We are officially off and running for season, whether we like it or not.

I had to chuckle last week when I drove into WEC on Wednesday morning for my work shift. Week 1 Day 1 of circuit, it was cold, and the lines at all the lunging rings were long. Grooms were getting yeeted from one end to the other. Sometimes I forget how different the h/j world is from the eventing world and then I drive into WEC and I’m like ah yes right.

This morning we got our ride times for the HT at Majestic this weekend, so… that’s happening. It’s supposed to storm Friday, which is when I have dressage and SJ, so it’s not really helping me conjure the enthusiasm to do all the pre-show necessities like wash my whites and find my braiding kit and look at my dressage test. Those seem like Thursday activities. Let’s hope we don’t end up trapped in the trailer during a lightning storm on Friday, that would not please me very much. I need to give myself a little pep talk so I can find the enthusiasm I had when I sent in my entry.

Last Friday I did hop over and school a couple things before they closed the course – mainly ditches, banks, water. That seemed fair to do since he hasn’t shown in a few months…I am expecting that he may be a bit spooky and wild about the entire affair, especially since there are a lot more horses during season. Presto was good for schooling though (he is not lacking enthusiasm), as he usually is at Majestic. It seems to be the place he’s most comfortable, which is why I picked this show in the first place. Granted, their dressage rings are also grass (and not particularly level) so dressage in the rain might be interesting. Bringing the bigger studs for sure.

We did have another jump lesson this past weekend and it was not great. He was in major ego mode, which he does sometimes. He starts to think he’s right about everything and then gets angry at my input. We ended up abandoning course work and putting him back and forth through more of a gymnastic exercise until he decided that he could in fact be open to feedback. Not really the last lesson you want before a show but… he’s done this before. Many times in fact, the last jump lesson before a show is kind of ass. It’s not my favorite. I think today I’m gonna take him over for a jumper round at one of the local show series just so we can actually jump a course.

In other news, for the first time in my entire life I delegated the job of clipping my horse. This past weekend I had some big deadlines on writing projects and it was one of those things where either I’d have time to ride or I’d have time to clip, but not both (I am a slow clipper, guys). Someone posted on one of the Ocala groups saying she had some spots that day that she’d do for a discount and I was like ya know what, I can’t beat that. She came out and clipped him while I wrapped up an article and sent it to my editor, and it worked out perfectly. She did a great job too. I was a little nervous about that, because I am an OCD control freak about clipping, but he’s looking sharp.

It did, admittedly, feel VERY luxurious to not be covered in hair and dirt and wake up the next morning without my back feeling broken. Like… it was a real “is this how the other half live?” moment. I would still prefer to clip my own horses because of who I am as a person but what a little treat that was in the moment.

This weekend we’ve got the horse show and then a couple different people are coming out to film some content, and hopefully sometime next week the Custom rep will be out to do our regular fit check for Presto’s dressage saddle. Here we go!