Month: August 2024

Happy Friday! Or, alternatively, whatever day you may be reading this.

It feels like it’s been quite a week around here but in reality I guess it’s just the normal things. Presto rides, Rubes groundwork, and – surprise – a couple sessions back behind everyone’s favorite little ears.

Now that Henry’s had shoes back on he’s starting to look better and better, so this week I decided to take him for a couple of walk hacks around the farm to start working on getting him back into shape. And because I am nothing if not an opportunist, I opted to bring Rubes along with us too. One big perk about a racehorse, you know they’re gonna pony.

Henry, true to form, acted entirely uninterested in Rubes, and if Rubes thought about stepping out of line in any way, Henry was quick with the reprimand. I think Henry long ago appointed himself God of Ponying, and no one will ever convince him otherwise. To be fair, he probably did earn that title after dragging Presto all around the state of Texas for a couple years. Truly a veteran.

Rubes was well-behaved aside from thinking that Henry walks too slow (Rubes thinks all of us do everything too slow around here) and occasionally thinking he might want to bite Henry. I think it was a good way for him to get to explore and see the rest of the farm without being as stressful. Henry is a nice emotional support animal for things like that.

Presto went for a gallop last weekend, which this time of year always has to be more on the short and sweet side. I took him to Sweet Dixie because I love to utilize their long hill, both up and down. Up for the extra workout, and down because I think they have to learn how to balance themselves a bit, which hasn’t always been Presto’s best quality. Practice helps though, and he’s definitely smarter about it than he used to be. He only did 7 total minutes of gallop since it was so hot and humid, but that’s all he really needed. We have more time to ramp it up a bit before the shows really come into play, so we can do more when the weather isn’t so gross.

We also had a lesson this week, this time with Alex since Ellie was away at AECs. I really liked this lesson a lot, Alex took the same things that Ellie and I have been working on the past couple lessons and added another layer to it. The way they teach is really complimentary. Our warmup exercise in particular was helpful for letting me iron out the feeling of my aids and getting my timing to be quicker and more concise.

Fairly simple exercise, but not necessarily easy. The idea was to trot the poles, do a few steps of a bit of a leg yield feeling, canter, put the haunches a bit to the inside, go to the jump, and then trot again right after, making sure to keep their shoulders up so they were balanced when you got to the poles again. Everything happens pretty quick, so there wasn’t any time for a late or sloppy transition anywhere. Really there were only about 10 strides of canter total, including the jump. I liked the exercise a lot.

After that we moved on to courses, doing one at a lower height and then raising the jumps up and repeating it again. Alex really wants me to focus on putting him deeper to the jump and keeping him a touch rounder through the turn, while also maintaining a bit of that haunches-in through the turn like we’ve been doing a lot with Ellie. Really what it boils down to is quality… improving the quality of the canter by making sure we don’t lose the hind end and have him go wide behind (his fave), and improving the quality of his jump by insisting that he has to get closer to the base and use more power off the ground.

Even though Presto isn’t always convinced that very much effort is truly required. To be fair, for him it isn’t hard enough to require much effort yet to just get it done, but it will be eventually, and the correct ideas and muscle memory need to already be there by the time he gets to that point.

I’m hoping we can squeeze in some training rides soon because I think a really expert ride from Ellie or Alex could help him understand the idea that much better/more quickly. He’s smart like that, so training rides are always so beneficial for this horse.

There’s video of one of my courses on my Insta with the original sound if you’re interested, or of course Patreon folks you have all the video on your dashboard.

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This weekend we’ll be back in the show ring after a four month hiatus. We’re signed up for the M/T at the FHP schooling show, although I’m not entirely convinced if I’ll run him XC or not. We dressage at like 1:30 with jumping phases around 3:30, so if it’s balls-out hot and humid then I’ll have to decide whether or not he goes XC. Depends on how he feels after SJ I guess. He handles the heat well but I still try to be careful about it when it’s mega gross. It would be nice to get a run in, but we’ll see!

Just popping in today real quick for a couple things while they’re on my mind!

First and foremost, one of the articles on Rubes that I was interviewed for has been published. You can read it here, scroll to page 7.

I also got a call from his previous owner last week to let me know that Rubes is officially being inducted into the PA Racing Hall of Fame, and the ceremony will be in October. I don’t think I’ll be making the trip, but it’s really cool that he’s officially getting his name on the wall!

Entirely unrelated but another good and really important read:

Social License to Operate

This is what I’ve been saying for years. If you don’t think equestrian sports (All of them. Every single one.) has a public perception problem, go to the Olympics facebook page and read through the comments on any of their posts about Equestrian. It’s a whole lot worse than you think. If we don’t get ahead of this and do better, all of us have a lot to lose. Read it, share it… I think we all need to be super real about this, because it affects every single one of us.

And lastly, I’m reopening the BreedRideCompete queue for a limited number of custom pedigree reports, so anyone that’s been waiting, now is the time! You can either go through the Etsy listing or contact me directly, if you prefer.

It’s been a hot minute since I did a review post! I have a few things on the docket to review over the next couple months, but I figured we’d start with the most budget friendly item: the Kunkle Everyday Riding Gloves.

The Kunkle brand isn’t new, but they’ve recently started branching out into more designs than just their standard black show glove. It’s been a popular brand in the h/j world in particular, winning over a lot of diehard Roeckl fans. Admittedly these are the first ones I’ve actually had, mostly because I tend to buy “fun” gloves and the plain black ones just never called to me.

But, ya know…. slap some purple accents on them, put them at an irresistible price point ($29 is basically free these days for gloves – don’t argue with horse girl math), and what do you know, I’m in. It’s also worth mentioning that I have a bit of a glove problem obsession and may or may not have *mumbles a number that definitely ends with teen* different pairs of gloves, only like 3 of which I use on a regular basis, because I am a harsh critic and a bit of a weird fit. So, with all of that said, lets get into it.

Fit/Sizing

I have big hands for a woman my size, and quite long fingers. It’s very common for the fingers of gloves to be too short for me and I end up either not being able to hold the reins well or I bust through the end of the fingers (for example, me and Heritage brand gloves just cannot coexist ever). I would say the fit on the Kunkle are very average – the fingers aren’t too short for me, but I could use another half inch to make them perfect. Which means that pretty much everyone else in the world will fit in them just fine. I like that they don’t come up too far on the wrist… I hate it when they’re so long they interfere awkwardly with a long sleeve shirt. I ordered my regular glove size, 8.5, and they fit true to size.

Durability

I’m almost 4 months into pretty much daily use and they’re holding up remarkably well so far. I mean… I have a pair of Roeckls that cost twice as much that I popped a seam on within the first 3 weeks. These bad boys aren’t showing any wear yet (I use rubber reins, before anyone asks) and the stitching and seams are all pristine so far. Ask me again in another 6-8 months, but so far I have high hopes for the long term durability of these.

Grip

I ride a ginormous elephant and live in Florida’s left armpit, so grip is important. They’ve been through rain, super super super sweaty rides, and everything from dressage rides to jump schools to gallops. So far so good with the grip. I also like that they’re touchscreen friendly, which is a must-have feature for me at this point.

Style

There is nothing particularly groundbreaking about the general design – it’s a synthetic leather palm and fingers with a mesh back. But for the above reasons (re: armpit) I really appreciate the breathability and airflow that a mesh back provides. As far as looks go, I love the little purple accents with the purple piping, purple stitching, and purple logo. I like purple but not enough to want a full purple glove, so for me these are a happy medium.

Value

As I’ve already said, I think these are pretty darn cheap as far as gloves go, especially for comparable styles. I feel like pretty much everything is $40+ these days, so for a lighter-weight, durable glove with the grippy synthetic leather, the price point is really nice.

My only complaints are that 1: I wish they dried a little faster. To be fair, this is a problem I have with literally all my gloves except the thin fabric ones, because Florida. It’s just moist AF all the time, there’s no getting around it. 2: selfishly I wish the fingers were just a tad longer, although I know that would probably make them too long for most people.

The TLDR version of the rest of this post: if you’re a fan of the classic Roeckl gloves, you’re going to like the Kunkle. They have a similar design and feel but seem to be more durable, and the price point on these are a major selling point. Even though I’m picky about gloves, these have wormed their way into my rotation of Top Tier gloves that I always reach for, which I think says a lot.

Exciting news guys! It went almost a week without raining!

Of course, as I type this it’s currently pouring outside. But ya know… it wasn’t swampy there for a minute. And a couple days the humidity even stayed below 60%. It was like a little mini-autumn preview. Short-lived, yes, but appreciated. And a reminder that this summer thing ain’t gonna last forever.

The other thing that signals an impending changing of the seasons: horse show entries. Starting with the schooling shows, knocking off the rust, but the first fall recognized officially opened for entries this week. It do be coming! I feel like August is always a surprise… at the beginning of August you’re like whew middle of summer, and then by the end of August you’re like omg only a month til OCTOBER. At least that’s how my brain works. It’s kind of a surprise every time. Also, AECs are next week. Like, what? Already? (we qualified at M again this year but I just don’t think I’ll ever be convinced to spend a week of my time and a lot of money to haul far away for a horse show in August)

We had another lesson this week with Ellie, which went well. She thinks Presto looks stronger every time she sees him. I do go home and work on all my homework (which she always gives me, it’s delightful to me) studiously every week, so progress is rewarding. He does feel good, albeit this week he decided to be a very distracted version of himself, staring off into the distance at literally anything that caught his eye. That typically means he’s gotten bored of what he’s doing. So sorry if I’m holding you back, my dude. Get used to it.

After the lesson we chatted about a rough plan for the fall and what it might look like. Granted, it’s a horse, so. Will it actually go to plan? Probably not. But I’ve got an entry in for the M/T division at the POP show next weekend, and then we’ll prob do an M CT at the Majestic schooling show a couple weeks after that. I’d really like Ellie or Alex to do some training rides on him a little bit, I always just feel like he learns so much from a good ride. After those two schooling shows we can look closer at what’s next and how we want to structure the recognized shows this fall.

In Rubes news, the bug situation has improved a bit since it’s been less swampy. He still takes violent exception to the gigantic horseflies that come out for a couple hours around dusk, so he’s been coming in after dinner, but he’s settled back into daytime turnout at least. The last couple days he’s been able to go sans fly sheet, but that’s kind of a day to day decision. Poor dude. Plopping a lifelong Northerner into Florida in the middle of summer really isn’t the best.

Henry has remained his trusty emotional support animal, although Henry has also gotten a bit less interested in him as time has gone on.

I did give up and put front shoes back on Henry this week. His feet just weren’t having it, I couldn’t turn him out at all without boots on, and the boots cause problems of their own with our coarse sand. It wasn’t improving after two cycles despite my best efforts, so… I quit. Back into shoes. Plus like, he really needs to be able to be ridden some, his topline is just entirely gone and it’s not doing him any favors in general. I don’t love my farrier bill that’s two full sets, one half set, and a trim every 5 weeks, but it is what it is. Horses are good at being expensive.

This weekend I’m gonna take Presto over for a gallop, since it’s really time to buckle down a bit more on his fitness if we’re really going back to this horse show bidness. Can’t wait to have a super fit Presto when that first cold front of the season finally hits (whenever that may be). Yee-freakin-haw.

The weather gods have continued to play jokes on me. Like last weekend, when I had signed up and paid for a dressage test at the Majestic show, actually learned it ahead of time and practiced it, and was almost… kind of looking forward to trying out the Prelim test for the first time. I had even cleaned and packed all my shit the afternoon before and gotten everything ready to go. Really, I brought this on myself I guess, now that I think about it. Far too much preparation.

Last Saturday was hot and gross but ya know… we’re used to that by now. The radar stayed blessedly clear, and I got Presto out after lunch to groom him and get him ready to go. After I loaded him up I checked the radar again, and some storms were starting to pop up. As I was driving to Majestic, the sky in my rear view mirror started looking blacker and blacker. By the time I got there 20 minutes later and went to get my number, you could hear the thunder, and there was now a red blob of a storm on the radar headed right towards the show. Estimated arrival time? Literally like 5 minutes before my ride time.

But it was just the one blob, and Florida do be like that, so I just plopped myself in the trailer to wait it out with Presto. But as it went along, the storm got nastier and nastier, with a TON of lightning. Florida is the lightning capital of the US for a reason, but this was definitely an extreme. There were several very close lightning strikes that scared the bejeesus out of me.

Naturally the show went on a storm/lightning hold, and as that storm started to pass over us, I checked the radar again. In the time it took for the first blob to pass over (it grew tremendously as it did so, by the way), another one had popped up behind it, also headed straight at us. This is the point at which I was like nope ok, I’m out. Mostly because 1) Presto’s quarter was starting to run out. 2) the footing in those grass rings isn’t great right after a lot of rain, so what was the point. 3) Have I mentioned I hate lightning? I was ready to bolt. Every bit of desire I had to ride the Prelim test had quickly fled my body.

So I just… got back in my truck and drove home. Come to find out later they actually ended up cancelling the rest of the show anyway, so even if I had waited it would have been for naught. That was a really annoying way to sacrifice an entry fee. Plus I still had to get ready and drive there. Boo. But ya know… that’s a Florida summer afternoon for you. The storms can absolutely come out of nowhere, and they’re violent when they do.

Womp womp.

But the weather cleared up within a couple hours, and that night we were able to head over to WEC to watch the last Saturday night Grand Prix of the summer season. I don’t think I’ve been to one since… last summer? But we met up with some friends, had some dinner, and watched some nice horses jump under the lights.

Monday was my birthday, which was also the day Rubes decided he had cellulitis and needed an emergency vet call. Thanks buddy, I love getting antibiotics for my birthday, what a great gift. He felt very sorry for himself and was all the drama about the entire ordeal pretty much all week.

I did get a couple things with some of my birthday money though (aside from a vet bill). I’d heard a few people rave about the KL Select breeches so I tried some on last week and absolutely loved them. I’m so picky about fabric (especially in the summer) and have a hard time finding breeches that don’t gap at the waist or have extra fabric around the tummy. These were legit the absolute perfect fit with really comfy, stretchy, lightweight fabric and I wanted 97 pairs of them immediately. Unfortunately the shop didn’t have anything in my size in colors I liked, so I went looking online and found a fun new (to me) gem of a tack shop in Ohio called Equine Essentials. They had a 15% off code for new customers, so don’t mind if I do, and when I took a few minutes to peruse their consignment section, I found the most STUNNING brand new Waldhausen sparkle noseband for $10 and a zippered Spy Coast tote for $2. Add to cart. Quite a pleasing little mini haul, plus they sent along a bag of free goodies too.

On Wednesday I had another jump lesson – my first lesson back in a couple weeks since Ellie and Alex were out of town on vacation. It was, to be fair, an absolutely SWAMPY day. 9000 degrees with 700% humidity or something like that, even at 10am. I was just walking liquid, really. Sweat was just pouring into my eyes and I couldn’t see shit. Luckily Presto is well acclimated to the weather, and to be honest I’ve been handling the heat a lot better since I’ve been swimming my 3 miles a week. It’s just helped my cardio fitness so much, and I swear I think something about the hypoxic breathing of swimming does something extra helpful when you live in an environment where you’re legit breathing as much water as you are oxygen. I’ve gotten used to having less oxygen or something? I dunno, I don’t have science to prove it, but riding in the peak of summer has been a lot easier for me this year versus years prior, even when I was doing a lot of cycling.

We kept things fairly brief since the weather was so gross, but we worked a lot on putting Presto in more of a haunches-in positioning going into the corners so that he stays more balanced and doesn’t go quite so wide behind as we come out of the turn. Sometimes we achieved it, sometimes we didn’t, but it did seem to help us both. I swear 2024 is just gonna be known as The Year of the Haunches because I feel like moving his ass left and right has been the subject of 90% of our work this year.

He feels good though, and I think we’re ready to start knocking some rust off at the schooling shows before the fall season ramps up! It feels good to be back on a more normal schedule and back in the swing of things. My ankle has been holding up pretty well… it gets sore sometimes (it def was sore the evening/next morning after the jump lesson) but I wouldn’t call it painful anymore. It’s progress!