Category: blog hop

blog hop

Weekly Blog Roundup

Amanda2 Comments

Here’s a collection of interesting blog posts from around the internet for this week.

First, a collection of posts about the Fort Valey 50 Mile Endurance Ride & LD, from three excellent horsewomen and thoughtful writers. I swear, if I had to recap a 50 mile ride I’d ridden it would go something like “jesus christ that was a long ride and my ass hurts.” But they go into such wonderful detail!

2014 Fort Valley 50 from In Omnia Paratus
The OD Fort Valley 30 Mile Ride from The Journey to 100 Miles
Fort Valley 50 Mile Endurance Ride: The Ride from Wait for the Jump

WIHS in Review from Stories from the Saddle
I’d love to go to the Washington International Horse Show someday; for now, I’ll have to live vicariously through this great recap.

The Feedback from No-Kid Equestrians from A Gift Horse
Huh. I admit, I am in the still-not-sure camp. I don’t know that I’d ever really thought before how much horses played into that decision. Interesting survey, interesting results.

Equestrian Last Wishes from She Moved to Texas
Hugely, HUGELY important topic. It’s something I’ve had conversations about with a few people – both about their horses and about Tristan. If you don’t have a plan, make one!

blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Marguerite Henry Readalong Blog Hop: Poll Results!

Amanda1 Comment

The results are in!

We’ll read King of the Wind, Henry’s Newberry Award-winning story about the origins of the Godolphin Arabian, one of the founding stallions of the Thoroughbred breed.
You can buy it new here on Amazon, used here on Half.com, or check it out from your local library.
Start reading! I’ll post here on Friday, November 7 with my review, and the blog hop link code. 
blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Poll: Which Marguerite Henry Book Should We Read First?

Amanda1 Comment

I got enough positive responses to my poll about a Marguerite Henry readalong that I’m going to go ahead and do it. So, here’s a poll about which book we should read! Again, the idea is that everyone reads the book and publishes their review as part of the blog hop, on or around the same date. We’ll do this a few times for different books if it works out.


Here’s my proposed timeline:

October 22: Poll closes
October 23: Announcement of winner, start reading!
November 7: Blog hop post here with my review

blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Blog Hop Idea: Marguerite Henry Readalong

Amanda6 Comments

I was happy to see how many people liked my review of Black Gold, and had fond memories of reading Marguerite Henry books. I’ve been looking over my collection of horse books for the last few days, thinking how many other great books she wrote.

I thought it might be fun to host a blog hop readalong of Marguerite Henry books. She wrote, apparently, 16 of them, which actually seems like a small number now that I see it in print!

I have one question – well two questions.

First, would anyone actually participate?

Second, should I do it so that you pick whatever Marguerite Henry book you want and then say 2 weeks later post a review?

Or should we all vote on a particular book to read, and do that 3 or 4 times?

So, a poll. Comment and let me know if you’d be interested in doing these, and vote in the poll to tell me how you think we should run it.

blog hop

10 Things

Amanda1 Comment

  1. Is there something you don’t like about your riding? Oh, yeah. Lots. Probably the #1 thing though is my total and complete lack of natural “feel.” People say things like “oh, his inside hind was lagging” or “his hip wasn’t moving fluidly enough” and I think my butt is totally numb. I’ve gained what little feel I have through lots and LOTS of hours in the saddle, and even then I am lightyears behind most people.
  2. Does your horse buck? Ummmmm…no. Not really. He tries, sometimes. He’s only gotten me off when I wasn’t paying attention.
  3. Is your horse head shy? He used to be insanely head shy – like, can’t even touch the halter without a hissy fit head shy. I still make a concerted effort to mess with his head every time I handle him. Now, that behavior is limited to being pissed about getting dewormed and occasionally fussing about his ears.
  4. Favorite barn chore to do? Watering. I like hanging out and watching the horses in their stalls/fields, and the slow satisfaction of watching the water fill up, plus the knowledge that they get fresh, clean water.
  5. How many times do you ride a week? 3-4; trying to get up to 4-5 or even 6.
  6. Who is your favorite pro rider? Of all time? Alois Podhajsky. Currently? Hmmmmm. Sinead Halpin has to be up there; Will Coleman is also a personal favorite for reasons only tangentially related to his hotness. 
  7. If one pro rider could train you for one day who would it be? David O’Connor. I’ve seen him teach and love his style.
  8. Favorite Facial Marking? Blaze!
  9. Leg Markings or No Leg Markings? Sure, but it’s not a dealbreaker for me. Tristan’s one white sock is a bitch to keep clean.
  10. Ever broken anything falling off? Fingers. Nothing more serious, knock wood.
blog hop

SFTS Blog Hop: Why Do You Do What You Do?

Amanda6 Comments

I know, I know, blog hops galore lately but my own horse stuff is super boring, sorry!

From Jenn at Stories From the Saddle

I want to know: Why do you do what you do?


True story: the first official horseback riding I ever did was vaulting.

Yup, exactly like that. (Well, I was 8, and it was a scruffy pony, but whatever.)
I did about 6 months of vaulting. It was required at this barn for all new riders, to get a sense of the horse and the feel for riding. I loved it, and have used skills I learned ever since: moving around comfortably on the back of a horse, and how to fall effectively and loosely. I LOVED it. I’d go back in a heartbeat. (Not as my main equestrian pursuit, but on the side, hell yeah.) After the vaulting phase passed I just basically did up-down lessons for a while. Huntseat, in theory, but mostly just trotting and occasionally cantering in circles.
I stopped riding for a while in my teens, and then started up again in college while I was studying abroad in France. I guess you could say I did the jumpers, since a lot of it was very technical stuff that I was in no way prepared for. I fell off, a lot, especially since if at the 45 minute mark no one in the lesson (10 people per lesson!) had fallen off, we dropped stirrups. You see, whenever you fell off you had to bring a chocolate cake to the next lesson. We had cake every week.
Back to the USA, I rode on my college’s IHSA team. I cheerfully occupied the bottom rung as our walk-trot rider. Obviously, I was not a beginner rider, but I had no provable show record and comparatively little recent experience. I pointed up pretty quickly! IHSA is huntseat, but it’s a very different game from actual hunters.
Then, I got Tristan. Originally, he was going to be my dressage horse; I didn’t jump a lot anymore, after my year in France left a bad taste in my mouth. My trainer at the time did mostly dressage, though she was also our IHSA coach. I still, to this day, love dressage the best. It appeals to my brain, that methodical order, the slow stubborn persistence.
Tristan? Tristan does not like dressage. He puts up with it for short periods of time, but Tristan loves the great outdoors. He loves running fast and jumping things. So we came to eventing, which was our compromise. I got to do dressage, he got to do XC. And he’s a great XC horse: steady, willing, and a titch on the lazy side. When he gets into it he hunts the jumps, but he’s never going to be a fire-breathing dragon around course.
~9 months under saddle
Now, we do mostly dressage + trail riding. My goal is to keep him fit, happy, and supple, while enjoying riding him. That weighs in the direction of trail riding, but with the occasional dressage school.
If I ever got another suitable horse, I’d get back into eventing. I had the most fun doing that. I could never do it exclusively, though – I’d always want a horse that I could do straight dressage with from time to time, and I’d love to try my hand at some trail rides.

blog hop

Now, That’s the Spot Blog Hop: What Do You Do Outside of Horses?

Amanda8 Comments

From Now That’s the Spot:

What other activities, hobbies, or sports do you do outside of riding?


I have to say, I have been reading everyone else’s answers to this and feeling boring and lazy, but here we go!
1. Reading
Lots and lots and lots of books. 2-3 books a week in a good week, for work and for pleasure both. I tend toward high fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction. I have little to no tolerance for the sort of everyday drama that usually wins literature prizes, but I do read them from time to time, usually for book club. I’m in two different book clubs.
2. Crocheting

My grandmother taught me to crochet one Christmas. I was about eight years old. I crocheted furiously for a few years, little kid stuff, and then I left off. I picked it up again when I went to college in Vermont, and it was cold all the time and trendy to do yarn work. Most everyone else knitted, but I crocheted because that was what women in my family did. I’ve been going since then. Usually I do blankets for friends, and lately it seems I’ve done nothing but baby blankets.
3. Baking

Another hobby from my grandmother. Any and all kinds of baked things. I go through flour in 25lb bags, minimum, and can use 10lbs of flour in one day when I really get going. I bake all the bread we eat, and it comes in handy whenever I need a gift or to provide something for work. I usually bake 3-5 different things a week, usually some kind of bread or muffin to accompany dinner.
Those are the three big ones – see how boring? We also hike, watch movies, and I research side projects. I work a LOT, so that impacts my free time. No real other sports hobbies beyond walking the dog.
blog hop

Blog Hop: Move Your Hoof to the Beat

AmandaLeave a comment

I love this blog hop, from Alyssa at Four Mares, No Money. What songs make you think of your horse? What songs do you ride to?

First, Tristan’s song, the one that makes me think of him, is “Easy Silence” by the Dixie Chicks.

The easy silence that you make for me
It’s okay when there’s nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet that you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me.

As for songs I listen to while I ride? I don’t listen to music, but sometimes when Tristan is fidgety, I sing to him. I always sing Cole Porter mashups, seguing from one song to another depending on the pace and what lyrics I can remember at the moment.
blog hop · tack cleaning

EAH Blog Hop: Keep It Clean

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Equestrian At Hart asks: “In this weeks blog hop lets talk about what cleaning products you use on your tack and why?”

First things first: thank you for not asking how often I clean my tack! I suspect the answer would have made some of you cringe in really painful ways.

My tack cleaning preferences have evolved over the years. I am not (yet) a devotee of Higher Standards. It’s not for lack of curiosity. It’s a combination of ingrained Yankee practicality and lack of financial wherewithal. I already have a whole jar of saddle soap that I really like, and can’t justify buying more.

What’s the soap I really like, you ask?

MOSS Saddle soap, which stands for Morgan’s Original Saddle Soap. My jar looks nothing like this, but I do have the citrus basil scent. I’ve been working on it for almost seven years now. It soaps up nicely, cleans nicely, smells divine, and leaves my hands soft. My only complaint would be that it doesn’t cut through really truly heavy gunk – we’re talking the layers of rubbery stuff you have to peel off reins with your fingernail. (Are you cringing yet?)
As for conditioner, for years I used Leather Therapy’s Leather Restorer. I really liked it for strap goods – it was great to work in with my fingers while watching a movie. I was always kind of meh on it for my saddles; the liquid nature of it meant it ran everywhere.
Finishing up my last bottle happened to coincide with Tristan’s spring saddle fitting. I’ve known and liked my saddle fitter for years, so with my older saddles in front of her, I asked her what she would use to help bring them back. She suggested Stubben Hamanol, and I bought some from her and started using it.
Pros: I freaking love how it works. The thick creamy nature of it means that I can really slather it on and leave it to soak in. Noticeably softer leather after just one application.
Cons: It smells like MTG. If you’ve never had the pleasure of smelling MTG, imagine a pan of bacon left out in the sun to go very rancid. Now bottle it. Yeah, like that. Considerably less than appealing.

It’s worth it, though. document.write(”);