I have used a county girl on two different horses and have never had any pinching. You have to make sure its not on backwards..mine has an arrow for the right direction and you should be able to read the word logic when standing behind it facing toward the head. I find the elastic a lot thicker than other brands so it doesn’t stretch out like other brands seem way too stretchy. I love both of mine.

Maribeth,

Thank you so much for your kind words. You don’t know how much they mean. We get off on our farms and get so caught up in the work we forget about why we took on all of this work in the first place. That is one of the reasons I started this blog. Many days I feel off in my own world and this blog as given me the chance to make connections with others that have the same interests as me. Best wishes to you in all of your equine endevours. Know that none of it comes easy to the rest of us either! When it gets overwhelming try to change your focus and find something no matter how small that makes you happy!

Hi Elizabeth,
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your article – “The Summertime Blues” in the July/Aug 2011 ‘Tail End’ section of the USDF Connections publication. You could have been writing that article about me as you articulated the same over-whelming feelings and fatigue associated with owning and maintaining your own farm. Top it off with work, family, a small business, and horses to school daily and that really adds to the pressures. I was about to run away from it all when I read your article and it helped to restore my resolve and the reasons why I do what I do which is having the opportunity to enjoy these wonderful animals everyday. I sent a similar email to the editor at USDF Connections. I look forward to reading more of your posts on this site.
Thank you again.
Kind regards,
Maribeth

Awesome blog. Horse got the better of kid in ways large and small. By the time our daughter had become the experienced rider he’d have respected from the first, the stage was set for a battle of wills, and that battle was played out on the stage of our show circuit, where everyone could see the bad behavior that our gorgeous gelding was capable of.

I think you and Gus would be great

I will have to check out your headlamp. If you can ride with it, it must be pretty impressive!

Great comments and suggestions. Thank you for sharing!

@ Karen Quirk:

A really great idea for an inexpensive dressage arena is used railroad ties. You simply buy enough of them, and if you need footing you just fill it in. You need about 67 ties and you can get them for anywhere from $6-10 if you pick them up-your horse trailer works great. Then add letters and viola! You can laminate letters as above, and use landscaping stakes from home depot to attach them to, and if you paing them i bet theyd look nice. So, if you are like me and living next to railroads and have good soil, you can easily just till your soil and throw down the ties and letters. THis is a really great option for windy areas. Just south of Lake Tahoe in Gardnerville, sometimes we get 70 mph winds for 3 days straight-i also had some step in white posts to use for my temporary arena/turnout. Well, they are all bent now at a funky angle-just from constant strong wind. But they are good for temporary, and because I have warmbloods, I used duct tape to add 1 ft of pvc pipe to them with a notch in the top and then taped up a strand of electric polytape there as well, because the 4 ft posts are only a little over 3 when you push them into the ground, which my horses could step over. Just a little tip for WB owners:)

so so true, I’m in the same boat, school at home alone, lesson when the piggy-bank allows and i’m always trying to find neat little fixes and exercises to keep on top of things.