Bad bad horse!

Last week I finally broke down and bought Brig two new blankets. The one that I had been using was too small and rubbed his shoulders and legs and it didn't keep him dry. It also was not warm enough for the winter. So I went out and bought Brig a rainsheet and a waterproof winter blanket. I put the rainsheet on him on Saturday night. When I arrived at the barn on Tuesday the front of the blanket was already ripped. I wasn't very happy about that but the damage isn't too bad and it can be easily fixed. Before leaving on Tuesday I put the warmer blanket on him as it had been quite cool for a couple of days. I debated putting cayenne pepper on the front so that he won't bite at it and rip it too but I didn't feel like getting the cayenne all over my hands. The blanket was also so nice and new that I didn't want to wreck it by smearing cayenne all over it. The first picture below is his winter blanket. It is a little dirty in the picture but you can see that it's a nice blanket.



Well when I arrived yesterday to the barn the horses were already in their stalls. The picture below is what was outside of Brig's stall.


Yup, that's his brand new winter blanket that was on him for one day! All that white stuff is supposed to be enclosed in between the black inner layer and the maroon outer layer. There was white fuzz spread all around his paddock. He must have really had a lot of fun shredding that blanket up. So, needless to say I was pretty upset with Brig. I didn't even touch the blanket yesterday to see how bad it was. From the looks of it I just assumed that it was completely ruined and could not be fixed. I decided that Brig would have to just freeze all winter and drown in the rain if he wrecks his other one any more. I'm not buying any more blankets! It was a tough decision for me to even buy these two as blankets aren't cheap. These ones were about $150 each (they were the cheapest I could find). I'm trying to sell Brig so why would I want to spend $300 on blankets for him? But I felt sorry for him so I did buy them. Well I don't feel very sorry for him anymore. Last night I put his rain sheet back on him and I smeared cayenne all over the front. Hopefully that will stop him from wrecking it. It was still on today without any more damage to it. What he does is he bites at the blanket at his chest and shoulder. He either rips them or wrecks the buckles and somehow manages to get them off. Once there off he does his best to shred them. I'm not sure how he does this but I can imagine him standing on the blanket and biting and pulling on it with his teeth. He probably drags it around his paddock as well. He has ruined people's clothing in the past as well. When the kids sometimes forget and leave clothing, like a sweatshirt, in his stall he will shred that up too. Today I actually took a closer look at his ruined blanket and I actually have some hope that it may be able to be fixed. One of the front buckles is completely gone and the other is broken. The inside is actually only ripped in one spot (it just happens to extend the length of the blanket). Of course most of the filling is gone from that area but I'd rather have a blanket that is mostly warm than not warm at all. I will have to take it in to get it fixed. It will need to be cleaned and then maybe re-waterproofed and then fixed. So all that will cost me about the same as a new blanket would! So for now the plan is to hang the blanket to dry, brush off all the dirt and then forget all about it until I start to feel sorry for Brig again because it's cold outside and he gets sweaty when I ride and I have nothing warm to put on him after I ride to keep him warm as he dries. Then I'll probably spend the money to get it fixed or try to fix it myself. One positive thing is that now I might not have to buy clippers and spend time clipping him this winter. I cant' really clip him if I don't have a warm blanket for him.
I got my hair cut today. I hate trying to find a new hairdresser. I had one that I liked but she moved about six months ago to a salon in Vancouver. I don't really feel like going to Vancouver just to get my hair cut. I didn't know where to go next so I just haven't had anything done to my hair in the last 7 months! I wanted to let it go back to my natural colour anyway so as far as not getting it coloured I was content. But the other day I straightened my hair and was not very happy with how it looked. I decided that it was time to get a hair cut. I still didn't know where to go so I thought that I would just go to a hairdressing school. I figured that they would do a decent job and it would be cheap. After having Brig eat a $150 blanket I really liked the idea of saving money. $20 for a shampoo, cut, blowdry and straightening. Well I got what I paid for. It looks like a $20 cut. It's not horrible, it's just very plain and straight. I actually got out the scissors as soon as I got home and fixed it up a bit. I am a bit happier with it now but I'll probably wait a couple of weeks and then go to a nice expensive salon and get someone to give me a good cut. So really I will end up spending more than if I had just tried out a new place anyway. If it keeps raining here as it has been I will have to wear my hair curly and so probably won't even notice the bad cut and maybe I can put off getting it re-cut for a while longer.
I have been feeling really homesick for Red Deer lately. I don't know if it's my dislike of the rain here or if I just miss the familiarity of Red Deer or what but I really do miss it. It's not even the people that I miss, although I do miss them, it's the actual city itself and everything that is there.
I got a notice in the mail a few of weeks ago that my insurance needed to be renewed. I went in shortly after only to find out that I had to get my car aircared first. I didn't have time that day and I wanted to ask my dad if there was anything that I need to do to my car first to help it to pass. He suggested checking the air filter. Well, I already knew that it needed to be changed. So, I decided to get an oil change and get everything done. By the time I managed to find the time to get my oil change it was the day before my insurance would run out. Of course I didn't realize this until last night. So today I was quite concerned that my car might not pass. I didn't have to get it air cared when I moved here so I had no idea if it would pass or not. If it failed I would have to get it fixed today take it back to get tested again and then get to my insurance place before it closed. Not likely to happen since I went to take care of Brig first this morning and so only had half the day left. But luckily I have a wonderful car that passed easily. I sure was relieved when they told me it passed. So all is well my car is insured and it didn't cost me any more than expected. Actually the cost of my insurance has even gone down about $15/month! Now I just need to get new tires for my car. I'm not looking forward to that bill. I'm going to wait until my next paycheck I think.