Since I clipped Presto this week his nickname has been Nudie Doodie, which… isn’t the best. Let’s hope that the nickname my brain comes up with next week is better.

On Monday we had a dressage lesson, because this weekend we’re riding yet another new test. It’ll be our 4th show together, and the third new dressage test. I honestly have no idea how pros/actual dressage people live with all these tests in their head, my brain has a one maaaaaaybe two dressage test limit before it shuts down. This weekend is Training Test A, which is kind of a weird test and everything comes in rapid fire succession, so I’m glad we were able to have time with Steph to ride through it a couple times and figure it out. This will be a harder test for Presto for sure, with the 10m half circles and the canter lengthenings on a 20m circle. In case you haven’t noticed he is very large and a dressage ring is very small… lengthening the canter on a 20m circle is a hard movement for a big young horse. We’ll give it a go, but I can already see the “show more difference” comment coming. That’s fine, he’s ready to be challenged a bit more. We’ll maximize the parts he’s good at and give a best effort at the rest.

On Tuesday I body clipped him again, which he was definitely overdue for. I had been using the excuse of needing to get my clippers serviced and blades sharpened, but then I did that and officially ran out of excuses. And he really DID need to be clipped again before another show. This time I also did his legs, which I’d never done before because ugh I hate it. I started with his legs and head (because I’m not dumb and I knew his quarter would run out before we finished… I’d rather not have him flailing his feet around while I was trying to clip those) and by the time I got to his body he was real annoyed. I was also real annoyed. But it’s done now at least. It was amazing how many scrapes and dings I found on his legs underneath all the hair. I mean… not surprising, this horse is rough and tumble at best, but my god. If he could just NOT do that, that’d be great.

On Wednesday we had a jump lesson. I hadn’t jumped Presto since Rocking Horse so I figured it would probably be good to jump a course or two before this weekend. We popped around the 1m warmup course pretty easily, so then we concentrated on the outside line – vertical, 4 strides, vertical, 2 strides, oxer. The goal was to get him to make a little better shape in the air and make sure he stayed rideable down the line. She added v rails to the middle vertical and the oxer went up every time through.

For my part I legit could not stop finding a shit distance into the line. I found every single distance except the good one, basically. But Presto is not fazed by that, and he just kept jumping in and down the line like it was no big deal. When the oxer got bigger and he finally had to put in some effort, I think that was the first time I’ve really felt him try. He’s still not always sure where all his legs are supposed to go, but he seemed to enjoy the challenge. Noodle can fly. It was fun to get a little glimpse of what he’s got in the tank.

On Wednesday afternoon Henry went for a Gotcha Day road hack with Lex, and then yesterday was a rainy day off for everyone.

A cold front came through on the back side of the storms, so our high temps went from 80’s to 60’s and our lows are in the 40’s. Brrr. It was chilly this morning. Naturally Sunday is looking to be the coldest day, with a high of 60 and a low of 36. Should be an exciting horse show day for the young ones… I’m glad all my ride times are in the afternoon at least! Nobody needs an extra spicy noodle.