The phone call went something like this…

Me to Trainer: “Heeeey… I did a thing…”

Trainer: “Oh god what did you do?”

Me: “I forgot my saddles.”

Trainer: *busts out laughing* “You’re an idiot!!!” *more hysterical laughter* “YOU FORGOT YOUR SADDLES?? YOU MORON!!!” *even more hysterical laughter* “It’s ok you can use mine.”

Yes I forgot my saddles. No lie. Can’t even make this shit up. I’ve forgotten a lot of things while packing for shows over the past 20 years, but SADDLES? I will probably never live this one down, and honestly I probably don’t deserve to. So dumb. BUT, I will say… forgetting my saddles turned out to be the most serendipitous thing that could have possibly happened, and it totally saved my hide on XC. We’ll get to that tomorrow.

We got to the show early on Saturday with plans to school the bank elements on course. I love this show because they keep their recognized course (which is fairly beefy) but allow schooling the day before. I didn’t want to do much, so we just hopped through both bank complexes and called it a day. Whatever that bank issue was that we had a couple months ago, it’s totally gone now. He didn’t even consider hesitating, not even at the ginormous drop. I think it also helps that he seems to love this venue, he’s always good there (duly noted, we will be back for the recognized show in September).

After I finished getting him bathed and settled in, cleaned my tack, set up my tent, walked stadium, and took a shower, I pretty much just went to bed. At like 8:30. Because I’m old and grumpy. Get off my lawn.

But I was up nice and early with plenty of time to slowly crawl out of my tent, feed Henry, and take him for a long walk/graze while the sun came up. I really love being the first person up and about at shows, there’s something extra peaceful about the calm before the chaos.

When I got on for dressage I wasn’t sure what horse I would have. He was so awful in our dressage lesson last weekend, and hadn’t been much better at home all week. The bit experiment was a massive failure. According to Henry the Myler was a bike chain and the Happy Mouth was plastic-coated murder. He reverted to Henry of 2015 – very stiff and chompy. I put him back in his KK and spent the rest of the week trying to put his brain back in, with varied success. Next time I think of changing ANYTHING with this horse, just tell me not to. He doesn’t do change. He’s the equine version of Rainman.

I didn’t quite have the horse I had a few weeks ago, but it was a massive improvement. For the most part he was staying in the contact and being pretty obedient. I have literally no media from dressage (not even a pic of the test sheet because I forgot to pick it up. God, I swear this is not my first horse show.) but it was about on par with our normal efforts. It was our first time doing test B, which is definitely the harder one at Training for Henry, but I was satisfied with the effort. The figure 8 of 15m circles at X went better than I thought they would and I actually got a genuine trot lengthening at the end. Canter lengthenings on a circle are not our forte, though. In my head it was somewhere around a 35, but we had a super generous judge and she gave us a 29.1. She was equally generous with everyone, so that put us 4th after dressage. I’ll shut up and take it.

Most importantly though – DRESSAGE WAS OVER! Time for the fun parts! And this is about the time Michele showed up…

I normally don’t do these but a) I failed to get media for the post I had originally planned today b) I liked these questions! This is from Rocking E’s summer blog hop series.

What is your earliest, clearest horse memory? I remember pretty much always having My Little Ponies and model horses, but the first real horse memory I have is from pony rides at a friend’s birthday. I was 4 or 5, I think. The pony’s name was Cinnamon! (can’t remember the names of people I’ve met 100 times, but can remember a random pony that I rode once 30 years ago…)

Describe the perfect summer day. Spontaneous cold front that makes the high 80 degrees with no humidity, there’s a horse show, and we win??? This is fantasy right?

Are you reading anything right now? Tell me about it! I’m always reading something. I’ve been on a science fiction kick for the past year or two, currently catching up on the Silver Ships series. Neerrrrrrrd.

Do you follow a celebrity (horsey or non) that you’re embarrassed to say fascinates you? Tell me. NOW. I’m pretty anti-celebrity in general. I just don’t find them particularly fascinating or special. I could watch Michael Jung for hours but in a “maybe I can learn something” way, not in a “I might pluck a hair out of his head and put it in my collection” kind of way.

What is your single most biggest horsey dream or goal? I really just want to have happy healthy horses that are performing at a level we’re both comfortable at. Not gonna lie, at some point before I die I’d like to run Prelim, maaaaaybe 1* but I do not have the cojones (or death wish) for anything higher than that. I kinda want to event in different places around the country though, kind of combine the love of travel with the love of horses. That becomes logistically difficult for a lot of reasons, though. It would be fun to do more classic format events, too!

If you were at Starbucks right now, what would you order? I pretty much never go to Starbucks unless it’s someone else’s idea, mostly because I hate coffee. So when I do go I either get hot chocolate or that little berry refresher thing.

What is your biggest equine pet peeve? When people don’t appreciate their horses.

With everything going on politically and in the media, tell me, do you follow it religiously? Tune it out? Or something in between? I follow it a lot more than I’d like to. Guess I’m just a glutton for punishment. It’s like a trainwreck though, I just can’t help it.

If you had to show your horse to a song, what would you choose? Hmmm depends on what we were doing. Dressage? The Grouch by Green Day. Go ahead, try to tell me I’m wrong. But if we’re doing XC? Because I’m Awesome by the Dollyrots. Especially with all the rah rah rah’s at the end. Plus he’s TOTALLY the type to be into girly punk rock. Again… try to tell me I’m wrong.

What are you most looking forward to this summer? Oh for sure our Europe trip. The more we plan, the more awesome it gets!

YAY, it’s horse show weekend! Well not quite, there are a couple more days left to make it through, but we’re close enough. Despite doing the little derby last month it feels like we haven’t really shown in forever. Technically we’ve only left the start box for XC once since last July, and that was in February. I’m definitely suffering from withdrawals. So while I’m slightly concerned that I might die (that’s just my general feeling at Training at the moment, surely that’ll go away eventually right?) the excitement considerably outweighs that. For the past two weeks I’ve been gathering up all my stuff, making some updates, and getting a few things fixed that I’ve been putting off.

First I had to find and dig out my fancy suspender ice boots. Henry is not a fan of ice, I tried to get him to stand in a muck tub once like other horses do and I was fairly certain he was going to murder me and stuff my corpse in it instead. He still hates the boots but was significantly less violent about them, so they’re the winners. If we’re running T XC on hard-ish ground in the heat, I’m going to wrangle him into these things whether he likes it or not, so dorky suspender boots are packed and ready to go. I also tossed in one of his leftover Flair strips from last summer, because it’s going to be hot as a MFer out there and more oxygen is never a bad thing.

Then I decided to finally get around to dressing up the pinny that I bought last fall. I got an inexpensive navy one with the intention of putting some yellow on it to personalize it a bit (because I’m too cheap to pay $65+ for a custom pinny that I’m at least 50% likely to lose or destroy, but hey they look cool). Of course I forgot all about it, and the other venue we’ve been to this year has their own pinnys so I haven’t needed it. Now is finally the time to bust it out, so I ran by Hobby Lobby, spent a whopping $1.80, added a little bit of personalization, and BAM. Ok, so it looks better from like 10′ feet away, but it works and my total time invested was like 15 minutes.

In the process of digging out all of my electronics, I remembered that both of my most important things were “broken”. My watch battery died last year at Coconino and I’ve kept forgetting to replace it. I’ve run XC watchless so far this year on purpose, but now I’m ready to add it back in to the fray. Apparently my old model OT watch doesn’t take the same battery as new one, because the one I ordered online didn’t fit. A quick trip to Batteries Plus, one very helpful older gentleman, 5 minutes, and $4 later, I have a functioning watch again. Why does it always take me months to accomplish the most minor of errands?

The other major electronic is of course the Cambox. Last summer I started having issues with charging it… seemed like the charging cable either had a short in it or wasn’t making a good connection. It would really only charge if I sat there and held the cable. While we were at Rolex, Hillary and I ran into the Cambox rep and talked to her, and she provided an email address to contact. They were very helpful, we talked through the problem, they agreed that it sounded like the cable, and I had a new one in my hands within a few days. Problem solved, it’s charging like a champ now. Now I just have to remember to actually turn it on when I get in the startbox (easier said than done).

I’m slowly gathering all my other stuff together, but mostly I’m just ready to hit the road. Win, lose, or draw I’m so excited to finally feel like we’re “back at it” and in the swing of things again with full HT’s and different venues! There’s just something kinda fun about horse show prep, am I right?

*** PRESTO SUNSHIRTS ***

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I mean, how could you NOT love a wee baby horse with an ear fuzz game THIS strong?

Since Sadie checked in foal last week, Michelle went and picked them up on Friday. Of course, it’s already pretty hot here and Presto’s medication makes him prone to overheating, so she wanted to trailer them at night when it was coolest. I swear that woman lives on an unhealthy amount of Red Bull, but I love her for it and I’m sure Presto appreciated it too. She always puts the horses needs ahead of her own. Although I did hear that he was not so happy with having alcohol sponged on him when she stopped for gas… he says sorry Auntie Michelle.

But he made it home safe and sound and happy, and was greeted with an unseasonably cool morning in Midland. He got to stay out for a little while, run around, terrorize Sadie a little bit, and get reacquainted with his BFF Liam.

 

Even with running and playing and being a general menace, his temperature was still 101.5, so that’s perfect. We still have to be really careful with him obviously, and he can’t stay out in the hot afternoons, but with the sprinklers going (yes, they’re on the receiving end of sprinklers… constant watering is pretty much the only way Michelle can get grass in Midland) he can hopefully at least stay out until mid-morning and only have to be inside in the afternoons.

It also appears that the meds are working (knock on wood) because he’s breathing much more normally and doesn’t have that constant gross nasal discharge anymore. He literally sounded like Darth Vader when this first came on, not to mention the steady drip of snot. Hopefully he continues to trend upward and the meds keep doing their thing in his lungs.

Aside from a couple of minor tantrums he’s still a pretty easy dude to deal with. Most of his objections come when you spring something new on him without warning or when he doesn’t understand, which is fair. I hear that he’s become such a pro now at oral syringes and sponge baths that he doesn’t even have to be haltered for it anymore. I continue to be amazed that he’s retained such a good, easy-going temperament despite being a living breathing pincushion for basically his entire life. It sure does make me happy to see him enjoying himself back home though. ❤️

I’m working on figuring out a plan to bring him home after he’s weaned. I had originally planned on leaving him there for a while but a) I think Michelle has already lost quite enough sleep and probably several years off of her life because of my horse b) I’m pretty damn attached to him and want him closer to me so I can see him regularly. I’m not even gonna lie, all this stuff that’s happened with him has turned me into a major helicopter parent. I’d love to pasture board him at my barn because there’s a pond and a creek and a big hill out there that I think are perfect for a baby to grow up on, but it’s not cheap. Time to start playing around with my budget and some other possible boarding options to see if I can make something work. Then he can give me that epic side eye in person all the time!

I really didn’t intend for this to be Henny Drama week, but ya know… if the shoe fits…

A couple weeks ago I tied Henry at the washrack and walked over to turn the hose on. As soon as I did that I heard scrambling, turned around, and my horse was no longer attached where I had left him. He’d sat back and somehow wiggled completely out of his halter within all of 2 seconds. Weird behavior for him, he ties very reliably, but he’s also kind of dumb so I figured something just startled him and didn’t think much more of it.

Then two days later, same thing happened again, except this time he broke my gorgeous Kentucky Bridleworks halter. Luckily it was at the end of the strap so it’s still usable, but… still. He broke it. This is why you can’t have nice things, horse. I tied him back up and proceeded to bathe him, and he continued to be 100% terrified of…

wait for it…

THE HOSE.

The same hose I’ve been using for like 6 months now. Plus, ya know, he’s 10. He’s seen plenty of hoses in his life. But obviously it is an anaconda of the Henny-eating variety.

The next day I took him over to the other washrack, thinking maybe I was just missing something in the first washrack with my human eyes. Surely he wasn’t really that scared of the hose. But no, same snorting and staring sideways at that hose (sorry – anaconda) too. Obviously Henry now thinks that all hoses are deadly.

My best guess is that he came across a snake in his pasture and is feeling hyperaware of anything snakelike right now. We did see a big fat grass snake cross our path a few weeks ago when we were out hacking in the back forty, and even though his turnout is the one closest to the barn, I have no doubt that there are some snakes out there too. I know a rat snake lives under the office… maybe that’s the one he’s seen? Either way, he’s pretty convinced that hoses fall into the same category of slithery danger.

On one hand I have to roll my eyes at him, because my goodness horse IT’S A FREAKING HOSE. On the other hand, I kind of don’t mind him being super wary of anything snakelike near his feet. I’ve had a horse bitten by a rattlesnake before and it’s fun for precisely NO ONE, so if his reaction to all things snake is to get the hell out of dodge, I’m ok with that. So for now I’m not tying him in the washrack (because if he breaks my halter again I might have to beat him with it. I kid. Or do I?), and I have to be slow and deliberate about how I pull the hose around near Henry’s feet. Hey, maybe he knows something I don’t. Or maybe he’s just kinda dumb. Jury’s still out.