Friday, January 30, 2015

Friday Five


This week has gone by quickly, y'all, and I'm a little sad to see it go. It kicked off with beautiful 70+ degree temperatures, but there's a chance of snow in the forecast this weekend. What?! Bring back the sunny weather! 

Despite the impending cold front, I'm dreaming of spring. Here's what's on my radar this week:


Every year, I resolve to plant a vegetable garden. We had a few raised beds, and I did plant a garden for a couple of years. Inevitably, it would get hot, I'd stop weeding, and within a week, the garden would be a jungle. When we had the pool filled in last year, our raised beds were partially destroyed by the equipment that was moving in and out. So this year, I'm starting seeds indoors and planning to do some container gardening. We'll see how it goes- despite having a degree in soil science, I don't have a green thumb!


Being assertive is not one of my strong points. I'm an extroverted people person. I want people to like me; I'm often afraid of offending or upsetting someone. I'm pretty laid-back, so I don't often feel the need to protest or disagree with someone, but when I do, I really struggle with it. This year, I've been reading a lot of articles with tips on how to be more assertive and trying to implement them. This has been especially helpful when dealing with wedding-related conversations- whether it's my mother suggesting something I don't want, or expressing a preference to a vendor.



My body brush got lost in the depths of the trailer after schooling show championships. I'm a little sad- it was a great brush that I'd had since I got my first event horse, Sadie. (That brush was nearly 20 years old!) That said, I was more than happy to (finally) replace it this week with one of these super soft body brushes from German manufacturer Haas. Like, I would brush myself with this thing. (Maybe I already have.)



A friend thoughtfully gave me a bag of these for Christmas and I just finished feeding the bag this week. Both horses love them. Moe is kind of like a garbage disposal, so I wasn't surprised when he wolfed these down. Gina's a little more refined, but she scarfed these like there was no tomorrow. They're very soft and chewy, and of course, my horses always enjoy a molasses overload.


Even dopey Moe knows when it's me shouting "MOE MOE! GO RIDE?", so I wasn't surprised by this study's discovery that horses can recognize the voices of familiar humans. I was surprised to learn that horses appear to form a mental picture of the speaker by matching visual and auditory cues. Horses are so cool.

What have y'all been checking out this week? Any big weekend plans?

6 comments:

Laur @FMHH said...

No 2 I have a problem with as well. I try to be nice and often it is mistaken for passiveness. Sometimes it is, I hate stepping on people's toes needlessly. Sometimes it's not. But thanks for link.

Checkmark115 said...

I've been stalking Denny's page on FB quite a bit....oops. No real weekend plans except hunkering down for yet another big winter storm.

That is REALLY cool that its been proven horses recognize our voices! Yay love!

The Jumping Percheron said...

Good luck with the wedding planning. We were very fortunate that we both agreed that it was going to be just us, the horses, and a couple friends. We made that very clear to family. It's our day, not yours, please have some respect for what WE want to do for OUR day.

That lamb's wool brush looks pretty sweet!

I've noticed our horses can differentiate between the sound of the exhaust on vehicles. A car can pull up and they won't pay it any attention, however if they hear my Scion or my husband's Mazda, even being so far out in the pasture they cannot see the vehicle, by the time we get within sight they are already walking in. Same with my truck. They know the sound of the exhaust on my particular truck. Another diesel truck can pull up and they won't acknowledge it, but as soon as I pull up in my diesel truck, they're already making their way in. Or if for some reason they don't hear the vehicle when I get to the barn, as soon as I start talking they appear out of the tree line.

Anonymous said...

I plan on getting over the last of this cold and riding with A VERY GOOD FRIEND this weekend. And yes, Roscoe recognizes my voice. Even when he's trying to ignore me.

emma said...

haha as soon as my mare hears the sound of my truck she's already making her way OUT -- like she's saying, nope nope, not going anywhere today!!

Wilbur, Ellie, and Emily said...

Loving the lambs wool! I love that Ellie recognizes me! I'm the treat girl.

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