Category: Uncategorized

BIG FAT HEAVY SIGH.

I suppose I should have known that winter still had another trick up her sleeve. The end of January was just so nice, and so warm. I got lulled into a false sense of confidence, excited about a full calendar and ramping up for spring.

We had grand plans to head up to MeadowCreek this past weekend to do some XC schooling. I was very excited to be heading somewhere besides Pine Hill. I love PH, don’t get me wrong, but that’s where we always school and there’s nothing on their course that Henry and I haven’t already jumped. I was looking forward to some new challenges and a change of scenery. Plus the first show of the season is at MeadowCreek, and I really wanted to check out their Prelim course.

Originally we were supposed to get a gross cold front on Friday, but it was supposed to stay above 40 and be relatively dry. Miserable, but still workable. And then Friday rolled around and it was actually 32 degrees and frozen shit was falling from the sky.

But… hey… we’re eventers. As long as the ground is good, we’ll tough it out for XC. Dressage maybe not so much, but XC – heck yes. We got the all clear for schooling, so we got up on Saturday, loaded the horses, and off we went.

And then, when we were only about 20 minutes away from the venue, Trainer called and said she’d just gotten there and it was definitely way too wet to school. UGH. But we were already close, and we had Dobby with us, who could at least benefit from having a look around the facility, so onward we went. Trainer was right, it was REALLY wet. Squishy mud everywhere, to the point where I didn’t even want to get on to hack. So Henry rode 2 hours in a trailer to unload, stand in a stall while Dobby scoped out the place, get back in the trailer, and ride 2 hours back home.

And then it basically spat rain on and off for the entire rest of the weekend. It was cold, it was wet, and it was disgusting. The ground is so saturated at this point that any little bit of rain immediately turns things to muck. All I got to do with Henry all weekend was a walk hack. So much for productivity.

I was waiting to send in my MeadowCreek entry for their March recognized show until after this schooling-that-didn’t-happen, so now I’m feeling a little up in the air about what to do. I’m looking at the forecast for the next couple weeks and wondering how good the ground will actually be in a month’s time, as we head into what is typically our wettest time of year. Henry is NOT a mudder, even with big studs in, so I’m definitely not looking to run his first recognized Prelim in potentially questionable footing. Plus all 3 phases at MeadowCreek are run on grass.

I’ve got 2 more weeks until closing date, so at this point I’m kind of just waiting to send my entry in, watching the weather and hoping that everything will dry up. I’ll really only be able to afford a couple of recognized shows this spring, so if a show gets cancelled or I have to scratch after closing date and I lose my entry fee, I’m just kind of screwed. Of course, there are also only a couple of what I would call “inviting” Prelim courses in Area 5, so if the two shows that I have in mind don’t work out, I’m not sure what my fall back plan would be. My options are limited.

We’re entered in another Pine Hill horse trial this coming weekend, although I think we’re all a bit skeptical that it will actually happen, at least in it’s full format. They are wetwetwet and it’s supposed to rain more there today. The January one was cancelled, so I’m not sure what will happen with this one. There has been talk of modifying the XC course to take out the areas with the worst footing, if need be. At this point I’ll take anything, even a CT, although we really need some XC too. Whatever we can get. Come on weather, I’m finally trying to For Real do this thing that I thought I’d definitely never do, and you’re killing me here. Especially because, in a few short months, we’ll be winding things down due to heat. SO MANY HEAVY SIGHS.

In better news – keep an eye on my Instagram this afternoon for a fun giveaway! There will be free money up for grabs. Everyone loves free money.

Alright, I’ll say it: the US produces horses that are just as good as the ones in Europe. Having seen and/or been involved with breeding programs on both sides of the pond, I believe that this is true without a doubt. And I’m not a commercial breeder, so I feel like I don’t have any bias in this one.

What Europe does have, that we do not, is a solid and well-established pipeline for bringing up and training their young horses, and a way to connect the talented ones with good riders. This, obviously, helps tremendously when it comes to sourcing good young horses as potential upper level mounts for their own riders. I often find myself wondering particularly about France… you so rarely see a French rider at the top international levels on a non-French bred horse. The same is often true of Ireland and Germany, as well. So if we believe that we produce horses here that are just as good as theirs (and I do), yet most of our upper level horses are imports – what are they doing that we’re not?

The biggest missing link in our chain seems to be in connecting the breeders, and thus the horses, with good young horse riders and producers. We don’t really have a program in this country that highlights riders that are particularly skilled at bringing up the babies, and we don’t really have any program to help bridge the gap between them and the breeders. At least… that used to be the case.

New for 2019 is a brand new program, the US Event Horse Futurity. The Futurity is the brainchild of US breeders Laurie Cameron and Elizabeth Callahan, both of which have produced successful upper level event horses (Quantum Leap, in the top photo, was bred by Elizabeth Callahan). They, like many other breeders, have faced hurdles when it comes to connecting their best horses to our best riders. We have programs like FEH and YEH that highlight the horses once they get to competition level, but – how do we get them there? If you don’t already have a relationship with a rider, how do you find one, and how do you promote your breeding program within the US eventing community, to professionals and amateurs alike?

The purpose of the US Event Horse Futurity is laid out thoroughly on their website:

Purpose 

• To develop a market for purpose bred /produced event horses through media exposure and publicity
• To develop and promote a pool of professionals who are willing and able to develop the young event horse to the top levels of the sport
• To develop and align a network of breeders, trainers, and riders to develop the pool of young horse talent in the US
• To engage the general public into the world of young horses and Young Event Horse Training 
• To develop a fan base for young horses and young horse trainers

For it’s first year, the basic outline of the Futurity is simple: it’s open only to US-bred horses that were purpose-bred for sport, and are turning 4 in 2019. There are 12 horses entered, and each paid an entry fee of $525. The money goes into a pot, and will be given out as prize money to Futurity horses that compete at the 2019 4yo Young Event Horse Championships at Fair Hill. Here’s the official prize money breakdown:

• 10% to the breeder of highest scoring Futurity entrant
• 50% to the highest scoring Futurity entrant
• 25% to 2nd place Futurity entrant
• 10% to 3rd place Futurity entrant
• 5% to 4th place Futurity entrant
• Ribbons to the Highest scoring horse and reserve
• Ribbon to the fan favorite entrant (chosen by polling the week before the Championship)

Fan favorite? This is where things get really fun and unique.

We all know that a big part of what makes a program successful is the support it gets – both from the participants as well as from the public. If you can get the public involved and interested, not only is it good for the program itself, but it’s also good for the horses, the riders, and the breeders that are participating. After all, a big part of the purpose of the program is to increase public awareness, and help spotlight the quality of horses that we produce right here in the US. So, the Futurity wants to encourage public involvement as well.

Part of the requirements for the Futurity participants include monthly blog posts or videos so that fans can follow along on each horse’s journey as they aim for YEH Championships. You’ll get to see and hear about how the horses are coming along, what they’re working on, and get to know more about the riders and horses behind the scenes. For people like me, not only is this fun and engaging, it’s also a fantastic learning opportunity. How often do we to peek behind the curtain and get details about how a dozen different 4 year olds are being developed toward the same end goal? Not only is this interesting from the breeding perspective, IMO it’s interesting to anyone in any discipline that has or might someday have green horses.

The blog posts and videos will be posted on the Futurity’s facebook page, and they have an Instagram account that will post regular updates as well. They have already done introductory posts for each of the entrants, so you can learn a little bit about them, their history, their bloodlines, see photos and videos, and maybe pick an early favorite. There’s also a full entry list on the Futurity’s website.

Aside from all the prizes available for the horses, special prizes will also be awarded to the fans that interact most with the social media pages (via likes, comments, and shares). There will also be a winner chosen from the pool of people that voted for the horse that ends up winning. Yep, that’s right, YOU CAN WIN STUFF too! Just by interacting with a facebook page and/or Instagram account.

I am a big believer in what the Futurity is trying to accomplish here, and I really want to do whatever I can to help support it. The program is completely run by volunteers, as well as being self-funded, so having public support is going to be really important. I’m not a rider, and I don’t have an appropriate horse that can participate, but I do have a little bit of a public platform. What I REALLY want to do is encourage participation. I want people to follow along on social media and see how the year goes. I want people to see the kind of horses we’re producing here. I want these riders to get a chance to show us all how good they are at bringing along young horses. I want us all to learn more about what really goes on in the first year of an event horse’s career. So to help encourage more of you to follow the Futurity, I’m offering my own little prize package incentive.

Want to win a “Have a Great Ride” saddle pad from Ride Heels Down and a $25 Riding Warehouse gift card? I’m going to make this really easy, with 4 different ways to win. Pick as many as you like!

• Take a look through the 2019 US Event Horse Futurity participants and leave a comment here letting me know which horse is your early favorite (feel free to tell me why you like that one, because I’m nosy). That’s good for one entry.
• Go like the US Event Horse Futurity on Facebook. That’s good for one entry.
• Go follow the US Event Horse Futurity on Instagram. That’s good for one entry.
• Share this post on facebook. That’s good for one entry.

Let me know in a comment which entry options you took! I will draw a random winner from the pool of entries (and yes, I will verify the follows and likes) so the more entries you get, the better your odds of winning. And remember – the more you like and comment on the US Event Horse Futurity’s social media accounts throughout the year, the more chances you get to win prizes from them as well!

I’m really excited about this program, and I think it could be exactly the kind of thing we need to help us start bridging that gap between US breeders and US riders. How neat would it be to someday have a winning US team all sitting on US bred horses? How neat would it be for all of us – pros and amateurs alike – to be able to easily connect with US breeders and good young horse producers, and be able to get nice horses without having to go to Europe to do it?

I was looking through some old photos on my computer the other day and stumbled across several from Sadie’s 2 year old year. Seeing as how Presto is now entering his own 2yo year, a decade later, it was really interesting to scroll through those photos. First, to see and remember exactly what I was doing with her that year, and also to see just how much her body changed throughout the year. Those first couple years, the changes come fast and they are drastic.

I’ve talked before about how I felt like I didn’t work with Sadie enough when she was a baby, so it’s no surprise that Presto has already done or been exposed to a lot of the things Sadie was introduced to as a 2 year old.

These pictures span pretty much throughout her entire 2yo year, the first part of which she spent mostly in a field with me seeing her only on weekends, and the latter part of which she spent at a boarding barn with me seeing her a few days a week. In the spring she wore tack for the first time, in early summer she got ponied for the first (and maybe only?) time, and then in late summer and fall she went on her first field trip to the park, freejumped, and did more serious lunge work. She didn’t do any of those things on a regular basis, I tended to have more of a “one and done” approach.

Presto, of course, has already done a lot of these things, most of them several times over.

In a lot of ways Sadie was my guinea pig – the first horse I raised myself – and I learned a lot by way of trial and error. Not only did seeing her old pictures give me flashbacks (mostly to all the things I should have done differently) but they also made me remember just how much I really love this process. There’s something so incredibly rewarding about raising the babies, and teaching them new things, and seeing them soak it up like a little sponge. I didn’t always feel that way though.

When Sadie was young I mostly remember how incredibly impatient I was for her to grow up so that I could ride her. In my mind, at least back then, that was where things really started. My obsession with groundwork really didn’t begin until the tail end of her “childhood”, and I’ve learned a heck of a lot since then. I haven’t felt those same impatient, hurry-up-and-grow-up-so-I-can-ride-you feelings with Presto. I’ve had a lot more fun with him in these baby years, and I’ve approached him more from a “let’s do all the things that will give him the best foundation possible before riding ever comes into the equation” point of view. With Sadie, the first couple years felt like an obstacle, but with Presto, they feel like an opportunity. And that has nothing to do with the horses themselves – that’s the difference in me as a horseman 10 years ago versus me as a horseman now.

The other fun part of looking through all those pictures was watching Sadie physically change through the year.

She was almost a hand taller by the end of the year, and fluctuated drastically from squat and chunky to long and lean and then back again. She also finally started to grow into her legs a little bit, although by the spring of her 3yo year she looked like a giraffe again. Presto comes by that trait honestly.

Last year Presto definitely did the majority of his growing between February and August, so it will be interesting to compare all of his different growth spurts and pictures to the ones of Sadie. Sometimes I look at him and see a lot of Sadie, but other times I look at him and see a lot of Mighty Magic.

I think part of having a baby horse is trying to picture, on a pretty much daily basis, just what they might look like as an adult.

I’ve given up trying to guess what Presto’s type might be. Sadie was very thoroughbred-looking for a long time, long and lean and light. And then she hit her 7th year and doubled in mass, and there’s not a darn thing about her anymore that would make you believe she’s 58% TB with a full TB parent. Presto has more TB of course, at 73%, but Mighty Magic is not known as a refining stallion, so it’s tough to guess what his adult type might be. More lean like his sire? Heavier like his dam? Who knows.

I think maybe this year I’ll make a concerted effort to take conformation pictures of Presto every couple months, so I can go back and see how he’s growing as we go along. Stumbling across the pics of Sadie was really fun, and I’d love to be able to have the same type of memories with Presto. Especially when he’s an adult, and we can all go back and laugh about how goofy he looked at 2. Because someday he won’t look like a giramoose anymore. Right? RIGHT???

Most of you know that I am a big Riding Warehouse fan, and as such, I find myself on their website on a regular basis, browsing for things I might need, or just looking at what’s new. They make this pretty easy, with the whole New Items category right there on the main page, broken out by week. I like to peruse through all the newly added items, just… ya know… so that, uh… I know what all they have. Because… reasons.

But anyway.

I found myself there on Monday, because I was looking at and comparing all the different kinds of buckets. Presto finally destroyed his over the fence feeder (which, granted, took him like 8 months, even if it was being held together by duct tape and blanket straps for at least 4 of those) and the regular bucket we put up to replace it lasted all of 2 days. Is there such a thing as a Presto-proof bucket? He’s a really violent eater.

After much grumbling and dissatisfaction while browsing through all the bucket options, I wandered over to the New Items page instead. I can always find happiness there. And as soon as I started scrolling down, I about died. This might be my most favorite product that RW has ever carried.

Yes those are men’s boxer briefs, with donkeys on them.

I don’t know who at Cinch is responsible for making these, or who in Purchasing at RW is responsible for adding them to the lineup, but big tip of the hat to you both. I got a really good laugh out of them. And if these don’t sell out, I’m really disappointed in our society in general. I mean… Valentine’s Day is coming up, right? What better gift for your beau than ass underwear? I’m kind of jealous that there isn’t a girl’s version, to be honest.

Maybe my amusement is partly because my life has become pretty donkey-centric the past few years since moving to my current barn, where first Henry fell madly and completely inappropriately in love with Dudley

and then Presto came to antagonize live with Bob and Dudley.

Those donkeys are a great source of entertainment for all of us, and the reason why Presto’s nickname is Swamp Donkey. They are 3 of a kind, the donkeys put up with a lot, and I’ve really come to love them. The picture on those bloomers looks a whole heck of a lot like Bob. Who knew their species would be the model for the latest in ultra-fashionable men’s undergarments?

I mean… I guess there are other cool things in the New Items section too, like Neue Schule bits and round bale slow feed nets and moar brown tall boots. But are any of those things as awesome as donkey underwear?

NO. NO THEY ARE NOT.

I don’t think they’ll ever top this one.

 

 

It’s weird having lessons on a regular basis. I dunno how all this is actually managing to work out right now, but I’m not going to question it. This is a rare luxury! Although it does kind of make me pine for how things might be if I was able to get this much instruction on a regular basis. I definitely took for granted all those times when I had a trainer in-house… or in the same city… or not 2 hours away. She is worth it, but boy do I wish I lived closer. Seeing her more often just makes me feel that way even more.

Hillary and I headed out for another jump lesson on Sunday, with Henry and Inca and Dobby in tow. Henry and Inca were up first, and instead of jumping height this time, we were going to focus more on rideability and adjustability. The timing was perfect, because I’d just made a bit of an equipment change.

I’ve been doing stadium in a hackamore for almost a year now, and I really like it a lot more than a bit. It’s much easier to get and keep Henry in front of my leg, and to keep his front end/shoulders up. The downside to it, of course, has been that we sacrifice some adjustability. I bought the PS of Sweden hackamore specifically because it’s the most mild I could find… the shanks of the hackamore itself are swept quite far back, several inches further than most mechanical hackamores, which significantly reduces the amount of leverage. It also comes with a leather curb strap, making the curb action quite mild. To me the PSoS hackamore rides more like a step between a sidepull and a regular hackamore.

Which is great until the jumps are 3’7″ and you’re trying to make quick adjustments in a line.

If I needed to jump in and whoa the first and second stride, I really wasn’t getting it done until the fourth or fifth. Everything was just a little slow, and if Henry decided to try to take over and drag me around (ahem stadium at Pine Hill when he lost his mind because I smacked him with the whip one time), there wasn’t much I could do about it.

So I swapped out his leather curb strap for a curb chain. Well okay I tried to do this a couple lessons ago but the curb strap I had from my old mechanical hackamore was way too long for the PSoS hackamore. Waaaaay too long. I had to order this one, which is – I shit you not – “miniature horse” size.

It fits perfectly though, and I adjusted it fairly loosely, able to stack two fingers between his jaw and the chain. You never know how Henry is going to react to new things like that. He is sensitive, and he is high drama.

I was pleased with it. We played a lot with rocking his canter back on his hind end in the warmup, doing lots of changes of directions/flying changes by almost thinking pirouette to sit him down, then doing a change and sending him forward again. I felt like I had a bit more control right off the bat. For our first jumps Trainer sent us directly to the outside line, telling me to get 4 strides the first time and then 5 strides the next. I could actually get the “whoa” done early in the line and then coast out. Brakes are magical.

As I said earlier, this lesson ended up being a perfect test for the new setup, since it was focused on adjustability and rideability. We practiced different striding, and stringing jumps together in quick succession on odd lines or angles, making things ride more like combinations.

I definitely need to get used to riding with the curb chain, and find my happy medium. I can’t have as much contact as I was used to before, but conversely I have to be careful not to just “throw him away” so much, especially with my shoulders. There’s a learning curve here, for me at least. I’ll play with it more at home this week and try to fine tune my aids and coordinate myself a bit better. The fact that Henry didn’t have a meltdown about it is promising, because if he really doesn’t like something he’s 0% shy about letting me know, usually in a most dramatic fashion.

Overall though, it’s nice having a bit more whoa, and being able to make adjustments more quickly. Kiiiiiind of important.