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Swimming with the Sultan    I think by now we’ve established the fact that Sultan –my horse- has it seeded so deep in his mind that he’s what Rhett Butler was to Gone with the Wind, and what Kokopelli is to Native Americans. The boy ships with “I have the best looks, and I know it” attitude, he’s sooo utterly full of himself, and I LOVE him for it lol Yesterday, however, that fullness of the mind was slightly deflated as we took him for a swim in the pool for the first time – his swim was anything but graceful lol. After the first lap, the after-shock effect left him in a silent awe and observations of his surroundings, ..he no longer occupied himself with attempts to impress and overrule the other horses around, instead, he engaged in catching shreds of his tattered breath (& dignity?) We limited the swim to two laps avoiding to abuse his psyche as it was his first swim ever – hopefully this should put his mind and body to rest, and gradually, we’ll increase them to 4-6 laps. I love my horses.. I love them, I love them, I loooooove them x infinity Labels: Pony Tales $7 in my moola box | link | email this post Bit by Bit  As I was leaving the office, I was overwhelmed with a deep craving for being at zen, in peace.. that flow of synchronized movement when the horse beneath you extends his right leg, then left, then right again. My favorite of those moments comes after an extensive training session, when I loosen the reins, and IB instantly stretches his neck as he walks forward. My training session last night though was less than stellar. IB was nervously agitated with the noise when a chopper passed over a couple of times, but more so, he was bothered with the bit my trainer and I used on him for the past few weeks. IB had 2 habits that I had to work around: Nº1) A habit of biting over the bit, securing it between his teeth, & putting his weight forward in full-speed. And Nº2) Being the proud Arab he is, he always always wants to stick his head up and high - not matter what the demands of the sports were. Previously, I had him on a full cheek bit, I rode him with constant "playing with my fingers on the rein" to lower his head, but that didn't cut it for him anyway, he's quite stubborn, so I moved to a HappyMouth pelham bit, and instead of the chain, I had a rubber band covered with cloth bandage for softness under his chin. My trainer rides fine with this one, but not me. I seem to struggle (& the horse too) on the forward -he's too engaged with the bit, and I; too engaged with the lowering of the neck, and activity of the hinds. Neither one of us is happy with the other, and neither one of us getting the maximum out of the training session. So instead of pondering in perplexity forever, I decided to revert back to a snaffle full cheek with rolling beads -like the one below- If he bites on the metal, the beads will roll, and that will allow me to pull the reins.  I look forward to my experiment this weekend ;p & if you have any bit suggestions, please fire away x Labels: Pony Tales $5 in my moola box | link | email this post Bringing Home the Birkin    Finally, it's here ♥ Can you imagine the flutter-a-skip through out Faubourge St.Honoré? J'adore Paris ♥ for many reasons obviously, but this one is just one more. More eye candy for you:  Chanel dolls  Christmas tree at Gallery Lafayette   Printemps decorations  Le Bristol ♥ +++ +++ +++ +++ In 2009 I.. - Moved to Aerospace Industry - Made a foreign deal - Got a new horse - Loved, beaucoup - Laughed, beaucoup - Gave up on some friends - Made new friends - Tried to learn how to forgive, ..still trying - Completed 1 painting. Seriously. - Won 7 tickets to Egypt. Never went to collect them. - Got a place in France - Slept through new-year's eve In 2010 I wish to.. - Continue loving everything, beaucoup - Laugh more - Teach Rawan that it's okay to hug your friends. In fact, it's okay to hug everything (trees inclusive, watch Avatar & you'll understand lol) - Decorate my place in France, work in progress - Find the perfect Louis XV chairs - Do more for my people - See Lamya, Yosor, & Moza more often (or convince them to move to Abu Dhabi) - Have Noura, Alia, and Reem over for Salama-Sundays ;p *nudge Alia* - Pilates for breakfast - Improve my French - Make up my mind - Execute the 2 plans I have been cooking in my mind, successfully ;p Bonne Année to everyone ♥ Labels: Birkin, Fashion, Hermes, La Dolce Vita, Pony Tales $6 in my moola box | link | email this post R.I.P Repetto   Waking up to the sound of rain in this part of the world has its perks: lovely weather, happy people, & breakfast in bed has a totally different feel to it. I've made peace with the fact that our cities and towns don't have the infrastructure to withstand wet days -after all, why spend billions of dollars on rain-proof roads and buildings when it hardly ever rains here? -- Well, I feel tempted to say "to save them louboutins and Repettos, mais, we both know how much merit this argument would hold lol So, About the rain? It reminds me of when I was little, when we used to go searching for our version of white truffles (عريون - عرايين) -- I can't remember the last time I had them. Yesterday morning I was so pleased with the lovely sunshine and crisp air with a hint of damp & before I knew it, I slipped into a pair of leggings, a velour hooded jacket, & my favorite peach pair of bling Repettos and headed out to the horses - needless to say, that was a big mistake. Watching a 6 year old stallion being trained to do the Capriole there was NO WAY I wouldn't step into the paddock and watch him up close and personal. What I didn't know, of course, is that my feet would sink into 10 inches of mud (eeks!) The damage is of course irreversible, so my dear favorite pair of Repettos, I have had a good time skipping the streets of Paris with you, and when I needed a pair to vamp up a dull pair of tracksuit pants, you always came to the rescue.. under the sunshine, in the rain, you've always been there. R.I.P - You'll always be remembered dearly (until my next favorite pair, at least) Labels: Fashion, Pony Tales $2 in my moola box | link | email this post IB is a Winner  A couple of years ago, People thought I was absolutely crazy to say that my pure bread arabian horse would jump obstacles, but that didn't matter to me, I knew that if I believed in him, and exposed him to the right kind of training, he could do anything because this particular horse is stubborn, has a lot of character, & ample stamina A few weeks ago, IB won first place in his first show jumping competition ever - my boy is a winner! my boy is a spectacular winner ★ Labels: Pony Tales $4 in my moola box | link | email this post Chances are Ponies  You probably have noticed that I've gone light on my Pony Tales posts, but, it has been a while since I've last seen my horses, much too less ride them. If I were to describe it, the closest thing would be: it feels like I've come down with a heart flu that has taken over the whole of my chest. But the strangest thing happened; On Wednesday as I was walking in our offices, my eyes caught a tiny little something on the floor, as I walked closer my heart fluttered in happiness when I realized that it was a tiny miniature horse (looked like Robinhood too) -- What are the chances of finding a horse on the floors of a monolithic monster building of the investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi? Seeeeeriously? Je ne sais pas. But je sais the universe speaks to us through our surroundings, I haven't been able to decipher what it's trying to say to me, but I took the horse, held it in both hands, idol.. like a thing at rest, thrilled with a sense of strange optimism to the depths of my being & headed back to my desk to tuck it somewhere safe. It has been two days, and I still don't know what it meant, ..but it will be something good - I know it. Avec beaucoup d'amour x Labels: Pony Tales $5 in my moola box | link | email this post Le Bonheur & DIY Magic: Turn the Ugly Black Duck into a Gazelle N'ayez pas peur du bonheur I've been away for too long, living up the days and events that have just passed, so let me first catch up all I've been up to, the nows, & the things to come. How pleasant is it to write a blog post while having a scrumptious breakfast outside of your room's window? The few drops of rain on my macbook don't bother me, nor does the dust under my bare feet; soon it will be completely wet, & the smell of trees and sand will rise in the air -- Oh how I love that smell ♥ Happy belated Eid, Happy National Day, Happy Holidays, - Yes, that's how long I've been gone. At work, to say that it has been hectic would be an understatement - so much to deliver before end of the year, it's that busy book-closing time of the year. On the personal spectrum it has also been busy, a series of explorations and discoveries - pleasant ones for the most part. I've also been quite busy with with latest horse acquisition: Robinhood. A very pleasant boy who doesn't seem to mind jumping obstacles up to 145cm so far. My living room at home still looks like the after-effect of an atomic bomb, catalogs are still lying everywhere, I'm still decorating my château one room at a time; so far, there's the blue room, the dusty rose, the taupe, and the living room of course which -the more I look at, the more hesitation I feel towards execution of current palette- Yesterday my first order was taken, I decided I would execute plans for 1 room, observe the quality of stitching and upholstery before I give a green light for the other 2 rooms, it would be a lot easier to fix one thing that goes wrong than 10. In the meantime, I'm still contemplating the colors, fabrics, & textures at home. Mom brought over a huge piece of voile that will come in handy for the bathroom vertical windows and the servants' quarter outside, perhaps even for the extra exterior building which I intend to convert into a Gîte I've also been enjoying getting creative with things that have a chance for beauty. Let's face it, we're not surrounded by beauty all the time, in fact, not even most of the time, but nearly almost everything around us has a shot for beauty, the potential to be enhanced an look better. Those were exactly my thoughts when I eyed the black photo frame at IKEA with a giant yellow price tag AED.120 -- It looked like it would make a nice bathroom mirror, after a substantial amount of work, of course. Without hesitation, I bagged it into my trolley and headed away to the cashier. My next stop would be ACE Hardware.. I picked up the one and only plastic-specific paint can they had, the only one that seemed to work anyway, and the color was a light shade of pistache. Next, I've underlined the frame with newspaper to save my tile floor, & painted gradually, one layer at a time, occasionally pulling the paint can farther to capitalize on the original dark color of the frame and create an 'antique' effect by spraying a lighter color on top in an uneven way..      I then had Rasheed stop by a mirror-cutting shop to make a piece perfectly suited to fit the picture frame, et voilaaaa! I now have a gorgeous mirror that will hang in the washroom on the ground floor of my château in France ♥♥♥ I have to say that the final product was sooo much more than I had anticipated lol, I was so happy with the result that I went and bought another piece, recreated the same thing -though not identical- but would be happy to hang it in the gîte nonetheless The former experience encouraged me to explore, and while I was walking through HomeCenter, I couldn't help but notice a very very ugly 1-bulp sorry-excuse-for-a-chandelier which you'll see below:  Lightening struck, and in my head I could allllllmost see it perfectly beautified ♥ When I asked Serena to buy it, she gave me a hesitant second look as though she couldn't believe I had just asked her to take home something so ugly, but she did anyway. Now, think ACE hardware again -- this time, metal-specific paint, color of choice? Khaki.   I had also sent Serena & Co. to brush through the lighting shops of Abu Dhabi in search for chandelier beads and crystals, luckily, she found a couple of shops that were willing to sell. I bought 500 pieces of the small beads, and several larger pieces (the larger pieces from Dubai) -- I made strands of beads to beautify the basic bland and boring metal frame, & added the final pieces -- the outcome? Spectacularly pleasant experience, and prettyyyyyyful mini-chandelier that will go into the small laundry area of the château by the kitchen. I ♥ it! Have a prettyful rest of the day x Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita, Music, Pony Tales, Videos $11 in my moola box | link | email this post When He's Okay Him: "How are you?" IB loves me, he does. My lovely horse loves me and I know it everytime I see him; how he bears my weight gently on his back, how he listens to my vocal aid and signals. When it comes to anything that concerns him, I love doing everything myself: carressing, brushing, showering (& I join and make it a group activity), drying, walking, bandaging his tendons, and feeding. I love it. Labels: Pony Tales $4 in my moola box | link | email this post Comme un Fairytale, Comme L'histoire Magique      A few months ago I I wrote about loss, and wondered what my window would bring. I was too busy anticipating rays of light, but what I didn't see coming is a Château of my own in France. Of course, the château didn't fit through the window, and despite the fact that I walked through it and around it.. walked its' multiple hectares of land on my feet and in borrowed wellies, stood under the massive wood beams of it's stables and barns, and ate apples, plums, and hazelnuts from its trees still isn't enough. It seems entirely wonderful to me, like a fairytale, only this one is not in a story book. I sat in a room with four lawyers telling me about my new possession, initialed hundreds of pages and signed a handful et voila -- My mind detached from the present personas of that room and flew back to the hallways and chambres of my little château, in my imagination changing colors and furniture, re-arranging objects and photos and soon enough, my mind crowded with visuals and smells and halted for a stop. Too soon, too soon.I would have to live in it, introduce myself to it slowly so it would introduce itself to me too and just trust the inspiration of the moment.. and for the time being just dwell on all the love I have for both my parents ♥      What I didn't know is that this little castle is located in the same region (& not too far away from) two of my favorite things: 1) The shooting location of my faaaaaaavorite movie of all time, Danse Avec Lui  , and.. 2) Château Royallieu, which was owned by Étienne Balsan, Coco Chanel's lover who bred the best horses in France ..and I only realized the this after the signature of ownership; it came to me as an amazing surprise that makes my heart tickle everytime I think of how often will I be visiting the Manoir where the movie was made.My first visit was a few days ago when I met the horse master Bernard Sachsé who trained the horses of the movie and was in complete awe (that is the understatement of the century, by the way) because seeing a disabled man mount al horse in all determination and ride it better than most people I've met is en fait the epitomy of horsemanship. Standing there before the manoir I had seen so many times watching the movie and going to sleep at night (for the past 5 years? lol) felt like I was in a dream, literally! We spent three hours on that property and his generous nature showed me just about every side of it: the arenas, the round pen, and even the photos from the making of the movie -all of it! And meeting the horse, Qalitative, the star of the movie - can you imagine how that felt? I had a near faint experience every 5 seconds lol -- & to extend the experience, I took lotsssss of pictures for you, and you can view them here I dream. I think. I do.. ..because I know dreams come true Lots of ♥ coming your way x Labels: Life Events, Pony Tales, Travel $16 in my moola box | link | email this post Vetting Love: Giving Your Horse an Intramuscular Injection        At the age of eight I've injected a frog, ..with water. At the age of 9 I've injected a scorpion's tale, ..with air. They were both dead. The difference between giving an injection to a dead creature and a (very much) alive one is vast, I'm only too sensible of the fact that my horse weighs nearly half a ton, and for that, I didn't want to take any chances of my attempt going wrong. Like everything else I develop curiosity for, my first reaction is to google it. I found a couple of information sources that were quite useful, and was relieved when I read that Intramuscular Injections are relatively simple and the process is not so complicated. To confirm that, I called one of the vets I had grown accustomed to over the past few weeks. The steps were pretty straight forward, and he didn't see anything going wrong, but thought it would be a good idea to come over and 'administer' my attempt. So, back to the title of this post, How to Give a Horse an Intramuscular Injection? 1. Visualize a triangle on the neck of your horse that overlays the muscle (see illustration below) and find the center of the triagle  2. Clean the area thoroughly with sanitizing alcohol solution 3. Pull the skin/coat of your horse from the base of the triangle to stretch it fully (in order to avoid your horse moving it while injecting, and therefore preventing movement of the needle during the injection) 4. Make sure you use a thin needle for the injection (I used 21-guage, green top). Insert the needle slowly 5. Attach the syringe holding the medication, and pull (suck out) to check if the needle is correctly inserted in the muscle and not on a vein. If you see any blood while pulling, remove the needle and repeat a few centimeters away from original spot. Remember, you want this injection in the muscle, some medications are fatal when injected in veins. If no blood comes out, inject the contents of the syringe light-handedly 6. Remove the needle slowly when done. If the medication you're using requires repetition, make sure to alternate sides on the horse's neck. Right, and left. Injecting on the same spot repeatedly may result in bruising. Now that I put the steps above in writing, it does sound slightly more complex than it actually is, and to be honest, I don't know where I got the courage to do it, but if I were to take a guess I'd say love breeds courage, I genuinely believe that I could give IB more love than any other vet, and wouldn't want to leave him under the 'standard care' of anyone. Now, please don't ask where I got the needles to inject a frog and a scorpion when I was a child, or even why I was mingling with such filth in the first place -- that's a story with blackmail potential. Meanwhile, I've been MIA since the start of this holy month. I've missed blogging, & I've missed all of you, but it takes me time to adapt to the new clock (I'm the worst when it comes to time-lags) but alas, I think I'm doing better this week => I wish you all a blissful month x Lots of ♥ coming your way Labels: Pony Tales $6 in my moola box | link | email this post Save the Queen     Source: The Guardian   Source: Dailymail Sporting Tantra in my rouge Birkin, Naima & I exhausted a couple of rounds on 9mm pistol shooting at the Caracal range in Abu Dhabi. Fabulous, to say the least. My score, however, was a far cry of despair compared to what I used to score three years ago, my bad. I put pistol shooting on pause for the past 3 years, mainly because it had lost it's novelty, and lack of competition combined with an escalating ladder of responsibilities at work left me little room to practice and landed me a not-bad-but-not-satisfactory-either result of 89%. It was the biggest ego deflator, the worst part of it? my colleagues where there to witness it lol Whilst waiting in the gallery for my turn, a group of men who sat by one another having a conversation as they waited for their turns too, I couldn't help but notice how girl-conversations differ (I wasn't evesdropping, they were just plain loud). And omy? Men, are so much funnier than girls! Despite the fact that my colleagues and I were quite far away, I had to constantly bite my lower lip to inflict pain to restrain my laughter, they were just hilarious! I kept tik-tiking away on my blackberry, looking like my life depended on it (well.. it does, in a way) tweeting and msging loulou simultaneously. Anyways, I read an announcement that's keeping me on my toes till next September; Mansour bin Zayed brings the British Queen's Household Cavalry to Abu Dhabi at the hunting exhibition in September. Brilliant! One of the many reasons why we love Mansoor <3 -- Read full story. The Household Cavalry is a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state. (read more here) -- My trainer had been invited by the household cavalry a few years ago, and when I saw the photos, I remember thinking: those horses are fabulously beautified! Everything was paid attention to, ..to the smallest details. The bridles, the bits, the saddles, ..everything! Absolutely gorgeous <3 Cheering for more horsie events in Abu Dhabi and signed with love, lots of love x Labels: Birkin, Pony Tales $4 in my moola box | link | email this post |
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