As sad as I was to leave Europe to return to the land where walking outside is akin to putting your face in an oven, I was happy to get back to my horses. I’m sad when I take even just one day off from the barn and don’t get to see them, much less 10 days. Plus I came back bearing gifts, and all sorts of fun new stuff to try on them. What’s more fun than trying new stuff on your ponies?

As soon as I rolled into the barn on Friday, Henry (ever the drama queen) pretended to be mad at me by retreating to the back of his stall. He does that every time I’m gone for more than a couple days. Show up every day, he greets me ears perked. Skip several days, endure his wrath. I gave him a handful of cookies and he magically got over it.

I wanted to try everything on to make sure it fit before I started taking tags off, lest I need to re-sell anything, so we started with Presto.

I thought Presto might hate the fluffy halter. Ever since he had to wear that muzzle as a foal, he was wary about things being brought up over his nose. Like no joke he didn’t really get over it until last fall, after A LOT of repetition and teaching him the “head down” cue. I thought all the fluff might garner some protest and make him think I was trying to suffocate him, but nope. He mostly just wanted to eat it. Which… watching a horse try to eat the halter that is attached to it’s head is akin to watching a human try to lick it’s elbow.

He got bored of that pretty quickly (because attention span is approximately .5 seconds), so I adjusted the fit and admired our $18 score. It’s so fluffy. I like it. I’m totally pretending like he needed a shipping halter anyway (he didn’t) and that it was worth lugging all over Europe in a backpack (my spine is still mad). I took him over to see what Henry thought of it…

and then moved on to Presto’s next acquisition. He was still bummed to find that this one wasn’t edible either.

These are the little faux leather bell boots that I found at Equip’horse for $20 and talked myself into buying even though I have like 4 pairs of bell boots already. In my defense, I bought these specifically for Presto (being able to reason myself into anything is my super power) and I do go through bell boots relatively quickly. Can one ever really have too many? It’s kinda like saddle pads. These bell boots do look really cute on him though and I kinda wish I had bought another pair, because I’m pretty sure they’re Equip’horse’s house brand but can’t find them on their website anywhere. Tekna makes some very similar to these although more expensive and hard to find. We’ll see how fast Presto destroys them. The faux leather itself seems very durable but I have my concerns about the elastic strap.

Once Presto was done trying on his new clothes (and putting everything in his mouth), we moved on to Henry, starting with his own super fluffy halter, and his fancy ice boots.

His halter fits him too, and he looks adorbs. He didn’t particularly need a shipping halter either but shut up it was $18. That’s basically free. I did kind of wonder for a minute if I should have bought them both navy, but I think there are two kinds of people in this world: those who match all of their horses to themselves (ie people who are orderly), and those who want each horse to have different things so they don’t mix them up (ie people who live in a state of chaos). I’m clearly the latter, as a human. Plus my horses also have different color schemes – navy and yellow for Henry, navy and green for Presto. They don’t have to match. So their shipping halters are adjusted to each of them and easy to keep straight without having to label anything. Works for me.

The ice boots are maybe a touch big for Henry, which I knew they would be. He was at the upper end of “medium” on the size chart, but Presto will definitely be in the “large” range, and I figured being a bit big is better than being a bit small. Large it was. They fit just fine.

After that it was on to the pièce de résistance…

This bridle is honestly my favorite thing that I bought. I had eyeballed the plaited hunt bridles last season but even I couldn’t talk myself into spending $200 for a hunt bridle when we hunt like twice a year. The vendor that had this one at Burghley (same vendor that had the halters, that place was dangerous) had plain flat hunt bridles with rubber reins for $30, or this plaited version for $50. SO CHEAP. I almost talked myself into the plain version, but then I was like “nah girl, you really wanted the plaited one last year, it’s your favorite style, it’s only $50, buy the damn bridle.”. So I did. And I have no regrets. I don’t get to hunt Henry much but I plan to hilltop Presto as much as possible next year, so I figured the purchase was more justifiable. Plus it was cheap, so if when Presto chews up the reins I won’t be as mad.

I tried it on Henry to make sure it would fit, and then took it home to soften it up. It was pretty darn stiff, especially the reins. Belvoir worked it’s magic on the bridle itself, which soaked up A TON of conditioner but softened up amazingly well. The reins were a little more stubborn, so I went back to my h/j roots and pulled out the good ol’ warm olive oil dunk + baggie + sunlight trick.

That worked like absolute MAGIC, and a few hours later everything was soft and supple and beautiful. Like… waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay nicer than I ever expected it to turn out, considering how cheap it was. Nicest $50 bridle I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure.

There are few things more satisfying than that first oil/conditioning on a new piece of tack. One of life’s greatest pleasures.

The only thing I bought for the boys that I didn’t really like was the lead rope. It’s soft and thick so I thought it might be good for ponying, but in reality it’s a little bit too short and EVERYTHING sticks to it. Like it’s basically just a ball of shavings now. But it was $4, so I’m not that upset.

As far as the stuff for myself, I’ve tried both pair of gloves and like them. We’ll see how they hold up, that’s always the real question. I really like the feel of the Fouganza gloves, they’re very thin but grippy, and I can feel everything through them really easily. Of course, that also makes me think they might not last very long. We’re 4 rides in with no signs of wear yet, so we’ll see. They were $16, it won’t be that upsetting if they die quickly. If they came in more colors I would beg Mimi to go to Decathlon and buy me some more!

That’s pretty much everything. It all fits, and I like everything except that lead rope. I really didn’t buy that much, considering the sheer number of stores we went in. I’m secretly relieved that Fairfax wasn’t there, because I probably would have blacked out and bought a breastplate that cost more than all of this stuff combined. I came in WELL UNDER the budget I had allotted for myself. When does that ever happen? Shoulda bought more bell boots…

Now that I’m home and de-jetlagged (it was brutal this time, geez) I’m able to reflect a little bit on the trip as a whole.

First of all, Burghley is incredible. I would 110% recommend it to anyone. The shopping was ridiculous (over 600 vendors???), the food was insane (we ate a lot of cheese), and the crowds were huge. I found the Brits to be extremely nice too – special shout out to Gadding About with Galahad, who I happened to meet on a train platform by pure happenstance, and who also showed us a much quicker shortcut to get into the grounds. Blogging, y’all… it goes worldwide. Getting to see iconic fences like the Cottesmore Leap and the Leaf Pit with my own two eyeballs was really fun, too. The jumps are massive, the terrain is intense, and it’s easy to see why Burghley is the biggest and baddest XC in the sport.

As to the controversy that’s been swirling around regarding all the falls and retirements, I’m a little bit on both sides of the fence. I did not like the gates combination and didn’t think it was fair or safe. Mark Phillips admitted as much himself in a press conference. I also didn’t like the big log oxer going downhill into the Trout Hatchery, I didn’t think it jumped well overall. But I will also say that I saw a lot of big rider mistakes, especially at the Maltings, and a lot of people that should have pulled up but kept going. Most of those falls you could see coming from several fences before. And despite all the problems the course was causing, surprisingly few selected to take the longer easier routes, even when it was clear that the horse was already feeling a bit overfaced. The riders who did it well did it really, really, really well. Smooth and textbook and easy, a total masterclass. The ones that didn’t… it was bad. Take out the trappy, unfair questions for sure. But at a point the rider has to take responsibility for the horse they’re sitting on and know when they need to take a long route, or when they need to put a hand up and call it a day. I did not see enough of that until it was already too late.

The other thing that wowed me about Burghley was the turnout for the Young Horse finals. I know I talked about it a bit on the day recap, but it’s something I haven’t stopped thinking about since. The whole culture over there is so much different regarding breeding and young horses, so many people are interested in it. Being part of the crowd there, which numbered in the thousands, and having been a part of the crowd here, which numbered less than 50… it makes you wonder how to get that same level of enthusiasm about young horses and breeding over here. Are we just such a culture of “if you want a nice horse, go import it” that we’ll never have that kind of interest here? I don’t know. It’s a little depressing. Although I did have a bit of a chuckle at the thought of us running our Championships in the same format, with the dressage arena marked in the grass in the ring, and you do your dressage test then go straight over to the jumps. I think some folks might have a fit. I remember doing a FEH clinic a few years ago where someone brought up how the judge rides the top 3 in England, and suggested trying something like that here… one of the ladies had an absolute STROKE at the mere thought of it, saying she wasn’t going to let anyone else sit on her horses under any circumstances. We’re a bit primadonna sometimes. Having to do your jump warmup, then a dressage test, then go straight to your stadium course… I bet there would be a lot of grumbling about that.

Setting Burghley aside, there were lots of other perks of the trip. I’ll be honest, I had been a bit worried about all the trains we had to take (that involved 4 different trainlines and many different stations) because I have historically been REALLY dumb about trains. No joke I’ve gotten lost in the Atlanta airport before because I took the train the wrong way. But somehow we managed to always get where we needed to be, never missing a train or ending up in the wrong place. Way more confident about the train systems in each country now, and next time I think we’ll modify our trip to include more trains and less driving.

I am also completely convinced that the only way to really see a country is to avoid the bigger cities. I’ve come to hate them, even Paris. Getting out in the more rural areas, away from the tourist traps and the constant bustle… that’s my favorite thing. Driving through the French countryside was just so lovely, a thousand times better than anything the city has to offer. You can see the real soul of a place. The same was true in England, I don’t think there is a town in the world that is cuter than Stamford. And have you even FRANCED until you’ve stood in a pasture full of mares and foals in Normandy, fields stretching out in every direction as far as the eye can see?

Although I will say, the French are interesting people. The culture is a lot different from America, especially with regards to lunch time. Like… everything just STOPS at noon and doesn’t start again until 2. Businesses close. Don’t ask to meet anyone anywhere during that time unless it’s for lunch. And if you walk into a restaurant one minute after 2, they won’t be serving anymore, you’re just kind of SOL. This is how we found ourselves at a French McDonald’s, having been a bit late for lunch time and unable to find anything else that was still open. But bonus – you can order at the kiosk and change the language to English, which was a bit of a relief after a couple days of having to use the Google Translate app on every menu. Unsurprisingly, French McDonalds was way better than American McDonalds.

Speaking of which, if you find yourself in a restaurant that offers an english menu, totally get it. It will be entertaining AF. We laughed particularly hard at this dessert section at a restaurant in Deauville.

People have been asking me how we got to meet a lot of these stallions and visit these big farms. There’s not much science to it: just ask. I’ve found that, usually anyway, people are quite generous with their time, and were super kind to us, showing us their horses and talking to us about them in depth. Even if there’s a bit of a language barrier, we all speak horse. You can learn so much just from looking at other people’s horses, and listening to what they have to say. And especially when it comes to breeding, there’s nothing quite like seeing these horses in person. Some really wowed me that I didn’t expect. Others I liked less than I would have thought. Either way, we come away from every trip having learned something and having made at least a couple new friends.

And of course, seeing Mighty Magic in person was just BONKERS, I knew from pictures that Presto took a lot after him, but good lord. Now instead of asking him “WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS” I just look at him and go “I KNOW WHY YOU’RE LIKE THIS”. I keep showing his video to everyone that knows Presto and the reaction is always “oh my god they’re identical, same mannerisms and everything, how crazy is that???”. I’m now totally convinced there’s a gene for mouthiness. Presto is never getting nice reins. Have to admit though, I really loved MM’s total ham personality. Cheeky bastards are my thing.

I think this might have been our best Europe trip yet. We got to do so much, even if it did seem like the trip just flew by. Every day was busy busy busy. I can’t wait to go back and do it again. Maybe Ireland next time?

Michelle is still uploading all the pictures, I’ll post links to the albums once everything is up! If there’s anything I didn’t cover or anything you want to see, just ask.

 

Our last day in France went a little off script. The last farm we were supposed to visit was a lot further away than we originally thought, and the opposite direction of Paris, where we had to catch a train that evening. Given the drive, we thought that heading over there would be cutting it uncomfortably close timing wise to make our train, so we opted to hit a couple local tack shops instead. Just… you know… to browse…

The first one we went into was one that we just happened to drive past on the way out of town. It was more high end, and there was nothing in there that I really just had to have. When we got back in the car I googled for more tack shops and found another one just a half mile away, Equip’horse. Don’t mind if we do! That one had a little bit of everything – a custom saddler, barn supplies, tack, clothing, outbuildings, etc. A total one stop shop, and it had some more unique items I hadn’t seen yet, and good prices.

The guy working in the store that came up to help us spoke English (which was good, since the only thing I mastered in our 3 days in France was how to say “I don’t speak French”) and he seemed oddly fascinated by us and by Texas. This was kind of a common theme when someone asked where we were from. “Ah, Tex-asss, what is it like?”. The guy at the tack shop literally offered to trade places with me and go live in Texas and me stay in France. Bonkers.

It was a pretty cool store, having everything you could possibly need right there in one place. It was like if Tractor Supply was geared towards english riding and only had horse stuff. Out in the parking lot they had arena drags and fence materials (all wood, naturally, no t-posts to be found) and sheds. There was one in particular that caught our eye enough to walk over and take pictures of it. It was a double sided shelter, with an area in the middle to put a round bale or two that horses could access from each side. I think I’d like it more if the back was open, so horses didn’t get trapped in the back, but it was a cool concept I haven’t seen before. The hay is protected in it’s center area.

I did not escape the store totally unscathed, but we were worried about our baggage weight limitations (and uh… we’d already had to buy another bag to put all the Burghley purchases in) so we kept it to small things.

It was all cheap, and it all stuffed into my existing bags, so… I’m gonna say none of it counts. I will have to do a post with all the stuff I bought between France and Burghley and go through it more in depth, but that’ll have to wait.

After we left that tack shop we headed back to Paris, and our nav system happened to take us right through that super ridiculous giant roundabout around AdT. It was total chaos and pandemonium. Cars everywhere. Everyone going in a different direction. It was hilarious. Could not stop laughing.

From there we took the chunnel train back to London, then walked to our hotel for the night. Getting all our bags up the extremely steep and narrow stairs was like 3 days worth of cardio in and of itself. That was perhaps the only fleeting moment where I might have regretted all the Burghley purchases. The next morning we took the Underground to Victoria Station, then went up and got on another train line to Gatwick airport. I think the biggest accomplishment of the entire trip is how many trains we had to take, yet never once got lost. Small miracles.

Yesterday was long, between the trains and all the airport check in and security, and then a 10 hour flight home, customs, waiting for bags, driving home at rush hour, etc. I forgot how god awful hot it was here, and I was already regretting my choice to come back before we’d even made it off the shuttle to get to my truck. It’s not any cooler than it was when we left. Gross. Texas does have one thing going for it that Europe can’t match though…

Mexican food. Which was our first stop, naturally.

Although I have mixed feelings about being home, I am really pumped to go see my boys today. Almost two weeks is a long time to be without them. We’ll see how Presto’s foot is looking and make a decision next week about whether or not he’s going to Championships. Plus of course I get to try all of their new stuff on them. Won’t they be so excited?

This trip was a complete blast, and we got to do and see a little bit of everything. I have at least one more recap post I want to do, plus Michelle is going to upload all the nice pictures off of her camera, so stay tuned.

I’m officially at the point where I’ve seen so many horses in the past week that my head is spinning. Which isn’t a bad problem to have, really. I’ve petted more foals in the past two days than most people will ever pet in their lifetime, so… winning?

Yesterday we met up with another French friend (Usandro’s owner) and started the day with a Selle Francais foal show. The judge was none other than Bernard from Haras de Brullemail, where we had just been the day before to see Jaguar Mail. He judged conformation, watched them walk straight on and away, then they were turned loose to trot and canter. Mostly canter… this is a jumping registry after all. Some of them had a pretty cute little trot in there too though.

The majority of the foals were embryo transfer from sport mares, which this particular farm had plenty of. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a 1.60m showjumper. The depth and quality of the mare band is definitely top notch.

We also got to go out in the fields and see dozens upon dozens of offspring by a lot of different stallions, from foals up to 3 years. I love looking at the offspring like this, it tells you a lot, especially seeing so many in one place. I can’t even remember them all but just off the top of my head we saw offspring by: Diamant de Semilly, Alicante, Verdi, Luigi, Apardi, Untouchable, Vigo, Cardento, Tornesch, Vagabond, Malito, Candy de Nantuel, Emerald, Cicero, Kannan, Chacco Rouge, Tangelo, Armitages Boy, Quabri d’Isle, Urano de Cartigny, Qlassic Bois Margot, Topinambour, Quantum, Lauterbach, Cornado II, Casallo Z. We saw multiple offspring from several of them, so it was nice to be able to compare and contrast them side by side. My personal favorites of the day were a 3yo Verdi filly and a 2yo Tornesch filly. They looked like they wanted to event.

I will also say, if you’re ever feeling unloved or uninteresting, just walk yourself out into a field of 2yo colts. I have never been more popular in my life than in these past couple days, particularly with the 2yo colts. Having a 2yo colt at home, I can totally see why that particular group is always the most curious and full of pests. You go anywhere near them and they come at you in a swarm, wanting to climb in your lap or eat anything they can put in their mouth. They are entertaining, even though they have no idea what personal space is.

We also saw the stallion Urano de Cartigny, another horse that jumped through 1.60m with Penelope Leprevost. I didn’t get a photo of him, but what a CUTE dude, almost ponyish looking in the face with a big bushy mane. He didn’t seem to appreciate me saying that, I’m relatively certain he called me something terrible in French.

There was also a cute 3yo stallion who is going for licensing soon, by Cicero out of a For Pleasure mare. Basically, name a top bloodline for showjumpers and this farm probably has it.

Today we have one more stop at a breeding farm this morning, then sadly we have to start making our way home. We return to rental car in Paris this afternoon then get on the Chunnel train back to London, and our flight home is tomorrow. Sad times. I could keep living this life for quite a while I think.

Yesterday was freaking awesome. Okay so this whole trip has been awesome but it’s possible that this was my favorite day so far.

We started in Le Mans, picking up ex-pat Mimi (y’all know her from her hilarious recreations of Presto pictures) along the way. She was vital to the day’s success, since she actually speaks French and has a clue about how things work around here. Mimi, you’re the best.

From there we went to The Stallion Company, where we saw Grafenstolz, Namelus R, and Quintero la Silla.

They were all lovely stallions, but we fell in love with the super cool character of Quintero. He seemed like a very kind boy, especially from the manager’s description of what he’s like in the barn. We also got to see a colt by him, which was a nice perk. Quintero is a big dude with lots of presence and so was the colt.

We also got to peek inside their lab and cold room, where we saw container upon container of frozen semen. Seriously, never seen so much in my life. Their worldwide operation is super legit.

From there we stopped at a store that Mimi insisted we had to see. It was just your basic run of the mill sporting goods chain store, but it has an EQUESTRIAN SECTION. That’s right y’all, two whole aisles of horse stuff right in the middle of all the other sports, and everything was cheap. It’s possible that I bought another pair of gloves. One can never have too many gloves, right?

Then we stopped at an awesome bakery in some other random little town, picking up a quiche and some cake/eclairs that were ridiculously to-die-for good.

THEN we were off to Haras du Feuillard, the home of (drumroll please) Presto’s sire Mighty Magic!

I was excited to finally see him in the flesh, after all these years of being a super fan, and boy did he not disappoint. Presto looks SO MUCH like him it’s almost spooky, and they both have the same goofy side eye and extreme mouthiness. I posted a video on my Instagram but here are a few screenshots to give you an idea. Look familiar?

It’s just crazy how similar they are, right down to the ever-present need to have something in their mouth. MM is beautiful, I was not disappointed.

We also asked to see his stablemate Cassitano, who I think is an interesting cross for a TB mare to make an eventer or to a dressage mare to add power/canter. He’s so correct, and jumped to 1.45m before switching to dressage and going to Grand Prix with a young rider. He can move, he can jump, he’s beautiful, and he has a great character. Loved him as well.

Mimi also made the mistake of asking to see the Mighty Magic x Welsh cross yearling, which was ADORABLE, and loved Mimi, so now we have to figure out how to crowdfund a baby pony for Mimi. His dam was 13.2h and jumped to 1.40m, how nuts is that?

After that we were back in the car and headed to Haras de Brullemail, where we were greeted by none other than Olympian Jaguar Mail. He went to the Hong Kong Olympics for showjumping before going on to sire 5* eventers as well as 1.60m jumpers. He is 82% thoroughbred and 100% gorgeous.

He was a very sweet boy, happy to see that we brought him an apple, and also happy to get lots of wither scratches. I loved his temperament, and he’s quite a good size and well put together. Another lovely stallion, and he looks great for a 22yo horse that had a big career himself.

We also got to see TONS of mares and foals and older offspring at Brullemail, it was like the pastures full of fantastic horses were never ending. We saw tons of 2yo colts, tons of foals, broodmares like Tresor Mail’s full sister, Jaguar Mail’s half sister, and Jaguar Mail’s dam. The owner Bernard is so knowledgeable about all of his horses and their bloodlines, and obviously proud of them. He should be. At one point Mimi was standing there in the middle of a sea of foals saying that if she got kicked in the head and died right there, she’d be ok with it because she was already in heaven.

Matriarch Elvira Mail, dam of Jaguar Mail and Katchina Mail. 27 years old!

We were at Brullemail forever, yet we still didn’t get to see all the horses. We had to cut it a bit short in order to get Mimi back to the train station in time. Which required some Formula 1 type driving from Michelle in our little Volkswagen Polo, which I thought was great fun. Mimi seemed a bit nervous. But hey, we got her there EARLY.

Thanks again to Mimi for all of her help, we had a fantastic day! Now Michelle and I are off to a foal show in Clarbec. Tough life…