A better riding dress
| October 20, 2014 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
Last week I went riding in a dress.
First, the important things. In true pony club approved fashion I *was* wearing a helmet.
This may be the first selfie where Farley looks more thrilled than me.
What was not pony club approved was the way the bottom of the dress kept flapping up around my cranial region instead of keeping my *caudal regions securely under wraps.
*Do they even use “caudal” in human med? Or is it “posterior” (which we dont’ use in vetmed)?
Now I know what my Dear Logical Reader is going to say.
“Why didn’t you just hold the skirt down with one had and ride with the other?”
That is a very good question.
My other hand was occupied by *composing facebook messages to a group called “Poor Decisionmakers” (I’m not making that part up) and then later taking selfies.
*the only part I’m making up in the above sentence is that by the time the skirt was flapping and we were going mach-20 towards home and I needed a helping hand, both hands were firmly on the reins letting Farley know if she bucked me off I was going to be SO PISSED.
So obviously another solution was needed.
The logical thing would be to not go riding in a dress have all saddles and dress fronts come with a break-a-way fastener so that no tucking is required.
I wasn’t exactly planning on riding when I went out to the stable that day (duh…) but sometimes you just feel the incredible need to take advantage of an opportunity. And so I went.
Some horses aren’t old at 16. But Farley is distinctly middle-aged and most definitely “older” as we approach that birthday.
I feel it in my gut.
I see it out of the corner of my eye.
I feel it in my seat bones.
She may live another 15 years (I sincerely hope), but I don’t think it will be as a competitive endurance horse. I hope we have many years of hitting the trails together in whatever manner she is capable of and wants to do, but I think I’ll be lucky to hit the decade team with her. She isn’t slowing down exactly. She’s not asking to be retired yet. She’s still “hot to trot”. But she isn’t a young 16.
So, if I happen to be at the stable in a dress, no bra, and sandals and a ride suddenly feels like a good idea. We ride anyways.
You need to sell the Aussie so you can buy a sidesaddle!
Totally. I followed a side saddle blog for awhile it’s it SO hard to find a nicely made one that is balanced and won’t make your horse sore, so don’t know if that will ever be a reality, but I would totally buy a side saddle if the right one came along. I think it would be fun!
omg-… so this begs the question.. Why did you WANT to try riding in a skirt?? just have to ask:)
I realized that if I went home and changed I wouldnt actually have the motivation to come back and I really felt that both me and farley needed to ride. So I did. I hadnt actually felt like riding….so I just couldnt pass up the opportunity.
This is why I cant have nice things… no matter what I’m wearing or shoes I have on, if I feel like riding I’m likely to do it. Just cant squish it. Its like I’m not sure what special adventure I’ll miss by not heeding the impulse.
ROFL.. I totally get that! . A girl after my own heart,, everything I own ends up with horse or dog hair, or horse or dog snot.. when you gotta ride, you gotta ride..
however.. had i been driving by you and you got bucked off (not that i want that to happen) but if it did, and I saw it.. with the dress flying up around your head.. well. it would be too much and I would probably crash my vehicle laughing so hard… just sayin..
Well, my thought was, as I flew down the levee, was that if i came off in the gravel it was going to be a long time picking the gravel bits out of delicate skin.
As it was I try not to make a habit of these sorts of things – I don’t have a full fleece on that saddle and my calves can get pretty chafed. Not much damage done on this ride but just enough to make me glad it was a twenty two min, three mile ride and not some other wild goose chase through the brush!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who will jump on in a very non-typical attire.
Bahahaha, I love you.
A Monday evening ML update: Appetite is (finally) EXCELLENT for both mash AND hay. She’s been snarfing down the mash for quite some time now, but it did my heart good to see her dive into her hay with a vengence. ie every time I see her I want her to be AT THAT HAY RACK eating, instead of hanging out in her pen. Maybe I’ll get this horse fat afterall….
Just a few more days on teh oral baytril and then it’s some other yet to be determined oral antibiotic.
Started her on aloe juice today – 1 c. poured over her mash. No palatability issues and at 6.44/gallon for a 16 day supply, it’s cheap insurance.
Actually formalized her mash instead of giving her a couple pounds of stable mix every time I see her, now that I”m down to once per day visits and she’s eating lots of hay and I”m not as worried about her gut (didn’t feed any fat while she was sorta iffy).
2 pounds stable mix (was getting closer to 7 pounds/day)
1 pound beet pulp
1 pound ride bran
probiotics (at the high end of the equine labeled dose)
1c. aloe juice
vit E (once I get some more).
I can always up the stable mix/beet pulp if I need to but this is a lot of mash for a single feeding. If I go to a twice a day antibtiotic I’ll probably double the stable mix (2 pounds in the morning, 2 pounds in the evening) whie keeping everything else the same. The beet pulp, being a commodity, I find is not quite as good a quality as the stable mix. I use it to help cut costs since it’s cheaper, but it’s constantly a balance of how much beet pulp versus stable mix.
Most epic non-riding gear ever! Don’t know if I could ride in a dress myself, but it does say to me “Keep a pair of tights in the car, coz you never know”.
I think Farley appreciates the riding no matter what anyways by the looks of it! Cute selfie. 😀
bonita of A Riding Habit