Just a Little Retial Therapy

Between the fires, hazardous air quality, Peebs colicking, and general anxiety I might have done a little retail therapy. I mean, why not buy stuff you only use when riding when you can't ride for a couple of weeks? Gotta get that serotonin hit from something. 

The barn I bought Peebs from is closing and was selling off pretty much everything not nailed down. They had jumps for sale, and while we don't need more standards or poles, we could use fill. Unfortunately they wanted to sell the jumps as a set, but had some extra flower boxes I snagged. The brown ones each need a board replaced, while the yellow and white ones just need some cleaning and a new coat of paint. 

In need of a little TLC

 

 I took advantage of the International Helmet Awareness weekend and bought a One K MIPS. I'm super happy that One K's now come in long oval and with the MIPS. While I don't need a new helmet, I'm sure Cinder is going to turn me into a lawn dart at some point and my Trauma Void is a smidge loose on my head. Much rather be out $$ for a new helmet than a brain injury. 

I was going through my blankets and sheets and realized the only sheet I have for Peebs is his Back on Track one. I love it, but he doesn't always need it. Cinder thankfully still fits into last years blankets but will most likely need to size up next year. Peebs and Cinder currently wear the same size, and Peebs can also wear the size up depending on the blanket, so I decided to get a rain sheet in 78. It's a little big on Peebs, but will fit Cinder next year. 

Because he's a unicorn

 So when I saw a unicorn sheet at the feed store, I had to get it. Peebs has the matching unicorn fly sheet in white, but I really like the blue rain sheet. I'm slightly upset of the thought of him going outside and rolling in the mud in it. It's almost too cute to use.

Stress City

The past month has been Stress City.  We had a big accreditation site visit for work and have spent every moment getting ready for it.  And of course, the week before, our internal review board said they wanted to their biannual inspection before the visit, instead of during the visit like originally planned.  So our time frame was suddenly shortened.  But both are over now and hopefully things can return to normal.

Still as cut as ever

To keep my sanity, I've mostly managed to keep riding during Stress City. Peebs, for the most part, has been good.  We've started putting the jumps up a bit to a whopping 2'3" and even a 2'6" fence.  And added in oxers.  I'm nervous about them, but Peebs don't care.  As long as I don't get handsy, and keep my hands down, he just goes with the flow and jumps from where ever I put him.

One of the easiest horses to ride through a gymnastic

We did our last show of the year at the end of September and while it was a bit of  a hot mess (apparently Peebs doesn't like waiting in the rain for his classes to go and got a bit spicy) I'm happy with how I handled it. He wanted to run, but at the same time was spooking at whatever and trying to go sideways.  We mostly trotted fences and I tried to keep my cool and not let it affect me.  Which I did, and we did improve with each round. In the past if Buddy or Phoenix pulled something like that I would have been in the fetal position crying and not able to push through and keep going.  So while we didn't have the show I wanted, it was worth it in terms of showing how far I've come as a rider. And the mental victories like that are worth more than ribbons any day.

I swear I'm not that pale in real life

There have been a couple big splurges, because we all know Stress City is best dealt with booze and retail therapy. I dropped my GPA on the concrete tack room floor a week or so before International Helmet Awareness Day, so of I made lemonade out of lemons and took advantage of the sales.  CO's and Samshields don't fit my head and the tack shop I went to didn't have any GPA's in my size and I was wary about ordering another with out trying it on first.  I liked how the Kask fit and it's pretty comfy so we went with that.  You'll have to wait for another post to see the other big purchase.