Believer

First show of the year is in the books for us, and it was somewhat strange to be back out again after a

hiatus from essentially last June. Normally our kickoff is SpyCoast in May, but with it arriving early this year, we decided to start out with something a bit sooner on the calendar.

Local schooling shows for me, are approached with a somewhat split feeling of happy anticipation and dread.

Anticipation for getting out and seeing new people, showing the kids what life can be, seeing them on their maiden voyages in a situation that in all respects, doesn't make or break a career, meeting new people and catching up with the old groups.

Then there's the dread.

The dread of people in your space, navigating a warm up that is, at best uncontrolled chaos, arenas that aren't set up as professionally as they should, making sure that no one dies/cries/embarrasses themselves too badly and above all making sure that said kids have a good time.

I knew walking in what the comments would be, and what approximate scores he would get- and we got them from the judge and the rail birds.

Al's first show was successful in many ways, and shows room for improvement in others.

What I, and Mike weren't prepared for was the amount of people who came by and followed us to and from the arenas. Part of it was I think the idea of a stallion of that quality at a show, but the other part I think people were genuinely curious. Either way, it was something new for us, and felt a bit odd. Al just accepted the accolades graciously via carrots, admiring glances and the occasional insistence on a butt scratch.

We came home and addressed what few issues he showed us, and already I feel he's ready to go back out. I was for the most part, pleased about how he behaved in the wake of a Spring outdoor show and how he went to work despite the looney environment that he woke up to.

It was quiet on Friday, with the arenas basically with four or five people total in them. He schooled in and around the arenas fine, we rolled through the test and called it a day. Our class was put in the early afternoon, so we were literally sitting around doing nothing for the morning and afternoon (one horse at a show is boring nowadays).

Next day, everyone arrived. It was pure madness in the barns, and the arenas exploded with people and activity.  Ponies, kids, riders who got a little too close while walking near us with their horses, traffic, trailers coming in and out fast, people who lingered at his stall trying to pet him (which he was confused about as to why they weren't scratching his bum).

I wanted him exposed to all of this because it's only going to get busier from here on out. We went on a few long hand walks which helped. Hindsight I should have lunged him, but the available lunging area was a pitched surface and not dragged. So, I put him under his Back on Track sheet to keep him limber and made miles under our feet.

To his credit, Al held himself together.

We were concerned about the warmup, where it wasn't as regulated and my concerns were realized  when he was t-boned by a junior rider on her horse (everyone was fine). Even though he was sore he still put in a good, focused test. It wasn't a winning test, but that's what you get with young horses going against horses that have done more than a few seasons at training level.

Overall, we have a better idea going forward what to do with him, and how to prep out. He's back at the farm working towards SpyCoast and the May series.

Pole dancing

Being stuck in the great indoors this winter isn't exactly thrilling. Same four walls and a ceiling every day, the great outdoors too inconsistent to risk a tendon or a thrown shoe. Our past month has been as wild as the weather.

It's seriously swung enough keep an entire wardrobe in my truck because in Kentucky, just wait ten minutes.

What's even better is the long monotonous drag of getting the kids from essentially green broke to their careers.

It's a daily grind full of important tedious details that get addressed day in and day out. Bend that
way, go to and from legs, go on the bit, go to the contact, go over this pole or that pole, stand at the block, don't spook at the flappy thing.

Between that it's the stacked appointments of nutritionists, sponsors (we have new ones!), photoshoots, video creation, suppliers, farriers and vets.

It's this creation of boundaries and the never ending point to point to do  list that gives us a nice competitive start within the 20 x 60 meter box.

Some are taking it well, Irish Warrior (2013 Warrior's Reward) is coming along stellar in his development, going from downtime to jumping around a small course here and there.

Of all the horses in the group he's the steadiest of the bunch, and is really is just happy to go along to get along. Talent wise, while he's not a Fahrenheit, or a Haiku, he makes it up for sheer wanting and trying.

Sine Metu (2014 Sezuan) is following in Fahrenheit's footsteps and been one of the easiest horses to

back and start.

At nearly 17 hands, we're taking our time, but so far he's excelling, willing and is very steady. At 10 rides he's already hacking around and we're thinking of which shows to point him towards. He's very much Mike's ride, long legged, sporty and modern with multiple gears.

We also now have a group of rising five year olds.

Five year old year is typically one marred with a lot of drama, hissy fits and various shades of nopes. So far, we've had a few mild cases, but after laying down the rules they're pretty undramatic.

The two five year olds this year, Alberich (2012 Armani) and Equibest Delphic (2012 Don Index) are interesting to develop.

Alberich has developed steadily. Becoming more consistent in his work to the point where I'm now starting to ride him. He's really a fun ride so far with 90 or so rides total with him and unlike a few prior horses I got on with, he's wonderfully uncomplicated and genuine. We're still sorting the relationship out, not because of personality but because physically he's a very different ride than most horses. Al is incredibly short coupled, and combined with a thick neck, a low whither it's like driving a sports car around the arena that occasionally does the Toyko drift.

His ultimate aim is the stallion approvals this year. I'm considering him for the Five Year old classes later this Fall (not Young Horse Championships), but we'll see how this all goes.

Consistently across the board, he's come a long way in a very short amount of time and he's not done yet.

Delphic is progressing as well, he's enjoying the work, and the harder it is the more clever he

becomes. He's smart, almost too smart. Not unlike Al, he's taken awhile to physically mature as well. He's put on about two inches of topline in 90 days thanks to Progressive, Nutrena and our system, and lost the pudge.

He, like several others before him, have the jumping bug. He's brave and quiet to the fences and shows very classic form over them. He's thrilled to do it over 20 meters of circle any day of the week.

Like Al, we've started to incorporate poles within his daily routine to help him mentally focus and a gallop day to help him become fitter.

I have a feeling the majority of his show time will be in the hunters and not the white box or the event field. Which is a shame because I think he would be an easy AEC and Regional-qualified horse.


Our first shows are later this month at the horse park. I think this year because of the hodge-podge of the type and goals involved that we might skip the big outings. Which is fine, considering there's a larger agenda in place for next year already.

Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)

It's beyond mid summer and Fall is already starting in.

Most of my Summer has been about acquisition and some loss.

In August, despite being down two horses, I moved to a new property due to the upcoming expansion of my herds and also some other resume-changing items.

The property is not ready to be truly discussed as things are still very much underway, but I felt, and still feel, its a good move for a variety of reasons.

The physical space while a work in progress, has been a welcome relief of sorts. I have all my horses under one roof, my paddocks are private/semi private again, I have expanded amenities, it's a shorter commute for Mike, and the best of all, it's five minutes from my house and another five minutes to the Kentucky Horse Park. I feel to sell, train and do things successfully it's a good place to be.

The barn itself has been fairly quiet, but I'm no less busy with some new faces peaking in and many more who are just starting out.

To start, I lost my ride on Flair. She went home to Canada.

I don't have anything bad to say about the mare, she was really lovely and I do wish her success in whatever her next steps will be. I'm also and will always be very proud of her and what she's accomplished within my program in such a short time- going from field to third level in about a year and a half.

But as they say, life goes on and my herds are no different.

My breeders acquired three new broodmares through me that I'm thrilled about, the Aprio, the Fabuleux and the DeLaurentis are really standouts for mare quality, and hopefully we'll have some 2018 foals.

The DeLaurentis especially excites me since there's the classic Donnerhall- Rubenstien cross, and very recently within the pedigree (within the first two generations). The bloodlines can contribute just about anywhere, and have been super rideable.

Back at the performance side of the farm:

PostScript is continuing to improve and develop. The little pony schools about a meter on the
occasion, but has been focusing on the basic things.

At 90 days out of the wild, and 30 rides under tack she's schooling regularly off property and just progressing fitness wise. She's gone around and schooled cross country, she's starting some early fall conditioning.

She went out and most recently started lessoning with Derek Braun at Split Rock. While there are a lot of similarities between starting a dressage horse and a jumping horse, when it comes down to specific developmental tracks, it helps to have a specialist on hand.

The move has helped with that, and now we have a plethora of Grand Prix jumpers living down the road who don't mind when the dressage people show up.

Split Rock and I go back to about a year ago, when I started hosting with them for clinics, so it seemed like a good progression to ask for help.

Derek did wonderfully with her and Mike, and gave us several exercises and direction as to develop her for the over fences work.

It's slow work but work that will pay off in the long run when she goes onto a new rider eventually. In the meantime, she's ready to go out and explore a show atmosphere and see how she takes to having a job.

Then there's this guy:

Alberich. (Armani/Ferro), a 2012 ISR/OLD stallion. He arrived back in August. Owned in partnership, he's is settling in great and has begun work.

With just a handful of rides, he's a quick study with an easy temperament, like all good horses, there's a try in him. I'm lucky that he's stepping in quickly to be developed as my horse.

Al's personality is a lot like Flair in a way, but with breeding horses, it's to be expected. He was a little slow to open up, but he's a goof who enjoys having his butt scratched and told he's the best.

Despite being so green, he uses himself very well.

By the fourth ride I already get the impression that collection isn't going to be an issue with him. He readily accepts compression and his first response in anything is to raise the shoulders and lower the hind end. He's hot enough that you can drop a whip, but not stupid.

The rest of his 2016 schedule is pretty active for a green horse- a few clinics, a few off property jaunts and more prep for 2017's schedule.

The other new face at the farm is actually an old school three year old Thoroughbred gelding by The Cliff's Edge. He's track trained but hasn't raced. He's affectionately known as Moose around the place.

A massive 16,3 hands at three means he's taking twice as long to develop, and that's alright by us. Where Al, Moppi and PS are developing, poor Moose has gone through one or two growth spurts. Combine that with being trained to not move throughly, he's taking his time. He's no less talented than the others, and I think he'll either end up as a hunter or in the meter jumpers really easily.

There's also this guy along the way:

Equibest Sine Metu G. (Sezuan/Calypso II), a 2014 gelding that's half brother to Equibest Fahrenheit G. He was purchased as a project via an investor to train and eventually resell within the three year old year.

I love the addition of Sezuan into my herds, and out of George's dam, only makes the cross more attractive.

The lack of full KWPN in my herds is sorely obvious now. My heart is always partial to Dutch (and both boys are technically part Dutch and the pony sports some Dutch blood), the German blood in the barn is proving equally as good especially when combined with KWPN.

But I do miss having a good Dutch horse, especially around Keuring time.

Also part of Fall is inspection and Keuring. It's becoming a regular staple on my calendar to attend most of them within this area. They're educational and a good way to see where you stack up in comparison.

With the addition of Al, and the mares, my 2017 is going to be split between licensing, and getting the mares prepped out and inspected.

With Flair's absence and Haiku's sale, our plans to ride at the Indiana keuring were out. It's a bit sad since she was easily ready to retake the IBOP and I so desperately wanted to get another horse into the year end standings (Fahrenheit is 5th in the nation, Starkozy is first, Sincerely G moved up to the 3' divisions).  But secretly I was relieved as I went on my yearly sabbatical from the circuit in August with my family in upstate New York and the turn around was killer.

I still went up anyways to help and observe. I love the Indiana Keuring for a variety of reasons. It's an excellent facility with a professional staff, the quality of horse is super and it's also a good excuse to shop for the next top horse.  It was a good visit, I caught up with old friends and what has quickly become my second barn family.

 The rest of the fall is spent from October to December in pushing with the clinics, and getting the investors aligned for the Spring season. Until then, it's just a daily grind of developing and figuring out what the next teps are.