Better Than You

No, I don't think I'm better than anyone else. At the very least that title caught your attention though. Right?

I love me some Vegas!

My fiancé took me to watch the dressage Grand Prix at the World Cup yesterday for a birthday present. I was really excited to go, even if it was just for a day. I doubt I'll get many more, or any, chances to see Valegro in person again. Or any of the other European horses for that matter. I was also really looking forward to the gift show.

Spider saddle by Borne Saddlery. I want a tiger one...learn about their design your own saddle program here.

To die for Konigs!

We got there early enough to go through the gift show. IT. WAS. HELL. Don't get me wrong, it was almost all any tack ho and equestrian fashionista could ever want, all crammed into one heavenly area. The problem was a) it was packed and b) a large portion of the people packing it were on a quest to prove they were the largest equestrian divas of them all.  They would stand in the center of the aisles name dropping, brand dropping, breed dropping, whatever they could do to loudly proclaim "Look at me and all I know!"

A store on the trip.

When they weren't doing that, they were pushing people out of the way to get to whatever they wanted or demanding the vendors attention. In their mind, they were special and everyone else was irrelevant. They put a lot of effort into proving this.

Obviously, not everyone there was like that, but there was a large enough amount to make it miserable. Seriously, what is it about the large events, like the World Cup, that makes people think they need to prove how wonderful they are? They're going to watch an event filled with the best riders in the world and THEY are trying to impress everyone else? I'm pretty sure that one of these riders isn't going to be walking by, hear you preach about bloodlines, and suddenly stop to tell you how amazed they are by your superior knowledge. So... shut your mouth and get out of the damn way!

I finally got fed up, I didn't even buy anything *shame*,  and the fiancé and I went to our seats. I realized within two riders that watching my dream horses wasn't going to be as pleasant as I expected. Insert the "expert" behind us. Head phones were available to purchase so that you could listen to commentary. I preferred not to and just wanted to watch the rides without it.  It seemed that most people around me were of the same mind set. The lady behind me seemed to think those without were disadvantaged.

The "expert" made sure to not only repeat the commentary, but to add her own. She loudly proclaimed "If you don't have a headseat, then you're just watching the whole thing in silence!"

My fiancé sarcastically responded, "Or at least we'd try to.", which of course gave me the laugh that I needed right then.

Friends that share the love of dressage :)

Her opinions were uneducated and obnoxious. The minute she said that Legolas's extended trot "didn't have enough float", I about lost it on her. Fortunately, a lady next to us turned around and asked her to be quiet. It kind of worked.

Anyway, the horses were amazing. The riders were amazing. I still loved it and I'm still grateful that I was able to go. I was able to see my best friend and her mom. We had dinner with them and another friend and her husband. To top it off, JL and MB, my trainers from Hellbuquerque, were there too. I've missed them so much! They might be going to some shows in Denver this year, so I'm SUPER excited about that. In short, it was a wonderful birthday gift to go to the World Cup! I'll do a happier post about my favorite horse/rider combos soon.

Being there did get me thinking though. When did riding become about people putting themselves so high and others so low? Theory is one thing, DOING is another. Understanding theory is easy. Applying it successfully and truly understanding feel is hard. Being able to teach that is even more difficult. Anyone can read the books, you don't even have to know how to ride to learn the lingo. Who cares about hearing what you have to say, what can you do? What have you accomplished? That is where respect comes from.

At what point did people start thinking that being a raging snob become a requirement in equestrianism? Do they really think that if they act like arrogant know-it-alls, people will suddenly start worshipping them? Why in the HELL would anyone start to think these type of people are anyone that is worth looking up to? Especially when most of them seem to be mediocre riders at best? The worst part is that some people actually DO start to idolize these types of people.

I guess the people that I have respected the most in my equestrian life have been the ones that don't have much to say unless they're asked. They didn't feel the need to profess their expertise. They didn't care about what you wear as long as you were dressed in a safe and respectable manner. They didn't need to be worshipped. They never felt the need to boss people around. Most important, they never had that "I'm better than you, so you have to do what I say" mentality.

Coolest sock store ever!

The fact is all the best riding clothes in the world won't hide an unhealthy horse. The most latest and greatest tack won't turn you into a great rider. Knowing breeding doesn't make you a good horseman. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy great riding clothes, invest in the best tack you can, or be knowledgeable of bloodlines. I'm saying that they aren't the only things that matter and they certainly don't qualify an average rider to become the judge and jury on everyone else's skills. Most important, you should never let anyone like this influence your confidence or any decisions you make for your horse.

The best riders have an uncanny ability to take what they've learned and think for themselves, not for everyone else. THAT is someone to look up to.

*I'm not complaining about the people that try to give helpful tips here and there for the right reasons. There is a HUGE difference between them and the self-proclaimed experts that put themselves on a pedestal.

New Blogger: Zen and the Art of Baby Horse Management

Nicole and Murray

Nicole, an eventer, started her blog, Zen and the Art of Baby Horse Management, last Fall and most of you equine bloggers probably know her by now. If you don't, you definitely need to. I've really enjoyed her training recaps due to her informative, yet very entertaining, posts about her horse, Murray. Murray is definitely a horse with a lot of personality who's antics will leave you laughing. On top of that, Nicole is a very interesting person, which you can read about here (she's seriously done some really cool things).

Stop by Nicole's blog to get to know her and Murray. You'll be glad that you did.

Horse Racing Preconceived Notions: Weight

My fiancé and I looked at a horse at the track for someone that was interested in it for eventing. This mare was actually in the same barn as us, so we already knew some about her. She was really thin and needed some serious work in the hind end. Other than that, I really liked her. She was as sweet as can be, tall, clean legged, pretty, and smart. On top of that, she was well bred and would be worth at least as much as a broodmare. If she didn't work out as an eventer, she would still be marketable. The lady bought her.

I was looking through Facebook one day and happened to see that the lady who bought her posted pictures the day that the mare arrived (the new owner had tagged a couple of mutual friends in the pics, I wasn't stalking). She looked extremely thin and her previously shiny coat was all puffed up (she'd just left 75° weather to go to 30° weather) from the cold. Plus she had just taken a very long trailer ride that had sucked her down even thinner. In short, the mare looked like shit.

Not the horse she bought. All of these pictures are of horses that are or are close to the weight and condition that we typically want. This guy is bordering on being just a bit too heavy.

I'm not blaming the new owner for posting the pictures. It's a new horse, she probably was a little shocked by her weight, and she probably wanted to track the horse's progress. I would have done the same.

What bothered me were the comments, not only in just the first post of her, but in the ones that followed too (again not stalking, friends were tagged in them). People were saying that the mare just needed groceries and some TLC, that she must think she died and went to heaven. They assumed that she had been neglected. I know it's an easy conclusion to jump to, but they are so far off that it isn't funny. None of them saw what her life was like at the track, but I did.

This mare started her career in a very good barn. Seriously, almost all of this guy's horses look absolutely phenomenal and are the ideal of what a fit and healthy racehorse should look like. They are fed extremely well. This mare was an exception to the rule when it came to weight and muscle. While I'm sure that she was fed and trained just as well as the rest, I never would have guessed that she could have come from that barn if someone hadn't told me. When the next trainer bought her she was already thin.

The next trainer is an old man, the mare his only horse. He spent a ton of time grooming and petting her. She was given more than enough feed and it wasn't poor quality. I was doing something with one of our horses one day and looked over to see this old man crouched down picking as much grass as he could to take to her, not because he was doing it to get her to gain weight, but because he knew it would make her happy. It had to have hurt him. Anything he could try to get weight on her, he tried. He did get some weight on her, but he could never get enough. Even though she was thin, she still had a healthy coat and her eyes were bright. She was always happy and never seemed sour or depressed.

The mare loved him. She would just stand there perfectly and let him do whatever he wanted with her. His hands were arthritic and the mare would patiently walk next to him for as long as it took for him to get the walker snap on and off of her. He was very kind to her and in return, she was just as kind to him. They appreciated each other.

I will admit that it probably took longer than it should have for the old man to give up on her racing career. However, when your wife is dead and you have nothing else to do, it's a little hard to give up on the one thing that fills your day. He believed in her and she would often show just enough for him to justify giving her one more chance.

When he finally did decide that she needed a different career, he just wanted her to have a good home. He wasn't asking much money for her, she was definitely worth at least what he asked because of her breeding. Fortunately, I believe that she did find a good home.

I don't know why the mare wouldn't gain weight. She probably had ulcers (her coat was still shiny and healthy) and I think that the hind end issues bothered her quite a bit, even though she wasn't actually lame. Maybe track life was just too much for her. I don't know. What I do know was that no matter how hard the old man tried, she never put on as much weight as she should have. The point is that he DID try. He may have made mistakes unintentionally, but he never neglected her and he definitely never starved her. She was probably fed more than 95% of horses that have careers outside of the track.

While there are a few people on the track that don't feed well, most do. Anyone that is competent at all realizes that the horses need good groceries to perform well. Not to mention, no owner wants to hire a trainer who's horses are thin and nasty looking. It's just bad business and no good ever comes out of feeding a horse poorly.

Does this mean that well fed horses always look good? Absolutely not. There are so many other factors that contribute to weight loss like ulcers, illness, stress, pain, etc. While most people do everything they can to prevent this from happening, sometimes it happens anyway. It can happen fast, too. Anything can happen. Just like with any other horse on the planet.

I understand that people, who's only knowledge of the track is what they've heard through the media, are going to have a hard time believing a horse would be in bad condition for any other reason than mistreatment and neglect. Even people that have been involved in racing might have trouble believing otherwise. It can be the case, but just as often there are other factors involved. There is almost always more to the story and few situations are that black and white.

In the end, all that really matters is that the mare is in a good home where she gets good treatment. I hope that she will continue to gain weight and muscle. If she doesn't, I hope that the people judging the previous owner don't jump to the same conclusions about the treatment she is getting from the current one. I guess I just wish people would question more and judge less before reaching a conclusion.

*I'm sure that some of the horses in these pictures look slightly thin to people who participate in other disciplines. I guess I'd have to ask if you ever see a person that runs track carry as much weight as a sumo wrestler? No? Why do you think that is? Well, that is precisely why these horses don't carry the same weight as a dressage horse does. You're comparing apples to oranges.

Barn Hunting Woes

Finding a new place to board is always difficult for me. I don't know why, maybe it's just intimidating. Or maybe I'm just scared of putting my horses in a less than stellar situation. I'm also a little terrified of ending up in a barn full of dramatic dressage divas (also known as DDDs). I've been incredibly lucky in avoiding that in Albuquerque and Phoenix. The jumper barn I was at in Parker (Denver) was also fantastic.

We will be living in Aurora. See the problem?

With us getting ready to move back to Denver in just over a month, I figured that I better start getting the boarding situation figured out now. I've had trainers recommended, but none are close enough to me.

I think my requirements are pretty realistic?

1. A trainer or allowed to bring a trainer in. I'm pretty independent and don't need to be babysat, but I obviously want/need to continue my education.

2. Stalls w/ runs, paddocks w/ shed, or large turnouts. I HATE for my horses to just sit in a stall all day. I don't care if it's show season, I prefer for them to live outside as much as possible.

3. Good footing.

4. Good/safe stalls and fencing.

5. A trainer or barn manager that doesn't tolerate, and ESPECIALLY doesn't join in on, barn drama bullshit. My dressage horses are my escape, I mostly just want to be left alone or be around laid back people. #noassholes

6. A cross country course or large jumping arena (a place to go gallop). Even I get bored out of my mind being stuck in a dressage arena all of the time.

7. Knowledgeable, experienced staff.

8. Covered or indoor arena. Because I'm a huge wimp when it comes to extreme weather, plus it rains a lot in Denver.

9. Good ventilation and light if they are kept in stalls most of the day.

10. Must be within thirty minutes of us. I don't have enough time to drive further than that on an almost daily basis.

With those requirements, I have about four different options.

A. Fancy Horse Park

Pros:
•Great facilities with about everything you could ever hope for.
•Home to several large shows (showing Indy at the home court would be very, very nice AKA I might actually not die).
•Did I mention it would damn near be perfect?
•About a twenty minute drive from the track.

Cons:
•Cost- It would cost me about $800 more a month than I'm paying now to keep both horses there. I can do a lot of things with that money (a show a month for both horses, 8-16 lessons depending on the trainer, a couple of clinics with both horses, etc.)
•They only have one dressage trainer and about five H/J trainers. This may or may not be a good thing.
•The price might give the fiancé a heart attack.
•The chances of being surrounded by high maintence DDDs increases immensely.

B. The Jumper Barn

Pros
• This place takes phenomenal care of the horses
•Offers a multiple horse discount
•I really liked the jumper trainer and have absolutely no problem taking lessons from him again
•Jumper trainer already knows Indy (he warned me when she was three that she was going to take a lot more time and patience than most horses #rightontarget).
•Great facility with all the amenities, stalls w/ runs, and turn out time in huge pastures.
•The board is more expensive, but it covers everything from grain and supplements (they have an awesome feed program) to turn out to two lessons a month.
•Zero risk of DDDs.

Cons:
• I'm afraid that this place will make me want to convert to jumpers. The temptation is real.
•If I do find the time to show, I won't have a trainer there to coach me.

C. The barn I took a lesson at last year.

Pros:
• I really liked the trainer.
• A super awesome lady that I know from home boards and rides there.

Cons:

•The facility is also a horse rescue, which is great for the horses being rescued. However, rescue horses coming in means a large increase in the chances of diseases also coming in. It would be bad enough to have Winn and Indy get sick, but I can't risk our entire livelyhood by taking the chance that I could bring something from there back to the track.
•They have a lot of kid camps. I don't mind a few kids at the barn here and there, but when you get about thirty of those little buggers in one area, they turn into crazy gremlins running running around like a bunch of crackheads. I prefer serenity whenever possible.
•I don't necessarily love the facilities and the BM's wife chasing/running her horse around a hundred miles in the arena next to where I was taking a lesson didn't impress me. Beefs handled it fairly well, but Indy would probably plant my ass if that happened.

D. Barn that seems great, but I don't actually know much about.

Pros:
•The facility looks functional and nice.
•Affordable
•Only twenty minutes away from the track.
•Dressage trainer and eventing trainer based there.

Cons:
•I don't know anything about the place or trainer or who to ask about it.

Anyway, I'm thinking B and D are my best options right now. If anyone has any info about trainers in the Aurora/Parker, CO area please let me know.

Claes Clinic

I love clinics! As much as I love showing, I may actually love clinics even more.

My friend at the barn was kind enough to come out and snap some pics of Indy and I towards the end of our ride on the second day of the Garitt-Claes Bierenbroodspot clinic. If you ever get the opportunity to ride with him, I would highly recommend it. He's tough, but fair. He works you and your horse hard, but not past the limit and personally, I felt like I got more than my money's worth out of it.

The first day of the clinic, Claes came up to introduce himself and ask about Indy. I'm not much to go into detail about my horse, they don't need a life story, so I basically told him that she's still pretty green and that our warm-up was probably not going to be very pretty, that it takes her a little while to get into working mode. He told me to just start warming up like I normally would.

Indy kind of did her thing, going a little hollow, gawking at stuff here and there. It's just her and I have to work into things somewhat gradually. If I try to force it, our rides can go south pretty fast. I decide where we want to get to, but I do better if I don't try to rush her into it. Claes was very patient while we warmed up, having me send her more forward when she would get fussy or try to come above the bit and then asking even more as she warmed up.The basic theme of both lessons was to pretty much be very aggressive about pushing her really forward and through into a steady contact (my weakness). I mean REALLY forward and through. 

Spastic left wrist.

I realize that this seems like an easy/obvious solution, but it's not that easy. When you try to push a young/green horse really forward and through, they're going to get to that point of "running" (in the gate) and our first instinct is to slow them down, damned what the results may be. To continue to ask for more forward and more through from there until they actually start using themselves, taking slower/longer strides, and going into a correct contact is extremely difficult and not something that is easy for most of us to push ourselves into doing. Combine that with trying to fix your positional flaws, that I have WAY too many of, at the same time along with several other details and it gets really tough. It also gets results.

Anyway, instead of boring you with every detail of my ride and the fact that the left side of my body is seriously not cooperating with me *Oh, hello left leg! You DO serve a purpose!*, I figured you guys might enjoy some quotes (along with hashtags because I was just in that type of mood while writing this) that may or may not be useful to you:

Spastic left leg and needing to sit back more. I'm not going to beat myself up too much.

"You know what you need to do, you just need to trust yourself."

I think he said this within the first fifteen minutes of my ride. Yeah, he had me summed up pretty quick. For example, I'm still not sure I know what I should do, I just know what I FEEL I should do. I guess that's probably the same? #trustyourselfyouidiot #confidenceiseverything

"It's okay if she makes mistakes."

This should be pretty obvious, but the type of people that ride dressage tend to be perfectionists (it's one of the few things in life that I am a perfectionist about) and our horses can easily fall victims to our anal-retentive tendencies. I need to let her make mistakes. As much as I would like Indy to be this mature epitome of professionalism, she isn't yet. That will come, but I can't force it to happen without being unfair to her and probably ending up with a bitter horse that hates her job. #dontbesuchahardass

"It HAS to make sense! If it doesn't make sense there is no point in doing it!"

I have to laugh about this one a bit. I was originally taught by a Swiss guy that you didn't really say much to unless you were asked. You were always welcome to ask questions, but his way of teaching was so clear that there was rarely a need to. So, I pretty much just shut up and rode and that's how I've been since. Anyway, Claes had just finished explaining something to me and then looked at me expectantly after I only responded with nodding. So, I expanded on that with the uber intelligent remark "That makes sense." I don't regret saying it, because he's right. Riders often do things because it was what they were told to do, but they don't understand exactly why or how it helps them get what they are looking for. They don't know the feel that they are aiming towards. It's something worth remembering. #knowledgeiseverything

Note to self: never wear this sweater with a polo under it again. It isn't flattering.

*I can't remember the exact word-for-word quote on this one, so this is the general drift of it

If she breaks gate, send her forward in the gate she chooses. Breaking gate is her way of avoiding work and connection. She needs to know that she is going to keep working no matter what gate she is in.

How many times has your horse broken into the trot when you are trying to get them to walk correctly? And how many times have you asked them to go back down to a half-assed walk only for them to do it again? It doesn't matter if it's breaking from a walk to a trot, trot to canter, or canter down to a trot, the reason for doing this is is most likely going to be the same. I know that I'm super guilty of this. And how often in these instances of breaking gate does your horse stop stepping through, get behind your leg, and lose the contact? Probably a large amount of the time because if they are doing this they are probably green and their whole purpose of doing it is to avoid coming through in that gate. It's not that they are being bad, they're just being horses. This isn't a punishment, just a part of their training that they need to go through.  #younghorseproblems

While Claes pushed us hard, he also gave us lots of walk breaks. There's a difference between avoidance and being too exhausted to do what the rider is asking. I think this area can get very touchy because you have to be fair about it. 

"Did you ride jumpers? Because most dressage people don't know when to send a horse forward like that."

I took this as a compliment. I did get to ride/groom for a large jumper barn a long time ago, but I wasn't a real "rider" (or even close) as in showing at HITS or WEF. I didn't tell him all of this, once again he doesn't need my whole life story, but just said "A long time ago". I'm pretty sure he could tell that I was never a super star in the jumping world. Mostly I rode young horses on the flat and didn't jump anything but smaller stuff or take them through the jumping chute. I didn't really care about jumping that much, dressage was my true love. I loved riding the young horses. One of the "real" riders, who was ABSOLUTLEY amazing, taught me a ton about flat work. He was insistent that I carry my hands and send the horses forward into the contact. Over the years, I've picked up bad habits of trying to get the connection (usually by my hands getting too low) without enough forward, even if I wasn't necessarily heavy handed. This got even worse after I hurt my neck. It was good for me to ride with Claes and get that timing and feel back. Now, I just have to focus on keeping it.  I've always liked taking basic flat lessons from a good jumper trainer and think that they can be very beneficial to all dressage riders. #credittoallyoushowjumpers

"It doesn't matter. If it was too much, you just have to adjust next time."

He said that after I over-corrected Indy and said "Oops. That was probably too much." Just like my horse, I'm allowed to make mistakes. No big deal, learn from it and move on. #learningprocess

"You wouldn't want to push her like this every ride. Some days you have to take less, you have to know when to stop and try again the next day."

It is really easy to have a great ride in a clinic or lesson and then push too hard to try to get the same results again. Trust me, I definitely know. It's hard to recreate that kind of quality when you're by yourself. When you take a lesson or clinic, you're paying to be pushed. You don't have to do it every single ride. What you do have to do is know is your horse's limit for that day. #thegoodridecurse

Collapsing through my left side her. My back felt fantastic the Saturday, but Sunday I woke up with my neck out again. Don't get me wrong, I have a a tendency to make these mistakes in my position anyway, but when my neck goes, it's almost impossible to fix them. I spend so much time, effort, and money into making sure my horses are feeling good, I need to do the same for myself.

After my ride on the first day, Claes had told me "good job" and was walking away when he turned around and said "Nice horse." That may not seem like a big deal, but he isn't the type to say something he doesn't mean just to be nice. He knows his horses (google him if you don't already know of him) and if he says I have I nice horse, I must. Indy was really good for the clinic and handled the larger amount of pressure very well. I was SO proud of her!

I was able to enjoy and learn a lot at this clinic due to Lisa at Diamond L Equine Therapy incredible efforts of getting Indy feeling fantastic and J using the lesson before to prepare Indy and I for what our rides with Claes would be like.

Also, thanks for the pictures Tammy! You may have single handedly saved this post :)