Month: August 2021

I figured Mina gets one more update post, since she’s been here for I think 6 weeks now (?) and has settled in to farm dog life a bit.

Now that we know each other and she’s gotten used to the farm, things have come along pretty well. I know going from being an apartment dog to a farm dog was a big change for her, but for the most part she’s acclimated just fine. When she first came home I was fairly sure she hadn’t really spent much if any time off leash, she was very confused by the concept of freedom. Bit by bit she started earning more and more though, as she worked on paying attention to me and coming when she was called. Her recall is very good now, I never have to have her leashed or worry about her running off at all, she comes running just from a whistle and tends to not really want to lose me from her sight anyway. She’s definitely figured out that I’m her person.

As for the horses, she’s not really scared of them anymore, which is a good thing and a bad thing. She’s not as careful about staying out of their path or away from their feet so I have to watch her pretty closely when she’s near them. Quinnie and Henry really don’t pay her any mind but JB is deathly curious about her and really wants to chase her, which Mina has yet to realize.

We haven’t had too many encounters with wildlife or other animals, aside from bugs (this dog will run up to a spiderweb and shove her whole face in it to sniff the spider). She loves to chase birds but I don’t think she’d know what to do if she ever actually caught one. What does seem to concern her is if any of the livestock start singing the songs of their various people – like if the cows start mooing or the donkeys start heehawing or the horses start neighing. Mina goes on high alert, or if it’s the horses she wants to go running over to them. I dunno if she thinks there’s something going down or if she’s still just not figured out what the heck noise they’re making.

For the most part Mina only has two modes – 100% balls to the wall, or asleep. Like… there’s very little in between. She’s quite high-energy, I bet she wasn’t that great as an apartment dog honestly. Stewie was a JRT mix and even in his heyday he wasn’t as high energy as she is. She’s got that vibrating, ADHD quality to her sometimes. There are lots of zoomies. Lots.

To her credit though, she’s not destructive AT ALL. She doesn’t chew or dig or bark or anything like that. Her only real bad habit that I’m still trying to deal with is that she jumps up on people. She kind of gets overwhelmed with excitement because FRANDS and then just starts leaping like crazy. I’ve gotten her to stop doing it to me 95% of the time but all bets are off for new people. That’s a work in progress.

The other thing she really seems to hate is… leaving. She doesn’t want to get in the car AT ALL, and she’s high anxiety the whole time she’s in there and when she goes anywhere new. We’ve done about 5 little trips now, thinking she’d get better over time once she figured out she definitely wasn’t going back to the shelter. Not so much… if anything she’s gotten worse. If you go to the car she runs the other way and lays down in a ball, you basically have to drag her in. Not really worth it, IMO. I guess she’s happy enough here?

I’m glad that she likes the farm and isn’t overwhelmed by it, nor is she a flight risk. You just never know how they’ll handle it sometimes. For a shelter dog that came from who knows where, she’s a really good dog overall.

Sorry about the conspicuous absence of a Foal Friday post last week. Believe it or not sometimes Michelle has “other things to do” and “personal life commitments” that don’t always allow her to spend time taking and uploading foal photos every week. I know, I know, sounds like fake news to me too but I can only repeat what I’m told. We’ll have a good one for you this week to make up for it though, so… hopefully it’s forgiven?

It’s been hot AF down here for the most part anyway, we’re officially in summer’s armpit. We did get a little bit of rain one day last week, and that broke the heat cycle even if only briefly, so it’s not as bad as it could have been. There’ve been a couple of real Texas Summer days though, which mostly just reminded me of how much it really sucks when the air is so hot and humid it punches you in the face when you walk outside. Not a fan. It’s also the worst for Henry, who, on days like that, needs to be hosed off several times throughout the day. He’s pretty pro about it by now though, you don’t even need a halter and leadrope, he takes himself over the hose.

The only saving grace is that the mornings, while 100% humidity every friggin day, have been fairly cool. The humidity is workable when it’s only mid-70’s, I just have to be on Henry as early as I can. I’m a big fan of morning rides anyway, it’s my favorite time of day. The world is a little quieter and calmer and the sun feels benevolent instead of ruthless. Once it’s fully up, it’s just brutal. Plus like, there’s really no better way to kick off the day than on a good horse, am I right?

My weekend afternoons were completely consumed with Millstreet coverage. Once again another year has passed without us being able to attend (it was our planned trip for 2020 – ha. ha. hahaha. boooo.) but I’m really hoping that next year it’ll be possible. They’ve got FEI divisions up to 4*L, including ponies, plus young horse stuff. It’s like, all of our favorite things rolled into one. Plus the whole Ireland part… we’ve yet to peruse the stallions and young stock of Ireland in person, and it’s a definitely must-do thing on the list (along with finding me a dun Fusion filly).

One big thing I noticed though while watching the Millstreet coverage – and maybe this is because I spent last weekend watching Great Meadow thus it was still fresh on my mind – is just how different the commentary is between the live streams. These Irish guys knew the bloodlines of almost every single horse, mentioned the breeder, siblings of the horse, other horses the breeder had produced, the sires, the dams, etc. Like – extensively. They even went off a couple times on tangents about underused stallions, the impact that ICSI has had on genetic diversity, etc. Compared to the Great Meadow livestream where they only mentioned the sire of a few of the horses, had some blatantly wrong observations, and otherwise discussed things like colors or size or personal stories about the rider/owner…. the difference was stark. The Irish are horsemen, they know their stock, they know where and who they come from and how they’re made. It’s no wonder they’re so much better at it than we are. It once again left me with the distinct impression that we really have to step it up in a lot of regards.

BTW they had the livestream of Millstreet on their facebook page so you can still go back and watch the various divisions if you want. Highly recommend, it’s good stuff.

Speaking of livestreams, this week is going to be a busy one. We’ve got AECs starting tomorrow, streaming on the USEA website, and then Bicton 5* starting Friday, streaming on H&C. I’m pretty excited to see how Bicton goes, the course looks legit and there are a lot of good horses entered. And naturally I’m excited about AEC to be able to watch some of my friends go, as well as the Mighty Magic in the Advanced (Miks Master C) and Megan’s two horses in the Intermediate and Prelim.

Otherwise I was pretty busy around the farm last week, since the BO’s were off at Festival of Champions watching their super young horse show under Michelle Gibson. She ended up 2nd in the 6yo final, pretty exciting! They picked her out as a foal so I know how proud and rewarding that has to feel.

When they’re gone all the barn work falls to me, which I don’t mind at all. Taking care of the horses has never felt like much of a chore (okay, except for Blizzard Week where I hated everything. We try not to speak of that week). Plus, like, I averaged 12-14k steps every day last week… not bad. I wish there was a good way to tell how many gallons of sweat that amounted to.

Hope you guys had a good weekend and anyone in the path of Hurricane Ida is doing ok. And if you’re headed to AEC’s – best of luck!

At first the title was “let’s talk whites” and I realized at the very last possible second that it might not really attract the demographic I was looking for as it applies to non-horse people. Crisis averted, hopefully.

Anyway yes this is another breeches post, the second in a row, because look y’all trying to rebuild an entire breeches collection from the bottom up is a fucking task, OK? I think I’m good on schooling breeches now, but I haven’t yet tackled the show breeches side of things.

My old show breeches were all Horze Grand Prix, and I like them fine, so I could just go that route again. I haven’t really looked at or shopped for whites since like… 2017… so maybe there are a lot more/better options out there now that I need to know about. If I shat money I’d just go buy a few pair of Strucks, because I LOVE that the interior of them is tan, therefore you can’t see a damn thing through them, and they come in every size (26, 27, 28, 29, etc). However I really need like 2-3 pairs and $300 x 2 or 3 just is not happening. I also know that what is usually my favorite fabric for breeches – no cotton, thin, stretchy, breathable – tends to not be the best when it comes to whites unless you’re a fan of everyone also seeing your underwear.

SO – let’s discuss. What white breeches do you have)? How see-through are they? What’s their price point? How’s the fit (rise, length, true to size, straight fit or curvy fit)?

I can only speak for ones I’ve had recently:

Horze Grand Prix – not really see-through, $120, fit about one size large, slightly long, good for curvy fit.

Tell me what you like!

Who doesn’t love cheap breeches? Well ok usually I don’t, because most of the super cheap ones are that awful clingy fuzzy-looking cotton blend that makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit. But these are definitely NOT like that, so have no fear.

When I saw people in a facebook group talking about these $40 BALEAF breeches from Amazon, I was intrigued. Mostly because I saw that they aren’t cotton (85% Nylon, 15% Elastane), and also because I had some Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. They were also running a promotion (still are as of this moment!) where if you bought two or more pairs they were 10% off, making them $39 a pop. I ordered two pair, the black and the blue. I figured hey, worst case scenario I hate them and I’ll just return them. Not a big deal.

I did read in all of the discussion that they run big, which I’m glad I saw, because if I’d gone according to the size chart I would have ordered medium. Instead based on their advice I got the Smalls and they’re even a tiny bit on the looser side. They also are cut a bit more generous through the hip and thigh compared to the waist, which is great for me, but maybe not so much if you have a larger waist and smaller thighs. I laid them out comparatively with all of my breeches and fit/cut/sizing wise they’re most similar to my size 28 mid-rise Montar’s. Judging from what I’ve seen everyone else say, the sizing seems to go roughly something like XS – 26, S – 28, M – 30, L – 32, XL – 34, XXL – 36.

The fabric is on the thinner side, which makes them great for summer or for those of us who live in the south. This is the weight fabric I prefer for most of the year, it’s not hot or bulky or restrictive. I can’t quite figure out exactly what breeches the fabric reminds me of… it’s sorta similar to the Ovation Aqua-X or a couple models of the Kerrits or For Horses. It’s that slicker feeling fabric that dirt doesn’t stick to as well, if that makes sense?

These do have a silicone “full seat” which was a bit of a deterrent for me, but I’ve learned by now that as long as they aren’t super grippy I really don’t notice it. These didn’t look particularly grippy or siliconey from the photos, and I can attest to the fact that I don’t feel or notice the seat at all. A negative if you’re looking for a lot of grip, but a positive in my eyes since there’s nothing worse to me than breeches that make me feel stuck.

Overall they fit me pretty well. If I was being super picky I’d love it if the rise was maybe a half inch higher in the back and if they were all around like a half inch smaller, but really…. for $40 I can’t complain at all. I’ve had $200 breeches that weren’t this comfortable and didn’t fit this well. The general feel I get from them is that this is kind of the breech I would expect from closer to the $100 price point. Are they the best thing I’ve ever put on my butt? No. Are they really freaking impressive for the price point? Definitely. FORTY BUCKS? Show me other breeches that are this nice for $40. I’ll wait.

They have two pockets in the front and two zippered fully functional pockets in the back, and they’re big enough to where I can fit my iPhone in any of the pockets. There’s a stretchy mesh panel on the inside of the bottom of the leg so they’re nice and tapered and sit well under your boots. For me the length is pretty spot on perfect, but I’m also the most average size human in the world (5’6″) so I tend to not have issues with that usually anyway.

Their “blue” color is more of what I’d call a deep teal. It’s definitely NOT navy by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still a pretty nice color. From what I’ve seen the whites are a bit see-through so I haven’t ordered any of those. I have yet to see anyone with the tan so I can’t attest to what that color looks like in person… their colors do seem a bit darker online though than they are in real life.

If you’re looking for more breeches, I think it’s definitely worth a try to see if these will fit you. I mean, you really can’t beat the price, and since it’s Amazon (for however evil that may be) at least it’s pretty simple and easy to return them if you don’t like them or they don’t fit. I have no real complaints, and I’d definitely buy more if they make them in more colors!

So a couple weeks ago when we figured out that Presto indeed was not actually qualified for AEC, it was time to come up with a new plan. Plan… what are we on now… C maybe? As it goes with horses.

His whole pro training journey has been relatively fluid in general. I originally took him up for a month, but liked Megan so much that I opted to keep him on and send him to Ocala with her and have her be his trainer for the Futurity. And Ocala went really well, so he came home and we started making horse show plans, including getting him to a YEH qualifier. Our only real option for that was Chatt, and we were supposed to get two chances back to back with two weeks of shows, but then an issue came up at the barn and the horses had to miss week 1. That left us with only one YEH shot, and Presto didn’t get the score he needed for East Coast Championships. Trying to get him to another qualifier would require another 1000+ mile haul, and that’s just not worth it for any of us, so it was a one and done shot at a score, which he didn’t get. Close the book on the that plan. That didn’t exactly break my heart because it’s a 1500 mile haul to Championships, and while it would have been really fun to go and for him to experience the atmosphere and represent WTW, he wouldn’t have been very competitive. That’s a long friggin drive to do what is essentially a derby and not be very competitive.

But Presto had placed 2nd at Chatt, a qualifying placing for AEC. So we thought, hmm… is there another show between then and the end of the AEC qualifying period? Hence making the trip to River Glen, where he was 2nd again. At that point we thought we had the qualifications done and his next stop would be AEC, but alas that wasn’t to be either (I can’t tell you how annoying it is to have two Novices under his belt with two 2nd places and just be ONE measly completion short of him being able to go). I was more sad about that one than YEH, to be honest. I wanted a showcation, I wanted him to get to experience AEC and a big atmosphere, and I think he actually had a shot of being competitive there. But, ya know, sometimes we don’t get what we want and that’s just how things go. Hard to be that disappointed considering the fact that he’s already vastly (like by lightyears) exceeded any expectations I may have had for him this year.

So that brings us up to now. The “end date” of Presto’s pro training has always been a little bit fluid. If he’d qualified for YEH East Coast Champs he’d have gone to that in October. AEC’s are September. I always kind of figured whatever his last stop thing was with Megan, he’d come home maybe a month later. But then when those two things dried up we found ourselves without a clear last stop date on the schedule, so we had to regroup. For me personally, there are two main objectives left at this point in his training journey: 1) it’s time for me to start learning how to ride the horse she’s created. 2) every show has been an improvement on the one before it, and I really feel like he’d benefit from just a couple more with a pro ride before I take over, to help confirm everything he’s learned so far.

The first question was, what was on Megan’s schedule for the fall? I figured she’d have to be traveling somewhere, trying to get FEI runs on her two upper level horses, and indeed she was thinking of heading out to Cali for about a month so she could hit a 2* and a 4*. That would encompass basically all of October and into November. With her being gone for AEC combined with the fact that there’s only one show in our area before she leaves (at a venue Presto has already run at) I thought the best option would be to just send him along on her Tour de California. He can get another 2-3 shows under his belt at different venues (all of which are very different from any he’s seen so far), confirm all the stuff he’s done this summer, and get a little more life experience.

With that decided, the next priority was point #1 – it’s time for me to start learning how to ride him. The plan as of now is for me to start going up for lessons when Megan is back from AEC. I’ll take as many as I can in September (which, she’s 3.5 hours from me so that’ll probably be 3-5 lessons, realistically), then he’ll go to California, and then when he comes back in November I’ll spend the rest of that month going up and taking more lessons. In December he’ll come home and then we’ll see how things go from there. Right now he’s been on a bit of a break, which will continue until after AEC. He’s had a big summer, so he deserves it.

In a fairly hilarious plot twist, we did find out that Presto’s score from his YEH qualifier was actually good enough to qualify him for West Coast Championships (their score requirement is slightly lower since they don’t get the same kind of entry numbers that East does) and he will actually already be in California when Championships are taking place. For Futurity purposes it’s useless though, since right now they’re only operating in conjunction with the East Coast Championships, but I did briefly entertain the idea of sending him to West. In the end I’m just not sure I can justify the expense plus the addition of one more show to his schedule while he’s there. I can spend less money sending him to a full horse trial (where he stands a better chance of being competitive, honestly) and get more out of it. It’s cool that he qualified, but if I’m being practical I just don’t think there’s much value in him going.

For now we have (another) plan at least, and I’m honestly feeling pretty excited (albeit a bit intimidated) to start riding him again, but for real this time. I know my learning curve will be very steep – Presto couldn’t be any more opposite of Henry if he tried – but I’m feeling ready to get back out there and take on the challenge again!