Month: May 2017

I know I’ve said this a few times already, but I continue to be completely blown away by all the support Presto and I have gotten both during his illness and afterwards. The fact that he had (has!) so many people rooting for him, people who have never even met me or him before… it’s meant more than words can ever properly convey. We decided that we’d really like to send something out to all of his supporters and give them a proper thank you.

I’m not sure how obvious it was while everything was going on but that was the hardest couple weeks of my life, ever. I tried to spare y’all the worst of the details and remain as positive as I could, but I still don’t have it in me to go back and read any of those posts so I’m not sure how successful I was. All I can say is that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Every moment felt like it was laced with sheer terror, just hoping that against all odds he could hang in there for one more day, just one more day at a time.

Presto seems to be completely over it, physically and mentally, but I’m not sure that my mental and emotional scars will ever fade. I’m still a bit traumatized about the whole thing. The nightmares have pretty much stopped but I don’t think that nagging worry in the pit of my stomach will ever go away. I worry that we got too lucky. Like he overcame such staggeringly impossible odds that someday, somehow, we’ll have to pay up. I don’t think I will ever forget how I felt, kneeling there in the west Texas dirt, watching my very sick foal fight for his life and feeling completely and utterly helpless to save him. And although I never in a million years want to go through anything even remotely like that again, it was worth it in the end.

But what really helped me (both of us really, if you believe in the power of positive thinking, which I do) see it through to the other side was you guys. Everyone who called, emailed, texted, messaged, left a comment, chipped in toward his vet bill, sent him good thoughts, prayed for him (to the deity of your choice, naturally), checked in on him every day, or bought a shirt – it made all the difference in the world to us. I’m not sure I could have survived it without my fellow horse friends to lean on, and I don’t think he could have either.

Presto and I worked on a little something fun (and oh so top secret) this weekend and we want to send one to everyone who has supported us during all this. Unfortunately there is no way for me to go back through all the comments and messages and shirt orders to track people down individually and get names and information, BUT – if you would like a small token of thanks from me and Presto, please please please send me your name and address. You can contact me on facebook messenger, DM me on Instagram, or email me through the contact page here. We have lots of them lined up and ready to go, so please don’t hesitate to claim one! I’d really like to make sure that all of his supporters get a proper thank you, with something tangible, from both of us.

Saturday’s XC schooling was fun and all, but the real highlight of the weekend was going to see this little nugget. Side note: he’s 2 months old today! Everyone be glad I resisted the urge to get him a little “2 months” sign and pose him with it like all the human babies on facebook.

It sounds funny, but I was more nervous to go see Presto than I was for schooling. I have legit overprotective horsemom syndrome, and I’m always worried that something is going to be wrong with him. I dunno what, just something.

When we got there Sadie was up toward the front of the field and as soon as she spotted me she locked on to my bag with the treats in it. She’s no fool. Of course, Presto was nowhere to be found. All the babies were scattered around the field, passed out asleep, none of them near their actual mothers, and from that far away I couldn’t tell which one was him. As I was opening my bag to give Sadie her belated birthday/happy mother’s day cookies, Presto jumped up (waaaay back by the far hay hut) and started screaming his head off. What did Sadie do? Completely ignored him. Mom of the year, right there.

Granted, Presto didn’t seem particularly concerned either. He walked the whole distance from where he’d been sleeping to where we were, screaming all the way. Pretty sure he’s just always gonna be a talker with a flair for the dramatic. That’ll be a fun party trick at horse shows.

After I finished stuffing Sadie (and Lissa and Laken by default) full of cookies, I haltered Presto and started messing with him a bit. It’s obvious that the lovely ladies at the breeding farm have been handling him a lot, because he leads great and picks up his feet like a champ. It’s not bad showing up after a few weeks of absence and having your foal be more trained than he was when you left.

Mostly I was shocked with how much he’s grown in the past few weeks. His withers now hit right at bra height (I got home and measured, that’s 12h for those among us who prefer to be all precise and fancy). Liam’s only got about an inch on him now at the withers, although Liam’s giant butt is a little bit out of control and a few inches higher at the moment. I think all my delusions about having a horse that finished more like 16.1h instead of 16.3/17h are fading quickly.

After I was done messing with him and gawking at him, I got to work with his fancy new Leistner brushes. His coat looks… terrible.

All baby coats look terrible around this point, right before they start molting, then they look REALLY TERRIBLE until they’re done. But Presto’s seems especially thick and coarse and fried, I’m guessing maybe because of that whole near-death/couldn’t-absorb-any-nutrients-through-his-GI-tract thing that happened (details). The coat underneath looks nice and dark and shiny, he just needs to shed this gross carpet of thick curly baby fuzz so we can get to it.

The hair has grown back on all of the bald spots on his butt and neck though, and it’s nice and dark. His legs are super dark like Sadie’s for sure, but I think his body might end up being a smidge lighter than hers. I’m still definitely sure that he’s brown (that little bit of shadowing on his shoulder is the telltale sign), but I think he might end up being a lighter shade than she is. We’ll see.

Otherwise though he looks good and seems to be feeling quite fine. I might be biased (neeehhh) but I think he’s got such an air of intelligence about him; he’s curious but calm, and bold but quiet all at the same time.

He also got bored with me pretty quickly, but he’s still content to stand there and hang out. I think he’s just hoping he’ll get more scratches.

I think what I love most is that he’s got Sadie’s sleepy eyes and floppy ears. It’s a Westporte trait that he seems to pass on almost always, and it just gives them the best expression. Presto might not be winning at the whole “look of the eagles” thing, but he looks really sweet.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make it out to see him again in a couple weeks! Maybe he’ll be shedding by then?

But banks ain’t one! Crap, brb, gotta go knock on some wood so I don’t jinx myself.

We headed back down to Pine Hill on Saturday to do a little XC schooling. Mainly we wanted to work on the down banks, but I had my eye on a couple of the “beefier” Training questions as well. Henry didn’t have an issue with the little bank at the derby the weekend before, but still, we need to work on his (and my) confidence at them.

We popped over a few warmup jumps before our group headed over to the water, Henry’s favorite. Not quite sure why this horse loves water so much but I will never complain. We jumped through the first time from Training log to log the long way across, then came the short way over the Training ark to the upbank.

No problem with any of that so we turned it around and did down bank to ark. First down bank of the day being one that drops into water? Only makes sense if you’re on Henry. No hesitation, he plopped right in.

Then we jumped the Prelim ark to the Prelim log into water to the Training ark out, making something a little more complicated. He took a big leap over the Prelim log when I got him there a bit too deep, which made the already downhill landing even more of a drop, but he went.

Then it was over to the Weldon’s wall. Which, really the ditch in front is so small that it doesn’t even count, it just rides like a very upright brush fence. No problem here either, he just popped right over. Well ok, there was no problem with the jump itself but he did spook at the bushes while he was in the air so he landed trying to duck right and then kind of fled through the woods. I’m pretty sure he will never stop being spooky at Pine Hill no matter how many times we come here. #nevertrustabush

After that we headed over to the trakehner, which definitely does have a real ditch under it. He took a little peek off the ground but jumping it was never a question. For as spooky as he can be about open ditches, Henry is pretty brave when you put something over top of it.

And then last but of course not least, we headed over to the banks. We started by jumping down the single (same one as last weekend), then the double, then finally the triple down to the bench. Same line we came UP last weekend. Henry picked his way carefully down the triple the first time, but went. The second time he had figured it out and nailed it. What a good pony!

So, hopefully now our down bank issue is at least mostly fixed. At some point we will have to circle back around and tackle the Irish bank that was the cause of this whole undoing, but I’m waiting for Trainer to squirt her baby out so she can deal with that one. I’ve tapped out.

But now I do feel better enough to enter one more show for the season, a schooling HT in June. They run the same courses as their recognized, which are no joke, so it’ll be a good last test for us before spending the $$$ on the recognized Trainings in the fall. They also have a giant freaking down bank that T shares with P, so let’s hope Henry’s still feeling cocky by the time we have to face it!

Tomorrow is Sadie’s 10th birthday.

That feels so surreal to type. On one hand, it seems like I’ve had her forever, like she’s always been a part of my life. On the other hand, it seems like just yesterday that she was first introduced to me as a black dot on an ultrasound screen.

It’s a unique experience, breeding and raising a horse. You know everything about them. The source of every scar, physical or mental. What they’re like in pretty much any situation. In some ways you know them better than you know yourself, something that is especially true when you’ve owned a horse from age 23 to age 33. I’m not the same person I was when she was born, and much of what I’ve learned about myself, horses, and life in general can be attributed to her in some way.

Although the entrance of Presto into the world officially marked the transferral of Sadie’s ownership from me to Willow Tree Warmbloods, she will always be “mine”. I will probably always be the one that knows her best and I’m not sure that anyone else could possibly love her more than I do.

Yet I’m not sad about the idea of seeing someone else’s name on her papers, because there’s no one else in the world that I’d rather have as her owner. Willow Tree is where she’s meant to be. They take better care of their horses than any other breeding farm I’ve ever seen and I know they’ll do right by her. She’s a good broodmare, she loves her job, and she gets the best care that anyone could ever want for their horse. She’s happy, she’s healthy, and she’s a productive member of horse society. What more could you want?

I can’t wait to see what other babies she produces, and I especially can’t wait to see other people enjoying her foals just as much as I have enjoyed her (and, in turn, as much as I already enjoy Presto).

And although Presto looks more like his sire, I already I see so many qualities in him that remind me of her. His tenacity being #1. I don’t think he would still be alive today if he wasn’t Sadie’s child. That mare has no quit in her, and apparently he doesn’t either. While it can sometimes be one of her more frustrating qualities, I’ll also be eternally grateful to her for it.

So here’s to a decade of Sadie, and hopefully a couple more still yet to come. It’s been the experience of a lifetime.