Horsey & Equestrian Blog - Everything Equine and Horsey

Every person is capable of developing the ultimate blissful relationship with their horse.  Equine Bliss are devoted to encouraging people to accomplish this through natural communication that the human can learn and the horse can understand. At equinebliss.com, you can purchase DVD’s and eBooks to really find out about how to connect with your horse. They have a wonderful blog that is packed with tips and information about horse care and is a lovely  read that is written by people who are passionate about horses.

Clothes do not make a man, but they certainly affect how he is perceived. Perhaps this is the reason why the fashion industry, despite being criticized for its sometimes over-the-top prices, is still booming. Just what do clothes say about a person? Here we discuss some interesting points.

Aside from serving the practical function of giving the body protection against weather and other elements, clothes are a way of expressing social dynamics that include economic and marital status, profession, spiritual affiliations and sexuality.

Even in this modern age, most societies still delineate among social classes through clothing. Unlike the days of the Roman Empire when only high-ranking government officials could wear mauve, there are no longer laws dictating what kinds of clothing people can wear. Social delineation through clothing is more discreet though still prevalent. For example, because of the high prices of designer clothes and accessories, only the well to do can afford to wear them.

Of course, Joules clothing still shows very clearly what the occupation of a certain individual is. People working in the Equestrian profession wear certain clothes that set them apart from people such as Joules Body Warmers.

More interestingly, clothing is also used to express marital status and sexuality. Some married women stay away from very revealing outfits. Though this is not a hard and fast rule in the Western world, it certainly applies to married Indian women who wear special hair accessories to indicate they are married (just as the rest of world wear wedding rings). As a general rule, single people looking for partners wear more revealing outfit to signify their intent to attract a potential partner.

Winter is a difficult time to look fashionable, especially if you live in a colder climate. However, it is not impossible. To start with you can buy clothing that are made from warmer materials like wool and cashmere, and that also reflect the colors and patterns from this season’s clothing trends. Generally speaking winter fashion trends will relay partially on the timeless winter classics so you won’t need to replace your entire winter wardrobe to stay in style, as long as you know what these timeless pieces are you should only have to buy a few new winter pieces each season to stay in style.

To build a winter wardrobe that follows the current winter fashion trends you will want to start with your footwear. While you may not think that winter boots offer much flexibility when it comes to fashion choices there really are a lot of great options to choose from. However, if you want a boot that will remain in style through several seasons then you can’t go wrong with a black winter boot. Then if you winter budget can stand it, buy a second and/or third pair of boots in this season’s colors and styles.

The next area of your body that you will want to protect from the coldness of winter is the lower half of your body. To stay warm look for pants that have a flattering cut for your body type and that are also made from a heavier material like wool. If you like to wear skirts in the winter then you can protect your legs by wearing colored tights.

To really pull your fashion forward winter wardrobe together you will want to look for top options that really pop. Joules Jumpers, Joules scarves, and fashion accessories can also easily be added to reflect winter fashion trends from this season. For the best clothing options for your body, look for tops that have a shape that de-emphasizes your problem areas and that also have a color palette that compliments your skin tone and hair color.

The Wide Appeal of Equestrian Home Decorby AnnaRae Mills

Equestrian home decor gives horse lovers a chance to show their love and appreciation for their four-legged friends. There are all kinds of home furnishings, accessories, and accents that feature a horse of some sort. It might be a table lamp with a horse sculpture on the base, a comforter that depicts horses running across a meadow, or a piece of wall art with a horse theme.

There are many reasons for the wide appeal of equestrian home decor. First, many people simply admire the form and beauty of the animal. Also, a horse might be reminiscent of time spent on a grandparent’s farm or a summer camp where you learned to ride.

You might have seen examples of equestrian home decor in all sorts of homes, but the horse-themed decor that we’re most fond of is found in homes with one of the casual styles of home decorating, such as western, rustic, southwestern, or country. Some people might be surprised to know that an increasingly large percentage of horse-themed decor is in homes of people that do not own horses.

Take a moment to think about your favorite horses from books, movies, or television. A few that come to mind for us are Trigger (the horse of Roy Rogers), Silver and Scout (the horses of the Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto), Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, and the mischievous Mr. Ed. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, many children in grade school had a lunch box that featured one of these horses.

Okay, let’s take a little trip down memory lane. How many of us had a rocking horse when we were kids? How about a blanket with cowboys and/or cowgirls and horses? Anything else with a horse on it? Yes, there’s a chance that you had some sort of equestrian home decor back then and did not even realize it.

There are horse-themed figurines, statuettes, and pottery dating back centuries from different cultures that created the pieces to honor the horse. The pieces that still exist are often a real treasure for a collector.

Whether you want to decorate an entire room with equestrian home decor or just add a few pieces here and there, you can find a wide variety of items to accent your home, such as a horse-themed fireplace screen, wall art, bedding, rugs, throw pillows, and so much more.

Adding equestrian home decor in your bedroom can be accomplished with a few simple horse-themed items such as a well-placed picture or two, a comfy floor rug, and a lamp and/or lampshade. Let’s not forget the bedding and comforter. With their large surface area, they can show one or more horses in a pastoral setting or running free across a hillside.

Equestrian home decor is great for kids’ rooms as well. Here, you can brighten a child’s room with images of colts and fillies playing in a field. The kids will love a wooden rocking horse. Children’s bedding has many designs with horses to choose from. You can also take the room decor one step further with an age-appropriate lamp that has horses depicted on the base or the shade. The finishing touch would be a decorative, yet playful horse design on a wall border.

Whatever your reason for being attracted to equestrian home decor, you can be assured that you will have plenty of decorative items to choose from.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

AnnaRae Mills loves informal home decor; especially the western, rustic, southwestern, country, and lodge styles. She has dozens of great decorating tips to share with you. Plus, see more than 375 pictures that show why casual home decor is more popular than ever. Go to http://www.Western-Home-Decor.net

AnnaRae’s articles are freely available for use in ezines, newsletters, as well as on websites and blogs… as long as all of the content remains intact, including the resource box with a clickable link.

A tennis shirt, polo shirt or golf shirt all refers to a type of t-shirt that is made of knitted cloth, usually pique cotton. Its style is customarily with some buttons down a slit below the collar, two small cuts on the bottom of each side of the t-shirt and maybe with or without a pocket. On rare occasions are tennis shirts made of silk, merino wool or synthetic fibers.

Between the nineteenth and early twentieth century, tennis players had a tough time playing their games as a result of poor design of their attire. In those days, they had to wear long-sleeved shirts, trousers and even ties to the tennis court. These formal cloths were akin to what the white collars of today wear to work and were simply too heavy and cumbersome for professional playing. Therefore, a French tennis player called Rene Lacoste decided to start his own line of tennis shirts named after himself, Lacoste. The 7-time Grand Slam tennis champion came up with a loosely-knitted un-starched pique cotton tennis shirt with a collar and longer shirt-tail at the back. The collar is thicker so that it could be upturned and provide the neck protection from the sun while playing. Actually, before Lacoste invented the revolutionary tennis shirt in 1929, polo shirts already had the button-down collar design since the late nineteenth century. While this design was able to prevent the wind from flapping the collars against the players’ neck, the long-sleeved polo shirts which were made of Oxford-cloth cotton were clumsy to wear on the field. As a result, Lacoste’s tennis shirts were promptly taken on by the polo players as their apparel in the 1930s.

Soon, the polo shirt and tennis shirt were considered the one and the same. In the US, the two terms were very commonly used interchangeably in the 1950s to describe this very popular apparel. It was so popular that the tennis players openly refer to their shirt as a “polo shirt”, even though the t-shirt was first used in tennis and even though polo only adopted it many years later.

The t-shirt was made even more popular, thanks to Ralph Lauren. In 1967, he added a Joules Polo  shirt into his already famous clothing line called Polo. However, his polo shirts were not meant to be worn by professional players. They were only imitations of the style of what the polo players were wearing at that time.

 Before long, golfers became aware of the advantages of Lacoste’s tennis shirt. As a result, when golf’s customary wear grew more relaxed and informal some time in the twentieth century, golfers did not think twice about adopting the tennis shirt. Until today, most golfers wear nothing else. For the ladies, they can have their tennis shirt custom made in colors that they like. The only difference is that the monicker “golf shirts” have various golf cuts necessary to incorporate into the standard tennis shirts. Today, the tennis shirt’s popularity is so widespread that it has a line of fashion of its own. Most of the main clothing producers have a version or variation of Lacoste’s tennis shirt since it is worn extensively by both men and women today and not necessarily for athletic purposes. Tennis shirts are regarded as smart casual wear. Many semi-professional and retail workers wear tennis shirts to work because round collar t-shirts are considered too informal and yet business suits are too formal.

Field guides, laborers and others who work outdoors love to wear tennis shirts to work because the material and design are resilient and durable. Sometime in the 1990s, the tennis shirt also found favor by the high tech industry and was made its standard business as well as casual wear. Other industries followed suit. Usually, a company logo is printed on the shirt to make it look more business-like. In some of India’s government departments, tennis shirts are standard office wear.

In many schools with uniforms, especially junior schools, tennis shirts are part of a compulsory uniform for both boys and girls. The tennis shirt continues to be popular in sports, even used by officials such as caddies, some retired golf professionals, umpires and sports announcers. Thanks in part to the outdoor nature of the sports with which they are linked to, the shirts often come in light colors, for example in tennis the color white is most often used.

Like in the original Lacoste’s design, sometimes a tennis shirt is cut so that the back hangs a few centimeters lower than the front also known as a “tennis tail”. The longer tail is meant to keep the shirt tucked into the back of a man’s tennis shorts when he is bent over to survey the court. The easily-upturnable collar remains another athletic aid to protect against sun burns.

The tennis shirt or Joules Clothing  polo shirt will continue to occupy a niche in the fashion industry, regardless of the changing trends and times. It has become an essential wear in our daily lives.

Manesntails have just released their Horsey Gift range, we have all sorts of cool stuff available including Computer Games, Books, Stationary and a variety of other stocking fillers. So if you can’t quite stretch to that pony this year, make sure you add a bit of equestrian magic to christmas day by giving your little ones something horsey x

There is always Joules Clothing available from Manesntails, with Gloves, Scarves and Wellies adding a touch of style and making ideal winter accessories, personally, i will be buying my better half something from the Joules Mens range this year..

Winter Fun - Horses playing in the Snow

Budweiser advert

Despite our protest, winter is almost upon us.

It seems like summer just began days ago and already it’s time to think about preparing for the cold weather. Your horses need some attention before the snow flies too!

It’s important to address certain issues before the weather turns nasty. No one wants to be out in frigid temperatures trying to handle frozen tools. Here are some suggestions for preparing yourself, your horse and your property for winter.

Make a checklist. Write down all of the things that need to be done and check them off as you complete them. Edit the list as you go then save it for next year!

Clean the tack room. Throw or give away anything you don’t use or need, then clean and repair everything else as needed. Store summer items like fly sheets.

Dig out winter blankets, hoods and any other winter supplies. Check for needed repairs early, before you need to use the item. You don’t want to put a blanket on your horse in a sudden cold snap, only to find missing straps or a big hole in the blanket.

Decide who’s wearing what. Figure out which horses will be blanketed, hooded, or left au naturel. Then make sure you have the supplies to go around. Post the blanketing information in the barn(s) if applicable. Now is the time to pull shoes if your horse goes barefoot for the winter.

Assess the water situation. How are you going to water your horse over the winter? Eating snow will not do. Check the waterers and make sure they are functioning properly. Turn off the water supply to unused lines and drain them to prevent freezing and cracking. If you water with buckets, ensure you have an adequate supply of them. Black rubber ones tend to resist freezing.

Buy feed. Purchase and stack hay before the snow flies to keep it dry. Try to have extra bags of your grain, complete feed and supplements on hand in case of a big storm. Extra salt and mineral blocks too!

Check the fence. Drifting snow can cause fence problems. Hard packed drifts next to a fence can enable a horse to walk right over! Assess and repair your fences as needed, plan for drifting snow if applicable. Oil gate hinges.

Plan for snow and ice. Decide where shovelled snow is going to be piled. Buy a supply of something to throw down on slippery icy spots. Cat litter, sand, and salt all work reasonably well.

Inspect the barn. Improve heat retention in the barn by repairing any broken windows and closing up the drafts. Barns do need some air circulation though so don’t seal it up tight! Test and repair indoor and outdoor lights and motion sensors. Oil door hinges.

Service your trailer. After a long summer of hauling your horses, your trailer is likely due for some maintenance. Perhaps it needs winter tires, or window replacements for the colder weather. Service according to the manufacturer.

Find your gloves! Your body needs to stay warm, too. Head down to the basement or up to the attic and find those cold weather clothes needed for doing chores. Gloves, mitts, boots, scarves, parkas — make sure you’re ready.

Dealing with the cold nasty winter weather isn’t much fun, but being prepared goes a long way in keeping you and your horse safe and cozy.

By Jennifer Kunz
Animal Forum