Baby Contest

I always think it's fun for foal contests, so here's my own! Jetta is now 63 days away from her "foaling date".

The baby is going to be buckskin, so we don't have to guess on color. Instead, let's have some guesses on markings, gender and foaling date!

Here's how it works. Comment your guess for the foal's markings and gender (for instance colt with a blaze and two hind socks) and/or pick the foaling date and time. I will pick a winner from each category (marking/gender and foaling date) and you can enter both if you want.

I honestly don't care whether the foal is a filly or colt, but I'm really hoping it's got a blaze and at least one sock!

For reference, Jetta has a blaze and one hind sock and a white spot on her other hind coronet. Mirabeau has a star and two hind socks. Jetta was bred August 26th, so if her pregnancy is exactly 342 days, then she is due August 1st.

For example, my guess:
August 4th at 3am. Colt, with one hind sock and a blaze. Basically what I'm hoping for: (pictures stolen shamelessly off google)

Also, any name ideas are welcome. I've already picked out it's registered name (Merely Gold = Mirabeau x Gold Jet Away), but I need a barn name that starts with "M". I was thinking Midas or Milo if it's a colt and maybe Mira if it's a filly, but I'm not sure. Ideas?

Guesses are due by the time of foaling (obviously) so you have lots of time to make your bet! I will pick two winners, each will win a $15 gift card to your tack shop of choice (Dover, Smartpak, or Riding Warehouse).

Let the games begin!

(and let's all just keep our fingers crossed for an easy foaling with a healthy foal!)

Feel the Burn

If you haven't heard about L and Hillary's Two-Point Challenge (which I'm sure you have) you should join! Good motivation to work on my two-point/jumping position. I sadly have done basically all dressage/western for the past several months, so I'm a tad rusty.

I got my baseline yesterday on Jetta. Legs were burning and my back was killing me by the end. Definitely need to build up my strength! It just occurred to me today that I should do some two-point on Misty because it would be SO much easier. No arguing with Jetta about what speed we should be going or trying to convince her that yes, indeed we can trot and two-point at the same time without falling on the forehand. Geez mare.

With that said though, I had a great ride on Jetta yesterday which was perfect because it was my birthday! One of my old roommates from last year who graduated, flew up from California on Wednesday to celebrate with me and so she ended up coming out to the barn with me. I had no class (ok, well a recitation at 7pm) and no work! Amazing. I stuck her on Misty, gave her the "this is how you steer and go and stop" speech and set her loose while I rode Jetta.

They were kind of adorable together

It was adorable. Misty had the slowest. walk. ever. The stall cleaner even commented on how she'd never seen a horse walk slower. Every so often Misty would stop and SC would ask her to walk again. Then she'd stop. Then she'd walk again. It was pretty funny. I tried to get SC to trot but she wasn't up for it. At least I got her on a horse though!

We kept our ride short and sweet since I didn't want to bore SC to death. There's only so much entertainment to be had by walking a horse around an arena! But Jetta was good. Our transitions after our few rides with the kineton (I think I only used it 3 times before she had a fit and fell in it) are incredible. So soft and just "there" when I ask for them. She is in heat and is feeling a little sassy and sensitive which isn't completely unusual for her, but it hasn't happened in a LONG time. I'm wondering if perhaps it's because I took her off the raspberry leaves while she was on "break" or if it's just the typical "rough" ovulation that leads up to their anestrus winter period. We shall see. She pinned her ears a few times and canter transitions were a bit exuberant but otherwise no theatrics.

Hoping that our good rides continue!

Story of My Life

I'm so excited! I won the contest over at Slow and Steady for a $50 Smartpak gift card! Only problem? I have absolutely no idea what to spend it on. I have a couple "needs" and a ton of "wants".

The three things I actually need right now:

• White show breeches
• Black leather gloves
• Happy Mouth bit

Smartpak has absolutely no white fullseat breeches that I want/can afford. So that's a no. I even emailed them to see if they could order the Tredstep breeches I like in white, since Dover carries them in that color, but Smartpak only has them in blue and tan. No can do apparently.

I do need a Happy Mouth bit but was waiting to see what turned up on ebay, I could possibly score one for half price.

Or I could get new gloves. Not exciting. 

My want list at Smartpak is huge, consisting mostly of really cute schooling breeches. A sheet for when I go to shows and need to keep the ponies clean, a Herm Sprenger hole punch, a Newmarket throw blanket (to obviously match my horse) and an IRH Elite Ultra helmet. But none of these things are ones that I need and most are too spendy for me right at the moment and nothing seems "worthy" of such a great opportunity to spend the $50 that I've won!

I feel like the Happy Mouth bit is the mostly likely choice at this point. It's right around $50 so I'd only have to spend a couple extra bucks plus shipping. But then there's the decision of mullen or roller center? I have no experience with Happy Mouths, but I feel like Misty would probably go equally well in either, the goal is just to find her something gentler that she will take up contact with more eagerly.

Any thoughts? On the type of bit or on good things to buy ;)

Story of my life: decisions, decisions...

Oh and to add to the whole "my want list is a million miles long" this is the weekend that Mundial boots are in town... When I was looking for boots to buy I emailed them to see when they were in my state and this was the ONLY time they were here in the whole entire year. I opted not to wait several months to get fitted plus the 3 month wait to actually get the boots, but I still want them. I can see my dream custom brown field boots now... Gah. I have half a mind to go and get fitted just because and then wait until I can save up and order them. I just want to see them in person!

These. I want them.

Reluctant

Well, I may have found Jazz's new home. I finally posted her for sale and had a huge response. The first person came out and looked at her yesterday and I'm going to do a few reference checks and a barn check, then that may be it.

Having her back is hard because she is SO MUCH FUN. I forget how amazing she is, she really is my second heart horse after Grady. Plus, this time around I'm actually selling her instead of just leasing her. Whenever I sent her off to her new year long home, the lessor was always surprised that I wasn't having a hard time giving her away - I was dry eyed and happy because she had a person to pay attention to her like I couldn't.

But, she was still mine. I called the shots - I could take her back at any time, I could ask them to feed her more or less, give or withhold permission for certain things, etc. And I knew I would always get her back at the end.

I'm just reluctant to sell her. I know that anyone she goes to will treasure her, but it just makes me nervous. She deserves the best care there is. I just hope that with my checking out the family that I can make sure that that's what she'll get.

I started tearing up a bit on the way home after they came to see her. It's hard when you've had a horse for 10 years and they've just become an integral part of your life. I'll still make sure that if she ever needs another home, that she'll come back to me. But she'll no longer be mine, she'll have a forever home somewhere else. She deserves a new little girl though, someone who can grow with her and learn with her like I did.

My girl ♥

In slightly less downer news, there's yet another contest! SheMovedtoTexas is doing a giveaway of a Horze leather halter. I've posted about this company before because they have some awesome stuff at great prices. Fingers crossed I win because Misty is in need of a leather halter!

And I saw this on Eventing Nation the other day and it made me laugh: http://eventingnation.com/home/16-gifs-that-perfectly-articulate-how-you-feel.html

Quite accurate except for the dressage show one, I love dressage :)

Favorite 5 Under $50

Lots of contests to enter! This is a post for a contest entry for Nicku at The Polka Dot Periodical and her success in reaching 150 followers, by posting about my favorite 5 horse products under $50.

Also, since I am nearing 100 followers (so close) I'm working on thinking up a good contest to do, so keep an eye out for when that happens.

Canter Mane & Tail Detangler

Cannot. Live. Without it. This is my favorite detangler ever. It's not greasy, it smells nice (like roses!), it works really well and it lasts for more than a few minutes. In fact, it will last a week.

$16.95

Aeropostale Polo Shirts

Ok, this isn't strictly a horse product, BUT this is the polo shirt that I ride in. It's stretchy and fits well plus they come in amazing colors. It's long enough to tuck in, a problem I've run into before even with polo shirts marketed for equestrians. They're not a super technical fabric, but they're still light weight enough that I don't have a problem wearing them in the heat of the summer. The only downside is that they come in the smallest sizes ever... But if you fit into them, I would highly recommend getting one (of every color).

Regularly $24.50, but usually on sale. Currently $9.00

Keratex Hoof Hardener

This stuff has been great, especially for the horses that I transition to working barefoot or for when the weather is being uncooperative and we get a bit of foot soreness. It has worked so well, I've just been amazed. It's a pretty spendy concoction (heaven forbid you spill it!) but for how well it works, it's worth it.

$41.95

SSG Original All Weather Gloves

These have been my go-to gloves for pretty much forever. I have a pair in white and a pair in black. They last a long time, can go through the washer, are comfy and not bulky. I've been meaning to make the step up to some nice leather gloves for schooling, but at this price, they're great for small shows and schooling. Plus, you can even find them in fun, bright colors.

$21.95

Camelot Anti Slip Rubberized Web Reins

While Thinline take up the position of most favorite reins ever in my book, those are definitely not under $50 and the Camelot ones come in a close second. These were fantastic when I first started Jetta under saddle since she liked to root the reins out of my hand but with the rubber on these you have more grip. I don't like the pebbled rubber reins because I find they're too bulky, but these are thin. Also excellent because they have hand stops so it's quite easy to make sure your reins are even, especially if you give lessons you can tell the rider to shorten or lenthen by section. They lasted for three years before they started to fray on the edges but I continued to use them. I had them in black with the buckle ends and I really liked the heavy duty hardware. Well worth the money and the leather was actually quite nice quality too.

$20.95

And lastly, I wanted to do a shoutout for Amy at Slow and Steady Smiler Wins the Race. She's also doing a contest, this time for reaching 100 followers. I've definitely enjoyed following her and Steady on their journey. I'm always amazed when I think back on how far they come and how Amy is able to balance both her own riding with her daughters' and with having a family. I love watching OTTB's in their next life chapter and Steady seems like an awesome horse. So go check them out and give her a follow!

Plugging Along

The weekend has mostly been quiet. Jetta has been living the life and is just getting pampered. Her rope burns appear to be healing well on her hind legs but they've got some crusty scabs that are kind of ouchy so I've been slathering on ointment to try and keep them soft. Her hematoma doesn't seem to be getting any bigger, but neither does it appear to be getting smaller. Today she got a bath since I decided she was looking kind of icky. She had some dried sweat and some dead hair going on so I gave her a really good scrub and tested out some new shampoo. She was not pleased about the bath, though I'm convinced that it had to feel good with it being so hot out!

More recent photo from 2 days ago

I'm itching to ride her again! There's so much stuff I want to work with her on and do. We were finally at a really good place again. But if it decides not to heal, the couple shows we were planning this month will have to be scratched...

Misty is also doing well. We've just been playing around with western stuff and prepping for the trail competition this weekend. I put out 3 poles all bunched together to act as a log and got her to sidepass over them. It took a while, but we finally made it all the way over in both directions! Next step is to use the jump blocks as something slightly larger and then finally we'll use the barrels to sidepass over.

I've also been trying to organize stuff. I brought some tack home to clean and sell, as well as all of my more recently used bits to run through the dishwasher. I think I have a problem... Not pictured are 5 more bits. Does it not count as hoarding because I've decided to sell two of them?

Shiny shiny bitssss. I didn't even have to photoshop the sparkle on :)

Then I bought a little 4-drawer plastic dealie to put stuff in and wrangle all my wraps and random stuff that is floating around the tack room. Even though there's only one other boarder plus the trainer, I still feel bad occasionally for how much I dominate the space...

Other than that, nothing exciting has been happening! I'm hoping to go sorting again on Wednesday or Thursday. Maybe squeeze in a trail ride or jumping session or both with Misty. And Jetta will just continue to live the good life.

Oh! And before I forget, Hilary is running a contest on her blog for PonyTail Products shampoo. Details:

"PonyTail Products is sponsoring a fun giveaway for the opportunity to win a full size 24oz bottle of their Bubble & Bucks Shampoo and a full size 8oz bottle of their Show Pony Shine.

Details are as follows: All Entries Due by August 5th at Midnight

Winner must share a brief but honest review of the products if they have their own blog

• Share details on the scent, effectiveness, quality, etc"

 I love fancy shampoo but never buy it so this would be a nice treat!

The Voting Begins!

FINALLY! Eventing Nation has posted Round 2 of the pictures for the Point Two contest and I'm in it!

So if you could please, please, please, please vote for me that would be much appreciated! I am number 3 - Amber, with this adorable picture of Colton.

In Which I Oil My Car Seats

So I oiled my car seats and it was not intentional. And I do not have leather car seats...

I brought home my tack cleaning gear so I could clean some tack here at home. I thought I secured the top on the bottle of oil, but apparently not. My car is always a disaster, I look like I live in my car, so between shuffling through stuff to find something or make room for people, the bottle got upended and the car seat completely absorbed the whole bottle...

Luckily, it's not super noticable that my seat is now oiled, lol. There's a faint waterline to the edges and some of the pieces of tack that I was supposed to clean and were sitting on the seat magically oiled themselves. I guess I did want them to be a darker brown (!) and I didn't even have to do any work. Nothing else was ruined by it and your butt doesn't get coated in oil when you sit down, for which I'm very thankful! Definitely a good lesson to always double check to make sure bottles are completely closed. I won't be doing that again for a while!

And as a side note:

I'm in love with GetMyFix. They are always having contests :) So, for everyone in need of a new hunt coat, they are giving away a semi-custom Hayward Hunt Coat! While I did just get a new coat for my b-day, it's more of a dressage coat and I think a navy coat would be perfect on Jetta for show jumping to go with her blue elastic on the Antares breastplate.

Still nothing on the Eventing Nation contest... But I'll keep checking it!

Other than that, I've really got nothing going on. Going through pony withdrawals already and I can't wait to go see Jetta on Monday!

Christmas Pony

I dressed Colton up and took pictures! He was so adorable throughout the whole process, wanting to sniff every object I pulled out to decorate him with.

I sent a picture into Eventing Nation - fingers crossed! I would love to win that vest :) Of course now that I've already sent in a picture, I feel like people probably went way more out than I did and I'm thinking, "Oh, I should have done that. Oh! Or maybe something like that! Ooh, I wish I had done something like that..." It's too late now though. We'll just have to see how I measure up to everyone else (if I make it on the website!)

And thank you to my dad who probably thinks I'm crazy but he still held the pony for me while I snapped photos :)


Here you go! My Christmas Pony:



This is the one I actually sent in.





Yep. Definitely thinking I should have gone more all out. But hey - he's still pretty darn cute! Promise you'll vote for me if I make it on Eventing Nation?

Christmas Fun

Eventing Nation is having a contest for Point 2 air vests about which I am really excited! All you have to do is dress your horse up in some Christmas-y way and send them the pic to enter. Oh boy am I going to have fun with this! I can already see it... Oh Colton!

Wouldn't something akin to the picture below be fun? Any one else planning on entering? Once I dress up my torture project *cough* I mean willing partner in crime, I'll post the pics on here, but you'll have to vote for me on Eventing Nation!

Entries need to be sent in by December 12th!

Sickie

Bleh. I think I have finally succumbed to the first round of the nasty sickness going around. Unfortunately, I really wanted to ride tonight, but I don't think I will since even just walking quickly made me feel winded and even more ill. Sadness. My throat hurts, I have zero energy, and just want to sleep. This sucks.

Last night Jetta and I jumped. She was really good except for three nasty refusals at first. Weird horse. After that though, she was absolutely perfect both ways over the jump and even cantering over it. That makes me so happy! I was going to have one last jump over it so we could finish on a good note, but then two girls getting on for their lesson came into the arena and stopped directly in front of my jump to mount up. I circled at the trot, figuring they'd hop on, I'd pop over the jump and then cool out. I circled, and circled, and circled while they adjusted their girth, their stirrups, their bridles, then got on and sat there and talked to the trainer. By the time they had moved off I had slown to a walk and given up on one last jump. Sigh. It was still a semi-good note to end on, but I really wanted that last jump!

I had hoped to set up a mini-course today since I got out of class early and no one would be at the barn. I'm so bummed that I don't feel good! I feel like if I ride, it's going to make me feel a lot worse even if I don't jump as planned.

Oh yes, definitely one of these.
No ham on Thanksgiving for me!

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving though! A four day weekend, at home, with no homework (I crammed it all in this week) and a lot of good food. I'm excited. I've been looking forward to this for weeks. I probably won't be on much this weekend because 1) I'll be sleeping or 2) I'll be hanging with my family, so I just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a good time with family and gets to eat lots of good food - Mmm... Turkey for me :) I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful horse, great friends, to be able to go to college, my crazy family and not to mention all you wonderful people who read this blog and brighten my day every time you comment! (Well, when at least when they're nice comments, lol!)

I'll leave you wish a contest blurb from my newest internet addiction, GetMyFix.org which has a contest every week. This week is a beautiful Sanswill Designs ear bonnet that I love. Look, this one is in my colors! And I could get crystals on it, ooh... So if you're interested, stop over there and enter the contest!

Ear Bonnet Giveaway!

Well, I'm not giving it away, but Get My Fix is!

I really would love one of these, they're beautiful. When searching for an ear bonnet last summer, I had settled on either a Pessoa one or one by Eskadron. The Pessoa ear bonnet had sparkles, but the Eskadron one had stretchy ears. I settled on the Eskadron one, but get this - these ear bonnets by De La Coeur, can have both sparkles and stretchy ears and they can come in your colors! Want one? Scratch that, I need one of these! I can picture it now - navy blue with aqua blue trim and piping with clear crystals.



All I can say is wow. Go to getmyfix.org to learn about how to enter the contest!

Contests Galore!

I'll admit, this is a shameless self-serving post. I get bonus points for spreading the word about these contests, but hey, you also learn about them too if you haven't already!

Contest #1

Stacey at Behind the Bit is offering a free custom made bling browband. Oooh, shiny :) That would be so completely awesome to win. Click here to go to the blog. You'll have to wait until the 18th of October until you can enter. All you have to do is leave a comment!



Very pretty and high quality stuff! This is what Stacey's
browband looks like, but the winner could have any design they wanted!

Contest #2

Kate at The Adventures of Lucy is giving away a neat painted saddle pad. She is a wonderful artist and has several pads that you can choose from or you could get your initials. I have a thing for saddle pads, especially unique ones and these definitely fit the bill! They're lovely. I have lots but I always want more. I think I'll finally have enough when I have one of each color. Maybe? Haha. Click here to go to her contest page. Contest ends October 21st.



I have my eye on this pad. It is so gorgeous!
I have no need for another white pad and I don't
really even like fish, but it's so pretty!



Winners!

Drumroll please...

Out of the 7 people that entered (6 of which were followers, so that means they got double entries) I drew two winners out of a cup (no hat or bucket on hand, lol).

The two winners are...

Jenny and SprinklerBandit!!!

If you guys could leave a comment to give me your email so that I can get your address to send your prize to and also which prize you want, that would be great!

Thank you everyone that entered! There will be more contests in the future, so stay tuned!

Contest: FAIL

So... Bad planning on my part. We had a grand total of two people enter the contest, and while I could have those two people be automatic winners in the contest, it's not really a contest then! (But thank you Kate and SprinklerBandit for actually entering!!) So I'm extending the contest for an extra few days. Enter by this Friday, June 3rd to win a t-shirt (like the one pictured to the right or the Dressage Love one by Behind the Bit) or a photo collage. To see the prizes and enter, go to this post here. It's really easy, I promise! All you have to do is leave a comment on the post (not this one, the original one) and you'll be entered for the drawing. Let's see how many people will enter this time :)

Weekend Contest

Contest! Ok, after much deliberating, I have decided on a contest. All you have to do is leave a comment saying you would like to enter the contest and you will be entered! If you are a follower of this blog and you leave a comment you will automatically get two entries!

So what is the prize? Well, there will be two winners. You can get a T-shirt: choose either a Thoroughbred Adventure or a Dressage Love design (from Behind the Bit blog).

Or you can choose to recieve a custom photo collage poster, similar to the one below (I'll be using a different program to make the collage so it will actually be a lot better than the sample below!). You can send me your own pictures that you want included or I can use all of my own pictures, or a combination of both.

So, leave a comment on this post with your preference (t-shirt or collage) by Monday 5/30/11 at 5 pm. Winners will be randomly drawn out of a bucket and announced on Tuesday where you will have to check back to see who won and send me your contact info!  

Contest!

Sorry, it's not a contest from me (though there will be one eventually!) but over at The Adventures of Lucy there's a pretty cute contest going on. If you've never read her blog, it's about a young Thoroughbred who I must say is pretty similar to Jetta, and their oftentimes very exciting journey under saddle. Go check it out and enter the contest! You have to choose at least three of her blog titles and make a mini story out of it. It ends tomorrow!

Here's my entry:

Today I decided to find out “how to melt your baby thoroughbred’s brain”. “Pony torture” is a very specialized field and it takes talent to do it properly. First, you should consider taking your horse for “a jaunt in the field” and introduce them to lots of scary things. After they settle down, it’s important to make them work on something very difficult, which they cannot process properly because, well, they’re OUTSIDE where there is GRASS! But they aren’t allowed to eat it of course. Your “bag of tricks” must also include giving your horse a bath after the very strenuous ride and then making them stand still for a long and thorough grooming. After all of this, your horse’s brain is probably quite melted by now, so you should make sure to counteract that by giving your horse some much needed treats and turnout on the pasture. I would say that was quite a “success” in learning the fine art of pony torture!