start of the season = success

I'm happy to say that the start of this season has so far gone well for not only myself but also my students. Last weekend Katie and Mia started off the show season up here in New Jersey by making their debut as a team at Bit O' Woods Dressage and Combine Training test.  All in all the show went super with Katie placing 2nd in beginner novice test A with 37 penalty points (63% dressage), 3rd in beginner novice test B with 31 penalty points (69% dressage), and jumping two clear rounds at starter and beginner novice level.  Even though Katie was nervous she was able to pull off two really beautiful tests and gain a huge learning experience. 

This weekend kicked off the beginning of the hunter/jumper season with Christa and Surprise making their debut at OnCourse in the beginner hunter and pleasure division.  Needless to say they really pulled off a great show.  With every jump course in the beginner hunter division they improved drastically and their flat class was flawless.  In the pleasure they were against some stiff competition and held their own racking up a few 2nd and 3rds and missing pleasure by one ribbon.  I couldn't be happier with how they showed and performed.  The only thing I can't stand about these kinds of shows is how political it all seems.  Maybe we can convince Christa and Surprise to dabble in some eventing or combine training this season as well ;) .

It's really a nice learning experience to watch these kids show and see how they react to the stress and situations that are presented to them.  I feel like when I watch them I see little bits of myself with the worry and sometimes being too hard on themselves.  It is a learning experience for all of us I suppose, but definitely one I want to and need to have.  So here's hoping to the rest of the season being as successful as these two, with more ribbons, smiles, and laughs.

PS: Congrats to Sinead and Tate for winning the Advanced division at Southern Pines this weekend! Looks like their start of the season is successful too! 

Love love love love

I love my horse.  For real.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love her.  I'm happy to say that my rides on her have really been coming together.  This isn't to say that every ride has been perfect, because they haven't.  However, each time something went wrong we were able to positively work through it, and get back on track without fighting.  Even on her worst day I feel like we made good progress.

Last week I tacked her up in my jumping tack preparing for a fun and easy ride, but Rori had other plans.  We get outside and she is spooking at everything in sight on the flat and just not wanting to concentrate.  I learned awhile back that somedays it's easier to forget about it rather than fester on it so we warmed up quickly and went to jumping.   She turned out to be FANTASTIC to jump...that is jump everything but the "scary" roll top. We went to the roll top and she reared up, spun around and tried to take off....hellllll no.  This is what Rori used to do to me when I first got her, and I wasn't going to take a trip down that road again.   In order to not dig myself into a deeper hole, I got off and lunged her over the roll top instead.  She was nuts, but in the end she figured out for herself that it wasn't a huge deal and when I got back on she jumped right over it like nothing.  

Although I normally am one to say to just ride through it, I know Rori well enough that on days like that one I can't fight her.  It's funny because going off home property she will jump anything and everything, but as soon as something changes at home she becomes a complete wimp.  I guess if I had to choose I would pick this over the alternative though.  

I regress...she's been great, I'm really happy, and I think she is too.  Life is good.

Insert title here?

"If your horse says no, you either asked the wrong question, or asked the question wrong." ~Pat Parelli


Since my return from Florida I've had the chance to practice what I have learned on a few horses back home which I have in training, and I'm happy to say that it worked.  I'm not only happy that the horses are going better, but I am more thrilled that I am able to apply what I have learned on one horse to the ones I have in training with me.  It's tricky sometimes because I've seen trainers in the past learn a new tool and apply that to every horse that they work and I've found with my training that can't be the case.  


Every horse is different in it's own way; each has it's own form of evasion, and each has it's own personality and if you force one method of training upon every one, the results usually aren't that successful. I have some horses that evade through their shoulder, and I have some that evade more through their haunches, and then I have some that evade through both!  Being a good trainer is about listening and feeling exactly what the horse is doing and not getting stuck in a rut of "thinking" you know what the horse is evading from.  


Although after saying this, I do believe in order to be a good trainer you have to be aware that you will make mistakes with your training and you will not know the answer for every question the horse asks...however it's how you go about figuring out the answers that is most important.  For example, I rode a horse a few years ago that always gave me trouble about staying soft, and I remember always coming off of him frustrated that it never felt 100%.  It just so happened that the owner asked me to ride him again for her, and when I got back on I realized I never was fixing the problem before.  He rode the same way he did in the previous years and instead of getting so fixated on his mouth, I realized that his problem was in his shoulder.  After I fixed his shoulders everything else came together so fluidly.  I even gave the owner a lesson on what I had been working on with him and she was ecstatic about how he felt and now the horse is in training with me.  I think riding that horse is the most rewarding (besides my own) because I can really see how much I have learned and grown as a rider/trainer to help progress the horse and owner as a team.  


I didn't really intend on this blog going in this direction...but I guess that's where it ended up.  I guess the bottom line is, good training is important, listening to your horse is more important, and learning from your mistakes is the most important!


On a side note 2 of the girls are making their show debut on their horses this weekend! Fingers crossed all goes well :)