Do you incorporate horses into your vacation? If I’m with the husband, I do my best not to, but often it crops up somehow anyways.

While going to watch 3* and 4* events are a blast, I haven’t always consider them vacations. Although with the wine, friends, and booze, maybe I should have. Do normal people consider it a vacation when they travel to see their favorite team play?

Spectating Fair Hill

The one trip I have been on that is definitely a vacation, and definitely horsey, was with my mother back in 2005. We went to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair in Ireland, which my grandad had always talked about but neither of us had witnessed. I kid you not, I have never seen that many horses in one place before or after that fair.

We then made our way up the west coast of Ireland, incorporating beach rides and cross country schoolings into our trip.

Beach riding in the northern part of Ireland

The trip is definitely a highlight of my life, and a time with my mother that I’ll always appreciate. What I would do to go back with a bunch of horsey friends and do it all again!

What equestrian related trips have you taken in the past? What are some particularly memorable moments of these trips? What’s on your bucket list? Do horses find their way into your vacations often?

There are those on the internet that equate equestrians to the sports version of crazy-cat-ladies. Think I’m joking? Here’s a quote from a (admittedly deplorable) website cautioning against the “crazy horse girl”:

And finally there are girls who really, really love horses. Like, a lot. For these girls, horses are a way of life. They frequently wear their riding boots to class, get teary-eyed talking about the stables, and almost universally possess a weird talent for drawing their favorite horses on huge sheets of charcoal paper. Three-fourths of their Instagram are horse headshots with captions like “Riding is life” or “Thunder is the sound of hoofbeats in heaven”. These girls are unequivocally crazy.

A quick look at my Instagram feed and it’s quickly obvious that I fall into this category.

Yup, crazy horse girl alert

But let’s say I’ve met a new person, one who hasn’t yet have accessed my social media account. Your typical stranger in a bar scenario, or the person sitting next to you on a plane. Would they know I was an equestrian just to look at me? How proudly do I let my freak equestrian flag fly?

Typically, I avoid wearing anything obviously horsey out and about, unless at a specifically horsey venue. Tempting as it is to wear that super cute sweater from Nordstrom’s, I just can’t bring myself to wear this to work or elsewhere, lest I become tempted to start cantering down the halls.

Can’t wear this….

Or else…

Not that I am ashamed of being an equestrian, but I prefer to keep my obsession love just below the surface to those that don’t know me. And my avoidance of equine themed sweaters doesn’t mean I exclude all wearables- I personally enjoy wearing subtly equestrian items, such as this Snaffle bit bracelet, or a purse made out of saddle leather.

But of course, that’s just me. Instead, I choose to plaster social media, my personal spaces (house post coming soon), and in general conversations are all sated with equestrian references.

It’s my choice to hide the crazy horse girl within from complete strangers, and allow more personal touches to celebrate all things horsey. What about you guys? Do you proudly wear your equestrianism on your sleeve? What public shows of equestrian do you make in your life? Where do you draw the line as “just too much”?

After hopping from horse to horse over the last several months, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to try out various bits in my arsenal on my rides.

Foster in a full cheek Waterford for XC

Like any other equestrian, I’ve got a fair share of bits in my arsenal, ranging from varying snaffles, to the Wonder bit I ran Foster in, and up to and including Waterfords and a slow twist full cheek snaffle.

Assuming the size is appropriate, the first bit I try on any new ride is my double jointed snaffle. If the horse is young or green, typically I pull out the full cheek version for a bit of stability.

Smitty and Riley both seemed rather mouthy with this bit, so the next move for me tends to be the single jointed snaffle. Normally this does the trick, and it did/has with both of those guys.

Foster was a bit trickier in the mouth, so we played around with several options before I found what worked for him. That ended up being a shaped Herm Sprenger bit that allowed him space for his fat tongue, but kept all the mechanics of your typical loose ring.

I definitely subscribe to the idea that all horses are individuals and not ever one is going to appreciate a simple snaffle. As a rider, it’s our job to learn what our mounts appreciate, and don’t appreciate, and pair smart bitting choices with tactful hands. In my opinion, sometimes a stronger bit is a good idea if it prevents unsafe runaways and allows the rider to use minimal tugging and pulling in order to maintain control.

What about you? What bits do you have in your arsenal? Do you have a go-to bit that you try on all horses? What is the strangest or most unique bitting solution you have used?

PS, if you want to learn about how bits work, this is a fairly good video showing varying bit mechanics:

Snaffles if at all possible, then single link, etc

Happy Halloween!

Let’s take a trip to Imaginationland this morning… I hope you’ve had your caffeine already!

If you and your horse were to dress as a dynamic duo for Halloween, what would you be?

I’m fairly positive that this is Smitty and I:

Yup, definitely us.

Who would you and your equestrian friend be for Halloween?