I live a little over an hour from Thermal, CA which is home to HITS Coachella — the west coast WEF. I’ve driven in to the show grounds a lot recently to get my horse show fix, have face time with folks at work and most recently meet the fabulous Gingham with her pony crew, Windsor and Quiz.

As I walked through the horse show texting Gingham to find out where she was, I got a flash of messages on my phone

winds threw shoe

waiting for farrier

hope my horse comes back

And I was like, “Ah yes, the joys of horse showing!”

But I found her, and her horse did come back and I did get to watch their lovely rounds in the Adult Hunters. Anyone who has read Gingham’s blog will know that Windsor is a nice horse, but let me say that in person… Windsor is a nice horse. He just oozes quality.

Not only that, but he’s extremely personable, sweet and forgiving. The perfect amateur mount.

Gingham’s young, new guy, Quiz, is equally sweet. When I walked into his stall to say hi, he literally tried to crawl in my lap. Here is my quest Quiz impression — I AM QUIZ AND I TROTTED TODAY AND IT WAS NICE AND WOULD YOU LIKE TO SCRATCH MY HEAD OR RUB MY EARS OR BRAID MY MANE OR MAYBE I CAN JUST PUT MY NOSE ON YOUR BOOB WOW IT’S SQUISH WOULD YOU LIKE TO PET MY NOSE?

So needless to say, I loved Quiz too.

Gingham herself is a fine human being. We talked about the gentrification and housing crisis in big tech cities, we talked trainers and ponies and most importantly — when the bar should open at the horse show. Consensus: After 10am.

I spent the afternoon watching hunter rounds with her and her barn friends, a lovely bunch of folks, and wished her luck with the rest of the horse show before I had to head back to Riverside.

Despite crappy luck with my own riding lately (more on this soon), I’m really glad HITS Coachella is in my back yard. It’s so nice to meet bloggers and get some time at a big horse show!

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