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It’s officially official – myself and the horses are Florida residents!

We left Texas last Wednesday, overnighting in Pensacola, and arriving in Ocala on Thursday afternoon. It worked out really well that the barn owner in Texas, Rejan (who is also moving full-time to her Florida property down near Wellington) had a 4 horse trailer and only one horse to bring down with her. Their trailer is a nice big airy insulated head to head complete with fans and all the horsey comforts, so my 3 kiddos were able to ride in luxury with hay and water in front of them at all times. It was probably the best any of them have ever traveled.

I drove my truck and trailer behind them, so we had a little caravan going. My poor truck and trailer were crammed full of STUFF – mostly t!ny h0use accoutrements (like the stairs, tank, etc), all our tack, various farm equipment, some trunks, etc. My Titan has been a loyal servant the entire time I’ve owned it but let’s be real, she is 11 years old and has 161k miles on her at this point. She doesn’t really tow over these long distances as well as she used to, at least not when she’s fully loaded down like that. True to form though she did her level best, and she got us through… it was the trailer that caused us issues.

The trouble started pretty early on when we were at our first gas stop on the far side of Houston. I thought one of the tires looked a bit low (I had checked them all the day before) so I drove around to the air thingy to check it. When I stopped over there I could see a spot on the tire that was a blowout waiting to happen, so we changed that tire out to the spare. We almost made it the rest of the day without any further drama, but then when we only had about an hour to go until our layover, that spare tire blew out in the middle of nowhere Mississippi. It was just too old – I should have replaced it before the trip but didn’t even think about in with everything else going on. We called ahead to the trailer with the horses to let them know, and together we limped to the next exit and off the interstate.

We made a plan to send Hillary and the BO’s husband Justin with my trailer to a tire place a few miles away that (very luckily) was still open and had a couple tires that would work. We slapped the previous about-to-blow-but-hasn’t-yet tire back on and away they crawled. The BO and I went on ahead with the horses, crossing through the tip of Alabama and into Florida. We split up that way because my name was on all the health paperwork for the horses, so I had to be there with them at the ag stop in Florida. We got through the ag stop quickly and made it to our layover in Pensacola just after dark. The horses had ended up spending about 12 hours on the trailer, but all of them came off looking bright and happy and hydrated.

In the meantime, Hillary and Justin took my card and got two new tires for my trailer. It was honestly pretty lucky that the whole fiasco happened when and where it did… at least there was a tire place not too far away and they were still open. They were able to get it in and get the new tires on it quickly, so Hillary and Justin were only about 30 minutes behind us by the time we’d done the ag stop.

We got the horses unloaded in Pensacola, bedded down, fed, the trailer cleaned out and prepped for the next day, and then headed to the hotel. By that point it was 10pm so we pretty much just showered and passed out. We were back in the truck at 6:30 the next morning to go feed and hook back up, then make our way to Ocala. Rejan and Justin were going to drop my 3 off and then proceed the other 3-4 hours down to Wellington with Quinnie. We knew she wouldn’t be very happy to be left in the trailer alone so we planned a very quick unloading… essentially we just dropped the ramp, took my 3 out, closed the ramp, and away they went. Quinnie is nothing if not intelligent with an excellent sense of self-preservation, so she quickly settled down and rode the rest of the way just fine solo.

As for my 3, they were VERY HAPPY to be out of the trailer after 2 days of driving.

They were a little pissed at being separated into individual turnouts, but sorry kids, thems the breaks. Henry is way too mean to Presto and Presto drives Gemma nuts and Gemma makes Henry clingy, so… that’s just how it is. Quinnie was the only thing that made that group dynamic work. It’s fine though, because their paddocks aren’t really big enough (or are so shady that the grass isn’t quite as lush) to support multiple horses on them without murdering the grass. This way is better for everyone.

After a few gleeful minutes of galloping they all settled down fine, and we made sure all 3 of them knew and understood their waterers.

Then Hillary and I had some quick errands to run before stuff started to close for the day. We went to the feed store to get hay and grain since mine eat different stuff than what the racehorses get. We also picked up a few little things for the tack room and house, hit Horse & Hounds for dinner, and then stopped at Publix to pick up some groceries.

That takes us up through last Thursday, arrival day! We made it, the horses made it… everything is now officially here in Florida. As for everything else that’s been going on since then, that’s a story for another day.

That was… epic. There’s just no other freakin word that can fully encompass the experience that was LRK3DE this past weekend. We’ve been planning this trip for a while and it got delayed thanks to covid and then I considered cancelling this year altogether with the move, but man I’m so glad I didn’t.

I don’t have time this week to give a detailed play by play of the whole weekend and everything we did. Today I’m busy working and packing, and we’re rolling out of here bright and early tomorrow morning, so this is probably the only post you’ll get from me this week at all. We’ll hit the details at some point later on, but for now we can touch on the main points.

The way I see it, you really make the trip to LRK3DE for a few main reasons: the competition itself, the shopping, the comradery, and the memories. This year really delivered on all counts.

First – the competition. Look, maybe I’m a massive traitor, but if Michael Jung is in the house, I will always be rooting for him. Watching him ride is just such a pleasure, you can learn so much from sitting there and observing what he does. He’s a master of the sport and I was absolutely delighted to see him win. I mean… maybe he didn’t have to trounce the Americans quite so soundly (18 points between him and the top American – OUCH) but he absolutely deserved it. Once again, he gave us a master class in all 3 phases. Last time I was in Kentucky I watched him win aboard Rocana, and seeing him do it again on Chipmunk was equally as thrilling. It was also fun to see Pippa. My own personal favorite horse/performance of the weekend though? Palm Crescent. I’ll take one of him to go, please. No need to wrap it. He impressed me last year in Maryland and continued to impress me even more here. He’s got so much try in him.

On to the shopping. Ouch. All I can really say is ouch. I went there looking for one particular thing (a sheepskin monoflap girth for Gemma) and it felt like I came home with everything BUT that. It wasn’t for lack of trying though, I looked in every single freakin vendor and didn’t find anything that was exactly what I wanted or not 9 million dollars (possible slight exaggeration). I did find plenty of other things though, but basically everything was on sale so I don’t feel that bad. And a lot of it was clothes, which I do kinda need more of since I got rid of most of my clothes when I packed the t!ny h0use. Whoops. Marie Kondo ain’t got nothing on me when I’m in the mood to get rid of shit. I’m pleased with the things I got in Kentucky to help fill that void, though.

The final tally is:

• 5 t-shirts: Majyk Equipe, Ride iQ, a TB-centric short sleeve, a TB-centric long sleeve, and a Mango Bay “Beware the Mare” short sleeve.
• 2 sunshirts: one navy and white, one gray, both from 70 Degrees (really love this brand, it’s gonna be dangerous)
• 1 jacket: a black mesh jacket from 70 Degrees that I’m weirdly obsessed with, it’s like a scrim sheet for humans.
• a pair of breeches because damn you Harcour for making the prettiest dark green and putting GLITTER PIPING on them. I was powerless.
• a lightweight down vest that was on clearance at Free Ride for a great price and it’s packable so I refuse to feel shame about this since I sold or donated all my other vests.
• a Ride iQ hat
• a black sparkly Majyk Equipe XC helmet cover (it was free with purchase, so it really doesn’t even count)
• a black XC Majyk Equipe pad, the new style one that just came out with the built in half pad. The fabric is so nice and lightweight I thought it might be the perfect Florida pad for Presto. We shall see.
• navy and silver Majyk Equipe XC boots for Gemma. Look… I really wanted the navy and silver ones when that first limited edition came out however long ago, but I waffled for too long and ended up being just hours late on snagging some, they sold out so fast. So when I trotted my happy ass down to the Majyk Equipe tent and saw that they had restocked that color combo, I just didn’t really have any choice did I? Henry’s XC boots are too big for Gemma anyway. We’ll call it serendipitous and leave it at that. They’re beautiful.
• I also snagged an OTTB iron-on patch that’ll go on something for Gemma at some point.

The freebie stuff that places were handing out was hit or miss. I got some cool stickers and several new pens (I always need pens) and a couple chapsticks and some nice little microfiber towels that I will definitely use. Some places had hats and keychains and cups and all kinds of stuff, but I didn’t need any of that and wasn’t sure if it would fit in my bag anyway. All in all I’m pretty pleased with my final haul. Definitely not what I planned on getting but ya know… here we are. I also got to sit in some saddles (Arion and Voltaire in particular) and got a couple contacts to try to work out a new jump saddle once I get to Ocala, so hopefully that ends up being fruitful.

Next up – the legendary LRK3DE comradery. It was like a girl’s weekend on steroids. I went with old friends, made new friends, saw tons of people I haven’t seen in forever (it always astounds me how small the horse world is sometimes), do some business networking for BRC, and met people in person that I’ve known on the internet forever. I somehow have SEVEN new contacts in my phone, and I dunno how even. I’m generally not the most social person to say the least but when you’re in Horse Girl Heaven it’s a little different. I had a fucking blast with our friend group and with so many other people as well. You can’t possibly ask for better company. Nothing bonds you more than blackout level shopping and 4 straight days of sweaty chafing ass cheeks.

And last but most definitely not least, the biggest reason you come to LRK3DE is for the memories. I feel like I have so many stories from this weekend that I could literally write a novel in trying to retell them. I laughed so much and so hard that my abs were hurting the entire time (and still are, btw). We did ridiculous shit, indulged in all that is horsey, and let the rest of the world just fade away for a few days. We went on course walks, stalked a crepe vendor, lost an RV key in someone’s underwear, crammed a couple jumps into an SUV (shoutout to Jen, the jump fairy), drank a fairly obscene amount of cream soda to wash down what felt like a few buckets of cheese curds, hiked from one end of the park to the other about 100 times, and sat in the Kentucky bluegrass and sunshine just enjoying the sport and the horses and the return to something that felt blissfully like normalcy after two years of covid. Oh, and maybe we got some permanent souvenirs.

I’ll tell the tattoo story in it’s entirety when I have time to do it proper justice, I promise. The weekend was quite the adventure, that’s for sure.

Until then – to everyone I saw at Kentucky, it was fabulous to see you again. To everyone I didn’t see, I hope to catch you next time. To Hillary, you remain an impeccable travel companion/enabler/instigator. To my other two RV roommates Holly and Lindsey – never at any point did I want to suffocate either of you with a pillow, and I can’t think of any higher praise than that (although I fear Lindsey may never be the same again after a weekend with us). To those who weren’t able to make it to Kentucky this year, get your asses there next year and do some ridiculous shit with us, please. What else are horse friends for?

Jumper or reiner? Quinlee hasn’t decided yet.

Happy Friday!

I keep getting tagged in this meme that’s been making it’s way around social media…

Which is totally fair, because I have indeed fallen in love with a chestnut mare. I mean it’s still very early days of course, but Gemma continues to impress me. Don’t get me wrong, she is definitely a chestnut mare complete with all of her opinions and judgments, but let’s be honest Henry is also a chestnut mare on the inside so I’ve had years of experience with that by now. Gemma has yet to throw anything at me that Henry has not. Their sass levels are fairly equal.

It’s been years since I’ve had a mare (not by deliberate choice, that’s just how things worked out) and I’m reminded why I’ve always tended to gravitate toward them more than geldings. Gemma is so intelligent, and she definitely has decided that I’m her person. She likes attention and her humans, as long as you don’t do ridiculous things like try to pet her in the wrong places or come without cookies. I can identify with that.

Under saddle she just gets better and better with every ride. I’ve never had one off the track that “got” the flatwork as easily as she does. She’s pretty steady in the contact now, the leg yields are decent, the shoulder-in is coming along, and she’s offering the beginnings of a stretchy trot. We’ve been adding in more transitions too, both within the gait and between gaits. The canter transitions still aren’t great but they’re much improved for sure, and every one we do is a bit better than the last. She’s already pretty fun to flat, and the more you ask of her the better she is. She’s so clever and can figure out what you’re asking pretty quickly. Definitely different from Henry, who has never been very good at dealing with any kind of pressure on the flat and gets frustrated/worried easily. Gemma has none of that.

I’m now having a lot of regrets about not entering her in RRP, because even if she wasn’t ready for the jumping stuff I think she could have gone and done well in the dressage. One of the first orders of business when we get to Florida will be having the saddle fitter out to fit my Custom dressage saddle to her.

My jumping saddle doesn’t really fit her either (BECAUSE WHY WOULD IT) which… it doesn’t fit me anymore either, but my bank account is so not ready to talk about that. I think I’ll end up keeping that jump saddle because it fits Henry, and then get something else for Gemma and Presto. Luckily those two are pretty similarly shaped so I think I should be able to find something that I could make work for both of them. I can’t wrap my brain around that particular very expensive thing at the moment though… gimme a few weeks.

I’ve also jumped her a couple times at home now too. Yep, that makes three whole jumping sessions under her girth now… guess you could say things are getting pretty serious. Really though she also shows her cleverness in that area too. She isn’t always sure what to do with her feet or her body, but she’s always willing to try. She hasn’t even so much as blinked about anything I’ve pointed her at – flowers, the pig fillers, or even the little wannabe liverpool tarp. My poles are also only 8′ wide, which isn’t the easiest on a wiggly green horse, but she canters right on down there and she tries.

We haven’t jumped much, or done anything particularly formal, but once we get to Florida we’ll make a real plan for her and put a bit more structure in her training program. Gymnastics and cavalettis would do her a lot of good I think, so she can learn to be a little more methodical and focused with her feet.

For now though, she’s gonna get a mini-vacay. Yesterday was officially our last ride here in Texas for the horses. Today I have a lot of errands to run and work to wrap up, and then Hillary and I leave at the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow for LRK3DE. Once we get back from Kentucky we’ve got one day to pack up the rest of my stuff (which is pretty much just the horse’s stuff at this point) and then we’re loading up and heading out to Florida.

It’s been a little surreal this past week, watching everything slowly either get packed up or thrown away or sold off. We jumped the horses on Sunday, and then yesterday I sold the majority of my jumps. There are already enough jumps on the property in FL so I’m only taking the standards that are in the best condition, and all of my square poles. The rest of it wasn’t really worth taking nor do I have the space to bring them with me anyway, so I sold it all as a cheap package deal to someone who hopefully will fix them up a bit and be able to get as much use out of them as much as I did. Those jumps might not have been fancy or beautiful but they served me just fine for years. It was the end of an era loading them up in to someone else’s trailer though, and now seeing the jump field sitting empty once again.

Times they are about to be changin.

But first… KENTUCKY! I wrapped up my last bit of writing yesterday with the TB-centric piece for RRP/EN, so I think I’m done with all the actual work stuff. Mostly.

I’m beyond ready for a fun weekend in Kentucky, even if it looks like our odds of getting rained on are fairly high. If you’ll be in attendance keep your eyes peeled for people wearing the Breed.Ride.Compete. logo – come say hi if you see us!

I’m a bit late getting to the blog today – I was fast and furiously trying to get all my LRK3DE breeding data and articles updated and ready to go to print! I did put up a few stats on the Breed.Ride.Compete. facebook page along with a link to the instant download of the spreadsheet too, if anyone is interested in that.

Ok anyway, on to the subject at hand! As I mentioned yesterday, Hillary and I made a quick overnight trip up to Michelle’s original (or “west”, I suppose now) WTW location in Midland last week. And I like to call it a menagerie, because between Michelle’s animals and all of her neighbor’s animals, you’ve got a veritable petting zoo right there.

Between those guys and baby Quinlee (the filly) I got to pet ALL KINDS of fun things in a very short period of time. 10/10 would recommend.

Visiting in the peak of breeding season also means that you’re likely to find Michelle with her arm up a mare’s butt at all hours of the day or night. This trip was no exception – she was checking both Sadie and Vee every few hours to track their cycles for breeding.

She roped Hillary into giving it a go and scanning Sadie, which I of course documented via video (Patrons, it’s on your dashboard) because Hillary was making some absolutely classic faces. She ended up shoulder deep in Sadie, and found an ovary on the scan! Pretty good for a first shot I think. Of course now we may have created a monster, because Hillary wants to take breeding courses and learn how to AI mares. I’m 100% in support of this idea btw.

I was also extremely proud of how organized Michelle’s breeding area is, especially her MASSIVE white board. I’m a really big white board fan and I’m pretty sure she thought I was crazy for it in the past, but we’ve got a convert because LOOK AT THIS THING OF BEAUTY.

It was also nice to finally see Vee and Peyton in person… believe it or not I may have helped picked them out, but I had yet to see either of them in the flesh yet. Peyton is a classic TB type and gorgeous mover, and Vee might be one of the most beautiful mares I’ve ever seen, period. Like, she looked pretty in photos, but in person she’s an absolute knock out. Gorgeous mare with a great temperament, and VERY food-motivated. We already know Peyton is a great producer, but I can’t wait to see a Vee baby too. Fingers crossed!

Back to the actual point of this little adventure: Noodle pickup.

I thought he might be a moron in the trailer, considering that he’s basically been on stall rest or paddock rest for over 6 months at this point, and he’d come to consider Obi his BFF at Michelle’s (which, btw Obi, thanks for taking a chunk out of Presto’s tail despite Michelle’s best efforts to prevent it). I thought there might be fireworks when we loaded him up and drove away. He was pretty good though, and rode the whole way home with minimal complaints, even when the stupid GPS decided for some reason to route us all the way around and through the outskirts of Austin (we love sitting in lights and traffic with a horse trailer, you know) and made it take almost 8 freaking hours to get home.

We turned him out with the other 3 horses, and Henry and Quinnie immediately seemed to remember him (there were definite “oh my god, not him again” vibes from those two) but Gemma had a whole lot of opinions about him. Most of which were expressed via squealing. She’s a pretty submissive horse in general and definitely not confrontational, but Presto just would not leave her alone no matter how much she tried to distance herself. Personal space and respecting boundaries are not exactly his strong suits.

That situation was causing Henry to assert his extreme dickishness and chase Presto into corners to try to murder him, so we had to break them up. That herd dynamic just wasn’t great with the 4 of them together. We split Henry and Gemma into one pasture and Presto and Quinnie into another. Giving each 5yo an older horse (and removing Henry from Presto) seemed to do the trick and they’ve been great ever since.

Well okay, Quinnie isn’t sure why she got stuck with the annoying one, but Presto knows better than to antagonize her too much… she spent some time raising him, after all.

Presto’s feet are not in the best shape from being barefoot for so long, he’s worn them down to little sore nubbins. I’ve got him in boots until the farrier can come out, although I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get shoes on them not. He looks fine in the boots though (aside from the fact that he knows how to unvelcro and remove them) so that works for now. Grow little feeties, grow.

The most annoying thing was that the size boots he needed are of course the ONLY ONES I had packed up and sent in the t!ny h0use (I have an ungodly number of hoof boots and those were literally the only ones I packed and sent ahead), so I had to make an emergency run to Dover and buy him a new pair. Who needs $200 anyway.

The good news is that with the boots on he looks pretty darn sound, despite all the yeehawing he’s done now that he’s back to full turnout. I haven’t even bothered with getting him legged back up yet, I figured I’d wait until we’re all settled in Florida before I even begin trying to wrap my head around that. For now I’m just grooming him every day to try to get the last of the winter coat off, and I trimmed his mane, cut his bridlepath, and clipped off the goat whiskers under his jaw. He looks… slightly more presentable anyway. Aside from all the bite marks and scratches all over him (thanks Henry).

It’s a little frustrating that he couldn’t just go back to the same training program and continue what I’d already invested a lot of time and money into (they didn’t have space), but I’m working on a couple options for him in Florida that could be promising. In the meantime I’m plenty happy to have him back here with me, even if he’s single hoofedly increased the Chaos Factor of the farm by 500%. I sure did miss his big ol’ noodle noggin.