Anniversary Give Away!

Three years ago today I brought Junior home. I was so doubtful that making this "thing" I had wanted my entire life into a reality was a smart decision.  I worried about finances. I worried about illness and injury and I was terrified I didn't know enough to become a horse owner.  Something bad was sure to happen at any moment.  That's why I became the Overanxious Horse Owner.

The first few weeks were hell.  I never wrote it in the blog or even said it to anyone, but I thought I had made a terrible mistake. I had wanted a calm, broke, horse.  I brought home the opposite.  He was pushy in the stall, had horrible ground manners, and he was hot and too forward under saddle.  He paid no attention to me.  He barely ever looked at me.  We had no connection. I was heartbroken.

But I trudged on and focussed on the good moments because I am just not a quitter.  I didn't want to give up.  Over time we got his mental state cleaned up through increased turnout and decreased grain and things started looking up.  I started thinking about showing and setting some goals for us.

Junior gets a pedicure on our Anniversary.

Now it's three years later and we've come an awful long way. I learned to be the kind of leader he respects and obeys, and he learned the boundaries of human-pony interaction.... well, mostly.  I once thought of sending him back, and now I cannot fathom the idea. Monet even thinks he's my equine soul mate.   Even though he's an accident-prone houdini who knows exactly how to push each and every one of my buttons, giggling all the while, he belongs with me.

Have you seen Tangled?  I swear they used Junebug as research for Maximus. People tell me they love watching us interact because he's so funny.  I've even had someone say "He actually looks like he's laughing sometimes!"  And I am SURE he is because he's way too smart and way too silly.  BTW, I picked up the handle "Sillypony" over 10 years ago when I started needing an internet handle.  I had no idea that one day I would OWN the Silly Pony and that I would turn out to be the Serious Girl.  He drives me nuts, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

New Wenglish Showmanship Halter

New Did you know that the traditional 3-Year wedding anniversary gift is LEATHER!?!?!  Yes, I KNOW we're not married - eeew.  But I like traditional things so I looked it up out of curiosity and couldn't help but use it as an excuse to get us a new leather halter and lead we can use in Hunter Showmanship.  We've been using a bridle up until now because that's "correct" but more and more open shows are allowing the halter and since he works SOOO much better in a halter we're jumping on that wagon!

I chose a Billy Royal set from Schneiders.  I like my western show halter of theirs so I thought I'd try this.  I didn't want to spend a ton and I like this color.  It's a little more workman-like than the fancy stitched/padded ones, but I like it.  The cheek piece could be an inch longer, so I need to check Schneider's new sizes to see if another size would fit better.  The lead is beautifully weighted for the proper coil while showing.





AND...

 in honor of our three years together, I'm giving away a box of our Favorite Things.  Don't get TOO excited, I'm not Oprah; I have a budget.  And yes, these are NEW items, not my old used stuff.  :)

The Box Contains:

• Vetrolin Shine: so your pony can have a tail as lovely as Junior's and all your friends can say how soft your pony is.
• Velcro Spur Straps: so you can have quick in-n-out access to your spurs without buckles.  Easy to use, easy to maintain.  ** If the winner is a non-English-Spur-wearer, I can trade this out for: Rubber Spur Tiedowns: The best thing for keeping your spurs from become anklets, especially if you swap your boots around.  Keeps them right in place without having to crank the spur straps down!**  Or if you don't wear spurs, I'd be happy to keep them and use them for you. ;)
• Bick 4: Because once you go Bick you never go back.  
• A Diary of the Overanxious Horse Owner Bumper Sticker & Magnet!  So you can boast your allegiance to the world! (or just hang your grocery list on your fridge)

How to win?  

1. Become one of us!!!  You must be a public follower of the blog, so join up if you aren't already one of us. 
2. Leave a comment about your FAVORITE post/story/thing about reading this blog AND which of the giveaway items you are most excited about!  
3. On September 18th Junebug will randomly select a Reader who will be notified via a blog post on that day.  
4. The lucky lucky winner will then email a mailing address to me and your prize will come to you!  So easy!

So think of your FAVORITE reason to read this blog, greedily plan how you will use your plunder, and comment away!  Good Luck!!!!