Top 5 Songs that remind me of Shannon.

#5 Mary Jane’s Last Dance. She always says “My daughter says this is her song,” when it gets to the line “She had a good looking mama, who never was around.” If this songs comes on, and something resembling a dance floor is nearby, you better believe Shannon will be up there dancing on it, even if no one else does.

#4 She’s Mine. I introduced Shannon to Brett Dennen, my favorite singer/songwriter. She did not love him at first…but eventually she warmed up to him, since she loves to listen and analyze lyrics. His lyrics are just like poetry. Even though I heard this song 100 times before, Shannon was able to point out some lyrics that I never understood. I will never forget singing this song alongside her when we saw him in concert - one of the best nights of my life! There were also numerous occasions when she jumped out of the car to dance to this song on the stereo when she pulled up to pick me up. She could always make me smile.

"#3 Brown Eyed Girl. Shannon is one of the top Van Morrison fans in the world - having known him and all - but she HATES this song! I’m not exactly sure why - something to do with it being over played? Maybe she thought Van was selling out? Or perhaps it was not a good reflection of his work as a whole, but it was one of his more popular songs. Who knows, she is complicated. And yet I have still seen her dancing along when this song comes on.

#2 Angel. That’s right, by Shaggy. This was one of her top requests when we went out. A lot of times it was either not well received, not available, or incredibly awkward. It did not matter to Shannon, and I do admit that the few times when it was appropriate, it was quite enjoyable - like on New Year’s at the County line bar.

#1 L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole. Every time this song comes on, Shannon begins dancing her musical freestyle on Omi, whether or not Omi is mounted, tacked up, or even in the same state. I remember going to a show with her, and when this song came on she exclaimed, “Someone else is using my freestyle music!” Funny, because Shannon has not yet created or ridden a musical freestyle. I will still think of her each time I hear this song because I know Shannon is not the kind of person who gives up on her dreams. She takes them with her no matter where she goes.

Clinic with Megan McGee

This last weekend I had the chance to ride in a clinic with Megan McGee. I had never ridden with her before, but I had met her a few weeks ago when I took some of my students to their first schooling show that she was judging. I found her to be a very fair judge with a positive and supportive attitude. She gave my kids a great first show experience. So I was excited about getting a chance to ride with her.

I took Tucci, a 19 year old Friesian/Saddlebred I am showing 4th level, who was a 10 year old, western trained stallion when I started working with him. It’s amazing to be able to say that he could not keep the canter or even go to the right when I started riding him. When we met, she was very complimentary of how fit, robust, and young-looking he looked. She loved how he was bred and wanted to know his pedigree. I thought it was very sweet and it made me feel comfortable.

When we started warming up, she just sat back and watched. Tucci was a little tense, so I gave him a long walk warm up. He likes to stop and look at things. If something catches his eye, he gets really sucked back, which results in an uneven tempo in his trot and canter as I kick him forward, and he sucks back over and over. Also, because of his conformation, he likes to put his head up and gets blocked at the base of his neck, resulting in him being a bit blocked in his back as well.

After I warmed him up, we chatted about the work we had done, and what needed to be improved. She agreed that he needed to go much more freely forward. She also remarked at how intelligent he is. She believed (as I have been suspecting) that Tucci is not actually spooking in his new environment, she thinks he is just very, very smart and knows that I am not going to really get after him in front of a crowd of people. He is just not the type of horse that gives you anything you don’t work for. She gave me a great tip for the 2 minute warm up around the ring before you go in - she said he would be a good candidate to just canter him very forward around the ring right before the bell. I definitely feel like that would have improved our work at my last show, so I’m going to try it!

I told her that I was preparing to show 4-3 next weekend, and we discussed his best and worst movements. His trot work is all pretty good, and he even has a pretty descent passage. The canter has always been his most difficult gait. It took two years to get a clean change from left to right - it was often late in front, which is unusual! But now the changes are almost always clean, which is fantastic. His lateral work is good, too. The pirouettes are by far the hardest movement with him, and we have been doing our homework there, but we did not touch on them too much with Megan, since she said it was too close to the show to make changes to something difficult, which I agreed with. She did, however, give me an excellent tip regarding riding the 10 meter canter to 10 meter counter canter circle. She said that because the judge can only really tell how big the circle is in relationship to the centerline, they can’t tell how far down you go, and it may help your horse to ride that circle a little more like an oval, so that it’s a bit bigger and therefore easier for the horse to stay in front of your leg. She actually said that the judge would rather see you ride a movement that is difficult for your horse like that, since it shows you know you need to compensate a little in that area.

When we went back to work, she supported my idea of carrying two whips, which definitely helped him to pay more attention to me. A lot of time when he gets sucked back, and I send him forward in the canter down the long side, he will throw a flying change in instead of going forward, a smart evasion on his part because he knows you should never really punish a horse for doing a flying change! Instead, she had me send him forward on a circle while giving both reins forward so he could reach out of the base of his neck, which I felt made it more clear to him that he was not supposed to change, so therefore he went more forward and over his back. Once he got opened up, we had some quality work where he was soft and lifting through the base of the neck. She was very impressed with how active behind he is, and the quality of his lateral work and his changes. I went home feeling proud of the work I have done with him, as well as got some great tips on how to go for our best score next weekend!

If you love your horse, get him straight!

Grand Prix trainer, JJ Tate is quoted as saying, “If you love your horse, put him on the bit.” I would like to add “And get him straight!” Both go hand in hand, and are important to your horse’s longevity, and soundness. A horse that is on the bit is using his back and his haunches correctly. A horse that is straight is using both sides of his body evenly and not falling in with one hind leg, or excessively pounding on one front leg.

You may have heard that it is common for 90% of horses to be “hollow” to the right, and “stiff” to the left. This terminology attempts to explain why horses feel harder to bend on the left rein, and “easier” to bend on the right rein, (They aren’t truly bending right, but more on that in a moment.) but like many ideas in riding, it’s not the full story. You may also have heard that in dressage, we use bending to help straighten the horse - that is, we make the horse equally supple in each direction in order to make them truly straight. Why not just ride them in a straight line?

Horses have hindquarters that are wider than their shoulders. Most horses, if ridden around the area to the right, lean onto the rail with their left shoulder and fall in with their right hind leg. The rail actually acts as a “magnet” to the outside shoulder. When the narrow shoulders are leaning left and the wide haunches are in alignment with the outside shoulder, the right hind is alone on it’s own track. This allows the right hind leg to get out of the work of carrying the combined weight of horse and rider. For this reason, it is important to ride a bit shoulder-fore when going straight. However, if your horse is a bit green, or if the rider has not yet learned how to use the outside rein effectively, the horse will not yield the shoulders to the inside from the outside rein, and will still fall in against the inside leg. It is more effective to work to straighten the horse by riding on a circle, and avoiding the rail-magnet.

It is important to understand that when circling right, let’s say on a 20 meter circle, the horse is STILL leaning on the left shoulder and falling in with the right hind leg. The correct alignment on a circle is for the inside hind leg to track into the track of the right front, but when the horse is crooked, the hind leg is to the inside on its own track. Because he is leaning on his left shoulder, he feels like he is on the outside rein; and because he is not taking weight on the right hind leg, he feels soft on the right rein. He is actually contracted on his right side and not truly reaching into the bit on this side.

The other part of the issue is the fact that 90% of riders are right handed. Because we are humans, we want to do everything with our hands, and being right handed causes the rider to overuse the right rein. This hand is usually too busy and does not want to let go. The most common error is to pull back on the right rein to turn or bend, which contracts the horse even more on this side and creates more crookedness. A rider who is not supporting the horse on the outside rein will cause the horse to overbend in the base of the neck and fall out with the left shoulder. Many riders also slip off to the outside of the horse when on a circle, which does not assist the horse in bending in the ribcage.

One way to address this issue (there are many) is a bit counter-intuitive, and it is to counter bend the horse. When counter bending, you want to think about yielding the horse’s shoulders to the inside from the outside rein (in front of the right hind leg) which passively stretches the horse on the right side to encourage them to reach into the bit on that side. By bringing the shoulders to the right, you are asking the right hind to take on more weight. Your active aids are your left rein and leg at the girth, and your supporting aids are your right rein and leg (back a bit but not on). Once you feel the horse yield the shoulders to the inside, you can very softly change the flexion at the poll back to the inside while keeping the horse straight in the base of the neck with the outside rein, and ask it to step under with the inside hind leg and soften the ribcage on the right. It helps to open (not pull back) the right rein while keeping steady contact to encourage the horse to bring both shoulders, or withers, to the right.

Another good exercise breaks this concept down even further. That is to spiral in and leg yield out. There are many different ways to approach this exercise. For a green horse that is just learning the concept, I like to spiral in with outside bend, and then change the flexion and leg yield back out. You don’t have to spiral in too small at first, just going from a 20 meter circle to a 15 meter circle is enough to introduce the concept without causing the horse to lose it’s balance. When spiraling in, keep the left hand low and open the inside rein, encouraging the horse to lead a bit with the shoulders if possible. You will support the horse with the left leg at the girth. Then change the bend back to the inside, making sure you also change your position so that your weight is on the inside seat bone, the inside leg is at the girth and your outside leg is behind the girth to keep the haunches from swinging out when you leg yield. It is helpful to stay on this smaller circle for a moment to reinforce to the horse that they are to continue yielding to the outside rein and leg even though the bend has changed. If you feel the horse start to lean on the left rein, sponge it while keeping that hand back and down. Once you get some softness here, you can leg yield back out to the 20 meter circle, taking your time to make sure the horse is making the circle bigger by stepping under their body with the right hind, and not leading with the outside shoulder. If he does this, you may need to straighten him a bit more, or momentarily counter bend him again as a reminder. You want to sponge the left rein to encourage the horse to soften on it, while holding the right rein softy steady and riding him into it with your right leg. Once your horse is capable of doing this exercise, you can “test” that the concepts have been learned by riding around the rail in shoulder-fore.

Happy riding! Next we will talk about riding to the left =)

Going for GOLD!

A BIG THANK YOU to all who have contributed! I have not yet met my fundraising goal, but I wanted to give an update on what I have achieved thus far, thanks to your help! For those of you that are interested, you can still contribute!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/going-for-usdf-gold-help-collette-dream-big&rcid=r01-156202052544-2bde62b5d51a44ae&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w

I only had Stiletto for a short time before he went back to Alabama to fulfill his breeding contracts, so I skipped 4th level and went right to Prix St George; where I was able to fulfill the PSG scores I needed for myn USDF Silver medal in ONE show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Lta7ZTZ30

After that I started working on my GOLD and was able to achieve the Intermediare 1 scores with him that I needed for my USDF Gold medal in ONE show! Now all that is needed is my Grand Prix scores. I also bought a beautiful Navy blue shad belly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgLa_wL8wgk

I was able to compete Preston for the first time in 4 or 5 years, and he thought it was a little unfair for me to take him out 4th level, which is what we were schooling at home, but it was honestly a bit of a stretch... I was able to get one of the 4th level scores I needed for my silver, but now I am afraid that Preston did not have a good time at the last show, and I am going to back him off to 3rd level, which he will easily be able to accomplish. After winning his confidence back, I will take him out 4th level again - aiming for my final score for my silver.

So my immediate fundraising needs are to show Preston at least 2-3 more times as well as get the coaching I need to get him there. This involves lesson fees, travel fees, show fees, and a hotel for each weekend away.

Long term goals include obtaining a horse to do the Grand Prix with. This could be a lease on a horse already doing Grand Prix, buying a prospect to later resell, or importing a horse as an investment.

Thank you all for the time you have spent reading

Anger and setting boundaries

I am allergic to bees - not so much bees, but hornets. ! I found this out the hard way about 2 years ago when I got attacked by ground hornets and went into anaphylactic shock. Thank GOD someone left an epi pen at the barn, and someone was there to help me or I would have died.

I got stung again the other day, thankfully not attacked, just one sting on my thigh. What I have learned is this:

Hornets are angry little buggers! They hit you very quickly with an energy that says “F-YOU!” They are very territorial and will attack you without feeling sorry for you or wondering why you went near them. When they sting you it is very painful and the pain lasts for days. After it happens, you remember exactly where you were when you got stung, and you won’t be inclined to go there again. They have very clear boundaries. After they attack you, they go about their day as if nothing ever happened.

This is pretty much the exact opposite of the energy I put into the world, which is probably why I have such a strong reaction when I encounter it. When someone crosses my boundaries, instead of getting angry I doubt myself and tell myself that I shouldn’t be feeling that way. Inevitably the anger builds up and festers. I end up carrying it around and therefore it affects my entire existence in the world. I realize that a healthier way to handle anger is to express it and let it go. Which is perhaps why I got stung about a week after the first time I ever told someone to “Go F—- yourself!” Those little hornets were trying to teach me something about anger.

So when I got stung, instead of panicking I actually closed my eyes and meditated - incorporating all that anger into my whole being and I had much less of a reaction to it than I would have otherwise. When I did this, the pain lessened. And what I have learned since is that the people that love you will still love you when you express that you are angry with them. The people that walk away are the people that never loved you in the first place, so they don’t matter anyway. And in fact, I have such genuine people in my life that they appreciate knowing what my boundaries are, and how I am feeling, which makes me feel really blessed.

My regular bi-annual blog post =)

I really have to get better about keeping up with this thing. My last blog post was about the 2016 RRP. My horse and I went and had a blast! My family also came to support me, and for many of them it was their first time seeing me compete. Fortunately, we did very well and came in 8th in the freestyle! Wall Street Bull has his own facebook page if you want to see more about him. He was bought by a student of mine, and was very well matched with her!

I finished out the year at the barn I was leasing in Milton, Fl. It was a 7 stall barn with a large house that I shared with a roommate. My barn was full and I had a waiting list, it was time to move on. I had been contacted by Gerard Kirsch at the Pensacola Riding Center, and told that he was looking to lease half of his barn. Gerard is a very well respected dressage trainer from France, and had been at that location for over 20 years, maybe more. He was trying to sell the place to retire, but was having trouble finding a buyer, so leasing was his next best option. We got along very well, and I liked the idea of having support from another trainer, so I moved my business to Cantonment, Fl; where I had a 12 stall barn and six pastures in addition to use of 5 riding arenas, all lighted and one covered. I started the new year at this facility and almost immediately I filled up the barn. I was poised and ready!

Meanwhile, I was having a health problem that I was dealing with. My doctor didn’t really know what it was, and taking the time (and money) away from the barn to go to doctor appointments did not seem feasible at the time. I had horses to ride, a barn to manage, and lessons to teach! Anyone in this position knows how tight money can be, especially after making a move to a new barn where it takes time to figure out how to run things most efficiently, so I put my health concerns on the back burner. After all, it “only” bothered me when I rode.

Fast forward a few more months, and it started to get very painful and eventually I could not ride at all. I found a new doctor, had some tests and found out that I needed surgery. The recovery period was longer than anticipated, and very painful. I could not ride for a couple months, so I sent all the horses home. This is a pretty scary situation to be in when you make your living training horses. Fortunately I still had the apartment at the barn with Gerard, and he was very supportive. I also have amazing friends and family that really stepped up to the plate to help, and lots of people who regularly checked on me. Despite the outpouring of love, I have to admit that I got pretty depressed during this time. I have a theory that horse people and riders are prone to depression anyway, and that’s why they are drawn to horses. When you are with horses you have to be in the moment, and riding is therapeutic.

Being sidelined, I had a lot of time to reflect and to pray. Even when I had 12 horses in training, I was not really happy. I was riding everyone else’s horses and not achieving my own riding goals. I was tired all the time, had no social life, and money was always tight. Why was I doing it? This repeated over and over in my head. I always have said that if I couldn’t ride, I wouldn’t do it, and I was in a position to where I wasn’t really sure if I was ever going to be able to ride comfortably again. I prayed and prayed for God to take the love of horses and the passion for dressage out of my heart and show me another path - it was just too hard.

But it did not happen. I came back from my recovery with more clarity - I wanted to focus on bringing along quality young horses and doing sales for the business end of my career, two areas where I am passionate and have had success. But I also needed to focus on my own riding - find a talented horse to show and get a coach. The latter was going to be the hardest part for me to cultivate. For what seemed like forever (it was only a couple months) I was having door after door slammed in my face no matter which way I turned. A deal fell through on a barn I was going to buy, then I found a boarding stable where the care was not sufficient, I was just having no luck and running out of options.

It was mentioned to me during this time by a few different people that Jean Brinkman at Valhalla Farm was looking for a trainer. I never in a million years thought I would end up back there - but I contacted her and moved out there shortly after! I received such a warm welcome, not just at the barn, but also by the whole neighborhood. It has become a really neat community out here. It really felt like I was returning home, and it’s not the first time I have come back after feeling battered and bruised and been made whole again. In addition to that, it is the perfect place to work on my own riding while also having the opportunity to expand my business.

I am back working with Faithkeeper, whom I plan to get my silver on. I am also making a lot of use of the theraplate and bemer blanket, which are both used for therapy. Preston is coming back into work and feels better than ever, so I am very happy about that. Tucci is also doing super and will be showing 3rd level this winter. I will be bringing in more training horses, and I have several sale horses that I am working with and will be advertising soon. There is more in the works, but you will have to stay tuned!

Wall Street Bull - nearing the RRP TB Makeover competition

Other than the occasional Facebook update, I have not shared much about my journey with Wall Street Bull, or "Bull" as he is called at the barn.  I guess this is due in part, to the fact that progress, when viewed on a daily basis, does not really look like anything.  It takes being able to step back to really see the progress being made by daily work.  Also, part of making progress involves dealing with setbacks, and the journey with Bull has been no exception.  In fact, if you had asked me in August if I was ready for the competition, I probably would have cried.  I did not think I was going to even make it to the makeover, much less have any hope of actually doing well.  However, tonight I hopped on my 3 year old OTTB after he had 2 days off, without lunging, and had one of the most fantastic rides I have ever had on a young horse, and I just felt inspired to share my journey with him.  

This is the first photo I saw that really grabbed me - the description said 'Look at that TROT!" and it's true, I did not think most TBs had a good trot for dressage, but the way he used his hind leg really impressed me.  And his expression says "this is no big deal," and I thought "This IS a big deal - I need to see this horse!"

I applied for the makeover on a whim this past January, and there were several weeks before I found out if I got in or not.  Trainers from previous years were pretty sure they were going to be chosen, so they got their horses early, which I perceived as a step ahead.  I, on the other hand, had just left an assistant trainer's position and was starting out on my own for the first time in many years of moving around the country riding under different trainers.  I had no idea if I was going to be able to make it as a trainer myself or not, and did not want to risk buying another horse if I did not make it in to the program, especially since it had been many years since I had worked with thoroughbreds, and I never transitioned one off the track.  However, I did start looking at horses right away and found a few I really liked.  I am very lucky to have some good friends, and one in particular knew a lot about TB bloodlines, and which ones made good sport horses.  I found Bull on Facebook nearly right away - I loved his size, conformation, and movement.  My friend confirmed that he had the right breeding.  But I had to wait a few more weeks before finding out if I made it into the competition or not.  There seemed to be a lot of interest in him, so that made me nervous.

Bull's conformation - overall good conformation with an excellent hind end!  I especially like the way his back ties in with his croup - it is very strong and allows for ease of pelvis mobility which makes collection easy for him.

A few weeks went by and I found out I was accepted!!  The problem was that I had not heard anything about Bull, and I assumed he was sold.  When I reached out to Darcy of Center Stage Farm, she told me that he was nearly purchased by the Canadian Eventing Team, but that he just became available again.  I drove to see him in Ocala the next day!  Darcy said he had a good temperament, but I did not expect to be able to ride him, since he had just raced a few weeks prior.  (He raced 4 times and was too slow)  I said "What is his temperament like?" and she said "Let me show you, give me a leg up."  She pulled him out of his field and hopped on him bareback in a halter and rode him to the wash rack.  I pretty much knew at that time, he was my horse, and I did get to ride him for the first time that day.  His temperament alone sets him apart from any other horse I have worked with - he is so secure and confident in himself.  He is also very mature for a 3 year old.  Visitors to the barn for the first time cannot believe he is just 3 because he is so well behaved.  We often liken his attitude to a surfer dude, because he is so chill with a laid back sense of humor.  He regularly cracks us up!

Bull had barely turned 3 when I got him, and he will still be 3 for the makeover.  Even though his counterparts may be running in the Kentucky Derby, I feel that 3 is way too young to start putting training pressure on a horse.  They should just be accepting a saddle and rider, learning walk trot canter, steering, and maybe go on some trail rides.  They should do lots of stretching over their back.  They should learn a work routine, and that work is fun.  Care should be taken to maintain the horse's longevity and not over work the horse or make him sour.  I kind of regretted my decision to buy a horse so young for the makeover, but then again the whole point in the makeover is to help them transition to new careers after racing, and having a solid foundation in dressage at a young age will help him excel at any disipline.  I felt like I was giving him the best chance possible at a new career by treating him as though he were "my" horse; even though I always intended to sell him after the competition.  So I did some basic ground work, to explain to him that he wasn't a race horse anymore, and then I gave him some time off to just be a horse and gain some weight.  

Bull working on stretching at the trot.  

I started working him lightly after a few months.  I started riding him in the round pen, as I do all my youngsters, teaching him transitions, teaching him to stretch, etc.  Getting him to relax in his back enough to stretch down was a bit tricky, but he eventually got it.  When he gets nervous it's still the first thing he loses, its sometimes the only way I know he is nervous as he internalizes everything.  The hardest thing at the beginning was getting the left lead canter.  Even on the lunge line, or in the long lines in the round pen he would pick up the right lead.  Having problems with leads is common in Off Track Thoroughbreds.  I tried to teach it to him under saddle, and he just go so frustrated.  When he did get it, it did not feel as though it was comfortable for him.  It was so frustrating for him that I was starting to worry that I was going to ruin his right lead canter by telling him "no" so many times when he picked it up by mistake.  Fortunately for me, I introduced my working student to the Masterson Method of equine body work (I had been dabbling in it for years) and she decided to get certified!  Bull definitely benefited from her practice, and after one session in particular he never had problems picking up the left lead canter again!  She is now my business partner and runs her own equine bodywork business, Bodywork by Sadie.

Sadie and I moved to Milton in July.  With moving, painting, fencing, the heat, etc it was very hard to get on a horse, but Bull was a priority by then so he was in full work.  However, by the time August came around it was too blazing hot to do anything, regardless of how early I started.  We never had a break from the heat, it was especially grueling this year.  Not to mention, we had a bad bought with fungus this year.  We treated it daily, but it was ahead of us, and both of my own horses lost their hair to it and were not even comfortable wearing a saddle pad.  

So Bull had most of August off.  By this time, my competitors were sharing on Facebook daily their accomplishments with their horses.  One woman was eventing her horse bridleless.  There goes the Ambassador award!  

I guess I was starting to feel the pressure from the competition, and I felt like I was way behind.  I did not have the opportunity to take him anywhere to school him, and when I did he was very nervous to the point that I could not even get on him.  I again had to put my ego aside and remind myself that regardless of what happens at the competition, I was in this for the best interest of the horse.  In the long term, this is just the start of his new career, and I wanted to do a good job for his next owner.  One piece that was really stressing me out was the freestyle that I signed up to do.  I started looking at the freestyle as a fun way to show off my horse, and not an event I wanted to try and win, and that relieved some stress.  I focused on the dressage, which was within our grasp.  My coach and mentor, Iris Eppinger, came to help me for a weekend, and was very helpful, but also very impressed with him, and that made me feel like we were on track after all.  

She made the comment that he could do FEI, which was what I was feeling as well - he OFFERS medium trot and collected canter - so I started to think that if he didn't sell after the makeover, maybe that wasn't so bad either.  I have never really had a young horse of my own to bring along, and I never would have considered a TB, but I was having a lot of fun with him by this point.  All the basics were pretty solid and he understood stretching into contact, half halts from the seat, and went forward from the leg without tension.  Lateral work will be no problem and he has started leg yields and baby shoulder-in.  Everything is "baby" with him, meaning that I play around and ask when he feels like he is ready, but I don't put any pressure on him.  We have even had some walk to canter transitions - which results in a beautiful collected canter - pirouettes are just under the surface.  I want to start flying changes with him, but not before the makeover. 

A couple weeks ago he went to his first schooling show.  He was so calm when he got there.  I let him relax in a stall for a bit and then did a light ride.  He was great!!  The next day he went on to win his class, I couldn't have been happier!!  Since then I have taken him off property to school, and he was relaxed and happy to work, so I am pretty confident that is how he will be in Kentucky.  We are also putting together a cute routine for the freestyle which will showcase his temperament and his best attributes, and I think it will be a crowd pleaser.

When I have a ride on him like I had yesterday, I can't believe how far he has come!  And I can't believe he has learned everything that he has without any pressure.  However, he is still allowed his "baby" days, and sometimes we just work on basics with no playing around.  I try to stay in tune with where he is mentally, and give him breaks to do different things.  Like today we just did stretching in the field and popped over a small jump a few times.  It's good for them to have something else to think about.  I also have to keep my ego in check and not push him too much just to make me look good at the competition.  It's fun to do well, but it really all is for the best interest of the horse.  No matter what he does when we get there I will be happy - he is only 3 after all!!  And I will also be happy if he sells or not, which is a unique place to be for a trainer.  There are always horses that you want to sell, horses you wish you could keep, horses you have to sell, and horses  you wish you could sell - this is the first time that I can be totally not tied to the outcome.  I know I did the best job I could with this wonderful horse, and that he is going to go on to an awesome career, whether it is with me or not!  He's Incredi-Bull!

Bull offers this uphill, collected canter!  You can see I am still inclined forward, expecting a much more forward canter.  I do not discourage this collection however!  

A year in the life with Prince Tucumcari

Above: Tucci in the field December 2015.  After a year of dressage training, he is engaged in his hind legs, strong over the back, and up and out to the bridle.  A perfect example of how correct dressage training makes the horse even MORE beautiful!

A New Year always brings about time for reflection.  When I look back at 2015, I not only see that I have grown as a person and a rider, I can also see the amazing difference that a year of dressage training has made for Prince Tucumcari, "Tucci."  Tucci is a Freisian/Saddlebred (Georgian Grande) that I have been lucky enough to have in my daily life for the last year plus some.  Not your typical dressage breed, but he is very smart and tries hard.  I have also been very lucky to have had the support of his owners, Kendall and Vicki McEachern, who have been my dear friends for several years.  The three of them have been through the ups and downs of the horse world with me as I strive to become the best horse person I can be.  I have invested my blood, sweat, and tears into this horse.  When I see what a happy athlete he has become, it makes me think it has all been worth it.

This video shows some of the early work I did with Tucci.  Because of his upright build, weak back, and previous training as a western horse, Tucci's natural tendency was to tighten his back and either shoot his neck straight up, or curl up behind the contact.  There was really no connection over the back and into the bridle.  Working him in the long lines allowed me to teach him to start stepping into the contact and let go in his back without having to also balance the rider.  Also, when I first started with him, he was not balanced enough to go to the right.  Working on the long lines allowed me to teach him how to balance himself AND bend right.  Teaching him to stretch down took a LONG time, as he would lose his balance as he stretched forward and did not have the strength to carry himself behind.  He would also hide behind the contact until the last moment, and then snatch the reins out of my hands and throw his head in the air.  Due to previous training, he was taught NOT to touch the bit, and when he finally did take contact for a moment, he thought he was going to get in trouble.  Because he was so shy about contact, I had to be extra soft with my hands, and very, very patient.  

Tucci at his first recognized show, April 2015.  Showing training level and scoring 71%!

In the above photo, Tucci had been in dressage training for about 6 months.  I always feel that whether you are teaching a horse or a rider dressage, it starts with getting a few good moments that last a short time. These moment turn into minutes which then become the natural way of being..  Eventually those moments start to get longer, and you lose them for less.  Pretty soon you are able to get the good moments back BEFORE you lose them, and eventually this turns into consistency.  At this point, Tucci was not very consistent, but I was able to string together long periods of good moments without losing them for very long.  The contact still felt pretty tricky to get and maintain, but it generally looked pretty consistent; though he was still not strong enough over the back to come up and out in his frame without dropping his back.  I definitely did not have very much weight in my hand, and the feeling was that I was constantly giving the rein and asking him to go OUT to the bridle with a lot of supporting leg.  Tucci has taught me well how to straighten the horse and half halt while still keeping the neck long!

Tucci was definitely stronger in the trot than in the canter.  The canter would tend to get lateral if he got too quick or too tight.  During this period of his development, some other interesting things were happening...  Tucci was becoming less spooky, and trailer loading became a non-issue without me even pressing the issue.  He was becoming more trusting of me, and decided that he liked the places we were going!  He was really starting to become a solid partner.

Tucci and I moved to Valhalla in May 2015, and began working with Iris Eppinger, who helped me fix many of the basic problems we were having.  Some times he did not even want to TURN!  He would just curl his neck and go out through his shoulders.  Once the basics were achieved, Tucci was able to start going up the levels in dressage as he became stronger.  In his first season of showing with me, he went from training level, to first level, to finally making his 2nd level debut in December.  He scored 71% at training, 69% a 1st level, and  65% at 2nd level, including some bobbles.  Tucci enjoys showing, and once even started to enter the ring by himself before the judge even blew the whistle.  He has been a fun horse to show, since he is so beautiful and uniquely marked that he always gets a lot of attention.  

Riding Tucci bridleless was my way of testing how well he was listening to the seat and legs.  I am always telling my students that the hand is the last aid to go to when asking for a down transition, or to ask the horse to turn.  When you horse is listening to your seat, you don't need your hands for downward transitions.  Also, your weight and your intention guide the horse's direction.  That is not to say that you or your horse will not make mistakes.... but if you are always doing too much with your hands and never letting go.  If you are always relying on your hands, you will never know how much or how little help your horse actually needs from you.  This was only the 2nd time I had played around bridleless, and I still have to revisit it.  It's a fun test of your communication!

I was a bit skeptical when Iris suggested trying him in the double bridle, as he was always so light and still wanted to be overbent.  But he surpassed my expectations and took to it quickly!  In fact, he was much steadier in the double, and I felt that it gave me the opportunity to work on other things besides contact.  As his gaits are developing, he will actually get a bit strong in the bridle now, which for him - I LIKE!  Since this video was taken, he has developed an actual piaffe and a better balance in the canter.  Walk/Canter/Walk transitions are easy for him now, and he does not get tight or anticipate.  He also offers a few steps of canter pirouette.  We have also started working on flying changes, though he needs a bit more straightness before he will be able to do those consistently.  

This was me and Tucci's first freestyle.  It was FUN!  

Tucci and I will soon be moving to Florida's panhandle, in  Ponce DeLeon Springs, about 45 minutes from Destin, where we will continue working together.  I will also be taking in outside horses for training, sale, as well as teaching lessons.  Come by and say hi!

Return to Valhalla

When I was a working student, I worked under Erin Brinkman, who has had a huge impact on my riding.  At the time, I worked at Valhalla for 2 years.  Now I have returned to work as the assistant trainer to Iris Eppinger.  It is a fantastic opportunity for me to focus on my riding and teaching.  Iris has been so positive and supportive to me, and says that I am riding like an FEI rider!  I have several horses in full time training with me, have the opportunity to help Iris train some amazing horses (from green to Grand Prix!) as well as help as Cassel Rock Trakehners when time and energy allow.  I also assist in teaching lessons to the working students.  I have been very, very busy, and will soon be in need of a working student myself!

Pictured here is Faithkeeper, Trakehner mare owned, bred, and trained by Jean Brinkman.  I have the amazing opportunity to show this mare in order to achieve my USDF Bronze, and begin on my silver.  Iris has been instrumental in helping me bring her back into work after her having almost a year and a half off.  It has been a lot of fun to work with her, and she has taught me a lot in a short amount of time.

I will continue to teach in the Tallahassee area about once per month.  Check the website or check in with me for dates and location!  I also have room for a couple more training horses!  

Tallahassee, Fl

For those of you that are following my personal journey, you should know that I have landed myself in an awesome, awesome place!  I feel so fortunate right now, and I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.  I am in Tallahassee, Fl, working at Southern Oaks Equestrian center as the assistant trainer to Marsha Hartford Sapp.  There are so many opportunities for me here.  It is honestly the first time in my life that I feel that I have the option to go many different directions - it is up to me to choose which way to go!  

Marsha Hartford Sapp is one of the hardest working trainers I have ever met, and I am trying hard to follow her lead.  She is at the barn at 7:30 most mornings - sometimes earlier!  She works until dark, which is why she says she needs help in the winter - the days are shorter.  She never takes a day off.  The only days she does not ride is on Sundays when she teaches 12+ lessons, but if she has a lull she will get on a horse.  Sometimes she has to transport horses, or she goes to Valhalla to ride with Iris, so those are usually light riding days.  I usually go with her to Valhalla, and the conversations on the ride are some of the most enjoyable and enlightening conversations I have ever had relating to horse training.  I typically take one day off per week, which I try to coordinate with the weather - and I get the response, "Why do you need a day off when you work with horses?"  What else is there, indeed?

Marsha has a well-rounded background when it comes to horse training.  No discipline is off-limits to her, and she has taught me some useful training tools that she has learned from "other" disciplines.  She not only works with a lot of young, unstarted horses, but she has also worked with a lot of Mustangs, and has been very successful competing in the Mustang Million.  She also has a reputation for taking on a lot of tricky or dangerous horses, and turning them around.  I am here to learn her methods.  I am also here because I have followed her for several years, and I have seen that in every picture and video she shares of her riding, she is always poised in a classically correct position on the horse.  This is admirable because of the fact that riding young horses causes you to develop a lot of bad habits in your position, from constantly being defensive.  It takes a lot of awareness and discipline to train yourself to get back to "neutral" every time.  I have also been astounded by her show record - she scored 70% at 4th level ON A MUSTANG SHE TRAINED FROM WILD!  Nobody does that.  NOBODY!  I could not have a better mentor at this stage in my career.

I am now over one month in to my position here.  I started working with a string of 6 horses, including my horse and Tucci.  By now, Marsha has seen enough of my work and has seen my horses make progress that she not only has added more horses to my schedule, but has also entrusted me to work soley with horses of her clients whom she has known for years.  This is a huge vote of confidence for me as a horse person and trainer.  Confidence in myself and my abilities has been something I have struggled with for years, and I now feel as though I can own it, thanks to Marsha.  It is a dream come true to ride horses ALLLLL day!  I actually have so many horses to ride that I have enlisted the help of a working student - someone who comes in to groom for me in exchange for lessons.  I am able to get through so many more horses when I have a groom that I can almost keep up with Marsha!  

I also teach lessons and have a few training horses off-site.  I have several new students who come in to ride just with me.  I teach a few semi-private lessons, though I prefer teaching one on one.  I love teaching lunge line lessons, as it is the best way to make a HUGE change in a rider's seat in a very short amount of time.  I have a student that came to me stating that she needed help in the canter.  Well....after 2 lunge line lessons she was cantering without reins or stirrups!  It is really rewarding when you can help a rider make such a huge change in their riding in such a short amount of time!  

Though I have primarily been focusing on my riding and training, I have also been working on my web design business.  I began about 6 months ago, and have already grown!  I designed Marsha's website, as well as Erin and Iris's at Valhalla.  I did a website for Embrace Saddle Fit, and one for Susan Nicodemus Brown in Chicago.  I am currently working on one for an artist who primarily does equine and animal art.  I have expanded my services to include logo design, Facebook creation and maintenance, as well as business consultation, web review of existing sites, and photo shoot management.  It is a very exciting time for my business, and it is taking off despite the limited hours I can put in at this point.  But, like I said, there are so many opportunities for me right now that I am just trying to focus on what it is I WANT, and put my energy in there.  It is a great place to be!

Looking back, looking forward

A New Year is nearly upon us.  This is the time of year that it is normal to reflect back on the year behind us, and look ahead to the year coming up.  When I look back in terms of my riding, I realize how far I have come this year.  Since leaving North Carolina, I have been able to ride with Erin Brinkman, Iris Eppinger, as well as extensively with Andrew Palmer - who entrusts me to school the stallions at the farm when he is away at shows with others.  These experiences combined have allowed me further develop in my riding.  

My seat has developed.  I am strong in the core and supple in my seat.  I can sit the trot of the biggest moving horses on the farm.  My lower leg is quietly on the horse, and I have learned NEW ways to use my leg!  But the major breakthrough in my seat has been in my balance.  I have always had good front to back balance in the saddle, but have struggled with finding my balance side to side for several reasons.  I have one hip that is tighter than the other, and have always had problems with the flexibility in the ankle also on that side.  This tightness causes my vertebrae to come out of alignment, which causes one leg to be "shorter" than the other, which perpetuates the one-sided issues I have had.  Through constant awareness and daily work I have been able to finally straighten myself out, which has been a huge breakthrough for me.  Now I can even get straight in the saddle when it does not "feel" straight to me.  I am working on reprogramming where "center" is.

My confidence in my abilities as a rider and trainer has improved.  Andrew has definitely helped me out in this department, as his teaching style is a bit different than what I am accustomed to.  I always appreciate a teacher that gives you feedback constantly throughout your ride, but this inadvertently leaves me with the feeling as though what I am doing is not good enough - because there is always something to be improved upon.  There IS something that can always be improved upon, this is the nature of training horses.  However, Andrew will watch me on a horse and sometimes not say ANYTHING for a long time.  At first, this made me really uneasy, but I soon learned that it meant that everything was going pretty well.  I have actually had rides where he didn't say anything until the end, and then he said, "I enjoyed watching that."  That is a great feeling!  We have had great discussions about training issues with particular horses; and have even traded off riding during one session, taking breaks to discuss what we are working on and what we are feeling.  

It has been a dream to be here riding the stallions with Andrew and Tiffany, they are some of my best friends as well.  There are a lot of things I will really miss about working here.  However, I have a great opportunity waiting for me at Southern Oaks, with trainer Marsha Hartford Sapp, that is too good for me to pass up!  I will be heading there shortly after the first of the year to work as her assistant trainer.  I will be helping her out doing some riding, as well as teaching lessons.  I will be available to travel to teach lessons and offer training rides as well.  Tucci and Preston will be coming with me, and I will have an opening for another training horse.  And NO BARN WORK - yay!  This will be my first position that does not require any barn work, so I feel like I am finally getting somewhere.  Plus, the networking opportunities alone will be invaluable for me in my next step, working out of Kendall's barn.  It will also be nice to have more control over my schedule, so that I can schedule in more computer time, as my Equine Web Design business is picking up as well.

Merry Christmas from Collette Zimmer dressage!  See you in the New Year!

Using the arena walls to train your horse

There is a reason many trainers these days start their young horses in a round pen, and begin their under saddle work in a fenced-in riding arena.  There are actually many reasons, and I find that most trainers inherently "know" these reasons, but most don't talk about it.  It's not just so the horse doesn't run away with you!  "Using" the walls of your arena to train your horse is a valuable tool, it helps clarify the lesson to your horse, makes you more effective, and saves you energy - a must for trainers working many horses in a day.  In fact, it is such a valuable tool that you can achieve many of these benefits just by having ONE wall!

Ok, so your horse won't get away!

This pertains mainly to the young horse in the round pen.  At any stage in the horse's training, it is always important to be able to drive them forward.  This teaches the horse in their own language that you are the herd leader.  The round pen walls are valuable in that the horse is never so far away from you that you cannot affect them with your energy or a lunge whip, but far enough away that you will not get kicked.  It is important that the horse learns at this stage that you have control over which direction they are going, and at what speed they are going.  The round pen walls help you with both.  More about round penning in another post!  (Marsha!)

The walls also help a novice RIDER to learn to push a green horse forward without worrying about direction or being run away with.  If you are a novice rider with a green horse, it might be scary to ride your horse as forward as he needs without having the feeling of brakes or steering!  If you are riding the horse in a round pen, it gives you the confidence that you can ride the horse at a forward trot or canter without losing control.  You don't have to worry about steering, and it lets you relax.  In fact, most of my novice riders are started out on the lunge line or in the round pen for this reason - they can relax and find their balance without having to worry about where the horse is going.

The wall serves as a visual barrier

Most horses will respect the walls and not try to climb over or jump out.  If this is the case, the wall itself will serve as a visual barrier to the horse to "stop."  So, when you have the horse in the round pen, you automatically have the horse between your driving aids (lunge whip) and your restraining aids (the wall).  This nicely transfers over to the fact that under saddle we want the horse between our leg (driving aid) and hand (restraining aid).  Everything we do with our young horses is to teach them something that transfers over to under saddle work.

We can also use this visual barrier as a sort of "half-halt" before the horse even knows what that is.  For example; when training a leg yield - where the horse moves forward and sideways - we can position them so that their head is angled at the wall.  You want the horse to achieve no more than a 45 degree angle to the wall, but this position allows us to teach the horse that the leg sometimes means sideways, not always forward.  In order for the hind leg to step sideways under the weight, we have to slow the front end of the horse down.  Angling the horse towards the wall allows us to do that without using our hands to slow the horse down, which helps us to achieve lightness and obedience to the leg and seat.

The wall keeps the horse straight

When beginning work in-hand, it helps to work the horse next to a wall.  We traditionally lead the horse from the left side.  We always work the horse from the back to the front, which means we drive the horse forward first, and then direct him.  This means that when teaching the horse to lead, it is incorrect to teach him to follow by pulling him forward with the halter (Pet peeve).  Pressure on the head of the horse guides the direction or tells him to stop, it does not tell him to "go."  It is important to teach the horse to lead by driving him forward with a ground person or a dressage whip.  The difficulty with working young horses in hand by yourself is that if you are leading the horse on the left side, your right hand is on the lead, and your left hand comes behind the horse with the whip (while you are looking forward in the direction you are going), and the horse can swing it's haunches to the right, thus avoiding the driving action of the whip.  Working your horse in-hand next to a wall on the right side of the horse helps you to avoid this problem, and the horse learns to go forward from the whip.  It is important, however, to work your horse equally from both sides even though it is tradition to lead from the left.  Always do everything with your horse on both sides!

You can also employ this method when using ground support at any stage in the horse's training, but it is particularly useful in teaching the piaffe, where the rider aids the horse from the saddle, and the ground person teaches the horse to engage and activate the hind leg with a stick or whip.  It is especially important at this stage in training that the horse does not swing the haunches out.

Many trainers find it useful to teach their horses to lunge on a lunge line in the round pen for the same reason.  You can use the lunge whip aimed at the haunches of the horse to ask the horse to go forward, rather than having the horse swing it's haunches out and face you.  The wall keeps the haunches from swinging out.

The wall also helps keep the horse straight when teaching lateral work on the rail.  When introducing the inside driving leg for the shoulder-in, for example, some horses will tend to step out with their outside hind leg rather than step under with the inside hind leg.  In cases like this, the wall helps to support your outside aids.

The wall helps the horse get the correct canter lead

If your horse is having trouble picking up the correct canter lead, you can use the arena wall to help him get the right lead.  This method can be used either under saddle or on the lunge line when lunging in an arena.  The canter is a series of little jumps, where one leg is leading.  A horse will not usually "jump" into a wall, he will be inclined to jump away from it.  The best time to ask for the canter is when the horse is on a circle and is just about to touch the wall.  The wall discourages the horse picking up the wrong lead by inhibiting the outside front leg, while the inside front leg has room to pick up the correct lead.  It is also advantageous to ask young horses to pick up the canter just before touching the wall, because they are often exuberant about the canter.  Since the wall serves as a visual barrier, they will often rock back over their hindquarters to pick up the canter, and are less likely to get strong and run off.  However, if you have a lazy horse who does not want to pick up the canter, you should ask after you are coming off the wall, so that the horse feels like he has all the room in the world to pick up the canter.

Be sure to ride "off" the wall!

As valuable as using the arena walls can be, it is important to focus on riding away from the wall as well.  Many horses become "rail magnets" and start to drift over to the wall if the rider does not intentionally ride him on the second track, or in other patterns.  Riding on the second track will make the rider honest about their outside aids and make sure the horse is between all their aids.  Also, make sure to keep your horse fresh and asking "what are we doing today?" by riding him outside of the arena regularly.  This tests his obedience to you and may help you discover some new areas that you need to work on.

New Dressage tests posted for 2015

Click below to view the new tests for 2015!

USEF Tests are effective December 1, 2014

FEI Tests are effective January 1, 2015

USDF Tests are effective December 1, 2014

Riding the rhythm

The intent of this blog is not just to keep a record of where I am and what I am doing, but also to share some Insights regarding horse training, primarily in dressage, that I have gained through my work.  I hope this finds an audience that appreciates it, though it is largely for my own purposes. This is such an entry. 

At a basic level, the training scale is the basis for dressage. Each lower rung needs to be achieved in order for the next rung to be developed.  Though, as we work our way up the scale towards collection, we also revist the lower rungs, the "basics," and fine tune in order to get the best performance from our horse.  I will give a general description of what is meant by rhythm, and then show how it applies specifically to training my own personal horse, an 11 year old 15.3 hand Trakehner gelding.  Specifically, how improving the rhythm has helped in overcoming specific training hurdles - medium trot and flying changes. 

Preston schooling half pass

Rhythm is the first and most important rung on the scale.  Without a clear and consistent rhythm, our horses gaits do not improve, they become muddled and unclear. It is the ultimate goal of dressage to develop our horses as athletes through improving upon their natural gaits. Each gait has it's own rhythm. The walk has a 1-2-3-4 rhythm, which should be even and clear. If the horse displays a 1-2, 3-4 rhythm, it shows that there is tension in the walk and that it has probably gone lateral. The walk is the easiest gait to ruin, and the hardest to improve. 

The trot has an even 1-2 rhythm as one diagonal pair of legs hit the ground at the same time followed by a moment of suspension, then the next diagonal pair of legs strike the ground. With young horses and green riders, it is important to focus on keeping the tempo (an element of rhythm, which addresses how quickly the horses feet strike the ground) the same.  It is often seen at this stage of development that the trot rushes forward (quickens) and then slows down before quickening again. Without keeping the tempo the same and the rhythm clear, the horse will never get to the next stage, which is relaxation. As the horse develops, rhythm and tempo need to be revisited, as many horses will tend to quicken when asked for medium and extended trots, which cause the hind leg to step short rather than fully stepping under and supporting the combined weight of horse and rider, which is an issue I have been working on with my own horse. 

The canter has a 1-2-3 rhythm, followed by a moment of suspension. Horses that have a good canter will easily display this rhythm. Horses that tend to run on the forehand or not fully step under with the hind leg will often add a fourth beat in the canter, as the second beat of the canter is the inside hind and outside foreleg striking the ground together, and in these horses they will hit at slightly different times. This rhythm fault is usually corrected by riding the horse more forward.  An extremely collected canter may display four beats, but this is not considered a rhythm fault necessarily, as the horse has shifted it's weight so far back that the inside hind leg has to hit the ground before the outside foreleg because of the elevation of the forehand.

With my personal horse, Preston, we have touched on all the elements of the training scale, but in order to improve on the collected work, the medium trot, and the flying changes; we needed to go back a bit and fine tune the rhythm.  He tends to be a sensitive horse who wants to please and work hard. This is a great attribute in a horse!  But this attribute also lends it's own training challenges.  I hope my insights will help others who are working with similar horses.

He often overthinks the exercises we are doing, and this mental tension results in physical tension, which is displayed through him getting too quick in his tempo.  This quickness results in tension through his topline, and in moments of extreme tension he grinds his teeth and swishes his tail.  The natural inclination is to slow the horse down with the hands and try to alleviate topline tension through suppling the horse and lowering the neck.  Without supporting the horse with the leg, this can be considered "front to back" riding, and is incorrect and ineffective.  But HOW do you support the horse with the leg when the horse is already too quick and seemingly running away from the leg?  WHY is the horse running from the leg in the first place?  These are questions that I have been seeking the answer to. 

I have worked hard to teach my horse to listen to my seat, which is part of the answer.  He listens to half halts and full halts from the seat.  I understand keeping the rhythm with the seat and have developed a kind of metronome in my head.  However, when working on something new or challenging, my horse would still get tense and at that point he would begin to run through my half-halts and would not want to take the weight and flex the joints in his hind legs.  Trying to use my leg on him at this point would worsen the problem, which meant I was back to trying to fix him in the front again.  I would usually go back to doing a lot of walk/trot transitions and get him listening to my "go" and "whoa" aids.  Sometimes I would be able to go on from there, but usually I would stop when he was listening to my seat again, and try to maintain the relaxation from the beginning on my next ride. 

I know that instructors in the past have tried to teach me about lower leg contact, but it was not until I rode with Andrew Palmer that I finally understood different technique of using my lower leg, which helped slow down the tempo and increase leg acceptance - both things which contributed to helping my horse relax and accept the work.  It's funny about lightbulb moments, you usually have to be in the right place at the right time and have someone tell you something in just the right way for it to sink in. 

Most horses I have ridden are not as sensitive and forward thinking as my horse, and I have learned to make the horse more sensitive to the leg by riding with lower legs "off" unless I was asking something.  This makes the horse quick to respond when you put the leg on, which is the feeling I prefer.  I have found myself to be pretty effective in using my leg this way.  However, my horse is already quick to the leg and quick in the hind legs.  Riding him this way was causing the tension problems we were having.  It would surprise him when my leg was suddenly there, when it wasn't there a second ago.  He couldn't relax, because he never knew when I was going to ask something of him, which caused him to anticipate.

Andrew taught me to improve my horses rhythm by slowing down my seat and slowing down my legs aids - keep my legs on LONGER each time I ask for something.  I am very aware of the timing of the aids and let my horses rhythm dictate my leg aid, so it's a new concept to me to keep my leg on for a split second longer that what feels natural in order to slow the hind legs down, which helps them to step further under.  In fact, it seems to improve the rhythm (and therefore relaxation) when I ride with my seat, keep leg contact, and just pulse my aids.  I use a lot of changing of positioning between shoulder-in and haunches-in to increase my horse's acceptance of the leg, and slide my legs along the horse when changing positioning rather than taking them off and repositioning.  Having my horse more accepting of the leg allows me to control the rhythm with my seat, which I really need when asking for medium trot - he tends to want to just run and get flat.  Now I am able to slow the tempo with my seat, and pulse my leg aids and ask for more suspension. 

It is the same in the canter, which has helped me to improve the flying changes, since they were often tight and tense from my horse anticipating so much.  Now I make sure to keep both legs in contact with him.  In both the trot and canter, you want to ride the "UP" phase of the gait, and ask the horse to stay off the ground longer.  When schooling the changes I often ask for a little haunches in, which helps me control the hind leg and also ensures that I have my outside leg on.  With my inside leg (and my seat) I ask for more jump in the canter.  I like to think "jump, jump, jump, straighten," and then ask.  Again, make sure to slide the legs along the horse when asking for the change, rather than taking the legs off and kicking him with the new outside leg. 

I have only been riding at Royal Palm farm for just over 2 weeks now, and I am so excited about how much my riding has improved already.  Please let me know if these insights are valuable or interesting to you, and I will keep sharing them!

Tucci is back!

About a week ago, my good friends Kendall and Vicki brought their horse to me to train while I am at Andrews. When I am done here, I am going to go work at Kendall and Vicki's barn in Florida, so it is nice to get a head start on his training, and get some help from Andrew while I am here.

I met Kendall and Vicki when I was in Destin working with Jodie Kelly.   They had just purchased Tucci and brought him there for training. He was a stallion at the time and was gelded shortly after arriving. Vicki loves to tell the story of how I met them at the barn at 4:00am on a cold February morning and walked right on the trailer with a stallion I did not know to help unload him. 

Tucci came into training with me and Kendall became a regular student of mine. It was a fun project as Tucci did not turn to the right, and Kendall had not ridden in 20 years!  I started Kendall out on the lunge line like I do all my students, and taught him basic dressage in the ring.  Not emasculating at all!  Kendall is a trail rider at heart and likes to get on and go!  But he does understand that dressage training helps his horse's overall fitness and strengthens him to carry his rider. It is particularly important in this case, because Tucci has a short, tight back, and Kedall is a tall rider. Without strengthening his back through the dressage work, Tucci could develop a sway back over time and could become lame. 

Tucci is a Fresian/saddlebred cross. When I first got him, he only knew the basics, and was so stuck on his right shoulder that turning right was hard for him and he did not want to pick up the right lead canter. He ran into the canter both directions. We worked on getting him straight, getting a depart into the canter, and began some lateral work.  I worked with him for almost a year, and after I move away, Kendall did a little trail riding with him, but he developed severe fly allergies and has not been ridden for the past 10 months, so he is pretty out of shape. 

This is the first time I have gotten a horse back after having him in training for awhile. I am amazed to find out that he remembers everything we had been working on!  He just needs some fitness. It is a really good feeling to know that I have helped a horse in a permanent way, and probably lots of others too!  

New chapter - training at Royal Palm Farm

I have heard it said that when God closes a door, he opens a window.  This could not be more true for me than with my experience at Royal Palm Farm, which is owned by my dear friends Andrew and Tiffany Palmer. 

Lego, a colt bred by Tiffany and Andrew

It has happened twice for us now, that I was looking for some place to go, and they needed to find help!  The first time was about 2 years ago when my job ended in Florida and my move to North Carolina was not nailed down.  Andrew was hurt at the time, and they also had a trip to Germany planned and did not want to leave their one employee to run the farm while they were gone.  Now this year, they are also short on help, Tiffany just had surgery, they have a trip to the ATA convention coming up, and are busy with show season.  I have a good situation waiting for me in Florida, but I want their help selling my horse first, and to make sure that I have my ducks in a row before I make my next move.  I am sort of using the next two months to refocus and regroup. 

It does not hurt my feeling at all that I am surrounded by great people, and beautiful horses.  In fact, they have more Trakehner stallions here than any place in the U.S.  I find myself incredibly lucky that not only do I get to work with my favorite breed (the Trakehner), but I get to work with the BEST of the breed, and am lucky enough to actually get to ride them!  Not every rider gets the opportunity to sit on such amazing horses. 

Now that's a dog!  One of the 2 Great Pyranees that protects the farm 

I have also learned through my experience living in Southern Pines (Eventing capitol) that I may be limiting myself by my intense focus on dressage.  Andrew is a beautiful dressage rider as well as jumper, and it is only going to help me to assess and sell young horses in the future if I have a bit more experience and knowledge in eventing; which encompasses dressage, show jumping, and cross country.  I plan to use these next 2 months to completely immerse myself in their world, and get as much out of the experience as I can.  Preston would love the opportunity to teach me to jump, and if I still have him in a couple months, I would love to take him to an event so that I can add that to his resume.  Stay tuned for insights gained through my experience here on jumping, dressage, and breeding!

In addition to horses, Royal Palm Farm is home to a small herd of goats that entertain us with their antics. 

Update

This update is long over due. A lot of things have happened since my last post, and it has all been sort of a whirlwind.  I will keep it as short as possible.

First of all, Preston was a rockstar at the show and qualified for championships with a 63.553% at 2nd level.  He is schooling the changes at home, and will be ready to show 3rd level by the end of the season.  He is schooling canter pirouette and offered some passage-like steps the other day. I am very proud of him and can see him easily showing 4th level some day. 

My boyfriend and I left for Alaska at the end of July and spent 3 weeks there. We put on a 6 day running race in the Alaska Dome, where many world records were broken. Myself, I ran 36 miles in 12 hours and raised $1,000 for The Old Glory Legacy foundation.

After the race, we went on a 7 day cruise. I should have known that things were turning sour for me when I got an email from my boss at the wine shop saying she had replaced me with a full time person. The day after I got home from the trip, my horse ripped his face open on the fence where I had him stabled. The next day, my boyfriend and I had a fight which ultimately ended in me moving out and the relationship ending.  I had been unhappy for a long time, and though I was willing to see if things changed once he was home more, it turns out that we had stopped communicating a long time ago, or virtually never started.  It's still an adjustment for me though, because I thought we were going to be together forever. 

We took a place ride and landed on a glacier!

I was fortunate to be able to relocate both myself and my horses at my friends farm while I figured out my next move. Since I had moved to North Carolina to be with my boyfriend, and I didn't have a job anymore, there wasn't really anything keeping me there.  I decided to move back to Florida, and do a short stint in Alabama with my friends Andrew and Tiffany Palmer, who were short handed and needed my help. I sold Tattle and brought Preston with me. I am really proud of the job I did training Tattle, and it was fun to see what a good match he and his new owner were together. Now in Alabama, it feels right to be surrounded by friends and horses!  I love Trakehners and am lucky to be able to work with and ride these amazing stallions. I have my eye set on a nice young stallion that I would love to bring with me to Florida! Now I just need to figure out how!

Tattle with his new owner. He hit the jackpot and is owned by 2 vets!  They are going to compete him in eventing.