Easter Festival 2024

 Two of the best shows of the year are clustered together in our calendar. For some reason, they both fall in the height of African horse sickness season, so it's always a bit touch and go whether we'll be able to attend. Since AHS is midge-borne instead of being directly contagious, I'll usually show as long as there aren't active cases in the area where the show is or in our home area. This has (praise God) been a quiet AHS year in our area so far and we were happy to be able to enter the dressage.

Easter Fest is a week-long celebration of all things horse, with all the disciplines together at Kyalami Park, plus a huge showjumping competition at the end that also features amazing shopping. I love competing in the dressage on the weekend before Easter and then getting to watch the jumping on Easter Monday; it negates that FOMO from watching a show instead of riding. Plus, as always, it's a great way to gain grading points and experience. So we entered Arwen in Third 1.

My ride time was 14:03, which made for a peaceful morning---altogether too peaceful, actually. I haven't shown on my own without kids to worry about in ages, and thus I spent the morning buggering around instead of actually, you know, getting ready. We were a bit late by the time I finally threw Arwen's plaits in and loaded her up, but I didn't let it get to me. It all felt quite relaxed and low pressure even though this is quite a big show.

Arwen was soaked when we arrived at Easter, but traveled well; I think she genuinely gets hot in the horsebox so I'll experiment with traveling her naked for the next show. Either way, she stepped into the parking lot like she owned the place. Picking up on my adrenaline and also revelling in her majestic dragonness, Arwen proceeded to paw and dance around---even trying to get back on the box---while I tried to get dressed and get the stains off her legs.

With hubby's impeccable help, we managed to wrangle the dragon into her tack and I hopped on about twenty-five minutes before her test. I'd have preferred thirty, but it was fine. Hubby trailed behind with a suitable balance of sports drinks, energy bars, and my jacket, faithful as ever, while Arwen and I marched to the warmup.

While "marched" was the operative word, Arwen was all business the moment I got on. There was no dragoning around to be had now that we were working. She warmed up absolutely phenomenal, stretched down the moment I asked, listened to my aids, and offered no drama. The first few changes were a bit explosive but that's pretty normal even at home. We waved hello to Lady Lionheart in the warmup; she has an ammy owner now and looks as happy as a clam, which was first prize (the fact that Arwen kicked her butt was a distant second).

Before I knew it, Arwen felt chill and ready. We took a short breather and a sip of water in the shade courtesy of the most magnificent horse show hubby you ever saw, and then we headed into the big old Peter Minnie where we'd won our working riding three weekends before.

maybe back off the inside rein a little Mrs. Sadler

During dressage shows, the Minnie has a tendency toward a lot of Atmosphere. It's got a looming show office, grandstands, lots of sponsors' flags, and three judges' boxes per arena. One of the Friesians I used to ride ran absolutely the heck away with me in there at my first and only SA Champs in 2021. But Arwen marched into that place like she owned it. She sneered at the judges and we headed down centreline feeling incredible---maybe a little more electric than usual, but focused and listening.

I don't have my usual play-by-play account because some kind soul helpfully fetched my dressage test right before the kind soul I had assigned to the task got there, so it's vanished into the aether, but I know that it was the best Third Level test I've ridden. I made mistakes, obviously, but they were much more minor than forgetting how to canter or breaking for half our long diagonal like last time.

Looking at the video, we had a nice first centreline, then a bit too much angle in our shoulder-in left. The half-pass could have crossed over a bit more, not helped by the fact that the I to H half-pass is really long and shallow for our short legs. We had a tiny miscommunication in the corner when I shortened my inside rein and Arwen thought maybe we should canter, so we took one little canter step and then came straight back to trot, which was kind of hilarious. The shoulder-in right was better but the half-pass was quarters leading at first, corrected near the middle. Our medium trot was fab and so was our halt and rein-back.

The extended walk was fine and so was the first turn on the haunches. I asked for a bit too much going into the second TOH and we had several jog steps, which I'm sure hit our marks pretty hard, but we sorted it out quickly and went on to a really nice walk to canter transition. The medium canter was fine and so was our 10m circle. I felt like our change was fairly nice, but in the video it was a bit close behind.

The extended canter was nothing if not fierce. It certainly needs a bit more sit-and-push as opposed to HAHAHAHA CHARGING INTO BATTLE but there was plenty of difference and the transition down was super nice. We had another nice 10m circle and another close-behind change.

Finally, we had the transition to trot and then the extended trot on the long diagonal, and I tear up a little bit watching the video. This little mare of mine has many, many natural strong points, but she wasn't born with a big trot, yet in her extended trot she absolutely gives everything she's got. She flicks those toes like she's fancy and has so much push and engagement and overtrack it's actually insane. Obviously we will never score like a purpose-bred horse---rightfully so, people spend a lot of money and effort purpose-breeding horses for this sport---but this mare gives every shred of physical ability she's got.

I was beaming as we finished our last centreline. We obviously got the usual knock in scores from riding at a big show with the pros, but we still achieved our goal of over 60%. I felt like it was a much better test than the February one that got 63%, but it was 60.7%, which is just fine. Every second on my lionhearted mare was a privilege with DH by my side.

Grateful for the honor of making memories like these. God is good!

Horse of the Year 2024 - Supremes

 With Wynnie, Faith, Erin's mare and my lovely helpers all shipped back to the farm with hubby, I had an afternoon to hang out at the horse park, never a sad thing to be stuck doing. I watched Erin ride her borrowed mare admirably in a huge championship class, then watched some of the big SASA classes until a thunderstorm arrived. At that point I beat a hasty retreat to Arwen's stable.

We spent a pleasant evening hand grazing when the weather allowed or just chilling while I scrolled on my phone and hung out with my fantastic horse. She was the most relaxed she's ever been in a show stable, snoozing away while I sat in the shavings. It was a very pleasant and contemplative way to spend the evening.

Hubby arrived back in record time, and I dressed her up in her clown suit to stay clean, kissed her goodnight and hopped into the car with hubby. We headed to my brother-in-law's house, where a hot dinner, welcoming arms, and a truly fantastic long hot shower were waiting for us. Erin kindly did night check and sent me a photo of a very happy and well-behaved dragon.

was she chill? yes. did I still put ropes over her door? also yes

The next morning, the class only started at 10:45. We got there feeling fresh and rested around 8. Arwen was totally chill and happy, so I fed her and then took her for a hack. She was a little up when we got out of sight of other horses, but settled beautifully and schooled really nicely in the arena.

Then, thanks to the thunderstorm the day before, the announcer let us know that the classes were running late. So I put the finishing touches on her mane and we wandered off to get breakfast and watch the working hunter... which ran really really short.

The next thing I knew, the announcer was calling the working riding class in---not only on time, but early.

Fifteen minutes of panic ensued. To Rain and Erin's total dismay, I simply didn't have time to sort out the last details of Arwen's turnout. I threw on her tack, scrambled on, and cantered across the warmup arena and into the Bob Charter. That was my warmup.

I found myself second in line, after the Appaloosa working riding champion. Arwen, to her intense credit, was totally relaxed. She didn't let my frazzlement bother her in the least. My frazzlement, however, was considerable. I realized that I hadn't gotten to picking up my test and had no idea what it was. Luckily the very friendly lady on the warmblood champion next to me told me the whole thing. Thank you very much, friendly lady.

With that our names were called, and sans warmup, Arwen and I headed into our second ever working riding supremes.

jumping is not my thing, can you tell?

I wish I could say I rode as well as I had the day before, because if I had, we could have ribboned. Instead, my brain fell out and oozed around on the floor. We cantered up and popped over the jump at number one, then trotted into a lane, halted, and reined-back out with no trouble at all. The wheels fell off a bit at the fan, where I sort of... didn't turn at all, necessitating some scrambling from Arwen.

We proceeded to a pair of barrels, one with a flag on it. She stood quietly for me to pick up the flag and trotted nicely around the second barrel, but my blazing adrenaline was starting to get to both of us, and she fidgeted as I set the flag down again. We had a very short distance to show a lengthened canter I went for it but didn't really let her stretch out, so instead we did a credible impressing of a bouncy ball to the last obstacle, a mat. She cantered onto it and halted nicely, but by then I'd overridden so much that she had resorted to Dragonmode and she piaffed merrily for five seconds instead of halting.

That brought an end to our Supremes test. I was a little bummed that I'd let my brain fall out again, but Arwen was a lot better than last year. It was by no means a disaster---just not the test we'd had the day before, which could have put us in the ribbons.

I felt a bit like I'd let her down as we rode out of the arena, then realized that this is absurd. As far as Arwen was concerned, she'd had a kick-ass time. She was glowing as we strolled to the stables and I couldn't have been prouder of her. I wasn't happy with my performance, sure, but that couldn't detract from the fact that we'd had an amazing weekend with horses and people we love.

This world is so filled with love and splendor that it takes my breath away sometimes. God is good.

Horse of the Year 2024: Ridden Classes

 Our first ridden class for the show was Arwen with a tiny little kiddo. This kiddo rides Faith at home, but she's a bit small for her and Faith can be a handful at competitions, so I gave her the option to ride Arwen instead. Madam Dragon is kind of a legend at the stableyard so the little one was positively starry-eyed at the prospect.

I was desperate for this particular kid - who's had a hard run of it lately - to have a good show. I'd been stressing for weeks about whether Arwen would be good for the tiny tot and my stress levels did not decrease when I saw that she was all alone in her class, so she'd have to go off to the spooky end of the Bob Charter on the dragon right away.

my lil sister came over to watch which I loved 💜

With this in mind, I'd sacrificed prepping Wynnie to perfection in favour of warming Arwen up before the chaos of the in-hand classes began. I needn't have bothered. The second I got on Arwen that morning, she was ready for anything. She was absolutely relaxed, focused, obedient, soft, and willing, but with that little bit of sparkle that makes her special.

After Wynnie's group class, I saddled Arwen up and popped the kiddo on, and they had a relaxed and easy warmup. She was only doing the best walk and best trot classes, so we stuck with that, and Arwen was perfect.

Finally, with my heart in my hands, I sent them in. I knew Arwen would never hurt the little one or chuck her off or do any of her usual dragonishness with a little kid on her, but this kid's confidence needed a boost and I was desperate for her to have a really good class. And Arwen performed like a total pro. They walked around, they completely ignored the stallion who arrived for the best trot class, and Arwen even went in a cute little frame like a proper kid's show pony.

They were alone in their age group and obviously won both, but no kid is ever mad about a bit of satin. The little one was floating in the clouds when they came out. My whole heart unclenched and it was time to relax and enjoy the show.

Things had settled down significantly by this point. I let Arwen have a short rest in the stables while I got my stuff together and did haynets and water for everyone. Wynnie was chilling and eating her hay, happy as a clam; K was getting Faith ready for her class. K and Faith disappeared for their class while I was tacking Arwen up, and I barely saw them to wave to in the warmup before they went inside.

my turn!

I didn't have a ton of time for Arwen's warmup, but it was long enough to establish that we didn't have time to prepare her flying change. So we abandoned that idea and headed in for our class---congratulating K and Faith as they came out with a lovely second place ribbon---with the plan to do simple changes through walk instead.

classy girls 💜 photo by Denford Studios

All I can say about our show riding class is that I rode the best I've ever ridden and my horse went the best she's ever gone. It was one of those rare moments that both of us were totally focused, totally delighted by our work and each other, and in total harmony. Those are the rides we all live for, and I'm always honored when they happen at home. For the first time in ten years of competing, that ride happened for us at the show this time. Arwen was absolutely effortless. I don't remember a single flaw in her rail or in the individual test.

my dragon 💜 photo by Denford Studios

We'd been placed second after the rail - our competition being a gorgeous half-Spanish stallion with incredible movement - but after the individual test, the judge pulled us out and pinned us first against this extremely beautiful horse with a professional showing rider. We earned that ribbon. The judge mentioned to the other ride that Arwen's superior conformation also nudged her into first, so that was cool to hear as a breeder.

The championship class followed and it was a little weird. She stopped to poo as we went in and that's the only reason I can think of that we ended up in the placing were we did. The stunning stallion who came second in our class won the championship and the pony rider came second. We got the gate. I wasn't super mad because qualifying for ridden supremes would have given us a really long day on Sunday, but I'd have loved to know why the placings shook out the way they did; we literally trotted and cantered large for five minutes before we were placed and both horses went about the same as they'd done in the open class ten minutes before.

I was still beaming as we came out. We've never won the show riding at HOY before, but this time, we did it---and we earned it.

There was time to grab a snack and shout some words of support to K as she rushed between arenas, and then I hacked over to the working riding with Arwen. She was feeling fabulous by then, and I was on cloud nine; it was a perfect thing to have my husband riding alongside on his bike as my Arwen strolled merrily on a loose rein.

K and Faith were in the working riding warmup, ready to go in the novice class right before ours. I kept Arwen's warmup short. We popped over a jump or two, did a little work with one hand, and then stood in the shade for a while to reinforce the fact that we can stand still nicely with a rider on. K got a ribbon for being the only novice working riding adult and wrangled Faith admirably; Faith was squiggly but not bad, and boldly tackled all the obstacles, but K had to work for it.

Then it was time for the open working riding---Arwen and I versus a pair of little kiddos on excellent ponies. Both kiddos have given me a run for my money in the working riding before. One in particular was a formidable competitor despite being, like, 10 years old. (You know how it is).

Arwen and I went first. The course started with trotting through a lane and over some trotting poles, no big deal. It continued with cantering through bending poles on a curve, a challenging feat unless you're a Medium dressage horse who has done a lot of counter canter, so she popped through that with no trouble at all. Next we had to halt between two drums and move a basket from one to the other. Arwen was good for this, but I had a complete hand-eye coordination failure, parked her too far from one drum, couldn't figure out which hand to use, and almost bonked her in the head with the basket. She wiggled in protest but we got it done.

Next we cantered over a little jump, which went fine, and then we had to trot around and halt on a green mat. Arwen halted like a stone pillar and got a lot of big pats for that.

It wasn't a particularly tricky test but I thought that the canter bending poles would help us out - she does better the more spooky and the more technical a test is. The kiddo and pony also did a super nice test but didn't halt quite steady between the drums, so we squeaked ahead and got to win the working riding by a nose.

The championship class followed immediately thereafter. K and Faith as well as the novice child rider winner joined us in the arena and we repeated exactly the same test. This time, I not only rode well but actually behaved like a functioning human and moved the basket easily, so our test was pretty much perfect. I was super happy with it.

K and Faith went well too, barring a wrong lead into the jump, and Faith was happy to relax in the lineup next to Arwen. We watched the child riders go with some trepidation---they had nice ponies and they all could ride---and then the results were called. K and Faith were reserve champion. K was so flabbergasted by this that the judge had to call her several times before she actually went forward to get her rosette, and then Arwen and I were the champions. As far as show moments go as a breeder, having a sash on both of my mares was a pretty good one.

K was grinning all over her face as we headed back to the stables. It was her first sash, and I was really chuffed for her. 

Arwen's win qualified her for supremes the next day. We packed up and I sent Wynnie, Faith, and Erin's mare home for the night. All three loaded with no further ado. Arwen settled admirably into a stable next to Erin's riding horse, and Erin and I hung out for a while until it was time for her to go home, and then I just chilled in Arwen's stable with her while waiting for hubby to get back with the two-berth and our overnight stuff.

Supremes would follow---more on that later. God is good.

Horse of the Year 2024: In-Hand

 I can hardly believe another year has passed and it's time for the best and most fun show of the calendar again. Despite the fact that HOY is always the most pressure, stress, and effort of the year, it's also always the most epic. Hubby and I consider it a huge highlight. Spoiler alert: this year was no exception.

I woke up on the Wednesday night before HOY and realized with horrible suddenness that I haven't actually bathed Wynnie since HOY 2023. Not that she really needs it - she is solid bay, after all - but I was gripped with panic that she wouldn't stand for a bath.

a riding school aunt took so many photos

My concerns were deeply unwarranted. Not only did Wynnie stand perfectly still to be washed from head to toe, she was perfect in our handful of in-hand sessions to prepare for her classes. At first she didn't want to trot - until she got her first click and reward for a few trot steps. After that, she trotted up effortlessly with a voice command. I didn't have to pull to get her to go or stop or stay beside me - it was pretty cool.

We also worked on standing square, which she didn't quite do on her own by the end of the sessions but she easily went there when asked. As an aside, this is the first youngster I've clicker trained, and I am absolutely going to do the same with Raya when the time comes. She's at the point where she immediately looks around for a treat when she sees a Scary Thing.

click treat, feat. ugly plaits

Getting her ready that evening in the dark was effortless. She didn't move a muscle as I clipped her legs and face. She even stood sleeping on Friday night while I plaited her mane, which was a total disaster through no fault whatsoever of Wynnie's. Her hair is really long and thick, but has a missing chunk in the middle, so I couldn't show her natural. We ended up showing in the biggest, ugliest, fattest pull-through plaits you've ever seen in your life. Sensitive viewers should avert their eyes.

Faith's prep was less promising. She has been working hard with E2 and K, but often moved short with K and we couldn't quite figure out why. I think her obesity has a lot to do with it, possibly leading to a little tenderness on her feet, but then again she would move beautifully for E2 on the same surfaces. Anyway, the week before HOY, Faith was better than ever under saddle.

Studvet Turbo, Wynnie's paternal grandsire, who is 26 now and still going strong

Show time clashes meant that I'd be showing her in the hand, so I practiced a little with K screaming at me to run faster (I've got little legs) and she was really super in hand. K had done a fantastic job before last HOY getting her to stand square and trot up easily.

Arwen's prep was pretty unremarkable. We've already settled into a fun routine of bathing, manic tail-scrubbing, and plaiting. She snoozes in the cross ties while I work; I listen to the Compelled podcast to keep my perspective, and it's almost as much fun as the actual show. While she was not amused about being locked in a small paddock for the night, she only galloped around for a couple of minutes before resigning herself to her fate of eating a huge net of hay.

Raya and Wynnie's daddy Dakota as a young stallion

We finished up on Friday afternoon with a bit of box training, just a refresher for those who hadn't been in the four-berth box before or hadn't been out for ages. Wynnie walked right in, obviously, but Faith was extremely dubious. We could get her in, but I physically couldn't shove her over enough to close the partition. Everyone started to get stressed out at that point, and it was getting late, so we took her back to the stable in the hopes that BarnRat would be able to help me close the partition.

At half past four the next morning, however, all four mares (including Erin's lovely mare and Arwen) loaded like a dream. We put the lunge line behind Faith and she was unsure, but it only took ten minutes to get her in, and hubby was able to push the partition closed. It appears I no longer need to wrap him quite so heavily in cotton wool.

With that, we were off to Horse of the Year Show 2024: my poor husband with a literal truckload of girls and mares. They traveled perfectly and unloaded calm and happy at the show, even - perhaps especially - Wynnie. She seemed to look around and say, "Oh, this place again," then immediately settled down to hand graze. In fact, I handed her to BarnRat so that I'd have both hands free to wrangle Arwen, who turned out not to need any wrangling. She was chill from the moment we got there.

We tucked the mares into their stables and immediately leaped into action. C and BarnRat helped Erin and K to turn out their Boerperd mares to the nines while I got Wynnie ready and helped with Faith. For the record, bay horses are the best thing ever. I sprayed some shine spray, brushed her tail, wiped her face and put her halter on while everyone else ran around painting Wompom on white legs and bemoaning grass stains. In a flurry of activity, everyone was ready, and we all set off for in-hand: K and Erin to the Boerperd arena, and Faith and Wynnie to the Bob Charter arena. Arwen came along so that she wouldn't be all alone in the stables.

Faith and I arrived at the arena gate with a little time to spare. The gigantic Bob Charter was divided in half, with the showing happening on the far end near the restaurant. Faith and I hung out on the other side for a while and I immediately knew that we were going to have a rough time of it. Faith couldn't see Wynnie and Arwen - although there were other horses in the arena with her - and it worried her hugely.

I walked her around a little and we discussed the fact that feelings are okay but running over your handler is not okay at all. She was still tense and pulling but no longer trying to squash me when the steward called us in and I showed the big girl for the first time in years.

photo by Denford Studios

She was understandably worried but actually the best I've ever seen her in hand. In motion, she was perfect. She wasn't into standing still, but did so long enough for the judge to look at her. Her trot was really cool despite my tiny legs and she pinned second in a medium-sized class, her best in-hand result yet.

After Faith's championship class, where she didn't place, we quickly trotted out and I handed her off to the girls in exchange for Wynnie. We went straight in with no time to get her settled, which turned out not to be a problem at all, because Wynnie was utterly chill. She called to Arwen once or twice, but never really looked around for her. Instead, she marched into the show arena like she owned it.

I had a pocketful of small treats and I unashamedly deployed them with frequency because my little two-year-old was foot perfect. She tossed her head a little and had an excited step or two in her trot, but didn't yank me around or jump up. She barely even fidgeted when she had to stand still in the lineup - which is a feat for a baby her age.

photo by Denford Studios

I was glowing with pride even before the judge placed her second in a class of five, which I was over the moon with. She's only two and her class was fillies four and younger, so there were much more mature girls in the class, and she stood up well against them. More importantly, she was pleasant to handle and enjoyed herself. She knows this game now and she likes it. I think she's going to be an absolute pleasure for her first ridden show.

We had a short break before the group class, which gave me time to get Arwen spot washed and polished for her baby riding classes with a little kiddo. (More on those later). I handed Wynnie to C while I was busy with Arwen and she quickly figured out that she could drag poor C all over the place. When I took her back, she tried to walk over me and got bopped in the shoulder with a showing cane. She took the correction with grace but she was starting to run out of patience - understandably for her age. Annoyingly, it took several reminders for her to stay out of my space, and this transferred into her class somewhat.

photo by Denford Studios

We headed in for her group class, where two horses from the same sire or dam are presented, and showed alongside her beautiful half-sister also by Dakota. Wynnie was getting a little irritable at this point and wiggled around in the lineup a little. I gave her the tip of the showing cane to chew and that settled her somewhat. She gave a jump when we trotted up, but never brought any feet near me, and trotted nicely by my side despite some annoyed head-shaking. I had to remind her to stay out of my space a few times, too. Nothing was horrible, she was just really over it by that point and that's okay.

Hubby was having an amazing time. He thinks Wynnie is the most beautiful horse he's ever seen, and we brought his bike along to the show, which was a stroke of genius on his part. He zoomed around happily fetching and carrying and none of the horses seemed to mind. Each time we won a ribbon, he hung it on his bike. It was delightful.

We got third in a fairly large class and then poor baby Wynnie could go for a rest. It was time to get Arwen and her kiddo into the arena, and this was the class that I was the most invested in for the whole show.

More on that later. God is so good.

the first of many

Sometimes Love is a Bridle

 February kicked off with the show at Penbritte and then grew somewhat quiet on the equestrian front. Thunder recovered from a pulled tendon early in the month and then promptly damaged his other front leg by getting into an argument with Diablo (25, one-eyed) about who was Rene's boyfriend. (Rene was content for them BOTH to be her boyfriend during the most violent and raging foal heat I have ever seen). It wasn't major, just a lump on the outside of his cannon bone, but Mr. Stoic got time off until it healed anyway.

Raya continued to be super adorable. She got herself into her first trouble (of much trouble, judging by how the horses have behaved lately) when Samule got away from Kathleen during his lunging session and decided that he HAD to capture and investigate Raya. He ran through a couple of fences (did I mention that a lightning strike took out our energiser, too?) and chased poor baby Raya through a couple more, separating her from her mom. Thankfully, Dusty showed up, chased Samule away, and kept Raya by her side until I got to them. Raya was none the worse for wear except for a small scrape on her nose. Samule spent the rest of the month in jail until we got the new energiser.

Lancey only had a couple of rides in February, but he was fabulous. Amazing to hack - obviously - and even better in the arena. In fact, I would have loved to take him to Horse of the Year, but the Arabs are on a weekday which is difficult to swing at the best of times and impossible given all the vet bills these dudes incurred this month.

Arwen had a chill first week in February. She went for a long hack after the show and behaved impeccably - solo is no problem for her these days. Is the dragon maturing? Perhaps we can hope so now that she's 17.

Rene had a photo shoot with her actual owner, who's hopelessly outgrown her now but had a few beautiful years riding her. Raya photobombed accordingly.

Despite Raya's best efforts, the photos still turned out totally spectacular.

photo by Erin Vogler Photography

BarnRat has her lovely new horse but is still competing Midas at SANESA this year as long as she doesn't grow too much more. He's jumping like a beast for her. We took them out to a clinic at E2's yard in Meyerton and he stopped hard at first, but kiddo rode him thoroughly through it, and they ended with a .90m track in fine style including fillers and things.

He's given this poor child a hard time, but she's also developed a fabulous seat, so there's that.

Raya's overwhelming cuteness made it really hard to get anything done. She's been one of the easiest foals we've had, although we had some trouble getting her to quit eating her mom's concentrates - I've never seen a foal eat so much solids so fast. This girl was two weeks old and chowing down on grains and hay already.

Lancey was out of work for most of February because I had a pea-sized melanoma cut out of his butt early in the month. It was the only one I could find and I wanted to get on top of it, so the vet cut it out with nice big, clean margins. He was shaky under the sedation and gave me a fright, but came out of it easily. The wound healed with no fuss at all.

The vet asked if I wanted to biopsy the lump, but like... it was a nasty black thing with octopus tentacles on a grey horse. It was a melanoma. I opted out.

Everyone had flu shots on the 7th as well, so Arwen took it fairly easy that week. The next week, though, we got right back to work and kept ticking over nicely for the rest of the month. We did a ton of work on her halts, trot-canter and walk-canter transitions, and flying changes.

Honestly, I'm not sure how we got anything done at this yard in February because of this Raya cuteness.

This is my new friend and client A's horse, Mawarda, a picture perfect little Arabian. He was kind of ribby when we got him in the winter, but these days he's a shiny, round boy.

(Relax, it's khakibos, an invasive but weirdly beneficial weed. Not that kind of weed.)

Faith was incorrigible at the show, so much so that I didn't even put her kid on her. She wasn't dangerous, just really tense and wiggly - definitely not suited for a 10-year-old. So I switched the kiddo onto Flashy instead. He's been a bit of a dunderhead lately but improving with every ride.

Hubby was allowed to start cycling in the beginning of February, and riding with him has become one of the most exquisite pleasures in my life.

Toy Town and BarnRat joined us on this particular ride, which always introduces an element of chaos. It was some of the most fun I've had on horseback this year - and I've had a lot of fun this year.

Running this place can be stressful, but it's got to be some of the most beautiful land the Lord ever made.

Tarka, also belonging to A, had difficulty gaining her weight back after she arrived with her foal Azai at foot last year. These days, though, she's starting to look a little like an overstuffed sausage.

Despite some very dry weeks in January and early February, the grazing is holding up fine. Perhaps a little too fine - I'm more worried about fat horses than thin ones right this moment.

Despite being in full work, Arwen is one of the fattest ones. We're working on restoring the fences now that we have the new energiser and we're going to move the fat ones off the best grass, so we'll see how that goes. They'll lose much of it naturally in the winter.

Wedding Bliss and BarnRat have gone from strength to strength. Wedding could be quite rude and throw a few bucks, but E2 jumped on her for me and sorted her out with one ride. Kiddo handles her extremely well. They've been jumping gymnastics and tracks of 0.80m already, which Wedding finds practically effortless. She's also finally gaining some weight on the nice grass - hopefully we'll get the ribs totally covered before winter.

Arwen and I took our new livery, Donker, and his lovely owner, IG, on a hack with Flash and her non-horsy boyfriend. He was admirable about the whole thing and Flash, of course, took perfect care of him - despite having launched a poor little kid only a few minutes earlier. This is the first kid to fall off Flashy, though, in four years of riding school work, so I can't be too mad.

Our neighbor is renting our southern pastures this autumn and winter, so he put up a new fence for us.

I'm not sure I ever introduced Samule. Hubby has been pestering me for months to get him a horse of his own, but I did not. Instead, I got him a tiny, somewhat feral mule. He's much less feral these days - we've had him a few months - and becoming a really cute pet. K is training him for me and we plan to put him in harness eventually. His talents include following us around the pasture and escaping from absolutely any fence that isn't loaded with at least five thousand volts.

I sent this to Erin joking that his front legs kept getting injured so I'd just chopped them off. This was actually his first time back at work with two functioning forelegs - a lungeing session that involved a lot of squealing, leaping, and even, embarrassingly, getting away from me and running around the arena while K was trying to ride Faith. Good to know he was feeling fine, I guess.

My birthday was at the end of February, and I wandered into my house after running around all afternoon to find K, Rain, hubby, and Erin (via video call) gathered inside yelling "Surprise!" like in the movies. They'd all chipped in to buy the most epic birthday present.

After buying Arwen's brown Wintec last year, I didn't really have brown tack to match. It came with a snaffle bridle that mostly matched but had a crank noseband and rubber reins that aren't really showing legal. I bought some mismatched reins and a noseband that also didn't quite match and cobbled them together for Pre-HOY with an old Pelham that I had lying around. She goes in a Pelham - not like she goes in the double, but she goes - so I was happy with that for HOY. Nothing exactly matched, but I wasn't going to fork out a bunch of cash for a bridle that was only really necessary once. Dressage judges might get a twitchy eye from a black bridle and brown saddle, but they won't mark you down like in showing.

At the tack shop where I got the reins, though, there hung a thing of beauty: a brown double bridle exactly the same as Arwen's black one, which is perfect for both showing and dressage and suits her face really well. I thought it would be a good match for my saddle and it wasn't that expensive but, again, I'm still paying off expenses from when hubs was in hospital so it wasn't going to happen. Except that it did. They all got together and bought it for me, and it matches not just well, but perfectly.

Sometimes, love is a bridle.

K put ribbons on it

Donker has been a generally very good boy, but he presumably got into an argument with one of the others - likely Flashy - and received a kick. Being an older boy, he hasn't been healing particularly well, so I spend some time obsessing over his leggy each day.

In the absence of a tractor, an issue we've been dealing with for over a year now, hubby hooked the harrow to his SUV - which he is very precious about - and spent hours dragging the arena for me. It made an enormous difference. This man, you guys <3

M lunged Thunder a few times for me because I was embroiled in HOY prep and not able to pay him a ton of attention in the last week of February when he came back to work. I rode him on the Wednesday, though, and while - as always - he needed a little convincing to get in front of my leg, he felt as strong and supple as ever.

Arwen felt amazing as we prepared for Horse of the Year. We worked on flying changes, hoping to fit one into our show riding test for extra marks, and while she was still a little messy right to left sometimes, her changes left to right got to a point where they felt almost perfect. She skipped softly through them so lightly I could barely feel them.

Her extended trot became effortless again with the arena harrowed, too.

The main herd is quite large now - eleven horses - but they're getting along so well. Arwen is, obviously, the boss mare and she keeps everyone effortlessly in line. Flashy is the Big Stallion in his little mind and Midas acts as a sort of lieutenant. Faith is also quite dominant, and the rest are pretty happy to just eat grass and not have complicated social lives. Flashy and Midas are even getting along, to my surprise.

Raya and Rene temporarily got put into the arena while my hands were busy. Raya galloped madly around the arena but never came close to the non-electrified white tape surrounding it. She is very clear on the fact that fences are not for touching, a great relief to me. There are few things more frustrating than escapees.

I had professional photos taken of Raya because I'm sad not to have better photos of baby Wynnie, so I look forward to posting those.

I may be a little worried about their weight right now, but I still truly appreciate the low maintenance of these Nooitgedachters. It hardly costs me a thing to keep these two beauties in show condition. They're only on pasture with a fistful of balancer for the micronutrients, and even in full work, these girls simply blossom. No shoes, great mouths that only need the dentist occasionally, cast-iron legs, and they don't even seem to need a ton of bodywork. Thank you ladies.

old man Vastrap in the background living his best retired life

Arwen and I didn't practice our show riding a ton - we have Easter Festival dressage coming up so that's taking up a lot of our attention - but we did make the effort to play with a working riding test and ensure that the halts are still steady. Spoiler alert: the effort paid off.

Kiddo and Midas at their clinic at E2's lovely yard. They have SANESA coming up and I'm interested to see how they do. Midas jumped well at this venue last time and both he and kiddo have improved a lot - she's put in an amazing amount of work.

Another livery also went to the clinic and did this to himself in the horsebox, so that was fun. Horses gonna horse. It was surprisingly superficial and he's basically fine again now, but it was not a good moment when I stepped into the blood-streaked box.

We wrapped up the month by finally getting a good picture of Arwen in her beautiful new bridle, all ready for Horse of the Year - which was amazing.

More on that later. God is good.