Secret Santa Awesomeness

I'm a little behind on this but I returned from my Christmas travel to find my Secret Santa package!

From Karley & Henry at All In, I am REALLY excited for my gift!

First up: a bottle of EquiFuse Gleam! It's like Karley reached into my brain: the last few times I've gone out to the barn, I've been working on really deep grooming for Tristan, and that has included adding detangler to his mane and tail to help combat the winter dryness. I had just started thinking about what kinds of moisturizers I could use beyond my very basic detangler, and then not even 24 hours later this arrived at my door!

I used it last night and so far I'm really happy with it. The smell was clean and refreshing, and it worked into his mane and tail beautifully. I didn't use it throughout, but worked it into the roots on his crest and his dock. I'll use it a few times a week through the winter and maybe we can go into spring with a lovely lush mane and tail instead of dry rubbed out ickiness. :)

There was also a stocking of delicious treats. These were definitely Tristan's favorite; he couldn't figure out why I was spending so much time rubbing gunk into his mane, but he gobbled up a treat right away. I was actually running low on treats, so these are a welcome stopgap!

Thank you to Karley and Henry, and to Tracy at Fly on Over for hosting the Secret Santa swap, which is such a fun part of my holiday season.

Last but not least, my gift was for Karen of Not So Speedy Dressage. I was excited to see what she thought, and it turns out she was thrilled. :) I'm really touched to see it received so well. Gift swaps are the best!

2nd Annual Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange

ATTENTION!

DO THIS THING!

Fly on Over is hosting an awesome holiday gift exchange. I participated last year, and it was a TON of fun both to give and receive. I found lots of new blogs and cool people. I got a great gift. It was an all-around awesome time.

Go, now, without delay, and sign up!

A Very Equine Christmas

Finally getting around to a Christmas wrap-up!

First, I got my excellent blogger gift exchange present; then I got my saddle rack (and, Tris would like to note, a bag of Meadow Mints that he is making a good dent in). Then it was time for Christmas proper!

My biggest and best present was from my parents: a Dover wool dress sheet. I had visited the Dover store in New Hampshire when I was in the area back in November, and found the sheet in his size in perfect condition in the bargain basement. It was on steep discount but still more than I wanted to shell out that day (considering I was already making a bunch of other purchases). My mother decided to buy it that day and wrap it up for Christmas for Tris. I've wanted a wool dress sheet/cooler for some time and this fits the bill perfectly AND it looks great on him!

If I were buying new I would've gotten black, but hey - the green looks good, and it was a gift and I love it!

Next horsey presents were two books from my wishlist:

Dover Horse Anatomy Coloring Book

This book is so freaking cool I almost can't stand it. It's got everything, and it's got multiple views of everything and it's all labeled to the nth degree and beyond. I had a reasonably good knowledge of anatomy and bones but wow, there are so may more muscles than I thought there were!

I had an uncle who went to massage therapy school, and I remember every night he worked on his coloring book of Grey's Anatomy to help learn human muscle groupings. Ever since then, I've thought it would be a cool idea to learn horse anatomy the same way - and now I can!

Cherry Hill's Stablekeeping

I LOVE Cherry Hill's books. I am full-on obsessive about the way she does these books: the explicit explanations, the dozens of photographs, the how-tos and the how-not-tos. Equipping Your Horse Farm was my bible when I was buying my trailer. I read it cover-to-cover multiple times, and I made photocopies of the checklists of what questions to ask when looking at a trailer and carried them around with me at all times. So I was thrilled to get this and spent a happy hour skimming through it. I'll do a more in-depth read later.


Last, the barn present to all the boarders was really sweet this year. I have been the lucky recipient of some pretty great barn presents, and every one has been great. This one is a nice combination of thoughtful and useful. (And I have to admire its clever craftiness!)

Isn't it marvelous? It was assembled from inexpensive items: a pot holder, a button, a towel, and some thread. Put all those together and you have a handy grooming cloth that attaches to a blanket bar, AND it has Tristan's name hand-stitched to the top! I love it!

Post-Christmas

I hope everyone had a lovely few days - and if you were the recipient of any great horse-related Christmas presents, please share!

I got my first and one of my favorites before Christmas, from Hannah:

Not the saddle - that is very old and has been mine for many years, and will be the subject of a future post. No: the brand new rack underneath! I had posted that I didn't have one yet, and then one arrived at my door. Awesome. :) I can't wait to take it everywhere this summer.

I spent Christmas down in the Boston area with my family, and managed to catch some kind of nasty bug that I am still recovering from; I spent Christmas Eve & Day nauseated, weak, and feverish, with occasional interludes of congestion. I still haven't quite kicked it, which means I am very out of it at work this morning, trying to nibble on graham crackers as my first real food since Monday, and might not make it to the barn tonight. Yay.