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Whoooooopsy, last week got away from me and I only half-drafted this post. Now it’s Sunday and there’s a horse show to recap, but I gotta post this one first to get everyone caught up!

Lesseeeee, where do I even begin? First and foremost – Presto had a birthday. He’s officially an 8 year old now, which is bonkers. That’s like… a real horse. Not a baby horse. A full-fledged, card-carrying adult boy. Naturally, I got him his favorite thing to celebrate: treats and a new giant ball.

Since I last wrote, I think he’s had a couple training rides and I’ve had a few lessons. Ellie flatted him last week and jumped him last weekend (on his birthday!) and then I had a couple dressage lessons and took him to some schooling jumper rounds. The dressage lessons have been focused on practicing the Prelim B test, particularly this part:

I mentioned this series in my last post, which is when we first started working on it. We continued to hammer away at it, working on the timing and positioning and nailing down the accuracy. In the Prelim B test you do that series both directions, so it ends up being a large majority of the test, and it’s a more challenging series of movements than he’s had to do yet. Honestly though, he put it together pretty quickly, and with repetition just got better and better. With Henry I had to be careful not to do the same thing over and over because he would start to anticipate so much, but with Presto he tends to relax into the repetition and is easier to ride him when he knows what to expect.

I had gone home and played with it a bit in between lessons, and mentioned to Ellie that I thought it went better/more fluidly when I sat the trotting parts vs posting, and asked her thoughts. She said that she actually thought I should sit the whole test. Like the whole thing. Like all of it.

I have not spent a ton of time sitting this horse’s trot yet. Up until recently his life’s work has been to go forward and prevent him from getting tight across his back and behind the saddle, so it’s just not been of much focus. And well… he’s a much bigger mover (and much bigger in general) than any other horse I’ve had. I can sit Henry all day long. Presto has been physically more difficult, and I really just haven’t devoted a lot of time to trying. But ya know… that lesson was the day I guess, and she had me sit the whole thing. Even the lengthenings. I was dying, y’all. Thank GOD I’ve been swimming and working a lot on my core, but even then my abs were literally crying by the end. I might have to add some yoga in to my workout days. And like… actually start sitting the trot on this horse for real. The times where it really clicked in and I was sitting into him he had the best feeling, like 3/4 of him was out and up in front of me and he was so incredibly light and rideable. So ya know, add it to the list of things for me to work on.

At the end of that lesson she mentioned that she wasn’t gonna be able to make the scheduled 2pm time for the 1.10m jumper rounds the next day, and proposed that we do the 1.15m at 8am instead.

Heh. “It’s just another hole higher”. HEH. Yeah sure that’s totally fine. This is fine. Why wouldn’t it be? Noooo worrrrieesss hereeeee. I was like ok let’s give it a go but if we get there and it looks huge I’m making you jump him around first (listen, sometimes I am not as brave as y’all seem to think I am). She just kind of chuckled and agreed and said we would be fine. I was not convinced.

And then we got there and jumped around and guess what it was fine. It IS only a hole higher, and they had it set where honestly I think only like half the jumps were truly 1.15m anyway, so it looked pretty friendly and within our wheelhouse.

I made a mistake down the outside bending line in the first round, trying to add where I really just needed to put my leg on, but we came back around and fixed it. Presto was jumping really really well. He’s just really next-leveled himself lately. I was particularly pleased with how rideable he was. If I wanted to add one more, he did so without complaint (even if it wasn’t the best choice) and when I closed my leg, he went forward. He was straight, he was balanced, he was making a good shape in the air, and he was just genuinely a super good boy.

We did two rounds and neither one was perfect, but the second was better than the first, and I went home pleased with our first 1.15m attempt. Mostly because it really didn’t look that big or intimidating, and I didn’t feel like I did the over-defensive riding that I tend to fall into when I’m worried about something. We’re trusting each other more over the bigger stuff as our confidence increases, so it’s clicking and feeling like a more polished team effort.

Which is good, because SPOILER ALERT he was entered in the Prelim at Majestic for the weekend. Anyway, like I said, show recaps coming soon, but not today. (what a tease)

In related newsworthy, er… news… when I whined about washing my white breeches, my friend Lisa (everrythingishard on Instagram) told me to try Dawn Powerwash.

She swore that all you had to do was spray this stuff on and then throw them in the wash. No scrubbing or soaking or extra steps required. That sounded like my kind of washing, because I freaking HATE feeling like I’m out there in the crick with my washboard and my bar soap like it’s 1850. If I have to suffer through late stage capitalism at least give me my modern-day perks, please. I’m a one-step and into the washing machine kind of girl.

Anyway, long story short: she was right. I just sprayed it on really well and chunked these bad boys straight in the washing machine. It didn’t get EVERY SINGLE stain out, but it got the overwhelming majority for sure. Especially considering one of those pairs was still dirty from like… January. Because I waited until all my whites were dirty before I washed any of them. Ya know, as one does.

Now that I don’t have to use actual effort, I can (theoretically) actually wash my whites in a timely manner rather than months later. We shall all rejoice.

Not much else has been going on besides the usual. I did team up with EN for the first in their adult ammy “day in the life” vlog series, wrapped up (mostly anyway) retail season, teched for my vet at a PPE (more side hustles are always welcome), and wasted entirely too much of my life in a Ticketmaster queue for Sleep Token tickets only to find out that floor or pit tickets for the Orlando show STARTED AT $700 and proceeded to laugh my way right on out of that daydream. Which is too bad because I really did want to see Sleep Token (please don’t ask me how many times I’ve played Emergence in the week and a half it’s been released) but good lord.

I also owe y’all a WTW baby update, which will be coming… soonish. After the horse show recaps. I also need to write reviews for a couple things, particularly the Gatusos boots and the Magnawave. Preferences for which things should be first in the queue?

The downside of being in a program where we have lessons or training rides 3x a week is that it becomes impossible to document thoroughly. It would become a task of gargantuan proportions that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with and I think pretty much no one would be interested in reading.

That is the only downside. Well ok and the cost. But like… best money I’ve spent in a long time so no ragrets.

But I’m still navigating how exactly to summarize everything here on the blog. I suppose it could be a clinical day by day with general notes about what we did. Or I could just hit whatever highlights there may have been. Do the people have a preference for what they want to hear about? This is a problem I’ve never had before when even in the very best of times I was getting a lesson a week. But it feels pretty redundant to just be like “this is awesome I love it, Presto feels amazing” without more detail than that.

It’s also a bit more challenging because lesson video or media is not happening very often… it’s just not possible to have someone with me randomly at 2pm on a Tuesday or 9am on a Thursday very often. We work lessons and rides around my erratic schedule so it’s different every week. And I hate writing tons of word vomit with no photos to accompany.

So basically, what do y’all want to hear? It’s unlikely that I have time to update here more than once a week, so what’s the best way to cram it in here without being a) overwhelming, or b) not enough detail?

For instance, last week Ellie flatted him and jumped him and then I jumped him and flatted him. Her flat ride was his first real work day back after Rocking Horse (he mostly hacked and did stretchy flat rides, with a pole day) and he’s never quite as enthusiastic about dressage after he’s just run XC. He thinks the Runny Jompies should be a way of life and can be slightly feral about being a well-trained, obedient boy for his first proper dressage ride back. He was pretty good though, aside from one slight protest about the counter canter.

Then she jumped him, again targeting the rideability and reminding him that he still has to listen and does not indeed know everything (he disagrees). She jumped him into a line, leg yielded out of the line, turned around and jumped into the line the other way, leg yielded out, etc etc. Once he was being consistently soft to the base and leg yielding away without tightening his topline, she let him jump down the whole line. It was a pretty short and to the point ride – they usually are with his training rides.

We came back the next day and I jumped him, working on the same exercise. It definitely helps me get a feel for exactly what she’s doing and what we’re going for, to follow up directly after. Again we didn’t do a whole lot, just the same leg yielding exercise, then we jumped down the line. Since he was good for that we added a one stride and a bending line too, focusing on maintaining that rideability. He was superb.

Sunday we did a dressage lesson, working on elements from a new test. Particularly this series: leg yield from the rail to the centerline, turn, canter, lengthen the canter on a half 20m circle, back to working canter, 10m half circle back to the rail, trot. This series probably would have turned him into a bit of a pogo stick a few months ago, but he was actually quite good for a first effort. Before we started that we did a lot of shoulder fore on a circle (to make sure he was in the outside rein), and then shoulder out down the long sides (as a prep feeling for coming off the rail to leg yield to center line). It was fun to work on some new stuff.

As for Rubes, he’s getting rides when and how I can. We’re almost at the end of retail season, which will open up my schedule tremendously. Until then I’ve just been maintaining him where he’s at, and working a little more on bending and stretching. Once I have more flexibility with my time and can get him back on a 5-6 days a week schedule, we can resume with building on to his education.

He’s such a happy boy though, and loves to work. Anytime he sees me coming he’s like “ARE YOU COMING FOR ME? HERE I AM.” and presents himself to his gate whether I’m actually out there to get him or not. I feel bad when I’m not. Sometimes he just gets scritches and a “Sorry buddy, tomorrow, I promise!”. He’s getting used to having a less predictable schedule/routine though, which honestly I think is good for him. He struggled so hard with that in the beginning.

Oh, btw, we were selected as one of the pairs to be featured on the OTTB on Tap podcast for the road to the RRP Makeover, so make sure you’re subscribed to that! It’s a great podcast, so even if you don’t want to hear from me (who would blame you) you should listen anyway.

As for Henry, well. He’s been struggling on and off with a foot bruise for the past month or so. As soon as it’s almost better he decides to act like he’s 2 instead of 18 and takes himself for a gallop around his field and then is like “oh dang, my footie is kinda owwie now”. Yeah, bro…. what a mystery. He’s always been super prone to bruises this time of year so it’s nothing too surprising. I did get on him one of the days he looked sound and he spent the whole time pretending he was an actual dolphin. Perhaps he’s taken the retirement thing a bit too far.

I’d love it if his feet would get on board and he was reliably rideable again, because I find myself really wanting to go home and work on the things Presto and I do in lessons. Rubes just isn’t that far along yet, but Henry has the buttons. If I could ride him some and work more on myself and building the muscle memory more, that would be great. Someone tell him to stop being a dingbat about his footie.

In the meantime, Presto and I did enter another show, and now I’m obsessively trying to make sure he doesn’t do something dumb and hurt himself before then. Ya know… my life’s work.

Also, he’ll be 8 in a few days, can you freakin believe that. EIGHT! WHAT THE F

I had a nice 35 minute gap between SJ and XC, so after my jumping round we went back to the trailer to put all of our XC stuff on. Studs and XC boots for Presto, and my cross country vest. We both took the chance to have some water (it was hot by this point in the day) and then I got back on and headed over to XC warmup.

Walking the course the day before, I felt like the course itself was pretty straightforward.

I only had 2 points of concern – the trakehner and the half coffin. The trakehner because, much like the one at Ocala a few weeks ago, it was in the middle of a field off of a long gallop, with lots of distraction in the distance, and it had a footing change right in front of it. I thought it might be a little spooky. As for the half coffin…. ha. So. It was utilizing the exact ditch that Presto had his massive meltdown about at that schooling day in 2023 before we figured out the ulcers. Like that exact ditch. Of all the ditches on this property and all the various ones they use at the level, I really just didn’t want that one to be on the course. Therefore, naturally, it was. And that half coffin was tricky in that you went through this little patch of trees, hung a sharp left, and it was only a few strides to the ramp at A. Superrrrrrb. Cool cool.

But ya know – it is what it is. I didn’t lose any sleep over it, I just didn’t love it. The rest of the course gave me zero pause.

XC was running a little late so we ended up walking around warmup for a while, which kinda worked out. Alex made it down there on his Modified horse and was able to give me a few last minute tips, mainly about revving the engine and keeping Presto up and in front of my leg. I was able to combine that with a couple things Ellie had told me to do in warmup, then headed over to the box and away we went!

The first 4 jumps essentially circled around warmup, so I knew I really needed to send him out with purpose and get his mind on the job at hand. Plus I was determined to go faster this time so I wanted to set the stage right from the start. We jumped 1 and I took the most direct, ground-saving route I could to 2, only getting straight for a few strides before it.

That one came up great out of stride, so we were off and running again to the next, which was the first big, wide table on course. This one went directly past and then turned away from all the trailer parking, so I made sure to keep him extra focused on me and not all the other horses and goings-on. We made the turn to the table and he jumped it great.

Then we had the steeplechase at 4, which I saw a long one to but Presto was like “ma that’s maybe a little too long, haven’t we been working on finding the base?” and he put another stride in. Smart boy, really. After that was the first combo at 5AB, which was a rolltop on top of a mound, then down the mound and 5 slightly bending strides to a skinny brush. He was absolutely spot-on there and made very easy work of it. Then we had the tan table (my brain called it the Naked Table, since it has no colored stain or paint) to the XXX table (it has three X’s on the front, that one isn’t my fault).

The Tiki hut combo rode great too. He was just really on it and I soon as I put my eye on anything and closed my leg he was like YUP GOT IT. Easy peasy, picking them off.

I wish there had been a photographer at the big MIM oxer before the water because we got there perfect and he jumped the absolute shit out of it. We landed, turned right, and made out way down the slope and through the trees to the water. I thought he might give it a little peek before he put his toes in since he hasn’t seen that particular water in a long time and it’s kinda dark/sus, but no, he was absolutely laser focused on the B from the moment we jumped the A, and he never wavered.

After that we finally got to our long gallop stretches of the course, and I tried my best to keep coming forward and save as much ground as possible on the way to the next table. He jumped it fantastic.

Then, before you knew it, we were at the trakehner. I made sure that he was up in front of my leg and listening as we headed towards it, but I totally felt him do the same thing he did with the one at Ocala. He looked at it from a ways away, clocked it as just a log, and then put his eye past it to keep soaking up the sights further out in the field. We got there on the perfect distance but at the last second he went HOLY SHIT THERE’S A BIG DITCH UNDER THIS and popped in another tiny little step as he peeked down at it. Yes my love, I have been saying for the past 20 strides that you should maybe pay attention to what’s in front of you. Whatever. He jumped it, just like an awkward deer with surprised Pikachu face.

Then we had the next combo: a ramp, 5 bending strides to a corner, 5 bending strides to another ramp. This rode like it was the easiest little gymnastic exercise in the world. He couldn’t have been better. (This is also the point in the course where I run out of photos because all the photographers were in the first half.)

I sliced the approach to the brush table a little bit to save some distance, and again he jumped it super. Then the next steeplechase, no problem. Then we went into the trees, hung a sharp left, and were upon the half coffin. He definitely felt slightly surprised to see it there off the short turn, but I just closed my leg and clucked and he kept coming forward, no problem. Big big big “GOOD BOOOOOY!” after that, and a big pat. Guess I can stop being haunted by that ditch now.

After that was a pop over the log cabin, the next skinny mound combo (which again rode like a simple gymnastic, he was dead-on), the bench, and the last log box. I finished feeling like SURELY I made time, and walked over to ask the finish line volunteer what my time was (I don’t wear a watch, I want to prioritize good decisions over worrying about time, so I don’t see the point) and lord y’all. I was still 8 seconds slow. Apparently I am just a granny, because I really felt like I was flying and cutting off as much space as I could. Womp womp. Ultimately it didn’t matter, my 3 time penalties didn’t affect my placing this time, and we ended up 6th and the highest placed amateur. I’m just annoyed at being slow when I thought I was fast. It’s fine though, Ellie said we’d work on the speed/efficiency part some more.

Ultimately I was really happy with the round. Aside from his surprised Pikachu at the trakehner (which he didn’t even think about stopping at, he just took a peek) it felt exceptionally easy. He was locked in and I felt like I made good decisions. I’m relieved to have gotten back out to Rocking Horse after such a long hiatus, relieved that it went well, and honestly I’m even relieved that the one stupid ditch was on our course, because now it doesn’t have to live rent-free in my head anymore. Plus Presto recovered and cooled down really quickly after XC and was not at all tired the next day. That’s about all you can ask for.

I have no idea what’s next on the docket for us as far as shows go… the March and April schedules get a bit weird for us so we’ll have to see how things pan out!

Hey hey hey, show season is in full swing (in Florida, at least) so it’s that time of year where we have lots of show recaps. I have plenty of pics from this one thanks to both Xpress Foto and my friend Michelle, therefore we’ve got another two-parter blog recap. Starting with dressage and SJ naturally, because those were the first two phases and also because what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t give you a little cliffhanger drama by saving the best phase (XC of course) for part 2? It’s coming tomorrow though, don’t worry.

If you’re thinking that it’s been a while since you heard anything about Rocking Horse, you’d be correct. We haven’t shown there since 2023. We always had good shows there, but then had a pretty disastrous schooling day later in 2023 where he wouldn’t go near a ditch and pretty much just spun like a top the whole time. It was before we figured out his ulcer issues (one of the catalyst events that made me go looking for the problem, actually) and it made me hesitant to return last season since we’d just finally gotten his stomach ironed out. I’m officially out of semi-legitimate excuses this year though, so it was time to rip off the bandaid. I had to branch out from constantly ping-ponging back and forth between Florida Horse Park and Majestic Oaks, and despite the fact that we’ve run what feels like eleventy thousand Modifieds by now, we hadn’t actually done one at Rocking Horse yet.

They offered a Thursday One-Day option for Open Modified at this show, so naturally I took it. Rocking Horse is like an hour and a half drive, so if I only have to haul the horse and trailer that far once, I’d much prefer it. But of course taking a weekday one-day option once again lands me in the division with all the pros. At least the shows are quieter on those days? It’s a worthwhile trade, all things considered.

My ride times were absolute perfection when it comes to a one day show. Dressage at 10:10, SJ at 12:30, XC at 1:10. I was able to feed all the horses in the daylight and get Presto on the trailer by 7:30. I’d gone over the afternoon before to pick up my packet and walk my courses, so I was able to get there, find a place to park, and take my time grooming and tacking up.

My ride times conflicted pretty perfectly with my coach’s ride rimes, so in my last couple of lessons leading up to the show she was pretty specific with me on what I should do in warmup and what kind of feeling we were aiming for. I greatly appreciated that, because whether I have eyes on the ground or not, it gives me so much confidence having a very clear plan in advance on exactly what we’re doing and why, and be able to just go execute it on my own. To me, being able to go and do things well without always having a helping hand is a very vital part of what I’m trying to get out of my riding education. I don’t always want or need someone standing there telling me what to do, I want to think and do for myself, and learn why I’m doing whatever it is. That’s actual education vs just following instructions, and that’s what I’m really after.

I followed the warmup instructions I’d gotten the day before, and whattya know, it all not only made sense, but it worked. Rocket science, y’all.

It wasn’t the most stand-out test we’ve ever had, in that parts of it just lacked a little bit of energy and crispness. My judge was Peter Gray, who you may remember I had a lesson with last year, but I haven’t ridden in front of him since then. I do know a few things about Peter though and what he likes to see, and made sure to fulfill those things as best I could. There were no real mistakes, and I had no complaints. Not our most pizazzy, top notch work, but it was good. Peter agreed, and we got a 28.3.

All of the places where I felt like I made small mistakes (like the haunches leading for a couple steps of one leg yield, a slightly early transition, a slightly late transition, losing his haunches a bit in one of the canter lengthenings, etc) perfectly matched up with the comments on the test. That’s always nice too. Nothing worse than thinking you did something great and the comment is the total opposite. It also makes me feel like I’m on the right track with the self-awareness and ability to know/feel when I make those mistakes. That’s step one to learning how not to make them in the first place and get better at test-riding in general.

After dressage Presto got untacked and got hosed off (it was already getting hot), and I got all my stuff ready for stadium. I was able to leave Presto with Michelle and her friend Jules (whoever babysits my horse is always the MVP of the show day, he requires adult supervision) and go watch some jumping rounds. I’d walked it quickly the afternoon before and wanted to see how the turns and lines rode.

After watching some of the Intermediate and Prelim my two main questions were: should I jump fence 1 off the left lead or the right lead (I’d seen both but wasn’t sure that one seemed superior to the other) and was the line from 8 to 9AB better as 7 or 8 (again, I’d seen both work). So I tracked Ellie down when she finished her round and did a little quick fire questions – she said jump 1 off the right, and probably 8 in the last line but to make up my mind one way or the other depending on how we jumped in. Aye aye cap’n, can do (probably).

With the original ride times Alex’s Modified horse was supposed to be jumping like 15 minutes after me, so we were hoping he’d have time to at least watch me a jump a few before we went in. In reality though, XC had been running behind, so he was running behind getting to his Modified horse, therefore didn’t make it to warmup. No worries though, Michelle and Jules (MVP’s again) came in and set a couple jumps for me, and I warmed Presto up the way I’ve been taught over the past couple months. He was jumping great.

The thing about Rocking Horse that’s markedly different from other local venues is the size of the ring. It’s pretty small, especially with a full course in there. All the jumps end up being a few strides off the rail, turns come up quick. and there just isn’t much time to fool around. Honestly I much prefer it to a big huge ring. When your only option is to ride forward out of the turn, it makes it easier for me personally. I think we’ve always had good jump rounds at Rocking Horse. I can’t overthink anything or screw up my rhythm when the jumps just keep coming rapid fire.

I was a bit deep to the first jump, but he jumped it great anyway and I landed, put my leg on, and made sure we got back on a forward rhythm quickly. After that, everything came up nicely. It’s been pointed out to me over the past few months that when Presto starts to get behind the leg and lose power, the first clue is that he gets a left drift. It’s his way of giving himself more space at the base so that he doesn’t actually have to rock back and power off the ground. SO, I’ve been working hard on being more aware of that particular “tell” and focusing on keeping him really straight. It’s why he’s all the sudden been jumping so much better through his entire body, but the hind end in particular. Amazing how straightness works, eh? Duh.

Anyway, we had what I think was our best stadium round so far this year. I felt like I had a clear plan, knew what to do in any scenario, was focused, and executed said plan/reacted to things correctly. Competent, I guess would be the word? Perfect, no. But it felt genuinely competent. Modified is looking pretty small now too (I would hope so, good god), which is also nice.

Presto didn’t come anywhere near touching a pole, and we got to put a nice double clear in the books again.

I really don’t think I can overstate how pleased I am with how much his jump has developed over the past few months. I know I say it all the time but like… the difference is nuts.

I saw Ellie in passing and she asked what I scored on the flat. I had no idea. I don’t look at that stuff before the show is over, it’s not my business. But I told her Presto jumped like a little (big) rockstar in stadium and she was really happy with that, and then off I went on my merry way back to my trailer to throw all of our XC stuff on.

Tomorrow: the runny jumpies!

Guys, guess what came?!?!

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to have a Magnawave machine of my own. I’ll do an actual review of it at some point soon after I use it more (have I already magnawaved 3 horses and myself? Yes.) but it feels like a gamechanger and I’m psyched.

I got the Semi 10, which is a small, very portable little machine. If you were doing a big barn full of horses every day or running a MW business you’d probably want a bigger model, but for in-barn use on a handful of horses the size of the Semi 10 is really convenient. It’s still plenty powerful, but easy to carry and store.

I got a lot of attachments too, some of which I haven’t used yet. I think the butterfly loop and the XL Wave Wings will probably be the most-used attachments for the horses, but I sat on the MagEnergy Mat and did my back (I have scoliosis so my back is pretty much always tight/sore) and it was great. I haven’t used the MagEnergy Guard (the big black box that horses stand on to do their feet) or the large loop yet. Their time is coming.

I will say, I did feel glad for the 9000 videos and assessments I had to do for training to get my certification, because I was able to hit the ground running with no questions or fumbling around. Fun times. Zappy zaps for errybody.

Other than just that exciting arrival, things have been predictably busy. Presto had two training rides last week, flat and jump, and I had a dressage/poles lesson, a jump lesson, and yesterday we popped around a few XC things ahead of the show this week.

The dressage/poles lesson was really like 900 transitions on a circle, over poles at the trot and canter. After we warmed up we started out cantering around the circle, trotting before the poles, trotting over the poles, and then cantering again after. Then she spread the poles out and we trotted around the circle, cantered before the poles, cantered over the poles, and trotted again after. She made the poles in the middle raised, and it took us a hot minute to figure out all the feet…

but it was a great exercise for working on the timing of the aids, response to the half halt, keeping consistent bend, staying uphill through all the transitions, etc etc. We’re getting down to the nitty gritty detail work and it’s so hard and I love it.

Not sure what that says about me, really.

Anyway, we’re headed back to Rocking Horse this week, where we haven’t been in like a year and a half. Last time we went there was for an open schooling day, right before we figured out Presto had those nasty ulcers on the roof of his stomach, and it was NOT a good or productive day. He wouldn’t go near a ditch or down bank. So… fingers crossed he’s not harboring any worries or resentment about that day. Only one way to find out. I do think he’s gonna be a bit spooky no matter what, since he hasn’t been there in a while. He schooled really well yesterday though and felt plenty confident, so fingers crossed we can carry the good vibes forward.

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The changes in him are getting more and more evident, I think. He feels stronger and more mature. Granted, he’s still and probably always will be a very cheeky horse that loves to spook for sport, so I would never in my life say he’s predictable. Just more trained. Most days.

I also had some content shoots to do last week, particularly one for Riding Warehouse x LeMieux spring collection.

Y’all know matchy matchy isn’t really my own personal style (unless it’s black) but we always manage to have fun with these shoots. Michelle is in town right now and took the pics for us, and she got some really cute ones for sure. I gotta admit, the pink grew on me a bit by the end, too. Not a pink girl in general, but it was working for Tully.

Presto’s outfit was Dusk and Mimosa, a color combo more typically in my wheelhouse. He slayed, I think.

I’m also doing some content/testing for Gatusos horse boots, a brand I hadn’t seen before but is REALLY interesting. I’ll have a review coming soon for those as well.

On the nerdier side of things, I got the breeding data finished and sent over to the Aiken GrandPrix of Eventing Showcase for this weekend, so if anyone is watching the live stream hopefully the hosts will use their data sheets! It’s a little bit of a smaller field than usual but there’s a lot of quality and depth, and many of the horses are aiming for Kentucky in April so it’ll be a fun preview.

On a similar vein, this week Eventing Nation launched their very first podcast episode. It’s been a long time coming and there are some really cool plans on the horizon, so make sure you’re following! Sally did a great job on the first episode, co-hosting with Will Faudree.

When they were first planning this episode and posted publicly asking for questions for Will, I thought I was being funny by submitting a bunch of marginally unhinged questions about Mason (Mama’s Magic Way). Y’all know I stan Mason big time. But anyway she actually asked him all my insane questions and now I fear that I’m forever immortalized in EN history as a Supreme Stalker Deluxe. Will did say I could have Mason’s autograph tho.

Worth it.