The Horse Junkie's New Years Resolutions (That I WILL keep!)

So, is it more "traditional" to keep New Years resolutions, or to break them? I'm thinking the latter. Well, for me anyways.

Every year, for myself, I try and come up with a few random New Years resolutions that I will TRYYYY to stick to, as the New Year comes around.  I will NOT get lazy, I will NOT eat second helpings of everything, I WILL workout more, or at least go for a walk every now and then...you know how it goes. Or doesn't.

If THAT graphic doesn't get you
pumped, then there's NO hope for you.

Image source: Pinterest

So here's the thing. Now I have this blog, and if I write it up here on the internet, it MUST be true, and it MUST be happening! You guys will hold me accountable, right? That being said, here are some horse/barn/whatever resolutions for myself for New Years! Feel free to chime in and do them with me!

1. I will TRY to write & share more on this blog.

Let's see. I started this website and a Facebook for a reason, right? Oh yeah, because I wanted to do this. I wanted to be a part of the online Equestrian community...tapping into this rich culture of riders around the world, to share and learn things about these amazing creatures, laughing at each other's stories, sharing neat ideas & products, etc.  So, I should actually do it. ACTIVELY. Starting with this blog post :).

2. I will TRY to take better care of my tack.

I can't be the only person reading this that loathes cleaning and oiling tack. There are SO many other fun things to do with horses than taking care of tack.  BUT it's also sort of embarrassing to be the only one on trail squeaking down the road because your tack is sooo dry. (Is THAT why I ride bareback most of the time??) Don't worry, I'll make it easy on myself right off the bat. I can just use wipes or sprays or whatever to start off with...We don't need to jump right off into the deep end immediately. Big ol' baby.

3. I will TRY to get my guys on a better, more consistent de-worming plan.

I don't know about you, but my horses are a
little more dramatic when I deworm them.

Image source: myhorse.com

OK, here's the thing.  My horses get dewormed quarterly, so 4 times a year. BUT I usually just grab whatever wormer is closest or most handy or cheapest.  That's all fine and dandy, but it's not.  The parasites in horses' bodies can get immune to certain wormers if they're used consecutively (Anthelmintic resistance), or too often. Also, different parasites live in different seasons, so in order to be covered for parasites in Summer, for example, you'd need a specific medication to kill the little buggers.  Or, if I'm feeling extra-on top of things, I can consult with my veterinarian, and have their feces tested...that could also end up in some savings, as I might find I need to deworm them less.  I know this. Why don't I apply that to my care in order to make the most of my guys health? I think this has to do with that laziness I mentioned earlier. 

4. I will TRY to make sure that my horses get ample turn-out time, and enough time to be HORSES.

I hope my turnout time goes a little better than this.

Image source: thinklikeahorse.org

Let me just say something to defend myself right off the bat. My horses BOTH get ridden just about every day, or every other day. This is despite my 40+ hour workweek.  Bravo! Bravo!  BUT, my horses are best friends, and they do love a good, solid turnout together, and time to frolic and play and be horses.  I don't think there's any denying that this is good for a horse, inside and out. They will undoubtedly get some exercise, but also ample social time that is so important to these animals. They're HERD animals, for crying out loud! They LOVE friends!  This doesn't mean that they necessarily need aloooone time, without you! I love to just hang out and spend time with my boys as they run or roll around.  This is a great way to strengthen your bond and trust with your horse, whether you've just received them for Christmas (congrats!), or had them with you for years...

5. I will TRY to clean out my tack locker, and donate or sell tack I'm NOT using!!

This is a big one for me. I'm so good at buying things on sale or "because they're cheap", and then letting them tragically collect dust in the back or bottom of my tack locker. Anyone else guilty?  That being said, I will make plans to go through everything and seriously pull things I can get rid of, one way or another.  You only need as much tack as you use, I PROMISE!  Getting rid of excess stuff just makes everybody feel good...seriously! There are so many organizations that need this stuff so badly, OR there are so many ways to make some extra cash off of used tack. (Maybe enough to pay for that deworming regimen I mentioned earlier...hmm!)

So, there you have it! My 5 biggest horse-related New Years resolutions!! Hopefully I'll be better at these than my personal resolutions...LOL no promises!! What are your New Years resolutions??

Happy Trails...

The Horse Junkie

The Top 10 Most Awkward Places I've found SHAVINGS!

I follow a LOT of horse companies/groups/whatevers on Facebook...It's almost impossible not to.

One of these pages that I follow is simply called, "The Horse." Creative! Today, they posted a link to their own blog, to an entry entitled The Top 10 Goofy Places I've Found Bits Of Hay. LOL! I could relate to ALL of them, seriously, except my issue is not with hay...but with those DARN shavings! Who's with me??

Just looking at this is giving me anxiety.

Image Source: www.dodgegrain.biz 

Our barn, for some reason, tends to switch shaving companies, or qualities, or something just about every time they order new shavings. Why? Who knows, but we are constantly noticing differences in the stalls.  Some shavings are dustier than others (like, a nice coating on everything on the premises), sometimes the manager must want to save money, because we end up with small wood CHUNKS in our shavings, and sometimes they appear pretty normal. Go figure.

That being said, I figured I should contribute a little bit today, and share with you.....

The Top 10 Most Awkward Places I've Found SHAVINGS

1. My Bra - I have to start out with this one, because it is for SURE the most awkward. Nothing says "I'm a crazy horse lady!!" quite like a bra full of shavings. Bonus points if they stick to your boob when you take your bra off.

2. My Hair - On a day that I either haven't been to the barn yet, or don't plan on going to the barn. To take it a step further, when someone else points it out to you.

3. Clean Laundry - The keyword here is CLEAN. And of course, by this point, the shavings are practically woven into the fabric of whatever just came out of the dryer. Nice.

4. My Car - Of course, this was expected. Doesn't make it any less super embarrassing to pull up to the car wash and have the guys gasp at the amount of sheer crap is in your car.  Time to bust out the ShopVac!

5. My Helmet, Gloves, & Breeches - I don't always wear a helmet, but when I do, it's inevitably covered in shavings. No, no, just the inside...the outside would be too easy to clean.

For winters here in California, I just go every year and buy a cheap pair of your typical Target gloves. I'll tell you WHAT. That material is like a magnet for shavings...It eventually gets to the point where you just surrender, and live with the fact that you will ride in shaving-covered gloves for a few months. Then throw those suckers away. Chances are, they're unraveling anyways.

No matter how skin-tight your breeches are (I ride in Kerrits tights), you WILL go to take them off and find at least one shaving in them. One little...bitty...jerk.

6. My Face - Rio eats his food (EVERY TIME) by pulling it all out of his hanging food bin, and throwing it around his stall. Then he goes back and hunts for each piece, and eats them one by one off the floor.  This is fantastic, until he pops his head out of his stall and wipes his mouth all over my face when I lean in for a kiss. Go Rio! You just don't ever feel clean again after that happens during your visit to the barn.

7. Various Barn Animals - We have a resident cat - who I'm told is there to hunt mice, but I have YET to see him work a day in his life.  He tends to stay fairly clean, even in the muddy months, except for random shavings caught in his tail and belly. Those bastards.  Also included - visiting dogs!

We don't have sheep or goats at our barn...this might be why.

8. Sink Drain - What's the first thing you do when you come home and get settled after a visit to the barn? You wash your hands (at least, I hope) if you aren't jumping in the shower. Well. Eventually I have to clean out that drain of the hair and whatever else...ANNNND shavings.

9. My Frappuccino - We have a Starbucks nearby, and sometimes we'll run over there before we ride. You know, to make sure we're good and fat for our only exercise.  I ALWAYS put my cup either on top of my tack box, or supplement container...or somewhere. Just never on the floor in my horse's stall, lol.  Somehow, the condensation on my cup always screws me. Always.

10. Your Horse's Wiener - I'm gonna say it - it had to be said. I saved it for last to be as tactful as possible (and so that would be the one to stick in your mind! HA!).  Nothing more bonding for you and your horse than for you to respectfully clean his peepee of the shavings. Teamwork!


What are some hilariously strange places you've found shavings?

Happy Trails!

The Horse Junkie

Riding as Exercise - It's POSSIBLE!

Hi, Hi. I'm here and alive and well.

So it's time for my bi-annual update! I kid, I'm just horrible at updating regularly.  We know this by now because I think I introduce each entry the same way.

Recently, my riding buddies and I have been on the subject of riding as exercise.  I know most all of us have come across some non-horse person that says, "What?? You just sit up there...You can't tell me that riding is a sport/exercise!"  Once I'm over my feelings of 'I-wanna-reach-over-and-choke-you', I usually defend myself by saying something unintelligible about "posting the trot, or hanging on for dear life, or you try it! You try it!" Pishaaw.

Lately on our rides, we've been tracking our distance, MPH (So fun), riding time etc. through an app called Runtastic.  There's either a free version, or you can pay for the full "Pro" app for $4.99. (Read: I am a sucker) Although mostly difficult for us to remember to turn on at the beginning of our ride (#FAIL), this app is super handy for tracking ALL sorts of data as you ride, but more importantly, is set up for HORSE RIDING. Yes. How cool. Go download it! (Sponsor me?)  At the end of your ride, it also tells you how many calories you burned during your ride.  Calories...wait - me, or the horse???

A recent ride of mine. Yes, 26mph, my horse is fast! :)

After a major brain fart, we deduced that this must be OUR calories, because a horse is much larger and therefore would burn MUCH more than 400 or so calories during a strenuous mountain trail ride (that would surely kill me if I attempted to do it sans horse).  Does that make sense, anyone with an education?  Of course, because we're big blabbers, us girls, we got on the topic of how many calories do we burn each day we come to the barn?  This of course, the question, because it determines how crappy we'll be able to eat & drink - guilt free - following a trip to the barn. Hey, I didn't say I was training for the Olympics, here.

So this app tells us one thing, but how about the interwebs? ...Since everything on the internet is true.

Google and The Ultimate Horse Site tells me the following:

Calories Burned in Horse Activities

Whoever thinks horse riding and care isn't excercise never owned a horse! Between the shoveling and the grooming and the training, you're burning up a lot of calories-- for example, riding at a trot burns more calories than a brisk walk!

Horse Activities - Calories burned per hour:

ACTIVITY:	For 130 lb person:	For 155 lb person:	For 190 lb person:
Shoveling	354 cal/hr	422 cal/hr	518 cal/hr
General Horse Riding:	236 cal/hr	281 cal/hr	345 cal/hr
Riding horse at the walk:	148 cal/hr	176 cal/hr	216 cal/hr
Riding horse at the trot:	384 cal/hr	457 cal/hr	561 cal/hr
Riding horse at a gallop:	472 cal/hr	563 cal/hr	690 cal/hr
Horse Grooming	354 cal/hr	422 cal/hr	518 cal/hr
Baling hay/cleaning barn:	472 cal/hr	563 cal/hr	690 cal/hr
Shoveling Grain	325 cal/hr	387 cal/hr	474 cal/hr
Fencing	354 cal/hr	422 cal/hr	518 cal/hr
Polo	472 cal/hr	563 cal/hr	690 cal/hr
Hiking, cross country (if your horse is hard to catch...)	354 cal/hr	422 cal/hr	518 cal/hr
Brisk walking 4 MPH	236 cal/hr	281 cal/hr	345 cal/hr
Walking, carrying 15 lb load:	207 cal/hr	246 cal/hr	302 cal/hr

Burns more calories than a brisk walk??? NOW we're talking - says the girl who hates exercising, and loves her ponies.  Now, granted, you have to use your noggin, because you WON'T be trotting or galloping for an entire hour straight, but this IS a good ballpark for gauging your ride overall. Which is handy, because it's about how I calculate my calorie intake.  You know, "Well, I didn't LICK the bag after I ate all the chips, so that saved me 100 calories or so." It works, try it! Best diet ever - take that, Dr. OZ!

So I guess, if you have a dinosaur flip phone still, or don't usually bring your phone along on rides (UMM, you should), you can always go home and use your stone tablet and chisel to calculate your approximate calories burned on your ride. How COOL, Brianne! Thanks for sharing. AND, as an added bonus, next time someone tries to talk smack about riding not being a "SPORT," pull this up on your phone, hand it to them, say BOOYAH!, and walk away. But don't forget to come back and get your phone. You'll need it for Runtastic, afterall.  Am I bitter?

Let me know if you end up downloading and using the app (two very different things, I've found). I think it's worth a try!

Happy Trails!
The Horse Junkie

Happy Thanksgiving!!

...to those of you in the States!

Every year at this time, I try to look inward and thinkabout the things I have, and what I’m thankful for (I know, how mushy and emo)because I feel super blessed to be where I’m at in my life.  Sometimes I, as I’m sure all of us do fromtime to time, get so buried in our daily schedules and running here and thereand doing this and that, that we miss out on coming up for air to look back atwhat we’ve done, who we have in our lives, and what makes up our own lives.  I find myself constantly getting lost in theflow of life, and losing chunks of time all at once!! (How fast did this yeargo, amIright?) Lol…So, without further adieu, please let me share with you a fewthings I am thankful for…

Truth. Sometimes, it hurts.

Photo Credit: www.pinterest.com

First of all, what immediately comes to mind probably mostlybecause of this blog, is that I have three AMAZING horses, who give me moreeach day than I could ever give them back over a lifetime.  They are my support system, my joy, mychildren, my wallet cleaners, my stinky, fluffy, nippy dreams come true.

I have a family who loves me unconditionally, puts up withall my get-rich-quick ideas (Side note: I’m not rich), listens to my storiesabout the horses, and supports me no matter what.  Even with living on the other side of thecountry, they manage to always be there for me, and don’t ever let me losemyself.

I have a solid group of friends, barn friends, and coworkerswho are my second family, always there to listen to me, guide me, offer advice,let me rant, support my silly ideas, look out for me, and share both the joysand sorrows in my life.  I know that Ican reach out to them at any time for anything, and they will come through (andhave, many times).

I have a job, while tough and challenging at times (read:most of the time), has allowed me to HAVE horses in the first place, and to bemore or less financially stable day to day. This job has taught me more about myself, and has taught me so manyskills that honestly affect some HUGE aspects of my life.

I have great lesson kids (and their families), who let meunplug for a few hours each weekend and reconnect with my own inner kid, whilesharing a common interest and love with them, hopefully inspiring them andtheir futures too.  They make what I doworth it, every time.

I have a car that helps me get from place to place daily,and 80% of the time does not let me down…Although it is material, I place a lotof faith and trust that this car will help my life continue on, and it does!

And last but not least, I am thankful for the Internet. Itsounds silly, but think about it.  Without it, I wouldn’t be able to keep in great contact withmy family, friends, OR meet any of you readers. Some of my greatest friends and acquaintances I have met or reconnectedwith over the Internet. I feel super attached to you guys, and I couldn’timagine living in a pre-Internet world! Thank you, THANK YOU for taking time out of your busy days to read myblog posts or my Facebook, or check my Instagram. Most of you readers don’teven know me in the “real world,” and trust me, not a day goes by that I don’tthink about you guys, and feel completely and utterly blessed and loved thatyou give me a piece of your time to read these, or ask me about my horses or mylife, or tag me to share something with me, or whatever it may be. YOU INSPIREME.

What are some things that you’re thankful for, as we preparefor the Thanksgiving holiday? No matter what stage of life you’re in, or whatyou have, there are ALWAYS things to be thankful for…Happy Turkey Day!

PS. Last mushy post for a WHILE! Whew, that was exhausting. :)

Disclaimer…yeah, disclaimer: Please don’t look at any ofthis as me bragging – it’s NOT intended that way. I know I am very lucky, but Iwork very hard for what I have!! XO