Month: March 2012

Ride Food: Mini Egg Muffins

/ Ashley Wingert / 4 Comments

I can’t believe I forgot to get pics of this (actually, yes, I can…I don’t end up taking pics of half the stuff I should be), so just take my word for it they look pretty cute.  Next time I make them, I will snap a few pics.

Note: I haven’t made these for an actual ride yet…but I’ve been doing rides long enough that I know what food I like and don’t like, and I’m pretty confident these will end up on my “must-have ride food” list.

The original recipe called them “mini egg frittatas.”  I’m calling them egg muffins, because they’re made in a mini muffin pan.  The idea behind them is simple…scramble some eggs, toss some stuff like cheese, meat, veggies in there, mix it all up, pour it into mini muffins, bake, eat.  They’re like crustless mini-quiches.

They probably took me about 15 minutes to put together, due in large part to the fact I kept getting interrupted by stopping and taking care of my box turtle.  Next time, it won’t take a whole lot more time than whipping together a batch of scrambled eggs…which usually involves at least chopping/slicing ham and cheese.

And the next morning, I grabbed one of the leftovers…and they were delicious cold!  That clinched it: I’m going to start making these for ride breakfasts.  I already eat cold hard-boiled eggs as the main part of my ride breakfasts, and always have trouble choking down that strong, dry yolk.  (Go figure…the one and only time I ever have trouble eating, it’s ride mornings.  Of course.)  These are moist, the eggs are well blended, and they can be as strong or as mild as you want to make them, depending on the additives.

And if I’m already taking the time to make hard-boiled eggs, wait for them to boil (and not forget about them), then wait for them to sit (and not forget about them), making these probably won’t take a whole lot more time.  And they don’t have to be peeled before eating.  (The only negative is it means I don’t get to make deviled eggs or egg salad the way I typically do with my ride leftovers.)

This first batch I made, I added spinach-artichoke chicken sausage that was already precooked and I just chopped it into small cubes, parmesan cheese, and roasted broccoli all chopped up.  They’re little, so make sure whatever you add has been pre-chopped into small pieces.

Here’s the actual recipe, with some suggestions for add-ins:

Mini Egg Muffins
6 eggs
¾ cup parmesan cheese (the powdery, crumbled kind, not large shavings)
1 T mayo [this is to help bind the egg together…you don’t taste it]
1 T Dijon mustard [could be omitted if you don’t like the mustard flavor or it makes it too strong]
1 T flour
Pepper
Salt
Various additions:
1 chicken sausage, chopped into small cubes
Crumbled sausage or chorizo, pre-cooked and drained
Bacon, pre-cooked until crispy, then crumbled
Roasted broccoli
Spinach
Artichokes
Red Pepper
Sun-dried tomatoes
Basil
Goat Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Ham, chopped
Swiss Cheese
Preheat oven to 350*.
Mix eggs until well-beaten.  Add next six ingredients and stir until combined.  Add selected additions and mix to combine.  Pour into a greased mini muffin pan.  A gravy ladle works well for filling the individual muffin wells.  Wells can be filled to the top.
Bake for 15-18 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit for about a minute, then run a knife around the edges of the wells to loosen the egg muffins.
Makes one mini-muffin pan, or 32 mini muffins.  A typical serving is 6-8 mini muffins.

The ‘L’ Word

/ Ashley Wingert / 4 Comments

No, not ‘love.’  The other one.
Loyalty.
Are horses loyal?
It took me quite a while and a lot of thinking out loud before I figured out my opinion, which is:

Yes, with some stipulations.

I don’t think it’s the same kind of loyalty as given by Man’s Best Friend.  Most dogs are unconditionally loyal and loving, or have allegiances that are easily won by the right bribe.  It’s usually food.  I think they have a pretty simple, “You did something for me, therefore I love you” outlook.
Food and bribery might work to get a horse’s attention, but I also think that it’s the food that they love, not whose hands are delivering it.
With horses, it’s something different.  It’s an allegiance won out of respect and trust.
My pony will come running to anyone that rattles the right feed can.  Doesn’t mean she likes them or will give them the time of day once the food is gone.  (And she usually doesn’t.)
But she willingly comes to me, no treats or bribes required, knowing that coming to me almost always means work.  And she does it.  Happily.
To me, that says, “Loyal.”
The things she’s done for me…I’ve asked her to do stuff I probably have no right to ask.  And she does it.  Because I believe she trusts me.  I’ve tried very hard not to ask her to do what she can’t do, or to put her in a situation that breaks that trust.
My reward is that I can trust her to do what I ask.
The end result of that sort of trusting partnership is a mutual respect.  I don’t let her get into bad situations, she does her best to take care of me.
That sounds pretty loyal.
Maybe I’m just anthropomorphizing (Yes, I just used that work before 7 o’clock in the morning.  Never mind I had to look up how to spell it, and I have a hard time actually saying it…), but loyalty is one of those qualities I hold in very high regard, so maybe this is just my wishful thinking impressing that upon my beloved animals that are such a huge part of my life.
If that’s the case, there could be far worse things in this world to be delusional about.
Or maybe, to some degree, I’m right. 
(Mimi, please keep this in mind next time we part company and you’re deciding whether or not to leave my pathetic butt on the ground and head for the hills or not.)
Your thoughts?

Appropriate Shirt is Appropriate

/ Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

I found the best shirt today.  It’s one of those hi-tech, synthetic, “supposed to keep you cool” moisture-wicking fabrics from Under Armour‘s HeatGear line.  And it’s one that isn’t cut to fit skin-tight.  I like to be comfortable when I ride, thank you.  Having grown up in the desert, I’m a firm believer in the cooling power of cotton…but I’ll give this one a try.

The writing on the back was what sold me.

(By the way, do you know how hard it is to take a picture of yourself in a mirror and have the writing not be backwards?  This is the first mirror reflecting onto a side mirror.)

Most sports gear with any kind of slogan on it is usually geared towards a specific sport…none of which are endurance-applicable.  I finally found one that is.

And if the miracle fabric really does do what it’s supposed to do and keep my cooler, this might just be a good ride shirt, since my belief in the power of cotton does not extend to what happens when you get caught in a rainstorm.  (Which has happened to me at rides far more frequently than I’d prefer.)

Synthetic = Much better idea than cotton for getting soaked when it’s cold.  When it’s hot is another story.  You’re talking about the girl that deliberately dunks her head in her pony’s water bucket (that long, thick hair holds a lot of water) and has been known to dump a bucket on herself before hitting the trail in an effort to stay cool in the summer.

Yes, I’ve heard about cooling vests.  I own one.  It doesn’t work anymore, dries out in about 20 minutes, then becomes another heat-trapping layer.  Very disappointed.

My Little Pony

/ Ashley Wingert / 6 Comments

Today was Pony Spa Day, and I took the plunge…

I cut Mimi’s mane.

Please note the “wild pony” eyes. This is the look she
displays pretty much 24/7 through the months of March
and April.  Fun times.

Part of me is crying inside right now.  I know, I know, it’s just hair.  It grows.  But there’s that nagging little, “What have I done?” in the back of my mind.  Sort of the same thought that has gone through my head whenever I’ve decided to chop my own hair really short in the past.  (Never again.  My hair is meant to be long.)

It’s not like I roached it off.  I won’t go that far.  I just cut it to the point that it was at back in our show days.

A large part of me wants that “long, flowing Arabian mane” look.  Unfortunately, the reality is, Mimi got the “crappy Appy” mane/forelock in her POA breeding.

And her mane was three or four different lengths, thanks to the fact she rubs out the middle section of her mane every few months by sticking her head through the bars of her pipe corral stall.  So she had the long, flowing mane…for the first four or five inches of mane.  Then it was the wimpy, rubbed out, really thin middle section.  Finally, the last third of her mane is a different texture (kind of wavy…not unlike my own) and never grew as fast as the front portion.

Cute as she is, the mane was not helping her looks any.  And I can’t get braids to stay in for longer than a day or two.

She still looks cute (she always looks cute) and very much like she could go right back into the show ring.  (If you overlook the metallic rub stains, saddle sweat, mud, manure, and yellow tail.  I wanted to give her a bath…then the clouds came in and she was given a reprieve.  Mostly because I didn’t want to end up cold and soaked.)

I don’t know if I’ll just leave it like this, or if we’ll attempt to grow it out and and see if she can keep it a little more even.

High-Low/Right-Left

/ Ashley Wingert / 6 Comments

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar/clinic by Dr. Kerry Ridgway.  To those who don’t know, he’s one pioneers of veterinary science in the endurance world.

He’s a fascinating speaker and an absolute wealth of information.  I can’t even begin to get into everything that was covered…everything from a horse’s natural imbalance, to the muscular system, to ulcers.  If you ever get a chance to take one of his clinics, I highly recommend it.

But one of the things that was heavily discussed was how horses are naturally imbalanced and have a “dominant” side, much the way people are right- or left-handed.  (Interestingly enough, similarly to people, 80% of the horses out there are right-sided.)

What does being “dominant-sided” mean?

In simple terms, one side is stronger than the other.  It’s the horse’s naturally preferred side, and there are certain indicators as to what that side is.  The horse actually turns away from his dominant side more readily.  For example, a right-sided horse has an easier time turning to the left, and will actually pick up the left lead easier than the right.

This imbalance can also contribute to the high-low heel syndrome seen in most horses.  When grazing, horses will keep their dominant front leg under themselves as the primary support pillar, and place their weaker leg forward.

I don’t have access to my notes I took from the seminar at the moment, so I’m hoping I’m remembering this correctly.  The dominant leg is the one that typically grows a higher heel, whereas the leg that is usually held forward is the one that tends towards under-run, lower heels and a long toe.

A further observation I found rather interesting after watching the dozen-horse herd at the barn.  It started with Mimi: I had a very hard time determining what side she was dominant on until I climbed on her and put her through her paces.  (Right-sided, like most horses, in case you’re wondering.)  She doesn’t display classic high-low.  Both her heels tend towards being high.

And then I watched her grazing.  She doesn’t stand still for more than about 30 seconds.  She is constantly on the move, and doesn’t spend more time with one front leg as the support pillar than the other.  After watching the habits of the other horses in the herd (a mix of short and tall, mares and geldings, barefoot and shod, Arabians, Quarter Horses, Paints, and warmbloods), I came to a theoretical conclusion:

The horses with shorter necks didn’t have as obvious high-low, and they spent more time moving around.  Sure, high-energy Arabian might account for some of that…but the swan-necked Arabs had more obvious high-low than the shorter necked Arabs…and the shorter-necked one is the one that moves around more.

So that got me wondering if the shorter neck makes it not quite as convenient to stay in one place grazing for long periods of time?

I’ve never heard or seen any kind of research that would back up this theory…it’s just my observations and I’d love to hear from others as to what they’ve observed.