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Showing posts from May, 2018

Hidden Brook Farm Dressage Schooling Show - June 2, 2019

Ellie and I did a show at our lesson barn this past weekend instead of taking a lesson.  I would have done a lesson on Saturday before the show, but my instructor went to NEDA Spring with her eldest daughter, who was able to get her last Grand Prix score for her USDF Gold Medal!!!  So that is a good reason to not be able to lesson haha.

I admit I was a little bummed about our low scores at the SMDA show two weeks prior.  I know a score of 6 (60%) is called satisfactory, but I really thought our performance was better than a low 60%.
I was determined to ride well and even though Beth was not there, I had her youngest daughter as my back up if the wheels fell off the bus LOL!  She was already in the warmup and at the show ring with her actual students, so it was nice to have her there to remind me to breathe and not hang on the left rein!  ;-)
Ellie unloaded and was totally calm.  Honestly, she loves her lesson barn and knows it is her second home haha.  She was much calmer tied to the tra…
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Product Review: Miraculous Trailer Cleaner

Ok, so it is not really called that, but this stuff is pretty freaking miraculous.  It is actually called LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner, and well, it is totallyawesome.  And it is super cheap!  


Our trailer has developed gross black marks in the white aluminum skin over the past two years since we bought it and NOTHING we tried removed it.  Soap and water, Softscrub, and even Comet did nothing.  I was super frustrated because it looks gross.  In an internet search, this video popped up.  I was like nahhhh, there is no way this stuff works so well!

Oh, but it does!!









I was feeling rich the day I stopped at the local dollar store, because instead of the small $1 bottle, I splurged on the larger 64 ounce bottle for $3.  I know, I know, big spender!  ;-)

My husband finally had a chance to give it a shot yesterday afternoon.  And it was amazing.  It didn't take much effort at all and the black crap is gone!  It looks so much better!  



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Please Buy My Stuff

Alright, help me clean out my basement!
Eight days worth of SmartCombo Ultimate Pellets ($170/month) $40
 VHS tapes - does anyone even use these anymore?I will throw them in if you buy something else haha Essex Signature Collection Show Shirt, size 30, excellent used condition, two collars (one has Kermit the Frog) $15
Rambo winter jacket, brown, size small, excellent used condition, $25
If the Bonnet Fits fly bonnet, cob sized, embroidery "Grab mane/Kick on" on back side of ears, hunter green with orange/white, used once, $25
Toklat Classics III custom saddle pad, hunter green with orange/white, never used because it didn't fit my tiny saddle, 22x40" with forward flap, $50


FITS riding shirt, size small, excellent used condition, $10
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Product Review: Savvy Feeder

Thanks to Jen at Cob Jockey for writing a review on the Savvy Feeder, I was inspired to buy one for Dreamy to use in her paddock.  While Dreamy eats every single spear of hay in her stall overnight, she wastes hay like crazy when turned out.  At 27 years old, she needs to eat all her hay and at $5.50 a bale for gorgeous second crop, I don't want to see it wasted.  I don't have a spot in her paddock to hang a hay net like the one I use for Ellie, plus the slow feeder nets make her eat less hay (she doesn't like to work any harder than she has to) and the regular sized holes make a lot of hay fall out, so it kinda defeats the purpose of not wasting hay.

Right before my son was born about three years ago, I purchased a DIY kit from Slow Grazer, which included the wire grate and written instructions for a hay feeder.  We never got around to building the hay feeder that summer (because LIFE), and then when I decided it was time to build it about a year later, I could not find th…
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State of Maine Dressage Schooling Show - May 20, 2018

Truth be told, I was a bit nervous about taking Ellie out to our second show of the year this past Sunday.  I personally have shown at this venue innumerable times over the past 29 years and with this specific GMO since 2003, but Ellie can be a bit "excitable" about new places haha.  It's a catch 22 because the only way a young horse is going to be calm and settled in new places is to actually take them to new places and work through the nerves.

Our first ride time was 9:15 but we arrived by 7:15.  My husband offered to come with me, but I assured him he should just come for my rides (just to be safe haha), so he and our two year old came over later on in the car.  I figured by arriving so early I would have plenty of time to walk her around the grounds, take her into the ring to walk around the outside of the dressage ring, and to lunge her.  I fully expected her to come off the trailer with her tail high over her back like she did this spring at our first off farm lesso…
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Breakthroughs in Bending (and a Solo Trail Ride)

So, none of this is exactly groundbreaking or exciting information, but I think it shows just exactly where Ellie is right now in her training.  She continues to be a good egg and tries so hard to be a solid citizen, which is great.  She has her fleeting baby moments, but it is clear that she is starting to trust me and herself more and more.  We had some breakthroughs in our lesson this past weekend and she had her first solo "real" trail ride.

After such a stellar show, she had Monday off last week.  Generally, I give her Mondays off anyway.  On Tuesday, I came out with what I now see as ridiculous expectations of her, and she was being really looky in her first ride this year in the ring.  I mean, we just won two Intro classes so clearly we are now Olympians haha.  I nitpicked at her, she pretended she didn't know how to bend, and mostly we just aggravated each other.  I didn't even try the canter and focused on leg yielding and turn on the forehand at the walk, be…
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Spring Updates

It is amazing how warm weather and the color green can improve everything about life!  After a cold and snowy winter that seemed to last forEVER, it has been so lovely to finally enjoy spring.  Plus, with just 26 days left until we begin summer vacation (my last day of teaching is June 19! WHOO!), it is impossible to not feel positive and excited!

I did not take a lesson on Saturday last weekend because of the show on Sunday, not because I didn't WANT to, but because balancing being a mother and wife takes precedent!  ;-)  I try to be cognizant of the fact that my husband and kids like having me around, ya know, most of the time haha.  Once I am on summer break, I will probably move my lessons to a weekday morning.
Though Ellie is happily going in the Neue Schule lozenge eggbutt at the moment, I am not thoroughly convinced she likes the movement of the double joint or even a single joint (the magic chestnut mare single joint bit - it was Sparky's - didn't seem to be a good m…
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