The Day I Took A Boat To Work

This past week we have received a fair amount of rain. A couple of days we received over an inch of rain each day.

One of the farms I work at, River Run Ranch, lies in the flood plain of the Snoqualmie River. On rains like this, the Snoqualmie will flood. The severity of the flood ranges from wet roadways to the barn being completely flooded out. The later is the 100 year flood range, which happened 3 years ago.

Yesterday, we had the roads underwater making it impossible to travel by car. Some sections of the road and parts of the farm were under 4-5 feet of water. Fortunately, the water did not rise that far to the farm. It only got within maybe 100m of the barn and arena and only partially flooded a couple of the pastures.

The owners of the farm have a small motor boat and used it to shuttle me and the other boarders to come in and ride.

It was slightly surreal to see how quickly the water comes up. When I left the farm midday on Friday, the river was rising close to the road, and now two days later, there is 4 feet of water. In situations like this, it's always a little humbling to know what mother nature can do and how quickly she can do it.

It was kind of fun to take the boat in and see everything. But, I am sure the next time this happens I won't find it so fun and more of an inconvenience.

The horses are fine and more out of sorts because they weren't turned out in their individual acre of pasture all day as they are accustomed to. Yes, they are spoiled.

Below are some pics and a short video of the flood.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqcFlqUCRXI

Off-Season News Part I

Sorry for the long time between posts. I'm going to do a two part off-season blog update. The first part will detail what I've been up to and the second part will talk about what I'm going to be working on through the winter months for the 2009 season.

Since returning from Championships, I've been trying to keep things a little more "balanced" as I've been taking heat from many people for not having too exciting of a life. For those of you who have known me for awhile, you know that this can be hard for me to do sometimes. I really thrive on the pressure of the show season and now since I'm done I'm feeling a little empty. I'm still motivated each time I ride/teach and not having the immediate pressure on my shoulders is nice not to have.

The good news is, I have been making time to get out and see some friends (with still a lot more of you to see!). Without the pressure of the show season, I've been going out and coming home way too late. Fun times nonetheless.

I spent the past weekend in Boulder, catching up with old friends and former athletes. I had a great time and maybe had a little too epic of a night on Halloween. It really was a world wind trip for the 3 days. Each day I basically met different friends for breakfast, coffee, lunch, dinner, etc. I didn't realize it was so exhausting being social! I also swam Friday morning with my old masters swim group. I had only swam 2 times since I moved in May and those swims where only in the past two weeks. I didn't suffer anywhere near I thought I would, but definitely not in swim shape anymore.

After leaving Boulder, I had not realized how much of a page I have turned in terms of my life. Since moving 5 1/2 months ago, I haven't looked back and spending time back there made me realize that I am absolutely, positively happy with where I am at right now!

I'll try to get a post up in the next few days on how my horses are going and what the "rough" goals are for next year.

USDF Regional Championships

I got back home last night from the USDF Region 6 Championships. This was something I was shooting for the moment I began working with Vienna. It was a lot of hard work (and some hardship) to get her to this show, but what transpired over the weekend was well worth all of it!

With our training the past 4 weeks I knew I could be competitive with Vienna in our Championship classes. But I wasn't too concerned with that. My main goal was to present and ride a horse that was listening and through with me. If we placed well, then that would be the icing on the cake.

We left on 10/1 for the 9 hour drive. We traveled with Vienna's owner Deb, River Run Ranch owner Julie Bennett and her horse Piero, and our friends from KGF Equestrian: Siggi, Kristen and Sandi. It was a safe and thankfully uneventful trip. Vienna got off the trailer in the dark and was looking around, but nothing out of the ordinary.

On Thursday we spent the morning getting completely settled in to the show grounds and walking Vienna a lot around the grounds to get her adjusted to her new environment.

Our schooling session in the afternoon went okay. Honestly, I pretty much "slept walked" through the ride. The past few weeks and the travel had taken a toll on me. Getting feedback from Wendy and watching the video of the ride showed me it wasn't all bad, but I needed to get back on track.

The show started on Friday, but I didn't have a class this day. I wanted to spend another day schooling Vienna to ensure that I was in control of how long we rode for and could make adjustments on the fly. This ride went well. We schooled for a short period of time 15-20 minutes and then went through the Training Level 4 test. I had told Wendy prior to the ride, to really push me and not hold back. So after a couple of F-bombs dropped my way to look up and to stop riding like an amateur I got things together and put together a good ride.

On Saturday, we were planning on riding in the Training Level 3 class as a warm up for the Championship classes on Sunday. I woke up to rain and wind in the morning. During the midday hours all was well weather wise. Then ominous black clouds began rolling in. For about an hour and a half we had two brief, but potent thunderstorm came through delaying my ride for about 2 hours. After looking at the footing that got drenched I quickly scratched the ride and elected to school Vienna in the indoor arena later that evening. By doing so, I would be showing Vienna in the championships without going into the show ring.

The schooling in the indoor ring started after almost disastrously as Vienna was spooky and tense with all of the "things" to look at. I was wondering if I could get the mare back together and actually have a good ride. After about 15 minutes Vienna started to relax and started to trust me. For the next 30 minutes we put together some of our best work. It felt great and it was fun to show off in front of a fair amount of people. Getting off the horse, I had a big smile on my face and felt very confident about tomorrow.

Well, it turned out to be a good thing to elect to school indoors on Saturday as our first Championship class (Northwest Championship) was moved from outdoors to the indoor arena. If we hadn't schooled the night before then we would have had big problems in the test.

Vienna was still a little nervous while warming up, but in the show ring she put together a solid test. The only mistakes we made were in the free walk and the stretching trot circle where she became momentarily distracted. I left the arena happy with our ride.

I knew going into this show that the Open (Pro) classes would be extremely competitive. I just didn't think it would be very close. We placed 5th in the class with 349 points (69.6%). We were 1 pt behind 3rd place which had 350 points (4th too). Even though 2nd place was 11 points ahead, we actually were placed higher than them by one judge. Click here for results.

Our second championship class (USDF Regional Championship) went well too. This class was held in one of the outdoor arenas. Although the weather was good, the footing was a complete muddy mess from the rains the day before. This was Vienna's first experience in muddy footing so I wasn't too sure how she would ride. In warm up, she actually rode well. In the show ring she had a very big slip in the first canter circle, leaving a huge divet. From that point on, I rode her a little more conservative as I didn't want to risk her health.

After the final halt/salute, I felt happy with the ride, but knew it wasn't as good as the test earlier. We finished 5th again in the class and were 2 points out of 4th place. We were still in the thick of things and that meant a lot to me. Click here for results.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with how the show transpired. I have been riding this horse for 4 months and only 3 days a week. To bring this horse along to this point has been a wonderful experience and very rewarding. Thank you Deb for the opportunity to train and show your horse.

This brings a conclusion to the show season. In the next couple of weeks, I'll provide a more thorough recap of everything that has transpired since the move and what I'll be working on during the off-season.

Swedish Warmblood Inspection

This past Saturday (9/27), I presented Cinzano at the Swedish Warmblood inspection.

We began the inspection with him getting his measurements done to make sure his confirmation was correct. After that we began the free jumping segment. The first round through he wasn't too sure what was going on, but after that he was all for it. The inspectors raised the jumps successfully up to 4'2". On that jump Cinzano had to put in a big effort to get over and kicked backed with his hind legs aggressively to get over (more on that).

After that I trotted him in hand. All of this went really well.

The final component of the inspection was me presenting Cinzano under saddle. We showed in an arena with the two inspectors in the middle and about 20 people watching on the side. This was quite unnerving to the horse as he had not been in that situation at all. I was asked to show him at walk, trot, canter in both directions (plus lengthening of the trot and canter). From the get go, he felt different. On the left rein he was feeling okay but to the right he was all over the place. In the canter Cinzano was swapping leads, throwing his head, and even rearing. I was sitting on top, thinking "What the hell is going on". I tried everything I could by not sitting deeply and trying to keep his neck as long as possible.

After that we had the inspectors give their scores and opinions of the horse. Overall, they like Cinzano a lot and repeated this a couple of more times verbally and in writing. He received 7 and 8's in all of his scores, except for under saddle where he scored a 6. His total point total gave him a Class I status, but to be approved as a stallion all scores need to be above a 7. The inspectors repeated a couple of times to bring back Cinzano next year as he shold be able to pass.

Needless I was disappointed that I could not get Cinzano passed and couldn't figure out what happened under saddle. In prior rides he never rode like that. I thought something felt wrong in his back but couldn't pinpoint it.

The next day, Cinzano received a chiropractic exam. The chiropractor found, and adjusted, a rib that was out of place on the right side. More importantly, Cinzano's pelvis was severely rotated. This is what caused the misbehavior on Saturday. How the pelvis became out of place, came from the free jumping in the inspection. On that 4'2" jump he injured his pelvis. With the adjustment, Cinzano is now fine and ready to come back to work!

It was slightly frustrating to loose a confirmation because of something that was out of my hands. But that's the beauty of horses sometimes :).

Preview of Upcoming Attractions

A quick update on the two competitions coming up for me:

Sweedish Warmblood Inspection:
This Saturday (9/27) I will be presenting Cinzano for inspection as a stallion into the Sweedish Studbook. We've doing a lot of work with him and it is beginning to show. Each time I ride this young horse, the more and more I like him. He is starting to express his gaits and figure out that under saddle throwing the head around from time to time is not good.

For his age, he is well balanced and is starting to come from behind. After watching him in trot while free, passage should be no issue for this horse!

I'll be showing him in hand and then under saddle. We'll also be free jumping him as well.

Here are a couple of short videos of us working:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUtp5WC_8T4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5AkI5RMVo


Regional Championships:
This comes up in a week and a half. Vienna is starting to really show her stuff. Today I asked her to engage even more in the hindend and start to show off her gaits. More so from what I would expect a 2nd level horse to do. While she can hold this for short moments right now, it felt absolutely wonderful!! Her canter is becoming much more well balanced and when she stops pulling on me she can really float in the air.

From now until the show we are going to focus on transitions as this is our achilles heel. We did a ton of walk-trot, trot-walk, walk-halt transitions. With about 95% of the halts instantly square. If I can get her to come through on the canter transitions we will show very well!

New Horses

In the last two weeks I have taken on 3 new horses to my list.

Claudius:
Is a Dutch Warmblood who was trained through the FEI lower levels in Europe before being imported 5 years ago. He is owned by Cindy Bucceri. Over the past couple of years Claudius has been showing 2nd and 3rd level; with one show at 4th level this year. I will be working to get Claudius back up to the FEI level with the goal of showing Prix St Georges and Intermerdiare I at some point in the 2009 season. His training will include me riding 2-4 times per week and giving lessons to Cindy and Emily (who successively showed him this season).

Cinzano:
Is a 4 year old stallion owned by Wendy Hsue. I will be presenting Cinzano at the end of the month, both in hand and under saddle, for inspection into the Sweedish Warmblood Studbook. I've only been working with Cinzano for a little over a week and I really like this horse. Very sweet and is starting to move better and better with each ride.

Dutch:
Is a 4 year old owned by Rebecca Chatfield. Dutch is extremely green and I've been working with him under saddle to give him the basics of under saddle work with the goal of having Rebecca riding him in the very near future. As of today we are walk, trot, cantering with no problems and he is an extremely smooth ride. He shall be fun!

Whidbey Island End of Summer Show

Last weekend, we hauled back up to Whidbey with Vienna to try and get one last qualifying score for the Regional Championships. Plus, it was good to get Vienna some more show experience.

I knew all I needed to do was get the mare through and then ride a mistake free test and all would be taken care of.

I was only going to show her Friday and Saturday as I didn't want to go through another 3 day show. If we couldn't get one score out of two rides, then in my opinion we didn't deserve to go to Championships.

On the Thursday warm up day Vienna went pretty well. At the end of the session we schooled in the ring (lower sand ring) where we would be showing on Friday and she was a little tense and looking around. There are a lot of noises from the nearby highway that you can hear from that ring and she wasn't too comfortable with that. We tried to get her listening the best we could.

On Friday we rode in the late afternoon. Vienna felt a little tired to me on Thursday and I elected not to school her in the morning on Friday to ensure I had enough energy in her. So I spent the drizzly, misty day hand walking and grazing her a lot. She was taking in everything like a pro and I was thinking if she keeps this up we'll be fine.

Instead of rehashing the warm up and ride, I'll give you the quick version. The horse got tense in the ring and I rode her terribly. I didn't ride proactively and instead rode passively hoping to just get through the test without any bobbles. Well that approached backfired as we had a couple of leaps in the right lead canter. Needless to say we didn't get the score. Once again, without the errors we had it. On the bright side we did receive on 8 for gaits.

I immediately went back to the warm up and schooled her and we got going well. I was furious afterwards, mostly at myself, for not riding well. I knew better and yet I didn't step up. I went to bed that night vowing not to let that happen again.

Again, we had a late afternoon ride and this time I schooled her in the morning. In that schooling session, I put the mare in a deep frame and got her coming up through the back. We had a fabulous ride with no issues. Deb helped me through the ride and was very impressed with what she saw.

Flash forward to the warmup for the test in the afternoon, and we immediately picked up where we left off in the morning. I had a horse tuned into me, so much so that she was picking up the canter with the slightest seat aid.

Right as we were about to enter the ring for the test Vienna started thinking canter and I aborted the entrance at the last second, literally, and circled back around. Doing that probably saved the day.

In this test I had the mare the most attentive I have ever had and we had great test. We had a couple of minor errors where we picked up the canter early and bobbled for a section in the trot. Other than that, I was very happy with the mare. This is the horse we've been working towards for the past 10 weeks.

We got the score, 69.6%, and will be traveling to Nampa, ID for the Region 6 Championships the first weekend of October.

What I'm really excited about is I still haven't gotten this mare to ride her best. With 4 weeks between now and Championships I know that I can get Vienna going much better and I know that we will be competitive in the Open Division.

A big thank you to Deb Reinhart for allowing me the opportunity to train and show this mare.
To Wendy Meyers for coming up and coaching me before each ride. Also to my parents, Alanna, Sharon, Nancy, Norma, Roxanne, Cindy, Claudio, and Adrianna for coming up to cheer us on. The support is greatly appreciated!