Cabin Fever

I'm still inside and it's making me crazy.  The good news is that we only got a foot of snow last night.  The bad news is that the wind is gusting hard enough to make the blowing snow dance all about.  It's pushing ground blizzard levels out here as we gust into the 40 - 50 mph zone.  The snow we got was very fluffy so it's drifting all about.

I am so sick of being in the house.  So how do we cope with these situations?

I bought a new dressage coat!

The RJ Classics Soft Shell Piaffe Frock in navy.  This makes me very happy.  I've been eyeballing this coat for awhile since I love my RJ coats.  I have a frock from them in black and when I saw this in navy, in my size (12 Short), and on clearance for $118 at Smartpak?  It magically appeared in my cart.  Amazing how that happens.  I'm so excited to have my navy coat to go with my navy show bow.  Now I need a navy browband.  PS of Sweden has the exact one I need, navy pearls and clear rhinestones.  And I think a baby blue stock tie.  And a baby pink stock tie to go with my black coat, since I have a pink show bow and a pink browband . . .

But that will have to wait.  I just bought a new coat and his winter shoes are due this week.  Not cheap.  I can use my existing browbands, new bling isn't on the need list.  New bling won't help if my leg yields are still prone to collapsing.  Instead, I got something to help us actually perform. 

My judge crush continues.  I love this woman and reading a book written by her that focuses on making opinionated, less than perfect horses into dressage ponies?  Sign me up!  Might as well do something with my abundant indoors free time.  The reviews are excellent and I'm looking forward to a new read.

Also, I cannot emphasize enough how much I love my Dublin River boots.

I got for when it's muddy out and for walking cross country (ha!).  This winter I discovered that they are amazing in snow.  Last winter was really mild, so this winter they were really put to the test.  As I was wading through snow up to my knees yesterday, feeding the chickens, my feet stayed bone dry and toasty with a pair of wool socks.  I've slopped through every combination of slush/mud/water/slop known to man with our crazy weather and my feet stay dry.  I even ride in them on the days when it's too cold for my riding boots where I can't fit my thick socks.  I wear them into town with a pair of dark jeans and people think they're cute.  Slap on a set of ice cleats and these have served me through an entire day of outdoor barn chores, in the melting snow, including chasing my idiot horse as he decides playing tag is more fun than working in the sand box.

Really, if you live in an area prone to lots of snow with lots of melt, consider a pair.  Lifesavers this winter and especially through these last two storms.

As for Theo?  For Facebook users, here's a little clip of his pasture's situation.  Snow up to his chest in spots.  It's kind of like water training, right?  Lots of resistance meaning that he's going to stay fit just walking around his pasture.  At least that's what I'm hoping for.  Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be agreeable and I should be able to ride in my usual lesson.  And then rush home, shower, and go out for Valentine's Day.  Because that is how horse girls do romance.  You know we really care when we shower before showing up at a fancy bistro for a date.