We are officially entering the dog days of summer here in Florida (the fact that it’s almost July is somehow astounding to me) and the routines of spring have been replaced with new ones. Rides are happening earlier in the morning, we’re keeping things a bit lighter/shorter, and spending more time hacking. My trainer is also still in Europe, so we’ve had a few weeks off from our usually fairly busy lesson schedule. While we’re using it as a bit of a break, I also really didn’t want to just go a month or two without jumping or getting the boys out and about. They both had a pretty light spring, and I don’t want to lose the momentum we got in May. So I set a rough goal of taking both Presto and Bingo somewhere at least once a week, whether it was to trot the hills or do some XC or jumper rounds or whatever.

And so far we’ve been successful with that. The week following the POP show (where I ended up scratching after dressage because Presto’s shoe was about a millimeter from disaster) I took Presto to a XC derby. I looooove when farms have schooling show type stuff on the weekdays, it’s so nice to just be able to pop over there real quick in the morning. The Training division went first at 7:30am, which was perfect for me.

Presto definitely started out a little bit spooky, he’s never been out on the XC at that venue before, but he ended up being good.

I felt like it took the entire first half of the course for him to really get out in front of my leg and not hold tension behind the saddle, but we did get there eventually. I really liked the structure of the class, too… you started with 5 show jumps and then rolled directly into XC, basically like how the YEH classes are set up. The XC starts off softer and then builds in height and technicality as you go along. We had a nice variety of stuff that I thought really covered all the bases – a jump in the water, a drop into water, a coffin, skinnies, going up and down a mound, etc. Perfect little morning.

Bingo has been on a few more outings than Presto has, mostly because I really wanted to use this time for us to get to know each other better and see what I’ve really got. As I wrote about previously, he spent a month with my trainer, which culminated in him attending his first show, and I wanted to get him home and see how all that was going to translate, see how he felt, and start doing more stuff together.

And he really hasn’t put a foot wrong. I think he definitely gained some confidence in the world as a whole during his month away. He’s less horse shy, he doesn’t get worried leaving his friends or when his friends leave him, he’s going to new places like an absolute champ, and most importantly he seems to have a better understanding of his job – and really likes it. He just seems a little bit more settled within himself, in general. That was exactly what I was hoping to achieve by sending him off to school, so I’ve been very pleased with how he’s continued to come along since.

So far he’s been out for a conditioning day on the hills, XC schooling, jump schooling, and to a little jumper rounds show. He’s traveled well, he’s been pleasant, he’s been relaxed… for where he’s at in his training (we’re, what… 6 months in?) I really can’t fault him. His brain in particular.

It’s especially apparent when I switch back and forth from doing things with Bingo vs doing things with Presto, who is not exactly known for his mental fortitude. Presto is a spooky, emotional creature with a flair for drama. Bingo is… not that. At all. I mean sure, he’s a 6yo very green OTTB so a little spook here or a reaction there – totally within his wheelhouse. But his brain just works so differently from Presto’s.

A really good example of this was last week’s jumper rounds.

I took Bingo for a Starter round and a BN round. He’d been to this facility the week before to XC school, but not to the side of the property where the jumping ring is. He unloaded, looked around for a few seconds, then started grazing. I put his bridle on, walked him down to the mounting block, and got on. No fuss no muss. We walked past the jumping ring with it’s little pop up tents and into warmup, where he had one slightly fast trot circle before he settled into his totally normal Bingo self. I trotted and cantered a crossrail and then went over to the ring. He jumped around the Starter easy peasy, with the only dramatic moment being when I tried a perhaps too ambitious (given how gigantic and green he is) inside turn and we subsequently jumped an oxer on an angle, taking the rail. My bad. I had only jumped a full course on him once before so I overestimated his steering.

We came out, waited for a couple other rounds, and then they came and raised the jumps to BN. The whole time we were waiting Bingo just stood there next to the Kubota on a loose rein. Like he does this every day of the week, no biggie.

Then he went back in and jumped around his very first BN round. Well ok, he’d fallen asleep a bit and subsequently walloped the first fence, so we came back around and started the course again (this is why we love the schooling jumper rounds so much). He felt a little bit tired by that point but again, he was just a good boy. He went around and jumped all the jumps like no big deal.

It was a very drama free morning with zero spooks. I mean he’s green, sure, and there were definitely some green horse mistakes happening (keeping track of all 4 legs is sometimes difficult), but there was no naughtiness or drama. He waited happily while Henry jumped around with Kathleen, then we went back, untacked, hosed the horses off, and Bingo self-loaded back into the trailer. Just a really pleasant morning overall.

And then… it was Presto’s turn. To his credit, he is a very good loader and hauler. It’s what he does once you get him off the trailer that tends to vary.

When we got back to the facility they were watering the arena with those big sprinklers. After observing this from a distance for a minute, Presto decided he was going to die. Mind you, he’s seen a lot of arena sprinklers in his day. Even in the past few months. But he’s never seen THESE.

Sooo anyway, he stared at the sprinklers for the whole less-than-10 minutes they were on, and was completely incapable of putting his brain back in his head once they went off. WHERE DID THEY GO? Surely they were still lurking down there, ready to blast him off the face of the earth without warning.

After he finally took a deep breath, it still took me a while to get him near warmup because he was busy spooking at a jump standard. Then it took me a while to get him into warmup because he was spooking at the footing change. Then it took me a while to get him in the ring because of the Ghosts of the Selkies. Then it took me a while to get him anywhere near the corners where the sprinklers had been. It was DRAMA. I just had to keep trotting circles, working our way closer and closer to whatever the current offending item was. He spooked at everything that existed and everything that didn’t. It doesn’t help that he’s had a meltdown at this facility in the past when he discovered that there’s a horse and cows living just across the treeline from warmup. Still… he’s been here for jumper rounds like 4 or 5 times now. I’ll let you know when he runs out of things to be spooky about.

To his credit, I was able to work him out of it and he ended up jumping around the meter with no problem. It just took a while to get there because we had to take a side quest through Dramaland first.

By the time we were done I was getting overheated, so Kathleen and Lija took him to hose him off. I’m told there was only minimal naughtiness, so we’ll take that as a win.

Presto is, without a doubt, the most talented horse I’ve ever owned. He’s also the most challenging. I’ve gotten so used to his idiosyncrasies and the accommodations I make to help his mental state… having Bingo, who requires none of those (although he does have a few little idiosyncrasies of his own, as they all do) really highlights what a handful Presto can be. I love him dearly, and always will, but owning that horse gives me more of an appreciation for one like Bingo. It’s nice to have him to balance out my Drama King. Maybe Bingo is meant to be my emotional support creature?

Either way, it’s fun to have them both, even if (especially if?) they’re so wildly different. And I’m particularly pleased with how much Bingo has really stepped up this month. I’m starting to see glimmers of a really nice horse underneath all the awkward, I think!

The first 3 jumps are him:

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Which is why I decided to late enter him for the RRP Makeover. I entered him on Friday and we got accepted Monday!

If we can’t get into one of the jumping divisions I don’t know if I’ll take him, but I do think he’s the right type of horse to mentally handle that kind of show/environment really well. So, we’ll see. Our hat is in the ring, at least! If we don’t go this year, now he’ll at least be eligible for the Graduate classes going forward.

I did start a Make The Makeover page (these funds go directly to RRP, and I get refunds on some of my Makeover fees depending on how much I raise) if anyone is interested in supporting the journey!

As for the smallest member of Team Bay Boys, Neville is still stinkin’ cute.

He is, as of now, definitely the quietest of this year’s crop. He likes a game of Bitey Face, and he’ll run around a bit, but he’s for sure less rambunctious than the other colts. I suspect that this is because he’s currently the only one of the 7 colts on this farm that doesn’t have at least one descended testicle already. A couple of them already have two, most have one, some have just a hint of one, but Neville’s have yet to make even a glimmer of an appearance. Which is very normal in the realm of foals, but I do think it has something to do with how he’s less inclined to naughtiness than the others. He’s also just a clone of his mom’s temperament so far. Which kind of makes me chuckle, because she also really likes this foal. Her first one, she was fairly indifferent, her second one she found annoying, but this one she actually enjoys hanging out with. I think because he’s obedient and polite and acts just like her. Don’t worry, that could all change really quickly, and probably will sooner or later.

For now though, he’s cute and sweet. Please enjoy his one-colt Pride Parade.

@breed.ride.event

Happy Pride from Neville! 🏳️‍🌈✨🪩

♬ MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) – Lil Nas X

In other baby news, Bear is officially sold so that means Tommy is our ONLY remaining available foal out of the 9 we had this year. Pretty crazy! Oh, and unfortunately Fey is not pregnant, so I decided to quit for this season and just start early next year. It’s just too hot here. So now I have many months to decide if I want to buy another dose of Diathletico (it did look really good quality under the microscope) or if I should try something else. We’ll see!

I was recently invited to be a guest on the Amateur Hour podcast to talk about everyone’s favorite subject – Henry! The host, Jessica Paquette, is a racetrack announcer by day and a h/j rider in her free time. She recently started this podcast and has already had some really good episodes, highly recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of podcasts! She’s tackling some really interesting subjects that are so relevant and/or interesting to most of us.

The episode where I talk about Henry is called The Horses Who Made Us and was just released today. You can find it here:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Audible

We’ve officially made it to the end of breeding season!

We’ve still got a lot of pregnancy checks to do, but the actual breeding part is finished. Whoever isn’t pregnant at this point will just wait until next year, because it’s already just way too late in the season here to be trying again. It’s hot! I’ll wait until we’re at least through all the black dots, if not the heartbeats, to give you a full list of what we’re expecting in 2027, but I can tell you for certain that we won’t be having as many next year. Some mares are retiring, some we opted to give a year off and start earlier again next year.

We’ve also sold all of the foals from this year now except for 2, ironically the two out of our best performance mares. Tommy, the colt by Ustinov (jumped 1.50m) out of Chanel Z (jumped 1.45m and has already produced a 1.50m horse and a 1.45m horse) is looking for a good showjumping home. He would suit someone who has high level aspirations and experience. And then we have Bear, Neville’s BFF, who is by Dia Corrado (1.45m jumper) out of Headleys Chatterbox (3* eventer and her dam was a 4* eventer). A horse by Dia Corrado was just 2nd in the 2*L at Bromont, piloted by Olivia Dutton. Bear is really outgoing and bold and people-oriented, I think he’d be super fun for either a serious amateur or a pro to bring along. Both boys are big and handsome!

As for Neville, I remain obsessed. He is pretty chill and well-behaved for a 5 week old colt, and I’ve been making sure I take 5 minutes a day to put my hands on him to make sure he stays that way. I put his halter on and off, loop his lead rope around the post (pre-tying lessons… we don’t hard tie babies because their necks are very fragile), groom him all over, pick up his feet, move him off of pressure, work on leading where/how he’s supposed to, the word “whoa”, etc. He’s still very young so it’s literally no more than 5mins a day of anything, but it’s where we start.

He especially liked the days where we were bringing his mom in to scan and breed her. He really enjoyed exploring the barn and putting his nose on everything. Like all of Vee’s foals, he’s so curious and confident most of the time. Exploring is his favorite. That and ear scritches.

Honestly, he’s so stinkin cute. It’s been a long time since we raised Presto… hope y’all are ready to give it a go with another foal.

As for everyone else, they’ve been busy too!

Presto and I have been fitting in lots of lessons (mostly jumping, one dressage) and things seem to have righted themselves. I got my mojo back, Presto has been jumping better, and things are really clicking again. We’ve worked so hard at the rideability, keeping his back soft to/away from the jump, making sure he doesn’t lock the bottom of his neck and use it against me, etc.

We entered the Training division at the POP show this past weekend, hoping to get some nice quiet soft phases in. And while he was exceptional on the flat:

he stepped on his shoe at one point, badly enough to where I thought he’d pulled the shoe clean off. Indeed he did not, but he DID rip away a big chunk of wall and loosen the shoe. There wasn’t a show farrier on site, so I opted to withdraw rather than jump him. I was worried that if he pulled it (which seemed pretty likely) that he’d take a god-only-knows-how-big chunk of foot with it. Not worth the risk!

A bummer, but ya know… it’s just a horse show, there will be more. He got his shoe fixed the next morning (it’s not too terrible but there really is very little wall left, which thrills me heading into wet season) and we had a great lesson doing a SJ round and then popping around some XC at my trainer’s barn.

The more exciting part about the POP show is that it was the culmination of Bingo’s month of training, and his horse trial debut! He spent the last 4 week’s over at Trainer’s place getting some expert riding and general sporthorse life experience under his girth, and I think it was really really great for him. He’s confident, he’s relaxed, he’s happy, and he’s for sure understanding the job a lot more. We entered him in the Starter and the plan was for her to take him, run him there, and then I’d take him home with me.

Originally the plan also included her taking Bingo to the open schooling at the venue the day before, so he could see the sights and pop around some of the XC before the show. Unfortunately she had truck problems and they weren’t able to make it. So, I have to brag on Bingo a bit extra here and how well I think he handled everything, especially considering 1) Florida Horse Park is a huge, busy venue. 2) He’s only been off-property XC schooling once before. 3) He’s never been in a dressage ring in his life. 4) He’s definitely never been in a busy warmup ring like those.

He was an absolute professional about the whole thing.

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The judge seemed to think his dressage test was boring (literally half the comments were “needs more energy”… HA) which to me is a major win for an OTTB’s very first time in a dressage ring. He scored a 35, which was good enough for second.

During his warmup for SJ he had just jumped his first crossrail when a small, fast-moving and chaotic little gray pony came in the ring and he really thought that thing was a demon straight from hell. Bingo is considerably less horse shy than he was a month ago, but Trainer opted to just go in the ring rather than have him spiral and get upset in the warmup. A bold choice but the right one, because he went in and cantered right around like a pro. I kind of figured he might have a couple rails in SJ because when he’s distracted he has a really hard time remembering that he has four feet, but nope… he kept all the rails in the cups for a clear round.

Then it was straight out to what I was probably most concerned about: the XC. The XC at the Horse Park is soooo sprawling, the start box was next to warmup with the first couple jumps going straight away from the rings/warmup/parking, all the jumps were still well-decorated from the recognized they just had… it was a fairly daunting ask for a horse’s first event and at a brand-new-to-him venue. Bingy really did a “hold my beer” on this one though, because he was foot perfect. He jumped everything happily and confidently and politely, and honestly seemed to be unimpressed by the whole thing. Trainer reported that he was straight and forward-thinking to every jump, and felt like if anything he needed some bigger jumps. Another double clear phase and what do you know, he finished on his dressage score at his very first horse trial to take home second!

To add icing on the cake, he was really good about the general hubbub of the day. He showed out of their big trailer with four other horses and stood on there like a good boy all day. He handled all the noise of the loudspeaker and the music really well (he’s noise sensitive, so this was a big one). He was relaxed and happy and seemed proud of himself. He handled the warmups pretty well too, all things considered. I think sending him for a month of training and having her take him to his first real show was definitely really helpful to him as far as building his confidence and just allowing him to see and do more things. Now he’s back home and he’ll have a lighter week or two, then we’ll be ready to start looking at some summer adventures!

Henny has also been busy too, with his buddy Kathleen. I’ll let her tell you their tales, though.

Trainer will be out of the country for the next month so things will slow down quite a bit here, but I’m still planning to get the boys out as much as possible. The goal is hopefully an outing for each of them every week, whether its for a jumper round or a little schooling derby or just some trot sets on the hills. It is most definitely off season in Ocala, but there’s still stuff to do pretty much all the time as we head into the dog days of Florida summer. Time to settle into that slower and easier summer schedule! I’m looking forward to it.

I feel like I need to start off this post by saying that I am not a complete and total AI hater. I do think there are some legitimate uses for AI, particularly when it comes to the medical industry, both human and equine. This post really has more to do with the marketing side of things, be it social media images, advertising from brands, videos, event flyers, sale ads, the copy for social media posts and blog posts, etc. That is the bone I’m choosing to pick today, because this is the thing that I’m seeing most rampantly at the moment. I think a lot of brands/companies/people in this industry don’t understand the potential long-term impact of what they’re doing, both to themselves and to others.

I feel like at least a few times a week, I’m in some brand’s comments on social media, letting them know that I am disappointed to see the use of AI in their marketing. The response is always interesting, and has been quite varied, but I feel like we can talk about that a little bit later. Let’s start off with identifying some of the most common things that I have seen lately.

There have been many brands, including some really big ones, using generative AI to produce videos of their products. You can always tell when a video is AI generated, if you know what to look for. I’m also seeing it very commonly used to create photo backgrounds for products – so a photo of the product that someone has put into an AI platform and asked it to give it a background or also perhaps slightly change something about the product itself, or the overall image. Or to generate event/sale flyers, or the copy for posts.

What seems to have completely taken over social media, particularly Facebook, is the ChatGPT-generated captions and graphics. The graphics are always very easy to spot with their trademark fonts and layouts… these AI platforms have a very specific style that honestly makes my brain hurt a little bit. They all look the same, and they’re all massively overdone, usually with plenty of detail inaccuracies when you start looking at them closely.

I personally would much rather see a shitty drawing in Paint or a badly made Canva flyer or a slightly out of focus picture or a spelling/grammar mistake. Why? At least those seem authentic and real and human.

The captions in particular are where everyone has really gone wild. There are some very big accounts that post nothing but ChatGPT-generated captions. Usually quite long ones, where it looks like a rant about a specific topic, or an educational post. Every time I see those I can immediately imagine exactly what these people have put into ChatGPT as a prompt to generate these posts. Again, you can spot them from a mile away. I always wonder what’s the point in interacting with something that was written by a machine? It took someone 5 seconds to generate a post that was designed specifically to entice you to interact with it, for the sole purpose of generating social media interaction. Miss me with that nonsense.

There is absolutely no question that the use of AI has definitely gained a strong foothold within equestrian social media as well as its marketing. The real question is: is this actually a bad thing? And why or why not?

I’m sure it would surprise absolutely no one to hear that my opinion is that I think it’s absolutely a horrible thing and I hate it. To the point where, if I see it more than once, or if there’s a discussion about it and the business owner or brand or creator digs their heels in and defends their AI usage, I immediately unfollow all of their accounts. Is that an extreme response? I don’t know. But I do know that the only way I can really make my opinion heard – and more importantly felt – is by removing myself from their potential base of supporters. Voting with my feet and/or wallet, if you will.

Why do I think it’s such a bad thing? As horse people we have to start with what is perhaps the most obvious and impactful thing for our industry, which is (in my opinion) the environmental aspect. Data centers are popping up at an alarming rate, driven largely by this surge of unchecked AI use, and many of the places that are being targeted to build these data centers are more rural communities. These data centers have terrible impacts on the local environment, and the rapid installation of them will have a definite impact on the global environment, whether you have a data center near you or not. According to Pew Research Center there are currently more than 1,500 new data centers in development nationwide, with heavy emphasis on the South and the Midwest regions (often in already marginalized communities that have little power to fight back, and in places – I’m looking at you, Texas – where they really CANNOT handle more strain to their power infrastructure or water supply).

In this day and age, being a horse person must come hand-in-hand with being a steward of our environment. The impacts to land are real, and we are already feeling it in this industry. From event venues disappearing, to the cost of land rising year over year, not to mention the climate impacts that affect crops and the ability (and cost) to feed our horses… if you aren’t a champion of environmental causes, I think you’re being shortsighted and naïve.

The second big thing, in my mind, is the impact that this has on the human brain. There are already multiple published, peer reviewed studies about how using AI is making us collectively dumber. Is this really the time in human history where we want to reduce everyone’s ability to think deeply, creatively, and critically? Well, I suppose there’s a large group of people that would really love that and benefit from it, but for humanity as a whole it’s sad at best and terrifying at worst.

The third big thing to me, and yes I do say this as someone within the industry, is that it cuts out the human element. Sure, you can have ChatGPT write a blog post or a caption for your Instagram reel in just a few seconds. But I would caution people to pause and consider what it is that actually makes someone connect to and identify with a person, a brand, a product, etc. When everyone’s marketing looks and sounds the same, with nothing genuine or authentic about it, what’s the difference between your brand and someone else’s?

Authenticity and originality have always been key elements of what makes a person or a company or a brand successful. It’s what makes a blogger interesting to follow, or makes one brand’s products stick out more than others. When you think back 10 years or so, when blogging was really in its heyday, the people that were most interesting to follow were the most authentic people, the most interesting people, and those who had something different either within their story or within the way they told their story. It wasn’t bland or cookie cutter, and it didn’t sound like the same person wrote every single thing. Think about your favorite store/brand/creator… why are they your favorite?

When it starts to feel like every image and word is being generated and fed to me by a machine, you’ve lost my interest completely. I will admit that as someone who does copywriting for a living, I’m probably more sensitive to this than most people. I can spot AI-generated content from a mile away, and I have no interest in consuming it. To me not only does it lack creativity, but it looks lazy, and there’s nothing about it that makes it special or warrants any of my attention. If you didn’t put in any effort to create it, why should I put in any effort to consume it?

Another huge issue I have with AI is that all of it, literally every bit of everything it knows, was stolen from somewhere. The vast majority of articles or books or captions or paintings or drawings or photographs or music that have been fed into AI was without the permission of the person who created it in the first place. That person gets absolutely no credit and no compensation. When it comes to this type of use, AI is one big giant theft machine. That machine uses the work of real people and slightly modifies it to generate something to your specs, and the original creator gets no benefit. Do you know who does? The huge companies that own and run these AI platforms. Not only is this morally wrong, but it will also have deep and lasting impacts on the job market, and force many creatives out of the space. Is that really what we want, a future where everything looks the same and has no personality or creativity behind it whatsoever?

I know there will be a lot of people defending their AI usage by mentioning the cost factor. Does it cost more money to pay a copywriter or a photographer or a social media manager? Of course it does, because you’re fairly compensating them for their work, ideas, time, and creativity. You’re not doing that with AI because these companies stole it from other people to begin with.

As I said earlier, when I see these accounts using AI-generated content, I generally try to give people the benefit of the doubt and start a conversation about it. The response has varied greatly. Some people have attacked me for questioning their use of AI at all. Others have just deleted my comments and any other negative comments. I have had a few fruitful discussions with people who genuinely didn’t know any of this. I’ve also had many a discussion where they definitely knew this and just don’t care. Those are the most disappointing I think, because it makes me question your core values in everything you do.

If there are business owners out there reading this, I urge you to consider how the use of AI within your marketing affects your brand’s reputation. While it might seem quicker and more cost-effective up front, believe me when I say that people can absolutely tell you’re using these tools. This can give the consumer a feeling that the business isn’t honest and does absolutely nothing to build brand loyalty or built a lasting relationship with your consumers. Your business should have a voice, and not a generic one. Also consider that using AI-generated (or even AI-improved) images to represent real products can lead to legal issues with misrepresentation.

There are things that AI does well, but marketing, authenticity, and reputation-building are not among them.

What I’m hoping is that sooner or later everyone else will get tired of this as well, and we’ll swing back towards a trend and desire for individuality and creativity. I think it’s already begun. But for now, it’s disheartening to see how many people and brands have jumped aboard the bandwagon of AI with seemingly little consideration to the drawbacks. Whether you use AI or not, whether you love it or not, I’m asking people to just think about the long-term ramifications. Not just to the environment, or humanity, or your own morality and ethics, but also to the long-term reputation of themselves or their brand.

What is it that you want to be known for? I think we should be asking that question now more than ever.

Last week I promised an update on everything that’s been going on aside from all the babies, so here we go! Plus… more babies. Tis the season, after all.

First and foremost, I did make the trip to Kentucky again this year.

This year I was flying solo, and mostly was there to collect and generate social media content for a few clients. I drove up from Ocala, which is about 10 hours with gas stops and traffic, but it was a pretty easy drive to and from. I stayed with Lauren (the person who now owns Rubes) in her camper onsite, so it worked out great. To give a quick summary of Kentucky (because to write it all out would be days… it was a whole Patreon podcast episode in and of itself): Friday was content creation, picking up some frozen semen at Hagyard to bring home, the stallion showcase at Spy Coast, tattoos with friends, then dinner out. Saturday I traipsed around the ENTIRE day getting content, from one end of the trade fair to the other and one end of the XC to the other multiple times. I met up with my friend Jenn to watch the 5* and she gamely traipsed around with me while I was getting content, then gave me a couple Founders Club tickets for the big Grand Prix that night.

That was a very bougie and nice experience, the food was fantastic and so was the view. Sunday I was up early to catch the morning jogs, then hit the trade fair one last time to wrap up some loose ends before I hit the road to Georgia. I stopped there overnight at Rising Star Farm and picked up more frozen semen and booped all their stallions and babies before I was back on the road before dawn the next morning for the final leg home.

It was a relatively insane few days where I clocked 28 miles of walking, but boy did I squeeze a lot in. I also did a small amount of damage in the trade fair, picking up a couple new nameplate bracelets, some sweaters from Mango Bay, a new breastplate for Bingy, some treats, a few grooming related items, and souvenirs for friends. Oh, and this stock pin. I almost never wear a stock or a stock pin, but on the rare occasion that I must, I now have the absolute perfect pin. I couldn’t pass it up.

I also got one more little thing when I got home…

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is a black glitter show coat. I saw it on Instagram and immediately googled the maker, found the model, googled the model to find stores that had it, dug around until I found a singular tack shop in Florida that showed it online, messaged the store owner, arranged an appointment to come shop at her house (she has mobile stores) which was conveniently 30 minutes away, and went and bought it the next day. Shoutout to SunSpree for being the most accommodating. I mean, the coat was made for me. Plus it was only $165. In horse girl math, that’s a free show coat.

After I got home from Kentucky, Bubby was born, and then Neville. I am completely obsessed with Neville.

He’s out of Vee, aka Vonhra, a full TB mare that has had two foals for the WTW program before – Andy who is now 3, and Dash who is a yearling. The same person bought both of them, and they’ve been some of my favorite foals we’ve raised here. Vee just has my type of temperament, and she reliably puts it on her kids too. They’re confident, brave, smart, really like people, and juuuuust cheeky enough to keep you entertained.

Neville’s sire, Connect, is also one of my favorites. He’s the sire of many upper level horses, although the one most of you would probably be familar with is King’s Especiale. Connect’s sire, Connor, has produced even more upper level horses, like Commando 3, Lady Chatterly, HSH Connor, Senor Crocodillo, etc etc. I’m a big fan of that sire line. When we bred Vee last year, Michelle said I could have first dibs on the foal since I love both the sire and the dam, and in my mind I told myself that if it was a filly, we should def keep it.

And then it was a colt, and I was like well lets wait to see how he moves. And then his personality started to unfold and omg it’s really like he was made for me. He’s got all the characteristics of Vee’s other foals, but maybe with just an extra touch of cheek. He spent his first several days greeting me in the morning with a big gummy smile (seriously, it came pre-installed), and he loves to play with his ball. I adore him. Soooo anyway, Neville is staying. I had to have him. Let’s do it all again with a baby horse, shall we?

After Neville, we had our last foal of the season:

This is Ursa Major WTW, aka Bear, and he is so stinkin cute. He’s a BIG chestnut (will turn gray, hopefully very slowly like his mother did) colt by the 1.45m jumper stallion Dia Corrado (from the Diarado line) out of Gossip. This is the second foal for Gossip, who evented through the 3* level in the UK (her dam evented to the 4* level) – her first foal was Ivy, from last year’s crop. This colt has a SUPER temperament, he’s very friendly and sweet and such a dude. We’ve got to find just the perfect person for him, he’s so nice and really checks all the boxes.

As for the rest of my crew, Bingy has been fabulous. Before I left for Kentucky I took him over to Majestic to do his first XC school, and he was a super good boy. He’s a mix of bold and careful, so I think if we’re patient with him and take the time to properly build his confidence, he’ll be a very bold XC horse. He jumped around the whole starter course and did ditches, banks, and water.

After that school I really started thinking hard about sending him to my trainer for a month. He’s at that stage where he’s soaking up everything so quickly and putting all the basics together, I feel like if I’m going to do something like that, now is the time. There were some main draws to sending him, including 1) his biggest weakness is that he’s horse shy. I cannot work on that at home when I’m the only person here who rides. He needs to consistently be ridden with other horses for a while until he gets over that. 2) they have everything right there at their farm – jumping ring, hacking, xc, etc. He could do more there in a month, without the stress of having to haul out constantly, than I could do with him here in the entire summer.

I hemmed and hawed over it for a couple weeks, bounced the idea off of some friends and then finally brought it up to my trainer. We all agreed that a month of “finishing school” would probably be of great benefit to him. I’m hoping that he’ll come away with more confidence in both his environment and his job, and a better understanding of what we’re asking of him.

I dropped him off on Monday (which was kinda sad for me – I’m SO used to having my horses at home, I hate them leaving my care even when I know where they’re going is great) and so far he’s had a few rides. I got to see his Monday flat ride with Alex, and then his Tuesday jump school with Ellie. Every day he “gets it” just a little bit more, and he does seem to genuinely enjoy his new job.

I’ll get to see him again tomorrow, and then hopefully he’ll do some XC next week. If all goes according to plan I should get him back about a week into June, after which they’re leaving for Europe for a good chunk of the summer.

Which is also why I’m fitting in as many lessons with Presto as I can at the moment. Things seem to be pretty much back on track, and my thought was to spend the summer just kinda toodling around schooling shows and jumper rounds and stuff at Training and Modified height to get us back in the groove of horse showing. Hopefully then we’d be ready to get to some of the fall recognized shows.

I don’t think Presto really requires his standard one-month summer vacation this year, considering how light his schedule has been (and the fact that without having to keep him eventing-fit for Prelim, I have tabled the majority of his conditioning work in favor of trying not to unnecessarily pound on my 17.2h horse’s joints when I don’t need to) but we might take a couple weeks to just hack around or whatever. We’ll see how I’m feeling once the inevitable oppressive heat sets in. There is literally no pressure, so we’re just gonna spend the summer doing whatever we want, really, and try to keep us both moderately tuned up.

Otherwise the only other exciting thing left to report is that I went to Rockville again this past weekend. It’s a huuuge rock music festival in Daytona Beach, and last year me and my friend Lisa went for the first time, but only for one day. This year she rented a house, brought her husband and brother, and they went for 3 days. I joined them for Saturday and Sunday, and we had a great time. It was a lot… like… Saturday was a 3pm to 1am kind of day, complete with 1.5hrs sitting on a concrete floor because of a lightning delay where we all had to evacuate. But we fit a lot in, including a trip to the beach (upon which I was reminded how much I absolutely HATE the beach). Between the two days I walked 12 miles and saw about 20 bands, including some of my favorites like Bring Me The Horizon, Motionless in White, The Plot in You, Yellowcard, Architects, A Day to Remember, and My Chemical Romance. Most of them were pretty good, although if I had to pick a winner it would be Motionless in White. It was my second time seeing them and they were just awesome. It was VERY cool to see BMTH as a headliner though, I’ve liked their music forever and never seen them in person before. Incredible show.

I think I’m mostly recovered from that now, and aside from breeding these mares back, there’s not much on the docket for the next few months. Honestly, I think I’m ready to feel a little bit bored and well-rested, it’s been a hectic spring!