Well that horse show was… something. It was considerably muddier than I expected, with plenty of standing water and even more boggy mud. You know what horse is a terrible freaking mudder?

I’ve never really ridden one that feels as terrible in mud as Henry does, but bless his heart he just really sucks at dealing with conditions like that and always has. I can’t even really describe how bad it feels. He balls himself up and gets angry, and loses all confidence in where he’s putting his feet. His little downhill short-strided way of going really doesn’t help things. The only time we’ve ever really had problems at shows with him has been when it’s muddy. Plus he’s not drilled and tapped at the moment because, ya know, he’s not really showing right now, so I didn’t have the option of putting studs in (I definitely would have if I could, that probably would have helped significantly). So… I was pretty skeptical about Henry’s ability to horse show as soon as I saw the footing.

I hacked him on Friday when I got there and he felt ok in the higher areas of the field, so I was hoping it would dry enough by the next morning to be passable. I decided to do dressage and see how he felt, and well… that was a shitshow. As soon as he got down there in that boggy ring he got super up and down, and I ended up just avoiding the muddiest parts of the ring (had to kind of chuckle at the “not accurate circle” and “did not use corner” comments… yes ma’am you are 100% correct, that was intentional). Honestly though by the second friggin circle I almost just stopped him and retired, it felt that unpleasant. A few horses pulled shoes, some struggled as much as Henry did, and others didn’t even seem to notice the mud. Henry though – he just was not handling that footing at-the-heck-all, so I went and scratched him after dressage. The footing in the showjumping was a lot better than that dressage ring (except for a couple of the corners) but I didn’t see a point in potentially causing a problem or rattling his confidence over a Novice round at a schooling show. I’d rather be overly cautious and save him for another day. Plus it was WAY hotter and more humid than the forecast had originally called for, and y’all know that’s really hard weather for him. Just not worth it. So, Henry’s weekend ended very early.

Presto on the other hand… he was one of the horses that didn’t even seem to notice that it was muddy. That kid has always been pretty good on his feet and on all different surfaces and that’s definitely true under saddle too. So, we’ll recap his show experience instead.

They allowed schooling the day before the show started, so Megan took advantage of that and got him out to pop over some stuff. The plan right now is to do the YEH at Chatt in July, and 1) the 4yo YEH in the second half of the year includes a lot of Novice, 2) Chatt is pretty big and visually imposing anyway. Megan entered him in the Novice this weekend for that reason, but the Novice at this show was still soft, especially compared to Chatt, so jumping a couple bigger or more challenging things was a smart decision. Plus, like… Presto has yet to notice height or complexity in anything that’s been asked of him. He’s bold and willing and finds it all pretty easy. Megan hopped over a few smaller fences to warm up, then did a couple of Training combinations and called it a day.

It’s easy to forget how little this horse has really done and seen, or that he’s only been in training for 4 months, he comes at it so naturally. In the month since his first show at Texas Rose he’s had most of that time off, and had only jumped once. He’s only XC schooled a few times ever. But it just… makes perfect sense to him. Plus Megan has developed him well and prepared his basics so that the jumps just come more easily, and he definitely doesn’t find it to be physically challenging at all. I don’t think you’d look at him and guess he was as inexperienced as he really is. Definitely a different caliber horse than I’ve had before (plus, ya know.. never had the benefit of being able to put one in full time pro training, which… makes a huge difference)!

On Saturday for dressage, his warmup got a little bit interesting when a train came through. The edge of the warmup area has a fairly busy train track, and it is LOUD and kinda scary to see a massive train speeding by through the trees. He got a little worried and wound up (as many horses do there) but what I really liked about it is that he was able to go back to work and forget it once the train had passed. He doesn’t carry the tension around in his brain the way Henry does, or work himself up into brain overload. He has a moment, and then goes about his business again. It only took a few minutes to get him back together, and he was able to go in the ring and put down a solid test, train completely forgotten.

He scored 32.9, which was about a point higher than Texas Rose, but I thought it was a better test. He was more consistent in the contact and not wanting to look around/gawk quite as much. He maybe was a little less free in his ground cover, but given the footing I think that’s understandable. The stretchy bits are still hard for him (there’s so much to see, and wouldn’t you rather SEE ALL THE THINGS than stretch your head down?) but he did show a tad more inclination to want to reach down for the bit in the stretch movements in this test than he did in the last one. Considering that he hasn’t worked that much between the two shows, I thought there was still a clear difference, even if the score didn’t show it. Either way though, 32.9 is super respectable for his second ever dressage test and first Novice. He beat me and Henry by like 4 points hahahaha (literally no one is surprised by that, right?).

That was good enough to leave him sitting in 4th after dressage, off to a good start!

Tomorrow, the jumping phases…

I don’t have any time today to dedicate to spinning the usual little Foal Friday tale, so instead I figured I’d let the pictures tell their own story this week. One balanced with equal parts chaos and cuteness, because that’s really what foals are, after all, and this group certainly has plenty of both.

So… I haven’t been to an actual event in almost 2 years. Coconino July 2019, to be exact. We’ve done some things here and there, but quick one day affairs (generally jumper classes) – things that are simple and require very little preparation or brain power. And while the show this weekend is a schooling show, and we’re running Novice for the first time since… 2016(?)… it’s still a multi-day affair that is a couple hours away and therefore requires a lot more effort than anything else we’ve done in the past couple years.

While all the rain means that I’m definitely not very prepared on the riding side of things (who needs to jump a full course within a couple months of a show anyway….) it did at least give me plenty of time to get the rest sorted out. I tried on all my show clothes (some fit, some don’t), waffled over what to wear, and settled on just bringing “options” because decisions are hard. I’ve already been to the grocery store to get food and drinks for the weekend. I managed to remember to find my show XC boots and, uh… wash them. Nothing like using them, tossing them in your trunk, and forgetting about them for 2 years. They got a lot whiter than I expected. I also get to finally debut Henry’s sparkly Majyk Equipe leather boots, so that’s fun. I bodyclipped Henry about a week and a half ago (he does SO much better in the heat when he’s bodyclipped) and fixed up his tail last night. I didn’t re-sculpt the top but I brushed it out and dyed it and banged it, so he doesn’t look feral anymore. He’s officially ready to be seen in public again.

I still have to like… learn my dressage test (bleh) and figure out how to work the newer Cambox v4 that I got over the winter (why does technology get harder as I get older, someone help), but I think I’ve remembered everything. Hopefully. This venue has a weird outlet situation for fans so I’ve got approximately 9000 adapters and extension cords plus two fan options. Henry has to have a fan. I’m packing my trailer today so I guess we’ll see how prepared I feel once that’s done. I think I’ve got my bases covered though. Oh, and I stocked up on Oatmeal Creme Pies, so… Henry should be golden at least.

I can’t do as much about the lack of preparation for the riding aspect. We haven’t XC schooled since last fall, we’ve had one lesson in the past year, haven’t been able to jump hardly at all lately… it’s not ideal by any means but it is what is is. We’ve dropped down two levels from what we were competing at before, Henry feels GREAT in the work we’ve been able to do in between all the rain, and most importantly, this is just for fun. I have zero expectations whatsoever, and if at any point I need to scratch then I will. It’s whatever. Honestly it feels really casual and freeing and I’m excited about having no expectations. I can’t even remember the last time I went to an event and had an actual zero pressure type of situation. It’s exactly what I want right now, after so long away. Plus it’ll be good to ease myself back into things with Henry throughout the rest of this year, so that I’m back in the swing of it by the time Presto comes home and we can hit the ground running without me being quite so dang show-rusty. For now, though, I’m just going to enjoy a fun weekend away with my veteran Best Boy. And, BONUS, the nugget kiddo (aka the baby Best Boy) will be there too!

It was a little touch and go right up until a couple days ago as to whether or not he’d be able to go. Early last week he managed to hurt himself IN HIS STALL – cutting his leg on the inside of his thigh and causing a decent amount of swelling. When Megan found him he was fairly convinced his leg was broken, which was a little worrying because he’s usually pretty stoic. But ya know, an emergency vet call and some diagnostics later ($$$), all was fine. They cleaned the wound, gave him some antibiotics and NSAID’s, and said to get him moving around to help the swelling. Once he was active again he realized it wasn’t as broken as he was convinced it was, and within a few days it was better.

Of course, between that incident and his virus incident a few weeks ago, he’s not worked much since the last show. Megan wanted to jump him some before she decided whether or not to enter him, but he’s totally fine and goes around like he hadn’t missed a day, so… to the horse show it is.

I’m honestly looking forward to this weekend in a way that I haven’t genuinely looked forward to a horse show in a long time. Hopefully it’s a good one!

Surely I wasn’t the only nerdy kid who looked forward to the summer reading programs at the local library just about as much as the whole vacation from school part? I still read A LOT, every single day, although mostly non-horse fiction. Still though, I do quite enjoy the occasional horse book, usually non-fiction, and I’m always on the lookout for good ones. The one I got last week is definitely what I would classify as a super cool book.

It’s called Cross Country Completion: considerations about jump decorating, written by ‘r’ eventing course designer and cross country course decorator Janine Preece McClain. I’m always interested in anything about course design, or how horses read fences, or why jumps are set or decorated the way they are. It’s super fascinating to me. McClain has decorated courses for tons of different venues and big events, including 2018 WEG.

This book is especially cool, I think, being that it’s chock full of gorgeous illustrations and handwritten notes. It’s spiral bound, nothing fancy, but it’s just so freakin pretty. It kind of makes you feel like you stole a course decorators notebook.

Plus it’s full of really interesting information, like when and how to use groundlines, what materials to use, considerations regarding color, jump shape, etc. There were definitely a few tidbits in here that I’d never thought of, and I think I’ll be looking at fences a little bit differently on course walks. I have to admit that decorations aren’t something I’ve given a ton of thought to before, beyond noticing if something looked odd.

If you’re an eventer or a book collector, this would definitely be a cool addition to your collection. You just don’t see a lot of books like this one, but subject matter-wise and presentation-wise. I absolutely love it. Oh, and duh… you can get the book on her website here.

I’ve also had my eye on Trafalgar Square’s New Releases page. They’re the best equestrian book publisher in the game and I feel like they’ve always got some interesting ones in the works. There are two that have caught my eye in particular.

Eventers have probably already heard some hype surrounding Jimmy Wofford’s new book, Still Horse Crazy After All These Years. This one is more of an autobiography, which I always love. He talked about it last week on the Major League Eventing podcast and it sounds like it has some good stories from the old days of eventing. Definitely up my alley, I find Jimmy to be super entertaining.

The other one that made my list is Ride Big, which is about building your confidence as a rider. Y’all know I love a good book about upping your mental game, and this one speaks to me for sure.

From the website description:

Haime invites readers to dive into three clear and informative areas of exploration:

• The Confidence Building Blocks: Firm up the fundamentals.
• The Confidence Builders: Systems and tips to help you build confidence.
• The Confidence Threats: An inside look at what to watch out for in riding and in competition.

Throughout, those who have reached the highest levels on horseback in a number of disciplines share their stories, including Michael Jung, Beezie Madden, McLain Ward, Laura Tomlinson, Harry Meade, Oliver Townend, Mattias Tromp, Casey Deary, Beth Underhill, Fred Mannix, Jared Zenni, Jonathon Millar, and Kelly Soleau-Millar. These Olympians, champions, and medalists explain what they do in the saddle and how their techniques for performing under world-class pressure might help other riders develop a similar kind of confidence.

Gotta be honest, I’m kind of dying to know what Michi had to say on the subject.

What’s on your summer reading list? Any horse books caught your eye lately?

Is it possible for someone’s entire aesthetic to be navy glitter? I might need an intervention, y’all. Or a glittervention, if you will.

I have acquired yet another navy glitter piece to add to my collection, this time in the form of a show shirt.

It’s hard to see the glitter in a picture so here’s a gif for good measure. It’s beautiful.

It’s also soft and lightweight and just a really nice show shirt in general, so no regrets. And in my defense, I didn’t set out looking for this shirt. I was simply (innocently? naively?) cruising through some of my favorite European sites looking at shirts. Window shopping really, just seeing what’s new and beautiful out there because I do love me an interesting show shirt. Equizone (always dangerous for me) is where I found her, in all of her glittery glory. Technically it was on sale, and pretty cheap for a show shirt.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed by now, it’s that I will buy pretty much anything in navy glitter. I have built a fairly extensive collection, and I didn’t really accumulate it knowingly or on purpose, I’ve just gradually found things I liked and gotten them. Just so happens that what I like is definitely navy glitter. The shirt matches my sparkly navy socks pretty darn well.

Now the navy glitter collection also includes (but is not limited to, because I might be forgetting something)

• leggings
• gloves
• brushing boots
• open front boots
• socks
• show shirt
• helmet

I think all I’m really missing at this point is a glitter pad, and if they made them with sheepskin I would definitely own one already.

I don’t have any riding boots with navy glitter though. We should work on that. I’m also not sure if the sorta sparkly coat I ordered counts as navy glitter or not. Teeeeechnically they’re little tiny rhinestones. Navy sparkles, for sure, albeit not glitter. That coat hasn’t come in yet though so as of yet it’s not an official part of the collection.

I did get my new (glitterless) Motionlites, though! I sold my other three and promptly ordered two new ones in the smaller size. Many props to Royal Equestrian, a UK store I hadn’t ordered from before – I ordered last Wednesday and they arrived yesterday.

Hillary and I combined our order so we could split the shipping cost from Europe. I just got a navy motionlite and a green motionlite… I decided not to replace the brown one since I had already ordered the sparkly coat. That’s, um, probably enough coats. This size definitely fits a lot better though, for sure, and I pretty much broke even money-wise in the end, so all’s well that ends well?

Which, while we’re on the subject, both of my overseas purchases made it here faster than my Smartpak order. Yes, I caved during their last sale. Once every year or two I kind of forget how annoying my experiences with Smartpak have always been, and something on sale will get me. Sometimes it works out. Usually it doesn’t. This time it didn’t. I snagged a navy and white striped sunshirt, a new set of quilts (fronts and hinds), and some standing bandages. The standing bandages are Toklat, so they’re good. The quilts are Smartpak brand and they seem… cheap. But more significantly, they’re stained. Both pairs. All four of them. They came out of the package looking like this.

Naturally Smartpak’s live chat has been disabled, and I do not really want to deal with this by phone (considering pictures are important), so I sent them an email with photos attached. Their auto response said it could be up to 10 working days before they got to my email. Good lord, Smartpak. And so far, yep, a week later I haven’t gotten a response yet. Literally every single time I order from them they remind me of why I stopped ordering from them in the first place.

The sunshirt (Smartpak brand) is ok. I do like the stripes and the fabric is decent, but the fit is a little boxy and long. Not my favorite but I’ll wear it. So I guess of the 4 things I ordered one was good, two were failures, and one was a meh. And it took 10-13 days for things to arrive (because it didn’t all come together). When I placed my order the shirt was showing as in stock, but when I went back a couple days later my order history showed it was out of stock (even though it still showed as in stock on the item’s page). Just kind of a general hot mess type of experience. These stained wraps though… they’re something else. In a year or two when Smartpak pulls me in again with a sale, someone please remind me of this. Clearly I’m incapable of learning.

Oooo ya know what though, someone (that’s not Smartpak) needs to make navy glitter standing bandages! That’s what my collection is missing…