With all the horse show recap stuff last week it’s been a while since I updated on any of the general goings-on around here. There’s no particularly big news but there are a few fun things in the works, like…

I got my Maryland 5* tickets! Whether Presto ends up there for YEH Championships or not, I still really do not want to miss the inaugural 5* at Fair Hill. It’s so exciting to have another American 5* on offer, and I get the feeling that it might draw a pretty good field this year. All the updates they’ve been posting on facebook look pretty good, and naturally I’m really looking forward to all the vendors. After all the cancelled plans and not getting to go to Kentucky for the past two years, I’m itching to get back to a big horsey event. From the way tickets were selling (I got mine 30 minutes after they opened sales and most of the cheap seats were already gone!) I think everyone else feels the same way. Plus a friend of mine already secured a rental house that’s just a few miles away from the show grounds, so that works out extra perfectly. It feels great to have another horse trip booked again, even if it’s not quite the Ireland funfest we were originally working on pre-covid.

Speaking of horse trips, Presto’s Chatt entries are officially in. He’ll be trying his hoof at his first YEH classes there, which I had to send pics of his papers to prove his age (although he has his age recorded with USEF and USEA already? whatever.).

It’s shaping up to be a pretty good sized YEH4 class at Chatt though, which is exciting. It’s always good to see these programs thrive and gain some popularity, and now that we’re getting a little later in the year more 4yo’s are starting to show up. Which is good, because as of right now only 18 horses are qualified for East Coast 4yo YEH Champs. Of course, the bummer about waiting until the second half of the year to do a qualifiers is that the heights and technicality increase a bit, but I don’t foresee Presto having any real problem with it (knock on wood of course, because baby horse). Megan has been preparing him for that and he’s shown zero issue with anything that’s been tossed at him. Chatt does have a lot of atmosphere though and things there always ride/look big, so I think it’ll be a good test. The YEH classes happen on Friday before the horse trials start, and he’s doing both, so if nothing else the YEH class will at least serve to let him see a few things in advance, like the dressage rings and the water jump. More bang for your buck as far as miles go with a baby horse!

Originally I was going to fly into Atlanta and stay with my brother (who conveniently lives about 20-30mins away) for Chatt, but now Hillary decided to take the WonderHony so I’m going to drive there and back with her so she’s not hauling alone. I cancelled my flight and will just use the credit toward getting to Fair Hill in the fall. I can still stay at my brother’s house and use his WiFi for work and his truck to get around, so again that all fell into place really well. I’m looking forward to a bit of a groom-cation and a change of scenery, plus it’s been a couple years since I’ve seen my brother.

Other than all the trip planning I did have some fun new stuff arrive too. First and foremost, our couch for the tiny house, which we ordered EIGHT MONTHS AGO, was finally delivered last week.

I do really like it, the color is exactly what I wanted (its a little darker than the pic shows) and I think it looks really good. I’m already kind of regretting the black pillows though, they’re a velvety fabric so legit everything sticks to them. I’m looking at dog hair and hay on them as we speak. I have a feeling the pillows might end up elsewhere, or with new covers. But now that we’ve FINALLY got the last real piece of furniture, I feel like I can actually start putting up some decor and shit now too. I literally haven’t put a single thing up on the walls yet to this point, but I did order some shelves yesterday so I can get rolling on putting those up above the couch. Then I probably need to put something on the wall in the bedroom. After that though I think she’ll pretty much be complete! Slowest move-in ever.

I also got my summer reading books that I talked about a couple weeks ago, all primed and ready to go. I already skimmed through Ride Big a little bit and it looks promising. I think the Jimmy Wofford book will make the trip with me to Chatt, seems apropos.

I also caved and got the giant Kong Equine that’s been advertised all over the place the past few months.

I’ve really wanted it from the first time I saw it, but I was also like “ain’t no way in hell I’m paying that much money for a horse toy”. And then I had to kind of laugh at myself because between the giant Jolly Balls, hanging treat balls, lik-its, and various other things, I don’t really even want to know what I’ve spent on horse toys in the past year alone. I think I’ve bought at least 10 balls and another 10 hanging treats, if I was guessing, so… don’t do the math. Either way, I’m the last person that should be scoffing at what is at least an indestructible toy/treat thingy that you reuse over and over over. In the end I caved and found a coupon code and ponied up, trying not to feel too ridiculous. I’ll do a full review of it after Presto has it for a couple weeks at Chatt, but I did give it to Henry one day to test it out and indeed it kept him occupied for quite a while. So far I’m kind of obsessed with it, and I think I’ll get my money’s worth out of it so… I really have no regrets. Make fun of me if you must.

Otherwise life around here has been pretty much business as usual. We did switch the horses over to nighttime turnout finally, because the days are just getting way too hot. We also rotated them to a different pasture which has been resting since the fall, so they’ve got lots of good grass at the moment, plus that pasture borders my house. I’ve got ponies out every window again.

This schedule works out really nicely. The horses get a little more time outside, and since they’re inside all day we clean stalls in the evening, freeing up my mornings for riding. I can do my spin class, feed, ride Henry, and still be back inside in time for my first meeting of the day. I have zero complaints.

I do have Henry signed up for a couple jumper classes at a local show this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes/if it actually comes to fruition (since nothing really has with him lately). Then next week we leave for Chatt already, and Henry will get a couple weeks vacation while I’m gone. Time is passing quickly, even when it feels like not much is happening.

I think we’re well past due for a Percy update! And instead of just showing you pictures and telling you how he is, I figured we’d let him show you for himself in his own little video.

As you can see he’s doing great, looking loads better, and is super super sweet. It looks like he’ll be just fine.

This week has been super busy at WTW with mares getting bred (it’s pretty much the end of the season for us) and foals getting body clipped (100 degrees is no fun when you’re covered in a thick foal coat) so hopefully next week we’ll have lots more updates and some sleek looking, magical color-changing foals!

I’ve always had pretty good luck with ordering things from overseas, at least when it comes to fit. Saddles, breeches, bridles, coats, shirts, boots… you name it, I’ve probably taken a blind leap of faith. My success rate is probably because I’m really annoying, and if I don’t trust a size chart I’ll email and ask, and/or do some deep dive googling. I did the same thing for this last batch of stuff too, especially the pretty blingy coat that I’m so obsessed with.

The size chart seemed a little wonky so I messaged the shop that had them and asked how the sizing ran. I gave them my measurements and asked which size they’d recommend, since the size chart put me in between sizes. She said that they run small and I should size up, but I was still kind of waffling on it so ultimately I decided to order both sizes and just sell whichever one didn’t fit.

Well, joke’s on me because neither of them fit. I’m not sure why one would recommend sizing up, because IMO they run big. Like bigger than the Motionlites, which are very “American” sizing in a world where most stuff is smaller European sizing. Even the medium coat was super baggy. I laid it out and measured it across the bust and it was 19″… REALLY big for a medium in any kind of equestrian clothing. My bust measurement is 35.5″, so… yeah, 38″ is a no. In the shirts (which had a different size chart?) I had ordered a small and a medium. The medium was definitely big, but the small sort of fit. The body was about right, but the arms were quite tight (maybe I should stop lifting weights lol). Honestly I struck out with all 4 pieces, despite thinking I was so smart for ordering two size options of each. Total fail.

I had also ordered a shirt and a pair of breeches from Germany, and the shirt fits great (and I LOVE IT) but the breeches are too big in the waist. Being in between sizes is getting really annoying. I was hoping a true European brand might fit a bit smaller but no.

One other thing did fit, and that’s the set of boots that I ordered for Henry. I tossed them in the cart on a whim because I really wanted some navy everyday brushing boots, and these Weatherbeeta ones were only $25 a pair.

Their size chart was also a little weird, and the internet said the straps run long, so I ordered a pair of cob size for the front and full size for the rear. The straps are a little long but they fit well otherwise, and so far so good. They’re actually pretty nice little lightweight brushing boots and I love the color. We’ll see how long they last.

The downside of buying things from overseas is that returns aren’t really feasible, so now I find myself with yet more clothes to sell. The medium coat got scooped up fast but I still have the large (it’s 20″ across the bust) that I’d sell for $160 USD and the medium shirt (18.5″ across the bust) for $45 USD.

Plus the breeches (white with silver piping, knee patch, size 30) which I’ll sell for $75.

I also have some other show shirts to sell, all around a 37″ish bust size, but I still need to go through and make a list. If you might be interested let me know. Oh and a couple pairs of Kerrit’s Icefil tights in size Large, navy and black.

In the meantime, if y’all see any good deals (new or secondhand) on Horze Grand Prix or RJ Classics Gulf breeches in size 28, send them my way please! I also like Montar, size 40. I’ve been strongly considering trying the Struck, since they have in-between sizes (I wish more breech manufacturers would do this, like jeans sizing), but they’re really expensive. Like… really expensive.

Oh yeah, also I have my dressage saddle for sale too – an 18″ Devoucoux Loreak. I have not yet summoned the energy to list it anywhere but my personal facebook page, but… I really do need to get on that.

I really hate selling shit, buying it is more fun. Well… usually, anyway.

I finally got the pro pics from Texas Rose last month, and omg y’all this little noodle horse. I couldn’t choose just a few so I ended up buying the all images package like a creepy overly obsessed horsemom, because… ya know… baby’s first event. I had to buy them all, right? There are some really cute ones though, so no regrets.

Who’s horse is this even, it can’t possibly the same one that was sitting in my pasture 6 months ago murdering balls on the regular?

While I opted to end Henry’s horse show early, Presto was still having himself a grand time. He had about 4 hours between dressage and stadium, and he was the last of Megan’s 4 rides (or I guess 8 rides for the day, with dressage and stadium for each horse) to go. The morning hadn’t been TOO terrible with the cloud cover – humid AF but not that unbearably hot. As soon as the sun came out though, it got absolutely miserable pretty much immediately. Luckily Presto copes with the heat really well, and seemed more than happy to come back out and warm up for some jompies.

By this point the ride times had kind of devolved into a “sorta numerical order but also sorta whoever is just there and wants to go” type of thing, and he ended up having to wait for a bit after a larger group. Then there was a short hold when a horse slipped and fell in the muddiest corner, pancaking himself and his rider to the ground. It took her a while to get up but they were ok thank goodness. I have to admit that up until then I felt like maybe I’d been a little silly to scratch Henry, but when I saw that I was like nope I definitely made the right decision for him, I know he’d have been struggling in the corners. Plus like, if I’d been sitting on him in warmup when that happened I’d have been like nah fam, I’m out. Really don’t need a repeat of Coconino stadium where he slid through a fence, thanks. After she got up they came and put a load of sand in that corner, which seemed to help a little.

Of course, PestoPasta was still having zero issues with the footing at all. He had yet to slip or stumble or look at all unsure of any footfall. After the slight delay Megan went back to warmup to do some rapid fire transitions to make sure she had some rideability, then they went in for their round.

The course was set on the softer side for sure, it looked a little small and nothing was particularly spooky or difficult. It was a bit loopy though, with lots of turns and bends. Presto naturally didn’t look twice at anything and the round was pretty steady, aside from the outside 5 stride to 2 stride line that he REALLY thought he wanted to do in a 4 but Megan insisted that he must do in 5. Party pooper (Presto’s words). He lightly tapped a couple rails but nothing came down… I think his shape in the air is getting a little better.

He did have time penalties though, as did literally everyone except 3 people. Yes, that’s correct, only 3 people made the time out of dozens of rounds. I was standing there for a while during a few different divisions and even people who made pretty freakin tidy turns and left out strides were getting time penalties, and we’re talking an average of around 15 seconds over – not a small amount. I have a strong suspicion that it was either wheeled incorrectly or the math was incorrect, because there’s no way that a tidy round with appropriate pace should be that far over time. I personally felt like the time should have been adjusted early on in the day when it was first realized that no one was getting it (because, ya know, the last thing we should want to do at a schooling show on muddy ground is potentially encourage people to try to make tighter turns and go faster), but it was what it was. Presto’s round was very appropriately ridden, both pace-wise and path-wise. He was happy and eager to jump around and looked plenty confident and forward-thinking, so you can’t be unhappy about that.

After stadium I hosed him off, let him graze for a bit, and then he went back to his stall and fan to get away from the heat.

They didn’t finalize the XC course maps until later in the afternoon, because they were still out there checking the footing and deciding which fences needed to be taken off. The entire far field was extremely wet, along with patches all along basically the first half of the course. In the end 6 jumps were removed from the Novice (2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12) leaving them with 13 efforts. There were definitely still some really boggy areas on the course, especially around the water and the stretch in between 5 and 8, but it all seemed manageable enough for Presto. All the jumps looked totally fine for him too, pretty straightforward, and I didn’t anticipate that he’d have issues with any of it. Which is… kind of a nice feeling to have at a horse’s second event and first Novice. I figured if anything he might spook a bit at the bridge crossings between the fields, which are narrow and dropped off on each side about 10-15 feet down to a creek. Those bridge crossings scare even some of the most veteran horses sometimes. By this point he’d seen them a couple times though, and they had to cross one even just going to and from the barn, so hopefully by Sunday morning it would be moot.

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Sunday morning went by quick juggling Megan’s four horses, since she had two in the Prelim and two in the Novice. It was also extremely hot and sticky and just disgusting outside… watching her get on horse after horse was making ME hot. But we shuffled through them all pretty quickly, and Presto was the last of her group to go, just before 10am. He’d had to wait by XC warmup in his bridle so we could switch her saddle over to him after she got off the other Novice horse (something he had to do all weekend, which is good for him). We were standing sort of near the water while we waited and every time a horse came through he watched them very intently. I think if he could talk there would have been a lot of very enthusiastic Buddy The Elf type of cheerful feedback from Presto “Look at you, running and jomping! You look amazing! That’s incredible! WOW! You’re so fast!” while he watched the other horses go.

By the time Megan got on him I think the searing sun had baked any possible wildness out of him, because he went straight to business. She spent all of about 5 minutes w/t/c, jumped two jumps, and went straight to the start box.

We couldn’t see the first few jumps in the other field, but soon enough he popped out of the trees on his way to 8. He jumped the house, cantered through the water (like a big kid!), through the swamp and over the ramp at 11, then the little hanging log at 13. That all looked very easy. Hillary and I jumped on her golf cart to follow him over to the next field (it was too bouncy to try to video but it was kinda fun to follow along with him from a distance). There was a nice galloping stretch between 13 and 14AB, and you could see him starting to click into his gallop a little bit. He jumped the combination at 14AB beautifully out of stride, swung around to 15 which also jumped great, and then disappeared from view again into the trees. He popped back out pretty quickly though, having no trouble with 16 or 17, and cantered easily over the little ramp at the last. It was a really easy and very smooth round – quite professional!

He had a double clear round, finishing in 4th place. Most importantly though, he again put together three solid phases, and managed to make some clear improvements over his first show despite not having worked much in between. He’s in that phase where he’s learning so fast, and his confidence in his job is very evident. The XC especially seems to be his strongest phase, he just eats it right up.

With that we’ve got ourselves a Novice pony! Next up Presto is heading to Chatt (knock on wood that he doesn’t do anything dumb between now and then anyway) in Georgia for the first two weekends in July to tackle his first YEH class and run the Novice there. I get to go with him, so I can’t wait!