Well, I managed to evade covid for almost 2 1/2 years, but it finally got me. Probably no coincidence that it happened literally a week after the SO got here, and he was making me go all kinds of places I normally don’t. Usually I’m a hermit of epic proportions. I’m totally blaming him, although really… it was probably just a matter of time given the way covid cases are going around here. Thanks Florida.

I’m hoping it passes quickly, because we were actually starting to get in a groove here with our program. Presto’s had a few jumping-oriented pro rides now, mostly working on that annoying little head fling that he likes to do if you want to touch your reins the last 4 strides in front of a jump. He’s always done it, since Megan first started jumping him, and I cannot stand it. He’s a bit (just a WEE FREAKIN BIT) egotistical and overconfident, and so unchallenged by these smaller jumps that he can get away with flinging his head all over the place, but as a rider let me just say it is goddamn annoying. Really really goddamn annoying. And I also don’t think it’s something that can just be ignored, because it’s only going to become more of a problem as he goes up the levels. I have to be able to half halt and he has to be able to adjust without flipping me the bird… those are just facts. So ya know, now is the time to fix it. With Steph’s help, because I was at a bit of a loss on my own. She’s making slow but steady progress (he’s pretty dedicated to being right, who’s surprised by that?) and I can already tell a bit of a difference in him at home. It’ll take some time to totally iron out I think, but we’re headed in the right direction. Or we were, before I got stupid covid.

He had a couple days off but now we’re back to it, just waiting for a negative test for me so we can actually leave the farm/interact with other people again and schedule more rides. I also was going to start scheduling lessons with Gemma now that she’s back in full swing. It would be nice if both of these kiddos were ready to hit some horse shows by the fall.

And I’m feeling especially eager to hit the horse shows now because LOOK WHAT CAME.

About a month ago Hillary and I were lucky enough to get fitted for Fabbri boots at Luxe EQ when they were in town at WEC, and yesterday our boots arrived from Italy. Mine are the navy ones – they’ve got a metallic navy stripe and white piping. Hillary’s are the black ones, with a black glitter top and navy patent piping. I wanted something a little “wild” by my standards, because if you’re gonna do it you may as well DO IT. The goal for me was to make boots for XC that would be fun and unique and look good with white breeches. I think these meet all of those criteria. You’ll definitely be able to spot me on XC now, and I love the little touches of white – I think it’ll look bomb with white pants.

I couldn’t resist grabbing Hillary’s and laying them next to the mid blue Espoir coat, since it’s also got some black glitter details. And then I had to throw my black glitter helmet into the photo too. Ya know… FOR SCIENCE.

It’s stunning. I am obsessed. I dunno why I’m so obsessed with light blue coats right now but I 100% am. It would look amazing on Gemma, don’t you think? Hopefully we’ll find out soon.

Not much else has really been going on obviously, since covid. I did have a post all queued up for yesterday to announce that Breed.Ride.Compete. was open again for custom breeding reports, but uh… our email subscribers bought up all the available spots in 10 minutes. They got advance notice of when we were going to open, and my plan was to give them a 30 minute head start and then roll out the public posts. I just.. never actually made it that far. Sold out again! Every time we open the spots sell out faster and faster, which thrills me to no end. The reception we’ve been getting with these is just amazing. I wasn’t sure anyone would actually care, but so far the feedback has been wonderful and we’re already seeing repeat customers. I’m having a good time doing them (well, usually… sometimes I really have to get creative with my digging), so it feels like a win-win.

So now we’re rocking and rolling through this batch, hoping to be able to open up more spots ASAP. I’m also in the middle of working on the next phase rollout for BRC, which will be a brand spanking new service that I’m pretty excited about. More on that later this week or early next week! Big things are coming…