The Overanxious Horse Owner Gets Overanxious About Social Media

I've entered a phase of social media usage that I didn't anticipate entering.  I don't know quite how I feel about it.... so I'll just talk about it.

I started this blog on a whim.  The lady I bought Junior from asked me, during my first test ride, if I read "Fugly Horse of the Day".  I didn't know what she was talking about, but I checked it out and started following the blog.  I don't think I even knew what a blog was.  Fugly was already a popular blog back in August of 2008, but it hadn't hit the crazy troll-infested weirdness that happened towards the end of Fugly's authorship. If you don't know what I'm talking about just consider blissfully unaware.  I still can't get it off my reading list, no matter how many times I unfollow it... but that's another store.

Anyway, discovered that many of the commenters had blogs, too and before long I had figured out to create a reading list of my favorite blogs.  When I finally decided to buy Junior, it was a few days before we were able to pick him up and bring him back to his waiting stall.  I was out of my mind and I needed to vent.  So without any idea what I was doing, I started a blog.  I didn't have a goal, I didn't have a style in mind, I just wanted to write down what I was thinking/feeling and hoped it would help me process the very anxiety-producing act of buying my first horse.

For some strange reason I began receiving "followers".  I admit being kind of excited but also confused why anyone would actually make a point to read what I was writing.  I admit, when I felt compelled to comment on other blogs, I'd plunk my URL into the end of the comment.  I saw lots of other people doing it so I didn't think it was bad etiquette.  I DO think it's bad etiquette if you comment on somebody's blog ONLY to promote your own blog.  I've had people do that on my blog and I deleted them.  But I never really saw myself TRYING to get more readers.

Then I was contacted by a sign company (link on right hand side) who offered me free product in exchange for a tiny link on my blog.  I had no idea why I would want blog promotion products, so I had my monogram done.  I ended up not liking how they came out so they sent me better ones AND I used their software to design bumper stickers after they sent me a sample design and offered those as well.  There's one on my car and one on my parents car and I gave the rest to readers.

Then I was contacted by a marketing company offering MONEY in exchange for a storefront to be placed on my blog.  MONEY?!?!  Um, okay! Yay!!!! The blog begins to pay me!  And they came to ME!

I have a Pinterest account.  I started the account to keep track of images I was using for theatre shows I was designing.  Then I started putting show clothes on there... Then I started searching for show clothes in there and I found things from my blog Pinned by other people! They will, of course, link back to my blog if the reader clicks on the picture enough times.  So I started pinning my own things on my own Boards, well, heck, if people like them, I'd like them to have a direct line to me.  There are pins of my show clothes and my Tack Box.  So I pinned them too.  I always try, when I pin, to list the designer or the website on the note.  So many people will look at a pin, and maybe even like it or repin it, but very few will ever go back to the original source.

I do sell clothing from time to time (see the new tab For Sale at the top of the blog) so I do want SOME traffic coming through.  If traffic can help me sell clothes and increase my clientele, that would be great!

Then comes this Hobby Horse Facebook contest. (Thanks for the votes!  We were in the lead for a few hours but have been greatly overtaken.  Hopefully there's still a chance the Hobby Horse employees will vote for me!  Last year's winner didn't receive the most votes, either.)  I found myself Pinning the jacket from my blog (couldn't pin from Facebook) and adding the URL to the facebook page of the contest.... WHAT!?!?!  I'm using Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog AND this facebook contest.  Whoa.  Slow down.  Check yourself before you wreck yourself, Cowgirl.

Those of you who read Mugwump Chronicles have surely read her latest post on dealing with internet bullies.  It's a good read. I found Mugs' blog right after the Fugly blog. She was kind enough to answer one of my behavior questions about Mouthy McMouthypants and it really helped.  I admire her very much.  Mugs took over the Fugly blog when Cathy (the original Fugly) left.  She didn't stay long and I don't blame her.  Why is the internet so full of bullying?  What kind of culture are we incubating that thinks cyber-assholeness is somehow more okay that in-person assholeness.  I remember learning the lesson not to say anything ABOUT a person that you wouldn't say to their face.  It's a good policy to have and I think it could definitely apply to the shield the internet seems to give us.

So here I am.  Have I opened myself up to the kind of traffic I don't want?  I've been pretty lucky that you all seem to humor my mistakes and are quick to offer praise and congratulations when things go well.  Will I start to get nasty anonymous comments about my grammar?  My riding posture?  My horse care philosophies?  Will somebody come tell me I'm a horrible person because I relented and use a fake tail?  Yes I KNOW it probably came from a slaughtered horse.  But I do believe USING all parts of an animal is better than not... it does still make me sad.  But as I say about the vintage furs in our stock: if it had lived a long natural life it'd be dust by now, but instead we get to honor it for a very long time. But I digress...  If the trolls come, will I be able to fend them off? Will it change the blog into something I don't want?

I don't know what is next for us here at the Diary of the Overanxious Horse Owner.  I know that anything I put on the internet, yes even my "private" facebook profile, is fair game and I've known that from the beginning.  As far as my designs are concerned, there is no Intellectual Property Law, it's too much of a grey area and we're a long way from usable guidelines. This is why I shouldn't publish my designs, only finished products. This is also why I didn't show you the whole jacket until it was posted by Hobby Horse.  So I just hope that I can imagine the ooohs and wows that caused someone to pin something from my blog.  I feel honored to be pinned, after all, even when I don't know it.

My Show Jacket is in a Contest!

Remember that show jacket I mentioned?  Well, it's finished, and it's a finalist in the 2012 Hobby Horse Elements Designer Contest!!!

You can visit Hobby Horse's Facebook page to view the other 5 finalists and to vote for us by "like"ing our photo!  The winners are selected by Facebook votes and by Hobby Horse employees.  Details on their page.

I'm very honored just to be a finalist, but it would be so cool if I were to win!  CLICK HERE to vote before October 31st!  

The jacket will soon be in the hands of Becca from R Lil Bit of Cash!  Becca wanted a new showmanship jacket, and I wanted an excuse to enter Hobby Horse's Elements Designer Contest, so after a bit of collaboration on color and style and several versions of the design emailed back and forth, I created this jacket for her. 

The Hobby Horse Elements we used were the Chocolate Pants Fabricand the Silver Shimmer Sheets.  The entries needed to include but were not limited to the Elements.  The fushia is ultrasuede and we used a few hundred genuine Swarovski crystals in 5 different colors and 3 sizes.  Becca will be able to get the Chocolate pants from Hobby Horse and they will match perfectly.  They're also having a sale right now on all of their Basics if you want your own! :)

I communicated the design ideas with Becca with (several) photoshop drawings.

The appliques were double-layered and each had to be ironed on and then stitched on.

I stitched the body seams together, then attached the appliques and most of the crystals.  The final crystals didn't go on until the final seams were stitched, the zipper was in place, and the hems finished. It's much easier to maneuver the applique stitching and the crystal application when the garment is in pieces, but some of the crystals are placed too close to seams so they needed to be placed after the seams were finished.

Did you know that EACH crystal needs to be heated for 20-35 seconds?

I cannot wait to see photos from Becca and Lilly's first show in this jacket!!!

Stewarding

On Monday I was given a great opportunity to Steward for a local judge.  I got to dress up for the occasion in my new straw hat and my new blingy belt... yeah, I finally got one...a little girl in the restroom said "I like your cowgirl suit!" and spend the day with the judge at a local 4-H county fair western show. I first helped place the showmanship teams on the rail after their patterns were finished. After each class I took the placings to the announcer. I reset objects for the Mini-Horse in-hand trail and jumping, then for horsemanship I sat next to her and got great insight into what she was looking for in the patterns. For the pleasure classes I got to be the go-between and tell the announcer when the judge was ready to see the next gait, which was kinda funny towards the end of the day when the announcer ran out of steam and forgot to watch me. :)  I can't blame him, I was out of steam to! I almost went home with the walkie-talkie on my belt!  For trail we sat and I scribed for her.  It was a long day.  I don't know how she does this THREE DAYS IN A ROW with travel days in between as she had just gotten back to Ohio from Michigan following two 15-hour days of judging Pinto.  She's a wonder, and a wonderful judge and mentor.  It was a great day, but I never realized I could get just as exhausted doing that as I do actually showing!  Watching the 4-H kids brought me back to my own fair days and I just loved hearing the other shows going on at the same time in the beef barn, the dairy barn, and the swine barn.

I'm Making a Show Jacket!

I am making a show jacket for one of our fellow bloggers.  She can "out" herself in the comments if she chooses.  There will be a whole post about it when it's finished, but here is just a teaser of how it's coming together...