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.
 

Words from the Captain

As I've been trying to recreate the amazing feel Mark Phillips helped me establish in Katchi, I wanted to be sure to share his two big themes in my lessons - for as simple as they were, they made a tremendous difference in the quality of Katchi's work.  This is what has always struck me about Mark's teaching of our high performance horses and riders - they may be 4 star horses, but their lessons unfailingly focus on the basic connection, feel, and quality.  When the foundation is solid, the upper level movements flow effortlessly. When the foundation isn't there, it will always be a fight.  I also really appreciate Mark's teaching style in that he explains his assessment of your major challenges, how he advises you to address them, and then leaves you to feel, act, and feel again with validation and reminders as needed.  He does not over-teach, but he is adamant in his expectations.  With Katchi, I had two major challenges to correct:

1) Katchi must be responsive to a whisper from my leg.  On an intensity scale of 1 to 10, I must be committed to ride Katchi off a whispering 1 leg aid.  And any time Katchi doesn't jump to the whisper, he gets a 10 ... and he darn well better gallop off!  And then we go back to riding the whisper.  

2) The rules of life for Katchi are simple: he must move with energy flowing through his back to a light reaching even connection, without leaning on me for support (as Mark said, I am not allowed to be Katchi's walking stick!).  We spent a lot of time warming up in the walk, pushing Katchi's energy up through his back into an even connection (the evenness is definitely our biggest challenge).  It was a wonderful opportunity to feel the change I can make in the quality of his movement by using a light leg, receiving hand, and encouraging seat to move Katchi off the leg, bend his body, and engage his hind legs.  By the end of our second lesson, Katchi felt like he had the movement of a floating warmblood - it was fantastic!  I'm trying to remember that feel over and over and over in my head in hopes that I can replicate it without Mark's encouraging words of "THANK you" "su-per" "perfect" and "now you're riding" to let me know I'm on the right track!

I pulled a few video clips from our second lesson into the below video - my favorite part of the video comes at the end when Katchi got a little cuddle from Mark, and managed to sneak in a good nose-push to show Mark just how much he did not appreciate the level of work he was just made to do without a walking stick!! So much for good manners for the Captain.

This past week, Kerry also had outstanding lessons with both Mark Phillips and Jennie Brannigan.  The theme in all Kerry's lessons was the importance of keeping Atticus engaged without getting quick, long, and stiff.  While the theme wasn't news to us, it was fantastic to see 2 different expert instructors pinpoint solutions and give Kerry some new tools.  So often in the competition year, you get caught up getting from one event to the next without having much opportunity to take a step back and really reinvent your riding and your horse's way of going.  I think this trip to Aiken did just that for Kerry. Below is a clip from Kerry's lesson with Jennie on Thursday - she really nailed it here, and to quote Mark Phillips, "Super Riding!".

Katchi & his cats.

Aiken Adventure

Our Aiken adventure is keeping us busy running from lesson to lesson and watching out for the cats!  Katchi doesn't know it yet, but he's losing his best friend tomorrow as Kerry and Atticus head back to Maryland. Atticus, on the other hand, will probably be thrilled for the rest and relaxation of home!

The big thrill of the week was having the good fortune to train with Captain Mark Phillips!  Katchi and I were able to do two dressage lessons with him that were fantastic!  I've watched many of Mark's lessons with the high performance riders, and I had high hopes for what I might learn from him - I was not disappointed!  He has a tremendous eye for the subtlety of feel, and I was thrilled with the extravagant movement Mark was able to help me bring out in Katchi.  He even sat on Katchi a few minutes - what fun to watch!!!

After watching my lesson on Tuesday, Kerry scrambled and was able to sneak into a jumping lesson with Mark the following day - it was equally as impressive!  Again, his eye for the rider's feel proved tremendous and he made a few tiny changes with Kerry and Atticus that had a hugely positive effect.  It was so much fun to watch and learn!

Kerry & Atticus (far left) in lesson with Mark Phillips.

In between horse lessons, there has been no shortage of entertainment  at the cat farm...

Katchi enjoying ring-side seating of a good old fashioned cat fight!  

The breakfast line at the Aiken cat farm.