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Yesterday afternoon we loaded the kids up for a quick little jaunt down to Pine Hill to cross country school. After what has shaped up to be one of my busiest and most stressful weeks at work ever, I really needed a little reprieve. It’s also supposed to start raining again today so we figured this might be our last chance at a decent school for a while.

We haven’t jumped any XC fences since the last show here at the beginning of December. And we’ve jumped at all a grand total of twice. So… figured it was probably a good idea to get out and gallop a few things before the next show coming up on the 20th. We weren’t planning on doing much, just getting the ride dialed back in. I tend to always take the first few fences to slip back into the bolder XC ride, and the longer I go in between, the longer it generally takes me to remember. This seems especially true as we’ve gone up the levels. Bigger fences and more speed are harder to just snap right back into, when you aren’t practicing those things on a regular basis.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to try out a couple of new acquisitions to my equipment line up – a Champion skull cap and a Dainese XC vest. I need to do actual reviews of these soon but preliminarily I’m happy with both things. The helmet is AWESOME, like it’s definitely up there with being one of the nicest helmets I own, if not the nicest. Which is saying a lot, because… um… I own a lot of helmets. The vest is just downright fascinating. I like it, but it’s definitely different from anything I’ve had before. I have many thoughts about it. We’ll save them for another day.

We mounted up and set off to warmup, and Henry felt great. The first few fences were the same as my first few fences always are, with me trying to remember the bolder ride and finding more impulsion again. From there we went to the water, which was a bit deep to jump directly down into, so we made a creative route through, taking the novice log in, skimming the edge, and jumping the Prelim skinny out.

After that we strung a few galloping fences together. I’m trying to up the ante on the speed between the jumps a bit, since things are definitely different in that regard between Training and Prelim, but I’m still kind of learning just when I need to sit up and rebalance, how MUCH I need to rebalance, etc. More speed always changes things. This is my big learning curve at the moment, really. Timing of the half-halt to change the balance, and also still allowing him to carry more impulsion and cover more ground. Everything at Prelim is designed to be ridden like you’re attacking it, but you still have to attack it with a lot of balance and respect – if that makes any sense? I need to set something up so I can practice this at home more and get used to the different feel.

The ground back in the woods was still quite wet, so we just stuck to what we could do in the front field. Luckily there’s still plenty up there to keep you busy, including some of the bank complexes. Prelim has a bigger Irish bank back in the woods (the one that Henry used to have a serious mental come-apart about, but skipped right over last month like it weren’t-no-thang and made my heart so happy) and a smaller downhill bank combination up front. At first I was struggling to get Henry up in front of my leg, which… newsflash, shit don’t work that well when a horse is behind your leg on XC. He’ll keep going and keep jumping, but it ain’t cute. It was very odd for him. He wasn’t responding the way he normally does when I close my leg. I ended up having to give him a couple taps on the butt to get his impulsion back, and then everything jumped much better.

When I got off I thought he looked like maybe he wasn’t feeling the best, and when he didn’t seem interested in eating a treat, my suspicions were confirmed. I dosed him with some omeprazole and coaxed him into eating some grass, and he started to perk back up. I think his tummy was bothering him towards the end of the schooling, which would explain the lack of his typical impulsion. So – back on ulcer meds he goes for a while. Bye money.

I’m glad we were able to beat the rain and get back out there and school a bit. I have a few things work on over the next week before we head back out for our next Prelim run!

First of all, huge thank you to everyone that has donated so far to the Little Orphan Annex Memorial Award fund. I was completely blown away by the response, and we were able to meet our minimum goal within just a few hours of yesterday’s post going live. The generosity and compassion of the horse community never fails to amaze me.

Several of you contacted me and said you would like to contribute but need a few more days, so I’m going to leave the pool open through the end of this weekend. If we raise enough to hit the next sponsorship level, we can up the ante of the cash award. If we don’t, whatever is leftover will still end up in RRP’s pocket. Next week we will get started on the details, firm up the contract, and get everything paid for, so that we can start advertising and promoting the award ASAP. We are so thrilled to be able to do this for Hillary and for chestnut mares everywhere, so thanks again for making it possible!

Ok, second thing of the day – the blogger gift exchange. I already posted about what I received, but since I was a little bit last minute about sending out my own gift, I haven’t yet posted about what I gave. Mostly I want to pimp a friend’s small business real quick, because when I see young people (jesus I sound old) busting their butts to make it, I want to help them out. Sofia is in her first year of college at Texas A&M, rides with my trainer, and does vinyl work on the side for some extra cash. She’s pretty cool aside from liking Cardi B and Drake waaaaaaay too much (both of which Sofia had to explain to me on the way to Chatt. I got a Cardi-cation that definitely did not stick because now all I remember is that she was originally a stripper before she was a rapper? Anyway.). Sofia has made a lot of shirts for us within our group, from polos to cross country shirts to vests to special team shirts. My favorite are the lightweight v-neck tech shirts, with our barn logo on the front and horse’s name printed down the sleeve. They are SUPER CUTE for cross country, or just on their own.

For the gift exchange I had a special one made for Bette and her horse Chimi, who’s show name is Chimi Chonga and instagram hashtag is #theflyingburrito. I found a logo, modified it a bit, and Sofia put it on the chest, with his name on the sleeve. This is like the 4th or 5th shirt I’ve ordered from Sofia and she always does such a great job. These v-necks are only $25, too! So if you want some cute shirts (or other vinyl related stuff) made and also want to help toss some money at a horse-poor college student, I highly recommend Sofia. You can contact her through Instagram.

We’re going XC schooling this afternoon and I’m in a rush to wrap this up so I can get to work, but last but not least, if you need to be entertained and have not read the comments on this Eventing Nation post, it really delivers. Also, shout out to Allison (and Alisha) on that thread… the real MVP’s.  With such quoteables as “Thank you for coming to my TED talk.” and “This is my hill and I will die on it”, I dunno you but we should be friends.

Maybe someday we should have a discussion about young horses and jumping. Today is not that day. I definitely didn’t get enough sleep for that.

Bloggers, thoroughbred enthusiasts, and mare lovers – today I need your help!

As some of you may know, fellow blogger and barnmate Hillary lost her lovely TB mare Annie (Little Orphan Annex) at the end of last year. Losing a horse is never easy, and it’s especially heartbreaking to lose one so young and full of promise. Annie was an OTTB, a chestnut mare, and while she could be spicy, she was also a fantastic athlete, forgiving partner, and beloved friend.

To honor the bond that Hillary and Annie had, and to commemorate the impact that this special horse had on so many of us, Beka and I thought it would be a great idea to sponsor a special award at this year’s Retired Racehorse Project makeover show. This award would be called the Little Orphan Annex Memorial Award, and it would be a cash prize given to the highest scoring chestnut mare of the competition.

After speaking with the folks at RRP, they are totally on board with our idea and this is something that we can absolutely do! However, the minimum amount required to secure sponsorship for a special award is $1500. While that’s a bit steep for just a few of us to come up with, I know that there are a lot of Hillary, Annie, thoroughbred, and mare fans out there that might be interested in pitching in towards this award as well.

The award sponsorship INCLUDES advertising across several different platforms, including social media and print, so it would be publicized in several places between now and October. For those of you who may not be familiar with RRP, here are a few important tidbits from their website:

The Mission

RRP exists to facilitate placement of Thoroughbred ex-racehorses in second careers by increasing demand for them in equestrian sports and serving the farms, trainers, and organizations that transition them.

The Impact

Since it’s 2010 founding RRP has inspired thousands to choose an OTTB. Thanks to 135,000 Facebook fans, 94,000 website hits, constant press coverage, and sell out crowds at horse expos, the popularity and value of OTTBs are on the rise.

We felt that RRP was the perfect program to support in Annie’s memory, given her and Hillary’s background. And just like RRP aims to increase the demand for the thoroughbred as a sport horse (something they have definitely succeeded in doing!), we are hoping that this particular award will incentivize Makeover participants to seek out and buy chestnut mares. Often times they get a bad rap, and being a “chestnut mare” can carry a lot of unfair and unwarranted stigma in our industry, especially if they’re a thoroughbred.

Our RRP liason tells me that many participants DO specifically make buying decisions based on special awards, so it’s a realistic secondary perk of doing this. At the very least, we hope that this will offer a little extra thank you to a makeover trainer that decided to give another special chestnut mare a chance to prove herself, just like Annie did.

Because I knew that we would have to go “public” with this to make the minimum sponsorship dollar amount, I’ve already told Hillary of our idea. There were a lot of tears, and she was really moved by what she said was “an absolutely perfect way to honor Annie”. Hillary is aiming to attend the Makeover show this year, so we’re hoping she will be there in person to see this award given out.

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE LITTLE ORPHAN ANNEX MEMORIAL AWARD

If you want to leave your name along with your contribution, I will make sure that it gets included in a card that we can give to Hillary when the award is officially paid for. If you’d rather donate anonymously, that’s totally fine too. Any amount that you’re able to contribute is greatly appreciated – every dollar counts. If we are lucky enough to exceed the minimum $1500 goal, all extra funds will be put toward RPP!

Thank you for being a part of what I hope is something really special!

After the ridiculously beautiful weather on Saturday, we were all pumped to continue filling the weekend with horses. We made plans for Bobby to come over to our barn on Sunday to gallop (his barn has been too wet to gallop for a while and Halo is straight up bonkers) and then go look at a potential young horse for him that afternoon. Oh, and Hillary wanted to sit on Dobby for a second time. Within a few minutes of planning, we easily and quickly filled Sunday just as thoroughly as we had filled Saturday. The weather was not as nice as the weathermen had promised – instead of 70 and sunny, it was 55 and overcast. But hey, it wasn’t raining, and it wasn’t 30 degrees. Beggars can’t be choosers at this point.

We took Halo, Henry, and Inca out into the hillier pasture, which is also the higher and dryer one. It started out well enough. We trotted a couple laps each way to warmup, then picked up the canter. The above video is our initial canter. So pleasant. And how cute is baby Inca learning how to canter in a group? And then we changed directions, crazy ass Halo TOOK OFF between Hillary and I, and Henry turned into a dolphin. Hillary had been trying to video that way when it happened, so she was busy trying to hang onto her phone, but she did capture this particular gem before everything went all Blair Witch.

He is ridiculous. One of many reasons he never made it as a racehorse, but at least I find it to be relatively hilarious. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s actually bucking.

Much cantering and/or dolphining later, we were done with the 3 Muskaidiots, so Hillary grabbed Dobby and I grabbed Presto. Bobby hadn’t met either of them yet, so he got to join the Dobby fan club and play with Presto a bit. Hillary went out to the ring and got on Dobby, so we we all went out to spectate… he’s awfully freaking cute, and with a great brain. When she was done Presto got to make some horse friends of his own.

Halo and Dobby were much nicer to him than Henry ever is. Presto is definitely really weirdly obsessed with Dobby already, they have a similar personality and I think Presto can tell that they would be great friends. As for Halo… I think Presto just thought he smelled weird. Halo did let him nibble on him a bit and didn’t seem to mind the dumb baby horse, though. I think he’d make a pretty good uncle.

After we were done with those horses we made a quick stop for lunch and then headed out to sit on this guy.

He might be the most stout TB I have ever seen, and he’s quite tall too. Like if you told me it was an Irish Sporthorse, I would believe you. He might be a bit more of a project than Bobby is looking for though, and there are still a couple more we want to go sit on. But if you want a very large, very quiet, very reasonably priced project, let me know. The owners are friends of mine too and the horse has been well-loved.

This weekend is shaping up to be just as horsey, as is the weekend after that, AND the weekend after that. As long as the weather cooperates of course. Come on Texas, don’t ruin all my fun times (I’m looking at you, Friday. And Sunday. And next week.).

Well, apparently all I had to do to get it stop raining for a few days here in Texas was to whine about it extensively and annoyingly on the internet. Literally hours after my post last week about the mud and non-stop rain, the sun came out. It’s suspicious, and I don’t trust it, but I’ll happily take it while I can get it. Since it looked like the weather was going to hold we went ahead and firmed up a lesson schedule for the weekend, and on Thursday I decided I should probably make sure Henry and I still remembered how to jump. We literally hadn’t jumped anything since the Pine Hill show at the beginning of December. The jump field was still too wet though, so I set up what is the only jump in the arena and figured that was good enough.

We hopped over it a few times each way and no one died, so I called that a success and quit while we were ahead. On Friday the field was dry enough to trot, so we did a long trot to try to take some of the edge off the horses, and then Saturday was lesson day! We hauled down to a local farm only about an hour away where my trainer was teaching for the day. I love it when she’s there, because it cuts my typical lesson commute in half, and the arena is freaking fantastic. The footing is so nice and Henry always moves and jumps so well in there, like he’s extra springy.

Baby Inca came along too, and she wins the superstar behavior award for the day. The loudest most annoying horse on the property was definitely mine. He’s so dumb, he spent the whole trailer ride with his ears pinned flat to his head, occasionally kicking the wall and threatening to bite her (while she just ate her hay and ignored his theatrics), and as soon as they were off the trailer he was like OMG WHERE IS MY BEST FRIEND THAT I LITERALLY HATED 2 SECONDS AGO. It got even more pathetic when he spotted Halo, who he hasn’t been turned out with in 2 years and he never actually liked anyway. This is why he doesn’t have friends and gets turned out alone. He’s a total butthole to them when they’re around and a stage 5 clinger when they leave.

But as soon as we got in the ring he settled right down to business, and he felt freaking fantastic. He was moving really well, he was listening, and he was so happy to be jumping. We tend to not jump a ton of fences with him, in the interest of preservation, so after a brief warmup, everything went up to height and we just jumped a couple of courses.

I definitely felt a little rusty, like I was a smidge late with some half-halts and was a little slow to sit up and rebalance in the turns. I’ve noticed that it’s always my reaction times that suffer most when we go a while without jumping. Trainer set a one stride that was oxer to vertical, which can definitely be a bit of nemesis combination for me, but it actually rode great in both of the courses we did. Henry was pushing off the ground really evenly and using his body well in the air, he’s definitely feeling good at the moment. He tends to jump around “by braille” a lot of the time, but he was actually giving them some air for once.

I left the sound in the video so you can enjoy the “Oh Lord” from Trainer towards the end when I saw the big one to the skinny and gunned it. I am here for your entertainment, people.

Now we somehow find ourselves two weeks from the next show (damn, time flies) so hopefully we can fit in at least a mini XC school to make sure we remember how to gallop solid fences. We’ll see how much longer the weather cooperates!