I have to admit, I wasn’t really digging the “your horse as a character” thing that’s been going around blogland. Until yesterday that is, when I suddenly realized that Henry is 100% April Ludgate from Parks and Rec. Now I get it.
In all fairness, I’ve been told that I’m April Ludgate too. Several times. When I first heard that, I had never seen Parks & Rec so I went and watched a little youtube compilation and was like oh… yep, nailed it. Sarcastic, blunt, weird, pretty much the polar opposite of warm and fuzzy. Then I started watching episodes here and there because obviously I love April. People also tell me pretty often that Henry and I have the same temperament. I can see how our relationship works out so well. But – let’s look at the Henry/April comparison.
First, there’s the top-notch resting bitch face (or mareglare, if you will):
Henry every day when I put him back in his stall after a ride:
It’s been a long time (a year, to be precise) since I had Henry adjusted, so when another boarder was having the chiro out for her horses, I eagerly added Henry to the list. Last year the chiro really didn’t find much out of whack with Henry… his poll and neck were a little out, and a couple of ribs.
Best day of my life
Henry has been a little reluctant to really give me his rib cage to the left, so I thought maybe he was out again in that area. Dr. Jack arrived, I pulled Henry out, and he looked at Dr. Jack like “Oh Jesus, not this guy again?”. Always a sweet, welcoming face from Henry *insert heavy sarcasm*.
No touch. Please stahp.
After a general once-over, Dr. Jack started with his neck, with a couple of fairly impressive sounding pops. When he did the left side, which took a couple tries, Henry immediately started licking and chewing. Well, for like 5 seconds until Dr. Jack moved somewhere else and Henry went back to super suspicious.
Pretty sure he’s trying to break all my bones. This is some Mafia type shit right here.
He was a little bit out in the ribs again, and his poll, but the two biggest areas were his withers and his lower lumbar. The lower lumbar in particular took quite a bit of work on Dr. Jack’s part to get adjusted. Coincidence that 75% of our dressage lessons are spent trying to get Henry to release and supple his lower lumbar? Probably not. We spend a hell of a lot of time doing attempting haunches-in exercises. I’m interested to see if he feels any different now that it’s been adjusted.
I’m going to kill you while you sleep
Side note: dressage trainer called Henry “emotional” in our lesson last week and I still can’t quite get over how perfect that word is for him. Emotional. Hahahahaha.
Yep… it’s breeding season. I’m even more excited than usual because I actually have some personal investment in this particular season, with Sadie being bred to Mighty Magic for my future eventer. But besides Sadie, my friend Michelle at Willow Tree Farm has a few other really awesome pairings happening this year too. I’m playing the role of auntie, which I assigned to myself. Mostly because I just really really like baby horses. Sue me.
First – mine. I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll never ask it to jump the kinds of things that Mighty Magic has jumped, but if it has that kind of talent I wouldn’t mind. It’ll definitely be bay or brown since MM is homozygous, which makes me happy since dirt colored is my favorite. A little bit of face white would be nice too. I won’t even sit here and say whether or not I want a colt or a filly… whichever. I’ll be thrilled with anything as long as it’s healthy.
The Emerald x Lissa baby is probably the most exciting on paper. Lissa herself did the Grand Prix all the way through 1.50m, and of course Emerald is one of the best showjumpers in the world right now. Someone is going to get a ridiculously nice baby from these two; I’d be shocked if this one doesn’t sell in utero. Pretty good chance for bay with some chrome, too.
The Balou x Laken is pretty interesting too, being that Laken’s pedigree is so stacked with big name jumpers (Heartbreaker, Cassini, and Pikadero to name a few). Balou needs no introduction by now. Another bay with chrome maybe? Or chestnut. Or gray. Lots of possibilities with this one but 100% chance of cute and scope.
And last but not least: something more pint-sized. Penelope is hopefully getting a bit of a size upgrade with a dose of Carracci. Little mare can jump, so I would expect that someone will get a really nice little sportscar of a mount from this cross. And also probably dark coated with chrome.
Maybe Michelle will end up with a pasture full of chromey bay babies in 2017? The one with the least amount of chrome being mine, of course. A girl can dream. Which one do you want? All of them except Sadie’s will be for sale I believe.
Quinn doesn’t get to come to the barn with me a lot, mostly because a) he has no horse sense b) he’s deaf, so I get nervous with him out in wide open spaces. But on Saturday he gave me those big sad eyes as I was getting ready to leave, so I let him come. And thank goodness I did, because what a helper he is.
First he helped me put the new reflectors/decals on the trailer (you can tell since they’re crooked).
He made sure that the couple of stray rocks in the barn aisle were not, in fact, edible.
He looked at me like this when I gave Henry cookies.
And then Henry looked at me like this when I gave Quinn one of his cookies.
They told each other funny stories at my expense:
And then she said “OW HENRY STOP IT”
Hahahahaha
Oh hey, there you are…
He guarded the gate…
while looking really adorable. Because that’s what corgis do.
When it was time to go home he gave me those sad, hopeful eyes again
and then sat on the couch like this for the rest of the afternoon.
One of the other fun finds from AETA that I haven’t mentioned yet was a glove brand called I-Quip. They didn’t actually have a booth there, but when I was introduced to 3* event rider Taryn Nolte (who is, coincidentally, sponsored by Winston Equestrian USA) she had some of these gloves with her. Turns out her company, Tarypen Equestrian, is currently the only US rep for I-Quip, a company based in the UK.
Taryn wearing her custom black and pink I-Quip Luxury Eventer gloves
Some of the first words out of her mouth were “full custom”. Every eventer out there should know what I mean when I say that I immediately perked up upon hearing those words. Taryn pulled several different models of I-Quip gloves out of her bag, each one just as lovely and buttery soft as the last. No doubt they were beautiful, but what’s the longevity like? Then she pulled out her own pair that have been used for multiple horses a day for a couple years and they looked barely broken in. I did a little digging and it turns out there are tons of people out there with 5+ year old gloves! Beautiful, custom, and high quality? I needed to know more.
She went on to talk about how great the feel is with these, which I can attest to myself. The gloves truly felt like a second skin. They were lightweight but still looked tough, and the workmanship was impeccable. Some things just ooze quality and these gloves are one of those things. Another great feature for eventers or those of us in warm climates: the gloves are super grippy when wet. And since they’re made from natural hide, not synthetic, they’re still breathable when it’s hot.
I-Quip’s Signature model
For all of you out there who don’t really care about a custom option or prefer plain black, don’t worry, they also have a standard lower-budget “off the rack” black glove called the Signature that is newly available this year as well (rumor has it that Luxe EQ will be carrying these, so keep an eye out!). It has a little touch of I-Quip’s trademark green on the cuff, but all the visible parts are plain black. For those of you who DO like custom, hold on to your hats because things are about to get fun.
For the US market, Tarypen and I-Quip are focusing on a few of their core models; mainly the Luxury Eventer, the Show Jumper, the Working Eventer, and the Center Line. My personal favorite (and the ones I ordered for myself – spoiler alert) are the Luxury Eventer, so we’ll start there.
The Luxury Eventer is a full leather model with reinforced index and little fingers and a top wrist strap closure. You can customize absolutely everything about these gloves. Stitching color, piping color, finger reinforcement color, front color, palm color, bling… you name it, they can do it.
Just look at all the colors for the palm and back. I’m sure none of you will guess what I ordered. 😉
The Show Jumper model is very similar to the Luxury Eventer, coming a bit higher on the wrist and featuring a slightly different cut, but also full customizable.
For those that prefer a cloth back, or something a little more all-around, there is the Working Eventer model. It still has the same hide on the palm as the other models, but has a knit back and a strap closure on the underside of the wrist.
The Working Eventer still has tons of customization options as well, but at a lower price tag than the full hide models.
The Center Line dressage glove is another full hide model but true to their dressage intentions they’re usually white, although you can also get them in ivory, light pink or other light colors with either a matching or contrasting palm. They have a bit more of a traditional, subdued style while still looking super classy.
Aside from just having a ton of color customization options, I-Quip can also make a fully custom size from your hand tracing, for those who have difficulties fitting into standard sizing. All of the gloves are hand-cut and each piece of leather is hand-picked to assure the highest quality. These are not your standard, mass produced, “disposable” gloves made in a random factory in who-knows-where, made out of who-knows-what, with your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine quality control, and an often questionable work force. These are works of art that experts are picking, cutting, and making in the UK specifically for you.
If you, like myself, are tired of gloves that are uncomfortable, hot, slippery, or ill-fitting, or if you’re just frustrated at having to buy a new pair every year (or if you just like having Really Nice Things) I would definitely recommend taking a look at I-Quip. I’ve never seen anything like them before. Obviously I was impressed with them since I already ordered some for myself!
Want to get your hands on some of these bad boys without waiting for them to be made and shipped from England? Check out the shop on Tarypen’s facebook page to see what she has in stock! Interested in ordering your own pair? Drop them a facebook message or give them a call at (215) 779-0272.
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