Spring Cleaning?

Spring cleaning?

More like 'spring dirty everything' in my neck of the woods.
With the tease of early an spring at the end of February through the first week of March and now a giant red warning label across all local weather stations as we await 20-30mm of freezing rain, I am not impressed to say the very least. Though, I could definitely go for a day off work, so if your going to storm, storm good!
... during work hours only please.

However, despite the weather oddities, I have begun to think Spring.
I have my garden all planned, my plants ordered and I am just chomping at the bit to get planting... I hope I do it right. A Green Thumb is not something I was born with.
I have even begun to think that I should go through my equine items, sort what I need, want and don't want. Then resort the wants into need. 
I swear 80% of the items stuffed into my giant tubberware's I haven't looked at in years and the other 20% I likely don't even know I have.
But yet. The thought of selling or giving these items away makes me cringe. What if I need them or want them one day?
Is this a symptom of a hoarder?... I think yes. Yet, I am the exact opposite for everything else in my life.

Speaking of equine related items. Instead of purging old things, I bought more new things from my supplier Lori.  <3 Lori.
Like this very bright BR saddle pad for $30...

And these mud coloured breeches for $20 BRAND NEW!... colour is so appropriate for this time of year.
(These are fabulously comfortable by the way!)

And lastly, the least exciting. I finally sunk and bought myself a pair of rubber boots.
The depth of the mud around this area is astonishing right now and I have had enough footacials to last me a life time.

What is that you may ask? Oh well... it is quite lovely. Take dirt, hay, horse poop and have your loyal equines stomp around in it for a week while the formula reaches the perfect level of fermentation.
Then, stomp through it while your loyal equine supervises from afar to make sure you receive adequate marination.
There you have it, footacials!

To be or not to be... A Christmas Tree.

The candy cane pole seemed most appropriate as I dream of summer time!

Recently, I have been reading an annoyingly large number of articles on the Huffington Post news and in magazines that I am starting to realize that this whole 'green friendly', vegan or 'tree hugger' thing has gone a bit too far.
I am all for personal choice and freedom of speech and all but it seems, like many horse people, or for that matter, non-equine horse show mom's, (you know who you are), people are becoming quite outspoken. And to a point where those who do not wish to partake in the debate or want to risk a chastising are beginning to withdraw completely. That is just sad.

Yes, that statement is vague and can be applied to one too many subjects these days as we all know but this one in particular is about Christmas Trees. (Don't even try to tell me to edit that and put 'holiday' because I won't lol)


It seems the first question on many people's minds this season is whether you are going real or imitation when it comes to buying your Christmas tree. Depending on which side of the fence you choose, it seems to view the other side is nothing but a heinous act. *le gasp*

'You mean you murder a living, healthy tree just for your own, short-term, enjoyment?'

OR

'Really? Do you know how many chemicals that are used to create your mock-tree.'

While personally, I have no preference between a real or fake tree.
I do, however, love the whole en-devour of trucking out in the knee deep snow with a cup of hot chocolate in a cheapy styofoam cup, sighting your perfect tree, attempting to hack it down with the chinsy hack saws the tree farms provide, strapping it to your car, or in my case shoving it in your truck - where you will be finding pine needles until next Christmas and then attempting to get the damn thing to stand up straight without having your eyes poked out by the branches. I love it!
Buuut... as I have gotten a little older and am now bordering the tail end of my twenties, freezing my hiney off, remembering to water the damn thing, getting stabbing pains in my feet from stray needles and disposing of the tree carcass effectively so you do not have to endure random needles in your feet until, yes, next Christmas, seems less appealing that it once did.
I am sure it is mostly because as a kid you got to watch your parents endure all of the abuse above and get a few giggles out of the escaping curse words.

Now, a fake Christmas tree seems like enough effort with the 30 minutes it takes to separate all of the branches after being stuffed into a pint size box for a year. (Seriously, who can ever get the tree back in the damn box it came in!)

So I may be indifferent to either choice, both having their own pro's and con's. What do you think?

Equestrian and Bread.

 

The other day it was windy as heck again, gusts of 70-90km, so I had to get out of the house. Wind of this sort makes it sound as though the house is coming down. Not exactly what you want to have happen when the house is sold mind you! Never the less, out of sight, out of mind, so I went to ride.

Paloma seemed to be very pleased to see me and had a, 'you finally came for me!', look of desperation on her face. One of the two most common expressions that she gives me ever since I switched her to outboard board. Strangely, she has outgrown the stall sizes at my facility so when she lies down she struggles to get up. Evidence of the struggle is left behind by means of completely shredded stable blankets on day one of each wearing. But that is another story...

Mish met me at the barn too. We both have busy and uncoordinating schedules so barn time has to be carefully planned and not set in stone.
When we do meet up we plan on making the most out of the extra jump carrying body and set up some gymnastics. Whether it be poles, caveletti's, strings of jumps or just a few 'scary' jumps placed around the arena to work on what ever we are currently struggling with or learning.
Today, time was an asset after a long drawn out grooming session so we set a single 2'9" vertical with a tarp on top. It doesn't sound scary I know, but with the wind and the open rear of the arena, the tarp became a monster of it's own making, randomly catching in the wind and blowing this way and that. Always calm though when we are working on something other than the jump... sneaky I tell you... sneaky....

After getting the horses to really stretch over their backs with a long set up of trot poles, which has been a struggle with both horses lately, we worked through some lateral work and transitions and ending with the tarp monster. Oddly, despite Pal's aversion to blowing plastic and Thunder's total aversion to anything plastic, neither horses bocked at it. Pal was even slightly lazy...

On the plus side, Mich got a quick video of our last jump, and after initially noticing we need more canter and I STILL need to shorten my stirrups another hole for jumping,  (they don't feel long...), I did notice that Pal is really starting to get comfortable at a true 6ft take off distance rather than burying herself at the base. Fist pump.

After I got home from the barn I was seriously craving some fresh bakery bread so I decided I would take a crack at making my own. No bread maker, hands and mixer only. Kicking it old style I tell you. But not by choice. DH has ixnayed any more kitchen gadgets now that I have filled two pantry's and a couple kitchen cabinets. I related it to his never ending collection of tools... but it didn't fly. No idea why, it was an uncanny reference.

I opted to tackle a simple Challah loaf. From what I know of bread it is a Jewish style bread made from flour, active dry yeast, sugar, water and eggs. It is typically eaten for breakfast since it is very hearty.
After mixing the precisely 110* water with the yeast, waiting for science to happen, followed by more mixing of ingredients, then waiting for rising, I finally got to roll it out and braid it all fancy like.
The bread baked for 40 minutes at 375* and out popped a gorgeous, if I can say so myself, Challah loaf.
It seemed a sin to cut into the beautiful crust the next morning but the aroma of fresh bread was too enticing and my stomach won. It was pretty tasty...

Winter Blues; Puppy Style

I think it is safe to say that we all are getting hit by the winter blues once again this year.
Though, on a plus side for myself, I feel like it is has only just begun for me which is much later in the year than my normal early January winter hate on.
Even our poor pooch, Kameo, seems to have cause a case of puppy blues.


This is usually what she does all day, curls up in a ball and sleeps. 
Some days it is an endeavour to get her to eat her breakfast and that is so unlike her it is shocking.
Normally, I call this dog 'Hoover International'. She can eat her entire dish in thirty seconds flat, yes, we timed her, and no chewing despite our efforts to get her to slow down.

Let's not talk about how difficult it is to get her to go to the bathroom outside. She is so spoiled that she will walk out, look up at you while lifting a paw just demanding you to shovel her a path and a 'poop circle' so she doesn't have to grace the snow with her delicate paws.


Much like my equine life I often over think things. The other day I got thinking if this 'mood' Kameo is going through is a result of losing her bonded sister suddenly in October of 2013. At that time she went through about six months of separation anxiety but was able to overcome it after we enrolled her into doggy daycare so she was still able to interact with other canines.
Adopting another dog really isn't in the question right now since DH and I have such busy lives that one travel sized dog and a horse is plenty.

At the end of it all I keep thinking that canine seasonal depression might actually be a real thing? Hmm..

Words are a lens to focus one’s mind.

 

Not horse related today, but sharing none the less.


I have a pretty vivid imagination. I love reading and I love all movies supernaturally/fantasy related. Sounds lame I know but something about these movies takes you away from the day to day world and transmits you to a fresh new world where possibilities are endless. I could get lost in these worlds if I had the time.
Dear hubby is very much the same, minus the reading, he doesn't have the patience. We both joke that we are old souls, me being the eldest I am sure (lol), but we watch these movies set in different times and swear that our souls are born and bred to be in the 1800's. Times were simpler and more straight forward.

As of late I have trouble sleeping which NEVER happens for me. I could sleep through the house falling down but the smallest spur of thought that intrigues me can keep me up for hours with my mind running wild. Too many possibilities.
While there are real life thoughts swirling in my head endlessly, which would keep the most normal person awake, I sleep through it knowing I will have clarity in the morning. What keeps me awake is my imagination.
The past couple years I go through spurts of months where ideas and details are steaming out my ears I swear. I sum it up to too much reading. Each night the details become more vivid and the story playing out becomes a movie of sorts. I feel like I finally have got to get it out and take a shot at writing.

Maybe it is the Pisces in me. The 'Dreamer'.
Sounds crazy but I think this is why I started blogging. Expressing my thoughts and feelings by means of this blog I instantly feel satisfied after each post. I think it is this feeling that keeps bringing me back.
I am going to give this a shot.