The Owls Approve: July 2015

Despite all my rage..

4:17 PM
By Beka Burke
33 Comments

I couldn't help myself.

So, let's talk about the weekend because it wasn't really epic, with a side of bitching about my farrier, also not epic.

On Friday, when I had brief thoughts of power walking in the big, freshly mowed, calling-my-fucking-name field, I found out that Archie had thrown his other shoe. I know some people ride horses who are normally shod even when they are missing shoes, but I am not one of them. Specifically, because my farrier told me not to last summer, stating that his little hoofers would eventually crumble to nothing and he'd have nothing left on which to tack a shoe. Not so many words. Same gist.

So the Kid got cookies and groomed and had his hooves oiled (oiled?! yeah - to help prevent some minute amount of water absorption) and was tossed back out into the field to be a crippled pony. Prior to this discovery, I'd already ordered a cheap hoof wrap from SmartPak and an even cheaper bottle of hoof sealer. I vacillated heavily on the Keratex versus the cheap stuff, because the marketing and the word of mouth, but ultimately settled on Tuff Stuff because money.

Money. I eats it.

Good thing, too. The vet visit for the girls was roughly half a grand for their yearly vaccines, fecals, and heartworm tests. I miss employee discounts. Hard. The perk of all this was that the vet was super impressed the girls' weights and conditions. She said that Scarlette's mobility has improved since being on an OTC joint medication and Savannah had lost a few more pounds. Old dogs do not look or act old.

And then more less-epic stuff. Like the washer that my mom gave me seven years ago deciding that a metal-on-metal grinding noise was the best thing ever. Which we maybe fixed - next load will determine. And then my husband taught me to replace an iPhone screen, only I lost a screw, which didn't impress him, and then the screen we purchased for the phone fell apart almost immediately, so we had to put the old screen back on. Less-epic.

Ahem.

I got to watch other people ride on Sunday, including a Tennessee Walking Horse. I've never tried to photograph a gait and holy shit. Not nailed. Not nailed at all.

This, though? Nailed. Mostly. You can still see a bit of the blue leash above his left ear.

Which kinda-sorta brings us to this morning. BM sent me a text at 7:15 saying that the farrier, who has been on vacation, could be out that day. Awesome. Except I can't get money to the barn just like that, which I think the BM was willing to front me. Then the farrier asks if I want aluminum or steel. We did steel last summer and I'll have to review if they really made a difference, but they're slightly cheaper and cheaper is good right now, so I say steel. To which he replies that he would have to order them. Wait, what? So I say, whatever the man has on his trailer, let's nail to my horse so he can have feet. Oh, but nevermind. The farrier actually doesn't think that alums would be good right now anyways, so let's just wait for the steel to come in and we'll have Archie shod next Monday. Because.............. farriers run out of steel shoes?

Archie

Summertime Suck It.

2:01 PM
By Beka Burke
12 Comments

I reaaaaally want to bitch and moan about how hard it is to keep a horse fit and happy when he can't keep those magical little chunks of metal safely attached to his feet. But I also wanted to call this "summertime sadness" and it isn't. It just isn't. Life is pretty goddamn good, if I'll only allow it.

So what do you do with a pony with wet, crumbly shoeless feet?

...not a whole lot. (Other than peruse forums and cry a little on the inside that the vet's solution moving to a different part of the state isn't viable. Thinking of this and this. The Kid has already been on a feed-through for over a year.)

I did not drive through this shit in my little baby fiesta. I took a side road and another side road and finally had to drive through a smaller version of this.

I've been out to the barn several times this week, just to clean him up from the showers we've had, to slather him in various ointments and sprays, and just shove cookies in his face. I "rode" him the first day I realized he was missing a shoe (Sunday?), but I was afraid that he was going to be gimpy as it was the same foot he embedded. And he was.

I have hopped on him bareback for our walks back to the pasture. I'm thinking that tonight I might "ride" him bareback in the big pasture, even though he only has two comfortable bareback gaits: walk and three strides of choppy canter. This is centaur work, right Denny?

If you're wondering why my farrier hasn't jumped at the opportunity to reattach his shoe, said farrier has been on vacation this week. It makes the little tingles in my head go off, because it appears that there is always.something when I need a shoe fixed. (...and now I've found out about and met the other farrier... and he's really nice... and he does photography... and he let me hold his camera... and he answered allllll my questions about hot shoeing, which I had never seen before) (things to think about)

In other news, my coworker has been out for a month (again). The girls have a vet visit tomorrow ($$$). I'm picking up a piece of something tomorrow. And something else. You know, vague, so I have shit to write about later. If I write, because this has not been my strength lately. (what has?)

Archie

All the Pretty Things.

4:25 PM
By Beka Burke
21 Comments

This is like a month over due, which is totally my fault. The shop is doing surprisingly well and when I'm not soaking/spraying/administering drugs or beating little itty bitty letters into metal, I'm working with the hubs on an unmentionable "life project." Spoiler: we're not making babies.

Custom Art

Saiph (the southerner in me immediately wants to say, "bless her heart") contacted me a while ago about getting some things from the shop. She gave colors and impressions and laid the foundation for the items I created. In lieu of payment, I asked for a barter. Because y'all have seen me draw.

A portrait of me on #griffinthegrey that @ntorrech drew. It's reminiscent of an actual ride where I rode bareback for 7 miles and galloped with my arms outstretched like this. 💕

A photo posted by Liz Stout (@estout18) on Jan 4, 2015 at 5:20pm PST

And ever since she drew this sketch of Liz, I've had the wants.

The entryway into my house.
It says "Beka and Archie" on it.

I can't replicate my reaction and thank god no one was in my kitchen when I opened this. I gave her some photos and the idea that I wanted to bring to visual life the experience we had galloping on the trail ride from hell. She absolutely nailed Archie's personality, his muscles, even his little blue bell boots. She even asked if I wanted my helmet in the drawing, because I am the helmet nazi. I said no.

This is bigger than real life.

Saiph also asked for a photo of my half-sleeve. I told her that she didn't have to go that in depth, but sent her one anyways. So here's some fucking reference, because I am just... amazed.

I can't even imagine trying to fit all those little swirlies just so and getting it so completely right. I would have gone cross-eyed. So, needless to say, I took a photo of it with my iPhone and sent it to just about everyone that I knew. I'm overwhelmed by the details, from the tattoo to the blue watch that my husband gave me for our third anniversary, to my square jaw line (I've always been strangely proud of my square jaw), to my blue eyes. I mean, come on. Think of the other bloggers you know. Then think of their eye colors. I rest my case.

Saiph offers custom pet portraits for purchase. I can't say enough about the quality of her work.

Custom Cover

The second amazing thing to slam into my feels was an impromptu gift from Nicole. Er.. another Nicole. She left a message on my blog that she saw some fabric that made her think of me/the blog/the pony. I would have been keen on just a square of fabric, even though I can't sew a straight line, but she made me this:

The lines are all perfect and the pattern really, truly is us:

Arrows in mint, are you KIDDING ME?!

I squeed like a little girl when I opened it because I absolutely wanted a pretty saddle cover. One day, I'll even have a pretty saddle because this is so much nicer than the grandma Collegiate. (I love you, Collegiate, shhhh).

Nicole is a boss seamstress because this saddle cover fits like a glove and covers all the nooks and crannies perfectly. I need her to open an Etsy shop of her own, so I can get a matching everything.

I have an enormous fear of getting it dirty. My hands get wiped with OCD passion on my (probably dirty) breeches prior to touching it. The fabric is super sturdy, so I know it would survive in the wash. Still. It's so pretty and so well made - I'm thinking it needs a monogram and some scotchguard and to be lovingly caressed each time I touch my saddle.

Custom Brush

The third beautiful thing to hit my world was a brush. You may have already seen it on Hillary's blog. I was looking on Etsy for a custom brush maker and fell in love with some of the other pieces that this artist did.

A photo posted by Betsie Millsap (@theartfulequine) on Jul 7, 2015 at 8:38am PDT

And then after perusing her site, I realized that she was local. So, yes, there are two artistic equestrians living in Savannah and now they know each other. I found her price really reasonable and all I did was send her the invitation to Hill's wedding and give her a rough idea of what I wanted. When I went to pick it up (yes, Hill, this is my affection for you: I went inside a stranger's house), she showed me her studio and we talked tattoos and ponies. I hope to feature her again, with photos of her process.