Author: Amanda C

When we left off yesterday, Presto had completely and firmly lost his brain when we were schooling because he had friends. I woke up Sunday with a heavy sigh and a “if we could not do THAT again today, that would be great…”.

First order of business was getting the tips of Presto’s mane and tail sprayed pink, to match my mohawk. Priorities. I didn’t have dressage until 10:50 but I did want to get there extra early so that Presto had time to chill at the trailer. So at 8 we loaded up and off we went to Florida Horse Park, with Presto pawing angrily basically the entire way there (the “entire way” being like 35 minutes – FHP is one of the furthest show facilities from me around here, and my Texas self hates my Ocala self a little bit for even daring to think that it’s “far”).

He came off the trailer with a few screams but settled into his hay net pretty quickly. This gave me hope. I figured he’d either devolve completely, or he’d settle down and get over it. Luckily he seemed to choose option B. I got on him for dressage around 10:20 and first headed for the further away, grassy area that only had a couple in it, vs the smaller busy warmup ring. But that grassy area was closer to cross country, and his focus kept drifting into the distance, so I quickly changed tactic and went to the busy ring instead. That worked much better, and he instantly had to focus on me in all the hubbub. Every show I learn a little bit more about this horse and how to handle his brain. In a lot of ways he’s very opposite from Henry… bigger/louder/more is what gets Presto’s attention and settles him.

When it was time for our test, as we were trotting around the outside of the ring waiting for the bell, the judge stopped me and asked if I knew that we were supposed to be doing Novice Test B. As I’d been in the warmup ring I did notice a couple people getting rung for errors, but I guess it had been happening A LOT. I said yes I knew it was supposed to be Test B. She asked me if I knew Test B. Me, who had been 99% certain 5 minutes ago, was now like “Yes. Yes? I think so?”. She seemed skeptical. So was I, now. To be honest I hadn’t even ridden this test one time before… I’d just realized a few days prior that we were doing B, and learned it via the Ride iQ read-along. Now all the sudden I was second-guessing my whole life. This is why dressage is by far the scariest phase.

But on with it we went, and turns out I did in fact know Test B. After how much of a come-apart Presto had had the day before, my whole goal for this show was to have a quiet, boring day. I wanted a quiet, boring test with no yeehaws or screaming, and if that meant that I “went for it” a little bit less, that was fine by me. Let’s dazzle them with mediocrity.

To give Presto credit, he’s now 2 for 2 at being easier to ride at shows than he is during schooling or at home. Also very different from Henry. I think its finally enough of a pressure situation to make him want to pay attention. It was not a fantastic test in any way, but it was very consistent, scoring all 6.5’s and 7’s straight down the sheet. Quiet and boring, achieved. Our score of 32 actually somehow put us in 2nd out of 25 horses. Note to self: it helps to know the test.

After that I had a couple hours before stadium and XC, so I went to learn the stadium course and watch a couple friends go. The arena at FHP is MASSIVE, I was like “why it gotta be so big though, this is just a lot more room for Fuckery…” but the course was very basic and the jumps seemed small. Again I just really wanted a quiet, boring round.

I did learn from the last show that stadium warmup is not a place where Presto thrives (he feeds off chaos, and that is always supreme chaos) so I deliberately got on a bit later. Still had a bit too much extra time, but I was able to keep him occupied. I’m figuring out all these little things about Horse Show Presto, bit by bit. Knowing when to get on and how to warm up is such a big part of the whole strategy.

We went in the ring and took the long way around, so I could trot him past all the banners and spectators on the far side, then picked up the canter. My instructions from Steph were to keep him busy and not use too much of the ring, so I picked up the canter, asked him to be active and connected, and away we went, directly to the first jump. He jumped that first single oxer a little wonky because he was looking off at the warmup ring, but that got his attention, and after that he actually put in a really good round. He paid attention, he did what I asked, he stayed in his rhythm, and he even gave me a couple flying changes. Clear round! Steph called it an equitation round… considering this horse was a flailing hot mess like 3 months ago, I can’t be more pleased about that.

We kept our 2nd place standing (I didn’t even know that at the time because I never look at scores during the day) but really I was just happy that it had been what we set out for – quiet and boring. It felt easy, he stepped up and listened, and we both stayed cool in our heads. This is so new for us as a partnership, that’s really the whole point of doing these shows. Brick by brick laying a foundation that will hopefully serve us well for later.

After that we had a 30 minute gap before XC, which we’ll talk about tomorrow!

So, uh… turns out I completely forgot to post Foal Friday last week. I drafted it, I just didn’t post it because Friday came and went without me even realizing that it was Friday. On the bright side, that means Foal Friday gets to last a little bit longer?

Anyway, part of why I totally lost track of days is because Presto and I were busy getting ready for our next show. Two shows only two weeks apart… what a luxury. Having so many nice, affordable, well-run schooling shows right here in my own backyard is legit life-changing.

Presto had gotten the previous weekend off, since I was gone to TerraNova, and I hadn’t jumped him since the previous show, so I scheduled a jump lesson with Steph. I thought he might be a bit of a dingaling but nope. He was actually freaking stellar.

We’ve been jumping him a little bigger, since honestly he’s so blasé and unimpressed with anything little these days. As the jumps get bigger, he gets better and better. He’s staying rideable, he’s listening, he’s doing his job, and the quality of his jump is improving as he’s getting stronger.

He was so good that we literally jumped two courses and then called it quits with that. He’s the kind of horse where you really have to know when to push it vs when to leave it alone, and the ultimate reward (in his mind) is being done with work. Plus, like… he’s five. If he’s being super, there’s no point in drilling him.

The show was on Sunday, and on Saturday we went XC schooling. Hillary was with us this time, so that meant Presto had a friend with him in the trailer, and we met up with a group from my trainer’s barn. Presto with friends is never good. I thought, though, that since he’s spent the last few months doing things alone, he might just have an initial hissy fit and then get over it. Spoiler alert: he did not get over it.

He was an actual terrorist. As soon as we walked out to the field to warm up he was screaming, and alternating between wanting to spin back toward our group or staring off into the distance at other horses. And it got worse instead of better, because it went from a little naughtiness to him actually being genuinely Very Very Worried. When we tried to jump a few warmup fences he went to spinning again and was super nappy about leaving the group. He hasn’t done that in months (since, well, the last time he had a friend come with him on the trailer). Steph basically just sent us off by ourselves to jump around the whole course, because clearly the group dynamic was not going to work for Presto that day. To Presto’s credit, he did leave the group with encouragement, and there was no more napping, but he screamed his head off the entire time. Like that deep, soul-shaking screaming bloody murder type of neigh that you can hear from 3 counties away. Constantly. While he was actively jumping fences. The actual jumps themselves were no problem, he didn’t bat an eye at any of that and jumped them all fine. His poor little teeny brain had just completely fallen out of his ear though.

I jumped around a couple times by myself, then went off away from the XC and had him walk around the showjumping arena and dressage arenas. Again, he never stopped screaming, but there was no more napping. He really gets so freaking worried about what everyone else is doing when he goes places with a friend. He needs to travel solo for a while to these one-day outings until he finds life in general to be less exciting and can focus on his own life. My ear drums can’t take it.

That evening was spent getting our costume together for the show. I mean, it’s a Halloween event and it says “costumes encouraged” so yes, I’m in. I decided to go for the low-hanging fruit and do a Punk Rock theme, since I already owned most of what I needed for that.

The only thing I had to purchase was the hot pink mohawk to go on my helmet. Because naturally, a mohawk seems necessary for this kind of costume right?

10/10 it was worth the $15, because I could not stop snickering. It was so entertaining.

I also used the Cricut and some silver glitter adhesive vinyl that I already had to make a little punk rock decal for the back of my leather jacket.

And I made some anarchy symbol stickers to go on Presto’s saddle pad too. Because he IS walking anarchy, really. Hillary also picked me up some hot pink hair spray so that I could do the tips of his mane and tail in pink to coordinate with my mohawk. He already wears spiked browbands on both of his bridles, so that was really all he needed.

I was happy for the costume distraction so that I didn’t have time to overthink how he might end up behaving at the show the next day. I wasn’t sure how badly the schooling had rattled him, and whether or not his brain would climb back up it’s tether, into his ear, and re-velcro itself back into his skull. One never really knows. He’s one of those horses that tends to remember everything, so mostly I was just hoping I wouldn’t end up being That Person at the horse show with the screaming spinning idiot. Lofty goals over here.

Yes hi I know it’s late on Tuesday afternoon and this blog post was meant to be written and posted yesterday morning but as usual I have possibly perhaps overbooked my life. Apologies, but also… is anyone surprised.

Last week I had a bit of a last minute request to provide breeding info for the TerraNova live stream, and at this point I don’t say no to anyone when they ask anything of BRC, but also I’m still in crunch mode trying to get all the pedigree reports done this month, so. This is fine. Between that and the various social media stuff/website work I’m doing for people, I’m just a wee maxed out at the moment but still trying my best to make time to come do updates here as I can. When I disappear for too long y’all start to wonder if I’m dead… which is fair.

Good news: not dead.

Anyway. Last week I was also on Ride iQ’s Office Hours, which was stressful (I’m not so great at speaking “on the spot” I feel like… I’m better in print.) but really fun. I love those ladies and that group so much, it’s just so damn wholesome. People had great questions too, so I loved that.

It also decided to be HELLA FUCKIN COLD in Florida last week. A couple nights were just completely ridiculous.

This shit was definitely not in the Florida terms and conditions that I agreed to. Luckily it was short-lived and this week I’m back to sweating. Much better. I did have to pull out everyone’s blankets last week though, and there for a few days they all resembled dragons more than horses. Well ok, Presto doesn’t pass for a very scary dragon when he’s wearing unicorn pajamas, but still.

On Saturday I headed down to TerraNova for the weekend to cover the event for EventingNation. It was a fun assignment, meant to produce more casual and fun pieces (and Instagram story content) rather than just competition reporting, so I had free rein for some creativity. I hadn’t been to TerraNova yet and that place is definitely something. Kind of a Tryon-esque feel, I would say? It’s high end, for sure.

I’m not going to re-tell those days in detail since I already wrote that up for EN, so we’ll skip ahead. After I cranked out my Day 1 story, I spent Saturday night catching up on the replay of the cross country from Mondial du Lion (seriously one of my favorite events of the year, I would never miss it entirely) and found a few favorite new horses to stalk as they make their way up the levels. There’s also a really cute 7yo Duke of Hearts stallion that I may or may not be trying to now convince his owners to send frozen semen to the US. Oh, and I spotted a Frenchman in a helmet pompom, and that kind of made my night.

Sunday it was back out to TerraNova to wrap up the weekend with the FEI XC and the lower level showjumping. The most exciting part of the day was meeting one of the 4* horse’s emotional support mini, though. Like… big fan. Nugget is the best. If you missed his story you can read it here.

Ok yeah the 4* was cool too. Not many horses in the field but some nice ones, and the course was pretty. I ate a lot of Italian ice and got a lovely ballcap sunburn, so…. weekend well-spent. Although everyone kept saying that they saw alligators in the ponds at TerraNova and despite my best attempts I couldn’t find one. I’ve been in Florida for almost 6 months and still have YET to see a freakin alligator.

By the time I got home (TerraNova is like 2.5 hours south of Ocala) and got my Day 2 story written and submitted, it was basically bed time. Yesterday I was trying to get caught up with the horses here since I was gone all weekend, and cranked out a couple breeding reports. Today I rode Presto, bathed him, and tried to body clip him, but the BRAND NEW blade that I just bought YESTERDAY was super dull straight out of the package. Horse is very clean and not incredibly hairy, blade was struggling from the get-go. I ended up using last year’s blade that has already done two clips, at least to get started. So now Presto is 1/3 clipped (the parts that get the dirtiest got first priority because I am not bathing that demon again), I went back to the store and bought two more blades (seriously for what I’ve spent on blades at this point I could have hired someone else to clip him) and we’ll try to finish tomorrow. He was annoyed. I was annoyed. Fun times.

I’ve got a lot more stuff to do this week (chiro, farrier, saddle fitter, lesson, pedigree reports, breeding consultation, website, content creation – thisisfine) and then we have a horse show this weekend, but I’ll try not to be too scarce. Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

After the inspection was over, Inca and Quinlee moved out into the big pasture with the Thoroughbred mares and weanlings (all boarder horses). Most of the foals out there had already been weaned, but there were a couple mares still left, too.

As you can see, they were very excited to get to go out in the giant field with the other foals.

Well… Quinlee was excited about the other foals. Inca wasn’t so sure about the local riff-raff. Naturally it was Quinlee that made the first approach. Inca was close behind, making sure the children at this school were appropriate friends for her kid.

Inca’s involvement caused the little herdlet of weanlings to scatter, but that didn’t bother Quinlee much. She just make a break for it and took off after them, much to Inca’s chagrin.

Quinlee does what Quinlee wants though, so she quickly inserted herself into the herd and assigned herself a high social standing.

And really, that was the end of that. It was a very low drama introduction, and Quinlee assimilated into the herd with no issues.

The next day was when the real weaning happened – Inca got on the trailer to head back to Texas, and Quinlee stayed behind with her new friends in the weanling field.

Quinlee neighed a little bit on and off for that first day, but Inca didn’t. She walked out of that field and never looked back once. That’s the case with a lot of mares by the time weaning comes around – they’re ready for a break!

Now Inca is back to her cushy center-of-attention life with Michelle in Texas (she is delighted) and Quinlee is Queen of the herd here in Florida. Queen Quinlee Quesadilla… has a nice ring to it.

Mmmmk first and foremost, the pro pics from our first event. This noodle. Lookit him. LOOKIT HIM.

Second of all, I wasn’t joking when I said we almost ate shit in the dressage ring.

@breed.ride.event

That time we almost died in dressage #souljaboycranksyou #equestrianfail #horsefail #eventerproblems #dressage #equestrian #blooper

♬ original sound – Jay

Moving on.

If you haven’t yet downloaded your free copy of the Maryland 5* breeding data spreadsheet, you’ve got until the end of the weekend before the link disappears! You can get it on breedridecompete.com – the download link is near the top of the page. John Kyle used the sheet for the live stream commentary, and this morning Chris Ryan absolutely made my day by commenting and saying that it was “fantastic”. Deep respect for Chris Ryan and his breeding knowledge, it’s as close to a fangirl moment as I get.

I’ll also have an article with in-depth breeding info of the top 3 finishers coming out on Eventing Nation I think today (edited to add: it’s up! You can read it here.), so if you’re interested in knowing more about that very diverse podium, keep an eye out for it! Also I’ll be at TerraNova 4* this weekend doing the coverage for Eventing Nation so if you’re going drop me a link and we can coordinate a meet up. I was busy this week getting the breeding data together for their live stream too, which will be on Horse & Country TV. There’s no escaping me right now.

In Florida news, it is for some reason cold AF this morning, which is the only reason why you’re getting this post. I’m not riding until it warms up because I don’t have a death wish. When I went out to feed this morning Presto was levitating around his paddock snorting like a dragon, which was in sharp contrast to the unicorn pajamas he’s wearing.

What else is going on… my brain is mush.

Oh yeah, Patrons – we’re hosting a Secret Santa this year so if you’re interested, check your dashboard!

Last (I think?) but not least, Hidden Heights Fitness is hosting another facebook giveaway for a free one-on-one virtual training session, if you missed out last time! If you’re hesitant about the whole “working out” part, she also does a lot with biomechanics, stretching, etc so she can tailor the session to whatever you’re after. Cannot recommend enough!