Blog Hop: Seven Deadly Sins

From Viva Carlos.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon - this was a lot of fun!

Pride
Seven great things/strengths in your riding life

1. My awesome, level-headed, sweetheart of a horse
2. The outstanding care and facilities of my current barn
3. Access to great training, great hacking, and great competition venues within 2 hours
4. Though they cause me much angst, my truck and trailer and the freedom they represent
5. An ability to plan and budget so that Tris will never be without
6. A very supportive family: my parents adore my horse and have been helpful and generous, and my boyfriend has on occasion ordered me to the barn when I'm in a bad mood
7. A semi-flexible job that I love that means I get to live in great horse country

Envy
Seven things you lack or covet for you or your horse

1. A stable blanket, for next winter, to go under his medium weight turnout
2. Actual adult tall boots, not PVC cheap-os (they do the job, but no one will ever call them fancy)
3. New helmet. I'm just about to hit the age limit and might finally upgrade to something non-mushroomy
4. Am I allowed to be thankful and complain about the same things? These are sins, after all: a 4WD truck and a new gooseneck trailer
5. Longer turnout; he's doing ok on the abbreviated schedule, but my ideal would be 24/7 and we are far from that
6. The financial ability to get him training rides from time to time
7. My own farm


Wrath
Seven things that make you angry

1. People who don't wear helmets
2. Extremists on both side of the mustang issue
3. Poorly run horse rescues
4. People who don't give due consideration to their equine partners, whether it's something as simple as taking an extra few minutes to make sure a warmup is sufficient or something as major as abuse and neglect
5. Seeing pictures of people riding in t-shirts when it's -20 outside (I'm sorry, I can't help it, worst winter EVER)
6. People who refuse to understand how important Tristan is to me, or are nasty about him, or horses in general (this is most assuredly a non-zero number)
7. My own laziness

Sloth
Seven things you neglect to do or cut corners on

1. Tack cleaning. I do a deep clean maybe once every 6 weeks but am terrible at anything in between.
2. Picking out his stall after I ride
3. Bridle path + fetlock clipping
4. Ride every day, or even every other day
5. Little things like hacking up and down the hill before every ride
6. Picking out his feet after riding in the ring...oops
7. Keeping regular track of his default pulse/respiration/temperature

Greed
Seven most expensive things you own for your horse/riding

(the most expensive thing I've ever done for my horse was pay for his surgery, but that's not really a "thing," so...)

1. Truck (Chevy 2500 extended cab, extended bed)
2. Trailer (1985 2 horse Kingston with dressing room space)
3. Albion dressage saddle
4. Passier jump saddle
5. Stubben bridle
6. My XC vest
7. Circuit Figure 8 bridle

(Tristan's adoption fee was less than all of those things, believe it or not, hooray for rescues!)

Gluttony
Seven guilty pleasures or favorite items

1. Horse show food
2. A second tack trunk for the trailer, with its own grooming kit
3. My Albion dressage saddle
4. My truck, oh my God, I love my truck
5. Can the place I live appear here again? I am struck dumb with every sunset, every sunny day, every perfect clear view of the mountains.
6. Sore No More liniment
7. Tristan, of course!

Lust
Seven things you love about horses and riding

1. The smell and soft fuzziness of Tristan's nose when I bury my face in it
2. The feel of a horse leaping forward into a gallop
3. How quiet my brain is when I am riding: nothing else but the here and now
4. The way it grounds and centers my mental health
5. The person I have become because I interact with horses: the way I have to be confident in my own skin and firm and decisive to excel as a horse person and as a rider
6. The gear, I'll be honest: always something new to try and fiddle with and lust after and sigh over
7. Horsey friends, who laugh with me and cry with me and gallop alongside me and are some of the best people in my whole world