Last Few Days:(

This will most likely be my last post from beautiful Florida, I intend to keep this blog up and running when I get back home though as I really have enjoyed writing it and I also find it really helps me to reflect on things and gain clarity.  I have to say I have such conflicting emotions about leaving Florida, on the one hand I am excited to get back home to my clients and horses as I have so much new found knowledge to share and honestly it's been a bit weird down here with only one horse for three months but on the other hand I am really going to miss the environment down here, and I'm not talking about the excitement of Wellington and all that stuff that most people equate with the Florida show scene, I'm talking about the environment of being surrounded by quality horses and riders on a day to day basis, everywhere you look down here there is quality and being around it non stop definitely brings up your expectations and ups your own riding.  On top of that I am really going to miss the small community we have had within our barn up in Jupiter, we've really had such a great group of people together and the barn has had a wonderful feeling of camaraderie, a group of riders who share the goal of bettering their understanding of the sport and who are competitive and yet don't compromise the correctness of the training or the fairness to the horse, it's been a fantastic environment to be around day to day.  In reflection, on these past few months I can honestly say I've really felt a huge transitional stage in my horse, he is changing so much right now which is very exciting and I've also felt a transitional stage in myself, my goals and how I want to go about getting there.  I've become much clearer on what I want to achieve at the end of the day (in both my day to day rides as well as my long term plans), I've realized very strongly that I want to commit more and more to the quality not quantity theory because quantity only leads to frustration, I want to keep my eyes clearly focused on the bigger picture so that I don't get distracted and lose that direction, this is a very easy sport to get caught up in the little insignificant things (in both the riding aspect as well as the personal/political aspect) and getting fixated on those little imperfections can sometimes create a nearsightedness which can cause a detour on the journey, I've decided to keep my focus very clearly directed along the path and not to add any unnecessary detours along that route:)

Lesson With Juan Matute

Yesterday we took Nico down to IDA to have a session with Juan Matute, Juan is a former member of the Spanish Olympic team and has been credited with working with multiple world class horses including Fuego (whom I assume everyone remembers from WEG) I had come down to watch him work horses before but definitely much neater to watch him work with your own horse, Crystal Kroetch also brought her gelding Lymrix and Megan Lane brought Lieran her very talented young horse.  He starts the session with the rider off and the horse in hand and then puts the rider back on at the end and works with both.  Was very very interesting to watch him work in hand, he was firm but patient and very clear about what he wanted and getting the right response, I noticed that he really followed a very disciplined procedure to get the desired results and it definitely showed.  So much to learn from watching him, he has amazing timing and also body positioning (when to change positions for transitions etc) as well as the connection and half halt he is able to achieve from the ground and a very good balance of keeping the right kind of tension (positive tension without ever letting it boil over), in a very short amount of time he had Nico's piaffe looking incredibly regular and in an amazing balance, after that I got back on and rode for about 15 mins and he felt incredible, we worked transitions from halt to piaffe to halt then piaffe to passage and back to piaffe with Juan still on the ground assisting, really was a fantastic learning experience!

Amazing!:D

This whole week has been absolutely amazing for Nico and I, I feel as though we have had a huge breakthrough mentally and physically, he is truly trying for me 110% right now which is such an incredible feeling, it's awesome when you get to that next degree of partnership with a horse, sometimes you get to a stage in training and you think maybe that's all there is to come and then all of a sudden you change a couple of things and find out there's a whole lot more in there and that feeling to me is so incredibly rewarding because it literally feels like you've taken an old friend and made them brand new again.  Nico has always been a tricky nut to crack, for my feeling he has never ever lacked in talent, he learned all of the exercises very easily at a young age but he is the type of horse who carries an internal tension about himself never quite letting go, consequently he can be very skittish and spooky at times as that tension results in a lack of throughness which of course results in distractions and lack of trust in those moments, he's the type of ride where you feel like all of the exercises are easy but that he's holding back from really giving you his all-not due to laziness but due to lack of confidence and in those moments where you want to ask a little more he likes to play it safe and hide, but this past week he has given me a whole new piece of his body and is using himself in ways that he has never before offered  (sometimes this results in some clumsy awkward movements but it is coming from such a good place that it really doesn't matter, he is trying so hard that sometimes he just doesn't know what to do with himself but as long as he is trying it's great!) finally allowing himself to push a little beyond his comfort zone, consequently he is so much more on the aids and through in the connection, all of a sudden getting him active behind and truly connecting from back to front is becoming easier and easier and he's also becoming extremely hot in his new found way of going which is allowing me to find all sorts of new gears in his work, all in all I think the training is now really starting to pay off and I also think the new saddle is helping him out immensely as he's been so much freer in the back since I've changed him over-he's a sensitive guy so when he tells me he's happier with something I'm not going to ignore him!  All in all I'm just amazed with the change in him as of late and very proud of him as he just feels like a different horse, that being said I'm now realizing that he may need a transition period and some time away from the show ring to become comfortable with his new way of going and if I feel that is the case I will respect that he needs the time, in the long run the goal has always been the international grand prix ring and if a break from the show ring at this point in time will help get us closer to that goal in the long run then I am all for it-it's so strange with horses as you can come out with a goal and a game plan in mind and then they start to give you things that gear you in a totally different direction, and yet it's a positive thing, but it just goes to show that you really can't write anything in stone with horses, you always have to be willing to make compromise and be willing to change your course of action and sometimes you have to be patient in the present to serve you better in the future.  That being said I am also excited about how I feel my eye is developing more and more as a coach, I've always considered my eye to be fairly educated but now I am finding that I am able to take the education I have now and fine tune it down to some real intricate details that I may not have noticed as much in the past, it's been a great chance to watch so many quality horses in training on a daily basis as there is not a horse in the barn who doesn't "look the part" but by watching them train day to day you start to be able to identify each and every horse/rider strengths and weaknesses even when the overall picture is quite good, I find now that I have a much more critical eye for a horse that is truly in front of the leg (and I'm not talking obvious, anyone can spot a horse that is blatantly behind the leg but I'm talking the subtle things of a step here or there where they fall behind the leg or shift the balance behind the rider), I've also started to really develop an eye for technique of the hindleg and whether or not the technique is matched in both hindlegs (again not talking obvious difference like you see in an irregular gait but small things within a regular gait such as placement and angles) most horses have minor differences in their hindleg technique and I've started to really notice the tiniest subtleties which to me is also very exciting as I know it will be something that will really help me with my teaching when I get back home.  It's important to me to have a well rounded education from the saddle as well as from the ground and I really believe that every rider (no matter what the level) needs to spend time immersing themselves in education on a routine basis, I know a lot of people try to convince themselves that it works just fine to have a lesson once or twice a week and then work on their own in between and I firmly believe that it is important for riders to work on their own at times in their career so that they can learn to apply their own skills and figure things out but I also believe it's important to take time in ones career to be absorbed in education daily for a period of time as it sharpens your skills from the saddle and educates your eye from the ground and without having that chance on a semi routine basis it becomes much too easy to become complacent in our day to day work.

Fantastic Day!:D

Today was a fantastic day, once again those ups and downs of the sport and how they affect us and today was definitely an up, I had such an amazing ride on Nico, really what I would classify as being one of our best schools ever.  I had a different kind of honesty in the throughness and connection with him, we didn't work on anything fancy but nailing those basics that are always so elusive no matter what level you're at, the transitions within the gaits were easy today and very fluid over the back, consequently we had some amazing half passes and one single flying change that was more through than any other change he's ever given me before, it was a short school today as we were so pleased with how he went and naturally wanted to reward his effort-though on days like that it's so hard to be disciplined because they feel so amazing that you just want to keep riding and riding and riding.  I have to say it's also been so refreshing to be around a barn full of riders/trainers who all have similar goals and understanding of the sport and I find a little piece of inspiration from them all, I've met some new people who I've got a great deal of admiration for and I've earned some new respect for people who I already knew and had perhaps underestimated in the past, it's always interesting to work side by side with people as you come to understand them better, where they come from and where they are going and it's truly insightful.  There's a young rider in the barn who is a very eager learner, watches all of the lessons and video tapes every one of her own to review every night, her ambition reminds me so much of how I was as a young rider and it renews that sense of inspiration in myself, I also met a lady who was telling me a story about an up and coming professional rider who had a sponsor offer to buy her a grand prix horse, this rider told the sponsor that she truly felt she wasn't ready for something of this level and referred her to a more experienced professional whom she felt was more qualified-all I could say is wow that is truly a very mature decision to make, most people would jump at the chance to have a horse-any horse-but especially a going international horse purchased for them and she turned this chance over to someone she felt was more qualified, that is truly a level of discipline and understanding of ones own current abilities that is very very rare to find in this sport and I find that has an incredible inspiration all of its own.  Basically it's been great to be around a group of people who I can really relate to for awhile-it's not so easy when you have huge international ambitions but live in a remote area as there are few people who truly realize what goes in to being on that level, I don't mean this as a negative thing at all it's simply a numbers game that when you're in a remote area there just aren't that many, being surrounded by people from across the continent who are all extremely goal driven and truly dedicated to having a full and complete understanding not only of the sport aspect but also of the training aspect, how to correctly develop a horse physically and mentally is so refreshing and when you're riding with that kind of atmosphere daily it certainly ups your own drive and determination.  In a sport where it can be easy to train the tricks and not necessarily get true throughness in the body of the horse I've found it very refreshing to be around multiple trainers who are truly dedicated not only to the show ring aspect of the sport but of the correct foundation and true understanding to the importance this aspect has to the overall health of the dressage horse as an athlete.  What more can I say, I am so happy that I chose to take this opportunity as the whole environment has given me such a renewed perspective on riding, training and teaching and I hope to bring that back home with me, I think that it is very important to have these experiences on a routine basis in ones career because when you are on your own too much you start to get lost and it's important to keep yourself striving toward personal growth, as a rider and as a person in general:)

Motivation!

This past week training has been quite interesting with Nico, he is starting to use his back in a very different way which has resulted in some of his best work undersaddle and also some explosions on the side, he's discovering a new way of using his body and sometimes this new found power and connection freaks him out a bit so we get these weird little explosive bursts in between some of the work but then when he settles out of it he feels really really awesome, all understandable as he's learning some new things about his body but makes for some interesting rides!:D  That being said the good moments he is giving me in training now feel really fantastic and I think that the Grand Prix ring is looking closer and closer now which is a great thing to be able to say-he's had all of the Grand Prix tricks for a couple years now but it was the connection of putting things together, keeping him through and getting in and out of things that was always tricky, now I feel that we are on the brink of this becoming quite rideable!  I was quite happy that I opted out of showing this past weekend (I made the executive decision that we needed to do some focusing on training for a couple of weeks and get back to some basics) as the advanced division ended up split over two days due to entries and then had a half day delay due to an insane storm that blew through-it was a seriously crazy storm don't think I've seen a sky that black before so if there was a show to miss this was the one!  On top of that it gave me a chance to take in some of the Masters which was on here this week down at the Jim Brandon Center, as per my usual routine I spent most of the time watching the warmup ring as I think that's where you can really learn the most, it's always fun to watch the tests of course because that's where it all looks pretty and presented but there is so much more to be gained by watching the riders in the warmup, their technique, timing and corrections.  It was nice to have some inspiration as this past week has been a bit of a struggle for me mentally, not with the riding aspect but with the career direction side of things, the reality of what it is going to take financially for me to continue to train and compete at this level and more is setting in a bit and I've had a few little panic attacks trying to figure out how to make it all happen, my whole life I've never been the richest person at the shows, never had the fanciest horse nor the most expensive equipment but I've always had the passion, dedication and work ethic to get myself ahead no matter what or where I was riding and I always found my way down the path, now I am at a point in my career where sometimes the brutal reality is that it doesn't matter how hard you work, if the finances aren't there you get stuck and sometimes that can feel like a really bitter pill to swallow, there's a great line from a movie that describes exactly how I've felt this past week, "I was never more certain of how far away I was from my goal than when I was standing right beside it".  On that note I don't want to come across like I'm feeling negative about things, I've certainly never been a quitter before in my life and I'm not one to dwell on the things I don't have, this whole experience has been so amazing in terms of education that I can't feel down for too long, I just have to really keep my focus set on ways to make my goals possible, I know without a doubt that I have the focus and work ethic necessary for the top level of sport, there is nothing I wouldn't give of myself to make this dream a reality and now I have to keep the motivation to go back home and try to seek out potential sponsorship opportunities (I've got some great friends who have given me some ideas on places to start and I'm open to any other ideas anyone out there might have) in order to continue to train and compete on this level, now that I've finally had the chance to experience it first hand I know more than ever how badly I want it and I have no intentions of taking a step backward in this lifetime, keeping oneself motivated at times like this is definitely paramount and I intend to keep my eyes firmly fixated on the goals and dreams of the future:)

Palm Beach Derby and other thoughts

We attended the Palm Beach Derby this past weekend and I really felt we made some decent progress, the tests were still certainly not as good as the ones we've had back home at the smaller venues but Nico coped much better with the wind and the busy atmosphere (and it was an absolutely crazy blowing wind with a row of flags directly behind the ring flapping up a storm) he didn't have any deliberate spooking even though he really wanted to, so the result was that he tightened up when we went in the ring which obviously affected the overall impression of the ride but I was still happy that although tense he was much braver and willing to trust the situation more, the thing I was most pleased with at this show was the warm up, I had moments in the warmup where he felt better than he's ever felt so this was a huge progression for me because at the other shows he's even felt quite tense in the warmup ring, I feel like he is getting closer and closer to being able to take that looseness in to the ring and I know that when we get back home we will definitely be ahead of the game.  I've also tried him in a different saddle down here lately and have noticed quite a big difference in his way of going so I think that is definitely a good thing too, if he is more comfortable in it then I have to listen to him and respect his judgement on that one!  Another highlight of the shows down here has been watching Heather Blitz's horse Paragon who is truly an amazing athlete, the first time I saw this horse I wasn't quite sure what to make of him as he is huge and is rather unorthodox looking, but when you stand ringside and watch this horse go there is no denying the incredible scope and talent he has combined with an amazing work ethic, his biggest fault is probably that he tries to give too much, he is definitely going to be one to watch for the future and will most likely be a medal contender at the next Olympics.  Was also nice to see Crystal Kroetch and Lymrix winning the I1 freestyle, riding to new music designed by Karen Robinson, its been neat to see this talented horse mature and become more consistent and confident in the show ring down here.  I can't express enough how happy I am that I made the decision to come down to Florida for these past months, a few people have asked me if I am 'disappointed' with things which to me is a bit of an odd question, I guess because the shows have been challenging some people think I might feel disappointed but that couldn't be farther from the truth, I've always embraced challenges in this sport and I realize that you have to work your way up to get to the top, obviously it would be nice to have everything go your way on every outing but I've enjoyed lots of success on the Western Canadian circuit and now feeling the challenge of the shows down here has only confirmed to me that this was exactly the step I needed, it's very easy to stay in the backyard in Canada and be a big fish in a very small pond but my ambitions have always been on the international scene and for me this is only the very start of where I see things going so I am content with this new challenge presented to me, now I have something to really work towards and a renewed focus on where I want to go and the immense dedication it will take to get there.  My goals in this sport have always been, first and foremost to be a good horse person, trainer and coach(and by good I don't mean perfect, I mean someone who understands the horse and the learning process, is innovative and someone who embraces and learns from mistakes and utilizes them to better ones methods, no one I've ever met has ever been as hard on me as I am on myself so I know I have the discipline necessary to get there), my other main goal has always been to compete successfully on the international scene, I've dreamed about the Olympics for as long as I can remember and I have given my whole life working toward that dream and will continue to do so, I am a competitive person and I do really enjoy the horse show scene even with its ups and downs and I want to continue on with my international competitive career and move up the leagues.  Coming to Florida has been a wonderful decision for me as although there have been some difficult moments I have learned a lot and by being immersed in this world of quality horses and riders I have a new clarity on where I want to be, the work it will take to get there and the backing that I will need to continue on at this level and more, its given me a very clear path and confirmed my belief that to get to the level I have always dreamed of you have to venture out of the smaller areas and throw yourself in to the deep end and when you feel like you're drowning you have to just swim a little bit harder.  I have confirmed my belief of what it is going to take to get closer to my dream in terms of the workload, the time and the costs involved, that being said as soon as I am back home the sponsorship search will be continuing full force to hopefully find a person or a company who has similar visions as myself and hopefully would be interested in helping me get closer to that dream, if anyone out there has any suggestions or ideas I would love to hear them.
On a lighter note, at the show this past weekend there was an incident where a horse got loose in one of the arenas and booked it back to the barn, in hot pursuit of the loose horse was a team of four golf carts chasing it across the field......because naturally the best way to catch a loose horse is to chase it in a motorized vehicle, the only thing missing was a helicopter tailing it, haha just goes to show you that just because you're in horse country doesn't necessarily mean you're around horsey people!;)

Fieldtrip

Today we took a little trip down to the IDA in Wellington to watch Juan Matute do some in hand piaffe/ passage work with some horses.  I have to say it was really quite incredible to watch, his timing and control is truly unbelievable.  At one point he was working one horse (in its third session of in hand work with him) from the left shoulder on an 8 meter circle right in travers right in half steps, quite impressive to see, he was able to keep an excellent contact with the horses from the ground and the control he was able to keep of the outside rein was really incredible.  All in all a very educational and very impressive thing to watch!