You have to give Presto credit, he is not boring, or shy, or subtle. His antics are never-ending, and rarely a day goes by when he hasn’t managed to entertain me in some way. Lately he’s been in especially rare form… I don’t know if he’s just a little mentally bored, or the nice weather and green grass has brought out even more mischievousness than usual, but boy he is very PRESTO these days.

On Sunday I was driving the manure spreader back up to the barn when, as I drove past their pasture, I noticed Presto straight up wallowing in the pond. I don’t mean just rolling, I mean eyeballs-deep like a hippopotamus, and more than once his entire body disappeared under the surface. Despite being turned out in that pasture since November, this is the first time I’ve caught him actually IN the pond. I’ve seen him stand halfway in, and roll on the muddy edges, but I’ve never caught him in all the way in it before. He would wallow around, get up, move a couple feet, lay down, wallow around, get up, move a couple more feet, lay down, etc etc. Naturally my phone was dead so I went inside, plugged it in for a few minutes, and continued to watch the wildlife expo that he was performing in the pond.

To give you an idea of how long it went on, I was able to park the spreader, walk into the house, plug my phone in, let it get to 10%, walk back out to the pasture, and he was still rolling. By that point he had moved from the pond to the little side puddles around it, pawing and rolling in all of those too. I legit lost count of how many times he rolled. He was like a horse possessed. And by the time he was done, he was straight up COATED in slimy pond water and mud. From the tip of his ears to the tip of his tail, like nothing I have ever seen.

The worst part though? The smell. Omg, he smelled like a walking sewer. I’m not particularly sensitive to foul odors but I was borderline gagging. He touched me with his nose and I fled (that shirt had to immediately go into the washer when I went back in the house). Even the other horses thought he stunk.

Luckily it was a balmy 75 degrees that afternoon, so I immediately just took Presto straight to the wash rack. There was no way I was grooming that off, and if I left him like that the whole barn would probably reek forever. He was super pissed that I bathed him, but he left me no other choice. And even a bath didn’t quite remove all the stench, I’m still catching whiffs of it.

Despite his horrid swamp donkey behavior, on Monday a present came for him in the mail. I noticed last week that Big Dee’s had a deal where if you bought one of the giant play balls, you got the cover half price. I’ve been eyeballing some new toys for him anyway, so I grabbed a 30″ ball and the beach ball cover. Once it came I was excited to get it inflated and toss it out for them. After one false start where I failed to read the instructions and inflated the ball before putting the cover on (don’t be me, it sucks to spend 10 minutes foot-pumping a ball and then have to smoosh all the air out, roll it up and shove it into a cover, and then inflate it again), it was ready to go, and it was glorious.

The horses immediately came running up to see what it was about. There was a little snorting (mostly from the baby dressage horse) but for the most part they were just curious. Presto being Presto, he delivered a “worth every bit of the price of the ball” moment within the first two minutes, when he kicked it right at Quinnie’s butt. You could almost hear him laughing as it bounced off.

I also laughed. Poor Quinnie. The shit she has to put up with, raising those two baby idiots.

After they all sniffed it as a group I put a halter on Presto and taught him how to walk and kick it along with him. He caught on quickly, but seemed unimpressed. So then I turned him into a soccer goal.

He’s pretty wild and crazy. I fear for my life.

Mostly Presto seemed interested in rubbing his head on it, or scaring the other horses with it. Henry wouldn’t go NEAR it, and ran for the hills any time it rolled towards his fenceline. They haven’t played with it much more than that first half hour though, not that I’ve seen at least. Maybe on the next really cold morning, that seems to be when they get up to most of their mischief.

To round off his Rampage of Chaos so far this week, yesterday he decided he was the farrier’s assistant. Seriously, the guy was just trying to trim JB and Quinnie’s feet, but is it possible to do anything near Presto without him being involved? No.

First he started by knocking over the hoof stand and pulling tools out of the farrier’s pockets while we tried to shoo him away. We finally reached a compromise when I let him hold Quinnie’s lead rope, which he did… happily standing there, just holding the lead rope, because he’s such a gold-star “helper”.

What kind of shenanigans will Presto get up to today? Stay tuned to find out. I’m sure it’ll be something.

People keep asking for updates on the tiny house, but the truth is there isn’t much else to say yet. We’re just waiting, continuing the save up the money for the down payment, and continuing to have way too much time to overthink all the different options and change our minds 300 times.

Following the builder on Instagram may have been our #1 mistake, because now we just see lots of pictures of lots of options. Shortly after the new year they posted new cabinet and tile options for 2020, and I was super excited because BLUE CABINETS.

Naturally the SO hates blue as much as I love blue, so he was not a fan. At least we both agreed that we don’t like the busy tile? That’s something.

I keep going back and forth between white and gray cabinets, depending on what pictures they’ve posted last. Honestly, this is torture. SO likes a very black and white type of look, which I am not on board with so much considering it’s a farm and those are the two hardest colors to keep looking clean, plus I think it looks too formal for the setting. The white cabinets look good, and that’s fine, but that’s about where my desire for anything white/black ends.

We’ve also made little to no progress on picking exterior colors. They posted a gray/white/navy one that I LOVE, but he still likes the white exterior with the black roof, which I hate. He does like the gray as a second choice, though, so that’s the most likely option.

Roof color? Anyone’s guess. Neither of us likes what the other likes. He likes black, which I do agree looks nice, but I really don’t want a black roof under the Texas sun. I find none of them to be particularly exciting, honestly. Which is maybe my problem with being able to just pick colors in general. I know what I don’t like, but I just don’t get that excited about this stuff in general. Do I really give a shit if my cabinets are gray or white? Will I even notice after day 1? Yeah no. Someone just pick for me.

I’ve had more success with other things, though. I joined a few “tiny living” groups on facebook, so I can see more about other people’s challenges and solutions. I’ve watched just about every documentary or tv show I can find about it too, gathering little nuggets of wisdom or ideas as I go along. I’ve even bookmarked a couple of things online that I want to get/build in to help us maximize our 399 square feet.

Since I’ve been living at the farm I’ve challenged myself to a bit of quasi-minimalism. I didn’t bring a ton of clothes with me (not even enough to fill a small closet) and I’m using very few dishes/kitchen appliances. Really it’s kind of an experiment to see how much I really need and use on a regular basis. Honestly – waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less than I even thought. So far I haven’t needed a single thing that I didn’t bring with me, clothing wise, and the dishes in regular rotation aren’t even enough to fill a sink. I’m feeling really good about the idea of donating or throwing away the vast majority of what I have left at home. The thought sounds EXCITING, really. Liberating. Somebody back a dumpster up into my driveway, give me a day, and that house will be empty.

I do have a lot of horse stuff, and I like having a lot of horse stuff, but I have more room for that in the barn and outside storage spaces. Still though, I’ve already done a first pass through what I have and started to list things for sale, and have another big box of things to donate. This is a really good opportunity to clean house.

The SO, as I predicted, is not having as much luck with this part. So far he hasn’t cleaned out anything, and is basically just planning to move all his stuff (and there is a lot) into storage. I tried to reason him out of some of the kitchen appliances (like the popcorn popper, which I’ve seen him use one time in the 7 years we’ve lived together) but he’s adamant that he uses it all. I can’t force it, so… he’ll have to get there in his own time. Probably after he’s paid a year or two of storage fees for no reason.

Mostly he’s been spending all his free time working on getting his ’56 Mercury fixed up. He really wanted to have it mostly restored by the time we move, since he will lose garage access, but considering he had to completely rebuild the engine (not planned) and now has several backordered parts impeding progress, it’s definitely not going to happen in time. So he’s currently semi-panicked about finding a garage space he can rent to keep the car and his tools in, and be able to work on it from there. He hasn’t found much so far, especially ones that aren’t stupid expensive.

I do still need to talk to some professionals about our options with the septic. Park Model RV’s are meant to hook into an existing septic system, which we won’t be able to do, so we’re going to have to get a little more creative. If it was just me I’d do a composting toilet and be done with it, but SO would 100% die at that idea so I wouldn’t dare even mention it. He’s very much a “living in 2020” type of guy, with all the creature comforts that that entails. From my research I do know that there are other options, most likely some kind of external tank, it’s just a matter of pricing them and figuring out which ones will work the best. For that I need a professional.

So… that’s kind of where we’re at. Mostly still a lot of stuff up in the air and things to figure out. I think it’s just going to feel this way until we finally order the house and get the process officially started, which is still a few months away. Until then… we wait.

For the first time in way longer than I care to even think about, I had a very riding-centric weekend. That had been my plan all along, but there for a few days it didn’t look like it was going to happen. First, on Tuesday I came home to this.

Yes, that butthole pulled two shoes in one day. He was kind enough to leave them where I could easily find them at least (he’d been playing chase with Presto up and down the fence line and spun/ran/bucked right out of them) but COME ON HENRY. He’d only been wearing them for a week and a half and my poor farrier lives like 1.5 hours away. My vet, who used to be a farrier, was out that afternoon for Presto’s tooth appointment, but he didn’t have his tools with him to nail the shoes back on. So I put Henry’s sparkly boot (that thing has already saved the day multiple times now) on the front foot with the missing shoe and told him that if he tore up the hind foot I was going to eat him, starting with said foot.

Then the next day it rained. Like that gross rain where it’s more than a drizzle but it’s not really RAIN, and it lasts for a solid 14+ hours. It soaked EVERYTHING. I was concerned that the little schooling show I’d wanted to go to on Saturday would be rained out. Not that it mattered much at that point, since my horse had 2 out of 4 shoes. But on Friday morning they gave word that the show was a go, and on Friday afternoon my farrier made it out to put the shoes back on, and suddenly our weekend was back on track.

The little schooling show was at a facility we’ve been to many times… it’s only about 25mins away from me now, it’s VERY laid back, the classes are cheap, the shows are small, the courses are soft, and they tend to let you do whatever you need to make your day a success. I wasn’t going to actually show, I was going just to jump a couple courses and get off the farm. We’ve jumped at home a couple times now but I’ve only got 4 jumps set up and they’re all single fences, so I wanted to do an actual course or two. We haven’t done that in… 5 months? Maybe more?

So I rolled onto the showgrounds at the very leisurely time of 12:30 (it was really nice to be able to get up, feed horses, clean stalls, go to breakfast, move hay, drag the arena, check my trailer tires, load the trailer, groom my horse, and still have time left over before I needed to leave. That’s literally never happened before.) and signed up for a couple of 3′ classes. Since it was such a close show, the SO opted to come with us. This is only the second show he’s ever been to, and the first one since AEC 2015, where we got in a fight and I banned him from coming to shows. I guess 5 years of time served is long enough to give him another shot? At least at a small, in-town show.

We got there when the 2’3″ was starting, so I unloaded Henry and tied him to the trailer with his hay net, and the SO and I set up our chairs in the back of the trailer out of the wind, facing the arena. Eventually they got to 2’6″, and there had been one person entered in 2’9″ by herself and then the 3′ with me but she scratched, so I got on and did a quick warmup. Henry was snorty and spooky, trotting sideways past a gate and leaping backwards at the sight of the world’s tiniest log in warmup. Yes folks, hello, this is my Prelim horse scrambling backwards away from a 4″ log as if it was set on fire by an army of dragons.

I told the organizer not to worry about setting the jumps to height just on my account since I was only there to school anyway. So we went in, did our two rounds, and Henry was super rideable. Like… weirdly rideable. Like… we added in a line at one point because I whoaed and he listened a little too well. If not for all the spooking and dolphining in warmup I’d have thought I was on the wrong horse. He did everything I asked in the ring, whether I was right or wrong. Can’t complain about that.

SO had seen just enough rounds to put him to sleep by the time I got on, so I ended up with video from about half of each round and some questionable zooming, but… it’s more video than I would have had otherwise.

By the time all was said and done I was on my horse for 25 minutes and we jumped a grand total of 23 fences between warmup and two classes. I was back home by 3pm. THAT is a show day I can get down with, and I think exactly what we needed to start knocking some more rust off.

Sunday was beautiful – 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, so I spent forever down in the barn currying more hair off of Henry and giving him a bath. He’s shedding like crazy now. I also opted for a bareback and bitless flatwork ride, something relaxed since the previous day had been more serious. The barn owner has a SoloShot which I played with for a while before losing patience and tossing my phone up on the fence to video instead. Someday I will actually take the time (all of it. all the time.) to use the SoloShot, but yesterday was not that day.

Henry is slowly but surely starting to get some of his strength back. When we first started riding again he wasn’t really able to stay off his forehand for more than a few strides, but it’s steadily improving. He’s incredibly downhill by nature so that’s always been the first thing to go when he loses some strength. It’s a balancing act of asking him for enough to build on, without asking too much or for too long and making him sore.  Slow and steady, slow and steady.

I have no actual plan for the coming weeks or months, we’re just going to keep plugging along and take things as they come. It’s kind of a nice change of pace, living in a world with no pressure or timelines. I don’t hate it.

One of the best (or worst, depending on whether you’re asking me or my wallet) things about those massive Black Friday sales posts is that I too discover new companies, brands, and products. This year was no exception as I stumbled across several new-to-me stores, one of which was The Dressage Store. If you like pretty things it’s really easy to get sucked into that website. Fans of matchy sets, this is definitely your jam, but they also have other gorgeous stuff, like Juuls jackets and Kingsley boots. I love unique or interesting things, and this shop has plenty of eye candy in that regard.

One of the other brands they carry is Montar, which I have been low-key eyeballing for a long time. They make everything from bridles to breeches, and it’s interesting enough to be a fun line, but not too “out there” or crazy expensive. I’ve heard particularly good things about the breeches, although never seen any in person, so I was always a bit hesitant. I do believe, though, that most brands can be judged pretty accurately by their breeches, a theory that hasn’t let me down yet. Usually if I like the breeches, I’ll like other things they make, too. And since breeches are an absolute staple, seems like a logical place to start.

I opted for the Montar ESS breeches, which are maybe a bit outside of my normal box. I am a big fan of a mid-rise, and got a bit nervous about their description of a “higher rise”, with lingering trauma from the very old TS and Pytchley days when higher rise meant they legit went almost to the bottom of my boobs. These didn’t look particularly high though, and I really loved the shape of the waistband. If I’m going to have a problem with breeches fitting me, it’s usually because they gap in the waist, so I liked that these had a contoured waistband, slightly higher in the back, with the little V notch.

These also feature a silicone full seat, which I am generally very picky about. I feel like much of the time breech-makers put way too much silicone and it’s way too thick, making the breeches mega sticky… tough if you want to actually remove your butt from the saddle to post or gallop or jump.

Luckily Montar really delivered when it comes to these breeches. They fit pretty near perfect, and the seat gives a little bit more grip without being noticeably sticky. I don’t feel stuck to the saddle at all, just slightly more secure. The best way I can think to describe it is that it’s not a GRIPPY silicone so much as an anti-slip silicone. The waist sits just slightly higher than my midrise breeches, no more than 1/2″ if that, which I quite like. The waistband is as beautifully tailored as it looks, so there’s no sag, there’s no gapping, and everything stays in place. I do think they run a tiny bit longer than some of my others, so tall people rejoice, short people you might have to fold.

The real selling feature of these for me, though, is the fabric. It’s ridiculously comfortable, and kind of feels like just the right mix of other brands I’ve liked. They’re super stretchy like the Horze Grand Prix, but lighter weight like the Aqua X, but smooth and soft like the Serafina. To be honest, I think Montar has perfected the blend. It feels almost like wearing leggings. These things are so comfortable that I’ve worn them for almost every ride since I got them, no joke. I just find myself reaching for them again and again. They wash up great and don’t stretch out. I think I need some green ones now, clearly.

These are a little bit pricier than some of my other schooling breeches, at $179 retail. That puts them in the same price range as Serafina, TS, Pikeur, B Vertigo, and RJ Classics. To be fair, I have/had all of those brands and would definitely declare Montar the winner among them. The fit and fabric is just superior.

In the relatively short time that I’ve known about The Dressage Store they’ve posted a coupon code and done a custom boot giveaway, so if you aren’t already following along, here’s their Instagram or facebook. Y’all know how much I love supporting these smaller boutique stores, and from my experience I think this is definitely one to watch! Now they just might have to continue to feed my new Montar addiction…

A couple weeks ago I was scrolling through my facebook feed when my eyes caught on an article from Heels Down titled “Belly Bands are a Dumb Trend”. Meant to be attention-grabbing, obviously, and I suppose it worked because I stopped scrolling. It was a very confusing title to me because 1. I had no idea they were a “trend” 2. I tend to disagree with the idea that they’re dumb. I own one, after all.

So I opened the article and the gist was that people use belly bands because they’re trying to hide spur marks, and if you’re such a bad rider that you leave spur marks, maybe you should work on your horsemanship. This just compounded how perplexed I was. I agree with the latter part, but strongly disagree with the former.

I mean, first of all… have you seen a belly band? It’s literally this hideous chonk of black elastic that is, quite frankly, a freaking upper body workout to even put on. There’s nothing semi-attractive about it, nor does it make you look cool. It looks like a dang hernia belt. Or a girdle. People DO look at you more closely, to try to judge why you’re using it. You’re not standing out in a good way. If they’re trendy then I guess I’ve totally missed that boat, because I don’t know a single person that uses one without reason or just to look cool. It doesn’t, and it’s a PITA.

My real problem with the article started here:

“Some may even be prone to rubs from riders’ boots or girth-fit alone. But there are options out there for managing a problem like this. Most of them come down to proper education and horsemanship.”

See, I do own a belly band, and have used it with great success. I have a horse who gets extremely sensitive skin in the summer, and just about anything will give him a rub. Like his halter. Or a saddle pad. Or my leg touching him. Or looking at him funny. The horse was getting rubs and I wasn’t even wearing spurs. Let me repeat: not wearing spurs. But I do ride him for long periods, he does sweat a lot, and those two things create the perfect environment for skin irritation.

I tried to use one of those spur pads with the extended sides and he got rubs from the edges of the pad. Congratulations, now he had MORE rubs. I tried wearing two other different pairs of boots to see if that would make any difference, but no dice. I tried slathering the area in Vaseline before rides to reduce friction (yes, I voluntarily made my horse more slippery). I had the vet look at his skin, I treated it with products, and always carefully bathed all the sweat off. None of that fixed it. So I bought him sheepskin pads, picked up a cheap used belly band to put over top, and voila – my problems were totally solved. The existing rubs healed, and he didn’t get any more. Once we got past the sweatiest grossest parts of the summer I was able to stop using the belly band and it’s been hanging in the tack room since. Will I need it again next summer? I’d be thrilled if I don’t, but probably. We’ll see. If I do, I won’t hesitate to reach for it. So, given all that, I am very interested to hear what other options exist (according to this author) for managing a horse like this, particularly those pertaining to my alleged lack of horsemanship.

The article goes on to say that a belly band is a quick fix solution, and maybe you need to learn how to make your horse be more forward and light off your leg.

Girlfriend.

If I get my horse any more forward and light off my leg, he will take up permanent residence somewhere in the stratosphere. That animal is so sensitive I have to be really tactful and deliberate about how I use my leg. I’ve spent years working on getting him to accept the leg and allow me to actually use it appropriately. Trust me, I ain’t squeezing his guts out the whole ride. But you DO have to put your leg on a horse and be able to ride with your leg as an active aid… I can’t just ride around with my leg off his sides as a solution to prevent rubs.

Are there people out there using belly bands to cover something up? Of that I have no doubt. Truth is, people can misuse even the most innocuous pieces of equipment (like sponges. people have literally abused horses with sponges.). If you’re using a belly band to prevent a particularly severe spur from leaving a mark so you can skate around the blood rule then you’re not that bright in the first place, because a belly band dulls the effect of a spur. If that’s your intended usage you may as well take the dumb-looking elastic girdle off and use a duller spur. I do agree that they should not be legal in competition for any sport (they already aren’t legal for some competitions) – I have never used mine in the show ring and would never want to, because see above comments about how freaking ugly it is. Taking it off for one day or just for your class shouldn’t be a big deal if you’re using it for legitimate purposes.

But I do think it’s incredibly small-minded, and if I’m being honest, a bit ignorant, to lambaste the product and all the people who use it just because there are a few people who also misuse it. Particularly when it’s a product that’s intentionally designed to protect a horse’s skin. By that logic there must be something wrong with all my sheepskin pads, too. Digging deeper into the article, it seems like what the author truly has a problem with is the misuse of spurs, and we can absolutely find common ground there. Shoot, the only spurs I even own are those teeny tiny little roller balls, and given my history on this blog I think it’s pretty clear that I would never defend rider-induced blood on a horse. What I just can’t get behind is the leap from “abuse of spur” to “belly bands are dumb” and roll them up in the same conclusion: people who use belly bands have bad horsemanship. That’s the point at which I admittedly get lost. And yes, I definitely have a real problem with someone questioning my horsemanship because I use a product that has actually worked to make my horse more comfortable.

Anyone else ever used a belly band? Do you think they’re covering up a bad rider or a lack of horsemanship, or is there a legitimate use? Where do you stand?