Last post from Florida 2012

Last post before we leave Florida, today is our last day in paradise before we start the journey back home to Canada, it's very bittersweet, it's been a great winter season with a great group of people and though I'm super happy to be heading back home to my friends, horses and clients in Kelowna, I'm also incredibly sad to be leaving our winter home for another season.  The past few weeks with Nico have brought about huge progress, we went through a bit of a tricky stage where we pushed the envelope a little bit and stepped things up so we had a couple of difficult days but then started to have that breakthrough to the next level again, the past two rides particularly he has really started to feel like a whole different horse and I'm excited to see how this will continue to develop over the next few months.  I'm also extremely happy that I've now had multiple trainers tell me that he has the caliber to be a 70% horse in the Grand Prix arena, I'm in no way naive enough to think that this means we'll head up the centerline and magically get 70s all of a sudden of course, I realize the consistency and reliability has to be developed for that to become a reality and that's a long term project especially with a more intricate tempered horse like Nico but I'm thrilled to have more and more people confirming his potential to excel as  a Grand Prix horse as I've always believed in his physical abilities.....now it's just a matter of getting him to be as confident in his abilities as well and that will take some time but I feel like we are really on the right track!  I saw an interesting article online the other day and wanted to share (http://www.horsejunkiesunited.com/2012/03/28/money-matters-how-much-does-it-cost-to-ride-at-the-olympics/) it does a great job of explaining the costs associated with competing a horse at the top level and is very insightful, it's definitely a very daunting task to pack up with your life savings in your pocket to pursue a dream and yet, despite the stress and worry that goes along with it, when you have a passion it is something that one simply has to do, that being said I have to say my sincere thanks to everyone who made this trip possible once again and has contributed to keeping my dreams alive, it means the world to me.  A huge thanks to all of my supporters back home, friends, clients etc, you have all been amazing, I am surrounded by some pretty incredible people and am so grateful for everyone who helps to keep me going, I can only repay you all by continuing to work towards the dream with my utmost determination and steadfast work ethic and am so thankful to those of you who recognize and appreciate this, I am lucky to have a clientele that is so understanding of my being away for a little while, I feel so thankful that my clients truly understand that my taking the time out to continue my own education makes me much more valuable as a rider, coach and trainer as well, that being said I'm looking forward to getting back home to you all to start sharing some of the education:)  Also many thanks to Albrecht for a wonderful season of winter training and everyone at the Lady Jean Ranch for their incredible hospitality at their beautiful facility.....and so the journey home begins bright and early tomorrow morning, will keep you all posted:)

Rozzie's Big Debut

This week it was Rozzie's turn to get out and about, early on in the week she had another in-hand session with Juan Matute, this session was really interesting because I actually got to do some of the in-hand work with her myself, it's definitely a unique skill and takes some practice to keep things organized, same principles as in the saddle apply, equal contact in two reins etc. though it takes a different feel to achieve this while walking on the ground than riding in the saddle that's for sure!  On Thurs we hauled down to the Jim Brandon Center to school before the show this weekend, Roz hauled very well and settled right in at the show grounds like she was an old pro, as is my luck with weather, no sooner had I saddled up and started to walk her around the clouds rolled in and it started pouring but I figured oh well she may as well get used to the rain now!  She was a good girl schooling out in the rain though she was a bit nervous and wanting to look around, she wasn't spooky or naughty at all more just tense and needed to keep moving and wanting to look out at the other horses but for her first time at a big show park in horrible weather I thought she did pretty well!  I decided to keep the tests easy for her first outing and just put her in First Level until she gets the concept of what this showing stuff is all about and then I'll move her up as she's already got her changes and is quite handy with the lateral work.  She overnighted really well and when I brought her out and mounted up she started off with a big giant cat stretch in the middle of the yard that's how stressful her night was haha!  Our first test was green but otherwise quite okay, she got a bit worried about all of the traffic in the warmup ring, she does get a bit intimidated by bigger horses in the ring with her (I've noticed this at home as well) so she got a bit hot out there.  We went up our first centerline and she pulled a typical greenie trick of looking at the judge for the first time and spinning around and trying to leave, she's not the first smart one to try that nor will she be the last, but once I got her turned back around and moving she was totally fine and settled into the test, couple of bobbles in transitions and a bit of nervous jogging in the walk but honestly for her very first test at a show I was very pleased, she ended up with a second place in the class for the day and I was very pleased with her.  This morning the warmup ring was busier for her and again she was quite hot but very well behaved, her test was good, she now knows what centerlines are all about and did a relatively steady test, still wanted to jog in the walk but that's okay for now, that extra energy will serve her well later in her career I'm quite certain, she ended up with a 67% and change and many compliments about how lovely she was from people watching, all in all I was quite happy with her first showing, very proud of her!  She's now happy to be back at home in her stall at the Lady Jean Ranch and will get a well deserved day off tomorrow, good girl Rozzie!!:)

Fun Video

Adding a fun video link below, one of my clients Patti Milare from back home made this from one of the Courtenay Fraser clinics (Courtenay has been doing clinics for my clients in my absence), thought she did a great job on it and wanted to share:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk96kBX-lN4&feature=share

Palm Beach Derby

So this past weekend we attended the Palm Beach Derby, last weekend's show was a positive experience, we kept everything friendly and basically rode just to get through the test nicely which we were able to achieve, being that I kept the pressure off last weekend the tests were rideable but naturally lacked in areas, the piaffe, passage and pirouettes were definitely lacking and nowhere near the caliber that I know Nico is capable of, so having a show the following week I decided I wanted to push things a little bit and find out where the holes were, it's a tricky balance because we have to be able to keep things harmonious but that being said if you never push the limits things don't improve either and then everything just becomes stagnant.  This weekend we had some issues in our tests because I pushed more and sometimes when you push more the wheels come off but now I know where the holes are and what needs to be worked on so I'm happy with the result as I've gained a lot of insight on where things need to go.  Nico has two ways of going right now and I have to teach him to combine the two, he can be relaxed and fluid or he can be expressive but with tension, what we haven't mastered yet is to get him to offer the expression and yet let go and relax within it, this is something I have to improve with him in order to get the maximum horse I know I have, right now it's a little bit like riding two separate horses and I have to get him somewhere in the middle.  I'm very glad I did the two shows back to back with him, although they weren't good shows from the competition standpoint they were necessary for the training purpose as I needed to figure out the pieces that weren't working.  When you train always at home it's so easy to set things up and then execute them very nicely but when you go up the centerline to actually ride a test you really find out if it works in the heat of the moment.  Anyhow, lots was learned from the past two weekends and now I can implement that into our training, there is so much to figure out making the leap from the small tour to the Grand Prix with a horse as it's really a completely different world, in the small tour you can still get by having a few holes and 'coasting' when you step up the Grand Prix you really find out if you've got your horse honestly on the aids and if not then you better do your homework, tomorrow Nico and I will start on ours:)  This extra degree of knowledge with Nico has also helped me to work on a couple of things with Roz, I realized I was letting her push through me a bit too much, she's a very nice ride in the bridle most of the time so I was getting a bit casual about not really bringing her back to me enough, I was going in half way and kind of being satisfied with that and not really getting a full reaction from her, and consequently not putting her onto her hindlegs enough, it's always amazing how something you figure out with one horse can open your eyes to something with another, horses always have something to teach us as  long as we choose to never stop learning.  Rozzie is going to go out to her first show experience this weekend, not sure if I'll actually ride a test with her yet or just school her in the warmup, we'll see how she copes with the atmosphere and go from there.