What went wrong? 

Just one of the many questions I asked myself, on yet another long ride home, reflecting on this crazy journey of being an eventer. 

We had such an awesome February. Piney made huge strides in all areas, winning his second starter level event at Stone Ridge Eventing, and Stromboli seemed to have settled into a quiet routine for the first time in his life. Stromboli was jumping well, he was dressaging well (even got a 33 at a schooling show!), and everything was in its place.  

I have been working on myself as a rider, fine tuning my jump position, trying to be more even & lighter in my hands, sitting up and using my core.  Right now I am the strongest and fittest I've ever been in my entire life...and that's pretty cool! 

We went to Texas Rose expecting to conquer --but that didn't happen...instead we got eliminated and had arguably the WORST dressage test of my life (i've said that a lot, but remarkably they do continue to be worse and yet worse again). 

I'm about to present an unpopular opinion: You can work hard, but sometimes effort is not enough.  You cannot fit a square peg into a round hole.  Stromboli isn't even a square peg --he's a crazy trapezoidal one with some extra pointy points.  

Stromboli has made me no stranger to the bottom of the score board. It has always been a huge fight, with seemingly very few victories, yet looking back on his career we have still achieved an impressive amount:

• We completed 17 out of 18 recognized events without XC jump faults.  
• He absolutely killed it at all local jumper shows at all levels.
• We only finished one recognized event on a letter instead of a number.
• He earned his USEA Training Level Bronze Medal.
• We both moved up to Preliminary & finished our first and four others without XC jump penalties.
• He only had one jump penalty, a single rail, at the BN or Novice level. 
• He only scored over 50 in dressage at the Texas Rose Horse Park...never at the many other locations we competed at.  
• He only ever scored better than a 40 in dressage once (impressively bad)! 
• We finished on what may be the WORST (highest) numerical score in USEA History without having any XC jump penalties or stops in SJ: 117.9 in the Open Prelim Division at Hunter Oaks.
  
• We did all of this with only one professional ever taking him over a jump --Buck Davidson, very briefly at a clinic in 2014.   

So am I upset? Sad? Mad at myself? Mad at him? Do I feel like a crap rider? H NO! 

Could I have ridden better? Sure....I picked when I should have kicked.  But did I ride better than I did last year at that same location?  Yes...absolutely I did.  

Am I upset about the thousands of dollars I've spend on training and clinics for that horse? The thousands of miles I've driven him across the country to learn and compete? The thousands of dollars in vet bills, special tack, chiropractic work, special shoeing? Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not...Stromboli has taught me how to lose, how to take nothing for granted, and most importantly that being a good horseman is about a lot more than competition results.  

So bring it on 2017! 

In riding, you can never stop learning. It seems like the more time passes, the more I realize just how much I still don't know.  Here are some things I've learned over my 20 years of riding and horse care. 

​Fitness is important.....so important! 

Your horse has to be fit enough to perform the job you are asking of him/her.  Here are a few thoughts on this subject:

1) Keeping a schedule & having a program is important.  Your horse is an athlete, treat him/her like one! Would you expect your grandma to go from months of only puttering around the house to being able to go out and run a 5K race or go on a 10 mile hike? No way! If you were preparing for a race would you go out and run 1/4 the length of the race a few times & then go for it? Probably not!  Yet people do this with their horses all the time.  You have to start with low intensity exercise and build.  This program has to be tailored to your horse's body condition and your riding goals.  Get a watch and start writing down your rides.  Add intensity (faster paced work, hills, jumping) as well as the duration of workout over time.   Horses, especially older ones, lose fitness quickly.  If your horse gets time off, you need to start back at a lower intensity and slowly build from there. Although it has its place, body clipping is not a substitution for fitness.  So many horse injuries are preventable with proper fitness. 

2) If you have any kind of riding goals, you have to get your horse fit.  This can be anything from taking lesson, trail riding, fox hunting, hunter/jumper shows, or dressage clinics.  If you can't get your horse in shape and maintain his/her fitness, it's your responsibility to get help from someone else. If you haven't been able to ride due to weather/travel/other life commitments, you sometimes have to say no to an event you signed up for and instead stay home and get your horse in shape safely, slowly, and correctly.  You will not make progress if your horse isn't fit. 

3) Different horses need different programs for fitness.  While OTTBs may seem like they get fit and stay fit easily, I've noticed that many may not be "mentally" fit.  Most of my TBs need to be ridden, even if it's only for 15 minutes, at least three times/week. When they are ridden less, they seem a lot more likely to be hot, spooky, and overreactive.  Similarly, the ability to canter madly for 10-15 min straight on the lunge line does not always equate to having the muscles needed to carry a rider through an intense jumping or dressage lesson.  I learned this lesson with Stromboli when I first started taking him Prelim. He wasn't out of breath at the end of the XC phase, but he definitely lacked the muscles needed to be adjustable & collect himself properly.  I finally saw the results of a truly fit horse at the end of last season when my XC felt smooth, light, and easy.  Heavier breeds of horses may need more aerobic fitness activities such as trot/canter sets in the field.  

4) A lot of horse behavior issues also relate to fitness.   Horses in work are better behaved on the ground, keep their weight/muscle better, and are less prone to bad habits like eating wood fencing, tearing each other's blankets, and other destructive habits.  Likewise, if I take my unfit horse out and expect him to do a lot of jumping, he's going to be uncomfortable which will probably manifest itself in the form of "bad behavior."  Don't set yourself up for a bad ride...get them fit! 

Side note...rider Fitness:  Riding is easier and more fun if you're fit too.  If you're tired after a weekend of riding, a long trail ride, a fox hunt, show, or lesson, imagine how your horse feels! 

Although it is a bit scary (global warming anyone?), we have barely had a winter here in Fayetteville.  It has been awesome to keep the lugging of frozen buckets, three layers of blankets, and ice down to a minimum.  There have been only a few days where it has been too cold/wet/frozen to work the horses, which has been great. 

I've been using the winter to really re-focus on Stromboli's dressage. Stromboli was supposed to have some time off to rest and repair after Texas Rose, but after three weeks in the pasture with no riding he became a terrorist, rampaging around, putting his leg through the fence (twice) and taking out his excess energy on Piney and Tonic.  He definitely doesn't need to be doing gallop sets, but putting him back into work on a 3-4 day/week schedule has made him a much happier horse.  He left last week for more intense dressage training with Claudia Cooley in Springfield, MO.  I'm looking forward to more lessons on both horses, and pretty soon it will be time to get Stromboli jumping and galloping again in preparation for our first real event of the season! 

The warm winter has also allowed me to finally get Stromboli's "little brother" (in looks only) going.  

With Never Ceasing (Piney), I have been focused on building fitness slowly with lots of trail rides, field work, and a little dressage. I believe that building this fitness is so important, especially in a young or old horse, as I want them to have the physical ability to do what I ask of them.  When it comes time to go to a show or other outing, the last thing I want is my young horse coming home sore because I didn't prepare him fully, and then associating that experience negatively.  

Piney has taken a lot longer to come into his own than I expected. He has never had any kind of bad behavior, except some nervousness and herd-bound behavior on excursions, but until recently, he has always been very "un athletic" seeming, slow, uncoordinated, and had a bit of a weird shaped body.  Some shoeing changes, moving him to the barn with the other big boy geldings, and most importantly, giving him the time to grow, has finally made him into an athletic and super fun horse to ride!  I have a smile on my face every time ride him! I'm so glad his withers are finally higher than his butt.  

I feel so lucky to have two amazing horses that are so different, yet talented in their own way.  We also have a lot of exciting new developments at the farm, that will be announced in the coming months! 

​Last month, we went to Feather Creek Schooling Horse Trials. I rode Piney in the intro division (18") and he jumped clean in both XC and stadium to finish on his dressage score! Majorly proud of this guy, who had barely jumped a whole stadium course, never mind XC.  He cantered around the whole XC course in perfect rhythm and is extremely brave.  

Stromboli improved in dressage, scoring a few points better than usual, and put in a beautiful clean Prelim SJ round. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell after coming through the finish flags, so I elected to only run him around part of the XC. Thankfully, we both are totally fine, and I learned a hard lesson that  he definitely needs back shoes/studs for any kind of jumping on turf. 

On February 5th, we went to Stone Ridge Eventing's schooling horse trials. Piney was really improved over Feather Creek, but the courses were much more difficult. We had a few silly/green moments, but he has an incredible attitude, definitely made progress, and is well on his way to becoming a real event horse! So so proud of this horse.  

Stromboli also went to Stone Ridge and did two dressage tests, scoring a personal record of 36 and 38! 

I couldn't end the season with my brain farts at Heritage Park, so I signed up for Texas Rose Horse Trials in November (conveniently also close to my sister in Dallas). 

I decided to go down early to take a lesson with my sister's coach and hopefully have a less strenuous and stressful experience for Stromboli.  Thursday morning, I got in my frosty truck in the early-morning dark and drove for two hours. In the middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma, I pulled into a gas station and realized that I forgot my purse at home. It did not look like my airhead streak was over.  I considered scratching from the competition and heading home right then.  Luckily, I had paypal and my sister helped me get an Exxon Mobil Ap set up on my phone, so I ended up driving all the way to Texas without my drivers license and having my husband overnight my purse to my sister's apartment. 

I had a great lesson Thursday night with Lauren Lambert at Southern Cross Equestrian.  Stromboli felt like a real prelim dressage horse and we had a very solid sitting trot, some really nice transitions, and acceptable leg yields and lengthenings. 

But....by the time we got to the actual show grounds on Friday, he was frantic and terrible.  Saturday morning for dressage he was furious, not eating, had hives, was super sore on his left hindquarters, and every aid I had didn't seem to work well.  We scored badly in dressage just like usual.  For show jumping we picked up one-rail. It wasn't a great course, but we got lucky --and it was still probably better than many SJ courses we've ridden at this level.  

By Sunday he seemed back to normal, relaxed & happy. Texas Rose is known for having a stout XC course and this one did not disappoint.  I felt like I was heading out onto a Rolex course.  

I rode every single fence and it went according to plan. I took some long routes & rode conservatively so as not to repeat my previous mistake.  I never felt nervous or panicky, and was thrilled to gallop through the finish line clean & just a little over time.  After my ride, I began cooling my horse out as my sister checked scores. She informed me that I was listed as TE. I couldn't believe it.  I had done so many stupid brainless things this season, but I knew that I had total control this round & cleanly cleared every fence. There was one fence that was removed from my division right before my trip that I was a bit concerned about, but it was clearly flagged off & unjumpable during my ride.  I also had jumped the wider part of a corner when Stromboli got a bit spooked by someone on the course, but there was definitely no disputing that his entire body went between the flags.   I ran up the show office where the TD informed me that I had jumped the wrong fence 15 (down bank) & the jump judge had confirmed this with another witness. I still couldn't believe it. The turn to the intermediate down bank would have been different from the one I rode, and I could clearly remember thinking through my pace and approach to the correct fence.  I was absolutely crushed & felt COMPLETELY INSANE. I felt like I had just woken up and someone told me that the year was 2015 and I had hallucinated an entire year that didn't happen.  

Luckily my sister had watched most of my ride and didn't think I had jumped the incorrect fence. RNS VIDEOMEDIA was on site, so I raced over to their tent to see if I could see some video footage of my ride, at least to justify in my mind my total lapse of consciousness. I can't tell you how incredibly nice & helpful these guys were to get the video of my round up on a camcorder immediately. Sure enough, I watched my ride.......the evidence was indisputable. I JUMPED THE CORRECT FENCE!  I ran back to the main office, went with the TD back to the RNS video tent. I finally got the correct score for my round.

I can't tell you how defeated & insane I would feel right now if I hadn't had that video evidence! I thank god for the awesome guys at RNS & I will be very hesitant to run XC again, especially at this venue, without having people I know on course watching & preferably videoing. 

I ended up placing 7th in the large and competitive division.  On the long ride home I reflected on my weekend & the 2016 season, scoring issues aside, I could not have cared less about the ribbon. I achieved a personal best score at the Preliminary Level and I finally felt like I was a contender. I started the season having some difficulties controlling Stromboli at the training level and even put him up for sale. I felt like he was nervous and miserable, and would be happier in a different situation. I think fate was looking out for me --only one person ever even sat on him, and I'm so glad I decided to commit fully to making the best out of my current situation.  Dressage be-damned, he's the best jumping horse I've ever sat on in my life.   It's going to be a long winter trying to keep this confidence, but I will keep reminding myself about the serious prelim horse I have and what an incredible feeling it is to be able to jump the green flags.

Who knows what next year will bring, but we are officially qualified for a CCI1* now! 

​SEE THE VIDEO THAT SAVED ME: 

If there's one thing I know about horses, it's that things NEVER go according to plan. 

I had planned on ending my season with Stromboli at Heritage Park in KS at the end of October. Dressage went well, but I got very stressed before my test due to the bit checker having some issues with my unconventional leather bit and the bell for me to go in the arena seemed to be greatly delayed.  Needless to say, I turned the wrong way and got my first error of course --on a dressage test I knew front & back and had ridden a dozen times before.  We still picked up our best score at Prelim yet, by 6 points.  This was a very bad sign.  

I felt confident after a good run at Feather Creek, but by the time I walked the course at Heritage Park, the jumps looked HUGE.....and I mean HUGE...and set on weird half-strides --not good for my "attack the course" kind of horse who has been known to put one-stride in two-strides multiple times on course. Things were going well, until they weren't. I was blazing fast...and completely neglected to slow down and set him up for a turn to a very difficult ABC coffin.  I blasted through the turn, tried to correct, but came in so poorly my horse had no way of jumping the A-element. Poor Stromboli picked up his very first 20 on course. I circled, approached, and he rode perfectly through it. He blasted around the rest of the course like it was nothing.  50% of the division picked up stops, run-outs, falls, or some kind of elimination on course, so I was in good company.  Show Jumping the next day went fairly well with just one-rail.  I ended up 11th out of 20 riders.  

I left this event very proud of myself for finishing with confidence and not letting one mishap ruin my entire weekend, but I still felt like I let my horse down. A small (ok, really a big) part of me was a bit worried about my mental state & nervousness in competition.  

This season started off at Feather Creek horse trials, where things didn't exactly go as planned (really...do they ever?). 

After such a nice run at Champagne Run at the Park, I decided that Stromboli was ready to move back up to the Preliminary Level, so we entered Feather Creek Horse Trials.  

I decided to try a new warm-up routine at this event --NO WARMUP AT ALL.  Shocking, daring, and controversial. I actually did warm him up a bit at the walk and did a little trot since our test was at 7:37AM and I didn't want him to be stiff.  He trotted beautifully around the arena, even allowed me to sit the trot, and I thought for sure I was in for a beautiful test.  What a surprise, he entered the ring like a drunken fish, did a mini-rear, and then was resistant and tense for the entire test.  But we got through it. And I wasn't disappointed or tired and didn't spend hours preparing for this stressful event.  We got a 47, slightly better than the usual Prelim score. 

With dressage behind us, we headed to a tough looking stadium course. Luckily I have no idea how tall 3'7" really is, so apparently I've been jumping much higher at home and the course didn't look huge, but was quite complicated.  We did exactly what my coach would have told me not to, and came in with not enough energy to the first jump and tapped the rail.  He was great through the rest of the course, but I mis-read the last fence horribly and we also tapped that one.  Two rails down!  Not great, but not horrible!  

The cross-country course looked ok, although a few combinations seemed nearly impossible, especially an ABC coffin with a HUGE wide ditch in the middle and a very tight turn to a narrow C element.  The water also had a very large duck with a steep drop into the water. I will have to write an entire other post on how big my fear was going into this course, but all of it vanished the second I left the start box.  Stromboli absolutely sailed through the course. I don't think he missed one distance, he never once fought me on any turn.  The ABC coffin rode perfectly. I felt like I was riding a Rolex horse as he dropped into the water with perfect form.  He handled the HUGE square tables by taking off at the perfect place and jumping a good 6" over them.  I had to slip my reins to give him his head to get down some very large double drop banks and came upon the right hand turn to the corner with no right rein at all, but he turned off my left leg/left rein and jumped it right out of stride.  I stupidly veered off the trail at the wrong place at one point, costing us probably a good 10 time penalties.  I am still kicking myself for that air headed move, but he was right on my minute markers until that point and I know we could have come close to making the time if not for that stupid maneuver.  We were one of only two people to finish the course without jump penalties!  

With the time, rails, and really bad dressage, we ended the weekend in 3rd place. But the placing didn't even matter.  I completed another prelim, and did it proficiently. No scary jumps, no near misses, no hanging on and hoping for the best, just a really nice honest ride.  There's no better way to say it than to quote Michael Jung, "He gave me a really good feeling out there!" 

Three years.  Doesn't sound like very long does it?  It sure feels that way.

Three years ago, I rode Stromboli in his very first horse trials. He made his unfortunate debut at The Kentucky Horse Park, a show that certainly has a lot of atmosphere.  We finished on a dressage score of 47.5.  He was completely out of control, which was very much unexpected to me as he had been a pretty steady ride before that point.  Luckily he was better for the jumping phases or else I think he would have had to find a new home and new job very quickly.

Last week I returned to the Kentucky Horse Park, the site of Rolex, North America's only 4* event, and the heart and soul of thoroughbred country.  

I knew dressage was going to be an issue with Stromboli, it always is.  I have been experimenting with everything: warm-up, no warm-up, day before warm-up/practice test, galloping, not galloping, jumping tack, hacking, wearing him out on the lunge line, coaching, not getting coaching, practicing the test at home a lot, not practicing dressage much at all.  Nothing worked. He was horrible in warm up, and I almost scratched from the event.  I even had emergency coaching from my sister's (who lives in Dallas) coach.  She told me I was sitting a "chair seat." Seriously, it had gotten that bad.  After hours of atrocious riding, 45 minutes of lunging, and generally dealing with a hateful and angry animal, my body was completely destroyed and I was feeling extremely defeated.  But then something interesting happened....we went into the ring......AND things started to get a little better.  For the first time, Stromboli was more rideable in the ring than he was in the warm up. I could think about my figures, my transitions, and I felt calm. We still got a 45.5, a few points worse than usual at the training level.  

The next morning was show jumping. I forgot my medical arm band and had to make an emergency trip back to the trailer in the campground to get it. While I was driving there a golf cart hit my truck.  I was frazzled.  I only had a 15 min warm-up.  Stromboli was back to normal, he was jumping well.  We went in the ring after only jumping 5 jumps and the oxer twice.  My round was smooth as butter....he was perfect, it felt easy.  He was adjustable, we got our strides and lines.  It was a double-clear!  

The cross-country course looked tough. The water looked especially tough with a downhill approach to a large roll top, then a bending line to a real drop into the water.  Stromboli left the start box and was right on the entire time. We blasted through the course with the second fastest time in our division!  Although we didn't finish in the ribbons due to competitiveness of the division, I was more than thrilled with his performance and so happy to have another safe and confidence building event under our belts. 



 

Horses are my passion, but they are absolutely no way to make money.  Early on, I had some important mentors who counseled me to keep my love for horses alive, by not having to depend on them to stay alive.  In addition to managing Always August Farm and the care of its 10-12 horses every day, I also work a 40-hour work week as a marketing director for a management consulting firm.  Here's an excerpt from an article I wrote for The Zweig Letter, our weekly management publication for the architecture and engineering industry. 

What did I learn about running an A/E/P firm from a 62-year old former British equestrian Olympian? Quite a lot, as it turns out. 

I recently had the opportunity to ride in a two-day clinic with Lucinda Green, a British equestrian and journalist who competes in eventing. She is most well-known for winning the Badminton Horse Trials a record six times, on six different horses, and she also took home team silver at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. 

Just like in business, in horseback riding you are never done learning. I try to keep myself educated through reading, watching others ride, and occasional visits to my coach. When I heard that Lucinda Green, the star of one of my favorite computer games from my youth, an Olympian, and one of the best jumping instructors in the world, was coming to a friend’s farm in Starkville, Mississippi, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride with her.

Lucinda Green did not disappoint. Like any good coach she was tough and clear about areas that needed improvement, but also encouraging of each rider’s individual strengths. Her unique and clearly defined philosophies about riding left me with a lot to think about in my riding, and had some clear parallels to running a successful business. 

In cross country, one phase of the sport of eventing has a rider galloping at speed over 20 or so solid obstacles. Penalties are incurred for stops or fly-bys, for circling, and for going over an optimum time. 

Your A/E Firm is like your horse – it weighs a lot more than you do, it has a mind of its own, and it’s responsible for carrying you through a variety of situations. You can hold the reins and try to dictate every single step, but sooner or later your horse will falter or you will encounter some unexpected terrain. No matter how tightly you hold or how strong your arms are, you will never be able to control every movement of your horse. In fact, the act of trying will only set you up for disaster. The last thing you want is a power struggle with a 1,000-pound animal on your way into a solid four-foot fence. Do you want a power struggle with your firm in the face of disaster? Absolutely not. Every person in your firm has an important job to do, but they also have free will. You can harness this free will by empowering your people to use their own creativity and energy, or you can try to micromanage every aspect of every person’s job.

As a rider you have to use your eyes, legs, and hands to get your horse pointed in the right direction, then the rest is up to them. As a firm leader, you have to get your firm headed in the right direction, but you certainly can’t work on every part of every project and sell more work, answer the phones, and do all the accounting.
​
As a rider, your eyes are for intention. You always have to focus on where you are going next or your horse won’t know where to go and the rest of your body can’t do its job properly.  As a firm leader, you have to have a clear and established vision. Your number one job is not to put your stamp on every project, but rather set the trajectory for where you are going next. 
Your legs are the gas pedal for the horse. A rider’s legs move a horse forward, but they also help with steering. As a firm leader it’s your job to create energy in your firm that will move it forward. A positive culture, enthusiasm, creativity, all these things will create new opportunities for your firm and be extremely valuable to surviving hardships. 
​
A rider’s hands are for steering and putting the brakes on when necessary. Lucinda stressed that it’s OK to slow your horse down when faced with a complex or narrow obstacle that demands a lot of accuracy, but you can never stop the forward motion of your horse’s legs. As a firm leader you can never stop your firm come to a standstill. It always has to grow and move in a focused direction.
Some other lessons I learned from Lucinda Green:

• Prepare for the worst. Many A/E/P firm leaders think playing it safe means moving very slowly, taking a long time to make decisions, and never pursuing growth. In situations such as a bad project, a rough economy, or policy changes – all of which are inevitable, by the way, no matter how safe you play it – you need to giddy up and get the heck out of there, not lollygag.

• Take small risks every day. Lucinda stressed how important it is to create tiny challenges for your horse to overcome, building on each achievement. Firm leaders need to take risks to grow. 

• Embrace the ugliness. Your horse has to learn from its own mistakes sometimes. You can point your horse at the fence and encourage it to go over, but where it puts its feet has to be its own choice. If you give your horse enough opportunities to position itself, it will learn and start jumping better and more accurately. As a firm leader, you have to let people make some choices for themselves and learn from the results. They will get quicker, smarter, and better able to do their jobs as a result.