Hello, Friday.

I find it really interesting how different my work patterns are, month to month. If I'm overwhelmed in any area of my life, I tend to back off of everything. I'm riding less. Hammering less. Being overall less productive in everything I do.

It's not all bad, though. Sunday was an unusually warm and sunny patch thrown into our grey and wet fall weather, so I took advantage. Zeus got his last bath of the season, as well as the less pleasant task of sheath cleaning.

Yeah, I said it.
Yeah, it needs to be done. Gloves are your friend. As is a sense of humor.

Afterwards, I generously fly sprayed him and grabbed my book out of my car. He grazed next to me (not like the porky thing needs more grass) while I read, and occasionally looked up to move his lead rope away from his hooves.

And my last 2 rides on Cholula? Absolutely fantastic. Really. We go through phases where we'll hit a rough spot that is unbelievably frustrating, and then all of a sudden there is a break through and I have the best rides in the history of time. Or in the history of riding her. Whichever.

Our major break through has been on the shoulder in. She gets it! I get it! My hip is...not quite there yet but it's working on it! At least I hope it is. And leg yield. We've actually had a solid, correct leg yield! I understand that these terms are probably flying around most everyone's ears in another language, but just trust me in that these are huge for Cho and I. Every ride in the past 2 weeks? I have cantered. Most of those rides I've gone for it in both directions, but if I'm not feeling that punchy or sassy we just work on the left lead because it is her easy lead and I like feeling accomplished.


Remember how I said my big Sunday goal was to get those pieces listed? Well, clearly that did not happen. From now on I'm just going to keep my mouth shut until I have descriptions written, since that's what so frequently holds me back. I will say this: I wrote them all out AND have all of the photos taken. But that's all I'm sayin until it's done.

Next up: 1 all-metal ring, 1 rawhide ring, 1 kind of weird ring (the words, they elude me), 1 elegant ring. All pretty large. In surface area, not ring size. Although some will probably be larger ring sizes since I'm constantly made to feel like a fat finger hater since people are under the mistaken impression that I only make small sizes. One of my fingers is a 9 too, guys.

Oh, and necklaces? Um, maybe next week. I really want to make cuff bracelets again, but I really need a bracelet mandrel. And I would really like both an oval and a round one, but I suppose first thing is first.

And just to make this post more random: Cholula as a wee thing. Wasn't she so ugly she was cute? God, I just think she's one of the ugliest little horses ever in this photo. Sorry, Cho. You grew out of it pretty well.

Photo taken by Susan DeBoer