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It occurred to me this weekend that I’ve not done very many product review posts on the blog in the past year. Mostly that’s because review posts take a little more effort and planning, and with everything else going on in my life/the world, things that take effort and planning for the blog have largely fallen by the wayside. This place has been my refuge away from that stuff, for the most part. But I’ve also added a lot of products that I know people wanted me to review, although damned if I can remember them all now.

I know there were bridles… Henry’s La Cense bridle and Presto’s Halter Ego bridles.

I think the only other tack I added was Presto’s Pro Choice girth and a few bits, unless I’m forgetting things. Oh, and Presto’s Super X Country neck strap. I think that’s it? My tack ho-ing has been at a minimum, I feel like (okay, barring Presto’s saddle which was a necessity and therefore doesn’t count towards tack ho status). Probably because there’s like no tack left in the world for me to get except every bridle ever made (come to me, my pretties).

There are also things like Presto’s Pony-O blankets, the Cambox V4, my Charles Owen MyPS helmet, my Levade tights, and my Mountain Horse Opus High Rider boots. There have probably been tons of things I’ve totally forgotten about by now. Maybe it would just be easier to do a couple “mini reviews” posts and cram a bunch of stuff together? Is there anything in particular you’d like to see included (either that I’ve mentioned or forgotten about)?

I’ve gotten a few new things recently too, that I’m not ready to review but could do a “first impressions” type of thing on. My “Kentucky-style without the nauseating pricetag” fluffy cooler and stable rug arrived. Presto looks very Hugh Hefner-esque, they’re very loungewear chic.

I’m starting to notice that I collect horse clothes like I collect bridles, but hey, at least the boys are prepared for any and every occasion right? Maybe we need a horse clothes post to cover their extensive wardrobes.

I also managed to win something in the Horse & Style Magazine Christmas giveaway. Well, I actually won TWO of their 12 days of Christmas giveaways, and when I alerted them to the fact that they had chosen me twice they told me I must be extra lucky and let me have both prizes, which was nice of them. The first was a Butet leather care package, which I was pretty excited about because I love leather care products (I currently have Belvoir, PSoS, and Higher Standards products in my tack cleaning drawer) and while it’s been a while since I used anything from Beval, I knew I liked their conditioner when I used it in the past. The full kit is $120 worth of product, so it certainly makes you feel fancy at least.

The other thing I won was a package of swag from WEC Ocala, but I haven’t heard anything about that yet so I’m not sure what it entails or if/when it’s coming.

I also might be overdue for some update posts on various items or projects. Like a “how’s that working out” type thing? Granted the only thing I can really think of that I’ve done recently is my spray painted glitter stirrups. There’s probably more that my brain just isn’t recalling. It was a long 2020.

Basically I’m asking what y’all want to see or what you’re curious about. I’ve completely lost track of what people have asked about or what I promised to circle back on, but I want to remedy that now.

I also feel like I’m ready to start jumping back into some more serious topics again, if there’s anything y’all think I should address about my own stuff or harder topics I’ve glossed over/opted out of as of late. I will fully admit that I’ve leaned more toward light and breezy than I typically would or probably ever have done before, and it’s time to get back to my nitty gritty roots. There’s far too much fluff happening around here these days.

So here’s your open call to drop me a comment or a DM on what you want to see, whether it’s as simple as a specific product review or a sticky/controversial subject that I’ve as yet avoided. Hit me!

I think I’m gonna keep trying to make Fridays a little more light-hearted for a while. I got used to Fridays being fun with the Foal Friday posts and now my brain just really doesn’t want to accept anything difficult or serious or particularly wordy. Plus, like, I watched waaaaaay to many hours of impeachment proceedings this week and I need something to balance all of that. How about a little bit of randomness?

First and foremost, my favorite article of the week, which ok is maybe a little heavy and serious, but I loved it anyway and everyone should read it.

What You Say About Your Horse Says More About You

One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing a rider say a horse is being a jerk or an asshole, especially when it’s because the rider thinks the horse did something to them maliciously. Granted I will be the first to admit that I do sometimes jokingly and affectionately say “butthole” or “idiot” (usually when the horses are playing with each other or Henry spooks at himself) but I definitely make an effort to keep words and labels like that out of serious moments. I know I’m not perfect though, and should be more mindful of it. Tik makes the point really eloquently and it’s a good “call to action” to hold ourselves more accountable for both our thoughts and our words, and hence our viewpoints and actions.

My runner-up article of the week is the one about Will Coleman winning a hunter derby at WEC, because it’s fun to see people cross disciplines like that and step outside their comfort zone. I love it!

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I don’t know why I can’t stop watching this video of Mari prancing across the pasture and then putting herself into half pass but it has delighted me. I love seeing horses do things at liberty and of their own free will that we ask them to do under saddle. Plus I haven’t seen much footage of Mari in a while and she’s developing into a pretty girl. I think she gets a little bit forgotten sometimes because she was from the same WTW class as Manny, and he definitely stole the spotlight that year. She’s coming 3 now though and developing into a super nice girl (and she’s for sale!). To tie things up into a nice little bow here, she’s also by the same sire as the horse Will Coleman won his hunter derby on.

Last but not least, we need some comedic value these days, right? This came up in an Irish horse sales group that I’m in, and it might be my favorite post ever. The only thing better than a frustrated ranting horse seller is an Irish frustrated ranting horse seller. You have to read it in an Irish accent to get the full effect.

I DON’T NEED FRIENDS! I’VE COPED ALONE!

I’M NOT THE FOOKING SAMARITAN HELPLINE!

IF YA WANT THE FECKING HORSE RING THE GODDAM NUMBER!

It’s just so classically and endlessly quotable. Happy fooking Friday, lads!

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?