Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange

Thanks to Tracy @ The Printable Pony for another AMAZING blogger gift exchange!

I received a wonderful treat from a "new to me" blogger- Amy & Gwyn of Quantum Chrome. I'm looking forward to following along in their adventures!

The ponies are going to be spoiled from all their treats (especially the Apple/ Banana flavored Equi-Treats) and the always popular Muscle Soothe from The Herbal Horse. I may end up sneaking some of the Muscle Soothe for myself.....along with the Be Calm for this final stretch leading up to Holiday!

Candles, Peddies, and the most legit Vetrap I've ever seen- but my favorite item of the bunch was the handmade card featuring yours truly and Ellie. What a thoughtful and personal touch! Amy is a lovely artist!

Thank you Amy & Gwyn! Cheers to a Happy & Healthy Holiday Season!

Challenge Update

Nothing like slipping into a slightly too tight pair of white breeches to keep one on the straight and narrow Challenge path!

Branded Hat

The mother of our one Junior found herself with plenty of time on her hands recovering after a surgery so she hand knitted a whole bunch a beautiful hats with our Landmark Equestrian logo! What a lovely treat to find in my trunk- super impressed by her skills!

The Look

Making sure I can put together these adorable outfits from AETA come Fall!

AETA Treat- Spiced Equestrian

This AETA trip I was not only shopping for myself, but for all folks whose favors I had to call in getting ready for the trade show (and if I'm being honest, the last four weeks). 

Fortunately I found the awesome Spiced Equestrian, a one stop shop for cute tees, hats, socks, and bags! I picked up a few treats for friends and this bag for myself! 

2016 Blogger Gift Exchange

Thank you Tracy at Fly on Over Eq for hosting yet another wonderful Holiday Blogger Gift Exchange! It's such a fun way to connect with new bloggers and celebrate the Season!

The Blog has been a bit quiet as Paul and I made our annual pilgrimage to Ohio to spend Christmas with our families. There was a fun surprise awaiting me at the office today and it must be noted that my gifter took went above and beyond to make sure I had my package before the Holiday- unfortunately we were ships in the night....I literally missed it by one day.

I was treated to a whole bevy of fun presents from Elizabeth at Clover Ledge Farm- each was individually wrapped and adorned in bows with fun tags!

The first gift I opened was in a wine bottle bag and while Elizabeth was appropriately apologetic that there was not actually wine in there (clearly she got to know me during this process), she gave me something even better- Green Spot Remover. This stuff is like liquid gold when you have a grey horse and I can run through a bottle lickety split.

Ellie scored in the next round with Uncle Jimmy's Squeezy Buns treats! I've never tried these before and I have a feeling Miss Elle is not going to object. I LOVE when I have a tub of fancy treats to give her!

Finally a beautiful, handmade suncatcher! Through Tracy, Elizabeth had reached out to find out what my barn colors were and I had shared the standard lineup of navy, hunter green, etc etc.... and then confessed that I sometimes like to dress Ellie in purple....so the choice in stone is more than perfect. If you haven't had a chance to follow along with Clover Ledge, Elizabeth owns two beautiful Standardbred gals- and the suncatcher is built on a Standardbred racing shoe! Because I love nothing more than adorning my desk with ALL THE HORSE THINGS I immediately found the perfect spot where I can enjoy it every day!

Thank you, Elizabeth, for the wonderful and thoughtful gifts! You're awesome!

A Breech Rainbow

I quelled my OCD on Saturday by doing some mid-year closet cleaning and reorganization.

I was able to pull together a good haul of items to donate and I'm still toying with the idea of selling a few pieces online just to get my feet wet. More than just purging, it was great to take inventory and also just refold things- I tend to grab things closest to the top so a reorg gets me in some lesser worn stuff. Categorization was also a big theme- denim shirts all together, tee shirts all together....and I did go a little crazy with color coordination in my Breech shelves!

I'm always curious to hear how other's organize their closets! How often? Rules of thumb for what to keep and what to donate?

Dover Show Haul

I never got around to posting about my Dover haul prior to the show. Per the usual, I had a relatively tidy list going in with a fleece girth and hairnets on the must have list....naturally that trip didn't go quite as planned.....

Charles Owen Wellington- Why a new helmet? It was on sale of course (I also have, it turns out, a helmet addiction. It's a sickness). But the rivets on my ARY8 are literally blue and/or rusty with corrosion and it's always damp when I put it on- I think it has outlived its three year lifespan. Mind your melon!
 
RJ Classics Basic- This was THE BEST purchase! The navy jacket my barn friend had given me was just not the right fit and I didn't want to go into my DERBY feeling uncomfortable! Cheap, washable, and a quality to it that surprised me given the price!

Cheapie Girth- I was glad to grab this- my current girth needs some help!

Ogilvy Baby Pad- yeah- for all of those schooling rides we did at the show right? No. Luckily it will come in handy and help us look sharp for our clinic.
I wrestled with the idea of putting one of the above back and buying the navy, gray, and burgundy colors as well! I really want to have them all!

A little extravagant perhaps but I felt great and this gear will go a long way. Pennies on the dollar right? Now I need one of my blogger friends to lend me a one on one coaching session on how to sell stuff on the internet so I can make room! Volunteers requested!

Herbal Horse Review: Part 1

Ellie is in Sacramento so I can't put my new goodies from The Herbal Horse, a small business focused on all natural product for the horse and rider, to good use just yet.....
But that doesn't mean I can't write a Part 1 review right?

Packaging: Adorable. And it so happened that I forgot to pack hairbands today for my office's 4pm yoga class- how did Helen know to include a few? Can't beat a cute fox print! Little touches throughout the box, stuffing, and containers show attention to detail!

Extras: Suckers, hairbands (yes- I'm clearly sold), and samples? Plus a hand written thank you note written in GOLD pen. Love the extra touches! Did I mention that I'm 5 Unicorn points away from $10 off my next purchase?

Smells: The scent of the product came through the box- notes of Lavender and Rose- helped along by the Lavender satchel (EXTRA) included in the box!

I'm including the USEF approved "Be Calm" and Lip Balms (Blackberry, Rose, Vanilla Lavender) in my show bag and may need to place a pre-order of "Muscle Soothe" for receipt by the time I get home!

Coworkers Who "Get It"

I did a little bit of desk coverage while my coworker was on maternity leave and she sent this lovely customized saddle pad as a thank you!

Love getting fun treats in the mail and Ellie is going to look fabulous!

Show Prep: Barn Friend Generosity

I'm rather disappointed to say that I can't quite fit into my show coats at the moment. Nor could I at the Sonoma show last year and was luckily able to borrow some for the weekend from a trainer friend of Ali.

I had planned on visiting Dover this weekend to get fitted for a coat that I could use for the upcoming Brookside show. This wasn't going to be a fun purchase since I already own a coat too many, would have much rather have fit into my current assortment, and used my Christmas Dover giftcards on new Ogilvy baby pads. When a barn mate offered to bring a few coats for me to try I said YES and ended up with two coats-  beautiful Navy and Gray versions that will look great on Ellie!

Problem solved! Although I still may make that trip to Dover.....

Show Prep: SP Two Day Ship Test

When I bought my saddle back (I could have sworn I blogged about that whole lucky situation but can't for the life of my track down the post)- it came kitted out with Royal Rider Stirrups.

I haven't minded riding in composite stirrups...but since Ellie and I are heading into the Big Eq ring and all, I finally moved on a pair of MDC S Classic Stirrups thanks to the Smartpak 20% off sale and a gift card from Christmas (Thanks MOM)!

With all of the glowing reviews from this community they've been on my want list forever. Aren't they beautiful?

And thanks to Smartpak's new warehouse- ordered on Thursday night with a Monday morning arrival!

OMGEE Free Two Day Shipping

You know when you're deleting the mountains of junk mail in your gmail box and something catches your eye but you've already hit delete and you're like "nooooo" and it seems to have disappeared into the ether? That happened the other day with Smartpak's Free Two Day Ship email....was it just a figment of my imagination? SP usually has a 7 day turn to make it out to CA!

Luckily not- and I swiped a coworker's catalog before coming home to find my own. Just in case. Since I have an AQHA number they've occasionally been known to send me their Western version of the catalog. I'm sorry- I just can't get as excited.

So I'm making dinner (zucchini spaghetti as an excuse to buy red wine and put a dribble in the marinara and the rest in my tummy) and perusing all of the fun items I can get in a blink of an eye! Amazon Prime level? For an equestrian...pretty damn close.

#ROOTD and Moose

In an effort to brighten up an otherwise gloomy day I decided to bust out my best Spring colors! I enjoyed reading Aimee's Post about being a Tack Ho but not a Riding Outfit Ho. I'm much more the latter, and you'd think that having things merchandised for me in front of my face would make it easy to put outfits together. Yet I continue to buy pieces and on a Saturday morning when I'm getting ready to head to the barn...nothing seems to go together. I end up in the same boring old White Sunstopper. Breeches. Maybe a jacket.

So imagine my delight when this happened....
showcased perfectly by my second ride of the day on Moose!

Where in the World?

For lack of horse stories and the mental capacity to describe my three good rides last weekend I thought I'd instead share my new treasure- simply known as Backpack.

Around this time last year I ended up immobilized with bicep tendinitis literally from carrying my over-the-shoulder laptop bag through the airports. My wonderful Paul had the forethought to research and purchase the best new laptop backpack I've ever seen. It made its debut at AETA in Philly and has since been to Salt Lake, Arkansas, Vegas, and will be heading to NYC tomorrow with a Seattle trip next week to round out the bunch.

I love this thing. Super chic, super deep, holds a TON of stuff with nifty compartments to hide cords, pens, wallets, waterbottles. Best of all- I can pack it full and carry it easily- what a relief!

Felt and Leather Fabulous

I see an oversized baggage charge in my future

#ROOTD

I pulled out all the stops with Ellie's outfit in our Saturday lesson. If we're going to bumble around over some crossrails at least we're going to look damn good doing it.
The first time in her bright white Ogilvy baby pad (LOVE-it doesn't shift at all)- and Ellie's added a pop of color with her Navy boots. In turn- I'm trying out the new Navy Charles Owen and pairing my White Sunstopper with Navy breeches.
I wasn't kidding- blur of Navy and Dapples.

Of course a great ROOTD (Riding Outfit of the Day) isn't complete without a fashionable lesson friend to join you!

AETA Round 2....Except

Even with the best of intentions to share AETA spoils my week has consisted of....

Back and forth.

And even the best laid plans get thwarted. Luckily a coworker and I had scoped out the Charles Owen booth on Sunday for our prizes so when noon Monday rolled around I was able to duck out for a moment and pick up the goods using the excuse "Vivia will kill me if I don't get her helmet."

It's navy and even in this unattractive light, I love it. I can just see us now- a blur of dapples and navy. Now let's get to the barn!

Denver Market

Five fun filled days in Denver! I love the new Showroom- what a difference! The only rub was the Mart was blasting the air conditioner for two days (in January- why?!?) and in such a big space it never actually warmed up even when they finally turned it off. I spent most of the show strategically standing next to space heaters.

Mud Room

We've apparently had some pretty incredible amounts of rain while I've been away as evidenced by the mud pit that seems to be at both barns. Of course Wilbur has had a few showing in the past few days- his trainer may have referred to him as a "swamp thing," likely not fondly since she's the one having to prep him.

I'm feeling fortunate to have a basement that I can tromp into and discard my nasty boots after a barn visit! How do you manage the "messiness" of the winter months?

OR

Just home from Salt Lake after spending most of last week at the Outdoor Retailer trade show. We got a few inches of snow my first evening in which was fun, although made me question the reasoning behind bringing my Ariat ballet flats. I had Jimmy Johns twice- delicious as always, got to see some great product, finally ordered my Danner "Wild" boots, and met some super fans at the show!