classifieds back in the day.

How has the Internet changed your horse (dog, cat) shopping?
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Gratuitous Kitten Pic

Of course I’m helping.

Carrot Snob

Carrots taste different from bag to bag. Apparently.

A few days ago, I went out to the barn for the morning check. Mathilda refused her carrot. Usually a horse refusing food is sign to panic, as with Rodney’s recent colic episode [Rest]. However, this carrot was approaching the size of a zucchini. I’d even cut it lengthwise for ease of consumption. Perhaps she didn’t like the taste. I’ve accused her of being a fusspot before [Line]. Yup, a smaller, sweeter carrot disappeared just fine.

When you buy a 2 lb. bag of carrots, you get almost the same number of carrots as in a 1 lb. bag, just bigger. For improved taste & maximum number of treats, it is better to purchase two 1 lb. bags. The fact that we know this is a sign that we have bought far too many carrots.
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Gratuitous Kitten Pic

Hunting Season

This was how Rodney spent Thanksgiving. Hunting season began with – dare I say – a bang. Rodney was up on the hill monitoring the noise and occasionally trotting back & forth. Mathilda was in her pen monitoring Rodney and anxious to be out trotting as well. Hence the confinement to her pen. Hubby sat with her for part of the morning. When it looked like she wouldn’t settle without Rodney, we put him up in the stall for a few hours. He was still on alert. She calmed down because her boy toy was close. Different priorities.

It was a long day for those of us fretting about the horses, but we couldn’t hardly blame ’em.

Although nothing is guaranteed when humans & firearms interact, I am ever so slightly less concerned about the Bambi stalkers in my area. Yes, the horses’s pasture is surrounded by woods on three sides. However, these guys – and it does seem to be mostly guys – have been hunting & shooting all their lives. I remember telling a young kid that my husband didn’t hunt. He looked at me as if he couldn’t process an adult male who didn’t hunt. You know that life-altering moment you realize that other people see the world differently? Yeah, like that.

Plus, this is not a destination area. The hunters are my neighbors. They – I fervently hope – know who lives where.

When I kept horses in New England, we just left them in the barn for hunting season weekends. The area was pretty enough & close enough to population centers that city dudes would come up and fire away in drunken ignorance. As a city brat, I’m usually all for sophisticated urbanites, but not ones who don’t know a buck from a buckskin.

How went your holiday?
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Gratuitous Kitten Pic

Selfie with kittens.

A Horse’s Thanksgiving

What a horse is thankful for
Good food
Clean water
A job to do
A safe environment
Company
Carrots
Scratchies
Shoes when my feet hurt
Grass
Shade when it’s hot
Breezes in summer
Sun in winter

Translation for humans
Good food – You’re late.
Clean water – Water tastes so much better after being carried in a bucket.
A job to do – A job that I understand, not what you think I ought to understand by now. Or even what I understood yesterday.
A safe environment – You would be amazed what I can hurt myself on.
Company – Alert! Alert! Abandoned foal in barn! Come back! Come back!
Carrots – More. Now. Let me check your pockets to be sure.
Scratchies – Don’t stop!
Shoes when my feet hurt – Custom-fitted by an expert who still makes housecalls.
Grass – Onion breath.
Shade when it’s hot – Nap time!
Breezes in summer – A fan will do nicely thank you.
Sun in winter – Pit stains when it’s too cold to bathe.

What is your horse (cat, dog, spouse) thankful for this year?
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Gratutious Kitten Pic