What a week it’s been, y’all. It feels like it flew by, there was a whole lot going on. Let’s do a quick recap of the most noteworthy bits…
Last Tuesday Hillary and I took Presto and Henry over to Sweet Dixie for a conditioning day. It was for Presto really, he needed to gallop and they have a primo hill… Henry was mostly tagging along for fun and so he could get to go somewhere and be a complete feral dolphin. He was delighted.
Presto and Henry were both feral, really. The guy mowing got a front row seat to the rodeo as those two morons yee’d and haw’d their way across the property. The boys were absolute delighted with themselves though, so we thought it was pretty damn entertaining. Henry always has quite the swagger in his step for a few days after he gets to completely fuck right off with someone. That’s my boy. Henry sat most of the cantering parts out since he’s not in the best of shape at the moment, and by the end of Presto’s gallops the hump in Presto’s back had finally settled down. They are ridiculous animals, but it’s never a bad thing when they’re both feeling good.
On Wednesday we headed down to Orlando for the night to see Bad Omens in concert. I am generally not a big fan of concerts because I don’t love crowds, or staying up late, or super loud noises, but I made an exception for this band because they’re my absolute favorite. I’d heard they’re stellar live and they for sure did not disappoint – best concert I’ve ever been to.
It’s been like 8 years since I’ve been to a concert I think (pretty sure Rancid was the last one) and man it did my soul a lot of good. Bad Omens absolutely cemented themselves as my favorite. It was also kind of nice to get away from the farm/horses in general and be a normal person, even if it was only for like 18 hours. The horses are a 24/7 thing for me since I live on the farm, and it’s been a real real real real long time since I did anything “away” from home that wasn’t with the horses or horse related. Being a normal human being for a little while was nice.
Anyway – fantastic concert, had such a good time, I was 100% absolutely feral the entire time and was hoarse, no regrets, will absolutely do again. It was Hillary’s first metal show and dare I say she liked it?
Oh yeah, and we stopped on our way out of Orlando and got a 10 pack of Chicken Minis that we absolutely annihilated, so what more does anyone need.
Then this weekend I had signed up for a combined test at the schooling show at Florida Horse Park. More practice in the ring is never a bad thing, and since we don’t have any other shows before Stable View, I thought it might be a good idea.
Presto was kind of a distracted dingaling in dressage warmup, which is weird for him. Normally that’s the place where he’s always best behaved and most focused. Our ring was running early so I didn’t do a whole lot, maybe 10-15 minutes, and it was super hot and I was already mega dehydrated so I was like screw it, let’s just go in. I was gonna vomit or pass out if I got much hotter.
Once Presto got in there he got right to work and was super good. Just a little bobble in the second half of the free walk where he saw a horse out running XC and was like “WOW CROSS COUNTRY” and stuck his head straight up in the air like a giraffe. The tension that created kind of carried over into the next trot transition too. Otherwise though, he was quite good and scored a 28.
SJ was… kind of easy to be honest. Or not EASY but ya know where it just feels like a non-event almost? We jumped four warmup jumps then went in the ring, did the thing, and were done. He was really good, rideable, everything came up nicely (except the outside 6-stride line which was riding SO TIGHT all day). If it had been less hot and I had been less dizzy we would have stayed and done a Prelim round but meh… we’ve got time for that on a day with better conditions. To be honest though I feel like we could have just skipped the Modified and done a Prelim round instead.
That also makes Presto 5 for 5 clear rounds at Modified. It’s funny, he was a one rail kind of guy at BN and N, then started having like half clear rounds and half one rail at T, but as they’re getting bigger he’s jumping better. It prob has to do more with improved strength and rideability, but it’s neat to see that progression in black and white on his record.
It was a good day, and nice to get some laid-back practice where things feel quite easy and boring!
breedrideevent.com 
Glad you got to get away for a night! Sounds like a fun night! What is a chicken mini and where can I try that?
My horse Rio was like Presto in that the lower the jumps the more likely we were to have a rail. I’m not sure it was fitness related either as it continued throughout his life as a jumper. He just didn’t care as much when they were small.
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