Month: March 2015

Something I saw last week on Instagram bothered me a little. Lainey Ashker posted a pic of her before dressage at the Carolina CIC3* and she was wearing a top hat. Normally when I see this I just roll my eyes and think the person is an idiot (natural selection at it’s finest!), but I guess this one bothered me a little more because so many of LA’s almost 5,000 Instagram followers, and fans in general, are kids. You don’t see William Fox-Pitt with a super active Insta and Facebook, creating a bit of a “relationship” with us commoners, even though his wearing of a top hat does trigger the same eye rolling from me. But Lainey is a social media butterfly, and as such her following has the demographic that you’d expect: young and impressionable. There’s a lot of worship going on in the comments of most of her Instagram photos. I think that’s what bothers me slightly more about this one than WFP.

I’m all for people having the right to do what they choose, even if that choice is stupid. But I guess at some point that line is blurred for me when the person in question is what could be considered a role model and public figure. At what point do you think the pros/upper level riders should care more about setting a good example than their own personal fashion sense?

I personally think she looked so much better, and so much smarter, in this picture from showing dressage in Wellington:

When USEventing posted a pic of LA at Carolina on their Instagram account someone made a remark about the top hat. LA’s mom was quick to jump to her defense with this comment:

I have to admit, here’s where my eye rolling intensified to such a grandiose level my eyeballs almost fell out. You’re joking, right? Woo, go ‘Murica! Woo, head injuries are my god-given right! If you make me put a helmet on, you’re anti-America! Everybody wave your American flags!

I’m a little torn here, because LA and her mom are not wrong. It IS totally legal to wear a top hat, and it IS her right to do so. In general I’m a flaming liberal and am all about people being able to make choices for themselves. But I guess the word for how I feel about it is disappointed. I’m disappointed that there are some pro’s out there who, despite having lots of people that look up to them and even borderline worship them, opt for the selfish choice. I’m disappointed that Lainey is only one of many. I’m disappointed that in this day and age where we have seen so many people taken down by head injuries, most of which happen in the “dumbest” of ways, people still choose to go unprotected. I’m disappointed that anyone would choose fashion over safety. I’m disappointed that people are too selfish to protect themselves as much as possible, because if you end up with a TBI you aren’t the only one whose life is forever changed. I’m disappointed that helmets are not mandatory for FEI competition… and yet I’m also disappointed that it’s necessary to force people to wear a helmet. We are smarter than this, aren’t we?

How do you feel about it? Should everyone be free to wear whatever they choose without scrutiny? Should pro’s be considered role models and therefore held to higher expectations? What do you think when you see someone come down centerline in a top hat instead of a helmet?

Saturday morning marked the end of the 9 day stint of barn sitting. I feel like this whole month has been a blur, since for the first three weeks of it I was only home for 2 days. When I got home Saturday afternoon I basically collapsed in a heap and didn’t move the rest of the weekend. I’ve been battling a sinus infection turned bronchitis since I got back from Belgium, laying awake half the night coughing, so I needed the R&R. I also decided it was a good time to go back and watch the first 3 seasons of The Walking Dead (I started watching at season 4) and let me tell you… jamming that much zombie apocalypse into a day and a half messes with your head a little. My dreams have been weird.

Otherwise it’s been a quiet few days. Mostly because of this, which came through on Friday/Saturday.

Sigh. I know we need the rain but does it all have to come at once? Hopefully everything dries out enough to be rideable again by Wednesday. We’re now less than 3 weeks from horse trial #1 of the year and not being able to ride very much isn’t exactly leaving me with warm fuzzies about it.

I also decided to switch Henry’s feed. He’s been very slow to put weight back on (really he hasn’t gained much at all) and I think he needs something that packs a little more punch, so on to Triple Crown Complete he goes. I’ve been really happy with the TC products in the past and I like how good the Complete is for ulcer prone horses, so we’ll see how he does. I’m tired of seeing ribs.

It also occurred to me that I never really shared Barn Kitty Farrah from the place I was barn sitting. I’m not generally a cat fan, but she’s pretty adorable.

Happy Monday everyone! Sometime this week hopefully I’ll have time to finally put together all my stuff that I have for sale. I’d still like to let most of it go in a package deal to minimize my headache, if anyone is interested. It’s mostly dressage tack but I’ll have some breeches to sell separately too I think. I want to clean out most of what I don’t wear before the new ADE collection comes out.

One of my favorite things about the first few months of the year is seeing all the new collections roll out from various clothing brands. Sometimes there’s brilliance and awe, sometimes there are raised eyebrows and gagging. In the spirit of Fun Friday, let’s play a little game of Hot or Not.

Kingsland Anna show coat – pink fuchsia

Fior da Liso Daria show shirt – Hibiscus. Obviously meant for dressage or eventing folk, with the stock tie. And more pink.

Denim anyone? How about about Le Fash’s upcoming light grey denim City breeches?

Asmar is rocking some pink too with their new Punch color, but they also added Sunshine to their City Jacket color options

As long as we’re on the subject of color, Annie’s brought the Papaya for spring.

WordPress seems to have temporarily permanently eaten the poll for this one so you may or may not ever see it here again. I have no idea, I give up. Move along.

Eeeeeverybody’s on board the sticky butt trend, and judging by their Caja Grip breeches, Cavallo apparently likes red this season. They come in yellow and light pink too if you’re feeling particularly Eastery, but I won’t do that to you.

Kastel is going two-toned with their new Charlotte Studio Collection, coming soon…

Horze sees your trend of colored breeches with tan patches and does the reverse. Rebelz.

Equiline’s Gait show coat is is available in Bordeaux

Lotus Romeo goes for the subtle approach to detailing on their new blouses.

Yet another unique coat, Valentine Equine added some lace side panels to their upcoming Hollywood Jacket.

And last but not least, Roeckl just wants you to have some really fun hands.

Henry and I have now been at the farm I’m barnsitting for since last Friday. It’s a small private barn with lovely Trakehners that the owner does dressage with. Her ring is super nice, a lovely long dressage court with rubber and sand footing.

I’ve had a couple nice dressage rides since we’ve been here, and hacked out in the fields a couple other days. But yesterday I decided we really wanted to jump. A quick perusal found a few standards but no jump cups or poles here in Dressageland. Then as I was out in the ring picking up the letters that the wind had knocked over, it suddenly hit me. Put a bunch of dressage letters together and what do you get?

No, not kvepf. You get a jump, people… you get a jump.

Poor long-suffering Henry has been with me long enough to not be even remotely phased by any of my bullshit or harebrained ideas, so naturally he didn’t bat an eye when I pointed him at it.

 

Every time I think I’m being clever about jumps or courses he’s like “whatever lady, you bore me. But I’m cute and I haven’t killed you yet, so give me cookies!”. Touchè, Henrypants… touchè.

This is what happens when you leave a crazy eventer alone at a dressage barn for a week. Next thing you know I’ll be dragging out the patio furniture. I’m kidding! Be reasonable, I can’t lift that stuff over the fence by myself.

 

Although I am not a breeder, I have worked for breeders, bred one horse of my own, and been avidly interested/semi-involved in the breeding industry for over a decade. Often when I see a horse at a show that I particularly like, I will approach the owner and ask what it’s bloodlines are. 9 times out of 10 I get a blank stare. Once I even had to tell the person that their horse was registered BWP (according to it’s brand) because they had no idea what that “wagon wheel” was. Serious facepalm moment.

I understand that sometimes papers are lost and people just don’t know anything about the horse, but the amount of people who also just don’t care in this country is pretty shocking to me. If you ride sporthorses, and have any interest in riding them in the future, you should care! The breeders are the ones that produce the horses, but the riders are the ones that end up with them. We wonder why Europe outproduces us? Do we just enjoy paying 10k+ on top of purchase price to import their horses?

I think what a lot of people just don’t understand is how heritable many traits are. It’s no coincidence that certain lines are known for producing a certain temperament, or requiring a certain type of ride, or being slow to mature, or jumping over themselves in front. If you ride a horse that was purposefully bred for sport, someone somewhere planned that breeding with an end goal in mind. They picked out both parents and considered traits that they hoped both would bring to the table. The results may vary, but they are no accident. You can often tell a lot about a horse just by looking at the papers.

Even those of us sitting on OTTB’s (or QH’s, or Arabs, or Morgans, or or or) should not consider this a reason to be uninterested in pedigree. In the same way as sporthorses, any breed has lines that have become known as standouts for certain abilities (or lack thereof) in sport. Study well enough and eventually you’ll be able to look at a pedigree and make a guess as to what the horse might be suitable for, even though it was originally bred for something else. Sure, there are exceptions, but you’ll be right most of the time.

Dr. Ludwig Christmann did a really interesting study on heritability with the Hanoverian registry many years ago. Want to know the two things that were found to be MOST heritable? Head and jumping ability. What ranked lowest? Legs and correctness of gaits. If you want to read more about it, go here. Of course, some stallions pass on certain traits more than others (for good or for bad), but those little nuances are the things you learn along the way.

Really I cannot wrap my head around why anyone just plain wouldn’t care about breeding. Even if you say “I don’t need a top level jumper or an amazing mover, I just want something that is enjoyable to ride!”. Guess what else is highly heritable – temperament, character, rideability, and willingness to work. Guess what some of the qualities are that they evaluate at stallion testings – ding ding ding, you got it.

I know it can be mind boggling at first, but in the internet age where we have so much information at the tip of our fingertips, it’s easy to learn. Be that weirdo that sits in the stands with me at horse shows and looks up bloodlines on USEF, only to be super frustrated when there’s nothing listed. If we want to get better we have to fix this, and it starts with changing people’s minds about how much it matters.