Saturday, October 19, 2019

on being a boy scout

Alternate title: #AlwaysBePrepared

Lol so y'all already know that I can be a bit of a neurotic stress-ball when it comes to micromanaging shit, especially the clock. If my lesson is at 12pm, you better believe I've got the entire preceding 5hrs broken down into 15min intervals grouped and sub-grouped by task level.

It's.... ahem, cough cough, part of my charm.

driving country roads = following country vehicles at 15mph for miles and miles....
Every now and then tho ---- jusssst every now and then ---- this obsessive characteristic of mine pays dividends. (More often it is otherwise drawing heavily on the patience and forbearance of my friends and loved ones but that's a story for another day LOL...)

Like... When I'm only "minutes" away from our destination clinic venue, only to find myself well and truly stuck behind a giant tractor taking up both lanes on this quiet country road. We were following behind this thing at 15mph for no fewer than 15min. Luckily, tho, it was nbd since there was enough wiggle room built into the schedule. Phew!

You better believe I patted myself on the back for having allotted enough time to not feel stressed about following that thing for a few miles!

oooh we did fun things tho!
I also like to pat myself on the back and consider myself pretty well stocked in terms of tools and supplies when it comes to the most generally common mishaps.

Now, again, ahem, I've also been accused of being a #hoarder, lol, and.... ya know.... There could be some truth that.... But hey, isn't the trailer supposed to be for overflow storage anyway?? Right?!?!

aaaaaand also dumb things, lol whoops
But color me tickled when, after finishing up our awesome cross country clinic lesson** and discovering my horse had thrown a shoe during the course of the ride... Well obviously I wasn't tickled that he'd lost the shoe, but I WAS happy to feel secure in knowing I had basically the right odds and ends to get him comfortable quickly ahead of the long trailer ride home.

(**it was a private lesson with Martin Douzant at Loch Moy Farm on their competition course, and it was ahhmazing. details to come soon -- it was hella lengthy ((nearly 1.5hr private lesson wat)) and I have extensive helmet cam footage of Martin's likewise extensive lecture, so I'll be sure to transcribe detail soon.... for now tho, for the intensely curious, the video is up on youtube and on my sidebar!!)


but!! my #hoarder tendencies paid off, and i had the tools for the trade!
Now sure, that magic cushion was of indeterminate age. And, as such, the lid was basically fused on at a molecular level and I literally had to stab the jar with scissors and cut the top off... Plus some of the gunky cushion inside had hardened and was no longer useful...

BUT! There was enough to at least get a layer covering Charlie's poor bare tootsie (which, as you may remember, is usually protected by a thick leather pad).

hurray for trailer-side wrap jobs
Plus the duck tape was definitely of the D-List variety. Not brand name, and not tough. Probably some shit I picked up after moving last year and just tossed in the trailer, figuring that in a pinch I'd at least be grateful it existed.

In this pinch? Yep, grateful haha.

back home again, the usual ponies + pig
Not that any of this stopped Charlie from being maximum pitiful on that bare foot. Again, tho, at least in this regard while I can't attribute it to my own preparedness, we were lucky that a farrier was already booked for the following day at our farm.

that side eye tho lol
Actually, our farm is so big that there are three farriers who come to the farm every week -- two on Tuesdays, and one on Fridays. Getting on the list is as easy as.... writing your horse's name on the board.

While most boarders have a specific farrier of the three that they typically use, it's understood that any of the three can handle barn horse's needs in a pinch. So lucky Charlie, he only had to be barefoot for <24hrs. Woot woot!

ooooh i also went SHOPPING!!!! dis our new "peace wand"
The last little silver lining of always #BeingPrepared for whatever happens in CharlieLand? Well. Obviously homeboy was the most sad on his sore tootsie, despite, ya know, being barefoot for less than 24hrs and managing to somehow not rip off any hoof wall even tho it was a fresh shoe.

So. Ya know. That's cool, bro, you can have a little time off.

and, ahem, "oh shit strap" -- also a spoiler for the lesson teased above LOL
Like, let's be real, we just confirmed your level of fitness by doing multiple runs at the hunter trials. AND. Again, can't stress this enough, the 1.5hr private xc lesson we just did (that I promise to write about soon). The horse is fit and fine and can deal with a couple days to rest that foot.

My preparation comes in the form of: having already taken a couple days of PTO so I could live and breathe all things Fair Hill International this weekend!! Starting with the Young Event Horse Championships on Friday (yesterday, omg, there's so much video cheesus christ).

also socks + belt bc obvi, who could resist??
So I actually get to indulge guilt free in all manner of horsey activities (like SHOPPING lol) while not actually riding my own horse haha, and turns out it's for the best for Charlie right now too. Win win, right?

Now you might think that most of the above can't really truly be claimed as benefits of "always being prepared" lol. But I'm holding strong to the whole "asspats" thing when it comes to giving myself enough time to get where I'm going, and occasionally having the right tools and supplies on hand to fill the gap when things go awry.

That's my prerogative, yo lol, and I'll take wins where I can get 'em. Anyone else recently had one of those lucky moments that could have gone bad, but it turned out you had exactly what you needed to either fix the problem or avoid disaster entirely?? Do tell lol...


19 comments:

  1. I relate to all of this so hard. And yes, preparation is key. I realize now that I need duct tape in my trailer. Remember the show where my boots blew the zippers but I packed extra just in case? Still patting myself on the back for that.

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    1. Yes rolls of duck tape should be literally everywhere. And maybe some scrap baling twine. And perhaps scissors or a sharp blade. Those few pieces alone could probably save the world, at least temporarily LOL

      Also omg that’s so lucky about the boots. One time I legit thought I forgot my boots (how??) and nearly flipped out. Like... what would I have done? Begged and borrowed?!? Lol... so yea that’s definitely worth asspats haha

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  2. I would rather be 30+ minutes early than "on time" for anything. I'm like my grandmother in that I almost always have a book accessible somehow. But when it comes to horse stuff, there's really no such thing as too early (uhm, hello 13 year old me bringing a lesson horse in from their paddock to find them coated from nose to tail in 6 layers of mud = a lot of extra grooming time when your trainer will send you back to the barn for having 1 piece of shavings in a tail). Also, with horses...no such thing as being too prepared (hoarding horse supplies for the win, right?)...and there's always something to watch and learn if you are truly *that* outrageously early!

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    1. ha yea for real, i agree completely. any time i'm running late i start stressing out about it, so it's generally better for everyone involved if there's enough time to be relaxed and carefree!! the horses definitely seem to appreciate that too haha

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  3. I'm 100% with you on the leaving/arriving early, etc. etc especially when hauling and dealing with horses (and country roads most of the year!) Good thing you had the stuff to help Charlie feel comfortable to get home. Can't wait to hear about the lesson!

    I don't have a trailer, but I have a big tupperware bin that I take to shows (well several, lol) and one has all kinds of weird extras - tools to remove crazy shit bolted to the walls in stalls at facilities, duct tape, extension cords, baler twine, electrical tape, etc. etc. And, a bottle opener, lol, since someone always buys bevvies that don't have a twist top! ;-) At one show, the barns were modular to be adjusted for cows, heavies, etc and there were metal parts in the walls just asking for a show horse to cut itself. Everyone was panicking, but I said "wait! let me get my tools!" lol

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    1. ooooh yea -- so useful to have that excellent tool chest!! that's one thing where i feel like maybe i don't have quite enough. i've got some wrenches and hammers and blades and stuff, which is generally probably enough.... but ya never know lol! actually my tool kit is one of those ultra cheapo deals that they gave me when i was 17yrs old at the bank opening up my own account before college. and i STILL have that thing haha! whatever works, right??

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  4. Growing up my dad always said 15 minutes early was on time. If you arrive on time you are already late. It drives my husband insane that I leave so early for everything. It paid off big time at my last actual arena lesson when I showed up and the barn was having a party. Cars were blocking all access gates to the barn. I had to hunt someone down to move and it took 20 minutes. But I was way early so it didn’t cause stress and I was still on time to my lesson.

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    1. oh man, yea it only takes a couple instances of being thrown WAYYYYY off your expected timeline to start really valuing having an extra 15-20min to spare!! that's another reason i generally prefer to have my own transportation bc then i get to call the shots about timing haha. like at a lesson earlier this summer i ended up riding with a friend, and she was running about 10min behind and it was just enough time that we weren't able to get studs in before the lesson started -- something i kinda regretted throughout the ride. would have much rather had that extra time to get prepared!!!

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  5. It's nice to have that mad collection of horse shit that we look at and sometimes think "I probably don't need everything in there" but we continue to keep everything, then shit like this happens and we have some confirmation bias like "that shit really came in handy!" LOL

    Glad you had stuff on hand and are charmingly on schedule! Also love the colors on that belt, the fake leather part on mine (from years ago understandably) is starting to fall apart, wahhh!

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    1. lol yas to that confirmation bias of "see i knew there was a reason i was hoarding all this shit!!" haha.... and thanks re: the belt! it wasn't actually my top favorite color scheme (would have preferred the version that had a tan instead of the white) but it was the best available in my size and i actually quite like it! here's hoping it holds up!!

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  6. Yes, yes to all this! I've been known to carry a tape measure and screwdriver around in my purse at all times. They've both come in handy more times than I can count!

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    1. Ha now I’m curious what you do with the tape measure tho!!!

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  7. hahah the D-list ducktape.... in my case the D would stand for dollar store :P

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    1. Lol basically !!! Whatever works right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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  8. I purge everything in all aspects of my home life, but my trailer is a hoarder's paradise. There's no such thing as being too prepared with ponies!

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    1. Oh man I wish I could be better about purging but then something like this happens that reinforces my hoarding ways.... LOL

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  9. I keep pretty much everything in the trailer that I have at home too. Best to be prepared! Although since buying the new trailer (almost two years ago now...) that I have yet to actually use... It's completely empty. Remedying that over the winter though!
    Glad you were prepared and that Charles didn't lose any hoof!

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    1. Oh man I’m so grateful he didn’t lose any hoof too!! Esp considering it was a fairly new shoe!! And yay for getting the new trailer out and about - here’s to happy (and prepared !) hauling!!

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  10. lmao "peace wand"

    As a sidenote, I always get made fun of bc I bring hoards of medical/emergency supplies with me when I haul. BUT GUESS WHO IS ALWAYS PREPARED WHEN SHIT GOES DOWN?????

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