Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange!

I was actually excited for my first day back in the office after break because I knew I had a treat to look forward to from the Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange! Unfortunately Paul had an Amazon delivery (a package of Speedos if anyone is interested) stolen from our front porch so now everything is routed to the offices.

Thanks to Tracy at Fly On Over for hosting the Third Annual Equestrian Blogger gift exchange! I love finding new blogs and that was the case this year!

I opened my card- Teresa and the lovely Gatsby from Eventing Saddlebred Style sent me a whole bunch of goodies to help me along in my 31x31 (I'll forever remain 31) challenge! What could be considered THE MANUAL, The United States Pony Club Manual, and adorable plaid polos to practice my wrapping. I think Ellie may not enjoy this as much as I'm going to!
New Noble Outfitter socks in the best tropical pattern- I've heard wonderful things about these socks and can't wait to try them!
And of course- treats for horses and humans!

Thank you for the lovely gift Teresa! Cheers to a Happy New Year!

Barn Party

We had our barn Holiday party on Saturday and it was lovely! Lots of champagne, holiday cookies, muffins, cheese- Yummo! I delivered my treat-filled mason jars and only lost one pony in the process so I considered that a success!

The Ponies have Moved into the Production Phase

And if one more becomes unglued.....

Why is Vegas so Weird?

And what about booking a 10:15pm flight sounded like a good idea? A tip for those who may not be familiar with McCarran Airport....the security line at noon on any day of the week is hell but if you have an evening flight and show up at 8:15 you'll be at your gate by 8:30.

We stayed at the same hotel as last year, in the Palazzo Tower at the Venetian, and every day I walked through the little "Italian Village" (complete with Gondola rides!). It's so odd to wander through at 7am and see it completely empty whereas heading to dinner tonight there was a show going on complete with jugglers, a "statue," various singers, and a guy on stilts.

Oh Vegas. Get me outta here!

DIY- Not a Good Idea for Holiday

It was an angry Sunday at my house. I had embarked on a number of DIY projects for the Holidays and I realized that I would be losing half a week to travel (nothing better than Vegas in December... interesting side note- they're actually hosting Republican Debate in my hotel tonight) and would need to get gifts shipped and projects completed before our barn party this coming Saturday.

My day consisted of a frantic search for my glue gun (which I never found), slightly burnt homemade horse cookies, and a spray paint manicure (not enough primer in the world to get it off) later I still have a few things to wrap up when I get home.

I may not be a crafting natural- but I did find time to decorate with a few things to get us into the Holiday spirit!

Around the Barn

We've had some pretty spectacular weather at home this winter. Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises. Even a full fledged rainbow as I was leaving Brown Ranch....the end of which was on my way to ride Ellie. I may or may not have tried to find a pot of gold!

A Veritable Smorgasboard

Whew- it's been a hot minute since I've blogged. Work, busy, Holiday, etc, etc, etc.

And actually there has been tons to say...I've got a whole photo of edited photos just ready to go!
As Lauren would say, I just needed some time to refill the bucket.

Ellie had her stifles injected on Thursday so I mentioned to Ali that I would be more than happy to ride any seconds on Saturday, thinking I'd be able to grab a quick ride on one of the lesson horses. Luckily for me the working student was sick (although not great for poor McKenzie) and there were THREE for me to ride! Two sale horses and one client horse. All SO lovely. Evan, the horse on the left below, is my gelding crush....yum yum yum. Nero on the top right is owned by a fun ammy and he's stalled next to Ellie! Expresso on the lower right is super smooth and that suspension (I couldn't help but get a little video).

What a super fun treat to be able to get some saddle time on these amazing horses!

Winter is Here

Ellie- you LIVE on this side of the arena. Chill out.

Stitches

Somebody came out to look at Wilbur on Friday with their trainer and liked him enough to set up a prepurchase exam.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, feeling sad on my way out to the barns. Should I even stop and visit Wilbur? Will it make me more sad? But I packed this tiny bag of carrots just for him!

I stopped of course.

As he was walking towards me I noticed something glinting on his face. Huh.
Gah! Jesus! What do I do?!?

Freak out and call the vet is what I do. After sending a series of photos and awaiting a response I said, "Man up Emily and freaking go to Westhaven, get some triple antibiotic stuff, and a working student to help." After texting this plan to the vet- she promptly responded with a "stitches needed, don't touch."

 Two hours later, Wilbur was sewn up and looked good as new!  Well....kinda. In addition to slicing open his face, he managed to bang a major nerve and his nose is lilting to one side. Awesome. Way to look neurological right before a vet check!

And Sunday began the outpatient care- Dex, Bute, Swat. Luckily I've passed the baton to his trainer this week to keep up with and will be back out tomorrow with the vet for a recheck and vaccinations! Oh Wilbur.

Dover Grand Opening

I attended the Thursday evening Dover Grand Opening with a few coworkers and friends....and the place was a mad house. But so, so fabulous! 

If you can believe it, I didn't buy a single thing- it was so packed you could barely get close enough to swipe a crop or pair of gloves. I did manage to try on a Samshield and First Lady for comparison purposes- it was such a luxury to actually be able to see fit! 

I contented myself with cleaning and organizing my trunks on Sunday and looking at the things I have but never actually use as a consolation prize. 

Barn Hangout!

What is more fun than an impromptu Barn Hangout? NOTHING! What IS a barn hangout? It's when friends from barns gone by all get together and visit! Some early morning Saturday texting led to a visit to Westhaven by my friend Sarah, and former Ellie trainer, Emma!

Sarah has Finn just down the street and Emma had the chance to catch them rocking their morning lesson, and then they both headed over for my 11am on Ellie! Naturally I was like the prerequisite to watching is also obliging to take video- hence the below.

Afterwards we grabbed some Mexican, cocktails, and, of course, gossip. Nothing better!

Is it Really Only Monday?

I'm ready for the weekend!

Foggy Morning

Tidying Up

After a day of feeling frantic, I'm looking forward to reading this tonight! Ah Amazon Prime- how I love thee- free overnight shipping with the addition of these cute paper clips for the Day Designer I treated myself to for my Birthday.
Hopefully by the time January rolls around I will be uncluttered and ready to design my days into something less chaotic.

It's a Cat Kind of Wednesday

I wonder if Linus knows that Felix is there?

No Stirrup November

All three of my trainers seem to have come to the general consensus that Emily will not jump up until she is bored to tears over her current fence height.

Haha trainers. Fine. I'll show you- I'll make this more amusing by jumping everything without stirrups.

Seriously though, since I am crooked on the flat and wiggly towards the fences, I've taken delight in dropping my stirrups to get more centered in the saddle and a deeper, more confident seat riding up to jumps. Not to mention that riding sans irons is continuing to develop my leg and heel.

Now if I could only get that same pleasure out of posting the trot without stirrups. This has the potential to be a looonnnggg winter.

A Face Only a Mother Could Love

What a goober

Ears Pricked

PAUL came to the barn on Saturday! Of course I was SO excited to show him how far we'd come since he's last seen me ride....but my ulterior motive was to get some blog content....Emily actually rides her horse sometimes.

Poor Paul- he had no idea the wrath he was in for when he innocently commented shortly after the lesson that my phone had run out of storage and his phone had died.

He had some work to finish up today and since I have staunchly decided that I will not work, nor be guilt-ed into working on the weekends, went to get a pedicure which then led to a glass of wine at a local wine bar happy hour before heading home. While I was perusing the still photos (apologies for the pixel- fail..... sweetie- it's called zoom) I realized that I had a gem of a shot on my hands. It was all I could to not to jet out on my wine to get to this blog. A picture of "Ever Angry Ellie" with her ears FORWARD! It does happen occasionally and here was photographic proof!

Paul- all is forgiven.

Don't Worry Folks....

It's just ketchup

Circle of Doom

What does this giant circle represent? Good guess but the orange is not footing with a dash of red for texture. This circle is clearly a fiery pit of hell.

The act of sketching it out was cathartic enough that I'm actually able to write about it now.

KIDDING-ish.

Saturday we worked on the circle of doom- 4 fences set on a perfect 20 meter circle. This should net us 4 strides between each jump. Easy right?

This exercise gets me every time. Oh Ellie, a slight bulge to the outside? That's 5 strides. An over correction from me? An ugly 3.5.

We've been working a lot on staying centered in the saddle so I finally gave up my stirrups and had one of the best rounds of the day. Who knew!

What exercise is your nemesis?

Tack Haul

I'm sure I'll eventually get around to doing the Smartpak blog hop that has been circulating- I do love me some Smartpak!

But when I lost the metal top to my hoofpick somewhere in Ellie's stall (I know- it's giving me nightmares too) I'm gonna turn to Riding Warehouse for the win!
Where else can I get free overnight shipping?

It was not the most exciting of haul's- just running low on some grooming supplies.

I just couldn't resist......
The super sale Jacket that everyone has been talking about! It might be a little avant garde for Hunters but I think the color will look so pretty on Ellie!

Helper Elf

Loved having my pint sized helper at the barn on Saturday! She is too cute for words and Ellie is such a kind mare around little folks!

Little Miss Jill comes to the barn with Polly on Saturdays and has been kind enough to hold Ellie for me while she gets tacked up. She obviously came prepared to ride and tootled around on Roman before our lesson. I'm planning to give her a spin on Ellie next week!

If You Give an Appaloosa a Carrot

He's going to demand more and ruin your selfie.

Contortionist

I know what we're all going to say here...."Ellie is SO CUTE." Which she is. But her hidden talent? She's a contortionist.
A bit of a gangly teen whose favorite pose is to stand with her front hooves spread out like a giraffe. There's a little bit of that in this picture.

But it's her back legs. Notice how both of her hooves are pointed to her left? It's a little creepy right? She does this all the time.