Prepping for Show Season - O

Thank you everyone for all of your kind words and thoughts about Darby. Now that I have set the date, I have a dreaded several days to make it through. I wish it was happening right now, but I didn't have any openings in my schedule and it's non emergency. She's on painkillers and is in her boots, and is content for the moment, but she's really not comfortable under all of that. She'll be all right until Tuesday, but I might not be. I'm trying to keep a game face on but underneath it all I'm pretty sad. I'm very fond of my old gal. 

Thankfully, there are lots of things to distract myself with, especially fun things like planning for O's show season - which includes needing a new outfit. It seems a bit frivolous to do things like this when I'm facing the imminent death of one of my herd members, but in a way I think it's healthy to do something light and simple. It brings about some small amount of balance, I think - weighing the hyperemotional and deep with the completely frivolous and shallow. It's why retail therapy really is a thing. And it does really help, I think.

Now that I have upgraded to a four wheel vehicle, I want get a whole new outfit. My two wheeler is that beautiful painted navy, which is lovely and beautiful and suits O very well. I had obviously coordinated my entire outfit to match that vehicle - a cream colored jacket, a navy/cream hat, navy/cream plaid apron, navy/cream bonnet for O. It is a nice outfit and while it does look a tad rookie (cause, I am a rookie!), I have now run into the problem of the entire thing being completely clashy with the new carriage. The Dartmoor is black. Black on black on black. There is no other color on it anywhere, save for some *very* minor tan pinstriping on the wheels. You don't even notice it if you're not looking for it. Needless to say, navy and black are super clashy and the whole outfit would look completely silly with the carriage. Black carriage, black harness, orange horse.

I asked about it before on the blog and I had some amazing answers and suggestions! I went to my apron maker and gave her all the suggestions, and then she went off and found a million awesome fabrics for me. I went back and forth, looked at them all, and decided I didn't love them. She pulled out several colors that had burnt orange in them, and that was it. I HAD to go with the burnt orange.

I'll be the first to admit that this is kind of a risky move. After all, my horse herself is bright orange. Her bright orange-ness was the highlight of the turnout prior to this because of how noticable and pretty she is. A really neon orange would be a HORRIBLE choice for her - any really bright colors, really.


The original apron fabric I picked actually ended up being too lightweight to make an apron out of, so I picked my second favorite choice:

There were several different ways I could go with that - I could pick any one of those colors for the jacket. A tweed, black, or maybe even burnt orange could all match well.

So, I decided to try going a bit crazy with it. And I found this burnt orange hat and jacket:

If I add some tan to the boring hat, it will match the apron and tie it all together. And look AWESOME. Or HORRIBLE, possibly. 

Now, I will have to put it all on and see if it clashes horribly or not. It's either going to look INCREDIBLE, or look AWFUL. I can't quite decide! The good thing is that the jacket and hat were both cheap Ebay finds, so if they turn out terrifyingly ugly I can take my apron and find a new jacket and hat to go with it. Go big or go home, right?

The calendar isn't full up yet, but I have a tentative outline set up. Last year I missed a LOT of shows due to weather/timing/crap happening, and I don't intend for that to happen again this year!

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February 7th: Driven Dressage Schooling Show

March 19th: St. Patty's Day Driving Show (MAYBE)

April 2nd-3rd: Sunrise Ridge HDT 

April 17th: NTW Games Day

May 14th: NTW Games Day Romp

May 28th: HACA Pine Hill HDT

June 4th: OHHA Cowboy Country HDT

September 10th: NTW Games Day Romp

October ??: Let's Have Fun In Texas! HDT

October 30th: NTW Games Day

November 4th: Black Star CDE

November 30th: Crossroads Charity Show

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EXCITED!!

I'd also like to give a shoutout to Janie at Chimacum Tack, who not only saved my butt this spring when I needed my new harness FAST, but who also got me several new harness parts after a shipping snafu. She had the wrong address (my old one) when I needed a longer girth, trace carriers, and shorter hip straps. We were unable to retrieve the package after it was sent, so she sent me a whole new package, which arrived today! Thank you Janie!!