Cob Jockey

When I was at Jen's in January, Texas had just gotten torrential rains and the ground was too wet to ride on anything but pavement.  But next month, she said, next month you can do the quintain.

So despite the fact that there were ICICLES IN TEXAS (I'm so sorry for bringing that weather down with me):

Whole thing, glazed with ice.

I jumped at the chance to get out there and do it after a delicious homemade breakfast at Wyvern Oaks on Saturday morning.

Paddy got some serious fan club time:

He's cute and he knows it.

While Jen and her husband Sean got Brego tacked up for me, and Sean  taught me how to hold the lance before I got on the horse.

Photo by Lauren.

Someone asked about that saddle in the comments on Monday. It was actually one of the ones used in the movie Prince Caspian, and is totally comfortable and well-made.

One of the saddles in the movie.

I really liked it, I felt like it fit me better than Brego's other two saddles, although I found it hard to get into and out of, with the front and back being so high.  (All the better to not get knocked out of the saddle by your opponent, my dear.)

Just getting into that saddle is like a CrossFit mobility exercise.  Photo by Lauren.

Photobombed by Paddy in nearly every single picture.

Gen said I looked like a tiny CWD warrior, and made me turn around for this picture so you could see the logo!

I spent a while warming Brego up:

I think it says a lot that when I got back from Bloggers' Weekend, I felt relaxed and not like I had been on vacation.  Usually when you stay at someone else's house for a while, it's awkward, but I felt right at home at JenJ's.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including Jen's 1 year old Great Pyrenees, Gus.   I weigh about 10lbs more than he does!

Also, seeing this outside your window is pretty freakin' sweet:

Brego and Paddy!  I have a thing for well-set up tiny farms, and Wyvern Oaks is a seriously well set up and well-maintained place.

I am torn between wanting to write about the blogger meetup ASAP, and having no time to do that due to working through all of the crises and chaos that occur when you're back at a demanding job for the first time in 6 days, so I'll just leave this here for now...

Totally.  Awesome!  Photo from Lauren.

I'm trying to decide where to even start with the tale of this weekend...

Maybe here.  It's really hard to pack for a formal dinner, a CrossFit workout, and riding when you're flying!

My husband's new company has a Christmas party in Austin, Texas every year, and it's a huge thing.  They fly all the spouses and employees down for the weekend, have a company meeting (They have no home office, so it's the only time the employees are together) and throw a massive party - complete with a cocktail hour, 4 course meal, an after party, and an after-after party, all on their dime.  It's sort of a thank you to the spouses for dealing with their significant others being gone all the time, and a good time to meet everyone.

I look tired because this was taken at 3:00am!

Nick's meeting lasted all day Saturday, so I met up with JenJ and Lauren, and I am so glad I did!  We started with delicious brunch and great conversation - it felt like we could have talked forever despite that being the first time we met.

This breakfast panino at Kerbey Lane Cafe was GLUTEN FREE!  Austin is awesome for people with food allergies.

Then we headed over to the Dover store, where I walked around touching things, even though I couldn't buy anything since I was flying.  For someone with no local tack store, being able to touch things is inordinately exciting.

The most surreal part of the day was riding Paddy and Brego!  Daun's blog is one of the first, if not the actual first, horse blog I ever read, and getting to meet and ride Brego was so, so surreal.  I mean, Brego:

My all-time favorite picture of Brego.

The first thing I said when I saw him standing in the pasture was "Oh my gosh Brego's huge!" because he's so physically imposing in real life, it caught me off-guard.  I thought Jen was joking when she said none of the halters at Dover fit him, but his head is seriously half as long as I am tall.



There are almost no words for how big and adorable those ears are in real life!


He and I are, uh, definitely not a good physical match, as evidenced by this photo where my legs are actually sticking straight out from my pelvis:


But he was so much fun, and I am still amazed that I got to ride him.

I also rode PADDY!


I have to say, I ride a cute horse.  One that gets mistaken for a Haflinger constantly.  But Paddy brings cute to a whole other level.  Everything he does is cute.  There's no other way to describe it.  He's horse-sized, but every move he makes is just completely adorable, and I think he knows it.

Much more appropriately sized!

At the end I tried to take a cute picture with Paddy:

And got photobombed by Brego, who couldn't be left out:

Two very, very good horses!

Sadly, I had to get back to the hotel all too soon, so the visit didn't feel long enough.  I am so thrilled to have met Jen and Lauren, as well as Paddy and Brego, and I'm excited to see them again next month for Blogger Weekend.