Ottb – Page 10 – My Ex Racers

07Jan 2014 by myexracer

The wind chill factor

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_750" align="alignleft" width="251"] I'm wearing ALL the clothes[/caption] When I got up it was zero degrees out. ZERO. Zero's not even funny, as a friend of mine says. One is funny but zero? Zero is nothing. With the wind-chill factor according to my weather app it felt like -17 yep, thats with a negative in front of it. My god. Around noon i got my ass going and went to the barn. It had warmed up to 6 by then with a wind chill of -5 improvement of sorts. I was bundled up as warm as i was going to get. Smartpak base layer pants, fleece lined breeches, Smartpak base layer top, t-shirt, red mid-weight Dickies hoodie, black sherpa lined Dickies hoodie, sock liners, smart wool socks, paddock boots,…

06Jan 2014 by myexracer

Gooooooal!

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

This should probably be an actual page not a post. Yanno so i can look at it all the time with it starring me back in the face every time I see my site, for motivation. Not that I need a ton, im a self motivated person. I've been a freelancer for the last 12 years. When I was a fancy shmancy art director in La La land I learned right quick to hit your motherfucking deadline. Of course that means you have to manage your workload, your clients expectations and make sure you buffer in for the unexpected. Setting goals is no different. The expectations you are managing are your own, the unexpected buffers you need to build in could be injury's and changes to your time-line. This is…

04Jan 2014 by myexracer

Snow day on the farm

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignleft" width="300"] Snow day[/caption] When I got the the barn it was all covered in a soft white layer of fluffy snow. It looked beautiful but I know better it was cold out there. My car temperature gage read 23 degrees. Thats cold for this Southern California girl. I was prepared, I had all the clothes on. I thought maybe I'd ride Jez as Circe hasn't been ridden in a bit due to her sore hoof. Tina was working so the trail was out. She's my trail buddy and Jezebel isn't ready to hit the trail alone, we'll get there eventually but right now its just not possible. I checked out the ring and it looked usable. They snow hadn't turned to ice yet and it was all…

03Jan 2014 by myexracer

Under the wire

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Trail Riding

I met up with Tina early. The plan was to get out on the trail before the snow hit. It was cold. I was wearing all the cold weather stuff.. i mean all the stuff [caption id="attachment_696" align="alignright" width="300"] My jacket is lined with fur from this Muppet. Really![/caption] SmartPak's SmartShape Base Layer Tights. I got them on sale a while back and had yet to try them out. Over those i had on the Kerrits Power Stretch Winter Tights. For socks I had on sock liners and Smart Wool crew socks from REI. I hate spending that kind of money on socks but my feet were toasty at least for a while. My boots were my Ariat paddock boots. No half chaps, i own several pairs i never wear…

01Jan 2014 by myexracer

The Circe effect

Life with Circe, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_690" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Circe Effect[/caption] She was lame when i pulled her from the field. Mary (Willa) was helping me catch my ponies because my trainer was going to work with them both and i was running late. (Go figure) i could see her stepping short on the right hind. Nooooo! Not the right hind! Okay this wasn't Jez but Circe, but the right hind freaks me out because i just spent be better part of 2013 re-habing Jez on the right hind. I brought her into the barn and checked out the leg. No heat, no swelling, not cuts, no scrapes, no reactions to any palpating, no nothing. When Michelle showed up she rode Jez then we turned out attention to Circe. We tacked her up and…

31Dec 2013 by myexracer

A cure for every evil

Life with Jezebel, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_683" align="alignleft" width="225"] Super pony![/caption] Its the last day of 2013 and I went down to the barn to ride Jez. I went early because in the afternoon i was going to watch an evaluation of my friends OTTB Wasabi. Tina is thinking about selling Sabs and she had to work today so I was to groom her and get her ready. That meant i needed to get my riding out of the way early. Jez greeted me in the field and was happy to be lead out and up to the barn. Both her and Circe had been in all day the day before. Circe is on stall rest and Jez stayed in to keep her company. I brushed them both and tacked up Jez and took her…

31Dec 2013 by myexracer

You can lead a horse to water

Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_670" align="alignleft" width="225"] Water water everywhere...[/caption] Jezebel is not a fan of water. At our last barn on one of our very first trail rides she jumped over a water crossing (seriously like a inch of less of water in it) so she didn't have to get her pony tootsies wet. She also hates mud or more specifically mud holes. So it was raining and I trucked on down to the barn to check on the girls who I knew were in because of weather. I put on Jezebels rope halter and we went for a little walk down the drive way. She was a very good girl, especially for being couped up all day inside. We grazed and walked until I was too cold and wanted to go…

29Dec 2013 by myexracer

I call her Besos

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training

[caption id="attachment_650" align="alignleft" width="225"] Im ready, lets go![/caption] It was a beautiful day out today and my trainer was able to come out to work with the girls. The barn was quiet and i pulled both girls out of the field and got them ready. Jezebel was up first and did much better today. She always does better when she's busier working and I was able to ride yesterday and the weather was good so we got in a good ride together. She still takes a long time to warm up but not as long as when she had too many bad weather days off. She was looking good at the trot and didn't give Michelle to hard of a time. When it was time to canter, her upward transition…

28Dec 2013 by myexracer

The year in the rear view

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel, OTTB

It's been a hard year in so many ways but also exciting and as always I did learn a little something. The beginning of the year started out great, Jez was learning to canter and not turn like a motorcycle and in mid March we started going out on the trails. It was going smashingly (even if she wouldn't cross water) and then on April 1st disaster, my worst fall to date. One ambulance ride later and I was to be laid up for months. Jezebel didn't fair any better seems I was bucked into the fence not because she was a bad girl but because she was herself injured. Right hind suspensory Poor pony! Seven long months of rehab were in order. It was a real tough 7 months.…

26Dec 2013 by myexracer

Xmas Ponies

Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_624" align="alignleft" width="265"] Derp[/caption] Christmas was lovely. I spent Xmas Eve in the city at my favorite D.C. old school Italian restaurant, Filomena. They outlandishly decorate for every holiday which i love and the food is solid. I know southern Italian food because well I'm southern Italian (Calabria) It reminds me of my Italian grandmothers basement. Not my actual Italian grandma but the one I always wished I had. My better half and I ate (a lot) drank (a lot) and were generally merry (a lot). We passed out at home super early after the long cab ride back to Maryland. Ha! As we discussed the next day, its really never a good idea to order that second bottle of wine but of course we did. [caption id="attachment_625" align="alignright"…

Tag: Ottb