time fillers: (not my) nostalgia edition

Alright so I'm pretty bored, yes? Here I was patting myself on the back for scheduling a week vacation for my horse... Only to sit idly by watching the calendar turn day to day, after said horse earned an indefinite continuance to said vacay by stepping on a nail....

"I AM TALLER THAN THIS BUILDING." - charlie, probably

The horse is still pretty sore too. And actually he returned to stall rest to wait out the mud, since the hole in his foot is still open. But he's also bored too, ya know?

"I AM TALLER THAN THIS TREE!" - charlie, definitely

Part of me wishes I could just ask the BM to check in on him and take a night off of the ~50mi round trip. But.... Idk. As much of a pain as it is to get out there for a bandage change and treats and grooming and not much else... Well, tbh I <3 my Charlie time.

feeling antagonized by my laughter lol....

Plus, I feel like homeboy needs some enrichment after being in his stall all day. Like, yes he's still sore on the hoof. But not like, abscess lame. Probably the soreness will recede once that friggin hole closes up.

can't tell if rolling or digging holes literally everywhere

And while yes, he's a good boy, I feel kinda guilty subjecting anybody else to deal with his.... special blends of Charlesass. Case in point: the freezing dramatically every three steps up to the indoor to tower majestically as fuck.

Or. Ahem. Whatever shenanigans he pulled with the farrier to end up with that class-ass broken halter (repaired with a hay string braid by yours truly - it's spring's hottest fashion statement!).

haha too slow with the camera. roll over!! (puns)

But ya know. Maybe at this rate he'll be just coming sound in time for the time change?!? Silver linings, maybe??? We'll see lol.

In the meantime, I'm finding other channels for entertainment. Like, ya know, my fave Youtube channels.

Youtube has a funny way of recommending like 8,000 videos that I have exactly zero interest in watching, ever, but then all of the sudden there's this one like, "ooh but what is that?"

video of the lesson clip here

Like this random nearly-decade old video of Joe Fargis just teaching another run of the mill lesson. Ya know. Reminding his students to fix their leads, and to sit up straight. Etc. EXCEPT. Uh, the students are Boyd Martin, Lillian Heard, Ryan Wood, and Caitlin Silliman, among others.

I can't really say what it is about this video that speaks to me. Probably just how like.... normal it is??? My inner lesson junkie just really appreciates that this video exists haha. Tho obvi it's still pretty clear that even at that time, each and every one of these riders are absolute pros...

sometimes i dig watching old helmet cam vids, know what i mean?

And anyway, since I was already falling down the Youtube video rabbit hole, what best channel to tune into other than Doug Payne's? He's been wearing a helmet cam forever, and actually back in the day used to do way more voice over analyses than he does now (tho he's got a new vlog series following his young horse Hannah that's pretty fun).

video of Doug Payne's helmet cam + analysis here

And they're all just such fun videos to watch. Actually one of his earliest videos was part of what made me really hungry to try eventing as an adult, but I haven't been able to find the video since. I feel like he was somewhere abroad, but it was his second time at that track and he has a moment where he describes "coming to grief" at one combination the year prior..... So uh. If that rings any bells lmk haha.

In the meantime, tho, this Fair Hill 3* video is prettty fun, esp considering he basically was catch riding the horse for his girlfriend at the time, now wife, Jessica. And while watching it, I noticed something kinda familiar.

ah yes. said aqueduct. suuuuuure. looks great haha

Like, ok realistically it's all familiar since I go to the 3* at Fair Hill every year. But this particular jump hasn't been on course since I've been going, and the only time I ever remember seeing it was during that legendary trail ride with my friend's old campaigner Freebee right after Charlie had surgery.

Oh memories... I gotta say tho. It looks WAY DIFFERENT in real life, esp all overgrown and weedy, than it does all nicely manicured and flagged in that helmet cam. It looked.... straight up unreal haha.

Anyway. Yea. That's what I'm up to right now. Watching old videos, reliving old memories, and watching my horse act like a sassy spooky youngster bronto on his short little daily excursions from stall rest. Good times!