Happiness Is... (Winter Version)

Tristan LOOOOOOVES a good roll.

A friend once told me that you should count how many times your horse flips over while rolling. Each flip is $1,000 added to his sales price. I guess the theory is that it shows flexibility.

I counted up to 8 once with Tristan.

Weekly Blog Roundup

Here are some great horse blog posts from this past week.

First of all: thank you to everyone who recommended new blogs to me last week. I've added probably 20-25 to my reading list and am loving the new variety and reading material. Keep 'em coming!

Let it go without saying that I am beyond jealous of everyone who got to hang out in the warmth of Austin together. (Okay, I know you all keep saying it was freezing but if precipitation was coming down in liquid form it can't have been that cold.) Here are a few recap posts that I've been living through vicariously all week.

Weekend in numbers: horse blogger edition from Hand Gallop
Epic blogger weekend from Wyvern Oaks
Horse bloggers weekend was a blast! from She Moved to Texas
Blogger Meetup, Part 1 & Blogger Weekend Retail Therapy & Not Actually Jousting from Cob Jockey
Blogger Weekend 2015 from A Gift Horse
Icy Wet Weather and Bloggers Weekend from Bay With Chrome

Significant Other Survival Guide: Three Day Events from Dandyism
It'll be a cold day in hell before my fiance grooms for me at an event, but this is an outstanding and hilarious guide. Great reading material if any of you have partners who are willing to do the horse thing!

Costume Creations: Frontiers-horse from Poor Woman Showing
What. This is AWESOME.

Breed Showing Encyclopedia Part Two from Hey Hey Holly
Even better than the first part! Check out the video of the showmanship pattern. o.O

TIL: The Florida Chronicles, the Easy Edition from Guinness on Tap
Who doesn't want to make horse laundry easier?! No one. Check out these great tips.

Throwback Thursday: Buster from Hand Gallop
What a wonderful story - I smiled all the way through.

Finally, the blogging world lost a really special horse this week. Suzanne and Sugar were an incredible team, and I never read a post of Suzanne's that didn't make me admire her work ethic and her enormous heart. I wish I'd gotten the chance to meet Sugar in person. Suzanne writes about it here, in Living Life in the Middle.

Remembering "The Other Sugar" from A Work in Progress
And a tribute to Sugar.

Behind the Scenes of Downton Abbey: Filming the Point to Point

Okay, I'll confess. I haven't watched Downton Abbey since the second-to-last episode of season 3, allowing me to preserve the illusion that a certain favorite character is alive and well and happily where he belongs. At one time I was as rabid a fan as it gets. Season 1 got me through my master's thesis: for every 10 pages written, I got to watch an episode.

So when I heard that season 5 featured Lady Mary Crawley riding in a point to point race...! Well. I scoured the internet for footage, and found this lovely little video. Enjoy!

Boosting the Signal: Please Help Vote

I'm passing this along from a dear friend. ESPN is running a contest to give charity moneys to various foundations. Basically, you vote for a particular coach, and then that coach chooses the money to give charity.

If Matt Painter, head coach for Purdue University men's basketball team wins, he will donate it toward a charity that promotes research into a rare and devastating disease called Niemann Pick Type C.

The friend who sent me this information is married to a wonderful man whose brother and two sisters died of this disease before they became teenagers. His family started a foundation to begin research into the disease, and thanks to the research of that foundation they were able to develop a genetic test. He alone of his siblings is not a carrier, and he was able to start a family because of that research. They have a beautiful little girl together.

Please take a moment to vote for Matt Painter at the ESPN website. You'll have to sign up for an account, which is frustrating, but this is worth it.

Thank you.

TOABH: Ermahgerd!

Ermahgerd.

What is your pony's absolute favorite riding activity? What makes those little ears perk and causes the knees to lift?

First things first, please raise your hand if you said "ermahgerd!" out loud in various funny voices and at different volume levels while pondering the answer to this question.

...just me then? well, okay, fine.

I think we've already established that Tristan's absolute favorite activity is eating, preferably by himself, preferably in a large field outside.

If I had to pick something he loves under saddle, though? Cross country.

He takes a while to warm up but when the lights come on upstairs and he realizes he can go FAST and JUMP and then the adrenaline rush hits and it is the BEST DAY EVER.

EVER.

EVERRRRRRR.