Friday Five

With low temperatures and an even lower windchill, I'm living in long johns and layers. My boss calls from sunny Wellington, Florida nearly every day, which definitely makes me jealous. Le sigh- maybe I can convince her that I need to fly down to sunny Florida soon!

Here's what's on my radar this week.

ONE Kiwi the mini vs. the tablecloth


I saw this on Horse Nation this morning. I've watched it at least 5 times. I've showed it to my coworkers. I've sent it to my friends. It's so cute. It's so funny. You can't go wrong with adorable minis doing adorable things.
TWO What do the different dressage judge ratings mean?
Practical Horseman answered this question and explained what those mysterious letters mean for both USEF and FEI judges. Now I can be suitably impressed when the Oklahoma Dressage Society has clinics with an 'S' judge!
THREE Dressage boots

A couple of months ago, Horze was having a sale for its dealers and I scored a pair of fluffy white dressage boots for around $15. I think their benefit is primarily psychological; Gina doesn't interfere, but strapping these things to her front legs makes me feel like a total dressage queen. And that's like, half of successful dressage, right?
FOUR Riding and training the senior horse
As the owner for two senior horses (Moe is 20; Gina is 18), I'm always interested in how riding, training, and competing older horses is different from doing the same with their younger brethren. This excellent in-depth article from Horse Channel discusses some things I hadn't considered, like how older horses' thermoregulation is not as good as younger horses'.
FIVE SmartWool neck gaiter

You know that song from the musical Oklahoma! ? "Oklahoma"? Well, they weren't kidding with the "where the wind comes sweeping down the plain" part. Wind regularly whips around at 15+ miles per hour, which makes already cold temperatures feel miserable. I bundle up with layers and layers, but I dislike wearing scarves while riding. They're either too bulky or bounce around too much. This neck gaiter from SmartWool looks like a dream- lightweight, warm, ugh, I should probably just order one right now...