Last week on Instagram I asked if there was anything in particular that people wanted me to write a blog post about. I got a couple of good suggestions, including one saying that I should do a Q & A post, and open it up to questions. I thought that was a pretty good idea, seeing as how we as bloggers just kind of put stuff out there as we please, but maybe unwittingly leave out details or forget to circle back around to things. I had some trepidation about what kind of questions I might get (you never know), but all in all they were quite good. So here’s the first round of Q & A, and I’m more than happy to do this again sometime if there’s interest!

When do you think you might start backing Presto? Do you plan on doing it yourself?

The plan right now (I’m fluid, depending on how he’s looking/feeling) is to sit on him a bit this fall and just do some very basic “walk, steer, go, stop” type of stuff in the arena to let him start to get used to the weight of a rider and the idea of working for a living. Nothing strenuous, just a reaaaally basic intro into riding, probably less than 10 rides. Originally I was planning on letting someone else do this part, but he’s been so easy and we’ve already done so much groundwork leading up to it, I’ll probably just do it myself. I’ve started a handful of horses before and I think he’s going to be quite simple, so that’s the plan unless something changes. After that he’ll be left alone again until next spring, where he’ll expand on those original concepts a little bit more in the arena, then spend his summer hacking/trail riding out over terrain a few times a week to gain strength and confidence and figure out his balance. Once he’s coming 4 he’ll start more real work, but I want to spend a lot of time getting the basics installed and making sure that his body (especially his back) is strong enough by the time the real work starts.

Would you train up another OTTB?

If I had more money I would have a barn full of them. OTTB’s will always be my first love, they’re what I know best and what I’ve spent most of my life riding. You can’t beat a good thoroughbred, and it’s so rewarding to see them blossom in a new career.

Which event horses would you want to ride?

Ballynoe Castle RM aka Reggie has been my favorite for a long time, and even though he’s been retired for a couple years no other horse has taken his place yet. He always seemed so kind and genuine, and like I could maybe ride him without dying. I feel like I wouldn’t be able to ride most of the upper level horses, but he’s an exception. Fun fact: he’s by the stallion Ramiro B, who Peyton was just bred to last week! My other sentimental favorite is La Biosthetique Sam, but I feel like the best part of that horse was watching the relationship he had with Michael Jung.

What do you think is the most important thing to remember when working with young horses? I’m not a professional so I admittedly get really uncomfortable answering stuff like this, where it feels like advice. I can only speak for what I feel, not what is necessarily correct or “right”. For me personally, the most important thing that I always try to keep in mind is that I always want to set them up for success. That means being thoughtful with your choices, being flexible, preparing them well, and working with whatever horse you have that day. I want the horse to be encouraged and confident at the end of a ride, and I feel like it’s up to me as the rider to make sure they’re prepared for what I’m asking them to do (physically and mentally), that I read their mood properly in the moment, and alter my plan as needed.

Favorite conditioning exercise for event horses? Definitely long slow distance (long walks and long trots) and hillwork. I think the less pounding you can do, the better, so I only gallop as much as is necessary and try build the fitness/strength in ways that are a little easier on the body. Especially important when your mount is an OTTB with crooked legs.

How is the Neue Schule bit working out? 

Still fabulous since the last update! No bit is a magical tool that automatically turns a horse into the dressage winner, but I do think that finding the right bit for your horse (whatever that may be) is really important. It makes such a difference when they’re really comfortable with what’s in their mouth, especially if you have a more sensitive or tense horse. For me it’s really been the key to unlocking that “next level” with Henry’s flatwork, where he’s more confident in the connection and I can start to ask for more quality and more difficulty.

How do you balance work, 2 horses, a SO, pets, blogging, and sleep?

This is always tough, because everyone’s life looks a bit different. I definitely prioritize the riding and sacrifice the home/social life a bit, while others do the opposite. The thing that helps me the most is having an early work schedule. Also I’m a morning person. I’m at my desk at 6:30am and leave by 3:30pm. My barn is a relatively easy commute (aside from that whole toll road a$pect) so I’m usually there by 4pm at the very latest. That commute is one of the biggest draws to that barn for me, and why I’ve made sacrifices in other areas with regards to the facility. A long commute is just wasted time for me, and time is at a premium.

I’m usually leaving the barn by 6:30pm (sometimes earlier if Henry had a light day and/or I don’t do anything with Presto), home before 7, then I make dinner and chill with the SO and furkids for a while. I go to bed at like 8:30-9 (because I am an old lady) and usually read until 9:30-10, then I’m up at 5-5:30 to start all over again. I try to draft most of my blog posts on the weekend or when I have some free time here or there… it’s time consuming but it also pays for my horse shows, so it’s become a priority for me. It’s true that between riding, showing, and my side gigs, I’m gone way more weekends than I’m home. That’s something the SO has just had to get used to, because it’s a non-negotiable part of who I am. Luckily he has his own hobbies and is pretty independent. If I’m doing other non-horse things they definitely have to be scheduled in advance, so I can work around them. In the summer I swap things around and ride in the morning, since it’s way too hot in the afternoon, in which case I’m at the barn by 6am and get to work around 8:30 (luckily we have showers at work, which helps gets me to my desk sooner since I don’t have to go home). With that schedule I have a little bit less barn time and a little bit more home time, which works out in the summer anyway.

What would your dream tack setup be?

I’m pretty lucky to have amassed some really great equipment by now. OF COURSE I will always lust after the cool looking new bridle du jour (I love them. They’re pretty. I want them all.) and a newer saddle or something custom or blah blah blah. But the truth is that I’m pretty well set up already with my Devoucoux saddles, Lund bridle and strapgoods, PS of Sweden bridle, and Eponia bridle. I’ve had a long and very satisfying love affair with Majyk Equipe boots, too, and all of the things I have now have worked really well for my horses and stood the test of time. It’s taken me a long time to build up my gear to this point, and do it on my budget, and I’ve busted my butt to get the quality of stuff that I have. The things that I may dream about will vary from day to day, but the things that I have are what is proven to work, and if my horses are happy then I’m happy too. But, ya know… if you want to put some navy piping on it, I won’t argue.

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Somewhere on the East Coast, pretty much anywhere between Ocala and Leesburg, with a preference for the eventing-centric areas. The ground is better, the grass is better, and there are more opportunities. I can’t even IMAGINE living in a place where I could drive half an hour in any direction and have 5 different XC schooling venues, or 10 different top level trainers, or 5 different shows. That is just not my reality at all. Everything here is far, which makes everything here more expensive and more logistically difficult. Not that I’m not excited to drive 4 hours each way to XC school this weekend, but ya know. I think of how much more I could get done living in a place like that, how many more opportunities I could make for myself, how much further I could stretch my dollars, and the temptation to uproot my entire life is real.

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If you have more questions feel free to drop them in the comments, or shoot me a message/email!

Ok before I recap the goings-on around here, first I have to post these pictures. This was one year ago today:

And this was on Friday:

Omg. OMG. O. M. G. By this time next year I think he might dwarf Henry.

Anyway, on to the weekend that went awry. I had entered a little local show, doing two dressage tests only (Prelim A and Prelim B). Which I think is the first time ever for us to do only dressage at a show. Or trying to, anyway. Apparently the weather gods also share my feelings about dressage, because Saturday morning dawned like this

LOL yeah nah. It stormed its ass off all morning, dropping upwards of 3″ of rain in some places. The showgrounds got over 2″ in less than an hour, rendering the parking area way too wet to get trailers in and out of, thus cancelling the show. Hey I tried, but I guess I’m just not destined to fancy prance, y’all. Which is probably good because to be honest I’ve never really done more than scan quickly over the Prelim B test before, and who the hell even knows where all the letters are in a long court anyway? Granted, I should probably figure that out before July since Coconino runs the B test. Details.

So instead of a dressage show, Henry did a lot of this:

And I did a lot of this:

Bless these live streams. I was watching XC from Florida and XC from California side by side. And I love getting to see coverage of Prelim/2* stuff, which is much more in our wheelhouse than the typical 4*/5* stuff. Seeing how stuff rides, seeing the different questions, thinking about how they would relate to my own horse… it was fun. Also, California has got some really badass kids pinging around there on ponies. I was impressed. Maybe there’s a market for higher level sportponies after all.

The sun came out on Saturday afternoon, along with the wind, which helped start drying things up pretty quickly. Sunday was absolutely gorgeous, so I did that thing where I told the SO that I was going to the barn for a couple hours and it really ended up being like 5. Y’all know what I mean.

The colt-starter guy that’s been putting some basic miles on Cannavaro wanted to ride him out in the fields for the first time, so Henry and I tagged along with them just in case. He didn’t need us at all, that horse was absolutely foot perfect, super quiet, brave and happy to go anywhere with or without Henry, and really relaxed. The guy was even swinging his rope around on him for a while, then put him to work trotting around the hills, cantering circles, changing directions, working on his half halt and his whoa, etc. I continue to be extremely impressed by Cannavaro, not only his brain (which is maybe one of the best I’ve ever seen) but also his quality. This is a nice horse.

After a stretchy w/t/c ride with Henry, it was Presto’s turn. I put his bridle on again, which he’s starting to hate less. It’s also possible that I’m bribing him, the only time in his life when he gets treats (because he’s a walking MOUTH) is when his bit goes in. Don’t judge me, he’s basically a dog so food motivation works well. Either way, it was the easiest bridling yet, especially considering it’s been over a month since I last put it on. I also had to let everything out a hole. His head really doesn’t need to grow much more.

We went out and did some long-lining, attaching the reins to the bit for the second time. The steering is decent. I mean… it’s definitely better when he wants to go the direction I’m asking him to go, but it does work both left and right. And the whoa button has always been good with this one. We made some circles and figure eights, went over some poles and between standards, and then wrapped it up with a mounting block session. It’s so tempting just to slide a leg over. So tempting. I know I could and he wouldn’t care a bit, but alas we’re waiting until Fall for that.

So maybe it wasn’t the most productive weekend on paper, but the horses still got worked and I got some education via the live feeds. Definitely not a waste. Plus now I get to be like “Oh darn, totally tried to dressage but got rained out, omg sad.”. Totally believable, right?

 

It’s been 10 whole days since I posted about hypothetically looking at getting a new pair of brown boots. As you may have guessed, my mind was already made up about getting new ones at that point, I just couldn’t decide which ones. I had a price point and I had sizing requirements but was relatively aimless otherwise. I went back and forth, up and down, to and fro, trying to decide.

I tried coming at it from the most responsible way first – ie the cheapest pair. An odd approach for me, admittedly, but hey lets try it. The cheapest of the group I’d whittled it down to was the Brogini Sanremo, which despite the Italian-sounding name is actually a British brand.

Alas the Brogini run short, which meant I definitely needed the Tall for them to even be passable. Which I couldn’t find anywhere without placing a special order that (with paying full price plus shipping) made them just as expensive as all the others I was looking at, which were higher quality. If I’m giving up some leather quality I want a bargain, so… nah.

Since being a financially responsible adult didn’t work for me (it never does), I immediately reverted to my true self. Although give me a little credit here, I did cross the DeNiro’s off my list because the leather upgrade that I wanted put them over my budget. Look at me, behaving myself (ugh boring).

Really though, I couldn’t justify all that extra money on boots I don’t really need, but I also couldn’t convince myself to settle for the cheaper leather that I don’t love. That left me with two options left – the German brand Cavallo, and the Italian brand Pioneer. If you understand the title of this post, you already see where this is going.

I started researching the two brands, looking at reviews and asking around. I found mostly positive things about both brands, with a few detractors here and there for each. It was a stalemate.

The price for each was almost exactly the same, which also didn’t help me tip the scales at all. In the end, it all came down to options.

The Cavallo boots are gorgeous, but only had one option for the top material that I remotely liked. And that top material was patent croc, which I really don’t like all that much. It don’t love patent. It’s just not my thing. Or animal print of any kind. It worked for me well enough on these boots to where I actually kinda liked it, but I didn’t love them. I wasn’t sure if they were speaking to me.

Granted, what Cavallo does have going for them is that it’s very easy to see and find their options. There’s even a handy dandy “configurator” online, so you can sorta feel like you’re building a pair. Granted, as far as configurators go it kind of sucks (it’s no Samshield configurator, that’s for sure) but hey… at least you can see all the options and pricing right there in front of you.

I only mention all of that because lord it was kind of a headache to figure that stuff out for the Pioneer boots. Pioneer has waaaaaaaaaaaay more options, but their stock photos, well.. they suck. The online swatch pics are hard to find, then hard to see, and figuring out the differences between all the models requires a lot of reading. Then trying to figure out what you can change, what you can change TO, and how much it will cost… LOL. G’luck. It’s awesome when you have a ton of options, but less so when figuring out said options is difficult.

They do have several major online retailers, and between them I was able to find the bulk of the information and pictures I needed. I had narrowed it down to the Atena model based on the leather and the general design, but it comes standard with a patent top. We just went over how I feel about patent.

First I had to pick an online retailer to order through, and for once the cheapest one was also the only one I had personal experience with: Equizone Online. I started emailing to ask questions, and poor dear Emily is the one that got stuck with me. I think we exchanged no less than two dozen emails. But she told me that yes, I could make whatever changes I wanted to the Atena model. The first thing to pick – what color? There’s a mahogony brown that is really pretty and has more of a reddish tone, and a dark brown that’s more like chocolate. When it comes to brown boots I would generally rather err on the side of too dark rather than too light (not a fan of anything even remotely tan or orange) plus my helmet and gloves are more chocolate (and so is that espresso Motionlite I’m coveting), so dark brown it was.

Second order of business: change the sole to black. That tan sole just looks perpetually dirty to me in pictures, sorry.

THEN it was all about replacing the patent. Emily emailed me pics of some of the dark brown options, since I wanted a top that matched the color of the boot itself. But the pics were kind of small and dark, and I dunno about y’all but I am NOT particularly good at picturing how things will end up looking as a final product just by looking at a little swatch.

In the end I narrowed it down to the brown floral (which looks like lace to me), the brown glitter (bc sparkles), or just a matching plain brown leather top. The last option didn’t add any cost, but it also seemed sad to me to order semi-custom boots that had absolutely nothing special happening.

I was able to find a video on facebook where you could actually see some of the different swatches pretty well, including the two I liked.

I liked them both, in different ways, so I asked what the cost would be for each. Adding the glitter top basically increased the price of the boot by 30%, whereas the price increase for the floral was pretty negligible. I like a little sparkle, but I don’t like it that much. Floral it is!

Sizing and measurements were discussed (luckily I am pretty standard as far as measurements go, and she came up with the same sizing options that I had from my measurements, which was reassuring), the invoice was received, the invoice was paid, and now… I wait.

She said Pioneer generally takes about 4 weeks, depending on how busy they are, so we shall see. I hope they fit. I hope I like them. I hope they end up looking like what I think they’ll look like. For semi-custom they were ridiculously cheap (under $400 plus free shipping) so… we’ll see.

I have to say though, if Pioneer is reading this: pleeeaaaase invest in an online configurator. You would sell a buttload (how do you say buttload in Italian?) more boots if people could mix and match on a whim and clearly see all the different options and what they would look like and what they cost. It’s great to offer so much variety and be able to create pretty much anything, but boy is it hard to try to guess at what you’re getting.

Fingers crossed that I like them! Although I already started looking at other Pioneer models that I like, daydreaming about what else I could create. Now I see exactly how Stacie ended up acquiring like 49million pairs of boots…

As anyone reading my show recap earlier this week may have noticed, I was feeling super low-pressure about the whole thing. This is certainly a departure from how I’ve been about this stuff in the past, when I would be up all night tossing and turning with anxiety, or worried about getting the score/placing I needed to qualify for something, or so focused on the outcome that I was too paralyzed to enjoy the journey. I have to say, feeling no pressure about anything certainly makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.

I think the pressure we feel as riders can be really complex. People don’t have the same performance expectations of us amateurs as they do of professionals, necessarily, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have those expectations of ourselves. There’s also the guilt of spending all that money on a show. Spending so much time away from work and family not just when we’re showing, but also just trying to ride every day. The fact that we usually only have one show horse to focus on, so everything that happens seems like a much bigger deal. We generally don’t get to show that much either, which can make us feel like every single one is super duper important and we really have to make it count. We have so much time, money, sacrifice, blood, sweat, and tears tied up into this sport.

Add being a blogger/relatively public person on top of it and that means there’s more scrutiny too. We’ve chosen to put ourselves out there in a public way, for all the good and bad that that entails. If you have a bad show it’s not as easy to hide and just not talk about it, you always have to answer to someone and explain. Not to mention that a lot of people at shows know who you are (for better or worse!), and attention is often the last thing you want in that situation. So… it’s very easy to see how the pressure starts to add up.

I think this last Pine Hill show was the first time I really felt NO pressure. It was pretty damn liberating, to tell you the truth. I think a big part of it is all the time I’ve invested lately into changing my mindset and addressing the mental aspect of riding, I really can’t express how important that’s been for me. It’s changed my whole perspective. But also I have to admit that there’s something really freeing for me about showing at a level I never in a million years expected to reach. I’m still very much in the “can you even believe this shit???” phase where I’m kind of just delighted to be here. I doubt we’re impressing anyone, but I don’t really care. My only regret is that I wish I’d figured all of this out a lot sooner… why haven’t I always just felt delighted to be here? It’s a freakin horse show, after all.

For the first time in a long time I have no particular expectations of myself or my horse. I don’t go into a show with pre-conceived notions of how we should score. For so long I kind of let the score define me, like it was some kind of barometer of my worth as a rider. Which is absolutely moronic, at best, in a sport like this.

These days I’m not trying to qualify for anything or prove myself to anyone. Honestly my only goal for last weekend’s show was just to complete, because I really felt like my horse deserved to have a recognized Prelim on his record (yes, I recognize how silly that sounds). We definitely take everything one show at a time now, and whatever happens is what happens. We show up, we try our best, we hopefully learn from it, and we move on. I guess that might sound aimless in a way, but after chasing big goals year after year with this horse, it feels like I can finally just… take a deep breath. I’ve spent so long trying to prove to myself that we can do this, and that we belong here, I’ve kind of forgotten to stop and take a look around and realize that we ARE here and we ARE doing this. What exactly am I trying to prove to myself at this point?

It also helps to realize that despite what other people may sometimes think, my horse is not a robot and neither am I. Sometimes he’ll get worked up and throw in a clunker of a dressage test, sometimes I’ll mess up and take a rail (or 3) with me. It happens. That’s eventing. None of us are perfect (or even all that great) all the time. If anyone wants to criticize me for that, they’re more than welcome. Along with having nothing to prove to myself, I sure don’t have anything to prove to anyone else either. The only opinions that matter in my world are my horse’s and my trainer’s.

I was scrolling through facebook the other day and came across this post from MuddyMayhem that pretty much summed it up perfectly. It’s a little long, but 100% worth the read.

This part, in particular, is freaking brilliant:

Y’see We spend so long in Eventing worrying:
worrying we are getting it wrong, worrying we aren’t good enough, worrying what our record looks like, worrying about MERs & levels, worrying about what we’re going to put on Social Media, 
worrying that we might die [wry laugh]. I had a chance for those 5 minutes to throw off those worries & just live & love the moment I was in. On that course I had left behind the feelings of inadequacy that I seem to battle with constantly & fuck me I was grabbing that feeling by the big hairy balls. 
Go ahead judge me for it, think I’m fool, that I’m ‘embarrassing’ because I don’t give a shitting toss!

By putting the worries and pressures aside, my whole world has changed. The self-doubt, the criticism, the never-ending comparison… girl, bye. We’re living in the moment, and loving every minute of this new challenge. I wish I’d learned how to not give a shitting toss a hell of a lot sooner.

At the end of the day, horse shows really just aren’t that big of a deal. We all want to do well, of course, that’s why we’re there. But this sport is so much more than that. No matter what happens, there will always be another horse show. I think that, at the end of the day, if you asked each of us what it is that keeps us showing up at the barn every day and putting the time in, pretty much none of us would say ribbons. We’d say it was the love of the horse, the love of the sport, and that feeling we get when we’re out there doing something so ridiculously freaking fun on a horse that we love so ridiculously freaking much. When you start thinking about it that way, and focusing on why we really do this, it’s funny how all the worries and pressures start to just fade away.

While we were off showing in Houston on Saturday, everyone here in Austin was getting slammed with rain. Like… to the point where it took me 3 tries to get home, because the farm roads I usually take were completely flooded and the police had them closed.

I finally was able to find a way through, after 45 minutes of backtracking and trying again, and then basically had to Tokyo Drift my truck (which does not have 4WD) and trailer up the very flooded, muddy driveway. But hey… we made it. The ground in the fields was getting quite hard last week so I was happy to have the rain, except for the fact that it meant that Henry had to sit in his stall after a hard day of showing rather than go out like he usually does. Poultice and Magic Cushion are my bestest friends but he was definitely tighter in his body than usual. On Sunday morning it poured AGAIN for a solid 4 hours, turning everything into WaterWorld and relegating the horses to their stalls for another day.

Luckily our barn has good soil and is on mostly high ground, so the barn itself stays dry, and the arena/turnouts dry out pretty quickly. By Sunday afternoon it was dry enough for a walk/trot in the arena and a hack around the barn, so I took Henry out to stretch his legs a bit. The barn was super quiet and no one else was around, so afterward I decided to put Henry and Presto out in the arena to chill for a while and give Henry a break from his stall. And also because I can seriously sit there and watch them for hours, they are so entertaining.

Being out with Dobby and Cannavaro for the past few weeks has definitely made Presto a little braver, socially. I mean, he still kinda curls up like a roly poly when Henry puffs up at him, but any smart horse would. He doesn’t immediately retreat like he used to, and he even thought about instigating a mutual grooming session before he wimped out at the idea of putting his teeth on Henry. Presto is naturally very low on the totem pole and probably always will be, but I’m glad that he’s at least learning how to Horse a little bit better.

By Monday everything was pretty dry again, so they got to go back to turnout and I was able to do a stretchy w/t ride on Henry in the field (which has softened up perfectly in the way that only horse people could possibly be this excited about). After I was done with Henry I brought Presto in and decided to put a saddle on him again. When my schedule with Henry gets really packed, Presto tends to get less attention, so it’s been a while since I’ve really done much besides groom him. He stood there in the crossties looking bored AF and didn’t even blink when I just tossed the saddle on him and girthed it up like he was a grownup.

I took him out to the arena and lunged him for a few minutes, then put the stirrups down and let them bang around as he trotted. After that we briefly went over some remedial stuff like giving to poll pressure, flexing his head, and doing some “leg yield” in hand. Those things all stick with him pretty well by now. What really pissed him off was the bath he got afterward… guess it’s been a while since I hosed his whole body down. You’d think that for a horse that loves water so much, he’d be less of a turd about getting sprayed with the hose. Jokes on him, we stood there under the water until he finally just stood still and glared at me. He just bought himself a lot of hose time.

For those who have been asking, Cannavaro has settled in really well.

The resident barn worker/colt starter spent the first week doing a lot of desensitization groundwork, which Cannavaro flew right on through. He’s smart, and he’s naturally pretty chill. Yesterday was his first ride on him, in the western saddle, and again Cannavaro was really good.

He worked on standing still at the mounting block, bending and flexing his head/neck, backing, whoaing from voice, turning, and w/t/c. Bobby has been riding him at the walk and trot very lightly since he came off the track, but this was his first canter work and first time being asked to do much. The first couple laps were slightly dolphiny (god, he and Henry really have so much in common) but he smoothed out quickly. You can tell that he’s going to have a REALLY good canter once he figures out his balance.

I totally claim dibs on Cannavaro if something happens to Bobby. Just putting that out there in writing.

I entered Henry in a show this weekend, just a couple dressage tests to crush his spirit practice, and opening date for Presto’s first FEH show of the year was yesterday so I gotta get on that. I love this time of year, there’s never a shortage of things to do with ponies!

I’ve also been considering doing a Q&A type of post, opening it up to whatever questions you guys have. I get emails and messages with questions all the time, but I never thought about publishing them until someone mentioned it. So if you have questions you want to ask, feel free to drop a comment or send me a message or email… I’m an open book and happy to answer anything!