A Little Bit of Everything

Oh boy! I can not believe how fast these past three weeks have gone. It is insane! Time surely has gotten away from me and I apologize for not blogging in what seems like forever!

Because my days are a bit cluttered together, I will just tell you about all of the lectures I have had and then a summary about how Liv and I are doing.

There is not one person built exactly the same on one side as they are on the other. As riders, this is something we need to be aware of and make sure we fix ... or compensate for our shortcomings per say. For me, I know that my left hip is not as flexible as my right (which makes all lateral work to the left my weakness since I need my left hip forward). My right shoulder is also stiffer and stays up and forward all the time which makes my upper body "counter bent" whenever I am tracking right. Pilates, stretching, and visits to the chiropractor have helped my problem areas significantly! One of our lectures in the past month was with Betsy Steiner and Cindy (the lovely ladies who developed Equilates). I was so thrilled when Cindy came back to work with us using Biocords. Biocords are cords that you use to stretch and strengthen different muscles in your body. After only a half hour I could feel a world of difference in my shoulder and hip and Livingston surely appreciated Cindy fixing me!

Don Later is a well-known and thorough farrier who came to Hampton Green to discuss shoeing. He emphasized the saying, "If it's not broke, why fix it?" Often times, riders, trainers, owners, etc., want to add different fillers, pads, or change the type of shoe on a horse just because it sounds good. But we should really be asking ourselves "Is the horse lame?" or "Will the horse be lame if the shoeing stays the same?" If the answer is no then why change it? When he started talking about making things simple in terms of shoeing, I thought, "Well I put heart bar shoes with gel soles in my pony's feet for a year or two and that's not simple." But when I thought about why we changed the way he was shod, it was because there WAS a problem. He WAS lame and WAS going to stay lame if things weren't changed. So I passed the test and didn't change things just because.

Melanie Taylor was an Olympic Jumper and is a very good friend of Lendon. She came and talked to us about natural horsemanship along with how she got started working with polo ponies, and of course some stories from 'back in the day.' It seems like Melanie and Lendon both have blackmail on each other!  LOL. The next day she came back and taught jumping lessons, but I was working so I didn't get to watch...but from what I heard they went very well!

The weekend of March 1st, I went to the Palm Beach Derby in Loxahatchee to scribe for the 'S' judge apprenticing. After scribing a few times for these judges, I have really learned to predict judges comments in my own ride which has been very helpful when schooling at home. Let's say, for example, I was riding a left half pass, I would mentally hear the judge saying "Not enough bend" or "loosing impulsion." It's the quick blurbs that really help me keep the whole picture together. And lucky for me, I got to scribe for Pam Wooding again! During the breaks, it was neat to discuss the various rides and to ask questions about the judging in general. I wish her the best of luck in the rest of her apprenticing and at the final testing in August!

Lisa Schmitt, another 'S' judge in training, talked to us about judging and how to become a judge. A judge has to go through countless hoops just to be able to sit at C and judge us.  It was eye opening to find out that a judge makes on average at least 1,000 decisions a day between deciding a score and comment ... so the next time you see the words "Not seen" or some other filler comment on your test sheet, don't get your feathers ruffled, judges are still human! I will say though, after scribing and talking to Lisa, I am definitely not crossing 'Judge' off my list!

Phil Silva, an amazing handler, spent two days with us. Day one I missed because of scribing, but I got to be there for day two which focused on the conformation of the horse and how to "stand them up" in an in-hand class. Not only did we learn how to hide a horse's confirmation faults, but we also got to dissect the overall conformation of our own horses. This past summer, I achieved my HB Pony Club Certification and dissecting the horse's overall conformation was one of the areas we were tested on. Not only was I able to use the skills I learned from Pony Club, but I was also able to look at the conformation through a judge's eye thanks to Phil. The huge difference between the two views is that Pony Club teaches us to dissect a horse's body into sections and figure out angles ... basically look for every little thing that may or may not be out of place. This view is very useful when looking for a new horse because you are able to see where the problem areas down the road may lie. From the judge's perspective, they are looking for the overall picture ... not quite as critical as Pony Club or a pre-purchase exam. haha

Tinne Vilhelmson is a Swedish rider who has competed at the World Cup and numerous other top competitions. She is an AMAZING rider and she kindly hosted us at her farm for training observations. We got to watch her ride three Grand Prix horses all the same age but at different stages of development. One was well developed, the other got tense in some of the work, and the third was developed two years ago, but then had a year off due to an injury. It was very intriguing to watch how subtle, yet effective her aids were. As a rider, she made no noticeable mistakes during the ride. I saw some bobbles (non rider initiated), but only with the last two horses who were still developing. Because of this "no mistake" mentality, Lendon challenged me to have a "no mistakes" ride the next day. Fortunately, my 'competitive' side came out and I went out and did my best to not make any mistakes. While it wasn't a perfect ride, Lendon was really happy with how well I honed in on every little detail. I was mentally exhausted after that ride (haha) but now I know that I just need to focus even more to get a more apparent 'wow' factor.

Horses are horses and sadly, we can't wrap them in bubble wrap. Every rider is bound to rehabilitate a horse more often than they would like. Arlene White, founder of the Animal Rehab Institute, has created a program to properly train vets how to rehab different injuries. After a presentation in her classroom, we went out to the stable. There we went over different "carrot stretches." It wasn't just the normal left, right, and under stretches, but the more advanced degrees of the stretch. She showed us where horses commonly cheat and what stretches to do for different injuries.

Lauren Sammis is an international dressage rider and a PanAm gold and silver medalist. She specializes in high quality dressage horse sales. Lauren discussed the pros and cons of importing horses from Europe and how she got her start. She explained the process of a commission along with how to keep a positive and respected reputation in the horse business. Her business value of 'I stand behind each sale' is admirable. Lauren strives to find the perfect fit and if down the line a sale ends up not working out, she still does everything in her power to fix it.

Riding is a sport. Horses and riders are athletes and nothing short of it. Just like humans, horses muscles get tight from injuries and work. Bonnie Stetson gave a power point presentation on the different types of massage. She then did a demonstration on one of the horses here. From there, each rider worked on their own horse. Livingston was in heaven with his massage. And with him having such a big personality, he made it very clear.... kisses, stretching, and yawning included!

We also had our current events presentations on the Middle East ... the non-horse related lecture of the week. The one that keeps us UTD on what's happening in the real world... not whose declaring for North Americans or who is working for which trainer!

Maryann Haymen, owner of MaryDell Farm, has been breeding warmbloods for numerous years. She is very specific and thorough when it comes to breeding and analyzing a horse's conformation. Maryann follows the old saying, "Three days, three weeks, and three months" when she predicts what a horse will be like when it grows up. Apparently, if you look at the way a foal is built and see what it does on its own at these different points, you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect once they are under-saddle. I got the feeling that Maryann almost has a 6th sense when it comes to breeding and analyzing horses and I was so intrigued. For more info check out Marydell Farm!

Debbie McDonald is a US Olympian and top international competitor. She is an amazing rider and trainer and the WITees were lucky enough to watch her teach at the Global Dressage Festival. She was a stickler for having a horse do a movement and then giving the hands or praising it for doing the right thing. It was so neat to see her work with a schoolmaster who had a definite 'go' but for 'whoa' would either drop its poll or put its chin to its chest. To help the rider gain the respect of the horse, she put her on a circle and rode a million transitions focusing on the outline of the neck and quality of the uphill balance. 
This was just the lesson I needed to watch before the show this weekend!

As for the riding!!!...

One thing I have been told is that I am a good thinker and I always seem to have a plan or goal when I ride. That being said, after watching so many training demonstrations lately, I have felt inspired to play around with new ideas and exercises. Having the opportunity to ride on my own or have a supervised ride has only helped my training. I finally have solid and consistent canter pirouettes and my left half passes are improving with more bend and fluidity.

While Lendon was up in Connecticut for the Winter Educational Program, Tuny Page, another international competitor and World Cup rider, came and taught a few lessons. Although we only walked and trotted in the lesson, we worked tremendously on proper flexion and self-carriage. She also changed where I sit in the saddle itself and WOW did that make a huge difference. Here, I was sitting with my butt tucked under which in turn collapsed my sternum. Tuny had me sit further back in the saddle which brought my leg back and allowed my upper leg to sink down even more. AND my sternum stayed up! I can only describe my lesson as AWESOME! And talk about a small world, Tuny and Livingston's owner used to do 3-day eventing together!

This past weekend was one for the records. 
After three weeks of fine tuning and really working on the Young Rider tests, it was back to the show ring. Before I came to Florida, I knew that I wanted to compete at Global this weekend. Why? Because it was the first ever Florida Youth Dressage Championships sponsored by Dressage4Kids, and Kim Boyer. To qualify for the championships, you needed to have a 64% average between the Individual and Team tests for your perspective division (Brentina Cup, Young Riders, Juniors, or Ponys) ... and luckily because of my results at White Fences, I qualified for the Championships! I wouldn't say I was nervous for the show, but more so anxious... especially when I found out I didn't compete until 5:03pm on Saturday! 
That wait was the worst, but hey, my boots were extra shiny because of it!

Saturday I competed in the covered arena which was awesome because I was out of the sun and there was a nice breeze. Livingston's warm-up was short and sweet. It was all about keeping his hind end active and him fresh to my half halts. Looks like all the pirouette work paid off because we got 7s on the pirouettes! The major critique was that I didn't keep Livingston's poll high enough. That factor and the fact that I had three international judges meant the score wasn't as impressive as our past scores. However, we still came out with an average of 62.982% (61-64%) and first place and I was really happy with the other improvements we made in the test... and the fact that I wasn't nervous at all! Day one of the FYD Championships was a success.

Sunday was St. Patty's day so I wore my extra lucky socks...because its all about the socks, duhh! Thankfully I didn't have to wait all day to compete! 11:28 am was a much more doable time. Anne Gribbons was our judge at C and then we had two other judges. During warm-up, I made sure I didn't let Livingston lower his poll at all. There was no cheating allowed! Livingston really loves the International arena and as soon as we trotted through the 'gate,' his stride got bigger and I could feel him showing off. I love the individual test because 1. Livingston doesn't know it so he doesn't take over and 2. I just love how it rides and tests the riders capability to truly have the horse on the rider's aids. I left the arena full of smiles and a 65% locking us in 2nd place for day two. We finished with a 63.991%.

Then came the super exciting part... Livingston and I became the Florida Youth Dressage Young Rider Champions! I am still in shock of how far Liv and I have come. He is such a patient teacher and I am so blessed to have him as a my partner for the year. The past year and a half has been a huge learning curve for me, but the support from my parents, trainers, owners, friends, and family has pushed me through the ups and downs. 

GO WIT!!

Awards with Kim Boyer, Lendon Gray, and Michael Davis.

My Madre <333

Lendon & I 

YR Champion and Pony Reserve Champion... GO WIT! 

I loved having my Mom here for the weekend AND since the North was being hit by a snow storm, I was able to convince her to stay a few more days :) We went to City Place in West Palm, found a prom dress and some awesome shoes, and simply enjoyed every minute together! Although I love it here and really don't want to leave, I am excited to come home and see my human and horse friends, and of course sleep in my own bed! 

I have one more show down here this weekend at White Fences. I will be competing 4th level to earn scores towards my silver medal, and then soon enough my dad will be here to help me pack to come home. I am not looking forward to packing.... at all....

Until next time... enjoy what's left of the snow and say a prayer for our safe travels! lol