Wherein I Almost Kill My Horse....

I am an idiot.

I almost killed my horse, literally.

Every wednesday I feed the horses at the barn and the waterers have to be cleaned. It usually take about an hour and its entails taking each waterer apart and cleaning it and putting it back together. Cheryl is pretty meticulous and I get in trouble a lot even though they are clean and whatnot.

But...

I royally messed up Wednesday with my own horses' waterer. I put it together wrong and even though water came out when I tested it, that was the backup in the tube....so I called it good and moved on.

I didn't go to the barn yesterday, so I had no idea.

I showed up today to school XC with Emily and Yankee looked like shit. Like completely awful, sunken in haunches, ribs showing, dull coat.....it looked like he lost 50LBs or more. I asked  Emily if he looked weird and she said "Yeah, I was wondering that myself today"....

Well I still tacked up and rode and he was a dream! He jumped perfectly, no refusals, no bucking....I was happy :) I had no idea he hadnt had a drin kin two days....He kept trying to drink the water complex water (which is nasty and he's never done that before) and he was licking the floor of the wash rack and I was still like, "wtf is he doing, silly pony"....

Then I put him back in his stall and he tried the waterer and didn't drink. Odd. So I walked over to it...bone dry.

I fiddled with it and found the problem. F me! I did this...my poor baby is sooooo thirsty he licks the floor of the wash rack....he drank for about ten minutes straight....

I feel like an asshole.... :(

Last Chance!

I've had 3 more orders come in that I will be placing tomorrow around 4PM, or Saturday around noon, if ANYONE else wants T-shirts! But this is the last time I will be making special runs, all other orders will have to go through the page up top (under construction)

Please click here for specs and ordering process!

As a reminder, please email me, and let me know if you are paying by check or paypal, as my paypal email is different than the ordering email (weird I know).

ALSO, only FOUR people out of about 15 have paid me and as much as these T-shirts cost, I am unwilling to ship them without payment! I will be sending emails to those I have no received $ from yet.

The one that started it all!

I actually like this one the best!

 They couldn't make the jumper light gray since they were going on gray shirts :(

Thanks to everyone!

Confessions of An Ebay Shopaholic/Tack Whore

**LAST DAY FOR T-SHIRTS ARE TOMORROW!** Order by 10 am!

For prices and designs, click here

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I have a problem. It might be as bad as a gambling issue, for bidding on Ebay is pretty similar.

I have a problem.

I love Ebay and all its fancy goods offered.

This story starts 6 years ago when I needed money for buying a horse (Yankee). I rounded up all my junk, I mean, fabulous tack, cleaned it up all shiny and listed it on this wonderous site called Ebay. Who is Ebay you say? Well it is this glorious sight of wonder and joy that sells pretty much anything you could want/need (including grilled cheese sandwhichs with Jesus on it) at extremely affordable and convienant prices.

Young Monica was bitten by the Ebay bug. Not only could I sell my crap for a good amount of money, I could buy crap for next to nothing. I quickly realized I could find anything on Ebay for less than half the price of retail stores/magazines. I felt like I fell into a pile of cupcakes and rainbows. It was like they invented this site for me!

Soon, Ebay was my go-to site for anything horse or electronic related. I bought and sold saddles, bridles, tack items and saddle pads. It was heaven. I thought I literally died and went to horse-tack heaven. I soon infected my parents with the Ebay bug and they were bitten equally as hard but with a larger spending budget. I believe they have sold 2 planes and a truck on there and bought a plane and fancy-ass car on Ebay. Who knew?

I have become an acheived seller and bidder. I know EXACTLY what price to start bidding at and EXACTLY when to bid on an item and how much to bid. I've literally won items by pennies because lesser humans don't understand that you don't always have to round to even numbers. I'm pretty much a pro and could probably get anything I wanted for less than $50 if I tried hard enough.

Fast forward 6 years to present day. I am now broke. Why you ask? I'm pretty sure its from my excessive Ebay browsing. You know, instead of logging on to Facebook right away, I get on Ebay. I glance through my "saved watch" ads and check on current purchases (yes purchases) shipping status. I browse through the gorgeous and affordable saddles, the almost new bridles, the helmets, breeches, fly masks and sheets, brushes, halters, etc. I believe I am out of control but I can't stop.

I just bought a bridle. I don't even need it. But it was only TWELVE dollars! And it will match the hackamore and jumping saddle I have so OF COURSE I HAD to get it. See I find myself making excuses for WHY I NEED something when I know perfectly well my bank account is planning suicide and I have rent and board and bills to pay in a week. 

Not to mention that I work at 2 minimum wage jobs and basically all my paychecks die as soon as I get them.

The real problem is HOW cheap everything is....see, I find something I need (like a fly mask) and for only $12.50 I can get a beautiful BLUE mesh flymask with ears and long nose. But I also stumble upon a breastplate, or girth or saddle pad for $15-$20  and BAM! There goes $50 easy. I do this all the time. I'm like, "OMG ITS ONLY $15!!!!!! OF COURSE I'M GOING TO GET THIS!!!" then I say that about 5 more times in a week and BAM! Bye bye half my paycheck. 

You'd think by now I'd stop, but I can't. Finding deals is like crack to me. Its addictive and gives me this rush like WEEEEEE! I'M FLYIIIIIIING! But somewhere in the back of my head I say to myself, "You know, you know you don't REALLY need this (yes you do crazy lady its only $10 for a f***ing bridle, shut up you cheap-o) and I have like 20 pairs of boots already (BITCH, its comes with the bridle, shut up! and bid on it already!!!!) and I don't get paid till next friday and rent is due and thats like $400 (BID ON IT BID ON IT BID ON IT)....its like a horrible scene with smegel from LOTR.

In 6 weeks I have spent, GASP, $361.52 on Ebay. Holy shit.

Recently, I've gotten a hackamore, true blood poster, phone cover, fly mask, bridle, bridle bag, elastic breastplate from GER. (THAT my blogger friends is a whole 'nother story itself. Email me sometime If you want to know that :P), boot savers, stirrups (NOT just ANY stirrups, carbon black, super light, offset eye stirrups. love), boot and clothing bag and reins. Not to mention my dressage saddle I bought a couple months ago. Help. Help. Help.....

So this is how I've come to own about 5 pairs of bridles, 20 (literally) pairs of woof boots and bell boots, 3 fly sheets, 5 turnout blankets, 3 stable blankets, 10 pairs of breeches, about 25 bits and countless other nonsense and retardedness. Needless to say my horse is a spoiled brat and he doesn't even know.

Somewhere deep down in my conscience I am ashamed for my fruitless spending habits. But really I am kinda excited I can for once (sorta) afford nice things and I actually spent a ton of time finding them and bidding on them.

Like I said, its like Christmas....

This is ridiculous. I'm sealing myself off from Ebay for a month. 

I is po'

Yep.

I'm pretty poor right now...

I've spent almost all my savings (on Yankee vetting, supps, shows and schoolbooks and tuition) in 2 months...eeeeek! My mom would hang her head in shame at my non saving abilities.

But you know what? Sometimes I don't care. I would spend every cent I have on my Yankee boo if it meant he was doing well. Sure, shows are expensive, but so are fly masks and supplements and shoes and board. All things he needs.

I miiiiiiiiight have to knock out a show or two I was planning on, but its ok, there will be next season in which I will be BACK IN OHIO and hopefully kicking ass! I will have my beloved Janice Holmes again to instruct me and my Ohio turf to romp on :D

I miss Area 8!! Whatever po dunk area Missouri is in SUCKS! The closest show is 4 hours away besides STL and Kansas City and I got spoiled with the KY horse park events being less then 2 hours from my  house.

Looks like I will need to scramble and fight for hours at work. (They just hired 10 new people and hours are scarce)

Secretly I'm freaking out, but I feel like if I share, it makes it all better....

hahahahahahahahahaa....(crazy lady laugh who is slightly stressed out...)

Drumroll please...

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YANKEE TESTED NEGATIVE FOR EPM!!!!!!!

He only has a vitamin E deficiency, and I ordered his Vitamin E supps 4 days ago. They will be here soon and we can get back on track with things :D

OMG I AM SO HAPPY!

Novice QPEE Stadium & T-SHIRTS! :)

 

For T-shirts, skip all this :P

Victory "Gallop"

So that ended that hell-ish weekend. The footing sucked, but the experience was uplifting (besides dressage). He was not too sore, even though he pulled a teeny muscle and I had a good outlook on stadium. It was low, and hilly which would help him use himself correctly.

 We pulled a rail in stadium (in the trees, you could hear it clunk though), I am blaming on the footing for that one. He tripped right before the fence and rapped it with his front, and it came down. Otherwise he was jumping pretty well despite the low height, was a little wiggly since warm-up was brief. Thank you no loudspeakers in the barn. I had to guess when we went, calculate for the mile walk and try to tack up in time. I under calculated or something because I had about 15 minutes to warm-up, which is not enough to get his jiggs out. Oh well, we came from dead last to in the ribbons (field of 14) and had a double clear XC, no falling off this time! HA. Apparently everyone else had a challenging time in stadium...one girl pulled 4 rails! They were just comin' down like raindrops. I feel like I cheated since he can do Prelim height like cake....

Ok I guess I'll take 8th :)

Overall, I was ok happy with 8th, but dressage should have gone better. Next time I will NOT take malarky as an excuse and I will warm up longer. We packed up early (11 am!) and headed home by noon. I linimented him and wrapped his front legs, even at N, the ground was so bad I was worried about sprains. He settled at home well and will have a few days off so I can do some HW and let him rest up.

In some sadder news, we took him to the vet yesterday to get test for Wobblers and EPM. The vet thinks wobbs is out, but EPM, possibly. There are no outright neuro signs when probed, but there is no other explanation for his clumsyness, with the exception of the fact that he might just be super clumsy! I'm hoping for the latter! They drew blood and results will be back in 3 days. He fell down twice Monday and constantly trips on his own feet, so I am really just hoping he is retarded and cant walk proper instead of him having EPM....sigh.

OK more happy stuff, T-SHIRTS!!!!!

I has designs, prices and other stuff :)

eventing design #1 EVENTING: JUST JUMP IT (front)

                                 "Red on right, white on left, insanity in the middle" (Back, optional)

Design #2 for Eventing

iDANCE, iSPLASH, iSOAR

Dressage Design: DRESSAGE: Collect Yourself

These are all preliminary designs I just threw together for ya'll so you can see what they will mostly look like. As you can see, I messed up the haunches of the dressage horse, but it will be piaffe-ing. The iSOAR T-shirt will be better spaced, but that is what the 3 horses will be doing. The computer program will refine the lines of shading too, the iSPLASH horse will be the darkest and the iSOAR horse will be light grey.

The designs will be about 9 in x 9in approx (changes a bit with design)  in the middle of the front of all t-shirts.

 

Designs will all be black or white on the GREY shirts. They can only be WHITE on the other colors.

OK pricing- here is where it gets confusing.

Shipping- $5 (unless you live in CA, WA or any other state on the far West Coast, then it will be $6.50, sorry :( )

Grey Shirt (S.M.L.XL)- $15.00

Special Color (S.M.L) (ex. pink, blue, green etc)- $20.00

Grey shirt with back writing (S.M.L.XL)- $25.00

Special Color with back writing (S.M.L)- $29.00

Also, I can do Hoodies, but they are more expensive by a lot and do not come in colorful colors. Sadface.

GREY/BLACK/DARK BLUE (S.M.L)- $40.00

Writing on back (S.M.L) $47.00

Your name/farm name/event team can be added for no fee on the front, or on the back for the extra fee of $5

If I get 8 orders of the SAME shirt, its 15% OFF, this is because if I print in bulk, its cheaper :)

I know some of you live near each other. If you want, I can combine shipping, so you don't have to pay as much!

Send Specs to: mavg24@mail.missouri.edu

Address, specify PAYPAL or CHECK

Phone number or Facebook/email so I can contact with questions

Size, color, design, quantity

Payment: Ok, this is where I'm not sure how to do it, since I'm not a real business yet, just trying this out with my guniea pigs :)  I have a Paypal account, and I've learned money can be exchanged that way, or you can write me a check and BE SURE to say that in your email and I will give you my address. I will leave orders open for ONE WEEK. I would like to get them done all at once, and hopefully get the bulk discount :) If some stragglers come in with orders after JUNE 22, it might take me longer to get it to you. On JUNE 16, I will place the orders and hopefully ship the same or next day. So, you will get your T's in less than 2 weeks (hopefully by JUNE 25!)

Ok so the rundown,

Orders open tonight JUNE 15

Orders close Wednesday, JUNE 22

Orders will be made JUNE 23 

Orders will be shipped JUNE 23/24 

Orders will arrive HOPEFULLY on JUNE 25-27 (depending on where you live from me [I live in Missouri])

ALSO, If anyone has any other design they want, tell me via comment and I will get it drawn for you! I won't charge for that, since I want you guys to be happy and I know how much we already spend on our horses! I just want this to be a fun thing we can have to represent our sports. I apologize if anyone is not an Eventer or Dressager, but from what I know, most of you are.

If you can, please comment in this post in addition to emailing me. All you have to say on the comment is that you sent me an email. I have a gotten a few already, so you guys don't have to email me back unless you decided you don't want one, or you want a different one.

Thanks so much for following my blog and hopefully getting a fun T-shirt :)

QPEE Novice A Dressage, XC Day

QPEE XC

 

What can I say about this weekend? Ups and Downs.

The dressage....just freaking awful. Worst test we have done in almost 4 years. I don't know if it was a combo of the weather (rainy ish), the ring (holey, sloping and soaking wet WTF) or yankee just being an idiot but after I thought I got stopped (at M I heard a whistle blow but it was for the other ring...this happened to about 10 other riders too) the test just went mega south. Brandon stopped taping when I stopped after M, but the judge waved me on so I kept going an he resumed from there.

The warm-up was exceptional, but our test, dismal. We got a 41.7 which is freaking terrible and it put us in dead last. I was crying down center line...I couldn't believe how badly he behaved. Its not like he is 4 again, he is NINE and has been eventing almost 6 years! I was about to just give the F up. At NOVICE we couldnt even rock out a dressage test with a 30 or less. I was beyond pissed and upset. He was dead to my leg, crooked to the left, bucked twice, tripped, broke gait 3 times and was just god awful. I was ashamed and hurt that my exceptionally well trained horse could be this bad. Someone comforted me by saying that since he knows prelim stuff, novice is too easy and he was just playing, but that playing put us in last in a field of 14. Beyond upsetting.

I can't say I was surprised though. The ring was AWFUL. Who the F gave permission to do dressage in a ring like that?? a rig should ALWAYS be flat and definetly not full of holes. I MUD STUDDED for dressage. WTF. It was slick as shit and he tripped twice, once pretty good at the walk near K. Many many horses fell actually t their knees or slipped badly. One horses even fell completely down! I will not be going back to Queeny Park unless they can fix the footing (terrible in all 3 phases). Not to mention, Dressage as 1.5 MILES from the barn. Least we had a good walk warm-up. HA!

But hey, whatever, I will take this as a learning lesson. I'm not so upset anymore, just wondering why he was so bad!

The braids I did for dressage. Getting better after ten years practice, haha.

Ok so after I cooled down from our worst test ever, I got ready for XC. I left his studs in since XC footing was retarded too. I was not nervous one bit. The course was a baby one and the only fence I was worried about was one -it was bright orange and pretty big  with tons of flowers. The course as a whole was just one big loop and not challeging by any means. I was going to give this run a chance for us to practice pacing ourselves. Yankee being a TB is always hella fresh and tends to blast through the course without me realizing it!

Warm-up sucked ass. not only was it almost THREE MILES from the barns, but the area was severly hilly and HOLEY. WTF is with the holes here. Yankee almost bit the dust 4 times. I was nervous about the footing so we did mostly cantering in large loopy circles away from the inside of the field. He was jumping well and not one bit sucking back. I've tried hardly warming up, or running him in the ground and either way, he is ALWAYS fresh, so I've decided on 45 minutes total is perfect. 10 minutes walking, straight to cantering some fences, chill for 5 then cantering fences about every 2 minutes. Keeps his brain engaged. No matter though, he is always looky and retared the 1st fence.

We went right on time at 1:06, and like I predicted, he looked hard at the 1st fence. There were tons of ppl around since the start was also the finish, but it was low enough he sailed right over it. Cantering to #2 he was looking all around for the big fences. He kept jumping 2,3 and 4 like, "really mom? This is it? PFFFT!" Literally, he was, I think, upset I subjected him to this torture. I made him trot #5, 6 and 7 since we were up on time, realizing how short this course really was. He jumped #10, 11, 12 and 13 like they were nothing and I began to realize we were down on time now. This always happens, we go too fast, then too slow then we have to kick it into gear to get OPT time. So I let him really run through the water (#14 AB), the table #15, the bank #16 and home to #17 which you can see below the dressage vid.

As a whole I came in 3 seconds under OPT which is perfect. Even if we were wishy washy on speed. Its hard at the lower levels with a TB to keep it together! We had a double clear round, which to be honest, I was expecting. But I am really happy! I'm definetly ready to move back up to T, but I am going to do one more just to be sure. He was a hungry jumping hound, so I am no longer worried about that.

Even though I though XC was easy, apparently some did not. One got E, and others had issues so I actually moved up to 9th! Out of dead last! I was pretty happy, but at the same time I felt like I was cheating since Yanks can jump prelim no prob. Haha!

After XC, I cooled him out, hosed him off and let him be for a few hours. We watched Super 8 at the local movie theater and it was AWESOME! After that we came back to liniment/wrap him and walk him out. I started linementing his back and noticed he was extremely touchy. Like his back was so sensitive he almost fell down when I put the stuff on and began to massage it. I was concerned, but not suprised given the amount of almost-falling he did  that day with the shitty footing. I went back to tenderly massaging his back and he stopped twitching after a few minutes. I walked him an extra 15 minutes and just hope he'd be ok. If he wasn't too sore in the A.M. I'd continue, but if he was too sore, I wasn't going to finish. XC was our issue, so scratching stadium wouldn't hurt me too bad.

I won't cliff-hang you...he was fine. Barely flniched when I massaged him the next morning..

to be continued...