This is that time of year in Texas where the grass is crunchy, the ground is hard, and the air feels like a moist oven. Therefore, naturally, the things I find myself doing most often are a) sweating profusely, and b) dreaming of Fall.
Since we had to sit out Fall 2016 due to Henry’s fence-kicking injury, I’m feeling a little gung-go about doing All The Things this year. I wanted to spend the spring finding our footing and building our (ok, my) confidence at Training level at schooling shows before spending the $$$ to hit the recognized shows, and I feel like we did that. We had a momentary hiccup with Henry’s confidence at the down banks there for a couple months, but *knock on wood* he seems to be 100% back on track now. MeadowCreek in June in particular was a big deposit in the “we can do this” bank as Henry packed my butt around the XC like an old pro.
Ok, so maybe I still don’t have the balls to actually walk up to most of the tables or corners or trakehners-of-death at Training level (I don’t need to know how wide it is, thanks), but I know for sure that he can easily jump anything I point him at on course. That counts for a lot.
I’m still not sure yet if the budget will allow for 3 recognized shows or just two… we’ll see how talented I am about pulling extra $ out of thin air. But our most optimistic plan looks like this:
Sep 16-17 – MeadowCreek Park H.T – The Fall Social Event
Oct 28-29 – Holly Hill Fall H.T.
Nov 11-12 – Texas Rose Horse Park Fall H.T.
With, of course, the addition of some FOX HUNTING thrown in there for good measure. Trainer has been giving lessons to some of the ladies from the local hunt and they’ve offered to “show the ropes” to anyone interested. This is a big bucket list item for me, so I’m definitely in. Pretty sure Henry will think he’s died and gone to heaven.
If I can keep my spending for our Germany trip pretty low, and don’t have any big unforseen expenses otherwise (ha. hahahahaha.), hopefully we’ll be able to do all 3 shows. If not, I’ll have to pick 2. I dunno yet, we’ll see how things go. Plus Texas Rose is, for us anyway, the biggest baddest course in Area V, so we’ll see how ballsy I’m feeling by then. Our plans will stay fluid.
And then in late fall/early winter Henry will get to go spend some time with Trainer to prepare for their Prelim debut. Just the thought of her (read: anyone) having to sit his trot for an entire test is hilarious. Mostly because I’m not the one that has to do it.
breedrideevent.com 
It’s usually slightly hotter there than it is in Kansas, but it has been completely miserable here this week. Third day in a row around 100 and it’s still 95 at 7pm when I would typically ride. I hate summer.
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That’s awesome, you’re gonna have so much fun hunting!! My horse loves it so so so much he loves to gallop and jump stuff(he loves XC too). I heard in Texas they get on coyotes a lot? We sold a draft cross, Redford, to a nice lady in Texas that hunts. I’m in Virginia right in the middle of hunt country so I’ve grown up doing it
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Yup, we pretty much only hunt coyote here. I hunt with Brazos Valley and our hounds have hunted a couple foxes over the years, but they are bred to hunt coyote. 🙂
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See if they are doing any cubbing in the fall or hound walks with horses this summer. Hunting is a LOT more fun if your horse isn’t freaking about about the hounds running around his legs so it’s nice to get the exposure before a real hunt. I have 11 dogs at my house (one of whom is 5lb and bites my horse’s ankles while I’m riding. He’s a genius) and that still isn’t the same as riding in a pack of hounds that are hunting. You will LOVE fox hunting. I promise. 😉
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They’re gonna do a special “intro” day for our group to walk us through everything, talk about etiquette, let the horses meet the hounds, etc! It’ll be fun!
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Sweet! That sounds so fun! You’re hunting with Candy, right?
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I want to go with you
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I’ll let her know!
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Our local drag hunting club is the reason I even had the courage to get into eventing last year, it’s an absolute blast! Having a bunch of other horses that ignore the hounds helps newer horses realize it’s not a big deal. I bet Henry will love it
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Woohoo! That’s an awesome fall line up, especially fox hunting! You’ll love it. And now I’m even more certain that I am one of the few riders who proudly loves summer weather… even in Georgia!
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Still so sad I’m not going to Germany 😭
Need to plan a HT meet up for the spring maybe since I don’t see myself making it this fall much to my dismay 👎🏼
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I hate summer as well. Even if our temps aren’t quite as crazy high as yours the 90s are really high when your body has to get used to that from -5 as a high just a few months ago lol
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Fox hunting…. on my bucket list (and will probably be where I kick said bucket)…. that and a cattle round-up… Please post pics of the fox hunt!
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I still can’t even with just the photos of those cross country jumps.
Sounds like a good fluid plan you have cooking. I hope you’re able to do all three. And holy crap prelim! I expect a record amount of media when that happens.
Up here in New England I do not pine for fall as it leads to the misery that is winter. But I get where you’re coming from having to deal with Texas summer. That’s brutal. I love our summers. We occasionally have days in the 90’s with 100% humidity, but mostly it’s in the 80’s. Pretty much always humid, but not too hot at least.
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