Rides of 2017 (thus far)

I've been riding in the new year, but despite my best intentions, I have no new media or other exciting stuff.

My first two rides of the new year were seriously dampened by full arenas causing problems. And then it was cold as all get out, and my horses, who probably weren't benefiting much from an iced-over paddock, were left inside intermittently for the last week and have been a minor level of psycho.

Also a Weatherbeeta Model, but mostly an energetic crazy thing

New Years day and the 3rd were both cut short by arenas being over full, so I basically got walk trot and canter in on my girls without really getting to work on much. Foxie has been super sore lately, which is crappy and I feel bad that since I can't be out much this week due to Hubby travelling, she doesn't get to wear her Back on Track sheet despite my resolutions to use my therapy items more.

Friday's ride included Bailey losing her mind and becoming a leaping, dancing porpoise instead of a horse. She was spooky, but also so stir crazy that I felt bad for her. She wanted to be good, but holding it together (especially as we switched to a much colder arena half way through our ride) was about as much as she could manage. Yesterday was more of the same - Bailey was steadier, but still had an epic spook/sideways bolting meltdown which she impressively recovered from, but never really felt settled or like she wanted to work. Foxie was again, super sore through her hind end and we spent our entire ride trying to get her canter to a 3-beat gait. She was super both rides, but  I feel bad that she's so sore and stiff through her body. It's not easy being 21!

21 years of cute, even when standing awkwardly.

Exciting things are in the future, though: hopefully more riding and less sharing the arena with idiots, and a new-to-me super exciting item that should be arriving tonight... and should inspire an entire Back On Track related post ;) 

Tasty Tuesday: Banana Cupcakes!

On the blog front, I have nothing exciting to report. We've been doing flatwork, pretty much exclusively. It's been muddy AF, Bailey has been good (if not *quite* as good as she was in the micklem, but that could be a lack of my total force of will) and winter is finally sauntering in. I had a mildly terrifying moment over the weekend when Bails thought a friend's enthusiastic whip use was for her, not for the horse she was lunging, and she kind of exploded forward, but we settled and survived and I only regretted not putting a tight helmet over my fresh perm for a minute. Last night was pretty unspectacular, with some weird falling out of the canter and spine jarring transitions, but she also did some really nice walk canters and lots of stretching. I'm hoping she just slipped playing in the vile, nasty ass mud and was a bit ouchy. I called it a day earlier than I planned (because my jarred spine was all "nah brah") and ended up de-dreadlocking Bailey's muddy tail and mud knotting it. Here's to hoping it stays in!

To distract from what would be a week+ of flatwork recaps, here's some Tasty Tuesday for you: my secret weapon cupcakes.

From  the stained pages of my mother's church cookbook from Chancellor, South Dakota, enjoy the addictive Banana Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting. This can be made as a cake, and adapts wonderfully to cupcakes - just keep an eye on them in the oven. This works well with less than ripe bananas, ripe bananas, frozen and thawed bananas... it just works. It's a damn good recipe. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

1 ½ cups white sugar                                        2 cups flour

½ cup shortening                                              1 cup mashed ripe banana

2 eggs           1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup sour milk      ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

Cream sugar and shortening,  add eggs and beat well. Add sour milk (add a little lemon juice to milk to sour) and dry ingredients. Beat smooth. Add banana and vanilla. Blend well. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until cake springs back when pressed in the middle.  Frost with cream cheese frosting.

You can add ½ cup of chopped walnuts to this but I usually don’t . You should also be able to make cupcakes with this recipe, just bake for ~25 to 30 minutes instead. Watch them, as baking time varies by pan type (glass, dark, light) and other variables.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3-4 ounces of cream cheese                       3 cups powdered sugar

½ cup butter or margarine (softened)        1 tsp vanilla

Cream chesse together with soft butter. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Blend in vanilla.