Well not really a change of plans, more an experiment in the planning department. See it’s no secret that I love the hunters. I love the perfection. I love the outfits. I love the overall goal. My horse jumps cute and has potential as a hunter, even with some obstacles (both his and mine) we’re currently working through. So I do love the hunters, and if I had to pick my ideal goal for Simon it would be to…
I love buying my horse stuff. He has a collection of bonnets and a respectable stack of saddle pads. It’s not just Simon either, like many of us equestrians I just love buying things for “my baby.” I don’t anticipate that ever changing. However, I don’t necessarily have the budget for unlimited shopping sprees and the latest and greatest of everything. In fact if I were to be honest, big purchases are either put on my credit card if they’re absolutely necessary…
Most of you are familiar with the blogger behind today’s Transformation Tuesday, Viva Carlos. If you’ve been paying close attention to her blog lately, you’ll see an amazing transformation with her new horse, Ramone. Today she shares his story with us for Transformation Tuesday! 11 Months ago I put Carlos down, that is still one of the hardest sentences to think. 4 days later my trainer brought another horse to the barn. Too soon? Yeah, it really was. 16.2hh and…
It’s been a busy time here in Austin with horse shows galore (and more coming up!) so I was happy to have a free morning where Jen of Wyvern Oaks and I could head to the barn together. Even though she’s been around Simon and heard quite a lot about Simon, she’s never actually ridden him. It was time for that to change! Plus, since she’s been rocking the dressage lately we took this as an opportunity to dress Simon…
Since this is primarily a horse blog, I tend to keep the topics fairly upbeat and of course… pony related. In the horse front, I have a lot to be thankful for. It is such a privilege to be able to lesson, train and show like I am right now. Even with our challenges, I am so thrilled to have Simon and really enjoy our time together. That doesn’t change the fact that behind the scenes, I’ve been pretty low this…
While I have been through a lot of schooling saddle pad options with some good results, for the longest time I had a really hard time finding a decent hunter fitted show pad. First I had a Thinline Sheepskin fitted pad, but it was incredibly hard to clean and stayed an off-white yellow color. Sheepskin is expensive, hard to clean… and super expensive! After seeing so many hunter horses at WEF with fleece fitted pads, I said bye bye to sheepskin…
If you’ve ever been to a horse show at almost any level, there’s a good chance that you’ve experienced an equine photographer. They come with all different levels of equipment, professionalism and skill. The good ones are a rare mix of photography skills, equestrian sport knowledge and an artistic eye. The business of equine photography seems to be in a strange and dangerous place right now. Photographers complain about rising costs, stolen photos, and fewer orders while show goers complain…
I bet I wasn’t the only one who didn’t really know that “big eq” and the Maclay Medal Finals was a really big deal before the Horse Power TV series on Animal Planet. Since I didn’t grow up showing on any type of hunter/jumper (or any) circuit, I had no idea of the big eq world. Even when I did figure out the big eq existed, the classes weren’t usually big in NC and we don’t even have a decent 3’6″…