Somehow another week has gone by. Time flies when you’re having fun. Or when you’re busy. Or both. It can definitely be both.

I feel like I’m settled into the routine now, which is nice. I’ve gotten a handle on how to manage my time and how to structure my days to fit everything in, and in the way that makes the most sense. I’ve mostly got the horse’s ride schedules worked out too (there’s some flexibility in there of course) and I feel like now things are kind of chugging right along. As much as they do with horses anyway.

Last Monday the farrier came, which… it’s always fun when you move and have to re-build your entire team of equine professionals. This guy came highly recommended by a couple friends though, and not only does he seem capable of communication, he also shows up on time and is positive and quiet and patient with the horses. He did a great job on their feet too, especially with getting shoes back on Presto. He’d worn his hind feet down to such nubs that I wasn’t sure the farrier would be able to get shoes on them at all, but with some creativity he did manage it, and Presto is looking and feeling a lot better.

Everyone was warning me to brace myself for the Ocala farrier sticker shock but… lol. It was $25 more per horse. For a farrier who actually communicates reliably and shows up on time and does a good job. I’ll take that, thank you very much. So far that’s been my experience with just about everything. They said hay here was astronomical… it’s pretty much the same as in Texas, but it’s better quality and a much better selection. I guess the key to avoiding sticker shock is to come from an equally sticker-shocking place. Granted, these days I think it’s pretty much just all expensive everywhere. Things aren’t cheap in Ocala, but what I do absolutely LOVE (LOVELOVELOVE) is the selection. Tons of farriers, tons of vets, tons of places to get hay and feed and supplements and supplies and and and and. Soooo many different brands and styles of literally anything. I haven’t even been to all these places yet, it’ll take me months to explore it all. And everything is within 20-30 minutes. There is a lot to be said for that. It’s almost overwhelming.

On Tuesday the Arion saddle rep came out so I could demo their monoflap. If you recall I sat in one and talked to them some at Kentucky, and really wanted to ride in one. Turns out that the Florida rep is friends with a friend of mine (Megan that owns Luxe EQ) so I had a little inside connection. Luca came up from WPB with a car full of saddles, and I sat in the xc model and the dressage model. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow!

On Wednesday our friend Libby (who is also a Patreon member as well as the owner of Higher Standards Leather Care, and she’s been instrumental in getting BreedRideCompete hooked up with event organizers for live streams!) was in town, and she swung by to meet the kiddos. We’ve chatted online for so long that I already consider her a friend, even if it was the first time we’ve ever actually met in person. Presto was on his usual behavior, pulling my hat off multiple times while we were standing there talking.

Libby did confirm that the horses are all exactly as advertised on the blog, so there’s that. I had a couple things to give her from the Patreon VIP giveaway stuff, and she was kind enough to bring me the newest scent of HSLC soap, Lemon-Aid, which is an exclusive they’ve made for Jeffers. It’s like a frosted lemonade or lemon cupcake – lemon with a bit of vanilla. Really nice summer scent. And perfect timing because I was just about down to the bottom of my jar of their Rosemary Mint. Highly recommend… I’ve loved HSLC for years, it’s my favorite saddle soap, and Libby and team are good people so win-win.

On Thursday and Saturday mornings I had to run mares across town again to Ocala Stud. Another race mare getting bred to Noble Bird on Thursday, and then one to Girvin on Saturday. I know the route now without any kind of GPS, so that’s a plus. And the breeding manager there struck up a conversation with me on Saturday, so I guess I’m at least sorta “in” now. We’ll see if these last handful of mares check in foal next week or not… would be nice if they all did, since we’re pretty much at the end of breeding season for the thoroughbreds down here.

We got a lot of rain over the weekend but the weather has still been pretty darn nice (when compared to oven-like Texas anyway). The rain waits for the afternoon/evening so I can still fit my rides in in the morning when it’s cooler. Yesterday morning I jumped both Gemma and Presto, which was honestly a bit entertaining to do back to back like that. Gemma is a smooth little rapid-fire sportscar, and Presto is this big long-striding gallumper with tons of suspension. They are… extremely different. Extremely. And a distance that looks like it’s gonna be a bit long on Gemma or Henry is not at all a long distance on Presto. My eye is going to have to get used to that. He covers ground like nothing I have ever ridden.

Presto seems really happy to be back in work though, and especially hopping over some little jumps again. That horse does really love having something to do, and the harder the better. His brain is always looking for something to occupy it. On his days off from work I usually find myself in his paddock playing with him or trying to find something to keep him entertained (which often consists of putting his fly boots back on repeatedly so he can take them off again).

I love having him back, too. I love riding him, he gives you just the best feeling, even if he requires more physical effort (my abs, omg) and more mental effort (gotta stay 3 steps ahead of him at all times) than the other two. He’s a challenge, but a fun one… something different. At some point I need to find someone to take some lessons with but I’m kind of dreading that part a bit. That’s hard. My brain can’t yet. Maybe next week.

As the only foal on the property at WTW Texas this year, Quinlee has had to learn a lot about not being annoying. There are no other foals to participate in her shenanigans, and the older horses maybe aren’t quite so interested in taking part in her idea of a good time. I mean… hard to imagine that any of them would think she’s ever annoying, but that is indeed the case. She’s here today to share her wisdom with the masses of adoring fans that she’s 100% certain she’s accrued, and she’s pretty sure she’s got this all figured out, so listen carefully.

First and foremost: food zoomies. Apparently you’re not supposed to just run full speed through someone’s food while they’re eating. Who would have thought? She can’t quite figure out why they don’t like that much, considering it’s so fun.

Turns out that a lot of “annoying” things have to do with food. Or rather, interrupting access to their food. Like did you know that pushing your way to the front of the group to get better round bale access is apparently annoying? Yeah Quinlee can’t figure out why either.

Also you’re not supposed to climb through someone’s food when they’re eating, that’s highly frowned upon too. Who would have guessed? Another one that makes no sense, considering how fun it is.

Oh, something else she’s learned: supposedly it’s “rude” to sniff and/or perhaps lightly nibble at someone’s butt while they’re eating. I know, I know, sounds preposterous but I guess that’s classified as annoying behavior too?

Mom also keeps telling her things like “I do not exist purely for your entertainment” and “I am not a jungle gym” and “stop biting me you little twerp”. Quinlee can’t quite make heads or tails of what any of that means either, only that Inca seems to disapprove of having her halter or mane bitten and yanked on. Yet another annoying thing. So hard to keep up with all these silly rules.

I guess it’s a good thing she’s cute, which some of them also find super annoying, because everyone gives attention to the cute fuzzy little foal instead of them.

Quinlee just can’t win. She knows that none of these rules make any sense at all, but hopefully you’ve been able to learn a thing or two about how to not be annoying. Happy Friday!

Alright, a couple weeks ago I promised y’all the full story of the tattoos that Holly, Hillary, and myself got at LRK3DE, and I’m finally circling back around to deliver on that.

A few weeks before the trip even started, I had said something in our group chat about how we should get some kind of matching tattoos while we were there. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this idea, and I can’t even tell you why. Last summer when we went to Chatt I was convinced Hillary and I should get our noses pierced while we were there, but with one of my dogs dying and me missing the first week, that didn’t come to fruition. And for some reason my brain went “hey, horsey girls trip = memorial body modification time?”. Yes brain, fantastic idea.

Side note: a few days ago on tiktok I came across a guy who gets a tattoo wherever he travels to and I was like OMG THIS IS THE BEST IDEA I’VE EVER HEARD I MUST DO THIS TOO but anyway the point is that I’m not the only one that thinks like this.

Anyway, we talked about the group tattoo idea and everyone was in, but we just couldn’t come up with something good and fitting that we all liked. The idea fizzled and died and was forgotten (except in the deep recesses of my brain, apparently).

So fast forward to XC day at Kentucky. We’d wandered around the course during the 4*, stopped by the blogger meetup for a bit, grabbed lunch at the RV, and then headed back out to find a good spot for the 5*. Our other objective for the afternoon was finding the Ride iQ tailgating spot to go say hi to them. We had talked to Jessa and Kinsey the previous two days briefly at their spot in the trade fair but wanted to support them and bring more people by their tailgate.

Another side note: one of the best things about big events like LRK3DE is getting to finally put faces to the names of people you’ve talked to so much online. I’ve been a Ride iQ fan since the beginning and have happily sung it’s praises, and have chatted a good bit with Jessa and Kinsey in doing stuff with them on the blog and in my Patreon group. They’re just as awesome in person!

So anyway, we’re at their tailgating spot and they have temporary tattoos with the Ride iQ logo. I jokingly said to Jessa “how much is it worth to you if I tattooed the Ride iQ logo on myself for real?”. She laughed and said “you could do the tagline ‘pat your horse’!”. And ok, I know she thinks she was joking, but bam it hit me like lightning.

I immediately was like HILLARRRRRYYYYY HOOOLLLLYYYYYY LISTEN TO THIS IDEAAAAA!!!

And ya know, if they’re hanging out with me then we already know they’re certain types of people, so they were like

See, “Pat your horse” is something that Kyle Carter says in a lot of his Ride iQ rides, which is why they adopted it as their little slogan, but obviously it has a lot of meaning to any horseperson. Always remember to show appreciation and gratitude for your horse, basically. It’s cute. I loved it. I told the Ride iQ ladies that we were gonna do it and their faces were just absolutely priceless… it was 50% omg this is the coolest thing that has ever happened and 50% are these nutjobs for real right now??? I’m not sure if they thought we’d really go through with it.

Once I have an idea though, it’s off to the races. I started googling looking for tattoo parlors pretty much immediately. By the time XC was over I was on the phone calling all the ones that were open late enough (we had a happy hour at our camper for our Patreon members that evening, so we couldn’t make it anywhere until like 7) and had an opening that night. That narrowed it down to a grand total of one, so I made the appointment, gave them a deposit, and it was on.

Once happy hour was over we got cleaned up and headed out, debating where we were going to put our tattoos. I had told Jessa and Kinsey when we parted ways at their tailgate that I’d keep them updated if we could find an appointment, and when I sent them the above pic from inside the tattoo parlor I’m pretty sure they were like OMG THESE CRAZY BITCHES ARE ACTUALLY GONNA DO IT. Which, since they’re cool, it delighted them to no end. Kyle Carter found it very entertaining too.

We all got the same words and the same font, but different locations and thus different sizes to fit said locations. I opted to get mine on my right arm/wrist, just above my glove line on my right hand. That’s my dominant patting hand after all, and I thought it would be fun to be able to see it while I was riding.

Hillary opted to get hers on the inside of her middle finger, which I think we were all endlessly amused by. It’s a pretty darn clever spot and I thought it looked great there. The tattoo artist kept warning her over and over that finger tattoos hurt like a bitch, but Hillary was unimpressed. Granted, women deal with pain way better than men do (a fact that the tattoo artist also wholeheartedly agreed with). Hers was done pretty quickly.

Last but not least was Holly, the only tattoo virgin of our group. She decided to come out guns blazing on her first tattoo and get it on her rib cage. Again the tattoo artist was telling her how awful it would be, even going so far as to do a “test letter” with no ink just to make sure she could tolerate it. Holly too was unimpressed, and after a few minutes – tada! Group tattoos. Girls trip tattoos, LRK3DE tattoos, Ride iQ tattoos… all of the above, whatever you want to call them.

We also heard some really interesting stories while we were in that shop, since the manager was bored and had nothing better to do than tell us some of their wildest tattoos they’ve ever done. All I’m gonna say is that you can’t unhear some of these things. They certainly cannot be repeated here.

Once we were all done Holly and I got our tattoos wrapped like normal, but since Hillary got a finger tatt he opted to put a glove on her to cover it instead. Which… he put the glove on before she had put her rings back on, so she put her rings back on over top of it, to our endless amusement. She looked like a rich young widow on her way to her poor dearly departed’s funeral. Especially with her little handbag.

Naturally we went to White Castle right after and since Hillary was driving we made her hand her card to/take the food from the cashier with that hand. We all found it to be extremely hilarious but to her credit that cashier didn’t even so much as flinch at this one-gloved, ring-wearing weirdo. I guess if you work the night shift in the drive thru of White Castle you see much stranger things than that on a regular basis.

The next day we headed up to the Ride iQ booth in the morning to show them the finished product, and their faces were just priceless. Jessa’s jaw just dropped. They were delighted, we got fun tattoos and a great story… what more can you ask for?

Is it the best quality tattoo I have? Lol no. Definitely not. It’s… got some character. I’m glad it does though, because it really lends to the whole vibe of the story. If it was perfectly executed, it wouldn’t be a last-minute, seat-of-the-pants, Lexington-Kentucky-type of tattoo, now would it? I freakin love it though, it brings me joy every time I look down and see it, and it sits perfectly exactly where I wanted it above my glove line.

Next on the docket to get one is Kyle Carter, but all the Ride iQ folks agreed that they have to hit x number of subscribers before he can get his. Now it’s become a fun game to tell him that we’re more dedicated than he is, and he’s definitely anxious to get his tattoo.

So ya know, if you want Kyle to also get a pat your horse tattoo, get your friends to sign up for Ride iQ. How’s that for a marketing strategy?

I had every intention of posting this yesterday but I spent a while struggling with trying to get photos uploaded before I figured out that I had finally exceeded the photo storage amount for the blog’s “premium” level account. And then the farrier came, and then I had work stuff to do, so… I didn’t circle back around to it until late afternoon. I had to upgrade to a “business” account to get more photo storage (it was either that or start mass-deleting old posts, which I didn’t want to do) which is 3x as expensive per year. That’s… fun. But anyway, here we are, back up and running.

The first full week in Florida was pretty great.

It’s just gorgeous here. Every time I walk outside I think that. Definitely a stark contrast to Texas, and this place makes my heart sing in a way Texas never did. Florida also decided to do me a solid and make the weather absolutely freaking STUNNING for my first week. Mornings in the mid to upper 50’s, afternoons in the low to mid 80’s, and nothing crazy on the humidity. Considering it was 106 back in Texas (and I dunno why everyone thinks Texas is a dry heat, where I was from in South-Central TX it was humid ALL THE TIME) I was luxuriating in the fact that I needed a hoodie to go feed the horses in the morning. You don’t have to keep selling yourself to me Ocala, I am already well past sold. Thanks for the lovely welcome though.

Mostly I’ve been trying to lay down a routine. Obviously I have 3 horses to shuffle through, but I really only have time to ride 2 every morning before my first meeting of the day. I could probably squeeze all 3 if I tried, but I like spending the time grooming them properly and not feeling rushed when I’m riding. I’ve got a schedule for them so that they get staggered days throughout the week and nobody gets more than one day in a row off. I go out in the morning around 6:15 to feed, come back in and get myself and Mina fed and answer some work emails, and then go out around 7 to tack up the first horse.

Riding in the mornings is the best way for me to structure my day. Being an hour ahead of the rest of my group is advantageous in that regard… I get an “extra” hour in the morning before I have to be on that first call. Of course, it has meant that I’ve found myself logging in for a meeting or two at 6pm, but still… I love having the morning to get all my own stuff done.

I’ve slowly put surely been booking appointments for all the things I need to take care of with the horses. Saddle fitters, farriers, bodywork, dental, etc etc. I had stuff that needed doing that was really difficult to coordinate in Texas, so I put it off. Last week it was the Custom saddle rep/fitter – I called her to come see if she could fit my dressage saddle to Presto and/or Gemma. It was definitely sitting too low in the front on both of them, too wide and not enough wither clearance, but they’re a fairly similar shape so I was secretly hoping she could make it workable for both of them. We talked about where they are in their training, age, etc (they’re both at the point where they should fill out and add more topline in the next 6 months) and she looked at it on both horses.

She agreed that it def sat too low in the front and was too wide on both of them, but she felt pretty confident that adding flocking to the front would be a great improvement. Off she went to her truck, fluffed up the front, and then we put it back on both of them. It’s not a perfect fit, but she felt it was certainly a workable fit. She recommended a sheepskin pad for both of them (lucky for me I have sheepskin built into all my pads…) but didn’t think any shims were required. She said to ride in it and let her know how I and the horses feel, and she can re-assess as needed. She’s only 15 minutes away, which is something I finding with basically all of this kind of stuff… everyone is so freaking accessible in a way that blows my mind a bit.

BTW, I always feel a little weird when presenting an old saddle to a fitter, like “gah please don’t try to make me buy something new or act like this is a burden”. No such experience here though, she saw the saddle and went “omg this is an original Wolfgang Solo, these are so hard to find. *intense eye contact* NEVER SELL THIS.”. Duly noted. No one tell her I paid peanuts for it. Great experience though, I liked the saddle fitter a lot and was glad that she didn’t try to make me feel any certain way about my old saddle and trying to make it work for two horses.

Since I’ve set aside the morning pre-work time for my horses, the late afternoons are for farm stuff. What that may look like depends on the day. Last week I spent an afternoon taking one of the thoroughbred race mares (a boarder… we don’t have any race mares of our own obviously lol) across town to get bred. The barn manager warned me that it was pretty far and Ocala traffic could be bad. It was 40 minutes, and I sat at like 3 stop lights. Adorable. I mean, I get it… on the road at the farm you might have a car passing by every 15 or so minutes, and all these rural roads out here are lightly traveled. Plus everything is close. Like 20 minutes can get you basically anywhere you need to go. So yeah I suppose if that’s your “normal”, then 40 minutes and driving through an actual town are a lot. By my standards of living outside a major city with tons of traffic and having to drive across it all the time, that drive was very easy. I pulled up at Ocala stud, waited for them to come get the mare from the trailer, then waited for them to bring her back, and off we went on home. I don’t mind being the shuttle driver, especially right now when I’m still trying to learn my way around.

Other afternoons I work with the WTW babies. Percy and Patrick are here living their best lives in the yearling colt herd with all the race baby boarders, and they both look great. They do still need to be handled regularly though to make sure they don’t go feral, and to start prepping them for any kind of in-hand showing that they may eventually do. Patrick looks fantastic, he always has been a good-looking colt, and Percy has really improved a lot in the past few months as well. Being out here is really helping him catch up from his rough start, I think. He’s filled out a ton since I last saw him at the end of February, and he’s looking way less gawky.

Other days I do little projects around the farm, like finishing painting the rails that the saddle racks are on. These had to be put up quickly before the seasonal boarders arrived in March, so there wasn’t time to get the wood painted before then. There’s time now though, so I circled back and got it painted, and it looks way better.

There are lots of little projects like that all over the farm, as well as lots of old stuff to go through, throw away, etc. They’ve done soooo much already in a short period of time, but it’s a big farm with lots of stuff, and there’s always more to do. There will be no end to the projects for a while I think. I don’t mind it though, it’s rewarding to put the time into something and see this place start to come together bit by bit. Plus if nothing else I’m definitely getting my steps in (since I’ve been here I’ve averaged 9.4 miles of walking every day) and sleeping pretty darn hard. I’m tired at the end of the day!

This week has already been full of stuff too, I think I’ve already got something booked every day, so I think for a while these week-in-review posts might at least be interesting.

Quinlee is nothing if not entertaining. She’s cute and sweet, but she’s also bold and precocious, so she’s running her poor sweet mother ragged with her antics. Luckily they’re now living out in the field with another mare and both of the yearling fillies, so at least Inca isn’t Quinlee’s only source of entertainment. And while a lot of foals are really shy around older bigger horses at first, Quinlee has had no such reservations. She wormed her way right on in there with Pippa and Teddy especially, whether they really wanted to be friends with her or not.

She also really likes her human friends, like MK.

But her bestest most favorite friend?

Say hello to Hay Bale.

I mean, how could you not love Hay Bale?

You can nap on him…

You can roll on him…

You can smoosh him…

You can climb on him and be REALLY TALL…

You can – oh crap, oops –

Anyway, you get the point. There’s no disputing the fact that Hay Bale is the ultimate BFF, even if sometimes your other FF’s might get a little annoyed about it.

Happy Foal Friday!