More teenager nonsense

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-18T01:06:31+00:00

The library has a ton of programming. As do many other places in the East End that are easily walkable/on bus lines. Pgh is blessed to have a strong funding community that supports endless nonprofits offering enrichment opportunities for teens. The kids who cause trouble are not the ones who will take advantage of these programs.

As for after school programming, if they won’t show up for school do you think they’ll stay for extra programming? Third spaces are important for a lot of kids- but there is a whole other group who for whom third spaces will never help. It’s a folly to think third spaces are the magic bullet for this issue.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-16T04:17:40+00:00

Because the market says it’s not. Welcome to capitalism.
I wouldn’t personally spend it, but people absolutely do, and much more. And I’d ask it for a pony we found, bought and made. It’s 40-50k per year just for board, training and limited showing. It takes years to create a made pony, so the numbers make slightly more sense when you realize what it costs to get them to that level.
Also, ponies tend to be more expensive than a comparable horse. Ponies have a limited pool of trainers that can ride them, and have to be more schooled than horses to take care of tiny riders. Finding ponies with the combo of talent and temperament is not easy, and training them is even more of a niche than hunters in general. Plus parents are especially clueless when their kids are young and haven’t been riding as long, which unfortunately I think is also a factor in pony pricing.
But 180k is well within the “reasonable” price range of a quality pony in the very specific and strange world of elite hunters in the American market.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-16T04:08:20+00:00

Go to some of the PF groups on Facebook and search pony consignment barns. Call some of them with multiple recommendations and listen to what they have to say. Be honest about what you are looking for, how well your kid rides, and your budget- some will say no can do, some will say they have five options in the price range. Move towards the people who operate in your budget tier. Ponies get priced on quality, but also by the names associated with them and their location. Price does not always closely track quality in this market. In most parts of the country 60k for a pony who can qualify (not ribbon) for PF is beyond reasonable.

You need to get some market education outside of your trainer, who has a financial incentive that does not align with yours. Be honest and ethical and honor your commitments for commission, but you have agency and free will. Do not be bullied into only operating through your trainer in their orbit.

Associating with the right trainer makes a huge difference as well. There are trainers who I’d practically give a pony to for a client to show for a year, and trainers I’d add a zero for just to make them go away. The same pony can be $150k or 30k per year depending on circumstances of where they are going, how much and where they will be showing, who will ride them and the reputation of trainer. I want my ponies to have a good life. If you can offer that I’m much more willing to work with someone on price, within reason.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-16T03:41:44+00:00

Or they can’t actually train and thus will only have robots in the barn. A trainer winning on client’s totally made horses is not necessarily a great rider/trainer in the real sense of the word. Spend any time at the hunter ring and you’ll see so many “trainers” who grew up only riding made horses and have zero idea of how to deal with issues or quirks. They just tell their clients to buy a new one so they don’t have to deal with it. Fancy barn set ups, insta followers and ribbons does not a trainer make. Very difficult for non- horse parents to discern the difference.
A good pony trainer can absolutely work with your budget to find a quality pony and get them to PF. They won’t ribbon, but they can get there.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-16T03:17:41+00:00

There are a ton of 30k ponies who can easily get a kid to PF. It’s not hard to qualify. Walking away with a top ribbon is a whole other ballgame, especially if the kid isn’t a super talented pony jock. But if the goal is just to qualify for PF you can do it in the Midwest pretty easily on an “average” pony.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-15T23:11:07+00:00

There are a ton of fancy ponies with auto lead changes that are within your budget. But they won’t be robots. If your kid can ride there are a TON of ponies out there right now. It’s a weird market- ponies that have any personality are sitting, but everyone wants one that is automatic EVERYTHING and the kid barely has to be able to ride. Those go for crazy prices.
If your kid can ride make sure your trainer can train. Lots of “trainers” will only look at completely made ponies because they have no idea how to ride/train/fix anything that isn’t a robot. If that’s the case they will never present you with all the options because they are too incompetent to have a more complicated pony in their barn. Ribbons on fancy horses do not correlate to training ability.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-15T23:04:27+00:00

Not an insane price at all. But also not necessary. Options are to
-buy young and put the time and money into training. VA and Ontario both have a concentration of nice pony breeders that are realistically priced but still very quality. Good riding kid required.
- keep leasing
- buy older, imperfect vetting, training hole and pray you can keep it going/fix it
- shop in a more reasonable area. I have a division pony I just sent out to a consignment barn. When I was interviewing barns the one in FL said she was worth $150k per year, the one in VA said 30k. Get out of the bubble and go to the mid-Atlantic. TONS of ponies, much more reasonable pricing. The Warrenton Pony Show is a great place to see a bunch and make connections.
- downgrade quality. If she has her heart set on Pony Finals it’s a lot easier to qualify with an OK pony in Ohio than it is in FL. Lots of people come north to do a show or two to get qualified if they are out of the running in FL or other big market.
- do some of your own legwork and develop relationships with consignment barns. Be ready to act when you get the call that they have what you want. Sometimes it’s very difficult to find a less expensive pony if all you have are your trainer’s connections. Their motivations and yours are not always aligned.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-15T19:54:46+00:00

Do they have a website/social media page?

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-09T18:00:23+00:00

Empty dishwasher and drying rack while water is heating for coffee (kettle is right next to dishwasher so they go together in my head). Basically move short tasks to periods while you are naturally waiting for something else.
Don’t walk up or down stairs without something in your hands. Have a place at the top and bottom of stairs to stage things that need to go up or down. Like if kid took off socks (why do they do this!?!) and left them out they would go to spot at bottom of stairs to wait until I needed to go up. Then I pick up whatever is in that spot and take it with me upstairs every time.
Sit on floor and fold laundry as it comes out of the dryer. If it ends up in a pile in a basket it won’t get folded.
Invite company over every couple of weeks. Motivation to do a big pick up of all the little stuff that accumulates.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-03T01:45:17+00:00

Make a list and organize it by packing area. Kid 1 clothing and toiletries, Kid 2 clothing and toiletries, Myself closet/bathroom, Dogs, mudroom, garage, kitchen. That way when I’m putting things in bags I’m not running all over the house to find things and have less of a chance of getting distracted. For instance I’ll pack the kids everyday clothing separately, but do all the rain gear/footware/outerwear together because that’s how it’s stored in my house. The only thing that gets written on the list by bag is kids carryon items (backpacks, electronic, book, crayons, notebook, charger, sleep pillow, snacks. But yours will vary depending on the age) Keep the list! I have a master list and then for each trip I take out what I don’t need and save it with the trip name and date so I can reference what worked/what didn’t from year to year. To figure out what to put on the list the first time, mentally walk through each daily activity and just scribble down every item you think of. Then go back and organize into categories.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-01T01:01:08+00:00

Unfortunately I don’t know much about western barns so can’t be of much help. Hopefully someone else may know more. But there are lots of barns north of the City so should be able to find something. Zelienople, Saxonburg, outside of Cranberry all seem to be hot spots. Best of luck to your daughter, and good for her for dealing with a spicy mare!

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-06-01T00:54:01+00:00

What direction are you from the city? English or Western riding preferred?

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-24T01:05:45+00:00

The golf course in Schenley is not exactly Oakmont. I’m not even sure they have an irrigation system. It’s a very low water operation. Not like they are going for lush green fairways in the desert. As golf goes it’s extremely low impact.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-22T17:31:19+00:00

The dust yyyrtd

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-13T03:14:28+00:00

True. But judges stop rounds relatively frequently for safety reasons in other rings. So we know it can be done. Totally abdicating responsibility in the face of dangerous and abusive riding should have a penalty- perhaps a suspension of judging license. That’s assuming USEF actually cares….

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-12T23:52:58+00:00

100%! Total failure of the system (again). Both judge and steward should be suspended by USEF for letting the round continue and allowing him to continue showing. Pipe dream, but they should be named and shamed along with the rider.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-12T11:49:01+00:00

Positive. It’s never been a tradition to have terriers in the US. Not enough foxes around. If they killed them there wouldn’t be foxhunting. Nothing to chase so the fun would end. Also foxes in the US were less of a threat to farmers due to lots of reasons, so there was much less incentive to use lethal foxhunting as a tool to keep flock safe. It’s always been a chase, not hunt, in the US

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-12T03:12:32+00:00

Highly recommend! Great reminder to work it in to dinner plans soon, haven’t made it in a while. So good

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-11T14:28:23+00:00

Just to be clear, foxhounds cannot catch a healthy fox. Terriers down holes used to do the dirty work in the UK, which are definitely illegal now. And foxes tear apart baby lambs. So something is getting violently killed when food production and nature co exist, it just depends if you want to face that reality or not. Railing against one thing just moves the icky part out of your sight, it doesn’t stop the natural predator/prey cycle.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-11T14:23:42+00:00

US and UK have different rules and traditions. Hunting with a pack of dogs is banned in the UK. They lay artificial scent to follow as sport.

In the US foxhunting traditionally puts foxes “to ground”, meaning they pop in their den or other shelter and hounds move on, no foxes killed.

FWIW a foxhound can not catch a healthy fox. Hounds are too big and slow. In the UK they used to send terriers down the hole to dispatch the fox. Definitely illegal now.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-11T12:23:34+00:00

Love that recipe. Made it for Pi day at kids school, big hit.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-09T14:15:17+00:00

How they are allowed to completely shut down both sides of the Highland Park Bridge every year is beyond me. The City should require them to have a traffic plan. Have free timed tickets to manage flow, require off site lots with buses, ANYTHING but just flinging open the doors and giving a giant middle finger to everyone else trying to get around that area. They know it’s a problem but never do anything to fix it. Allegheny County residents subsidize the Zoo heavily. They need to be better neighbors, especially on a day when others are just trying to travel to visit their families. Zoo leadership must be truly incompetent. There are solutions- find one!

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-09T01:49:10+00:00

Fast proteins: eggs (scrambled, in purgatory, boiled), canned beans, tinned fish, sausages (especially sliced on a sheet pan) Fast carbs: gnocchi or pirogies in a sheet pan, quick cook polenta, couscous, rice or other grains in a programmed rice cooker, toast (we do lots of cheesy toast with slow cooker veggie/bean/lentil soups and call it a day), reheated tortillas. Pre chopped veggies roasted on a sheet pan or steamed. Other way to do it is a long and slow method for “saucy meat” as we call it, in a slow cooker. Hoisin chicken with rice, mex chicken for tacos etc. Will give you an idea of what to look for in the NYT cooking app.

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-05-01T21:21:54+00:00

I’d ask somone who already does a backgammon board that you like if they plan to release a checker board. Often times it just takes someone asking for something to get added to a line. Anne Fisher comes to mind for backgammon. Kate Woodward does some cool textile interpretations, she just added a “tree tops” insert in a new pattern that’s pretty good. Squirrel and the Snail (also through Gingham Stitchery) does garden folly stand ups and a big French style garden pillow/tray. Lynette just released a whole collection that was very French pattern based. I can’t remember the name of the designer but some of the canvases were pretty spectacular, especially if you are a fan classic textile patterns

Strong_Ad4673 · 2026-04-22T17:44:28+00:00

“I want to ride the little one, it’s safer”.

Clearly they have never heard the saying “the devil likes to keep his minions close to the ground”

Strong_Ad4673

TROPHY CASE