A Year plus 20 Days

Dino the day after he came home, Nov. 11, 2009


Dino six months after I got him, May 10, 2010


Dino one year after I got him, Nov. 10, 2010


What a difference a year makes!! That last picture, boy, he has really let himself go! Gotta bit of a hay belly going on there!*lol*

When I look back on our first year together, I find myself thinking just how lucky I am, extremely lucky. This whole thing could have gone terribly wrong, but in the face of adversity, together we have succeeded. I was given the advice by many people who are familiar with the OTTBs to go slow with Dino. It was really stressed to me, go slloooww with him. And I have to say, I am so glad that I listened. After Dino settled in, I started him on the basics: the lunge line and after a week or so, I added side-reins. I worked on voice commands and took him off the lunge line and started free lunging him. I had a goal to get back on him on December 1 (last year) and I met that goal. But every single time something started to go wrong, I went back to the basics until April when we had a break through and I finally started to ride him full time. It was late June before we ever started canter work and in early July we went to dressage camp for four days. It was at camp that we learned so much about each other and faced our biggest obstacle. Dino became as tense as a bridge cable ready to snap, and with the help of Janet, we worked through it. My number one goal from day one with Dino was: Everything has to be a good experience that we build on. Camp proved that together we can succeed and I feel confident that in a similar situation I am better equipped as a rider to guide Dino from meltdown to success. And I believe that experience taught Dino that he can rely on me.

At MMSC, Dino was nicknamed Mr Wiggles, I personally thought ADHD was a better descriptor, and after months of not maintaining his attention me, I read an article in Dressage Today that was an answer to my prayers. The article gave simple exercises to teach your horse to be patient and to stay focused on their trainer...are you ready for this? By teaching them to bow. Dino learned the trick in less than six days and it was a major turning point in our relationship. When he wants attention now, he bows because he knows he's going to get wither scratches, praised, and maybe a cookie.

Yeah, I could have medicated him or given him some kind of calming supplement, but I didn't want a dull horse, I want a receptive partner. This past summer someone was telling me how a horse in their barn is always given ace anytime he leaves his stall; ride, turnout, farrier, vet, trailering, grooming, etc. The owner, for whatever reason, thinks the horse needs it. I knew someone in the hunter/jumper scene that use to give their old pony something, I would look at the pony and wonder how it was still standing, and then they'd put a child on her! To me, if you have to dope up your horse, then you need to go back to the basics and learn how to communicate with them and how to handle them. You see that all the time now, people have a few extra bucks in their wallet and decide to buy a horse without any knowledge, and who suffers? The horse. Maybe one day my opinion will change on this topic...

Someone recently asked me why I haven't started jumping Dino yet. Honestly, I don't know if I will ever jump him but if I were, why do I have to do it now? For one, he's eight years old and has plenty of time to jump. I have seen so many horses go sour when pushed too hard too early. The ones who don't go sour, end up hurting physically in the end. I look at Angel and I think, "She was pushed and pushed and pushed until her body broke, and broke it did." And I'm responsible for that, I won't do it to Dino. I had a goal for Angel and I that I wanted, we never made that goal and she still ended up hurting in the end. At camp last summer, we had to fill out a questionnaire about our goals and one of the questions asked just that: What are your goals with this horse? I simply wrote, "I want a judge to write on my dressage test 'a happy horse'." That's all I want for Dino, to be a happy horse.

I am happy to say the only two artificial aids that I have used on Dino are my spurs and one time my dressage whip when I couldn't find my spurs. I have never used a martingale on him, running martingale, draw reins, a German martingale, etc. Dino goes in a simple Happy Mouth double jointed roller loose ring bit, and I will keep him in that bit for as long as possible. Besides wanting every experience to be a good experience for Dino and wanting him to be a happy horse, I want this retraining to be done as classically as possible. In my heart of hearts, I truly believe Dino will be a great horse.

Currently, Dino is doing amazingly well. His workload has decreased significantly in the past several weeks due to oncoming winter and my lack of an indoor. My goal is to keep him in moderate work, no more than three days a week, so when spring comes he'll be easier to bring back into full work (and hopefully without injury). Just walk and trot, the ground here gets extremely slippery, so I don't want to chance any canter work. His shoes were pulled in October, I could have pulled them sooner, but I wanted him to have protection. Now they are free to breath and grow, and maybe I won't have to put shoes back on in the spring. I recently bought Dino the Freedom Feeder, now that he's in more and not getting as worked much, his stall walking has increased ten-fold. So I'm hoping this hay net will allow him to slow down his eating by giving him something to do. I'm also thinking of purchasing a Graze Feeder or the Snak-A-Ball, but I'll wait to see how hay net goes.

What??

Alltech World Equestrian Games 2010

As I just mentioned in my previous blog post, my bucket listed included a trip to the World Equestrian Games and it just so happened that the 2010 games were being held in Lexington, a short 4.5 hour drive away.

Actually it goes back further than that. Shortly after it was announced that WEG would be held in Lexington at the Kentucky Horse Park, I was in Kentucky for a job interview. I knew then, that no matter what, I was going to attend. So I kept close tabs on when tickets would go on sale and when hotels would open up their booking. Turned out to be a long wait, almost 2.5 years as tickets and hotels didn't open up until September 25, 2009 - a year before WEG would start. Nonetheless, the day tickets went on sale I purchased my tickets for the Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle, the Cross Country phase of Eventing, and the both phases of the Speed Event for the Team Show Jumping. I dragged my heels on the hotel, maybe a month before the start of the event with the hopes that the outrageous hotel costs would go down. Well, that and I was hoping to be living in Kentucky by then. They did not and I was not. I had hoped to stay in Lexington, but I ended up staying in Richmond. But it was all good, I stayed on the furthest route south of Lexington that still got the shuttle service. Let me just say, that $10 for the shuttle service was the best $10 I ever spent!

My trip to WEG started on September 30 with a side trip to Churchill Downs in Louisville. I had never been to Louisville or Churchill Downs and to see this place up close was simply amazing! While there, I went though the Kentucky Derby Museum and took a backside tour of Churchill. This place is unbelievably HUGE. You wouldn't even know that you are in the middle of a large metropolitan city.


At the entrance of Churchill Downs is the statue of the 132nd Kentucky Derby winner

Barbaro. I had a wager on Barbaro the day he won the Derby; he was undefeated, had a five week rest before the Derby, but mainly because his trainer was Michael Matz. A former Olympian Michael knows how to keep his horses sound and happy at the highest level. I have wanted to see this statue since it was unveiled last year. I truly believe that Barbaro would have been the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

Going through the museum was another thrill. To see a starting gate up close, jockey silks, sit in a race saddle, etc. What really sealed the deal for me wanting to see Churchill on this specific trip, was because they had a limited engagement dedicated to Secretariat and the new Disney film.


After going through the museum, I joined a tour group outside and got to walk around the paddock area, through the tunnel to the track, and see the famed towers from the grandstand side. It such a magical experience, which may sound off-kilter for some, but for a huge horseracing fan like myself it was like the mecca. I mean the famous horses that have walked down the tunnel to the track, to imagine the crowd singing "My Old Kentucky Home", and the roar from the stands when the horses reach the top of the stretch. It gave me goose bumps and I vow to return one day not just as a spectator, but as an owner of a thoroughbred racehorse.

Another highlight for me was probably the memorial to Eight Belles. This remarkable filly finished second in the 134th Kentucky Derby (May 3, 2008), as she crossed the finish line and was pulling up, she fell to the track. It appeared on video, from different angels, that she was switching leads in which she took a bad step and broke one leg and as she stumbled, broke her other leg. There was nothing they could do for her, and she was euthanized without the knowledge of her owner or trainer. I'm not even sure they knew she fell to the track, much less broke both front legs and was euthanized immediately. An autopsy later revealed the nature of her fractures were identical to those of Barbaro two years prior. While Barbaro and Eight Belles have brought attention to a fragile industry, casting them in a harsh light, Zenyatta, in retrospect, has given hope and possibility to the sport.

After leaving Louisville, it was off to Lexington...umm, Richmond - which is about 25-miles south. Trust me, hotels in the Lexington area nothing was lower than $150 and that was for the cheap, dirty, I_wouldn't_stay_there_if_my_life_depended_on_it! hotel. Normally, when I visit Lexington, I stay at the Sheraton, which is about $80 a night, for WEG it was over $300 a night!! So when I said earlier that I was holding off hoping hotel prices would come down, I wasn't kidding and they didn't. Hence Richmond, it was a tad under $200, again, a night, when normal prices are just under a $100, so the rip-off wasn't as bad. Did I write 'rip-off'? What I meant to write was 'rip-off'. But at least I had a fridge and a microwave, so yay on bringing food from home and not eating out.

My first day at the Games was the Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle. I was so excited for this event and it was also my birthday. Since switching to dressage full-time more than three years ago, to see this level of competition was making my heart skip a beat and the best birthday gift by far! Of course, the horse everyone was waiting to see was the Netherlands Moorlands Totilas. He and his rider, Edward Gal, made history by winning gold in all dressage competitions at WEG. A short nine days later, Totilas was sold to Germany for a rumored $20-million dollars; like the old saying goes, "You want to beat your biggest competitor, buy his best horse." I can't wait until Totilas returns to the ring in 2011. While I won't re-gush my love for Spain's Juan Manuel Muñoz Diaz and Fuego XII, they are still the team that walked away with my heart.

Not to ignore the American riders, I was so thrilled to see Steffen Peters and Ravel take third. Steffen made so many improvements on his test, his pirouettes alone should have been 9s. I read an article that Steffen gave after the games, he teamed up with a research physicist from Princeton University and studied judges' score sheets and videos of the top five horse and riders more than a year in advance to prepare for the games. He was basically using the same technique football players use to prepare for a big game, but took it further. You talk about a level of commitment. I applied to ride with Steffen a few years back, but now more than ever, I really want to ride with him. (In case you couldn't tell, I was turned down.) So my new goal is when Dino and I are ready to start schooling second level, Steffen will hopefully be conducting a clinic close-by and I will apply. Under pseudo names if needed.

The next day was simply c-r-a-z-y! First it was off to the Secretariat Festival in Paris, Kentucky. I picked the scenic route driving from Richmond to Paris and managed to pass Claiborne Farm on the way. Such beautiful countryside, every where you look are the stunning fences and equally stunning horses behind them. However, I must say, very difficult to be looking about when you are trying to navigate those pesky hills, curves and the tad narrow roads. We arrived just as the festival was starting and the line up of cars trying to get in and the people milling about, it was amazing and moving that even 21-years after Secretariat's death and 37-years since his retirement from racing people still come together and admire him. I met a gentleman there, and I never got his name, that the first time he ever went to the track (and consequently wagered) was the day Secretariat won the Belmont. He showed me his win ticket that he never cashed in, it just gave me chills. I've never met anyone who saw Secretariat race in person, let alone was at Belmont that day in 1973. Also at the festival, I met Kate Chenery Tweedy, the daughter of Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery. I bought her new book Secretariat's Meadow - The Land, The Family, The Legend. If you're a fan of Secretariat, this is a must have!! Even if you're not a fan of Secretariat's, this book is a must have!! When Kate signed my book, she wrote, "To Kelly - Have fun with Dino --- Thanks! Kate Tweedy" I had such a great time at the festival, but didn't get a chance to do the Claiborne Farm visit, I have decided that I'm going to make the festival a yearly trip for myself. Maybe even next year, enter Dino in the Secretariat look-a-like contest.

After leaving the Secretariat Festival, it was back to WEG and the cross-country phase. I've never been to Rolex and in all my visits to the Kentucky Horse Park, I've never even walked the course so I figured what better opportunity than at WEG. Now I am the first to admit I know very little about eventing, its just not my cup of tea, however, those people are nuts! I know I'm coming across as judgmental here, but they FLY around that course, over fences that are not only complicated to my hunter mind, but down right scary. I'll go chase down a 'faux', which incidentally enough Fox Hunting is on my bucket list, but I'll be damned if you'll catch me jumping a ditch, a table, or a Normandy bank; because these things happen. I give props to those who do it, but like I said: its not my cup of tea.

Our fourth day was a sight-seeing and shopping day. We drove around Lexington and ultimately made our way over to Keeneland. I love going to Keeneland, it's such a beautiful place. This is always a must on our list of places to stop at, every single trip finds us at Keeneland. Just the history you experience walking through there, it may not be as old as Churchill Downs, but you feel the history here more so. In my opinion it has a lot do with the fact that very little of it has changed since it opened in 1936. I always feel like, if I turn around real fast, I'll catch a glimpse of Ben Jones.

The last and final day was the day of the Speed Phase in showjumping. I had bought tickets for both part one and two, because I wanted to be sure I saw McLean Ward and Sapphire. They did NOT disappoint. The course fell so many riders that day, but McLean and Sapphire made it look so easy! Of course they were the very last to go, at about 5:30 when the competition started at 10AM. I am almost ashamed to admit that I grew bored with watching the jumping. Here I rode hunter/jumpers for 15-years and I was bored. It was wonderful watching all the riders, but it was the same course for everyone. At one point I even wandered down to the warm-up ring to watch the horses school over fences. I guess it really is much more interesting when you are actually showing as opposed to just standing around, in the end I had a new appreciation for what my Dad did all those years.

In the end, I spent way too much money; around $1,100 just on my hotel room and my tickets. More when it came to purchases. In hindsight, which really is 50/50, I could have just went to Louisville that first day, the Freestyle the second, the Secretariat Festival the third, and then came home. Did I enjoy myself? Yeah. It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Would I do it again? I would, in the order I mentioned above.

My Bucket List

I got this idea from the January 2009 issue of Horse Illustrated.

1. Gallop on a beach.
2. Win a blue ribbon for a Musicale Freestlye.
3. Enjoy an evening of equestrian theater by the Cavalia company.
4. Try my hand at team calf penning and cutting.
5. Ride in a recognized hunt, with scarlett coat and barking dogs.
6. Fall off and get right back on. Done.
7. See the majestic white Lipizzan stallions at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria.
8. Visit the Musée Vivant du Cheval – the Living Horse Museum – in Chantilly, France.
9. Be accepted for a two-week training course at the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre – Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art – in Jerez, Spain.
10. Come to a sliding stop on a well-trained reining horse.
11. Take a riding lesson with an Olympian. Examples include, but are not limited to: Steffen Peters, Courtney King-Dye, Betsy Steiner, Jane Savoie, George Williams, Debbie McDonald, Sabine Schut Kerry...etc.,etc.
12. Nurse a horse through a crisis and back to full health. Done.
13. Experience the smooth ride of a gaited horse. Done, *lol*
14. Watch the horses come through the Head of the Lake on cross-country day at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event.
15. Have the courage to do the right thing for your horse.
16. Attend the Kentucky Derby dressed to the nines -- including the hat.
17. Ride a trail accessible only be horseback and enjoy the view.
18. Take my dream vacation on horseback: New Zealand, Ireland, and Spain.
19. Master the sitting trot. Done.
20. Ride a dressage schoolmaster.
21. Watch polo.
22. Feed, muck, groom, ride. Repeat daily.
23. Wake up to a whinny every morning. Done.
24. Fly down the track on a Thoroughbred. Done.
25.Meet one of your favorite famous horses in person -- from the movies, Docs Keepin' Time (Justin).
26. Ride bareback, bridleless...or both. Done, I have no desire to ride bridleless.
27. Share a bond with your horse that's deeper than words.

And because I've already completed six of these, here are seven new ones.
1. Ride beautiful examples of the following breeds: a Lipizzaner, a Friesian, and an Andalusian. Make them all stallions.
2. Own any/all of the above.
3. Attend the Olympics.
4. Attend the FEI World Cup. Done, WEG 2010 @ the Kentucky Horse Park.
5. Own a Thoroughbred racehorse who runs in the Kentucky Derby.
6. Attend the Breeder's Cup.
7. Learn to ride Side Saddle.