Ok, first and foremost big shoutout and massive congratulations to the most spectacular pain in my ass, Bobby. He went to US Dressage Finals this past weekend in Kentucky with his boy Carlson and placed in ALL THREE of his classes, which were all championships… sixth in his 1st level freestyle AA, 5th in his 1st level AA, and 6th in his second level AA. He’s only had this horse since April but their partnership has come along so quickly and it’s been super fun to watch. They’ve still got so much more room for growth too, it’s pretty freaking exciting. Bobby absolutely loves Carlson, it’s freakin adorable, and I’m so proud of my friend and what he’s done (and even more importantly, how he’s done it). Even if he does keep trying to drag me over into DQ land with him, which, like… no. Hard pass. Why are you so obsessed with me.

Anyway, ew, that’s enough nice things about Bobby.

There’s not a whole lot to report on the horse front this weekend for me personally. Henry is trying to blow an abscess out under his shoe which has been a lot of fun, and his drama factor is very high. If you ask him, things are touch and go as to whether or not he’s gonna make it from one day to the next. Really I just need to get the shoe pulled off so it can drain and I can clean it. Working on that.

I also need to clip him again (already, ugh) since it was warm enough yesterday where he came in sweaty from turnout. The shortage of T-10 blades from all my favorite retailers is really cramping my style though. I had to cave and order a 10W since that’s all that was available, and I even went into Dover the other night to see what they had in stock. If you want a T-84 you’re in business but if you prefer a T-10 like I do… good luck. I found a place about half an hour away that can sharpen blades so I think I might try to take a bunch of my old ones up there this week and see if they can help me out. There’s a lot more clipping left to do in the next 4 months, I need blades. I did buy this doormat when I was at Dover though. Couldn’t resist.

For most of the weekend I was pretty glued to the Tryon live feed. It was the first time that any commentator ever actually took me up on my offer to provide breeding and pedigree data and I wanted to hear how it all came across and worked out in the live feed. I really wasn’t sure how much Cyndi would use the data, or if anyone would even care besides me. So like… knock me over with a tiny feather when she read basically everything I gave her, and the response was incredible.

I had people messaging me all weekend saying how much they enjoyed having some extra info and stats. I am DELIGHTED. People say that riders, especially eventers, don’t care about breeding but just don’t believe that’s true. The feedback from even just the little bit of data I was able to provide (only having 24 hours to prepare didn’t allow me to wander down as many rabbit trails as I would have liked) makes me think that a lot of people do indeed care. I think riders and fans in general would be a lot more interested in all this breeding stuff if we had more information readily available all the time and talked about it more often. People just don’t realize how interconnected it all is and how there are definite trends in their horses and where they come from (Sinead even remarked that she was surprised at how many were US-bred, I could have died happy at that comment). Breeding is not as embedded in our horse culture the way it is in other countries, particularly Europe, thus I think it has kind of become a blind spot for us. I’d love to try to help change that.

Also big shoutout to Cyndi Kurth, the main commentator for the weekend… that was her first time doing a live stream and I thought she did a fantastic job, especially on such short notice. More Cyndi, please! It was refreshing to have someone different directing the commentary that didn’t talk over people or interrupt their cohost, and kept focused on what was on the screen rather than rambling tangents.

Also thank you to Libby for connecting Cyndi and I in the first place, none of this would have happened without her facilitating it. Oh, and Hillary came in clutch helping me put the stats together, saving me many hours of work and helping me get all the data in Cyndi’s hands before the start of XC. Team work.

Here’s a few of my favorite blurbs and side-conversations that stemmed from the breeding data, in case you missed the live stream.

It was well-received enough that I’ve already had two other event organizers reach out to ask about getting breeding data for their live streams, and a media outlet has reached out about a future project as well. I was really just hoping someone, anyone would give a shit, so this kind of response has blown me away. Y’all know that this stuff is something I feel really passionate about but also feel deeply discouraged about on the regular, so I’m just ecstatic. This gives me a lot of hope that all indeed is not lost, and that people do really care, and that it really is something worth putting the effort into. You’re giving me hope, America.

I think we’re on to something here. I did come away with some things I’d like to do differently next time, and some stuff I’d like to add in, but… hopefully it’s a start.

If you’re wondering where Percy’s glamour shots are, he sorta missed out on those a bit. His poor surrogate dam had been massacred by a certain pony mare that rules the pasture with an iron hoof, so she was unable to be allowed to run around loose with him that day. Not wanting to have him miss out entirely, he did still get braided up and brought out to walk around the ring and have a look at everything, and he absolutely loved it.

Percy is always brave in a cool, calm, and curious kind of way, he’s more of a thinking kind of guy, and he was particularly mesmerized by all the fake flowers marking the inner borders of the ring.

The joke became that his name really should have been Pferdinand (as in Ferdinand the Bull, but it’s a “P” naming year, so…) rather than Perseverence, since he spent the entire time just standing there sniffing the flowers. The other foals had come in the ring all prancy-pants and were like YEEHAW FLOWERS, but Percy just ambled up to them, stuck his nose in them, and stood there happily.

No one tell him the flowers are fake and don’t actually smell like anything but plastic. Clearly he thought otherwise.

As you can see he’s continued to grow and fill out a lot. He’s still a little bit more awkward than the other foals but his proportions are looking more and more normal every day as he slowly but surely catches up from his rough start. His ears though… I hope he never grows into those.

He’s also still a very big fan of snuggles, especially from his friend MK. It’s always great when the ones who have a rough start are still very people-oriented… he’s a sweet and happy go lucky kind of dude.

That’s the official wrap to all of the fancy, dressed up pics of all the 2021 foals. Most of them are well on their way to being weanlings now, so we’re nearing the end of our Foal Friday material for the year. I think we can still eke out a few more weeks worth though, even though the foals are all super fuzzy and gawky now. I don’t know about y’all but I’m not quite ready to give up Foal Friday yet!

I’m a little crunched for time this morning so I figured I’d do a quick catch up on some of the other things that have been happening in between all the traveling, and get your thoughts on some other stuff that’s on my to-do list. I was asked yesterday afternoon if I would be willing to provide breeding information to the commentators for the Tryon live stream, and I’m so delighted to have been asked that I’ve kind of dropped everything else to get those sheets done ASAP. I knocked out the 4*L and 4*S last night and am gonna try to get the 3*L done today. The live stream is already up and running, make sure to tune in! They’re reading off the info I provided and I’m so excited about it… more elaborate breeding info!

On a totally unrelated note, I got a Cricut a few weeks ago, which is both amazing and really dangerous. Nothing in my closet is safe from branding. But it also means that I can make my own stickers and decals, which is very convenient. Some of you may remember that I mentioned after Presto’s Fan Favorite win in the Futurity that I’d like to send a little something to as many of you as I can as a thank you for supporting him this year in his Futurity journey… this is it! If you voted for Presto as Fan Favorite and would like a WTW sticker/decal shoot me an email with your name and address. I can’t promise that I’ll be quick about it, but I swear I’ll make my way down the list as I have the capacity.

I also have been working on that white breeches review/comparison that I talked about a while back. Luxe EQ was kind enough to send me whites from several different brands to try on and compare, so I’m working on getting photos and my thoughts together on that. Before I get too far into this – what all do you want to know or see when shopping for white breeches? What features would you like me to comment on or rate them by? I’ve got 6 different brands I think, so a pretty good range. I want to make sure I hit all the necessary talking points!

I also picked up some Majyk Equipe pads in California, and I have to be honest… between this and my new boots/coat I’m strongly considering making Presto’s XC color just black. Or more specifically, black glitter. It just suits him, especially combined with his spiked browbands. I’d love to find a shirt with skulls on the sleeves or something and just do a whole glam punk look in general. Plus I already have the black glitter Majyk Equipe showjumping boots, so like… it’s destiny, right? I’m obsessed with the black glitter look. The navy pad is super nice too, it’s got padding built into the top for a streamlined look, no half pad required. I’ll definitely be reviewing both of these soon.

I also got a new/real camera (thanks Hillary!) a couple weeks ago, and took it with me to Galway to play with it a little bit. The photographer that does all the Texas shows had a sudden very big issue with me using her photos on my blog (woooo that was drama), which… is obviously a dealbreaker for me, since the blog is the main reason why I buy so many photos. Given that complication I figured it was time to get a real camera of my own. It’ll help me get nicer shots at home, I can use it to take pics of friends at shows, and get friends to take pics of me. More media! Plus now otherwise I’d have no show pics and that’s a bit of an issue for a blogger. My own DSLR was the solution I came up with.

I need to probably get a new/different lens for it (suggestions for what type of lens would be good for taking decent horse action photos? It’s an Canon EOS camera, FWIW.) but I think it’ll be perfect for my purposes. I just have to remember to use it.

There are a lot of balls in the air right now for me so hopefully more updates on bigger/more exciting things soon, but this brings us fairly up to speed I think!

I haven’t been out to the west coast in… a really long time. Not since I was a kid I think. I’m a grass and trees and pastureland kind of girl, so admittedly the Southern California landscape doesn’t really call to me, thus I just never seem to find myself there. But since I WAS going to be there for once – and indeed Presto was staying at a farm that some of my friends also keep horses at – I figured we definitely had to squeeze in some meet-ups. First on the docket was Emily and May of May as Well Event.

As is often the case when meeting other bloggers, I felt like I already knew Emily pretty well. I’ve been following her and May’s story for years, and we chat a lot online. I definitely wanted to finally meet in person, and of course meet the famous May. And since our horses are so very very very different, I was like… “we should take pics of them together”. It did not disappoint, the juxtaposition is hilarious to me. Proof that eventers come in all shapes and sizes!

Presto was absolutely obsessed with May. As soon as she walked over he was like OH MY GOD WHO IS THAT SHE’S BEAUTIFUL I WANT IT. May, on the other hand, was like “omg this idiot” and wanted nothing to do with him. She tolerated him, but was clearly totally disinterested in making friends and opted to just ignore him completely. Presto, bless him, is rarely deterred by how other horses feel about him though (zero self-awareness in that one), so he was bound and determined to fully investigate May regardless of how she felt about him.

Presto was very displeased when I dragged him away from May and put him back in his pen. If it was up to him we would have taken May home with us and she could have been the love of his life. I’m not sure what he liked the most – her size, her golden color, her apathetic attitude, or the fact that she thicc, but he was VERY into her whole aesthetic. Who knew.

The owners of the boot company Majyk Equipe also keep a couple of retired horses at the same farm, and they were out there around the same time. I’ve met Michael and Beverly before multiple times but haven’t seen them in years, so it was good to catch up. They have a 3yo Mighty Magic filly that they bred specifically because of Presto, so it was cool that they got to finally meet him in person. I was informed that he was big. Everyone keeps telling me that. Let me live in denial, people.

After they said hi to Presto we made plans for the next day. I wasn’t flying out until Monday but Megan was leaving with the horses on Sunday morning, and everyone else was also leaving sometime on Sunday. We all went to the show on Sunday morning for breakfast, and I stayed for a while to watch the showjumping and take some pics of Britt and Ricky.

After that, Michael and Beverly picked me up and we drove out to Laguna Beach for lunch and some sightseeing. All I had really seen of the area so far was the drive between Ontario and Temecula and then back and forth from Galway to the Airbnb, so this was my one touristy day. They picked a great place, Laguna is definitely beautiful and a fun little beach town. We found a restaurant with rooftop seating, the weather was gorgeous, and we sat there and had lunch with a fantastic ocean view.

After we ate we strolled up and down the boardwalk for a while, taking in the very stereotypically California environment. Beach volleyball, check. People rollerblading, check. Surfers on the water, check. Vendors selling sea-themed art, check. Baywatch looking lifeguard, check. The people-watching down there is pretty epic too. We climbed the stairs of a hotel to get a good view of the beach and enjoy the afternoon. It didn’t suck.

After that we drove back to Ontario and they dropped me off at my hotel for the night, next to the airport. I figured since I’d had such a stereotypically California day already, I should top it off with one last thing, so I walked down the street to In-N-Out for dinner. Technically we have a few of those in Texas but I’ve only been to one once and it was probably a decade ago if not more. I wasn’t really even hungry but I got a burger and a chocolate shake and had zero complaints about it as I waddled back to my hotel room.

It was really great to finally put some faces to names as well as catch up with some old friends while I was in Cali. I had a great trip, largely thanks to all of these folks as well as Megan’s entourage, and got some great pics and memories out of it too. I’m not generally the best at maintaining my human connections sometimes, I tend to withdraw into my day to day minutia, but this whole trip really reminded me why it’s so important to surround yourself with good people and to keep up with those friendships. Perfect little mini horsey vacation!

I’m back from sunny southern California! When I booked my trip it was originally supposed to be for Presto’s Training level debut… which clearly didn’t come to fruition since he decided to be a monkey in turnout and effectively remove himself from his entire fall schedule. I waffled a lot with whether or not to cancel my trip, but in the end I decided that 1) I wanted the break from work since it’s the last one I’ll get for a while, 2) I wanted to be there for Presto’s next vet appointment. The money was already spent on my plane ticket so… may as well, right? I got there on Wednesday afternoon and Megan’s mom picked me up at the airport, and we hustled straight to Galway so we could be there in time for the 2* and 4* jogs.

Once the jogs were done we went down the street to the barn Presto has been based at during his Cali vacation… very convenient that it was so close. Megan had told me that he’d filled out a lot in the past month and boy she wasn’t kidding. The spaghetti noodle is looking more like a manicotti these days. I guess standing in a pen doing nothing but hoovering hay may not have been so bad for him. He barely even greeted me, he was too busy with his treat ball. I said hello, gave him a couple cookies, and left him to his business.

Thursday was dressage day, with Tenny going early in the 2* and then Mo going mid-afternoon in the 4*. Megan’s mom had gotten a VIP table for her entourage (which between family and owners was sizeable) and let me tell you, I was decidedly not suffering. Ringside table and full catering? I could get used to that horse show experience. We had a great breakfast and then headed over to watch Tenny’s dressage, which was lovely – she’s developed so much over this year. I mean maybe I’m biased because she’s my favorite but meh no I’m not.

Mid-morning we all loaded up and headed down the street to the barn for Presto’s vet appointment and to see Megan’s newest addition to her string (the first redhead in a mass of bays). This was Presto’s first Shockwave appointment, and my opportunity to talk to the vet in person.

He was a super nice guy, pretty much the first thing he said was “this is just a blip, it’s only temporary, he’ll heal up and this won’t be a problem or affect his career in any way” which is always nice. Clearly he’s used to concerned owners if that’s the first thing he offered up without any preamble LOL. I asked him what the most conservative, probably-overkill recovery and rehab plan was and he gave me an outline. We’re gonna do a couple more Shockwave treatments (which he didn’t think were necessary but said “definitely wouldn’t hurt”… what’s money, right?) and keep him rested for at least another month, maybe two, and then re-scan and see how it looks. We want any heat and filling to stay out of it and prevent him from irritating it any further. I’d much rather overdo the rest and recovery than try to rush him back to work and end up back at square one. Presto’s not missing anything (well ok he’s already missed everything there was on his schedule) so we may as well take it slow and be extra sure.

This does mean that he’ll be staying with Megan quite a bit longer than the original home-in-December plan. It’s not really possible to stall rest him here at home or do “controlled” turnout, and then it also seems a bit pointless for me to try to bring him back into work myself after he’s been off for 2-3 months. Plus, like, the whole point of him staying through the fall was so he could do a few more shows with her to solidify what he’s learned this year so… he should just stay. We’re already 9 months in, seems like it would be a shame to potentially throw all that progress away at this point. He can stall rest there, she can bring him back over the winter, and then he can go to Florida with her and get a few shows in. Then I can take lessons on him again and bring him home late spring. So yeah, I’m bummed to be Presto-less for longer, I was really excited to get him back, but horses are horses and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. I kinda wanted him to go to Florida to show anyway, so maybe it’ll turn out to be a good thing in the end.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spiral pretty hard that night. I did. I promised Henry to Hillary for the winter to ride and show, and I REALLY do want her to ride and show him, it’ll be good for both of them. But that was based on the premise that I’d have Presto here, which now I won’t. Did I stay up until midnight looking at horses off the track? Indeed I did. The whole reason I ended up with Henry in the first place, for those who remember, was because I had leased out Sadie and spiraled hard a few months later, so there’s definitely precedent for this. Michelle talked me off the ledge though and told me I should just come get one of her mares to ride through the winter… something different for me to ride, a little excitement to look forward to, and no spiral-induced impulse purchase required. Yeah ok that seems like a much better idea. More on that later.

I also didn’t give in and buy a BEMER, which was my brains other “excellent idea” for a quick dopamine hit. It was tempting. I did manage to talk Tenny’s owner into one though, which was almost as satisfying.

Friday was cross country day, which kinda just makes me nervous when a friend and horses I’m truly invested in emotionally are running. The 2* looked fine (clearly I’ve suffered long term brain damage because I was like “these look kinda small”) but the 4* was YIKES. Like… YIIIIKKKEESS. Hard pass. No thank you. There were these big white rails headed straight down the side of a hill that you would have to pay me a massive amount of money to point a horse at. It was a big hard track, for sure, and the whole entourage was drinking hard and heavy first thing in the morning. Quick pause to say how freaking awesome her family and friends are – just the nicest people and a lot of fun. Which, I am notoriously bad at integrating into new groups with new people so the fact that I did so easily says a lot about them.

Megan’s two rides were only an hour apart, with the 4* running first, so we scoped out our spectating plan. We parked up by the startbox as she came out and went around the first loop, then booked it up to the main water so we could see her come through there. The first time through they had a big brush drop in, bending to a brush skinny, and Megan and Mo were baller through there.

It was a really tough course and took it’s toll, with only 4 people jumping clear. Megan ran into some trouble at the big downhill rails and opted to walk home and try again another day. There was a quick turnaround to get Mo vetted out of the box and then Tenny tacked up, then we were back at warmup. A bad fall on the 4* course caused a long hold and delay, so Tenny’s owners and I decided to head up to the main water to wait for Tenny. She came flying around that course like she was having the time of her life, looking absolutely fantastic and adding a nice double clear for her first 2*L. Great wrap-up to cross country day, and more importantly two happy sound horses… can’t ask for more than that.

Although when Megan was whipping from barn to barn in the golf cart doing post-XC care she almost ran over Billie Eilish coming back from dressage on her horse. That would have been bad. I knew Billie rode but didn’t know she evented, so that’s pretty cool. I mean, don’t run her over with a golf cart maybe, but welcome to our sport.

Saturday was showjumping day, and once again there was so much suffering happening up in the VIP area. I ate hash browns and oatmeal until I physically couldn’t anymore. Woe was me.

We ran over and watched the jogs (ok there was no running, I was full of potato) and then went and poked around in all the vendors for a while. It was disappointing, I found zero things I wanted. One trailer had some breeches and shirts that I liked but inevitably whatever color I wanted was not in my size and whatever was in my size was a color I didn’t like. The shopping gods said no that day, I guess. I did buy a sweater from a little clothing boutique (and talked Tenny’s other owner into a jacket and sweater and hat… I am an expensive friend) so it wasn’t a total failure. If they’d had the jacket in a darker color I would have gotten it but also how many jackets does a Texan really need?

Tenny showjumped a couple hours later, and while she’s still figuring some things out she’s progressed a lot in that phase too.

I really love that mare. A lot. And may or may not have talked her owners into maybe doing an embryo transfer or two. Like… the husband was even looking at all of my bloodline spreadsheets with me on my laptop that night. No one else likes to nerd out at that level with me so I was delighted. Gimme some baby Tenny’s.

The horse show wrapped up with that but I still had a few more things to do and people to meet while I was out on the West Coast… more to come about those adventures tomorrow!