Month: May 2023

Maybe I should start titling my posts the way a lot of emo bands title their songs.

Take the above highlighted song and replace “toe” with “finger” and it fits. Since I seem to be unable to go any period of time without injuring myself in some ridiculous way, last week I dislocated a finger. The left ring finger, at the middle knuckle, to be exact.

‘Anyway, when it happened I looked down and saw the top of my finger pointing 45 degrees to the left and said to Hillary “I think my finger is broken” and then I moved it and PING it popped back in and I said “Oh, good, it was just dislocated”. Dislocated is better than broken. Theoretically anyway. Still hurts like a mofo, stupid finger. Luckily the damage is really on the inside of that finger and not the outside where reins sit. It’s mostly annoying for carrying things or picking up anything heavy. Which is, ya know… totally fine at a horse farm. FYI the finger DOES NOT LIKE lifting bales of hay.

I had a lesson a couple hours after it happened and was very relieved to find that it still worked ok and I didn’t really notice it when I was riding. Thank goodness my horse isn’t particularly heavy in the hand because if a stupid dislocated finger caused me to have to scratch our Modified move-up, I would have been extremely the most annoyed.

The next day was Presto’s day off, which worked out well since I spent a lot of time icing and BEMERing and slathering Voltaren on my finger. Hillary took him for a pony for me (he gets so bored on his days off), which was comical. Or at least most of us found it comical. Lex did not. Presto has a few too many shenanigans.

We got a good bit of rain last week too, which we really needed, but it did mean the horses had so spend some time inside. This also meant the final death blow to Presto’s poor little monkey stuffed animal. It was missing an eye, both arms, and had been 80% decapitated. He also murdered his glittery soccer ball that Auntie Michelle got him. All in a day’s work, ya know? So much violence. This whole post is violence.

I managed to get through the rest of the week without damaging myself any further, and we did indeed make it to the horse show. Which I will post about ASAP… I was kind of stalling hoping that the photogs would get some pictures up so that I have something more than screen shots. Spoiler alert:

This week I’ve got some writing projects due and some pedigree reports to get cracking on, along with all the usual farm stuff. Rhett and Lucy are now turned out together so I should definitely have some cute Foal Friday fodder for you, too. Happy Monday!

Our final 2023 foal has officially arrived! Say hello to Radiance WTW, aka Lucy.

This kiddo was born over Kentucky weekend, as if she knew she was bred to event. Her sire is Future Hepsilon, a young British son of Tom Carlise’s legendary French Anglo Arab stallion Upsilon (who once won a 4* on a score of 17.3).

Her dam is our lovely TB mare Peyton, dam of Remi and Pippa, which makes Lucy 76% blood (a mix of TB and French AA) and the rest mostly German jumping lines.

She’s a sweet girl who likes people, and you can already tell that she’s gonna be a fiery one. She’s got quick reflexes, is athletic and bold, and it looks like she’s gonna be a good mover, too!

This also makes the second very chromey chestnut for Peyton, who carries a gene that maximizes white markings when it’s passed. And yes, before anyone asks, Lucy will turn gray like her sire.

The best news of all is that Lucy has already found her people! One of my trainer’s other students was very quick to snatch her up, and I think it’s going to be a really good match.

This also means that all of the WTW 2023 foal crop is sold out. Yup, all of them (except Rue, who Michelle is keeping) have already been claimed! And they went to people that I think will be great homes, so that’s the even more exciting part. Congrats to Caroline, Lija, Claire, and Hillary!

Last but not least for today, the arrival of all the foals (Daisy aborted her foal over the winter, which I know we talked about in the Patreon group but it occurs to me that I don’t know if I ever mentioned it here) means that we have also wrapped up this year’s Baby Bets contest. Y’all were really on it this year, particularly with Lucy… I have no idea how so many of you knew she would be chestnut with chrome! We had some of the highest scores we’ve seen in this contest yet.

The winner is: Jackson! Who unfortunately did not leave an email or method of contact, so hopefully they’re reading this. If so, please reach out to me through my contact page or my socials. If I don’t hear from them within a couple weeks I’ll move to the next highest score. Thank you to everyone who participated this year, and I hope you’re enjoying the foal content. 🙂

Y’all will be shocked to hear (insert heavy sarcasm) that things have been busy around here the past couple weeks! We’ve officially got all the 2023 foals on the ground now, which is exciting. You’ll meet the newest addition formally on Foal Friday (sorry to make you wait, but thems the rules). That means we’ve got 5 babies now, with the oldest being 2.5 months. Which means there’s a lot of foal training to be done too.

Michelle had to head back home to Texas, so Hillary and I have taken over everything with the babies and the farm. The childrens are fun but they are also time-consuming at this stage. We’re settling into a groove though, and everyone has been behaving themselves pretty well. We’re also officially all sold out of 2023 foals – all 4 of the available ones (Rue is being retained) are under contract! They’re in-demand, and that’s always exciting.

We also officially got Fay’s paperwork done for her sBs registration, and her microchip put in. She isn’t the biggest fan of vets or needles so I thought she might be displeased about the microchip, but I distracted her with cookies and she didn’t even notice. The perks of a highly food motivated animal.

Henry, meanwhile, got himself a pony friend.

At least for now. Nunez (who was just purchased by none other than blogger Holly!) is hanging out for a month or two before he goes to the boarding barn for training, and I kinda wanted to see how Henry got along with him for turnout. Henry generally dislikes everyone and is the top grumpiest dog, but he’s always seemed extremely tolerant of Nunez in particular. Sure enough these two are thick as thieves now, like two peas in a misshapen pod. Now I dunno what I’m gonna do when Henry’s pony leaves.

Presto, in the meantime, seems to have enjoyed his little mini-vacay. He’s been quite full of himself, destroying his fly sheet and two pairs of boots (my brand new Arion ones and his Majyk Equipe ice boots, for anyone that wants to cry along with me). This horse is kind of the actual worse when he’s had nothing to occupy his brain. He looks great though, and he’s clipped and fresh and ready for a few more shows before he gets to his real summer vacay in a couple months. He’s looking great with his cute little dapples, too.

We’ve got a couple lessons this week and then we’re gonna try our hand at the Modified at Majestic this weekend.

I did also make some time to watch at least half of the Badminton cross country which saw some real highs (Tom Crisp literally swimming in the water after he fell off was one of the best displays of a good attitude that I’ve ever seen) and some real lows (Ollie, come on man). For what is I think the first time ever I did get my Eventing Nation staff pick correct for the winner at least. I love Lordships Grafallo quite a lot, what a cool horse.

I’ve also reopened the pedigree reports for BRC, so if anyone has been waiting for a while, now’s your chance! I’ve also got a couple spots left for breeding consultations. If you’ve already purchased either of these things, we’re also running a giveaway drawing for a BRC swag package (shirt, vest or jacket, hat, and saddle pad!). To enter all you need to do is make a short and simple “review” type post about your report or consultation, either on your facebook or instagram. The post needs to be public and please tag Breed.Ride.Compete so I can see it! If you share the post to facebook groups (like the OTTB groups, the MLE group, Ride iQ group, wherever you feel is relevant!) you get one additional entry for each place you share it. Just send me all your shares so I can get them entered.

I’ll also work this week on calculating the winner of this year’s Baby Bets contest… I’ll have that ready to announce by Friday!

I figured this week we should focus on the two younger ones, our small but mighty colt contingent for this year. Especially since Randell has gotten to go outside this week!

He has found himself with the nickname Andy, mostly because he reminds me a whole lot of the character Andy from Parks and Rec. He is sweet and happy and bold, but he’s already rocking that total derp derp gelding vibe.

It’s been fun to see him out and about this week though. He loves to gallop and has pretty admirable mastery over those long spider legs of his already. He’s balanced and well-proportioned, and it shows in how he moves.

He’s also interested in people and pretty independent, I think largely because of Vee’s parenting style. She is a disciplinarian, not the doting type, so he’s already got a pretty strong sense of manners. She feeds him and takes care of him like she’s supposed to, but she also banishes him to the corner when she’s eating her meals and doesn’t tolerate any kind of extreme shenanigans on or near her. She’s raising a respectful kiddo.

Which is the exact opposite parenting style of Chanel, with Rhett.

She believes that he hung the moon and the stars in the sky, that he is the best thing to ever wear four hooves, and he certainly can do no wrong.

However, that has given Rhett the same opinion of himself that she has, and thus he is a bit of a lawless child. He does what he wants, when he wants, with his Mom’s full support, no matter how naughty it is. He’s climbing all over her like she’s a walking jungle gym, biting her ears, and she’s just like “isn’t he precious”?

His ego is off the charts and so is his sass. It’s a good thing he’s squishy and adorable.

Despite the best efforts of Spirit Airlines, I made it back from LRK3DE. Our flight leaving Florida was delayed almost 4 hours, and our flight coming back was cancelled, rebooked for 10 hours later, and then two and half hours delayed. Fun times. It’s one of those things where you keep repeating “at least it was cheap” a few hundred times in your head.

This year’s trip was largely for business, I had several various odd jobs to do, including some content creation stuff and meeting with a few brands regarding sponsorships on behalf of a couple ULR’s. We arrived at KHP on Friday morning, and much of the day was spent doing the latter. It was a lot of talking to people, but it was also nice to see some old friends again and put faces with the names of some newer contacts. It also gave me a chance to scope out some of the new products from various brands, or see some things in person for the first time. More on that later.

On Friday evening we had our second annual Kentucky tattoo appointment… well maybe our first actual appointment, since last year we did a walk in for those spur of the moment Pat Your Horse tattoos. This year we actually planned ahead, had drawings, and made an actual appointment at an actual nice place. My left forearm is now sporting a most-cute Presto face, complete with emo forelock.

After that we stopped by the Ride iQ happy hour to say hi to that group and grab a snack. Or rather, I couldn’t get to the snack table without rudely crashing through a couple conversations, so I texted Kyle Carter and asked him to pass me a cookie, and he chunked it so hard that if it had made contact I would have died. I ducked and it hit the ground behind me instead. Note to self, Kyle’s got an arm on him. (also please note that I know Kyle and we banter all the time, he was joking, not being mean, in case that isn’t obvious in the re-telling of this Near Death Cookie Experience story). I’m not sure anyone knew why I got a cookie randomly chunked at me, but I did eat the cookie anyway except for the part that had some mud on it. It all worked out.

Saturday morning we sat and waited for approximately 900 years for the crepe guy to open (he’s never open before 9am and it kills me every time, but the crepes are so damn good) while I mapped out my strategy for the day. I had riders that I needed to get XC content of for brands, so I needed to figure out where I needed to be and when, and draw up a schedule accordingly. My first one was out on course early, but I had decent gaps in between, so we spent much of the day traipsing around the 4* course and the 5* course, trying to cover as much of it as possible.

And you know what came in hella-handy? My amazing telescoping stool. We had to do like 25 demonstrations of them to various people, they were a big hit. Also 10 out of 10 for having a stool, my back was much less angry by the end of the day this year than it was last year. Very convenient to have a place to sit no matter where we were, especially since it spat rain on and off all day. Mine had LED lights too, which makes for a fun party trick. The stools were the absolute MVP of the day, will never do Kentucky XC day without one again.

On Saturday after XC we had our Patreon group get-together at our campground spot and it was awesome. I remain completely blown away by that community of people, they’re cool AF and really fun and easy to talk to. Our get-togethers are a real highlight of the trip for me!

Sunday morning I really wanted to see the jog because there were a couple horses I was interested to see up close (for breeding reasons, I like their sires). Plus, ya know, never gonna pass up a chance to stalk Mason up close and personal.

I remain convinced that he is the most attractive animal in all the land, and he looked fit and happy and was very well-presented.

Which is more than I can say for a couple other people. If you ever find yourself at a trot-up, I advise standing over where the horses come up and leave, rather than watching the actual jog strip itself. You see some real hinky shit over there. Like… people who clearly know the horse is lame but are trying their level best to hide it. And then riders pitching a fit about it. Very high profile people. It was gross.

After the jog we went back to the trade fair for a while, to get one last perusal in and chat with a couple more people. I was on a tight budget this year but I did get this super cute bracelet ($20 and they engrave it on the spot, I mean come on I was targeted), a shirt, and some horse boots. I felt like there were more deals this year than last year, although not on a lot of things I really needed, which is probably for the best.

There were several things in the trade fair that caught my eye though, so I figured they’re worth mentioning. Majyk Equipe always unveils some kind of new product at LRK3DE, and this year they actually had several. A new line of showjumping boots that I thought were STUNNING

Plus a new color combo of their XC boots, gray with blue vents, and new boot bags and backpacks. The prices on all of it was super reasonable too. I didn’t have room in my luggage for the boot bag, but I will be getting one STAT. It’s got a helmet compartment that comes off and the bottom of it is waterproof. It was only like $80, too, which I thought was quite nice compared to similar products, especially considering how well-made it is and how many features it has.

I also got to see the Eventing Nation pads in person… I helped design those! One side has an EN logo patch and the other side has a #goeventing patch. They look great, and so do the new Ecogold Breeze pads. They’re a lot lighter-weight and thinner than the standard Ecogold.

Last but not least, if we’re talking about innovation and fun new products to keep an eye on, my vote goes to ARRO helmets. They’re a new brand from New Zealand, just now starting full production, but the features on these things are really amazing, I’ve not seen anything quite like it. They’ve got MIPS, they’re SNELL rated, the brims easily come on and off (so one helmet can be a skull cap, have a regular brim, or have a wide brim, depending on your needs at the time), the buckle is like nothing I’ve seen before, the shell is super high quality and strong, and they have a ton of lining options to help customize fit. There’s even an option to attach a face guard. They’re just really really cool and I’m looking forward to seeing more from this company, you can tell it was designed by riders for riders.

We had similar seats for showjumping as last time, which were great, at least right up until the wind picked up and it started raining. Y’all, I was cold. I have gone full Florida lizard and even with 3 jackets on I was an absolute popsicle. That’s alright though, we survived. Plus all 4 horses on my Eventing Manager team finished in the top 15 (sometimes it works out to pick all your sentimental favorites based on their breeding. Not often, but sometimes.) so I won two of my leagues. Heck yeah.

All in all it was another great trip to Kentucky (and a very fruitful one I think, I got a lot done!) and I can’t wait to head back again next year.