The First Weeks in Florida

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Finn, Whistler, my fiance Joe, and I arrived in Florida safe and sound on Friday morning, January 18. Our trip went smoothly and was pretty much uneventful, but we just missed the fast and furious snowstorm in Tennessee that really affected travelers passing through soon after us. It slowed us down for just a little while.

We turned the boys out in the pasture as soon as we got to Longwood so they could move around and stretch their legs after being in the trailer for so many hours; then we started the process of unpacking and organizing. This year I’m in a different barn; right next to one of the XC fields and in view of the little house I’ve been staying in here for the last several years. Here’s a quick pan of the view of the one XC field near the barn (our little house in the distance).

The next few days started with hacks and light flat work for Finny and Whistler to get ourselves back in work mode again. I also tried to walk or trot both boys through the XC water every day so they’d remember what that was all about.

Fiona1Some of Michael Pollard’s horses are in the barn right next to us and Fiona made friends with one of their workers dogs, Argo. They’ve been having a great time wrestling and Fiona will miss Argo when the Pollard horses move to their new farm in Ocala shortly. Fi has quickly settled in to her routine of running and playing all day long and falling in bed exhausted at night–and not wanting to get up in the morning.

CycleDogJoe had to fly back home to Ohio on Tuesday, but my mom and dad were down for their annual Ocala vacation so we also did a lot of eating out that first week, enjoying some of our favorite Ocala spots. We also got away from the horses on the Sunday at the end of our first week there and visited St. Augustine. Fiona had her first experience getting her feet wet in the ocean. She was a little scared at first of the waves (and the water was COLD) but she learned it wasn’t going to swallow her up so she started to romp a little–until she bit at the water and realized it tasted bad! Then we wandered around old St. Augustine a bit where Fiona found her true love!! She’s quite jealous of the goggles too.

WorkshopDuring my second week, I was a demo rider for an eventing judge’s workshop/training program put on at Longwood. It was very educational, getting to hear comments from those participating and the facilitators of the program. Really helps you understand what judges are looking for and why and how they score. Whistler participated in the part where the judges evaluated gaits. He got lots of good comments on his lovely movement. Finn participated the second day when they worked on selected movements from each level. For Finn’s part, the facilitators picked three parts of Prelim tests and had Finn and two other horses take turns doing each movement. Then the participants had to discuss what they would score each movement and defend their scores. Again, a great learning experience.

BruceThursday afternoon of the second week, Megan, my friend and client, arrived with her horse, Sinny, for their first visit to Ocala. Megan is staying for the month and is very excited to be here. Late that week, I had a jump lesson with Bruce Davidson. It’s great to have so many super instructors available in Ocala and take lessons from some of them. Each instructor has different perspectives and can learn so much from all of them. I hope to get a few more from Bruce, as well as getting back with Leslie Law before I have to head for home. Bruce really like Finny and feels he has great potential. And I learned some really great tips that have helped both in jumping and on the flat.

Saturday we headed over to the Florida Horse Park to watch marathon day of a combined driving event. A friend from back home came down to navigate for someone in the Prelim Pony Pair division. It was great to cheer them on; I believe they finished 2nd in their division! Sunday was a Super Bowl party at Longwood. Lots of fun with a huge group of eventers!

The following week both Megan and I concentrated on preparing for our first competition of the season, Ocala Winter II at the Florida Horse Park. Finny ran Intermediate, Whistler was starting at Training, and Megan and Sinny ran Prelim. I was pleased with the entirety of Finn’s run. It was run as a one-day, so we did all three phases on Friday. His dressage test went very well; it’s always a tough division when you’re running trials in Ocala with so many professionals entered, so I was happy with our standings. We got ready for showjumping/cross country next. Generally you go straight from SJ to XC in a one day, but ended up being a hold on course before we went off on XC, so I had quite a bit of time between the two. (My heart and prayers go out to Andrea, who lost her horse and was injured on course.) Finn had just one rail in showjumping; I was satisfied with that as there were lots of rails coming down and it was a tough but fun course. Our cross country run was great. Jumped clean; I didn’t even bother setting my watch. Just wanted a good run for the first of the year. We ended up with some time penalties, but I was thrilled with his performance nonetheless.

MeganXCOWIIAll in all, I think Megan was pleased with her run. She also had her division run as a one-day, so we were both busy and kept moving all day long. Ocala is a tough course, both showjumping and XC; much tougher than your average Area VIII course. So she did quite well for her first go of the season.

Whistler ran his training division over Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was his dressage test and showjumping. Sunday was XC. He has been a little reluctant to put his focus into his flatwork lately. So Friday at the farm when we worked before the show, I pushed him and really was strict about keeping his attention on what he was being asked to do. All of a sudden, he became a different horse. He started to focus; his back came up, he was light in the hands. He was incredible; his trot was tremendous, his counter canter was there (he kept swapping leads previous rides). It was quite amazing. I think he just really needs to be challenged in his work to help him stay focused.

So that work paid off. He had a great dressage test; jumped double clean both Saturday and on XC on Sunday. He started in first place and finished in FIRST place! Good boy. Now we know you can do it!!

Now it’s back to work around the farm preparing for our next competitions. Sinny and Whistler will both run Prelim at Rocking Horse next weekend. It will be Whistler’s move-up. Finny has the weekend off from competition, as he’ll head to Pine Top for his first Advanced the following weekend.

Joe comes back this coming weekend for a visit. It will be great to see him and I’m looking forward to a little time away from the horses doing something else fun.

We’ll try to get some more photos and/or video posted soon.

Clinic Cancelled

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We made the decision last week to cancel the Leslie Law clinic that was to be held this coming weekend. We were extremely short on participants to pay for all expenses and stood to lose a lot of money if we went forward. We think the possibilty of bad weather for hauling horses and travelling was what kept people from entering. We hope to get Leslie in sometime later this year.

A Christmas Gift for Your Horse: Doug Hannum Clinic

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We are holding an Equine Therapy Clinic On December 1 featuring Doug Hannum. Doug is a lifelong horseman and has worked with horses at all levels including being an integral component of the U.S. Olympic and World Games teams for four decades. Check out the FLYER HERE(link) and Google Doug’s name to discover who he is and his success at getting and keeping horses healthy and happy. The changes he can make to horses are amazing. Join us for a very educational clinic and give your horse the best Christmas gift ever.

Fall Update: Lots of Activity

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The summer/fall competition season is over. Some setbacks, but some successes too. I met one of my two goals for Finn this season. I wasn’t able to move him up to Advanced this fall as I’d hoped, after dealing with various issues to be sure he was competely healthy and comfortable, we just ran out of time and shows. But my goal of getting his CCI2-star qualification was met! YAY. Now, when we do (hopefully) make it up to Advanced next year, we’re also qualified and ready to run a 3-star.

The Winning Team

The winning Novice team: Debra, Rachel, me & Roulette, and Karin

The third weekend in October saw us at Hagyard/Team Challenge at the Kentucky Horse Park with students and a 4-year-old client horse running in his first show (Roulette–his only experience was the Young Event Horse test at Richland in August). Roulette had a great dressage test for his first big-time, complete test. He was a little wiggly and look-y like babies can be, but he stood in 7th place in a large Novice division of 25 after dressage. He then rocked around showjumping that same day and cross country the following day, adding nothing to his score and finishing in 5th place (our team finished in first!).

Here’s a short clip from Roulette’s dressage test.

Megan & Sinny; Sydney & Tex; Two parts of the winning Prelim team

My other clients/students also had great, educational runs for early in their Prelim careers and a very successful event with their whole Preliminary team. That team which included Syd & Tex, Megan & Sinny, and Dekie with his new rider, Andrea, and a friend, Lauren, also finished in first place (and Deke finished in 2nd individually!). Congratulations to them for a great end to their season. Next year looks to be very exciting for them.

The next weekend was followed by Chattahoochee Hills CCI2*/CIC1*/HT at the lovely farm of Carl Bouckart. Finn was awesome at the 2-star. We got that completion that we needed and were very happy with all parts of our weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever felt him so relaxed and fluid in a dressage test before (thanks to Ulcergard and Legend?!). We stood in 7th place after dressage. I felt the one judge in particular could have been a bit more generous with the scoring, but I was happy with him nonetheless.

At the riders’ meetings for the 2-star, there was some concern with the cross country course at Chatt. Apparently they had had a big outdoor concert there recently and the 20,000 people and all the vehicles and their tires had really torn up and packed down a lot of the course. The Chatt Hills crew worked tirelessly through the days and nights to try to get the course back in shape and they ended up removing a loop on the course and a couple of jumps that went over the worst part. A few people withdrew because they were concerned, but most of us chose to run. I kept it slow; keeping him safe and getting the qualifier were the most important things to me. As it turned out, I felt the ground, for the most part, felt pretty good and I really liked the way the course ran. I even ended up spending quite a bit of time talking with the course designer, Hugh Lochore, the next day about my thoughts on the course and how it ran. Finny felt wonderful. He answered every question brilliantly. He wanted to run faster, but I opted to be cautious. Didn’t want him to get too excited and blow by a fence in one of the combinations and lose our chance for the qualifier.

Showjumping was probably my only disappointing phase that weekend. We had three rails; and although there were lots of rails throughout the division and only one clear round, I felt like he could have jumped better–like he didn’t want to pick up his shoulders and front end. I think we were having a few issues with the saddle slipping back, and I only wish I could’ve gotten my saddle fitter in a week or so previous so we could have gotten the reflocking done before the show. But, sometimes that’s the way it goes. He still felt pretty good and I’m glad for the successful weekend for us.

The weekend was also a success for student, Dana, and her move up to Training with our horse, Audie. She had a nice dressage test and was in 3rd place following that phase and then had two good jumping phases, with a double clear stadium jumping phase. So she once again finished quite well, second place, and could have won had she not been so cautious on cross country for her first training run and picked up a tiny bit of time! And that was really an intimidating Training course for a first run at that level. Other than that time penalty, she finished clear. Congratulations to Dana on a very successful season.

From Georgia, we hit the road for home pretty late on Sunday and didn’t get back to the barn until just after midnight. The next day, Mike Corcoran, my saddler, came in from Texas for a clinic and saddle fitting session. Mike uses thermographic imaging to help the customer see and understand the importance of a well-fitting saddle. Monday night we had a free clinic where Mike spoke and demonstrated the use of the thermography on some demo horses. Tuesday and half of Wednesday, Mike spent the days looking at and reflocking saddles. All of my saddles are Mike’s and I had all of them checked and worked on. Mike also worked on about a dozen more, plus looked at several others and made some recommendations. We thank Mike for coming all this way for us and know that he left lots of happy clients behind. Particularly Finny. When I rode him in his refitted jump saddle, he really felt great. It is amazing how important a properly fitted saddle is for performance horses.

Things quiet down now for a while. Finny is on a break, just getting lightly hacked a few times a week for a while. Plans are in the works for my Florida trip; trying to figure out dates and the competition schedule. Looks like I’ll have at least one client horse going down with Finny, plus Megan and Sinny joining me for part of it, which will be fun. I definitely won’t be down there as long this winter as last year; mostly because of the costs involved, but also because I don’t have the necessity of keeping a horse fit and going for the possibility of Rolex as I had hoped for this past winter.

Join us in our adventures. We are trying to get lots of activities going here at Dancing Horse Farm so that we can become one of the go-to places for eventers in the southern Ohio area. Plans are in the works for some cross country stuff here–a bank and water complex–as well as a combined test/jumping derby next spring. Plus, don’t forget, we have Leslie Law coming this winter for a clinic.

New Clinic Date for Leslie Law

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We have finally figured out a new date for the Leslie Law dressage/jumping clinic: January 12-13, 2013. We hope that everyone who had already signed up is still able to attend and hope to get a few new attendees too. We also pray that we have a nice, mild winter like last year! If for some reason Leslie is unable to get here due to weather, clinic fees will be refunded. You can download the updated registration

EEEK! Change to Leslie Law Clinic

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Due to a scheduling error on the part of Leslie’s wife, we have to change the date for our clinic. We are sending out notices to those who have already registered to get a feel for the best alternate date. If you were planning on coming, please let us know what date works best for you: Dec. 22-23, Dec. 29-30, or Jan. 5-6. Call, text, or let us know via the MME Facebook page.