One Step, Two Steps, Breathe

"One Step, Two Steps, Breathe." That's the mantra I repeated as I slowly hand walked Cupid around the farm.

"One Step, Two Steps, Breathe." Don't focus on the fact that my partner is in pain, don't obsess about the horrible outcome that could arise if this didn't resolve itself. Just focus on walking, breathing, and talking to Cupid.

Sunday started like any other Sunday for me. I woke up, made some tea and a bagel, and left for the barn. I arrived at the barn around 8:30 and took a minute to watch a pair of woodpeckers on a light post. Their little feet quickly moved them around the post as they investigated it for potential food sources. Eventually they fluttered away towards a tree in search of a better meal than the light post provided. Watching those woodpeckers in a memory seared into my mind. Just the peace and simplicity of seeing the joy they took in climbing that post.

I got the girls fed quickly and set about doing basic chores while they ate. After about 10 minutes I walked over to their feeding stalls to find Cupid performing a Flehmen response and pawing at the ground. Instantly, I knew something was wrong and let her out of the stall. She walked over near the paddock gate and laid down. As I saw her go down I felt my heart stop.

The droopy ears and flared nose killed me

Thankfully, she just laid down and did not try to roll immediately. I quickly grabbed her halter and by the time I returned to her side she had begun to roll. All the hours we had spent training together came in handy as I quickly got her haltered and asked her to stand. From the look on her face I knew she did not want to rise but she did so because I asked.

We walked for what felt like hours waiting for the Banamine to kick in, waiting for her stomach to start rumbling, waiting and hoping and praying that I would not have to make the call that every owner dreads. I had called the vet and we decided to try a dose of Banamine with hand walking and seeing how she was in a few hours. The vet was confident from my description of Cupid's behavior that we would be successful with that treatment but her confidence did little to resolve my worry.

With each step I had to keep reminding myself that as long as she was standing, as long as she remained aware of our surroundings then things were alright. I spoke to her as we walked, talking to her about everything and anything I could think of. How stressed I was about the way things had fallen apart with a boy, how I wanted to succeed at my job and become a valuable team player, how excited I was to have her as my trail riding partner at my parents home, anything and everything that crossed my mind as we walked.

Investigating the stall for any food remnants while we took a walk break. 

After around an hour of walking I began to hear her stomach rumble lightly. I could have cried from relief because things were finally turning around. After 90 minutes of walking she began to bump my hip with her nose, directly at the spot where I always carried my training pouch. We did not make it to 2 hours of walking. Cupid decided, just after discovering that I had taken off the treat pouch, that she was done with this walking crap and instead decided she wanted to investigate what the chickens were doing.

Seeing that my friend was going to be fine I placed her in a stall to wait for her to pass manure. This was the longest 2 hours I could have imagined. Cupid was downright furious that she was being cheated out of a hay ration, and spent those hours flinging anything she could grab at me. Salt lick pan - flung all over the stall and scraped against the bars. Jolly Ball - stomped on until it resembled a pancake then thrown out of the stall. Water bucket - dumped several times and would have been thrown if I wasn't monitoring her. I think we were both relieved when she finally pooped and could go out on grass for a few minutes.

"Mom, please let me out of the stall."

The plan for the rest of the day was to leave her in a stall with her jolly ball and a bran mash. The vet agreed that, while the experience had been traumatic for me, it was an extremely mild case of colic. Everyone reassured me that she would be fine and that it was the best colic situation I could have asked for. I tend to disagree.

Pissed off because she realized she's stuck in the barn for the night

Walking Cue around the property because I needed to keep her moving was the worst part of the experience. I feared her giving up and just falling to her knees unable to rise, unable to join me on our long awaited adventure. Her eyes never lost their spark, and she kept tapping me with her nose, as if to say "I'll be alright, I'll be here with you". But my mind kept screaming "one step, two steps, breathe", because the primal act of breathing automatically did not seem like something I was capable of during those moments.

Watching me walk up the next day. The spark back in her eyes.

I don't know why Cupid coliced. The vet speculates that the sudden temperature changes and dryness might have contributed to it. No matter the reason, this is something I would never wish upon anyone. Currently, Cupid is back to her usual routine. She shows no indication that she was ever unwell and hopefully this is something we never have to experience again for a long time. I'll give her a bit of a break to ensure that she is fully recovered, but as I looked into her eyes yesterday I knew that every moment I have with her is a blessing. This little grey mare with the split ear has truly stolen my heart.

2019 Riding Goals

My 2019 riding goals are fairly basic and not very detailed. As always, I just want to focus on where life takes us and what the mares tell me they want to do.

1) Get them successfully settled into their new home!
The mares will be moving out to my parents place after the shed is extended to accommodate them. I hope to help them through this transition so they can settle down comfortably and enjoy their new home. I expect there will be large learning curve going from boarding to self care so I look forward to conquering this with them!

2) Take both mares out on the trails.
The new home will have trails and a shared riding arena. I can't wait to take the girls out on the trails and go exploring with them! We already have a few friends to go riding with so I anticipate this being fairly easy to achieve once they settle in.

3) Work on the Intro and Training Dressage movements
I would love to continue my dressage education, but because of the pending move I am not sure if  we will have the resources available to work with a trainer but I do plan on working on bending and transitions with my girls.

Overall, these are not overly ambitious goals but I wanted to set the bar low since I will be asking the girls to completely adjust to their new home and living schedule.

Unofficial Boarding Barn Rules

*Note this is one of the many drafts that have been hanging out in my draft folder that I have finally gotten the motivation to edit and post*

Most equestrians end up at a boarding facility at least some point during their lives. No matter the reason, I have discovered there are seven unofficial rules that should be followed at every barn.

7. If you take it out, put it away

Grooming tools, blankets, halters, lead ropes, tack, these are all items that when left out in the barn aisles can clutter them up and make it difficult for others to work. By keeping spaces clean and neat you are encouraging an environment of respect for your horse and the other riders at the barn. If you're unsure of where something belongs then ask, don't just leave it laying around the barn for another person to hang up.

6. Pick up after your horse

Poop happens, pick it up and put it in the designated disposal location. Not the flowerbeds, not the grass behind the cross ties, not hidden behind the spare fence post pile. Make sure to put it where your barn wants to see it placed. If you don't know where this is then make sure to ask your barn manager or a fellow rider. No one wants to step in random piles of poop, or have to clean up the wash rack after your horse.

5. Clean borrowed items

We have all had a moment where we want to try a new piece of tack, or need to borrow something from a friend, before buying one of our own. Once you have used the item, clean it and put it back in the proper place. No one wants to lend a bit out and have it come back covered in slobber and chewed hay.

4. Read the notice board

If a arena is closed, or a paddock is being rested, it can typically be found on a central message location. Read what is listed and make sure to follow the requests. If you have any questions about what is on the board do not hesitate to ask someone.

3. Own up to broken items

As the owner of a chronic cribber I have had to notify my barn owner of several broken fence boards. If you or your horse break something, admit it to the owner of the item and take ownership for replacing or repairing that item. Barn owners would rather be aware of an issue than discover it after the fact.

2. Clean up after yourself

If you have a snack, enjoy a drink, or simply make a mess, be sure to clean up after yourself. Nothing is worse than coming out to the barn to discover it covered in ants because someone dropped food and did not pick it up. On a similar note, if you bring something to the barn be sure to take it home or put it in your locker/trunk. A clean barn provides a much happier environment for all of the horses and riders who utilize it.

1. Don't cause drama

Gossip and drama create an unhappy barn environment. If you have a problem with someone or something, speak in a diplomatic fashion to the barn owner or responsible individual. Spreading rumors and bringing up issues to people who are powerless just creates a tense environment that carries over to everyone involved with the barn.

We are all guilty of breaking these rules occasionally, but by acknowledging them and trying to follow them we are all able to make boarding a much more pleasant experience.


**Which unwritten rules does your barn have or do you wish it had?**

Grooming the Grey - Dawn

After the ketchup experiment, I decided that I needed to try something more heavy duty to pull the yellow stains from Cupid's tail. While picking at her tail I did realize that sections of hair at the top are growing in "blonde" so it is very possible that the bottom section is naturally blonde. But because there was fading from the ketchup, I do believe that the yellow is staining.

Tail after the ketchup experiment

Today's experiment consisted of V05 strawberry shampoo and conditioner, and Dawn Dish Soap (the blue bottle). I know several people who use Dawn as their primary shampoo for their horses but have never tried it myself. I do keep a large bottle in my tack locker for bucket and bit cleaning purposes.

To start I soaked Cupid's tail with water and spread the strawberry shampoo through it. This was then combed through to remove as much surface dirt as possible. The shampoo smelled great and really got all of the surface dirt out, but did not do anything to remove the staining.

After the initial shampoo

After the shampoo was fully rinsed off I coated Cupid's tail with Dawn, avoiding her tailbone. This created a ton of lather that I used on her feet. Lately, we have been having issues with scratches and I wanted to remove the excess grease from the ointment. I allowed the Dawn to soak into her tail for approximately 10 minutes while I soaked her hay cubes and conditioned her mane with Cholesterol Cream.

Clearly super thrilled about standing around while she got bathed

Rinsing the Dawn from her tail did take forever. The suds kept bubbling off the tail which did make me a bit nervous about possibly leaving too much residue that would attract dirt. Once the Dawn seemed to be rinsed out completely I coated her tail in the strawberry conditioner to restore moisture. While massaging the conditioner into the tail I discovered that there was still Dawn in the tail. Yay for soap suds mixed with conditioner.

I left the conditioner sit while I put away our tack and then rinsed it out. Thankfully the conditioner and the remaining bits of Dawn completely rinsed out within a few minutes. I left Cupid to dry on the cross ties. Once fully dry, I sprayed the usual hair moisturizer onto her mane, tail, and coat.

Overall the Dawn did seem to remove some of the staining from Cupid's tail. It was not a miracle product but it was good enough that I would use it again. I do believe that it dried out her tail a bit more than desirable, but it was not as brittle as it had been when I first got her. As you can see we're slowly getting the tail back to a clean and acceptable color, but it's a long process due to the amount of staining I allowed to build up.

Not bad but still a long way to go

Grooming the Grey - Ketchup Tails

My dream horse was always a pure black with a small star and an angled snip. Owning a grey was the complete opposite end of what I wanted. Grey horses are a pain to get clean and seem determined to be as stained as humanly possible. Cupid, thankfully, is a bit picky about where she rolls and lays down. Plus she has a HUGE mud/water/pee spot phobia so I don't need to worry about those stains! But no matter how prissy my girl is I still have to deal with the typical grey stains, including a lovely yellow stained tail. Thus, I introduce the new post series "Grooming the Grey". 

Sweet and innocent, but awful to keep clean

*Note* Please use all suggestions with caution. I can only speak to my own experiences with all products recommended.

Before - A lovely black/grey fade to yellow tail

Hours of digging through Chronicle of the Horse led me to discover several alternative methods for cleaning stains out of a grey horse. One of the stranger methods involves soaking their tail in ketchup. Supposedly the acidity of ketchup pulls the yellow stains from tail hairs without causing as much damage as bleach. Because I had an expired bottle of ketchup in my fridge I figured this would be my first try at turning Cue's lovely grey/white, black and yellow tail into grey, white and black.

Step one was to shampoo the tail with Shiny Silver Ultra from Sally's Beauty Supply. This was on sale last year so I grabbed a few bottles. It does brighten Cupid's coat and mane, but only takes a little bit of the yellow staining out of her tail. I figured a clean tail would allow the ketchup to penetrate better. 

After the first shampoo

After the shampoo was completely rinsed out I coated it with ketchup. Naturally, Cupid kept swishing her tail getting ketchup water all over the barn and me. Because the bottle was almost empty I stuffed her tail into the ketchup bottle as far as it would go. I did not go past her tailbone because the staining was not too bad at that point and I did not want to irritate her skin. 

Ketchup coated tail

The ketchup sat on her tail for approximately 10 minutes while I stuffed her full of carrots. Because I wanted to ensure that it was all removed I reshampooed her with the Shiny Silver after I rinsed the ketchup out. I was also afraid of her tail smelling like ketchup and getting eaten off by one of her pasture mates. After both shampoo and ketchup were completely rinsed out I covered her tail with a deep conditioner. I used Suave 2 Minute Super Conditioner Intense Moisture because it has been hanging out in my shower forever and I wanted to see it gone. 

Shampoo and Conditioner

Once the conditioner was rinsed out and her tail was dried I was pleased to see that the yellow was faded more than shampoo alone would have done. and that her tail was not dried out. It was easy to comb through and felt healthy. 

Post-ketchup in the sun

Overall, I don't believe the ketchup would have been a good last minute treatment before a show but it was a good "get the tail back to normal" option. I would do this again, but next time I would attempt to leave the ketchup in longer. 

Post-ketchup tail in the shade

Steele My Heart 1 Year Anniversary

It's hard to believe that a year ago I was dashing over to the barn on my lunch break to sign Cupid's sales contract.

This past year has been filled with plenty of ups and downs:

We spent hours working on her canter leads.

We stood around working on being quiet for what felt like an eternity.

We went from going around like a drunk, one wheel car, to straight lines and deep corners.

We showed over fences successfully and received our first reserve champion ribbons.

We moved barns.

Started dressage.

Broke down several brick walls and stall panels.

Loaded and unloaded from a trailer quietly.

Worked through a fear of water.

Survived a hurricane (and didn't jump the paddock fence that broke!)

Rode bareback and without stirrups.

And so many other things.

I couldn't have asked for a better partner, and I'm honestly blessed to have found Cupid. Here's to another year of our ever-growing partnership. I can't wait to see where we go and how else this little mare can Steele My Heart!

2017 - A Year in Review

It's hard to believe that we're at the end of the year already. It seems like just yesterday I was at Manager's New Year's Eve party wondering who would attend with me after Vegas moved. This past year has been full of so many changes, yet so many other things have stayed the same. In staying with the general theme (give me credit, I like to believe that this site has a direction. lol) here are the major items that happened to me in my running, riding, reading, and repeating!

Running
This year started slowly in terms of running. I did the bare minimum in mileage and ran races that I was a bit underprepared for. But I quickly turned it around and joined the Disney Springs Fit2Run Galloway Training Group which helped me jump start my running program into something more productive than it had been. While I'm only a casual member the group at the moment, because of the early darkness, I am looking forward to continuing my running journey with them. I was able to PR my 10k and place in my age group for a 5k because of them.

On the topic of my 10k PR at the Celebration Pancake Run 10k, it was a bit disappointing but it is a huge milestone for me. If you check out my races tab you'll see that my PRs haven't really changed in a few years. This is entirely my fault because I am the least consistent runner I know. I had hoped to PR in the 5k at the Jingle Jolly Jog, but my mental game wasn't there. I am so proud of my first age group award. I have lusted after them for, what feels like, ages so it is extremely exciting to finally have one on my wall! Ok, it's actually in a shoebox under my guest bed because I have yet to find a medal holder that I love, but that isn't the point!

Riding
Easily, the biggest thing that happened to my riding career, this year, was purchasing Cupid. I spent weeks last year debating about purchasing her, and I officially made the plunge on January 11th. I never imagined that my horse would be a little Welsh pony cross, who was green broke with a major attitude. But here I am, with my little Welshie who still has a major attitude, and is slightly better than green broke. Honestly, I wouldn't trade in our partnership for anything. Owning a green pony has taught me so much about riding, patience, and myself. For every step forward there are two steps back, but once we make a leap forward the landing is extremely rewarding.

In addition to purchasing Cue, I also uprooted her and moved to a new barn. Shortly after purchasing Cupid I realized that our current situation was not working out. The care wasn't what I wanted for my horse, I felt cheated out of my lesson package, and I was extremely nervous having my partner in a barn with minimal supervision. It took me until May to find a stable that met my standards. The major sign that this was the place for us was when we ran into our new trainer at a show before I had even told our old trainer we were leaving. The new trainer made several observations about Cupid and I, then commented that she would love to take us back to the basics because "she's a baby and there's no need to rush her". Hearing this proved to me that she would have Cupid's best interests at heart which is all I wanted in a boarding situation.

Moving Cupid was the best choice I could make for her. She's happy at our current barn, has put on much-needed weight, and is slowly becoming a solid partner for me. We still have a long way to go, and I miss jumping, but watching her move properly and understand what I'm asking has been worth everything we have been through.

Reading
According to GoodReads, I've read 112 books this year. My goal for the year was 100 so I am officially putting this in the win category for the year! A few of those books were the Saddle Club series because I started walking down memory lane and couldn't put the books down. What was really nice was that I'm able to get them from the Orange County Library Media Mall which means no awkwardly walking into the children section of the library or putting them on hold.

Two other series that I have really gotten into this year are the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger and the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the Finishing School series this weekend, so expect that review to come up in the near future!

Repeat
If you've been around for awhile you'll notice that I fashioned this blog after my running, riding, and reading life. So you might be questioning what this whole "repeat" business is. I decided the other day that I needed a header for my twitter account and my facebook page. The plan was to do a running, riding, and reading silhouette on a glitter background. While putting this together it dawned on me to do a repeat sign so the entire blog title was represented. I looked up repeat signs to get an idea and had an "I'm an idiot" moment. In music, there is a sign that informs the musician to repeat a section, this is called a repeat. Because music is such a big part of my life and I've openly discussed it on here it only made sense to take the Repeat part of my title and have it represent the music portion of my life.

I now present to you the newest "official" section of the blog. My Repeat section, or music discussion.

With that little intro out of the way, it's time to discuss my year in music!
In January I located a local orchestra that seemed like it would be at my skill level and was actively recruiting members, the Central Florida Community Orchestra. I signed up and attended my first rehearsal. It was terrifying and I almost walked away before entering the building, but I participated in that first rehearsal and loved it! The CFCArts #FluteNation welcomed me and has pushed me to want to become a better musician.

This year I participated in four different concerts with CFCArts; Jazz, Joel and John in March, American Roadtrip in June, Fiesta in November, and Once Upon a December in December. Once Upon a December was the first time, since college, where I've accompanied a choir. This pushed me to not only be aware of the rest of the orchestra but to also work on matching the choir without becoming the main focus.

Without the Orchestra, I don't think I would have found a group that feels like home or had the drive to pick up the saxophone again!

Overall, this is a quick review of my 2017. It was fun, it was great, but I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for me!

SmartPak Cyber Monday Haul and NYX Lippie Countdown Day Seven

So I do apologize for today's post being another "haul" post. I was planning on reviewing the virtual scavenger hunt that I participated in for a work event, but I'm not sure how to phrase what I thought of it.

So, if you haven't seen from recent Instagram photos, Cupid has begun to crib. She has had a collar put on and had her feed changed from a sweet feed type to something more fiber based. In addition, we've also discussed the possibility of ulcers. Because she does not show any other signs of ulcers, putting her on an ulcer/digestive supplement has been discussed. After much research and discussion, I decided to try Uckele Equine's G.U.T. supplement which was available through SmartPak. I was excited to see this included in their Black Friday sale so quickly threw it in my cart.

Because I try to get free shipping whenever I use SmartPak, and the deals were fairly good, I included a few extra items in this order. The first item was dewormer. Every equestrian dreads having to deworm their horses and I'm no exception. But Cupid is due soon so a tube of Quest Plus was added to my cart. Thankfully, this was included in the sale so the price wasn't as painful as usual.

The third item was also for Cupid. Because she needs to be dewormed I need to get an accurate weight on her. Enter the SmartPak Weight and Height tape. Hopeful, y this will give me a fairly accurate weight on her so we can avoid over or under-dosing with the dewormer. I like that this tape includes height measurement on one side so that I can determine if she really is 14.1 hands or if she's gone from the large pony to a small horse classification.

The final item is something that I've had my eye on for awhile. I love the Kensington SmartPink line and have been trying to gather all the items. So far I have a grooming bag, fly mask with ears, and light turnout sheet (which might be for sale soon as it's a bit too small for Cue). The tall boot bag was discounted and included in the sale which brought the price down a considerable amount. After thinking about it for a few hours I added it to my cart and hit the purchase button. Even though my tall boots are from eBay I would still like to keep them as nice as possible. By storing them in a boot bag they should hopefully avoid unnecessary scratches and bending. I like that this bag has a divider in the middle to keep the boots from rubbing against each other too much.

Today on the NYX Lippie Countdown I was a bit dismayed to see the preview as a bright purple. I'm starting to settle into the fact that purple lipstick will never be a color I can successfully pull off so I wasn' too happy to see that was today's color.

Upon opening the tab I was a bit surprised to see that I liked the purple shade that was on the tube. Between the metallic cap and the collection name, Intense Butter Gloss, I knew this would be a shiny and bright purple.

The shade is called Berry Strudel, and if this were a lipstick from the 90s it would probably be scented. One item that I found a bit strange was that the application is flat on two sides and not a doe foot like NYX typically is.

After applying the color I was surprised to see that I didn't hate it. It is more of a gloss than a lipstick, and the shade is definitely not professional. But this would be a good color for having fun or a costume. It is extremely glossy and does not dry, which means that it gets on every glass that I use and needs to be reapplied several times throughout the day.

Overall, this isn't a color that I would buy again but I do plan on using it while the sample lasts.