The Meat Party

Jen (of Jen and Pie) invited Paul and I to attend a dinner party, or "meat party" as she called it. Jen's husband is Argentinian and apparently in Argentina they eat a lot of meat.

The dinner started with giant slices of provolon slightly melted on the grill and devoured with bites of baguette. Then course after course of meat off the grill- sausages, skirt steak, short rib, chicken- topped with homemade chimmichuri sauce. A watermelon salad with feta and basil (a-mazing).  Topped off with a few bottles of Rose, Tea, and cookies from La Farine.

Quite a few of the attendees were horse people so naturally the conversation ebbed and flowed around various horse topics. Such a fun group and a great evening!

31x31: Challenge 2

It was a happy coincidence that I stopped by the barn tonight! I got to complete challenge 2 of 31x31- Body Clipping. I have to be honest here, I didn't clip the entire horse, just a bit of her neck and side.

Brook, self taught, has been clipping for years and has it down to a science- about an hour and a half per horse. Her take? Chestnuts are the most difficult color- errors are easy to spot.

When we got down to the nitty gritty- an easy clip comes down to equipment, equipment, equipment. And a clean horse. Brook gives a mineral oil rise before a clip to insure the coat is soft and conditioned.

Then you just follow the direction of the hair!

I am going to follow up the completion of this challenge with a full clip on her next round, Brook supervising of course!
The 31x31 List
1. Body Clip
2. Give IM & IV Shots
3. Pull a Mane
4. Polo Wrap
5. Set a course (including gymnastic differences to trot poles, bounce, 1 stride)
6. Clean a stall
7. Sweat Wrap
8. Poultice
9. Braid- Mane and Tail
10. Name and find all tendons, ligaments, bones in the lower leg
11. Emergency response: choking, colic, etc- signs and treatment
12. Administer Bute, Banamine, Ace- circumstance and dosage
13. Hook up, drive, and back up a trailer
14. Pull a sprung shoe
15. Check vital signs- temperature, respiratory, pulse
16. Palpate major soft tissue structures in the leg
17. Clean a water trough
18. Tie a quick release knot and learn to ground tie
19. Pack and wrap feet
20. Learn identifiers of body condition scoring
21. Clean sheath/ teats
22. Basics of saddle fitting
23. Nutrition- what Ellie eats and why along with setting up grain for the barn
24. Properly fit a bridle
25. Groom at a show
26. Make up a basic first aid kit and understand basic shoeing tools
27. Learn anatomy of a horse and basic conformation
28. How to twitch- when to use and basic methods
29. Rasp a hoof
30. De-worm
31. Learn basic massage and stretch techniques

Ellie Gets a Visit!

Ellie was lucky to have two very special friends come visit the barn tonight. Two work buds from the East (coast) are in town for a few days and we made trek out to meet Ellie. We only had a little bit of time- it's getting dark so early- so we took her on a walk around the property in the last of the light.

A boarder from another barn was doing a similar circuit and when Ellie spotted the second horse she reared like a little lipizzaner. I kid you not-  full on rear.
She's so docile it always catches me a little bit off guard when she does something so un-Ellie like. Naturally she likes to embarrass me in front of my friends.

Ells was placated by some carrots and pets while Kasey (from the Mowery farm) had nothing but sweet things to say about how cute she was (duh). Soon we said goodnight and headed to Chipotle. Classy ladies.

The Joys of Having a Kitten

I had just sat down to write a nice post and then the little asshole (also known as Felix the Cat) spilled my entire glass of wine (and I have a heavy pour) all over my desk and floor. This was especially painful as we (mostly Paul) had just cleaned the entire house and now my office smells like a bar.
Yup, Ellie pretty much sums it up!

Twinning!

It's not uncommon to run into someone in the office wearing the same pair of jeans or the same shirt as you. But the whole outfit? When I rounded the corner with my morning coffee and saw Alison we had a good laugh and snagged some shots for social media.

We attempted a jumping high five but it didn't quite work out as planned!
Nonetheless we managed to get a cute candid of twin day! Love my co-workers and cheers to wearing breeches to work!