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This was both the best and “worst” XC round Presto and I have had together, so I hope y’all are ready for a roller coaster ride. Buckle up!

First: the course. Stable View is big. It just is. Lots of big tables, many of which we could not figure out how on god’s green earth they managed to make measure correctly for the level. Literally half the jumps were big wide tables, several with brush on top, and when you’re on a young horse that doesn’t brush through the brush – yeehaw, mofo. Enjoy your literally 4′ table!

That’s fine though, whatever, we’re used to the big tables by now. I mean, did I make direct eye contact with any of them while we were course walking? Absolutory the fuckin hell not. But ya know. It’s fine.

One of my bigger concerns was how the light and the dew at my ride time – 8:30am – might affect how things look and rode. Especially because there was a downhill trajectory at the beginning and a giant steep uphill climb in the middle… there was far more terrain here than Presto has ever seen and in case you haven’t noticed he’s ginormous, so I wasn’t sure how he’d handle that aspect.

The first jump was a full height skinny hanging log. Inviting? Nope. Especially headed directly away from warmup and directly into the sun. Sit up and kick, bitch. He did actually jump that quite well even though he was a little squirrelly (read: amped as fuck) before we went through the start box.

After that we landed and galloped away down a gentle downhill slope to hop over what was definitely the smallest and most inviting fence on our course, a house we shared with Training. Heading up to it Presto did take a look around down the big hill to his right, looking for other horses, but he kept coming forward.

Continuing downhill we came to the first big table – the iconic Stable View hammock. Mofo is wide, the pic doesn’t do it a bit of justice. It’s also got a bit of a shiny surface, and the early morning sun at my ride time hit the top of it and made it look like just a giant blob of light. I’ve loved things more than I loved jumping that, but Presto read it fine.

Then we had a little slope uphill to 4, a fucking huge (huge. It was huge. No one will convince me otherwise.) brush table that we shared with Prelim. It came up really nicely out of stride and Presto pinged over it like the most delighted little maniac.

Then we hung a rollback to the right, down a pretty steep hill to 5, a rolltop we also shared with Prelim. I thought this might be a little challenging for Presto having to turn and jump down a steeper hill like that, but I also really wanted him to learn a bit about terrain here at Stable View, so I half-halted then let him keep coming down it rather than trying to help him too much or pick our way down. He figured it out quite well, honestly, and pinged over the rolltop, then straight ahead to another table.

Then we had our first combo, which the pic doesn’t quite do justice. We had a MIM rail, 6 bending strides to an angled brush two-stride. What you can’t see in the course pics (which are from the Course Walk app and was posted by Stable View, I didn’t take my own) is the big berm a couple strides in front of the MIM rail. It’s designed to help give you a nice lifting half-halt, but it does mean you have to keep coming at it. Either way, it’s something Presto hasn’t seen yet. No worries, he powered up that thing, hopped over the rail, and we immediately found the line through the angles. Easy peasy. Big pats and an emphatic “GOOD BOY”.

We had a bit of a downhill stretch to our next couple fences, so I let him keep rolling there. He was absolutely in attack mode – anyone who has ever ridden a good XC horse will understand what that feels like. We hopped easily over the next two tables down in the trees and then got to the big hill in the back. I was VERY interested to see what he would do here. A lot of green horses get halfway up their first big hill and go “oh wow this is hard” or need a little encouragement to keep digging. All I did was put my hands forward and Presto absolutely ate that hill with utter delight. I loved that reaction, I think it tells you a lot about a horse.

At the top of the hill there was an upright gate which is always icky looking but it jumps superb. After that we came to the water… and here’s where we need a little back story.

Our last XC school before Stable View was meant to be a “quick and easy” (lol) pop over a few things. And for some reason that just wasn’t Presto’s day. I was having trouble getting into a flow in general, he was being a little weird about the ditch, and the first time he jumped down the bank into water he was hesitant about it, then landed real weird and stung himself (and almost launched me off the front). After that he was hesitant about jumping off the bank again a few times, but he did get over it and jump down fine before we were done. Still, not what you want to have happen right before a big show.

So a couple days later we took him to another venue, and he jumped down their banks into water just fine, absolutely no problem whatsoever. We thought ok, the other day was just a one off.

The water complex at Stable View is tricky. Because you come at it up a hill, the horses can’t see that there’s water there until they’re literally right on top of it. And what was the Modified line there? A cabin, two strides to a down bank into water, then around to a corner. The water is also dark, small, crowded, and not particularly inviting. Normally I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but it looked a whole lot like the water complex where we had our schooling issue. Trainer and I discussed passing through the water first, as is allowed by the rules, but I figured that if we have a hole in our confidence/training, I’d rather know about it now so we can address it ASAP.

And well, we have a hole. Presto approached the cabin totally fine, jumped it, peeked down into the water, and spun. I turned him around, let him pass calmly through the water, reapproached the bank, and he jumped down fine on the second attempt. I think if we hadn’t had the schooling issue he still would have been surprised by the water coming out of literally nowhere, but he would have gone. I think him stinging himself on that water during schooling was in his head there and he just reacted.

Once he was in the water he was totally back to normal and snapped right back in attack mode. He jumped the brush corner afterward great, then absolutely flew over the next 3 tables. After that we popped over another cabin, down a hill, and swung a tight rollback left to pass through the next water (which he was also slightly wiggly about, but he went) and out over the skinny brush.

From there we just had one more combo, the big brush bending line to another corner. This walked in a normal 6, but I had angled the A a little bit and he jumped in bold, so I just straightened the line some and did the 5 instead, which rode nicely. After that was the most gigantinormous double brush table (I wish I’d taken a better pic of that, the brush was at my ta-tas on both the front and back of the table) which he absolutely pinged over. He was most delighted with himself. Then it was two more tables and a hop over the house at the finish.

While on paper I’m obviously disappointed to add a 20 to his previously spotless record, the reality is that this kind of stuff is part of the process, especially as things start getting harder. Nothing with horses is ever linear. He’s young, and we’re both learning. There was absolutely nothing naughty about his reaction at the water, I think he was genuinely surprised and concerned, and that’s fair. We’ve got some work to do on rebuilding his confidence about drops into dark murky water. He thinks it (literally) bites!

I was still hella proud of him for this XC round. Aside from that blip, he was actually fucking stellar. He tackled all the big tables, all the combos, and all the terrain like an absolute beast. He didn’t hold on to the water incident, he put it behind him immediately and clicked right back in. Those are all really encouraging takeaways for me. The scope and tenacity for the upper levels is definitely in there. We’re not ready yet, but it’s there.

The most important thing is that we came home with a happy healthy horse who’s looking and feeling great… we can work on the rest!

We’re back from another trip to Stable View, and we actually got to run three phases this time! Definitely a win over the June edition where we didn’t even make it to the first phase thanks to someone jumping out of a parked trailer.

I opted to body clip Presto before we left because he was right on the cusp of needing to be done and I was like “might as well”. Which is just a sign of early-season optimism that quickly fades within the first 30 minutes of clipping. Whatever, I got it done and he did look really good for Stable View with his nice dark clipped “winter” coat. Except he did rub out a large chunk of the bottom half of his mane a couple weeks ago overnight (love that for me) so I had to get real liberal and creative with the braiding wax (shout out to Spot On!) and bands to try to tame it down. I was semi-successful, and the braids looked fine enough. Honestly he is an actual squirrelly nightmare to braid and every time I have to do it I seriously ponder my dedication to competing.

We also got to debut some new stuff, including his new black crystal trim mesh bonnet from If the Bonnet Fits, his glittery bridle and browband from Dark Jewel Designs, our Correct Connect reins, and upgraded Mattes show pad. Details about all that stuff is a post for another day but I think his new dressage outfit is on point.

Presto warmed up well, although I was not most pleased to realize that the 2* horses were already running cross country, which took them galloping right past my dressage ring. Fun times for highly excitable and suggestable young event horses.

All credit to Presto though, he handled it pretty well. He did stick his head up in the halt at C and take a gander, and the canter work going the first direction was tense. I left some points on the table with a couple early transitions and because he was tense I had a harder time showing a clear difference between the lengthen and working canter, and that’s what ultimately kept us out of the 20’s.

Still though, we managed a 30.3 with some decent scores, including 8’s for both of his leg yields and a 7.5 for his stretchy trot serpentine, free walk, and trot lengthening, all of which we’ve been working really hard on. I was pleased with him for that!

I still do a big double take at this horse sometimes when I see show media… like where did our little gawky dorky giramoose kid go? He looks like a whole-ass attractive real boy now, one that people actually come up to in public and tell me he’s beautiful. HOW WEIRD. Don’t worry though, he’s still the same Pesto Pasta Noodle on the inside.

We had stadium a couple hours later, and the course was fairly straightforward.

This was a new ring for him though, he’s never seen it, and there is definitely a lot of atmosphere at Stable View with a show that big. Bleachers on one end, XC jumps on one side, judge’s booths, woods, tents… it’s a lot to see. They also kept the liverpool in at jump 3, which I was delighted about (genuinely, he jumps them great) but I found myself wishing for a little bit of a twistier course. You started out with a bit of a serpentine then just went line line line. I like having the turns to help me rebalance and half halt this gigantic animal.

It rode pretty well, although I let him get just the tiniest hair too flat down the line from 5 to 6, and he had the vertical down at 6a with a front foot. That’s his first rail at Modified, and after he ticked that one he was jumping much more careful, which I was pleased about. He’s getting just a little bit more nonchalant about the height now, so ticking that rail kind of woke him back up a little bit.

Overall I was really happy with that. Definitely not a mistake-free day, but… when is there ever a mistake-free day at a horse show? I have never personally seent it. Presto tried though, and he kept the lid on his enthusiasm pretty well, all things considered. I thought he’d have a much bigger meltdown about my trainer’s horse leaving the trailer (it was his only travel companion and Presto marries every horse he travels with), but he got over it pretty quickly every time. MUCH better behavior than last time. Which is good, because if he’d acted a complete and utter fool like that again, I might have tied him to a tree and driven away.

I kid, I kid.

Probably.

Anyway, a pretty good day 1 was in the books, so now we just had the hard part: the biggest, hardest XC course he’d ever seen. No biggie.

Dare I say that I think… I think it’s starting to feel like fall? I’ve had to put in a hoodie a few mornings in the past week, and even slept with the windows open one night. I mean, it’s still hot in the afternoons but… feels like progress. Also the horses are starting to grow their coats, which is exponentially less exciting because emotionally I’m not ready for clipping season.

Last week was, like all weeks, busy. Presto jumped on Monday, I just took him over to Majestic and had Hillary set everything between 1.05m and 1.10m and jumped a course. Presto was super so we left it with that. Later in the week he went XC schooling, which he was kind of a turd for, so we took him XC schooling again on Sunday and it was exponentially better. He was WILD but settled after a few jumps. Trainer reminded me that at one point Will Faudree told me that when Mason first learned how to loosen his back and move all his legs they had a bit of a yeehaw period, and I’ll be damned if that’s kinda what’s happening with Presto. He’s like DID YOU KNOW I HAVE ALL THESE PARTS AND THEY MOVE ALL DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS? Great. Superb. Can we use that power for good, please, and not evil. I’m not out here trying to go splat, sir. His ego is a bit large at the moment.

Since the heat has relented a bit, Henry’s been getting ridden more, too. I’ve been on him a few times, and our friend Sarah is back for the fall so she’s been riding him some too. And yesterday he ponied Freya (Hillary’s new mare) around, which he was… so delighted about. He’s really the best dude. He’s all business and doesn’t tolerate bullshit, but he’s also not aggressive or belligerent if they want to act silly. He does always look peak annoyed tho. Hard life for a Henny.

In between shooting content and doing some writing projects (and riding my beast) I went on a search for some new dressage reins. My current Thinline ones are dying, and I like them but I’m not convinced there isn’t something I’d like more. I really wanted to look at/feel all the Correct Connect reins, and figured that surely somewhere in the 9000 tack shops in Ocala I could find some to look at in person. And while I did find some CC reins, they weren’t the ones I was after. Womp womp. Strax did get his first Pup Cup while we were at WEC though, so it wasn’t a totally wasted trip.

Turns out a friend had some of the Sure Grip ones, which are FEI legal, and she let me try them. I did quite like the grips being so close together, they feel really stable in your hands, and it helped me keep a better hold of them. The grip strength in my left hand is greatly diminished since I broke my ring finger (and it’s now a bit… disfigured) and those seemed to help. I ordered a pair in black hoping they’d be here this week in time for Stable View but I don’t think they’ve even shipped yet, so. Prolly not.

I did get Presto’s sparkly new hat that I ordered though.

I think, if nothing else, I’m winning the sparkle. Have I gone a bit too far? Probably. Am I ok with that? Sure why not. I do love the bonnet a lot, the black crystal trim is most pleasing. It goes with either the blue beaded browband or his gunmetal spiked browband. Tres glam.

This week I’ve got sale horse pics and videos and more social media client content stuff to do, plus I already submitted a piece to EN for an upcoming series and am trying to wrap up a pedigree report. Doing my best to get my plate cleared before the end of the week, because we leave for Stable View on Friday!

Hope everyone is having a good week! If I can get all my stuff done in advance I’ll try to have a Foal Friday prepped for y’all this week, but I guarantee nothing, because I have the attention span of a gnat sometimes. It be what it be.

As I mentioned last week, we’ve officially got our first two weanlings of 2023 with Rihanna and Rue! The first official weanling pics are boring because, well… weaning was boring.

Rihanna was a bit past-due for weaning, being 7 months, but we were waiting for Rue to hit 6 months so we could wean them together. Their dams (the surrogate mares) are best friends, and the two fillies are best friends, so it made sense to do them together.

When a lot of people think of weaning they sometimes picture something really traumatic and sad. Truth is though, if you do it at the right age and the right way, it’s really not. Rue and Ri were definitely ready, they were quite independent and didn’t rely on their dams for anything anymore except occasional nursing. By this point though they’re grazing pretty much constantly and eating a little bit of feed, so the nutrition coming from the mare is minimal.

On this farm we’re lucky to have a nice layout that gives us the option to make weaning less of an ordeal. There are a lot of turnouts and all have double fencelines, so there aren’t any shared fences. We pulled the surrogate mares, Goldie and Blue, out of the mare and foal field and put them in the smaller turnout across the driveway. Close enough to still see each other, but not close enough to touch.

Rihanna and Goldie parted ways with barely a peep and never really looked back. Rue is a bit more sensitive and so is Blue, so those two spent a couple days periodically neighing across the fence at each other. Rue hung out by the fenceline closest to them a lot at first, but then gradually assimilated herself back into her herd and continued on with her life. No extended periods of screaming, no upset galloping. Once everyone had been totally quiet and unconcerned for a few days, we moved Goldie and Blue across the farm to the mare fields. There was zero drama with that… the fillies didn’t even notice.

Weaning can be pretty stressful time for a foal so making it as chill and safe and uneventful as possible is in everyone’s best interest.

So now the mare and foal pasture is down to Rihanna, Rue, Chanel and Rhett, Peyton and Lucy, and Vee and Andy. We’ll wean the next three all in one batch as well, for two reasons – 1) they’re close enough in age, all born within a couple weeks of each other 2) those three mares are good friends too. That way the mares get to stay in their friend groups to keep their stress lower as well.

Those three babies were born a good bit later than Ri and Rue – late April – so we’re going to give them another month before weaning. It doesn’t seem like a big difference between 5 months and 6 months, but it really can be. Month 5 is kind of the last month they really look like babies, and once they hit month 6 they start getting awkward fast, heading towards looking like teenagers instead.

Those foals are still a little clingier to their dams, too, so I’m hoping that lessens some with a bit more time. They good news is they’re very well-established in their friend group with each other, which helps a lot, and they’ll have a calming influence from Ri and Rue.

Hard to believe we’re already at this point! Not much longer until we’ve got a field full of weaners.

Never a dull moment around here, man. Last Wednesday morning Mina, the most stoic and hardy of shelter-turned-barn dogs, had a randomly very swollen head. When we went out to feed around 7 she looked normal, and then an hour later I got up from my computer to go put riding clothes on and she looked like this:

The whole right side of her head was visibly swollen and she had some hives on her head. I had no idea what she got into… could have been anything. She’s usually pretty smart and doesn’t go into heavily weeded areas or the pond or anything, but she does have pretty much free rein of the farm. I couldn’t see any signs of a bite, but she was holding her head funny, almost like something was in her ear. The most alarming thing about it to me was how fast it swelled up. I decided to just run her up to her vet (I take her to the University of Florida site at WEC) and have her properly looked at.

Which turned out to be a good decision because her head just got bigger and angrier looking as we went.

GAH

Since we didn’t have an appointment we had to sit there and wait for a while, but luckily it didn’t get any worse in that time, although she did pop up with a few more hives other places on her body. They checked temperature, looked for any signs of a bite, and checked in her ear, but nada. I was pretty convinced they’d find something in her ear, so I’m glad that wasn’t the case.

A couple hours later we were on our way back home, her with a dex shot and a Benadryl shot on board, and me with a lighter wallet. I’m glad I took her in though, it was alarming how fast it swelled. I still have no idea what caused it – knock on wood she’s been totally fine since then.

Thursday was Strax’s second puppy vaccinations appointment.

I felt bad for him this time. He was excited to be there, wagging his tail at everyone and overjoyed to climb awkwardly onto the scale (11.5 lbs!). When the tech came to get him he was DELIGHTED to see her and happy to leave with her. He’s a really happy guy.

And then I heard him screaming bloody murder from the back. I figured that was for his shots.

Alas, no, he screamed and tried to vacate the premises like a miniature grizzly bear when they stuck the thermometer in his butt to take his temperature. He’s really sensitive about things like that. He didn’t care about his shots though, so… there’s that? Strax was a sad little ball of corgi fluff when they brought him back out.

Friday was farrier day, and our vet was also there to take xrays of Hillary’s new mare’s feet so the farrier could use them as a baseline and the vet/farrier could discuss what changes to make with her shoeing. It was a whole thing though, having both of them there at once. A whole expensive thing, but moreso for Hillary than me, for once. Presto did get to graduate to a wider shoe though, so there’s that!

Otherwise it’s been same-old same-old as far as riding and stuff goes. I’ve been working on some content creation stuff so I’m drowning in photo editing at the moment, plus making a website, and working on pedigree reports. Plenty to do! Yesterday I took Presto over to Majestic early in the morning just to jump around a course in the ring… he was feral. The yeehaws were aplenty. He was jumping great though.

I can’t remember if I posted about it or not but he finished his very first Adequan series a couple weeks ago, and I’m pretty sure all that lube just went right to his brain to make it extra smooth. Super. There was no particular reason for the Adequan other than he’s a giant 6yo doing a hard sport and we all felt like it certainly couldn’t hurt. I don’t feel or see any difference other than he’s been a little more yeehaw lately, but hopefully the magic juice does it job and helps support his big boy joints.

Otherwise, nothing particularly fun to report here. I’m selling my gray Romitelli boots if y’all know anyone that might be interested.

They’re charcoal gray with silver accents (top, foot, and toe piping) in a 38 SA, which is their slim tall. Their footbed runs slightly large IME, normally I’m a wear a 39 but I’m a 38 in Romitelli. I thought I would wear the gray more than I do… I think I’ve worn them 8 or 10 times at the very most. They’d look really good with a gray coat, which I don’t have and definitely should not buy.

Hope everybody is having a good week! Gonna try to get some fresh new baby pics (including the weanlings) for y’all this week too.