Highland Browbands -- review!

I know I'm late to the game with the whole tack bling thing. To be fair, I'm late to the party with all the fancy tack. Until recently, I only had one bridle (and a back up cheapie in case of emergency), one saddle, one girth and the bare minimum amount of saddle pads (review to come on some custom ones I had made soon, too -- who am I?). After selling some tack, and getting some upgrades, I thought that since Riley actually has a dressage saddle to wear, we should probably think about outfitting him in some swanky head wear.

I've done some poking around based on reviews many of you have posted in the blog world, but one company kept popping up that I had never heard of.. Highland Browbands.

After Rolex their social media presence took off and I started to see little ads for them everywhere. They have a nice selection of various styles of headbands (including a shallow "V", which I much prefer to the more exaggerated versions) and each item is fully customize-able with pretty, pretty crystals!

Just a handful of their colors.

Highland also makes rider accessories, jewelry to match your browband and stock pins. They hosted a demo sale of all the items they brought to Rolex and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see what they were all about. For $25 the risk seemed marginal, so I placed my order and waited the estimated 10 days for shipping (which was also free -- they have promo codes listed under the "ambassador" tab on their site). Deals, deals, deals guys, I'm all about 'em.

I placed the order on a Tuesday and my item arrived on Thursday. For reference they are in Eugene, OR and I am in Philadelphia, PA. Each step of the transaction was met with quick emails to let me know my order was received, processed and shipped (along with a tracking #). I was astounded at the speed of shipping, and my item came beautifully wrapped in tissue paper, with a few business cards and a hand written thank you note. If there's one thing I'm really big on, it's personalized correspondence, so this little note made my day!

Even nicer in person.

I was pretty thrilled with the overall quality of the leather. It was soft and supple, and although obviously a demo model (there was a little wear on the inside from a horse's face), it was clean and otherwise perfect. I got extremely lucky that they happened to have exactly Riley's colors in their demo sale!!!

I couldn't wait to try it on Riley expect for the small fact that I don't have a dressage bridle... Womp, Womp. What better reason to head off to the local consignment tack shop and dig through their loot!? I headed off to Maryland Saddlery and poked around until I found the perfect bridle -- their selection was particularly great that day and if anyone needs a cob size dressage bridle they had soooo many lovely ones. Alas, Riley has a big head. We found a suitable bridle (with gorgeous Thinline reins -- and a fancy browband that wouldn't look great on Riley) that was in nearly perfect condition. Better yet, I had a bunch of credit at the shop so my purchase was FREE! I scooted off to the barn to play dress up. Riley was less than amused... lest you believe that I am any good at taking photos:

It's nap time, right?

You've got to be kidding me Mom.

The SO was very patient and kind with horse wrangling and Riley was less than cooperative and more or less refused to stand still/put his ears forward (despite crinkling wrappers).

Phew, so dapper.

We did get him to stand long enough to snap a few shots and get a good representation of the bridle and browband together and guys... why did I wait so long to do this? Riley looks SOOO handsome. I was a little worried about the browband overwhelming his face. I think it's a tricky balance with blaze-faces... plain faced horses really look fantastic in bling, the more the better. but I'm not so sure with horses that already have a lot going on.

Seriously, how good does he look? *don't worry, the buckle on the flash is never usually near his mouth, I just threw it on for the photos

Gentle "V' on his forehead. I like the design only barely touches the top of his blaze.

Overall, my experience with Highland Browbands was terrific. I would recommend them in a heartbeat. With prices starting at $25 for stock items and custom orders around $50, you can hardly beat the value! And, as if they weren't cool enough, they also have a small consignment section of tack/horse gear AND...

WAIT...

FOR...

IT...

Unicorn iphone cases.

I'm just going to leave that here.

You can find Highland online at:
http://www.highlandbrowbands.com/
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Spring forward -- and a lengthy update!

Finally!

The clocks have gone forward, the days are longer and dare I say it, the weather is warming up. Which can only mean one thing...

Spring Mud Season

Yep, all the snow and ice we've had lying around is quickly melting into little estuaries and streams around the farm. There are giant mud pits around the gates and water troughs, but I don't care... I'm completely over winter and I'll take a muddy mess over frozen hands and toes and constant wind burn on my face. The new farm appears to have decent drainage and thankfully the owners know exactly just how muddy the property gets so we're not freaking out that the horses are making a mess.

Epic three-day weekend

Side note: I got to see this at a Drive-In theater Thursday evening. BEST.

Riley is back in full work and I couldn't be happier. Our ring is finished! Woo hoo!!

He got a training ride Tuesday and was a superstar. Emily wrote about him on her blog, you can read it here. I'm actually quite surprised as to how straight and forward he feels in the new ring. One of the best things about it is that the owner choose to put the perimeter fence about 10 feet away from the edge which actually forces the horses to go straight and carry themselves, or at least you will know just how crooked they are as they cannot "lean" on the rail. His right lead canter is coming along wonderfully. Emily really worked on that Tuesday and when I rode him Friday he picked it up rather easily. He's still quite counter bent in that direction, but he's learning to move off the side leg and right now I am more concerned with the transition, getting the right lead and maintaining impulsion rather than forcing him to bend. With time and strength that will come too. We are working on some baby lateral work at the walk and he's starting to get it.

Oh life... you fickle beast OR The Story with a Happy Ending

To say the last two and half months of my life have been a whirlwind of emotions would be a complete understatement. Moving to a new barn, getting settled in, the burglary, the hellish winter we've been having, financially trying to rebound from losing everything, the holidays. For my anxious, neurotic brain it's been, at times, nearly more than I can bear. I am lucky to be surrounded by such amazing friends and family, and of course you guys. What would I do without my horse blog friends!?!

Getting back on track and setting some tentative goals

Gorgeous sunrise at Derry Meeting.

So the weather has been a bit bipolar to say the least. We've had days where the high was 5 degrees followed two days later by 60 degrees and rain. The conditions at the farm have held up pretty well considering we had a foot of snow on the ground two weeks ago, last week we got 2 inches of rain in an hour, and now the ground is frozen again. According to the farm owner, our property is holding up better than most (she currently boards her horse at a very fancy facility that she said is a complete mud pit). Now that the ground is frozen again the chopped up muddy areas are tough for some of the horses to walk on, but I have to say that Riley is not even a little sore. I'm hoping he doesn't bruise his soles over the next couple of weeks, but so far, so good. So fingers crossed for that. In the meantime, I've been picking up bits and pieces of tack to replace what was stolen. I broke down and ordered Riley a new bridle (though I'll probably reserve it for showing, etc) and it looks lovely. I was inspired by Aimee's post about bridles, so I took the plunge and tried out an Ovation Figure 8. It has just enough fancy stitching, a fancy padded crown piece and it's nicely padded overall without being bulky.

Absorbine Stain Remover & Whitener Review (and how my horse is a saint)

Riley had rides 2 and 3 with his boots this weekend, we attempted a ride on Thursday but his feet have expanded/had and I could not get his LF boot on (grrr), and he's going really well. I've been relying on Andrea for moral support, professional opinions and for generally talking me off a ledge. She recommended using nylon socks (of the human variety) inside the boots to help slide the foot in until they're broken in. I also took charge of the flares by means of a Rider's Rasp and managed to get his hoof to stop grabbing the boot while I was trying to put it on. Success!

Saturday I went out to the barn early to lunge Riley (we've been keeping his sessions quite short to prevent issues with the boots), when I arrived the place was buzzing with activity and was more or less a three ring circus. Most of their volunteers come on Saturdays/Sunday from 9-12, they have a regular group of people who go on a morning hack on Saturday, visitors are permitted during that time and there were plenty of weekend warriors out to see their horses. On top of that, a new gelding was moving into Riley's field so he and Henry were inside while they transitioned the new horse in. I wasn't too worried, but the energy level was quite high. I got Riley booted up, threw his surcingle and bridle on (btw, Riley's new game is to pretend that he doesn't know how bridling works) and headed up to the arena. I had two goals for Saturday... lunge Riley to check for soundness in the boots and to ride him bareback (!!!). We headed up to the arena and so did everybody else... we were joined by a western horse and his two owners (who are ALWAYS screaming at each other, it's so awkward, but they are perfectly nice to anyone else) doing rollbacks etc on one end, a woman schooling dressage on her lovely warmblood, and a black and white mini with THREE tiny riders taking turns going around the ring... also, along the fence line an old TB who had just been switched to daytime turnout just about lost his mind when his turnout buddy went for a trail ride (he literally screamed and paced the whole time), and a growing group of onlookers.

Whole30 wrap up and I meet a blog friend IRL!

As you may remember, I started the Whole30 challenge a month ago. The last four weeks have been filled with plenty of ups and downs and without going through the whole month day by day I'll give you some highlights and lowlights.

Pros:
*My near chronic shoulder pain is completely gone. I'm astonished.
*My insomnia was not an issue. I slept remarkably well and felt more rested in the mornings and more energetic during the day.
*I made lots of awesome recipes that I'm keeping in regular rotation.
*I lost 11lbs. Seriously, this is insane.
*I generally felt much better overall.

Cons:
*I don't care what they say, doing this was actually quite hard... not constantly, but when it got hard I really had to fight not just throwing in the towel. I had at least 4-5 days over the 30 that I came close to quitting due to external stress.
*Due to being busy, I got a little lazy about planning which made some meals a little boring and predictable at times. It was definitely easier to follow this plan if you tried new recipes often.
*The first week is pretty brutal... but that only highlights just how unhealthy your lifestyle was before.
*I got really sick of eggs.
*There were a few days where following the plan meant skipping a meal (which is not encouraged obviously) but I didn't really have a choice. Those were very tough days! For example: when we moved the horses to the new barn (being out in the middle of nowhere without a decent place to get food and poor planning on my part left me very weak and light-headed).

All in all, I feel much healthier because of Whole30. It really helped me understand just how awful processed food is and further more, that sugar is in EVERYTHING. Holy crap. I'm really happy with the results and it's inspiring to think that simply eating clean can have such a holistic effect on your well-being. Going forward, I'm going to implement many of the things I learned throughout Whole30. Specifically, the cooking oils I used. I am completely a ghee convert! Overall, I feel really good about completing this challenge... emotionally, spiritually and physically I feel amazing.

Riley actually moving straight! Love him.

On Saturday, I headed out to the barn to ride and hopefully meet up with Miss Carly of Poor Woman Showing! We exchanged texts throughout the day to coordinate and I crossed my fingers that we'd get a chance to actually meet! The funny thing about having a blog and blog friends, is that when you talk about these people in every day life it sorta makes you sound like you have a bunch of imaginary friends. I has been riding for about 20 minutes when Carly and her hubby and pups arrived. Riley and I had a bit of a discussion about stopping/bulging/cropping at the gate (oh, all while being herded by an unruly border collie -- seriously, my horse is going to be sooo desensitized after this place) so I schooled the hell out of him on a 20meter circle until he finally understood that I meant business. He felt really sound with only a tiny bit of unevenness tracking right and he was delightful in the contact (he loves the happy mouth). I wanted to see my friend school is canter being that she hasn't ridden him since he got the pads/shoes on I thought she would like to feel the difference (plus, any chance to have an advanced event rider school my horse = yes, please). She had him looking wicked fancy within a few minutes, She couldn't believe how much different he felt in the contact and how much freer and more forward his movement was! She picked up both leads with no problem and his right canter departure was probably the best it's ever been! Carly arrived and we chatted for a minute before I got back on to test out his new found happiness in the canter.

Riley is growing into a lovely little sport horse. I can't wait to see what he's going to look like in full work! Also, is it just me, or does he make me look small?

We got one full circle in (as seen above photographed by Carly herself) and suddenly my horse was on 3-legs. Um, what? I hopped off immediately to find that he had sprung his RF shoe and bent one of the clips just enough that it was sticking into his sole. Perfect. He's only 2 weeks into his trimming cycle, so while the shoe was half off it was also solidly half on. We tried to pry the clip back enough so he could put his foot down and then we brainstormed on what to do. I honestly could do nothing but laugh at the situation! Between all the ups and downs I've had with him over the last four months and Carly being there to witness the shenanigans it was pretty hilarious. Because we're still in post-moving craziness, we couldn't locate any proper farrier tools so I tracked down a maintenance person and begged him to find a hammer or something for us! He came to our rescue with a weirdly shaped tack hammer and a pair of pliers. We made it work while Riley made a liar of me and stood like a perfect gentleman as we tapped, pulled and pried that sucker off. He lost a bit of his hoof around the clip (so now he has matching holes) and I covered it with a diaper and some duct tape to help protect it in the meantime. Sigh. I was able to give Carly a full tour of the place and I'm sure it was fun for  her to meet some of the horses I talk about all the time! She stuck around long enough to watch E get on her 4 year old for the first time post-track. Kiwi acted like she's been doing this her whole life and walked and trotted around the ring on a loose rein. She's going to be such a fancy horse!

Next time, Carly is either bringing Bobby, or she's bringing her helmet and breeches and we're going for adventures together! My horse is going to have to get it together. In the meantime, I spoke to the farrier who had to laugh when I called him over the weekend. He's going to tack the shoe back on, but if Riley can't keep the leather pads/shoes on for more than a week, we're going to possibly switch him to plastic pads and a tighter fit on the shoes. I'm also looking around for a pair of used Cavallos boots so that the next time this happens I can at least keep him comfortable. We may wind up switching to boots while his hoof grows out. He had such a beautiful hoof wall and now with two sprung shoes, he's got giant holes:( He'll get the shoe put back on tomorrow and I'm going to run out afterward to take him for a spin. Now that he's getting in semi-regular work, his greenness is really starting to show and he's starting to test me more and more. I'd really like to stay somewhat consistent with his training, so I don't lose my upper hand!

Oh yea, super awesome bonus: I stopped at Bartville Harness to pick up some first aid stuff and I found a pair of wide, triple stitched Nunn Finer leathers for $30, a neck strap, and a fleece girth (used) for $10! Score!

Sore backs and new tack

I've started this post a few times this week because in a word, this week a has been HELL. I worked 3 freelance jobs between Thursday and Sunday, adding 20+ hours on to my already insanely busy schedule and regular work time. I had two big meetings this week and I have another freelance job tonight after work. I'm not saying the extra money isn't nice (and needed) but I am worn out. On top of all that I have had literally the worst week at work in 8 years. The dust is starting to settle, thankfully.