I really need Presto to work on some kind of sponsorship deal with the company that makes these balls (I was today years old when I learned they also make jump blocks and stuff too, who knew?). At this point his addiction is getting expensive. Sure, I could just stop buying them, but he loves them so much. And now that JB is gone for the winter he’s playing with it even more. It brings him joy, therefore it brings me joy. He could be like… slightly less murderous about it though.

On my Black Friday Corro order I tossed another new 30″ ball in my cart, since the one he’s got has a slow but steady leak. I’ve been saying (to myself… I only talk to myself these days…) that when he destroys the 30″ cover I’ll spring for the giant 40″ ball and cover – the biggest one they make. I started with the 30″ originally because it was the medium size, and he seemed less likely to high-center himself and fall over. I’ve just stuck with the 30″ ever since. I have to admit though, now that he knows how to handle himself with a ball, would the 40″ one be even MORE fun? But on the Friday after Thanksgiving when I ordered the 30″ replacement ball, the cover was still intact. Fastforward 24 hours (like right after I got the notification that the Corro order had shipped) and I went out to find him actively ripping apart said 30″ cover. SERIOUSLY. At this point the only way I can get it to stay on the ball is if I deflate it a bit and then tie it on. So I figured ok, now’s the time since they’re still on sale anyway… and I ordered him a 40″ ball and cover too.

And that thing is BIG. Like… BIG. Thank goodness I have one of those things for filling up air mattresses to use on these balls, because even with that it took about 10 minutes to get it inflated. It’s comically huge. When I tossed it out to Presto and he first started playing with it, I don’t think he registered the size difference. He kept trying to put his feet on top of it and lay on it like he does with his 30-incher (which is currently more like an 18-incher, tied inside it’s tattered cover) and it wasn’t working very well. He tried to pick up and swing around but found that it was heavier than he expected, too. I think he liked it a bit more the next morning when it was cold and the ball had lost a few inches of inflation, so he could grab a good mouthful of cover to pick it up.

At first I thought the 40″ experiment was maybe a dud, and then the next night I was heading down to the barn to bring them in and in the fading light all I saw was a streak of yellow followed by a Presto, high-tailing it as he chased the ball across the pasture. Ok, he was definitely playing with it. And the bigger ball rolls a little better without getting stuck on sticks and things, so it’s faster. He digs that. Once he figured out the size difference he was out there laying on it and putting his feet on it and picking it up, just like with the smaller one. The only thing he remained unable to do was swing it around as much. He loves to swing the ball up and down and whack himself in the head with it, and this one is just a big too big and heavy.

But maybe he figured it out a little bit too well, because THIS is what I came out to find yesterday at dinnertime.

It must have just happened, because it was rapidly deflating as I walked up. And then when it was dying Presto was like OH NO BALL, IS YOU OK and stomped it as it’s life oozed out of it. Ball was decidedly not ok. SOMEONE put a mouth-sized hole in it. I dragged the body out of the field so I can get a replacement ready today. I mean geez, he murdered that thing in like 5 days. Totally not the ball’s fault though, y’all have seen how he bites and smashes those things. This one was no exception. He is really really rough on them. God it’s fun to watch though, and he just loves it.

But now I’ve got a 40″ cover in mostly good shape (its got a couple holes), a 30″ cover in really bad shape, and two 30″ balls. Sigh. They need to sell these in bulk or something. Or I need a frequent buyer’s punch card. He’s a ball serial killer.

He might be the last of the Glamour Shots series, but he’s certainly not the least. While all the babies this year were cute and fun in their own way, it was impossible not to love Ollie. Smallest in stature and largest in ponytude, he kept us entertained with everything from leaping into round bales to opening pool house doors and removing insulation, to whacking the other foals with pool noodles. Ollie is definitely a fan favorite of the 2020 crop, as well as the class clown.

Due to time constraints Ollie wasn’t braided for his pics, but honestly… it kind of fits. He’s a fun loving kind of guy, and his mohawk matches his personality.

He also seemed to really like having his picture taken (surprise, surprise) and insisted on some super arsty shots to include in his portfolio.

I think he liked having a lady with camera (thanks Belinda!) following him around. He thinks this should be happening 24/7. *cue Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”*

And while it’s easy to get distracted by his squishy little cuteness, always be on the lookout for that sasstail. It means things are a-brewing. Naughty things.

That’s a wrap on Glamour Shots, the final installment of our last series for our 2020 foals. We’ve got ONE MORE Foal Friday post next week to wrap up their season, and then we’ll just be playing a waiting game until the 2021 kiddos hit the ground… which luckily a) there are 7 – SEVEN! – of them, b) we’ve only got a few months to wait.

Happy Friday!

Some of my Instagram peeps may have noticed the other day that I reposted a particular post from the US Event Horse Futurity in my stories.

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That first entry for the 2021 Futurity? It was Presto! And I know a lot of people have already been murmuring about it, so I thought I should address it openly and lay out what it really “means” for him.

Truth is, I’ve been on the fence for basically the entire past 2 years about whether or not to enter him. He’s meant to be my horse, not an upper level pro’s big time horse or a sale horse. He’s also, IMO, unlikely to be mature enough to be ready for YEH Championships in the fall, which is where the Futurity culminates.

But, the Futurity has a lot of goals and perks aside from just that. A horse can do the Futurity and not do YEH, it’s not a requirement for the Futurity horses (to be eligible to win actual Futurity payout money you have to complete Championships, but you can participate in the Futurity without having to do YEH Championships). The Futurity has 3 main goals – highlighting US breeders and US-bred young horses, connecting breeders and riders, and promoting young horse trainers. We can do all of those things, no matter whether he ends up being ready for YEH or not. In fact, I have to say, in the past 2 years of watching the Futurity horses and their vlogs, one of the most interesting parts of it to me was seeing which people decided to pursue YEH/Championships with their horses and which people didn’t, and why. It was a big part of what made it so fun and educational to follow along.

So if we break it down: highlighting US breeders and US purpose bred horses? Um heck ya we can do that in spades. You can bet that Presto is getting some new WTW gear (I might need y’alls help deciding which things), all of his vlogs will have a WTW opening and closing shot, and he is about as US purpose-bred event horse as you can get. And I come with a built-in platform from blogging for so long, so if it helps bring extra attention to the Futurity and other breeders in return, even better.

As for connecting breeders and riders, that’s already happening a bit too. Yes, Presto is mine. He’s meant to be mine to ride and show. I want to raise him and ride him and everything that entails. But I also am not an idiot and I realize that all young horses can benefit from pro rides. I’d call myself “sufficient”, but I’m not great, and I want him to have the benefit of that really high quality training too, especially early on. It’ll make him a better horse in the end. I also recognize that Texas is not an ideal place to try to get miles on a young horse. There are only two eventing facilities within a 2 hour drive from here…. it’s not like I can pop him on the trailer on any ol’ Wednesday afternoon, drive down the road for a school, and be back before dinner. It’s an all day affair, and it’s a lot of traveling for a horse, and it’s just not a lot of available variety. Before I even decided to enter him in the Futurity I really wanted to send him east for a couple months in the summer (when it’s too god awful nasty here to do anything anyway) to get some pro rides and be in an area where he can experience a lot more things a lot more easily.

I had two pros in mind for this (one of which actually made my list specifically because of watching her Futurity videos the past couple years), and I have a call set with choice #1 tomorrow to talk details. Michelle coincidentally knows him from back in the day, so it’s a good chance for them to reconnect as a breeder-rider relationship. A lot of pros are wanting to be involved in the Futurity to showcase their own skills, which was exactly the purpose, so it’s a great thing. This particular pro has an idea of the basic plan and is on board from what he’s seen/heard of Presto so far, so hopefully we can work something out. If we do I’ll talk more about it later and explain my thought process but I don’t want to say anything quite yet until it’s all hashed out.

So the idea at this point is that he’ll stay with me until the summer and keep plugging away at basic life experiences, head east for some serious education, and then either come home at the end of the summer (all of which was in my plan anyway, Futurity or not) OR stay there through Championships. So the only thing that’s changed is that if, by some small miracle, he seems ready (which again at this point I think is 90% unlikely) he would be staying a couple months longer. He would already be on the east coast anyway, where Championships are, so that would make sense. Either way, I think the experience would be really good for him no matter what, and there’s just so much more to see and do on the east coast that I think it would be the best bang for my buck I could possibly get in regards to his education in such a short period of time.

So he’s entered in the Futurity, yes. He may or may not go the YEH route. That’s up to him. I’ll make his vlogs while I have him and the person who takes him in the summer will make his vlogs then. After that, we’ll just see how it goes. Of course, if something unforeseen happens and he ends up not being ready for any of this, then these plans will be scrapped. They’re plans, they can always change, and it’s horses, so most of the time they do. The horse is, was, and always will be the #1 priority. The Futurity changes nothing about that. Really it just gives us a more public way to showcase the horses that WTW is producing, and gives Presto more opportunities. It’s a win-win.

And while I don’t think that he’s the one that’ll be gunning for the 2021 Futurity win, I can tell you this much: we ARE gunning for Fan Favorite. Every year the Futurity takes a public vote and names a Fan Favorite, and I’ll say it now – challenge issued, gauntlet thrown, intentions officially declared – that title is HIS, my friends. Hiiiiiiis. I mean, how could he not be? He’s trained his whole life for this particular title and you can bet we’ll be campaigning for it.

*cue Eye of the Tiger music*

Anyway, I’m sure none of this will go to plan, nothing ever DOES with horses, but it’ll be fun regardless, and we really can’t wait to rep WTW on a more public stage. Gotta brush up on my vlog-making skills! Anyone who watched the ones I made earlier this year and has any feedback, tips, or tricks, feel free to get at me. And if you’re not already following the Futurity’s facebook page, now is the time.

I hope that clears up any confusion about what the heck I’m doing, and as soon as I have things more ironed out I’ll give more updates!

I mentioned a few weeks ago about filming an entry for an online class with Presto. I didn’t prepare at all (because ME), and I pulled the 3yo out of the field after not having been ridden in a month, made two tries at filming the class, and wasn’t really satisfied with either of them. The show ended up extending the entry date, so I had every intention of trying again to get some better video, but then house stuff happened and I cut my stupid foot, and I promptly forgot about it completely.

And then they posted on closing date, and I was like “well shit”, and just submitted my original first try. I thought the second try showed Presto a little bit better, but that was the one where we got interrupted by deer and then I forgot the last movement. Whoops.

See, it was a “horsemanship” class. Very simple, just showing that the horse isn’t a totally feral animal. I originally was going to enter the Advanced pattern:

but on the day-of I legit did not feel like dragging two standards into the dressage ring and trying to make a rope gate. Laziness prevails. (To be fair, it was super windy that day and I was trying to do this in between a thousand other things, so…. yeah ok I was still lazy) Anyway, I decided instead to enter the Novice one, since it didn’t require setting up anything special that I didn’t already have in the ring.

On the first try Presto was just very blah. He was like “this is dumb, you’re dumb, I’m bored”. He was good, just… bored, which made him a little dull and lagging on response time. And then, like I said, on the second try we got interrupted by deer. When I watched the videos back I realized that some of my angles in relation to the camera were not good (want a full shot of my ass while I’m picking up his feet?) and I forgot to clean my phone’s camera lens so it’s kinda blurry in general and the Pivo struggled a little. Online class filming fail. I was glad when I heard that entries were extended, but then since I forgot it ended up not mattering anyway. At the last minute I just said “screw it” and submitted the first one. It was a charity show and I wanted to give them some entry fee money, and this was the best I had, so whatever.

You can add “Horsemanship” to Presto’s show resume now I guess. FEH classes, in-hand trail classes, pile-of-poles jumper classes (at a trot, anyway), and horsemanship classes. Ha!

It was kind of fun though, I wish now that I’d had more time and that I’d gone ahead and done the Advanced pattern. I’m pretty confident he could do it well. Maybe in the future we can enter more of these just for funsies. Our brains are always so deeply entrenched in our “real” job, it’s fun to break outside the box and try something else. And I feel like this kind of stuff is good for Presto, right? I mean… things like being polite at the mounting block and standing still for the rider to pick things up and put/on take off jackets – those are practical life skills that he’ll need, which is why I’ve taken the time to install those buttons anyway.

There were only two entries in our division, but Presto won! Good kiddo. Not bad for a 3yo that hadn’t been ridden in a month?

I’ll be really interested to get the scoresheet back and see the feedback. This type of stuff and this world (which is generally more western-oriented obviously) is totally foreign to me, so I’d love to learn more about it and what they’re looking for in a show setting, just to expand my own education.

Either way, we had fun (well ok I did anyway, Presto is to-be-determined) and it was a nice change of pace. Plus it was the first online class I’ve entered. It was a learning experience, that’s for sure. Hopefully we can do some more of these! Thanks to Scissortail for putting it on (and letting me squeak my entry in at the last minute).

What do y’all think about classes like this – would you try it?

The cut on my foot is finally healing up well. It was NOT a fun first week, the location of that gash was terrible if you enjoy things such as wearing shoes or walking. By day 3 I figured out that the best solution for cleaning stalls was a bag over my foot plus a flip flop. That way I could keep it clean but there wasn’t anything pressing or rubbing on it as I walked. I was rocking some serious farm girl couture.

I stayed the course and didn’t ride until I could put it in a riding boot without screaming. That took almost a week. But once we got to that point it came along pretty quickly after that. By Friday I was able to wear both of my barn boots again too, and just in time, because it started raining on Friday. My bag + flip flop solution would not have worked so well in the mud. The cut is healing up well though, and while riding boots still aren’t quite as comfortable as my wider barn boots, I just put them on right before I mount up and it’s totally fine. I’ve babied the cut as much as possible, keeping it clean and bandaged and not over-doing things, so it’s coming along. It’s frustrating, but what else can I do.

Of course, as soon as I did get a couple rides in, the rain started. It rained on and off on Friday and then aaaaaalll day on Saturday, which we really needed, it hasn’t rained in months, but it did make things super squishy and gross around here on Sunday. Presto was VERY BORED with the extra barn time but I found a way to keep him gainfully employed.

After being cooped up for most of Saturday he put on quite a show for me on Sunday, pulling out all kinds of entertaining tricks. It’s really hard to be that upset about anything when he’s around. He is nothing if not comic relief.

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There hasn’t been much going on with the t!ny h0use, at least not that’s finished and blog worthy yet, hence why you’re not getting a THT post this week. Hopefully by the end of today a couple projects will be wrapped up… it’s taken a little longer than planned (DOESN’T IT FREAKING ALWAYS?).

Mostly though it’s just been me hobbling around the farm and being super freaking annoyed that a cut foot has kept me off of my horses. And me spending hours watching Presto be an absolute monkey in the field. That kid can definitely put a smile on my face, no matter what. I love him for that. He’s not lacking personality.

HOPEFULLY this week I can manage to keep myself and the horses in one piece so we can get back on our riding schedule. I have a semi-exciting thing with Presto that I’ll talk about in another post too, but otherwise… it’s been a bit boring here. Relatively certain Henry thinks he’s retired, and he seems quite pleased about that.

It was 23-freakin-degrees this morning (northerners, come get your weather, it’s drunk and dancing on my lawn) so I will be waiting for this afternoon before I go back outside. Just about froze my damn tits off feeding this morning. Thank god for ski pants.

I’ve also got some updates coming on the WTW babies, and I guess I should do a blog post when all my Black Friday purchases arrive, if anyone would be interested in seeing the fun stuff? One thing already made it and more is coming today. I feel bad for the FedEx guy this week…