These bruises make for better conversation

I could complain about the month. It would probably make me feel better, but wouldn't be productive.

I'm not at Devon.

I'm at home. With an Eeyore-grey cloud looming around and a hairy bra from doing the fall clipping, a pile of laundry, puttering around, attempting to find shows to bring the babies out to while consuming my favorite pieces of chocolate updating the auditor/rider lists for Debbie McDonald and William Fox-Pitt.

I'm at home with my horses, one with a splint (he's getting better, back to work!), the other having back issues from a bad heat cycle that should hopefully resolve itself out within the next few days. Being grounded, temporarily, is the pits. The hairy bra takes the cake. But it gives a lot of time to regroup, refocus and live vicariously through others.

If there's one highlight in the bunch, it's Reba.

Reba was down in Texas for the AEC's. So without a competition on the horizon, I got to live vicariously through her and her rider the week for their final show of the season.

I was really excited for both of them to top out their year together at the championships, the two have gelled wonderfully.


It's been over a year since she's arrived, and despite an inauspicious start, I think she's finally found her footing, her rider and a career. I'm just happy to be apart of her journey and be able to help give back to the sport through helping someone help themselves.

In the meantime Reba's progressed from an out of shape pasture puff to a solid competitor to now winning the AEC's at the BN level. I'm tickled and it's a positive spot in a dour month. There are some ideas evolving for next season but nothing firm yet.

My other two are chilling for the moment, Danzador has returned to light work with me cold hosing/packing/booting up his legs every ride. Sinari is going through stretch days in a snaffle, I think she's enjoying working on this (seriously the pony can stretch for a 9) instead of grunting around the arena working on half steps.

Otherwise, uneventful if not somewhat productive. 

Don't let me down

Last week wasn't a competition highlight.

Sinari walked in tired and we both walked out frustrated with ourselves. We were fully on track for a 65 percent things came apart in the canter work on each day. The heat didn't help, nor did the footing, the crooked FEI warmup, I didn't help by intensively schooling throughout the week, plus having zero body work done prior to it. It didn't also help it was our first time back in six months in an important show. It was just a bad point in our career, and poor planning on my part. 

I look at the photos and the video from this year and the last, there are changes, huge changes in the muscling and balance points for the better, but like learning the walk pirouettes, it comes with a bit of an attitude at first.

Also downgrading her from I1/I2 work to the PSG also made her a bit mad throughout the weekend, and because of the new muscling- people were questioning whether she was a he.  A lot of mare owners quickly inquired to our breeding status and whether she was available for stallion services.

We'll work on through the issues for the winter with a good pair of eyes. I'm happy that's upcoming soon, and find a number of schooling shows to get our groove back. In the meanwhile I've gone back to playing around with the curb bit, maybe that'll sort things out a tad quicker.

The show itself was a great place to catch up with everyone. I ran into a lot of old pony friends, clients and caught up with them. It was the largest pony show to date with 73 pony entries and a huge FEI class. It was finally great to see this event enter into maturity and get the numbers.

Because it was local, I had to commute between barns so everyone was still being worked whether on or off grounds.

Danzador was surprisingly the highlight of the week, by the end of the week he was greenly schooling half passes and getting more consistent in the balance point. I like where his half steps are going. He too is lacking body work and it shows... badly. On the ground he's going over cavaletti, developing his mediums and trying to develop his back more. It's painfully slow work, but he'll come around. 

Devon is next week, and we hit the road again. 

The luxury of knowing

News does not travel fast when you are in the middle of nowhere.  So, I'm surprised when I walk in to a place when I have full network/bar connections and I have 10 phone messages and 12 text within 10 minutes as.

It's a little unnerving to be without full communication for a week, unable to check things at the drop of a hat, and to make fine tweaks to my program. I was lucky that I can pirate internet connections, and iPad has allowed me to do chat, but phone calls are rare, if impossible.

I've been worried most of the week about two of my entries, the National Dressage Pony Cup and the Dressage at Devon entry. I entered in NDPC quasi last minute because I wasn't too sure about rolling through the FEI again, I sent Devon in advance but didn't receive a confirmation of it.

I seriously hadn't practiced a test (lower level or FEI) in about six months, all this time has been training and conditioning, mentally stepping away from the last three years of the circuit and developing to the last stage of Sinari's career, and having to redevelop key assets in my team. 

The first PSG test I rolled through was a train wreck, everything about it was rushed, hurried and not johnny on the spot. Sinari still feels clever about the counter canter to change at C, and while the pir's have improved, it's still not my cup of tea. The changes were adjustable went from fours to twos in three strides (had to deprogram the two's) and the mediums and extensions felt blasé. 

But we forcibly kept rolling through it and just before my self imposed exile sans horses, it felt solid again and I shoved my entry out knowing this year was going to be a big class (and it is! Five entries! Including Jane Pride's Ilja, Lauren Chumley's Newyn, myself, Jack Flash and Spar Trek) and knowing that we will have to show a lot more to be competitive.

Throughout my trip up, I kept on checking. When my name didn't appear on the list, I was

becoming really worried. My USPS is bad sometimes to the point of why bother. So it's why I tend to utilize online entries or mail drop at the main hub where I know it will be stamped and sent the same day. Which also made me worried about Danzador's entry for Devon. 

A couple of emails, a few phone calls promising various things (first born not included), both my entries are confirmed. I'm entered with times for NDPC, and the Devon was confirmed late last Wednesday (with email confirmation on Sunday) as I was leaving the "green zone" of cell phone usage.

Huge sigh of relief as I begin packing again for the fall and starting to hammer home tests and to catch up with the rest of the herd.

I started riding again yesterday, and I had forgotten how bad the humidity can be in Kentucky after being adjusted to NYS air.  I've never felt more sick in my life in the saddle than I did on Monday- I think my blood sugar completely tanked.

I completed the two works with equally tired, dripping horses, managed to look in on a friend who was having green horse issues and went home, grabbed the nearest bottle of Advil and have a piece of bread (carbs). Today, we get back to it in cooler weather and start rolling through tests again, the weekend I know is fast approaching. 

No one puts baby in the corner

I used to hate lateral work, I found it tedious and a means to the end. Go side ways, move this or that,

look cool doing it. That was about it. My half passes lacked power, my pirouettes were interesting and that shoulder in could definitely be muddled through or cobbled together.

It wasn't until very recently (read: four weeks ago) that I really began to understand and find it useful beyond making whoever obedient to the leg.

Yes, prior to that I was sufficiently nagged to include more lateral work, and I did to some success. But, it was the same old thing.

After Alfredo's clinic, I caved in and started warming up in lateral work, not because I thought it was particularly useful at the time, but the way he related it to me made sense.

Basically long straight lines are served as cardio, they do warm the horse up, but not as thoroughly as it could get. The purpose of a warmup, as explained, is (along with several other reasons) is to mentally click the horse in, create a better balance and create flexibility.

I used to think a few laps around the arena and let the movements do the work, and we have liftoff. Until over four weeks ago, I was comfortably ok with this scenario and then I was introduced to this new way and perspective shifted.

The work is very basic, specifically shoulder in, haunches in on 20 meters (and variations on it). Different horse entirely, different human too.

I added in using the deep corners and making a working pirouette out of them. Part of this was for the horses, the other part was for me to make sure I was using my body in an effective way. Either way it's a neat exercise.

Push forward a few weeks, everyone was warming up more and more uphill, and mentally clicking into the work faster. I started building on the corner exercise again in regular work after I saw old tape of another rider. After the corner pirouette, I start to add in the half steps and pseudo-passage.

The ponies picked up on this way too well, and upcoming dressage competitions (I think we're out of the NDPC, because USPS decided to do naughty things) I've started to downgrade a lot of the new material.

Rain Dance Maggie

My busy summer is coming to a close, and while it felt the summer that never was due to the weather (really, I think this is the rainiest I've had in a long time), and the lack of show miles.

I broke the showing hiatus last week with the young guys. Initially, it was going to be three weeks of showing in a row (schooling, HTBB, and then Meadow Lake) it ended up being: Hasslers, HTBB, and screw this we need to school.

The show went well, I could harp on lack of management, and other things, but really why bother? The boys did well, they didn't set the world on fire, but they got around, made their baby mistakes and ended up scoring decently. Fritz outscored Danzador in the in hand, while I disagree with the placing (and point spread), the consolation is that Fritz has been worked with for five months and has developed- Danzador has been ours for just about two months, and two weeks of that have been spent on a trailer. So in reality, I'm not worried.

Sinari has been going strong, to the point where I feel very confident entering her in the NDPC at PSG. She's handling the pi/pa/pir work (we've been doing a little every day) a lot better. It also makes me debate about bumping to the next level. As much as I want a move up show for I1, I want the two's to be more solid before I venture forth (she reeled off a set the other day) . There's been some debate about doing D@D with her as well, but I think I'll pass since it's fourth level and I really just don't want to go there again with her.

In other news-I've been writing for Horse Junkies United, a Canadian blog about the boys' prep up to Devon. You can follow along the adventures here.

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.

Don't want good, don't want good enough

There hasn't been a moment to breathe on my part since last week. Everyone has been training steadily for the last week or so in and out of the arena.

Sinari is doing fabulous. Aside from being due for chiro, she's been doing well with the pony yoga routine. The concentration hasn't been so much the movements, but riding through. Every movement, every transition has to be ridden through, no exceptions, and has to be ridden for an eight.

This, of course, has been a sticking point with the pony because she likes to throw herself around sometimes, but she's getting over it.

We've been working a lot more lateral work, adding power to the half pass, cleaning up my mental fart of a pirouette (which with this past clinic really cleared up some notions and gave a lot of solutions), even the changes are better.I'm slowly starting to get the idea of piaffe, but without mirrors or a confirmed pair of eyes, it's difficult.

About midweek, we took a break from the arena with her, and went out and galloped on ground that had dried out. She clicked off five miles at a solid pace and had recovery time in 10 minutes.I'm exceptionally proud of her fitness, which is making a huge difference in how long we can last in the arena, and in the test. By fall, with the crisp weather we should be cruising very well. 

Last week also marks one month since the bay dorky thing arrived. Danzador has done a lot for a month, and probably has seen more of the Western part of the country than I will in this lifetime.

It's been a busy month for him. Two chiro sessions, pool time, never ending work and very little time off, the poor guy isn't too sure about what he got himself into. 

Though, this week, it's been particularly intense. Danzador has taken the brunt of the time spent in the arena, simply because the weather and footing outside has been atrocious from all the rain, and my schedule and KESMARC's hasn't been meeting up.

Even when we get a reprieve, the footing is still saturated. This past weekend we were cleared to go out on the grass and we clicked off a few laps around the hill, it was fun to get him out and let him roll. His energy is fabulous, much more forward and uphill, and for a four year old, he takes compression with very little fuss.


In the arena, I introduced piaffe/passage work not too long ago and already is seriously latching on to it. He's not 100 percent comfortable in it, and it's a long way to being finished, but the idea of sitting and going uphill has already started to translate into the other gaits and under saddle. He can do about 5-6 steps in hand, which is a lot considering it's been seven days since we initially started toying with the concept and he needs to gain a lot of strength and topline to really develop.

The good news at one month is: he's becoming immensely stronger in the work as well and gaining definition. He's getting a better neck, his back looks fuller, and he's starting to get a hind end. I'm kinda excited about him for next year, considering this year is almost over. We have an outing with him next week, for a materiale class in Ohio.

This week my schedule gets interrupted to go to Hassler Dressage to manage Courtney King Dye's Horsemastership Clinic. It'll be my first time up at Rivers Edge. I'm looking forward to seeing what is a paragon of barn architecture and an epicenter of American dressage. Not to mention I get to hang with cool people. Always a bonus.