So I do actually have some big news to share but that’s waiting for tomorrow because I think I’ll have more to add by then. For today you get the collection of things I was gonna post about last Friday before I decided to post about Presto’s ponying adventure instead.

First of all, let’s talk about the fly on the wall – That Kentucky Situation. OMG. That was some drama.

LRK3DE won’t be making an official announcement until later today, but it looks promising that they were able to raise enough money over the weekend to “save” the Kentucky 5* for 2021. I admittedly have a lot of mixed feelings about the whole situation. The way the whole thing transpired was a total cluster, for sure. The fact that we could raise that amount of money in a weekend to save a horse show when it took considerably longer to come up with less money for the frangible fund… those are major major frustrations that we need to look long and hard at. But at the end of the day I did want to see KY run in 2021, so I tossed in $25 (in my eyes the cost of a t-shirt, and a fraction of what I give to USEA’s various safety projects every year) and shared a couple of Sara K-M’s videos on my insta stories. And omg y’all, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so many hate DM’s before, which is mind-boggling to me considering that I’ve certainly said and done considerably more controversial things. The main tirades (and that’s what they were, multi-message tirades) were either about 1) upper level riders never appreciate the masses unless they need us to pay for something, why should we care about them and their problems, 2) complete hatred of USEA because their “mismanagement” has “killed yet another event”… which was a head scratcher considering the fact that USEA has zero involvement here 3) covid is still a major problem, no one should be having horse shows at all, they should all be cancelled (don’t disagree, but if the 5* doesn’t happen a 4*S and a GP and maybe even national divisions will, which would bring considerably more people than the alternative 5* sans spectators would), and giving money to something like this when we have actual bigger problems is just ridiculous.

To be fair, I agree with some of the complaints. Still not quite sure why everyone was yelling at me about it for sharing a couple posts, but… ok. Clearly there’s some pent-up frustration. Anyway, we’ll see if KY actually runs in ’21 or not! The fundraising effort over the past few days was certainly impressive (if not indicative of where the sport’s priorities really lie… sigh).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ponyo Horsewear (@ponyo.horsewear)

On a more fun note, y’all seen the new Pony-O prints that are about to drop? Hot pink unicorns, blue slothes, and a bright donut print. They’re going to be offering stable rugs, too. I have to be honest, I was real tempted to get Presto a hot pink unicorn one, even though he doesn’t need it since he’s already got the blue unicorns and the monkeys. I wish Henry could wear non-Hug blankets, he’d have a unicorn one FOR SURE. Anyway, the pre-order for these will be opening soon, so get yourself on their mailing list if you want to nab one. I love my Pony-O blankets, they really do bring a lot of silly joy.

In case you missed it, the US Event Horse Futurity has started posting all the entrants’ breeding vlogs. Presto’s is up, along with a handful of others that you can see on the Futurity’s facebook page. I always love these, it’s super interesting to see the parents and the offspring and hear why people chose the cross they did. As usual please like and comment on these posts, the Futurity greatly appreciates the interaction and support! (and speaking from personal experience it takes HOURS to put these vlogs together, so I know people greatly appreciate even just a like)

Speaking of vlogs, if y’all aren’t watching the Piggy March vlogs on her youtube channel, you’re missing out. She’s covering a wide variety of topics and I’ve found them to be pretty interesting. Also I’m just a massive Vanir Kamira fan, so getting to see more of her behind the scenes is a bonus.

Last but not least, fellow rule geeks mark your calendars for USEA’s Rule Webinar. I always love these, mostly to hear proposals that could be on the docket for next year so I can internally debate them with myself for days. But you know they’ll be talking about the new proposal where 5 or more rails equals elimination, so it’s guaranteed to be interesting discussion.

Hope everybody has a good week! Exciting happenings coming up tomorrow…