And even more Dressage!

Dressage, dressage, dressage.
Katchi says - why we still doin' dressage?
And Mi says - dressage-schmodge. Jump!

But, it's dressage, dressage, dressage!

And it ain't even half bad!

Last week, I found out that in Mi's very first recognized dressage test (and our first competitive foray together), Mi earned the Thoroughbred High Score (Open Division) at Ride for Life... which came with prize money! WOW!  I think he was just straight up showing off to win that his first time out.  I bet he said to Katchi, "I'll show you who's getting all the treats today!"

After Ride for Life, I made a last minute decision to enter Mi in PVDA's ATC Summer Showdown to see if I could squeeze out a few more points from the square sandbox.  While Mi was good at R4L, he was tense and then tired and tense, and I knew there was so much more in there.  When I got my ride times for the Showdown and saw both tests would be in the indoor coliseum, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed.  So much for getting rid of that tension.  But, oh well, might as well push the limits.  And that we did.  Little jerk.  Day one was reasonable - judge's platform still scary as heck, but he coped.  And I was hopeful we could get 5 points higher on our return into the coliseum on day 2.  Little jerk. The second I took him out of the warm up arena and pointed him towards the shoot to the coliseum - he said, oh I don't think so...  that's the primrose path to hell!  Little jerk. Technically, he performed the movements.  Technically, his score of 63.378 earned him a pretty 4th place ribbon (out of a class of 9).  And technically, he was border line temper tantrum the entire test.  And when I took him back out to the warm up arena after his test, he had a full on temper tantrum.  Big jerk. You know how little kids scream and kick the floor and roll around?  Yeah, try sitting on 1,000 pounds of that.  I kept thinking of that horse that got eliminated at Rolex (in dressage!) a few years ago for "insubordination."  At least Mi had the "decency" to hold his insubordination until we got out of the ring.  I guess I should be thankful.  So, Mi earned himself an entry to another dressage show - August 31.  Game on.

Meanwhile, I had a super fun opportunity at the same show - for a not-so-fabulous reason.  My long-time student Debi had her beautiful mare, Roxanne, also entered at the Summer Showdown -- but the weekend before she fell very ill and was not going to be able to compete. As I ride Roxanne regularly, I thought it might be a good bit of fun to spin her around the dressage ring, so I picked up the ride in Debi's place - and fun it was!  She kicked butt in all 3 of her classes, winning her mom 3 beautiful blue ribbons and engraved wine glasses!  And our score of 75.172% in First Level Test 1 received an extra award as the show's Reserve High Score!  What good fun!  A huge thanks to Debi for letting me have the ride -- and especially to Debi's Patrick for being my groom extraordinaire for the weekend!

Me & Roxanne - winning First Level Test 1

I guess I was happier about the blue ribbons than Roxanne!

As much fun as we've been having Dressaging-it-up this summer, Mi and I have also been working very hard on putting together our partnership over fences.  I'm learning a lot about him, and he's learning a lot about me!  We have a few more holes to fill and understandings to reach, but I'm getting very excited for the future... and taking the time now to be sure we are ready to do it right soon!

P.S. Katchi wants everyone to know that with all this rain, he's been allowed out of the dressage ring on the nice soft ground a few times this summer!  A huge thanks to Sharon who has been riding him out on the hills for me, accompanying us while Mi does his conditioning work.  Last time out, Katchi was so good and the ground was so soft, that I gave the go-ahead for a little canter spin around the field!  KATCHI LOVED IT!  They both had big smiles on their faces! So fun to watch!!

GOOD BOY KATCHI!

So much to catch up on! First, RIDE FOR LIFE!

Oh dear, I just looked at the date of my last post.  I knew I was late, but eek.  I'm way overdue - and I'm blaming the grass!  I seem to have found myself in 10 acres of lush grass, needing to be mowed every 5 days!  Between a full time job, 2 horses, plus students and their horses...  there hasn't been a spare second in weeks!

The best thing about being crazy busy, if you love what you're busy doing, is you love every minute of your life!  I had a moment yesterday when I had to stop and pause and smile at just how good life is...  after 4 hours on the road, driving back and forth to West Virginia for a (wonderful!) jumping lesson with Jim Wofford... having an epic battle with Mi about peeing in the trailer, and trying to gather up the energy to tack up Katchi...  I had Katchi half tacked up in the cross ties and Mi, wet, in the wash stall... and the two of them, looking across the aisle at each other (each wondering with baited breath what the other was getting that might be coming his way next), and watching me - the giver of treats, and any passerby who might have a treat too...  it made my heart just swell... it was the cutest thing I've seen in ages. Their innocence, and anticipation, and delight.  And I thought, I must be the luckiest girl in the world to have such incredible ponies in my life!

Thinking back to everything that has happened the past TWO MONTHS...  the first big event was Ride for Life!  This was the 10th anniversary of the event, and my 7th consecutive year as a competitor... and as it turned out, my 3rd year winning the high pledge award for the "open" division!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who made a donation to this event in my name.  Each year, I ride in memory of my first dressage instructor, Joy Court, who valiantly fought and won several battles with breast cancer until we lost her in 1997.  Joy's love for dressage, horses, and her students was incredible and I like to think that I carry a little bit of her with me each and every ride (I know she's with me every time I put on a polo wrap as she's the one who took the time to show me how and why, and made sure I did it properly every day!).  I was especially thrilled this year to enter the arena with both Katchi and Mi, and Joy on my shoulder, watching over me as Mi and I embark on our new adventures together.

Both the ponies were really outstanding, bringing home many pretty ribbons and making me very proud!  And while everyone wanted to check out the new pony in his dressage debut, Katchi was a star as well, and made some new friends too (specifically, he has a two year old boy who learned to say "Good Boy Katchi!" and who cannot stop talking about him and his treats!!!!).

Kathi and his new little friend, Beckett

Mi checking out the BEAUTIFUL high pledge cooler and ribbon

Good Boy Katchi!

Mi, very proud of himself after his first test - and looking for the jumps to come after dressage!

Mi in his first recognized dressage show!

Fences...Fences...Fences!

Before you read this post, let me dutifully warn you that it may be perceived along the lines of, "Please sit down... I have 1,000 baby pictures you're going to love!"  Or, "Would you like to see the pictures from our family vacation?  We took 30,000!"  You have been warned ... here come the FENCE photos! Yep, in every photo - posts and rails.  They're like a dream come true to me!  "Fencing Phase 1" was completed yesterday by Robert and his crew, All About Fence.  They did an absolutely beautiful job, and pretty much, I LOVE MY FENCES!!!  After the wood dries out a bit, we'll be staining them dark - it's not too early to volunteer for the painting party! I promise pizza and beer, and pretty much anything else you want!

Before there could be a fence, there had to be posts!

And then, voila, there was a fence! And it has a gate!

Oh look, another fence!  It has 4 boards too!

OOOHHH... Double fence! Anyone fancy a hack around the fields??

This is "the cow fence" - I hope the cows next door don't have an appetite for wood!

The driveway - with a fence!

Oh look, my mom with a fence!

AH HA!  Horses in a fence!  Katchi & Mi came to visit during our Cinco de Mayo party - they were  begrudgingly confined to the one finished fence at the time - the future sacrifice area - not so big... and all that lovely grass in the distance!  Total horse abuse.

Rolex 2013

Sharon & me & Bruce

Yes, I know, Rolex was an entire month ago!  Where does the time go?!  But some of these pictures are just too fun not to post for everyone to have a good laugh over!!  This was my 3rd trip to Rolex, and my mom's 2nd.  This time she came in with a battle plan.  Credit card companies notified - check.  Savings account money available - check.  Shopping list in full detail - check. Dressage schedule carefully assessed to precisely balance the right amount of shopping and dressage - check.  Cash for Funny Business drinks - lots of Funny Business - check.  For several months leading up to Rolex, we had quite a debate about whether we would take the Camry, the truck, the truck with a flatbed... it even got so bad that I had to tell friends they couldn't ride with us because we did not expect to have room for them, one allotted small suitcase, AND OUR SHOPPING!!!!  This is how seriously we took Rolex this year.  

Rolex 2013 was especially fun because 4 wonderful friends and students came along as Rolex newbies!  We tried to explain to them just how good it would be.  Now they have seen the light.  We finally caved and let Sharon have a spot in the truck, and she dutifully packed light and brought travel games and supplies to make Sangria.  She earned her seat.  Kerry flew to Kentucky to meet us Thursday night - while she missed 10 hours of good shopping, she also spared herself the trauma of 39 degree windchill during Wednesday's jog.  I still think we got the better deal.  And Debi and Patrick ended up with dressage seats right next to us on Thursday - not planned and not purchased together!  What does that tell you about how many people actually bought Rolex Thursday dressage tickets the first week they were on sale???  And Amanda (a former student now in Tennessee - not a Rolex newbie) also met up with us on Friday.  What a fun group we had!

While my mom was on a tractor shopping mission, the other girls and I entertained ourselves by pretty much playing like star struck teenagers backstage at a rock concert!  And the funny thing is - I know all these "rockstars" that we spent 4 days snapping ridiculous pictures with like we'd never met any of them - and like none of them had ever yelled at me in a lesson!  Yes, we enjoyed the Man of War drinks.  A lot.

(Me + Man of War) + (Mom + Funny Business) = Good Times.

Mom & Mower!

Sharon with Boydo!

I have seriously considered changing my FaceBook profile picture.  Boyd is one cute Aussie.

Me & Mom - Dressaging it up!

Me & Kerry posing with Phillip Dutton - there was almost a brawl  to get to him when the line turned into chaos.  Someone may have pushed a child or two, but we got our books signed AND a picture!  Jeeeeezzzzuss. 

And what luck - we found Jimmy signed his book too!

WOO HOO EVENTING NATION!  We got EN CUPS!

Yes, folks - EN sponsored mimosas and cookie cake for breakfast.  Best cross country Saturday ever!

Mom meeting the BIG MAN... HENNY!

Good Boy Henny!

Golightly Sport Horse...s!

With much excitement, I am back with big news!!  For several years, ever since selling my beloved baby OTTB Stealer, it's been a bit of a joke that Golightly Sport Horses has been THE Golightly Sport Horse -- aka Katchi!  It's been a competition string of one. Of course, the string also includes my lovely students and their awesome horses, but riding vicariously isn't much riding at all!  So, without further adieu, I am thrilled to announce the doubling of my competition string size and the transformation, again, to Golightly Sport HORSES!!!  With Katchi's untimely retirement from eventing and rerouting to a dressage career, I was left in the sandbox without escape!  So I've been keeping my eyes open, casually, for a new eventing partner.  I've tried a few horses over the past few months - everything from greenbean babies right off the track to Irish imports with solid competition records.  It's been painfully hard to let go of the "run and jump" partnership I have with Katchi in search of a new partner - and deciding what exactly I was looking for was way harder than I expected!  And then the guilt kicked in.  How could I tell Katchi he'd been replaced?  Heartbreaking.

I looked here and looked there.  Not really expecting to find the one for some time.  I talked with Phillip and Silva and kept looking - I talked with my vet, farrier, mom, and friends! And I kept looking.    And, then one day, a horse listed online caught my eye ... only problem was he was snowbound and furry in Michigan! But we got through the snow and fur, and so Katchi now has a brother - just a few weeks younger, and what do you know... he's a bay (he had to be a bay - 30 years of riding - always a bay!).  Tall, dark, and handsome!  

Dusty Dazing

2001 TB bay gelding (Texas)

Jockey Club tatoo, but unraced.

Sire: Stephene Mon Amour

Dam: Amber Dust by Dust Commander

As the new pony has been here a few weeks and we're getting to know him, we've been working madly on coming up with a new barn name for him (SORRY MICHELLE!) - and the "no name horse" finally has a name!  Mi.  Pronounced "my" - for "the Michigan horse" and also for Mi Taylor, the race trainer in National Velvet.  It seems to suit him quite well, and he's already learning that his new name = lots of treats.  So, he seems to be adjusting through his identity crisis as well as can be expected for any "no name horse!"

It will take a few weeks to get Mi running full speed and me able to hang on, but look for us out and about very soon!

New horse checking out his new home at Baywood.

Settling into quarantine before joining his brother in the big barn.

Mi in bling!  Fancy halter and bell boots!
Sorry Jimmy - this horse is not a bling-free zone!

Train the Trainer

Thank you to everyone for all your caring thoughts and sympathies over the news of Katchi's retirement.  We all wish they could run forever, because they really were meant to, weren't they?!  It means so much to have such wonderful friends, many of whom I've never met! Your kind words remind me why I love horses and the people who love them!

I wanted to take a quick moment to catch up on another (happier) topic that I've been meaning to write about for some time.  With purchasing the farm and trying to get myself set up with the facilities to help my horses and students (and me!) reach our dreams, the timing also finally came together to begin the USEA's Instructor Certification Program (ICP).  In December, I submitted an application for the Area II's awarding of the USEA Cindy Burge Memorial ICP Grant - and was selected as a recipient!  The grant contributed a nice chunk of the ICP program costs and I pulled some real luck when a new workshop date was announced in Area II - as a condensed 2 day version (versus the normal 3 day training) and one of those days was on a holiday!  That meant only one day off work and no travel expenses (although I did break down and stay at the lil' ol' Best Western down the road - which left much to be desired) - the stars had aligned and I was off to be a trained trainer!

The first 2-day workshop was in January and focused on dressage, with a bit of dressage over poles on the second day.  The workshop had 5 candidate instructors - the small number really surprised me as I think I expected there to be more like 20 "trainer-students" but they limited the numbers to allow us each multiple times to teach.  It was quite a different experience - much more like my old pony club days - and it was harder than I expected.  We each taught 3 lessons, and were provided with incredibly specific feedback.  The benefit of not only teaching my own lessons and receiving feedback, but also of watching others teach and hearing their feedback - it was incredibly insightful.  We all spend so much time trying to perfect our riding, so this was a real turn of the tables and gave me so much more to think about.

Two months later, I was able to join the same group of 5 candidate instructors (with one swap-out) for two days of jumping "train-the-trainer" sessions with Phyllis Dawson.  Phyllis was a pleasure to learn from and her enthusiasm for her horses, riders, and the sport was infectious.  We primarily taught her working students on sales horses, and she made each one arrive to their lesson fully braided (why not take the opportunity to practice braiding when it's 30 degrees and snowing outside?!?!) and she dutifully inspected each one. I suspect some riders had to repeat their braids later that week!  Phyllis emphasized the importance of empowering your riders.  Tell them what you want - then make them responsible for getting it done.   She also hammered on all of us to not talk the entire lesson - a little quiet is a good thing, especially 6 strides out from a jump when either the rider is a) listening to you and not paying attention to the horse and jump (bad thing) or b) not listening to you, in which case you might as well shut up anyhow!  She did caveat that you area allowed to scream "You're going to die!" at less than 6 strides out, should the situation warrant such an outburst.  Lets all hope I never scream that and you (or me!) never hear that!  I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we had a wonderful 2 days really picking apart our teaching, laughed some great laughs, and came away inspired and determined to become better teachers!

The USEA's Instructor Certification Program is still young.  It has some kinks to work out.  And I'm really happy I had the opportunity to participate.  It was tough.  It was specific and challenging.  It's not perfect.  But I learned an incredible amount and came away with a better sense of clarity about what it means to be a good instructor.  It's a solid useful program, and I think those who take its teachings to heart will come out at the end as better teachers.  Thank you to the USEA for developing the program - to lend a bit of credibility to those who say "yes, I teach" and a huge thank you to Area II for supporting my own personal development in the program!

At the end of both sessions, I (thankfully!) received a recommendation to proceed to assessment without further training or mentoring.  What a relief!  I'm not sure when the next local assessment will be held, but I'm hearing rumors about this fall.  So, don't be surprised if I ask a few of you if I can have ME videoed during YOUR lesson in the lead up to the assessment!

Phyllis Dawson leading the ICP jumping workshop.

Old Goals, New Goals, and Old New Goals

With everything going on with the start of spring, going through the USEA Instructor training program, and the excitement of starting work on the new farm - lots of people have been asking why my blog has been so quiet, when I obviously have so much to report! The honest answer is that I have known what the next post had to be, and I just haven't been able to make myself write it.  I've been trying for 3 months, and I couldn't get the words out.  But here goes.  Katchi has been retired from eventing.  I've just about gotten to the point that I can tell people without crying, but I feel the tears coming as I type.  It's the right decision.  If only it didn't hurt so much.  My entire team agrees that the time has come to move on.  But neither Katchi's heart or mine agree.   It has been incredibly hard to explain to Katchi that he can't be allowed to gallop and jump.  He loves eventing so very much, and he just doesn't understand.  But sometimes we have to make decisions with our heads, on behalf of our horses and in spite of our own heart - and theirs.

Over the past several years, Katchi and I have battled repeated soundness issues.  Never injury - never something that just needed time.  If he needed time, he could have all he ever wanted.  I'd wait forever for him.  But time is not working in his favor.  He has some basic structural flaws that we cannot change.  And the more I push him, the more those issues effect him.  In ramping up our training in preparation for Aiken, it became clear Katchi just wasn't holding up to the pressure, again.  It's not his fault.  He tries harder than any horse I've ever ridden.  He's my partner, my friend, and my confidant.  And he needs me to be all those things for him too.

Perhaps it's so hard to make this decision because of all the goals we didn't achieve.  Or perhaps because of all we did accomplish. Or for all we very nearly accomplished.  I've never worked harder with a horse - or enjoyed the journey more. I owe him so much for all he's taught me about riding and horsemanship - and lameness diagnosis and veterinary medicine!  I'm heartbroken that I finally just figured out how to ride him over those darn colored poles, and now we have no more colored poles in our future.  I'm heartbroken that I'll never gallop through another finish line cheering and patting my "GOOD BOY KATCHI!" all the way home.

So what's next for Katchi?  He has a forever home with me.  And we are all hopeful he has many years left in him to do a little "horse ballet" in the sandbox.  I still have my eyes on those flying changes and a USDF bronze medal. I still have big goals for Katchi - so long as he tells me he can.

After 3 months being confined to the rectangular sandbox... while I love it, one thing is for sure... I am an event rider through-and-through.  While I'm letting go of some goals, and setting new goals... I also have the same goals.  Eventing.  Jump all the jumps.  When one door closes, another is sure to open - and sometimes things that seem tragic at the time actually lead you down a path you might have never pursued otherwise, but end up taking you places better than anywhere you could have ever imagined you might go.  I'm looking forward to that new path.

Good Boy Katchi.