If you were feeling sorry for Henry after yesterday’s post where he had to do dressage and then pony his kid brother around, fear not: Saturday was an exponentially more exciting day by Henny standards. We stayed on grounds overnight on Friday, and were set to go in the first XC schooling group at 8am on Saturday.

As soon as I swung aboard, Henry knew what we were doing (I swear he knows the difference in what all his different tack/bridles mean because he sure as shit never marches out to a dressage ride) and he was READY TO GO in warmup. We hopped over some warmup fences and then just headed around the course with the group, jumping a few things here and there along the way. The main goal for the day really was to take him back to the Irish Bank where he had such a big come-apart a couple years ago. He has jumped it since then – it was on the course for both of our Prelims – but in the opposite direction as the way that caused all the problems back then. It looks a little different from the other way so we wanted to see what he thought and make sure it was officially and thoroughly conquered.

For those who don’t remember, that bank confused him so much back then that it kind of broke him about banks for a while. I don’t know what it was, but he just didn’t get it and couldn’t figure it out, and it completely short-circuited his brain. We took a few steps back and rebuilt his confidence, but just haven’t re-presented it to him from that direction since.

He’s a more educated horse now, though. First we hopped over it from the direction he’s been doing, the way that it’s currently set on the course. Then we turned around and came back over it from the “bad” direction and he hopped right through it just fine. No hesitation, no confusion. We even added the corner a few strides away and he was super.

We quit after that, mission accomplished and no need to jump Henry’s legs off.

I went back up to put Henry away and then it was Presto’s turn! The plan was to pony him on day 1, and then take him around in-hand on day 2.

We got down there as my XC group was finishing up, so he hung out and walked back and forth over a bridge while they finished.

Then the group left, and he started neighing a little, so I put him to “work” to keep him occupied. He walked up and down the little bank, walked over some logs, and then I sent him trotting over a couple of little things. As soon as I gave him something to do he settled down and got right to task, even having been “abandoned” in the big field by himself. I was really pleased with him for that.

Then he stood quietly in warmup while all the next group of horses bustled around, and we walked around the course with them on foot as they schooled. He seemed to be enjoying his little walk through the woods, ears flopping as he went. He stood patiently at the stops, and never got worried or spooky. I sent him back and forth over a real ditch a few times too, which he plopped right over. He’s naturally so brave and seems to really enjoy the challenge of figuring out new things.

By the end I was sitting on a Prelim rolltop holding his lead rope, and he literally tried to put his feet on it to climb up there too. There were a couple humans and a dog already up there (which he was intent on playing with), so he figured why not him? This is how I found myself saying “Presto, do not climb on the jumps”. Do I own an oversize Labrador or a baby horse? I’m not sure.

It was such a good learning weekend for both boys, and I love having Presto tag along with us. They’re so different in age and personality, it makes for a fun contrast. I feel pretty darn lucky to have them both.

After our barn decided not to enter the first event of the season at MeadowCreek, we planned a schooling weekend at Willow Draw instead. And then Willow Draw got slammed with rain a few days before, and we quickly resorted to Plan C: a weekend at Pine Hill. Yeah, we’ve been there a lot, but there’s always something more to work on. Plus this time I was bringing Presto, and he’d never been there. He hasn’t been off the property since FEH Championships last September, so I figured it was time. He seemed so happy to finally be included, he practically BOUNDED onto the trailer.

Due to some scheduling conflicts, we made the weekend a Friday/Saturday thing. I have a stupid amount of PTO, so you’ll never have to twist my arm too hard to get me to play hooky on a Friday to go play with ponies. We opted to do a dressage lesson with Henry on Friday, as a follow-up to the one we had a couple weeks ago. I’ve spent that time working on the couple of big homework items that we got, so I was interested to see what progress we’d made, and hopefully build on it a bit.

Last dressage lesson Trainer revealed that a lot (ok, all) of my issues with getting Henry into the right rein were because he was carrying his haunches to the right. I’ve been laser focused on fixing that, and Trainer declared that he was, in fact, straight now. Hallelujah. Miracles. I mean… the fact that I actually had a horse in my right rein was evidence enough for me, but the formal declaration matters too. Since we typically don’t get lessons this often, I take the homework seriously. Sometimes we actually make improvements, and sometimes we don’t. It sure is nice when we do.

Now we’re at the point where we get to start asking him for more. More impulsion, more uphill, more balance, more sit, more push. His conformation and way of going kind of work against him there, being downhill and croup-high, so it requires a lot of work from both of us to accomplish any of those things. We also need to start doing more transitions and in faster succession, something that has always upset Henry.

But whereas the Henry I used to have would get upset and then have a meltdown and be irretrievably fried for days, the Henry I have now can get upset but I can still ride him through it to the other side and he gets over it. So it’s time to start putting a little more pressure on him. He’s kind of trained me along the way to not push the envelope too much in the flatwork, but the horse has evolved now and I’ve got to be a little bolder about it.

We practiced some bits of the Prelim B test, which really just showed that we REALLY need to work on those bits of the Prelim B test, but Henry is feeling stronger and stronger. I can’t complain about that. He’s come a long way, especially in the last year.

 

 

After Henry and I were done getting tortured, we went back up to the barn and I grabbed Presto. I wanted to pony him out with one of the XC schooling groups, so he could be in a big group of horses with lots going on, and have to stand around and be patient.

And that kid, y’all, he was just super. We stood in warmup while the other horses were galloping around, and he gave precisely zero shits. He watched them jump, he tagged along through the scary woods without a care in the world (well, aside from trying to eat every single bush and tree), and he stood pretty patiently. We walked through the water and he didn’t even so much as hesitate, just plowed right in there like it was the most natural thing in the world. In fact, he planted his feet and refused to come OUT of the water at one point, and I had to get after him. He walked over a ditch with Henry, and walked over a couple of teeny tiny logs. Even when other horses were getting upset around him for various reasons, he didn’t care. Considering how little he’s seen and that he’d never been to that venue before, I couldn’t have been more pleased with him. He’s so brave and curious, soaking everything up like a little sponge. He’s the same no matter what environment he’s in.

I was mostly worried about how he’d react to Henry and/or Dobby leaving him behind at the stalls, but when I left for my lesson he neighed a few times and then settled down. When Hillary left with Dobby for her lesson later, same thing. He’s definitely got a loud scream in him, but he doesn’t get belligerent. I can live with that. Once he gets a little older and more secure in himself, the neighing will lessen. Hopefully.

It was a great first day of adventures for both boys. Well, Henry may not have agreed, but… day 2 was cross country for him, so don’t worry, he got happier. To be continued tomorrow!

Guess who turns 2 years old tomorrow???

Today we’re leaving for a weekend adventure of lessons and XC schooling, and this little nugget gets to tag along with the big boys. He will spend his birthday ponying and exploring all the fun stuff at Pine Hill, and probably trying to lay down in the water jump. I think he’ll be excited to go, as he always parks himself at his gate when we’re loading the trailer, seemingly ever hopeful to be included. He hasn’t been anywhere since FEH Championships last year and he’s never been to Pine Hill, so… adventures!

Since we’ll be away for his actual birthday, Hillary helped me take his birthday pics yesterday, with his “party hat”. Clearly he loved it.

What else are baby unicorns for, if not dressing them up and taking ridiculous pictures on their birthday?

Presto is sweet, goofy, cheeky, smart… everything I wanted and more. His rough start makes me that much more appreciative of every birthday, and that I get the chance to see him learn and grow and turn into everything I was dreaming of when I bred him. Aaaaand definitely thankful that I get the chance to take silly pictures of him and post them all over the internet.

This kid is 50% giraffe, 50% moose, and 100% dreams come true. Definitely MY little unicorn, and it is a privilege to be his humom. Many nose smooches, kiddo, and happy birthday!

A few days ago Nadia posted a pretty great blog hop, asking everyone to post about their favorite event or horse show. I think that’s a brilliant idea, so here we go!

I admit, I sat here forever trying to figure out what my overall favorite event would be. There are so many different factors, like the footing, quality of the facilities, general atmosphere, beauty of the location. sentimental favorite, etc. I was hard pressed to come up with one that ticked all the boxes, yet there’s something I like about pretty much every venue we’ve shown at.

My original favorite venue in Area 5 was definitely Greenwood. I come from h/j world, where everything tends to look so manufactured and overdone, so there’s something very appealing to me about an “old school” type of event. Greenwood was one. Dressage was on grass, the cross country was legit and had good use of terrain, and showjumping was on grass as well. I’ve always liked that, even if it means I have to stud more. Of course, for the sake of my horse I do also like the perfectly groomed, fancy footing in the arenas at places like Texas Rose and Chatt Hills. You can’t argue with great footing.

The one thing I didn’t like much at Greenwood was the tent stabling… lord it was squished in real tight. Greenwood ended and was sold several years ago though, so sadly it is no more.

After that I really liked Holly Hill a lot. Again, it has a bit of that old school vibe to me, dressage on grass, and a wide open xc with classic questions and a few gently rolling hills. Their stadium ring was a bit small but now they’ve built a new, bigger one that is quite nice. The only bummer is that it’s in nowheresville Louisiana and there’s not much nearby. Also if you get stuck in the tent stabling that’s in the covered arena, you will eat dust all weekend. Still a really top notch gorgeous facility though, and definitely up there among my favorite events.

My sentimental, “hometown” favorite will always be Pine Hill. Talk about a vintage eventing feel – that facility has it. It’s where we school the most often, and it’s where a lot of firsts have happened for us, so it’ll always hold a special place with me. Half of the course is in the woods, which is fun, but Henry is really spooky back there, so it’s not necessarily my favorite XC to ride with him. Although last month he sure did blast through there like a man with a plan, so maybe he’s getting more mature about it? Still, the more open XC courses like MeadowCreek and Texas Rose have always tended to suit him more.

Last year we evented at 6 different venues, and if you made me pick my favorite of those, it would be Willow Draw. It was our first time showing there, but I liked it a lot. Mostly because the showjumping was on a bit of a hillside, and I am nothing if not a glutton for punishment. The XC was fun too, a little bit twisty and tricky in spots, but it rode well. The stalls are big and airy, I was able to park my trailer mere FEET away from where we were stabled, the warmup is huge, and the dressage isn’t so busy that it freaks my horse out (looking at you, Texas Rose). Their show is smaller, restricted to a relatively low number of entries, which makes it feel a little more chill. Quite liked it, will definitely be back.

If you really forced me to pick a favorite though, I think it might be Coconino. There’s really no great reason why, the event is a bit of a “cowboy” affair compared to many we go to. The dressage rings are set up on the racetrack (boy that’s fun when you have an ex-racehorse), the showjumping is nothing fancy, the footing on XC tends to be on the hard side (granted, it often is in Texas too), the stabling has seen better days, the elevation is very high, and there aren’t any permanent bathrooms or showers onsite. BUT – they have a great spirit about them, good parties, great prizes, it smells like pine trees, there’s no humidity, it legit feels like summer camp, and it’s in the lovely town of Flagstaff. I had so much fun at those shows, and my horse was so happy in their weather.

The event has a real “get ‘er done” quality to it that I like so much… it’s authentic eventing, as it always was. No carousels, no on-site sushi restaurants, no jumbotrons, no derby fields being passed off as XC, no VIP tents. There is zero pomp and circumstance to it, and I love it. You make it work, you enjoy nature, and you create your own good time in a beautiful city. I really hope we’re able to make it back there this year.

Maybe I cheated a little bit here on this post, but… there’s a lot to like at so many places. Sure, none of them tick all the boxes, but there’s something great to be found in every event, and I’m appreciative that they’re still around and available to us. It’s not easy to own and maintain these venues, or to put on these events, so I’m grateful for them all.

One of the things that I appreciated most when switching over from h/j to eventing was how much cheaper and more accessible this sport is to me. It’s still not cheap, of course, this is USA equestrian sports we’re talking about here, but still it’s about 1/3 of the cost to do a recognized event vs a rated h/j show. For someone who is perpetually on a tiny budget, that adds up real fast.

Another big factor was the yearly fees. When I had two horses doing the rated h/j shows, the membership fees for myself and for them, for USEF and USHJA, were (IMO) exorbitant. There was no getting around them though, if I wanted to do rated shows. Then I came over to eventing and saw that the only things required to compete at Training level and below at recognized shows were a USEA membership ($95 yearly) and a one-time “Limited” horse registration status ($40). No other memberships required, and the only yearly recurring fee was my own membership. The different tiers of registration even meant that I was able to get Presto a FEH registration (the only thing he needs in order to show in FEH classes) for only $25. Cheap! I appreciate how easy and relatively affordable they make it for lower level competitors and young horses.

Of course, once you get to Prelim, things start to change. The horse has to be upgraded from it’s $40 “Limited” status to a “Full” status with USEA, which is normally $150, but if the horse already had a Limited status they let you just pay the difference of $110. The rider also has to have a USEF membership to show at Prelim and above. I’ve had just a “fan” membership ($25 normally but there are often coupon codes floating around that make it free) for the past several years, mostly so I could access the pedigree database and watch USEF network, but declined to purchase the full $80 membership since I didn’t have to. Plus full USEF members are required to complete the SafeSport training, which everyone and their grandma spent the past 6 months whining about.

I knew that this year things were probably gonna start getting serious, but still I was kind of hesitant to jump into all of this stuff. Partly because I’m a little superstitious and didn’t want to jinx myself, and partly because I’m really cheap. Spending money on memberships and upgrades isn’t something I want to do until I have to. But I also didn’t want to have to spend an extra $200 right when I was paying for a show, plus I needed time to get SafeSport training done. So in February I did the USEF membership first, convenient enough since my fan membership had expired anyway.

Then this month I upgraded Henry’s USEA membership, $110 cringeworthy dollars but hey at least it’s done forever. He’s got the highest level registration status they offer, so I won’t ever have to pay them anymore money related to Henry.

Yesterday I finished the SafeSport training, and I’m kinda sitting here wondering WTF everyone was complaining about. It didn’t take that long, and honestly… I see the exact same kind of stuff they’re warning us about happening ALL THE TIME. Some of it has even happened to me. It was a good reminder, and now I know exactly what route to take if I ever witness anything suspicious myself. We’re waaaay past due to shed light on this issue, as an industry. Kinda can’t believe anyone is upset about it, but I guess people will complain about anything.

And I got all of that done just in time, because today I mailed off the entry for our first recognized Prelim! Closing date is next week, so I’m a little behind the ball, but geez this season has completely snuck up on me, plus I was indecisive about it anyway. This will probably be our only recognized show for the spring. My wallet is happy about that, but the FOMO has kind of already started. Better FOMO than burnout though, I guess!

Filling out those MER’s on my entry was making me nervous, like it was some kind of test and someone might pop out and interrogate me at any moment. We’re in a whole new world now, where you have to actually show that you’ve fulfilled the prerequisites before they’ll let you compete at the level. This is new.

So that’s exciting. But also kinda scary. And a little expensive. But hey, it’s done. We’re bonafide, all our paperwork is (hopefully) in order, and we’re officially entered in our first recognized Prelim!

What kind of membership fees to y’all have to pay to show in your respective associations? I’ve heard dressage can get expensive like h/j, but I haven’t traveled down that road. And for those who have done the SafeSport training – what are your thoughts?