Whirlwind Weekend.

What a busy weekend it was!

Friday I got off work, drove home, grabbed my dog and went out to the "Barn" to ride Moon. I also stuffed a giant piece of cardboard into my trunk and back seat to "test fit" Moon's costume. At this point, the costume was beyond laughable. I hadn't rigged up any way to rig it to him, it was unpainted and as the BF and I both realized, it looked like a train. : P More like a train-wreck...

Halo (my dog) hung out with me while I fed all the horses and then stuffed haybales into hockey nets. Things have been changing in the herd dynamic and now Mr. Moon is happy sending the Wizzard off "his" bale. She complies with minimal scuffling, and as I've been told, she heads off to tell the Black, who makes a face at Moon, sending him into a nice lunge circle, whereby the Black returns to eating, the Wizzard gets a few mouthfuls of food before Moon comes back and chases her off again.

: P Herd dynamics are weird. My lowly little QH is chasing a big BelgianX off a hay bale. Go figure!

Thankfully the horses are keeping it all to just making faces or the occasional "threat".

After feeding everyone and stomp-stamping the hay back into the front feeder (augh, hay forks are evil), I brought Moon over to the tie-post and started strapping pieces of cardboard to him.

Oye. Surcingle, two girths, a bunch of stirrup leathers and twine, and I have ONE piece of cardboard sitting lopsided, barely hanging off his rump. And it just looked stupid.

Of course, that would be the time when someone would drive past...

Hide face.

Moon wasn't scared of the thing at this point, though he did want to scratch his face on it. We'll see how badly this goes when I actually have the whole rig on him. It'll be crazy...

We did some canters around the ring bareback but were WAY worse then the last time. His right canter circles were racing, his left weren't really there. And we were bouncing like crazy. He gave me one "buck" to the right, and I was pretty proud to be able to sit it bareback. You know, except for the fact I was probably gripping like a nutter with my knees and thighs!

H and her little girl stopped by to watch us and give us some extra eyes on the ground. I'm completely endeared by little Miss M's way of saying "Moon", and after spending some time with her while she groomed Mr. Moon, am rather certain I'll be cheering her on in a couple years at her pony club events!

H suggested I count in my head to keep my rhythm at the trot and at one point suggested posting. Um, bareback?? I don't even know how!! : ) Lessons to be learned...

With her helping us out, we seemed to make progress and get some semblance of ammie-dressage-horse-esque movement. It's not going to be perfect, but hey, we're further then we were last year!

After awhile I'd bounced and rubbed myself sufficiently to make the decision that practice was over! I cleaned Moon up, tried on his new rainsheet (Thanks H! Perfect fit!), his summer sheets and then after a grooming put him back in his paddock. It's amazing just how quickly time flies with everything there is to do!

Saturday morning dawned sunny and gorgeous and while I wanted to spend the day on horseback, I knew I had other pressing matters.

For starters, the day previous I got word from my dad that we'd received permission from a friend of his that we could borrow their paint booth!! Which is AWESOME! That's a huge cost savings on the pony trailer repair. I called up the paint supply place Friday afternoon and got a quote for the the primer, paint and thinners/hardeners. I was surprised to learn that metallic flecks do not make paint more expensive. The fellow I spoke to told me that in truth, yellow paint is the most expensive! : O Go figure. Thankfully, the horse trailer will NOT be yellow! Blue metallic fleck it is.

My dad is going to let me know when we'll paint it, but since we should likely get our use of the paint booth done and over with as soon as possible, it'll likely be the weekend after next.

Which normally wouldn't be such a big deal, as that means it doesn't have to go to the sandblasters until next Monday/Tuesday.

...only between now and next Tuesday, I have ZERO free time.

Hence, Saturday I tore out all the floor boards, the manager wood paneling, drilled out all of the rivets on it, and got it 90% ready for sandblasting. It just needs a couple things ground, but we'll do that right before hand so they don't rust over the next week.

That adventure took most of Saturday morning and afternoon. I managed to smash my elbow, hit myself in the face with a ratchet and smack my head on numerous things around the trailer. Fun.

In the midst of this, I started spray painting my horse costume, only to discover I have ZERO talent with a can of spray paint. Blotchy and hideous. THIS parents, is why you should allow your kids to graffiti a few things during their youth. Otherwise they paint like I do.

Thankfully, the BF's mysterious past has led him to be a talented spray-artist (actually, it's all that repainting of his snowmobiles...), so he was nice enough to paint them for me. Except we ran out of paint. : (

After all of that, I whipped up a batch of cooked paper mache paste, and discovered that much like mashed potatoes, I can't make things lump-free.

I blew up a balloon big enough to match Moon's head and mid-blow it exploded on me. Bits of latex are still everywhere around the kitchen.

So I blew up another, it held and I took it, paste and newspaper outside to get to work.

I was running out of time before our IRC western social, so I burned my hands coating the paper in paste, because the cooked stuff is HOT. And lumpy. And sticks to everything.

It was a mess. I got 1/2 a layer on, the balloon popped, the dog freaked and paper mache paste flew everywhere around the back yard. All over me, the patio stones, everything. *sigh*

I had no more balloons.

So I used a bowl.

Covered the whole thing, burnt fingers and all. Then wondered if it would come unstuck from the metal bowl later...

Quick google search said: "No".

Dang.

Peeled it off the bowl. Lined bowl with saran wrap. Recovered. Dripping in mache paste.

Brought inside along with cardboard car in case it rained. Hopped in shower, while multi-tasking dinner! After dinner we drove out to the middle of nowhere (literally) to a small town for the social.

The social was awesome. I *only* wish I would have won something at the silent auction, but hey, it was still fun!

All the raffle/auction prizes were horse-related and therefore, extra enticing. We had one fellow bring in a huge wooden "jail" and we had a sheriff. You could pay the sheriff to arrest people and lock them in jail. Then other people had to pay to get them out! I'm not sure how we did in the end, but by 11 at night, we had made something like $700 on the jail alone! All for our 50th anniversary celebration (gymkhana, barrel racing, parade, etc.). And there were only 120 people at the social! Crazy!

I got to make some more connections at the social with other folk from the IRC. T and I made tentative plans to go trail riding with another club member at Oak Hammock Marsh next Monday, which should be a blast.

Then one fellow who is retired was telling me how he works up north at a local community pasture, checking cows and fencing lines. It's a pretty sweet deal, and then he turns to me and says "Call me the next time you have a weekday off. You can come run cows with us for the day."

Say what?!!! : )

How cool is that!? He even wrote down his cell number, and his wife assured me that it really would be a blast!

...then they teased me because I haven't got a western saddle, and was quite confident riding the fences from my english saddle! : )

Okay, okay, I'm really hoping to win the IRC's Western saddle raffle! : )

Which leads into me more and more thinking about doing some western events with Moon. No, no, DQ's relax and breathe. We're not leaving the world of Dressage, casting our tall black boots by the wayside, in replace for cowboy boots. I've already got a pair of those. : )  But I really do love versatility and love trying new things. So yes, Moon may someday soon dawn a bridle with silver, and be sporting a western saddle. Girl's gotta play around.

Sunday morning we obviously slept in. Dragged myself from bed late and got to working on the other side of my race car costume (I'm hoping none of you lurkers have time to create your own to compete with us!!!).

Made the other half the car, ran into town to buy some acrylic paints and started bringing life to my strangle yellow canvas.

And transformed it into 1/2 a race car. : )

The paper mache still wasn't dry, so I left that sitting next to a floor vent to speed up the process.

I finished my Dressage Show coat, fastened my buttons and tried everything on. Still debating the tie vs. Stock tie, but I don't have time to sew a stock and I'm not buying one. I could do the white shirt and choker, but I just look dopey in it. So this will likely be my "get-up" for Saturday. Not perfect, but it'll do.

At this time, it was well after 7 pm and I was tired. Hadn't even had supper...or lunch.

Scarfed down some food over a television show and then set myself up to wood burn W's show sign. I stayed up long enough to finish the whole thing, and then chose to go to bed without lacquering it. I needed sleep!

This morning I put a coat of lacquer on and looked over my "to do" list. Aurgh. Despite the busy and successful weekend, I still don't think I'll have enough time!!!

Today, it's gloomy and looks like rain. NOT good. I found my Kur song (teehee...it's a secret. Yes H2, awesome suggestions, you're amazing, but I'm saving yours for our rise to Training Level!! When we have time to sculpt something amazing! Right now we're not even going to have transitions or shapes...).

: ) It's so totally Moon it's crazy. AND near perfectly matches our trot rhythm! : )

Now, I just need to ride out the pattern...

Tonight, more lacquer on the sign. Cardboard to ALL be painted yellow. If it's not raining, ride the Kur. Clean the house. Do some laundry. Pack my grooming bag (I bought an uber cute tiny travel-sized grooming bag when I was buying paint...for $2, it's technically a garden-tool bag, but no one needs to know...except, you know, everyone who just read this!). Maybe feed some ponies. NO RAIN!

There's just NOT enough time!!! : )

I mean, it takes time to create a car like this...

 Someone promise me that Moon isn't going to have a heart attack... ; )