Since I believe whole-heartedly that sharing anything on my blog will ruin it, I didn't mention this. Hillary did, though.  :)

On Thursday, I left work early, swung by my house and changed clothes, then met my barn manager out at my barn.  Because we had company coming.

Hillary and I have been blogging besties for a few years now and text, oh, daily.  One night, I invited her to come down and bring a pony.  Adventures.  Adventures forever.  We worked out the logistics and kinks and on Thursday afternoon, I had the intense pleasure of welcoming her, Annie and her pup Sonny to the barn.  Guys, I shit you not, it's like I've known this woman for my entire life.

All the boys, watching her walk.

Archie was immediately smitten.

 We put the wonder ginger out in a pasture, watched her for a little bit, and then went out for a late lunch.  Margaritas and friends and talks about horses and, yeah, it was awesome.  After the lunch, we went back to the barn and saddled up for a short trail ride.  I can't stress enough how amazing her "little" mare is.  Long trailer ride, strange place, giant mutant bugs everywhere, and a gelding who is immediately smitten, and no fucks given.

I took this for my coworker.

An amazing trail dog.

Giving the Archer head scritches.

Ponies were untacked, turned out, and we headed back to my house.  It was time to introduce Sonny to the best bitches, who, honestly, aren't the best.  Savannah is amazing, but Scarlette is what is called "reactive".  Hence the drugs.  I put them on leashes and we walked a little way from my house to let them sniff and snort at Sonny.  When they decided that he was okay, we turned them loose in my back yard, where the best bitches promptly tackled and cornered poor Sonny and then proceeded to follow him in a high-speed circular chase for ten minutes.  The old ladies did their best to keep up with the young whipper-snapper.  Finally, pack mentality was somewhat achieved and we started preparing for dinner.

Even though he might have given her love nibbles on her ears, Savannah was madly in love with Sonny.

D joined us for dinner at a small local restaurant called the Green Pub, known for its beer and burgers and farm-to-table cooking.   It has a jukebox and hipsters and pimento cheese and disgusting homemade ketchup.  But, all-in-all, amazing.  And thus ended day one.

Archie is very light in the bridle, very responsive, and has never needed anything more than a rider with better hands.  Sorry, dude.  Contact, on the rare occasions that I take it these days, is measured in ounces, not pounds.



When I first started riding him, back in 2005, he was in a simple D-ring snaffle.  He went fine in it, so there was no reason to change it.  When we moved to Savannah, I decided to try him in a Happy Mouth double-jointed roller, for no reason other than that I thought it would be more comfortable in his mouth.  When at the vet's meet and greet back in February, the topic of bits came up and The (now very pregnant) Eventer tossed a new one in my hands and told me to try it.

So I did.  And while another horse might be a better test, I found that the Kid enjoyed it and it met my need to be sympathetic to his mouth.

Let me introduce to you the Pacifier, Archie's leather bit.

Before first use.

After first use.

Initially, the Pacifier is a straight piece of rolled leather.  It doesn't appear stained or tanned or whatever it is that changes the color of leather, and rightly so - it's going in my pony's mouth!  The D-rings also appear slightly bigger than those on my Happy Mouth, which suits me just fine.  I like a flashy D (thanks, h/j days).  After using the bit for a few rides, the color of the mouthpiece darkened (saliva) and it molded into the shape of his mouth.  Hello, custom fucking bit.  Pieces of chewed grass obviously optional.


While, again, crippled geriatrics aren't the most reliable guinea pigs, I will say that he's done everything I've asked of him with no issues.  We've been able to have the same normal transitions, the same level of flex and bend, and he does the baby dressage that I rarely ask for (um, yeah, leg yields) just fine.  I never felt like I didn't have enough in his mouth for running away from wild hogs or angry canters in the woods or backing his temper-tantrum butt into trees.

After a couple months' use.

You can see how it's created a natural curve from resting above his tongue (I think?)

The bit is currently USEF approved but not USDF approved.  A moot point for us, but maybe not for you.  The Eventer wrote about it here.  Her video review of it here.  And the maker's website is here.  It's not the flashiest page, but yay for lower-overheads.  The bit comes in three versions, a D ring, a loose ring, and a three ring.

i just like this photo.

Another awesome weekend in the books.

On the trail ride yesterday, I was talking with the beginner rider about someone I knew who used to ride and just dropped horses completely.  She couldn't fathom how such a thing could happen and I explained that it was like any other hobby/passion:  you invest so much of your life into it (time, money, emotions) and if the return on that investment (ROI) isn't worth it, it's easy to get burnt out.  Therein lies the importance, to me, of a horse/life balance.

So this was mostly a life weekend, with a little bit of horse.

The hubs and I met at the gym on Friday night.  No photos of proof, but the place was dead and I was able to finish my last workout for Charlie Mike, week 4, with some complex lift sets (push press, overhead squat (new one for me!), kettlebell swings, power cleans, front squat, more push presses and back squats).  This new program has invigorated my gym life.

bathroom backsies.

And then, you know, pizza and beer.

Saturday, we went to the gym again (front squats and running and burpees and lunges and mild death) before heading home, cleaning up, and making our way to the beach.  Lunch and thrift shopping and playing in the cool ocean and outlet shopping.  Then home for showers and more pizza and beer and Deadpool.