A Horse of a Lifetime

It's an interesting notion calling a bay thoroughbred gelding "a horse of a lifetime" in the middle of Lexington, KY; the horse capital of the world.  As short drive down any country road, minutes from any mall, shopping center, or boutique, you will find your self surrounded by bay thoroughbreds.  The fields are dotted with them.  But, in the midst of all the farms, and all the TB horses in kentucky, I found MY Lewis, my horse of a lifetime.

https://we.tl/ClHtt3lRBK  (link to Lewis' highlight reel video)
Truly this is somewhat of a sad post, as I am formally announcing of the retirement from the upper levels of eventing of one Super Lew, That'll Do, Lewis: the one that started it all.  More than anyone or anything else I owe this one four legged hay burning, high octane eating, QUIRKY beast my career.  For he opened more opportunities to play with the big kids that I ever imagined.  He changed my dreams, my goals, MY LIFE.

I'm not sure how I got so lucky to have found him, and not screwed him up too badly along the way.  We surely did a lot of learning together and a ton of firsts: I ran my first prelim with him, my first one star, my first intermediate, my first two star, and my first advanced.  The horse has a record five miles long and ran well over 100 events, the majority at intermediate.  He evented 12 seasons and only missed two events.  I frequently brag about how awesome he was when he ran around those big tracks, and laugh about how we could manage to screw it all up the next season.  I wouldn't change the highs and lows for the world.  Horses are humbling, and Lewis is no different.  Lewis can be super fancy in the dressage and easily put down a great test.  But he's quirky and thinks he is a comedian so I have pages and pages of dressage tests that have marks of 8 or 9 followed by 1's or 2's. One season he had a score of a 27 at one intermediate then the next event preforming the same test he earned a 54... how one literally doubles a dressage score between events I don't know.  He also developed a distaste for right handed corners, an issue he will get to take to his grave at this point... yet to be resolved.  :)

There is a ton to be said about this horse over the years, but the most important thing to say is: Thank you.  Thank you, Lewis for helping me develop my undying love of OTTBs, my love for eventing, my belief in my training, my sense of humor and humility, for teaching me to fly (the top of the standards is never big enough) and most of all thank you for making me ride to your standards (since you deserved it).  You owe me nothing, and I know when I look out and see you happily grazing in the pale sunset that I did right by you.

Thank you for being my horse of a lifetime

Jenn



(PS Expect that Lewis will be "contracting back in" at the lower levels and possibly playing in the sandbox, since he refuses to live the leisure life as a trail horse)

Taking the pressure off, because,"That's Why"

Its been WAY too long since I have updated Team That'll Do's blog!  I finally have given myself a day off where I am not going to the gorge or the lake!

2013 has over all been a great year.  I have been teaching and riding a lot, and have an excellent group of loyal clients.  I think everyone is very excited about Team Challenge coming up in the next month.  We will be sending two full teams at BN and N and one training level team.   In 12 months my clients and I have bought and sold over $100,000 of horses.  Each going to great programs with super owners.

Lewis came out early this season feeling great.  I have decided to take the pressure off him and my self a little.  It is so easy to put a tremendous amount of pressure on your self and your horse, especially if you only have one competing at the upper levels.  You loose sight of what is important, namely this is suppose to be FUN not just for the rider but for the horse too.  You get so focused on what events you have to hit to make it to the BIG one at the end of the calender that one bad go, one event being canceled will throw your whole season off and send you into a panic.  So I have decided that what will be will be.  If we have a problem in one phase at an event, oh well, that problem will be and can be fixed.  Every time, question and movement is about the training you have put in.  At this point, Lewis is pretty "programmed" and trained to do his job, but is overtly careful/spooky nature sometimes will sometime cause a glance off at a fence.  He is unbelievably safe to jump with his good front end so mistake with him have always been fortunate that they are just penalties and not something serious.  And admittedly there are always holes in our training that I am finding, not just with him but me too.  Learning to ride is life long, something everyone needs to understand.

 I was hoping to get to at least one advanced this fall with Lewis... but it isn't going to happen. An event we were planning to hit in June was rained out and for him, there were no other good choices that month.  So we ran a prelim in July (where he was 2nd finishing on his dressage score) and went to River Glen in Aug at Intermediate (finishing 3rd) instead of making the trek to Millbrook for the Advanced.

Most recently Lewis and I ran the Intermediate at KY Classique. He put in a good dressage test and jumped very careful in SJ. Crazy weather plagued the event on Saturday and we ended up going XC in the rain/hail.  It was so hard to stay focused with the weather surrounding us including lightening in the distance.  He made a mistake at the second water and pulled him self off the log causing us to carry jump and time penalties.  I was very happy he jumped the corner despite a mistake at the table 3 strides before.  I had spent a week at Kyle's in June and literally jumped 40 corners... I keep repeating "I love corners" to my self before I go out of the start box.

Lewis making the Intermediate Track look like novice   

After selling the lovely Jethro this spring I decided I needed to get a young horse of my own.  I found "Clark" aka That's Why in April (whose name at the time was Why Not Spring).  He had just raced April 18 and after 4 starts he wasn't showing any interest in racing.  He wasn't showing any interest in being at the track AT all for that matter.  After buying him I have heard all sorts of lovely stories about his naughty behavior at the track... laying down on the way to train, mounting track ponies, being aggressive to humans.  Clark is not any of those things any more.  He is a complete ham in the barn and really loves to jump... and he's really good at it.  It is always hard to tell what a 4 year old is going to end up being in a year or two or more... but I have a feeling this one is going to do something important.  He was suppose to be a quick resale... but I think I will hang on to him for at least a year and see what he is going to do (and if I can afford to compete two horses!)  Clark just completed his second mini trial at Team CEO at BN (who by the way does a fantastic job making the entire experience so great for green horses and riders!)  A little over a month had gone by since the first mini and he was by far much more mature about the whole experience.  Clark is entered BN at Jump Start for his first recognized event and will then do Team Challenge at BN and hopefully N at River Glen if I have any money left.  He turns 5 in January so next year will hold much more for him competition wise.  

Clark

 
As for the most important part of Team That'll Do, which is That'll Do, Lewis will head next to Chatt Hills in Oct at Intermediate and finish the season at his favorite venue, River Glen.  Hoping to continue to learn from our mistakes in the past and have some fun.  Lewis is 14 years old and I have been lucky enough to have had excellent veterinary and farrier care for him ALWAYS so he is still as sound as he was several years ago.  He has to date come out of the start box at Prelim 41 times, and 34 times at Intermediate.  He is an AMAZING athlete, a true event horse.  I owe him SO much.  Coming up the levels as a young horse he looked the part to be a 4 star horse, and he still does.  But he is 14, and the reality is he has little experience at Advanced.  So maybe that big goal of ROLEX isn't going to happen... oh well.  And now, if it does, it will be a surprise.  How fun would THAT be?  The best surprise ever.  But until then, the pressure is off, events will be a fun learning experience for both of us.  And most importantly, I'm going to enjoy the horses I have for what they are and what they have made me.  And in a few years when Lewis needs an easier job maybe he will enjoy cruising a young rider around NAJYRC.

Lewis evaluating the course Map at Fair Hill CCI** 2008. 

Enjoy your horses,

Jenn

Stay the Course

Wow... the "busy season" is right up on us!  Long days at the barn are taking over my life, but it is so much more tolerable when the weather is warm and sunny!  I know some people hate the heat but I say BRING IT!  Lewis missed his calling of running the fancy races in Dubai, he is much happier in the desert heat!

A lot has gone on since my last post back in FEBRUARY!  Lewis ran around the OP at Rocking Horse 2 in great form bringing home a 5th place.  He went on to storm at Rocking Horse 3 at Intermediate rocking out a 4th place finish in tough company.  He blew up the dressage board with a 33.  I rode badly in the show jump and tagged down two rails.  He was a rock star on xc and brought home just a few time penalties on a course that proved to cause some serious problems.  I had gone into that weekend skeptical that I would be able to produce a clean round on xc or even get around.  My final xc school only days before was somewhat disastrous to start.  Lew dawg was dodging out at some simple questions and gave me some serious trouble at the double corners at Kyles.  However in the end I got him through and apparently proved my point to him, as that  pulled through to the weekend.

In March I trekked to Southern Pines II to attack the Intermediate there.  Lewis got to ride in Megan Moore's very fancy "horse bus" and even got to be stabled next to Suzie Harrison's mare Frankie.  Lewis spent the nights trying to tunnel into Frankie's stall... I spent them dwelling on the giant ditch and wall we had on course.  I was HUGE.  The whole track was big, technical and asked a lot of questions that you had to be committed to.

  (Above Intermediate ditch n wall with Hannah Williams modeling the space between)
Lewis started the weekend by pulling a pretty good second hat trick and throwing down a 29 in the dressage.  Good enough to put us near the top of the leader board.  I had a good feel for the course when Saturday morning rolled around.  To make a long story short, all hell broke loose on the Intermediate XC and I am truly thankful that I was in the final division to go out on course.  There were a ton of falls, and eliminations at several different fences.  One ramped table into the water caused more problems than was fair and was pulled off the course.  I was happy I got to watch a few riders come through a few of the technical fences on course.

:Lewis smoked out of the box and by fence 2 it was quite apparent that I should have been in the Pelham (a bit I have reserved for fall competitions where he is really running off with me).  I was exhausted by the time we got half way around the course and got a bit sloppy in my turn to the corners.  I had a stupid glance off at the first one which woke me up a bit.  I fixed my line and rode it where I should have the 2nd time and got through.  The ditch n wall the waters coffin and turning bank questions were all cake for us.  I let my confidence get the best of me toward the end of the course and again missed my line to a narrow turn.  DOH!  But I FINISHED.  Which is better than most that started that day.  Lewis was good and the mistakes I blame on my self.  He came out on sunday and jumped a lovely show jumping course in front of a good crowd.  I was proud of him holding his self together once he got into the arena (getting in the ring proved to be a bit of a problem... of Lewis).

CAKE

The corner on the second attempt!

A stellar SJ round

After Souther Pines I stayed on my plan and ran the OP at Spring Bay to bolster his confidence.  He merrily worked away in the dressage arena and produced another 29!  (THANK YOU REESE STANFIELD!!!)  A little flat in the show jump and I lost my way on a very oddly laid out track causing us 8 faults)  He was a star on XC and made the Prelim feel like a walk in the park.   A 3rd place finish to a nice weekend.  Viva also stepped up to the plate and WON her ON division!  She was a champ!

Rolex has come and gone.  I was lucky enough to create an "event camp" weekend for Lewis and I.  I took advantage of Jan Byyny for two jump lessons and I pegged Kyle down for a lesson before he left town.  Both had really encouraging things to say.  It was great to get a new perspective from Jan and Kyle helped me push through some things we had worked on in Florida.  My confidence was a little shaken from the mistakes I made at Southern Pines.  I started to ride badly at home and was having a few issues with simple fences.  I started to lack commitment to my jumps.  This can be such a frustrating sport, the horses can pick up any outside stress in your life and they start to fret themselves.  I finally picked myself out of the rut I was in and took the Rolex week as inspiration.  Jan gave me permission to "have fear" and Kyle told me "quite frankly he (Lewis) just expects you to ride better... because he knows you can".  Words of wisdom from both.

So I am staying the course.  On my plan to hit the Advanced at Chatt Hills in May.  Really, I wish I had 2 more weeks to feel ready.  But right now Lewis feels awesome.  I really pushed  him Rolex week and he came out of it jumping soft and confident.   Its now or never I feel like.  almost 2 years ago I ran my only advanced and I feel like the silly run outs I have had at Intermediate aren't game changers... they better just remind me to ride better!  I may have some similar problems at Advanced and i know the issue will always plague me but there is no way to get experience with out making mistakes.  The biggest pull for the move up at Chatt Hills is that Kyle will be there!  A COACH!  What a novel idea.  Anyone that hasn't had the pleasure of walking a course with him should.  He is amazingly insightful and a walking comedian.  I feel pretty good about my decision.  I would love the opportunity to run a CIC*** in the fall.

I feel like I have been thrown some curve balls on this Journey with Lewis.  But I am staying the course... I really think I have been sitting on more than an $1800 race track reject this whole time.  There are big plans for him down the road and those plans have several stars after them.

Stay the Course,
Jenn

Lewis giving the advanced corner at Millbrook some air

An extra carrot and a Florida update

Hello all
I'm a little behind on the old blog updates here in Ocala so I will try to update everyone.
I have been here for almost two weeks and have been having, over all, a good time with the horses.

The first weekend I ran Lewis prelim at Rocking Horse... finding that my experiment of trying to skip a prelim at the beginning of the season last year did NOT work for the spooky monkey.  "WHAT is XC?!  eek!"  We had a positive xc school with Kyle the wedesday before the event and he seemed pleased that Lewis was "better than the last time I saw him".  Go me, I did my homework!  

ROCKING HORSE
We were blessed with good weather, not too warm and a little breezy.  Lewis put in a decent test but I will admit I had never ridden Prelim A before and I probably gave away some points on accuracy.  He was a good boy and scored a 35.  I'm looking forward to getting him back in the standard dressage arena at Intermediate (with the double bridle) where he can have a better test.  The herky jerky way you have to shove the required movements into the small arena doesn't usually allow for a good flow.

I ran out and walked the xc between dressage and show jumping and found the course to have some nice forward gallop space in between fences and some decent questions.  I wish that there had been a narrow or corner combination for us to practice.  The water was a pretty serious prelim question.

I jumped on Lew for our Show Jump round and headed to warm up.  I love Rocking Horse but I find the show jumping to be my least favorite part of the event.  The course tends to feel tight in the narrow arena and the fences are pretty airy.  The warm up can be over used and there are several deep spots in the sandy grass that you have to mind out for.  I hit one of those spots right in front of the oxer in warm up and he had no choice but to slide into the fence.  NOT exactly what you want to happen right before you go in the arena.  We did get it together over another warm up fence and went into the arena to produce a clean round.

XC  I walked the course once more before i ran xc and felt pretty confident with my plan.  He WALKED into the start box and STOOD.  For those who have experienced "crazy start box Lewis" this was a welcome surprise.  By the time we got to fence 5 he was the confident horse I felt I had lost last season.  So delighted to ride him like that again.  I over shot my turn on the related distance to the water and had to take back on the reins more than i would have liked.  And in the new pelham bit I am using he actually listened to me!  Oh no!  So i ended up having to give him a love tap before the 2 stride into the water which he jumped very boldly and pulled the rein out of my hand.  Good think Lew was on his game and held his line to the narrow out of the water with little direction from the monkey on his back.  He rocketed out of the water and jumped the rest of the course like a champ (obviously he didnt need any help from me!)   Our clean run with a few time penalties had us finish a very respectable 5th in a tough division.

LEWIS, VIVA, AND TIGER GO TO OCALA
Other than Rocking Horse Lewis has been happily working on the flat at the farm in Micanopy.  Kyle had a student who is trying to make the Olympics for Venezuela whom was competing in Argentina at the 3 star this weekend.   So I missed lessons with him this week (seriously I'm just trying to survive at Intermediate and she is trying to compete at the Olympics go Kyle go!).  Luckily his wife, Jenn (also a Midway College grad haha) was available to help me with Lewis.  Mary Hollis and I rode in an xc school with Jenn on Thursday and worked on dropping and picking up our reins while jumping an exercise through the Hollow (since Mary Hollis and I BOTH lost our reins in the water at Rocking horse haha!)  Anyway the hollow at their farm has a log on the lip of the hollow then about  4 strides straight down an incline and then 4 strides straight back up.  Lewis has done with WITH my reins several times before.  This time, no reins = very very excited Lewis!  He was jumping some sort of imaginary 4 foot fence at the top of the hollow then celebrating his brilliance with leaping and bucking.   He is such a cat, when we added the very narrow narrow out at the top of the hollow he jerked his legs out of the way to jump it well every time no matter what else (leaping bucking running away) he was doing.  Silly.
I took a Show Jump lesson with Jenn yesterday and we worked on turning to a long approach with out PANICKING!  Lewis and I LOVE the long one, LOVE IT.  We worked on compressing exercises to get him deeper to the base of some bigger oxers and verticles.  I made a mistake having my canter too big to the oxer exercise a few times but Lewis, as always, can compress himself into a little ball so fast and FIRE out over it to fix my bad ride in.  He left a ton of room to spare.  Jenn was impressed with his athletic ability to ping over a fence.

Viva has settled into work with me again.  She is such a one person ride, and I hadn't ridden her much myself before we left KY.  She got a complete make over down here and looks like a real show horse now.  She has taken some field trips around town and schooled xc 3 times.  She gets better and better each time out and has become a lot more ride able.

Tiger, who belongs to my student, Jill Hummel, also made the trip down with me.  Poor Jill has hit a few walls on her travel getting bumped from several flights the first weekend.  She did make it the night before I started competing at rocking horse (she is only running the next rocking horse) I was happy to have her help at the event.  We took Tiger and Viva to Kyles to school ourselves Sat of Rocking horse after Lewis was done competing.  Tiger was happy to get out and did a lot of exercises on compressing his stride and getting him to listen to half halts.  We did learn that Jill needed some better reins after he pulled them out of her hands more than once!  (I am a rein snob!!! everyone better have good reins!)  Unfortunately, it appears that Tiger stepped on something and ended up with an abscess starting on Sunday.  Luckily we caught it early and got Vet treatment quick, the shoe went back on yesterday and we have our fingers crossed that he will stay sound through next weekend!

Fair well to THE GRASSHOPPER
I have been having a great time down in FL with my horses.  I am so lucky to have such a great horse to see every morning and know that Lewis is my horse of a lifetime.  It is easy to take them for granted, but in reality everyday with them is a gift, especially when you find that one really special one.  I can't imagine what my life would be like if something happened to Lewis.  I was shocked and devastated to hear of Megan Moore's loss of The Grasshopper aka Hopper on Advanced xc at Pine Top.  Megan has become a good friend of mine as she Suzie Harrison and I formed the "I event at the upper levels on a shoe string budget on a horse that cost less than the saddle I am riding in club".  We had formed a support system for each other and had planned to hit some of the same events this season to help each other out and be a cheering section for each other.    I know how much Hopper meant to Megan and how responsible she was with his training and selecting events for him to run.  She had saved him from a terrible situation and I know she was his best friend.  My heart breaks for her.  Last night i gave Lewis and extra carrot and buried my face in in neck and wept for Hopper and Megan.  Rest in Peace Hop you will never be forgotten.

Give you horse a hug and an extra carrot they deserve it for all they do for us.
Jenn

Things always look better in the morning

For some reason I'm feeling nostalgic tonight.  I'm not sure if its the wind whipping at the house (empty except for me and the dogs) or if I just starred at the home screen of my computer for too long.  But I found myself thinking of my Grandmother Perkins (mom's mom), my favorite picture of her is my background on my computer.

Gram died about 1 1/2yrs ago of what should be best described as "old age"... heck she was 101!  So you all should watch out I come from some tough stock!
Not having her around has been really tough on me, she had been an integral part of my life from the beginning.  I spent much of my very early childhood at her home which was a house (built in the late 1600's) nestled on several acres of land in the North Shore part of Massachusetts.  Gram always had us outside never tied down to the TV or games.  I loved exploring the outdoors and woods that went through the back part of the land.  Event though she didn't have horses I'm sure my career path was because of all the time I spent outside getting dirty at her home.     

My family moved to Indiana in 1993 leaving Gram and her house back in MA.  We went back to visit regularly and even as I grew older I still enjoyed trompsing through the woods.  She came to live with my Parents in Indy when she was well into her 90's and was no longer able to drive.  She still lived an independent life with them and was found of walking around the block even into her 99th and 100th birthdays.

She was an outstanding woman and was my biggest fan, as I was hers.  The fact that she made it here for my first one star in 2006 at the age of 97 and again to watch a show jump lesson with Craig in 2010 (and to give Lewis a carrot) meant the world to me.  For everyone of you that got to meet her, you were blessed she was truly amazing.

 One of the things she most often said to me when I was fretting about something was "Things will always look better in the morning".  I think that this is a really important notion to remember when dealing with horses.  I know I get caught up in a bad school or a bad go at a show then the next morning think "well... if I just changed the way I rode this a little or made a different decision here everything would have worked out"  again... not the end of the world.  A fresh look at mistakes we have made in the morning can always give us a different perspective.

The Following is my memory of this great woman that I gave at her memorial service...the goat story still makes me cry:


"Your life is shaped by those who are in it.  I am so fortunate that my Grandmother was so instrumental in mine.  Much of my childhood was spent at her house, and vast acreage surrounded by wooded land and nature.  In those countless hours spent in her care she taught me to love nature and animals.  She had a great compassion for all living things great and small.
My Grandmother had a particular bond with dogs.  When she was a young girl and was asked what she thought of having a baby sister my grandmothers comment was “i would have rather had a puppy”.  The dog I remember most came to live with my grand parents when I was a toddler and lived a good 16 years in the Perkins house. Lucy was a Irish Setter - Grey Hound cross, the kind of dog you would imagine if you asked for the ugliest one at the pound.  But Gram loved that dog.  Lucy would accompany us on long walks in the woods and was a good companion for my grandmother after my grandfather passed on.  I remember Lucy often doing things that were naughty.   She took a feather pillow into the kitchen and shook all the feathers out, and many times stole Joey's teddy bear and pulled the stuffing out.  Once I decided to flea powder Lucy.... with and entire bottle of talcum powder and made quite a mess.  I remember these times, but I don't ever remember Gram getting mad.... maybe a muffled laugh and a “for heavens sake”.  That was just the kind of woman she was.
As I got older she encouraged my riding and showing.  I'm sure she would have loved if I had grown to be ½ the cook or seem stress she was.  It became quite apparent that this wouldn't occur when she had to repair 80% of my home economics projects to passing grades.  
I bought my first horse 10 years ago when I was a College student.  I “smartly” purchased said horse during my summer job in Colorado and shipped it back to KY,  needless to say I was strapped for cash after all those expenses.  Gram knew how badly I wanted a horse of my own and never once scolded me for such a ridiculous decision.  Instead she sent me a note, with a fairly sizable check.  The note went on something like this: “When I was a young girl I teased and teased my parents for a goat.  They never saw a reason for me to have one, so I went with out.  Now that I am old enough and have enough money for a goat, I've decided I don't want one any more.  So here is the money from my goat fund so you can buy the things your horse needs.”
Gram always taught me to follow my heart and to be happy.  I've been fortunate to turn my love for animals that she started into a career riding and training horses.  I know she was happy that I chose this career path, and she would always ask “how are the horses?” and would always make sure I was treating my horse, Lewis, right.
On top of being such an influence in my life and many others there were somethings that she did just right.  Things that I think led her to lead such a long, happy, healthy life.
Here are some of her secrets to living to 101
Smile always
Skip Fast Food
Eat your melon
Love much
be positive
Walk
never admit that you are old
Pet a dog
enjoy food
Love life
Have Faith
Take naps
Be Generous
Love animals
feed the birds
enjoy each day
travel
cook with love
see beauty in everything
stop to smell the roses
And always leave room for dessert"



Always leave room for dessert,
Jenn

The ART of failing, falling, and picking yourself back up

Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe bash on New Years Eve.

My New Years Eve Plans involved me heading to Perfect North Slopes to ski with some of my close friends from here in Lexington and my brother, sister in-law and her nephew.   We had a mixed bag of skill levels in our group of 10 from beginners to pros.  My skill level falls somewhere in the middle of that bag.

I grew up in Northern Massachusetts and was lucky to be close to some decent skiing in New Hampshire.  Most of my skiing was self taught.  Then also tried to teach several of my friends in grade school through when we moved to Indiana into high school.  My Kamikaze style of "point your skis to the bottom and go as fast as you can" accompanied by apparent superior balance and fearlessness served me well down slopes of high difficultly (that I'm sure I had no business attempting!).  I'm sure I fell, and I'm sure I fell hard several times.  Though somehow, with my Kamikaze style I got better and never thought about of remembered the falls, or failing to complete a run well.  I was fearless, invincible, and.... young.

Fast forward ohhhh 12 or 15yrs.  In 2008 Irish Alice and I made our infamous trip to Vail, CO to ski.  I had plenty of experience.... she had skied the bump at Perfect North ONCE.  Smart.  (love you Alice!).  Alice fell a lot.  I stayed upright the whole week (minus one silly fall while standing still trying to avoid snowboarders).  I never ventured off the Green Slopes (easy level) except for one Blue one (intermediate level).  Now granted the runs are forever long there and it is tiring.
And even the "easy" slopes are not that easy!  The pic to the left IS an easy run at Vail!  But seriously, I was so proud that I didn't fall that week.  But I also didn't take any risks.  I skied under my level and on runs where I had COMPLETE control.  I will also guarantee that I didn't improve my skills.

My New Years eve trip the other week proved that my skills had not improved.  My brother and I had skied together as kids.  I had the advantage as I lived more of my life in a land of snow and hills and he lived more of his life in a land of corn and soybean fields (Indiana).  He and I skied together for most of New Years Eve.  I hadn't skied with him much in the past several years but I expected to still be better than him (or at least at the same skill level).  Wouldn't you know that little punk could have skied circles around me!  (Ok he is not little nor is he a punk at the age of 27).  He also went down the "black diamond" runs that were all ice that I would not attempt... especially after I wiped out on a blue one!  I never used to back down from a challenge like that.  Where was the Kamikaze skier with the fearlessness and invincibility?  Long gone.  I have never been hurt seriously doing anything (touch wood) but I decided I wasn't going to push my luck on New Years.

YES there is a point to my very long drawn out ski story that relates to horses, eventing, riding and improving.

I realized that I will sometimes (probably too often) ride under my skill level to stay safe (and not safe necessarily in the way of getting hurt but in the way of not making a mistake)... to not push the envelope.  It isn't something I do intentionally but I know I do it.  Last winter when I was down in Ocala having a lesson with Kyle he told me "just go out and jump 5 logs in the middle of the field to warm up".  So I cantered out and jumped five logs... trotted back over to him wondering why he was rubbing his forehead (typical Kyle frustration move).  "What the h*ll was that?!"  He asked me.  my confused answer was "I jumped 5 logs... did I do something wrong?"
"Go back out there and jump the same 5 logs like someone who is moving up to Advanced instead of someone barely going Novice.  You have the ability to ride so well, I just don't understand why you choose to ride so badly so often!"
Ouch.  But he was right.  No reason to do the bare minimum when we have the ability to do so much more.  And its not that I wouldn't have been safe if I had balanced more or ridden for a deep distance at the small logs for warm up.  It wasn't that I was trying to avoid being daring... I was just doing the minimum to get over them... which was pointing my horse at them and jumping with no skill.


I also avoid working on things I am not good at.  On the flat Lewis and I struggle with turn on the haunch.  So... I avoid it.  I avoid riding dressage tests where that is a required movement.  Silly... well guess what I got dinged for not having that mastered when I was in Florida in Dec.  Guess what we have been practicing everyday... turn on the haunch... and low and behold.  Its better :)

I avoid corners, or angling fences.  I'm not talking "easy" intermediate angels.  But those serious get the horse almost parallel with the jump angles.  I am terrible at finding a line to things like that.  I worry about making a mistake, so I just turn him a little square it up just a tad bit more.  Who do you think that is hurting in the end? Lewis and I.  At home... "this is training"...I need to allow myself (and my students) to be challenged to the point of making a mistake.  Then you fix it.  Work toward increasing your skills by pushing the envelope a little bit more.  How in the world will you ever get better if you never make a mistake.  You will never know where the holes are unless you find them.  Then you work your butt off to fill them in.  And trust me you WANT to find those holes at home not at a $500 event 500 miles away.

This past season I almost throw in my upper level towel.  I had such heart break with Lewis for silly things at event after event.  Neither of us had gotten hurt but something was just not falling into place.  I was ok with telling myself "I'll just run Prelim with him for the rest of his life and win a bunch of them.  He's so easy at Prelim".  Well I'm glad I have dusted myself off, and picked myself up, and now remember the drive that got me this far. There is an ART to failing, and falling... it is not a science.  Riding is not a science.  There are some many things on the back of a horse that you have to learn to feel.  Every horse is different.  You have to let yourself fail a time or two to GET IT.  To get it right and to understand why you were wrong...  AND  to understand why what you are now doing is right!

   I am not going to just snow plow Lewis down those green slopes.  I know we have the ability to do the double black diamond runs!  He is my horse of a lifetime... and I'm going to push that envelope.

Push yourself,
Jenn

The 4 highly ineffective habits of upper level event riders

I'm sure this is not the habits of all event riders, but they are bad habits of mine that I feel most of my friends trying to compete at this level (especially those of us on a shoe string budget with one or two horses)

1.  The tiny basket full of eggs.  First off, those of us that have one or two horses basically has all of our eggs in one tiny basket.  I found this past season that my poor basket had some seriously BIG holes.  I've been riding at home with Reese and Craig for dressage and SJ and made some HUGE improvements over the past several years on those two phases.  BUT I was hoping that have influence from those two sides of the spectrum would just magically keep my cross country on the straight and narrow.  Though i dont think that riding at this level is easily achieved with just the help of one eventing coach.  It is important to get the help in all 3 phases from an eventing coaches perspective even if it is just time to time.  The show jump trainer and dressage trainer (unless they once had a background in eventing) do not have the perspective to get their teachings flow into another phase.  But from the eventing coaches/trainers perspective he understands how all 3 disciplines have to communicate with each other.  This, I believe, is very difficult for trainers specializing in one phase/discipline.  
I also will add that I do think that the outstanding training that I have received from my dressage and show jumping trainers has made me incredibly competitive in those areas!

2.  We tend to tell our horses what not to do instead of WHAT to do.  I am so guilty of this with Lewis.  Mainly "stop spooking at that stuff near the fence!".  It would be a better use of my focus and his, to tell him "jump this" or instead of "stop spooking at 'M'".... "sit on your hocks now or shoulder in now".

3.  Looking at the stuff you are trying to avoid instead of looking at what you are trying to accomplish.  Lewis being a very spooky monkey, has trained me to look for the stuff he will spook at.  So i find myself on xc or in sj starring at the pile of brush or banner on the rail that I KNOW he will spook at.  I then will miss my line to the next fence because I wasn't focused on where we were putting our feet in the turn.  Or I could be on xc and have a group of people get in my way, that is always unnerving.  They will move, you just focus on your line to the fence.


4.  Taking it personally.   I think the biggest problem I had last season was that I took every stop, run out, spook, dropped rail, bad fence, tense dressage test, lackluster preformace PERSONALLY.  Like someone was physically ripping my heart out of my chest.  To me this ONE horse is EVERYTHING.  (Again all eggs one basket). I felt like every problem was jerking that dream of ROLEX further and further away.... taunting me!

I was so deflated every time I had a problem it was chipping away at my confidence.  And in the mean time, I think it was making my horse really dislike me!  Somewhere between Ocala and Lexington after Christmas my sweet Lew was asking me to scratch is spot and picking my pockets for treats.  After our disaster at Poplar in Nov Lewis has stayed in the back of his stall, avoiding me like the plague, no interested in being touched or given any treats.  Apparently it took a 12 hr drive to FL, about 30 run outs, then some rebuilding confidence, and a 12 hr drive home for my horse to like me again.  (and before people blame gastric ulcers he was scoped and we found none, and just to be safe I had also put him on gastro gaurd!  none of it helped, he really was avoiding me) Today was the first day I have been on him in my dressage saddle in over 2 weeks and I had the best ride I have had on the flat in months!  Flying changes every 3 strides with no kicking out!!!!  And his ears were up.  Oh joy!

I guess to sum up my ineffective habits of upper level event riders:  fight like you train, train like you fight

Keep your ears up
Jenn