Month: March 2020

Well that was quick. Peyton foaled a little bit late, Daisy foaled a little bit early, so tada – we’ve got two babies only a week apart! Say hello to Oakley WTW.

She has the unique title of being the very first Usandro Tilia Derlenn foal born in the USA! I heard that her French papa is feeling proud. She’s super cute, definitely all spunky filly.

Daisy was sneaky about it, waiting until no one was looking and popping her out around 10am. The only color options were bay dun and grulla – obviously she looks buckskin, which isn’t possible, most likely she’s bay dun (which can end up looking similar) and not grulla. Michelle is sending off some hair to check for sure. Oakley’s got two hind socks, a big star, and a teeeeeny snip.

It will be interesting to see how she grows and develops, being a Paint (solid) x WB pony cross. In my head I’m imagining her being relatively Connemara-esque. Some hardiness/tractability from the Paint and some fancy/jump from the warmblood, plus Connemara-sized (small horse) as well. We shall see! She definitely looks pretty sporty and athletic so far. I have yet to see a Usandro that can’t jump or move, and Daisy is a great mover herself, so it’ll be fun to start seeing what she looks like as she matures.

In a few more weeks we’ll have another Usandro foal, this one out of the sportpony Stormie. That one should be born with springs in its legs for sure.

How are we already halfway through foaling season? Bring on the babies, I’m ready for more! (but really, they can wait until their due dates, we don’t need any of that preemie stuff happening please…)

Not having to spend 1.5hrs per day commuting really has it’s perks. I have more time to do things, and more flexibility in my day, And not being able to go anywhere on the weekends means there’s no choice but to stay home and finish some projects that perhaps aren’t my favorite but needed to get done. I finally got all my stupid jumps painted on Saturday, and on Sunday I spent a few hours doing some arena maintenance (ie pulling up all the stupid weeds that took root a couple months ago and I’ve been unsuccessful at trying to get rid of via dragging).

Rob came out on Friday so I took advantage of the presence of another human and put another ride on Presto. It was his fourth ride total, second ride off the lunge line. For these last two rides I’ve opted to stay up in the courtyard in front of the barn, since it’s a smaller fenced in area. I wanted to make sure we had enough steering before we went back to the dressage arena with it’s low walls. It’s not 100% yet but it’s much improved even just in the past 2 rides, so I think next time we can go to the arena.

We’re doing everything without a groundperson now too. I mount unassisted and we just move off and go to “work”. For, ya know…. all of maybe 15 minutes. Mostly we just walk/trot/halt a few times, make some circles and changes of direction, and then we’re done. That’s all I’m trying to do at this point, and I still want him to feel like this is fun and easy, so better to keep everything short and simple. I just want him to go forward and figure out his balance.

And for such a gawky looking creature, he does feel remarkably well balanced. The courtyard is on a bit of a slope so I thought between that and the circles in the small space he might struggle a bit given his size, but he handles it pretty well. I try to just maintain my own balance and let him figure out his own, which he’s been quick to do. He might not always turn when and where I want him to, but the balance isn’t a problem. We do need to work on his response time to the “go” aids… once he’s going he’s really nicely forward, but getting him going takes a little bit of effort. That’ll be the next thing we work on, once we’re back out in the bigger space. As is typical with him, the whoa works really well. Pretty much just think whoa and you’re stopped. So now we just need to tune it up the other way too. 

For four rides, I’m pretty pleased with where he’s at. I’m mostly happy that it’s all been really easy so far and he’s 0% worried or anxious about anything. He also feels really nice to ride, like… familiar somehow. I don’t know about everyone else, but sometimes I swing a leg over a horse and they just feel weird or foreign or like something doesn’t click right away, especially since I pretty much just ride one horse all the time. But with Presto he’s felt like home the second I swung a leg over, despite being very different from Henry. It feels like I belong there, nothing awkward or strange about it. 

After I was done I had Rob open the gate so I could walk Presto a little ways away out into the more open field area, then turn around and come back to the barn. His first little very mini hack out that was all of 2 minutes. 

He’s becoming more of a real boy by the day. 

I’m about to give up on keeping the damn fly boots on him though. Now he’s taken to tossing them over onto the neighbors property.

He figured out the duct tape, so now he just rips that off in about 10 seconds. This kid, I swear. I used to say that his mother sometimes used her exceptional smarts for evil instead of good, and the apple definitely isn’t falling far from the tree on this one. He is adamant that he does not wear fly boots. So ungrateful. Henry loves his, no more stomping. I think Presto just can’t handle having toys attached to his legs, the temptation is too great.  

Other than riding and doing chores around the farm, I also got a virtual horse-girl happy hour in on Zoom!

Well, horse girls plus Bobby. Except he was the meeting host and thus had the power to put me on mute, which he did every time I insulted him. So basically I spent a lot of time muted. That’s ok, I don’t need sound to let him know how I feel. It was nice to get some horse friend chatting time in, even though there was a dreadful lack of chips and queso at this happy hour compared to most. I did have Ben and Jerry’s though, so not all was lost.

There was also another new baby at WTW over the weekend, which we’ll talk about tomorrow! There’s still lots happening, despite the fact that it may seem like the world has come to a bit of standstill in other ways. Hope everyone else is still surviving okay and managed to fill up their weekend too! 

Yeah I know, two baby posts in one week but is anyone really complaining about foal pictures? Yeah I didn’t think so. I’m pretty psyched to be able to be able to roll back out with a new edition of Foal Friday, starring Remi!

His hobbies include galloping, napping, whinnying at Michelle, and stomping through mud. His greatest talent so far though? His ability to strike a pose. I mean… LOOK AT THIS KID.

He’s practicing for his winner’s photo at Badminton, obviously.

This kid is something else.

If you missed the video of him jumping over the pole the other day then I’m sad for you so here you go.

Happy Friday everyone, courtesy of Remi.

What’s today, Thursday (who can tell anymore)? Still haven’t seen another human since Saturday. If only I could get people from work to stop calling, texting, skyping, and emailing me, life would be complete. Really though, a) I’m glad that our business is considered essential therefore doesn’t have to shutter, b) I can work from home. But, ya know… they could email me less. Just saying.

So far this week aside from working I’ve been able to drag the arena a few times, pull up some weeds, move some jumps to the arena, paint a few more jumps (hey I’ve discovered I hate painting jumps), ride, and record a podcast. Far more productive when I don’t have to spend so much time driving. Quarantine has been… enjoyable.

Also I haven’t worn real pants in over a week. Breeches and leggings only. And by breeches I mean tights, because I’m firmly anti zipper and buttons right now. Might be losing weight, might just be stretching out the elastic, who can tell? I’ve been limiting myself to one Little Debbie a day (I have Star Crunch, Cosmic Brownies, and Swiss Cake Rolls. My only regret is not buying Fudge Rounds too. Can we have a side discussion/fight to the death about what the best Little Debbie is? It’s Fudge Rounds.) and I’ve got enough for at least a couple more weeks at that rate of consumption, so… that’s really all that matters.

While I’m doing pretty well in the snacks and no-pants department, I did make one teeny tiny little bitty slip up yesterday. Itty bitty. Teeny tiny.

See, I don’t know if it was the heat

or if all the people who think sacrificing millions of people to right the economy is ok

combined together just stressed me out to the max, or what.

But I uh… bought a bridle.

SHUT UP MICHELE.

See, what had happened was, I was scrolling innocently through Instagram, as one does. It’s been awesome for comic relief with all these things like the chip challenge and the see a pup share a pup. I’m 100% here for it and loving social media right now.

But ya know, anyway… doo dee doo… there I was scrolling Insta when BAM.

Me:

That is about 10,000 times prettier than the sidepull I ride Henry in. The one I have is too reddish-orange, which is not his color AT ALL. I originally bought it because I wasn’t sure how much I’d really ride him in it and didn’t want to spend much. That was… 6 years ago. And I ride him more in his sidepull than I do in anything else. You know what I’m tired of looking at? That cheap reddish orange bridle.

And then I found a coupon code that put the Dy’on at just over $100, which… um, ok, sure, give me a Dy’on bridle for basically nothing. Twist my arm why don’t ya? And in my defense, this one looks like it might have a little more whoa, so maybe I’ll be able to use it for jumping at home too. His current sidepull isn’t quite enough whoa, but his hackamore even on it’s loosest settings and a leather curb strap is a little bit too much.

In my defense I resisted for like… hours. I mean at least 5 or 6.

Let’s be honest, it was over with as soon as they posted it. A done deal. Fate sealed. Foregone conclusion.

But hey, at least I haven’t eaten all the Little Debbies?

The latest “trend” (or… re-trend?) going around Instagram is the Enneagram of Personality… another method of personality testing. As I’ve found myself with a little more time on my hands lately, it naturally piqued my interest. I’ve been seeing people posting memes with numbers in them and I just had to know wtf this enneagram stuff was about in order to get the memes. I mean, there’s a bunch of froo froo stuff about using the enneagram for self improvement and blah blah blah but really… just profile me and everyone else and help me understand memes. I’m living for memes. So, I took the test. And, well… I do indeed feel seriously profiled.

Defining Characteristics of the Enneagram Type 5:

Appears lost in thought or absentminded

Extremely difficult-to-crack inner world

In-depth knowledge on specific subjects of interest

Gives insightful, well thought-out responses

Thinks extensively before speaking

Has clear boundaries between family, friends and work

Withdrawn and extremely independent

 

Type 5, eh? Yup, that’s pretty accurate. It went on to give a detailed profile of Type 5, called The Investigator or The Observer or The Quiet Specialist. “Usually introverted and analytical, Investigators gather and process information to build with and synthesize patterns and ideas. ” Do I have a few dozen spreadsheets on my computer with detailed pedigree data of top level event horses? MAYBE. “Their work spaces are typically minimalist with the exception of a collection of items pertaining to their core interests.” Stop reading my blog. “With dreams of working and researching alone in a secluded area for the rest of their lives” I SAID STOP READING MY BLOG.

Ok, so… it’s a little accurate. And how does it relate to me as an equestrian? Look at this part:

They are energized by spending hours of time alone, tinkering with their personal projects and research. The path to mastery in a particular area is a journey each Investigator readily embarks on. They may appear calm and collected on the surface, but when topics of interest come up in conversation, they transform into a giddy and energetic version of themselves. This sudden gear-shift may surprise those who are unaware of the Investigator’s hidden passions.

Riding is a single-person sport, so it makes sense that I was drawn more to it. It’s also one that you can never truly master, there is SO MUCH knowledge to be had on such an endless variety of things. I definitely prefer a project horse/greenie. And yeah, please don’t try to talk to me about anything but horses. I am very awkward and have no idea what to say. They legit call me the Ice Queen at work because of my stoic detachment. Not my fault there aren’t any horses there. Just mention a horse and suddenly you can’t get me to shut up.

Investigators are offbeat, withdrawn and emotionally closed off. They may have a select few esoteric interests which they keep hidden from the public eye—and opt to present an aloof and distant aura. 

So yeah we’re weirdos that keep everything bottled up inside. Got it.

Fives are usually somewhat restrained when it comes to emotional expression, but they often have stronger feelings than they let on. Few people know what is going on beneath the surface, as Fives have an often exaggerated need for privacy and a deep seated fear of intrusion.

Yeah true. I do think that I’m more demonstrative when it comes to the horses though. They are probably the thing that draws me more toward normalcy and prevents me from getting lodged too deep within myself. My balance I guess.

They’re well-versed in topics of their interest and may be named the ‘bookworm’ from peers. 

Apparently we also really like to read, both to get information and as a form of escapism. That is 1000% true, as evidenced by the sheer volume of books I read every year. I’ve always been a voracious reader of both horse and non-horse books, fiction and non-fiction.

The most basic desire of the Enneagram Type 5 is to feel helpful and competent.

Enneagram Fives have the motivational need to know and understand. Fives value making sense of the world around them and, as a result, objectivity and knowledge are important to them.

So the more I’ve thought about all this (and I’ve thought about it a lot in the past week) the more I realize how true this is. I do feel most comfortable and secure when I feel competent, or at least informed. It’s probably why I feel such a compulsion to do a deep dive into anything that interests me, so I feel like I can fully understand it. Like… reading the rule book cover to cover to help ease my show anxiety. Or… spending 2 hours researching KIT genes to wrap my head around why Remi has so much white. There’s an endless number of examples, I do this all the time, but never really stepped back to think about why I’m like this. Totally completely absolutely has to do with my basic need to understand things and feel competent in order to feel comfortable. And I also do get a ton of satisfaction out of feeling helpful. 

“To create rapport: Approach them slowly and thoughtfully. Give them room to think things over.”

This makes me sound like a mustang fresh off the range. HAHAHAHA.

“Sensitive to sound, touch and intrusion“

Ok how tf does this thing know I hate loud noises (like, even the vacuum) and am generally uncomfortable being touched? Creepy. Also if you want to get punched, interrupt me while I’m reading.

“Fives tend to get stuck in their heads.”

Oh look, a summary of aaaaalllll of my riding problems.

“Fives need to balance their tendency to withdraw or withhold from people by reaching out to others, even if this involves discomfort or conflict.”

Now this is particularly interesting, because I think in my case “reaching out” kind of took on the format of this blog. It is a big source of my connection with people, and I say things here I wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying out loud before. It’s helped me come out of my shell a lot, I think.

Fives are very cerebral in their orientation and believe that knowledge is power. They have a hunger for knowledge and understanding that leads them to explore information in great depth. They may have a voracious appetite for information on certain topics and enjoy building real expertise and wisdom based on these.

Horses. Horseshorseshorseshorses. BREEDING.

So really this post could have just been titled “reasons why I am probably the most annoying person in the world”. Ta-da.

Has anyone else explored the enneagram stuff and thought about how it applies to both your regular life and your horse life/riding? What’s your enneagram number? Please tell me there are more 5’s…

Day 7 of working from home. Still living my best life. Haven’t seen another human since Saturday. I did find a turtle in Henry’s stall yesterday though, and we had a great conversation as I gave him an Uber ride to the pond. His name is Yertle, he’s from next door, and a big fan of Dr Seuss. Look at me, making friends with the neighbors.

Don’t worry, I’m not just having conversations with turtles. I actually talked to more humans yesterday than I usually do, between rolling out new processes at work and recording a podcast. More on that when it comes out. I have no idea what I said, hope I don’t sound like a total moron. I feel like I’m way better in print.

But between Skype calls I did manage to sneak outside at lunch time and ride Henry. Normally when I’m in the office I don’t even take a lunch break at all, I just eat at my desk, so to be able to step outside in the middle of the day for an hour of horse time… this is awesome. 

I’m also super grateful for the fast-draining footing in the dressage arena, because it rained so much over the weekend that there was just standing water all over the farm. And now it’s supposed to be in the low 90’s this week? We have a very weird spring/summer mashup going on at the moment. The grass is BOMB though. It’s grown so much in my jump field over the last week that I can’t really even jump in there anymore, so I let Henry and Quinnie in there to have at it. They are living their best tubbo lives. For now I’ll just move a couple jumps over to the arena until things can get mowed. Not a big deal, we’re not doing anything intense at the moment anyway.

Having more time at the farm also gives me more time to notice and appreciate the little things. Like pretty flowers.

And the fact that Presto is finally starting to leave his damn fly boots alone.

Rumor has it that the shelter in place order for our major city and it’s county are coming out today. I’m in a bordering county, but my work is in the city, so it looks like I’ll be working at home for the forseeable future. Luckily our business is considered essential, so we don’t have to shut down, but they will continue to keep the employees required to be in the office at a bare minimum. Since there are already cases in the surrounding counties I’m wondering if those will be soon to follow with a SIP… I hope so, but we’ll see. I ventured out on Saturday at 7am to make one last trip to Walmart for a few things, so I’m good to go for 3 weeks or so probably before I have to worry about groceries again. At this point I’m definitely trying to avoid leaving the farm as much as possible. We’ll see how things continue to unfold I guess!

Mostly I just feel really lucky to still be out at the farm, where staying at home is a privilege. I have plenty of space to be outside, and my horses are right here with me. I’d be considerably less excited about it if I was stuck at home in the city. I definitely feel for those of you that are unable to get to your horses right now, and hope you’re able to find ways to fill the time. It’s interesting to see how we’re all adjusting to our new normal… humans are adaptable creatures. 

Also, I’ve really been loving all the musicians live streaming little mini-concerts. Did anyone catch Garth Brooks last night on facebook live? I always forget how great he really is. And he sang The Red Strokes, my personal favorite (ok it’s tied with Standing Outside the Fire). There are some really cool things coming out of this otherwise shitty situation. 

I dunno about y’all but if I have to watch one more White House coronavirus press conference, I might stab my own eyes out with a quarantini pick. Thank goodness the apocolypse came during foaling season, because you know what the world needs now? BABY HORSES. And you know who really delivered? PEYTON. Say hello to Remington WTW.

If you’re anything like me, your first thought is OMG ADORABLE. And then a split second later you’re like “Wait, holy hell, how did that come out of two relatively plain bays???”.

I have to admit, when Michelle first sent me a picture I was like why is she sending me old pics of Liam? And then I was like wait no that’s Peyton. WHAT?? It’s possible that I asked her if she was sure she put the Ramiro B semen in and not Emerald (she didn’t, no Emerald LOL). To look for an explanation Michelle went back to Peyton’s genetic profile and found that she does indeed possess a W20 gene, which when passed (it’s 50/50 when they have one copy of the gene like Peyton does) works to boost white markings.

We also know that bay/brown/black tends to inhibit the expression of white a bit… markings are generally more expressive on chestnuts. Getting a chestnut foal wasn’t totally unexpected – we knew that both Peyton and Ramiro B had a red gene, so although odds were definitely higher for bay (75%), chestnut was entirely possible (25%). Bay is always dominant, so both parents had to pass their red gene in order for the foal to be chestnut.

Now, back to the white. If you want to talk about KIT genes and dominant white and W20 we could be here all day, but basically what happened was this: Peyton’s W20 gene took a little bit of white and dialed it up. What otherwise might have been a chestnut with a couple little socks and a stripe or something, put W20 on it, and now *bam* you get Remi. The odds were low, for sure. Only 25% chance of chestnut, and then 50/50 on passing the W20. So… “what were the odds???”… 12.5%.

Where did Peyton get the gene? Likely from her sire. He’s bay, but has 3 little socks and blaze. If he was chestnut I bet he would have had a lot more white.

Genetics, man. They are wild.

I don’t know if anyone in the Baby Bets contest guessed this (I sure as shit wouldn’t have!) since I haven’t looked through to calculate points yet, but if you did – more freaking power to you and your psychic abilities.

As for Remi, he’s pretty perfect. Peyton really knocked it out of the park for her first foal, and she’s being a great mom (if not perhaps a wee bit of a helicopter parent). He’s definitely got the substance of a Ramiro B, and he’s very correct. While already adorable, once he has a few more days to unfold he’ll be downright stunning. He’s going to be a nice rich chestnut, and could you ask for more perfectly symmetrical stockings? Whoever buys this one will definitely hit the jackpot.

Need a good distraction from the world right now? I offer you 2 minutes of adorableness via Remi.

And would you believe that the next mare is already over 320 days? We’re probably only 2-3 weeks away from having another foal, they’re pretty evenly spaced through May, thank goodness. It looks like we’re gonna need steady bouts of adorableness for a couple months. And the next one up is Daisy, the grulla, with the first Usandro foal to be born in the US. PONY FOAL. Stay tuned…

When we last left off with our intrepid baby hero, he was hell bent on removing his new fly boots.

The first day he removed one twice, and then overnight he removed three out of four, tossing one over his stall door for good measure. I wish I could have seen him removing the hind one, that must have been a spectacle. There is no elegance to his removal tactic. It’s not like he finds the velcro’s little tabs and pulls on those. No, he just grabs as much fabric in his mouth as he can and then YANKS and YANKS and YANKS until it finally comes free. These poor boots. I have to give them a lot of credit, considering how forcefully they’ve been violated by his teeth, they still don’t have any holes or tears.

The next day I put all 4 boots back on, put a little chew spray on them, and turned him out. Here’s where I should mention that I have 3 different chew sprays/goops on this property and Presto is not deterred by any of them. I think he refers to them as “seasoning”. Like he will stand there and lick it off because he’s a weirdo. I dunno why I even bothered putting some on the boots.

Anyway, I was convinced that if we could just get over the novelty of having toys on his legs, he would eventually leave them alone. All I had to do was outlast him.

An hour later I looked out and he was missing one already. Dammit. Out I trudged, and found it in the back of the pasture.

I put it back on, went back inside, did some more work, and looked out again a little while later.

Another one was missing. Dammit Presto.

Ok, fine. That’s how you wanna play this? Let’s go. Game on.

That’s right bitches, I duct taped them. A strip around the top and a strip around the bottom. He looks like he’s ready to go work on a construction crew.

Naturally the first thing he did was rip the tape off. I ended up having to go several times around with the tape so it was nice and stuck to itself, and harder to rip through. That finally seemed to do the trick.

That worked to keep them in place for the rest of the day, and I left them on in his stall overnight to see what would happen. The next morning:

SUCCESS. HAHAHAHA I WIN.

A strip of duct tape was missing from one, but they were still on.  And they stayed on all day yesterday, no further problems. I still caught him yanking on them a few times, but he wasn’t successful in getting them off. I wouldn’t say that I’ve won the war yet, but I’ve definitely won the battle and made some major advancements.

Presto also got ride #3 yesterday. I wanted to see if there were any changes with his mouth fussiness since he’s been lunged a couple times in his sliding side reins. I lunged him for a couple minutes in them first, then took them off and climbed aboard in the closed in courtyard. We walked, we trotted, we made circles (ok ovals), we did some transitions… it was maybe 10 minutes total. He was much much better in the mouth, no fighting or head flinging. It’s amazing how much better the steering works when you aren’t having a mini-tantrum.

This was our first ride totally off the lunge, and with no handler on the ground. He was super, really quiet and well-behaved.

Henry watched all of this unfold and you could basically hear him saying “Good, go torture that one, I’m retired.”. No you turd, you aren’t retired. But he did pull a shoe on Tuesday, and I’m not sure when it’ll get put back on. He’s been wearing his glitter boot (boy that thing has gotten a ton of use already) so he’s ok to go out but the one I had was a little bit big to ride in… I bought it sized to fit over a wrapped/packed foot.

I wanted to order Presto more oil anyway so I went to Corro, grabbed another glitter boot (because how could you ever own a regular boot after you’ve owned a glitter boot?) in a smaller size, and some treats to put me over the free shipping threshold.

Given all that’s going on in the world right now I truly had no expectations for when it would ship or arrive, but it shipped same day (Tuesday) and arrived here yesterday. Three cheers for Corro, I’m impressed.

I should be able to ride Henry just fine in the new boot. Or… I could if it would stop raining buckets. Sigh.

Hope everyone else is making it through the week ok! Happy Friday…

Times are a wee bit… unstable right now. Schools and restaurants and bars are closed, events are cancelled, traveling is a real bad idea, and social distancing has become the trend of the year.

As an introvert homebody who has literally read hundreds of dystopian novels over the past few years alone, I feel (for once in my life) well-qualified for the current situation. I am lucky enough to still be living out at the farm, so I have plenty of solo outside space and the horses are right there in the backyard. I’m stocked up on feed, hay, shavings, and supplies. Go ahead and lock me in, I could stay here for months.

I’ve been working from home since Tuesday, which I’m also totally ok with. On one hand, I find myself actually working more, since I don’t have 1.5hrs of driving tacked onto my day. On the other hand, I… don’t have to drive 1.5hrs per day, or spend $75 a week plus tolls getting to and from work. Or like… brush my hair. Or put real pants on. Or see people. Our Skype meetings are blessedly voice-only. I could even sleep in til 6 if I wanted (not that it’s possible for me to sleep that late, but I COULD).

While I could stay locked away for a good long while without complaints, I feel for those of you who are unable to see your horses, or have restricted access. Let’s hope that they can get a handle on this quickly so you don’t have to go too long without horse time. And to those of you on the front lines – thank you. Y’all are the real m-f’ing heroes.

As for me, as you can see I’m mostly living for the memes right now. Even when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, the memers really deliver some levity and I am here for it.

Since things are all looking a little tumultuous and uncertain and maybe even a bit scary right now, I was hoping we could bring a little bit of positivity to the day (jesus, what day is it anyway…) by talking about something good that’s going on in our lives, or even just a positive story that we’ve seen. It’s a crappy shituation but maybe we can try to make the best of it. Hit me up in the comments! It can even be “haven’t run out of candy yet” or “haven’t had to put a bra on for 3 days”. Tell me something good!

Well, Presto hates me.

He got a couple of presents for his birthday – Lauffer reins and a set of Shoofly Leggins. Well ok, I ordered the Lauffer reins (or Phillip reins or sliding side reins or whatever you want to call them) during Black Friday but I hadn’t actually used them or even taken them down to the barn yet until his birthday. And the Leggins just coincidentally happened to arrive at the right time. But whatever, we’ll call them birthday presents.

The fly boots are mostly Henry’s doing. The flies have been ridiculously persistent here the past couple weeks, to the point where I have gone through a gallon of fly spray in that time trying to keep everyone covered. And the flies really don’t even seem that deterred for more than 5 minutes. And they’re biting. Poor Henry the delicate flower couldn’t stand it, he was constantly stomping despite being covered in so much fly spray you could smell him from 10′ away. Presto was stomping too, although didn’t seem nearly as annoyed in general. Still though, if I was gonna buy fly boots for one, might as well by fly boots for both, right?

As soon as I put them on Presto he started glaring at me, and walked off high-stepping. Once he was walking normally I turned him back out and he immediately started pulling at them. Yeah, that’s kind of what I figured might happen. Why do you think he got BRIGHT ASS ORANGE instead of pretty blue ones like Henry? So I can find them in the field when he removes them.

I was hoping that if I left them on overnight in his stall he would finally just settle and accept his fate but HAHAHAHAHAHA. This is what I found when I came out to feed.

He had managed to remove 3 of the 4 boots, hiding two of them under the pile of hay scraps (she’ll never find them here!) and tossing one over his stall door out into the aisle. It seemed very deliberate, like executing a prisoner and leaving the body on display to serve as a warning. I put them all back on while he ate his breakfast, but I have a feeling we’ll be playing this game for a while. He is M-A-D at me. Clearly I’m ruining his life.

Henry at least seems appreciative, he stopped stomping almost immediately.

Presto also wore his new reins for the first time.

Set quite loose, as you can see. Not changing his natural head carriage at all, just putting a bit of a “feel” on each rein. Since he’s still a little fussy about the bit I wanted him to just be able to think about it and figure it out on his own with a very light steady contact mimicking what he would feel from a rider. He wasn’t thrilled but he understood it pretty quickly and stopped fussing, so hopefully a few short and easy sessions will get him more comfortable with all that before I swing a leg over for another ride.

So… yeah. He’s annoyed with me right now. Clearly I’m the worst mother and I’m trying to ruin his life with my horrible gifts. #firstworldhorseproblems