Friday Five

It's been an awfully boring week around here- thanks to the icky weather, I haven't ridden at all. I went to the barn yesterday with every intention of riding, but the ponies had just finished up with their lesson kids. I dropped off new blankets for them, since Moe's blanket had suffered an enormous rip and I get blankets at a silly discount through work. I'll be out tomorrow to drop off new halters, as both little brats managed to break theirs this week. Moe's halter apparently gave out for no real reason, while Gina's broke when she pulled back at a sheet of ice crashing off the roof near her. Sigh. Horses. SMH.

Anyway, here's what's on my radar:

ONE Scharf helmets

We just got a whole slew of these helmets at work and apparently, they're selling like hotcakes with the Florida unit. They're supposedly the most well-ventilated helmets on the market and come in a plethora of fun colors and designs. They're priced along the same lines as One Ks, so I'll have to try one on and see how it fits!

TWO Golden Button Challenge review statement

The Golden Button Challenge was revived after a three year hiatus and videos promoting it have been all over social media for the last few weeks. It's a cross country race near Tewkesbury, England that's three miles long and covers hunt-field type 25 obstacles. It was held last weekend. Sixty two horses started the event, 39 finished it, and 3 horses died. One was euthanized on course due to a broken back suffered in a fall, while the others are suspected of having heart attacks following the event.

Challenge organizers released a statement on the event, which was reviewed by the Ledbury Hunt (who put the thing together). You can read the statement at the link above; basically, the organizers stand by their event and don't feel any wrongdoing has been done. 

I feel like this event has a lot in common with the recent spate of event horse deaths. I have a lot of feelings about this. While accidents can and do happen in every sport, they seem more prevalent in eventing and eventing-type events. Why? Are courses too challenging? Are riders doing a poor job of preparing their horses? I am a very low level eventer, but I do my best to educate myself on how to best prepare my horses for the jobs I want them to do. I can't imagine that riders who participate in things like the Golden Button Challenge don't do the same. So what's going on? 

THREE Denny Emerson's Real Rules For Real Eventers

Moving from the terribly sad to the terrifically funny, Denny Emerson posted this gem on Facebook. I read it last night and laughed at several of his quips: 

• "Your boyfriend will only pretend to like horses and eventing while he's actively wooing you. After you've married him, he'll start to whine and complain about all the time and money horses require. (Just hope for his sake he doesn't ask the all-time stupid question, 'Who do you like more, anyway, me or that horse?')
• "There is always another way to get eliminated."
• "The morning before cross-country is scarcely worth living."

FOUR Canva

Am I the last person to know about this amazing website? I think I am. In case I'm not, you're welcome. Canva is a free design tool that lets you create slick graphics for all kinds of things- social media, websites, business cards, posters, whatever. I've used it to do some work-related and blog-related things. It's extremely easy to use, free (unless you opt to use paid features), and has a lot of great templates to get you started. 

FIVE Country Music Explained By People Who've Never Heard It

Totally unrelated to horses, or blogging, or anything, really. This list from Buzzfeed cracked me up, though. I'm not a country music lover, despite having been to the Grand Ole Opry three times, Pony Clubbing with Billy Ray Cyrus's daughter (not the famous one), and listening to the local country station for approximately 12 hours a day at my last job. Spoiler for the last question ("What happened to Garth Brooks?"): he lives about 20 minutes away from me, and one of my coworkers is his neighbor.