Category: Uncategorized

Guess what I did 8 years ago today?

Indeed it’s Henry’s Gotcha Day, and I can’t even believe it’s already been EIGHT YEARS. On one hand, I don’t remember what life was like without Henry in it, but on the other hand it still feels like only yesterday when I was like “surprise, internet! Look at this random horse I bought off facebook after thinking about it for like an hour! No, of course I didn’t pre-purchase him! LOL”. I’m crazy, yes. These days it’s kind of normal to buy them sight unseen off of facebook though, isn’t it? Whatever, it’s fine. “To live greatly you have to risk greatly”… or something like that.

This year things are a little different in that Hillary has the ride on Henry for the winter. I thought I couldn’t possibly love that horse any more than I already did, but seeing him bop around with her over some bigger jumps and give her confidence over tougher questions is so friggin cute it feels like my little black heart might explode on a daily basis.

To know him is to love him, and while she was already a Henry fan before and has sat on him a few times in the past, riding him regularly and taking him XC schooling this past weekend really seemed to seal the deal. Now she comes rolling in here with her BEMER blanket and her arms full of bags of cookies and boxes of Oatmeal Creme Pies and he’s like “FINALLY someone who appreciates me properly!”. As if the world didn’t already revolve around him before. Please. That horse gets an obscene amount of cookies every day and my whole life revolves around making sure his needs (aka wants) are sufficiently met. Details, he says.

Hillary’s jumped Henry at home a few times now, and last week I went out and bumped some of the jumps up to Prelim height for her. Part of me was wondering what she’d do… would she rise to the challenge and attack it with the gusto I know she has in her? In true baller fashion she jumped them all without even bugging her eyes out at me once. So proud. And the reason I wanted to bump up the showjumps at home was in preparation for the Pine Hill trip over the weekend.

It’s hard to fully explain to someone who hasn’t ridden him, but XC is Henry’s element. He’s a totally different horse out there than he is anywhere else. He’s very bold, he’s forward-thinking, he’ll take care of you, and he really wants to find the flags. All he really requires is that 1) you keep your shoulders back 2) you don’t shut down his gallop too much. If you can do those things, he’ll take you to anything with a smile on his face. And if you don’t do those things, he’s quick to let you know with some pinned ears and a wringing tail. EXCUSE ME HENNY NO LIKE.

I figured that if I could get them comfortable together over some height at home, it’d be more likely that Hillary would be comfortable pointing him at some of the Prelim questions. I mean, the entire point of her riding him this winter is to get more experience over bigger/harder/more technical questions, so… if we’re gonna do it, let’s do it. And boy did they.

They started over mostly some Training stuff, getting him solidly in front of her leg and getting her used to carrying more pace and riding him positively up to the jumps. They did some Training combos easy peasy, and as we went around the course and got more comfortable together, they started tackling some of the Prelim ones. Y’all, it was cute. So cute I have died a thousand times over since then from sheer cuteness.

She rode him really well, and you could totally watch things coming together through the combinations. If he needed to set his feet back down and add, she sat and supported and let him do it. She found the skinnies out of the combinations and rode up to them like she was hunting them down. She controlled her body up and down the terrain questions. By the end she was even willing to jump down the trio of banks, and Hillary hates down banks. I was sitting there feeling like I was watching something big clicking into place, and it was SO fun to have a front row seat. I don’t know who I’m prouder of, Hillary or Henry. Sharing is caring, but on a selfish level I get a lot of joy out of it too. I could watch Henry jump around XC all day long with hearts in my eyes, I just love him so much. Plus I’m very familiar with how fun XC Henry is, so seeing him put a smile on someone else’s face… I know that feeling exactly. Being able to give that to someone else is pretty awesome.

@breed.ride.event

Henry is the goodest boy, I love watching him take my friends around! #gobestfriend #equestrian #eventer #eventing #ottb #horsegirls #hearthorse

♬ TWINNEM – Remix – Coi Leray

I seem to find myself humbled by this horse’s kindness and generosity on a regular basis, and this is no exception. Henry has done so much for me, and seeing him happily give miles and confidence to a good friend like Hillary makes him even more priceless, if that was even possible. Being able to put someone on him and know for a fact that he’ll a) teach them something b) keep them safe… there’s a lot to be said for a horse like that. He is the most golden egg from the inside out, even when he’s making nasty faces at me in the barn for taking too long with his dinner or putting his blanket on in a way that doesn’t please him (he’s always got complaints about “the help” aka me). Never change, Your Highness, it’s your world and we’re just living in it.

Would he pass a vet check? No. Is he ever the fanciest horse in warmup? Definitely not. Is he a top tier athlete? Nope. Would anyone ever pick him out of a crowd? Doubtful. But he’s living breathing proof of why you shouldn’t overlook or undervalue these kinds of horses. Very few of us need a world-beater, but we all need one that’s kind and genuine and safe, and that’s exactly what Henry is, in spades. It took time and patience to build him, but the payoff is more than worth it. Henry is absolutely the goodest boy ever, and he’s got a home with me for life. Here’s to hopefully many more Gotcha Days.

Grace has been here for two weeks now, and we’re starting to get into a groove. I’ve been able to keep riding her regularly despite the fact that she sprung a shoe two days after she got them put on and stepped on the clip in the process. Which, the farrier was convinced it would abscess so he wanted to wait to put the shoe back on, but I had flushed the spot immediately and kept it clean and wrapped in Animalintex, so it was fine and we didn’t have a problem. I ended up riding her in a boot for almost a week before he came and put the shoe back on, and she was ok with that too. She seems good about just kind of rolling along with whatever.

I jumped her for the first time last Wednesday… just a handful of jumps because she still had the boot on, but Hillary and I had planned a trip to Pine Hill to XC school on Saturday so I was like “uhhh, I should probably jump her before that”. She’s got a very lemme-at-em type of approach to jumping, you can tell she loves it and she gives you the feeling like she’d happily jump anything you pointed her at. It makes her pretty fun. Sometimes she’s a little less keen to listen to your input about striding, but really she’s quite straightforward and honest to jump. I can 100% see why she was such a good event horse for an amateur, it’s the kind of horse you feel like will always get you to the other side and enjoys the job.

She’s also settled into the farm routine really well now. She’s quite a low drama horse (especially compared to a certain bay gelding we all know and love) and easy to deal with in the barn, aside from the fact that she refuses to poop out in her run like the other horses and poops exclusively in her stall.

She’s funny though, Grace snorts a lot, at a lot of things. Like… snort snort snort snort all the time. If you didn’t know her you’d think that a blow up was imminent, but despite all the snorting she’s only ever spooked maybe one time. She’s just snorty AF, that’s her way of saying “oh that’s interesting!”, which has become pretty entertaining to me. But we’ve already done farrier x 2, vet, trailering x 2, and body clipping, and she’s been extremely easy for everything. She snorts her way through all of it but she never even so much as flinches, just stands like a rock. It’s really amusing once you figure out that her snorts do not mean what normal horse snorts mean.

On Saturday when we headed out to Pine Hill a cold front had blown through overnight. The temp was actively dropping, the wind was howling… it was gross. But, ya know, Grace is Irish. Not phased one bit.

I didn’t do a whole lot with her at Pine Hill because she’s still just coming back into work and doesn’t have much fitness yet, so I didn’t want to make her sore. Plus I’d only jumped her once before, so it was kind of a learn-as-you-go type of thing. I could tell from the first little log I hopped over that I was indeed on a cross country horse and she was in Game On mode. We hopped over some of the stuff on the Novice course and she was very bold about all of it. A little bit looky about the bushes we had to canter past when we got back in the trees (to be fair, with the wind they were making all kinds of noise) but still jumped everything I pointed her at with no second thoughts.

She’s also really gotten onboard with the amount of cookies that are doled out around here. I definitely give all the horses way too many, but whatever. They’re cute. She tried Henry’s Oatmeal Creme Pie cereal and liked it, so I of course had to try a real OCP. She was a fan. I think she likes the German Horse Muffins (or the Beet Treat version) the most, but so far she’s eaten everything I’ve offered. Not a surprise, she didn’t get this stout by accident.

I’m enjoying having something different to ride and new things to work on, and having a chestnut around here has really grown on me. I’ve always been quite adamant that I’m a bay girl through and through, don’t really like chestnuts, definitely don’t want a gray or a pinto, yadda yadda yadda. I mean, part of the appeal of Mighty Magic is that he doesn’t have a red gene and therefore cannot produce a chestnut foal. Same with Diarado and a few of my other favorite stallions. Bay is my jam and always has been, it’s pretty and it’s easy. But… there’s something about the fiery red-orange that really grows on you. Especially the way it looks in the sun this time of year.

Am I becoming a convert? I dunno about that, but I’m finding the red ones to be more and more appealing. Or at least I no longer have the automatic “wish it was brown” reaction to seeing a nicely put-together chestnut. I mean… I stopped dead in my tracks at this mare in one of the OTTB groups yesterday. If it was 6 months from now, this one would already be in a trailer on her way home to me, chestnut or not. I’d strongly consider sawing off my right arm, and I don’t say that very often. She looks like a TB version of Grace.

Am I convert? I dunno. Grace is starting to convince me though…

Remember a few months ago when the foals were all cute and shiny and fancy-looking? Not so much these days… they’re looking decidedly more scruffy in all of their winter coat baby horse glory.

They’re still pretty cute though, if you ask me. None of them have quite hit the yearling uglies stage yet where you have to hide them behind the barn and pretend like you don’t notice that none of their parts match. Right now they’re chunky and fluffy and squishably adorable.

Some of them have been weaned now, which was fairly uneventful. They’re pretty independent by this point and have gotten good at entertaining themselves. For the most part they’re just hanging out enjoying being baby horses and growing up.

The two brothers and their antics are still one of the most entertaining aspects of the group. Obi and Patrick have only bonded more and more as they’ve gotten older, and are fairly inseparable at this point. They’re constantly antagonizing each other, chasing each other, biting each other, etc… all the things that colts do best.

They’re quite evenly-matched though, and seem to enjoy taking turns dishing it out. At least their winter coats seem to help prevent quite as many bite marks?

Wherever these boys go, they might just have to go together. I dunno if we can break up this comedic duo anytime soon.

I know they’ve got a Christmas shoot coming up, and after that we might be nearing the end of the Foal Friday posts for the 2021 class. I’ve stretched it out longer than usual because they’re just so entertaining. After we wrap with this year’s foals I’m working on an update post for some of the previous years’ foals so we can take a look at what they’re up to now… stay tuned!

Everybody likes to kind of make fun of the Spotify Wrapped thing (myself included) but I will also admit that I really like it. I especially love seeing other people’s, because I’ve always thought that the music people listen to when they’re alone can tell you a lot about a person… more than what they actually choose to show to the world, a lot of the time. Seeing the songs and artists and genres that people connect with the most is really interesting to me, so I love it when people post theirs. It’s fascinating. (also, I learned that I have massively underestimated how many Taylor Swift fans are out there, including people I never would have guessed)

Although I don’t like that it only uses January through October for it’s data. Come on man, I want to see how the holiday/winter/end of the year vibes factor in for everyone. Granted maybe I’m glad it stopped there because for the past couple months I’ve basically been doing nothing but binging Loveless and Billie Eilish’s latest album, or have had like the same 10-15 songs on repeat (especially Gasoline, How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells?, Happier Than Ever, and Just Like You… it’s a whole-ass mood), so at this point Spotify would probably be like “bro, you ok?” and my musical aura would definitely be “broody AF”. Probably best if we just, uh… ignore that.

But I did kind of chuckle watching my little Wrapped video. Spotify’s got a sense of humor.

Seeing those little prompts immediately made my brain jump into equestrian mode and look at it from that point of view. To be honest, the reason why a lot of these songs/artists have been listened to so much by me is because of something horse-related. I’m very much still my 16yo self that uses music to set a mood or to cope with feelings (because I’m not sure that I ever developed real coping skills, so I bury things deep and let music deal with them). And, well, my life revolves around the horses, so it makes sense that my music tends to do that too. Even my playlists are telling… I have a playlist for conditioning rides, a playlist for horse shows, and tend to use my “Liked Songs” as a reflection for however I’m feeling about life in general at the moment (which is largely controlled by – you guessed it – horses). It changes a lot.

My horse show playlist is the crowd pleaser… it’s mostly a collection of fun, upbeat music that puts me in a good mood while driving to a show. It’s the songs most people know, that you can play while you hang out at your stalls or at the trailer (I mean, unless there’s kids around, then… whoops). I don’t think it’s really a good overall reflection of the music I listen to on a regular basis or when I’m alone, but it’s got a purpose and it works well for that.

But if I look through my top 100 most listened to songs of the year (or… Jan through Oct, anyway) I see a lot of songs that were added because of horses or some horse-related event. Sometimes because of the general feeling of the song, other times because of specific lines and lyrics. And some of them, well… they just plain fit the conditions.

High, by Young Rising Sons. Is there anything that better describes what it’s like to own horses? Highs and lows, man, highs and lows.

Just let it go enjoy the ride
Without the low there ain’t a high

‘Cause all we need is love
But love means sacrifice
But it’s sure worth the prize
If you get it right

abcdefu, by Gayle. Ok I have to be honest, this is what I imagine SafeSport says to every single perv and perv accomplice that gets banned. Bye pervs (we’ll keep your dogs and horses though)!

A-B-C-D-E, F-U
And your mom and your sister and your job
And your broke-ass car and that shit you call art
Fuck you and your friends that I’ll never see again
Everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off

meet me at our spot (I prefer the Loveless cover to the original). Because what is riding if not escapism?

Meet me at our spot
They can’t find us there

Caught a vibe
Baby, are you coming for the ride 

Carry On, by Young Rising Sons. (someone tell them they’re writing songs for equestrians) But like, is there anything that describes the horse and human relationship more than this?

And all you need to know is I’ll be there
When no one is, no one is, yeah darling
I’ll be there
And I’ll tell you

Oh my love, don’t you worry
When the world gets cold, I’ll hold your heart when it’s heavy

and last but not least

She’s Out of Her Mind, by Blink 182. Every poor horse husband, horse boyfriend, horse parent, horse wife, horse spouse out there could probably belt this one at the top of their lungs.

I’m in deep with this girl but she’s out of her mind

What songs from your Spotify Wrapped would make it to the equestrian mix?

Let’s dispense with all the preamble, eh? GUESS WHAT CAME???

Some of you may remember that I caved and ordered some Romitelli boots when we were in Ocala a couple months ago. They have a permanent store at WEC, and I guess 3rd time is the charm because I’d been in there twice before to drool over and pet all the boots, but this last trip was when I finally caved and ordered some. To be fair I’ve lost 25lbs this year and none of my other boots fit anymore, so… it was justified. Plus black glitter, need I say more?

While it’s too soon to give a full review (I’ve had them for two days and I’ve ridden in them once, so…) I figured I could at least relay how I felt about my trying/ordering/delivery experience and my initial impressions of the boots. I feel like ordering boots is sort of like ordering saddles – some companies just seem to have a lot more horror stories than others. Luckily this is not one of those stories.

As I said, I bit the bullet and ordered them at the WEC store. I walked in there with an idea of what I wanted, not sure if I’d have to go the custom or semi-custom route, and thought “Ok if the price they give me is under X dollars, I’ll get them”. I like to do that a lot when I shop, as if it leaves it up to fate or something. Just… pretend it makes sense, I know I’m weird. Anyway, I walked in the store and the saleslady (who’s name I wish I could remember but I’m terrible at names) took one look at me and pulled two sizes off the shelf to try. She’s good at her job, both pairs fit, but we agreed that the taller and slimmer pair fit a bit better. Luckily I am a pretty averagely proportioned person, so I wouldn’t have to go the full custom route, I could just order whatever options I wanted in the standard size.

And there were a ridiculous amount of options. Like a whole basket full to the brim of swatches, plus a big binder. It was overwhelming. I went in knowing that I wanted a sparkly black top, though, so it was just a matter of finding the right sparkly black. Which sounds kind of easy but still I was sitting there with like 6 different options after I’d narrowed it down the first time. And then once I’d decided on which sparkly black I liked, I had to decide what shape I wanted the top to be and how big (I went for the standard bow top) and then if I wanted any other detailing (I’m a sucker for a bit of brogue), and then what type of leather (I went for the regular, which is softer), and toe shape (traditional). It was really tempting to be a bit more “creative”, but I wanted these to be show boots that were a little bit fun but still classic enough to where I wouldn’t get tired of them in a couple years and they could still go with any outfit.

When I ordered she said it had been taking the factory in Italy about 5-6 weeks to get them to the US, then add another week or so to get them shipped to me in Texas. In my head I was like “yeah right, so maybe 10-12 weeks”. I don’t have a lot of faith in timelines right now and let’s face it, horse stuff has never been particularly stellar at on-time delivery even when there aren’t supply chain shortages and shipping delays. So I basically just forgot about them for a while, and then after Thanksgiving I got an email from UPS saying I had a package on the way. That was 8 weeks – not bad! Faster than I was prepared for, anyway.

Naturally as soon as I got the shipping notification I started to second guess everything. What if they didn’t fit? I was especially concerned about that part, because normally I wear a 39 but the boots I liked in the store were a 38… the website calls those 7-7.5 and I wear an 8-8.5, all of my boots before have been 39, so what if we had somehow messed that up and my feet didn’t even fit in them? I was just crossing my fingers and hoping they would fit as well as the ones I’d tried on in the store.

Luckily when they arrived and I pulled them out of the box, they were perfect, at least looks-wise. Everything I had envisioned, for sure. They looked a little small and slim to my eye though, so I was nervous. I tried them on with shorts and no socks the first time, and to my complete relief my feet settled right in and I was able to zip them up with only a moderate amount of effort. Tight in the calf, yes, as they’re supposed to be, and needed to drop a bit for sure, but… they fit just like brand new boots should! Maybe even better than the ones I’d tried on in the store.

I wore them yesterday to ride and while they still need to loosen up a teeny bit at the instep, they’re super comfortable already. I can walk around in them and ride in them without a problem. The left calf is still a bit tighter than the right, but I can zip it without too much strain. I think in a few more wears they’ll be absolutely perfect.

As far as my initial impressions when it comes to quality, they remind me most similarly of my Tucci boots. The leather is more rugged than something super thin/soft like Parlanti, and it has more structure than those do so it will likely wear a lot better over time. Clearly they’re still soft enough to break in easily and be comfortable, so I think the leather they chose strikes a good balance. They’ve got all the high end details like a zipper guard at the heel, the little zipper slot at the top to secure the zipper, the elastic gusset, etc. For the price point (under 1k) I’m pretty impressed with them so far. We’ll see how they wear over time.

Once my bank account recovers from all the blows it’s taken lately I definitely want to get a brown pair. Now that I know how well these fit and how easy the process was, I’d happily go back for a repeat experience, plus I’d like to keep these black glittery ones more for lessons/shows/etc, so a brown pair would be perfect for everyday. I couldn’t help but notice that they actually have a brown pair in stock in my size….

I will say that I think being able to go to an actual store with a good/experienced rep and try stuff on and see the options in person makes such a big difference. From measuring myself and looking at the size chart I would not have picked the size I ended up in… what I picked would have fit, sure, but not this well. If you ever find yourself near WEC it’s 100% worth it to go by the store and get fitted in person. Shoot, it’s a cheap/easy flight to Orlando from most places. I’m pretty sure Romitelli does virtual fittings, so that could be an option too. I’m really pleased with my experience with them so far.

It feels great to have some good-fitting and pretty boots again… they make everything better.