Alright I absolutely hate foosball but can we talk about that halftime show for a second? I’ve been a fan of Eminem since he first hit the scene when I was in high school, and my love has not faded over time. I’ve said for years that he’s the greatest lyricist of our time and I stand by that. Also Dr. Dre is still absolutely baller. If they could have just cancelled all the football and let the halftime show go for a couple more hours, I would have been delighted.

In more horsey news, Gemma continues to have very minor and easy “lessons”. Hillary ponied her out on the trails in the back

which Gemma thought was really fun. She does love to get out and see things and explore, and she was super interested in looking around at everything but she wasn’t spooky about it. Not even when two giant helicopters came thundering right overhead. Ears pricked, happy girl. You can tell she’s itching to stretch her legs and let off some steam, but seriously she gets two big gold stars at how well she’s keeping herself under wraps during her rest period. I’ve been bringing her into the barn every other day in the afternoon so she can stand in the crossties, get groomed, and get some Durasole and Keratex on her feet.

She’s understanding the crossties well now, and she stands pretty well. No fuss about leaving the other horses or being alone in the barn (unlike a certain hangry hangry hippo we all know and love) Her feet are still a bit sore, mostly the hinds since they’re barefoot now, but it’s definitely gotten better since those first couple days. The timing worked out pretty well for her shoeing transition since the ground is has mercifully softened up a bit but it isn’t muddy. One thing about Gemma for sure though – she is a FOODIE. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her since she still has a lot of weight to gain, but that girl really likes her food, especially treats. She absolutely SCREAMS at me when I’m coming with food. And not in the way that makes you feel loved… the way where you’re pretty sure she’s saying “Walk faster, peon!”. I live to serve. After all, I was trained by the Chestnuttiest Marey-est horse alive.

Gemma still doesn’t even hold a candle to Henry when it comes to the stereotypical chestnut mare behaviors.

I’ve been riding Henry some though, on the days where Hillary can’t come out. He’s really thriving I think, doing a little bit of “harder” work again with her. He’s a bit stronger than he was, but everything is still easy and infrequent enough to where he’s not being taxed by it. Although she has figured out more and more how to flat him better, which he’s not quite so pleased about. He would appreciate if everyone just believed all his “oh I don’t know what that means” or “oh I don’t do that” LIES when it comes to proper flatwork.

Presto is settling into Michelle’s too… I think she might need a bulk delivery of wine on like a weekly basis while he’s there, but more on all his tomfoolery tomorrow.

One more little newsworthy item – I’ve been officially brought onto the Eventing Nation team to provide some regular breeding articles, as well as extensive breeding guides for all of the major events. We officially kicked it off yesterday with a “fun” Valentines Day themed piece to get the ball rolling. I’m pretty excited to have the opportunity to get all my nerdy info out to a bigger audience, and hopefully see what we can do about getting this info more mainstream. I’m especially interested in doing articles that might appeal to people who aren’t already involved in the breeding business or have experience with breeding, so if you guys have any ideas for what you might like to read about or learn more about, please let me know!