I have decided that 4 day weekends are my favorite thing ever and this is just what I’m gonna do from now on. How do we make a 3 day work week an actual thing? Because it’s Monday and I’ve still got today and tomorrow off, so it’s basically like I get a whole bonus weekend. This does not suck. Especially because I’ve managed to fill my days with horses… as one does.

Thanks first and foremost to technology, I watched a hell of a lot of live streaming. I watched Burghley XC, all of the eventing 5 and 6yo’s from Bundeschampionate (and some of the jumpers and dressage horses), and a lot of the AEC’s XC (when it was working, anyway). At one point I had 3 different live stream windows open on my laptop, plus HorseTelex so I could look up the breeding of whatever horses I liked. If that’s not your definition of heaven, we can’t be friends.

Big congrats to Gentleman FRH, who won the 6yo eventing final at Bundes with a massive 19.4 cross country score (out of a possible 20). That horse is really fun to watch, and it’s possible that I’ve already asked his owner Alex when we’ll have frozen available in the US. He seems like he would be such a great cross on a blood mare. A Mighty Magic offspring, Mighty Carerra, was 4th in the final, too. He’s a cool dude, really fun to watch and seems to love his job.

I also rode and played with the boys of course. Henry got to go for his first long canter sets in a while, which he loves to use as an excuse to spook at things and turn into a dolphin. I don’t mind. Clearly he’s having fun with it. Presto got to do some exciting stuff too, but we’ll talk about all that later.

On Sunday I drove down to Boerne to meet my friend Michelle (of Willow Tree Warmbloods) at a GOV inspection where she was spectating and taking pictures. It’s been many years since I’ve been to a GOV inspection, and they’re really trying to expand the jumper side of their registry right now, so it was interesting. I still have grumpy opinions about foal inspections, but I also appreciate any opportunity to sit there and listen to what an experienced horseman has to say about each horse. They were really big on shoulders, hocks, and masculine vs feminine type. And they did choose a jumper foal as site champion, which was a bit surprising because there was a De Niro x Totilas filly that was KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF stunning and jumper foals rarely beat that type. I’m curious to see how their jumper program expands over the next few years, with this push to grow the program.

Today I’m headed out for XC schooling, so hopefully the rain will hold off long enough to fit that in. Henry will be pumped, a second XC schooling in a little more than a week. We do need some rain though, really badly, and it looks like we actually might get some over the next week. My fields need it, the ground is hard!
Hope everyone else is having a good extended weekend too, filled with All The Ponies!