Presto’s weekly rides are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. Maybe I’m some kind of masochist but I think green baby horses are just incredibly fun, even if the rides are really short or you never move above a walk. Everything is new and exciting and all the “little things” are actually big things.

I didn’t do anything with Presto all last week (on Wednesday, his usual light lunge day, it was just hot and gross and he looked so content standing under the shade trees that I didn’t have the heart to interrupt him) and when I got him out this weekend I could officially no longer deny that he’s grown. Looking at only Henry all week, and then looking at Presto… he’s tall. I’ve tried really hard to just not make eye contact with his withers for the past few months (which isn’t too hard since they’re above my head) but I finally broke down and got curious and put a stick on him… and he’s 16.3h. Dammit Presto, we agreed that 16.3h was going to be your finished height. I don’t think he’s gonna hold up his end of that particular bargain. Since the 16.3h delusion clearly isn’t happening, I’m gonna start pretending that he definitely won’t top 17h.

So, as I’ve said before, since the Spring was really all about just getting him broke enough to hack and trail ride for the summer, our focus has now begun to shift. For this ride I started him out in the ring, just for about 10 minutes. Enough to make sure he’s focused and hasn’t forgotten anything he’s learned thus far, but not enough to be much actual work. We make sure the brakes are ok and make sure the gas pedal isn’t stuck. At this point I don’t usually lunge him before I get on him anymore, so those few minutes in the ring are my way to gauge what I’m sitting on that day.

I could kinda tell that he’d missed his mid-week lunge, not because he was wild or anything (kid isn’t really the wild type, so far) but because he was fussier with the bit again. No problem though, we just trotted each way, made some changes of direction, and cantered like half a circle.

Presto gave me a couple really good circles after a few minutes, so we quickly called it quits with that. I wanted to move on to the REAL objective of the day – his first solo hack around the property! He’s sort of been out to the back of the property once before, with another horse. They just walked to the middle together and walked back, basically. He hadn’t been around the whole perimeter trail yet under saddle, although he did pony it with Henry a couple times last year. Presto can be very herd-minded so I really wasn’t sure if he’d have a meltdown about going out there alone, especially since you really can’t see any other horses. Only one way to find out!

He was pretty bold marching out down the alley, and first we swung a left into an unused pasture. That’s the one where I have a couple of small log jumps, and there’s a natural sorta-ditch in a low spot between two little hills. He walked around there, over the little ditch, and made a lap of that field.

He seemed cool with that, so we came out of that pasture and kept going to the back to the hacking trail. Entering that field is where you lose all the other horses from sight and sometimes you’ll stumble across some deer or something since it’s further away from houses/people. He was alert but interested, and never once spooked. He got a little high-headed and looky at the bushes the deer usually like to hide behind, so I just asked him to halt and we stood for a few seconds to let him think about it before I asked him to move forward again. I want him to trust me, and part of that is being fair and giving him time to feel confident about what I’m asking rather than always just forcing him forward. We made a whole lap with absolutely no drama (except when he wanted to trot down the hill, which is kind of unnerving on a horse that’s wide as a fence post and generally not always aware of the fact that he has 4 feet… had to put the kibosh on that) and ambled back up to the barn.

I was so pleased with him for his first time out there alone. It’s a big step for a baby horse to conquer the wilderness without any horse friends for moral support, and I’m really delighted with how confident he was about it. Especially since that back pasture is where our little hills are, and I think it’ll do him a lot of good to walk the hills for these next few months. He needs some strength and topline, and now I feel like we can take advantage of them.

Overall a successful ride #17. Honestly I almost feel like I’m waiting for someone to notice that I’m totally unqualified for a young horse this nice. He’s one of those that is so much nicer under saddle than you might think from just seeing him in the pasture. He gives you a really good feeling that’s hard to even put into words. I just somehow have to not mess him up? But I did tell Michelle she needs to breed Sadie back to Mighty Magic next year… I think the world needs another one of these (and if it’s a filly I call dibs).

Remember how I said Henry was getting chonky?

He is really really chonky. Like… heckin chonker status. Or maybe even Oh lawd he comin. 

It’s been quite a while since he’s been this chonky. Not since I first got him and he was fresh off of one year of pasture rest. And, I mean, he’s still getting ridden 5 days a week, so it’s not due to lack of work. The rides are definitely not as hard as when he was Prelim fit, but it’s not like he’s totally idle or unfit. He’s eating less grain now than he ever has, which I’m pleased about (not just because his grain is $32 a bag but because the less grain I have to give them, the better). I think the real difference is the grass and the quality of his pasture. For July in Texas things are still very green, and I’m not sure that he’s ever had this much pasture that was this nice and this plentiful for such a good portion of the year. Good pasture isn’t that easy to come by in these parts. 

He also seems really happy with is life in general. He is spoiled, every single person in his life is wrapped around his little hoof, and he is 110% catered to. Just the way he likes it! There have still been absolutely zero signs of any ulcer symptoms in the 9+ months since he’s moved out to this barn, and I’m really hoping we’re done with that now. Even his annual “all of my hair is gonna fall off in the summer” thing isn’t nearly as bad as usual. 

He’s also just feeling really good in general. I think having a year off from competing and all that it entails (the extra fitness work, all the traveling, the mental pressure, etc) has been really good for him. He’s such a well behaved traveler that I think I do tend to forget how much he just internalizes that stress. 

The temperatures have also been a bit more mild than usual so far, we’re just now starting to hit the triple digits. He still has his heat intolerance issues that we have to contend with, but even on hot days it hasn’t been enough to take the extreme sass out of him. He turns into a dolphin at least once every single ride. Sometimes he even adds some squealing for dramatic effect. And on Saturday I rode him over to the big property across the street for a canter and He Was A Nut. Just about pulled my arms right out of their sockets. There’s no doubt that he feels really good, despite his chonk status, which is what led me to his new nickname – The Spicy Meata-ball. He earned it on Friday when he decided that morphing into a dolphin a few strides before a jump was a great idea (it was not, although he did still manage to make it over the jump just fine, albeit with me yelling “UM HELLO COULD YOU JUST NOT???”) and he couldn’t walk without jigging because OMGJOMPIES. 

I did body clip him to try to help him out with the heat a bit. I’ve gotten to where I do that every year, and it does seem to help. His coat isn’t particularly long but it’s dense, especially over his back/haunches where he already doesn’t sweat very well. I use a T-10 so it’s nice and short and that seems to get him through the summer. 

And I think, since he’s feeling so good and mentally fresh, it’s probably time that we start doing some dressage again. I mean, we’ve still been doing flatwork obviously, but not as often and 1) it had been 5 months since I sat in my dressage saddle 2) it had been just as long if not longer since he’d had an actual bit in his mouth. So last week I rode in my dressage saddle, which didn’t feel as bad/foreign as I thought it might. Probably since I’d ridden in my bareback pad the day before (I really love that thing).

Then yesterday I put his actual bridle/bit back on him. Which he wasn’t a fan of. He glared at me like he was being abused and proceeded to chomp and squeak the bit through our entire hack. That’s… typical for him though. I’ll give him a couple more rides to get used to wearing it again before we really go to work. I’m pretty sure he thought he was retired from all that dressage business. Can we just do bareback and bitless “dressage” forever please? We’d both prefer that.

But, ya know… other than this rekindled dressage bullshit, I think he’s the happiest he’s ever been. That makes me happy too.

Happy 4th of July from the babies of Willow Tree Warmbloods!

It’s hard to pass up a holiday edition of Foal Friday, especially when there are outfits and decorations involved. ALL the babies got into the holiday spirit.

Granted, one of them in particular was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more into playing dress-up than the others were. Any guesses as to who that might be?

 

Ollie absolutely LOVED it. Still though, fun and games were had by everyone.

Well ok maybe not Remi so much. He’s always worried about his street cred.

While it may seem a little bit silly, it’s also really good for the babies to see and be exposed to all this “scary” stuff in a playful, relaxed setting. They got braver and more confident about everything flapping around or making weird noises. Cute pictures AND good exposure… win-win.

And of course, there were plenty of outtakes too…

Happy Friday y’all, and have a great holiday weekend!

Look at me being so punctual with a vlog episode! Don’t get used to it. Although it IS a lot easier to motivate myself to make a vlog when I have some decent quality video footage (thanks Pivo – you may not be perfect but it’s a hell of a lot better). I held back on you guys in some of the regular Presto blog posts so I could save the footage for his monthly vlogs. June was a big month for him!

On this one I also answered a couple questions that people submitted after the last vlog, which I’m always happy to do. Just drop a question in the comments or if you’d rather send it to me privately, DM me on Insta or send me a message on my facebook. Hope you enjoy the June recap!

Well guys, shocker of all shockers, Texas is not doing so well with this whole covid thing. We have massively bombed that particular test, and I doubt anyone is surprised.

Our city isn’t looking great either.

I kind of figured this would happen once restrictions were lifted, which is why I’ve changed basically nothing about my own behavior. A few horse shows have taken place but I’ve not heard particularly promising reports/seen particularly promising pictures from most of them with regards to compliance with the covid guidelines. Down here in the land of extreme freedumb people don’t like being told to wear masks or not congregate in groups. And they can be reaaaaaaal vehement about it. I have friends that are organizers and volunteers and show staff and the common observation among them is that telling people to put a mask on (and keep a mask on) is now a full time and very controversial job at horse shows.

Of course, I have taken Presto on a couple outings. Ones that were chosen quite judiciously and with an abundance of caution. For both of his trips off property we worked completely out of the trailer, and didn’t have close contact with any other people (except for Hillary for our trail ride, and she’s been largely self-quarantined herself). I wear my mask if I have to go inside anywhere or if I think I might come in contact with other people, and I wipe down the gas pump and keypad before and after I use it. Naturally, this behavior earned me the comment of “fuckin’ libtard” at a gas station in one particularly delightful small town this past weekend. Sigh.

Some of the horse facilities are handling things pretty well though. The place we went XC schooling is limited to small groups and there is no actual contact or interaction required. I’ve never been there before when there were so few people. But outings like that, I’m pretty comfortable with right now. Since I’m not actually coming into contact with people and it’s an outside activity of an hour or so max… I feel like the risk is extremely low. I greatly appreciate the facilities that are being smart with their restrictions.

I’m glad I decided to wait and see how things went with the reopening and with shows, because to me… they’re not going well. I think it’s safe to say that horse shows are off the table for a while. This whole thing feels like a boulder barreling downhill. And since all the governor has done is roll back a few restrictions (inside seating at restaurants went from 75% capacity to 50% capacity. wow.) and encourage people to stay home when they can (that’s clearly working), I don’t see this improving significantly anytime soon. The numbers are bonkers. And that’s with many testing sites still turning away asymptomatic people due to a shortage of tests. Plus there are different restrictions and mandates and closures, city by city and county by county that generally just makes things feel really confusing and chaotic.

Luckily everyone in my particular little sphere is handling it responsibly and taking smart precautions. My office was supposed to start bringing some work from home people back in starting in July, but that’s been pushed to mid-August now at the earliest. I’m grateful for that, for sure. Even if I kind of hate being at my house. Being stuck on the farm was awesome. Dream life. Being stuck in a house in the city is kind of my worst nightmare, I never actually realized how much I hate living here until now. It’s loud, it’s annoying, and there are way too many people outside all the time. But it’s still better than having to go into the office and increase the risk by being around lots of people in a small space, and I’m still getting out to the barn 5 days a week, so… everything could definitely be a lot worse.

For now I’m just gonna keep staying hunkered down and waiting it out. It doesn’t look like things will be getting much better anytime soon. How is all the covid stuff going in your neck of the woods? Anyone been to any shows?