Guys, it’s warm again. Like, warm warm. As in I’m sunburned and sweaty, thus have been returned to my natural state, the way the gods intended me to live. I’m absolutely chuffed.

I have no actual media of anyone riding any of my horses in the past week, since no one has come with me to my lessons and I’m spending the training rides observing and listening, not videoing. But there are some filler pics at least, because duh of course there are.

I feel like at some point my updates feel repetitive and anti-climactic. We’re in week 5 of our full time training program and while I’m sure you’d be more entertained by stories of drama and big problems, that’s not been the case thus far (knock on wood, because horses are horses and people are people and ya know how that goes). Week over week, the improvement is obvious. Presto has stepped up to what’s being asked of him, and aside from a tiny protest last week when he got mad about the counter canter (he still gets confused about picking up what he thinks is the “wrong lead” and gets annoyed when he picks up what he thinks is the right lead, even if it’s not the one you actually asked for, and then has to trot and try again. He’s like “what do you mean I’m wrong, I’m never wrong!”) and his protests are always short-lived and not much to write home about. He does the horse equivalent of a harrumph, then he always goes home, thinks about it, and comes out better the next time. He’s smart, and he always wants to be right.

He seems settled and happy in this new schedule, even though it’s definitely more intense than what he’s been used to prior. He’s not getting worked ragged in each lesson or ride, sometimes they’re actually quite short and succinct, but everything has purpose and intentionality. He does enjoy working and learning, and Ellie’s patient and quiet but clear style just seems to work for him. He likes her, he’s always better after a training ride, and it carries forward to my own rides on him.

Last week he had a dressage ride with Ellie, and then a jump day where she got on him for the first 15mins, then I got on him. This week was supposed to be the clinic with Kai Steffen-Meier but Kai had some issues with his visa getting into the country and the clinic had to be postponed. We’ve filled up that time with another flat ride from Ellie and then I had a dressage lesson the next day. Today we’re jumping a bit and then tomorrow we’ve got an XC school on the docket. Generally my program is 3 things per week, a mix of lessons and training rides, but since we only had 2 last week due to the shit weather, we’re tacking on an extra to this week.

Despite the ramped up schedule Presto still seems happy to go to work. He still comes when I call him, he still acts like the total ham he always has, he still self-loads in the trailer, and he still enjoys his time over at their farm. Honestly, I think he digs the extra adventures and attention. This is not a horse that craves a quiet, predictable life. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about getting in the trailer a lot and having to genuinely work harder, but so far so good.

I am also love-love-loving being in a full time program. I’m a lover of progress, and after having felt stagnant for basically the last year and a half, I fiiiiiiiiiiiinally feel like we’re getting things rolling again. Yes there are training holes to fill in, and those won’t happen overnight, but I feel solidly that we’re trending in the right direction.

Yesterday our favorite bodyworker was in town, who hasn’t seen Presto since last spring, and she had a lot of positive things to say about how he felt, his muscle tone, and how he’s matured and filled out since she last saw him. Considering the increased workload this month I expected her to tell me he felt a bit sore and stiff all over but aside from a little bit of tightness over his SI (that’s been REALLY working hard lately) and glutes, she thought he really felt great.

I’m overall pretty thrilled with month 1. I feel like I need to be doing something to keep track of things and logging the progress… maybe a little mini-journal or something. Either way, this is the first time in a really really really long time that I feel like we’re in the right program, with the right team, and headed in the right direction.

Which also makes me just incredibly nervous that at some point things are bound to go tits-up somehow, but for now, we ride the wave. I feel like when I say too many positive things people accuse me of not being authentic but like… I well and truly have nothing negative to report at the moment. Enjoy it while it lasts, people.

In other news, the return of the nice weather also marks the return of Rubes to work. He’s been mostly good. He was a little excited the first ride back, but other than a few small scoots he kept it together. I got all our RRP stuff submitted last week (gah I forgot about the vet letter until just a few days before, my poor vet I’m so sorry) so that part is done. I gotta figure out how to have more hours in the day so I can get cracking on some more off-property adventures for Rubes.

He also got some bodywork done and was particularly fond of the butt rubbies. She said muscularly he felt pretty good and wasn’t sore anywhere in particular but skeletally (is that a word?) he feels a bit stiff, which is nothing new. She recommended I keep up the regular chiro and was very excited to hear that a Magnawave is on the way, because she thinks it’ll help him a lot.

Other than stuff with those kiddos, we had a few other notable goings-on over the past week. On Saturday Michele was in town, so I took her and her hubby on an abbreviated Tour de Ocala. It’s always fun with first-timers. And Michele got to see Henry, meet Rubes, and see Presto for the first time since he was like a 2yo. He’s lookin a wee bit different than he used to! I have known Michele forever (seriously like… probably 20 years almost?) but haven’t seen her in person in years so it was great to catch up.

I also went to a showjumping course design lecture at WEC a couple days ago, which was super fun in that nerdy horse girl way. Yas please tell me all about bending lines and triple bars and how you decide what to build where. I LOVE IT. One of the perks of Ocala during season – there’s no lack of free educational events. Helps sorta make up for the massive increase in traffic and people. And it was over by 8pm, which is perfect because I still made it to bed before 9pm.

Wild and glamorous lifetstyle, this.