Crown Jewels

I had an amazing lesson to blog about but that will have to wait.

You see I had a number of factors coalesced into making me helpless in the face of temptation.

#1: Carmen broke her turquoise browband

#2: Riding has been near impossible with the weather.

Which leads to me spending more time on the internet. Which leads to:

#3. I stumbled across Canadian Custom Bling Browbands. She makes them herself and will do custom orders/colours.

Carmen, as a grey horse, can wear anything. She is my first mare. And I find myself being drawn to pretty things for her. I especially like her in purple.

I saw this on her FB page and was smitten:

I mean, can you even resist this? 

I sent a message to see how much it was. Turns out that it was $105 CAD delivered. That seemed reasonable. So I sent her a e-transfer and within 3 weeks this arrived.

I knew it was going to be pretty but the quality of it was even better than I anticipated. It came with extra jewels and care instructions. She will even repair it if you mail it back to her. 

Of course I wanted to try it out on her. I put it on her bridle and tried to take some photos in the barn. 

 

Me: C'mon, Carmen put your ears forward so I can take a photo. 

Carmen:  I don't want to. 

Me:  Fine. Let me get a close up. 

ignore grumpy mare ears

I decided to get Shanea to help. I figured she could take a photo when I was riding. 

At least now her ears are forward. I have to say that she looks great in her new tiara. 

Practical Magic

Once again March has turned nasty. We've had 2 days of ice storms encasing everything in a sheet of ice.

I left my crop up at the ring and this is what happened.
How weird is that? 

Seriously March. We get it. You're big and bad and have us under you thumb. Let it go already. Now you're trying too hard. 

But it gave me time to engage in some craft activities. When I was in Cuba there was a market across the road from the resort. I was there with Cynthia looking at jewelry - most particularly the turquoise. I love turquoise and it is supposed to have healing qualities. Turkish soldiers used to attach it to bridles to protect them and their horse from falls. If worn it's supposed to decrease stress and mood swings while imparting calm and serenity.

I mused that I wished I had a browband with turquoise stones. Cynthia overheard me and she asked if it was possible for the person to make one. There was a lot of translating, back and forth and some drawing and before I knew it I was promised a browband to be ready on Monday.  I was very excited so imagine my disappointment when I came over on Monday and the vendor was not there.

I wasn't sure exactly what I would have been getting but I wanted to see it. I was also worried that someone had made this thing for me and there was a mix up so they wouldn't be paid.  But there was nothing I could do about that. I'm sure you can understand that I was not ready to give up; so I bought a bracelet with the thought that I could use the beads to make my own browband.

I googled and looked at designs. This week I was working in the city and staying over at Cynthia's. She had picked up some beads to go with the turquoise. After eating and with a glass of wine we sat down to play with designs.

We tried multiple patterns before settling on one where with three large beads in the center and then using the smaller ones 

I am quite happy with the design. I think it will look beautiful on her. 

I'm not 100% convinced that it won't fly apart when I'm riding but that would really test the whole 'serenity' and 'protection from falls' thing. 

Keep your fingers crossed.