A (few?) weeks ago, I won Equestrian At Hart's Ponytail contest.  Lemme just go ahead and throw this out there:  if you've got any sort of anything that you'd like me to review, I'm game.  I loved doing this!

Shipping:

I'm always freaking stoked to get packages.  I've mentioned before that I get a Birchbox and, even though it's little, it's wrapped beautifully and I love opening it.

I will say that I was a ton more impressed with the shipping of a liquid by this company than I have been by SmartPak.  When I get something wet from Smartpak, it's almost certainly guaranteed to have leaked.  This package did not.

Front of bottle.  I'm not a fan of yellow gold, but it certainly looks classy.

Back of bottle.  Things to note: use wet or dry, various oils, and, at the very bottom, "cruelty free."  That's one of the biggest things I look for - also, none of the other things I won't use because animals died for them, like lanolin or gelatin.

Use:  Human Hair Wet

Okay, background information:  I am the daughter of a master cosmetologist.  I know more than the average woman about beauty stuffs.  That's not to say that I apply that knowledge, but I know what I like and what to do and all that.  It's also why I had blue hair in high school.  Just saying.

The big thing I think about this product is the use of oils.  You'd think, with the whole market of shampoos and super cleans and whatever, that you wouldn't want to add oil to your hair.  You do.  Here's more random information:  I wash my hair every other day.  I only shampoo the roots.  I only condition the ponytail.  I use coconut oil once a week on the ponytail.

My regular coconut oil, until it empties out and I can open the jar I got from Trader Joe's.

Wide-tooth comb.

A detangler, since I was going to be combing this stuff through my wet hair.

Me.

I think this is their secret to ensuring no spillage: a seal.

Directions said to apply a "generous drop".  I think this is generous.  Product was clear and slightly runny. Like my callous from lifting weights with my wedding set still on?

Product applied - no real visual difference.

Here's my hand afterwards - no need to wash hands or anything because the oils absorb.  Even the hubs was talking about how nice my hands felt afterwards.  (Hey, Ponytails, make a human lotion!)

And no discernible different the next day.

Use:  Human Hair Dry

So, this is my frizzy hair in it's natural state.  I really don't use much on my hair beyond occasionally washing it and weekly oiling of it.  Obviously.

Before Ponytail.

After Ponytail - SHINE!

I wanted to toss in something about this product versus my normal shine product.

Use:  Horse Hair Dry

I didn't even bother to use it on Archie's tail when it was wet, since it didn't show any difference in my hair when it was wet.  Also, it's a pain in the ass to wash and condition a horse tail and it'd be hard to say that any difference wouldn't be due to the fact that it was clean.

Archie's tail before.  See his little bleached tips?

Archie's tail after.  Sleek and shiny.

I had another lesson yesterday.  I think I'm still recovering.  Actually, the muscle spasms* in my back tell me that I haven't really recovered yet.

This was my second lesson with T3.  You can read about the first one here.

So, the kids finished their lesson and I'd really only been walking a couple minutes.  For whatever reason (spur of the moment shopping at the Goodwill?), I was running late.  Whoops.  When I got into the ring, I explained that he'd had essentially two weeks off, but that I'd ridden him several times in the days leading up to the lesson.  I also said that I felt we had made improvements with the bulging right and the speed, but that I felt like I was riding a fucking racking horse, with his head in my lap.  We'll touch on that in a bit.

She had me start trotting and almost immediately started ripping in.  I can't remember all the chronological of it, but I know I dropped my whip at the very beginning because I needed to focus more on the reins.  Here's what we worked on:

• Contact.  We have none.  I can't feel it.  The way she explained it to me is that I need to be asking him to halt with my upper body and asking him to extend with my lower body - so my legs are essentially pushing him into a brick wall and he has no choice but to bring his back up.
• But he can't bring his back up if I'm not giving him anywhere to put his face.  As the lesson went on, she realized that I was slowly putting the Archer into a choke hold.  I kept shortening my reins.  She kept telling me to use my elbows.  I kept creeping further up his neck.  At the very end of the lesson, she had me trot him around on a loose rein.  Whereupon we discussed that it's better for both of us if I start him long and low and introduce contact, rather than choking him and expecting him to meet that contact with no room.  Derp.
• I told her that my butt palate wasn't refined enough to feel when he was really engaging his back.  It's not.  We taught me a little of what it felt like, but I think that's just going to take time.
• I ride too "dressagey".  We worked on my hunter perch.  I also drive with my hips too much, which is a side effect of riding too dressagey.  (Which is not to say that dressage riders drive with their hips - y'all know what you're doing and I just took a few lessons.)  We worked on getting me to sit on my crotch and not my tailbone, to close my hip angle, and to not cower in the fetal but rather bring my head away from his head.  It seems easy typing it, but it was fucking bitch to try to do.
• My body position in general.  Yargh.  Sit on crotch, don't drive with the hips, "lighten" the left hip (and this is where I had to say that I didn't know what that meant or how to do it - literally lifting the left hip bone up in the saddle - because I was driving with my left seat bone, which was also causing him to bulge right), get my chin up, my chest out, my elbows back, my right shoulder down, and increase the distance from my knee to my hip by pushing my knees down, but still magically keeping all of this light and flexible.
• My legs.  My legs.  While doing that magic trick with lengthening my legs, we also talked about my calf/heel position.  She wondered how I managed not to break my ankles.  Um.  So.  I thought I had a really good ankle position.  ...When in actuality, she told me that the ideal is a 45º out of the toes and I'm, uh, inverted.  The inversion of my toes (I point towards his face) causes a gap in my calves.  Because of this gap, I'm having to kick more than I am squeezing, which just fucks everything up.  I worked on pointing those toes out a bit and feeling him with my calves.
• I work too hard.  I drive too much with my seat, I kick too much with my legs, I post too much with my hands.  My body is exhausted long before his.  I'm posting about five inches too high.  And not getting out of the saddle enough at the canter.
• Last lesson, I had to spend a lot of time counter-bending him to get him to stop bulging on the right side.  She said that she could tell that we had spent some time working on this, because we didn't need to focus on that nearly as much (which is good because I'm such a hot mess).  She had me canter him tracking right and bending him in on the straights.  He'd figure it out in a few strides, start carrying himself, I'd reward with lessening the bend and then he'd break in the corners.  She explained that corners are harder and that I'll probably still need to support him by bending again in the corners - reinforcing that he has to use his body correctly.  So it's like, bend, reward, bend again, reward, see if he'll carry himself, correct if not.
• We talked about how I can't feel if I'm crooked in my shoulders.  She had me ask him to canter (and he threw his first tantrum at the new barn!  with a witness!) and then hold the reins in my outside hand and bring my inside arm straight up by my ear.  That way, I can feel if I'm off-balance and I can also lengthen my torso.
• Speaking of the canter, she reiterated that I needed to devote more time to the transition.  She mentioned this last week, too, but I guess I thought we were better.  She said that I run him into it, which loses whatever contact I may have had and makes him strung out at the canter.  I need to maintain contact and ask calmly.  Those big, scary canter strides that he used to do when I asked for the right lead?  All. My. Fault.
• I asked when we could start expecting to jump, with respect for the fact that he needs a stronger topline.  She said that we could continue to canter poles now, but only after three or four weeks of consistently working him in a balanced frame should I expect to be able to start doing some crossrails.  She said that small jumps wouldn't hurt him right now, but that it wasn't doing either of us any favors.  The reason for that is that I have to be able to maintain contact and get him round before and after the jump, which I have to be able to do in general on the flat anyways and I'm not.  She said something I don't think I've ever heard before:  the jump itself isn't important; it's the beginning and the end that are.  I have to be able to go to the fence with contact and with him carrying himself, jump, and land with the same expectations.

Drenched blondie.

Two hours after I'd gotten in the saddle.

*About eightish years ago, I fell off a Connemara pony that I was jumping for my trainer.  A lady was interested in the mare (who didn't belong to our barn, I'd never met her before) and that lady warmed the mare up for me.  My trainer just wanted me to jump her around some.  When I mounted, the lady held the stirrup on the right side.  I never felt the saddle give; I never checked the girth.  Long story slightly shorter, I fell after a jump, got a concussion and temporary amnesia and nearly broke my back.  My short term memory sucks (a lot) and I have arthritis in my spine.

Last night's ride was a little weird.

I had to stay late at work and by the time I made it to the barn, the BM was finishing a lesson. I pulled the Archer from his new pasture and groomed him up.  While this is going on, BM is helping a kid tack up another horse for another lesson.  I'm to the point where I can sorta recognize the horse/rider combinations and have a general idea of if they'll be in the round pen or the ring.  I knew this girl was going to be in the ring, so I hustled so I wouldn't be in their way.  Technically, I don't think the BM would kick me out so long as I stayed out of her way, but I want to respect the fact that the kid is paying good money for her lesson time.

I warmed him up at the walk in the ring and then immediately did something that I don't think I've ever done before.  I asked for canter before trot.  And why not?

We did a lot of long/low at the canter and he actually offered the stretchiness that he'll give me sometimes in trot, where I feel him lift his back and stretch down through his neck.  I'm telling you, it felt great.

I sometimes think about how the three years at the Old Barn was exactly what I needed, mentally, to recover from all the things that happened immediately prior to moving:  the sickness, the soreness, and my own injury from falling.  Other times, I think that sequestering myself in an isolated place with no one to push me and no goals to aspire to was more destructive than beneficial.  There was absolutely no reason for me to not be able to do the things that I'm doing now, except now I'm a different rider than I was there.  I haven't put my finger on the exact change, but the symptoms of it are a stronger seat, stronger calves, a realization that I am able to discipline my mighty steed without fear of death or dismemberment, and that, goddamnit, I can canter.

So we cantered.  A lot.  And then we cantered more.

I even got a little bit of intentional counter-canter.  I had him going around the large ring, cut across almost at the diagonal, but met the rail before the turn, so it would be a smoother transition.  Counter on the left lead was super easy.  Counter on the right resulted in him doing a simple change, ears all aflutter.  Yeah, I should have caught it better.  Then there was some counter bend work.

By the time I was done with all that, and the beastie had a little sweaty neck, the BM's next lesson was ready to start.  I took the Kid over to the pasture that had previously been his and just walked some of the paths.  They were partially muddy, so I kept that in mind when I asked him to trot.  It was a good exercise in downward transitions as well as keeping his attention, as both pastures on either side of us were being fed.  After a while, though, I asked him to canter again.  Just something about cantering in a field.

My blond bay in the pasture.

Tracking left was fine, but we had some issues tracking right and I felt him get all caught up in himself.  I finished with that and we walked a few more laps around the pasture at a walk before I took him back to the barn.

:(

While I'd been tacking up and mounting, I noticed a younger woman pulling a(nother) bay TB out of Archie's pasture.  Did I mention this?  Four out of five horses are bay Thoroughbred geldings.  Dime a dozen round here.

Noms.

Anyways, there was an older man with her who appeared to be a farrier (possibly barefoot trimmer?).  They finished with her horse by the time I was done and she actually complimented me.  Hearing from y'all, that's great, but I sort of feel like we have a loose knit blogging kinship and this chick was a stranger.  So, yeah.  I was super flattered.  I chatted with her for a few minutes - got her name and the specs on her horse.  An OTTB.  :)  I've tried to find him on Pedigree Query, but there could be some variations of his spelling and I'm pretty sure he isn't a 2002 model currently in Germany.

Archie and Johnny, who might be his new bestie.

Side note:  I zapped myself about eight times on the electrical fence before I realized what was going on.  The wire that connects the latch was resting on the gate and I was holding the gate.  Derp, derp.

Hubs accompanied me to the barn last night.  We'd had a nice date day which included things like spotting each other at the gym (squats and bench press), burying the last of the concrete that took forever to dry (it was quick-set!), seeing the Mortal Instruments (I enjoyed, he tolerated) in my riding britches, going to the barn and then to bliss out on the patio at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.

Post ride sweats.  Also, have I mentioned that my bay is now a blond?

Hair loss.

I've noticed that the Archer has lost some hair on his rump and flank.  It's not crusty and doesn't appear to be a fungal issue.  The Horse informs me that this can be due to excessive sweating (NO COMPLAINTS!) and the subsequent moisture causing the hair follicle to release hair.  Or something with the sweaty salt crystals.  Either way, when this heat abates, his hair should come back.  We've been bathing weekly with a hydrating/conditioning shampoo, so I'll probably keep doing that.

Waiting for their leader to return.

Perpetuating the Arabian stereotype. Cute little guy, though!

Okay, so I didn't ride for two weeks.  We know this.  And I live in Georgia and we've had a bout of heat, rain, humidity, heat and rain.

You OCD types might find this photo graphic. You might blow chunks and start cleaning things.  I just wanted to give you a warning.

Barf.

Yeah.

I freaked out, grabbed his bonnet and started wiping the mold off everything.  IT WAS EVERYWHERE!

After the condition of the bridle and saddle were tolerable, I tacked up the Kid to ride.  I learned from BO that his princess toes weren't shod on Thursday, like I thought, but rather on Friday because of weather.  He'd already thrown a shoe by that point anyways.

I spent ten minutes walking him around and I felt like he was moving that body off and bulging less on the right side.  I don't need to mention that el leggo was completely normal, do I?  It was.  He was stepping off it just fine.

When it came time to really work, trot and canter, I had a hard time remembering exactly what it was that I was supposed to be working on.  I kept that right heel into his side (spurs ordered!) and at no point did I tap his mouth with my fingers to do that false frame.  Instead, we trucked around at a fast trot and I felt like I was on a racking horse.  I'm not complaining.  We'll get there.

Because of all the rain, the little ditch that he actually will cross was full of water.  I took him a different route and he really just questioned everything.  We worked through it and got to a decent point.  All in all, it was a nice little 35 minute ride.

With the in-laws here today, I knew the likelihood of riding was slim to none.  And then it rained.  So, I was a grown up and spent a couple hours thoroughly cleaning and oiling my saddle and bridle.  I'm wondering if a dehumidifier would help the mold factor in the tack room.

What's that, internet?  You're tired of my sick animals?

Yeah, me too.

So let's make this brief (and we won't discuss at all the fact that I had to gather a urine sample at 7:30 this morning and got stinky dog tink all over my hand).

• Assuming that his leg is still better and his new shoes are attached, I'm going to ride my horse tonight.  You can gasp.  It's warranted.  I mean, nearly two weeks since he's done anything but munch in a field.  I might die, but I am so freaking excited.
• The in-laws are coming.  The in-laws are coming.
• The plan, weather permitting, is to grunt together as a family as we finish burying cement around the perimeter of the fence line.  Mommy says, "Screw you, Savannah."
• BM gave me a head's up that BO will be feeding for part of next week, while they're at a show.  She said to anticipate, um, a lack of speed.  I offered to help.
• I've been having sleep issues lately.  Technically, "sleep maintenance insomnia", which means that I wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the walls for a few hours. It's fun.  Last night, though, I successfully slept from initial sleepy-time until my alarm went off.  
• I'm working on a conclusive review of the shine serum stuff that I won from Hillary's contest with Ponytail.  Pictures and stuff. 

In a bathroom on last night's pub crawl for the HS.

In my dream world, I would be a photographer.  Designer.  Something with art and creativity and helping people experience things in a new way.  This isn't something that can't be achieved; it's completely possible that I may still develop into a kick-ass photographer.

And as much as I dream of cantering courses and galloping through fields, I also dream of capturing other people doing the same stuff.  I wanna shoot your horse, yo.  But I also wanna shoot your puppy.  With my Canon, of course.

I was contacted by the HS yesterday (at which I have been photographing for over a year now!) about taking headshots for their board of directors.  This doesn't frighten me as much as the last people-oriented photoshoot they asked me to do.  Maybe because it's more portrait and less group, and after years of photographing myself, my husband, and various friends and family, I feel more comfortable with it.

But still.. If I had the choice, I'd be outside photographing relationships.  Gotta remind myself that in order to get to be that kick-ass photog, I've gotta do stuff like this and develop my craft.

Some recents:

Natural light in my den coupled with some post-processing.

Black and tan dogs, orange cats.  Didn't even realize the theme!

I took the alcohol suggestion under advisement.

Yum.

When I checked the Kid yesterday, the swelling was mostly gone.  If you hadn't known to look at his fetlock, I don't think it would be noticeable.  Which is freaking awesome.  So, instead of wrapping it another night in the poultice, I applied a Vetrolin Liniment.  I purchased this one when I was going through Jacksonville for the Muse concert, but figured that at 4% menthol, it was too strong for regular use.  But absolutely perfect for injury treatment, as it's also got MSM and HA (can those even be absorbed topically?).

On Amazon here.

Tonight, as long as things are still improving, I'll probably just apply more Vetrolin.  In the field.  With cookies.  And then I'll scamper off and leave the Kid alone.

Houston, we have other problems.

Thankfully, farrier comes Thursday!

I ran a mile on the treadmill the other day.  And now that the little heat wave has passed (yesterday was so lovely, it killed me not to ride), I want to go run.  And run.  And run.  The marathon/half-marathon that I ran last year is coming up and that seems like the running spirit has struck everyone.  There were a ton of people jogging about the neighborhood last night.

This weekend, the in-laws are coming back.  Something about fixing something, blah blah blah, but I should have picked up on the clues when my husband started fanatically cleaning the kitchen cabinets and talking about his to-do list.  I'm not sleeping well, my kids have been sick, I'm just grumpy... this is the perfect time for (his) family to visit.

A gratuitous picture of Lizzie Borden.