Mentorship & Rain

A very uninspiring compared to in-person view of the snow on the Topas (squint into the far distance on the right of the photo) - pic taken today at the ranch right after the clouds parted

On Sunday Mario did his mid-independent study mentorship for the PHCP (Pacific Hoof Care Practitioners, the training organization that I helped found - against my better judgement ;-)) I went back and forth if I was going to go with him.

Day off? Do laundy, go grocery shopping, clean, trim Faith, ride, relax?

Or go hang out with my honey Mario, my friend Jennifer, and my friend (the mentor) Miranda, and catch up and talk hooves?

Ultimately I ended up going. We went to the barn early in the morning first and I met up with a client whose hoof boot had broken, and replaced it for him. Then I trimmed Faith, who was quite over due - you know the saying "The cobblers kids have no shoes"... well, it's true for my horses! The trimmers 'kids' have no trims. Mario cleaned and prepped the stall for the rain we were due to get in the coming week. I ran home and did a quick visit to Trader Joe's before Jennifer arrived to pick us up. I am really happy to report that those delicious delights known as Sea Salt Caramels are BACK!!!! Happy blissed out belgian dark chocolate shell, buttery mouth watering caramel filling and amazing sea salt crunch. It is just sooooo good.

I admit I questioned my choice to head up north once I was actually up there. It was farking cold, overcast and windy. Since I was not mentoring nor the mentor, I basically was standing around sucking up the cold from the ground. Brrr! We finished after dark, they trimmed with headlamps on! (which worked very well I must say) Still, it was good to see them, and I always learn from Miranda. She was one of the top 2 influences on my trim education and style.

Jennifer came over after for some Mario pizza specialty and some good wine - also thanks to TJs! It was a good visit all in all.

As predicted and right on time, I woke up to rain and it rained consistently all day until about 4pm when it stopped and the sun came out. We trimmed 7 horses in the elements, and bailed out on the final 2... rescheduled them for later this week, although it's supposed to rain then too! Checked on the horses and were both super happy with the way the DG handled the rain!! It was the first time it rained since it was put in, and it was totally worth it!! Also I got a new rolling, waterproof hay bale bag and it performed wonderfully. It's made by a company called "Hold Your Horses" which is out of Camarillo (a couple towns over) so I am happy to support a local business for such an awesome product. I keep a spare bale of hay right near my corral to throw the horses a snack when I'm there, and I lost a bale to mold after the last rain. At $20/bale, I don't really want to lose many bales, and this hay bag is perfect for the job. Plus if I go camping or to a clinic or something like that, I can easily store and transport a bale of hay... without losing it all over the highway or bed of the truck on the way home. OK so I just wrote a whole paragraph practically on a hay bale bag, which probably no one that reads this blog even cares about. But there ya go, that's my life. ;) And since I'm on the subject of little things like that which make one happy, I got a big heavy duty outdoor push broom for the barn which also rocks. I use it to sweep hay, DG, manure, etc. off the rubber matts in the horse's covered area. It makes short work of it, and that's always a good thing right? Short work...

My Christmas cards and stickers are ordered and on their way, but I've made basically zero headway into any Christmas shopping. For whatever reason alot of clients owe me money right now, so I am just kind of sitting around waiting for the $ to start to come in. We are going light on spending this year so we can maybe avoid the huge debt hole --- the shopocolypse as I heard a radio station call it!