First Day of Fall and Subsequent Rides

Missouri graced our first day of fall last week with a 40 degree temperature drop. So naturally I went out to ride Ruby bareback in yoga pants and Sperrys 🙃 #safetyfifth lol

She was fine, because #bestbaymare™️

Hacked on the buckle, w/t/c both directions. Good girl. 

She's looking pretty baller with her winter coat coming in all dapply. 

Snagged an Eponia for $55. 

The patent had some scuffs but the leather is overall great. 

Running out of bridle room though 🤣

The fittings being gold aren't my favorite but it works with the Verbindend and I found reins with gold buckles #tackhoarderprobs haha

This week is perfect riding weather - mid-70s and sunny!

The little chunk of hair blowing in the wind was killing me lol.

Still anxiously waiting for TrainerB to move into her new place, although I really can't move my trailer much until we get a little farther into the renovation process (like panels on the walls lol) so I guess it works out fine timing wise! 

Trail Adventures: Shooting Star

Sorry it has been so quiet here most of the month, I got shamed into updating again 🤣 (thanks Sarah!). Work has been exceptionally busy which from a professional standpoint is wonderful, but it's mentally exhausting. Add that to DH still being on a 10 lb weight restriction recovering from his emergency back surgery in August meaning I have to handle 100% of the chores at home, that typically saps what little physical energy I have left at the end of a long work day. The horses are borderline feral and I am not getting to ride as much as I'd like. But. I'll try to write about those handful of rides and also keep up to date on adventures - whether that's updates on the trailer conversion or the occasional trail ride! So here goes! 

Last Sunday I got to sneak away with some friends to ride at a new to me place in the morning before working all afternoon on the horse trailer. Since my trailer was partially ripped apart, a generous friend offered to come get me in her trailer if she could ride Trigger, so off we went to meet some more of the core trail ride group we've put together this year - it's so nice to have such a big group because even though everyone can't make it every time, we still usually end up with a good mix of horses. And it's been AMAZING for Ruby to figure out she doesn't always have to lead, she can settle in mid pack with no issues, or switch around to help other horses gain confidence. And Trigger is basically reverse aging with all the riding he's done this year, you never know he was 25 and he has stopped lagging a quarter mile behind the rest of the group like he used to do with DH. He's so peppy! 

 

Tacking situation at this trail was.... In the middle of a gravel road. Definitely an adventure. 

Best girl ♥️

Perks of being picked up was I didn't have to drive at all! Wheeeeeee!

Trigger is developing quite a fan club and I cannot even with how cute he is ♥️♥️♥️

The weather was PERFECT and the trail was lovely. 

A giant group of folks on mules (who had taken over essentially the whole road when we were parking) were having a BBQ in the woods lol. 

A creekbed that would be way more fun with water, but we're still in a drought, womp womp. 

I love her happy trail ears ♥️

We did 5 miles in a bit under 2 hours, and it was so refreshing! I was worried about taking barefoot horses on this trail because I'd heard it could be rocky, but Ruby managed fine and Trigger had his front boots. I really do need to invest in boots for Ruby next! 

WW: Horses are Great

So in today's edition of WHY ARE HORSES, one day last week Jack came in for breakfast with this.... 

Warning - gross video below, don't watch if you're squeamish lol.

Because I'm a horse person, naturally I squeezed it all out (the video above could have gone on for.... A long time 🙈). 

Two days after it looked okay

Sunday night it took a bit of a turn so I started him on SMZs and within three doses it looked world's better, so I expect it to heal up without any further incidents. Thankfully he did it around the time cooler weather helped the fly situation. The location means he's constantly reopening it when he grazes, but at least that also means it's constantly expressing anything that builds up in there, and then I give it a good flush 2x a day. Ugh. Horses. 

Horse Trailer Conversion

Soooooo if we're FB friends, you probably already saw that I've started working on renovating my horse trailer tack room into a weekender. I'd like to show more, but hotels are $$$$ and the closest show venue is juuuuuust far enough that driving back and forth blows. I'm also casually shopping actual LQ horse trailers and if I find one I want in my budget, that isn't out of the question either (🤣) but in the meantime, this gives me something to do and if I like the results, I won't buy something new! Anyway. Here's the progress to date:

I have literally always hated this carpeting. 

Came out SO EASILY 

Then I had so much glue to scrape off. 

Browsing paneling. 

Saving ideas from the Horse Trailer Conversion group. 

Pulled out the floor carpet!

More ideas from the group. I asked DH if one of the prisons could do custom butcher block countertops for me 🤩

Electrical supplies 

Replacing the windows - shout out to 4-Star for having THE BEST customer service. Had these windows 4 days after I emailed asking about how to order replacements for my '99 trailer I bought used. 

Not a true project until somebody bleeds lol. 

Using the carpet we pulled out as a template to cut insulation.

Boom 

Traced the cut insulation onto plywood to try to avoid a lot of obnoxious measurements 

Plywood over the insulated floor

More #inspo I saved 

LVP floor down! 
Yes, I still have flooring left over from the house that I used in the Taj MahTeal and now this 🤣🤣

Electric plugin installed 
Not gonna lie, the thought of drilling a hole in my beautiful trailer gave me hives so I'm glad DH did it while I was gonna trail riding 🤣

Inside. Electric box coming soon!

Made a lot of progress this weekend before we ran out of insulation - I need to go get more supplies!

I also spent an uncomfortable amount of money buying the heat & a/c unit, a mini fridge (in blue naturally 🤣), and a mattress, so hopefully if we keep progressing at this rate maybe DH and I can sneak away for an overnight at the trail riding ranch before it gets too cold!