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The joys of baby horses, y’all… they grow so fast, seeming to change shape completely from one week to the next.

Which is why every couple weeks I throw Presto’s saddle up on him sans pads to monitor the fit. Especially now that he’s being ridden more. He’s added a lot of topline in the last few months (he still has a whole hell of a lot more to go) and he’s already starting to outgrow the Mark Todd that I got him in September. Granted, when I bought that I thought to myself “It’s great now, but I give it 6 months to a year…”. And yeah I think that was an accurate assessment. I give it a few more months before he outgrows it completely, and the last thing I want to do is ride a young horse in a saddle that doesn’t fit him. My crystal ball is betting that I’m looking for his next saddle by late spring.

He started out in that saddle with a half pad with shims under it, and within a couple months I had to take the shims out. Now he’s just in his sheepskin pad and things are already getting tight again, and he really hasn’t even begun to bulk up in his body yet.

What he really needs is a decent wool-flocked English made saddle that we can get adjusted every few months. Just the kind I hate. I didn’t really want to jump into something expensive for his very first saddle, knowing how much they change in the first year of work. That’s probably going to be the smartest thing to do for his next one though, no matter how much it makes me cringe.

Of course, I’m not going to drop custom saddle kind of $$ either. No thanks. Especially on a saddle I probably won’t love and will still inevitably be outgrown in a year or two. It’s gotta be within reason, budget wise, whether it’s new or used.

We have a couple of local saddle fitters here that carry a few different brands. None of which I love, but a few of which I’m willing to try. Granted, I’m only interested in monoflap jump saddles, and given that these fitters mostly do dressage horses, I’m already putting out a tall order by wanting to try only monoflap jump saddles. I’m picky, I know, and living in an area where we have so few reps and fitters makes it even more challenging.

I really wanted to try an Ikonic, which is wool flocked and has an adjustable gullet, but they only have 2 US dealers and the closest is in Ocala. I’ve asked about trialing a monoflap but let’s just say I’m not gonna hold my breath.

Otherwise I’m also considering looking at fitters/reps/shops outside my area that have trial saddles they could send and do fittings via video chat and tracings. I know that’s a thing, especially now in the Rona times, I just have to figure out where to start. On one hand, I dread it and want to just pretend like it’s not happening and put it off til the last minute. On the other hand, I see the writing on the wall and know what’s coming, and I want to be ready with a game plan when the time comes.

Anyone used a remote fitter to try and buy a saddle? If so, drop me your recommendations. I’m already crying just thinking about this.

Between my sliced up foot, Presto’s knee wound, and Stewie’s herniated disc, we’ve been a bit of a walking medical ward around here lately. The cut on my foot managed to heal itself fine, although the resulting scar still doesn’t feel that nice if you press on it. It doesn’t impede me at all though, so… it’s fine.

It’s been a few weeks now from whatever the heck Presto did to his knee. I’ll probably never know. He likes to put his feet in places they don’t belong so it’s not hard to imagine how he punctured it.

Luckily he was never lame on it, and since the vet wanted me to keep riding him to keep the swelling down, we didn’t really miss a beat due to that. The cold hosing and antibiotics did their thing and within a week the knee was 100% normal again. He did find the scab to be super itchy though, and much to my sheer horror he liked to scratch it with his teeth. Very on-brand, honestly, but geez COULD YOU NOT.

Looking at it now you would never know anything had happened aside from the little leftover scab and very obvious patch of shaved hair which hasn’t grown back even a single bit. It’s a really cute look on his extremely hairy legs. The location makes it look like I’m injecting him or he had some kind of knee procedure or something, so it would be great if he could grow some hair back before we have to go out in public. I swear he just poked a hole in his own damn knee. He feels fine though, so I guess we’ll just ignore the aesthetics.

Stewie is also feeling better too. Those first few days he mostly just slept and looked pathetic, but now he’s back to acting and feeling pretty much normal. I wouldn’t call him spry, he’s 16, but he’s more mobile for sure and doesn’t seem to be in pain anymore. He’s also lifting and carrying his head like normal. In the beginning he was having to go outside CONSTANTLY (one night it was 7 times. Seven. Times.) so I was not getting much sleep, but the past few nights he’s just been waking me up around 2:30. One time a night is fine, the corgi usually has to go out during the night too anyway. Today was the last day of the steroids (it was a taper, so the last 3 pills were every other day) and he’s got a few more days of GABA left. He’s still got minimum another week of “house rest”, which he’s starting to get really irritated about. He misses going down to the barn every day. The GABA is doing a good job of keeping him a little calmer than usual though (I can see why the hunter people liked it so much…) so at least he’s not bouncing around the house like a little rubber ball of anxiety.

I guess the only one of us that wasn’t on the IR list (this is NOT a challenge, universe) was Henry (knock on wood). He’s still chugging along as usual, although I don’t talk a lot about his rides or what he’s doing because there’s nothing particularly noteworthy. It’s mostly just a maintenance schedule… we do flatwork, we jump a couple courses once a week, we hack, we trot and canter on the hills… all the usual stuff. I’ve made absolutely no plans for him yet this year so we’re just holding steady with where he’s at and we’ll see what happens as we go along. He’s chubby and he’s sassy and he’s enjoying his more relaxed life.

He’s also decided that Presto is his own personal pet, and they’ve been playing A LOT. It makes me happy because I was worried about Presto not having a friend to play with this winter, and I was worried that Henry would hurt him. Which… Henry definitely did try to hurt him a few times in those first few days, but they’ve settled into this thing where Henry pretends to hate him but actually seeks him out to play. It’s kinda cute. Henry would never in a million years admit that he likes that kid, but he totally does. It’s fun to see him actually playing with another horse for once.

I hope everyone got their vet bills out of the way early and this isn’t a foreboding of things to come. Like 2019, where I had a vet bill almost every month. Let’s not do that again please. No more additions to the IR list.

I got word last week that Presto’s entry was officially accepted for the 2021 US Event Horse Futurity, and as of yesterday the entry fee is paid, so he’s officially-officially in!

Of course I’ve already said that I highly doubt he’ll be the type that ends up at Championships, but I’m excited for the journey and the process. I’ve already started outlining his first vlog post… it has to be an “intro” one about the horse and it’s breeding, which I already made a similar one last year to post here. I just need to shorten in a bit (ok a lot) because well… y’all know I’m wordy, and I don’t think most people want to watch a 10 minute intro vlog on some rando girl’s rando horse. I’m trying to get it under 5 minutes. We’ll see.

I did start trying to plan some little local show adventures for him too. I was hoping the show facility near us would do their normal monthly winter shows but alas they aren’t starting their series this year until March. I’ve definitely penciled that into the calendar, although I’d been hoping for something in February. We’ll see what else comes up. I do have a tentative plan to have my favorite dressage trainer sit on him a time or two as well, as soon as we get schedules figured out. As of now I’m the only person that’s ever ridden him, and I think some rides from the dressage guy could really help a few things that are right-on-the-edge-of-his-grasp actually click into place.

I also took a tentative peek at the YEH schedule when it was posted. I’m not convinced that Presto will ever actually be ready to make it to a YEH class this year at all, but I wanted to see what was on the calendar anyway just in case. And LOL – there is a grand total of ONE qualifier in Area 5 and it’s in MARCH. Hilarious. We do have a lot more FEH options here if I wanted to take him to the FEH 4yo classes (they w/t/c under saddle and judge confo, plus freejump at Champs) instead of the YEH 4yo (dressage test and jump little sj and xc fences under saddle in more of a derby format), but honestly I’m not sure that I see a ton of value in spending the money on the FEH. Either he’s ready for the YEH or he’s not, and if he’s not I could do a lot of smaller schooling shows that would add more value to his education than FEH would, I think. Maybe my opinion will change as we move forward, but… meh.

I did get him ridden 3 times last week, the first time I’ve actually managed to pull that off. He did a dressage day, a pole work day, and a long (for him – 30 minutes – I’m still only riding him for like 15-20 minutes at a time usually) walk on the hills day. On his dressage day I took him out to the field afterward and practiced “galloping” a lap. He’s still not totally sure of his balance enough yet to get his true gallop going. Right now it’s a little bit like a dressage horse trying to gallop – far too uphill and climbing. I know it’s in there though, I see him gallop flat out ALL THE TIME, he just has to get more comfortable and sure of himself with a rider on his back.

The farrier is coming again this week and I strongly debated having his first pair of shoes put on (fronts only) but I think we’ll wait until next time. That would put us toward the end of February, and March is probably when he’ll start doing more stuff (starting his formal o/f training and going to some shows). I’d rather he stay barefoot as long as possible, naturally, and his feet are pretty good, but it’s really difficult for a horse to stay barefoot on the ground we’ve got down here. Rocks and coarse sand are tough once they actually start working and putting more wear on the feet (indeed, he already chips them up a lot since he gallops around like a maniac constantly). I fully expect that he’ll need a full set by summer once it’s dry as hell and everything is hard as concrete, but we’ll start with the fronts.

He’ll be a real horse soon, y’all! Can you believe it?

When the weather folks first started murmuring last week about a Winter Storm heading to Texas, I didn’t pay it much heed. The Northern half of the state seems to inevitably get snow at least once every winter, but it’s not that common for any kind of real frozen precip to make far enough south to effect us. Especially not down where I am now, Southeast of Austin. You might get some snow every few years, usually a light dusting, and it may or may not actually accumulate at all. They didn’t seem sure of how south the system would go, and it had been in the 60’s all week leading up to Sunday, so… call me skeptical. But I’ll be damned y’all… it snowed. Like… SNOWED.

It started out as just rain for a few hours, and then slowly turned to a mix of sleet and snow before going all the way into big fat wet flakes. It was still 34 degrees and the ground was soaked so I wasn’t sure anything would actually stick, but sure enough it finally started to accumulate. It snowed pretty much all afternoon, and we ended up with about an inch of accumulation. Which probably sounds absolutely comical to you Northerners, but for down here it’s A LOT.

And in thinking about it, I realized that Presto has never really seen snow. No more than a dusting anyway, and from inside his stall at the boarding barn. So, while the horses were safely and snugly tucked into their stalls yesterday, I had to go get Presto out to see what he thought of the white stuff when the fat flakes started to fall.

He really thought he wanted to play in it. He really really did. And then he actually got out in it and the snow started hitting him in the face and he wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic.

After laughing at him for a few minutes I put him up and went back inside, and it just kept on snowing. For hours. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it snow that long here. Towards the end of the afternoon when there was more accumulation I got Presto out again. Maybe he’d change his mind when there was more of it on the ground and less of it hitting him in the face?

Okay maybe not. I had to take advantage of the ultra-rare opportunity to get pictures of him in the snow though. I mean, how often to we get that chance?

He just really couldn’t figure out what to make of it. Very weird cold stuff that isn’t even fun to eat. I don’t think he was impressed with this winter thing. Makes sense though, since he’s a giraffe. Summer is more his jam.

Henry, being from Arkansas, isn’t nearly such a stranger to the snow. He wasn’t impressed by it and seemed content to ride out the Texas blizzard from the comfort of his stall. I did get him out for pictures too though, because what kind of crazy mom would I be if I didn’t. This is the first time in the 7 years I’ve owned him that I’ve been able to get pictures of him in snow.

And naturally Henry is a professional. He knows how to pose for photos so he can go the hell back to his stall.

The snow started melting pretty much as soon as it stopped falling, and this morning it’s almost gone. Which, to be honest, is my preferred way to experience winter. The snow is fun and novel and all that, but one day of it was enough. Thanks for letting us borrow it, but you Northerners can keep the rest. We’ll be back up to 60 by tomorrow, as if nothing ever happened.

Well that was an interesting first week of 2021. So far it’s definitely starting to feel more like 2020 The Sequel.

I have zero brain power left at this point, so instead of trying to pull a post out of my butt that won’t make any of us happy, I wanted to repost an article I saw this week that I thought was extra worthy of sharing.

Five Training Philosophies for Young Event Horses

It’s rare that I agree with an entire article on a subject like this, but this one managed to do it. I had a lot of YES happening while I was reading it.

Certainly a million times better than the article a couple weeks ago that I refuse to link to that said (at least before someone went back and edited, which was after I got screenshots) that all horses should be started over fences with: a standing martingale so that they can’t hit you in the face when (when, not if) they resist, a “firm”-fitting flash noseband (because drop nosebands “can’t control the jaw” and a simple cavesson “isn’t enough noseband for a horse that gallops across the countryside”, and rubber reins (of which women need thinner ones for their small lady hands – clearly he hasn’t met me, I wear a size 8.5 glove). I’m still hardcore glitching over that one. Not over it. Utter load of complete garbage. I hope no one actually took advice from it, JFC.

But the article I’ve linked to above is actually a really good one IMO – it’s solid advice and good info for anyone with a young horse or a re-start, really, no matter the age or discipline.

Also have to give a shout out to Practical Horseman magazine. It’s been YEARS since I got any print magazines (well except the magazines that come with USEA and USEF memberships) and even longer since I’ve read a Practical Horseman. PH was one of the first print publications to come out with a strong stance in favor of increasing diversity in the equestrian world, and dedicating themselves to do better to further said cause. Because some folks are garbage, that statement brought PH a lot of heat and people declaring that they wouldn’t be renewing. I wanted to support their efforts and counteract some of the negative backlash so I bought a year subscription (it was only $15, why not), and while I’m only two issues in, so far I’m relatively impressed with the content. There are at least a few articles in each that have been worth the read. Now we just have to see how/if they stick to their diversity pledge.

Read anything this week that deserves a shout? Drop a link in a comment. We could all use a little distraction I think.