We’re officially on our way back to Texas, having left Flagstaff yesterday morning. We overnighted in Clovis, NM again and are now only about 8 hours from home. This was a fantastic trip and I had such a blast, but I’m totally worn out and ready to be home. 

So, I’ll start working on the show recaps tomorrow, but hopefully this will hold you over until then…

Coconino by the numbers

Likits that Henry consumed – 6 

Times I kicked Bobby because he was snoring – at least a dozen 

Dead optimum time watch batteries – 2

Tall boot blowouts – 1

PTO days taken – 9

Middle fingers extended in my direction – at least 6 (five from Bobby, one from Trainer when she asked for help to get her hair un-stuck from the truck visor and I took a picture instead)

Jars of Magic Cushion used – 1 

Number of times I considered killing the mare in the next barn over who tried to kick her stall down at precisely 2:30 every morning – 5

Big beautiful 100lb bales of hay purchased for and consumed by The Boys – 6

Mornings I woke up freezing to death in the tent because it was FORTY ONE DEGREES – 1

Cookies required to keep Henny still for icing – I dunno, how many are in this pan?

Rocks picked up from the XC course & roads and tracks – eleventy billion

Metric shit tons of Arizona dust inhaled into my lungs – eleventy trillion

Hacks ridden out in some of the prettiest country I’ve ever seen, with equally crazy people – 6

Chef Boyardee/Spaghettios consumed straight from the can – 6

Ribbons brought home – 5

Nosebleeds from the dry, dusty air – 3

Evenings spent consuming adult beverages and just hanging out, chatting with friends (new and old) – at least 5 

Grand Canyon souvenirs that I just had to buy – 1

Basically, it was the best adult summer camp EVAR. Until next year, Coconino!

Yesterday was dressage for the 3Day, and I’m pretty glad that part is over. It’s too hard.

I’ll do an actual dressage recap in a separate post when I have time to go back and gather media, but the short version is that Henry was tense but obedient and I had an error because I can’t brain.

After dressage was over and done with and laid to rest, it was time to focus on XC. I did my first walk of phase D, the actual XC course, and then in the afternoon we had steeplechase practice.

Many thanks to Hawley Bennett for teaching the practice, it was such a blast. It’s awesome how these Classic format 3Days have a clinic aspect to them, I’m learning so much as we go along.

I forgot to ask anyone to video so I don’t have any media, but Henry was a rockstar. Once he realized we were out there to run and jump he was totally Game On. Hawley explained the best way to ride the fences and the track, and we jumped just a handful of practice fences to get the idea. Henry took to it instantly.

After practice we walked the horses out on the roads and tracks to check out the footing, gates, and kilometer markers. 

Then we fed, settled the horses in, and walked phase D again with Trainer. The course looks fairly straightforward… there are a couple legit questions for novice (including a full coffin where the last element is a skinny off of a bending approach from the ditch) but nothing looked big or made me nervous. If I steer, keep my leg on, and don’t get lost in the woods (THAT is the real challenge) I think we’re golden.

I’m not sure that I’ve ever been this excited for XC day before! Let’s do this!

Wednesday was inspection day… we had in-barns in the morning and then the formal jog mid-afternoon. I took Henry on a long hack with some stretchy trot in the morning to loosen him up a bit, since we can’t turn out anymore.

The in-barn was very uneventful, the vet just took TPR so they have a baseline to compare to in the 10 minute box. 

Then it was time to bathe and braid and start getting pretty for the formal jog.

The jog was kinda fun, although a) running in sand in flats is hard b) I was sweating balls. But when they said “Number 75 – accepted!” It was a pretty good feeling. Especially because they said it so fast – one horse got held, and on some of them they took several very long, agonizing seconds before they announced them accepted. Henry was immediate, thank goodness, because your anxiety in that situation is through the roof.

​

​

Then I hopped on for a quick dressage ride. Henry was definitely better than Tuesday (couldn’t really get much worse) but still tense and not really coming into my hand. I kinda just think that I have a really fit horse who has been cooped up for too long, and that’s that. I’ll coax him through the dressage as best I can today, and then be really glad it’s over.

After my ride we had a rider’s meeting followed by an overview of Roads and Tracks and Steeplechase. I’m pretty excited for both of those things!

If I can just survive the dressage today, the rest should be a lot more fun.

This trip has been so great, I guess something had to suck at some point. Unfortunately that point was yesterday when I tried to practice my dressage test. Definitely one of the top 3 worst Henry rides ever.

The day started out great… we turned the boys out, and they had great fun playing. It was very cold, definitely the coldest night so far at only 41 degrees. I woke up with frozen appendages. 

After it warmed up a bit, we all went out for a long hack down the bridle paths around the park. That never gets old.

It’s just so damn pretty.

After the hack I peeled off and went down to the track, hoping to get 20 minutes of stretchy trot in. Unfortunately Henry’s brain fell out and he just kept screaming for his friends and jigging. I gave up on that idea and took him back to the barn, since he was just getting more worked up.

Then later in the afternoon we had jog practice (the official version left a lot to be desired, so we came back up to our barn and Trainer helped us practice instead… much more useful) then I hopped on to run through my test. Henry was awful. Very tense, over sensitive, and really frustrating. Not gonna lie, there were some tears. We went back to the barn to re-set our brains and get a flash, then went back down and tried again. Finally, finally, he was at least rideable. Not great by any means, but ok.

Today we have in-barns and the first jog, then we’re going to try to dressage again. Really hope he’s gotten all the lack of cooperation out of his system.

Skipping right over day 4 and 5 for now… sorry for the cliffhanger, we’ll come back to it when I can get my media together.

We’re halfway through our Coconino adventure and I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we’d be happy to stay here forever. Definitely not tired of it yet… not even tired of camping. 

Since Monday was really our only totally free day, we seized the opportunity to a) get stuff done b) have some fun. We got up before 5 and were able to turn the boys out in a free arena for 2 hours. They had a blast and seemed very happy to stretch their legs.

Then we ran some errands (feed store, Walmart, laundromat) before loading up and heading out for the Grand Canyon.

I haven’t been to the Grand Canyon since I was a kid, so it was fun to see it again. It’s just so massive and incredible to see in person. I also brought some of my moms ashes to spread there, which was pretty cool too. 

Plus we saw a squirrel drinking from a water bottle, which was a definite highlight…

After we got back we all hopped on our ponies for a nice long bareback hack down the trails of the park. Our life does not suck… this is just the most amazing experience. By far the best Monday ever.



After our hack we really had nothing left to do but bed the horses down and treat ourselves to a pretty damn fancy dinner. 

I also finally had the chance to plug my computer in and take a look at the helmet cam video… can we just talk about this corner for a minute? Holy $@&!

This horse, y’all.