Yes it is indeed Friday night when I’m writing this. Or rather, when I’m finishing writing this. It was Wednesday when I started. That’s just kind of how things have gone this week.

On Monday I clipped Henry. Which was not at all my intention for the morning, but he was hot and I did that thing where I was like “I’ll just clip part of him for now” which I don’t know why I tell myself those kinds of lies because that’s never what actually happens. I did everything but the very bottom of his belly, which is currently still hairy because I haven’t had time yet to finish him. It’s a look. He’s much happier though, so that’s all that matters.

I had plans for Wednesday through Sunday, so I had to squeeze a jump lesson in earlier in the week than usual. Luckily Trainer had time on Tuesday, so we went on over. I actually hadn’t jumped Presto since the POP show a week and a half prior, but much credit to this horse – he’s showing more and more maturity lately by just getting right to work and doing the things. It’s very sus sometimes.

But since we have now actually penciled in (very much penciled) a potential move-up, Trainer ain’t playing. A few warm-up jumps and up they went to height (with a few a bit over). Which, the good thing is, my eyeballs are getting used to the jumps being a little bigger again. I have no hesitation about anything looking big. It also helps that Presto is still just absolutely loping over these with minimal effort. I’m not sure at what point he’ll have to start trying, but we haven’t found it yet.

Perhaps the most exciting part about the lesson (to me) was when I absolutely biffed the distance to the Swedish oxer off of the short turn and he just pretzeled himself over it like “weird choice mom but okey dokey”. He is so non-plussed and does not get rattled by mistakes. The natural self-confidence level of this horse is really high. Very different from Henry… I always had to be very aware of keeping him confident and willing to put up with my mistakes, and he can get offended by them sometimes.

Presto on the other hand legit could not care less. He doesn’t really get rattled, he’s not worried about what I do or don’t do or what happened or why… it’s interesting. I mean, yes he might spook at a rock and drop me on my ass at any given moment, but he’s super reliable in other ways. I still keeping learning more and more about this horse of mine, week in and week out. He’s kind of fucking cool, y’all.

So I entered Rocking Horse, which will be our first recognized event and possibly our last Novice. We’ll see how it goes. Apparently their showjumping is known for being tricky, so goal is not dying. Of course, as soon as I entered I remembered that recognized means I have to do things like wear a coat (not so bad, I’ve been looking for a reason to debut my light blue one anyway) and braid my horse. Ugh, BRAIDING. This horse is the actual least fun to braid, 0% looking forward to that. I also only have one pair of white breeches (this is a two day show) and never did buy a white shirt to go under that light blue coat, so… cool. That’s fine. I’ll just… I dunno. Whatever. I can’t brain about it right now.

And then yesterday we had another hurricane pass through. Honestly this one brought more wind and rain to our area than Ian did, even though it was just a weak Cat 1 when it made landfall. It was WINDY. Not really a big deal though luckily, just lots of little branches and limbs down, but no loss of power or anything major. The horses just hung out in their stalls and ate their hay. Rough life for them.

This week/weekend I’m also working at WEC in the Luxe EQ mobile shop. That’s always a fun time for me, although it was perhaps less fun to get everything battened down for a hurricane. It survived though, and I was back out there today. Things are a bit slow, seems like a smaller show, but if you’re around, come say hi! It’s the tan trailer in the vendor area next to the hotel, closest to the patisserie.

I also made the mistake of trying on a bunch of Samshield clothes in there, which might solve my lack of horse show clothes problem, but at the extreme detriment of my wallet. Send help.

In other news, BRC has donated a pedigree report to EN’s 12 days of Christmas giveaways, so make sure you’re following them in preparation for that! I’ve also already started gathering info for Black Friday sales (can’t believe it’s that time again, omg) so if your business is doing something, feel free to drop me a message so I can add you.

Oh and best of luck to Bobbert and Carlson this week at USDF Finals!