Change is gonna come

A few years ago, while I was still in corporate I sat down with a friend over a few drinks. As we chatted away they had asked me what I wanted to do, obviously knowing I was, despite good paycheck and vacation days, unhappy with my then-present situation. I don't remember much about the conversation, but it involved a lot of mention about changing.

2014 was one of those seasons that involved a steep learning curve, it was my first year as a professional, it was my first year out of the traditional corporate structure, it also involved in a lot of letting go, and finding out what needs to be done for the future. In short, it involved change.

Change is funny that way, you don't see it coming but, it's always happening. I really don't think I would be pursuing what I'm pursuing if this year had not happened the way it happened. I'd still be planning Florida with the pony and Haiku, I'd still be involved with Reba. Haiku and Flair I don't know if they would be even in the picture. Germany would be a non-entity. Whether you call it luck, karma or anything else, I do feel that I'm doing what I've meant to be doing; and despite all the upheavals over the past 12 months, I'm alright with things.

Part of that is very much due to the team, sponsors and ownership behind the horses. Pennfields, Rood and Riddle (Dr. Laurie Metcalfe and Dr. Ashley Embly), SunShine Meadows, A&G Investments, CORE Therapies, Rosanna and Carey Gage, Noble Spirit Stables, Equissentials Breeches, and many others who coaxed, cajoled, and flagged waved along the way.

Truth is, I've only really accomplished two goals for 2014. Which for who I am, is really frustrating. There was so much I wanted to do this year.  But in honesty, this year reached more towards the overall goals versus the month-to-month, year-to-year things. I'm looking forward to 2015, and the string of horses I have.

2014 Goals:
1. Start Gold Medal. Be schooling the majority of GP.
No. But before Sinari's semi-retirement, we were schooling all the canter tour of the GP, minus 15 ones (she batted off 9). My plans for the USDF Gold are temporarily shelved for a variety of reasons. First being my FEI horse was decidedly not going to physically hold up, and secondly, after seeing a few of my professionals pursue, and received their's with barely-pushing 60 percent (with the ambition that they will be successful at CDI level with current mounts), it gave me new perspective on what kind of quality I want to be known in addition and the fairness aspect of pushing a horse that far. It's still on the goal list, but it's going to be more about the right time, right place.  

2. Have national rankings on each horse. End up in the year end awards for All Breeds and at minimum be qualified for regionals.
No. With Sinari out, and Danzador experiencing intermittent, bad-timing cellulitis and Flair being barefoot and pregnant, all competitive goals were not met. By the time Haiku came onto the scene, the year was over. 

3. Increase fitness (human and horse).
Achieved. I go to yoga two to three days a week between riding horses. I plan on adding more cardio in 2015, but yoga has given me a lot of strength and body awareness in the tack. Only downside of it is that I have to shove myself to the studio, which isn't as habitual as going to the barn. Plus some bonus items that allowed me to work through some mental garbage. All my horses were fitter (well, Sinari got fatter, Flair became more pregnant-y). Even Haiku is pretty fit as a two year old, Danzador, up until he was sold could do a solid trot set and canter work. 

4. Expand clients, horses in training, and investments that are capable, at minimum of shining on the national stage, also continue to remain fiscally solvent.
Achieved. I expanded my clients and investors. Fiscally speaking, it ended as a good year. I had a few horses in training earlier this year, but they and their ownership wasn't the quality I was wanting to represent so they were sent home. I picked up regular lessons, in addition to some work for a few eventers that need help with their dressage. I also received opportunities to go abroad and work, and began thinking about the long-term quality I want to be sustaining and what stage I want to campaign 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. 

2. Continue to increase fitness (human and horse).

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. 

4. Dedicate personal educational opportunities once a quarter with my coaches (in a non-clinic capacity) to keep developing. 

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.

And the small shall inherit the earth

I make no bones that I'm in dressage ponies, it's obviously the subject of this blog and what I heavily promote.

So when USEF announced its pilot Youth Pony Program headed by grand pony-queen, Lendon Gray,  I couldn't be more estatic and a tad envious as well.

If you haven't been on the scene in the last ten years, there is a definite cry for competitive pony schoolmasters for youth to learn effectively and safely on. Concurrently running on the heels of USEF's announcement the most recent issue of Dressage Today (November 09), there is an extensive blurb on how we need these mounts.

Venues such as Dressage at Devon, and upcoming ones like the National Dressage Pony Cup, have started taking up the cause. Even the CDIs and GMOs are starting to award high points for the 148cm and under variety.

Yes, we need venues, and competitive mounts. We need riders, trainers who are willing, financiers who are wanting and organizations to track bloodlines, results and reward those who have participated (my vote goes toward a Pony of the Year award with USDF). It's a huge, Atlas-like undertaking.

But there are a few problems.

First, comparatively, it's not financially lucrative to breed and raise dressage ponies versus the hunter variety. The  pony who can crack it's back over fences on the AA while packing the wee child around and the pony who can do tempi changes, piaffe and still pack the wee child around will command about 30k less than it's hunter counterpart. If it's an eventing pony, well... good luck.  If you think I'm not serious even in this economy, go look.
 
Adding to the conundrum, the same pony will most likely not be bought by parents for a child, but rather, by an Adult Amateur who is downsizing, wants manageable, has zero international ambition (because FEI rules state they cannot compete in open CDI classes) and has the cash to pay for the pony too.

So stating the obvious, hunters have perfectly created and dominated the pony market. It's made pony ownership not only attractive through specific kid-pony classes, but incredibly lucrative. It's allowed efficent, euro-styled development of a variety of pony jockeys, auction places and bloodline tracking. The sheer scope and industry impact is amazing. 


Also another thought is the venue aspect, every year there is the Pony Finals in Kentucky. This USEF-backed and directly hosted event annually happens with great amounts of patronage and time spent by all getting to it.

Even as a dressage person, I love this event. Aside from getting stuff that actually fits and is well made for the pony, it's well run and executed. It attracts the numbers year after year too. There are some top notch ponies and pony jocks. Dressage ponies don't have a governing body backed event, at least to the scope of Pony Finals, those that are in existence are privately funded and sponsored.

Secondly, by the time a person has invested not only the cash, but the time creating an FEI-capable pony, usually wants to keep it for herself. This is even after the pony has been on the market for months at a time.

Personally, I know this, not because Sinari is for sale, but because I'm going in to that situation.

Have I been made offers on Sinari? Yep. By a variety of people.

Have I considered them? Yep, I'd be very ignorant not to. But in the end, this is my pony, and of all the horses I've ridden so far, she's the one I look forward to everyday. There's not really ever going to be a price on her. Plus we're only now getting to the fun stuff.

So to say the very least, I want this program to succeed. Future plan-wise, it would mean a ton more support and business for those out there who deal in this kind of market. It would develop the dressage bloodline so it's comparative to the hunter world. It could create the venues, the riders, allow patronage and develop the community far beyond what any individual can do by themselves.

However, this is a step in the right direction and I applaud it. But, there needs to be some fundemental changes in addition to hosting clinics.

Personally, I would like to see a development of pony-only awards, young pony venues (BuCha would be awesome), development and support of pony-only riders and jocks (not just the youth variety).  I would also like to see a cross-cooperation of breeds. All too often, I see the natterings and politics working against the overall goal so that one book can one-up the other or self-stabotage itself. If these can be fudementally met and supported beyond the initial honeymoon stage, then we, as a nation, will be all that much more compeitive in the long run.

Oh baby

We finally had enough break in the weather that we all could work consistently for three days straight and lo... life became a lot better.

Sinari is a rambunctious mess. To the point where there were no breaks. As my grandfather once put it: she really needed to blow out some carbon. So, at 50 something degrees today, I was happy to get her out and gallop hard. It was a well deserved break after Tomorrow and Sunday I have a lesson. There has been some talk of bumping the lesson schedule up to three times a week, which I'm all for at the moment.

May is doing exceptionally well keeping the herd in line with each other. One false move and the blonde children are told exactly where they belong. The old girl can still outrun most of the herd. It's entertaining to watch.

Bella began back this week with just easy ground work. I figured this would be the best way than dumping directly back into under saddle.

I've been thinking a lot about this baby. With this baby, Sinari's proposed in '11, it would make four, maybe five horses. Scary. Five to six total to handle (Bella, Sinari, May, Baby 1, Baby 2).

What worries me the most is financials.

The economy sucks. I'll admit that. I'm standing in the middle of a huge fire sale of bloodline, bloodstock and ponies that normally wouldn't be on the market at prices that I wouldn't normally be able to afford and it really makes me weep because its like being an obease person in a cake factory.

How I'm going to do this without killing myself or my long term goals (farm will be purchased in 2016, would like a new truck to haul with, and continue on showing, schooling at current schedule and open up a business) still remains to be seen. But the whole will/way thing should be kicking in.

First stop: the bank.

Back to the drawing board.