A podcast and newsletter for every horse show-tired + muck boot-wearing mama who’s trying to figure out what the hell she signed up for. You’ve got questions, Venmo receipts and way too many saddle pads. And now, you’ve got a community that gets it. Join the Broke Horse Moms newsletter for weekly behind-the-scenes extras, show season survival tips, gear recs, horse mom life hacks, and everything we wish someone told us when our kids decided to 'try' horseback riding. Join our virtual barn family!
🐎 BHM: The Rated Show We Never Finished at HITS Culpeper
|
Hi Reader, A few weeks ago, I shared with you that we were heading to our first rated show of the season as a qualifier for Pony Finals. We made it there unscathed, aside from a very stressful wasp incident in the car on the way there (think: teenager driving, my sitting shotgun, 2 teens in the back, one of whom is VERY afraid of flying, stinging insects AND a wasp in the car). Chloe and her friends and the horses settled in nicely on Wednesday, competed well on Thursday and Friday and then...at 3:45p on Friday, an official from HITS came to talk to our trainer. We found out a horse in our barn at HITS Culpeper had tested positive for Equine Herpesvirus (EHV-1) and developed Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM), a highly contagious and often fatal disease in horses. And just like that…everything changed. Our show was over. We were scared. We had questions. And we were left scrambling to find a barn for our 3 horses to spend, at minimum, the next 14 days in a state-vet mandated quarantine. This week’s episode is not the one I planned to record. We’re still in it. Still doing temperature checks. Still counting pills to make sure we have enough for all three horses. Still hoping our horses stay healthy. Still trying to support our trainer as she is now managing two barns and a very strict biosecurity protocol. In the episode, I walk through:
We laugh a lot about not knowing what a lead change is or why inside leg-outside rein is the go-to instruction, but taking your own horse's temperature and praying it doesn't approach 101.5 degrees is a whole new level of unknowns that I never new existed. Listen to to this week's episode to get the full, unfiltered story as my friend, Ashley Winch, asks me all the questions. The Rated Show We Never Finished at HITS Culpeper 🎧 Listen on Apple I'll share our quarantine set-up in a special newsletter next week - too much for one email, friend. Think...Lysol, bleach, Clorox wipes, grinding horse pills in a shed, multiple thermometers of varying quality...SO MUCH. 👀 BTS: On the Road to Pony Finals What a 'cute' segment this feels like this week. We still have a solid plan to get Chloe to Pony Finals. Luckily, at Culpeper, she was able to complete 3 qualifying rounds, so she only needs to compete in one more class at one more rated show to check the box for Pony Finals. While we were expecting to do another full show in May, with Phoebe coming off quarantine, we're likely going to trailer to a show in Virginia, have her and Chloe compete in one qualifying class, and then head home. It just doesn't make sense to push either of them right now when it's unnecessary. Apparently, there's going to be a lesson today in a cow field so...that should be interesting. Be sure to follow along on Facebook or Instagram to see the BTS of what's going on with us. As a reminder, if you want to support Chloe on her road to Pony Finals, you can learn more about it, check out some of her riding, and learn about ways to contribute and/or partner with Broke Horse Moms: https://brokehorsemoms.com/ponyfinals No pressure at all. I know how expensive this life already is. But your support, whether it’s contributing, sharing, introducing me to a business who would be a good fit as a partner, or just cheering her on, means the world to us. ❤️ Alright mama, that's it for this week. As always, thanks for being a part of this community. Eyes up, leg on, P.S. Missed a newsletter? See previous posts here. |
BROKE HORSE MOMS
A podcast and newsletter for every horse show-tired + muck boot-wearing mama who’s trying to figure out what the hell she signed up for. You’ve got questions, Venmo receipts and way too many saddle pads. And now, you’ve got a community that gets it. Join the Broke Horse Moms newsletter for weekly behind-the-scenes extras, show season survival tips, gear recs, horse mom life hacks, and everything we wish someone told us when our kids decided to 'try' horseback riding. Join our virtual barn family!
Hi Reader, When The Plaid Horse shared my article about why the horse world feels so confusing for new families, one response kept coming up: Just ask questions. 🤦🏻♀️ Thanks, Suzy, for the tip. If we knew what questions to ask, we'd be asking them. Reading through hundreds of Facebook comments from horse moms, trainers, and lifelong equestrians made me realize something: we don't necessarily need more information, we need better starting points. That's exactly what this week's podcast episode...
Hi Reader, Am I the only who, when my kiddo started riding, assumed the only decisions to be made would be around things like schedules, budgets, and maybe when she got her first pair of tall boots. I had no idea that, before long, I’d be making decisions about trainers, horses, safety, horse shows, tack, and thousands of dollars in expenses in a sport I barely understood. Somewhere along the way, I had to figure out where my job as the parent ended and where my trainer’s job began. Who...
Hi Reader, A few weeks ago, I attended a webinar. Not for work.Not for a certification.Not to learn a new skill. I attended a webinar so I could LEARN HOW TO ATTEND Pony Finals. And while the webinar was super helpful, it highlighted something I’ve been thinking about for a long time: this equestrian life is incredibly difficult to understand if you didn’t grow up in it. We spend a lot of time talking about affordability and accessibility in equestrian sports, and those are important...