Friday, March 9, 2018

10 Foot Job

Sunday was another day chock full of chores and boring farm stuff before I snuck in a ride. The big project was replacing the (rusted out) cab corners on my trusty trailer-hauling diesel truck Brienne (yes I name my vehicles). Last summer/fall when we were deep into the money pit that was truck repairs, we decided the cab corners made the list. They had passed “unsightly” and were on their way to becoming an actual structural problem. I hit up my trusty auto parts website, and after a lot of googling and price matching and discussion with my dad (who owns an auto body repair shop), we picked out some corners we thought would fit, bought ‘em, and had them shipped directly to my dad to paint to match the truck (perks!).
Passenger side before.
Drivers side before.
He delivered them to me around Christmas, but it was too cold to mess with trying to get them on the truck until this weekend (also maybe we just put the box in the spare room and stacked stuff on it and kind of forgot for a while?). DH was on a roll this weekend and said “hey, lets throw these on before we eat lunch!” Famous last words. I'm not going to detail the HOURS that it took us (or the swearing, or the throwing of items) to get the damn things on, and after all that work they still don’t look great. My dad’s comment was that they’re a “10 foot job”, aka it only has to look decent from 10 feet away… Ours might be closer to a 20 foot job. Oh well. They’ll do the job they were intended to do (keep the corners of the truck cab from being completely open to the elements), and the truck definitely looks better from a distance. So maybe just don’t get too close, or squint your eyes up a little ;)
Obviously we still need to glue the little piece of door trim back on, but it's definitely better than it was.
Finally I was able to duck out of boring stuff and grab Ruby for the fun stuff – RIDING! Along the same lines as yesterday’s post, it’s now been so long since the ride that I can only remember bits and pieces (note to self, writing within 24 hours of the ride is infinitely more effective). I do remember that Ruby was very, very forward. Half halts were my friend! Upward transitions were easy, downwards, less so. Sometimes I had to ask more than once – she had a ton of energy! She didn’t seem to get as tired this ride, although I kept the cantering to a minimum. I felt like she struggled a bit in the right lead canter, but I was pleasantly surprised that a few of the pics turned out, so clearly there were some okay moments.
Finally pretty acclimated to goat shenanigans.
Sitting here pondering it makes me feel like sometimes riding is a 10 foot job – up close and personal on the back of the horse, I feel like we look like shit. But then sometimes, with a different perspective (10+ feet away), I can see that there are definitely good moments. Yes, there are bad ones too, but the good ones exist. It’s just a matter of smoothing out the consistency and stringing those good ones together for longer and longer periods.
Outtakes first, because they make me laugh.
Since I really can’t remember details, I’ll mostly leave you with photos!
We'll end with another outtake -- I was trying to let her stretch and she went to zoom off and apparently my brain thought this was the best way to stop her (hint: it's not). But if you take me out of the equation, she looks fine...haha. 
After the ride we still had plenty of daylight and warm weather so I sweet-talked DH into tacking Trigger up and accompanying us on a baby trail ride. I figured riding the whole trail with a buddy would be the next logical step for helping Ruby regain her confidence on our trail. She got a little sassy about wanting to be in front and go fast, so I tucked her neatly in behind Trigger’s (ample) butt and she had to cool her jets a bit. Finally she settled in and ambled along on a loose rein for a pleasant walk.
I can't believe the church is still holding on!
All in all, it was a really productive weekend with the girls, and I’m glad I got to spend lots of quality time with them both riding and on the ground.
She's beauty, she's grace.....haha
Especially because the weather got shitty again Monday and hasn’t really improved a ton (although I did manage to lunge Ruby last night, and she was super. I really wish DH had been around to video, because for whatever reason she was LIT UP about the trot and her suspension was insane at several points. If only I had a Pixio or Soloshot……. ;) my phone got angry about the actual lunging photos I took, so enjoy these instead.
She made friends with the goats, which cracks me up. We won’t be getting as lucky with the weather this weekend, but hopefully I can still sneak in some much-needed horse time!

22 comments:

  1. Well the 10 foot job is less noticeable than the rusty holes so I’m going with it was a win

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  2. HAHA, I love this 10 foot job comment! That's like how my trailer looks nice from about 30 feet away:) Ruby looks damn fancy!

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    1. I mean, safe and functional should always be the priority over pretty, right? 😂 And thank you!

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  3. lol i also adore the "10 foot job" metaphor. it's so so so perfect for riding lol

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    1. My husband and my dad both said that phrase to me about a million times on Sunday (as I was kvetching that I didn't like how it looked), and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it applies to more than just cars 😂

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  4. Nice truck fix! Never heard the phrase "10 ft job" definitely heard something similar "A Monet" nice from far away but a mess up close.

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  5. I love the description of a '10 foot job'. I think you did a good job. It's a farm truck not a toy- it should look a little rough around the edges.

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    1. Haha the truck looks plenty rough around the edges without some of the "modifications" DH attempted getting these corners on lol. The finished product is definitely in line with a farm truck. Which it is. So it shouldn't bother me. But it still kind of does? Oh well. It runs good and it's paid off, I shouldn't care if it's pretty or not 😂

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  6. Would that be “Brienne of Tarth”? Because that is an awesome name.

    I don’t name my vehicles, but I do always refer to them as “he” for some reason. I’m going to have to remember the phrase “10’ job”, because that is how I do absolutely everything.

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    1. Ding ding ding! You guessed it in one. I picked that name cause the truck is ugly as sin but dependable and hard to kill 😂

      Haha yeah 10' job applies to most of my husband's creations too 😉

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  7. Those are some great photos of you and Ruby!! I'm glad you were able to get some riding in despite all the chores - do they ever end tho? *deflates* sometimes adulting sucks!

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    1. No, they literally never end, haha. It always makes me laugh when people say they want to keep horses at home so they have more time to ride. I'm like yeahhhhhh that's not really AT ALL how it works.

      And thanks!

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  8. Ruby is so gorgeous. I'm going to fan-girl so hard when I finally get to meet her.

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  9. Hey, I didn't even know you could replace that part of the truck, so you're doing way better than I! I like that "10 foot job"! I think my whole life is basically a 20 foot job. hahaha!
    Ruby looks amazing in some of those shots! (Not that any are bad, but some are really amazing!)

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    1. I wouldn't recommend it, easier to get a new truck 😂 and thanks! Yes there are definitely some I like more than others, but ya know, trying to share the bad with the good! (Or maybe the mediocre with the good, I'm too type A to share the truly horrendous shots lol)

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  10. Don't mind me, I'm just admiring the lovely footing that you have in your arena - sigghhhh

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    1. It's pretty basic -- super generic, inexpensive sand... But it gets the job done! 😀

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  11. I think your 10-foot job looks awesome! Fair 3-foot job IMHO lol

    And damn...I'm making some serious swoony eyes at Ruby. Gah I love her. I also love your green shirt!

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    1. Haha I think it photographs better than it looks in real life, but I also might be a little sensitive about it still 😂🤷

      And thanks! Kastel merino sweater on clearance, you could rock the HELL out of that shade. You should grab one 😉

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