Looking Forward

Looking back on the past year has me eagerly looking forward. I find myself counting down the days until Equine Affaire, which inevitably leads me to counting down the days until my next vacation. Bump that back to the sooner I can do my taxes and get my return the better, because that's my annual spending money at Equine Affaire.

Besides that, I'm looking forward to a break in the weather so that Dino and I can get back to work. This year I'm hoping to take him to his first show in April. Not to show, mind you, I'll tie him up to the trailer or get a stall, then school him in schooling ring and walk him around. I know Dino and I know once he becomes upset, there's no reasoning with him. As I have said all along, every experience has to be a good one which is built upon.

Then we'll go to our first show, we'll start at intro level and at our second show, if all goes well at our first, we'll do training level. Before we know it, time for dressage camp will be upon us again. Four days of fun in the sun (well, indoor) and a lot of learning. By the end of the summer, early fall, I hope to begin first level.

Could I push Dino to start doing shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, haunches-in, haunches-out, half-passes, and leg-yields? Yes, of course, but what good is it if Dino's not connecting over his topline from his hindquarters, if he' not maintaining contact with my hand. It should start simply with leg-yields, where Dino would travel both sideways and forward at the same time; his body is straight with a slight bend to the outside. This, to me, is basic riding and not just dressage.

I learned a long time ago that short-cuts do not pay off, they never have and they never will. So come on spring, hurry up and get here!!

What can I say, I'm psychic

My last post was titled, "Someone is NOT going to make it through winter, probably me" and I have to say, it's coming true.

Picture it: a beautiful Christmas late afternoon, time to get together with family and enjoy a wonderful meal. Glancing out a window you see three horses, one horse is standing quietly while another is chasing around the third. The concerned owner slips out the backdoor and brings in the poor chased horse and offers her a flake of hay to nimble on, she then returns to the house. But not for long. As she is sitting in the family room, she watches the once quiet horse cantering across the pasture. She wonders if the bully is picking another fight, so she gets up from her chair and goes to the window to see better. The cantering horse settles down and starts walking the fence line. As he reaches the back of the pasture, he spins and starts cantering...er, galloping along the fence. He comes to the corner and instead of turning and following the line, he slips, falls, and slides through the fence.

The owner, who just witness this, is frantic and runs wildly through the house and out the backdoor. The horse is even more frantic as he is now tangled in the electric fence and trying to free himself. As he bolts across the pasture, the electric fence is around his legs, barrel, back and chest. Luckily the fence snaps and he is free, just now understandably upset and still galloping about. The owner reaches the pasture gate, flings it open and runs to her horse's aid. In hindsight, not a good idea; but a good gesture...to one who would appreciate it.

Once the horse is caught, he is blowing and shaking. He is led back into the barn, where the owner tends to his injuries...but wait! There is only one, a rope burn around his chest and shoulder. She thanks her lucky stars that it is not worse and goes about settling down the wild beast.

For the rest of the evening, and well into the night, the concerned owner returns to the barn every hour on the hour to check on her poor-poor horse.

Cast of Characters:
Concerned/Frantic Owner.....Me
Picked on horse....Angel
Bully.....Sancho

Which can only leave our STAR

Quiet horse who ran through fence....DINO.

The damages, December 25, 2010.

And to think, I thought I'd have post about what gifts Angel, Sancho and Dino got for Christmas.

Someone is NOT going to make it through winter, probably me

FOR SALE: 23-year-old spirited (read: PSYCHOTIC) Paso Fino gelding. Has performance record, neck reins, jumps, goes 2nd/3rd level dressage, crosses water - quickly if you don't want to get wet, and is road safe - even knows his way home! Can be a the nervous type; especially if you ask him think.

Last Saturday morning I had the scare of my life, and nearly a heart attack! I turned horses out while I was doing stalls and getting their breakfast ready. Fast forward 30-minutes and I go to bring them in, I open the side door and come face-to-face with a wide open pasture gate, "On no!", I thought.

I turn around just in time to see Sancho galloping across the backyard, afraid another horse would come barreling around the corner I approached with trepidation and peered around. I could see Angel out in a field, digging through snow for grass, and immediately felt a little better that she hadn't joined Sancho in his wild gallop. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see something running down the road, "OH NO, DINO!!" With my heart simultaneously in my throat and my stomach I started to walk across the barn drive to retrieve Angel when I notice Dino was really next to her, hidden from view by the trailer, out in the field digging through snow for grass. "Oh, thank you Lord," I thought and probably even said out loud.

I was now in a conundrum. Do I catch Sancho, who was still running around and risk Angel and Dino joining him. Do I go for Angel, who I would have a 50/50 shot of actually catching, but if she took off Dino would also for sure. Or Dino who has never been loose like this... I stood there contemplating for a few seconds before deciding Dino it was and who had a look on his face that said, "This is too much fun!"

Angel also had a look, "You will never guess what I just showed Dino...oh wait, I bet you can." However, it wasn't Angel's look that concerned me, it was the gleam in her eye. I've seen it many times before, the one that says: "Try me."

I adverted my eyes and calmly walked up to Dino, took hold of his halter (thank God I left those on!) and started walking back to the barn, but then I thought better of it and turned around grabbed Angel's halter as well. I could just see in my mind's eye, Angel taking off to join Sancho and setting Dino off in the process. So I had Dino on my right, Angel on my left and Sancho still running around like a damn fool. I immediately thought, "You, I am going to kill."

I get Angel safely back into her (locked) stall and while in Dino's stall Sancho comes FLYING into the barn, making a beeline for his stall. Once inside, he's snorting and shaking and really there is nothing I can do. If I raise my voice to him, he'll just get that much more upset. So I calmly walked over to his stall, removed his halter, closed and LOCKED his stall door.

Sancho is a...peculiar...horse. Not the brightest light bulb and can really test one's patience. I got him when he was 11-years-old and according to his owner transfer papers, I'm his fifth owner. Basically he was changing hands every other year. And I get why. I really-really-REALLY do. I am sometimes amazed that I've held on to him for more than half his life, and at this point I know I'm in for the long haul.

A really long haul. I just need to recite the Rider's Prayer more often, especially the line "Dearest Creator grant me patience..." Maybe even tattoo it on my body.

OR better yet, his body.

Videos

Here are some older videos I've taken of Dino over the course of the last year. Hopefully at some point I'll have some videos of Angel, Sancho and Dino out in the snow playing.

This first one if from when Dino was boarded last winter at Sandy's Lilly Bug Farm, just down the road from me. Okay, 'down the road from me' is country talk, she's about three miles north of me. I had boarded Dino for the sole reason of an indoor riding arena. It served its purpose. This particular day, Dino was feeling his oats a bit. Check out the buck at :39. The bucking was something Dino had to learn was not acceptable under saddle, it took a bit for him learn that! Sorry it's so dark, I did have the arena lights on.

This next video is of Dino bowing. I talked about this is another post and I do recommend teaching this trick. Super easy, a great focus tool and is a bounding experience.

The last video is the most recent. Dino is still lunged at least once a week. It gives his back a rest, works on his balance, his rhythm, and his gait. It's also great for me, because like most people I'm on time restraints and lungeing is just so much easier. Here Dino is in side-reins which are simply looped onto the girth, if he pulls his head up they will slide up. This way he is not forced into a position, but encouraged into one. The lunge line is attached to the inside ring of the bit only (the bit ring closest to me). Dino is going in a dressage bridle with a padded raised flash cavesson, and the bit is a Happy Mouth double jointed loose ring snaffle bit.

Why I Ride

Prior to WEG, Ariat had some new promo's asking top equestrians to answer a simple question: "Why I Ride". I ride for the companionship and for the thrill of asking a 1,000-lb animal to go against thousands of years of evolution and do what I ask.

I also ride for results shown in the following video. I was at WEG and saw this ride just two months ago. There was an electricity in the air and the crowd really got into the ride, cheering Juan Manuel Muñoz Diaz and Fuego XII of Spain along the way. AND the crowd really did boo when they announced their results, many thought they should have received a medal. Was it a perfect ride? No. Fuego never truly halted at the start of the test and the final halt, he spooked and bolted with Juan who never really saluted the judges. Fuego's extended canter could be more, his pirouette's are way too large, and he was off a bit from the music from time to time. I'm sure there are other things that I'm not seeing either.

But WOW, his extended trot at 1:20 (and again at 2:18) was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! His reach in the half-pass at 1:39 (and again at 2:35) was wonderful. His piaffe at 2:05 (right in front of the judge at C) was beautiful.His two tempis on the 15-meter circle at 4:55 were so balanced and forward. And his one tempis down the centerline at 5:39, one handed no less, were so forward and breathtaking! His extended canter at 5:58 to the piaffe at 6:06 looked easy (but could have been smoothed out) and then to add in the 180 turn. Finally his passage down centerline, again one handed, at 6:17 really sealed the deal with the crowd and had us emotionally invested in his ride...maybe too much! When Juan and Fuego exited the ring, every single person (in a sold out stadium of 25,000) was on their feet applauding the aesthetic ride.



That is why I ride, I strive for this type of happy forward moving horse and I ride for the aesthetic appeal of said ride. Even if I never showed, I would be over the moon to have this type of relationship with my horse.

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.