Weekly round up: SS2020 and viruses

Well, I started this post last week, when we were just monitoring COVID-19 in my region.  It's amazing how quickly things can change in a week....  Amanda at the900facebookpony.com posted about the virus on Thursday am and I glibly commented that things here in Canada weren't too bad.

Ha!

Things sure went sideways over the course of the day Thursday and by Friday noon, all schools in the province were to be closed until April, the Prime Minister's wife tested positive for the virus and the PM was "working from home" as a precautionary measure.  Our parliament has also closed until April, so that is kind of a big deal (I live near and work in the capital city so the machinations of government affect us a lot).  Since I work for our national police force, I have had a pretty busy week and Friday was the busiest day of all. I work in public affairs tho, so its not like I'm on the front lines or anything, but it still was a hectic day.

We haven't found out yet what our work plan will be moving forward - we all have to come to work on Monday unless we hear otherwise.  My job can be done from home, so that would be ideal.  It is just such a weird situation - I remember SARS and H1N1 and it was never this bad.  I hope we can work from home as that would be the best case scenario, but you never know with our office.

I am trying not to give in to the hype and anxiety over this illness outbreak - but I can't help but worry a bit about the vulnerable population and people that may lose income because their work has been shut down.  Our government is pretty good at helping people in need and they've already announced measures to help, so that is a start.

Anyhoo - enough of the plague-talk.  I meant to do a mini-review on another book, but I didn't get around to it.  In order to help de-stress, I spent an inordinate amount of time window shopping for horse gear that I don't need!

The lure of online shopping has been strong this week, with more and more collections releasing their spring/summer colours.  I normally can resist this stuff no problem, but for some reason, I'm having a hard time this year.

It doesn't make sense for me to be tempted, really, when you look at it.  Let's look at the facts:

• I haven't sat on a horse in over a year
• I don't currently own a horse that is broke to ride
• If I were to ride, I ride western
• I'm trying to save money for shows and a foal coming next year

Yet, here I sit, clicking through the Hufglocken collection, drooling over the silver-grey and the black/whiskey and the charcoal/blue combo.  Maybe Fred needs some metallic bronze boots or chestnut snakeskin boots? OMG.  lol  What is wrong with me?  Luckily I have been able to resist, but I can't guarantee I will hold out forever!

The other thing I'm obsessed with searching for is denim breeches.  Why?  Who knows? lol  I mean likely because when I ride western, I tend to wear any normal jeans.   I don't really like or need breeches, but when I do, I want a denim pair as they are more like normal jeans??  Lol  Again, I would need to be riding to justify buying breeches, so for now I'll just keep window shopping and resist the little "add to cart" buttons everywhere.

Animo

PS of Sweden

 I hope everyone stays healthy and has no issues with work or anything!  Fingers crossed that this virus gets under control and we can all get back to normal...

Delayed Hallowe'en and random updates

We had a couple of days of storms with high winds and rain over Hallowe'en - our city was contemplating moving Hallowe'en trick or treating to another day so the weather would be better for the kids!  A lot of people were very angry about this, so it was kept on the same day!  I think the city of Montreal did move trick or treating to Thursday or Friday!

Anyway - I was planning on taking pictures of Fred in his skull gear on Thursday, but it was too gross to get decent pictures outside.  This attempt at a matching outfit was inspired by Stacie at Amateur at Large - her outfits and her horse's outfits are pretty amazing, so I thought I would do a post in homage to her.  ;-)  Turns out it is way harder to get good pics and put everything together than I thought. I also dislike taking pictures of myself, so you won't see much of my outfit.

When I did my big shopping spree in late September, I found a cute skeleton saddle pad and halter from Horze.  I like skulls, so I couldn't resist.  They even had a skeleton rain sheet, but I tried to have some self control and didn't get that.

Horze halter and fly bonnet my Mom made a while ago

I also made him wear a fly bonnet even though the flies are long gone (one good thing about November).  My Mom made this for me a while ago and she said it was a pain to crochet, so she wasn't going to do any more!  hahaha. 

I'm not a fan of the Horze halter - the fit was a bit weird, even on Fred's big head. It wouldn't fit a smaller horse well at all.

Cute horze saddle pad

 Man, my saddle needs some oil. Ahem - add that to the list for this month!  I like to bring tack inside and work on it by the fireplace!

Lame attempt at a selfie with my skull hat...My arms are just too short for selfies!

I found this skull hat (or toque if you are Cdn) at the Dollar store last year. It cracks me up.  It wasn't really that cold, but you know, for the sake of the themed outfit...

Found this tshirt on zulilly a while back - couldn't resist.

The rest of my outfit was boring, so I didn't attempt a photo. I was wearing black tights, black paddock boots and my fitbit with skulls.

Post work hallowe'en cookie!

We worked on some showmanship stuff and practicing setting up on the laneway, since everywhere else was a muddy swamp.  I switched Fred back to his regular halter after and gave him a big cookie as a reward. I won these cookies in a raffle at a club banquet last weekend! They are super cute and Fred loves them.

New Bucas rainsheet - in black to go with the skull/black theme (or that was the only colour)

 And I broke my no-shopping streak on Friday -  I only made it 8 days - I had to buy Fred another rain sheet at the local tack shop, since his new green one is not waterproof at all! Ugh.

On Friday night, I went to a paint night with a big group of horse friends.  It was a hoot - the painting is easy - they give you templates, so you don't have to worry about the actual painting part as much.  This is a key factor when adult beverages are involved!  Of course I chose something about cats, since they didn't have any horse options.   We are going to do another one this winter and my friend is going to send them a bunch of horse quotes for signs, so that will be fun.

This weekend has been all about tack and cleaning up and organizing my little barn.  It sort of looked like a tack store exploded in there.  lol  I have a bunch of tack I'm selling for the therapeutic riding centre and a bunch of my tack that needs to go. I brought all of that in the house to clean and take pictures so I can list it online.  I also hung up all the winter blankets and put away (sniff!) all of the summer gear.  So, I'm making some progress there!

And my last random update is that I also have to pack this weekend, as on Thursday I'm heading out of town for a little jaunt to Disneyworld!  It was my Mom's 70th bday this year, so she wanted to go to Disney with my cousin and I.  We fly out of Detroit early Saturday morning and I'll be gone for a week!  

WW: 6 days and counting

Treat yo'self - mega edition

I've been trying to keep my horse "stuff" shopping to a minimum lately.   I was able to get away with it over the past year as I wasn't riding or showing much and all the horses had what they needed.

Until Fred grew. And grew. And continues to grow. And stuff gets old and needs to be replaced. And then before you know it, I'm on a full out shopping spree. I even ordered a couple of things from the UK - or at least tried to - one site with a lot of cool stuff didn't ship to North America! (the nerve!)

Started filling this out before I realized they don't ship to NA - they actually have Lord and Lady to choose from! LOL

Fred really needed new blankets this winter - his butt was hanging out of his size 81s from last winter. And he didn't have a rain sheet, so he now has a nice new wardrobe of green and matching blankets! I bought an old green/blue plaid stable sheet from a friend for $20, so I saved some cash there.

winter pjs

I also couldn't find what I was looking for here - green blankets for a reasonable price - so I broadened my search to the US.  Shipping to Canada is super expensive for some reason (it's not like I'm that far away) so my friend and I planned a trip over to NY state to pick up our items at a UPS store that holds items for desperate Canadian shoppers.  (yes, this exists!)  I also ordered myself a new pair of winter gloves, a winter coat and a new stretchy hose from Schneiders.  I'm only about 1hr from the border, so this is a fun option, as we make sure to hit up the TSC and a grocery store for my vanilla coke fix.

so cute.  And there is a heavyweight t/o in green too!

Copper didn't go neglected, don't worry. I got him a nice new rain sheet to hopefully keep his thick coat dry so he doesn't get rain rot again.  The thick coat he gets is a good and a bad thing, it seems.

I'll probably  cave and get him the matching purple winter t/o 'cause I'm a sucker!

I also got a few sweet things from going through all of the used tack at the therapeutic riding centre.  Maybe volunteering to help them re-sell old tack wasn't so smart, since I've been buying most of it!!!  I found Fred a 5.5" bit to tide him over until his 6" ones arrive from the UK.  He wasn't doing great with the copper rollers - too much for him to play with - so I'll try the full cheek snaffle.

Ahem - need to clean this tack at some point...

I also snagged a BoT dressage pad, a rambo newmarket fleece, old woof wear tendon boots, eskadron wraps, two wool coolers (I like to have spare coolers in case a horse is sweaty/colicky/cold) and a few other odds and ends.

Not green and a tad small, but for $20, good to have around.

So, after my little mega shopping spree, the boys should be good to get through the winter.  And while I bought a few things I needed, I still have a long-term wish list that seems to keep growing...but I'll try to hold off until the new year to shop!

BoT pads, coolers and not shown: all kinds of other stuff.  Omg my barn needs to be cleaned out big time!

Oh and since I started this post, I have ordered more from the UK (omg this is a dangerous trend) and I got a new cat!!!  Meet Archie - he is 4-8 months old and is from my friend who volunteers for a rescue and had a bunch of kittens.  Yes, I already have 2 cats, but I could not pass this guy up.  He is very sweet and affectionate and fitting in well around here.    Be prepared for lots of cat pictures moving forward, as we are heading into winter, so reading books with cats on my lap is my main goal  ;-)


Edited to add:  And I have two more big purchases to announce later this week.  OMG  Money floweth like water around here!  LOL

The tongue out kills me...lol





Archie and his ear floofs

Fred is backed!

I've been working with Fred a fair bit over the past 3 or so weeks.   I've been tacking him up and hand-walking him and I had bridled him a couple of times but I quickly reached the limit of my experience with starting a young horse - pretty much zero!  LOL. I've never actually worked with a young horse before!   I've always assumed that my nervous temperament (lol) wasn't a good match for a young horse. 

Con: sun sets earlier and earlier. Pro: beauty sunsets

Fred has the quietest temperament so far out of a lot of the horses I've worked with over the years. I actually keep forgetting he is only 4 and hasn't actually "done" much.  He does have moments where he gets a little wound up if he isn't sure what he is expected to do, but he settles right back down if you give him a break or have him do something different.

Since Fred is a halter horse, I don't have any expectations for him as a riding horse. I'd like him to be green broke at minimum, in case I sell him in the future.  With his temperament and size, he'd be a great husband horse or something. 

Early lesson - working on giving to the bit

I was looking around on Facebook wishing I had someone that could come out and do a few lessons with me on how to back Fred and install some of the basics.  I will send him off to a trainer at some point, but not likely until 2021.  I have no timeline and no agenda (which is sooo relaxing!) and lo' and behold, I found someone that would come to my house. She is a very kind lady that a few acquaintances have worked with, so I had a hunch she would be a good fit. 

We've had three sessions so far and she backed Fred last week!  He has been super good and not at all phased by having someone on his back.  He has way more whoa than go though, so that is kind of interesting.  He is not super quick at getting the concept of rein pressure (likely because he is chewing the ever-loving crap out of the bit!) and is a bit sticky with his front feet, but that will all come with time.  He has been good about moving his hind end though and can do a turn on the fore already. 

Rider up!  Sorry about the crappy pic - it was super cloudy! 

So far, we've been using my English saddle, which seems to fit him reasonably well for what we are asking of him.  The saddle fit is a bit of a surprise, since the kid is huge!  I've had to buy 3 new girths since March and I'm now up to a size 56"!  Same goes for bits.  I started him with a 5" bit and quickly realized that was too small. I could only get a 5.5" at my local tack shop which is just barely ok. I actually had to order a couple of 6" bits online.  I'm having fun ordering new stuff though, as I've had myself on a pretty strict spending ban.

Copper having a snack beside my shopping haul

And you astute readers are probably wondering why I'm using an English saddle when I typically would ride western.  Good question!  It is because he is so big that it would be a bit hard to throw my western saddle allllll the way up there (I'm only 5' tall and he is at least 16.2hh!)  All of my tack and, well, everything is for my 15hh horses of the past.  I'm totally not used to all of this monster-sized stuff!  More on my shopping binge next post!