horze college jacket giveaway!

******This contest is over******
Emmi, congrats on winning the giveaway!

It's fall time and the weather is getting chilly. Horses are growing their fuzzy winter coats to prepare for the cold. Shouldn't everyone be donning an extra layer to keep warm?

Horze is sponsoring a giveaway for a College Women's Jacket. This cute equestrian hoodie is great for riding or driving, barn chores, or just hanging with your favorite horse. 

One lucky winner will get this lovely piece of equestrian outerwear. It comes in the color Dark Shadow and is available in sizes XS-XL (size chart is on website). 

To enter the giveaway for this horse jacket, 

• Comment on this post about your favorite fall ride/drive.
• Extra entries will be given for sharing this contest on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter. (leave the link so I can see!)

This giveaway ends at 8:00 am on Tuesday, October 29th.  Open to shipping in the US only. Good Luck everyone!

the day after

I'm still sore. And sore in places that I didn't think hit the ground that hard. I am starting to get a magnificent rainbow bruise on my butt. Shyloh was a little cautious around me today, as if she did not know how to react because she was not sure how I would react. 

I took her outside and she spend some time grazing with Ryleigh and some time grazing with Casi. She just loves to be outside! I caught her a few times using her hoof to clear any snow or ice that was covering the grass she wanted to eat.

grass finder!

After a few hours outside, I brought Shy in and groomed her. I took my time and spent extra time on all the spots she loves to be brushed. We need to spend some quality bonding time together. 

Next, I wanted to clean out Shy's cut on her head. I am not sure how she got this cut, but she keeps doing it, on the same spot. It is from some place in her stall. My best guess is that she is laying down at night and smacking it on the metal piece that holds one of her water buckets up. 

I have been putting Corona Ointment on it each day I go to the barn, but every time I come back, it has bedding in it and does not appear to be healing. Plus, Shy does not like me to touch it or put medicine on it.

Shy's boo boo

So, I warmed some water to clean it out and clean the old ointment from the surround hair. She surprised me by letting me do this without a problem! Next, I wanted to put something over the wound that would stay on, keep the sawdust out, and protect it. I had just the thing, some Alushield spray. I knew this would be a problem for two reasons; the cut is just above her eye, and she hates spray things.

Kathy helped me hold Shy's head and cover her eye. Once again, I was surprised with Shy! She didn't even flinch. Now she has a silver mark right above her eye. I hope it promotes the cut to heal.

Silver bling on the boo boo!

Before I left, I spent some time with Shy in the arena, just hanging out. She is still not sure about us, but we will get there again. One step forward, two steps back, right?

Oh, and Shyloh has a few interesting, new, and cool things coming up! Can't wait!!

painfully numb. . .

. . .is my butt. And lower back. So I am sitting on a bag of frozen peas (don't worry, I won't serve them for dinner) as I type in severe rear end distress. 

Yes, I fell of of Shyloh today. Yes, it hurt, a lot. Yes, I may have thought I broke my pelvis at one point. Yes, I may or may not have shed a tear from the agony. But it was a strange hurt. It seems like my skin is numb, but under the skin was racked with pain. Weird. 

Here is what happened. We were working on whoa. Shy has a pretty good whoa, but I wanted to practice to make it solid. She was doing great and stopping when asked. But she was making it well known that she wanted to go back to her stall. She kept turning in the direction of the arena doors and fighting me. This is not new. . .I think she is stall sour! And all she wants is hay. It is the top priority in her mind and that needs to be changed when we are working.

Because she was so distracted, I was getting ready to get off of her. But I wanted to do it on my terms. All I wanted was for her to turn away from the doors, walk a few steps, and whoa. I wanted to dismount while she was facing away from the doors. As we were walking and getting ready to make the turn away from the arena doors, as Shy was fighting me to continue facing the arena doors, something happened and off she went. I am still not clear what that something was. . .

Now, I know where we were in the arena, and I know where I landed. It seriously was not that far. But while I was hanging on to Shy for dear life, then fell, and skidded, it seemed like a mile! I am pretty sure I let out some resemblance of a scream. I landed squarely on my left butt cheek. It was a good thing I didn't have far to fall!

Shy turned back around and stopped. She stood frozen. As I was writhing in pain, she stood still. A few boarders that were there came into the arena to see what was going on and saw me down. One of them got Shy, who stood for her to approach, and took her to her stall. I remained on the ground. This was probably the most pain I have ever felt. 

I was probably on the ground for 15 minutes before I was able to get up. When I did, I went to Shy's stall. She seemed afraid and worried. She knew she made a mistake, but the best thing I could do to correct it was physically impossible. I wanted to hop back on, just for a moment.  But I could barely even lift my leg so forget mounting a horse. And I just knew that sitting on my left side was not going to be pleasant at all.

That car ride home was THE most painful drive I have ever made. By the time I got to the end of the barn driveway, I wanted to turn around and ask someone to drive me home. When I got home, it took about 10 minutes to get out of the car!

For the remainder of the weekend, I am going to sit half crooked on my bag of frozen peas that are soothing my swollen butt. 

Enjoy some photos of my awesome dogs that I can't fall off of, since I did not get any photos today at the barn.

Sweet Maggie Pie and her pig

Playing their favorite game, Tug o War

Cooper on a rock

ouch!

I did not get to see Shy yesterday because someone in class lost their dog and Robin put Facebook to good use and organized a search party to find her. It was even on the Trenton Patch! Luckily, the dog was found safe and sound!

But today, I fell off Shyloh! I have to write this now in case I wake up tomorrow without the use of my limbs. And it was totally my fault. After I lunged her today (and she did awesome!) I decided to try riding her. Well, I was going to sit on her while Robin held the lunge line. And since I cannot get on her from a mounting block, I had to mount her from the ground. It is harder than you might think! I put my foot in one stirrup and swung my leg up and over. I must have kinda blacked out, because I remember thinking hey, I made it up! but the next thing I knew, Shy spooked and moved forward and I was on the ground! I fell off of her on the opposite side that I mounted her on, I hit Robin in the head and shoulder on the way down, then I landed on my back. So. . .I must have flipped. I sustained injuries to my back and elbow. Shy bolted around the arena, but stopped and let me approach her.

Aside from that little bump, Shy had a fantastic day! She met some new people and let them pet her without freaking out. I am trying to stop babying her and let her know that I am the boss. So, when I was bringing her in and she stopped in the aisle and refused to move, I let her know she had no choice. And when she started fussing in the cross ties, I put a stop to it. . .and she stood perfect the rest of the time.She even let me brush her forelock without putting up a fight!

Someone said to me today that she did not know who taught us not to beat our horses. That really bothered me. Some people must think that fear equals respect. I do not feel that way, even though I understand that horses need that physical communication, I don't think they need to be beaten. 

So now I am going to nurse my injuries and hope that I wake up in better condition!