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Normal people equate autumn with things like pumpkin spice lattes, changing leaves, making soup, and arguing on the internet about whether or not candy corn is disgusting (it’s literally a chunk of sugar so it’s delicious by default, but if y’all don’t want to eat it that’s fine, more for me). To equestrians autumn mostly means fresh horses, lots of shows, and… body clipping.

Back in the days when I was more desperate for money (or, really, before I branched out into other side gigs, because as a horse owner I’ll probably always be desperate for money) I used to do a lot of body clipping. It can be pretty lucrative if you’re willing to do it and can do a decent job, although year after year my willingness has definitely lessened. I’m relatively certain that I will have horse hair in my eyeballs forever after a few particularly busy winters in my heyday. Nowadays pretty much the only way I’ll body clip is if it’s my own horse or a friend’s horse.

Henry, bless his extremely hairy and also heat-intolerant heart, feels the same way about clipping as I do. He permits it because he has to and he enjoys the results, but he really isn’t much of a fan. He stands politely for the most part, but he’s so flinchy and sensitive that I get whipped in the face with his tail pretty much the whole time I’m doing his belly.

I’ve bodyclipped Henry so many times over the years that we’ve come to a few agreements by now:

1. Legs and ears are off limits. He really can’t stand the clippers on his legs at all, he tries to be still but just CAN’T, so he ends up constantly shuffling his feet the entire time. I think I clipped his legs twice ever before I was like SCREW THIS SHIT and agreed that he can just always keep his leg warmers. Thank god we’re eventers and a hunter clip is a normal thing in that world. He genuinely is very uncomfortable/borderline terrified about clipping his ears, even with sedation, so I just get as close to them as possible and he keeps a little fur bonnet. I could push the issue if I wanted (there is a major double standard in this household, because Presto isn’t allowed to have opinions like this), but honestly he does a lot for me and if his hard limit is “no ear clipping” then I’m ok with that. Looks dumb as hell but he wears an actual ear bonnet at shows so who cares. I like my horse more than I like other people’s opinions.
2. We keep a pretty big saddle patch. Because he’s the most sensitive, easily-rubbed horse ever. The patch is the same size front-to-back as the pad. If I don’t do that, he is uncomfortable and will get rubs. Period.
3. I use my “little” clippers as much as possible, especially on his belly.

I have a set of Lister Star clippers, which are more powerful and faster, but they also have more vibration and are louder, and Henry doesn’t really like them on his midsection. And when I say he doesn’t really like them I mean he acts like he’s being murdered one inch at a time. So unless I’m in a hurry for some reason, I just clip him with my smaller Andis clippers. They’re still pretty powerful but he takes less objection to them on his sensitive areas (let’s be real, he’s a walking sensitive area).

Normally he gets his first clip around the beginning of October, but I waited a little later this year since we aren’t showing and he’s really just coming back into a regular, more rigorous schedule. I was hoping if I waited a little later I wouldn’t have to clip him so many times. I think that was a mistake though, he was hot even in the 70’s weather we had this weekend. His coat is so thick, and he already has problems with heat regulation. I won’t do that again.

But yesterday we got down to it… I bathed him (wow he was FILTHY, he lives in a much sandier place now and I think he’s taking full advantage), got all my stuff ready, and went to town. Usually I use T-84 blades but this time I opted to go a bit shorter with T-10’s (thanks for that 30% coupon, Dover, well timed), hoping it’ll maybe last a bit longer before we have to endure do this again. I found a gross mega-flaky skin patch under all the hair on one side of his butt, too, which again made me feel like a bad horse mom. So he got a fungus bath when we finished and then I turned him back out. He didn’t even pause for a cookie, he just stalked away angrily to the back of the pasture. Two baths and a body clip in one day… I guess he hates me now.

I cleaned up and packed my things away, pausing to make a little mini-Henny in the process (look, I’m a child and it’s the only real fun I get to have in all this, okay?) and he still refused to even look at me. YOU’RE WELCOME, HORSE. I know he has to feel a lot better, and it’s supposed to be almost 90 tomorrow so he’d have been legit dying otherwise. But, ya know… I’ll just plow him with cookies until he’s over it, like always.

Anybody else body clipping already? Nothing quite like a bra full of tiny stabby horse hairs to officially ring in the fall season.

1. What discipline do you ride? What would you ride if you could pick any other one?

I’m an eventer, transplanted from h/j roots. I’m quite happy with my current sport, but I guess if you forced me to switch I’d go back to jumpers (grudgingly) until I got tired of it again. Someday I’d like to try the western equivalent of eventing – Reined Cow Horse. It’s cutting and reining and working cow horse combined. I don’t think I’d fit in with the western crowd but it’s a neat sport.

2. How many horses have you ridden in your entire riding career?

Lord, hundreds. I don’t even have the faintest clue at an exact number.

3. Most bizarre activity you’ve done with your/a horse?

I do lots of weird things all the time. Standing on them, swimming, herding goats, riding backwards, jumping anything that will be still long enough…

4. Do you consider riding to be your outlet? If yes, why?

Definitely. As soon as I put a foot in the stirrup, the outside world just melts away. It’s just me and the horse, in the moment 100%. That’s a rare thing in this day and age.

5. Have you ever read horse-related magazines? If yes, which one(s)?

A lot when I was a kid, pretty much anything I could get my hands on. These days the only physical magazine I really read is US Eventing, since it comes with my membership and has stuff in it that I’m interested in. I get the USEF magazine too with my membership but almost never read it.

6. Most memorable advice given to you?

This goes back to my teenage years, but I still vividly remember it. I was having a problem where I would make one mistake, say a chip at an early fence on course, and then just completely fall to pieces, with things snowballing to complete shit. My trainer said (and I paraphrase here because this was like 20 years ago) “Look, when you’ve made a mistake, you’ve made a mistake. It’s in the past. You can’t change it. But what you can do is leave it in the past, sit up, kick on, go forward, and make the rest of it better. Everyone makes mistakes, it’s what you do afterward that matters. Don’t let one mistake be your undoing.”. Not only is it true in riding, it’s also profound life advice.

7. Did you ever collect Breyer horse models or similar?

They were expensive so my mom usually bought me the cheaper, smaller Grand Champions, but I did have two Breyer horses that I loved dearly. One was Double Take, the morgan (my favorite breed as a kid), and the other was Secretariat (always been a TB and racehorse fan). They were both early 90’s versions.

8. Favorite “celebrity” horse?

I’m assuming celebrity means not sporthorse but famous for some other reason? I can’t really think of any except Patrick the Mini horse, so let’s go with him.

9. If you could spend a day learning from any horse person (past or present), who would you choose?

No hesitation, Ingrid Klimke.

10. If you could ride in any international arena in the world, where would you choose?

Hmmm. I’m not really one of those people that gets excited about “hallowed ground” or big atmosphere so there aren’t any arenas that immediately stand out to me as being super exciting. I guess I’ll say Hickstead, because of the Hickstead Derby. That arena is pretty iconic.

Happy Friday, y’all! It’s been a long effing week.

Despite my best efforts when it comes to spending money and acquiring stuff, I’ve had a hard time getting into the subscription box trend. Mostly because, although it’s true that I do love stuff, I’m also really picky and perpetually on a budget, so I tend to be pretty particular about how I spend my money and what exactly I buy. The surprise factor of the subscription boxes has always made me a bit leery. When SaddleBox contacted me about a review I had to think on it for a bit, and responded warning them that I was only willing to do it if they didn’t mind me being brutally honest. They seemed confident, so they sent me a box.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, there were a few things that appealed to me about SaddleBox upon initial inspection of their website. I really like that the company supports horse rescues – that always helps soften the blow when you’re spending money. It also always includes treats, which… Henry literally has 6 different kinds of treats right now because he is the most rotten horse on the planet. We are always down for trying new treats or just accumulating more (fun fact, they have a page full of treat recipes on their website if you’re into making your own!).

The box was relatively packed with stuff, that’s for sure. It’s always satisfying to get a heavy box with lots of stuff to dig through. In that way I can kinda see the appeal of monthly box subscriptions. It’s like Christmas. As for the actual contents of the box, some I like, some is not for me, but there are TEN items in here. The more the merrier.

Besides treats, SaddleBox always includes some kind of grooming supplies, whether its shampoo or brushes or general barn stuff. This I really do like, because it feels like you’re getting essentials, which are always useful and makes the whole idea of a subscription box feel less frivolous. This box included:

• Buckeye peppermint treats ($10)
• CoFlex wrap ($2)
• Fiebing’s saddle soap ($5)
• tack sponge ($1)
• Epona hoof pick ($9)
• a face brush (I dunno, lets just say $3)
• Tough-1 Great Grips shedding blade ($10)
• Epona grooming mitt ($9)
• a book “Handy Hints for the Horse Person” ($6)
• a big, amusing sticker ($3)

For me personally the contents of the box were kind of middle of the road. I always like treats, although these particular ones are not Henry’s favorite… he’ll still eat them eventually, if a bit unenthusiastically. Would I have bought them? Those particular ones, probably not. Buckeye is a good brand though. The CoFlex wrap is great because there’s no such thing as too much of that stuff, let’s be real. Would I have bought that? Yes, at some point. Same goes for the tack sponge – a simple staple that I always need. The saddle soap would go in the win column for me too, because I did actually need more. The grooming mitt probably isn’t something I would have bought, but I love those types of mitts for baths, so we’ll count that as a win too. Hoof picks are another essential, although I am obsessively married to the Ultimate Hoof Pick, this Epona one is suitable enough to keep (I put it in my trailer as an emergency spare). The book was fine, I leafed through it quickly and saw a couple of semi-useful tidbits but it’s also not something I would have bought. The sticker I did find kind of amusing, so it now resides in my office at work.

The only things I definitely didn’t like were the little face brush (I legit have like 10 of them and never use a single one. I’d also just gotten an almost identical one the day before in my FEH packet so it was kind of amusing. They multiply at an alarming rate.) and the shedding blade (I hate these types of shedding blades. Haaate.). Both of those will go in the donate bin.

As far as bang for your buck, the overall value of the box is at least $55, and the cost from SaddleBox is $35 per month (or $30 for the first month’s box with the LOVEHORSES coupon code). You can cancel anytime, which is nice, so you don’t feel like you’re signing up for some kind of major financial obligation. They also have gift plans if you want to do a box or a subscription as a gift, although they’re a bit more expensive.

Overall – is there value there? Yes, for sure. Is it something I would buy for myself? Probably not. It didn’t really excite me enough to make me want to part with my money on a monthly basis. I could definitely see myself giving it as a gift though. I think the target audience for something like this is a more casual horse person or a hobby rider. A new rider would probably love it too, or a lesson kid. It’s a company I would feel good about giving my money to, so I’ll be keeping it in mind next time I need a fun, unique gift for a horse person. If you want to keep up with Saddlebox, follow them on Insta here or facebook here.

It’s one of my favorite times of year – sale season! Thank the lawd that I am alive in an age where we can look at an endless amount of ponies online at just the click of a button. Two big eventer-centric sales happen one right after the other in Ireland in November – Monart and Goresbridge. It’s my ultimate dream that someday we will have a fantastic eventer sporthorse auction like these in the US someday. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we could make it work, and get our american bred sporthorses in the hands of american riders. It’s a lot harder here.

I also really like the foal auctions from the breeding registries, with Zangersheide usually being my favorite. The Holsteiner folks have a few auctions a year and the summer one, with young horses, is always a highlight to me too. You do start to lose me a bit with the riding horse auctions where the horses have clearly been pushed and the gaits or jump are definitely being manufactured and manipulated. Those are… not so great. But still, these sales are the best kind of window shopping, you can see so many horses right there in one spot, with their breeding listed. I’m definitely NOT a buyer, but as someone who is perhaps a bit obsessed with breeding I like to look at as many horses as I can. These things are a free education. Seeing the horses online isn’t as good as seeing them in person like we sometimes go gallivanting across Europe to do, but there’s still a lot to be gleaned.

Plus lets be honest it’s fun to pick out the ones you like most and then see how they sell and who buys them, even if a small part of me dies every time an American rider buys from overseas. A lot of big name riders source young horses from these sales, and I get why. There are so many nice ones in one place, in a way we certainly haven’t been able to emulate here yet.

Aside from trying to pick out the best ones, I also like to pretend-shop for myself. The horse I’d pick for me is different from the one a lot of pros would gravitate towards as a 5* horse. I want something nice but not so fancy that I can’t ride it, something with enough TB blood, that doesn’t seem like too much a of punk, and from a line that I’m pretty familiar with. This go-round I’m picking this one:

Yes, it’s buckskin. We’ve talked before about my weird closeted obsession with buckskin, ok? Don’t act surprised. I will never get on board with breeding for color but if a horse I already like comes in buckskin wrapping, it’s on. This one is by a stallion I’ve mentioned on here a few times (because I’m low key obsessed but he’s not available frozen so it’s one big SAD for me), who is the sire of one of my favorite 5* horses Tullabeg Flamenco, and it’s out of the same dam as freaking BANGO. This guy, Wheelagower Gold, looks like a total dude in his video. Like he could pack my butt around with few complaints. The only thing that could make him better is if he was a she.

Aside from the sporthorse auctions I also have a relatively unhealthy addiction to perusing TB listings. Let’s be honest, if I ever actually DID have a budget for another horse (which I don’t need in any way shape or form) it would certainly be trending more towards OTTB. Totally fine by me, since I love them. I keep up with TB bloodlines with the same level of obsession, and my endless window shopping is definitely a part of that. Benchmark Sporthorses will be the death of me someday, and I regularly like to browse the CANTER listings. Which is where I stumbled upon this guy:

Potomac River, a 10 year old stakes-winning stallion. I’m always on the lookout for good TB stallions for sport programs that we could breed to the warmblood mares, and this one definitely stopped me in my tracks. He’s raced for SEVEN YEARS, still has clean legs, and has a pedigree stacked with turf lines. Be still my heart. Surely some sporthorse person needs him.

What horses have y’all been pining after online lately? Show me ponies! Or… who’s your favorite in the Goresbridge sale? Or… who’s buying me Potomac River? Kidding (no I’m not).

Most of you fellow OTTB enthusiasts know that the Retired Racehorse Project Makeover show was last week. A few bloggers were there with their horses, and it was fun to follow along and watch the videos and live stream. The Makeover is totally a bucket list item to me, and looks super fun. I reaaaaally want to try my hand at it someday, if ever there is room in my life for another OTTB. It’s pretty amazing to see one big week-long showcase of all the different things they can do, and with less than a year of retraining at that.

It seems like there’s always some kind of drama following this show (maybe something to be expected when you get so many different disciplines and green horses together?) and unfortunately this year was no different. My goodness, the drama around the barrel racing. Wow. Did anyone else see that unfold on social media?

For those who aren’t familiar, the Makeover is a show, but really it’s a training competition. It’s all judged and scored, and even the more simple timed events (like showjumpers and barrel racing) have flatwork tests where the quality of the training that has gone into the horse is judged. For barrel racing, its a relatively simple horsemanship test, the results of which are rolled together with timed runs to come up with a final score. No event at the Makeover is immune from a judged portion, because, remember, this is really a training competition. They’re trying to encourage people to prioritize a solid foundation over rushed training that leaves a lot of holes.

So anyway, the girl who ended up with the two fastest times on the actual barrel runs had a lower horsemanship score, which brought them down a few spots in the rankings. A lot of barrel racers WERE NOT HAPPY about that. They argued that barrels was a timed event, plain and simple, and the fastest horse should be the winner. Period. They shouted that it was rigged, and that horsemanship and judged flatwork had no place in barrel racing.

Which… wow… there’s a comment to stop you in your tracks. I think if ever you find yourself arguing that horsemanship and a solid foundation have no place in your sport, whatever that sport may be, you might want to re-evaluate what you’re doing here. Effing yikes.

A lot of people seemed to have a hard time understanding that nothing about the Makeover judging is typical of standard showing. The cross country is scored, the showjumpers do flatwork and gymnastics and optimum time rounds, etc etc. Because, again, it’s a training competition, not a regular show. It’s pretty abundantly clear in the rules, which outline all of this and are available online to anyone. Even I knew the format and I’ve never done the Makeover. Reading remains a difficult task for some, I suppose.

But anyway, Fallon Taylor won the barrel racing, which seemed to just add fuel to the “IT’S RIGGED” fire, and then Fallon also won the grand 10k prize for Most Wanted Thoroughbred, and lord I thought some folks’ heads were gonna explode. Which, to be fair, I was kinda sad about her winning the overall too (I voted for Rosie!) but it’s good publicity for the OTTB in western events, so whatever. Either way… woooow the drama. It’s a damn shame, IMO, because the Makeover is just so freaking cool. If you can watch those freestyles without a tear coming to your eye, you’re not human. The Makeover isn’t perfect, they’ve got kinks to work out for sure, but still… it’s insanely cool. OTTB’s are awesome.

One of the big highlights of the Makeover was of course the winner of the Little Orphan Annex Memorial award, funded by fellow bloggers in honor of Hillary’s mare Annie. This award went to the highest placed chestnut mare, which ended up being a super badass little creature named Great Reward – winner of the polo division!

Hillary and I were both thrilled to see her win it, she was really fun to watch and definitely embodied that spicy chestnut mare spirit that Annie had. Thanks to everyone who contributed and helped make this happen, it was a truly special way to remember such an awesome mare.

Anytime I move my horses I always get a little worried about the whole thing. It’s that whole “brace yourself for the possible disaster” feeling that horse owners are too familiar with in general. Because we all know how adaptable horses are and how impeccably they handle change, right?

I was less worried about Presto, he’s a more adaptable, roll-with-it type of horse in general. Much less anxious than his older brother, who I don’t think has done a single dressage test in his life without the word tense as a comment at least once. My life is dedicated to keeping Henry as relaxed and happy as possible. Change can really flip a switch in him sometimes, so I just never quite know how he’s going to handle things like this.

Luckily, by some miracle, they both seem to have settled in pretty seamlessly. To the point where I’m over here kinda like

But really though, they seem super happy and chill. It went MUCH more smoothly than I expected.

Henry is living in the barn with the Trakehners. Last week it was still really hot (a cold front blew through last night and it’s currently only 68 degrees. Did I drive to work with my head out the window like a dog this morning? MAYBE.) so Henry was on night turnout. Two of the trakehners go out during the day, so it worked out well for rotation.  Another of the trakehners, the stallion, handles heat about as well as Henry does, so they both stayed in their stalls with their fans on during the day. That meant Henry wasn’t alone in the barn, which seemed to appease him. At night Henry went out by himself in the pasture facing the barn that also shares a fenceline with Presto’s pasture. That also seemed to satisfy his whole “I want other horses nearby but not so close I actually have to interact with them” thing. He’s got a nice size pasture all to himself, but he can still see everyone. Happy Henny.

He seems to really like his stall as well, it’s nice and big and open and breezy with an attached run. The barn is insulated so it doesn’t get nearly as hot… he was definitely huffing and puffing a bit in the 100 degree afternoons last week but he didn’t look as miserable in the heat as I know he can. The airflow is super in the barn, too, and he can easily see everything around him and watch whatever is going on. He really seems to like that, and I think it’s a big part of what’s keeping him so relaxed. I also like that he has the option of coming in and out with the run, it keeps him moving a bit more.

He’s been pretty good for his rides, too, and I’ve ridden him all around the property by now. There’s a little hacking path in the back pasture, and we put a log out in one of the hillier pastures for him to hop over. And, much to his chagrin, we’ve ridden in the dressage arena some as well. He’s already figured out which direction it is, and if I point him that way his walk immediately gets slower. It’s such a nice ring though, even if he’s not a fan of what it represents. I’ve literally NEVER had a dressage arena of any kind “at home” before, so it’s pretty great and will definitely come in handy. Actually practice a test in a regulation size arena before we have to ride it at a show? Whaaaaaaat? Novel concept.

As for Presto, he is for sure living his best baby horse life. His full time pasture mate is the yearling, JB, who is the perfect sidekick. Presto actually finds him a little annoying, which is HILARIOUS considering that Presto has always been by far the most annoying horse in every herd dynamic he’s ever been in. During the day they’re supervised by retired mare Quinnie, who has no tolerance for their nonsense. She’s the perfect babysitter because she isn’t shy about keeping them in line, but she won’t actually HURT either of them. She’s pretty pissed about her new job though and thinks its absolute bullshit. She wants to go back to the adult pasture, please.

I kind of left Presto to his own devices all week, peeking in on him in the pasture (he still leaves his friends to greet me, so I haven’t been completely traded in yet I guess) a couple evenings but not much else. On Saturday I decided it was time, and I went and got him from the pasture and took him over to the barn. JB and Quinnie stared after him a bit when I walked him out the gate, but everyone was quiet. I brought him in, groomed him, and… that was that.

No dramatics, no screaming, not upset. Normal baby fidgeting, but he wasn’t worried. He just… crosstied like normal, and I groomed him, gave him a cookie, and put him back out. Quick and easy. Uneventful. All my favorite things.

It’s been interesting to see how he interacts with the two very different horses in his pasture. I figured he would devolve into complete baby shenanigans with the yearling, but for now he’s mostly chosen to emulate the older mare and is looking to her for guidance. I mean, he still plays plenty of Bitey Face and runs around with JB, but they haven’t completely devolved into Wild Boys status like I thought they might. For the most part he seems to be taking a lot of his “this is how we act” social cues from Quinnie. It’s pretty fantastic. The best of both worlds, really. He has one to play with and one to show him the way.

Overall both boys seem really genuinely happy with their new situation, which makes me super happy too. It’s quiet, it’s relaxed, and there’s no drama. They also fully switched over to their new food, which they seem to like, and Henry even looks like he’s gained a little weight through all this. Now we just need some rain to green up the pastures!

Just me or does time move more slowly when you’re waiting on a cold front and impeachment proceedings? Okay okay, no politics on here. But for real, this has been a loooooong week, so I’m just gonna hit on some of the highlights.

Young horse FEI classes

Finally, finally, finally! News broke that the USA will have it’s own age-restricted international classes at Morven Park next fall, geared specifically toward 6yo’s (2*) and 7yo’s (3*). The Europeans have tons of these, culminating with the World Champions at Mondial du Lion in France every fall. Some of the best horses in the world have come up through these classes, and so many upper level horses. 53% of this year’s Burghley field competed in young horse international classes. 62% of this year’s Luhmuhlen field. 51% of the last WEG field. They’re very effective stepping stones for the best horses in the world, and to help find and develop the next big superstars. To finally be able to have something like this in the US is absolutely HUGE for our young horse producers, our breeders, and US eventing as a whole. I spoke on the phone with someone who is involved and it sounds like they’re really trying to make this into something big, with other fun and relevant stuff going on at the event as well. I will definitely be there, with bells on, to support in any way I can, even if it’s just to put a butt in a seat.

As for the rest of the USEA calendar updates, I remain extremely frustrated that there is still no Modified anywhere in Area 5, but hey… there are FIVE new CCI1*’s (yeah so the closest one of those is 16 hours away too, but what else is new).

Retired Racehorse Project

Know who did awesome at RRP? Fellow blogger Hillary! She and Dobby were on fire, finishing as the 4th highest scoring amateur in the eventing section and even earning a 10 on cross country at the water. It’s a big deal buying a baby horse off the track and getting it ready for something like this in less than 10 months, and she did it while being responsible for a baby human as well. Proud of you, friend! Dobbins looks fantastic and it’s been fun to have a front row seat to their journey. He’s a really cool horse, can’t wait to see how their story continues.

 

Cold Front 

Yes, when you’re officially on the 124th day of July and have a horse who is relatively heat-intolerant, a cold front is absolutely headline news. Yeah, ok, so it’s just gonna drop the temps down into the 80’s, but I am so freakin excited. Anything is better than triple digits. It’s supposed to get here on Sunday night and I’m pretty sure everyone is counting down the minutes. Now if we could just get a little precipitation to green up the grass and soften the ground (I said a little, Texas, please don’t do that shit you did last year where it rained for like 5 months straight).

Arctic Fox hair color

Okay, this is a non-horsey thing, I admit, but I’m kind of excited about it. Some of you noticed that you can spy a purple ponytail in one of my FEH pictures…

I’m a fan of fun colored hair, but 1) I have naturally dark hair 2) I’m not into all the maintenance that bleaching requires 3) I’m definitely too cheap to get it done professionally these days. I’ve tried several different brands in the past, just putting the color over top of my natural color. Nothing has ever really shown up, or if it did it only lasted one or two washes. I bought Arctic Fox’s Purple Rain color and have been really impressed with it… we’re on week 2 and it’s still purple. Granted, my hair is so dark that any color I put on it really shows up more as a tint than a true vivid color, but I kind of prefer it that way since it’s more subtle for a professional environment. Now I’m kind of obsessed with what to try next… burgundy? Dark blue? A deep emerald green?

October

Yes, it’s October. Finally. I can start to emerge from my summertime fugue of sweat, sadness, and despair. October is very important, because it’s my favorite month of the year, and contains my favorite holiday of the year – Halloween. What’s not to love about October? It starts getting cooler, there are horse shows galore, it’s the time of year where Texas stops sucking so epically, everyone is constantly trying to plow you with candy, it’s socially acceptable to try to scare the crap out of children… it’s fantastic. Except for maybe all the body clipping. I guess nothing can be perfect, not even October.

And last but not least, my new favorite meme.

Happy Friday and HAPPY OCTOBER everyone. What good things are going on in your world this week?

When it comes to buying horse stuff, I have a few different categories that things fall under. There’s the “Long list”: things I’ll need within 6 months or so, or things I really want but can’t justify unless it’s a really good deal. There’s the “Short list”:  things I actually legitimately need right now. There’s also “Impulse purchases”: things we don’t talk about and I refuse to defend or explain. And I guess technically I do have one other category existing within my Riding Warehouse wishlist… mostly stuff I would buy if someone handed me a big pile of money or a really really generous gift card, but realistically most of it isn’t going to ever happen. Fantasyland.

As an example, that new clipper blade and blade wash that came in the mail yesterday? Definitely short-list. I legit needed that, and needed it ASAP. Horse is approaching yak status. So sensible, that purchase. Look at me being an adult.

The AmazeBrush that I demo’d at Burghley but thought I didn’t really need so didn’t buy at the time, yet have thought about several times since and now realize I could definitely use? Yeah, that got “added to cart” a few days ago. Maybe it falls more into the impulse purchase category, but I could probably manipulate it onto the short list with some excellent equestrian reasoning. Also.. ya know… it was cheap and there was free US shipping. Barely counts.

Lately though, it’s been a bit of a boon for my long list. I had several things on there that were more on the “if I come across a smoking deal” side of things, and it just so happens that several smoking deals have presented themselves. First it was the closeout Mountain Horse Opus boots. I KNOW I KNOW I just got a nice pair of Pioneer’s. But… that’s the problem. Now I have two really nice semi-custom pairs of tall boots (black Tucci and brown Pioneer) that I really don’t want to trash by wearing daily. I want them to last a long time, which is unlikely with the amount of abuse I tend to inflict on my “daily” boots… stall cleaning, baths, mud, lots of walking around, etc. It physically pains me to destroy my nice boots one day at a time. So I reasoned that if a good, hard-wearing pair of boots came along at a really good price, I’d pick them up.

And then Equizone clearanced their MH Opus.

$150 for a nice, pretty pair of brown boots that I can wear around the barn without guilt and completely destroy without feeling like such a garbage human? Sign me the eff up. And they’re Mountain Horse, so they should be able to withstand some abuse. And my calf size came in Tall (not a thing with the Sovereigns)! Score.

A few days after that I got the email from Dover offering 30% off a blanket purchase. The boys are fully stocked on turnout apparel, but I had been wanting to buy Henry a very lightweight cotton sheet for those in between temps. I loathe Dover, but they do get me a couple times a year with coupons. So I popped into the store on Sunday, figuring I’d just see if they had anything in his size. They did, and it was $20 with my coupon, so… sold.

And then I happened to peek in on Insta, where I saw a new story from The Tried Equestrian, who had just posted an Equifit bellyband for less than half of what it costs new. I actually HAVE had a bellyband on my list of things I need to buy soon, because Henry gets rubs from just my leg/boots in the winter and I’m tired of fighting it. I just… haven’t been excited about shelling out $140 for one. But for $59, I’m in.

I’ve managed to take care of most of my long list, completely by happenstance, in the past couple weeks. The stars are aligning for some reason, and I’m not going to question it.

I also got the shipping notification for that Hufglocken order I’d kind of forgotten about, with the navy shimmable Mattes sheepskin half pad. That’ll be Presto’s. I still need to get white versions of Henry’s Premier Equine sheepskin pads, because turns out I love those things more and more every day and will definitely be sticking with them. Which in turn means that I have a lot of other saddle pads to sell (among a ton of other things, because downsizing to tiny house). Ugh. Selling things is my least favorite. Kind of thinking I should just haul it all to a tack swap or send it to consignment. What have y’all done (and liked) in the past when you have lots of random shit to get rid of?

I also found out (or rather, Mimi told me) that you can actually buy those blue Decathlon gloves that I got in France in the US now. I am absolutely freaking in love with those things (like… I like them more than my Roeckl’s and they’re half the price) so I’m considering stocking up on a couple more pairs. I just wish they made them in more colors! But hey, tada… just like that the long list is no longer empty.

I think I may have talked here before about how downright violent Presto is with his food. He’s polite enough about actually being fed, but as soon as the food is in his bucket and he’s left alone to eat, my god… it is like a demolition derby. He puts his feet in his bucket, he smashes into the bucket with his head, he puts his head under the bucket and tips it upside down. It’s loud AF, and food goes everywhere.

Over the year and a half that he’s been solely in my care, I’ve tried pretty much everything. Pan on the floor, pan in a tire, food dumped on top of hay, several different kinds of buckets and feeders and different ways of tying them all down. Shit, there’s even been duct tape involved. He can break anything, given enough time. I just kind of gave up and resigned myself to buying a lot of buckets and Sand Clear. And then I had oooonnnee last idea.

I saw a lot of very positive reviews for the Cashel Feed Rite feed bag, so I figured… why not. Let’s just try it and see. Best case scenario it works and keeps him from putting his feet in buckets/breaking things constantly, and worst case scenario it would be damn funny to watch him eat with a bucket strapped to his head. So I ordered a black one, it showed up a few days later, and I found myself feeling pretty optimistic. It was a nice bag, with a reinforced mesh bottom and lots of heavy duty stitching. The weak point was, IMO, the strap. It was kind of thin nylon with a plastic snap buckle. I figured if he was going to break anything, it would be the snap (oh how close I was to being right).

So, step 1, I took it out to the barn to let him wear it and understand how it works.

In order to get all the feed out of the bottom of the bag, the horse needs to lower their head to the ground and let the bag rest on the ground. I figured this was the part he’d have a problem with (he is a lot like me in that we tend to just kind of come in like a wrecking ball of chaos with no actual plan) so I wanted to teach him to put it on the ground to get the food. First I had to get him used to it being on his nose/head, which was no big deal. He’ll tolerate a lot of things when there’s food involved.

Once he was okay with just wearing it, I set it the feed bag on the ground, held a treat, and led his nose down to the ground and into the bag to get the treat. We repeated that a few times until he was seeking to put his nose on the ground to get the treat. Then I just put a couple handfuls of food in there, strapped it on, and let him go. He figured it out really quickly.

I sat there and watched him eat, feeling semi-victorious. He pawed half-heartedly a couple times, and walked a circle in the beginning, but otherwise the typical bucket-bashing behavior was gone. I had taken all the fun out of it, by giving him nothing to toss around or make noise with. He settled down and ate the food like a normal freaking horse, for once in his life. I was hopeful that we’d finally found a good solution for him.

But in some ways he is his mother’s child through-and-through, and I should have known that my optimism was misplaced. This is a family of destroyers, after all. Remember that time Sadie sat on Michelle’s truck wheel well and smashed it to shit? Or all the baby trees, freshly planted, that she snapped in half with her ass? A natural talent for breaking things – definitely genetic.

After dinnertime that night (his first full official meal with the feed bag) I got a text from the barn owner saying that he’d broken it. More specifically, he’d ripped the strap completely off one side.

Of course he did. I was 0% surprised by this of course, although I had kind of been hoping to get at least a few weeks out of the damn thing. I thought that first he’d learn how to flip it upside down and dump the feed out, or maybe fling it off his head. Or… ya know… break the plastic buckle, the obvious weak point. But no, he completely removed the strap from one entire side. Top to bottom. Ripped clean off. How? Who even knows. How does Presto do any of these things that he does?

One meal in the feedbag and Presto was right back to bucket life. Of course, at the new place his feed bucket is screwed down, so it’s not as fun and he can’t tip it over. We’ll see how long it takes him to break that one though (which will probably happen with his feet)… we all know it’s just a matter of when, not if. I give up. You win again, Presto.

This year I didn’t have an entourage with me at Championships and I found myself really missing our personal photographer from last year (aka Michelle). She was on a flight to Italy on the day of FEH Championships, on her way to Tuscany for vacation. I know, I can’t imagine why she’d rather go to Italy than FEH Champs either. But the venue does have a really good resident photographer, so I signed up and paid my proof fee, because we all know that the most important part of horse shows is the pictures. And we also definitely all know that I really really suck at remembering to take pictures at all, and when I do take pictures they’re generally terrible.

The photographer definitely did not disappoint, and I got a proof folder full of 140 pictures. They were a bit pricey so I had to limit myself, and choosing just a few proved to be quite difficult… not a bad problem to have! In the end I settled for a social media package rather than the hi-res, since I could get more pictures for less money. Plus like… I’m about to live in a tiny house, there’s not going to be room for any more art or photos on the wall anyway (Hillary did get me one of those cool digital picture frames for my birthday that will totally be stuffed with pictures of my horses that shuffle through on repeat).

One of the few things I regret in retrospect with Presto’s mother is that I never really got any nice photos of her like this when she was a baby. Lots of cell phone pictures, and some badly posed photos with real cameras, but nothing like these. These are beautiful. And looking at Presto’s FEH pictures from last year compared to his pictures from this year is really fun, you can see him growing and maturing and changing so much.

But I think one of my favorite things about these photos is how I can so clearly see both parents in him. I see a lot of Sadie in the above photos, which makes sense because he inherited her big floaty trot. For the rest of him, though, I see Mighty Magic. SOOOOOO much Mighty Magic. I mean… look at this:

I swear I think Presto is looking more and more like MM as he grows. They’re two peas in a pod for sure.

Big thanks to Ernesto Photography for these lovely pictures. What would we do without these awesome show photographers?