0:02

Have you ever dressed in a toga for any event as a costume?

0:07

No. Shocker. I’ve been a toga. Shocker. That’s not a surprise. That’s what I’m saying. But I feel like for men, a big go-to, especially in

0:18

college, is a toga. Just go like little Greek god. Yeah. That’s just operating under the assumption

0:25

that I have lame costumes. Well, I don’t operate under that

0:32

assumption. But you haven’t dressed up for the past at least two years.

0:37

So, welcome back to Katching Up With Katie. We are literally just talking about how Nate has lame costumes. No, we were talking about how I have no costumes

Nate Has Lame Costumes

0:46

and because we insinuated that he would be the type of guy to show up to a Halloween party,

0:52

just throw on a toga, throw on a sheet and call it “God.” And he was like, “Well,

0:59

that would insinuate I do lame costumes.” Well, we wouldn’t know. We’ve

1:05

invited him to many costume parties. This is true. One of them had a mechanical

1:10

bull and he just doesn’t come. Doesn’t show up. Would you come to a Halloween party if it wasn’t

1:19

in like a work environment? Like if it wasn’t at my shop — for example, hypothetically if I had

1:30

a Halloween party — would you attend that? I would say that the work environment has

1:40

never been a determining factor on if I made an appearance. He just doesn’t like us. It’s the people actually. Yeah. The

1:49

environment has nothing to do with it. It’s the people. The overall vibe. It’s always been some

2:00

external element that’s prevented me from coming. I don’t know. I don’t personally make excuses

2:12

for Halloween. I just feel like you prioritize that day.

2:18

Yeah. Halloween’s more important to you than it is to me. Well, yeah. I’ll also put out there, we give quite the heads up. We provide a full dinner

Halloween Party

2:32

because we do Friendsgiving/Halloween. So, we do a full Thanksgiving spread with costumes,

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prizes. I don’t think anyone can say you don’t throw a good party. You throw a great party.

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You wouldn’t know. It’s not good enough. No, it’s good enough. It’s better than most I go to.

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He wouldn’t know. He doesn’t come to them. I can’t remember a party I’ve been to since

3:08

you began inviting me. So, it’s not a thing of me going to other people’s parties and not yours. I don’t think I’ve gone to any. Nate, we need to get party Nate back. You

3:22

were literally growing party Nate’s hair. I am. I think it’ll hit a certain length

3:29

at some point and I’ll go “whoa” — kind of like That’s So Raven. I’ll just hit a little like, “yo, Halloween.” We have begged him because this coming

3:40

Halloween his daughter is going to be toddling. She’s going to be literally a year old. We begged

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for her to be a burrito last year, which I did get a picture of. But we were like, “Please,

3:56

while she’s toddling and crawling, put her in some sort of little woodland creature garb.”

4:02

Like, I want a skunk. I want a little chipmunk. Something with a tail. Please.

4:14

What if Matt brought his? Oh my gosh, what if they were like a chicken and a goat? That would

4:24

be great. She can be the goat. Why? Because we already have a chicken outfit. Okay. Then we were going to do that

4:35

for her birthday party. She’s going to be a little chicken. But that’s before Halloween, right? You’re going to have a lot of photos from that. True.

4:44

We need some diversity. You need a little something different. Like a mini donkey.

4:59

That would be cute. And then take a picture with her and Pico. Oh, that would be so cute. What if you just made her a golf ball and then you were the golfer? That would be hilarious.

5:12

What is Macy? She’s the cart girl. Honestly,

5:17

no. She’s not the hot cart girl. I don’t think she would do that. She’s rarely a fan of

5:23

duo costumes. She goes all out though. She will under no circumstances be second place in the duo.

5:32

Okay. So she could be the golfer, you could be the caddy. She would want to be the golf ball.

5:37

No. Yeah. She would want to be like a huge giant golf ball. I get it,

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but the baby is the golf ball. The baby is the golfer. But I want to see the baby.

5:54

If she’s going to do Halloween, she becomes unrecognizable as a person. She’ll do so much that

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you’re like, “That’s not my wife. I don’t know who this person is in front of me, but she’s scary.”

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You know what she could do? She could be the actual cart. That would actually be funny.

6:21

I was saying the other day to someone that I’ve never really done funny Halloween. I feel like

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I’m missing out on that. But most of the time my costumes are so last minute that I don’t put

6:37

much thought into them. Last year I liked mine, but my hands are always tied because I want to

6:45

do something as a couple with Jonathan. And he always wants some sort of weapon.

6:51

So then it’s like, okay, we were gladiator and goddess, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Little

7:07

Red Riding Hood and the wolf. But he wants to be like Vikings off the show Vikings. That’s what he

7:27

wants to do this year. I feel like I could do it, but funny always gets bypassed for the weaponry.

7:41

He’s a weapons guy. He likes to buy swords and big axes. And to be honest,

7:50

when else does he get a chance to use them, you know? Exactly. So my hands are kind of tied.

8:02

He did want to do “deer in the headlights” but I said no. It’s been done, especially in this area.

8:13

How does that work? He’s the deer.

8:18

Are you doing a couple’s costume this year? I don’t know.

8:25

We’re still trying to plan a birthday. Are you going to do a couple’s costume or not?

8:34

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9:58

a subscription. Again, check them out at the link in my description or QR code on the screen. And back to the video. I can deflect no more. Answer the question.

10:08

I just couldn’t think of anything else to say. Like honestly, I just couldn’t form a response.

10:15

I really want to be like, “Well, last year you promised Connor.”

10:20

I thought we already talked about that. I think you still have to do it. We’ve talked about it, but you can refresh. No, it’s off the table. We’ve already spoken.

10:30

Last year in February we went out with everybody to PBR and one of our friends Connor,

10:38

who is a shorter-statured, broad fella, wanted to be a mechanical bull for Halloween and he

10:50

bet you. I don’t know how he got you to agree to being one of the PBR girls. Yeah,

10:58

but the stipulation was unless you had another person for a couple’s costume. And

11:06

I think it had to be like a month or more before Halloween before I could back out. So we’ll see.

11:19

Not doing it with Connor this year. No, I don’t think I’ll be doing that at all.

11:25

I witnessed it and took a video of you agreeing. So if that ever was to be back on the table, I do have proof. I don’t know why we’re talking about Halloween

Halloween Merch

11:33

in August. We do have Halloween merch though. Jack the Nipper stuff, little vampire bat, minis

11:52

holding things — it’s the cutest stuff ever. Last year I put everything up mid-to-late September and

12:02

people said they wanted to wear it all October. So we put it up early this year so you can get it.

12:18

Back to actual catching up. This past week was exciting. Since the last Katching Up With Katie,

12:28

we watched Denver show through the phone and he was Reserve World Champion in performance

12:39

halter stallions. But then we got to see him achieve World Champion status in person.

12:46

This was the first time us three have gone on a trip as just a trio. We swam, Nate

Trip

13:14

did a cannonball, we had Tyler along too. We miked up the entire time in Oklahoma, four days,

Tyler

13:31

even in the bathroom. We don’t know what’s going to be included, but I’m excited to see how that

13:49

turns out. No pressure, Nate, on editing. It was a really cool experience. I went

14:01

and rode a couple of horses. I almost got swindled into buying a couple of horses — I didn’t. Apparently there was a whole lot of drama at the horse show. I stay out of

14:12

drama. I prefer to just ride and show. We went back to the Airbnb by 7:30, which was great.

14:31

Denver is now a World Champion. He won the $10,000 Limited Open Horse Western Pleasure.

14:37

Boom. That makes him an NSBA World Champion and Reserve NSBA World Champion. He’s got

14:48

those titles now, which is really cool. And yes, people asked if his stud fee

15:08

would skyrocket now. I made a thing on TikTok explaining no, we’re keeping it the same at

15:17

$2,250. His first babies are coming this year. He’ll collect fresh for the first six weeks,

15:29

not the whole season, so he can still go show. That opens him up to a whole new group of mares

15:36

who didn’t want to use frozen semen. Anyway, it was a really cool week.

15:45

What was your favorite part of the horse show? Show class we’ve ever seen.

Abigail's Favorite Class!

16:08

No, but it was actually a lot more interactive. It was a lot more entertaining — every rider had

16:18

a song. I don’t know if they chose them or if they just picked songs that went well with the pattern,

16:24

but that made it really fun. Every time we were like, “I wonder what song they’re going to play.”

16:33

They were going a lot faster at one point which was more fun to see. The crowd was bigger,

16:39

people were cheering, things were loud. So, it was a horsemanship challenge that

16:46

they did and it was open. I don’t really know what the qualifications were to be able to enter,

16:53

but they had the whole prelim day before we even got there. There were a ton more people,

16:59

but then they limited it down to 15 finalists. They had four patterns that they had to memorize

17:06

and it was a horsemanship pattern, so it’s a western class. The announcer said, “Okay,

17:12

here’s your pattern.” After they all came in, they did a big announcement for each person and their horse, and then they were like, “Pattern number four, you have five minutes to warm up.”

17:22

So they had five minutes to remind themselves what pattern that was and work on those

17:30

maneuvers. It was a very difficult pattern — lots of tight turns, big fast extended lopes,

17:40

extended trots, spins, backs, lots of transitions, lead changes, all the things.

17:47

In that type of circumstance, everyone was screaming, everyone was whistling.

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Every person got to choose their own song. It was this really cool atmosphere. They

17:58

were even throwing t-shirts out beforehand. Not to me. Not to you either. Let’s touch on

18:07

that. We were dedicated to getting a t-shirt — specifically Nate. I gave him my little bandana,

18:16

my scarf, everything. He was doing so much more than everyone else, which they announced on the microphone to the entire arena: “The crazier you go, the better

18:30

chance you have of getting the shirt.” I don’t think one person in there was crazier than I was. No. But you were also at the top.

18:36

Maybe they didn’t have the arm. I watched both of them make eye contact with him and then look away. They decided that adult man is doing way too much.

18:48

But that’s the rules. I think it was that one, because they threw it to a bunch of girls sitting below us. What if they just didn’t have the arm?

18:59

I can’t give them that benefit. Anyway, that kind of started us off salty

19:28

toward the administration. But then it took off. I’ve had four different conversations with you

19:39

since then, like, “Why can’t every class do that?” My question is why don’t they incorporate some of

19:57

the same things into other classes to make them more fun to watch? And I’m only saying

20:07

that from the point of view of someone who has never watched horse stuff and

20:13

has now been watching it a couple years. Then I saw something I’d never seen

20:20

before and I was like, “This is really cool. Why haven’t I seen this before?”

20:26

There were so many people there. I get the logistics of the classes, but at normal

20:34

horse shows you’re trying to fit in hundreds of classes. Generally when you go to a horse show,

20:41

you’re trying to get points, qualify, and they give you at least twice to show in

20:48

the same event. So it’s Thursday through Sunday. You’ve got hunters, ranch, western, English flat,

21:00

halter, showmanship, trail. Logistically, making every class big with special entrances doesn’t

21:15

work for regular shows. That’s why at the big ones they do fun things like that. Like in Kentucky, we were watching a hunter under saddle class and they did musical

21:25

chairs in the middle of it. Everyone got off and played musical chairs. You see that more at big events for prizes. That class also moved very quickly. They

21:44

were coming out, starting patterns immediately, finishing fast, and the next one was already

21:52

walking in. They did have at the beginning where they put the horse’s name and rider’s name on

21:59

the screen and had a walkout, but that wasn’t what made it cool. The actual patterns were.

22:08

So it didn’t take long. But that was the finals with 15 people.

22:14

Imagine doing that with the original 75. Can you just make the class smaller? Limit it?

22:22

That’s how many people want to enter. If you limit, you miss entry fees.

22:38

I guess, but I think they’d make it up with more spectators buying things.

22:47

There’s a balance, because you want showing available to the people who

22:55

support the horse world economy. They’re buying babies, training, keeping trainers employed.

23:00

I don’t know, I just want entertainment. We need to go to a reining show.

23:06

I think making it more entertaining is a big part of growth. I agree.

23:23

You can’t do it for everything, but it helps. Another cool thing — I don’t know if we’ve ever

23:30

watched this, but they do crazy trail challenges for big money at shows like Ocala or the Big A.

23:44

They’re usually at night with dinners. The courses are so hard, and everyone goes crazy because the

23:53

trainers are achieving insane things. That’s another reason it’s hard to do

24:09

at every level. You need the caliber of horse and rider. Not every show has that. But I do think entertainment helps the industry. I’m glad y’all enjoyed it,

24:27

because that’s what I like too. Since y’all have started coming to shows, we’ve focused on western

24:36

pleasure — slower classes, because that’s what Denver does — or hunter under saddle with Hank.

24:47

Equitation, horsemanship, western riding, trail — those were always my favorite. I never

24:53

did rail classes except for all-around points. I’m excited you liked the pattern classes more.

25:02

I also really liked in Ocala when we watched the new versatility class. That was fun too. I

25:17

like the patterns where you watch one horse and rider at a time, not 20 doing the same thing.

25:29

That class isn’t official yet, but I hope it becomes one. I’d

25:44

love to sponsor it with VS Code Red. It’s a flat class but with intricate maneuvers.

26:02

It’s a great stepping stone for horses and riders. Equitation has patterns like that, but it’s judged

26:16

on the rider. This one is judged on the horse. You can breathe a little

26:25

because it’s about what the horse is doing. After this week, we rode again two nights ago.

26:38

I think you should try an English saddle. And we all keep saying how good Abigail’s seat is

26:47

for a beginner. We should do a video one day of Abigail trying out all the horses at the barn,

26:57

on the lunge line, full lesson, reins taken away, really learning.

27:04

Can we do that? Oh yeah.

We Need Feedback!

33:01

We’d put you on the lunge line so you’re not steering, just focusing on your seat and pressure.

33:48

Nate, are you in on this? Yeah, I’ll be in.

33:54

Who’s filming? Matt? Is Matt finally going to get on a horse? He keeps saying,

34:02

“I’ve already done this.” But I’ve never seen photos or heard stories. He’s a story

34:14

guy. If it happened, there’d be a story. But no. He says, “I’m from Oklahoma.” But he hasn’t lived

34:40

there since high school. It’s been a decade. We may have to pressure him.

35:06

Anyway, today we’re preg-checking the mini cows. That’s going to be an episode. We’ve

35:19

already preg-checked the mini horses. So much happening in the next few

35:28

weeks — showing at Congress, the World Show, calving season, cattle sales.

35:37

Let us know if you have questions about horse shows, stallion life, or what

That’s It!

36:06

you’d like us to cover. We’re not afraid to do explainer videos like “what is western

36:14

pleasure” or “what is English versatility.” We might film some at Congress or the World Show.

36:26

Y’all got anything to add? Nah. Bless up, fam. …I shouldn’t have added that.

36:34

No. Alright. See you in the next one.