Last week I promised an update on everything that’s been going on aside from all the babies, so here we go! Plus… more babies. Tis the season, after all.

First and foremost, I did make the trip to Kentucky again this year.

This year I was flying solo, and mostly was there to collect and generate social media content for a few clients. I drove up from Ocala, which is about 10 hours with gas stops and traffic, but it was a pretty easy drive to and from. I stayed with Lauren (the person who now owns Rubes) in her camper onsite, so it worked out great. To give a quick summary of Kentucky (because to write it all out would be days… it was a whole Patreon podcast episode in and of itself): Friday was content creation, picking up some frozen semen at Hagyard to bring home, the stallion showcase at Spy Coast, tattoos with friends, then dinner out. Saturday I traipsed around the ENTIRE day getting content, from one end of the trade fair to the other and one end of the XC to the other multiple times. I met up with my friend Jenn to watch the 5* and she gamely traipsed around with me while I was getting content, then gave me a couple Founders Club tickets for the big Grand Prix that night.

That was a very bougie and nice experience, the food was fantastic and so was the view. Sunday I was up early to catch the morning jogs, then hit the trade fair one last time to wrap up some loose ends before I hit the road to Georgia. I stopped there overnight at Rising Star Farm and picked up more frozen semen and booped all their stallions and babies before I was back on the road before dawn the next morning for the final leg home.

It was a relatively insane few days where I clocked 28 miles of walking, but boy did I squeeze a lot in. I also did a small amount of damage in the trade fair, picking up a couple new nameplate bracelets, some sweaters from Mango Bay, a new breastplate for Bingy, some treats, a few grooming related items, and souvenirs for friends. Oh, and this stock pin. I almost never wear a stock or a stock pin, but on the rare occasion that I must, I now have the absolute perfect pin. I couldn’t pass it up.

I also got one more little thing when I got home…

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is a black glitter show coat. I saw it on Instagram and immediately googled the maker, found the model, googled the model to find stores that had it, dug around until I found a singular tack shop in Florida that showed it online, messaged the store owner, arranged an appointment to come shop at her house (she has mobile stores) which was conveniently 30 minutes away, and went and bought it the next day. Shoutout to SunSpree for being the most accommodating. I mean, the coat was made for me. Plus it was only $165. In horse girl math, that’s a free show coat.

After I got home from Kentucky, Bubby was born, and then Neville. I am completely obsessed with Neville.

He’s out of Vee, aka Vonhra, a full TB mare that has had two foals for the WTW program before – Andy who is now 3, and Dash who is a yearling. The same person bought both of them, and they’ve been some of my favorite foals we’ve raised here. Vee just has my type of temperament, and she reliably puts it on her kids too. They’re confident, brave, smart, really like people, and juuuuust cheeky enough to keep you entertained.

Neville’s sire, Connect, is also one of my favorites. He’s the sire of many upper level horses, although the one most of you would probably be familar with is King’s Especiale. Connect’s sire, Connor, has produced even more upper level horses, like Commando 3, Lady Chatterly, HSH Connor, Senor Crocodillo, etc etc. I’m a big fan of that sire line. When we bred Vee last year, Michelle said I could have first dibs on the foal since I love both the sire and the dam, and in my mind I told myself that if it was a filly, we should def keep it.

And then it was a colt, and I was like well lets wait to see how he moves. And then his personality started to unfold and omg it’s really like he was made for me. He’s got all the characteristics of Vee’s other foals, but maybe with just an extra touch of cheek. He spent his first several days greeting me in the morning with a big gummy smile (seriously, it came pre-installed), and he loves to play with his ball. I adore him. Soooo anyway, Neville is staying. I had to have him. Let’s do it all again with a baby horse, shall we?

After Neville, we had our last foal of the season:

This is Ursa Major WTW, aka Bear, and he is so stinkin cute. He’s a BIG chestnut (will turn gray, hopefully very slowly like his mother did) colt by the 1.45m jumper stallion Dia Corrado (from the Diarado line) out of Gossip. This is the second foal for Gossip, who evented through the 3* level in the UK (her dam evented to the 4* level) – her first foal was Ivy, from last year’s crop. This colt has a SUPER temperament, he’s very friendly and sweet and such a dude. We’ve got to find just the perfect person for him, he’s so nice and really checks all the boxes.

As for the rest of my crew, Bingy has been fabulous. Before I left for Kentucky I took him over to Majestic to do his first XC school, and he was a super good boy. He’s a mix of bold and careful, so I think if we’re patient with him and take the time to properly build his confidence, he’ll be a very bold XC horse. He jumped around the whole starter course and did ditches, banks, and water.

After that school I really started thinking hard about sending him to my trainer for a month. He’s at that stage where he’s soaking up everything so quickly and putting all the basics together, I feel like if I’m going to do something like that, now is the time. There were some main draws to sending him, including 1) his biggest weakness is that he’s horse shy. I cannot work on that at home when I’m the only person here who rides. He needs to consistently be ridden with other horses for a while until he gets over that. 2) they have everything right there at their farm – jumping ring, hacking, xc, etc. He could do more there in a month, without the stress of having to haul out constantly, than I could do with him here in the entire summer.

I hemmed and hawed over it for a couple weeks, bounced the idea off of some friends and then finally brought it up to my trainer. We all agreed that a month of “finishing school” would probably be of great benefit to him. I’m hoping that he’ll come away with more confidence in both his environment and his job, and a better understanding of what we’re asking of him.

I dropped him off on Monday (which was kinda sad for me – I’m SO used to having my horses at home, I hate them leaving my care even when I know where they’re going is great) and so far he’s had a few rides. I got to see his Monday flat ride with Alex, and then his Tuesday jump school with Ellie. Every day he “gets it” just a little bit more, and he does seem to genuinely enjoy his new job.

I’ll get to see him again tomorrow, and then hopefully he’ll do some XC next week. If all goes according to plan I should get him back about a week into June, after which they’re leaving for Europe for a good chunk of the summer.

Which is also why I’m fitting in as many lessons with Presto as I can at the moment. Things seem to be pretty much back on track, and my thought was to spend the summer just kinda toodling around schooling shows and jumper rounds and stuff at Training and Modified height to get us back in the groove of horse showing. Hopefully then we’d be ready to get to some of the fall recognized shows.

I don’t think Presto really requires his standard one-month summer vacation this year, considering how light his schedule has been (and the fact that without having to keep him eventing-fit for Prelim, I have tabled the majority of his conditioning work in favor of trying not to unnecessarily pound on my 17.2h horse’s joints when I don’t need to) but we might take a couple weeks to just hack around or whatever. We’ll see how I’m feeling once the inevitable oppressive heat sets in. There is literally no pressure, so we’re just gonna spend the summer doing whatever we want, really, and try to keep us both moderately tuned up.

Otherwise the only other exciting thing left to report is that I went to Rockville again this past weekend. It’s a huuuge rock music festival in Daytona Beach, and last year me and my friend Lisa went for the first time, but only for one day. This year she rented a house, brought her husband and brother, and they went for 3 days. I joined them for Saturday and Sunday, and we had a great time. It was a lot… like… Saturday was a 3pm to 1am kind of day, complete with 1.5hrs sitting on a concrete floor because of a lightning delay where we all had to evacuate. But we fit a lot in, including a trip to the beach (upon which I was reminded how much I absolutely HATE the beach). Between the two days I walked 12 miles and saw about 20 bands, including some of my favorites like Bring Me The Horizon, Motionless in White, The Plot in You, Yellowcard, Architects, A Day to Remember, and My Chemical Romance. Most of them were pretty good, although if I had to pick a winner it would be Motionless in White. It was my second time seeing them and they were just awesome. It was VERY cool to see BMTH as a headliner though, I’ve liked their music forever and never seen them in person before. Incredible show.

I think I’m mostly recovered from that now, and aside from breeding these mares back, there’s not much on the docket for the next few months. Honestly, I think I’m ready to feel a little bit bored and well-rested, it’s been a hectic spring!