An Interruption

Well.

As per the usual, nothing is going as planned.

When we left off, I'd just had C seen by his magical body work lady and figured out all our problems and I was SUPER excited. Bodywork was at like 3pm on Friday, body work lady always recommends 24 hours off, but she also said with something that messed up, it may take a second session to get him really sorted out.

Plus, since I think it was a shoe problem, I don't know if he's going to immediately re-compensate for the missing hind shoes and re-pinch the nerve or if his feet are sufficiently tough now and he's ok.

pictured: world's biggest pain pussy

So the plan was to hop on Saturday after 3pm or Sunday and just see what I had. If C wasn't ready to go back to work, he'd get two weeks off and I'd take two lessons a week on other horses in lieu of his normal training rides.

That was my plan at like 5.44pm on Friday night.

And then this happened at 5.45.

noooooooooo

I'm the tiny car in the front. As Emma said "world's worst conga line".

Sigh.

I've never been violently rear-ended by a giant truck who thinks driving is a brakes-optional activity before (srsly guys he hit the Yukon so hard it smashed into me and OMG I LOVE YOU YUKON because otherwise.... dayum).

Anyways. I thought I'd take the weekend off and feel good on Monday, but surprise, apparently getting hit by a truck makes me feel like I got hit by a truck. Doctor says I will continue feeling like I got hit by a truck for 4-6 weeks. I say doctor is a hater.

WAH POOR KIA

So the whole point of this non-horse related whine is that 1) you should seriously consider not getting hit by trucks and 2) my role as human crash dummy to see if Courage feels good enough to go back to work has been temporarily suspended. I say a week. Doctor says three weeks at minimum.

Given that I get pretty intense pain if I'm even slightly off on my pain med schedule, doctor may have a point, but we're not admitting that to her. TAKE THAT DOCTOR. She wants precious for herself, doesn't she.

precious is ourses. still.

I talked trainer into riding if C was perfect on the lunge line, but then the temps dropped into "freaking obscene omg i refuse" levels. Oh and a winter storm is blowing in today.

So what we have now is Schrodinger's horse. He may or may not be rideable, but I can't get to the box to find out.

Handy Hints for Online Shopping

As I mentioned, the campaign to pay for the Precious is ongoing. I have certainly done my fair share of buying online through the years, but now I'm doing more selling than normal. I've now compiled these experiences for your benefit.

don't sit in things you can't afford

For BUYERS:

1) READ the ad carefully. Some adds are shoddily written, but still contain a lot of the necessary information. If you have questions, by all means, ask.

2) Understand how offers work. If you don't want to pay the asking price but do want the item, it is 100% ok to contact the seller and offer the amount you would pay. That's negotiating. It's legit.

It is not ok to message and ask, "What's the lowest you will go?"

I'm struggling to explain what should be self-evident, but it's already listed for what I want for it. That is the lowest I will go. I'm not going to be like "LULZ JK actually only want a third of the price." No.

definitely try on boots that don't fit

3) Understand how offers work part II

There's making an offer and there's insulting the seller. I don't have a hard and fast rule here--on a higher end item that is fairly priced for the market (not for your budger--your budget is your problem), It's generally ok to offer about 10% less. That's not saying the seller will take it. Do not offer a tiny fraction of the price and expect it to go well.

Now if something has been sitting on the market for a while and the seller keeps dropping the price or adds an OBO to it, sure, shoot over a number. But if it's brand new? ;-) Give a good post a bump.

so much Back on Track!

For SELLERS:

1) The net result of a post bump is a post bump. Even if it's dumb.

I hear so many sellers complain about potential buyers asking stupid questions or tire kicking a facebook ad. Here's the thing--the way facebook works, even if it is the WORLD'S DUMBEST QUESTION, that bumps your add back to the top of the group and puts it in front of more people. So does your response to that question.

Sure, it can be annoying, but it's traffic and traffic gets things sold.

2) Price items fairly. This is a big one for me. I was raised by thrifty parents and I am the QUEEN of never paying full price.

Fair=fair market value. This is pretty easy to determine generally--what are similar items selling for? You have to compare apples to apples. Used bridle to used bridle, not used to new. My general rule on shopping for used items is simple: I'll pay about 60% MAX of the new price (unless it's a specific and trendy item with market value exceptions). The older an item is, the less I'm willing to cough up. The big exceptions here are trendy-brand (read: French) strap goods and saddles.

Saddles very widely--an in-demand used saddle can hold it's value relatively well, if it's the popular seat size and specs. Those ancient Crosby PdNs? STOP TRYING TO SELL THEM. Seriously. No one on the planet wants one.

3) Be clear and answer promptly.

In an instant marketplace, I want answers relatively quickly. I don't mean wake up in the middle of the night to answer a dumb question, but within 12-24 hours, you should be able to answer questions and pass pictures on to buyers. If you ignore a buyer, they're going to find something else.

I think I pretty well covered it.

All that to say, I'm moving a bunch of stuff to assist in paying for the precious, so if you need something, hit me up.

Update on the Precious

Aside from occasionally crawling into dark spaces and muttering "It came to me. My own. My Precious," while stroking my new saddle, life is going on pretty much as usual.

Well. If usual means basically liquidating the entire tack hoard to pay for the precious.

haven't shipped the actual soul yet

Every once in a while, I cringe a little and think about trying to keep something

cough gollum cough

But the fat hobbit, she knows. Eyes always watching.

Mustn't ask us, not it's business. Noooooo.

See, as I create invoices for the latest lovely thing to find a new home, I look at pictures of me riding my green(ish) horse on his first out of the year.

And instead of feeling like butter scraped over too much bread, I see an open hip angle and a solid leg. The precious isn't the bridles or the boots or linen collection. It's the saddle.

yes in tails

I found it, I did. A way to get the saddle. Orcs don't use it. Orcs don't know it. They go round for miles and miles.