Helping Puerto Rico: A Giveaway

I know. I've been MIA. "Sorry I haven't blogged" is the most common phrase on the internet. In my defense, it has been a shit summer and my brain is barely staying on top of feeding & cleaning myself.

Like many of you, I have been heartbroken and horrified at the summer of natural disasters that have taken their toll around the world. There are so many awful things going on it's hard to know where to start. Lately, I've been trying to embrace the idea of starting with one thing at a time to just keep going.

So in that spirit, here's something I can do.

I'm giving away one of the handy bags I'm developing in exchange for donations to help Puerto Rico.

I hope you're following along with what's happening on Puerto Rico. It's part of the United States, and Hurricane Maria has totally devastated infrastructure on the island. Just under 3.5 million people (American citizens!) live there, and they're expected to be without power for six months. The entire island. They're not getting anything like the help they need to recover. (Don't think too hard about why. You know. It's America in 2017.)

Here's the deal. If you donate any sum of money to help Puerto Rico, you'll be entered to win a small embroidered bag that I will make. We'll work together on color & design.

Here's what they end up looking like.

Here's a list of organizations you can donate to, to get started. If you know of others, please mention them in the comments and I'll add them to this post.

Please let me know if/when you've donated using the Rafflecopter below, and please share this widely so people can donate more and enter.

Please note: it really is any sum of money. I'm asking how much in the widget below so I can keep track of how much we all raise together, not to try and shame you. We all have different budgets and abilities, and that's totally ok. If you donated supplies, just write that in or guesstimate how much they would have cost.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How would you interpret this?

I am among the least superstitious people on the planet. I don't really do lucky things. I have things that I like, and things that I have imbued with meaning, but I don't think the world will go wrong if I don't have rituals, objects, or anything else that I feel blesses my endeavor. (My husband, on the other hand, has elaborate charts that he uses to keep track of what jerseys he was wearing when his sports teams win or lose so that he can make sure he gets it "right.")

I'm not in the slightest bit religious, either. I don't really care whether ghosts exist or not. I'm really kind of boringly pragmatic in a lot of ways. I like to work hard and figure things out and love the things that I love, and mysteries that can never be solved are kind of boring to me.

I tell you this mostly as context to the story I'm about to relate to you, so you can understand how weird it is.

Maybe a month ago, Tristan's pasture mate was euthanized. He was in his 30s, and he had the variety of health problems you'd expect from an ageing horse. He was exquisitely well cared-for and much loved, but he was getting increasingly neurological. Getting up and down the hills of the farm was hard for him, and getting harder.

I can't stress enough how hard everyone worked to keep him comfortable and how lovingly the final decision was made. The barn manager brought him out to handgraze with Tristan for a while so they could say goodbye. They've been turned out together reliably for a few years now, because they had similar needs for grass (type and/or lack of), because Tristan doesn't play hard, and because they were just calm and happy together. So it was lovely that they got to say goodbye.

Tristan rarely gets attached to other horses. He has some horses that he likes, especially longtime pasture buddies, but he's never been a horse to make instant best friends on a trailer, for example, and he's always been perfectly happy to be turned out alone when that ends up being his situation. For a horse that spent his formative years running wild in a herd, he has an awful lot of loner-like tendencies. I've always thought that if I did bring him home with me someday, he'd be content and happy alone for quite a while.

That's just more context for you.

On Monday, I took Tristan out for a long walk around the field. Nothing taxing at all; just a walk with some nice trots up hills. We've circled this field I don't even know how many dozens of times.

At the end of our ride, we were coming up the last bit of hill, and he was on a loose rein, and he scooted forward, hard and fast. It wasn't really a spook or a bolt. It was a short launch, a stride or two of energy and alertness. I didn't even have time to pick up the reins, just sat it with my seat, and he came back to a walk by himself. I thought that it was the new trailers that were parked at the top of the hill, though those had been quite visible for our entire walk up the hill and were no surprise.

I walked him around the trailers a bit, and he was alert but not bratty. Then he stopped and let out a long, loud, neigh. Really long. Really loud. Then again. I was totally baffled - he's also not a vocal horse. Mustangs rarely are. There were no other horses in sight, no other people, no other animals. Nothing at all.

I was confused but shrugged, and we turned for home. As we were leaving the hill, he called out again, long and loud. This time, there was a horse in the outdoor, so I guessed he'd been calling to her. It's a mare that he's never actually "met," though they've been ridden in the ring together maybe two or three times. Still really weird for him to be calling for her, but I guessed that's what happened.

As I dismounted, a thought occurred to me, and I walked into the barn and poked my head into the tack room for the barn manager.

"Hey S," I said. "Where is Pari buried?"

I knew generally where the barn buried horses, but S. described to me a spot precisely where Tristan had had his first scoot.

I'm not sure what to think. S. was very close to Pari and thought that Tristan saw something. That's comforting for her, and it really is a lovely thought. But it's so far outside of how I usually interpret things that I'm just not sure. Most of my practical brain just thinks he smelled that other horse, or he just had a weird whim.

What do you think?

How do you price used tack?

I'm helping to organize a big used tack sale at the barn - we're selling table spots for anyone who wants to come to help benefit the equestrian team at the local university that rides out of our barn. At the end of the day, we'll collect any tack that people don't want to take home and donate it to some local horse rescues.

I'm looking forward to it. Organizing this sort of event is right in my wheelhouse, both by professional training and personal inclination, and I have spent some quality time cleaning out my own old tack to see what I can unload. I've also been making some horsey craft items that I hope will go over well.

I now have an entire tupperware filled with various things I am fine with selling, from breeches to tack to sheets and more. It ranges from fair (good quality & well-loved in decent condition) to brand new & never used. (I finally gave up on the open front leather boots I bought many years ago and have never even taken out of the packaging, much less put on Tristan's legs. sigh.)

Now I'm in a bit of a conundrum.

How do I price this? I have some gut sense of what I'd pay for it in a consignment shop, and a very vague sense of what I've seen similar items priced for online. But I'm pretty far from a savvy consumer of tack, and personally kind of a cheapskate. I'm still trying to pay down vet bills from Tristan and the dog's fun July, so I need to come away from this with some money. I want to assess a fair price on things but I also need to sell it.

Have you ever done anything like this? How do you decide how to price items - pure whim? actual research on comparatives? some combination of both?

Any advice appreciated!

Weekly Blog Roundup

Short & sweet this week as I've been insanely busy.


A visit to horse country from Hand Gallop

What to expect: green bean jumping edition from Beyond the Shed Row

12 ways to make your barn safer from Eventing Connect

Book Review: Unrelenting by George Morris from Viva Carlos

Facing Reality & Moving and adjusting to retirement from Guinness on Tap

Total Saddle Fit Shoulder Relieve Girth review & giveaway from DIY Horse Ownership

Surprise Show Prep

Last week, I found out that a day off I had requested back in April would finally be ok for me to take - someone had volunteered to provide the coverage needed. I had honestly totally given up on the request and kept it on the list out of pure reflexive frustration.

Thankfully, I found out the day before closing for the barn schooling show! I emailed the show secretary immediately, and followed the next day with my entry for Training 1 and Training 2.

I haven't said anything on the blog because I was convinced it would fall through (part of me is still convinced something will go wrong) but I have been scrambling since then to get show prep done.

That includes:
- Finding all the various parts of my show kit. My white breeches and white show pad were AWOL for three days, and I finally had a brainstorm in the middle of the night of where I'd stashed them and thankfully, there they were. The breeches needed to be washed but that was easy enough.

I know my dressage coat is several years out of style and I don't care I LOVE IT.

- Actually trying to memorize my tests; haven't finished this one yet.
- Practicing that newfangled long mane button braid that people are talking about. It came out pretty darn well and I'm going to go with it on Saturday!

- Taking a lesson to tune up parts of the tests. Given how much of a shit he's been in the outdoor we've been drilling it HARD, working through gradually less huge bits, and this was my first time in the snaffle we'll have to use for the show. Bizarrely enough, he was well-behaved, soft, and suuuuuuuper behind the leg. Can't win 'em all. So now I've been focused on revving him back up in the snaffle which hopefully will not swing the pendulum the other way?

From the lesson: I need to round out my circles better, be more attentive about my marks. I need to ask for some left flexion down the center line and into my halts to keep him square & straight. I need to pay particular attention to my outside rein the canter circles coming off the rail because he's awfully sticky. I need to post quickly and stay relatively light in the reins to encourage him to go forward. I need to use my diagonals to build forward and then carry it through corners. I need to get more precise about my aids for the canter depart.

My times are 10:20 and 11:20 because this is some kind of cushy and luxurious schooling show, I do not even know. Good grief.

So, we'll see how this goes! Stay tuned for a recap next week.