While I was warming up Archie last night, in the cold, dark, drizzle, I had some time to think about stuff.  Because focusing on random shit was a better option than focusing on the things that went bump in the night.

I downplayed my fall off Archie a little, I think, on the blog.  I was left sore and mildly concussed and mildly miserable.  I'm dying to show y'all photos of my ass.  A non-equestrian friend, because an equestrian wouldn't ask this, asked me how many concussions it would take before I stopped riding.


I've thought about it and, while it's not like I'm out galloping solid fences, I think the type of riding I do could be scaled back.  I think if it became a question of my physical health, I could convert to a slower pace, a bigger saddle, and a smaller horse.

This is Toni and she's closer to the ground and I've been eye-balling her since I fell and she's only $1,600 and she's in Ohio and why the fuck did I ask for anything else for Christmas?

Then I start thinking - when I'm older and the probability of me staying in the saddle diminishes at the same rate as my muscle tone, why give up?  You know what, I want to fucking drive minis.  I want a pair of either mini donkeys or mini mules or mini assholes to be my team and I want to take those little muffins trotting down dirt roads.

Just in time for Xmas.

Since I've started leasing Ox, I've gotten increasingly appreciative of his owner and her knowledge.  We vary on a few things, but she's overwhelmingly consistent in the "making Beka a better rider" department.

On Saturday, we were at the barn at the same time, tacking up.  It was unplanned, but it's always nice to have someone else around.  She worked outside the ring, and I kept Archie in the litter box.

And Archie wasn't being bad.  He wasn't scaring me, I wasn't frightened from my recent fall, there was no real trigger.  But I asked trail buddy/Ox's owner if she wanted to ride him.  Which, I mean, if you've known me any length of time, you know is a BFD.

She had his number almost immediately.  He evaded from the bit by inverting, he told her to go fly a kite (I like to think that he only tells me to fuck myself), and he gave his little spastic crowhopping canter departs of dissent.  That's my boy.

These have accompanying farts.

But it was absolutely invaluable to see him being ridden by someone else, someone who has no hang-ups, won't take any of his shit, and isn't going to coddle him like I do.  It reminded me that my nearly-twenty and crippled horse is still an active old man and is fully capable of performing up to his previous flat work standards.  I don't need to be afraid of him breaking.  In fact, I need to keep him at a decent level of work so that we keep those joints and muscles strong.



There was a point where I said to myself, "I need to ask as much of Ox as I do of Archie." And then that transitioned to me doing more intense work with Ox and Archie just toddling around with his back hollow and now it's.. I need to ride Archie like I ride Ox.

I've taken advantage of some recent sales and advertisements and accrued a bunch of potentially unnecessary shit.

iPhone 7
I've been a die-hard Apple user for years now and my 6 has been the biggest piece of crap ever.  I thought it was a software error so I restored to factory settings, had a corrupted backup file, paid to have the corruption fixed, but nada.  It might be a hardware or a firmware issue, but I've given up on it.  The problem it has is that it'll go from a perfect 100% rapidly down to 30%, hang out there for a while, drop to either 9 or 1%, depending on how it feels that day, and then crash.  Or it'll die somewhere around 39%, I'll plug it in, and it'll reboot somewhere around 60%.  So. Fucking. Done.

Water resistant means I finally get a pretty case.

Custom Saddle Pad*
Smartpak had a recently promo on their embroidery.  I've never had anything embroidered by them (that I can remember), but the first pad D gave me for our first Christmas was a turquoise PRI pad with my monogram.  So, this Christmas, I got myself a turquoise dressage pad with Bold Archer, OTTB, and a crown.  Because that fucker is the king.

More Ink
I'm so far behind on catching y'all up that I'll never get there.  But I had some pieces added or added to recently.

The start of D's sleeve.

Dressage Whip
I bought this bad boy at Tractor Supply for a whopping ten dollars.  Slapping a monogram on him and he'll be good to go.  We had a running joke at the barn that my old dressage whip was the "limp dick whip", because it broke.  Anyways, it no longer functioned.  Hah.


Custom Riding Tights
About a month ago, I saw someone on English Riding Apparel asking if people would be interested in riding tights in pretty fabrics.  Of course, I bought two.  I've reached out to the seller about maybe changing her pattern before I order more, because wearing these for the first time (hour long trail ride, half hour jump school), left me chafed where the sun don't shine.

You can tell, right?

It's important to look awkward af when asking someone to photograph your ass.

Roma Headlamp
You know what sucks?  Using your shitty iPhone 6 as a flashlight to walk across two pastures to try to retrieve a pony and not being sure how long said phone was going to survive the ordeal.  So I bought a freaking headlamp.  Thanks, Riding Warehouse, for the sale!

What the ponies think when they see me coming.

More Breeches
A couple of those breeches that I bought used and dyed have died.  I still fully intend on replenishing my stock of DIY awesome, but I took advantage of these being on double-sale.


I've bought a couple other things but I can't really share them yet.  Because I bought multiples!

*Come on, UPS.  I'm still waiting on this shit.