Shiny New

It's that time of year again.

Christmas. 

I like to pretend I'm not a wanty human and reject the notion of the over stigmatized holiday, but let's be real. I like stuff. And things.

 And after all the bills every month have no extra funds left over for fun things. And it seems like everyone else in blogland is getting news things, like saddles and bridles and horses and I'm over here like, "hi. I've had the same tack since I was 11 years old basically."

This year, I have been silently stalking new technologies in addition to normal things like new breeches, helmet and boots. Things I desperately and ACTUALLY need. My boots are on their last leg, and my helmet is about 6 months past the expiration date. I've also taken 3 tumbles with that helmet. Almost useless. I also really could use a new saddle, but that got shoved aside for grad school. Tragically, since I've literally never had the luxury of a saddle that truly fits me. 

However, I can still dream right?

That being said, of course I'm mercilessly window shopping for all the things I cant have and want.

The Bua saddles caught my eye when they first came out. Like most things I stumble upon, it was found on Facebook through a linked article. 

what is this beautiful thing

Looks mighty cool right? 

Then at second glance, you might be like "what am I actually looking at?"

No but really, whats going on here?

Whatever it is, I like it

It is a truly odd invention, but something I could see myself using and benefitting from. 

In case you haven't had the chance to read about it, click here. 

An eventers dream, IMO. Who wouldn't want to use one saddle for all three phases? Granted, I'm wondering how easy interchanging flaps will be, but preliminary reviews I found online states it was relatively easy. 

Personally, I find the saddle attractive in a "it's so ugly it's gorgeous" way. Unique is a great word to describe it. But COLORS. I know some of you are all about color, and I am very into that orange. 

The price too, seemed reasonable, to me, in the terms of fancy new things.. For all the high class saddles available for equestrians bank accounts to cry over, the Bua is relatively 'not horrible'. One CWD can cost more than $1000 more and can "only" be used for one discipline. I'm not a fan of riding dressage in a jump saddle, and will always favor a dressage saddle for dressage work. But that's just me. The Bua can be used for both though!

I am really curious to see the reviews once the saddle gets "out there" and is marketed a little better. For now it's stuck in IRE with limited availability to order from the USA. I'm kind of wanting to get myself on the list. 

Second really neat cool thing I stumbled on is this 

The marketing specifically states "it's not a Fitbit for horses", but really? It tracks heartrate, the amount of times they lay down, sleep, etc....it's a Fitbit for horses.

And I need one. 

Obviously. 

All the initial comments on Facebook are of course attacking the notion of leaving a halter on 24-7. Um. It's leather. And breakaway.  That's a whole mess safer than regular cribbing collars or nylon haters. 

Hell, I kept B in an old leather halter 24/7/365 because he was impossible to catch at first. He survived just fine. 

Also, engraved plates come with it. A tack whores dream. Shiny, and useful! 

They look really smart and I would have no qualms keeping the collar on my precious all the time. 

Also because I'm a nerd, is really intriguing to think about the technology that goes into this type of invention. And I want it. 

Despite seeming a little on the excessive side, horses (and their people) could really benefit from this. More so on the "keeping people sane" side, but nevertheless, a really handy tool.

Auto alerts to your phone, which if you're like me, have on oneself at all times. Especially since the nugget is no longer at my home, 3 seconds from my door, I would find peace in this device. Even more so, for trailering! If you've followed us, you know our issues with the metal horse shredder.  It sounds really silly when I'm typing it out in a blog post...I just want one, OK?

I'm extremely curious to see how much they'll be asking for it, once it releases next year. I feel like they're currently marketing towards the ULR's who travel a ton, and not the lowly plebes like my self. Betting it'll be like $600 and then a $20/month sort of deal to monitor it. Which is insane. If its like $200 and still has a monthly fee I miiiight consider it. Still really cool to think about.

What cool gadgets have you all come across recently that you're dying to get?

Inner Turmoil

I'm sure there's this point in our riding careers where we deeply contemplate putting things on hold.

I'm sure.

But it is really hard for me to even consider to consider the idea.

I just want to do all the things, okay? GOSH why can't everything else just work around that...

HAHA.

For those that are not as up to date in my personal life, I have been noodling the idea to do the grad school thing, for oh, four years now (since I graduated from undergrad), just never really made the final commitment and push to do so.

Thinking logically, I really didn't know what I wanted to get a masters degree in anyways. Pointless to wander around in grad school land with no real direction. Hell, thats what undergrad was for. Thinking monetarily, I couldn't afford to do it at all, even with loans. I still barely can, but adulting.

Now, I have both secured away & I finally sacked up and applied.

My job will pay for approximately 28% of the total cost, and loans will take care of the rest. I also decided on a DUAL masters, because I apparently a masochist and want to make myself cry and lose sleep for two years.

But, in two years time, IF I make it into the program, I will have a shiny *new* piece of paper that I can show everyone and be like, "Look, I did a thing. And I have another piece of paper to show for it"

Just kidding.

But really... MHA/MBA sounds impressive, but all I am really going for is a salary booster and bragging rights, lets be real. Plus my dad has doctorate just for funsies and my mother two masters, so I have to keep up tradition.

In all seriousness though, getting a masters has been a hope and dream of mine since I was a little girl and I am excited/sick to my stomach over the fact that I actually began the process.

Not sure where it will fit in, but I guess I am about to lose a lot of sleep.

I've decided that I need to be more like my mom and channel my inner superwoman and just do it. Its possible to gym, work full time, school and ride. She did all those things, just substitute riding with raising two kids. She turned out fine. Its fiiiiine.

Selling Bacardi to help pay for school flitted across my mind, but really, I don't know if I could now.

We've bonded so much in the last 4 months and I'm really starting to feel a true partnership and to cut that short would kill me.

Plus lets be real, no matter how much we hate them sometimes, or have a bad ride, or bitch about how much they cost, horses mean the world to us. At least they do for me.

I cannot fathom a world where I didn't own a horse. I think about how stressed, tired and over life I will be while pursuing this degree and know that even though I won't have everyday free to ride, just knowing I have that escape will keep me sane. Nothing is better for the soul than the barn. I try to imagine a world where I can't just decide to go feed my horse carrots and listen to the ponies eat. I cant imagine not being able to feel the surge of a powerful creature beneath me. I would hate to not worry about writing that board payment every month, grumbling at the fact that its half a paycheck, because I know that would mean I dont have a horse, waiting with pricked ears, looking for cookies.  Can't even think about how painful it would be to see my boots sitting in the garage, unused. I can't bear to fathom a world where I wasn't frozen to the core while treating a sick horse, or sweating through a tough dressage lesson. I just can't.

Its really eating me up inside, knowing the SMARTER decision would be to take a break, sell all the things, pocket the money and catch up later in life.

But I can't, I has the feels.

I has the feels for a horse.

Time Flies

Quick little update because I'm convinced I'm dying and my shoulder is actually going to fall off of my body. 

Facebook was so kind to remind me that Yankee has been gone exactly one year today. 

It actually seems like much longer than that, and it's interesting to reflect on the last year and what all has changed and occurred. If I had more patience and time I would actually post about it, but alas. 

On this day last year I tacked my boy up for our last ride. I didn't know how long it would be before I would sit on his back again, & I knew it wouldn't be forever, but I wanted one more memory. 

This guy was my rock and my angel for ten years. I'm so very happy he had the experiences he did in the last year, and I'm looking forward to his next adventures as well. 

Feeling a little nostalgic today though, thinking back over the last TEN years with him. 

Gosh, time does really fly.  

Round Two, Part Three

As promised, I was able to finish clipping the beast last night. That makes it the second session for the second session of the year. Ha. 

First time I clipped a very low trace with chevrons (because chevrons)! 

I most likely did it too early since he grew it all back in 4 weeks, but it needed to be done. No one wants to be working in 80 degree weather with a winter coat.

If you're not caught up, I randomly decided to re clip him on Monday, but my blades were terribly dull and I'm currently nursing a shoulder injury and I only got one side finished. 

Yesterday I came into some cash and logically spent most of it on clipper blades. Because clipper blades are more imperative than gasoline or food, obviously. That can wait one more day. 

It was then that I discovered that I have a real problem, when I realized I now own four sets of clipper blades; 3 very old and very fucked up sets and one shiny new set. 

Halp. 

At $40/set, I should probably just find a blade sharpener guy...but no. Going to the store is easier and probably just as expensive as getting them sharpened, right?

There's nothing like new blades though. 

Something is very satisfying about smoothly cutting through horse hair like a hot knife through butter. 

Bacardi pleased me as well, by standing stock still for this session. A radical

improvement from last year with drugs and sedation and several sessions. The only thing he was skeptical about was trimming his muzzle. I'm pretty sure he though that the clippers were some sort of horse nose devouring machine and he wouldn't let me near his muzzle with them turned on. However, clipped his face just fine. Good man. 

I got a little squirrelly and kept making adjustments to the clip. 

He kinda of reminds me of a dragon with  bright red polos and chevrons all over, but I think it's....creative. Not exactly what I was going for, but that's what I get when I freehand with my left arm. 

Good news is he looks really dapper with tack on and I can't wait to get more pictures...when I can actually ride again. 

Didn't get great news from the specialist today, and we are rushing to get an MRI. Fingers crossed I don't need surgery, since I just visited the hospital less than 8 weeks ago and was FINALLY  getting back in the groove. 

So it looks like no lesson Monday and I'm being grounded for now. 

Why does this always happen :/

Pain and Serenity

Most adults who adult are very familiar with the notion that we must adult in order to have pony time. But to have pony time, sometimes we must shirk adulting duties. It's a rather unfortunate catch 22 I'm becoming more and more familiar with. 

Lately, life has been super overwhelming and coping is not my strong suit. Usually I'll sit down and make an attack plan and then really look at it and panic and go lay in bed and watch Netflix. 

Coping. 

I was unfortunate enough to have an entire 9 days to adult while Bacardi recovered from an uncharacteristically short trim. I played it on the safe side since we aren't competing, and gave him almost a full two weeks off. Why not right? 

Unfortunately because I am a terrible adult, I used most of my free time at night to go to bed early and left my to do list hidden away in my planner. CANT SEE IT DONT NEED IT. 

This left me with a million things to do  in the shirt span of a few days, and a personal injury to deal with and I almost imploded. 

A trip to the barn was needed. 

I'm finding if I don't have time or reason to ride, I fully skip out on visitation completely. My inner adult can't justify spending the gas to make a trip out just to pet and love horse, but sometimes it's really needed. 

If anyone is not yet aware, 7 years ago I fell off my horse and shattered my elbow. After surgery and PT it still is "stuck" and I can't fully extend it. For about 6 of those years it never really mattered. But then I started Crossfit and a lot of the work we do is overhead. Like a lot. And I can't extend my arm. Lifting is hard for me. To compensate, I keep my left arm bent in all overhead lifts as well, which really isn't conducive to gainz. And apparently, naturally, over the last 7 years my body has guarded my elbow and in turn my right shoulder is wearing down more and more. 

I finally addressed the issue with repeat therapy when I maxed out at 130# overhead for lifting and normal everyday things became painful. I rarely lifted overhead, and when I did I kept it well under 95# (which is cake). Essentially, I've been babying it for well over a year and extra babying it for the last 3 months and it's only getting worse due to the natural anatomy of the injury. Since crossfit is about 85% shoulder work, I've been doing a lot of nothing the last 5 weeks besides squatting and getting fat. It's depressing. 

Boiled down, my shoulder is fucked despite trying my best to strengthen it slowly, and I tweaked it putting my hair up (yes, putting my hair in a ponytail) 4 days ago and I've been unable to move my right arm at all. 

Problematic. And excruciating. 

My PT thinks I finally tore my rotator cuff (they had been thinking it was gradually tearing after 7 years) and recommended I go see a specialist. I finally agreed (I had been putting off because money) and I see them Thursday. 

Anyways, in the meantime,I can't really ride or do anything else. 

So logically I scheduled a XC schooling lesson for next Monday and decided clipping my horse was necessary. 

I originally had come on Monday to pay my visiting dues and stuff his face with carrots and apologize for being a terrible horse mom. Then I saw how fuzzy he got in the 9 days since I saw him last. 

Naturally, my clipper blades were really dull and my normal clipping arm was out of commission. 

Fuck it. 

I also was like yeah let's add another chevron for good measure, doing this freehand with my left arm is a great idea. 

Not. 

But I was justified with like 200+ on Instagram so I guess it's fine (lolamirite). Minus B standing like a complete moron, I suppose I can live with it. 

My blades completely shit out after I did the left side, so right side is still pending until further notice (hopefully tonight). We have professional (free!) pictures being taken Sunday and I kind of need him looking spiffy. 

Then, because I didn't want to go home yet, I threw him on the lunge to see what was what with his toes. 

Tacking up one handed is harder than you think, btw. 

He was REEALLY really lazy. Which I was okay with for once. Puttered about for 15 min and I called it a day. 

Later, because I still didn't want to go home, I just sat there, listening to the horses munch hay. 

I will say it forever, there is NOTHING like it. Nothing compares to the soft sounds of horses snuffling about in their stalls, munching their hay, being adorable and majestic. It cures what ails you, every time. And for that I'm thankful. 

Also, happy Veterans Day!! Thank you to all who serve this great country 

It's The Season

Some shameless self promotion here. 

I know there are several bloggers out there with unique and talented art skills. I do not claim to be one of those. But I'm not ashamed to beg so I'm putting myself out there again this year, offering up my skillz and time in exchange for things like American money, chipotle gift cards or other fun things, like paying my entry fees next year or my medical bills. 

I dabble in painting and actually taught drunk people how to make pictures for a few years (shout out to wine and paint bars everywhere) and I've carried the tradition of doing some commission work over Christmas. 

"Specializing" in pet portraits, I can also do landscapes or even sketches of pets or other misc things if your heart desires. 

Some examples. 

So if anyone is interested, shoot me an email (vollmermonica@gmail.com), text me if you have my digits, or even better-Facebook. 

Prices are roughly as follows (based on size and material cost)

Pet portraits $50-$60

Pet sketches $25

Landscapes $40

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Change of Hand

Now that it is super official I suppose I can break the news about my first OTTB love, Mr. Yankee. Even though he is hundreds of miles from me, I still think about him everyday and minorly stress about him constantly. 

It's very difficult to trust others with your precious horsebeasts, and after being his sole rider for almost 10years, it was tough to adjust to not making every decision regarding his health and training. It was a little nerve wracking but after I adjusted, it was easier to watch from afar. That doesn't mean I still don't worry about him, but I had realized I could do all I could with him, as his talents outgrew my confidence. 

Almost one year ago I sent him off to Kansas to be with a family I had known for years. They were serious competitors with the means to get Yankee to places he was capable of going. They had successfully competed and qualified for the AECs many years in a row and I had no qualms sending him to live with them. Their goals with him were to try and bring him to prelim and beyond & have him as a solid mid level, if not upper level competitor. I was confident Yankee was the horse to take them there. 

Due to circumstances I'm choosing to keep off my blog (you may message me privately if you wish, and ask), the lease termed with them and my dearest friend Jackie, is taking over. There's no bad blood between anyone, things just didn't work out as planned. 

Do they ever with horses though, really?

Jackie has appeared on my blog often, and actually half leased Yankee years ago. That's how we met, and the rest is history. Since then, she's probably ridden Yankee hundreds of times and competed him in a few shows herself. There's no I trust more in this world, with my own life, so Yankee in her care is of no worry to me. Originally, over a year ago,I had wanted her to lease him but a new job and a new location & gradnschool had prevented that from happening, so I am pretty happy my plans have come full circle. She plans to pick up literally where he was left off in August, competitively striving for Prelim and beyond. Left suddenly with the prospect of paying for board for two horses and no way to cover that expense, Jackie is not only a beautiful and talented saint, but a fucking lifesaver. 

Although Jackie is relatively new to eventing, she is one of the most capable jumper riders I've ever met. She has more lady balls than I ever will have, and remains the only person to have jumped Yankee over 5ft. 

My issues with eventing stem from jumping, and Yankee is the type of horse that absolutely cannot be dropped or not ridden towards a fence. He must know you're just as devoted to getting over as he is. I swear that boy knew the second I had doubts about a fence. Our struggles with XC was no ones fault but mine. I've literally closed my eyes coming up to a fence before and news flash, you need your eyes open to ride. I'm pretty sure this horse would jump anything under 3'3 with anyone at any skill level, but 3'6 and above, he needs to know you're with him and not just a passenger. 

I am confident that with practice in dressage, Jackie will be that rider to pilot him through his first prelim and do it with more success than I ever would be able to. 

I had bought Yankee with the mindset that he would be my first FEI level horse, but teenager me didn't realize the training it took to retrain an OTTB and the money it takes to compete. Monetarily it was never possible for me as a teen or even in college, and now he's creeping up there in age. At 14, now I would just be happy to see him do one 1* and then be able to truck my kids around novice competitions until he tells me it's time. 

Until then though, and for an undetermined amount of time, BFF extraordinaire will be considered his sole caretaker, rider and leasee & I'm looking forward to their story unfolding. Stay tuned for a lot more coverage on this new-ish partnership as it unfolds!