Product Review: Luckie Doos Bridle Charms

I love supporting small businesses and helping spread the word about products I love!  Please forgive my cell phone photos mixed in here.

Luckie Doos is a small business that makes hand made bridle charms.  She has a wide variety to choose from.

(Photo from their Facebook page)

First I bought this adorable sea horse charm.  It came to me lovingly wrapped in a cute box (it's the little touches).

I chose to clip it on Poppy's bonnet versus the bridle for our last show.

Of course you can clip it anywhere on the bridle, saddle, your boots, in braids, etc!

When I asked her for something related to my college alma mater she happily took on the challenge to make a new charm!

So many cute options!

(Photo by Luckie Doos)

(Photo by Luckie Doos)

(Photo by Luckie Doos)

(Photo by Luckie Doos)

(Photo by Luckie Doos)

So nicely put together.

The prices range from $15 to $25.  Check out Luckie Doos on Facebook, Instagram, and Etsy!  Email is luckiedoos@gmail.com

Local Show and Baby

Friday I loaded up the baby Monster (his new nickname, seems fitting) and hauled him to a local unrated show to play show pony.  Since he has hardly been ridden I had no plans to show him but wanted to take advantage of an inexpensive show where he could school, spend the night, and take in all the sights and sounds of a horse show.

He loaded fairly easily (he's easily bribed with cookies.  "Nah I don't want to walk on that thing.  Ohhhhh you have a cookie?  Okay!"  Then proceeded to paw and scream.  He needs to work on his standing on the trailer skills.  The pawing and screaming is annoying.  Then while I was getting his stall ready there were sounds coming from the trailer that sounded like it was not going to be left in one piece.  Am I making a case for the monster nickname yet?

He settled in fine.  Friend next to him and a hay net full of hay and he was happy.  I lunged him before getting on.  That was uneventful until a pony came in the ring and he did his best Arabian stud impression.  The pony wasn't impressed and eventually Luxxx went back to being a quiet baby Monster.  I took him for a walk around the rings and once I felt confident he wasn't going to kill me I got on.  He was good and unphased about people hacking around him.  Since I ride alone at home this is something he isn't used to.  He was completely unresponsive to my leg to the right (I later realized I failed to put my right spur on) and as usual I felt like I was working much harder that he was.  If someone wanted to talk he was like "yay let's stand!"  The consensus from friends was that he will make a nice hunter.  That's better than "maybe he should do dressage" but hunter isn't what I bought him to be.  No worries though, it's still to early to know what baby Monster wants to be.  

Trainer N rode him both Friday and Saturday which gave me a chance to video and also see him from the ground. 

Saturday was cold and very windy so I was rather proud of him.  I also had to lunge him way out in this field on Saturday where we park the trailers.  It's spooky for even the seasoned horses.  I seriously had visions of him freaking out, getting away from me, and running down the nearby road.  I had gloves on and a death grip on the lunge line.

Overall it was a good experience for him. He just needs time under saddle.  As the days are getting longer that should happen soon.

On a side note, BOTH of my zippers blew out of my Dehner paddock boots.  I may get them replaced or just buy new boots.   I have used Dehners for probably 15 years and am considering something less expensive (they are $279).  Other than Ariats, what do you recommend?

HITS Week IV (part 2)

I realized after my last post I forgot to tell you that despite that ride on Saturday I came in 6th place!  Only 4 people jumped clean!  We were the second fastest four faulter.

I was excited for Sunday and to try to smooth out my riding.  Sunday was the NAL Adult Jumper Classic.  We were 5th in the order of go with an 8am start.  I don't do well with classes that early.  I like time to learn my course, walk it, tack up, etc.  Fortunately a friend was able to bring Poppy to the ring for me to give me time to walk the course.  In my self created chaos I forgot to snap a photo of my course.  It was a pretty technical course with many options.  It also had a really wideLiverpool.  Trainer N and I came up with a plan and I got to watch a couple before I went in the ring.  Lines were tight so I saw a lot of rails.  This is when having a small adjustable horse is nice.  Here is our first round (we jumped clean).

 http://youtu.be/I9qfs2Mzo78

It was an "a" option only so I had to jump off at the end.  That meant going back to the barn for an hour.  I was 3rd in the order to jump off.  15 made the jump off.  I don't have a video of the jump off.  In one spot I forgot where I was going for a moment and lost time.  We were clean and good enough for 5th!!!  Yay!!  And a $225 check.  Double yay!

Overall I was extremely happy with Poppy.  I couldn't have asked her to be any better.  I love that little grey mare!  3 more weeks and we go back to HITS!  

This weekend I am taking baby Luxxx to a local show to school and hang out.  No rest for the weary!

HITS Week IV (part 1)

In true horse show recap style I'm going to drag err divide this up into a couple parts.

Friday we entered the High Adult Jumpers (1.10m).  They were scheduled to start at 2:30pm and didn't end up going until after 5pm!  Yay horse shows!  That left entirely too much time for me to find the tack stores.

We showed in the Grand Prix ring.  They had a real water jump set up (not in our course though) so it was fun to show it to Poppy.  She was like "that's a BIG puddle."  It was late and the sun was going down so the ring was nice and shadowy.  Poppy was quiet and didn't look at anything (woohoo).  It was a speed class so I galloped between jumps.  I was not smooth in getting her back in front of 3a and she pulled a rail.  Everything else was great and it was just a 4 fault round.  No ribbon but I was thrilled with my mare for going in and marching around like it's her J-O-B.  My little mare is growing up (sniff, sniff).

Saturday we again entered the High Adult Jumpers (1.10m).  This one was in a different ring.  I don't know what my deal was Saturday but I was just off my game.  I don't do well some times when warming up with a group.  For instance the horse in front of me stopped at the warm up fence so I would have to circle or it would pull a rail and I would have to circle.  This would annoy Poppy and she would start leaping in front of the fence.  Try finding your distance riding that.  I couldn't either.  So we had some eek moments in the warm up ring.  That translated to "Oh Dear God" in the ring.  I was that rider.  The scary one.  She was running and I didn't get her under control.  

The video isn't as scary as it felt, but still some horrible riding on my part.  We were shockingly clear in the first round and one rail in the jump off because I missed badly into an in and out.  Here's video of round 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKnFmjtW65I

Aaand my jump off (feel free to close your eyes, I sure did watching): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SyjiHLyvu0

Soooo mare got lots of pats, carrots, and kisses for continuing to jump after all that.  Moving on...Seriously.  After days like that you let it go and move on.  I was looking forward to Sunday to redeem myself.  Fortunately all my mare knows is that she was good.

Mini Nugget

I had a post I was working in to sum up the horse show and I just couldn't finish it.  My chihuahua Nugget went to the vet yesterday and had blood work done.  Results came back today and she has Cushings.  I am heart broken and also feverishly searching for holistic treatment and dietary changes.  As soon as I can wrap my head around this I will finish my horse show post.

We Arrived!

I waited for the rain to stop this morning and we headed to HITS.  Fortunately it was a smooth trip and by the time we arrived the sun came out and it started to warm up.

Poppy found the drive exhausting and snuck in a quick nap before we hacked.

We've had LOTS of rain so the rings were pretty mushy.  Fortunately it will be warm and sunny the next few days so it should dry out.  We show in the High Adults Friday afternoon.  I will try to update from IG (luvjumperlife)!

Count Down to HITS

Body clip pony.

Check.

Make some scary jumps to make pony brave at pony show.

Check.  Check.  But Poppy didn't think the pool floaties were spooky this year (also note my liverpool jump.  $2 blue tarp versus $300-$500 liverpool).

Wash truck and trailer.  Check.  Have mechanic (aka husband) check tire pressure in all tires and check truck over.  Check.

Poppy had great jump schools on Saturday and Sunday.  She feels great.  We have rain forecast for Monday so I am hoping to get a couple hacks in before we leave for HITS on Thursday.  100% chance of rain forecasted for Thursday too.  Boo.