As we all know from my incessant whining, the show last weekend was rained out and rescheduled for this weekend. Due to another deluge of rain it was rained out again and moved to November 8. Score. That works much better for me since the TB benefit show that I wanted to go to was also scheduled for this weekend. That too was rained out but rescheduled for next weekend. Double score.

So now it looks like both shows are once again do-able, of course barring any further rain or other complications (knocking furiously on wood).

Here’s the rub: I now have no idea what to enter at the TB show next weekend. The great thing is, they have a crap ton of options. The bad thing is, well… they have a crap ton of options.

Originally my plan was to enter the little hunter derby and a couple of jumper classes. Now that we’ve gone XC schooling I feel like the eventing derby could also be a viable option. The highest classes at this show are 2’6″ and the biggest eventing derby is Beginner Novice. It’s BN Test A and then a course of 10-14 combined stadium and XC obstacles. Pretty basic. The hunter derby is 2’3″ with 2’6″ options. Also very basic. There are only two 2’6″ jumper classes. They have dressage classes too. So… what the heck to do? I feel like I could do the eventing derby (at BN) and the hunter derby and be ok. Timing wise it would work out fine and he’d definitely have enough left in the tank to hop around a little hunter derby. Or I could do just the eventing derby and leave it at that. Or just the hunter derby and the jumper classes, since I’m not 100% confident he’d get through XC without a stop and we definitely haven’t worked on dressage at all. On the other hand this is very much a tiny schooling show and I wouldn’t be that upset if he did have a greenie moment, and the XC looks to be very straightforward.  Commence new incessant whining: I dunno what to doooooo.

Does Henry want to play eventer pony?

Or hunter derby pony?

Or jumper pony?

Or a combination of those?

We’d probably have a better chance at good ribbons (if I actually rode decently, which is always a big if) in the hunter derby and jumpers, but I don’t really care about ribbons. I just want it to be fun and for my horse to have a positive worthwhile experience. But is it too soon for the eventing derby, with only one XC school under his girth? Hmmm…

Now that I’m home (yay) and back to work (boo) I finally have time to write about the Georgia trip. As with all road trips and horsey adventures there was plenty of stuff happening to write about, but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible.

Monday: I worked a half day then went straight to airport to make my 2:00 flight. I landed in Altanta around 5 and my friend Michelle (who is leasing my mare Sadie) met me at the airport. She is basically the whole reason I was there… she bought a broodmare and a foal from Rising Star Farm and had driven down there to haul them home to Texas. I had to fly in since I couldn’t miss work on Monday morning, but she didn’t want to make the return trip alone with two horses. So – Michelle picked me up from the airport and off we headed toward Rome to RSF. The super fun part was getting her giant truck and trailer out of the airport parking lot. Pretty sure it was the highlight of all the parking attendants’ day. We arrived at RSF within a couple hours, petted a few ponies, then settled in for the night.

Tuesday: We were down at the barn by mid morning, ready to ride. First I hopped on Encore, an RSF sale horse by Figaro B. He’s a super cool greenie with nice gaits and a huge step. Then I got on Valentino, which y’all already saw pictures of. Pretty much made my day week month. Michelle rode him a bit as well and instantly fell in love too… Valentino definitely gained another member of his fan club. It’s really hard not to love that boy. Then we headed out for lunch and came back to start getting the trailer ready to haul a mare and baby. The configuration made it a bit tough but after a couple hours of tinkering around we finally came up with something that would work.

Wednesday: Up and at ’em early, getting things ready for the sBs inspection. The Belgian judges arrived at the farm around 9am to start doing paperwork, then the inspection began around 10. There were a few mares and several babies to inspect. Somehow I got roped into handling all of RSF’s mares, which I did not really have appropriate footwear for. But we got it done, got the babies branded, and had Mare and Baby (should say here – Baby did not belong to Mare so that added a level of difficulty to the whole thing) in the trailer by 2pm. Baby had never been in a trailer before so we were just trying to get going and get on the road ASAP to make it to our layover location in Mississippi before dark. There was no time for lunch so when we stopped for gas in Alabama we loaded up on armfulls of crap and just went to town in the most unhealthy of manners. Side note: when you stop at a random truck stop in Alabama, you see a pretty epic mullet.

We ended up missing a turn and it took a while (and a lot of masterful driving skills by Michelle) to get turned around, so we made it to our layover spot just after dark. Luckily the horses were relatively happy and in good shape, so they came off the trailer and settled into their stalls with little fuss. Baby was a bit perturbed at first but came around after a few minutes and was great. Poor thing had a pretty rough day. We fed the horses, cleaned out the trailer, and trudged wearily into the house (thank god for horsey bed and breakfasts, especially adorable ones) to collapse in bed.

Thursday: This was our biggest day of driving, with about 525 miles on the docket. We were a little worried about getting baby back in the trailer but she’s a champion and walked right on with only a little hesitation/bribery. We were on the road by 6:50. Not sure if any of you have ever driven I-20 across MS and LA, but man… those roads are awful. Poor baby probably got her brains rattled out. As soon as we crossed into TX the road smoothed out and we stopped in Tyler around noon to give them water, more hay, and grab lunch. By now it was pretty hot so we also sponged water on them and gave them cookies.

We didn’t get very far outside of Tyler before the sky got awfully black and then opened up with pretty spectacular force. It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see too far in front of us. We plugged slowly along to Buffalo then stopped for gas and checked on the horses. They seemed pretty content, and the rain let up a bit while we were stopped, so we continued on our way. Again we didn’t get too far before it opened up on us again. The entire rest of the way to Austin was on and off storms with periods of super heavy rain. At one point in the town of Hearne we couldn’t even drive in the right hand lane because it was under so much water. Boating, anyone?

There was a brief reprieve for about half an hour, but the closer we got to Austin the darker and more ominous it looked. We were about half an hour away from my barn (their next layover location) when we hit another crazy wall of rain. There was standing water everywhere. Slowly but surely we made our way through it and somehow managed to time it so that we made it to the barn and unloaded the horses before the next wave hit. Baby was a little more upset and wide eyed as the storm came rolling in but again she handled it pretty darn well, all things considered. Mare of course just seemed thrilled to be eyeball deep in hay with lots of cookies and a nice dry stall, so she didn’t much care about the rest of it.

I had to go back to work this morning so Michelle is on her own to make the 6ish hour trek back to where she lives. I think by now Mare and Baby are ready to be home! We had a good time though and she’s got a super nice new broodmare and filly to add to her breeding program. Extra congrats to Baby’s daddy Diabolo D’Esquelmes who has made it into round 3 of the 5yo YJC Midwestern League Finals this weekend in KY with two-for-two clear rounds so far! Go DD go!

Michelle got tons of inspection pictures with her nice camera so hopefully I’ll have lots of pretty mare and baby pictures for y’all sometime next week. Happy Friday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, soooo I swear I’ll stop leaning horribly at the down banks eventually. But what a good boy for his first time out! This is everything, start to finish. Thanks Jen! He thought he was da man at the water. 😉 And you get a great Paddy and Brego cameo around the :40 mark.

I can’t figure out how to embed on mobile so hopefully that works.

As for our Georgia adventure, we all arrived safe and sound tonight at our layover stop in Mississippi. Baby had a heck of a day between her inspection, branding, weaning, and first trailer ride but she’s being a champ. Here’s a shot from her inspection today. I’ll get a bunch uploaded in the next couple days.

I don’t have time to write much because we’re super busy getting ready for the sBs inspection tomorrow, and then we’ll immediately be back on the road to Texas with my friend’s new broodmare and weanling filly. So here’s some pictures of me and Valentino Z from today. God I just adore this stallion and can’t wait to have a foal by him. He’s such a lover and just so so kind. More pictures when I get home!

Since the show got cancelled due to rain, my weekend didn’t start out very well. I tried to eat my feelings

And treat them with a little retail therapy

But to say that I was a pretty grumpy person on Saturday is probably the understatement of the century. Then on Saturday evening I got a message from the eventing trainer at the barn, asking if I had any interest in hauling out the next morning for a last minute impromptu XC school. Ummm lemme think about it for a millisecond… YES!!! Weekend saved!

So we loaded up the ponies on Sunday and headed off a couple hours north to MeadowCreek Park. They had gotten very little rain so the footing was perfect and the weather, aside from being humid, was nice and mild.

I have to be honest and say that I thought Henry would be a bit spooky and backed off of the XC fences a little. I wasn’t sure if he’d get in the water or jump a ditch. Here’s where I get to admit that I was wrong.

He started out a teeny bit looky and kinda jazzed up (he jigged a few steps when we first walked out to the field… he never jigs) but as soon as he jumped a few he relaxed and was just a rockstar. There were a couple things that he checked in with me about “Are you sure we should jump this?” but I just closed my leg and he motored right over. He even jumped a log out of the water. Pretty darn thrilled with him and he seemed to have a blast. By the end he felt very confident and more bold – exactly the effect I was hoping for.

I also got to meet Jen from Wyvern Oaks, her husband, and the super adorable duo Paddy and Brego. Watching Brego jump around was awfully darn cute, he’s a very cool (and giant) dude. Jen was also kind enough to take video so I’ll get that up sometime this week.

Today I’m off to Georgia to Rising Star Farm to spend a couple days playing with stallions and babies. I will take plenty of pictures, of which probably 90% will be selfies of me and Valentino. Prepare yourselves.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend and has a good week ahead!