Yep, you bet your ass I’m taking credit for this one.

When I first stumbled upon Bobby in November of 2014, he was pretty adorable. I mean, who doesn’t love Wintecs, rubber boots, big shiny plastic helmets, faded saddle pads, and a crop with a wrist strap? He was very Pony Club Chic.

Sometimes he looked considerably less PC Chic and more grown up, but still missed the mark in an old women’s show coat, black tie, and gray skunk stripe helmet. Not to mention those skin tight tan cotton/spandex breeches that I fantasized about burning on a pretty regular basis. He’s so much more fabulous than that.

Since we’ve been at the same barn for over a year now, I’ve spent most of that time berating him and telling him how ugly his stuff is. Because I’m a true friend, and friends don’t let friends look janky. Who knew I’d someday be doing a Straight Eye for the Queer Guy type of thing?

But between my verbal and emotional abuse, backup verbal and emotional abuse from our trainer, and the fact that he acquired basically an entire new wardrobe because of his AEC win, I’m proud to announce that Bobby no longer looks janky. In fact, he looks fly AF. Now his outsides match his insides.

Behold his XC outfit:

And his dressage/stadium ensemble:

New additions to his wardrobe include:

• Charles Owen custom helmet – black with red piping (he won that)
• Charles Owen vest – BETA 3 approved
• Tailored Sportsman white breeches for shows
• Barn logo tech shirt for XC
• C4 belt/neckstraps – not just one but TWO (he won one of them)
• Fancy boots on Halo – a full set for XC and a full set for stadium (he won one set)
• a men’s tech fabric show coat, not the women’s wool coat he’s been wearing since the 90’s (he won the gift card for that)
• white tie instead of the old black one, because welcome to the 21st century (also from gift card)
• a new LONG SLEEVE show shirt, no more bare wrists (also from gift card)
• Balls (he stole those from me)

He’s even revved up to buy a custom whip and chunk that silly wrist strap crop. AND he’s got a Stanley trunk (christmas present) and a ringside backpack (he won that too), plus he let me dye Halo’s tail for AEC. The only thing he’s still clinging onto is the Wintec. I did succeed in making him fall in love with a real saddle, but I haven’t yet been able to convince him to actually buy it. Soon. Sooooon…

I have to say, I think Bobby is my greatest masterpiece. He’s beautiful.

As I briefly mentioned in the Maiden Voyage post on Monday, Henry and I had another lesson this past weekend. My trainer is headed to Ocala for the next 6ish weeks (that bitch, I hope she gets a sunburn and some mosquito bites. I mean… uhh… good for her…) and I wanted to cram in one more torture session before she left, so I opted for a stadium lesson instead of an XC school. Of course, I brought my phone out to the ring with every intention of having her get some video but then I forgot to ask. Typical.

This was much like our last jumping lesson in December wherein she jacked up the fences and tried her hardest to help me figure out how my canter needs to get better as the jumps get bigger. In my defense, our arena at home is fairly small (soon to be expanded hopefully!) and it’s hard to practice the bigger more open canter that you need in the show ring, or string together a course of bigger fences, plus we don’t have a resident trainer, so pretty much the only time we really get to do this is at lessons and shows. Which don’t happen a lot, because it requires hauling out and driving a ways. I also seem fairly incompetent about being able to figure it out without assistance. You know what that makes me? Constantly, perpetually, and unfailingly remedial. I spend the first 75% of the lesson relearning my pace and getting that good canter back and then it’s like oooooh DING DING DING. Every. Single. Time.

I’d be lying if I said it’s not frustrating. It’s REALLY freaking frustrating. Mostly because I feel like I should be doing better than this. I should be getting this faster and retaining it better. I’m in that really irksome phase where I know what I need to be doing but I just can’t seem to string it all together at the same time yet. If I had a dollar for every time Trainer said the words “wait” and “allow” my Coconino fund would be overflowing. Once I finally got Henry straight, with a nice forward canter, had that inside hind REALLY lifting and pushing, we cantered all the way down to the base of the 3’6″ oxer and Henry just rocketed off the ground like he had springs in his legs. He jumped the freaking snot out of that thing- it was probably the best effort I’ve ever felt from him. How many times was I able to duplicate that effort? A few. How many times did I actually string the whole course together without messing something up? Eh… once?

Part of it is my deeply ingrained love of the long spot. That just doesn’t work in eventing, or when the jumps get over 3′ in general, or with this horse especially. He loves long and flat. Unfortunately long and flat pulls rails. Getting him to not be long and flat is my job, and I’ve got to retrain myself to wait and go all the way to the base with power. When I see a half-stride distance my default is to either panic and gun it or pull like hell. Guess how well that turns out? Like shit. The base is my friend. I need to just sit up and close my leg, ride all the way up to it and get all up in it’s personal space. If anything, I need to be hunting for the chip like I’d hunt for real chips – with vigor and extreme enthusiasm.

But, ya know… I’m the only one that can fix my own problem. I’m tired of sucking at the same thing over and over, and I figure I can either whine about it or I can make a plan. So I’m going to haul out to my old jumper trainer’s place a couple hours away and fit in a few lessons while my eventing trainer is in Ocala. Old Jumper Trainer is magical and very well-versed in my neverending bullshit (he’s the one who once uttered the phrase “The only difference between a deep distance and a chip is what you do with your body”… see how long I’ve had this problem?). Maybe I’ll be slightly less shitty when Eventing Trainer gets back? Ha, optimism is cute.

I’ve talked about Jezebel on and off on my blog, but for those who don’t know she was a mare that I used to ride and event in the early 2000’s. After our time together she went on to have several lovely foals, but a few years ago she found herself looking for a new home. I was not in the position to take on a broodmare but my friend Michelle (Sadie’s lessee) was kind enough to step in and take her. She did it because she knew Jezebel meant a lot to me, and for that I’m forever grateful.

She was underweight and her feet needed major attention, but over time Michelle got her looking great again. Jez raced a good bit before she evented, so she had a decent amount of wear and tear from her years on the track. I have always known her to be a very stoic mare, so when Michelle called me and said Jez was having a really hard time getting around this winter, becoming much worse instead of better despite extra care, I said we should absolutely let her go. If that horse was hobbling, she was REALLY hurting, and I can’t stand the thought of that. We’d been hoping to make her comfortable enough to get another foal from her – she loved her babies! – but sadly it just wasn’t to be. At this point it would have been cruel.

I will always remember Jez as having had the most heart of any horse I’ve ever sat on. She was a tiger and always gave 100%. She was very sensitive and required a very tactful ride, but once Jez trusted you she would turn herself inside out to please you. She didn’t have the patience for dressage, but she never met a cross country fence she couldn’t conquer. She was a big, stout, old-fashioned type of horse that truly embodied everything a Thoroughbred really should be – a type that is becoming exceedingly rare.

Yesterday Jezebel was laid to rest on the new cross country course that is being built at Michelle’s facility. Now she will forever be surrounded by and a part of the thing she loved most. Happy trails, Jezzy… thanks for the ride.

Yesterday I finally hitched my truck up to my trailer, loaded my horse in it, and drove us to a lesson. That sentence might not seem special to most, but for me it’s a years-long dream finally coming to fruition.

It’s hard to explain just how I felt when I pulled out of the driveway at the barn. Elated? Triumphant? Exultant? Euphoric? Terrified? Maybe a little bit of all those things. I haven’t had my own rig for over a decade, and not being able to go wherever you want whenever you want is a very hard thing when you’re me. I greatly value independence.

As with any new thing there was a bit of trepidation on my part, hoping that Henry would like his new trailer and that it would perform as expected on the drive. Henry put his feet on the ramp, looked around, walked in, and pooped. I’m gonna call that his stamp of approval. The hour and 45 minute ride there was uneventful, as was the ride back. If anything, the rig performed admirably. My truck had no problem with the hills or the wind (as it should be, considering I’m only at about half of it’s towing capacity), and Henry seemed calm and happy.

When I posted last September about desperately wanting a rig, I really had no idea how or when it would possibly happen. But there’s something magical about putting things out there in the universe, because here we are now, only 4 months later, and it’s a reality. Thanks to Beth for passing Betty the trailer down to me and to everyone else who helped make Rue the truck possible… it means more to me than you’ll ever know. It’s not just a truck and trailer- it’s endless possibilities and so many open doors of opportunity.

Freedom is oh so very sweet. Here’s to many more happy journeys with Betty and Rue.