15 More Questions

You know what I miss? A good ol' blog hop. Luckily for me, Anna had even worse weather than I ever do, so she posted one!

1 – What would you consider to be your favorite item you’ve purchased for your horse?

Oooh, tough one. Y'all know I'm not big on shopping, but I'll have to vote for the nearly-new brown Wintec 500 I bought for Arwen in 2023. It was such a literal Godsend - the first saddle I tried fit the horse great and I got it from a friend, so there was no fussing around with awkward trial periods or couriers. Although I have to say that my cute show ear thingy is also very high on the list.

okay so this helmet, these Nu Angles, the double bridle my friends and hubs got me, and the blue glitter browband are also on the list

2 – When you found your current horse, what drew you to them?

I found my horses and my husband the same way - they kind of just showed up. Skye and Arwen arrived so long ago that I barely remember any specific reason about liking them, I just liked them because I was a horse kid and they were horses. (Of course, I found lots of reasons to like them later on). Thunder I loved because I was a horse kid and he was a foal - even better.

I picked Faith out of her group of two-year-olds at the time because she had an ethereal, airy-fairy beauty. Not the greatest reason to pick out a horse, but she really still looks not-quite-real, and is far bigger and more athletic than those same peers today.

Lancey was a repo case - I claimed him because his people couldn't pay his stabling. I originally planned to resell him, but his perfectly cuddly, goofball personality made him too irresistible, and I realized that you only ever get one Lancey in your life. It would have been silly to let him go.

Finally, I picked Wynnie and Raya's sire primarily for his movement. He had all the basic things that would have been total deal-breakers for me if they weren't in place (good feet, good mouth, good brain, good back), but his free, elastic movement set him apart from others in the breed.

3- If you could move your horse and yourself anywhere in the world, budget is no problem; where would you go and why?

I think it would be really fun to spend one season in a super horsy neighborhood overseas like Ocala and be fully immersed in that culture, but only for a season. I love where we are. It's far enough outside the city that it feels very rural, but all the major shows, vets, and other amenities are an hour away. Absolutely perfect.

4 – Is there something on your horsey wish list you’re coveting? What is it? (new pad, halter, bridle, a trailer, etc)

I'm dying to completely level out and redo my arena footing, but without a tractor, it's proving to be a challenge. We'll likely have to hire a tractor next spring to do it. In the meantime, trusty old Flash has been harnessed to the harrow and has to pull it around every time it rains, so that's fun.

5- Do you have a playlist for your horse? What is on it?

I don't have a playlist, but Arwen does have a song. It is a relic of my upbringing as a homeschooled teenager whose friends were only allowed to play Minecraft and delved the oddest corners of the internet. You have been warned.

6 – In 3 sentences or less, describe your horse- bonus points if you can use a gif. (inspired by Mamas Magic Way being described as one of Boyd Martin’s kids in a recent article tbh)

Ages ago we assigned an animated movie character to each horse. This is the perfect time to showcase them.

Arwen is obvious.

the Nightest Fury there ever was

Thunder is warm, cuddly, and always patient with my general BS. He's also chubby and in his extended canter you can practically hear him say, "I am not fast." He's obviously Baymax.

Me: Oh no I'm bad at life! Thunder: There, there.

Lancey is another obvious one. "Some people are worth melting for."

7 – If you could go see a clinic or participate, who would you audit/participate in? (Again, budget is no question here)

This one is tough for me, because as much as we all want to ride with Olympians, I do not ride an Olympic-bred horse. I love having J as my coach specifically because he has shown many off-breed horses all the way to GP, so he understands how to break down movements into tiny bite-sized pieces and introduce them to horses to whom they don't come naturally.

I think it would be really fun to watch a completely different clinic to the worlds I'm used to, like Western or saddle seat.

8 – Favorite fictional horse?

This is super niche, but I loved Ardanwen from The Letter for the King. Not only is Ardanwen the fastest Friesian in all the land (as they always seem to be), he also spends most of his time rescuing the hapless main characters from all kinds of disaster. He also carries most of the plot on his back, let's be honest.

9 – Opinions on Devacoux’s latest saddle design?

I'm neither smart enough (or, let's be real, in the right price bracket!) to know what it's really about, but I will say that it's a little silly-looking. If it works, though, who cares?

10 – If money was no problem, would you get a custom saddle?

Absolutely. With many sparkles. Nothing really fits my oddly-shaped little round horses perfectly, so as much as we happily make do with what we have, it would be cool to get the perfect fit.

11 – If your horse wasn’t a horse, what animal would they be? (basically copy paste your horse’s personality into another animal – what animal would they be)

We've long since established that Arwen is a dragon (and so is Wynnie) and Lancey is a unicorn. Thunder would be a big, fluffy dog or an orange cat. Skye is a pegasus. I will die on this hill. (You never said they had to be real animals).

12- Favorite horse and rider combo? (i.e Boyd Martin and Fedarman B)

That's an easy one: Becky Moody and Jagerbomb. They look like such a harmonious partnership even though Jagerbomb is clearly a bit of a live wire, and her social media is humble and hilarious. Plus he's a homebred like my Thunderbird. Love it.

13 – What was your favorite or best advice for horses you were ever given?

J said to me once that every horse is a Grand Prix horse until proven otherwise. Sure, not every horse actually will be able to compete at Grand Prix. But if you set aside barriers like soundness and extreme age, approaching every single horse like they have the ability to go all the way puts a measure of belief behind them that might just surprise you with its results. That doesn't mean pushing or forcing a horse to be something they physically can't or mentally don't want to be; it's just believing in them and daring to dream audaciously.

14 – What is the best and worst registered name for a horse that you’ve seen recently?

I don't really want to pick the worst name because, you know, somebody did pick that name and thought it was a cute name, but I do find the Friesian names kind of funny. 17 hands of midnight and fire bound by muscle and lit with strength - and you show it under the Dutch equivalent of, like, Joe or Henry or Pete. Hilarious.

Magic had the stupidest racehorse name I've ever seen. He was called Gadsfly, poor bro.

I love lots of the old Afrikaans names that the Nooities and Boerperde have, like Voorslag (the cracker on the end of a whip), Vastrap (firm steps, also a traditional dance), Bomskok (shellshock), Voorspoed (prosperity), and Haastig (in a hurry). Waaksaam (alert) is another favourite. One used to come across lots of horses with Boer War names but I haven't met a De La Rey in a while.

15 – Do you want to try another discipline or something fun with your horse?

If I had unlimited time, Arwen and I would 100% be doing working equitation. SO fun.

16 – Free space! Leave a funny story, photo, advice, a quote, or something you want to pass along to the next person!

This is a Sebright (albeit not a show quality one). They're adorable and about the size of a pigeon. I thought you should know.

God is good.

Briefly Benched

 While we were at the first interschools qualifier last weekend with Mawarda and his child, M called to say that Arwen had a mild fever of 38.5 at breakfast. It was 38.8 an hour later, not staggeringly high, but certainly climbing.

This made me a bit twitchy because it's prime biliary (similar to piroplasmosis to my US readers) season in South Africa and I like to jump on them very early and aggressively, which generally gets them sorted out within 24 hours or so. But as it was one of my own, who always suffer from a little neglect compared to a client pony, and also as it was Arwen, who is made out of cast iron, we finished up the show first. Her temperature had dropped to normal by 2pm, but when I finally reached her around 6pm, it was 39.0. Again, not a raging fever, but not right at all.

meanwhile, Mawarda and kiddo were perfection

Now normally I never, ever treat a biliary without a positive blood smear. It's so common here that people LOVE to dose them up with Forray (imidocarb) without a definitive diagnosis, often missing other diseases and giving the poor horse colic because Forray's side effects can be a real beast. But I was looking at the most classic biliary I've seen in years; she was jaundiced, her heart rate was in the 40s (high for her), and she had a miserable look in her eye. It was 6pm on a Sunday and though I take my own blood smears to the vet, it would necessitate a (more $$$) emergency consultation. So I just phoned the vet to check and then gave her Forray right away with a bit of vitamin B/liver extract as a booster and a round of flunixin to make her comfortable.

The next day Arwen's heart rate was still a touch high, which is pretty typical as they can have anemia after the Forray kills the parasites and their host cells, but she didn't have any fevers. After that she declared that she was perfectly fine, thank you, and didn't need any more needles. She has been her usual self ever since but is still getting a couple of weeks off to give that hardworking heart some extra rest.

no Arwen pics because Felix stole her thunder by damaging himself in a far more expensive manner than she did, and yes, there is not a thought behind those eyes

In the meantime, we still had a pretty busy week. Thunder's fitness is slowly returning - thanks for nothing, Friesian blood - and I had a couple of nice rides on him. His canter, as ever, remains a bit of a mission, but it'll come back with strength and fitness. We currently lunge at least two or three days a week to help him rebuild without my hindrance and he should be fit enough to get back into lessons in March, I believe.

I had a really cool ride on Wynnie last week, too. I still plan to do a proper post about her backing, but I've had five or six little "rides" on her now where I basically just sit there and pet her and give her treats. I introduced the (very gentle) whip aids for walking forward and shoulder-in on the ground a couple of weeks ago and last week was the first time they really seemed to translate for her in the saddle. She was still a little sticky and hesitant, but we walked all the way around the arena. Obviously, there was no drama - Wynnie is a brat and a babydragon and the wiggliest youngster you've ever seen, but there's no malice in her. It was the greatest feeling. We're basically Olympians now in my book.

so very grown up

can you believe this was the same horse?

Lancey also had a good week. We schooled on Tuesday for the first time in a hot minute, which is always a bit messy, but he was an absolute rock on Wednesday when I ponied Wynnie out the furthest she's ever gone. Wynnie was pretty good - generally staying by his side on a loose lead - but Lancey handled her odd spooky moment with great aplomb. Of course he did. He's my unicorn.

Erin came over on Friday to teach us more about showing. We obviously started out with a hack on the two unicorns, who were both excellent, although Erin's unicorn did have moments when he thought he might not be.

Then I presented Wynnie for some turnout tips for HOY. Wynnie was impeccable the day before when I bathed and plaited her and she stood still for nearly an hour and a half - a magnificent feat. Sadly, it seems she ran out of standing-still-ability and had none left for Friday. Erin tried to show me how to plait her tail but Wynnie was having absolutely none of it. Horses gonna horse. Anyway, we also showed her our in-hand work, and Wynnie was a star for this part, even standing up for the judge.

That rounded out our week, and this week has been even quieter. Arwen is still off, we had wonderful rain for the past three days, and I had to have a (very) minor procedure that left me with a tiny incision which is annoyingly not allowed to get wet, so there's been no riding in the rain for us. We needed the rain, so there are no protests from me.

Erin is a horse butt artist seriously

Looking forward to green pastures and sunny days. God is good.

also got to hang out with Mystique, who was my up-down pony at the riding school nearby when I was a tiny kiddo <3

Thoroughbred Series Leg 1 2025

Apologies for the wall of text. Apparently I was 0% good at candids on the day.

We kicked off our year without delay. Despite a two-week break over the holidays, Arwen came back into work in January absolutely raring to go, having apparently lost no fitness. Thank you, you athletic little ball of rage. So we entered a nice local show to break the ice at our most favourite venue in the world for February 1st. K was happy to get to come to a show, DH was happy to get pizza, and I was happy to ride, so it worked great for everyone.

Our ride time was only at 16:36, so we had a leisurely morning and then I, true to form, started getting stuff ready much too late and ended up in a flat spin by the time K arrived to help. We were dropping Midas at Penbritte to get sold (boo, but also yay), and of course while I was plaiting Arwen, he rolled in the biggest pile of moo poo he could find. Thanks, bro.

Anyway, K got him cleaned up, I threw Arwen's plaits in, and we jumped in the horsebox without further ado just on time. I've been experimenting with reducing the amount of omepracote she gets for traveling and gave her only one dose before we loaded up, which proved to be a silly idea. She was sweaty by the time we stopped for our routine check at the end of the dirt road. Sorry, big girl. Two doses are clearly where it's at.

Nonetheless, we were all chill when we arrived at beloved Penbritte. I had time to fuss around a bit and poor Arwen dried off from her sweaty ride in the box. We got Midas installed in his new stable across the venue and then it was time to tack up and hop on.

It's been a couple of months since we went down the centreline, but Arwen didn't show it. She marched into the warmup and went to work like the professional she is. We had a nice deep stretch in both walk and trot, and although she had her standard magnificent buck through her first canter transition, we very quickly settled into a lovely warmup.

We'd spent the week before the show working our butts off on our worst mark for 2024 - the change left to right. I am simply bad at them and struggle with both horses, likely because of my uneven hips and general inability to do dressage. But we had really started to nail them down the week before, and she was giving them to me cleanly in the warmup. I knew it would be 50-50 if we got them through in the show ring or not but the progress made me happy.

have a blurry screenshot

We were relaxed and ready as we headed down to the show arena, and as we walked in, Arwen engaged in a new habit of looking up and having a little whinny as we approach the judge's box. Ever since that test at Gauteng Champs where all the horses evaporated from the face of the planet during our test, she likes to just check in and make sure that she, a herd animal, can see other animals of her species. Normally it's one whinny and then we get to work.

This time, of course, Midas heard her from his new stables and whinnied back. Thus ensued a screaming conversation between the two and I knew it was going to be a little bit of a train wreck. She was jogging and whinnying when we reached the judge's box, and the lovely show organiser expressed her surprise.

"She's usually so well-behaved," she said.

I grimaced and explained the situation, which perhaps garnered a scrap of sympathy from the judge. As we waited for the bell, we trotted a little figure-eight. Arwen was obedient to a fault - honestly, she always is - but already trying to dive behind the vertical as she does when she's stressed. I quietly insisted that we stay up in the bridle, and then the bell rang and we wibble-wobbled our way down the centerline to fall in a heap at X. To her credit, she only wiggled a step or two before she stayed still, so we scraped up a 6.0, "more immobility."

She knew the medium trot was coming despite her tension so I didn't give her a single aid for it, just turned onto the diagonal and hung on. This mare pulled out suspension I didn't know she had. Though I felt her collapsing in the frame a little, I worked hard to keep her up and to sit the amazing bouncy power she'd found somewhere. The judge was unamused; "more length of frame and airtime," 6.0.

The rest of the trot work, albeit faultlessly obedient, was mostly my quest to keep her in front of the vertical with varying degrees of success. My unaccomplished butt can only push her neck up if I'm not bending her, so the lack of suppleness dinged us in the half-circles, the shoulder-in, and the half-pass, which were 6.5, 6.0, 6.0 all with "more bend." She threw her head and put her tongue over the bit into the extended trot, then put it back and gave me a really nice trot, but still had 5.5, "some tension." Fair enough. I have to put the bit low because of the melanoma in the corner of her mouth, so that's a thing that happens sometimes.

We started to settle down and halted perfectly for a really fluent rein-back, except I was convinced it was five steps instead of four, so we got 5.5 because I cannot count. Our shoulder-in was another 5.5, but she was feeling less worried and got 6.0 "more uphill" and 6.5 "better" for the half circles and the half-pass.

To her eternal credit, tense as she was, Arwen did not take a single jog step in her walk work. To my credit, I didn't stuff up the TOH. We got 6.0 for both and 6.0 for the medium walk, "some tension, more fluent."

She was still tight and unsteady in the connection in our extended walk, 6.5, "step more to the bit." Again, she was absolutely obedient to the walk-to-canter transition for 6.0, "more cadence." Her half-pass left felt fantastic; she'd gotten over her tension for the most part and was listening nicely, so she asked politely if I wanted a pirouette (which we've been working on) on the centerline and lost her tempo for a couple of steps when I declined It was 5.5, "more steady head." She wanted to dip BTV in the half circle and I worked with all my might to keep her up in the bridle, but we did make a very nice little change that was not late behind despite having a bit of a bounce in it, 5.0, "croup high."

Our next half-pass was great, 6.5, but I was so relieved about our "bad" change being good that I forgot to, like, ride the good change, which was close behind for 4.0, "late behind."

She didn't get antsy in the extended canter although I rode it a little conservatively for 6.5, "more uphill", also 6.5 for the transitions. For once, when we came down to collected trot, she was easy and steady and not rushing, so that was another 6.5. We ended on a high note with our 7.0 for a really fabulous, straight, square, steady and immobile halt. (This particular judge appears to have a case of the 5-6-7s).

We had 6.0 for the paces, an expected 5.5 for the impulsion and submission, 6.5 for my seat, and 6.0 for my aids. Our comment was "Unfortunately quite tense today with tongue over the bit at times. Settled a little towards end of test, relaxing a little over back."

As we walked out I knew it would be touch and go whether we scraped out that last grading point. This judge tends to be harsh, but even under a generous judge, it wasn't a good test. I was really proud of two things, though: that Arwen remained imminently rideable even though she was genuinely upset, and that I rode every step and didn't let my feathers get ruffled. I kept her up in front of that bridle to the extent that we didn't get a single BTV comment, which was no easy feat.

It was a good show, it just wasn't a good test, and I wasn't surprised with the final mark - 58.87%. We'd missed getting our tailcoat by 1.13%. 

I waved the test at DH and told him the mark, and his response pretty much equaled my sentiment. "Oh, well, honey, now we have an excuse to go to another show soon!"

We bought way too much pizza, loaded up, and went our merry way with happy hearts despite the marks. It's always a good day with the horses and people we love.

God is good.

Back Again

Here's a really quick recap so that I can get back into the swing of things with posts for 2025.

As fantastic as 2024 was, our plans did fall off the rails a little toward the end of the year. Although Arwen rocked our socks in October by winning Medium 3 at Champagne Tour and we had another really fun show after that, we didn't quite manage to get our ten grading points for Advanced yet. No regrets - we had an amazing year of showing together.

Thunder also went to Champagne Tour and had a very tense warmup, but settled in the test for a decent score. He started his 2025 three-legged lame with the kind of swelling that makes your heart turn cartwheels, but after a set of ($$$) x-rays, the vet proclaimed that he was merely bruised and would be sound within ten days. I was riding him again the next week and he is completely fine now, having lost much less fitness than I expected over the holidays and after his injury, so good for him.

Lancey went to our provincial Arab show in the end of November to finish off our show season. He was absolutely superb in every way, not putting a foot wrong for three full days of classes, and we brought home a little bit of satin to boot. Our highlight was coming third in a large and strong hunter pleasure class even though, truth be told, I have absolutely no idea what hunter pleasure even is. Someone told me to ride forward so we just zoomed around basically. He makes everything so fun.

Faith was diagnosed with bony change in her left front navicular, the result of an injury she likely had as a foal before we got her. It explains the chronic short-stepping issue she has, as well as the tightness in her back. We gave her a shot of Legend and put bar shoes on in front and I put her into boot camp with me for four or five weeks to lose weight, get supple, and regain the musculature she needs to move comfortably. It worked insanely well, and Faith was going the best she's ever gone by the end of November, when she somehow ripped a hole in her right front. After (more $$$) stitches, it healed like a charm and she lost hardly any fitness. She and K are looking incredible together.

Skye is beautiful, perfect, and still living her best life with no apparent signs of slowing down even though she'll be about 37 this year at our best guess. Her joints remain creaky, but honestly, I'm not seeing anything get worse. She had biliary when the first round of ticks came out in the spring and recovered like any young, healthy horse would. I even had to reduce her concentrates because she was getting rather portly on the summer grass. I know she won't be with us forever, but I'm grateful for every happy, healthy day we get to have with her.

this is me teaching K to ride on Skye like a thousand years ago

Raya handled her weaning with aplomb and is living out now with a cute little two-year-old colt friend who is, in fact, smaller than she is. She has a super-sweet, submissive, totally calm personality with nothing pushy or dominant about her - very similar to her mom's, but more expressive and personable.

Finally, and most excitingly, I started working with Wynnie in November. She already had all the citizenship skills nailed down (after all, she's been to three Horse of the Year shows), but as her third birthday approached, we started playing with ponying off Lancey and then little bits of groundwork. Wynnie has an insanely active and agile mind and is the only horse I've ever seen who actively gets bored in the field. I also took one look at her big personality, loud opinions, and girl-boss energy and decided to sit on it sooner rather than later, thanks. Her physical maturity was there, too, so we did very gentle and basic groundwork and then I popped on for a few little sits in December and January. I'll try to do a full post just about backing her, but in case I don't, here is proof that the baby dragon did not, in fact, launch me during her first few rides.

The stableyard is chugging along fine, with plenty of training horses to keep K and I busy and a few new darling retirees. We nearly closed our doors in November when the terrible drought persisted, but Abba provided the most beautiful rain in December, and now we are full steam ahead with breeding plans for this season and a string of ponies getting ready for HOY.

this child raked in the ribbons on Sunday riding dear old Mawarda

Looking forward to staying caught up as much as possible now, although with so much richness in our lives, it's not surprising when we get too consumed with life to journal it.

God is good.