Love this.

Saw this on Facebook tonight and had to share.

Winter time In the country.

Yesterday we had the biggest blizzard to hit us in a couple of years. I went out yesterday to feed the horses and got this picture of them standing outside the barn. Today is a snow day and I'm sure we will be spending it outside removing snow. Thankfully it isn't too terribly cold out there...it's just 35mph winds we are dealing with...

terrifying, and not romatical at all...

I was at home last night watching Tv with the hubby. When this Ralph Lauren commercial came on. (this is a longer way drawn out version posted but the same parts are in the commercial).

 

We had to rewind it a few times to see if it was really as horrifying as I originally had thought.  First off, that woman is riding with a dress on… basically riding bareback with no pants on…yuck! Yes it looks beautiful and flowy and romatic. But all I can think of is that one time a friend and I were camping with our horses and we rode down to the river to bath both ourselves and our horses. We rode bareback in our bikinis and it was not a pleasant experience. And have you ever tried to get back onto a wet horse bareback? Basically the fact that we just took a bath in the river was completely tossed out the window by the fact we hopped back on wet horses to get back to our tent…gross. I still can’t even believe I was talked into that scenario. It was a beer fueled weekend to say the least.

 

What about the part where they are cantering away holding hands. Awww adorable….never gonna happen in real life with me. First off I get all panicky when I ride next to someone because thanks to Yellow I have a fear they are going to kick the horse next to me. That’s how we got kicked off the equestrian drill team he kept kicking at the other horses as they came up next to him. Also I had another horse kick me and almost break my ankle when riding that close…sooo yeah. I’ve also never been on two horses that can just canter along happily next to each other. It ALWAYS ends up being a race. Sometimes it’s the horses idea, but usually it’s my riding companions idea.

 What do they keep staring at off in the distance? Eyes forward you fools!! You never know what dangers could be ahead of you! You could be thrown and when  not wearing a helmet, or boots, or pants for that matter you could be pretty messed up afterwards…

And near the end when he’s got his arm around her neck as they are smooching and cantering away…what the heck is is trying to do to that woman? Kill her? Uffda. Seriously, I would not be giggling and smiling if that was ever attempted. More like screams of horror with the feeling that someone is trying to pull me off my horse. I get that they are probably better horse people than me but seriously.

 Non horse people have such a skewed perception of what really goes on. Yeah the commercial is romatical and beautiful and blah blah blah. But seriously I am such a worrier around horses that this commercial really freaked me out.

Day 29- A style/trend in tack/riding apparel that you don’t like

Day 29- A style/trend in tack/riding apparel that you don’t like

Western. Pleasure. Show. Clothing.

I posted these before…and I still feel the same…Dislike.

Okay. Soooooo I kind of like this one...I know. I know...

 

Day 27- You know you’re an equestrian when…..

 Day 27- You know you’re an equestrian when….. (Give 5 original ones)

You know you’re an equestrian when you open your large, gold, studded purse at the grocery store to pay and find a pair of stirrups and a dressage girth. (true story, happened this week!)

You know you’re and equestrian when you find yourself being snarky about every single girl and their mother wearing riding boots to trot around town. (I know, I know…my pet peeve is rude horse people, but these aren’t horse people!!)

You know you’re an equestrian when your hair stylist doesn't even flinch anymore when she finds bedding or hay in your hair (or under her chair).

 

You know you’re an equestrian when you seriously think about having your paycheck direct deposited to the vet.

You know you’re an equestrian when you can’t remember some of your childhood friends or what they looked like but remember every single horse’s name and color that you’ve ever encountered in your life.

Day 26- Biggest riding pet peeve

Day 26- Biggest riding pet peeve

This is aneasy one.Riders who are stuck up and rude. Now I am not saying that we shouldall have to get along, but rolling your eyes, or talking down to me is reallynot appreciated. I like to ask questions about horses and when I get a bitchyrude response it makes me want to slap the person…but mostly makes me want tocry. I’m a pretty sensitive gal and take things really hard. I remember onceasking a girl about barrel racing one day and she got all high and mightysaying how hard it was and that a person like me probably wouldn’t even be goodat it since I was just starting to ride. All I wanted to know was if it was funand if she could give me some pointers.

I once tooka beginner horsemanship class when I was in college. It was a class that wasdescribe as a class for BEGINNERS to learn about horses and riding and all thatfun stuff. But that class seriously made me sink down into a deep darkdepression. I didn’t want to ride or be around horses after taking that class.It took me a few years before I even started to think about riding again. The professorwas some old cowboy who knew everything about horses. All the girls in my classhad been riding since they were in their mother’s womb. The horse I was assignedwas a naughty horse that had been kicked off a string of horses at a dude ranchbecause he was an ass. Prior to taking this class I had mostly ridden English.I’d never saddled up a western horse and I didn’t know much about westernriding. Which was why I took the class to learn as much as I could. Well Istruggled with the saddle, I always had a hard time remembering how to securethe cinch. So the instructor would make a big production about helping me out,and the girls in the class would giggle the whole time. You know if I saw aclassmate struggling I would go help her, but that is just me. Every class wewould get our horses and then tie them up in the arena and then have a quickmeeting in the tack room about the day’s lesson. I tied my horse up like theytaught me and when I returned, sure enough, my horse was wandering around thearena. I apparently had the horse that could undo quick release knots. Soobviously I got lectured and more giggle from the girls in my class. Almostevery ride I would get singled out by the professor and he’d basically say “whateverK.K is doing…do the opposite.” By the end of the semester I was so emotionallydrained and hated that class so much. I had to hold a classmates horse for herand I stood there near the horses head and it sneezed, all over me. and myprofessor yelled across the areana “Reason #345 why we don’t stand in front ofa horse”. Obviously everyone in class laughed their butts off. When I left Icried the whole way home. To be honest I don’t think I even went back and tookmy final exam. I was so crushed at how rude everyone was to me. It was then andthere that I decided if I ever got back into horses I would be as friendly andhelpful to everyone as I could be. And I do try hard to be helpful and nice tomy fellow riders. We can all use a little help now and then. It’s just easierif we are at least nice to each other.

Day 25- Your dream trailer

Day 25- Your dream trailer

Easy question...This beauty.

 I''m kidding...I like this single horse beast.

OR this one...

Homemade?

OK, so I was kidding. These all look like deathtraps really...but in all actuality that is how I see trailers.. Trailers are terrifying to me. Absolutely terrifying. After my accident in the trailer I don't have any confidence in them or around them.

Our trailer

This is the trailer we ended up with. It had all the things I wanted. It was extra tall and wide, with a ramp and full escape doors, and the price was where we wanted to be. Still terrifying to me. But she does a good job hauling the horses, if we can get them in there. Piney didn't load in anything and Duke hates ramps. Pistol is like "pssssht, I'll ride on a flat bed if you want me too. Is that hay in there? I'm in." It is my dream trailer in that I've always dreamed of having my own trailer some day. And now I have one. It's not everyone's dream trailer, but it is mine.