Cob Jockey

Thanks to a miserable snow storm that featured a whole day of rain, followed by flash freezing, followed by 12 hours of sleet and freezing rain, followed by 6" of snow, the horses have been in since Tuesday evening this week. 

I did get them out a little bit Wednesday evening, and Connor and I had a fantastic lesson that night, but otherwise they've been stuck inside, which I hate, but it's for their own good since we don't have run-in shelters in most of the pastures.

To my surprise, CONNOR was actually the one to quietly move the ball across the arena on Wednesday night

It was in the 40s/50s the two days before the storm, so I took the opportunity to clear all the wet/old sawdust that had been at the back of our sawdust bin for years out before we get a new load next week. Which left us with...not a lot, lol. But we'll be fine.

In the end I decided that the horses could live in dirty stalls for an extra night, but we couldn't live without our only vehicle and our only driver if something happened to me and the truck, since Nick can't drive for 6 months. No regrets about that decision - they're having a hell of a time clearing the roads since they couldn't pre-treat them due to the rain, it's a skating rink out there.

Just in case the power went out...

The PM feeder did toss my boys out in the indoor though, and Disco finally started getting rowdy with the big ball for the first time. It's tough being 9 months old and inside so much!

It's fun to see him get a little more rambunctious lately, and how about that effortless sit in the second GIF? Love that hind leg structure!

Happy Friday, everyone!

About a month ago, I was first made aware of LeMieux dropping these super cute stuffed ponies that had tiny accessory sets with them. Pretty quickly though, I saw a second post on social media about a small business that's been making something very similar for much longer.

I'm not getting into all of the details or passing judgment - it does look bad, but I don't have the whole story, and this is not a gossip post. I share this only to explain how I found the original Crafty Ponies and bought one for Annie's third birthday this month:

Crafty Ponies is a UK-based business that makes stuffed ponies with braidable manes and tails, as well as (unlike the apparent LeMieux knockoffs) an enormous range of accessories to go with them. And I do truly mean enormous.

You can actually shoe them! Note the shoe on the pony's back hoof.

There's even, no joke, an intestinal parasite accessory kit, hahaha.

It's basically an American Girl doll for horse kids, but with the added bonus of being educational. Each item includes a detailed instruction manual and activity book, and despite everything being a child's scale toy, they treat all aspects of pony care as if it were real. 

Mary and Jeffrey try to provide "Annie-sized" tools in all aspects of her life as much as they can, and these grooming tools are perfectly sized for a small three-year-old's hands. Bluetooth headset for scale.

I bought Annie a pony, the grooming kit and a halter and lead rope, and each product came with its own extensive instruction/education booklet, containing information like how to safely lead your pony, how to tie a quick release knot, how to do different braids in the pony's mane and tail, etc etc. It had to have been 50 total pages of content across the four products! 

The idea behind this educational part of Crafty Ponies is that every skill the child learns on the stuffed pony will directly translate to real horses, so they go far out of their way to make every item and every piece of tack identical to the real thing.

The best part for me as the doting aunt is that until she outgrows it, I have years of birthday and Christmas presents lined up, lol. For Christmas, she's getting a bridle and a saddle (or maybe I'll spend the extra $15 for the English leather upgrade, not sure), and then maybe next year when she's four we can get into some of the more technical items.

They sell tiny riders with XC body protectors! Also the pony has a mouth, so the bridles do actually have bits.

Annie, for her part, totally loved it. It was just icing on the cake that each Crafty Pony comes with a "CP" monogram on the butt - for Crafty Pony, naturally, but since Annie calls Connor "ConnorPony", it just made the whole thing extra perfect.

And as I knew she would, Mary got right to work braiding the pony's mane and tail, lol. Her non-horsey mom was even able to put a hunter braid into the tail while Mary and I were gone that day, just by following the instruction booklet. Fun for kids and adults!

Putting a running braid in while talking to her mom

Bottom line: This is an outstanding Christmas present for young horse-crazy kids ages probably two and up. At two, it's just a cute stuffed animal, but as kids get older it can be a fun teaching tool also.

This is the "chestnut" Crafty Pony. They also have a palomino that's much lighter in color.

What: CraftyPonies

Where: https://www.craftyponies.us if you're in the US, https://www.craftyponies.shop if you're in the UK

Price: The pony is $41.95 and then the accessories range in price from about $5 to $75 for some of the more intricate leatherwork, such as the Western saddle/bridle set.

Disclaimer: I bought this with my own hard-earned money, don't know this shop owner and am not receiving any compensation for this review.