Uh... so my hand slipped...

Look, I'm not saying that I'm a bit of a tack junkie or anything, but I do acknowledge that maybe I don't need three bridles, five - no, wait, six - different sets of reins, a saddle with matching girth, a surcingle with two matching girths, a breastplate, and a breastcollar for a single horse.  And let's not talk about how many saddle pads I own.

But... um... I went to a tack swap today?

And there was one of these?

And I think they're pretty cool, so I was looking at it - even though it doesn't match anything else I own - and the lady who was selling it was like, "That's $15, if you'd like it..."

Which is a pretty good price.  It was in good condition; it could use a cleaning and I'm not sure the rings for the reins are original, but otherwise it's fine.  And I had cash in my pocket.

Later, when I got it home, I realized that it's a Prestige...

Quiet, but not TOO quiet

Photo courtesy the trainer.

Look who's had a saddle and a human on her back?

Guess who's also managed to not break the indestructible halter, but did break the lead rope I sent her down there with during bath time?

*facepalm*

More seriously, reports from the trainer are that she's doing great.  Still pulling back now and then, but mostly she's given up on it.  She's been ridden at least once that we know about, and just generally is being pretty calm about the whole thing.

...

Not gonna lie, I got the ear pictures and did the nerdiest happy dance ever.

Boot camp!

Fat mare is off to boot camp!

Things have been pretty quiet around here otherwise - we got Coggins done a couple of weeks ago.

It was maybe a little windy that day.

And then on Saturday, we loaded up and hauled to the trainer.

We were supposed to be taking Cessa and the boss mare of the herd, but that... did not happen.  My BOs picked me up on the way, so I didn't get to see exactly what happened, but the short version was that Cessa freaked out at the sight of boss mare headed towards her butt, which freaked out boss mare, and... it just wasn't happening safely.  Boss mare stayed home and one of the geldings also on the 'to be trained' list came along instead.

They unloaded just fine and were introduced to the herd.  Of course Cessa had to kick someone right off the bat - and threaten to kick a baby shortly thereafter - and that's how I found myself shouting, "Don't be a bitch, Cessa!" across a paddock ten minutes after meeting the new trainer, so... there's that.  lol

This is not how you make friends at boot camp, silly mare.

The wonderful thing about this trainer is that even though she's a couple of hours from us, she constantly updates with photos and messages.  So I know that since we dropped them off Saturday afternoon:

• Cessa spent some quality time with the patience tree and the 'unbreakable' halter.  Cessa: 0, Halter: 1.  I am impressed with the halter.  lol
• The gelding has, at least once, run away from the mini horse.  We have video proof, and it is hilarious.

She'll be there for at least 60 days; I'm willing to do 90 days if she needs it, but I don't expect to know one way or the other for a few weeks.

So... excited... to... ride... my... horse... soon...

All quiet on this front. And wet. Did I mention wet?

Ah, Texas.  Gotta love the weather - or move far, far away.

After an unusually dry winter, suddenly we had this:

Three of those limbs should be way up in the sky.

Yes, that's a solid 1/8" ice on those tree limbs.  Something - sixth sense? - told me that morning when I came back from an errand, Don't park in the driveway.  Don't do it.  It's not a good idea.

See that pavement to the left of the tree?  Yeah, that's the driveway, where my car would have been.

So thank you, random sixth sense!

This was one of the weirder ice storms we've had; everything not on the ground froze over.  The ground, however, was too warm - it was 70 the day before, because Texas - so all the roads were was wet.

The next day, it was in the 60s.

It then rained for five days.  And not a little rain.  Depending on where you were, you got 5-8 inches of rain.

Two days of dry, and then it rained again.  Depending on your location, you got another 2 to 5 inches.

Another couple of days, and then more rain.

This past Friday, BO#2 and I had the following conversation, which I think sums up most of February nicely:

But there's good news!

Someone is penciled in for pony boot camp, starting the end of this month!

She looks thrilled.

Now all I have to do is...

Thank you, autocorrect.

You know, make my horse look respectable by removing the giant-ass bramble from her tail while trying not to laugh like Muttley.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Everybody's posting goals, and I feel like such a slacker for not really having any.

Well, that's not true.  Right now, I have exactly two goals for this year.

This time for real.

Cessa will get saddle training some time in the spring.  (And hopefully oh my god, mare, being tied is not a game of break-the-equipment re-education while she's there...)

Year 3 coming up!

And Justice gets his nuts off and diagnostics on his eyeballs mid-month.

I'd like to get one or both of them out to shows this year, but the lady that runs the show circuit we usually go to had a double lung transplant (!!) around Thanksgiving and is only going to run about half her usual number of shows this year.  So we'll have to look around and see what we can find here in the Land of Stock Horses that won't turn up their noses too badly at our drafties. lol

Happy Holidays!

Is this food?

It doesn't look like food...

Hey guys, is this thing food?

This. Is. Not. Food.

You've got to be kidding me, human.

I hear sleigh bells!  It's Santa, and he has FOOD!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Grown up halters!

I mean, it's on the smallest of holes and still a bit baggy, but he can wear an Average Horse-sized halter now!

Looking more and more like a big boy.

I tried to tell my DH that it's a manly halter.  Apparently silver dots on the metal that kind of look like rhinestones if you squint disqualify it as manly.  lol