Jump-Jump Pony Turns Ten (!!)

Holy shit, y'all. This grey fella is ten years old!!!

Just the prettiest boy.

He's been a part of my life for 8½ of his years. It absolutely blows my mind.

Talk about a blast from the past. Who remembers this little tyke?!

For his 10th birthday, I motivated myself to get up and FINALLY repaint my jump standards. They have been in dire need of a fresh coat to help outlast our intense weather up here, and I've been putting it off with no real reason since March. But when the jump-jump pony turns 10, you've gotta do something special for him, right? And what could make the jump-jump pony happier than having his jumps setup again?

Nothing. Nothing makes him happier than jumping.

While we've had the cavaletti and XC jumps up for a few months, my shoulder injury set us back so far as any kind of regular jumping goes. As we both get back into the swing of things, I knew jumping colorful sticks that fall down would be much preferred to large solid objects. 

Sunday morning, I got up and got at it pretty early. And my early start paid off. I had three coats of paint on those jumps and had them setup in the field before noon!

It was a hot (for here) day, but not humid at all (for the first time in weeks), so I pulled Grif out for a short little birthday jumpy jump session. I think he was a little surprised at first to see the jumps out there! But he took to them quickly enough. It was as if we'd just jumped them yesterday. And not like...gosh, I'm not sure. I don't think I've had the standards setup at Starlight Lane yet. 

Happy birthday, Grif. You're the best grey pony a girl could ever dream of having.

Just Another Manic Monday

I'm jumping back to the beginning of July for this Monday's episode of manic. It's been a minute since I shared one of these posts.

Our family camp hidden away in the WV Highlands

Dad's flowers and the walkway at my parents.

Been doing a lot of this 

Simply gorgeous views from my friend's Air BnB...which has been pretty vacant this year for obvious reasons.

Put up hay at the beginning of July!

My shoulder was at its peak pain during this time so I wasn't much help

I could drive behind the truck to keep an eye on the load though

Six people helped put my hay up in the barn this year. It was incredible. We had 300+ bales put up in about 40 minutes.

Full moon rising + front porch all lit up

Summer sunsets reflected from these windows makes me happy

Been spending a fair bit of time getting my new single track trail established this summer

An elopement I shot in June. This moment cracked me up so much I had to share. Elbow bumps for COVID19 weddings! Also, peek farrier and friend Dan in the background. He officiated.

Absolutely stunning sunset view form home

Ugh. Why do I live here?

Journaling during a pandemic got me like....

My brother spent another 2 weeks with me in July. It was really great to get the added time with him. 

Another fun and beautiful spot in the Valley.

Cheesin' for the Pivo before yet another failed attempt using it. It loses me SO MUCH. I am pretty sure it's just my phone - which is admittedly due for an upgrade. But I'm not wholly committed to that upgrade just yet... More money and whatsuch. Still, it's been frustrating to set the Pivo up for success and have it lose me the very vast majority of my rides.

But the moments it does capture are great for screenshots. And seeing my hollow back and cursing myself for not working hard enough to get it GONE.

At least Grif is a chonky cutie.

Griff eyeing the camera wanting to go towards it because standing at the camera = break

Yawning horse photos never cease to make me giggle. Also, those incisors are a bit uneven, Grif. Good thing you're getting your teeth done in a couple weeks!

Post dinner Qdle.

Scored some great fullseat Pikeur breeches for $19 secondhand. 

Joined the bluelight glasses club for work. 

Final dry needling + TENS unit session. You can't see them, but there are two needles about an inch deep in my shoulder.

Kate and Qdle prepping for our 20 mile ride.

It was a great day.

Q and Grif did beautifully. And Kate, too, for her biggest ride ever!

Excuse me, isn't it my dinner time? - Taiga, always

Just the handsomest old man

Subaru turned over 100k!

My summer drink of choice this year. Only 90 calories, which is sadly something I need to keep an eye on when it comes to alcohol. Of all the things I enjoy, calories from alcohol add extra weight to my body like nothing else. Getting old is dumb.

The milkweed is in full bloom right now and I LOVE IT.

Dave randomly dropped down to the barn during a Barn:30 session to give Grif treats.

Q wanted some, too.

Funnily enough, while Dave doesn't spend any time in the barn (to my knowledge?! lol), he knows RIGHT where the horses treats are.

Griffin is his favorite.

But he's happy to push treats on any eager participant

Bitey face boys and a bored Q

Griffin, you so sassy

Misty summer afternoon

Classic Griffin

At least my hollow back isn't so bad at the canter.

Also, biggest issue with my Pivo troubles? The autozoom feature that everyone has had great luck with doesn't seem to operate. Hence the thing losing me more often. Hoping an app upgrade this week will resolve that possibly? 

Stormy sunset

He's adorable and I love him.

Kenai wants to be with us ALWAYS, but then gets tired swimming. So we put him in the paddleboat. 

But that wasn't good enough. 

So then we helped encourage his pansy self to jump out of the boat into the water.

It took awhile but he finally jumped!

And came straight to me lol

The Husky Aquatic is now a thing.

This was right after I hauled Taiga back on after she nearly knocked us all off lol

I'm definitely a little sore in the abs and quads from this. SUCH a great workout. And totally fun.