Manitoba MoonSox and Me

If only we were all rich. I swear, I saved money before I owned Moon. Now, I just can't help but spend my spare change on him. And I spend a lot of time controlling such urges.

Take yesterday. I awoke to our first snowfall. My first thought? Moon needs a light weight winter turnout blanket.

What?!

Well, it's not really cold out yet. So his mid-weight is probably too heavy despite the snow, but he doesn't have anything waterproof to keep him dry. So he's either outside wet and cold, or dry and hot. Thankfully his mid-weight is supposed to be breathable and wicking, but really only to a point.

So I spent 2 days searching for a deal on a light-weight blanket. And found none. Found some great deals on mid-weight ones, but I don't need two of the same thing. And all the rainsheets were the SAME price if not more then the mid and heavy-weights. Aurgh.

Then Kiirsten mentioned using sport medicine boots to help with windpuffs. While Moon's windpuff isn't down near his hocks, it's still in an area where smb's might help. So off I went searching for any deals on those...

Of course, we still need a new dressage girth, we need show clothing for the spring, we need, we need, we need.

Let's just say it's not happening. It's gotten to the point where last night I dreamed I sewed my own breeches! Granted, I have the pattern and the fabric, but REALLY!

Since I made W's stall plaque, I've received a bunch of requests to make more. But the appeal of being able to squirrel away dedicated funds to show next year with a little of winter work was too enticing. I even went so far as to ask my Dad who makes and routers the plaques if he'd be willing to continue to make them for me (he's been doing them sorta out of his pure love for me on the assumption that it was a bit of a one-off sorta thing). I'm still waiting for him to reply ; )

When I did the actual math, I need to make about $1000 or sell about 34 plaques (when one removes the $ to cover materials). I currently have 6 paying customers lined up, and am aware of another 2 who are interested. Which is about 1/4 of the way there, though I still have to get in gear and make all those plaques!

I've found two outlets by which I could probably continue to find customers. One is a local tack store in a small 'horse town' near our main competition facility. They take on consignment sales sometimes, and it might work. The other is a new barn that has opened its own art gallery on-site. I have done some purely artistic wood burning of horses and could probably work in some advertisements for stall plaques while I'm at it. That's the sort of place that would be PACKED with people wanting custom plaques.