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I’m getting ready to head out to a show (our first recognized Prelim! That looks a lot like it might get rained out…) and I’m short on time, so today you get a short PSA and lots of pictures. Happy Friday!

For anyone who, like me, was drooling over the Schockemohle bridles, RW has them 15% off right now (not sure when it ends, maybe today?). Buy me a black one. K thanks.

Moving on to the best part: more Nalah pictures! She is a week old now but these pictures are from the 4-day mark I believe. She is VERY active and spends most of her time in the air, bouncing from one place to another like a rubber ball. She’s pretty independent, loves to canter everywhere, and has already started jumping things in her pasture. These jumper-bred babies man…

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

I think it’s well past time to talk about Presto’s most special internet relationship: his friend Mimi, who lives in France. Mimi hasn’t always lived in France… she’s from Texas and used to ride at the same barn as me way back in the day. Like way back. Like damn Mimi we are getting old. But now Mimi is married to a Frenchman and lives waaaay over there across the pond. Thanks to Facebook and this blog we have kept up with each others exploits well enough, over the years. I have bugged her on far too many occasions when I was looking at saddles in France (as one does when one is cheap/poor and they’re so much freakin cheaper overseas) but she has been endlessly patient.

When Presto came along there was definitely a connection between the two of them… a little special something reaching out from behind the computer screen. In fact, Mimi says it was really this picture that started it all:

The hair, the swagger, the derpy lip, the nonchalant “whut you want” look on his face… it all spoke to her. Was this her spirit animal? The seed had been planted.

Not long after, I posted this picture.

This time Mimi couldn’t resist the urge, and she posted her own version.

And so began a trend. Over the past year Mimi has recreated Presto pictures of her own, becoming increasingly good at it.

It’s kind of my favorite thing on the internet. Every time I post a goofy picture of Presto (we all know there is no shortage of those) I eagerly await Mimi’s response. I am the middleman in their relationship, since obviously Presto doesn’t have thumbs or WiFi, but they clearly have a lot in common. Even from 5,000 miles away, Mimi really knows how to channel her inner Presto. They’ve bonded over their mutual love of crazy hair and even crazier expressions. It’s gotten to the point where when Mimi’s husband sees her taking selfies he says “You’re making fun of that weird horse again aren’t you?”.

I swear that someday this needs to be made into a coffee table book or something. I keep collecting the pictures, trying to figure out the best way to share this with the world. Because it really MUST be shared. It’s too good. Their relationship is too special. Let’s face it, Mimi is the hero we need right now.

It’s a little ironic that Presto’s internet BFF is in France, since that’s also where his sire lives. She assures me that his expressions and general demeanor are very typically French. Can’t deny your heritage I guess.

Anyone else’s horse have an International pen pal? No? That’s not normal? Weird.

Let’s just say that, hypothetically, someone was thinking about selling some stuff and getting new brown boots. Let’s also say that, hypothetically, this person wants something a little bit different, not quite so “off the rack” and boring looking. But of course, hypothetically, they have to be relatively inexpensive. They also have to, hypothetically, come tall enough to fit said person, who likes at least a 19″ height. This completely hypothetical person loves her Tuccis, but has a budget like 1/3 of that. So the standards are hypothetically ridiculously, probably unrealistically high. Oh, and they have to be pretty enough for showing, a nice chocolate color, but also hold up reasonably well to regular everyday type use. Um, hypothetically.

Hypothetical Boot A 

These are the cheapest of the bunch, coming in at under $300 USD, although I’m having a hard time finding them in the Tall height. They’re also probably the most average as far as quality, comparable to something like Mountain Horse or Ariat. The accents are patent croc, so a little bit fun. For the money though, they’re about as pretty as you can get, and they’re not boring.

 

Hypothetical Boot B

These are a semi-custom brand that has blown up lately due to the extremely reasonable prices in Europe. They’re a little bit more than the ones above, but not by a whole lot. The leather seems to be better quality. They come with a patent top but I think I can change it out for something else if I wanted.

 

Hypothetical Boot C

We’re getting a little more expensive now, but they’re a major brand of very good quality. I don’t love the grain leather, really, and I could upgrade to smooth but it would cost more. I like pretty much everything else about them though. Just not sure if I LOVE them enough to justify the higher cost?

 

Hypothetical Boot D

Another major brand, and reasonably affordable. I’ve never been much of a patent croc fan but it’s working for me on these. They have a few different options on the top but they’re like… glitter and snakeskin which are a bit much in that large of a quantity. They’ve got the longest lead time of the bunch, at 12 weeks.

 

Hypothetical Boot E

I’m trying to decide if that’s too much glitter for my taste… but same brand as above, different style to the top. About the same price, too. Maybe a little more fun/unique. I can’t decide if I really love them or really don’t.

 

That’s what’s grabbed me so far, anyway, that’s in the price range I was thinking (under $400-ish). I’m still looking around. There are waaaaaay more affordable brown boot options now than there were last time I was looking, which is definitely nice. Seen any really pretty, not super boring brown boots lately that I should go look at? I don’t need them necessarily, and I’m not in a hurry, but… we’ll see. Maybe something will go on sale? Hypothetically…

I was looking through some story templates on Instagram the other day, and one of them asked about your worst riding injury. There is no way that the tale of MINE would fit in the little place provided, or even on an entire story page. Out of all the things I’ve managed to do to myself, including cracked ribs, a broken tailbone, and a broken elbow, there is one injury in particular that was far far worse than any of those. It occurred to me then that I don’t think I’ve ever told this story here.

Let me set the stage for you.

It must have been somewhere around 2003ish, and I was working as the barn manager at Rising Star Farm. This is when it first started up and was located here in Texas, at a beautiful farm north of Austin. Now they’re in Georgia and have tons of stallions and mares and babies, but back then I think we only had a few mares and may or may not have already purchased the first stallion. We had an OTTB or two that I was working on to resell, and I lived in the apartment above the barn. I also had a little resale pony that a friend and I had picked up unbroke and cheap, as a project. We had named her Lexi, but we really just called her Po (short for pony. I know, you’re impressed with my originality.).

So one day I was riding Po out on a hack around the the farm roads – RSF was surrounded by other horse farms – at a leisurely walk on a loose rein. Po tripped over something, went down to her knees, and came up with a foot having somehow gotten over the reins. She just froze, and I went to jump off so I could safely unbuckle the reins before it turned into a wreck. Here’s where I made my error.

I did not make sure that I had completely cleared the left stirrup before I jumped down. In my haste the stirrup leather got caught between my legs on the way down, and I landed with my full weight, on the metal stirrup, on my crotch. I had somehow kinda slid down the stirrup leather like it was a fire pole, only the stirrup stopped me. In the crotch. Full force. WHAM.

I don’t really know a good way to describe exactly what happened in that moment. The best thing I can say is: imagine what happens when someone gets punched really hard in the mouth and their lip splits open from the sheer force of it. Yeah well, that’s exactly what it did. Except to my lady bits. Across quite a wide area.

I freed the pony from the reins and got back on before quickly realizing that I was bleeding. A LOT. It soaked through my pants within a couple minutes and by the time we got back to the barn there was blood pooling on my saddle. I quickly untacked and ran upstairs to the bathroom to figure out what the heck had happened.

Y’all. It was not a pretty sight. I won’t describe it in detail but lets just say there was tearing, and swelling, and things were ALREADY black and blue. BLACK. REALLY BLACK. In hindsight I definitely needed stitches, but I just mopped up the blood, got the bleeding under control, slathered some ointment on it, and proceeded with my day.

The next week was relatively awful. Wearing pants sucked. peeing sucked, showering sucked. Which… I was the only person working on this farm so I still had horses to take care of and ride. The state of my crotch had no bearing on the things that had to be done every day. I would wait to pee until I literally could not hold it anymore, and showered as little as possible. It stung. It stung real bad. The swelling and the bruising were the worst parts, though… there’s just no way to avoid putting pressure on that area with clothes.

There is still a scar to this day, you can see exactly where I slammed into the junction of leather and stirrup. Out of all the ways I’ve ever hurt myself with horses, nothing has ever been as bad as that. Nothing. It’s also by far the most random way I have ever managed to hurt myself. I didn’t even fall off! I can tell you what though, you never make that mistake twice. I’m very certain to kick completely free of my stirrups before sliding down, even to this day.

Please tell me that someone out there has done something even dumber and worse than this. It’ll make me feel a little better.

A few weeks ago, Presto’s turnout situation changed.

He’s been living with the mini donkeys since he got here last April, mostly because he was an ungelded colt at a boarding barn and it was the only turnout where he could be effectively isolated away from any mares. He never did seem to realize that he was a colt, but still… not taking any chances with that.

Dobby’s turnout buddy left right around the same time Presto was fully healed up from being gelded, so we figured we’d try putting those two together. Dobby is just coming 4, so he’s still young enough to play with Presto a bit, but old enough to put him in his place when necessary too. Presto is extremely submissive to other horses, and Dobby is pretty laid-back, so I hoped they might be a good match.

While Presto seemed much more enthusiastic about Dobby’s presence than Dobby did about Presto, they got along just fine. Dobby wasn’t shy about nipping Presto when he got too annoying, but there was no drama at all. Over the past few weeks I think Presto has kind of grown on Dobby a bit… a first Dobby seemed to think of him as mostly a pest (I mean, he’s not wrong) but I caught them playing Bitey Face a few times. Still, Dobby continued to act like he was a little too good for Presto, and seemed relatively indifferent about his presence. I thought that was great, because it meant you could take each of them out by themselves, leaving the other behind, and neither of them really cared. My biggest concern with all of this was Presto getting herdbound, so I was super happy that Dobby didn’t love him enough to care where he went.

They’ve coexisted really well for a few weeks now. Presto has a couple little chunks missing out of him, but I have no doubt that he deserved them. He’s still very submissive and bottom of the pecking order, but he’s gotten a bit braver and more social and started to test his limits a little bit more.

Last week Bobby brought Cannavaro over to our barn for a couple months of groundwork training. The best turnout option for him seemed to be the pasture with Presto and Dobby, so we decided to try it out as a trio.

First we put Dobby and Cannavaro out together, since we figured they would be the two most likely to have issues. They weren’t immediate best friends, but seemed to have no objections.

Then we put Presto in.

Remember all that indifference Dobby showed towards Presto before? Yeah well, now it turns out that he decided Presto is actually HIS. But Cannavaro thought he might want to stake his claim too. And poor dumb oblivious Presto was just going back and forth between them like “OH MY GOD I GOT ANUDDER BESS FRENN DIS IS THE BESS DAY OF MY LIIIIIFEEEE”. Not a clue that the other two were having a power struggle about which of them got to claim him.

Eventually they seemed to settle on joint custody. Cannavaro and Dobby would maintain a respectable distance from each other, and Presto would take turns grazing next to each of them. I still don’t think that either Cannavaro or Dobby really like him all that much, they just don’t want the other one to have him.

Presto, of course, remains dumb as a box of rocks about these complex herd dynamics. All he knows is that he went from two mini donkeys to two Cool Kids. He’s like the little scrawny freshman nerd that’s been drafted into the group of senior football players and he is having the time of his life.

The arrangement is only a few days old but things seem to be settled and content now. Hopefully Presto will get to play with them a bit and continue to get a little braver in his social interactions. These two guys are definitely much nicer to him than Henry has ever been.