Thursday, December 21, 2017

santa came early this year!

I must admit - there are few things I look forward to every holiday season quite like Tracy's Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange. No joke, this is like, a serious highlight for me. And I've been vigilantly keeping watch on the parcels arriving at my apartment building for weeks now.

such a pretty card!
And finally (I say "finally" bc I'm basically an over-eager child when it comes to expectations lol), finally - I got home from a stupidly long work day of commuting to far off states to find a parcel waiting for me! By none other than West Coast blogger Susan Friedland-Smith of Saddle Seeks Horse!!

d'aww, gotta love that bay ottb camaraderie! 
And Susan, undoubtedly with the help of her wonderful OTTB Knight, assembled quite the holiday package for us!

omgosh that's a lotta stuff!
I especially loved that every piece had its own post-it note card to go along! Tho alas some became detached from their original parcels in transit... but.... It wasn't too hard to figure out which went where lol.

socks notecards and coozies!!!
Of particular note are these amazing Lettia fox hunting socks - one of my favorite brands and a very fun design to boot! Charlie and I continue to have ambitious fox hunting plans (one day!) and these suit me exactly!

so freakin cute tho, right? also do i need a green hunt coat now????? #importantquestions
As do these adorable fox hunting motif note cards, complete with stickers from Hunt Seat Apparel!

omg tho. omg these are too perfect for my group of drinking buddies who also have an eventing problem!
Rounding out that bunch are a pair of beer coozies that I think Susan just threw in as extra gimmes... but..... Well. Let me tell ya, gurlfriend, these things are awesome. 

Be Resilient. Like an OTTB. Yasssss. That's a motto I can get behind! As, I suspect, can all of my friends, when we supplement our drinking habits with the occasional cross country school and event!!

it's a reflective LED breast plate tho!!!! brace yo'selves for the inevitable pictures of charlie lighting up ye olde night skies!
But that wasn't the end of it either! There's also a Cowboy Magic detangler sample - a product I've purchased in the past and will absolutely purchase again in the future. AND. Perhaps one of my favorites of the bunch - this hyper reflective, LED-laced breast plate. OMG. And it has charging cables for the LEDs OMG. I literally cannot wait to dress Charlie up in this haha.

Bc obviously I have safety concerns with a very dark and very sketchy driveway we navigate every week night (did I tell you about the time a bunch of teenagers driving a four wheeler way too fast with no lights almost hit us? No? ahhh.... fun horrifying times....). Plus we wander through woods abutting hunting grounds. So. This is mightily useful. And also something excellent to dress the old man up in lol.

aaaand, naturally, some local heart throb flavor du jour. Susan knows what's up haha
And, speaking of the "Old Man," can we just talk about this "Hot Horseman" on the cover of the magazine Susan included?????

Yea.... Susan knows what's up hahaha ;)

Thank you so much, Susan!! Wishing you and Knight a very merry holiday! And thank you Tracy, of the Printable Pony, for hosting my favorite equestrian blogger gift exchange every year!!

30 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Right???? I dare those four wheeling kids to not see us now!! Lol

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  2. Ohhhh cannot wait for pics of the LED breastplate! Super fun gifts!!! :-D

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    1. I knowwwwww I can't wait either tho now it might be a few days before I see him in darkness again (not complaining tho lol)

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  3. I demand pics of the breastplate! I think it's the same brand as the collars I have for our dogs, and they're truly lifesavers. What a great gift!

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    1. Also, yes, you need a green coat. Green coats are wonderful, and I'm totally not biased.

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    2. it's an illumiseen brand, and the LEDs FLASH OMG haha! i'll snag some pics next time i ride in the dark!!

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    3. lol yes on the coat. just yes ;)

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  4. What a lovely and thoughtful gift.

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    1. i'm definitely super excited about it all!! :D

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  5. omg those coozies are EVERYTHING. and the breastplate is a great idea!!

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    1. ha you can expect those coozies to make an appearance at our next event haha..... and probably our next xc school too, let's be honest ;)

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  6. Wearing my food scarf today!! ❤️

    Charlie doesn't even know the fun headed his way...

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    1. ooooh yay scarf!!! i love all the fox stuff <3 and yes, charlie has some fun times coming soon i hope!!

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  7. OOOOOOoooooo yes on the breastplate! I can't wait to see Charlie dressed up in that! That's awesome! I absolutely love it. I don't go riding at night, but maybe I need this? lol

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    1. oh man, this time of year we ride at night like 3-4x per week.... and the long driveway between the barn and the arena is sketchy since there are lots of blind turns and drivers are often consumed by their cell phones instead of looking where they're going. add in the fact that my dark horse is very hard to see in darkness and..... yea. it can be nerve wracking! this breast plate is so perfect - reflective AND it lights up!!

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  8. Great gifts! I feel bad for my SS as I was a bit rushed to get it out the door so it wasn’t pretty or with notes.

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    1. yea i'm usually pretty terrible about nice or clever notes - it's always so hard to know what to say, esp to a potential stranger! susan included so many cute notes tho, it really is a nice touch

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  9. I don't use a breastplate when riding so I honestly hadn't thought about having an led one for dark riding. That is a super awesome idea!

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    1. yea charlie doesn't really need a breast plate but it's super convenient for adding reflective gear to the mix! i had considered ideas for DIY-ing something with reflective tape i bought but couldn't figure out how to make it look not janky lol. this works much better!

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  10. OMG an LED BREASTPLATE?! That is freaking genius!! Thanks again for participating in the gift exchange this year -- happy holidays!

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    1. happy holidays to you too, thanks for hosting!

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  11. What a fun gift! Love the cozie!!!

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    1. they're definitely gonna see a lot of use!!!! :D

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  12. The LED breastplate. I did not know they made such a thing. Let me go shop for one. It'll be awesome for Da Birb when we resume our death-defying (not really) roadside jaunts in January!

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  13. I love the gift cards! And the socks are awesome. What great gifts :)

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  14. This is am AMAZING gift.. LOVE the socks. Obvi

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  15. I'm glad you liked the stuff. I had fun figuring it all out. And when I found out you were my person, I literally emailed Tracy, "I love Emma!"

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