Last week/weekend were basically the last relatively free and relaxed weekends I’m going to get for the next month or so. This week the t!ny h0use is being prepped and packed, next week it’s moving, then I have to go pick up Presto from west Texas, then we’re headed to Kentucky, then as soon as we get back from Kentucky we’re packing up the horses and heading to Florida. Between all that stuff and work and other random things, there’s something on my calendar basically every day for the next 3-4 weeks. So, knowing what was looming, we were trying to fit in as much horse time and as many “fun things” as possible into last week.

First noteworthy thing: Hillary finally got to ride Gemma.

The original plan was that she wouldn’t really ride her until way later, but Gemma’s a lot more chill than we anticipated, plus I was like “you really gotta FEEL her though”. Because just watching her you can see some moments of brilliance, but riding her and feeling those moments… that’s a whole different thing. It makes her very exciting. Hillary agreed that the nice moments feel even better than they look, and that we got a nicer horse than we’d even originally thought. That’s always fun.

The next day I rode Gemma again and Hillary jumped Henry, and Gemma’s main job was to stand quietly on the buckle in the middle while he worked around her, and while he buzzed nearby her front and back end. She wasn’t rattled in the least, and I think the “standing on the buckle” ride was her favorite. Lazy animal.

On Friday we headed over to Dover for their tent sale, because sometimes they do have some good deals. I will say though that the term “tent sale” was a bit of a stretch. In years past they’ve actually had a huge tent set up in the parking lot, but this time there was just a pop up canopy that had an empty table under it. They had some tables set up outside with boxes of stuff, a lot of it undesirable, but there were some good deals to be found if you dug around or went through all the returned items. A lot of stuff inside was on sale too but there were so many people crammed in there it was making me claustrophobic. Ultimately I ended up with two pairs of bell boots and a fly sheet (the fly sheet was actually a good deal, 50% off) and a free bucket. Still not sure if it was worth the 45 minute wait in line that it took to check out, though. Probably not.

We had tried the day before to message The TackHack to set up an appointment with them to come by their shop after Dover, but didn’t get a response. Since they’re only like a mile and a half from Dover we decided to try to drive by anyway and see if anyone was there. We called the number on the door but didn’t get an answer, so alas that didn’t happen. I wanted to check out their store at least once before I left Texas but I guess that wasn’t meant to be.

We had some Mexican food for lunch while we were out, and then on Sunday I met a couple more friends for an early dinner at another Mexican food place. I think literally the only perk of Texas is the superior Mexican food, but we’ll see what I can find in Florida. For now I’m stocking up, just in case.

While Dover wasn’t that exciting and TackHack was a bust, I did manage to score a nice used Devoucoux dressage bridle for Gemma from someone on Instagram for an absolute STEAL. I’ve always wanted one of these because I love the noseband, but also I am way (way way way) too cheap to pay $500+ for a bridle. I keep forgetting to try it on her, but hopefully it fits. If not she could probably wear Presto’s and he could wear this one.

Totally unhorse related, I also snagged a couple more poetry books. I’ve been having a definite poetry book moment for the past year or so and I’m not sad about it. Granted, I should probably stop buying freaking books when I know that it’s just yet another thing I have to pack. Details. I don’t have nearly as many books as I used to before I moved into the t!ny so I don’t really feel that bad about it. My book collection still fits on one shelf of a small bookcase.

Today my dad is coming over to help me take all the skirting off the t!ny, and then tomorrow I have a guy coming to prepare it for moving (unanchoring it, taking all the blocks out, checking the tires, securing the hitch, etc). I’m also trying to get the Kentucky breeding data done this week for a couple Eventing Nation projects and get some content done for the Patreon. All of this to say: it’s very possible that I might be more MIA here on the blog over the next few weeks than usual. I’ll keep posting at least semi-regularly until we leave for Kentucky, and then after that you probably won’t hear from me again until we’re settled in Florida. I’ll keep you updated as we go. Crunch time has officially begun!