Author: Amanda C

Perhaps the most important part – what did we eat and what did we buy…

Let me go ahead and disappoint you right off the bat. I spent a grand total of $42 at the trade fair, and the overwhelming majority of that was a gift for Bobby. I know, wtf, he’s such a tool, why am I buying him anything? I dunno, pity I guess. But otherwise I couldn’t find too many things that I just had to have.

Anyway, let’s back up a bit. Michelle (with 2 L’s. You’ll see why I say that in a minute. Why is everyone named Michelle?) and I got into Baltimore before noon, picked up our rental car, and headed north. Naturally we had to stop along the way at some hole in the wall place for lunch, where I got this giant plate of sodium.

After that we headed straight to one of Maryland Saddlery’s consignment shops (WE DON’T HAVE THOSE HERE) to poke around. Let me just say, they have a really impressive collection of randomly weird stuff.

Despite my best efforts, I walked out of the store with absolutely nothing. Twas a sad day. I totally would have bought these gorgeous Sarm Hippique paddock boots if they were my size, but alas they were juuuuuuuuust too-small enough to be impossible. Damn toes.

After that we were off to my other friend Michele (one L)’s house in Newark where we were given a proper greeting by a particularly friendly little monkey dog.

Thursday and Friday were pretty much totally consumed with judging. But besides giving us a place to stay, Michele (One L) also got us the hookup on a VIP parking pass and lunch tickets, so Michelle (2 L’s) and I majorly lucked out on that one. We got front row parking and free fancy-people lunch both days.

Despite long, exhausting days, we still managed to stuff our faces appropriately every night. We’re troopers like that. Can we just take a minute to appreciate UDairy Creamery and their giant cookie dough chunks? Look at it.

After we were done with the YEH workshop on Friday, Michelle (2 L’s) and I walked the 3* course. Well, part of it. We quit at just over halfway, because too tired. She’s only been to a couple of events before, and definitely not one of this level, so it was greatly entertaining to see her reactions as she walked up to some of these fences.

Saturday was our only free day, so we showed up early to watch the 2* and 3* XC. Michele (one L) was able to join us that day, and we all descended upon the trade fair together.

I pretty much immediately dragged One L over to the Eponia booth. I’ve followed this brand on Instagram for a while and thought they had some cute stuff… riding clothes, tack, etc. I knew that One L in particular needed a new dressage bridle and likes the PS of Sweden styling, but didn’t want to spend that kind of money. She said she wanted a 2-tone bridle so that it would match both of her saddles, and bam, there it was. Black with dark brown padding, rhinestones on the browband that pretty much perfectly matched her horse, and they had it in his size. Five minutes into the trade fair and I had One L dropping money like it was hot. Let’s just take a minute to appreciate how right I was though, it looks awesome on her horse.

There were a few more things in the Eponia booth that I was sorely tempted by but just couldn’t quite close the deal with my more practical inner self. She’s such a buzzkill.

We wandered around inside the tent to visit the smaller booths, and I bought Bobby his official FHI gear. They didn’t have anything left in my size that I liked, so I guess I just wasn’t meant to buy anything for myself there. Next I dragged One L and Two L’s right into Mango Bay, where they both proceeded to buy things while simultaneously convincing other shoppers to buy things too. We are a powerful force.

I kept waiting to stumble upon something really fascinating that I’d never seen before, but the only “new to me” thing I really saw was one half pad and it was a little weird.

Otherwise I mostly just kept circling back around and petting the Voltaire monoflap in a way that seemed to make the rep a little uncomfortable. Sorry, guy.

As far as fun splurges go, the trade fair was a bust for me. But convincing the L’s to buy stuff was almost as fun, since I didn’t have to spend my own money. My wallet is relieved.

 

And then of course, there was this:

I was standing by fence 21 on XC day with some friends when ML went by with RF Scandalous. Even though I was several strides back on the landing side of the fence, I could see the red-tinged mouth from at least a few strides before take-off. My first thought was “What brand sells red-mouthed bits?”. For real, that was my first, utterly ridiculous thought, because I just couldn’t believe it would actually happen again, especially in front of my own eyes. Then as she got closer my mouth just gaped open and I said “Holy shit. Oh my god.”. As she galloped away I turned and looked at my friend and asked her if she saw it too. There was a lot of red, and it was very obvious even at speed and even from many strides away.

My friend Michelle had her camera so we immediately pulled up the pictures she had taken so we could verify what we’d seen. There was no doubt about the presence of blood, and a lot of it.

Here is where I should back up a bit and explain why Michelle was even there with me at Fair Hill in the first place. She’s a lifelong h/j rider, and her breeding program is jumper-oriented. But she’s seen how much fun I’ve had with eventing, and she’s excited about my upcoming eventer baby. She has been considering possibly refocusing part of her breeding program to eventers, and even considering investing in a syndicate on an upper level horse. I have, of course, encouraged these things, because I love this sport and think she would love it too. Fair Hill was supposed to be a “come see how awesome this is and leave feeling inspired” kind of thing. A bloody horse galloping by us on XC, not getting pulled up at any point over the 10 minute course to be checked, and the horse in question ending up winning the event… let’s just say inspired was not one of the feelings she had when she left. Eventing needs people like her, and incidents like this only serve to drive them away.

Aside from the majority of the general public and a very select few upper level pros (much respect to Sara for having the integrity to speak up), this has been handled with mostly silence and avoidance. At what point will we stop defending this? The saying goes: once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. But apparently four different times (Boekelo 2015, Fair Hill 2015, Galway 2015, and now Fair Hill 2016) on three different horses within a one year time period is not enough. How many times is too many? By the time you’re done piling on all the different eyewitness accounts of the series of events that allegedly happened that day, it raises a whole lot of eyebrows. I said it last year and I’ll say it again – we’ve really got to revisit the wording of the FEI eventing blood rules so that this can’t happen, much less repeatedly. I don’t really think that zero tolerance is the best answer, but surely we can do better than a rule that allows four incidences in one year with no consequence. Something isn’t working.

I used up most of my rage last year at the first two instances and all of the fallout that came after I posted about it. Now I’m just left feeling demoralized, defeated, and disappointed. Disappointed that it happened again, disappointed that this rider and her team not only seem to expect it but have figured out how to get away with it, disappointed in the fact that how it was handled is technically within the FEI rules as they’re written, disappointed in the governing bodies that seem more interested in defending it than stopping it, and disappointed in the image that this gives to the sport that I love.

I’m also embarrassed… truly and deeply embarrassed for my sport, and the fact that this performance garnered someone a National 3* Championship title. The media can’t even post any pics or videos of the winning horse from XC day because it’s mouth and chin are covered in blood. As an American eventer, I am absolutely mortified by that. It’s shameful, and it’s disgraceful. It’s an image I don’t think we can afford to project. Let’s be clear: no one has won here, especially not the sport of eventing.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow (with the actual fun stuff from Fair Hill) because that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

If I was feeling brain dead after all that dressage and conformation stuff on Day 1, my brain had pretty much completely exploded by the end of the jumping phases on Day 2.

In a lot of ways, day 2 was obviously a lot more interesting. Watching horses gallop and jump beats the heck out of endless dressage any day. But on dressage day we were looking for moments of brilliance, whereas on jumping day we had to a) take every single step into account b) figure out what all of it meant to the bigger picture. If a horse had one ugly jump – why was it ugly? If the horse looked underpowered sometimes, was it truly weak or was it because of how it was ridden? If the horse made a mistake, did it learn from it and improve? And so on, and so on. Judging the show jumping and xc were a lot more complicated, really.

At the YEH competitions the riders get a little bit of time before the whistle is blown to trot the horse around, look at the fences, or pass through the water. They aren’t allowed to jump anything, but they’re given a minute or so to let the horse look around and become comfortable in the setting. The course itself was pretty straightforward. The way the jumping portion works is more like a derby format… there is a short showjumping course (in our case it was 6 fences) then the horse proceeds to a short XC course. After completion of the last fence the horse is galloped at speed to the finish so that the open gallop can be judged.

The XC course was, IMO, an appropriate championship level course for these age groups. The 4yo course was very straightforward but asked enough questions to get an idea of the horse’s rideability. The 5yo course (click here for video of one of the 5yo’s competing) was more complicated but still appropriate. The route through the second water was definitely the toughest question on the 5yo course and caught a few horses and riders out. It was a true test of the horse’s bravery, attitude, and desire to keep going forward. A few didn’t want to play, and several of them jumped it quite greenly, but the vast majority jumped it without hesitation none-the-less. This question really helped separate some horses that were otherwise quite close in score.

 

The scoring for the jumping section of the YEH test is quite important, as it makes up 50% of the final score. The jumping ability, rideability, and general impression scores get a x 2 emphasis as well. A good, safe jumper that is willing and able to do the job is what they’re really looking for. A horse is not necessarily penalized for a refusal or a rail… it depends on why it happened, and what happens afterwards. Did the horse learn from it’s mistakes and get better as it went, or did it continue to pull rails, jump poorly, and be backed off the rider’s aids? That’s where having a good eye and good judgment really came into play.

Overall I thought that the majority of the horses were well-ridden and well-presented. There were a couple who looked perhaps a little bit overfaced here and there, and sometimes there was a rider who would not really allow the horse to gallop between the fences or keep coming forward to jump out of stride… all of those things had a negative impact on the score. For the most part though, the horses visibly gained confidence as they went around and looked quite pleased with themselves at the finish.

One 4yo in particular was presented in a leverage bit and was ever really allowed to come forward, and subsequently it did not have a very good round or get a very good score. While there currently is not a rule requiring snaffles for the YEH competitions (wouldn’t be surprised to see one coming) it definitely weighed on the scores to see the horse presented in such a manner. Good to know: the judges really DO NOT want to see that.

I paid particularly close attention to the 4yo that Phillip Dutton was riding, Miks Master C, since he’s by the same sire as my upcoming 2017 foal. I was happy to see a well developed young horse that looked very rideable and willing, albeit a bit unimpressed with his simple little fences.

Unimpressed horses was really the most challenging part of the practice judging. I know everyone worries about these young horses being rushed, but for horses with this level of natural talent and riders with this much experience, these jumps are quite small and easy. Some of the particularly more unimpressed horses just looked a bit bored and left you thinking “Man, he really looks like he needs a bigger fence.”. Obviously that isn’t an option here due to age, but it made it more challenging to judge those types. You were pretty sure there was a lot more talent and jump lurking in the horse than what they were showing you, but it was tough to really know that for sure when they were just loping over them nonchalantly.

It was a long day, but again I left feeling like the education I gained here was priceless. Even if I choose not to send my horse through the YEH program (I will let the horse decide if it’s ready for that when the time comes) I really got a lot of insight into exactly what they’re looking for, and was able to hone my eye for spotting talent in a young horse. Judging these horses is a tough job, but it was an honor to get to sit there with someone like Marilyn and bounce thoughts and ideas around. I think USEA has a really good thing going here, and I’m interested to see how the YEH program continues to develop. Maybe we’ll be there with a horse someday!

How to completely fry your brain in one easy step: sign up for a YEH judging workshop. I learned so much that I’m not even sure I can fully absorb it all. My brain is still mush. In the absolute best way possible, of course.

On Thursday we met Marilyn Payne and the rest of our group beside the dressage arena, spent some time talking about dressage judging in general, the YEH program specifically, and what they’re looking for. Then we started practice judging, first as a group, and then on our own, followed by a group discussion. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever been so interested in watching very basic dressage tests in my life. It was pretty cool to see that most of the time my scores were pretty close to Marilyn’s, though.

The way the YEH stuff works is a lot different from a regular dressage test. They don’t judge the YEH test by each movement, but rather by the overall impression you get as the horse performs it. As you watch the horse perform the test, you’re looking for it’s best possible walk, trot, and canter, and giving a score based on those “best moments”. We also gave an overall score for submission (where obedience and rideability came into play), and the impression of the horse as a potential future 3* or 4* competitor. The dressage portion counts for 35% of the final score.

In the YEH judging, you are truly hunting for talent. Riders who sacrificed brilliance for the sake of accuracy did not do their horses any favors in the scoring. I actually wondered if some of them really knew how the YEH classes are judged and what exactly the judges are looking for. There were many instances where we thought the horse likely had another level of brilliance lurking in there, but the rider just wouldn’t quite be bold enough to show it. You can’t score brilliance if you don’t ever see it.

After we watched several of the 5yo tests, we walked back down to watch some of the conformation portion. We discussed what makes a good event type, things that were particular positives, and things that were particular negatives. The most important part of conformation is type – does it look like the right type of horse to be an eventer? We want something that isn’t too heavy or too light of bone. Something proportionate, with good feet, a good neck set, well-balanced, with correct legs and a strong hind end. You want a horse that looks as if it’s built correctly enough to stay sound at the 3* or 4* level. Of course, while conformation CAN certainly be a predictor of a horse’s future potential, there have definitely proven to be many exceptions. Conformation only counts for 15% of the final score.

After the conformation lecture, we went back to the dressage and this time judged the 4yos. It was more of the same of what we did with the 5yo’s, really searching for that moment of brilliance in each gait and the overall impression of the horse’s potential. It’s hard to really see it in some of these horses, being so young and green, but it almost became a bit of a game to try to find that glimmer of what the horse might someday become.

At the end of the day we compared our group scores to what the actual judges had, and while we were consistently lower than they were number-wise, we pretty much had the horses in the same order. A couple of things raised some collective eyebrows (especially one horse in particular in the conformation section), but overall I think there weren’t many surprises in how the order shook out.

Marilyn of course gave us homework… we were to walk the course for the jumping portion and be prepared with our thoughts/comments by the following morning, and we were to study the materials she’d given us on how the jumping portions are judged. Clipboards, folders, and pens in hand, we marched over to the jumping course to look it over, then lugged everything home and read about what was to come the following day.

Day 1 was definitely really long, but SO enlightening. As someone who is really interested in young horses, breeding, and the YEH program, what I learned was valuable beyond measure. To be able to sit with someone like Marilyn, in a group comprised mostly of judges, and hear/be a part of these conversations… wow. Just wow. I really think that having a good eye for a horse is super important, and this kind of thing is such a great way to fine tune it. Many thanks to the USEA and Marilyn for the opportunity.

Tomorrow, on to Day 2 (the fun part)!

 

The most common response I get when I tell people that Henry is away at rehab is “Wow, that must be expensive!”. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that, I might almost be able to cover the cost of rehab. (Heh… no, not really…)

 

And while yes it’s expensive, it’s really not that bad when you look at the services we’re getting. Most people that have heard the overall 30-day figure have said “that’s really not that bad, considering”. They’re right, it’s really not that bad, considering. From all the shopping around I did, what I’m paying is pretty average for a rehab type of facility. I kinda wish I’d known a long time ago just how (relatively) affordable this kind of thing can be… I guess I just assumed it would be crazy big bucks.

So for the sake of spreading the word in a “the more you know…” kind of way, I figured I’d share some numbers. Hopefully you never need services like this, but if you do, maybe this will help you figure out whether or not it could possibly be within your budget. Like I said, most of the places in Texas that I looked at were very similarly priced, so I would assume the costs would be relatively comparable elsewhere too.

The way our particular rehab place works is that there’s a basic board fee, and then whatever rehab services you opt for (the aquatred, laser therapy, saltwater spa, theraplate, etc) add a set per diem cost on top of that figure. Pretty standard setup across the board, from the research I did. The base board fee is $600 and includes:

• double size stall
• whatever feed you want (mine eats Triple Crown)
• coastal hay (pretty much constant, so however many flakes per day that they eat)
• a flake of alfalfa at each meal
• daily grooming
• fly mask on/off or blanketing if necessary
• turnout, if the horse is allowed (mine isn’t)

Already a pretty good rate with the alfalfa, premium feed, and daily grooming thrown in. A nice perk is that the owners live on site plus have other employees there daily, so there are always people around. They also let me leave my trailer there for no additional charge, which is nice.

Beyond the basic board rate, things take a pretty individual turn. My vet only had two specific requests: aquatred 5x per week, and bandaging when necessary (the vet laid out criteria for when he wants the leg bandaged, so it’s up to the facility staff to determine the necessity).

The rate for the aquatred at this place goes up or down depending on how often you use it. Once a week, no price break, but the more you use it per week, the cheaper it is per use. Most places I saw just had a flat rate, so getting a little bit of a price break was nice. With the frequency that Henry goes in the aquatred, it brought that figure down to only about $23 per time. Use of the aquatred also comes with time on the equiciser (at a walk, to warm up and cool down) which is a nice inclusion. So figuring he’s in the aquatred 5 x a week at a rate of $23 per time, that adds about $460 for the month.

Bandaging/wound care is a rate they quote you depending on how intense it is – some things are easier than others, obviously. Henry’s is $5 per time he needs to be wrapped, so they keep track of it and we figure that number out at the end of his stay. So far it hasn’t been many. This seemed to be on the cheaper side of industry standard… $10 was the most common rate I saw.

As for the rest of the services, I can’t really speak on individual pricing. I know that just like the aquatred, they too had a sliding scale depending on how often it was used. I suppose if you wanted to utilize lots of different therapies, things could get expensive pretty quickly, but it’s also pretty easy to tailor a program that will work for you and still be relatively affordable.

For a month of individualized care and rehabilitation, while still keeping my horse gorgeous and shiny and fit… seems like a pretty good deal to me. If you ever find yourself in a really crappy My-Horse-Is-Broken situation, definitely take the time to look around at some rehab facilities in your area and see what they can do for you… it might be worth it.