Beat this summer

With the rain we've had, I feel the switch from hay to rice is in order.

Despite rain, horse show season is still going strong up here.

I'm currently sitting out with Sinari while we develop, the focus is really Fall and Florida for her, which makes me excited. Lately we've been returning to full collection (pir's and piaffe/passage work), while we clean up our act. The low-pressure year has really done well. I'm happy, she's happy, my gas bill for the truck is reasonable.

I'm really looking forward to taking her to a three-day clinic with a piaffe/passage specialist. It's been my one of my main weaknesses that I don't have a good feel for. I've ridden a lot of pi/pa, but never had to really put a full 12-15 steps on a horse before. The two's are cooking right along and the one's I don't know about yet, we have three. Which I suppose is better than one. 

Reba made her eventing start last weekend, scoring a respectable 36 and change in dressage (ending up first on the leaderboard), a double clear in stadium (no brainer), but cross country there was a bit of a disconnect and hang up and an untimely departure between horse and rider. More than a few people had hangups and issues on that maxed out course, including a few friends who were schooling training height and had uncharacteristic time penalties and a tree fall in the middle of their stadium round.

It happens, but this is why we have schooling shows. Otherwise, very happy with her and the progress she's made in a year. Her new rider is enjoying her very much.

Sincere's owner also keeps sending in updates. From the photos, he's matured incredibly well, developing more bone and a tad bit more height. His owner is incredibly happy with him (despite young horse shenanigans), and I couldn't be more pleased about the match. I think he'll go out to show in the fall too.


Fritz has put on massive amounts of topline and has been working his tail off with me, his owner and one of the other girls who is brave enough to hack him on hills (as a rule I don't do baby's first outings). His main problem is, as with all driving breeds gone to the sport, endurance. He gets the connection, holds it for about 20 meters and drops it. Takes about 20 meters to get it back. With the hotter weather, he can only really last for thirty minutes. So it's more and more emphasis on conditioning.

Finally there's another new face in crowd, Danzador MSM kinda rounds out the "hair

crowd". He's a co-owned project that I'm actually kinda excited about. He's another 2009 baby, bay, leggy, tall and a PRE. When I saw his tape he didn't wasn't a-typical PRE that I saw in Texas (short with legs tending going everywhere), but naturally uphill and this freaky for the breed front end. He passed vet and is somewhere in the US currently heading to Kentucky. 

Get Lucky

Since Reba made the switch to jumping, things have been progressing rapidly. She's gone from a fairly cranky dressage horse to a very bold, outgoing individual. She really enjoys her job and I'm happy to let her go and do it.

The mare has gone from simple questions to more complex and bold combinations. I've recently paired her with an ambitious local young rider who's good horse is out of commission from pasture accident and needed a leg up on quality.  People have been asking whether or not Reba was for sale or lease for a little while now (I typically sell my jumpers, keep the dressage horses) and until recently the answer was no, she was not for sale, but if the right rider came along, I would consider placing her with that person to keep her progressing and to give her owner a better candidate for when she breeds her.


From the tryout, it was pretty much a match made after the first ride. The kid has tact and good hands. Plus velcro for a position. The combination have really gained traction in the training and competition schedule. Reba is to be entered in a mini trial this upcoming Sunday at Spring Run and from there proceed to qualify for American Eventing Championships for BN or N.

Her barn (family owned/operated) is a departure from a one-person training operation as a training horse in a field. From what I've come to understand she's one on one with her girls and is getting worked everyday in some capacity.  In the end I think this is another progression Reba's career.

It seriously wouldn't surprise me if she ended up top ten at AEC this year in Texas.

It also kinda makes me wish I still evented in some capacity, but I'm still a bit of a weenie DQ these days to work anything bigger than a ground pole and do gallop sets. So vicariously living for the discipline is what I do best.

If you're going to play in Texas

We all arrived back from Texas in one piece. The place is pretty cool, and surprisingly diverse (I ran into more South Asian than redneck) with more than BBQ and crawfish on the menus.

It really was a tough in and out trip, we had a number of sales horses to look at and about 10 hours to look at them in. I'm never one for speed dating, and I can be really peculiar about what I'm getting on and what I'm looking at (for this trip I probably looked at well into 70 tapes just to get to 10). 

Collectively, the trip was productive, I got to know more about PRE's, Andalusians, and Lusitanos. I saw everything from 12 rides under saddle to FEI and back again. While the overall quality of the gaits varied for everyone, everyone consistently had good walks, and good canters. The mindset is very professional, the horses want to work, they look forward to it. Even the stallions we saw and I got to work with were uncomplicated and all business under saddle.

The training also ranged quite a bit from what I would consider typical to interesting.

It was a change of pace with some of the other sales calls I've been on over the years. While we did run the gambit of you're usual barn, to something out of the Walking Dead to mega ranch, it was the breeds (we tried Lusitanos as well) that remained consistent in temperament and for the most part movement. 

The best part was after a lifetime of just learning to sit the trot on bigger horses, these guys barely move you in the tack.

For the wanted travel it's nice to be home and back in my own saddles and bed. I saw my herd yesterday for the first time in three days. Everyone worked well in the now hot weather.

The babies continue to go forward we're now to the point of debating about which show to go compete at to get our proverbial feet wet. From past experience, schooling shows are the best and cheapest way to get a young horse to go around. While we're not doing the four year olds, training level has it's own finer points. So Fritz might go out at the start of August and re-aim for MSEDA (training level) and Devon (materiale/in hand).

Sinari will stay chilly until Fall. We have a few clinics (a piaffe/passage one in Ohio, Debbie and possibly another). The break from the circuit is doing her well and she's really rallying back from her back being sore.

There's also a few other trips planned out for the summer.

All my exes in Texas

We've been horse shopping as of late and it's taken me to some interesting places.

Like exotic locations such as Canada, New York and Virginia.

This weekend we're going Texas to look at a group of 10. I've never been to Texas outside of an airport (really, everything, including airports are just bigger), and my general knowledge stems from Discovery Channel, former presidents and CNN coverage. So I'm really curious to see a bit of the state and sample the flavor.

It's my first real trip since Florida, and it couldn't have come at a more needed time. I was starting to  go stir crazy in my own state. The herd and I have been patiently sitting at the farm now for four months, just working on things with the occasional lesson.

My adventure brings me to  Lusitano breeders and a couple small trainers who have interesting, but quality stock for the sport. We're not talking USEF Four Year olds, but something, maybe, for the Developing Horse.

Intially I just wanted to look at warmbloods, I didn't want to look at another hair breed. But after seeing a lot of good PRE and Lusitanos in Florida on the CDI arena plus hearing continuously good things, I figured I owed a look. Never figured on finding 10 that I actually like.

Going to a closed-book breed is a departure from what I normally look at and go for. I'm used to deciphering bloodlines for young horses, and looking at raw potential, but when a breed standard isn't exactly in sync with sport standard things become tougher. I go through what feels like twice as many tapes trying to find three decent gaits (temperament isn't questionable on a lot of these, just quality of gaits).

So it should be a fun, hopefully productive trip.

Fastest girl in town

Bi polar weather is here. One day it's 80 and the next it's 30 and raining. We're battling funk, mud, and the lack of time outside and being stuck in the indoor. When we're not indoors we're battling the gopher holes in the field on the tracks we use to do trot sets.

We're finishing up on the heels of Courtney King- Dye's clinic during derby week (learned lots) and have a lot of take home lessons to work on for fall. 

Sinari is slowly, but surely coming back into fitness and regaining strength where she was sore. A week off is essentially a month lost in fitness, and with a lighter season it's really imperative that we come back to fighting weight.

Her sessions are wonderful she's much lighter and seems to have come back to her normal cheerful self. However, when she tires, she tends to become a bit offended about asking her to dig deep. This is the residual from working with a sore back. I don't blame her, and I know eventually she'll work through.

Conditioning becomes harder because of the grass in Kentucky. With an all-you-can-eat buffet out in the field (we've been muzzled since early March), it's hard managing things to keep everyone on the right track as diets swing very wildly (bye bye good hay, hello first cutting grass...) 

We'll probably hit KESMARC fairly soon to help with the conditioning issue.

Fritz is rapidly growing up into a horse that I deeply admire. He's pretty much a goof on the ground, but a really solid citizen under tack, walk, trot and cantering both directions on the bit and actively stretching. He went out on the trail with another rider to start giving him a break from the arena and to start conditioning him on the hills. 

I've learned a lot from him in a short time. The Fresians, are not unlike other driving breeds, they have a hard time stretching over the back, they plow through the aids as an evasion, they aren't too laterally supple, they pick things up quickly, they generally are steadier and they prefer to trot above anything else.

Fritz is a bit of an odd ball in that way- he loves to canter, and his canter for 60 days under saddle is really very nice and he's more laterally supple than most, but comparatively he's still not as flexible as a normal dressage-bred three and a 1/2 year old. 

Despite all the drama lately, there is good news on the horizon. Debbie McDonald is coming to clinic in the fall, I think David Marcus will be coming in summer, and I think I have a game plan for consistent access to trainers and to make the final climb to Grand Prix with the pony. Not to mention those new faces on the horizon.

I'm still on the fence about showing the crew until we're more established at I-1 for the pony and solidly fit enough to do training level with the others. We definitely have a few fall shows, but actually having this time and break to just work and develop things without the pressure cooker of going to shows.

I was tempted by doing a few local schooling shows, but timing just hasn't cooperated at the moment.

I've closed enough windows to know you can never go back

Transitions are a universal theme in the sport, we have a lot of them, and they aren't strictly regulated to tests.

About three years ago, I started something that's lead me to where I'm at now. Along the way, people, horses and events have come and gone. Some have stayed longer than others, some not so long. Either way, those people, horses and things have contributed in various ways.

Recently, a equestrian related-relationship that I've had came to a final conclusion. It did, and still does, have a major impact of where I've gone. It didn't necessarily open doors, but it gave me permission to break out and pursue goals. I have no bad feelings about moving on, just a wish that it was handled differently.

This transition was tough, simply because it was on top of a few weeks of tough riding. In addition to coming down with a low white cell count, Sinari came into a hard follicle that was simply stuck and causing bad back issues. She became sore to the point where any push was met with uncharacteristic resistance. This mare, while not uber fancy, takes pressure and compression with very little complaint.

I'm loathe to reach for a pharma-solution without first going to body work and seeing if it's a human issue (tack, fit, farrier, feed, schedule, dental), but in this case after body work robaxin and regumate were the go-to's.

The effects were great, and she's come back to her normal self minus some minor residual muscle memory issues.We're now just really starting back after a week off.

There's also a new face in town. Fritz, the three soon to be four year old is a fun new project, and is super fancy. He's also a Friesian. Normally I don't pair fancy and Friesian together, but this guy really has a wonderful way about him, he finds the work easy, and can take a good amount of pressure given the age. 

He's also the kind of baby that everyone hopes for, uncomplicated, quick to learn and pretty interested in being under saddle. I have good ideas for him, and considering he's going to be around for sometime, I think he's going to be fun none the less.

Might as well jump

I've learned over a period of years doing this sport, not every horse is meant to do it, or for

that matter, wants to do it.

There are multiple reason why a horse fails out of dressage, but it generally has to deal with really signing on to the job description. 

Reba was supposed to be a nice upper level horse. Her bloodlines dictated it (Rotspon), her wins in hand proposed it, but in the end the lure of leaving temporarily leaving gravity really won out.

I initially sent her on during my stint in Florida to keep her legs moving with Lauren Neathry who starts my young guys.

A few weeks have now turned into a few months, and everytime I go out and watch the flat, she's a miserable sod. Compression? Too much. Submission? Not interested. All the things that make a dressage horse? She'd rather take a lark.

But put a few jumps in the arena and toss in a few questions, she becomes electric and is keen, the same kind of keen-ness that I enjoy about dressage horses that love their job.

So one spring day last week, we put the fences up and really asked a hard question. Can she do the height?

Resoundingly yes.

This past weekend we entered her last minute at Masterson Station fun show (pretty much all you can jump for 60 bucks), her first rounds were a tad shakey, but by the time that the final class rolled she locked, loaded and produced wins and fast times without being pushed. She was happy and a lot of the problems that she was having on the ground, evaporated.

Needless to say, I'm happy she's happy and she'll continue down this path.