-Groucho Marx

"we can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals"

-Immanuel Kant

↓ About us ↓

After seven years together, Hek and I finally bought our first harness. We’ve had the Säker long enough now that I can confidently say it’s not getting returned! It is honestly a wonderful harness in every way. Plus, Hek doesn’t hate it, which is really saying something because she absolutely despises wearing anything. That’s primarily why this is our first harness, and even when she's working, I hardly make her wear a cape vest.

​I ended up choosing the Muse because I already have the Variocage for car travel, so this purchase was really just a fancy way to have her longline attached to something other than her collar.

​Knowing Hek’s measurements, I knew she fell perfectly between a small and a medium. An AI chatbot and I actually went back and forth for about a week before I finally pulled the trigger on the medium. While it barely fits snugly even with all the straps fully tightened, the quality is undeniable. It might not add much in the visibility department, much to my dismay, but its a very pleasant green and she does look good in it.

Saturday is cross country day. I was planning on going to the fourth question on the course, a very difficult coffin with a loop around to a tracainer. The course was designed to eliminate teams who we're not ready to be at this level early on in the course to save the footing for the other riders.

Volume up to hear about Harry Mead's amazing recovery in the first water complex

Saturday morning rolls around and all my plans go out the window. We ended up at question 21. This question consists of an upbank, a steep downhill 4 strides immediately after, to a very large oxer, and then 4 strides to a corner.

It was meant to be! Turns out all of Boyd Martin's grooms and family were stationed at this jump. I got a Go Bali (my personal favorite of Boyd's horses) poster from one of the girls, and was able to chat with some of them who remember me training with him years ago.

We ended up sitting here for 5 hours just watching the horses go by. Hek made friends with the jump judge very quickly. She and I talked the entire time about everything from how much we dont like the show jumping mentality to what it's like working with OTTBs.