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?

 

Sorry, I let Presto title this post and he got a little carried away.

This past weekend was another fairly quiet one at home, something that is rare enough for me to always be appreciative of it when it happens. It was a loooong stressful work at week and I really needed a minute to breathe. So on Friday morning I hopped on over to the local Dover store for their “tent sale”… I use quotation marks because there was no actual tent involved, they just had tables full of boxes out in front of the store.

I’m ever hopeful that I’ll find some kind of fantastic deal at that sale, but once again I left empty handed. That’s not to say that there weren’t good deals to be had, if you were lucky. They had a few Kastel shirts for $11, a pair of what looked to be returned Lister clippers for $100, a returned Neue Schule D-ring for $100, etc. Nothing I had to have though. And the regular “sale” items were laughable – like things were still more expensive on sale than they are at Riding Warehouse regularly. So, nah. $0 spent.

By Friday afternoon after work I was completely braindead from the week, so I tossed Henry’s sidepull on and we went out to jump. Because you know what cures a long work week?

As usual, he was awesome.

Saturday was a conditioning day, and it was 85 degrees, so Henry got a nice thorough hosing after we were done. Which is good, because he was pee-crusted. I am thankful every single day that he’s a plain bay.

I was going to do something with Presto but he is still really ridiculously hairy, and it was so hot/humid, I ended up just hosing him off (how to make the baby horse angry in one easy step) and practicing his groundtying/standing at the mounting block. He knows now that the mounting block is always where he gets to stand and rest, so he was happy to put it in park and take a nap while I stomped up and down it and jumped around.

The real highlight of the weekend was on Sunday (well, after The SO forced me to go bed/mattress/bedding shopping, a thing that will take years of therapy to recover from. I haaaaaate shopping for non-horse stuff. Just order something online please, I’ll learn to like it.) when Bobby brought Cannavaro – now known in the barn as Gryffin – over to play! It was his first off property hack, so we just went on a walk through the fields and he was a superstar. Super brave and quiet, I still love him. The horse, not Bobby. Bobby was spooky and tense. Bobby needs some groundwork. His horse is super cool though.

The most exciting part was Gryffin meeting the boys. Presto loved him, because Presto loves everyone. I think he just assumes any horse he meets is his new bestest friend. Or in Presto terms: BESSSSSESST FREEENNNNN. Gryffin seemed unimpressed by the baby horse, just as everyone else always is when they meet him.

The truly weird part was that Henry seemed to like Gryff quite a bit. Normally Henry is the sniff-sniff-squeal-bite-kick type, but he just kept sniffing Gryffin over and over for the longest time. It was a little creepy. We think it’s because Gryff kinda looks like Henry, and Henry is nothing if not a egotistical narcissist.

Gryff was foot perfect in a new place, and I’m really excited to see how he develops over the next year or so. I just love him.

It was a fun, relatively relaxed weekend with friends, both horse and human. Can’t beat that! And I hope it was enough to recharge me for a while, because starting this weekend the schedule gets crazy again. Dare I say that spring has officially arrived in Texas? I’m so ready.

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year again – foaling season! And of course, as has become tradition around here by now, that means it’s time for our annual Willow Tree Warmbloods Baby Bets contest. Baby horses plus free stuff, it doesn’t get any better than that.

First off, the prize package. This year it’s bigger and more awesome than ever! The winner of this year’s Baby Bets contest will receive:

• a $50 Riding Warehouse gift card
• Willow Tree Warmbloods swag – pick between either a WTW hat or a WTW saddle pad, style and color of your choice.
• some Flix 100% flax seed horse treats, generously donated by Horse Guard
• a bag of Michelle’s new favorite thing (that she first physically shoved me out of the way to obtain and now continuously orders online): a big ass bag of lucky charms marshmallows.

Money, swag, and treats for you and your pony!

Again this year there are only two expected foals, and from two very different ends of the spectrum. Lissa, a Grand Prix jumper mare, is in foal to GP jumper stallion Catoki,  and sportpony mare Stormie is in foal to German Riding Pony stallion Nuno!

We’ll do the rules just like last year. Basically all you have to do is exercise those psychic powers and comment here with your guesses for the following, for each foal:

• Foaling Date
• Foaling Time (doesn’t have to be to the minute accurate, just to the hour is fine – ie 2AM. If it happens in the 2AM hour, you get the points.)
• Gender
• Color
• Face Markings
• Leg Markings (again doesn’t have to be specific – “one sock”, “none”, “four socks”, etc will work)

So your submission should look something like this:

Lissa: 4/2 3AM bay filly with a stripe and two socks

Stormie: 5/21 8PM black colt with a blaze and 3 socks

But filled in with your actual guesses, of course. 😉 Everything you guess correctly will earn points. 10 points each for foaling date and time, and then 5 points each for gender, color, face markings, and leg markings… each foal can potentially net you up to 40 points. So even if you get a few things wrong, there are still ways to rack up some serious points. If there are any ties, I’ll put them all in a hat and get Michelle to pick a winner.

Submit your entries via a comment here on this post or you can message them to me on the blog’s facebook page. Just make sure you leave a link or an email address so I can contact you if you win! Easy peasy.

The “Due dates” I’ve listed below are based on the average 340 days gestation, but keep in mind that normal gestation can be anywhere from 320ish to 360ish. I’ve included pictures of both combinations and whatever info is important so you can make your best guesses.

LISSA x CATOKI

Lissa is a bay mare, and we know she carries a red gene since her first foal was chestnut. Catoki is also bay, but he too has sired chestnut offspring therefore has a red gene. That gives us roughly 75% chance for bay or black, 25% chance for chestnut. Lissa has 3 small socks and Catoki has a big star/snip and 3 socks.  Her “due date” is 4/6.

STORMIE x NUNO

This one is a lot more challenging, color wise. Stormie is gray but appeared to have been born grulla, and has maybe a face marking. Nuno is black with a blaze and a sock. If our guesses at their color genetics are correct, that gives us 25% chance of grulla, 25% chance of black, 25% chance of grulla that turns gray, and 25% chance of black that turns gray. Since we may or may not know for a while if the foal will turn gray, I’ll just take a base color here for a guess. So black or grulla, we think –  but you don’t have to take my word for it.  “Due date” is 5/25, and this is Stormie’s first foal.

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I’ll leave entries open through 3/18, that gives you a week to get your guesses in! The contest winner will be revealed after the last foal is born. Obviously I have no idea exactly when that’ll be, hopefully by the end of May, so you’ll just have to stay tuned.

Who’s really excited for baby pony pictures?

I think the best thing about having Presto added into the mix with Henry and me has been the amount levity he brings into everything he does. Henry is a real derp, and quite a cheeky little turd all on his own, of course, but when you just have one horse and you have a lot of riding and competition goals with said horse, sometimes things start feeling a little too… serious.

I’m definitely serious about all of this, don’t get me wrong. But I also have to be careful not to ever get too bogged down in the day to day drudgery, both for my sake and for Henry’s. He’s got a fantastic work ethic, almost too much “try” to be honest, and it would be really easy to burn him out if he couldn’t have time to just be a dork and have some no-pressure fun in our rides and interactions.

I am much the same in that I can get so hyper-focused that I forget to take a step back and just let it all go sometimes. I’ve gotten a lot better about this as my relationship with Henry has progressed over the years, because his mental health can be a bit delicate, and I’ve really had to learn how to balance everything for him.

Adding Presto into the mix has changed the dynamic a bit, and only for the better. This kid is something else. He is weird, he is goofy, he is cheeky, and he is obsessed with being as cool as Henry.

They can’t live together, of course, because Henry is a grade A asshole of a pasturemate. He lives alone, and he likes it that way. But I do occasionally turn them out together for short stints so they can play (under supervision) because Henry, as much as he would like to deny it, freaking loves that kid. Well truthfully I think he just likes having something to chase and make rude faces at, and Presto is perfect for that because he would never dream of protesting Henry’s authority. Henry sure does love a power trip.

Sometimes Henry even fancies himself a Horse Trainer and tries out his roundpenning skills on the baby.

And Presto, bless his sweet little doofus heart, is almost just too pure and innocent for this world. He’s got a “WOW, WHAT IS THAT AMAZING THING?” and “OK SURE THAT SOUNDS FUN” approach to life that you can’t help but love. He’s a little bit like a 15.3h golden retriever.

I mean… how could you not be entertained? Everything that horse does, he does with joy.

And probably a healthy dose of naughty.

But mostly joy. He thinks everything is great fun.

I try to pony him at least once a week, rides where Henry pretends to be put out by the intrusion, but secretly loves because he gets to pin his ears at the dumb baby horse whenever Presto pulls any shenanigans. Henry relishes his role as the fun police. We go on long marching walks, usually with Henry in his sidepull, and sometimes with me bareback, and we just go explore and have fun. I look at Presto and I’m reminded that it’s not about today, it’s about the big picture, the long game. These long ponying walks that were originally meant for Presto’s benefit have really come to be of great benefit to all three of us.

Having Presto around has been so refreshing, and he’s a constant reminder to not get too bogged down in the day to day minutiae. Hitting a snag in Henry’s training? Oh well. Let’s take a couple days to back off, remove the pressure, go do something fun and goofy, and try again when we’re both in a better headspace. That approach pretty much always works for us.

Presto has brought a whole lot of levity and perspective into what can sometimes feel like a slog. It’s a treat to have him here, and it makes me so happy to watch him and Henry interact. I hope that I can always do my part to retain that adorably lovable golden retriever personality.