With all the horse show recap stuff last week it’s been a while since I updated on any of the general goings-on around here. There’s no particularly big news but there are a few fun things in the works, like…

I got my Maryland 5* tickets! Whether Presto ends up there for YEH Championships or not, I still really do not want to miss the inaugural 5* at Fair Hill. It’s so exciting to have another American 5* on offer, and I get the feeling that it might draw a pretty good field this year. All the updates they’ve been posting on facebook look pretty good, and naturally I’m really looking forward to all the vendors. After all the cancelled plans and not getting to go to Kentucky for the past two years, I’m itching to get back to a big horsey event. From the way tickets were selling (I got mine 30 minutes after they opened sales and most of the cheap seats were already gone!) I think everyone else feels the same way. Plus a friend of mine already secured a rental house that’s just a few miles away from the show grounds, so that works out extra perfectly. It feels great to have another horse trip booked again, even if it’s not quite the Ireland funfest we were originally working on pre-covid.

Speaking of horse trips, Presto’s Chatt entries are officially in. He’ll be trying his hoof at his first YEH classes there, which I had to send pics of his papers to prove his age (although he has his age recorded with USEF and USEA already? whatever.).

It’s shaping up to be a pretty good sized YEH4 class at Chatt though, which is exciting. It’s always good to see these programs thrive and gain some popularity, and now that we’re getting a little later in the year more 4yo’s are starting to show up. Which is good, because as of right now only 18 horses are qualified for East Coast 4yo YEH Champs. Of course, the bummer about waiting until the second half of the year to do a qualifiers is that the heights and technicality increase a bit, but I don’t foresee Presto having any real problem with it (knock on wood of course, because baby horse). Megan has been preparing him for that and he’s shown zero issue with anything that’s been tossed at him. Chatt does have a lot of atmosphere though and things there always ride/look big, so I think it’ll be a good test. The YEH classes happen on Friday before the horse trials start, and he’s doing both, so if nothing else the YEH class will at least serve to let him see a few things in advance, like the dressage rings and the water jump. More bang for your buck as far as miles go with a baby horse!

Originally I was going to fly into Atlanta and stay with my brother (who conveniently lives about 20-30mins away) for Chatt, but now Hillary decided to take the WonderHony so I’m going to drive there and back with her so she’s not hauling alone. I cancelled my flight and will just use the credit toward getting to Fair Hill in the fall. I can still stay at my brother’s house and use his WiFi for work and his truck to get around, so again that all fell into place really well. I’m looking forward to a bit of a groom-cation and a change of scenery, plus it’s been a couple years since I’ve seen my brother.

Other than all the trip planning I did have some fun new stuff arrive too. First and foremost, our couch for the tiny house, which we ordered EIGHT MONTHS AGO, was finally delivered last week.

I do really like it, the color is exactly what I wanted (its a little darker than the pic shows) and I think it looks really good. I’m already kind of regretting the black pillows though, they’re a velvety fabric so legit everything sticks to them. I’m looking at dog hair and hay on them as we speak. I have a feeling the pillows might end up elsewhere, or with new covers. But now that we’ve FINALLY got the last real piece of furniture, I feel like I can actually start putting up some decor and shit now too. I literally haven’t put a single thing up on the walls yet to this point, but I did order some shelves yesterday so I can get rolling on putting those up above the couch. Then I probably need to put something on the wall in the bedroom. After that though I think she’ll pretty much be complete! Slowest move-in ever.

I also got my summer reading books that I talked about a couple weeks ago, all primed and ready to go. I already skimmed through Ride Big a little bit and it looks promising. I think the Jimmy Wofford book will make the trip with me to Chatt, seems apropos.

I also caved and got the giant Kong Equine that’s been advertised all over the place the past few months.

I’ve really wanted it from the first time I saw it, but I was also like “ain’t no way in hell I’m paying that much money for a horse toy”. And then I had to kind of laugh at myself because between the giant Jolly Balls, hanging treat balls, lik-its, and various other things, I don’t really even want to know what I’ve spent on horse toys in the past year alone. I think I’ve bought at least 10 balls and another 10 hanging treats, if I was guessing, so… don’t do the math. Either way, I’m the last person that should be scoffing at what is at least an indestructible toy/treat thingy that you reuse over and over over. In the end I caved and found a coupon code and ponied up, trying not to feel too ridiculous. I’ll do a full review of it after Presto has it for a couple weeks at Chatt, but I did give it to Henry one day to test it out and indeed it kept him occupied for quite a while. So far I’m kind of obsessed with it, and I think I’ll get my money’s worth out of it so… I really have no regrets. Make fun of me if you must.

Otherwise life around here has been pretty much business as usual. We did switch the horses over to nighttime turnout finally, because the days are just getting way too hot. We also rotated them to a different pasture which has been resting since the fall, so they’ve got lots of good grass at the moment, plus that pasture borders my house. I’ve got ponies out every window again.

This schedule works out really nicely. The horses get a little more time outside, and since they’re inside all day we clean stalls in the evening, freeing up my mornings for riding. I can do my spin class, feed, ride Henry, and still be back inside in time for my first meeting of the day. I have zero complaints.

I do have Henry signed up for a couple jumper classes at a local show this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes/if it actually comes to fruition (since nothing really has with him lately). Then next week we leave for Chatt already, and Henry will get a couple weeks vacation while I’m gone. Time is passing quickly, even when it feels like not much is happening.