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It’s become a bit of a game to find little toys and things to show the babies. It keeps things fun, and them seeing some scary stuff now when they’re little seems to help build their confidence and bravery for the future. Plus, ya know, it’s entertaining as heck.

This time the toys of choice were a little dog tunnel and a flower bubble machine. Right off the bat the babies spotted the human with the interesting new things and came up to scope them out. Ladies first of course, because they’re always the most bold.

The girls weren’t really all that impressed with the bubbles, to be fair. They sniffed it once and then wandered off bored. Obi, however, was skeptical of the death acid balls (his words) that it was shooting out at a very high rate of speed.

You know who was a big fan of it, though? Mr. Percy. He LOVED the bubbles. He marched right up there, gave it a sniff, and then just keep standing there letting the bubbles accumulate around him.

When the machine ran out of bubble solution and shut off he almost seemed sad about it.

As for Patrick, he wasn’t really convinced that any of this business was safe or wise to participate in. He prefers to spectate all the various tomfoolery, thank you very much. If he was a human he’d always be the designated driver of the friend group, I think.

The girls didn’t really get that interested in this particular play day until the tunnel came out. Now THAT looked like it was worth investigating.

Especially once it got popped open and laid out to full size. They immediately had to scope it out.

At first (for, ya know, at least 15 seconds) they were a little skeptical of it, but it didn’t take long before it became basically a jungle gym. Especially for Teddy. Because Pony.

She’s now stomped it, sat on it, run over top of it, jumped over it, and scared the boys with it. What better toy could a girl want?

Happy Friday!

Y’all know I can’t resist a 5* field, and Bicton being a bit of a one-off plus containing a fair number of first time 5* starters, I definitely had to take a closer look at the field. It’s a small group for a 5*, we started with 39 entries and are down to 33 as of this writing, but there are still some interesting horses and breeding to look at here. The course looks great, H&C will be livestreaming – what more could you want?

The first thing that stood out to me was the number of horses that have a full TB parent. There aren’t any full TB’s in the field, but 11 horses (33% of the field) have one full TB parent. As far as which side of the pedigree the blood is on, it’s split pretty evenly – 5 have a full TB sire and 6 have a full TB dam. If you go back one more generation, an additional 6 horses have a full TB damsire and another 3 have a full TB sire’s sire. Even with no full thoroughbreds in the field, the importance of TB blood in the modern event horse is still very evident, and it doesn’t necessarily seem to matter where in the pedigree the blood comes from. None of them share the same thoroughbred either – you see everything from the classic sires like Imperius xx and Hand in Glove xx to more modern sires like Tajraasi xx.

The average blood percentage for the field is 60%, higher than the usual 55-56ish that we’re used to seeing at the European 5*’s. MHS King Joules (by Ghareeb xx out of a Cavalier Royale/Morwood xx mare) has the highest blood percentage, around 84%, and Finduss PFB (by Saffier out of a Sarantos/Purioso mare) is the lowest around 33%.

As far as where they were bred, as usual Ireland gets to stake the biggest claim, with 48% of the field having been bred in Ireland. Despite that, only three of the 16 Irish-breds are fully of traditional Irish breeding, the other 13 have continental European warmblood heritage (mostly Selle Francais and Holsteiner – the magical combination). Of the three traditionally bred Irish Sporthorses, they have a lot of blood in there to balance to Irish Draught – Alfies Clover is 72% TB, Diamond Ructions is also 72% TB, and Majas Hope is 77% TB. The other two countries that have bred the most entrants are Great Britain and Nederlands, with 6 horses each.

While none of the horses in the field share the same sire, we do see a few stallions appearing in multiple horses’ pedigrees. Clover Hill shows up in 4 different horses, once as the sire’s sire, twice as the damsire, and once as the dam’s damsire. Namelus R is the sire’s sire of two horses, with Rock King and Cavalier Royale in the damsire spot for two horses.

We see a lot of jumper bred horses in the field, as usual, as well as some purpose-bred eventers. Top level 1.60m showjumper stallions Carambole, Iroko, Camiro de Haar Z, Hermes de Reve, Touchdown, and Tangelo vd Zuuthoeve are the sires of one horse each. Advanced level eventing stallions Mill Law and Jumbo both have one offspring each, and 5* eventing stallions Oslo Biats and Chilli Morning also have one each. Interestingly perhaps for US breeders, there are two sires of horses in this field that are now over here breeding in North America – Valentino (sire of VIP Vinnie) and Billy Mexico (sire of Billy Walk On).

Looking on the damside we also see some excellent performance horses. RSH Contend Or’s dam showjumped to 1.60m level and Fonbherna Lancer’s dam showjumped to 1.40m level. Two horses in the field have top level eventing dams – Chilli Knight out of 5* mare King’s Gem, and Mr Fahrenheit out of 5* mare Little Tiger.

In addition to performance mares we also see some who didn’t compete in sport themselves but have proven to be tremendous producers. MHS King Joules’ dam produced 10 foals – 2 eventers competing 3* and 5* and 5 showjumpers competing from 1.30m up to 1.60m. HHS Noble Call’s dam produced 5 foals – one 4* eventer and 4 showjumpers competing from 1.35m through 1.60m. Pencos Crown Jewel’s dam has also produced a whopping THREE 1.60m showjumpers. Billy Walk On’s dam produced 3 other eventers that have competed through 3* level. Mr Farenheit’s dam Little Tiger has also produced another 4* eventer, making her a excellent producer as well as a top performance horse. The same can be said of Chilli Knight’s dam King’s Gem, who already has produced one other 5* eventer a well as a 3* eventer.

I can’t wait to see how this new course shakes out and who finds themselves on top at the end. Who are your Bicton picks?

If there’s one thing I’m passionate about, it’s supporting the people and programs that I really believe in. And, as you may have noticed, I’m a big fan of the Willow Tree Warmbloods breeding program. I mean, I’m part of it so I’m biased, and Presto bears the WTW suffix, but ya know. I’m proud of what Michelle has built so far and am very proud to rep the farm and happy to help put the name out there as much as possible. Therefore, I have a lot of WTW logo stuff.

As Presto begins to wind down his time in training, and the transition back over to me becomes more and more real, I find myself doing a weird equestrian version of nesting and prepping. I can’t really do anything right now except think about what we might do and where we might go next year. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I have no problem being a walking advertisement for WTW. Plus, like, the logo that Britt made is pretty sweet, so why not show it off. I’ve slowly been adding bits and pieces to my WTW apparel and equipment.

When Presto was a wee baby mostly I had stuff like a grooming towel, and a scrim sheet, and a polo shirt… stuff I could use when he was showing in hand. Plus the decals on my truck and trailer. Now that he’s a bonafide Real Horse it’s time to start expanding a bit. He got his fancy bonnet back when he went to Megan, because ya know… gotta have a fancy hat. I love his bonnet and how professional it looks, and I think the logo turned out great (it came from Equine Bonnets and only took a week – highly recommend). Otherwise though he wears Megan’s logo stuff, since obviously it’s easier for her to use her own pads and whatnot, and fair enough for her to also rep her own program.

But now that he’s headed back to me soon, I figured it’s time to start expanding on both his and my stuff and add a few pieces at a time so that we’re fully locked and loaded and logo’d to death by the time we ever actually hit a horse show. That’s part of the point, right? Pretty sure.

I’ve been needing to buy him some saddle pads anyway – all I’ve got are Henry’s sheepskin-lined ones and Presto can’t wear those because he needs the shimmable half pad. Oddly out of all the things I collect, saddle pads are not one of them. I have very few. But seeing Megan’s Pro Choice saddle pads this year, I actually really liked them, so I got him one of their XC ones – white with navy trim. Which…. uh… I kinda forgot until this moment that he needs pads for stadium and dressage too so good job self. You can see what phase I care about most. Anyway, I did order him the XC pad already anyway, and I definitely plan on having the WTW logo put on it. I just can’t decide which way I prefer the logo.

On one hand, the top one sits nicely with the shape of the pad and the text is bigger/easier to read, but the bottom is the classic WTW logo format and is more recognizable. There’s also room beside it to pin my bridle number if I don’t want it on his head or breastplate. Pros and cons. I put it to an Instagram poll but the results were almost 50/50 so that didn’t help much. The only thing I’ve decided for sure is that it’ll have the logo on one side and his name on the other.

I also snagged a banner and a stall sign on super sale from Vistaprint, we’ll see how they turn out.

The whole world will definitely know about WTW if I have anything to say about it. Like people will be begging me to stop soon. No shame in my game.

What is y’alls favorite logo item?

I figured Mina gets one more update post, since she’s been here for I think 6 weeks now (?) and has settled in to farm dog life a bit.

Now that we know each other and she’s gotten used to the farm, things have come along pretty well. I know going from being an apartment dog to a farm dog was a big change for her, but for the most part she’s acclimated just fine. When she first came home I was fairly sure she hadn’t really spent much if any time off leash, she was very confused by the concept of freedom. Bit by bit she started earning more and more though, as she worked on paying attention to me and coming when she was called. Her recall is very good now, I never have to have her leashed or worry about her running off at all, she comes running just from a whistle and tends to not really want to lose me from her sight anyway. She’s definitely figured out that I’m her person.

As for the horses, she’s not really scared of them anymore, which is a good thing and a bad thing. She’s not as careful about staying out of their path or away from their feet so I have to watch her pretty closely when she’s near them. Quinnie and Henry really don’t pay her any mind but JB is deathly curious about her and really wants to chase her, which Mina has yet to realize.

We haven’t had too many encounters with wildlife or other animals, aside from bugs (this dog will run up to a spiderweb and shove her whole face in it to sniff the spider). She loves to chase birds but I don’t think she’d know what to do if she ever actually caught one. What does seem to concern her is if any of the livestock start singing the songs of their various people – like if the cows start mooing or the donkeys start heehawing or the horses start neighing. Mina goes on high alert, or if it’s the horses she wants to go running over to them. I dunno if she thinks there’s something going down or if she’s still just not figured out what the heck noise they’re making.

For the most part Mina only has two modes – 100% balls to the wall, or asleep. Like… there’s very little in between. She’s quite high-energy, I bet she wasn’t that great as an apartment dog honestly. Stewie was a JRT mix and even in his heyday he wasn’t as high energy as she is. She’s got that vibrating, ADHD quality to her sometimes. There are lots of zoomies. Lots.

To her credit though, she’s not destructive AT ALL. She doesn’t chew or dig or bark or anything like that. Her only real bad habit that I’m still trying to deal with is that she jumps up on people. She kind of gets overwhelmed with excitement because FRANDS and then just starts leaping like crazy. I’ve gotten her to stop doing it to me 95% of the time but all bets are off for new people. That’s a work in progress.

The other thing she really seems to hate is… leaving. She doesn’t want to get in the car AT ALL, and she’s high anxiety the whole time she’s in there and when she goes anywhere new. We’ve done about 5 little trips now, thinking she’d get better over time once she figured out she definitely wasn’t going back to the shelter. Not so much… if anything she’s gotten worse. If you go to the car she runs the other way and lays down in a ball, you basically have to drag her in. Not really worth it, IMO. I guess she’s happy enough here?

I’m glad that she likes the farm and isn’t overwhelmed by it, nor is she a flight risk. You just never know how they’ll handle it sometimes. For a shelter dog that came from who knows where, she’s a really good dog overall.

Sorry about the conspicuous absence of a Foal Friday post last week. Believe it or not sometimes Michelle has “other things to do” and “personal life commitments” that don’t always allow her to spend time taking and uploading foal photos every week. I know, I know, sounds like fake news to me too but I can only repeat what I’m told. We’ll have a good one for you this week to make up for it though, so… hopefully it’s forgiven?

It’s been hot AF down here for the most part anyway, we’re officially in summer’s armpit. We did get a little bit of rain one day last week, and that broke the heat cycle even if only briefly, so it’s not as bad as it could have been. There’ve been a couple of real Texas Summer days though, which mostly just reminded me of how much it really sucks when the air is so hot and humid it punches you in the face when you walk outside. Not a fan. It’s also the worst for Henry, who, on days like that, needs to be hosed off several times throughout the day. He’s pretty pro about it by now though, you don’t even need a halter and leadrope, he takes himself over the hose.

The only saving grace is that the mornings, while 100% humidity every friggin day, have been fairly cool. The humidity is workable when it’s only mid-70’s, I just have to be on Henry as early as I can. I’m a big fan of morning rides anyway, it’s my favorite time of day. The world is a little quieter and calmer and the sun feels benevolent instead of ruthless. Once it’s fully up, it’s just brutal. Plus like, there’s really no better way to kick off the day than on a good horse, am I right?

My weekend afternoons were completely consumed with Millstreet coverage. Once again another year has passed without us being able to attend (it was our planned trip for 2020 – ha. ha. hahaha. boooo.) but I’m really hoping that next year it’ll be possible. They’ve got FEI divisions up to 4*L, including ponies, plus young horse stuff. It’s like, all of our favorite things rolled into one. Plus the whole Ireland part… we’ve yet to peruse the stallions and young stock of Ireland in person, and it’s a definitely must-do thing on the list (along with finding me a dun Fusion filly).

One big thing I noticed though while watching the Millstreet coverage – and maybe this is because I spent last weekend watching Great Meadow thus it was still fresh on my mind – is just how different the commentary is between the live streams. These Irish guys knew the bloodlines of almost every single horse, mentioned the breeder, siblings of the horse, other horses the breeder had produced, the sires, the dams, etc. Like – extensively. They even went off a couple times on tangents about underused stallions, the impact that ICSI has had on genetic diversity, etc. Compared to the Great Meadow livestream where they only mentioned the sire of a few of the horses, had some blatantly wrong observations, and otherwise discussed things like colors or size or personal stories about the rider/owner…. the difference was stark. The Irish are horsemen, they know their stock, they know where and who they come from and how they’re made. It’s no wonder they’re so much better at it than we are. It once again left me with the distinct impression that we really have to step it up in a lot of regards.

BTW they had the livestream of Millstreet on their facebook page so you can still go back and watch the various divisions if you want. Highly recommend, it’s good stuff.

Speaking of livestreams, this week is going to be a busy one. We’ve got AECs starting tomorrow, streaming on the USEA website, and then Bicton 5* starting Friday, streaming on H&C. I’m pretty excited to see how Bicton goes, the course looks legit and there are a lot of good horses entered. And naturally I’m excited about AEC to be able to watch some of my friends go, as well as the Mighty Magic in the Advanced (Miks Master C) and Megan’s two horses in the Intermediate and Prelim.

Otherwise I was pretty busy around the farm last week, since the BO’s were off at Festival of Champions watching their super young horse show under Michelle Gibson. She ended up 2nd in the 6yo final, pretty exciting! They picked her out as a foal so I know how proud and rewarding that has to feel.

When they’re gone all the barn work falls to me, which I don’t mind at all. Taking care of the horses has never felt like much of a chore (okay, except for Blizzard Week where I hated everything. We try not to speak of that week). Plus, like, I averaged 12-14k steps every day last week… not bad. I wish there was a good way to tell how many gallons of sweat that amounted to.

Hope you guys had a good weekend and anyone in the path of Hurricane Ida is doing ok. And if you’re headed to AEC’s – best of luck!