Getting your "Ducks in a Row"

As a way to review the happenings of the last few months, I'd like to share some thoughts about training, lessoning and preparing for events and shows. Getting your ducks in a row is how we all work, train, and prepare every single day for our goals.

In your daily training for your next competition, a consistent program helps you and your horse stay on target for your upcoming goals, and keep track of previous training sessions and how to move forward in the work.  If you only manage to do a real dressage school once a week on your schedule, it is difficult a week later to keep a steady build of confidence and practice going. As for jumping, exercises need to be focused and to the point to maintain your horse's health and joints. If you jump twice a week for example, and you do grids once and course lines the other: on grid day, exercises would build upon the previous course lines school on portions that were weak. Building distances for yourself and your horse to work through with ground poles and cavaletti allow you to work together every time. For course work, you must recall what kind of canter work it took to most successfully work through the grids. This consistency and building blocks style of work keeps you on track for improvement, and also makes it fairly easy to take it back a step if things feel a little off. Remember in addition to consistent work, horses also need to understand that sometimes they are allowed to relax and enjoy. Whether this means cooling out on a nice walk outside the arena or spending a fitness day on some good winding trails instead of hills.

As many professionals do, I maintain a consistent lesson program for my own horses. This Spring and Summer, I pretty much focused on exclusively dressage lessons at Hassler Dressage since the chaos of my schedule didn't allow the time to haul up to Sally Cousins for our jump tune-ups. Since Zara wasn't competing yet anyways, this wasn't a huge issue. Anyways, every week, my actively training horses would lesson at Hassler - Skogen the dressage pony, Zara, and baby thoroughbred Geoni. Keeping in regular lessons is a vital part your competition preparations. A mentor that sees you and your horses on a consistent basis allows you to keep track of the odds and ends that may become bad habits if let go. They help to establish a plan for your ride, whether it's how to nail that leg yield, enhance the cadence and elasticity in your gaits, or stay STRAIGHT on a center-line. In addition to these points, your instructor is someone who gets to see how you and your horse flow from the ground regularly, and can help identify little gaps in not only training but also soundness. A subtle favoring of a direction, lead or balance may not translate to you on top as a possible health issue, but could be noticeable to your trainer.

When it comes to competition prep, all of the above are very important elements, but also keep your routine, your mental health, and your time management in mind. A well planned preparation night must include a pointed ride to feel ready and not over-faced or overwhelmed for the next day, plus braiding and bathing, careful packing, and a good meal before the end of the evening. Some of us also have superstitious rituals, but to each their own on that front! Your pre competing ride often depends on your horse; for example, Zara does best on a 2-a-day schedule, with the day before including dressage and a light gallop ride. I try to complete her rides earlier in the day, so she has some downtime, and I don't feel stressed with her preparations. Typically an early finish to the day of riding, followed by a dinner adventure with some friends, then a return to the barn to put in braids for the night before going home to relax. Your packing should be done without rushing to assure you don't forget anything, and leave time to double check! Your evening plans should be relaxing but stimulating -- if it's too relaxing it may allow you to dwell on the day to come. Know and practice your test, but (easier said than done, I know) don't obsess over it. If you've gotten all your ducks together and marching this far, knowing the test should not be of worry.

When you're down to the wire, and preparing to "enter at A," it is the time to show off how well you have prepared. A carefully calculated warmup, following a well planned arrival and tack up are your final steps to bringing your very best into the ring. Always remember to consider how far it is to get to the warm up, that it will take a few minutes to do bit check, and that the chaotic warm up may distract your horse. Stay focused on what you need to accomplish in your warm up to give yourself the best chance at a stellar test. Find your own area, and keep your work focused. Keep yourself breathing deep, and show off the hours, days, weeks, months, years or whatever excessive, insane amount of time you devote to your competition. Smile at that judge like you know you've got it, and make a positive impact.

Dreams do Come True, One Jump at a Time

        One of the most important traits we gain as not only horsemen, but competing horsemen, is patience and understanding that time devoted is directly related to the successes you will achieve. I have been working with a special student of mine for quite a while now, and enjoyed watching her develop as a rider and horseman. It is a great pleasure to a trainer and instructor to see a student's hard work paying off. When I met Erin and her horse Joe, they were a pair that enjoyed playing around the farm, but often feuded over a wide variety of training issues. When I say wide variety, I mean anything and everything can set this pony off, whether it was the rattle of the indoor, the wind in the corn, the look of something scary, the look of something not really scary, butterflies, a patch of grass..... well, you get the picture. Joe is spooky, bossy, and in general a bit of a jerk. He is an arabian cross pony, with a bit of a little guy complex, which means a big guy attitude. Erin was not discouraged by his behavior, small stature, and occasional distaste for work, and has stuck with him for years now. When I came upon their partnership, and took an interest in improving them, we learned a few things: this pony can JUMP... AND he can flat fancy. But he will never make either very simple to accomplish. He rides among legends in the area of spin-out refusals, and holds good status in the area of run-outs and big spooks as well. He usually prefers to carry his head as if it is a flag pole rather than a normal horse's neck.


        With a slight background on these two, their recent accomplishments would come as very impressive to anyone who met them a year or two ago. After beginning work with me, Erin set out with the goal of taking Joe to an event at some point. She spent hours in the saddle, as well as a couple spills out of the saddle, worked independently outside of lessons as well as in lessons, and used plenty of watching others to learn as much as possible. Our first goals towards her main goal were to show at some local shows and get out cross country schooling through fall and winter of 2012-2013. We got out cross country schooling a few times, and learned about how Joe would handle the atmosphere. Through the winter, she attended her first jumper shows with him at Breezy Run, winning most of her classes and earning high point award for the season. She also participated in some schooling dressage shows, both on her horse and on another horse from the barn. Come the spring, we felt ready to venture out to their first event, and chose the Fairhill Starter Trials to give it a shot.

        Last Sunday, Erin and Joe completed their first of many exciting events to come. Although dressage is not Joe's or Erin's favorite, they cooperated very well together to earn a 40.6 starting them off 3rd in their division. In the jumping, they made their first outing look easy breezing through the stadium smoothly. Erin took her time with Joe on the cross country, successfully navigating the course to end on her dressage score and hold 3rd place. More importantly than the placing, was the pure happiness and team work that took place that day, where Erin and Joe believed in each other and were both smiling throughout the day. I bet they can't wait to give their second event a try soon!!

THE SEQUEL: Controlling the Uncontrollable: What to and NOT to do when Re-starting Light Work with the Stall Rested Advanced Horse.....

Well, as you might have guessed as time has passed, Zara's workload in her rehab has started to build up! We began adding jogs, trots and even some canters as we approach her re-check date on April 15th to slowly strengthen the tendon and make sure it becomes flexible for her to start real work. I even decided to take up regular tack-walks, since my running "skillz" in the cushy indoor sand footing proved inadequate to keep pace with the big red monster. SO, without delay, here are my latest tips for how to handle a 1300lb Big Red Mare (sometimes mistaken for an orangutang, as she swings from the rafters of the barn/indoor).

TACK WALKING:

1. Tack slowly, to avoid explosion...... As if she is SHOCKED that now she must wear a saddle again. Poor poor mare.

2. Bridle carefully..... because that's an excellent time to reach over to the shelf with the cookies on it.......or spin around and flee.

3. Groom in small intervals..... because Big Red horses are so itchy from blanket season, when you brush them for an extended period of time they may:
A) lean back on the cross ties into you to help you curry harder, and then "accidentally" break the cross ties;
B) lean sideways and/or move over towards you (again, to help you get that extra strength to curry adequately), and squish you into the wall;
C) fall down from ecstasy (and then discover you are not tied and flee).

4. Ride in the indoor until conditions outside are acceptable enough that there is good footing in case of sudden decision to flee or bounce or spin, good weather so no small items such as papers, ribbons, pieces of hay, etc. will fly by and terrify the advanced horse, and ideally there are no other horses outside to make things more exciting than you would like.

5. If you ride outside do it gradually..... Wind and birds and grass will need to be slowly re-introduced. Reaction will be as if never seen before.

6. Beware of hills...... because you may get stuck on them. They are an excellent reason to rear, buck, spin, or refuse to move feet in a positive direction.

7. Deer...... have become horse-eating monsters while your horse was in stall. If you see them before the Big Red, hold on, or allow a gentle turn away from the evil.

8. Walking/trotting partners..... make us less spooky, but more competitive, and result in angry ears and occasional kicks and strikes while trotting.

9. Always wear the neck strap....... ALWAYS!

Despite these highly limiting rules, I somehow look forward to getting to sit on the Monster every day, now especially that I get to ride outside in the warm weather, and get to trot for almost 20 whole minutes! (in intervals, on flat, of course)  Keep your fingers crossed for great news one week from today, maybe the Big Red will be out and about by this Fall!

Until next time, hold on to your strap!
Tracey

What NOT to do When a Big Red Advanced Horse is on Stall Rest.... A Guide for Controlling the Uncontrollable

So I hadn't really discussed it yet as public knowledge, but it's not too difficult to guess that Zara was scratched from Fairhill in October for an injury. She has a minor tendon injury that we are doing everything and anything to heal fully and get her back in action for next year. A vital step to this healing process is...... DUN Dun dun... Stall Rest and Hand Walks. Dreaded punishment to a horse that thrives on galloping and jumping out in the open. Throughout the past few months, I have gained a wealth of knowledge about the care and control of a wild trapped beast. Just in case anyone else needs to go through this, I thought I would share what I've learned so that if you must contain your wild beast, you can eliminate these mistakes from your experience.....
This list will grow as I learn more.

1. Do not walk without the chain.

 This is a fatal mistake for the wily contained beast. Even if your horse is an angel to lead most of the time, and they've never needed a chain in their life.... They do now! Fear the unchained monster, when you least expect it they will unleash their fury, and escape.

2. Master the Nose Chain, Lip Chain, and Various Wrap-Around Tactics.

Once you have made the mistake of trying to walk without the chain, you must learn which version of the chain works for well behaved horse, slightly excited horse, and wild beast. For Zara, as well behaved horse, she wears the nose chain wrapped under her chin, connected around to the same cheek as the lead is on. For excitable mare, the chain is lower on her nose. For beast of fury, lip chain with wrap under chin to opposite cheek.
          As a side note: Beware of the rage factor when you can finally control the beast - possible striking, biting and rearing.

3. Do not walk in the wind.

This mistake is especially applicable if you happen to have a barn/indoor that creaks, groans, blows, etc. Your formerly fearless cross country machine will think a small thump of something on the building is a dragon coming to take her away..... Or maybe as an excuse to fly away from your grip - either way, beware the wind!

4. In fact, do not walk in the rain... Or snow.. Or a storm of any sort.

Similar reasoning to above. The slightest noise, and the rearing, striking and bolting may commence.

5. Do not allow wind/rain/snow/storms to make noise in the barn.

If you thought your athlete was super impressive galloping out in the open, picture a similar level of impulsion and explosiveness, but in a 15 by 15 foot box. Duck and cover, preferably under the feed bucket or hay rack, if inside the stall. 

6. If you DARE tack walk, use drugs.

Or you will die.

7. Do not take your eyes off the stall door when inside.

Because super athletes are also successful Houdinis'. Apparently. You're probably better off latching the door while inside. (Beware of flying limbs at her distaste for the lack of escape opportunity.)

8. Do not take your eyes off of horse while she is on cross ties.

 Again, Houdini skills are honed with stall rest. Little-known side effect of confinement. If she doesn't know how to back out of ties, break ties, break halters, or other tactics of this nature, she probably does know how to chew through the tie. And escape.
          Side Note: Also, if you look away, she will paw, kick, spin, look behind her, and other erratic behaviors to make sure that either A, you will pay attention to her and only her, or B, she will escape.

9. Do not get distracted while wrapping legs.

They may start flying in every direction, one of which is towards your face. Surprisingly quietly.

10. Offer many rub downs, curries, brushings and head and neck scratches.

Or she will take any opportunity she finds to scratch, rub and lick you until you give in and appease her desire. Occasionally knocking you to the ground and practically rolling on you to scratch herself.

Closing 2012 with Success

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Baby Geoni rocked his first training at the Maryland Starter Trials!!
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          Hope everyone has had a good kick off to the holiday season! Although I was sad to withdraw Zara from Fair Hill this year, it opened another opportunity to get my other horses out and about before the end of the recognized season. Geoni started his recognized career at the Maryland Horse Trials, where he was quite mind-blown by the atmosphere, but managed to get around his first event with success. He was a star for his first true cross country run, and jumped clean in the stadium. Zoomer was on his best behavior, earning a good position from dressage and jumping clean in the stadium with just 2 seconds of time to earn 3rd in the preliminary. Since Geno was already signed up for the training level at CDCTA a few weeks later, I decided to compete him the next weekend at the unrecognized Maryland Horse Trials, where he got over his worries, and put in a stellar performance to lead his division from start to finish, ending on his dressage score. In November, Geno competed in the training at CDCTA, and was a little stressed in the dressage, but jumped well with one rail in the stadium and double clean cross country and end up 6th. I was thrilled to have followed through perfectly with my goals for Geno for this year; and excited to be back on Zoomer and competing.

          Now that we are coming into winter, we are planning lots of schooling shows, schoolings, and other opportunities to improve our weak spots to come out even stronger next year. Keep warm, and hope for a mild one up here in area two!

Tracey

Summer has Flown by!! AEC's, and Plantation

Well I can't believe it is already September!! Now that the fall is upon us, my other horses who have been on vacation while I focused hard on these past few weeks with Zara will be coming out to play! But first, here is a recap of Zara's last few events.

After deciding at the last minute to re-route from doing our 6th advanced level competition at Richland in Michigan to competing in American Eventing Championships in Georgia, we prepared for a longgg trip! Luckily, Zara is a good traveler, and made the 15 hour trip without incident. She settled in wonderfully, and schooled great the next day. If you've never been to Chattahoochee Hills, it is worth the trip! The facility is incredible, and creates a top-notch atmosphere for this great competition.  On dressage day, I unfortunately did not give Zara the warm up she needed to excel in the busy atmosphere. She kept her composure and confidence well through the trot work, but became unsettled in the challenging canter work. We earned an appropriate, but disappointing score to set us up at the end of the group of incredible advanced horses. The cross country was quite complex, and faced us with not just a few, but many questions that we haven't faced before. The tactful use of the terrain became an important component of many of the twisty combinations. With Sally's expert advice, Zara and I took on the cross country on Saturday with impressive power. We worked hard through the combinations, and despite a few minor mistakes, made it around clean and fast to move a big jump up in the placings. On stadium day, Zara seemed in good energy and as it turns out, had a bit too much go remaining! She was a firecracker around the complex course, bringing down three rails on the way around. We decided after this ride it is time for a change in our stadium tack to get her a bit more focused on me in the ring. We ended up placed at 14th of over 20 incredible horse and rider combinations.

The next stop on Zara's schedule was the Plantation Field Horse Trials. We had hoped to enter the CIC3*, but because of our various dressage issues, we did not have the scores we needed. Instead, we ran the advanced, still hoping to get the scores needed. On dressage day, Zara was fairly well behaved up until the last few moments of the test. Now we all know that Zara can be quite an opinionated Big Red Mare, however, this was a bit unusual. After crossing the diagonal where we were supposed to do the left to right flying change, Zara decided that in fact, she would not be changing leads, and she WOULD be leaving the arena; right there at P. Whether it was forward, backwards, or sideways, she was going OUT!!  Of course, this idea didn't really fly with me, so we had a bit of a discussion there in that corner of the arena, followed by a quite disorganized extended canter, and a less than great collection, circle and halt. Luckily, her trot work was much improved, and we earned a 44.7 and were not in last, even with the poor scores from her escapade. Bad mare!!! Stadium was Friday in the hilly grass area near the stabling. The course was beautiful, but would prove challenging, as Zara tends to be stronger and a little less confident on her feet in the grass. In our new bridle setup, which I had schooled in less than I would have liked, Zara took on the course with more poise than ever before. She was very attentive and careful. We made it all the way to jump #10 before we had a rail! I didn't have her quite straight to the liverpool, leading to a slightly flat jump. My error there was also reflected in the triple combination, where we had 2 more rails, to keep us in the same standing. Saturday, the cross country footing was very well tended, and the course rode with great flow. Zara really stepped up to the plate and stayed with me the whole time around, taking every single jump in great form and distance! It was definitely one of my very best rides. We made it around with just a few time penalties to end up in 10th place.

Because we did not obtain the qualifier we hoped for at a CIC3* this year, Zara and I will be entering Fairhill at the CCI2* level again, hoping that our hard work on the dressage will shine through to improve upon our performance last year. In addition to Fairhill, I will be competing the other horses who have had some time off while Zara has been working hard. Brilliant Truth will do a training level before returning to do a couple preliminary level events before the close of the year, Aces Zoomin' Dude will be entering a few preliminary level events to determine what his plan will be for the next year. Geoni, now that he has healed from his various ottb ailments... such as getting stuck in a gate, fighting with Zoomer (poor choice) and giving himself an impressive new eyebrow on one side ... and will be beginning his recognized career at the novice level.
Baby and Zoomer will be going to Middleburg, VA this weekend to get started!

Hot Jersey, Ups and Downs at Millbrook, and a Great Comeback for Zoomer at Waredaca!

Well, I got behind and skipped a few things.. but to recap, at the end of June Zara and I did the horse trials at the Horse Park of New Jersey. We had a decent dressage test for us, and geared up for the jumping with lots of ice and water on hand! Advanced in 100+ degrees is certainly a great test of my and Zara's stamina. With the help of Mark and a newer friend, Nicole, we warmed up and headed over to warm up. Zara was wonderful, and we headed in confidently after some brilliant rides before us by Buck Davidson and Jennie Brannigan. An interesting thing about this stadium course was that it was nearly identical to the intermediate stadium at Seneca a few weeks before. At Seneca, we had one rail at the vertical one-stride at the end of the arena, when I allowed a loss of balance through our turn. Needless to say, I was excited to ride the course again and hopefully leave that mistake out! Zara went around wonderfully, keeping all the rails up. I did have one mistake, where I added a stride in a bend, but luckily we kept it together enough to get to the base and get over it just fine. Our first clean advanced stadium! We went on to ride the cross country after a cooling session, and had a great time. Zara conquered all of the questions with confidence, and we came in just a little over the time to earn 3rd place.

Zara's next event was the Millbrook horse trials in New York. I was excited, as I had never traveled there for an event. We arrived an uneventful drive and Zara settled in nicely. She gave me her most relaxed test yet, and I was very happy that we have been improving every single outing so far this year. The cross country looked fair but had an element I wasn't used to -- hilly terrain. I walked the course with Sally Cousins and she assured me as long as we are fit, we will adapt fine to the hills. She was certainly right, and Zara and I pushed ourselves to have one of the best rides we've had to date. She was light on her feet, quick, and adaptable throughout the course, and to make things better, we managed to get in tight to the time with just 2 seconds to spare. The next day for stadium, Zara was in good spirits, though likely a bit tired... I however, was quite fatigued from the ride, and did not ride my best in the stadium. With my lack of support, we had 5 rails around the course to drop us from 5th to 10th. Our drive home went well, and Zara got a brief vacation before we went back to work. I did not take a vacation, and have been focusing on my fitness and as much riding as I can to avoid that problem again!
[Video Here: Millbrook Advanced Cross Country!! ]

On a bit of a whim last week, when I saw Waredaca was accepting post-entries, I decided to enter my wonderful old mount Zoomer in the training. With some luck, someone scratched the open training division on Saturday, so we geared up to head over Sunday! Our rides were in the late morning and afternoon which gave me plenty of time to walk and prepare. Zoomer warmed up very nice for the dressage, and gave me a lovely test. Unfortunately for him, he is scored a little tougher than fancy big red horses, and we were in poor standing after the dressage. Luckily, I was entering him for the fun of it, and was very excited to jump my old super horse. Zoomer tackled the stadium and cross country with ease, and we ended on his dressage score to earn 7th. Not too bad for a year apart, and then only a week together! We will see what Zoomer's future will hold this time around!

Next on our schedule is a busy fall season for all of my mounts. Zara and I will go to Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia to try our hand at the AEC's for advanced level, followed by Plantation Field and Fair Hill. Baby will continue competing at the preliminary level after her summer vacation until she is sold. Geoni will have his recognized event debut hopefully going training a time or two before the winter. Zoomer will be doing training or preliminary as his fitness and limitations allow until I decide whether we will try and bring him back up the levels for find a new place for him to live. Very excited to be busy busy eventing again!!