I think all of us who are involved with horses know that they’re a journey, and sometimes a really really long one. Instant gratification isn’t really a thing, success is hard to come by, and you often have to put in a whole lot of blood sweat and tears long before you ever reap any kind of reward. This is especially true when it comes to breeding.

I mean… let’s think about the whole process here. First you have to have a mare, whether you already have one or have to go pick one out and buy her. Then you have to pick a stallion, which requires you to (hopefully… please god hopefully) do a lot of learning, research, poking around the internet, watching videos, finding offspring, digging through pedigrees, maybe trips overseas, comparing and contrasting, so on and so on. That could take months or years. But let’s fast forward and say ok, you’ve finally picked a stallion. You pay the stud fee. You get the mare bred. Hopefully she’s in foal. If not you try again. Maybe again. Maybe she aborts early in the pregnancy. Maybe you try again. Maybe she gets in foal that year, maybe she doesn’t. Let’s assume she does.

Then you wait a whole year, give or take, for the foal to even be born. And we all know how that can go south in a hurry. But, for the sake of this story, let’s say mare and foal both survive with no major complications. Now wait 4 more years before said foal really gets going under saddle. Then another 6 or so before it (theoretically, in this scenario) reaches it’s prime.

That’s an 11-12 year investment before one offspring could even possibly reach it’s peak potential. And you know how often things go swimmingly according to plan in horses? LOL NEVAR.

So last week when I was checking out the entry status for Texas Rose and saw “Like Magic WTW” listed there, confirming his entry, I had to screenshot it and send it to Michelle. Is it a baby horse’s first BN? Yup. Is it that exciting? Probably not to pretty much anyone but us. But – fun fact – it’ll be the first WTW horse to do a real official recognized show (under saddle) of any kind. The first WTW foal to finally come of age and step foot in the show ring to do the job that he was so carefully and lovingly bred to do. It’s a big big moment, even if it may seem like extremely small potatoes to anyone else. Especially if you know the full background of all that has come before, what has gone into the program just to get to this point. Let’s recap.

I met Michelle in 2013, when I leased my mare to her. She’d been trying for a couple years to get another mare (her first warmblood broodmare) in foal, and had no luck despite many attempts. And that year, she didn’t have any luck with my mare either, starting so late in the season. The next year it took several attempts, finally culminating in actually shipping the mare to the stallion’s farm and having to figure out some hormone imbalance issues before she finally checked in foal. Nobody even wants to add up the dollar amount just to get that very first WTW pregnancy, but it took about 3 years of effort.

Merlin was born in 2015. During that time another mare was purchased already in foal from another breeder, with that foal also born in 2015 (technically not bred by WTW). That mare had complications and died shortly after foaling, despite some truly heroic and no-holds-barred efforts from the vets, leaving behind an orphan (who luckily made it). No foals were born in 2016. There was a learning curve about repro vets and what to do/not do, who to use/not use, etc. All this time there was also continuing education about bloodlines, breeding, vet work, more trips to Europe, repro classes, etc. New mares were purchased and added to the string. In 2016 the mares were hauled hours away to use a very good repro specialist who used frozen semen, resulting in three pregnancies. In 2017 three foals were born, including Presto. And, uh, well, you know Presto’s early life story. That year was especially brutal, with another foal sadly passing away before weaning due to a bad reaction to medication. In 2018 two more foals were born. Then Merlin, the oldest WTW foal who was living in the Houston area with his new owner, died suddenly and unexpectedly from an acute colic. Horses are hard. Breeding is brutal.

You guys have been part of all the foal crops since. I’ve been so proud to see Michelle’s program grow and improve, see her develop such a keen eye, learn to do her own breeding and lab work, etc. I’ve had a front row seat to witness the creation of a real legit sporthorse breeder. But the truth is that all this work, all this money, all this effort, all these sleepless nights and tears and at times just plain suffering – for a breeder, you’re talking about a decade before you start to see any real returns on any of that. Decades (plural) before you really start to make a name for yourself through the horses you’ve bred. It’s a long long long game, even in the horse world where every damn thing is a long game.

So was it momentous to see that very first WTW name in an entry status, even though it’s just a 4yo entered in BN? You freaking bet. I am so honored to have the first horse from the program out in the show ring, so proud of everything my friend has built and really delighted that she’s let me be such a big part of it. Maybe I’m biased, but I really think that as these horses prove themselves over time, she’ll be one of the best breeders in the country.

There’s a lot of talk about American breeders not producing horses that are up to the quality of Europe (which I strongly disagree with. The quantity of Europe, no. The quality, absolutely yes.) or complaints about how expensive foals are (welcome to America where keeping horses is expensive). The breeders really are the unsung heroes that keep providing us with nice horses yet get little to no recognition and even less support. Thankless doesn’t even really begin to cover it. They do it because they love it, and they love their horses.

If it feels like I’m always over here trying to get on a soapbox about breeding and supporting the US market, it’s because I am. It’s because of all this. It’s because I know how long it really took just to get this one gangly 4yo giraffe kid to his first recognized event, and it certainly wasn’t just the past 3 months of training. Michelle is 10 years invested into this breeding thing now… TEN YEARS since she tried breeding that first mare to that first stallion… and the first horse bearing the WTW suffix is finally gonna hit the show ring. What many would call the beginning of a story has really had a very very long history just to get to this starting point, something that most don’t really know or see. No matter what happens, its a pretty exciting moment for the program, and I’m so proud to finally get my WTW horse out there and represent what my friend has built.

I swear it’s either drought or flood around here. It rained BUCKETS at the end of last week/into the weekend, but I won’t complain since we definitely needed it. I was starting to get really concerned at how brown everything was looking and how hard the ground was for APRIL. Should have known Texas was just saving up a months worth of rain for a few days time. On brand.

Because of that, there hasn’t been much riding happening since the middle of last week. We did get a jump school, a conditioning day, and a flatwork day in before the rain started though, so things were happening. That was the first time I’d jumped in weeks, since before Henry’s abscess. That seems to be a recurring theme for us… very sporadic jump schools. One perk of an older (is “mature” the more polite word? He’s not mature though.) horse I guess though, he doesn’t really need to jump that much. It’s more ME that needs the practice, especially if we’re going to do jumper rounds this weekend.

Since mostly it just rained and rained and rained, I spent the majority of my weekend watching a very boring show on my phone called DAMMITCHANELHAVEYOURBABYALREADY.

She’s had wax for a few days, milk is thick and white and sticky and totally ready to go… and nada. Like… really though. Thought for sure last night was gonna be it, with the way she was acting. Let’s get a move on, yes? You’re literally going to explode if you don’t let that thing out soon, Chanel. At this point Stormie is creeping up on her (Stormie will be 330 days on Thursday and she tends to foal on that earlier side of things) and also I just need moar horsey bebes.

Speaking of bebes, I did perhaps get slightly too much entertainment from the media I got of Presto’s groundwork sessions/reminders/don’t-be-an-idiot-in-the-trailer lessons last week. He spent some time on the patience pole, which of course patience poles are not a new concept to him by any means, he’s been a member of the patience pole club since he was a yearling, but he needs regular reminders because tiny horse brain plus major ADHD. He was a little put out at being “abandoned” out there to “die alone” or whatever other nonsense he was saying.

Up at their farm they have a covered arena and a covered round pen, so he didn’t have to miss any boot camp days even with all the rain. Plus I got a little bonus Presto sighting at the end of one of Reed’s TikTok’s (someone help me, I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole that is TikTok and I can’t stop watching, it’s a real problem).

Presto is supposed to go XC school this weekend one more time before his first show, which is now less than two weeks away! The show is actually full with a waiting list, something you don’t see too often down in this area anymore. Entries have been kind of crap the past few years. Glad to see a show full, although Presto’s very first show maybe wouldn’t have been the one I’d have picked to be a bustling circus. Is what it is, though. I think everyone is eager to get another show in and this is the last one in our Area until September, so… makes sense that it’s full. Hopefully his brain adjustment is complete by then, but the schooling this weekend will be a good litmus test to see where he’s at with how he handles the trailering. They aren’t going very far, only about half an hour, so we’ll see.

Today the sun is shining so hopefully things will dry up quick and I can get back on Henry!

So, remember last week when I said that Patrick misjudged his stopping distance and had a bit of a run-in with the fence, scalping himself in the process? I wasn’t kidding. He basically removed his whole star.

There’s no media of the actual incident, but ya know, just imagine that you’re the fence, and these were the last things you saw before he went boom.

Whoops.

He has yet to make the same mistake again, so I think he’s learned his lesson. Plus he’s figured out his legs a lot better, so his sudden stops no longer involve sliding on his bottom. He might be 100% colt but he’s definitely not dumb.

And somehow, despite the fact that he has a giant hole in his face, he somehow still manages to have a ton of presence. He’s a supermodel for sure.

From a distance you can’t really tell so much that his star is missing. Poor little bald spot. Hopefully it grows back before he starts requiring sun screen on it. The other kids (Pippa, I mean Pippa, 110%) would tease him relentlessly.

Which, they might anyway because he’s a little bit of a momma’s boy. Pippa is over there going 900 miles an hour and bossing her poor mother around (after super well-behaved Remi last year, Peyton still seems a little shell-shocked sometimes at this extra fiery filly of hers), but Patrick is all about the cuddles. Lark might not be his mother by DNA but clearly they don’t know or care. He’s 100% her boy in every way that matters.

That’s not to say that Patticakes isn’t spunky and rowdy sometimes too, because he definitely is. It’s funny to see the differences in the eventer foal vs the jumper foal… Pippa is a big fan of galloping all over the place, whereas Patrick is pretty much always airborne. He’s like a little bouncy ball, boing boing boinging his way around. Constantly. And he can get some serious air, too, for a little dude.

One thing he and Pippa definitely have in common though: hay is clearly meant to be jumped.

He always ends up back with mom in between all the bouncing, though.

Pippa and Patrick were finally scheduled to be turned out together early this week after these pics were taken but then it started raining out in West Texas and hasn’t stopped since. Everybody’s been stuck inside for the past several days instead. As soon as the mud dries up a bit and things aren’t so slippery they can fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally meet. Patrick has been getting bolder and more confident about the neighbor horses, so I think he’s ready to meet Hurricane Pippa. As ready as he’ll ever be, anyway.

In the meantime, Chanel is hopefully not too far away from releasing Patrick’s full brother or sister. She’s at 336 days today and looking as big as a dang house. Stormie is only about a week and a half behind her, with Ginger a few days after that. Let’s get this show on the road already girls, I’m ready for more babies!

Ya know how sometimes you can’t help but get involved in big social media “debates”, but other times you’re like oh boy here we go, grab your popcorn, and settle in to read? This week I’ve been the latter.

It really started on Sunday, as everyone began posting their opinion of the LRK3DE cross country courses. Although no one was injured, there were more horse falls that we’re used to seeing from a Derek di Grazia course for sure, and then of course there was the fact that only a little over half the 4* field actually made it through cross country (and with only 14 clear rounds out of 40 starters). Everybody had opinions, and that’s fair. But then some people had opinions about everybody having opinions, and ya know how that always goes on social media. It devolved into bickering pretty quickly – the age old debate of “if you’ve never ridden at this level then you have no right to criticize” y’all know how much I love that one.

Amidst all the drama there was one post that generated some useful and interesting conversation though, and that was Kyle Carter’s. The comments were actually good to read through, and I thought his observations were fair and useful to hear. Worth a read through if you haven’t already done so (there’s also some really interesting pics of the different stud setups that people were using, which is always fascinating to me).

I do agree that there were too many horse falls in the 5*, although I admit that the only jump that really bothered me initially from what I could see of the course was the upright gates (where Favian fell and the MIPS clip did not break because of how he hit it – a scenario we saw over and over again with that exact same type of jump at Burghley in 2019. I HATE upright gates on courses like this can we please stop using them?). I think we’re so used to DdG’s courses being very horse-friendly that this many falls was a bit unexpected… more like shades of Mark Phillips. I also have no doubt though that he will analyze and reanalyze this until the cows come home, learn a lot from it, and make changes accordingly.

The other big thing happening on social media this week has been watching the eyepopping racism of some USEF officials and judges come to light. Like wow. Imagine being this triggered when told that the organization you work under is requiring everyone to complete a Diversity and Inclusion course.

People who think that racism doesn’t exist in equestrian sports need to take a wide-eyed tour through those comments and take note of who’s saying what. My god. Imagine thinking that Diversity and Inclusion training is “violating” the “safe haven” of your sport. Holy Christ Peggy that’s a lot to unpack. She’s not the only one who feels that way, though. Seems to be a loooot of the anti-Safe Sport crowd. Huh. Curious. I think if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past few years it’s that maybe we’re past due for a bit of a changing of the guard, so to speak.

And then of course there’s the continuing drama between WEC Ocala and USEF and NSBA.

I admittedly haven’t really even begun trying to wrap my head around that one, because my brain is already at capacity. It doesn’t really effect my world yet, but damn it’s interesting to see this go down.

Have y’all been watching or joining in on any of the drama in the horse world this week? Opinions on any of the above topics? It’s a lot for a Thursday…

It’s been a couple weeks since I updated on Henry! I think last we left off he was just coming back from his two week mystery lameness that I suspected was due to a bruise or abscess but never had any actual evidence to back up or confirm either guess.

The farrier was coming out that week for his regular appointment, and as soon as he pulled that shoe off it was very clear what the cause was. There was a big gross currently draining abscess under the shoe near the toe. Like… absolutely oozing black stuff. Barf. Fair enough, Henry, you hadn’t been lying.

The farrier dug it out a little bit more to help it finish draining, but obviously it was not in a great spot and covering it back up with a shoe didn’t seem ideal. I needed to be able to clean the hole out and it needed to be able to continue to drain freely. The farrier pulled down an aluminum eggbar from his trailer, cut a chunk out of it where the abscess hole was, and tada!

Looks weird as hell but it’s worked like a charm. I’ve been able to easily clean out and medicate that hole, it finished draining, and now it’s filling back in nicely, which I can see for myself every day when I pick his feet. I was a little skeptical that he’d keep that shoe on, given how he likes to step on himself behind, but knock on wood it’s been okay so far. Next cycle we should be able to put a regular shoe back on, so he’s just gotta make it a few more weeks.

Henry got that shoe a few days before I left for Ocala and then once I left he ended up getting 5 days off, but he’s felt super since I’ve been back and he’s returned to normal work again.

As soon as I got back from Ocala the dressage horses came back from their winter in Wellington, which… Henry took that life change about as well as he takes any other. Ie not well. For the first few days after their return he flailed around the crossties while I was tacking him up and spent the entire ride screaming bloody murder, jigging, prancing, and being far fancier than he really is. I think he was convinced that they were going to steal away his BFF Quinnie, and as soon as I took him away from her he devolved into a complete mess. Luckily that behavior has slowly eased up, and while he does still watch her while he’s in the crossties, he’s not flailing and screaming anymore. Next level needy, I swear. 14 going on 4.

Now that he’s back in action (knock on wood again) and the other horses are back, I did enter him in a couple jumper classes at a local show next weekend. If I’m remembering right I think I just picked the 3′, something relatively easy for him. I was able to jump him yesterday for the first time in like a month and he was normal Jompies Henry so hopefully it’ll just be a fun and easy day for him. The next thing I need to figure out is when we can get back out XC schooling again… it’s been far too long!