If you're going to play in Texas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All my exes in Texas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So it should be a fun, hopefully productive trip.

Fastest girl in town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Might as well jump

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

that matter, wants to do it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resoundingly yes.

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

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

Baby, baby, baby

I've had walking allergies for the last few weeks, which is not normal by any stretch of the imagination, but the weather, and stress finally got the better of me.

But being laid up for a few days isn't so bad, I had a stack of magazines/books to look through, a freshly anointed cable box to watch all sorts of movies and fun shows (hello cable horse show coverage!) and a speedy internet connection when literature, the moving pictures and texting proved fruitless and boring.

The downside of being laid up in late March and early April (aside from missing out on the bouts of nice weather)? It's breeding season. Again.

Everything with four and sometimes two legs wants to reproduce itself. Stallion auctions are concluding, stallion shows are going off in Europe with delightful tape trickling in. Breeders are sizing up their wallets and preparing for the impending wave of foalings.

This year I'm going back into the game.

The past few years I've been watching Sincere grow, and now that he's onto his new adventure (who is happily doting on him with all sorts of fun toys) it kinda leaves a void in the line of talent. I enjoyed producing him, I enjoyed watching him mature.

Yes, Sinari is jumping the big 1-4 this year, she's making the leap to becoming a really solid upper level horse.

Reba is doing well, but not going to be a dressage horse (updates on this later). She loves to jump.So someone has to earn a paycheck in this business might as well be her.

So, I'm looking at a couple of gap years and using this year as a developing year for everyone.

There's the option of also going to Europe for a few months as well, but I'm not looking at that trip just yet. 

So it's off to the shed we go.

I've always been very partial to the KWPN books, I grew up with good, talented, Dutch horses (also worked with PRE/PSL occasionally). Not the half baked nimbly things that everyone often sees, but powerful, compact horses sometimes with questionable temperament. The love was only really aligned when I followed many of the Black Pearls of the 90s, the spectacular little horses that really secured Dutch dominance. I've been keeping track of them ever since. 

Over the past few years, I've developed a lot of relationships with breeders, and found a number of mares that I adore. I've found bloodlines that I've clicked with and feel that are in line with my programs.

So this year, we're aiming for a late in the US Season (working Canada!) Jazz x Ferro cross.  

Cause after all

I initially started writing about breeding season, but really words about reproduction right now escape me. I have breeding plans this year, but right now, I'm not up to discussing anything that involves a blue container and getting to know my FedEx delivery guy.

Show season kicked off for the barn, I had friends go out to one of the local schooling shows at the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Snowbird shows are very basic shows, sometimes even with questionable semi-frozen footing and weather to go along with it. You see the whole of the local Kentucky dressage universe there, but it also makes for good times with friends and cohorts. Intially I wanted to show but lack of transportation (just finishing up truck shopping again) and willingness to put management through extending the arena for a PSG test (I don't like being a prima donna), so I opted to help a few people out while fielding the occasional question  of when and where I'm going out next.

Truth is, I'm having trouble focusing in on showing this year after three years of being driven on the circuit (the bi-polar weather isn't helping either).  Kentucky's judge list plus the temptation of good footing is really asking me to go out just to do a PSG test. But really I want to push back to July.

Despite the doldrums, things have been going forward.  

Sinari has been schooling fantastic, County came out and reflocked the saddle and we're now cooking right along. Having these few months of taking her out of going and just doing the movements and now creating the power behind the movements while cleaning up our acts makes a huge difference. Her best pirouettes were done this past weekend I felt they were small and very balanced.

Now it's time to seriously up the ante and get eyes on the ground to really get behind the drive. The one's are trickling in, but the zig zags tend to allude us (I get stuck in PSG mode of school the big zig, instead of doing centerline-quarterline-centerline ones).

There are a few clinics planned for her that I feel she would benefit from and get out. 

Reba is doing well too, her schedule is going to ramp her schedule in May. She's becoming more forward at the canter and more solid with the connection. Fitness remains her biggest challenge, but for a horse that was maybe total ridden 5 times last year, this makes sense. 

There are also some new faces on the horizon, but more on this later.