Month: August 2023

Well, we’re kicking it off early this year with hurricane season… Idalia is on her way!

Originally it was projected to go right over top of us, but the last few tracks have all wobbled it a bit to the west. We’re out of the cone now, although we’re gonna be on the side of the storm with the worse wind, rain, and tornado threat.

I spent the past couple days getting everything as prepped and ready as possible, so now we just wait and see how it goes. Tomorrow will be nasty! Hopefully we don’t lose power for any extended period of time, that’s my biggest concern.

I’ll log back in with an update as soon as I can once it passes, just wanted to check in and let you know to expect a bit of radio silence!

While we don’t have any foals coming in 2024 (rather than rushing to breed everyone late, we opted to just wait and start early next year instead), what we do have is a very exciting new addition that will hopefully be contributing to many future Foal Fridays in 2025. Welcome Headleys Chatterbox!

Bred in the UK by Headley Stud, she’s by the 1.60m showjumping stallion Clinton. In addition to being an incredibly good producer, Clinton competed at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and finished second in both the Grand Prix and the Nations Cup at CHIO Aachen.

Gossip’s dam, Salsa, was originally from Portugal and evented through the 4* level in the UK.

Gossip herself was competed in the UK by Tiana Coudray, who rode her all the way up through 3* level. She was said to be kind and genuine and loves to jump… which all makes sense given her pedigree!

Gossip arrived here from Wellington this week and has been very smart and even-tempered. She’s settling into the mare herd (although she seems relatively horrified to find herself living the outside lifestyle again… pretty sure she thinks someone has forgotten to bring her in from turnout) and slowly but surely making friends in the group.

One thing is for certain: she’s absolutely stunning. I’m not really into gray but it’s not possible for a good horse to be a bad color, and she’s proof of that. What an absolute looker she is.

We’ll spend the rest of the year getting to know her a bit and debating stallions for her, then she’ll be bred in the spring. Really looking forward to seeing what this one can produce!

My strategy of stalling long enough on this recap for the media to arrive did work, although there’s not as much good media as I was hoping for. Beggars can’t be choosers? Better some than none? Whatever. Let’s discuss Presto’s latest event.

I’m putting all of it into one post because it just didn’t seem like enough to stretch into two. Partly because the XC was mostly the same (womp womp) as the June show so I didn’t bother taking pics of the course. And also because this show was just a little boring and I don’ t have a tremendous amount to say. Well ok, I have plenty to say. But it’ll all fit into one, yes?

First and foremost: it was HOT. REALLY HOT. Florida was drunk off it’s ass last week, trying to impersonate Texas. Hate. Double Hate. Loathe entirely. Especially because our dressage time was at 11:22 and our stadium time was at 1:30. Did not love that for us.

Knowing that

1) the weather was a sack of sweaty dog shit

2) this show was really meant to knock off the rust of the summer vacation, not come out swinging for a win

I kept dressage warmup as minimal and short as possible, not wanting to get Presto too hot or worn out. Unsurprisingly, our test was unremarkable. We had one big bobble in the first canter where I lost his hind end and murdered both a transition and the whole first half of the lengthening, so that one mistake had a big impact on mulitple scores. I also was a little late in a down transition and definitely mrrrrphhheeed some geometry in the second canter (I think my brain was literally sizzling by that point). Presto was a good boy actually, there were just a lot of points left on the table via silly mistakes. We got a 36, which I think might be our worst score yet, but I wasn’t mad… it was just one of those things. You win some you lose some. It seemed to be a bit of a struggle bus day for everyone though, since we were still sitting 3rd after the first phase.

After that we retreated back to the trailer to cool down and rehydrate. Florida Horse Park was AMAZING to allow parking in the covered arena due to the weather, and we had gotten there early enough to snag a great spot on the end. Plenty of shade, but also a nice breeze. It was an actual lifesaver for those of us working out of our trailers.

After a bath and a bucket of water Presto got to hang out in the shade and eat hay for a while until it was time to get on for SJ. I waited to get on until 15mins before my ride time… he doesn’t need a lot of warmup and it was literally baking out there by that point. Presto handles the heat really well, but still, better safe than sorry.

He warmed up quite professionally actually (he hasn’t waved his arms in the air in SJ warmup like a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tubeman in a good while, knock on wood) and we hopped over a few oxers. The lady who was supposed to go first was having some problems, so I offered to go ahead of her and snuck my way right on in there to lead off the division. Fresh ring and getting done sooner? Count me in.

Presto was again really good – he’s just matured so much this year. He’s being pretty rideable, and he’s always looking for the next jump. We started out with a single oxer, then around to a 6 stride line, vertical to oxer. Then around to a vertical-to-vertical one stride with a bending line to an oxer on the end. I saw a bit of a big one to the oxer and Presto, bless him so much, was like YESSSS MAAAAM, YEEEEHAAAWWWWW.

Then we had a liverpool to oxer bending line up the middle… I let him drift a little too wide here which ended up putting us down the line at more like 8 3/4 instead of 8, but lord he patted the ground at the oxer and jumped up and around it like the best kind of freak. Smart kid. After that we just had the two stride on the outside and we were done… blissfully short course to match the weather (thank you oh merciful SJ gods). Our clear round kept us in 3rd! I swear he’s jumping better the bigger they get.

On Sunday my XC time was right before noon (again, UGH) but it wasn’t quite as stiflingly hot. Still hot, but not as scorch-your-brain-cells hot. When we got there someone had just come off in the Prelim division and it resulted in a decently long hold, so everything got shifted back about 25 minutes. That was fine, it gave Presto more time to hang out under the shade of the tree that we’d found to park under.

Again we kept warmup as short and simple as possible. He was FEELING HIMSELF though, he knew what phase was left and he was very happy to be back to the runny jompies. He literally started leaping and squealing like a dolphin when we were galloping to the right, which made both me and my trainer die laughing. He was delighted to be there.

I think we hopped over a total of like 4 jumps (we usually do a little one, a bigger one, a skinny, and then something on an angle), made sure I could open and collect the gallop and turn some circles, and then we went to wait in the shade. You gotta love Ocala, I was after Karl Slezak and before Jon Holling… I like seeing their nice young horses!

As mentioned earlier, this course was very similar to the June show. The only differences were:

• 6ab, the coop moved to the rim of the crater and the skinny brush was 4 strides after it.
• 8ab, the table in was the same but we had a corner 5 strides to the right (on a pretty decent angle)
• 11ab, the rolltop moved from the edge of the water to IN the water
• 15ab, the b was skinny barrels to the left out of the water

Otherwise is was pretty identical. I was kind of bummed, honestly. I was hoping for something different from what he’d already seen, and more technical. I feel like this course was fairly soft. Served the purpose for knocking the rust off though, especially since he hadn’t run any XC in 2.5 months.

And really… he just loped around the course. Was not impressed, was not deterred, I pointed him at things and he jumped them. Bing, bang, boom. I got him to a couple tight spots but he gave the least of shits and jumped them great anyway, which honestly gives me a lot of confidence in him. He’s really figuring it out, and learning how to use his body properly to still jump safe even when things don’t go right. That’s a really important part of his education.

I was particularly pleased with how he jumped through the first water – that was the highlight of the course for me.

Earlier in the spring he took a bit of a minute trying to figure out jumps in the water, but I sure do think he’s got it now! That’s the boldest he’s jumped anything in the water yet, and he didn’t leap into the edge of the water (that’s the second show in a row now where he’s not done it… maybe he’s learning?).

I just coasted around, so we added a couple seconds of time to our score, but it didn’t end up mattering, we still finished third.

While he felt overall unchallenged and unimpressed, those are probably good things at this point. Modified doesn’t look big anymore to either of us, and he’s figured out that he needs to be quick about looking for the next one, so he’s not surprised by anything he’s seeing anymore at this point. Consider the rust knocked off!

Which is good, because we’ve got a penciled in plan for the fall season that will start off with a trip back to Stable View, and hopefully this time we’ll actually get to compete (no jumping out of trailers, Presto).

Those of you in the Patreon group already know this, but a couple weeks ago Bobby lost his long-time partner and super OTTB, Halo.

If you’ve been reader here from the early days, you probably remember Halo featuring pretty prominently in Henry’s early days of eventing. Back then Bobby and I boarded at the same barn outside of Austin, rode with the same trainer, and Halo was kind of Henry’s “big brother” who showed him the ropes of this event horse stuff.

Here’s what Bobby had to say about Halo and what he meant to him, in his words:

Halo’s sweet soul is the reason I started riding competitively again – I was in a very bad car accident and while recovering, I knew I wanted to ride again. When I was mostly healed, I began my search, fortunately I didn’t have to look far. He got me back into eventing and brought us up through levels I’d never thought I’d do again… because I loved him and trusted him with my whole heart and knew trusted and loved me and that he would take care of me – and that he did, so many times. Halo went on to win the National Eventing Championships in 2015. Halo developed navicular in his later years so I switched him to dressage, as an OTTB, he needs a job. And he LOVED his job. Jenna said it best, I picture him like a school kid skipping off to school with lunch box in hand so excited to go to work. Halo, although not bred or made for dressage, proceeded to take us to the US Dressage Finals our first year – we were not competitive but we had the most special time. Anyone who’s met Halo knows what a special kind sweet gentle soul he is. Further shown by the friends that came to be here with him in his final moments. Halo left this earth literally surrounded by love, my friends, I will never have the words to express what your actions today meant to me. After 16 years together, it’s going to be really hard to picture it without you, Halo. The memories, the joy and the tears, you’ve left a hole in quite a few people’s hearts, but I know you are running around above me pneumonia free and begging for treats from the angels. RIP my sweet my boy, my first heart horse, my first best friend.

When I heard that Halo passed away, I was devastated for Bobby. Although he’s got another heart horse now in his boy Carlson, the first one always holds a special place. There are parallels to our stories in the Halo/Henry capacity, so I can really empathize with what he’s going through.

With a loss like this I knew I wanted to do something to memorialize Halo, but all the usual things just didn’t seem quite right. Either it didn’t fit THEM, or it just wasn’t enough to full encapsulate all that horse was and did for so many people. When I thought about Halo and what he really meant to Bobby, the thing that stuck out to me most was opportunity. That horse took him to his first AEC’s and his first US Dressage Finals. He showed Bobby what it’s like to have dreams come true, and then be able to build even bigger ones in their place.

So, I had an idea: The Halo Project.

What I’d like to do is crowdfund an annual scholarship fund called The Halo Project that gives X amount of money (however much we get, which I think could be a pretty decent chunk) to a rider on an OTTB to go toward the costs of participation at US Dressage Finals, AECs, or TIP Championships. Riders would apply with a short essay and photo, and Bobby/The Board would pick who the money goes to. It would be a way to honor Halo’s memory and the remarkable impact he had on Bobby’s life, while “paying it forward” to help give someone else the same experience.

In talking to my accountant friend, she suggested to try to partner with an existing 501c to do this, to make everything easier and more “above board” with the gub’ment. Plus it would be mutually beneficial, using our platforms to help bring attention the partnering charity. The reach is potentially pretty big, I think.

What I need from you guys is help finding a good match for who to partner with on this. A couple of charities have expressed interest but none have followed up, and I’m hot to trot. We’ve got people waiting to give money to the cause, and we’re ready to rock and roll and get this off the ground. I’d really prefer it to be an OTTB-centric charity since that makes the most sense with what we’re doing. Suggestions and connections strongly appreciated!

I’ve got a show recap to write but I’m stalling in hopes that photos or video will be posted so I have some media. In the meantime there’s still plenty to talk about, including my most adorable little ball of fluff and his first week here with us.

First of all, I love him so much. Like obsessed. I mean look at him.

But aside from just being cute, so far Strax has also been a really good puppy. He would prefer to go to the bathroom outside, and has had zero accidents on my watch (has had a few on SO’s watch tho, because he doesn’t pay quite as close attention to the signals that Strax has to go out). Granted, he’s murdering my sleep patterns because he wants to go out once or twice in the middle of the night and I’m a terrible sleeper anyway, but that’s alright. Worth it. I can sleep later.

He’s a pretty social little guy too, he loves to play with Hillary’s papillon puppy Max, and has even managed to win Mina over. I figured she would tolerate him fine, she’s a pretty submissive dog, but I didn’t think she’d really LOVE him because she’s mega attached and clingy to me.

It did take a few days, but now she plays with him, looks after him, and seems to have adopted him. Strax is Mina’s puppy now. It’s really cute.

It’s also working out well for his training, because he mimics what she does. He’s already mastered “sit” and is about 80% there about coming when you call his name and whistle. The other 20% is the selective hearing he has when he’s found a particularly good stick.

He’s scared of the horses, which I’m totally happy with. He’s a herding breed after all, and I’d really like for him to keep a healthy dose of fear when it comes to them. For now I keep him away from them as much as possible until he’s a little more trained with the recall and aware of his surroundings.

Overall though, he’s a sweet and playful and happy guy, and relatively chill for a puppy. He does love his naps, and true to his breed, he is EXTREMELY food motivated. I can work with that. So far so good!

We’re officially at that age and time of year when the babies are… well… they’re kinda boring. They eat more than they play, and it’s hot, so when they do play it doesn’t last for long. They’re starting to be more like horses than babies. Sad times.

Mostly they do a lot of standing around. Which doesn’t exactly make for riveting photos.

Sometimes they stand by themselves.

Sometimes they stand together.

But it’s just… a whole lot of standing. Or walking. Wow. So fun to watch and take pictures of.

I even try to go out at the coolest times of the day, closer to dawn or dusk, but no dice. They’re just hardcore existing right now, and I don’t have to heart to chase them around. The only one that seems particularly interested in my bullshit is Andy…

But honestly I think he’s just using me for the butt scratches.

It won’t be long now until we’re in weaning territory, which will definitely shake things up a bit. Until then, I guess we should enjoy the boring stage.

My birthday was a busy day, y’all! I had to tell you about Strax first because he was a real highlight, but I did jump out of chronological order to do that. Let’s back up to earlier in the day, where we went to a horse show!

This was our first time out since scratching at Stable View a couple months ago, and the lead up rides were not great. Our jump schools were just not in sync and my flat ride the day before was one of the worst I’ve had with him in a long time. Things just were not clicking, ya know? And I couldn’t really figure out what I was missing, so I was hella frustrated. Like wanted to scratch and hide in my house frustrated. But I knew I had to do the CT at Majestic, because the following weekend we were entered in the Modified at Ocala, and I sure didn’t want to go into a recognized HT off a lead-up like that with no smaller pre-outing to at least see where we were at.

To compound matters, when I got to the in-gate to check in, they said I was in ring 3. Which was fine except ring 3 was a short court, and the omnibus had definitely said we were doing Test C, which is in a long court. So I asked for clarification, and they said we were doing Test B. Which I have never done or learned. Super. So I start frantically trying to learn that during my warm-up time, and the first person in our division goes in. She is also very confused about what test she’s supposed to be doing, having learned C. As she was talking to the judge (who was also confused) another lady in our division trotted up and said she’d talked to someone at the office and we were supposed to be doing C, as listed in the omnibus, and they should move us over to the long court at Ring 4. This was a cluster of epic proportions. They did finally figure it all out and get the judge moved over to 4, but by then I’d learned most of Test B and my brain was exploding.

So I went in with most of C still in my head, but bits of B kept popping up. I got to the 3rd movement where we were supposed to turn up centerline and leg yield, and turned up quarterline instead (like you do in test A and test B). I was mega freaking annoyed by that point. I’d learned C so thoroughly so I could ride everything well, and it all went caput. But once the judge rang the bell and got me back on track I remembered the rest of it just fine. Still. Annoying breach of focus.

We still got a 31 with the error to take the lead in the division. I just wanted some better scores on parts I know he can do well. But given how bad our flat ride had been the day before, a 31 was one of those “I’ll definitely take it” kind of things. Especially because last time this judge saw us she was not as generous with her marks or comments.

After that we had about an hour to kill back at the trailer before showjumping. Which was basically just enough time to start drying all the sweat before we had to put the sweaty things back on again so we could go sweat some more. It was so hot already, even at 9am.

But since it was gonna be so hot they were eager to get rolling and started the SJ early. I got on early so I could try to get in there whenever they would let me. I ended up by myself in warmup, which was a treat. We kept it really minimal, jumped maybe 5 jumps and then headed over to the ring. Presto was feeling back to his normal dude self. I will say – he can be a real toolbag at home sometimes, but the horse has been mega-consistent and focused at shows. He knows and likes his job.

He went in and jumped a solid round and was super rideable. He had been not at all very rideable at home the last times we jumped, but I guess he decided that this was Serious Business so maybe he should pretend to be broke. Thanks buddy.

Presto hopped around the Modified like it was easy peasy boring AF for a nice clear round, giving us the win for the combined test.

So ya know… was I having a complete existential crisis on Friday and then get a win on Saturday? Yes. Don’t mind me.

In reality I think he’s feeling really good and strong in his body and a bit bored in his work, and it’s coming out as him perhaps not being his best self at home. It’s time to step it up a notch and ask for a bit more again in all of his work. We’ve got some lessons this week and my trainer is going to sit on him too. Which honestly he’s probably long overdue for a trainer ride again, I don’t think she’s ridden him since last summer? He’s an entirely different animal now.

This weekend we’ve got Ocala, which I’m feeling much better about now after Majestic. Hopefully it won’t be so hot though!

I have a lot of stuff to update on, but today we’re gonna start with the most important… I got a corgi puppy for my birthday!

It was kind of a big birthday – the four oh – and Rob and Michelle coordinated to get him for me as a surprise. I’ve been wanting another corgi since we lost Quinn a couple years ago, but the timing was never quite right.

His original name was Chewbacca, but I have always said that I wanted my next corgi to be named Strax, after the potato-esque Doctor Who character. So here he is, Commander Strax at your service. If you’re not nerdy enough to have watched Doctor Who, here’s a summary of the character.

So far he’s settled in well. Mina still isn’t quite sure if she likes him or not… she plays tag with him outside but inside she’s a little less enthusiastic. He’s smart though, and doesn’t push her too far. I think he’ll be submissive to her, which is a good thing.

He’s met the horses but thinks they’re scary, which again… good thing. He seems pretty smart, so we’ll see how he figures things out as a farm dog. Right now he’s just stinkin cute. Like a rabbit and a bear had a bebe.

He’s got kind of a partial tail, which is his natural tail. It’s almost exactly the same length Stewie’s was, so it seems like kismet. He is a chonky sturdy little boy, already 8 pounds. He’s gonna be hefty I think!

I absolutely love him. I mean how could you not? He’s adorable. Best birthday present ever!

I think it’s safe to say that Rihanna shouldn’t have any issues with water…

Well, it is summer in Florida. Not summer but like… SUMMER. It’s hot. It’s sticky. It’s gross. Still not as gross as Texas (they’re having a real nasty summer) but it’s been worse this year than last year for sure.

Nevertheless, we chug along. We make sure to ride early, take more breaks, keep things lighter/easier, and make sure everyone is hydrated. Well… I’m never particularly hydrated, but the horses are.

We had another jump lesson last Thursday, which was considerably less feral than the one before. I also put Presto back in the Myler combo bit and he was considerably less fussy. I dunno why he loves that thing so much but ok, duly noted. I do like galloping him in the pelham, so I think we’ve got a little more experimentation to figure out. He was a lot more rideable for this lesson though, and settled right back into it.

We’ve got a schooling CT this weekend and then Ocala Summer HT next weekend. It’s supposed to stay hot so hopefully we get decent ride times, but I’m also more than happy to just lope around the XC and not go for time, too. He mostly just needs to get out and jump around a course again.

In other news his leg is continuing to heal nicely (knocking on all the wood) and isn’t requiring much extra care anymore. I did discover that the scar sits right under the edge of an open front boot, which is superb… he might have to end up either bootless forever for SJ or with sheepskin lined boots. He would, wouldn’t he?

His FEI passport got approved too, it’s on its way back to me as we speak. That’s one thing checked off the to do list.

I’m currently trying to shop for a good lower-budget (prob like entry level budget) mirrorless camera that does nice video for social media content, if anyone has suggestions. I’m still looking at/researching both cameras and lenses. Guidance and experiences appreciated.

BRC is also open for pedigree reports if anyone is looking to nab one! We’re now offering to do them in custom color schemes now too, if you’re into that kind of thing. Peep a Barbie themed one I did last week. It was fun!

Doing the reports keeps me inside out of the heat, so I’m more than happy to pile up the queue at the moment. 😅

Hope everyone is staying cool out there!