Lame husband

One of the problems with having a Brego is that Bregos are quite large, and therefore quite heavy. So if said Brego might accidentally step on a foot whilst being groomed, the results may be less than ideal.

Whoops.

Normally hubby is a pretty staid guy, but given the amount of pain he was in, we figured it was probably broken, so we shipped off to the ER.

This walking cast has seen a lot of use.

The ER doctor didn't see any fractures... but she sent us to a specialist because sometimes fractures don't show up immediately, and there are a lot of tiny squishy bones in the foot. Plus, hubby has a great relationship with the specialist, since he's broken his right foot twice already. He's talented like that.

Fortunately, the specialist didn't see any fractures either, just a lot of trauma and squashed tendons. Hubby is supposed to keep the foot elevated and iced, and wean himself off the boot and crutches as he can. Movement helps with these types of injuries, not so much with broken bones.

It's turning a rather interesting shade of grey, but at least the toes now look like toes. Cute dog begging for a tummy rub also included.

So hubby won't be attending the show with me. Instead, he'll be limping around at home, staying clear of Brego feets.

You're never really ready, but we're doing it anyway!

My first rated show with Taran is this weekend. We're doing Training 2 and 3 on Saturday, and Training 3 and First 1 on Sunday.

That's right, we're moving up to First.

I'm actually SUPER excited about this. I'm SO OVER training level... sure, we're not going to go out and score an 80% and there's tons of room for improvement, but let's be real, I've been at Training for basically my entire life. I'm over it and ready to move on.

He's still throwing himself up into the transition, but at least they are coming more from behind and we're able to recover within a few strides. 

Our version of a lengthen trot. It'll do.

Our version of lengthen canter. I'm really trying to ride it UP in front instead of burying him on the forehand.

Dragging your horse around a 10 meter half-circle via the inside rein is probably not the best idea.

Instead, use inside leg to engage that hind leg and push his shoulders around with your outside thigh.

Perhaps I should consider getting my shoulders back some?

And here's a little video of some of our canter work from last night.

I'll be thrilled if I can reproduce that level of work in the show ring. Oh, and I promise not to wear that particularly non-matchy shirt and saddle pad again. Whoops.

Sometimes he's so cute I almost can't stand it

Because sometimes, you just need adorable Haflinger pictures to start your day.

Hello.

Do you have food?

No?

Did you check?

Check more.

Oh, and if today's a voting day in your state, GO VOTE! :)

I won't talk to you if you don't vote.

Lose 20 pounds overnight with this one simple trick!

Brego got body clipped yesterday. Poor guy was overdue, and with temps in the low 80s he was just standing around sweating.

Significantly more svelte... at least, for a Brego. However, I don't think his mouse-brown winter coat is nearly as attractive as his glossy black summer coat. And most of his dapples have disappeared with the clip. :(

I did a full body clip for the first time ever (usually we do a hunt clip). I had no idea that he actually had LEGS under all that hair!

Paddy stood by the gate the entire time and commiserated.

The hair was so deep in places it was up over his feet.

So, if your Brego needs to lose 20 pounds ASAP, clip him. And uh, anybody got any suggestions on what to do with 20 pounds of Brego hair?

Haffie Snax from The Haffie Homeland

One of the things I brought back from my Austrian tack shopping spree was some treats for Paddy.

Green apple flavor.

Paddy's not particularly picky about food objects, so I figured he'd love them.

Schniff!

Chomp.

Considering....

Pffffbbbt. Yuck. Ptooey.

We tried again. 

Left nostril schniff.

Right nostril schniff.

How about I eat the phone instead?

So apparently my horse, whose daddy was imported from Austria, is completely Americanized and doesn't like Austrian horse cookies. Boo.

We tried to see if The Brego would eat them instead.

Schniffing not necessary.

Hmmmm....

You got any more of those?

While I was taking pictures of hubby and Brego, SOMEBODY wanted some attention too...

Haffie selfie.

What a European dressage show is like

I mentioned in my post yesterday that after buying far too much at two amazing tack shops, Tanja took us to a show to watch the PSG rides. But this particular venue was quite special - not only was it just outside of Vienna, but there's a huge Rider's Lounge where you can order REAL food (nothing like American horse show food, yuck) while watching everyone ride.

But first, a tour of the grounds:

One of the permanent barns

Outdoor dressage arena

Inside one of the temporary barns

And you think the rigs with LQs are nice in the US... !!!!

So much matching (no, I didn't buy it, sheesh!) 

Indoor show arena

Turnout

After a tour of the grounds, we headed in to the Rider's Lounge for lunch and found a spot to watch the warmup.

I need this at EVERY show. Schnitzel for lunch with a view of the ponies. WHY can't American horse shows be like this?!?!? WE ARE MISSING OUT, GUYS!!!

Warmup was... interesting. I don't often have a chance to watch upper-level horses go at the shows I attend, but I was surprised be a few things here. First, tophats! Most venues in the US require a helmet when mounted. Here, they don't care, and most riders were wearing the classic tophats. Second, not as much bling. Seriously, I see more bling on the AAs at First Level than I did here. I guess they spend all their money on the horses?

And of course, the frame that the horses were working in caught my attention.

This is a PSG horse warming up

Two more PSG horses in warmup

I'm not singling out these horses - I have no idea who they are, or who their riders are, and I've tried to remove identifying information. I just found it very, very interesting that while I've never seen horses warmed up this long/deep/round/rollkur/whatever you want to call it while the US, it's common here. They do ride the horses "up" for tests, however.

And speaking of the tests, watching these folks ride gave me some confidence. I have this image in my head of all upper-level riders being like Charlotte on Valegro, but the PSG riders have some of the same problems that I do, albeit on a grander scale. Most of them completely biffed the 10 meter circles. Halts were not square. Half passes were sometimes more like diagonal lines. One poor rider had a desperate time getting her horse back from extended canter. One horse had a pacey walk, and others were tense and jiggy and screamed for their buddies. My circles may be 20 meters and maybe I'm doing leg yield instead of half pass, but everybody seems to have issues, even when you're at PSG on a fancy warmblood. 

Watching rides while eating an Apfelstrudel for dessert is a whole new level of epic.

Awards ceremony

All in all, a most excellent day. Thank you again, Tanja! I can't wait until my next visit (although my bank account needs some time to recover from the tack shopping).

Enter at A! (Photo courtesy of DressageHafl)

Austrian tack stores: SO DANGEROUS (even to a confirmed non-tack ho)

This week, I'm in the Czech Republic for work, but I managed to sneak down to Vienna for the day on Saturday to meet up with Tanja, who has the Dressage Hafl blog. We've met twice before, and it was so great to see her again!

She had a full day for us planned: First, shopping at two very large tack stores just outside of Vienna, and then attending an FEI show in the afternoon. I've been to a few European tack stores before, and they're fun because the brands are so different from what we have in the US. However, I usually manage to walk out with my credit card relatively unscathed since I already have so much stuff and rarely feel the need to buy more.

Uhm, yeah. So that didn't work out for me this weekend. I walked into the first store and the first thing I saw was this:

MATTES. NOTHING BUT MATTES.

And you know how much those pads are? ~$150 US, as compared to about $270 for a Euro-cut Mattes dressage pad. Luckily for me, they didn't have any color combos I really wanted in the right size, or I would have come home with them.

This one was super tempting, but it was an AP. 

Did you know that Mattes makes a "baroque" style pad? This would have looked fantastic on the Brego for jousting, but not for $350.

There were lots of other pads to choose from. This is about half of them. I managed to restrain myself.

And browbands. So many browbands.

I didn't get any pictures, but the entire second floor of the first store was clothing, and it was all matchy-matchy stuff. Breeches, polo shirts (short and long sleeved), vests, jackets... everything you could want to match the saddle pads downstairs. Even a color-challenged person like me could look super coordinated without much effort. I tried a few things on but didn't really find anything I loved, so you won't be seeing me in anything super matchy anytime soon. Sorry.

I managed to leave the first store with a few really nice brushes and a saddle pad for Taran, thinking I was doing pretty well. And then we got to the second store and my credit card basically leapt out of my wallet and went on a shopping spree.

I had tentatively been looking at some brown tall boots, because they're gorgeous. But then I saw they had real DRESS boots (the stiff kind, not like my floppy Ariat Volants that are really designed for hunter derby riders) and I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying them on.

This is actually my size in Euro sizing. Confusing as hell, since I'm a US 7.5 or EU 39. 

But, I hadn't really planned on a new pair of dress boots, so I went to look at breeches instead. I probably tried on 30 different pairs, because they actually had that many different brands/styles in my size.  Well, OK, they had more than that, those were just the ones I liked.

And this was the row of Pikeurs... in my size. This is maybe 1/10th of all the breeches in the store.

After trying on so many, I've discovered that I'm a Euro size 80, which is more or less a 28 long. Getting the "long" size meant that I didn't have the problem with tight knees that I usually do, so that was pretty amazing. I also discovered that I really prefer the tech fabrics, especially the Scholler. It just molds better and has a better feel than anything else. Besides, the Pikeurs I liked were exactly 1/2 as much as I'd pay for them in the US - thank you, strong dollar. I restrained myself to only one pair, despite the little voice in my head suggesting that I get two because they're half off, right?

And then I went back to the boots and tried them on some more. Checked prices ($300 less than in the US). Walked around more. Considered. Looked in the mirror. Asked Tanja's opinion. And somehow I found myself at the checkout with a new pair of dress boots.

So tall. So pretty. So uncomfortable.

I know it looks bad, but it's not ALL mine. 

Only this part. Good thing I brought a large suitcase that was half empty.

There were a few more items, but those are gifts and I'll have to wait to post about them. In the meantime, anybody got any suggestions for breaking in really really stiff boots?