When I die, I'll be on time

I've been overdue to write here for sometime and I've been avoiding my desk in a non-purposeful fashion.

I've also haven't really felt like writing in the past few months. I think the premature end of the season plus more than a few bumps in the road has just took the wind out of my sails to talk about life.  Combining this with a lot of travel, unpredictable weather, massive end of year clinic schedules, and other things, I've just been feeling that I should crawl under a rock and stay there. It's that uninspiring.

It has been the year of very high highs and very low lows.

It's been a year of travel.

We went out of state a few times, got to show at Tryon, I traveled to New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, poked my nose in at Wellington and a few other places. My plans for Europe in 2016 took a shelf as I felt it wasn't right to return at the moment. Paris had happened, followed by Belgium as I was making plans and for once, I just felt like staying home.

It's been an active sales season in my barn.

With two selling within three weeks of listing, and I think a few more sales abroad that are coming into contract. There's also two new faces in the barn, bringing my population back up to four.

The season ending up here also means Florida is rapidly approaching. Only one of us is going, and much to my chagrin, it's not Mike or myself.

But it doesn't mean that we aren't totally out of Florida land. There's a few certifications and some business of the non-horsey nature that I need to attend to. Even if it means I have to come back to the bi-polar tundra of Kentucky.

PostScript is in Florida to do the pony jumper circuit.

The talented little pony needs some miles on the circuit and will probably not be coming back to my barn in Spring. Which was always the intent- to sell.

I'm very proud of that pony who has come a long way in a short time. While I know she's the odd duck in the barn (shortest, oldest), to see her transform from this raw, feral field pony to an athlete really give me a lot of great feelings. She may not be the fanciest of movers, but she will jump the standards for you, she's impressed a few people along the

way.

Her southern move comes on the heels of dealing with some unplanned physical issues among the horses.





Namely Al who developed a crack in his hoof and required special shoeing, complements of Rood
and Riddle.

Looking like the complete idiot, he was sporting hind shoes instead of fronts. One Z Bar, one regular. Almost three resets later, we're back to barefoot. He also had about four weeks off during the prime fall season, which puts us behind in training, and we're now just getting back into the swing of things.

For a horse that's used to working, it was equally hard on him to see the other go out and not him. He had to contend with hand walking for three weeks, and then an extra week off due to my obligations with the clinics and travel.

Moppi had a small bout of cellulitis which left him feeling sorry for himself, but bounced back, then went through a series of growth spurts. He's been lightly lunging here and there while he gains all his weight back.

The DeLaurentis mare that I was very hopeful and excited as a broodmare passed suddenly in her original owner's care as we were arranging shipping. Leaving us with two mares instead of three. Still looking around for another and kicking some other ideas around as well.

Moose, the Cliff's Edge OTTB gelding, sold but not without some drama prior to, where he stepped on himself opening an old scar. His new owner is thrilled with him and I think he'll be a good performance horse for her.

Equibest Delphic has also come on board for the winter season hopefully to be sold. The black Don Index gelding was one that I had extensively worked with while in Germany, and his current owner bought him as a resell project.

Then there's the new OTTB by Warrior's Reward. The three year old gelding was purchased by an owner and let down starting in June, and now just making his way back into work. 

Seriously it's been the year of almost, and not quite and I'm not exactly sorry to see the backside of 2016.

But I have a few bright spots on the horizon in 2017.

Early next year is already active, with travel, shows and horses needing to be started. I had to expand the staff. I have a few clients who are looking for their next horses. There's even some debate about doing the five year olds with Al and Delphic, and I managed to diversify a bit and it's starting to show dividends.

So to recap 2016 Goals:
1. Pursue young horse track. Get into the observation sessions. 
We pursued the young horse track with a vengeance this year. Fahrenheit ended up 5th in the nation, one of my graduates won HOTY honors for materiale (funny because the horse is on track to do eventing, not dressage). We were on track for the USEF Young Horse Championships and we didn't get into the observation sessions for a few reasons, but namely by the time that the nearest session came through, Fahrenheit was sold, Flair went home, Al wasn't even started, PS isn't even the right horse, and Moppi well, Moppi is only two.

2. Continue to increase fitness (human and horse).
By Summer, the 2016 string was actively working six days a week and turning out well. Flair had finally lost the broodmare look and had put on a ton of topline in the process. I was going to yoga twice a week in addition to riding and walking quite a bit. 

3. Continue to sell and source horses world wide. '
This was a major success this year. All horses that were on the sales list, sold. Quickly. We sold close to six figures of horses. We sourced Fahrenheit's half brother for one of my clients, Equibest Sine Metu G. (Sezuan/Calypso II) (nee, Moppi) and he's in development for materiale next year. We unexpectedly sourced PostScript, who turned out much better than expected. Our partner's in Germany started gaining interest from people, and there's a bit of a push in the British market.

4. Continue to create and dedicate personal educational opportunities once a quarter. 
I started doing this weekly with a local instructor who I have quite a bit of respect for, and I changed focus of the clinic side of the business, drastically reducing the amount of clinics I host per year, and adding ones that are personally beneficial to me. I also started creating partnerships within the community to create regular opportunities. This will continue to trend like this for 2017 as there are other things that are happening that are taking me away from the clinics. 

5. Continue to develop Flair.
Flair. Flair and I's arrangement came to an end in July. I still like the mare quite a bit and she was schooling an easy change and a fair amount of p/p/p in the process. But things happen and she went home. 

With that being said here's 2017:

2017 Goals:
1. Continue developing young horses. Qualify for championships in multiple areas.
2. Continue to increase fitness both horse and human, and also develop a better diverse portfolio for investments.
3. Solidify sales sources and barn.
4. Continue education.

Mountain at my gate

Summers are a balance between financials and goals. 

On one hand you have the pursuit of goals, hours are spent at home riding, plotting, planning from early in the year. 

On the other hand your wallet screams in pain at every rip of the check book when the vet, farrier, coach, voodoo priestess, nomination, registration, show/clinic entry comes along. 

It's a nice relationship. They play, I pay.

My team and I have started a little later for our qualifiers, and this year the big goal is the USEF Four Year Old Finals in August. 

The calendar year for qualifying is short, and not every show counts for scores. There is only one qualifying class in the entire show and you need two scores, preferably three. 

 On top of this you have to count for growth spurts, horses doing stupid things to themselves, weather, crazy judge panels and a few other things. 

I'm also notoriously choosy about shows. Having been to the majority of grounds in the U.S., I know what I like and what I don't like. I also know since it's my money that I'm bleeding I get to make that decision. 

Our first qualifier is later than expected, Kentucky was a nice stepping stone but with young horses and KHP you never know what you're going to bring out. We were lucky that it went well on a basic level for materiale. 

Two weeks later there was another semi local qualifier that we passed on due to footing, panel and prep time. 

Instead, we traveled to Tryon over Majestic (six hour drive versus an hour) for better footing and a better panel. It's also the last score Fahrenheit needs for HOY materiale. 

The facility, which is new, is beautiful. You cannot really want for anything out there. The stalls are

great, matted, with fans. They lead out directly to the arenas. There is a dedicated horse path that takes you around the property and there are shaded wash racks. Live scoring, shopping, restaurants  and accommodation on site. If you live locally, you can haul in and out and work off the trailer for the day. It makes showing much more easy. 

They're still expanding. A new covered arena is developing, the cross country course for AECs is finalizing. You can see direction and joyfully, logic, for competitors and spectators. 

The show itself for us was a mixed bag. The first day was brilliant, Fahrenheit scored beyond expectations, a 79,9 with a giddy judge panel that confirmed what we've always known- he's a horse with a stellar future. They gave us things to work on.

 The materiale was better but, the score wasn't reflected, we still out scored the other horse by a solid 10 percentage points, but it brought our average down. Sitting second in the nation isn't such a bad thing especially given who is leading. 

The next day we were all exhausted. Between running around getting the truck fixed on the road, showing, socializing, strange beds all week (I shifted houses since my air conditioning broke and it was 100 degree heat index) and scheduling things, we made a calculated error in over warming him up. He lost the electric sparkle but still put in an obedient, quality test for a middle of the pack placing with a fair yet tough international panel. Impressively he still scored a 7,9 on the canter work. 

We are a bit bummed by not achieving that one goal this year, but really at the end of the day it's about producing an FEI horse. He will easily be that. 

Also in perspective we achieved something in 90 days of work (you're average horse has had about a year of under saddle time doing this program and has at least three shows already this year) that stood up to a good standard, it was a positive experience for him and for us and we're into our second year of producing from gate to arena. 

We're thrilled about the initial successes and what's coming down the pike, we got home safe, and the horse had a positive experience. You can't ask for much more.

Perhaps then it's a bit ironic and bittersweet that because we do so well in developing, that they sell well. 

It was exactly three days after the show, that a professional came in looking for her next Grand Prix horse and scooped him up. It's an excellent match, and she clearly adores him and will do a fabulous job and we're excited and pleased. 

But it means, as usual that we begin again. It's the nature of sales and young horses that we always start over and there is a lack of permanence in the barn. But we're not for wanting, there are two new horses coming in, one sales, one long term horse, and my breeders are breeding or buying more with their now consistent income from the work from my team. 

Flair is still being aimed for Fall shows and the IBOP, so I'm not without a ride. However, the barn will feel a little emptier and a bit more quiet that the goofy German chestnut is gone. 

Blue on Black

I've had been sidelined until recently.

Two days before Thanksgiving, Fahrenheit, showed how athletic he could be, and cow kicked my upper thigh.

It wasn't his fault, he became scared over a noise and as young horses are, reacted. I was also at his shoulder, so for him to plant one solidly on my leg took some talent; I'm not only reminded of this from the lump but also from the increasing pile of dead bellboots from when he's having a '10' day.

It hasn't been my year for injuries. I went to keuring with a black eye, and I remember doing a few naughty things to myself in Germany. I'm a klutz of the first order for 2015.

So, I was temporarily sidelined with a sleeve of black and blue bruises and an Easter Egg sized lump. The lump has gone down, but for the first few weeks I was miserable.

I was cleared to ride again about two weeks after that, at the walk and the trot, I was still doing yoga and I went through the repetitive motions of lunging everyone as much as possible.

But honestly, when you're used to walking a half marathon everyday, five miles is boring. It wasn't until a week ago did I feel honestly comfortable enough to canter, and strong enough to really do good work.

As boring as my rides have been- they've been more productive and I've been able to address Flair's trot more and little habits.

Flair has been roughly under saddle for close to eight months.

She has vastly changed from the Alberta broodmare to a sport horse who keeps on developing day in and day out.

At first, we were just focused on getting through all the physicality that she had to process, and now, my main focus has been developing her carrying capacity and balance. It's a tricky line to walk with her. She gives as good as she gets. If she's feeling physically great, she gives you everything, if she feels less than stellar then you have to discuss things and keep her mentally fresh. 

This is a mare who finds all the upper level movements easy and without question, fun.  There's not a day that goes by that I don't feel that she will be a very competitive FEI horse, but apart of the entire lifestyle change that she underwent is keeping up and ahead of the physical upkeep, she's doing well.

Winter is going to be full of refining basics, which is a welcome relief versus gearing in for spring.

Fahrenheit continues to progress, he currently has nine rides under saddle and is solidly walk/trot/canter with a smidge of lateral work and lengthening. Outside the arena, he hacks. Alone.  He's a great combination of sensitive, forward but with a brain firmly between the ears. He's just a neat horse.

Sinari continues to work well for her AA rider. I'm really pleased with how this pairing has turned out. She spoils her more than I do. She's not fully accepting that she's not the FEI horse anymore but I think she's much more comfortable in her roll.

I'm ending my year at home, something I rarely do these days, as my current schedule is fairly booked. Something I didn't expect. But at the same time, it seems to be the theme of the year; not quite what I expected.

I ended up in Europe (subsequently I was invited back but had to defer this year due to obligations at home), I met amazing people, I developed riders to their first medals, coached riders to the FEI, sold horses world wide, I have two regular clinics in Ohio and in Virginia, I developed horses to the top 10 and number one spots for the KWPN NA, we took two green (and I mean out of the field unbroke) and won, a lot, with scores breaking in to the 80's. I started importing my own horses from my source in Germany, and my investors and partnerships continue to expand.

My team and I did it. We were on the books successful. 


But for every success there was a setback. There were untimely deaths, there were friends who contracted crappy diseases, there were accidents (both personal and from friends), political backbiting and unprofessional antics; some from the usual sources and many from unexpected sources, there were unexpected bills, there was heartbreak for both myself and friends, lots of proverbial slamming doors and lots of tears.

But like time, I and my team, kept going and will continue on.

2015 Goals:

1. Expand clients, horses in training and investments that are capable, at minimum, of shining on the national stage and continue to be fiscally solvent. 
 
Done and continuing. Haiku, Flair, Fahrenheit were wonderful additions to the 2015 herd. The herd is also set to temporarily grow again with two more training horses for winter. Still working on growing fiscally.

2. Continue to increase fitness (human and horse).
Done. My average walking distance (according to iPhone) is 10 miles. A day. I conservatively burn 1,500 calories from just walking. 

3. Pursue the young horse track. Develop horses for the USEF Young Horse Championships alongside the USDF Breeders Championships with the aim of looking toward Verden. 

Done in a big way. Flair is pursuing the Developing Horse track, we need more time. Fahrenheit is working towards the four year olds, and if someone doesn't buy him by the end of the four year old year, he will be my Verden bid. 




4. Dedicate personal educational opportunities once a quarter with my coaches (in a non-clinic capacity) to keep developing. 
Kinda done. My first quarter and my second quarters were booked with Germany. By third quarter, we were hitting our stride and four quarter was a flop.

2016 Goals:

1. Pursue young horse track. Get into the observation sessions. 
2. Continue to increase fitness (human and horse). 
3. Continue to sell and source horses world wide. 
4. Continue to create and dedicate personal educational opportunities once a quarter. 
5. Continue to develop Flair.

Nothing ever lasts even a cold November rain

It's taken me a while to write this post.

My Fall was already packed and going strong but around the end of October, things took a quick turn south and then proceeded to turn more south.

Between William's accident, scrambling unsuccessfully for Mary King to come over, coordinating Fahrenheit's delayed arrival and keeping Flair going I was overwhelmed and very much running on empty.

Then came the series of minor little incidents. The time switch and I lost hours of daylight alongside the reminder that I'm not heading South for winter, not being in control of my own schedule, odd bills showing up, some random theft, some untimely deaths and a few other situations that just knocked me off my flow. I felt like I lost ground and whatever momentum I gained from the summer.

All of it happened within a span of two weeks, whatever motivation I had pretty much went out the window. It wasn't anyone's fault.

Things are slowly returning to a proverbial normal thanks to going and teaching, gaining a few new sponsors, some new clients, and planning 2016. It's still a long way off of wherever I feel like I need to be, and somedays are still tough.

The horses are thankfully, going right along. 

Flair continues to develop with me. She's solidly riding five days with me and going out and doing sets as long as the footing remains consistent.

Her personality has really come out, she, like Sinari, is the queen bee of the barn, you know exactly where you stand with her. She's more sensitive than the pony- both in personality and in physical nature.

There are days that her gut bothers her (rapid weather change isn't helping), or that she doesn't feel quite up to the task. Sometimes her personality is easily offended, which is to be expected, but for the most part she likes to work.

She has found more of her gaits, but the canter remains a tad overwhelmingly powerful. She's also starting to turn heads. She is also still playing catch up. The idea is to keep her developing throughout 2016 with minimal show obligations, going back to keuring and maybe going out to the shows as an HC. 

Fahrenheit has begun work. He's everything I remembered when I first saw him, incredible rideable
personality and three good gaits.

He's gone from unbroke to lunging in a matter of a week without so much as a hitch.

I have a few thoughts for his schedule but until he's actively under tack I'm holding off anything. He's set up to be backed next weekend by my usual guy. It was supposed to be this weekend, but I was feeling not so prudent about starting a horse in 30mph winds and a 30 degree temperature drop.

His focus is on the next 90 or so days, and developing condition to do the work for 2016. 

Joining the herd in the next few weeks are two more mares in for winter training (and one for sale). I'm really pleased to see the quality grow.

Europe has also been on my mind lately.

Not just for the attacks in Paris and abroad but the big question on everyone's mind is if I'll go back for an extended stay.

The short answer is no.

With horses actively developing under tack, coming in to ride, the most I can get away with is two weeks. So I'm trying to condense four countries, all the shopping, looking at horses, awards, and business meetings within those 14 days.

Overall, I'm already looking forward to spring. 

Keep you like an oath

I'm a deadline driven person.

I blame getting my degrees and then learning to organize. I like punctual, I like routine and I like familiar. It's comforting and gives a sense of control, even when I don't have any. Minus my personal life which never runs on time, my professional life is more orderly.

A few months ago, I entered into a partnership with Germany for a horse. With two other partnerships (Haiku, Flair) on the table and going successfully- it was a giant step in a direction.

I'm thirty-something years old, two years into my training business and I've started developing a larger network in Europe for career horses this year. I successfully sell everywhere (this year alone was fun to see how many places the horses I've touched have gone to).

Where and who I source from is very important to me because the clients are often buying sight unseen often on my reputation and while there are many great breeders out there in the the world, very few I feel can match the quality and ethics of the people who I personally have relationships with.

When I left Germany, I left my partnered-horse-of-choice behind to spend the summer growing up; as for the rest of us, we've been working our butts off, actively campaigning and developing.

He needed the extra time to develop more and I needed space to focus in on the mares. So there he went out in to the fields like the rest of the chuckle heads in his age group.

The plan was always to export him into America in the Fall as a longer-term sales horse (focusing in on the four year olds for 2016).

Somewhere between April and now, I lost track of time. 

It was easy to forget about him, he's just 2,000 miles away and the only real images I have of him are a photo on my mobile, and a video on my YouTube account. Like an arranged marriage, every once in awhile I'd pull out the cute photo or watch the video on a few loops to figure out what exactly I agreed to. Every time I understood, and every time I question my sanity.

But with the 90 degree heat, the current workload, the foliage still kicking it's Summer hue, Fall, until today was a distant thought.

So came the call from Germany a few weeks ago that basically was my alarm- it's time, the boxes are needed for other incoming horses and I need to begin focusing on developing another horse with Flair and Haiku safely cooking along. It was time for him to fly over.

Thus began the importation for October, one of the busiest seasons for any quarantine station let alone Kentucky. I'm excited in a lot of ways and holding my breath in many others. I was lucky to see him go for 60 days in Germany but for the last 180, I only have him in his winter coat still rough looking from the field.

But like pulling any young horse from the field, things change rapidly with work, maturation and nutrition- and like the girls I know he won't disappoint me.

Feels like home again

I made it home Monday after three flights. The highlight of it was being stuck in Atlanta for a few extra hours and getting to roam around trying to find a good milkshake (no dice) and my new Timbuk2 bag's wheels getting knocked off by Delta (jerks).

I was technically scheduled for more travel this week to Vegas World Cup.  I've had numerous people ask me to go, and while I initially committed to going for another business, I'm happy the obligation was canceled. There's so much that needs to be done, and things that I've been ignoring- such as the clinics, need to be dealt with. So I'm home for at least a month before I adventure out again.

Being home is strange after being away for so long. In one way the familiar comfort of my house and everyone with it is lovely, on the other hand, the mentality I got into while in Europe is something that I don't want to give up, it just simply doesn't exist prevalently in the States on a consistent level.

So, my heart is now on two continents. I find myself in the old routine from Germany, and for the moment, less population.

The competition season is just starting here, and I'm eager to really to start it. I have my first entries printed off and ready to go out this weekend, hopefully the US postal system won't repeat their mistakes last year.

Despite my absence from the show arena several of my sales graduates have already started competing. Reba's Song MF (Rotspon) is back in action after an extended period off due to rider injury, she was out competing at Novice and was once again in the sub-30's for dressage, Sincere G (Savant) has been out on the jumpers with Emily Williams in Ohio as well, producing solid rounds with minimal mistakes and Danzador MSM (Apollo III) is out at the Region 2 schooling shows pushing mid-60's to 70's at Training level.

I'm also reminded I need to do a lot of other things associated with the business (taxes, answering the mail, updating the website, making sure the truck still runs...) and playing catch-up. This first week back feels more like I'm attached to my cell phone more than anything else.

Flying in to Lexington was also a little surreal after leaving at the start of a horrid Winter. I was somewhat expecting to see a more decimated town from UK's Men's Basketball team's loss in the Final Four, and also from what looks like the flood-like rain the region has experienced. While there weren't any fires lighting the runway, we definitely have new lakes. It's also delightfully warm.

My first stop before I even went home was to look in on the pony.

To no surprise, she's fat, happy, shaggy and hard to catch. My first order was to make her look less of a wild pony and more civilized. Slowly and begrudgingly she's reemerging from the winter woolies and embedded dirt. She was ridden, washed and will probably do a lot of that until her new lessor takes over the reins.

I went up to see Flair and Haiku on Wednesday.

Haiku grew another hand and a half, and sports a strong topline and is swimming right along in her progress. Despite looking good, she needs some more calories due to the amount of growth she's experiencing. She's not thin, but honestly she just needs that much support. The Pennfields line has been helping her out tremendously in developing her growth while not creating a hot horse. The spring grass should also help her out. Her attitude is still the same, willing, straightforward, workmanlike. She's not even three, and she's just ahead in so many ways.

Flair arrived back in January after I left. Like many things with her and I we just keep missing each other. She arrived about 200lbs heavy from post-baby and in no shape whatsoever to do much of anything. So seeing her 200lbs lighter, under saddle, and developing with about 40 days under tack is really neat. It's a shame that February in Kentucky was a total loss and parts of March were even worse. Essentially, she is where Haiku was when she started. Give it three months of good work, and things will be fine. But still, there's a long way to go from nothing to our tentative goal of Devon's Five Year Old division is a big leap, but one that I'm really sure that she'll do well to progress towards.

On top of keeping up all the horses there's also catching up with the calendars. My business has started to expand to include teaching clinics around the US. I like to teach, and this allows me to keep up on the daily training of my horses and keeping a serious base of home clients. I will be out in VA in June and August. Plus a few other places as I start setting the calendar for the year.

Also per reader suggestion, I will talk more in depth about all the German breeding, riding, training and all the other things over the next few posts. I just couldn't type out as much on an iPad as I would like. But for now, I'm home.

Make it back home by Monday

My time in Germany is coming to a close, next Sunday I pack my bags and I catch a flight early Monday morning back to the states to begin my season there with my girls. It's crazy to think my first show is May, and my season's calendar is looking booked with shows and clinics. 

It's strange to imagine that the time has passed that quickly but in the end, it was very useful. I have few regrets here, I know I'll return next fall/winter before migrating to Florida. 

I'm sad but excited to go, the place has given me more perspective and tools about riding, teaching, selling and the business that I can't wait to incorporate into my own herd when I get home. But at the same time, I don't want to leave. The place is a second home. So, in a way, I, like everyone else who does this has a heart on each continent. 

It's also been busy here, the last two or three weeks have been nothing but sales calls. We sold five horses in two weeks, internationally, and with a few more pending as this week opened up with queries on two of the top young horses in the barn. I'm also excited to announce my partnership with my German breeders who starting in Fall 2015 will begin pushing horses to the states for me to sell into the American market. The first one being the full brother to one of my favorites, Fairyland, who's lovely personality and raw gaits look like a good match for America. 

The funny thing is I'm typically not a German horse fan. My exposure has been to mostly the U.S. with the Hanovarian and Oldenburg books, and my herd is primarily KWPN but there's good blood, a good program, and stellar movement here, so, quality is quality no matter how you register it.