Yes, it is true. I didn’t die. But, I am still feeling a bit under the weather. So. please hang in there with me and allow a bit of simple fluff as content today.
TRAIL RIDER MAGAZINE TEST TRIALS!
I found TRAIL RIDER MAGAZINE’s (June 2011) Trail Gear Guide in my ‘yet to be read’ magazines tripover piles.
TRAIL RIDER asked qualified testers to demo 31 different articles of trail gear over 6 categories:
Saddlebags (TrailMax, AQHA, Deluxe Stowaway, Chap and Tucker)
Saddle Pads (CSI, Wrangler Twenty X SMX, HD Air Ride, Supracor, Cashel PF Rider with Reverse Wedge, Cavallo Wester Bridge and Goodnight Square Skirt)
Riding Pants (Ariat Stretch Moonshodow Jeans, FITS PerforMax, Kerrits Denim Performance, Rocky Mountain Prescott Relaxed, Smooth STride Seamless Jeans, Irideon Wind Pro 3 and Wrangler Cowgirl Cut Ultimate)
Riding Helmets (Troxel Cheyenne Rowdy, International All Terrain and the Devon-Aire Aegis Mesa)
Riding Boots (Ariat Terrain, Justin Chukka, Mountain Horse Mountain Peak, Rocky Boot Rocky Ride and Roper Original Horseshoe)
I was all over the Hoof Boots category since I am trying them on Finn. The tester tested the Cavallo, The Delta (which I had never heard of…), The Easyboot Glove and the Renegade (which I want to try).
IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO SAY, SAY NOTHING AT ALL…
To be honest, she didn’t say a bad word about any of them… I don’t know if that meant that she got lucky 4 times or if she was just being nice.
Not to be cranky but her review didn’t help me much. In fact, it made me want to try all of them because they all seemed equally great.
I thought I’d better read about the other products to see if any of their testers actually dissected any products…
AH HA
Well, duh, after reading the other tester’s remarks about the other categories, I realized that none of them said anything bad – directly.
Ah ha! The light finally dawned on me that all of the products were probably advertisers or potential advertisers so the testers had to write positive things.
With that in mind, I did read through them again and found that some of the authors were better at writing ‘between the lines’ than others.
I found the reading interesting – if nothing other than to try to determine which they actually liked out of their groupings – and what they pointedly left out of their descriptions…
If you don’t have the issue and would like it, you can call 866-343-1802 and HORSE AND RIDER will send you a copy (I’m not affiliated.)
HUBBY’S FAT EXPANDING HEAD…
Yesterday, Hubby offered to write my blog because I was sick. You can read it here.
We all thought that was a very sweet gusture – and it was…
But today, we have created a Hubbymonster.
It started with him reading over my shoulder as I opened my blog dashboard. The ‘dashboard’ tells me how many readers have read so far, how many comments, how many emails, how many FB shares… It is the ‘atta boy’ of the Blog scene.
Well, many of you responded to his blogpost… So he got lots of ‘atta boys’.
I’m now holding you personally responsible for his puffed up chest and Cock o’ the Walk attitude. Oy! I went downstairs to get some coffee and there he was, reading the blog again! I asked him if he was “reliving the experience” and he told me that he was merely reading my ‘intro to his blog’.
Yeah, right… ;)
He’ll be here all week, two shows on Sunday.
All kidding aside, you MADE his morning! Thank you for encouraging him because as smug as he feels today only helps me to easily maneuver him to do it again if needed. <big smile> OKOK, I have to put up with his Shakespeare of the Blog demeanor for a while but it will be worth it in the longrun…
Besides, it took him 2 hours to craft that little ditty… so, now he has a much better understanding of what it takes to make it all happen day after day in my faraway loft office.
Job well done, readers!
Job well done.

Just awakened Hubby, in his dinosaur shirt, reading over my shoulder and excited about all the fan mail for his guest blog from yesterday...
BABY NAME
So, we get to name one of the 48 horses who were saved by Lifesavers because we donated over $1000!
Filly #5 has a diamond shaped star so I suggested “Diamond Lil”. The names that came in from you readers are posted below. Any further comments? So far, Diamond Lil has the most votes but that is because you didn’t have the list of suggestions. Here is her photo.
The names suggested are:
Hope Diamond (Hope’s Diamond)
Danica (Morning Star)
Faith’s HOpe Diamond
Faith’s Diamond of Hope
Flicka
Sunrise
Diamond
Jewel
Lucy N the Sky with Diamonds (Lucy for short) *I like this one!
Princess Di
Freedom
Lollipop (lolli)
Miss Lucky Red Diamond
Lady Daye (pronounced “day”)
A SIMPLE JOKE TO ROUND OUT THE DAY
Since I am being fluffy today, I decided to add a joke that came into my email box. Maybe you have seen it before. If not, please pass it onward to get a chortle out of your other horsey friends.
* Thoroughbred: I changed it an hour ago. C’mon you
guys – catch up!
* Arabian: Who ME?? Do WHAT? I’m scared of light
bulbs! I’m outta here!
* Quarter Horse: Put all the bulbs in a pen and
tell me which one you want.
* Standardbred: Oh for Pete’s Sake, give me the
darn bulb and let’s be done with it.
* Shetland: Give it to me. I’ll kill it and we
won’t have to worry about it anymore.
* Friesian: I would, but I can’t see where I’m
going from behind all this mane.
* Belgian: Put the Shetland on my back, maybe he can
reach it then.
* Warmblood: Is the 2nd Level Instruction Packet in English?
Doesn’t anyone realize that I was sold for
$75K as a yearling, but only because my hocks are
bad, otherwise I would be worth $100K? I am NOT
changing light bulbs. Make the TB get back here and do it.
* Morgan: Me! Me! Me! Pleeease let me! I wanna do
it! I’m gonna do it! I know how, really I do! Just watch! I’ll rewire the
barn after, too.
* Appaloosa: Ya’ll are a bunch of losers. We don’t
need to change the light bulb; I ain’t scared of the dark. And someone make
that darn Morgan stop jumping up and down before I double barrel him.
* Haflinger: That thing I ate was a light bulb?
* Mustang: Light bulb? Let’s go on a trail ride,
instead. And camp. Out in the open like REAL horses.
* Lipizzaner: Hah, amateurs. I will change the light
bulb. Not only that, but I will do it while standing on my hind legs and
balancing it on my nose, after which I will perform seven flying lead changes
in a row and a capriole. Can you do that? Huh? Huh? Didn’t think so.
* Miniature: I bet you think I can’t do it just
cause I’m small. You know what that is? It’s sizeism!
* Akhal Te ke: I will only change it if it’s my
owner’s light bulb and no one else has ever touched it.
* Andalusian: I will delegate the changing of the
light bulb to my personal
groom after he finishes shampooing my mane and
cleaning my saddle, but only
on the condition that it is changed for a soft blue
or pink bulb, which
reflects better off my coat while I exhibit my
astonishing gaits.
* Cleveland Bay: I’m busy. Make the whipper-in and
the hounds do it.
* Saddlebred: My ears are up already, please, please
get the &#/~..# light bulb away from me! I’m ready to show, really, I
promise I’ll win!
* Paint: Put all the light bulbs in a pen, tell me
which one you want, and my owner will bet you twenty bucks I can get it
before the quarter horse.
* POA: I’m not changing it. I’m the one who kicked
the old one and broke it in the first place, remember?
Now, excuse me, I have a grain room to break into.
* Grade Horse: Guys? Um, guys? I hope you don’t
mind, but I went ahead and
changed it while you were all arguing.
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Hi! I enjoyed the horse changing light bulb joke tremendously!!!
And your hubby is such a sweetie. Very talented too in guest writing your blog!
You are very lucky indeed to have your horses and him!!!
Have a great day and hope you get well soon!
Galbie from Hong Kong