My Saturday, in a nutshell
A large, freakishly strong and rather pissed off nutshell. Yeah.
So, yesterday was the second day of the Moxie Festival. In the morning there was a parade, Friday night there were fireworks, and then there were pony rides and shit throughout Saturday.
Friday night was no big deal. We washed horses that were to be in the parade and the pony rides, had a cookout, etc. Now, I'm a vegetarian, so the cookout really wasn't my thing. I forgot to bring an italian, so I told them I'd head into town and grab something to eat. Yeah.
So I saddled up and headed out. They didn't believe that I was actually riding into town for food, even though the truck was hooked up to a horse trailer, and there were no cars available (I had left my car at home and carpooled with the truck Smoke was in).
So we wandered to town, found the number for Sam's Italian Food, and ordered a sandwich. There was nowhere to tie Smoke to wait, and I couldn't just leave him outside, so the fifteen minutes we had to wait for the sandwich ended with us happening by a McDonald's. At which point I said "French fries!" and Smoke said "Fuck no!" So we went through the McDonald's drive-thru and ordered a bag of french fries. The guys on twitter know this part.
The looks on the faces of the people operating the window as I had to reach down and pay was priceless (I paid with a five and had them keep the change--didn't want to play with change, honestly). I don't know how many people passed by to take pictures with their cellphones, but right now, somewhere, I am probably a topic of conversation with some old biddy and her husband who happened to be passing by and caught a shot. So yeah (almost knocked my hat off under the roof above the drive-thru window though-The ceiling is something like 9 feet (about 275 cm), and sitting on Smoke we're probably around 8.5-9 feet (259-275 cm) high. Yeah.
So after we grabbed our fries, we wandered back to Sam's, where the manager personally delivered our food to us, with camera and a team of employees that wanted pictures. So I got down, we took all kinds of pictures, it was cool. Then I got my sandwich and headed back.
Needless to say, everyone in the barn was shocked by the fact that I had gone to both McDonald's and Sam's, and had gotten my food delivered to me on horseback (and, of course, gone through the drive-thru). Then the husband of one of them had my picture texted to him, from someone that had passed by McDonald's. Lol.
So, onto Saturday. I had maybe 3 hours of sleep, which was great. The morning was overcast, which I personally thought was awesome. It'd been 100+ degrees (38+degrees celsius) the years before, and overcast days kicked ass!
Then someone was bucked off, before we had left the driveway of the barn to head down to the rest of the horses, to wait for the parade to begin. I don't know where my horse learned it, but damn does he know how to cut. As soon as the other horse turned, he twisted his body to cut him off. Pivoted on his hind end, friggin' amazing, and I didn't fall off, so it was that much better. Then we were following this horse at a slow jog while it ran, trying not to spook it. We were also in the middle of a 5k marathon, so runners were cringing and trying to stay out of our way while we went against traffic to stop this guy from heading home (he lived about 3 miles/6.4 km away, so heading home was a very really option). turns out, some people saw him coming, so they turned their cars and made a roadblock. Then one of the runners, after we had caught him, turned out to be a horseback rider, so she led him back to the barn with me (which was nice, considering the two horses didn't know each other that well, and leading him might have led to some kicking or squeals).
Finally returned, deposited the horse the horse at the barn, insisted his rider go to the hospital, and then continued towards where the rest of the horses had gone (we were way behind at this point, but there was still an hour before the parade started, so, y'know).
I should probably tell you what I was wearing right about now. Hell, I'll just post a picture with my upper body painted over :DD
The skirt fucking flutters when we ran. It was really cool. Like, this black cape coming out of his ass or something, with pretty orange bead fringe on the bottom.
Yeah. It was kinda cool, hearing all of these runners going "Makes me feel kinda pathetic, with how fast those those horses go!" (yeah, most of the runners had also passed us about a mile back, when we were trying to catch the loose horse).
So, I heard at least 30 people call him the "Moxie Horse" this year during the parade. Which is a step up from "Flicka". I think he was rather insulted by the people that kept calling him that, considering it's a girl's name. Parade went well, there was a single protester with a picket sign on the back of his bike protesting how police are unconstitutional and he should have his marijuana whenever he wants (I think he was arrested by the cop in a superman outfit about ten minutes later, for possession or something. Oh, the lols we shared (wish I'd gotten a picture of the cop in the superman costume. He was patrolling, his badge and his radio on a belt... It was cool)). Parade ended, and we had a 30 minutes ride back to the barn.
That's when the rain came. Torrential rain. I was on horseback. We were all on horseback. My jeans bled through, and dyed my legs blue (but it came off when I took a shower). Rain felt awesome, since the last week has been really fucking hot (even though there were some times when visibility was zero). Got back to the barn, ran inside, got everything situated, we were good.
Then Smoke started kicking in his stall. The stall he was in faced outside, so Kate suggested I move him inside, where he could see everyone. Brought him in, settled him, and then he stared trying to attack people. Oh. My. God. He's never been that aggressive in the 6-7 years that I've ridden him. Never. He was like that for the rest of the day. Then, someone was washing her horse for a show today, and that horse reared up, sent his front legs through a metal gate, and ripped it off the fenceline. Bent it to shit, he got a few bruises, and I don't know how the hell the girl that was washing him wasn't sent to the hospital. Smoke started kicking again, I swore at him and said I had better things to do than worry about his little hissyfits, and he was silent for the rest of the day. Vet was called, fence was moved away, and the horse is resting at home instead of going to that show today (which is really too bad, because she would've been competing for big money).
So we finally headed home, I wandered inside, took a shower, and that's about it. Smoke finally stopped being an ass, and all is well in the world. And in 2 hours, I'm taking Zeke to a party with these same people, and we're gonna go swimming and have fun.
Oh! Wanna see what Zeke did last year at this party?
Yes. That is my Irish Wolfhound mix, in a paddleboat with two small children. They ended up getting pushed in the backseat, and I had to push the boat back to the dock from the lake.
Damn dog. <3
Random shit drawn during fireworks. Maybe I'll attempt to finish someday. BTW, I <3 abstract.
So, yesterday was the second day of the Moxie Festival. In the morning there was a parade, Friday night there were fireworks, and then there were pony rides and shit throughout Saturday.
Friday night was no big deal. We washed horses that were to be in the parade and the pony rides, had a cookout, etc. Now, I'm a vegetarian, so the cookout really wasn't my thing. I forgot to bring an italian, so I told them I'd head into town and grab something to eat. Yeah.
So I saddled up and headed out. They didn't believe that I was actually riding into town for food, even though the truck was hooked up to a horse trailer, and there were no cars available (I had left my car at home and carpooled with the truck Smoke was in).
So we wandered to town, found the number for Sam's Italian Food, and ordered a sandwich. There was nowhere to tie Smoke to wait, and I couldn't just leave him outside, so the fifteen minutes we had to wait for the sandwich ended with us happening by a McDonald's. At which point I said "French fries!" and Smoke said "Fuck no!" So we went through the McDonald's drive-thru and ordered a bag of french fries. The guys on twitter know this part.
The looks on the faces of the people operating the window as I had to reach down and pay was priceless (I paid with a five and had them keep the change--didn't want to play with change, honestly). I don't know how many people passed by to take pictures with their cellphones, but right now, somewhere, I am probably a topic of conversation with some old biddy and her husband who happened to be passing by and caught a shot. So yeah (almost knocked my hat off under the roof above the drive-thru window though-The ceiling is something like 9 feet (about 275 cm), and sitting on Smoke we're probably around 8.5-9 feet (259-275 cm) high. Yeah.
So after we grabbed our fries, we wandered back to Sam's, where the manager personally delivered our food to us, with camera and a team of employees that wanted pictures. So I got down, we took all kinds of pictures, it was cool. Then I got my sandwich and headed back.
Needless to say, everyone in the barn was shocked by the fact that I had gone to both McDonald's and Sam's, and had gotten my food delivered to me on horseback (and, of course, gone through the drive-thru). Then the husband of one of them had my picture texted to him, from someone that had passed by McDonald's. Lol.
So, onto Saturday. I had maybe 3 hours of sleep, which was great. The morning was overcast, which I personally thought was awesome. It'd been 100+ degrees (38+degrees celsius) the years before, and overcast days kicked ass!
Then someone was bucked off, before we had left the driveway of the barn to head down to the rest of the horses, to wait for the parade to begin. I don't know where my horse learned it, but damn does he know how to cut. As soon as the other horse turned, he twisted his body to cut him off. Pivoted on his hind end, friggin' amazing, and I didn't fall off, so it was that much better. Then we were following this horse at a slow jog while it ran, trying not to spook it. We were also in the middle of a 5k marathon, so runners were cringing and trying to stay out of our way while we went against traffic to stop this guy from heading home (he lived about 3 miles/6.4 km away, so heading home was a very really option). turns out, some people saw him coming, so they turned their cars and made a roadblock. Then one of the runners, after we had caught him, turned out to be a horseback rider, so she led him back to the barn with me (which was nice, considering the two horses didn't know each other that well, and leading him might have led to some kicking or squeals).
Finally returned, deposited the horse the horse at the barn, insisted his rider go to the hospital, and then continued towards where the rest of the horses had gone (we were way behind at this point, but there was still an hour before the parade started, so, y'know).
I should probably tell you what I was wearing right about now. Hell, I'll just post a picture with my upper body painted over :DD
The skirt fucking flutters when we ran. It was really cool. Like, this black cape coming out of his ass or something, with pretty orange bead fringe on the bottom.
Yeah. It was kinda cool, hearing all of these runners going "Makes me feel kinda pathetic, with how fast those those horses go!" (yeah, most of the runners had also passed us about a mile back, when we were trying to catch the loose horse).
So, I heard at least 30 people call him the "Moxie Horse" this year during the parade. Which is a step up from "Flicka". I think he was rather insulted by the people that kept calling him that, considering it's a girl's name. Parade went well, there was a single protester with a picket sign on the back of his bike protesting how police are unconstitutional and he should have his marijuana whenever he wants (I think he was arrested by the cop in a superman outfit about ten minutes later, for possession or something. Oh, the lols we shared (wish I'd gotten a picture of the cop in the superman costume. He was patrolling, his badge and his radio on a belt... It was cool)). Parade ended, and we had a 30 minutes ride back to the barn.
That's when the rain came. Torrential rain. I was on horseback. We were all on horseback. My jeans bled through, and dyed my legs blue (but it came off when I took a shower). Rain felt awesome, since the last week has been really fucking hot (even though there were some times when visibility was zero). Got back to the barn, ran inside, got everything situated, we were good.
Then Smoke started kicking in his stall. The stall he was in faced outside, so Kate suggested I move him inside, where he could see everyone. Brought him in, settled him, and then he stared trying to attack people. Oh. My. God. He's never been that aggressive in the 6-7 years that I've ridden him. Never. He was like that for the rest of the day. Then, someone was washing her horse for a show today, and that horse reared up, sent his front legs through a metal gate, and ripped it off the fenceline. Bent it to shit, he got a few bruises, and I don't know how the hell the girl that was washing him wasn't sent to the hospital. Smoke started kicking again, I swore at him and said I had better things to do than worry about his little hissyfits, and he was silent for the rest of the day. Vet was called, fence was moved away, and the horse is resting at home instead of going to that show today (which is really too bad, because she would've been competing for big money).
So we finally headed home, I wandered inside, took a shower, and that's about it. Smoke finally stopped being an ass, and all is well in the world. And in 2 hours, I'm taking Zeke to a party with these same people, and we're gonna go swimming and have fun.
Oh! Wanna see what Zeke did last year at this party?
Yes. That is my Irish Wolfhound mix, in a paddleboat with two small children. They ended up getting pushed in the backseat, and I had to push the boat back to the dock from the lake.
Damn dog. <3
Random shit drawn during fireworks. Maybe I'll attempt to finish someday. BTW, I <3 abstract.