The past week and a half we have been experiencing some "wonderful" winter weather here in the Seattle area. Looking outside my window I can see about 10 inches on the ground. I cannot remember when I grew up here, such a long sustained period of sub freezing temperatures and snow storms.
Because of the snow, and more importantly the cold weather, I haven't been able to work my guys as normal. Most of this is because the footing froze at both arenas. So that has limited the work down to hand walking for a couple of days. In terms of their respective training programs this down time isn't a big deal for the horses as it's only December. It will only take a week or so to be back on track.
However................yesterday, I took out one of my young horses and began to lunge him first to make sure that he wasn't too high when I got on him.
Being cooped up, he immediately tried to get down and roll. I got him going and then 4 steps later he's down on the ground. I got over to him quickly, at his side, so he wouldn't roll on the saddle. Well he popped up and then popped me in the chest with one of his hind legs. I don't know how he pivoted so quickly and got me because I was not in a danger spot when I was at his side.
Regardless, I now have a broken rib (8th rib) on my right side. Frankly, I'm pretty fortunate that it is just a rib and that he didn't kick me higher up in my face, or on the my left chest (heart) or lower and cause an injury to an organ.
So.......I'm laid up here for a little while. It honestly hurts more than I expected. I hope to get out to the farms tomorrow and at least teach a lesson or two. I'm already a little stir crazy laying down all day. It's up in the air on when I'll get back on a horse. Basically, when I feel comfortable enough pain wise. I'm hoping sometime next week.
Merry Christmas!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Clinic at Mandloin Dressage
A little late on this post: over the last weekend of November, I traveled down to Gardnerville, NV to teach a clinic at Mandolin Dressage. It was a very successful weekend for everyone!! In late March I went to the Rancho Murrieta Horse Show with some of these guys. It was a real treat to work with them again and more importantly to see the progress they had made over the past 6 months.
Below are some pictures from the 3 days:
Below are some pictures from the 3 days:
Monday, November 17, 2008
November Henrik Johansen Clinic
This past Thursday and Friday I rode with Heinrich Johansen again. I was able to ride three different horses this time. I would have had four, but with River Run flooding again, we weren't able to get out there for the clinic.
First things first, this clinic was one of the best I've been to and I was able to take many new theories and skills away from it. Usually if I can get one or two ideas I find it quite a success.
I started off with Cinzano, Wendy Hsue's 4 year old Swedish stallion prospect. First, Heinrich really like him and confirmed that I have him on the right track. Heinrich had me "run" the horse down the long side to get him forward and then once Cinzano was forward to then put the leg on. This will allow the horse to understand what the leg is meant for. Previously Cinzano was a slightly resistance to the leg and now Cinzano is riding off the leg better. The other thing Heinrich had me do was use a little more outside rein (just barely lifting the outside rein momentarily) then I had on previously ridden on circles and corners to keep the outside shoulder in line. The use of a little more outside rein actually played a big difference in the canter!
My second ride was on Deborah Hauk's Hanovarian gelding Nick. The first thing Heinrich introduced me was applying the "Gear System" to the horse. In another blog I'll explain this theory a little bit more. Once warmed up, Heinrich had me start Nick in a extremely collected walk. The pursposed being to get him collected up, but also to have Nick listen to the rhythm I was asking for from my seat. This was challenging for both of us, to hold this collection for long periods of time. From this walk, depending how collected I had it, I could put Nick into a turn on the haunches or piroutte extremely easy.
After we had that down, we moved up to the trot. Again, we held an extremely collected trot that if we had the power and strength could be a "schooling" passage. At moments Nick would come through and actually have some "baby" passage steps! From this extremely collected trot, I would take Nick into a true collected trot, back to the extremely collected trot, out to a medium/extention, back to extremely collected trot, etc. All of the changes within the gait was with my seat.
Once I understood what Heinrich wanted, I started getting some quality work and it felt fantastic. After the lesson, Deborah come up to me and said, "I've never understood why owner's have their trainers ride the horses in clinics and in shows. After watching you and Nick, I completely understand why!". She was so proud of her horse!
On Thursday I rode Joyce Morimoto's 14 year old Swedish gelding, Jumanji. This would be a good lesson for me as I've only ridden Jumanji once a week for the past two months after him coming off a 2 month lay off.
Like the Nick lesson, we applied the gear system to this ride as well. Again, things went really well. We also worked on some half pass schooling and Heinrich gave me a couple of clues on schooling the half pass to keep the forward movement while still maintaining the lateral direction. By taking the shoulder a little more forward at moments on the diagonal line I was eventually able to get a good bend around my inside leg and have the shoulders at a good angle.
Because of the flood at River Run we were unable to hold parts of the clinic there, which meant I couldn't clinic with Cindy Bucceri's gelding Claudius. It would have been nice to work with Claudius, but I am able to take a lot of what I learned over the two days and apply it to Claudius. The last three rides on Claudius have been our best yet where I have gotten Claudius to listen to me and then actually come through in the rhythm that I want. I now have greater confidence in the goals I have set with Claudius ( riding at the FEI level) next year.
I will be taking Cinzano to another farm on Thursday to clinic again with Heinrich which I'm looking forward to.
A big thank you to Wendy Hsue, Deborah Hauk, and Joyce Morimoto for allowing me to clinic their respective horses with Heinrich!
First things first, this clinic was one of the best I've been to and I was able to take many new theories and skills away from it. Usually if I can get one or two ideas I find it quite a success.
I started off with Cinzano, Wendy Hsue's 4 year old Swedish stallion prospect. First, Heinrich really like him and confirmed that I have him on the right track. Heinrich had me "run" the horse down the long side to get him forward and then once Cinzano was forward to then put the leg on. This will allow the horse to understand what the leg is meant for. Previously Cinzano was a slightly resistance to the leg and now Cinzano is riding off the leg better. The other thing Heinrich had me do was use a little more outside rein (just barely lifting the outside rein momentarily) then I had on previously ridden on circles and corners to keep the outside shoulder in line. The use of a little more outside rein actually played a big difference in the canter!
My second ride was on Deborah Hauk's Hanovarian gelding Nick. The first thing Heinrich introduced me was applying the "Gear System" to the horse. In another blog I'll explain this theory a little bit more. Once warmed up, Heinrich had me start Nick in a extremely collected walk. The pursposed being to get him collected up, but also to have Nick listen to the rhythm I was asking for from my seat. This was challenging for both of us, to hold this collection for long periods of time. From this walk, depending how collected I had it, I could put Nick into a turn on the haunches or piroutte extremely easy.
After we had that down, we moved up to the trot. Again, we held an extremely collected trot that if we had the power and strength could be a "schooling" passage. At moments Nick would come through and actually have some "baby" passage steps! From this extremely collected trot, I would take Nick into a true collected trot, back to the extremely collected trot, out to a medium/extention, back to extremely collected trot, etc. All of the changes within the gait was with my seat.
Once I understood what Heinrich wanted, I started getting some quality work and it felt fantastic. After the lesson, Deborah come up to me and said, "I've never understood why owner's have their trainers ride the horses in clinics and in shows. After watching you and Nick, I completely understand why!". She was so proud of her horse!
On Thursday I rode Joyce Morimoto's 14 year old Swedish gelding, Jumanji. This would be a good lesson for me as I've only ridden Jumanji once a week for the past two months after him coming off a 2 month lay off.
Like the Nick lesson, we applied the gear system to this ride as well. Again, things went really well. We also worked on some half pass schooling and Heinrich gave me a couple of clues on schooling the half pass to keep the forward movement while still maintaining the lateral direction. By taking the shoulder a little more forward at moments on the diagonal line I was eventually able to get a good bend around my inside leg and have the shoulders at a good angle.
Because of the flood at River Run we were unable to hold parts of the clinic there, which meant I couldn't clinic with Cindy Bucceri's gelding Claudius. It would have been nice to work with Claudius, but I am able to take a lot of what I learned over the two days and apply it to Claudius. The last three rides on Claudius have been our best yet where I have gotten Claudius to listen to me and then actually come through in the rhythm that I want. I now have greater confidence in the goals I have set with Claudius ( riding at the FEI level) next year.
I will be taking Cinzano to another farm on Thursday to clinic again with Heinrich which I'm looking forward to.
A big thank you to Wendy Hsue, Deborah Hauk, and Joyce Morimoto for allowing me to clinic their respective horses with Heinrich!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Logo Created
I finally got the logo for Emerald City Dressage created! I'll work on getting the website up and running over the next couple of weeks.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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.
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.
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