Author: Amanda C

Guess who is officially a yearling today???

 

In some ways it’s like WOW time flies, how he is a year old already? And in other ways I’m looking at all the gray hairs I’m sporting these days and wondering if it’s just my imagination that 90% of them have popped up in the past year. Only a year? THREE more til we’re even thinking about eventing? Sigh. Baby horses really are the long, hard road.

I can’t say that I’m not thrilled with him so far though. Sure, he looks a little bit like a mangey brown flamingo right now, but if your eyes can see past the yearling uglies, I think he’s going to be a nice horse. His gaits are good, he’s leggy, he’s athletic, and he’s smart. I can already see that we will definitely butt heads on a regular basis – that little turd is stubborn and calculating – but those qualities could really come in handy later in his career, so ya know… fair trade.

I see a lot of his sire in him, and also a lot of his dam too. It’s fun to sit there and watch him and be able to pick out which qualities he got from which parent.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget his birth. His sneaky mom laying down out in the pasture in the middle of the afternoon and squirting him out in 10 minutes. The way I felt when I saw that little white foot for the first time. The fact that he was neighing before he was even all the way out. Him thinking that we were his mom before he realized she was right behind him. Those first few steps right through the big pile of hay, because why do anything the easy way?

I loved him immediately.

It’s also hard not to think back on those dark few weeks at the beginning of his life, too. I’m not sure that I’m ready for all the facebook memories that are going to start popping up in my feed. It just breaks my heart all over again. He still has a little hairless scar from where his IV catheter sat taped to his neck, covered in elastikon, for 3 weeks. In some ways that scar is a point of pride. He’s a survivor, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

His story could so easily have had a different ending, and this would be a very different post that I’d have been writing today. But instead I’m wearing one of my Presto Warrior shirts, feeling extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to buy him a goofy hat and make him a silly cake. Maybe I’m that horse owner now. Maybe I’m okay with that.

Happy Birthday little man. You don’t even know how loved you are.

Since I’ve been pouring money into my car and vet stuff lately, not much has been left over for splurge purchases. Which is fine because I honestly have everything. More than everything. Except I still really want that EQ3 MIPS helmet… that’ll have to wait. But I have picked up a few low budget items over the past few months that I thought were good buys, and stumbled across some great spring sales in the past couple weeks. I can’t partake in those, but I can totally enable other people to. It’s my one talent in life.

A few months ago I got this little bonnet from Equine Couture. I am extremely picky when it comes to bonnets, especially about material and fit. We are long past the days when your poor horse has to wear one of those tasseled contraptions with oversized cotton ears and a throatlatch string. Don’t do it. Just don’t. But if you also don’t want to spend $40-50 on something custom, the Equine Couture bonnets could be the perfect solution. They’re well made, with spandex ears and correct proportions, and they’re only TWELVE BUCKS. Henry fits the cob size perfectly. If you don’t like the little brand tag on the poll area, it’s easy to remove with a seam ripper. Pretty solid little bonnet for the price.

I finally lost my 6 year old RoadID medical bracelet when we were at Texas Rose a couple weekends ago. The rubber-bracelet band that it was on had a tendency to get stuck in the sleeve of sweatshirts… it really was only a matter of time until I lost it for real. Honestly though it was past time for a new one anyway… I wear my RoadID 24/7 and you couldn’t really read the information on the RoadID itself anymore because it was so worn. I found a $10 coupon code online and discovered that the new “Elite” model has a limited edition navy band available, and this model is sizable so it’s way less likely to just come off. And there are lots of different options for hardware color, including rose gold. You don’t have to tell me twice. Now I have a nice, new, pretty, readable medical bracelet for show season. AND – I have another $10 coupon code too. Not sure if it’ll work more than one time, but if you need a new RoadID, try: P8FCQCBJW7. If that doesn’t work let me know and I’ll try to find another code for you.

This one is a little bit pricier, but I have to say, totally worth it. If you want something fun to bring to horse shows, clinics, or happy hours this year, definitely look into Equestrians Against Normalcy. I bought the first Jump Off Deck in December and then when the opportunity came up to test the Extreme Eventer Deck, I was all over it. This game is really hilarious, plus quick and easy to play, which makes it a great way to pass the time with your horse friends. They’re in the process of coming out with lots of specialized decks for different disciplines too (I know I’ve seen a hunter deck, dressage deck, and western deck in the works!). I’d definitely recommend getting one or two of the “base” Jump Off decks plus a specialty deck.

NetEquestrian’s liquidation sale FINALLY includes their Ultimate Hoof Picks!!! You have to find some other stuff in the sale to make the shipping costs worth it (there’s tons of cheap stuff, it shouldn’t be that hard), but the hoofpicks are marked down to $3.99 for the Jr and $4.99 for the big one, which is like $10 off. Awesome deal for the best hoof picks on the planet (yes it’s weird how much I love these, no I won’t apologize for it). Or just buy a bunch and keep them stashed everywhere, like I’ve done.

Mango Bay has stuff on sale, too! There’s a limited selection of belts for $10 and shirts as low as $7.50. Also kind of in love with their new foxhunting and OTTB shirts, which aren’t on sale but are super reasonably priced anyway. By the way, Mango Bay is extremely supportive of equine charities and donates a ton of stuff for shows/awards/etc, so they’re a business that you can feel good about giving your money to.

And last but not least, I know I say this a lot, but don’t forget to regularly check out Riding Warehouse’s clearance section. Just from a quick perusal, right now there are 2 different shadbelly’s under $300, Kask helmets on sale, tons of show shirts/breeches/sunshirts, gloves, blankets, fly sheets, fly masks (the Noble Outfitter’s Guardsman is $18!), mud boots, hay bags, leather halters, stirrups, saddle pads, horse boots, etc etc ETC FOREVER. It takes a few minutes to look through everything, but you can always find some gems there, whether you’re trying to get outfitted for show season or if you’re preparing the barn for spring. It’s easy to meet the $50 minimum for free shipping. And don’t forget to use FB10 for an additional 10% off, or USDF10 for $10 off. I just recently stocked up on fly spray for the season and threw in a clearance hay net for $4 and a clearance fly mask for $12. Can’t beat that.

Spring has officially arrived in Texas. You know this because all the sudden the air turns to solid pollen and you start getting sunburned if you’re outside for more than 20 minutes. But it also means that the green grass is back, the weather is lovely (until Friday at least, when it’ll be 90 degrees), and the horses are shedding. I’m not sure which I love more, green grass or shedding.

With all of my crazy weekend plans lately, Henry’s schedule has been a little erratic. He’s had a little bit more time off than I’d prefer (I mean, he seems ok with it…) so I’ve amped up his conditioning days a bit. I was a little worried that he might not be very fit in time for Texas Rose in 2 1/2 weeks, but even after a long trot and some longer/faster canter sets last week he was totally cooled down by the time we’d walked back to the barn. Despite his tendency to be chunky, this horse actually gets fit easily and tends to keep it pretty well. He seems plenty primed to gallop around XC like his typical overexcited dolphin self.

He’s also now about halfway through his first round of Adequan, having gotten his 3rd shot yesterday. So far I don’t feel any difference, but then again he just got his SI done a month ago anyway. I’m not sure that I will notice anything, but hopefully it’s at least doing something useful on the inside because that 50ml bottle WAS NOT CHEAP.

You know what else wasn’t cheap? Putting new tires on my truck and getting some general maintenance done.

I was crying on the inside when I swiped my debit card that day, but she’s getting close to 100k and I definitely can’t afford to replace her anytime soon, so it needed to be done. She does pull Henny’s chariot, after all. I feel like I’m literally leaving a trail of money behind me everywhere I go lately though. And I still have to pay my taxes, which I haven’t actually been brave enough to do yet because do I really have to file all those 1099’s? I don’t wanna. I know this is finally gonna be the year that I owe, and I’m not looking forward to it.

Luckily, knock on wood, we’ve had no issues with minor gas colics since we did the round of Omeprazole. That wasn’t cheap either, but necessary apparently. It’s been 3 years since I treated him the first time, and he travels a lot, so it’s no big surprise that he needed to be treated again. I’ve got more tubes lying around for him and Presto for when they travel, but if I could go another 3 years without having to buy it in mass quantities again, that would be great. There’s pretty much just dust left in my wallet at this point.

So hopefully Henry feels fit, lubed up, and ready to go horse show. I wish I could squeeze in a few thousand stadium lessons in the next couple weeks, because that legit might be a shitshow and a half, but it kinda just is what it is at this point. My attention really has been more on Presto lately, and I’ve been preoccupied with the logistics of getting him home and getting everything ready for him. I am admittedly a wee bit distracted. But I can’t wait to see how Henry adapts to the role of baby-horse-sitter and “mentor” for Presto. I think he’ll be good at it. And hopefully not too mad. At least when Presto shows up Henry will be fresh off a cross country run… that typically leaves him in good spirits for the next couple weeks afterward. I think he will need those good spirits for the first week or two of his idiot baby brother.

Alright come on, fess up, what are the things that are driving you extra crazy lately? Let’s call this Twitchy Tuesday and we can all commiserate with each other over the things that are threatening to slowly drive us insane.

Leaving halters attached to cross ties

If you’re the only person in the barn, then sure… I guess. I mean I still hate it but if you’re alone at least it’s not affecting anyone. But if you’re one of many at a barn, and one of many that uses a set of crossties, please for the love of god, when you bridle your horse, unclip the halter from the crossties and hang it up. If you hang the halter up with a crosstie still attached, I have to resist the urge to chuck your halter in the poop pile every time I unhook it. One of these days I’m going to give in to the urge. And if you leave the halter on the GROUND with the crosstie attached, you’re getting a throatpunch from the safety police before I chuck the halter in the poop pile.

Bit keepers put on incorrectly

I don’t know why this one is so common but it seems like at least 50% of the time that a horse is wearing a full cheek, the bit keepers are on too low. When they’re too low, they aren’t doing anything, so you may as well take them off and live the daredevil lifestyle. Keeper, at the top, sitting just under the “knob” = things can’t get caught on the cheek of the bit. If you don’t like the angle of the mouthpiece when the keeper is at the top, perhaps a d-ring would be a better choice. I’ve seen what happens when a horse gets a full cheek caught on something, so maybe I’m overly sensitive about it, but trust me when I tell you that it’s not a thing you want to witness. Ever. That incident happened when I was a kid and I still remember every vivid detail (and the lecture that every single person in the entire barn got from my trainer afterward). Thank goodness it wasn’t my horse or I’d have been even more scarred. Know and understand your equipment.

“Friends” constantly trying to sell me shit on my personal social media

Dude. If one more person tries to sell me Rodan & Fields or Lipsense, I’m going to lose it. You want to sell that stuff, great (I’m all about that side hustle), but please post about it once, maaaaaybe twice, and then take it to another account or a group with all the people that were interested. Constantly bombarding your “friends” to try to sell them something is really freaking irritating. To the point where pretty much everyone on my friends list who sells that sort of stuff has been unfollowed. It’s like Avon on crack.

People who can’t measure jumps

If you post a picture of your horse jumping X height and then claim that it’s Y height, you look dumb. Like… I have eyeballs. I know your standards are not 7′ tall. That middle hole is not 3’6″. If you have 4′ standards and you’re 3 holes from the top, it’s not 4′. Measuring isn’t hard. You can even make your own measuring stick! Everyone should have one of those anyway.

Black backgrounds with white text

Speaking of eyeballs, maybe I’m showing my age here but am I the only one whose eyeballs physically hurt from trying to read white text on a black background? There are a few blogs I’d like to read but can’t, because my old lady eyes are dying after the first paragraph. White backgrounds are your friend. Be kind to old ladies.

 

 

First of all, there is a crapton of media in this post. I probably could have broken it up into two, but… happy Monday.

Second of all, Sadie is still over a month away from having her Diarado foal and she already looks like she’s going to explode. Laken’s milk test says that she’s gonna have hers within the next couple days, so BABIES ARE COMING.

Third of all, I haven’t seen Presto since last September, and he’s definitely transitioned from foal to baby horse in that time. He is lanky and long and has way more leg than he knows what to do with at the moment. One of the first things I did was string test him, since he’s almost a year old now and those tests should start being pretty accurate. They were totally accurate with Sadie, anyway, far more so than the general “add two hands to yearling height” method. I never believed her string tests, but lo and behold if she didn’t grow to exactly the height they predicted. So I grabbed some twine and a tape measure and decided to just go ahead and use the two methods that had predicted Sadie’s height so accurately. First, the measurement from the coronary band up to the middle of the knee (idea being that however many inches this is, that’s their final height – so like 16.25″ would be 16.1h, 16.5″ would be 16.2h, 16.75″ would be 16.3h, etc)…

I checked that 3 times to make sure I was definitely going from the right place to the right place, and yeah… it’s definitely 17″.

Then I did the other method, taking his elbow to ergot measurement, doubling it, and adding four. That got us this:

Yep, 17 again. They both agree. I was kinda hoping for more like 16.2h, but I guess Sadie likes to throw her elephant height. I did stick him and he’s only 14.2h, so if you use the “add two hands to yearling height” method, then that’s 16.2h. Granted, Sadie herself was 14h at yearling height and ended up 17h by 6 years old. It seems to be a slow-growing family. I guess time will tell! Either way, he’s definitely on track for 16.2h to 17h.

I banged his little tail, which really was just taking about 1″ of gross yellow ends off to make it sorta even, and then chopped off his mane. Long mane on scrawny yearling neck just is not at all attractive, trust me.

He was also really really really incredibly hairy.

I’m not sure I’ve seen a coat like that outside of a shetland or mini. It was thick, it was plush, and it was long. He literally had dreadlocks behind his elbows. I couldn’t tell how much of him was hair. I was mostly thinking “Is his head really that blocky or is it hair? I don’t remember it looking like that???”. I really didn’t want to body clip him, but even after an hour of grooming not much hair had come off. And it was 85 degrees. He was hot underneath all that. So we dragged him into the barn and sheared him like a sheep.

This is now the second body clip this horse has gotten in his lifetime. Apparently I should just get used to clipping all the time, because between him and Henry I think it’s going to be constant. Presto didn’t really mind the clipping part at all, but every few minutes he’d start screaming for his friends (being inside the barn alone is terrifying, y’all) and swing himself around. He gave up for a while, and then by the time I was on his legs he started losing his patience a lot more, so he got to keep his little legwarmers from the knee/hock down and his face hair because I don’t need to die over this, thanks.

He was feeling pretty fancy on his way back out, though, and all the mares had to come running over to check out his hair cut. He was more than happy to show it off.

His little QH friend Murphy was pretty fascinated by how we transformed his yak friend into a sleek giraffe.

We left him alone for the afternoon (he was quite done with me by this point, poor kid) and then got him back out that evening to take some pictures.

He basically went straight to the fenceline to trot back and forth in front of everyone in the paddocks.

Then he realized there was a really fun water puddle and he proceeded to first leap over it a couple times…

And then splash and stomp his way through it.

Then he had to take a few (screaming) victory laps.

Then we stuck Murphy out with him so they could be idiots together.

The next morning, of course, a cold front blew through. What was only supposed to be mid to upper sixties turned into mid 50’s with a ridiculous wind, so I dug through the barn to find an old pony blanket. I tossed it on him, let him run a few angry laps of his paddock, and then adjusted everything.

He was not a fan. At all. I sat up on the fence to watch him for a while and he mostly just stood there and glared at me. Every few minutes he’d reach down and try to pull it off, then Murphy would come up and pull on a strap. That just made Presto stand there looking mad again. Henny’s mare glare ain’t got nothing on Presto’s. I have a feeling he’ll be looking at me like that a lot.

 

Luckily (I guess?) It’ll be back up in the mid-upper 80’s by Wednesday, so he only has to tolerate the blanket for a couple days.

The tentative plan is that he’ll get gelded this week, and then I’ll come pick him up on my way back from Texas Rose at the end of the month. It’s not really on the way at all, but it just adds like 4 hours of extra journey instead of a whole extra 10-hour round trip, and he’ll have Henry in the trailer for.. um… emotional support?

So really, as long as all goes according to plan, just a few more weeks and he’ll be home! Then I can start torturing him on a daily basis. Poor kid.