Never Visit the Tent

Go Riding Instead

Yesterday, I needed grain. Toby's breakfast yesterday was the last of it.

Rick's Saddle Shop was having the yearly tent sale. All kinds of great bargains abound at these sales. I didn't need anything.

So I had three choices. One  was to go to the Englishtown store--closer--to buy my grain and pick up some raffle tickets in the process--$1000 store credit. Or, I could go to the Cream Ridge store, visit the tent sale on the first day, and get my grain there. Or, I could buy grain later and ride in the morning before I got too hot.

 A stroke of "lazy hit me and I decided not to ride. Then, I opted out of temptation and headed for Englishtown to avoid the lure of the tent sale.. Trouble was, that despite the fact their inventory computer showed and then sold me my order of alfalfa cubes, they were clean out. So I'd paid for them but didn't have them.

Cream Ridge had the cubes in stock.

Ooops.  I headed home, switched cars, waited while the electrician who happened to show up finished hooking up my generator---YAY!!--activated my credit card and headed out for Cream Ridge.

I bought: Ariat boots on sale, paddock, mud busters, and non-riding dress boots; two pairs of Ariat riding tights; two collapsible whips; a super Irideon riding shirt; some fly spray (everything in the store was 20% off); thrush medicine, and two sets of soft lovely riding flysheets. (I already have the Cashel bug armor, but this fabric is really soft and looks soooooo comfy for the horse.)  I did not NEED the majority of what I bought except for the fly spray and thrush med.

On the other hand, my paddock books are rather scruffy, so a new pair for over 33% off is a pretty good deal. And the other boots had an even deeper discount. And I do not have any fashion boots at all, so that was kind of cool.

I shall not justify my extravagance. I was naughty and that's all there it to it.

I have to go back to the store on Sunday for the drawing. There's a super good deal on fly spray, but it's likely to be sold out by the time I get there. However, I do need to look for something to put on the strange rashy bumps Tucker has on his left hind area. He must have lain down on some kind of  irritating plants or a bug nest??? I do have a topical I've been using, but I suspect there is something better out there that will calm down the bumps and the itch.

I did not ride Friday with all the driving around, but I did get in a 40 minute swim.

Today, so far, I rode Tucker in the arena for a half hour.  He had a good workout.  I did a pretend Prix St. George Test after watching a video on the Behind the Bit blog.  Actually, aside from the flying changes and canter pirouettes, Tucker was able to do most of the other movements. Granted, they are not FEI level quality, but they are in his repertoire. I spent the last 5 minutes or so doing lots of trot transition half halts to get him into self carriage.

I'm not asking for a lot from him. Not only are his muscles not fit, but I do have to pay attention to his hocks. I don't want to make him sore for no reason except my ego.

After the ride and final grooming, I came back into the house, changed into my swimsuit and headed to the pool.

The water was chilly, but quite refreshing. This time I swam varied strokes for 45 minutes, and finished up the day with some circuits of the Lazy River.

It's getting hotter out each day, but perhaps by evening I will have recovered enough energy to either take a walk or do some lawn trimming.

We'll see. For now a salad was almost satisfying and just sitting around is really appealing.