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.

I'm a sucker for pain

I'm a sucker for mares. Pony mares are truly my soft spot when it comes to things. 

So when I sold Fahrenheit and became in between serious sales horses I started wandering around the internet just looking at things. 

I had a few owners looking in the market but they were looking for broodmares or lovely young horse resell projects. I wanted really wanted something with no expectation. In short, I was wanting a summer project to fill a gap.

I never particularly commented or showed interest in anything I saw. They were just horses that I knew were not in the best of ways or needed a lifestyle change, they would get those with  the people responding to them. 

When I stumbled across an ad for a free RPSI pony via a friend, I stopped and responded. 

She was pretty, fairly good type and relatively near.

So I jaunted out to see her. 

She was less than impressive with her presentation. The owners had cut her tail off, wretchedly kept feet, covered in dew poisoning, unhandled, and her mane was wild dreadlocks. In many ways, it reminded me of when I pulled Sinari out of the backwoods ghetto tobacco field at three.

She was the essence of ghetto and the definition of redneck. But still all the parts were in the right places. The then owners were basically going to give her to the Amish, and knowing what unbroke, slightly opinionated ponies do, it would have not been a good ending for either pony or human.

A few phone calls, I convinced an owner to take her on, so a few weeks later after we cleared the health papers and paperwork she got into my trailer with some chemical and physical assistance and headed to a new life. 

When she stepped off the trailer, the mutual reaction of people was of general concern for my mental health.

The problem is after you've had a Haiku, a Fahrenheit, a Flair and even a Sinari, the expectation becomes a double edged sword. On one hand, you have really nice horses, that have gone on and done good things, and the assumption is that you'll continue on this path. On the other hand, the perception is you've had it easy and those nice horses were just flukes.  

Truth is, in this industry, you're only as good as your last horse and while I choose nice horses, my team and I have to make them even nicer. 

The first days were interesting. She stuck out like a sore thumb with her tail bobbed off, and lack of social skills in a herd of 16 plus hand mares. Her world, basically was turned upside down. Everyone thought she was a yearling with her size and lack of maturity.

She became a project, first were the feet and teeth, then it was getting her into a nutritional program that wouldn't overwhelm her. She was groomed, daily, and taught to tie. Then the work began.

She took to it, happy to have something to do. She liked the attention and every time out she improved a little. There was never a real issue that she could do whatever job I asked. 

21 days later she's started, and already she's showing good talent and what's more is she's unafraid. It's an asset to have any horse like this, it makes working them easier, and it's a gift especially with the ones that for the first three-quarters of a decade haven't done anything except eat and loaf. 

While I know my barn will be full again with super horses in a very short time- I'm enjoying the little downtime with this one, and also the several  the mental health questioning and seeing where this takes us all. 

We can be heroes

I haven't talked about Sinari in a bit.

Sinari has been a mainstay in my barn for over a decade and is the reason behind my career, and this blog title. She is the original dressage pony of Dressage Pony.

Back in 2012, we finally made it to PSG, and in 2013 after much hammering at fourth level, we achieved the Silver. She also earned my Bronze as well. She still remains a firm highlight in my career so far; but in 2014 looking at her age, and how much effort it was taking to do the grinding work of the Grand Prix it was time to take a step back out of fairness and also to keep her in good health.

I was disappointed that we couldn't do it. It's was a huge thrill to knock on that door. At the end of the day- we had our time in the sun and more importantly, I have to do what is fair for her. 

I left for Germany, she stayed at home to winter, hacking occasionally with a friend, not really knowing what to do next.  Sinari has never been, and never will be for sale. She's earned her retirement, but at the same time, she's not ready to retire.

At first I really wanted a junior for the FEI ponies. It would professionally be a blast to have a kid reach the highest point in a pony ride. After interviewing a few kids, it wasn't 100 percent the right match, plus the idea of pursing USEF Championships, as tempting as that would be, wouldn't be the right thing for her at this time after a long four years of putting together two medals, she still needed time. After a little bit of time, I found that person and Sinari was pushed back down the levels for her new adult amateur.

I've been quietly sitting on the sidelines as they've been getting to know each other for the last few

months with the focus of getting Bronze scores, as Sinari regains fitness and as her rider figures out her the buttons are.

It hasn't always been easy to watch her with another rider; and I'm sure she hasn't been the easiest horse to figure out especially after being developed to be a hotrod. I'm also admittedly a bit jealous (this includes after getting the rides on Flair, Haiku and Fahrenheit) from time to time. I miss the familiarity.

It wasn't until the the other day though when I was sent some photos and I knew in an instant it was the right decision to do this, and I can't wait to be the loudest fan in the cheering section as Sinari brings another rider out and gives them the dream I have. 

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. 

Only looking up when my head’s down

We've been on the struggle bus since coming back from the show.

My horse trailer looks like it's had a bomb set off in it. I have laundry up to my eyeballs, my tack wasn't cleaned until Monday, I still have hay in the back of my truck, and a stack of emails and paperwork I've been ignoring (sorry) since last week. I was also not the smartest scheduler- I did 8am lessons the day after, and then had an 8am farrier appointment the day after that. Tuesday was the first day I "slept in" until 7am and then promptly went to yoga.

I also found out that my supplies from the trailer need to be replenished. I normally carry two of everything around in that trailer simply because I don't like packing and repacking. Over the year I used up things or repacked them elsewhere. The inconvenience of trying to find extra treats, the spool of wax thread or my cleaning supplies during a show just kind of added into the small chaos.

I also will happily pay that price again if it means I could have every weekend as well-done as that one.

The quality of the show was really high, with several people trucking above five hours in, and the horses reflected the investment of the time spent putting them on a truck and bringing them down.  

Haiku pulled out an early monster score of 8.64 for her first show for the three year old materiale with the highlight being 8.5 for rideability. Her in hand class was also highly competitive, and was overall second, despite being flat from working earlier in the day, she came away with an 8.7, second out of 15 horses and a fanbase.

Flair followed suit, pulling a 7.6 - a huge positive considering the show was her 15th ride under saddle, and was behind the winner of the class by two points. Her canter work was the high point- 8.5.

The judge was kind enough to take me aside and not only give the mares huge complements on their breeding, training and manners but also give some ideas towards development. This was a lot of personal validation of what I've been doing over the last months from a very respected source. 

What's even more impressive is that both mares were exceptionally professional about the job. Yes, they had green moments, but went in with no lunging, or calming supplements in their systems. They went in and knew what they were supposed to do. The cherry is that they are both qualified for the finals in November at Tryon and depending on how that weekend will run, we might just attend. 

Which leads me to the next show schedule. It's very tempting to throw them in again and just keep pushing for year end awards.

My focus on Haiku is more or less just one more show, at training level, before going to IBOP and quitting for the year. To me the three year old year is a learning curve. Yes, they need a record. Yes, they need to do stuff, but they don't need to be trucked from here and beyond to show extensively and potentially develop a bad reputation. Haiku has already answered a lot of questions for us, and continues to mature beautifully. 

With Flair it's get her into the regular tests as quick as possible. She can do training level tomorrow if we asked but I would like to see more condition from her at first. I also don't necessarily want to put the investment toward the lower levels, a mistake I made with Sinari. My focus for her is in honesty, next year for the six year olds. So we're focusing on Virginia to get some miles under her belt with me in the irons. Dressage at Lexington is on her radar because of the nature of the show and my clients who go.

So the focus is really on the fall and winter seasons, with the eye towards Dressage at Devon, IBOP and other fun items. But for now I think we have all the right pieces in the right ways. 

Geronimo

Getting back to the grind has been going well, minus one or two weeks where life was interrupted by Rolex and Kentucky Derby, everyone has been getting back into a more committed schedule.


It's finally nice to have everyone in a singular place again. Steeple Pointe Stables did a great job keeping everyone in order, and my student did a nice job hacking and keeping some order in the face of horrid weather and random schedules; but in all honesty there's no place like home.

Having everyone home also means being able to focus on the immediate of re-establishing a full six day week, and attending to the details. Needless to say my trailer got ripped through and the unpacking, rearranging and organizing is still continuing. My truck looks like it exploded with blankets, wraps and stuff everywhere. I spent the majority of Thursday just cleaning both of them out and giving the truck and trailer a solid wash.

Adding to the stress was someone stole my purse, the entire thing, out of my truck last Saturday. The purse I don't mind so much- it was just a canvas one. But the contents were a tad bit more important. All my ID's, major cards, license, passport, and alot of memories are now just gone. The week prior my accounts were flagged for fraud, so if there's any silver lining to any of this its that I at least have one debit card that escaped, and I don't have to wait around another five days. Compounding the issue is my only final form of ID was in NJ. It's disappointing and ultra frustrating that I now have to deal with four notoriously slow government agencies (DMV, Passport Control, and Social Security office) and their paperwork.

If there's anything to look forward to this upcoming weekend, it's showing. I've been wanting to show Spy Coast now for years. It's a fabulous show with excellent footing and drop dead gorgeous facilities. However bad timing on my end or having a horse that's not in the right age group or going through a weird growth spurt really stifled those chances.

The girls look the part, the weekend is free and so I dropped the entry in.

Haiku is especially ready to do something. A full hand bigger and mentally ready enough to step out, she needs to stretch out and get some miles without getting permanent ink on her records. She's stellar, and very fit for the age group but still hasn't filled out width-wise quite yet. She's business like about her work, she's handled change very well. The goals are pretty much to just have a solid first show, and to hit in the 7's-8's consistently. 

Flair looks equally as good. She's not as fit, as she's started three months after Haiku, but needs to just go out and start thinking about larger concepts. I really don't care about scores, I just want her to go out and have a positive experience.

It's easy to look at Flair and go she's ready to do something more. She can easily go zero to FEI in her balance points, she's easy on the eyes, offers things up and is exceptionally trainable. She's very mature in her looks. But as fast as she's developing and giving, you can't put topline on overnight.

But Flair has been getting the baptism by fire the last three months.

Her entire world has been flipped, reversed and changed. She's in a program, she's worked, she's getting fitter, she's handled every day, twice a day. Every day she looks better because it is an aggressive, everything including the kitchen sink program, that addresses a lot of different things. I think some part of her goes, I'd rather be barefoot and pregnant, and the other goes this is rather neat. She's got the best temperament, goes out and tries, doesn't make the same mistake twice. She's straightforward, but green, but lacks the carrying power to sit under saddle correctly to do anything beyond what a three or four year old is required to do. She's not ready for a test, she's not ready for anything but straight materiale, but needs to go out and learn what being a show horse is without the world judging her. 

So, Spy Coast is really an ideal place for both of them. They've done an excellent job developing something for all young horses in a quality environment. The series has a number of things going for it- like prize money, inclusive handler fees, great judges and year end series championships. They understand babies are going to be babies, and allow them to act that way accordingly. There will be plenty of other opportunities to get them to the larger rated shows, but for now, they need to stay in the kiddie pool.

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.

Running down to the riptide

The past few weeks have been incredibly active, with horses going all over the place, shows, the start of keuring season, training, teaching, travel and work in general.

Danzador has been on a relatively easy schedule, focusing on going forward and doing lateral work. My initial plan was to do MSEDA, but the USPS mail ate my entry... again. I love the MSEDA show, not for the open part, but for National Dressage Pony Cup. Jenny Carol has done a stellar job over the years putting on this show, and now expanding it to all sorts of regions as partner shows.

It's not the first time that documents have wandered. It ate several important documents to Europe and Canada, plus a number of entries over the past year. So we're re-routed to October. Not ideal, but it'll do.

Sinari is due for her 60 day re-check sometime this week or the next, which means we'll know how to proceed from there. She's fat, very fat, dapply, and happy. It's already been decided that she'll step down from the regular FEI levels and be a horse for one of my juniors who wants to start in equitation and then break into the pony division.

If you personally asked me how it felt, I would say it sucks. Loosing a good horse is never fun. We've had a decade of training together. I'm more intimate with Sinari than any other horse in the barn, and for the last decade plus we've been each others partner in the arena. Which makes the break a little harder. But, it's not personal, it's about what's fair and best for her. It would be selfish otherwise to not put my girl first.

As much as I want to continue on in that route to Grand Prix with her, how I want her to finish her career is out on top in a fair way. Being an FEI horse is tough. You have to have a sound mind and a sound body that can handle the training and conditioning almost daily.

Coming back from injury as a 15 year old is tough enough. I also know how lucky I am it wasn't something career ending or worse, life ending. But building back into the FEI is even harder, with a greater chance of career ending injury of just doing it. I couldn't live with myself if I repeated the past.  So, it's just time.

My students still continue to improve, I'm thoroughly tickled with this year's results already- the eventing group is scoring into the 30's, my regular dressage students are scoring upper 60's consistently.

Many of the eventing group have already expressed their want to do pure dressage and pursue their USDF medals alongside aiming for AEC's in it's final year in Texas. Which really makes me happy at the idea of helping people medal themselves.

This weekend is more coaching at shows, also getting to watch other people go is equally as fun.

Horse shopping has also been a never ending chore. My European trip got pushed back a few weeks, so it leaves me with some idle time to go look more locally. I'm went up to Ohio to look at some KWPN's and will possibly go down to the Carolina's to look at a few Hanovarians. I don't expect much but at the same time, I would enjoy supporting American breeders who are making an effort to bring the best lines home.

Thirty n' flirty

My 30th was a few weeks ago. Even though I'm now considered adult, and many a teenager's eyes

"old" (just you guys wait...) I pretty much went kicking and screaming into it.

Honestly, the 20's were not all that fabulous. University was great, but it was a huge struggle to establish myself personally and professionally in a sport that is dominated by people twice my age. It was a huge period of upheaval, change, poverty, and dealing with coming fully into adulthood.

I did get wonderful things, both tangible and intangible.

I had a fabulous few lessons with JJ, and Danzador rode exceptionally well. It's great to know that the training that you've put on a young horse is exactly on track. She helped tweak the program a bit to really help his hind end and back develop better. She also put down this great striding the circle exercise that has become a quick staple in short order. The focus over the past few rides on what she focused in on has improved the trot work. Something that, while he has a good trot, it's not as strong as his canter.

A few friends took me out to a few dinner(s) out at some of my favorite spots.

I got myself an early present in Flair (thanks SunShine Meadows), and they even sent on some current footage of the her and her colt the other day. They're looking fabulous.

I was given the go-ahead to go look at investment horses. Which means I sit in front of a computer, or on the phone looking at video after video after video of horses going around in circles.

For the most part, time was well spent. But, ultimately the theme has been perspective.

This year, things have changed a lot.

For starters, the time away from Sinari has so far served everyone well. It's hard watching her loaf around, now barefoot in a field during the day and in her stall in the evening. She's happy no matter where she's at, especially since there's always food.

We're going to be facing our 60 day check in September, our final Shockwave treatment this week, and go from there.

Honestly, I'm comfortable with her at this point.  If she comes back, she comes back. If she doesn't, well, I'm alright with that too. The pony doesn't owe me or anyone else anything. She's achieved far more than anyone else has expected her to, and it's been a joy to ride and develop her from a young horse. Everything else is icing on an already great career.

Speaking of kids, I've also come to find out that I really enjoy developing young horses as much as I like riding the upper levels. While I'm searching around still for an FEI schoolmaster to get the ride on, I'm looking at a lot of nice young horses.

In a lot of ways young horses are a little trickier than an older mature horse. Somedays, they're brilliant and you feel everything, other days, you can't turn left and you're looking like a monkey humping a football. But the way they develop is amazing to watch, and it doesn't hurt that a sense of humor and a glass of wine are must have's.

I've had fantastic opportunities within the past two years to work with wonderful breeders, like SunShine Meadows, great owners (Noble Spirit) and talented horses (Danzador, Flair). Even as my program progresses and evolves, the focus on quality becomes even more important.

What I ride, own (or have stakes in) and produce is good quality. But what I'm looking for in my next investment is the like the difference between a local painter, and Monet.

Also, as a good friend has said, they all cost the same to keep, you might as well choose the one that will advance your ambitions.

Buying is as tricky as selling, because people are emotionally invested into finding competitive homes like mine that will help bring their programs out to the next step. It's an honor to have people think of me in this regard, but at the same time it's hard to keep your perspective so you can go out and accomplish the larger goal at hand. The idea that their horse is going to be sold, and potentially re-sold is a hard one for anyone to swallow.

Saying 'no' to a lot of horses, that have the pedigree and would excel regionally, if not be well thought of nationally, is hard. These horses would make awesome competitive mounts into great homes or even a half way decent local Grand Prix horse. Truthfully, they all deserve to have owners who will cherish them and appreciate what they can offer.  It's not fair to push a horse into a level of competition that would only degrade him. The expectation itself sets everyone up for failure and frustration; and I believe that's where really abusive practices begin.

To be successful in dressage at the level I want to go at, you have to have at minimum, eight's immediately out of the box. Meaning at minimum, for example, you should have- 8's on gaits, 8's on general impression, 8's on submission, 8's on conformation. You get the gist, the horse is essentially born to do the sport and will score an 80 percent just walking into the arena.

This is where perception begins to get tricky. Because what is perceived as an 8 on one level is barely scratching a 6 at another, and the idea of elitism comes in.

I don't consider it elitist to make my job as a rider easier. Nor do I consider it a chore to manufacture things either (Sinari had weak mediums). Every horse has challenges and the sport is one giant challenge in itself. I enjoy making a horse better through correct work. It's what dressage is about. But at a certain point to be competitively placed, you need to start taking a hard look at where you start and where you want to end up.

Matchmaker make me a match

When I worked at a corporate coffee shop back in the day, I was surrounded by a lot old school New

York Hasidic Jewish women.

These women, at least once a week, would order their coffees and sit down and gab for a little while; talking just about everything.

Eventually, they pulled me aside and asked me if I was single, and why on earth I wasn't betrothed to a nice man. After being given the third degree, I found out that these women were professional matchmakers who set up arranged marriages much like I now set up breedings, weighing what both parents can contribute- in the phenotypic and qualitative departments.

I've since then found the nice man, but the concept of matchmaking is something that's kinda stuck with me.

I love to shop for horses, and I love pedigree (comes with the gig of working for breeders). I love matching riders to them. Pairing the right riders with the right horses is this fantastic alchemy that if done right is just magic.

In the time I've been selling, I've been lucky. I've had pretty good pairings.

The most recent being between two long-term clients that connected over a horse that needed a new direction. It's any agents wish to have that kind of connection.

With Danzador officially on the market, I hope whoever ends up with him enjoys just as much as I do. It goes for the same for any horse that I represent. I genuinely love my 'inventory'.

For as many love stories that are out there there is no shortage of horror stories.

With what amounts to an emotional investment equivalent from a new car all the way up to purchasing luxury real estate to a visit to outer space, it's a huge financial investment. Selling and buying amounts to a high stakes cash game where it's literally all or nothing.

I count myself, and the people I have dealings with as honest and transparent, but there are people who shockingly are still out there who just try to hide or do things less than above par. The bigger irony is many of these horses are in the low figures, and not the high six figure ones.

I've unfortunately been on both sides- as a buyer and as an agent when the sale goes south.

From my first buy when the former owner had sellers remorse and snuck on the property and took back the horse during after hours to dealing with an owner who violated several clauses within a contract via social media to finding out one of my horses was underweight at the sales barn to dealing with a seller that non-disclosed surgeries on a horse that were caught on the radiographs.

Eventually everything was resolved and it makes for entertaining drinking stories, but I wonder what thought ran through their heads to make those actions acceptable. Were there life lessons in those? Unfortunately, yes. Personally, I would rather not have a sale go through than face the consequences and heartbreak that happens if it goes wrong.

So what makes people fall in for a horse?

For me, I fell for Sinari not because she was conformationally awesome, but because she had an honest try in her- in my horse shopping experience (I usually end up in the worst situations), she was put through the tryout from hell, and passed, there wasn't, and still isn't a no in her. She had three elastic gaits and was hot enough I felt to do the FEI. She's also probably one of the soundest horses (knock wood) that's doing FEI today. She received her first injections at 15- and is maintained on a monthly joint supplement. The farrier adores her feet and bone, and most trainers who I work around complement her very correct basics.

My owner picked Danzador for me thinking he was a KWPN with a lot of hair. He didn't look like your typical PRE, and is conformationally very correct (straight, no sewing machine, a little paddling, three good gaits).

Flair happened in to my life after I began following the dam, and really fell for her personality.

The point is, that no horse is perfect and sometimes things just fall into your lap, but whoever you choose, love it.

Glory and gore

It's late Spring and things are happening.

My initial plans for breeding are shelved until next season. A lot of last minute expenses cropped up

and I had to address it to keep functioning. The truck needed a new alternator, another vet bill, last minute clinic expenses, it added up to the fees for the doses I needed.

I'm still living vicariously through Flair, who is almost due with her Diamond Stud foal. Part of me is disappointed that she's not down here quite yet, but honestly, everything happens in the way it's supposed to happen.

Speaking of, the foal is going to be available for a seriously great price. Should be a super cross for both breeders and riders alike- high in rideability for dressage (seriously with a pedigree like: Diamond Hit, Don Schufro, Flemmingh you can't get much get much better) but it will be competitive mount as well- especially when you add in the Ferro from the dam (piaffe and passage anyone?). I would love to see this one come to the US and help further enrich the young horse population. So if you're interested, give me a shout.  

At home, we're also sitting unexpectedly on the sidelines this Spring as well. Between recovering from tweaked stifle for Sinari, and Danzador going through major growth spurts, it's just not feasible to go out and start hammering the show trail quite yet. We should be back on track by July if everything goes the way it should.

Right now both are back in work. Danzador, who is bored-to-tears is power walking, trotting and cantering around in a stretch frame with some lateral work. To give him a bit of a break we tried him over a few small fences, which fell under the theme of: don't quit your day job kid. Otherwise, he's doing great, the idea to step back away from the intensity of the training was correct, it gave him time to mature and mentally develop. The pony is being hacked around as well, but is taking it much better than the kid. The slowness of coming back into fitness is one of the hardest things to experience.

It's also this living-vicariously-through-others where I pick up ideas for training. Training for me is as much about imparting as well as partaking. In a normal season I don't get to sit on the sidelines and watch people that often, but with the slow down- it's been a lovely chance to pick up ideas for technique and execution from different people. There's a lot of time now to give thought to the little details that have been somewhat glossed over.

The vicarious moments comes best with the students. I'm sincerely happy students and friends who have gone on and shown progress and started their seasons successfully. A dear friend, Karen over at CONTACT, who trains with another area rider, earned her final score Bronze this past week on Hampton, a horse she had chosen as an unbroken two-year-old and has done the majority of the training by herself. It's a huge milestone, and one she should be very proud of.

Then there's the one's who are having break throughs in their own riding, accomplishing things, large and small, that they set out for themselves. I couldn't be happier seeing them go on and do things, even if it feels like I'm twiddling my thumbs.

Gravity wants to bring me down

Gravity got the best of me a few Tuesdays ago.

It's the joy of riding very fit babies in Spring. Even the best of them can have an ADD moment, and in the next instant you can be on the ground. Aside from bruised ego and soreness, everything is fine, got back on and rode through some of the issues.

I get some feedback occasionally about pushing young horses or having expectations. While I agree that there is an often fine line, the kids need to have expectations. They also need to know that there's a few things that are non-negotiable.

Sometimes, the side effect of those expectations (this goes for any horse), is that they push back and gravity takes over.  At least it's a lovely shade of blue that goes with the spring decor.

The last few weeks have been all over the place.

Danzador sat out on JJ's visit, which kind of disappointing, because JJ has so many good things to offer in between rounds.  But at Alfredo's, he was confirmed in what he needs to be confirmed in and is gearing in for the Sayre school show. At this stage of the game there's very little you can do except work on building things, one slow step at a time. The other day we diversified and took him over some jumps and on a hack. He was relatively good, but world-class show jumper he will not be any time soon.

Sinari also sat out JJ's clinic as well, despite feeling positive about her training since last year, she came out of the field looking a little wonky and so I made the decision to sit her out and get her checked by the vet. Nothing is worse when things are going so well to have a bump in the road.

A few tweaks in the support system and she's back into work preparing for Alfredo's clinic and preparing for the season. She's becoming much stronger. I really credit CORE Therapies, Dr. Tummlin, Dr. Metcalfe, Back on Track, Sore No More, Surpass and the new perspective from the ground. She's confirmed three's and two's, her half pass zig zag is really gaining power, and now, we're just putting together the I1 test. The pirouettes still suck, but she goes out and does five to six piaffe steps, so there's a trade off.

The spring also brings the busy season of babies. I'm no exception this year, breeding another prospect for the future. Flair also surprised both her breeder and myself turning up pregnant. Prior to her being sold to me, the plan was to do an ET in the summer of 2013, and then ship her down. We honestly thought she had reabsorbed (normal checking at 30, 60, and double checking at 90) and was just packing on the winter pudge, thankfully, she was ultra sounded and it revealed a healthy new baby running about 280 days at this point.

I'm sure she'll do everything with her usual style and panache and the foal will be beautiful.

Mirror Mirror

It's April, and life has been one giant blur since mid-March.

Since Alfredo's visit, things have been kicked into high gear, despite minor herd reduction.

I walked into my arena when I got back to discover brand new sets of mirrors have been erected while away. My barn owners are awesome that way. I love them already and I don't know how I lived without for a lot of years. On the other hand, mirrors are hard. They're very much tattlers on your position, your body, your horse, just about everything you don't want to see, you see it in 20 foot glory.

My herd was reduced back to three with a few horses coming in and out with their riders for teaching.

While I love the fact my business expanded, I also enjoy the small, quality herd that I have. There are some things that haven't changed, that I ride everyone five to six days a week, and that I know all of them and their idiosyncrasies. But sometimes, adjusting to life on a time budget kinda sucks. When you have five in your barn and they all have to be ridden, tack cleaned, bathed, videoed, ect., you're going to have to limit time. On the upside it teaches you to ride very effectively.

The weather has cleared up consistently now to the point I don't have to worry about being frozen out. April brings rain and the ability to get out of the arena and go start conditioning for the season. We're backlogged for doing sets, and have lost a few weeks of regular training thanks to the horrid weather, pipe bursts and terrain.

Needless to say, Weight Watchers would have a field day.

We started last week taking the horses out, one by one on their first gallops of the season.

Sinari, who had the luxury of having the majority of the last few weeks off (weather, chiro, dentist, clinic, ect) went back into serious, consistent work. Last year's problems are fading away, especially since we've changed around the level of support care and the way we view things. The pirouettes are already stronger, the tempi-sequences are getting faster, and the pi/pa stuff is getting there.  But she lacks overall fitness that would help her endurance.

Yes, endurance.

With the FEI tests, the movements are secondary to fitness. The tests are much longer than even a second or third level tests and everyone is expected to be strong enough to hold themselves together for three to four minutes at a time going through the sequence. And from PSG out, the movements do not let up. 

Sinari has traditionally been very hard to condition from the get-go. She easily looses it and is hard to gain. So the sets help immensely with just getting around. Plus it's a nice mental break.

Her schedule at the moment is two days (barring weather) out in the field, five days in the arena. This might change as things progress. But for now, she's gearing in pretty rapidly.

I'm debating about which show to really start her in. The temptation is the KDA, the footing for the FEI classes is really nice, but it's also a CDI, where we're judged by panel and also judged alongside the CDI. Not exactly a nice move up show where we can bury our heads. So, time to shop around.

Danzador has also started doing little sets. His fitness is much better than Sinari's to begin with. He hasn't been out too much, much of the focus has been on developing him physically in the arena. Also mentally as well, even though he's great in the arena, he's still a kid and has a big case of baby ADD, so hacking him was always a challenge as a klutzy four year old.

He's still not ready to tackle the track Sinari has been doing, but he has been going for walks up and down hills in fenced off paddocks with a bunch of questions- like a smalls stream, uneven footing, rolling pitch, cows and a few other things.

He's doing better, where he would spook or be immature, he's now mentally buckling in and really settling into being a good egg despite distractions. He hasn't gone out and galloped, but he does decent trot sets in company.

The winter has done him a world of good, and he's already much more mature. The photos are slowly coming back from the clinic and he's already less of a stork. But, the ubiquitous solution to everything is: needs more top line, and he's no exception. He's come out of the clinic really well, not sore, and still on a progressive track forward in his training. Right now, aside from conditioning, it's about playing with more forward and back. Getting the medium trot in an uphill balance, and coming back and not loosing the balance or rhythm.

It's a huge challenge in the trot. But he's getting really well.

As for me, my own fitness has become a priority this year. Back in January, I started back on the treadmill, and going to yoga three times a week.

I hate doing this part of the job.

I was never a gym person, and I feel very socially odd in those settings. I can walk into any room normally and feel fine, but at a gym I feel compared, and very much lesser than the girl who just cranked out a six minute mile or who did that flow-y inversion thing to another difficult pose.

Plus there's the mental stigma. At one point I felt yoga was just about having that nice stretch and eating your random protein shake in your yoga pants while driving a compact hybrid to feel socially better about yourself. And running was running.  

Not to mention my body is physically awkward in yoga, and holding the postures for four to five minutes at a time is a screamer. Running, well, I just hate running and I did two marathons.

While I do don yoga pants (I like getting my protein from a different source and I drive a truck), this yoga is anything but a gentle stretch and mediative period, it's active and it makes running look like a walk in the park.  But I'm glad I'm doing it, and I'm elated that there are two other people going through the same thing and keeping me motivated to keep going.

However, it doesn't make wearing white pants any better. Perhaps somethings will forever be uncool. 

No sleep till Brooklyn

We came back last Friday evening/Saturday morning to the frozen tundra that is Kentucky (12 am is an odd hour). I woke up to a complete white out nine hours later and an unplowed/salted road in front of my house. This weekend, it's gone from 60 and sunny to 40 and raining with another front rolling through with ice and misery following behind it.

I picked a ripe time to stay north.

I managed to start working horses not soon after the roads were cleared day after day, but even as I managed even stretch sessions or lunging or finding entertaining ways to keep everyone sane and fit in the indoor as temperatures plummet below sane working conditions.

Despite proverbial down time, I've made use of the time itself. I managed to design Team EnGaged Dressage's new website, in addition to giving the blog a spiffy revamp to make it look more streamlined and a little less emo-looking. The clinic site is next just to kinda regain some presence there as well and both will be moved over to actual domains. I'm e

The horses are still doing well also in light of the horrid on-again-off again schedule. The work, has mostly been focused on the basics.

With Denia HPF and Asanto HPF, fitness and relaxation have been the two biggest areas that have been focused on. From those two areas they're building a lot of strength, their paces are also getting more expressive as well. Denia's are becoming competitive, and she has one of the best walks I've seen on a PRE.

The fitness stuff doesn't end in the arena, it also helps that they're turned out on hills and walking them every day while they graze.

They're doing really well here and I'm excited to see both of them develop into their potential as spring comes on. They are wonderfully temperamented horses who are happy to work and enjoy their day to day routine. Whoever buys them will be very lucky, and very competitive wherever they take them.

Sinari is clipping along at a steady pace doing stretch work and focusing on cleaning up the basics. It's boring, tedious work, but it needs to be done to address strength and build back into things for spring. She's happily marching along in her program

Danzador is for all accounts the star of the group. He's rising five this year, and has already shot up another inch in the shoulder. He's now pushing a solid 16.2 and a quarter, but physically still looking a little gawky, but the time back on the lunge and the intermittent schedule has refreshed him. Yes, there's moments of the errant ADD young horse getting back into work, but for the most part he's mentally accepting everything. Lately, the emphasis has been developing medium and collected paces. His half halt, even at this stage of the game is a lot more refined than Sinari's and if the last series of tape that I saw with him, he's going to be really fun in the next two years.

PRE's and collection are naturally married together. It's easy for them and they can produce it without hesitation, but there's trade offs. It's the extension part that takes more strength for him. He's getting it with more fitness and more support from being shod and working on the lunge to develop the knowledge. Danzador gets it four to five strides at a time before loosing it and finding it again. Typical baby things.

Also despite weather and early year status, I've also begun looking at barns to be at next year in/around in Wellington. Needless to say, we've learned our lessons. The thought is, to co-op a group of professionals to drive down the cost, while sharing the benefits. If people are interested get in touch! Should promise to be an adventure either way.

But in the meantime, I do have my sights set roasting a certain rodent.

She's buying the stairway to heaven

A few weeks ago I vaguely explained what's happening with the herd and how my life is changing.

Then William Fox-Pitt, convention,  and a number of other things took over my life and I had to put introspection aside and do what I do.

A few weeks ago, I left my regular paying, 9-5 corporate non-equine related job. I left the security of knowing that despite good pay, a 401k, stock options and other various, great things in the normal world, I was unhappy. I survived six years of a job that had a crazy mentality and demanded total unrelenting obedience.

I'm happy that I had that opportunity to be there, it's given me a huge amount of perspective that I wouldn't have gained otherwise. It gave me a background for business which has become invaluable. It's helped me expand my skills to deal with a lot of situations. It was a good resource and the team I worked with was one of the best in the world.

But in the end, this was a hobby to them and no amount of bargaining or discussing could change this. So, after the last management change, the talk of unionizing and facing down another winter, I finally said I couldn't do it anymore without mentally becoming undone.

In the meantime, I'm still continuing the clinics, which has been a good thing overall. But there's one final step I'm taking and that's going Professional.

"Going pro" has been on my radar for sometime. It's not something I necessarily wanted to do until I was totally confirmed at Grand Prix with at least appearances at major venues. I enjoy the sport but lately I've been pushing the defining boundaries of what it means to be an Amateur.

I still have a slightly romanticized version of the ideal professional who not only scores exceptionally well, but has a balance between teaching, riding, business and the normal life. They have that pipeline of horses that can sell somewhat easily in the market to buy up or take the capital and run, have committed lovely clients who want to progress in their various paths, a workmanlike barn and an overall love of the game.

While I have many of those attributes, I still struggle with the idea of playing in a broader field, and fear doing what you love may lead to burnout. There's also the fear of becoming apart of the crowd.

In short, aside from the USEF rule book, there is no how-to human resources cook book of guidelines that gives you a path of what to do next. For a lot of us, there are still, and always be questions of how to do this without killing yourself. But I know now that I can't wait around until Grand Prix and to be treated seriously you have to change.

The nice part is my herd has changed too.

In addition to Sinari, Danzador and Reba, there are going to be a few new faces.

Flemmiro SSM, by Flemmingh out of a Ferro mare will be joining the herd.  There are also a few planned breedings in the works to keep things growing in the right way.

So in 2014, with the renewal of my cards, the quality added to the herd, my Amateur status is officially done. I loved my time in this group. It's given me a huge amount of perspective of what people go through to achieve goals.

My next thirty years

In 2014, I'm 30.


I'm not sad that the transition is coming. My twenties have been nothing short of dramatic with a huge amount of personal and professional growth.

While the number is daunting in a way, I really am looking forward to getting older. It also means I'm reevaluating my life and where I want to go.

Recently, especially within the last five years, my focus has changed from just riding and being an amateur to exploring more options as a rider and an active participant within the equestrian community (and you thought I just did clinics...).

However, the problem I see, and continue to see with my age group is the constant struggle to find good horses, good situations and living hand to mouth. We are all searching and fighting for the same thing: a living, a top horse, a good barn and support crew. Even as an amateur, I've experienced it in some fashion, and I'm very leery overall to put my toe in without having a safety net and plan in place.

I'm very lucky in the regard that over the period of years I've created a good network, have access to good training, and now have access to individuals who are starting to make investments with me.  Sinari was one of those investments, Danzador is another, and there are a few more in the wings that I'm very excited about (I'm actually looking forward to winter in the north for once). 

By no means, am I made in the shade, and things are evolving.

Right now I'm finishing up a few projects that will set the tone for the next eight years. I'm looking at finishing Sinari out potentially at I2, maybe Grand Prix in the next few years and then retiring her to being a pasture puff. Danzador continues to grow up, he'll most likely follow the national test track and not the young horse track, and Reba is still going through the levels as an eventer. 


I guess the question I'm posing is where do I go from here?

There's a lot of answers. The first and most obvious is invest. Currently I'm expecting one new horse in to for 2014 (which brings my total under saddle herd up to 4), there is also the plan of breeding two, and one foal purchase for 2014 as well.

Alot of it is still fuzzy, and still a lot of details to be hammered out.

This represents the future of my program, which is scary to think how I'll spend the next six to ten years.

I booked the long way 'round

I have spent the last four or five days on the road. It's been more than incredible, even if I didn't have a horse with me.

I spent the last week at Hassler Dressage at Rivers Edge, managing the barn for Lendon's EDAP program. Rivers Edge is a wonder of a facility and is not only a flagship dressage facility but the standard setter for American dressage. It should be on everyone's bucket list of must-go-see.

There's not a lot to say because words for this experience are very limiting. I was surrounded by the top (Debbie, JJ, Scott, Courtney, Lendon) trainers and coaches in America today for five days straight. I feel incredibly lucky to get to watch and have a minor hand in helping develop good athletes and horsemen for the future. Perhaps I'll be lucky next time and get to bring one or two along with me so I can be a sponge.

I also picked up a lot of good techniques and exercises that I'm implementing with the herd. My current favorite is from JJ which involves the I1 or GP zig-zag (depending on your count), of half pass- walk, change bend canter half pass five strides, walk, change, ect. It really has set up for the wait and change of bend.

Coming back home wasn't difficult, I was looking forward to being back in my own bed and home for all of four days until I hit the road again this past Thursday with a bunch of babies to Ohio to compete at the Hotter than Blue Blazes. 

The horses, despite break, have been working well. Sinari, despite protests of not being able to sit against my hand, is doing great. We went through the same issues when I really started working the pirouettes. I suspect the added pressure of more collection is being a bit of a pest.The rotation of one more hack day (but still asking for this pressure while out) has helped out tremendously.

Danzador has been going well, I had the chiro look at him and she's really pleased with how he's developed his hind end so quickly (thank you lateral work, thou shalt not be shirked ever again). The weather has once again held us back from doing some serious hacking, but once that gets sorted we'll get back to trotting and cantering hills.

Show updates in a later post.

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.