Category: Uncategorized

I’m gonna go ahead and say this right off the top: I’ve been a PEMF user on and off for a long time and am very familiar with the various therapies available on the market, so this is one of those purchases where I felt pretty good about it beforehand, but about 1000x better about it afterward. For many reasons, several of which were unexpected. Despite being really familiar with the product in advance, there have been surprises along the way too.

First, we may as well talk about the biggest factor right off the bat: the cost. There’s no way around it, any kind of PEMF machine is expensive. For someone like me, who doesn’t have a lot of disposable income left after everything else for the horses, it’s a particularly large purchase. Having some kind of at-home PEMF device for my horses has always been a bit of a pipe dream, and one I couldn’t really justify until recently. The reasons I was finally able to sell myself on it mostly boil down to:

1. I have two horses currently that greatly benefit from regular, preferably weekly, PEMF. At $75-100 per horse per session, actually being able to do weekly sessions on both of them is entirely not within my budget. Monthly would be a best case scenario, and even then it’s definitely not cheap to pay someone else to come and do it. There’s a point at which buying a unit is cheaper, and that point is really only like 2 or more horses or even just weekly treatments for one.
2. It feels a little bit like “do or die” time if you want to purchase a product like this, which will be highly impacted by the upcoming tariffs. Magnawave is an American company, but as with many electronics, a lot of the components that go into making the machines are not manufactured in the US and have to come from overseas. Companies like Magnawave and BEMER have already had to raise their prices this year, and it’s likely that they’ll go up even more.
3. To me a machine like this can be viewed a bit more like an investment. They hold their value on the resale market REALLY WELL (used machines really aren’t that much cheaper than new, trust me I looked), they last a long time if you take care of them properly (and buy from a company with a good warranty and maintenance/repair capability), and – if you wanted – you could monetize your machine by turning into a business. I personally am not going that route, but I could if I wanted.

My first step when looking at adding a PEMF product to my arsenal was to figure out exactly what I wanted. There are many products on the market, from low frequency to higher frequency, and blankets vs PEMF machines with attachments. There are pros and cons to all of these products, but having used a variety of them in the past, I knew that I didn’t want a blanket. It’s just too hot in Florida most of the year for a horse to sit under a PEMF blanket for any period of time without sweating to death. I also wanted to have more control over being able to do specific parts of the horse for longer periods or at varied intensities. While the blankets are very easy to use – put it on the horse and turn it on and that’s it – for me and my horses, I wanted an actual PEMF machine with attachments.

The only real con to that setup is that it does require more knowledge and training in order to use it correctly. That can be a bit intimidating off the bat when shopping for a machine, so I knew I wanted a brand that included a thorough training course with the purchase of the unit. I also looked at other factors like warranty, customer service, support, reviews, etc. In the end I settled on Magnawave, because I thought they were superior in all of my particular criteria. There are other similar brands on the market that are a little cheaper, but for me I felt like the other benefits of Magnawave outweighed any minor price difference. It’s a lot of money to spend, so I wanted to make sure I bought a good brand.

The sales guy that I worked with was really fantastic. For real, if you’re interested in a MW at all or even just have questions, let me know and I can put you in touch directly with him. At no point did he try to upsell me to a bigger unit than I needed (indeed, I got the cheapest one they make), he answered my questions, and he followed up when and how he said he would. I had questions about potentially financing it, and he put me in touch with the people that could give me the numbers for that (I ended up not financing it, so I can’t speak to how well that works, but I did talk to someone about possibly doing that).

I ended up going with the Semi 10 model, which is their smallest and most compact unit. I’m using it on max 4-5ish horses a week, and I’m not looking to have a busy Magnawave business, so getting a bigger unit wasn’t really necessary for me. The small one is still very powerful and effective, but really simple to use and easy to store or carry around. The machine itself is the size of a large lunch box, really. I also wanted to be able to use it on myself and Mina (the dog that got hit by a car last year), so something easy to carry back and forth or have in my house was a big plus.

The Semi 10 comes with two attachments: a large loop and a smaller butterfly loop. Really, those are all you need. However, for my particular horses I really wanted the XL wave wings and the hoof bundle. The XL wave wings because they cover more surface area (hi, Presto has a limited amount of patience) and because the design of it is great for being able to do large areas like the SI and pelvis (Presto’s main spot and Rubes’ main spot, respectively). Seemed worthwhile.

I wanted the hoof bundle because I dunno if y’all remember how many abscesses and hoof bruises and ripped off hoof walls I dealt with last year between all my horses but it was too many. Florida is really tough on feet, especially in the summer. My farrier LOVES using PEMF, he says he definitely notices more and better hoof growth, so I thought the hoof bundle would be worthwhile. Basically the bundle includes the MagEnergy mat (which is great for using on humans and dogs on it’s own) and you put it inside the big hoof box so you can do two feet at the same time. I wanted the mat anyway, so two birds with one stone by getting the hoof bundle.

Now that I’ve been using it for a few months I can say that as far as attachments go, I use the XL wave wings by far the most when it comes to the horses. When you’re doing them regularly as maintenance it’s nice to be able to cover more area in less time. I’ve used the butterfly loop some too, for doing joints or very targeted smaller areas like the poll. I use the mat a lot for myself. If you’re going to spring for one extra attachment for the horses, get the wave wings. If you want to go all out, the hoof bundle is also a thumbs up from me too. With what I’ve got, I feel like I have a full arsenal of attachments to tackle literally anything.

The ordering process was simple and easy, and then it took about 6 weeks from when I ordered to when I got my machine. I used that time in between to complete all of their online courses and certification, which was… considerably more than I expected. Ok to be fair I’m not really sure what I expected, maybe like a 4-8 hour training course equivalent to like one day? But no, their training courses are THOROUGH. You don’t have to do them all, if you only have the Magnawave for personal use (you do have to be certified to be a practitioner and charge people for the service), but I was curious and wanted to learn as much as possible. And, well… the courses didn’t disappoint.

When you buy your machine you get access to their portal, which has tons and tons of info about the machine itself and how to use it. They also have a facebook group just for certified practitioners, and the company holds regular Office Hours live streams. If you want to make it into a business they have a ton of training and support for that too, with everything from how to set up the business to places to order business cards and promo materials. There’s just a ton of stuff at your disposal.

I didn’t need any of that, but I did go full ham on the training course library. In the end I completed 11 training courses, including my official certification for Equine and Small Animal. The training is GREAT though, very very thorough and with a lot of detailed and specific information for not only how PEMF and the machine itself works, but on everything from how to care for your machine to how to tailor treatments for specific issues like laminitis or kissing spine.

There are more than 30 videos available just in the Equine section alone. Trust me, you will NOT lack the knowledge on how to use your Magnawave unless you really just don’t even want to try to learn. The training alone is a huge huge selling point for Magnawave over other brands, IMO. I went from a basic understand of PEMF to feeling like I was mega-educated and knew exactly what to do when my machine arrived. Getting started was a breeze thanks to all that!

As for how it’s actually working… this is where I’m probably the most surprised, tbh. I mean, I used PEMF before and knew it did something, sure. But I’ve never been able to afford to use it really regularly, or had the knowledge to know how to interpret what I’m seeing, or the ability to tailor it to each horse in a targeted way. Holy crap, y’all, it’s an absolute gamechanger.

I do the boys once a week unless there’s a specific thing that needs more intense treatment, and there are benefits I hadn’t even predicted. First and foremost is the fact that doing bodywork on them myself means that I constantly have my hands on every part of them and I see how things compare from week to week. I know what spots showed more sensitivity or reactivity, and can also take that knowledge forward into how I ride them. It gives me so much more information.

Aside from that, there’s no doubt that both of them feel better. Rubes is always looser after his sessions, and there have been a couple times where I’ve felt like he was a little stuck in the base of his neck during a ride, Magnawaved it afterward, and could immediately feel an improvement the next day. My dentist was also delighted to know I had a Magnawave, and had me treat Rubes’ poll, TMJ, and jaw after his dental. Presto tends to carry tightness and tension in his lower lumbar and SI, and it’s dramatically reduced with weekly PEMF. I also treat his legs and stand him on the hoof box after events or gallops. He does the most dramatic releases and stretches during his sessions – he absolutely loves it.

As for me, I think I would marry the MagEnergy Mat.

I always lay on it after events or hard workouts, because I have scoliosis and therefore my lower back kind of just always hurts. After shows it tends to be very tight, but there is a noticeable difference in my range of motion after I spend 20 minutes laying on the mat. Hillary has also used it for her shoulder where she had soft tissue repair.

I mean… I knew I would like the Magnawave, that’s why I bought it, but if I’m being 100% honest I love it so much more than I thought I would. Being able to use it regularly makes all the difference in the world, and knowing how and why it works, and how to use it in the best way to fit into my program and for each horse. So far I’ve been very pleased with the Magnawave brand, as well. I really can’t stress enough how much I love this little machine and what a difference it’s already made. My only regret is that I didn’t buy one sooner… even if I’d had to finance it, it would have absolutely been worth it. I’d buy it again in a heartbeat. Worth every cent.

*if you have questions about PEMF or Magnawave feel free to reach out! I really couldn’t get into a ton of technical detail here without this being extremely long, but I’m happy to give you more info if desired.

It’s finally time for the first Foal Friday of 2025!

I’ve been holding out on y’all a little bit, because this dude was actually born February 19th. However, he was a little bit premature and had to spend some time at the clinic, and then had to stay in a stall at home for a while to make extra sure all his bones were done maturing before he put too much stress on them. But he got the all clear from his team of vets after the last set of x-rays, and as of this week he finally gets to go outside! Thus, his official unveiling can finally happen. Say hello to Tau WTW, barn name Leo!

He’s out of Peyton (A Firm Question xx) by the British stallion Future Guilty Pleasure who has so far competed through Intermediate level eventing and recently moved to the stable of Alex Bragg. This stallion has been very popular and so far has been an extremely promising producer. Leo himself was born chestnut and will go gray, is 80% blood, and 100% freakin cute.

Since he was born early he was initially quite small, but he’s already caught up to normal and is now edging closer and closer to being a big chonky boy. Considering how much he loves to sleep and eat, that should be no surprise.

And lest you think that his early start made him weak or sad at any point – nope. This kid has been spunky and full of spirit from the word go (hence how he got his name), and that’s never waivered. The hardest part was keeping him quiet enough through those initial weeks so that he could finish maturing properly.

He came out of the womb guns ablazin, with places to go, things to do, and people to see. Now that he’s finally able to go outside he’s especially delighted with himself. This one doesn’t lack confidence, that’s for sure.

He’s very people-oriented, probably no surprise given how much interaction he’s had from the beginning, but he’s also bold and curious. Sometimes too bold. Especially those first couple weeks that he first got his teeth and thought everybody needed to know about it (RIP my shins).

Either way, he’s absolutely stinkin cute, and now that we’ve been able to see him move it’s also clear that he’s got a lot of quality. Peyton did a great job once again!

While his entrance into the world took a few years off of everyone’s life (especially mine) he’s done exceptionally well and we’re all so pleased with him and his progress. That was… certainly one way to kick off foaling season 2025.

We’re currently watching two more mares, both of which could foal any time now, and we bred our first mare of the season yesterday. We’re in the thick of it now!

Needless to say, Presto recovered just fine from his first Preilm. As in, the next morning he was like HI HELLO WHAT ARE WE DOING TODAY, and was very offended when I gave him the day off. He hates those. When I got back on him to take him for a hack on Monday he was wild.

We had a pretty chill week, as we tend to do after a horse show. It’s nice to take some time to just hack or do stretchy rides or less intense work to help the mind and body reset. We had one training ride and one lesson – Ellie flatted him on Tuesday and I had a dressage lesson on Wednesday. We didn’t do a ton either day, but she thought he felt great on Tuesday. On Wednesday I wanted to focus more on the sitting trot, and subsequently learned that my biomechanics have been wrong for my entire life. That’s neat. Love that for me.

Anyway, I walked away with a big aha moment and stuff to take home to work on, which I’ve done with my typical single-minded obsession. Like did I have a whole new supplemental Pilates-based workout routine made up by that evening to target some of the muscles I need to strengthen? Yes, yes I did. We’re a week into it now and it’s definitely helping, so sometimes it’s beneficial to be entirely unhinged. (why am I like this?)

On Thursday my friend Stacy got to town for her annual visit. She’s also a horse girl, but has picked up a(nother) side hobby of archery. I’ve always thought it was really cool, and played around with it when I was a kid, but haven’t picked up a bow and arrow in like 30 years. She said she was bringing hers with her so we could play with it and see what our horses thought, and I was really looking forward to it. I thought Presto, with his love for all things chaotic and dangerous, would potentially love it.

I was entirely correct, he absolutely ate it up. Since Stacy is the expert, she took over the task of acclimating him to the bow and the arrows, the sound it makes, and actually shooting first next to him and then from above him. He didn’t bat a eye at any of it. Like of course that’s a bow and arrow. Of course it makes a noise when you shoot. Of course you would shoot stabby things from it off the top of me. OF COURSE, THAT MAKES TOTAL SENSE. It took her all of 5 minutes to finish the acclimation process, and then I climbed on and was like fuck it, let’s start shooting and see what he does.

I shot some arrows off of him at the halt and he didn’t even so much as flick an ear, so we moved on to the walk. Again… no shits given. So then I was like well obviously we should try it at the trot, and I looped my reins around his neck, started trotting, and shot the arrow from a trot. The first couple times when I let go of my reins and went to nock the arrow, he sped up a bit. But by the third pass he was like “Oh I get it, you drop the reins and I just stay the same”. Yas, kiddo, you got it. Mounted archery horse extraordinaire.

Then I was emboldened and was like screw it, lets canter.

We were just shooting the arrows into the ground nearby so I wasn’t pulling back and really letting them fly, but y’all it was super fun. Presto was so good, he just kept cantering and was like YEAH I AM ARCHERY HORSE. Like obviously. Of course you are. Prelim event horse one weekend, archery mount the next.

Anyway, it was super fun and I 10/10 recommend it if you’re looking for something to try. I liked it enough that I ordered a cheap little beginners bow and some arrows so we can play around more with it at home with some targets. Seems like it would be fun to do in the summer off season? I’m determine to be able to jump something and shoot a target at the same time.

We also went to some tack shops while Stacy was here, as one does, and I found the new KL Select black with black patent accents breeches that just came out, so those are mine now. What other choice did I have, they’re stunning (that’s what I’m wearing for the archery session, I think I’ve worn them like 3 times in the last 5 days.

In other news, Rubes has been coming along pretty well. I’ve upped the complexity of what I’m asking for in his flatwork, and trying to get more quality from his gaits. He really gets better and better the more I raise the bar. He’s got the leg yields pretty down pat now, is spiraling in and out on circles and changing rein without coming off the contact the majority of the time. We’ve even started some baby shoulder-fore, which he can’t hold for very long yet, but it’s a genuine effort. He’s also starting to offer more stretch and maintain a proper connection more of the time. Bending through his body left and right has been a bit of a challenge for him, but he’s getting better by the day, and as that improves so does everything else. Some days are better than others – he’s an 11yo horse that raced 100 times and is now trying to learn a totally new job, after all – but I’m pleased with the progress. I think it’s time to start jumping him again here in the next couple weeks now that retail season is over and my schedule is less insane.

Otherwise it’s been a lot of business as usual around here. We’re starting to scan more mares, getting ready to breed the first one, and we have two mares that we’re watching on the foaling cameras now. Vee is at day 340 today and Chanel is only a week behind her, so we should have two more babies soon. AND – we’re finally ready to unveil the first foal of the season, as he reached a big milestone yesterday. His story coming later this week on our first FOAL FRIDAY of the year! (Patreon folks, you have some video of him up on your dashboard already and you’ll be getting the Presto Mounted Archery vlog later today)

We both know you’re only here for the good part. I respect that. Pull up a seat and settle in.

I walked the XC on Saturday after showjumping and thought the jumps looked fine. Really the first 7 were all straightforward and gallopy, before you started getting to the meat of the course. Nothing looked particularly big or difficult, which was a nice feeling to walk away with. BUT, this is the first show we’ve been to where Equireel was there, which meant tripods everywhere. If you’re not familiar with Equireel, they make/sell event videos of your XC ride by using tripods and mostly stationary cameras. They started overseas and have recently branched out over here to the US, so their team is still a bit new to all this, and at a show earlier this season (not in Ocala) there was some really not-great placement of tripods that caused some issues. Ya know what would be prime spook-n-spin fodder for Presto? An errant tripod. My friend Emily was the TD and I asked her to please please please double check their tripod placement and make sure none of them were in particularly spooky places.

Granted, I didn’t lose any sleep over it because I felt so crappy that night, I took two Advil PM’s and passed the F out. The coughing and the snot were a whole situation, I couldn’t breathe very well. Who needs breathing though? No one. Oxygen? Overrated.

They didn’t start the Prelim XC until Saturday afternoon, since a lot of our jumps were heading directly into the rising sun (anything that went toward the road in the above map – you really can’t see it early in the morning with all the shadows). Since I was towards the end of the two Prelim divisions, my ride time wasn’t until 2pm. I got up and fed the horses and then retreated back to my house in an attempt to stay out of the wind and pollen, lest I make my respiratory situation even worse. Either way, it wasn’t great. Both nostrils were fully blocked. It was about to be a mouth-breathing extravaganza.

Patreon folks – you have a full video of both my XC round and the course walk on your dashboard, courtesy of Hillary’s new gimbal. Let us know if you like that course walk format! Regular blog folks, here’s your usual photo course walk (with appearances by Hillary and said gimbal). You might have to click into them to see some of them better because of how WordPress formats the gallery.

When we drove into the facility on Saturday afternoon I saw Buck walking his horse back from getting eliminated at 14AB, and then when I got on to go to warmup I saw one of Caroline’s say nope at the coffin, so that was… confidence-inspiring. It didn’t really bother me that much though because 1) lack of oxygen to my brain 2) I was mostly just happy to see that they had moved the tripod I had been most concerned about, by 4AB. The tripods, y’all, they didn’t fill me with joy.

Anyway – Presto was once again focused and professional. He warmed up great, really rideable but also giving me that feeling where he was taking me forward a bit. We jumped maybe 5-6 warmup jumps and then headed down to the box.

Ellie told me to send him out in front of my leg from the very beginning and get him galloping up and in front of me. He always clicks in much better to his task if you establish your agenda right out of the box. Go forward, jump the jump, land, immediately put him back out in front of my leg. The first three came up great and he was eating them up easy peasy.

Presto was definitely registering his surroundings, like I felt him take note of all the flags on the way to jump 3, and the busy highway as we headed to 4AB. But that’s exactly what it felt like – just him taking note, not him being looky or wanting to suck behind my leg. He jumped great through the combo at 4AB, popped over the little rolltop next to the road at 5, the ramp at 6, and then made a really nice effort over the big bench at 7 as we headed back down into the main field.

Then we were on our way to the first real question on course – the palisade to the skinny brush. If you haven’t popped open the pic of the palisade in the course walk gallery above, that one is worth a closer look. It’s kind of a relic from days of eventing past, you really don’t see things like it very much anymore. You’re kind of funneled into the biggest middle section, which has a downhill drop on the landing. Looks and feels like you’re jumping off a cliff, which I think is fun as hell. Your opinion may vary.

Anyway, he jumped off the palisade great, and then we had 7 bending strides down to the skinny brush. Easy peasy, no problem.

After that we headed down across the field to the angled coops, which rode in a slightly short two. Presto is pro at the angled combos by now so that was also cake.

We turned back up the hill and had the other big skinny yellow table. My memory thought that it was further up the hill than it was, so my turn to it ended up being a little shallow and I opted to slightly angle it. Presto didn’t care, he just jumped it bigger.

Then we had the next combo – a skinny log stack, 5 strides to an up bank, 5 bending strides to a skinny brush wedge. This is where I made my first little booboo. The lines walked a little bit short, so I landed after the A and settled a bit. Turns out that was entirely unnecessary and all it did was put us a few extra feet off of the B. Presto, bless him, did some magic with his feet and clambered up it anyway, and I decided to reactivate my brain, put my leg on, and ride supportively out of the 5 to the brush. It was no problem, he didn’t care, but ya know… annoying misjudgment on my part. Sorry buddy, good boy.

After that we had a bit of a gallop stretch back up the hill towards the trees for the next set of jumps. We had a nice airy MIM oxer (this thing used to make me pee my pants but it’s fine now) which I just rode like a showjump. Presto was brilliant.

Then we wove through some trees to a big wide rolltop, after which we had the left turn to 14AB, so it made kind of a S. My instructions were to not come TOO bold at the rolltop, because I needed to settle, get him back, and then get to a quiet/deeper distance to 14A. That skinny rail had a pretty substantial drop on the back side (my TD friend said it measured as a 1.30m drop, max for the level) and then a sharp 90 degree turn to the big skinny corner. If you came flying through there you were for sure gonna blow past the corner.

Luckily the rolltop came up nicely out of stride, I got him back pretty quickly, and made the turn to 14A with a nicely packaged canter. We got to a nice deeper distance, landed from the drop, and made the turn to the corner. He had his ears on it from 3 strides away, no problem. Good kiddo!

After that we had a nice gallop over the steeplechase

and the Weldon’s Wall, before looping back over to the coffin.

Which is where I made my second little booboo of the day (so annoying). There was a girl walking toward my path, and she stopped but then started walking towards it again. I got entirely too focused on where she was going and ended up slowing my canter down more than I normally would have. We jumped in over the MIM rail fine, did the one stride to the ditch fine, but he jumped so quietly over the ditch that I really needed to close my leg and ride up out of the coffin for the 3 strides. I didn’t do that. I sat chilly and waited, which put him down to the angled brush on like 3 1/2. It weren’t cute. Once again he didn’t care – he’s clever and plenty scopey so he just patted the ground and popped out – but ya know… I didn’t help much there. Lots of pats and good boys once again. Sorry bout your mother.

But all we had left was the water, which he jumped through like it was a Novice (to be fair, I thought they gave us a really soft question here at the water, which I wasn’t complaining about), just cantering over the rolltop in, then through, and out over the skinny brush. It was boring. We love that.

And then, bingbadaboom, just a gallop over the last jump and through the finish flags!

I wasn’t even remotely going for time so I knew I’d have a lot of it, and indeed I did manage to accrue myself 12 time penalties. Still though, there were enough problems that it only dropped me from 2nd to 4th. I’ll totally take that! I really just wanted to log his first Prelim on a number, I had no expectation of being competitive. It’s also kinda cool to note that if we made time, we would have won. Things to aspire to!

Mostly though, I’m just super proud of him. He skipped around like it was easy, and honestly it was. He felt educated and prepared and super happy to be doing his job, such that when I did make mistakes it didn’t even fluster him in the lightest. That’s the feeling I want. XC is never going to be perfect, it’s about laying the groundwork so that you can safely and confidently handle it when things go a little bit sideways. That’s exactly what he did, and he did it with his ears pricked. Ellie said he looked entirely unimpressed and unchallenged through all three phases. He wasn’t even particularly tired at the end of XC. Music to my ears! I’d rather never move up at all than move up even one show too early, and I feel safe in saying that he was 100% prepared for the ask. As for me, I need to focus on being a little more proactive at the combinations.

I also have to majorly shoutout my support team for the weekend. Hillary was the groom extraordinaire, Michelle took all the pictures, and several people pitched in to get XC video (even the course designer – thanks David!). My friend Lija took him after XC to bathe him so I could try to blow out all my snot rockets and reoxigenate, I had friends hooping and hollering all over the place through all three phases… it was really exceptional support and I appreciate every single one of you.

And with that, we officially have ourselves a Prelim pony! Milestone reached. We’re gonna bask in that for at least a week before we start talking about what’s next.

Well guys, this was finally it: our move up to Prelim. I talked about it some in our Patreon fb group but didn’t really say much publicly, mostly because I was frickin scared to jinx it. If you recall, we were actually entered in our first Prelim last May, and then I promptly fell off and broke my ankle, and between that injury, starting with a new trainer over the summer, and Presto having the monster abscess that took us out of the fall season, here we were again 10 months later finally ready to take another swing at it. Quietly though, lest I tempt the horse gods. We all know they are volatile and vindictive.

I picked Majestic for our first one because it’s the facility we’ve really spent the most time at. It also tends to not look quite as big and intimidating as some of the other venues can, at least to me anyway. It has it’s own traits that make it challenging, but we’ve shown there enough by now to be comfortable with it, so Majestic seemed like a logical choice.

Hillary offered to braid Presto for me, and you can bet your ass I didn’t turn that offer down. I haven’t braided him since like… early last year maybe? We tend to do mostly one-day shows, and everyone here is pretty relaxed for those. Braiding isn’t required, after all, and if you’re running under Prelim and/or at a one-day, it feels especially superfluous to me these days. Am I saying that because my horse is not exactly a patient and cooperative creature to braid and I hate doing it? Perhaps. Either way, it works for us. But this was his Prelim debut, and a two-day show, so… braiding seemed like the right choice. Hillary knows how much I hate it, and she offered to take one for the team and braided him for me at 6:15am. I nominate her for sainthood. He looked great.

It also worked out really well in my favor because I woke up that morning feeling kind of shit. My throat was a little sore and my nose was dripping like a freakin faucet. The cold and windy morning wasn’t helping at all, and I was mostly focused on trying to minimize my suffering and make sure my brain was plugged in for the tasks ahead. Braiding would have been extra miserable.

My dressage time was 8:48am, which seemed kinda rude but honestly – the vibes that time of day were immaculate. It was really quiet still because they started the day with just two dressage rings, one Open Prelim and one Prelim Rider. That meant there weren’t that many trailers there yet, and at no point was there more than 4 other horses with us in dressage warmup. It was so chill and lovely. Sign me up for that horse show experience every time.

Presto warmed up GREAT. Like he was quiet and relaxed and focused from the moment I threw my leg over. No shenanigans whatsoever. I practiced a few of the harder movements from the test, seeing if I was going to get any kind of resistance or yeehaw from him, but nope. He was just… obedient. I started joking that maybe I should take his temperature.

His test was much the same. Quiet, professional, obedient. One of the leg yields was a bit slow getting started – he was just a couple steps slow off my leg – and on the second 10m canter half circle I slightly overshot centerline a bit. I didn’t really go for it too much on the canter lengthenings because I wanted to keep my nice quiet test, so maybe it lacked a bit of sparkle, but overall I was really really pleased with him. No arabian impressions, no flagged tails, no yeehaws, no big mistakes. He even held together those counter canter strides with no complaints.

We scored a 28.3, which is exactly the same score we got from Peter Gray at our last Modified at Rocking Horse. I’ll very happily take that for a first stab at a Prelim test, especially when I can easily identify several areas of potential improvement for next time. It also left us sitting in 2nd after dressage, which is always a nice place to be!

After we got him back to the trailer and taken care of, I went over to showjumping to walk the course and watch a few of the early Prelim rounds. I dunno if it’s just me but I always like to watch enough to see one really really smooth, exceptional round (to see what I want to emulate) and one rough, not so great but survivable round (to remember that just because it isn’t perfect doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world). Is that weird? I dunno, it’s just how my brain works. Type A problems.

Anyway, the course looked great. After doing the 1.15m rounds a couple days prior, the 1.10m honestly looked a little bit small. That’s NEVER a bad problem to have. There was plenty to do though, with a double combination, a triple combination, a liverpool, and a triple bar (haven’t seen one of those in a while!).

Warmup was, once again, blissfully quiet. So was Presto. Sometimes he’s mature and trained and it catches us all by surprise. We jumped a few oxers, ending with a big square oxer off a short turn, then one big vertical before we went in the ring. He jumped the snot out of the big square oxer and I found myself grabbing for mane only to remember that he was braided. It’s a hell of a lot harder to grab a button. This braiding thing is impractical, guys!

We went in the ring and Presto was honestly foot perfect. Focused, rideable, and jumping great. I resolved to myself that if I was going to make a mistake, I wanted to make one going forward, not pulling, so if I was ever in doubt about anything I just sat up and put my leg on. Amazing how much better that works. Presto was super happy to just go forward and do his job. So trained. So fancy.

This is the horse I’ve been wanting to feel, and he really stepped up to the plate. We had one of the best rounds we’ve put together in a long time and logged a nice double clear, keeping our second place spot.

There were plenty of rails hitting the ground throughout the day in various divisions (fence 2 seemed to be a particular bugaboo for some reason? I guess it was kind of a harder “rollback” type feeling to have right off the bat?) and he’s certainly had rails here at this venue in the past, but he just felt – for lack of a better term – leveled up. Is it age and maturity? Is it the result of the training program? Probably both. Either way, I frickin dig it. I wanted the move-up to feel confident and competent, and so far we’d absolutely ticked those boxes in the first two phases. What an exceptional boy. All of it was just incredibly, delightfully, blissfully uneventful, like it was just another day at the office.

Of course, that was just day 1. After I walked XC with my trainer Presto got to go home, have a bath, roll in his sandpit, and take a nice afternoon nap in the sun. I got to shift my focus to the next (and biggest, and hardest) part. But that’s a story for tomorrow.