A few great posts from the horse blogging world this week!
Tips to Organize Your Equestrian Life from Fly on Over
I am a fairly obsessive paperwork organizer. I love this. Good tips, and a very soothing look into another equestrian’s way of organizing.
So You Want to Blog Part 2 from She Moved to Texas
I am not at all a graphic designer, so I loved this post in particular about the design of your blog and how you can work with it. Lots to think about there.
The Unsung Plight of the Show Photographer from Zen and the Art of Baby Horse Management
My last trainer’s wife was a horse show photographer, and I thought of myself as fairly savvy when it came to the challenges facing show photographers…but I hadn’t thought of any of these!
Professionals as Role Models from The $900 Facebook Pony
WEAR YOUR DAMN HELMET, ALREADY.
Because You Asked: Lucy’s Tack from The 7MSN Ranch
Donkey tack, you guys. Donkey. Tack. Awesome.
Moms + Horses = ? from What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
I admit: one of the biggest reasons I get nervous about the idea of having kids is because I’m certain it would destroy my horse life. This gives me some hope, but it also leaves me in awe – no way could I be that present and aware.
Midwives on Horseback: Saddlebags and Science from O Say Can You See? (Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Oh my God this is awesome. Wow. Women rock.
First, a moderator note: the next two matches will be posted at 10:00 am EST on Saturday and Sunday. They’ll feature National Velvet versus Hidalgo and Black Beauty versus Seabiscuit. Each poll will be open for 24 hours, so make sure you get your vote in. (If you miss it and you REALLY want to vote, leave a comment before Monday at 10:00 am so I can take it into account.)
On Monday, we’ll do the two Final Four matches and then on Tuesday, March 31, we’ll have the final.
This match pits one of the real nail-biters of Round 1 against the runaway winner of the other bracket.
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken barely beat out Spirit: Wild Stallion of the Cimarron despite my decidedly non-objective rant.
Secretariat trounced The Horse Whisperer much like its title character at the Belmont.
Who will make it to the next round?
My truck is a 2WD. It is in every other way perfect, so I work around that foible by letting it have winters off. It sits in the driveway, slumbering away.
Last year, the battery died. Not a huge deal; I’d never replaced the battery, it was a cold winter, it was time. So we towed it out of the driveway (and the several inches of ice it had frozen into, yikes) and got the battery replaced, problem solved. I had a vague thought of pulling the battery and leaving it inside for the winter this year, but one thing on top of another and I never did.
I was not planning to tackle digging the truck out for a few more weeks yet, but it turns out that we will need to move equipment for work back and forth between three different towns and my truck is the only staff vehicle that can cope with that much Stuff.
Ok; so Tuesday night, I tried to start it. Nada. I called AAA, and they tested it: dead. I faithfully ran it for 30 minutes, then tried again: nada. It’s fine, said the AAA guy, who also works for my regular mechanic. This is a good battery, and it’s less than a year old, so it’s still under warranty. Call us in the morning.
The next morning, I called my mechanic and explained everything to him. He said sure, the battery is probably under warranty, but the warranty does not cover batteries that died due to being left to sit all winter and subsequently freezing. Bring it in the next morning, we’ll test it, and we’ll know for sure.
So that’s where we sit right now. Battery is at the mechanic for the day, but it’s almost certainly dead as a doornail and will need to be replaced. I am banging my head against any and all hard surfaces in frustration, because earlier this week I spent $250 I don’t have on Tristan’s pergolide + pentosan + banamine, and now I may have to spend another $250 I don’t have because of a really dumbass mistake. (Oh and that’s on top of the $550 I don’t have that I have to use to pay our home inspector tomorrow.)
I really flipping hate money. And my own idiocy.
Here’s where the rubber starts to hit the road: round 2. These are just going to get more and more difficult to vote on, I think. Here is your Round 2 bracket:
Our first match of round 2 pits two titans against each other: The Black Stallion and The Man from Snowy River.
The Black Stallion handily beat out War Horse in round 1. The Man from Snowy River had a slightly tougher battle against Sylvester, but still never gave up its early lead.
True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.
Velvet’s orphaned niece, Sarah, follows her dream of Olympic glory with her horse Arizona Pie.
The true story of a Australian racehorse that becomes a champion with the help of a local stableboy.
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.
In 1890, a down-and-out cowboy and his horse travel to Arabia to compete in a deadly cross desert horse race.
Young Jim Craig returns to his home in the Australian high country. He finds that things are not as he left them – his girlfriend is being pursued by another man, and her father doesn’t want Jim back into her life.
A jaded former jockey helps a young girl prepare a wild but gifted horse for England’s Grand National Sweepstakes.
Frederick Bolton has to solve two problems. First, his boss has instructed him to come up with a reasonable campaign to promote a new product, a stomach pill named “Aspercel” – by tomorrow. The second problem is Fred’s daughter, Helen. She is absolutely fond of horses, takes riding classes and has already had decent success in some competitions. Her biggest wish is to own a horse herself, a dream her father cannot afford at all. Now Fred tries to solve both problems at once by simply combining them: A horse named “Aspercel”, ridden by his daughter should bring the name of the pill into the papers and make Helen happy, too. But there’s still one more obstacle: Helen and Aspercel of course have to win a few prices to make this idea work…
beljoeor.com 