Merry Christmas!  I hope that everyone had a great day and had time to visit with family and friends.  I know too well that having horses makes getting to family tough!  I have had to slug through the barn chores more than one holiday in my life.  Horses don't take holiday.  I was lucky to find two local girls to take care of the barn while I drove to Indy to see my family.  I just got back from FL on the 23rd drove to Indy the 24th then back here to Lexington today.  Shew... in the past 10 days I have logged nearly 2500 miles.
Katie dog (my faithful companion of over 10yrs) was with me every mile.  She did start to complain this afternoons as we drove back to Lexington (she is also a terrible navigator as she rides 99% on the passenger floor).  

When you choose a career path of a professional horse person you had better be prepared to work holidays, spend more time with the trailer in the rear view mirror than you do with out, and you better love it!  I stopped down at the barn on my way home to slip Lewis his holiday treat and scratch his "spot'.
He is so more than "just a horse"
Here is a peom by Jess Schwarcz that most horsey people have read, but it never gets old!

'Just a Horse'

From time to time, People tell me 'lighten up, it's just a horse.' From time to time People tell me, ' a lot of money spent' From time to time People tell me, 'it's just a horse.' If you really think it's 'Just a horse, ' Like 'just a promise, ' 'Just a friend, ' Than you can't see The beauty of it all. You just can't see. The distance traveled, The time spent, And the costs involved for 'Just a horse.' The reason to rise, Early in the morning, Taking those long walks, Even when it's pouring. It's my proudest moments, My only company, The saddest moments, And the gentle touch, That gave me a reason to go on. It's the hopes and dreams, And the coming of the future. The fond memories of the past, And the unforgettable joy of the coming day. So... If you really think it's, 'Just a horse, ' Like 'just a promise, ' 'Just a friend, ' Than you can't see, The beauty of it all. You just can't see. 'Just a horse' Brings out the best in me, 'Just a horse' It gives me who I am and Keeping me from being, 'Just a girl.' 'Just a woman' 'Just another passing being' I'll smile and nod to agree, knowing deep down I don't. you may think it's 'just a horse, ' but it never will be for me. If you really think it's, 'Just a horse, ' Like 'just a promise, ' 'Just a friend, ' Than you can't see, The beauty of it all. You just can't see and a great video someone made with the Poem in mind  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR6Qk7AdVgE

  Hope everyone had a great Christmas!
Peace
Jenn

Trainer Head Tilt

After yesterdays grueling school on Lewis (Kyle did get on him at the end of my ride to work on some stuff I was still missing... Lewis looked like a 13hh pony) I decided to give him today off.  I hopped on him bareback to go on a hack around the farm.  Most of the farm where we are staying is reserved for cattle, mainly longhorns.  Lewis isn't scared of these guys, ambles right by them when they are on the fence, but a leaf by the gate almost sent me flying.  When in doubt hold the mane.  Lewis' next career move maybe reining, I have never ridden a horse that can spin as fast as him.

Anyway, I ventured over to Five Ring Stable (Kyle's aptly named farm) with Hannah Williams and Liam (whom she purchased from us at Antebellum) to watch her dressage lesson.  Kyle, as always, was full of insight on how to correct some issues that seem to be reoccurring not just on the flat but when jumping as well.  Being a trainer and teaching lessons myself I always find it amusing to watch other people teach.  Where does the "trainer head tilt" start, and what in the world does it help us see?  We ALL do it, I, like most others I have noticed tip my head to the right...  has anyone else paid attention to this?  Is this some way to access the right brained part of our thinking?  Are we trying to make the horses look more "uphill"?  I wonder if I should conduct a study on this.   Do people that coach other sports also have this mysterious head tilt?

It is amazing how crooked we can make our selves while yelling at the riders to keep their horses straight.  Is this some sort of butterfly effect where we take all the crookedness away from our riders and horses and put it into ourselves?  After a long day teaching my neck gets sore.

Final FL lesson on Lew tomorrow before the long drive home.  It is really difficult for me to remember that it is December only days before Christmas in the warm upper 70 degree weather down here.  I can't seem to rationalize the decorations and Christmas music on the radio.  I dread going back north, I know its been warm there the past few days, I'm sure I will be punished by mother nature as soon as I get back to work!

Hoping for a mild winter,
Jenn

Fight Like you Train, Train like you Fight

Greetings from WARM sunny Ocala (ish), FL!
(Ocala (ish) was the panicked location I gave the officer at the Agriculture Station when he asked where we were headed... I am in Micanopy which is just north of Ocala)

I'm going to give this Blog thing a try, though I am pretty sure I told a few people that I would start it when I began this trip to FL.  As this trip is VERY short (1 week) you have to give me some what of a break, starting the blog before today would have conflicted with my very much needed nap time!

As most of you know I try to make the crazy 12hr trip down to Ocala (ish) a few times a year to meet up with Kyle Carter to polish my cross country skills with Lewis.  This past season of 2010 seemed to have put some serious tarnish on those skills.  Today was my 3rd jump school with Kyle.  Today was a continuation of the severe angle lesson we had on Sunday.  Today we built the questions around xc fences instead of show jumps (which I was pretty good at running into the early part of Sundays lesson).  After having several run outs at a very angled log to a table I was at the verge of tears with frustration.  I can answer the question by putting a slight turn in the line... "dumbing it down" as Kyle said.  I just couldn't figure out how to ride through straight (man that SOUNDS so easy).  Then we had a talk about me giving in, I wouldn't give in so easy to allow the run out to happen if I was in competition would I?  Well, that was Kyle's question to me... quite frankly YES I had been giving in that easy.  Hell, I had trained me to train the horse to train me to give in.  (does that make sense?  Lewis if a human would have an IQ of 220... thus most of my problem the horse is lazy and smarter than me, great!)  "fight like you train, train like you fight" Kyle told me... (apparently this is from some military handbook).  SO now I need to train myself to fight to train the horse to fight.

If I put a jump in front of him, no matter how difficult, I must expect him to find a way over it.  He has plenty of scope, power, ability, (and... sigh... brains) to figure out how to accomplish what I have presented to him.  Now to BELIEVE it can happen.

This, ironically, ties in with some of what I have learned from taking meditation classes the few times I have gotten to go.  Riding IS so much a mind game.  Obviously, you need to have the skill and horse to accomplish  the questions presented to you at whatever level you are riding.  No matter if you are a Beginner Novice rider coming to a down hill fence or a 4 star rider turning to a line of offset corners.  The belief must be there.  So FIGHT LIKE YOU TRAIN, TRAIN LIKE YOU FIGHT

Take the leap,
Jenn