Overdue Update!!

Sorry to everyone that I haven't posted anything recently but as the saying goes time does fly when you're having fun and I have to say this winter has been great so far.  I'm super happy with how all the horses are doing.  Nico is doing fantastic, he is really trying very hard in all of his work and I feel he is using himself in a better way all the time, consequently he also feels this more in his muscles and then gets tired but now when he gets tired it's a good tired because he is using himself in a better way, he's always been a tense horse and often carried himself on adrenaline but now he is letting me more into his body and staying more relaxed through his brain (and consequently his topline as well!) and really using his bigger muscle groups so it's a nice feeling at the end when he gives a bit of a sigh and his body feels like it's really worked in a good way.  This has been such a big hurdle for him in his career so I'm super happy with how he is going and plan to continue on as we have been, as I mentioned in the last post my main goal down here for him is not the showing (maybe a couple here and there) but to really confirm the GP work with him and get things solid and then I plan to show him back in Canada over the May-October months more, so all in all very positive work from Nico.  Landino is also progressing right along and doing amazing, he has such an fantastic work ethic and is just willing to try his heart out, I haven't done any showing with Landino up to this point so decided to take him out on a schooling adventure last weekend to get him out and about so we went down to the Jim Brandon centre, it was great because on the warmup day I was able to take him in the big indoor and school with all the sights and sounds (scoreboard etc. all the things he'll need to get used to seeing) and though he was a bit tense and 'up' he was very well behaved, the second day we had a lesson and just worked in the warmup again just getting him used to things and the third day I entered him in a third level test just to get him around the actual show ring once so we could see how that went, he was a really good boy earning a 70.7% even with a couple of bobbles (nothing too major just a couple mis-cues between us, still have to get to know each other in the show ring a bit more but we'll go out again in a couple weeks for another tour) but generally speaking extremely happy with that for our first show together.  We also did a session with Juan Matute (who is great with the in hand piaffe/passage work) today, we did this with Nico the first year to help him with the piaffe/passage work and it was really good and a little bit last year with Rozzie as well so thought this would be a good time to introduce Landino to it as he is starting to play with those bits as well.  Ocita is also doing really well earning some life experience and mileage, have taken her out on the track a bit and schooled in the outside dressage ring today so getting her used to seeing different things, working still on the basics for her, starting to introduce her to the idea of closing more from behind and learning to step more into the contact, more suppleness through the ribcage all those good things that she has to learn about at this stage of training but she likes to get out and about and seems to be enjoying herself very much.  Anyhow that's all the news for now, hoping everyone back home is doing well, missing everyone and still looking forward to seeing you all again in a couple months:)

Day Off Update

Thought I would take a little time to update the blog as the ponies had a relaxing day off today and got to hang out this afternoon and do some grazing.  All is going well so far, the horses settled in well and have adjusted to their new home for the winter months, everyone had to have haircuts as they were all still wearing their winter fur from back home and were sweating in the humidity down here right away.  Nico settled right in and seems to remember his home from the past two winters quite well, Ocita and Landino also settled in though they were a bit more suspicious of things in their new winter home for a couple days, little bit more action at the barn down here so they had to get used to the new sights and sounds naturally.  I've got both Nico and Landino to ride in daily lessons which is great, they're both doing well and are good horses but also are very different horses physically and mentally so I feel like I'm getting twice as much knowledge from my lessons, it's always nice to get back into a lesson program myself for a few months, gives me lots of new knowledge and stuff to take back home with me to my clients and training horses at the end of the winter and just a chance to refresh the basics and focus on things, Ocita is continuing her regular training with me down here and is making good progress and basically just getting some more life experience, hacking out on the track etc, I'm quite happy with how she is doing, getting more consistent in her contact and generally feeling more supple, will be fun to see how much progress she makes over the next 3 months.  In lessons with Nico we have been working on getting him straighter (for Nico getting straighter means getting him more through the left rib cage and into the right rein as he always has the tendency to be a bit stiffer on the left side than the right) and getting him more in front of me and swinging with more power from two equal hindlegs without losing the relaxation and connection through all of the work, so important with him to stay quick (not only for him as I have to try to keep him moving quickly off the ground but also for me as the timing between my leg, half halt and softening has to be very quick otherwise he can either get stuck behind me or can get a bit flat and running, to keep him quick behind off the ground and over the back into a half halt and self carriage is the goal....sounds so easy!!:P) these things will all sound very familiar to my students back home I'm quite sure......yes we never stop working to improve those basics!;)  Generally speaking I have been quite pleased with Nico thus far down here, he has adjusted well and is trying very hard in our lessons and we go for a little hack after each session for his brain to relax a bit which he enjoys, my goal for him is to have him solid enough at the Grand Prix to show him regularly in BC and Alberta this year through the summer months and we might try and take in a couple shows down here in March depending on how the training goes.  With Landino we have been working to confirm everything, he is doing great and making steady progress up the levels, with him it's basically just about getting him stronger, straighter and more through to continue improving the overall quality of everything, again the basics that you always work to improve, outside of that he basically has all the pieces and now just needs time to get everything confirmed but he is coming along super well and I'm very pleased with how much he has achieved in a short while, I'm going to take him out to a show this weekend just to school as I've never taken him to a show before so thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know each other in a show environment without any pressure and then we're hoping to do a show in early Feb, am planning to keep things quite easy for our first couple outings planning to enter him in Third Level and basically just get around in a nice positive way and then we'll go from there and will hope to do a PSG at some point this year, we've played with the pieces a bit in schooling but of course it's always easier at home than in the show ring so I want to keep things easy in the beginning for him so that he has a positive experience to gain some confidence in the show ring and then I have no doubt he'll be sailing right along:)  Anyhow that's all for now, missing everyone (horses and humans) back home and sending warm weather wishes back home to you all!

2013 Winter Season Has Arrived!!

I just wanted to do a quick post to update everyone on how things are going, for those who don't know I'm back in Florida training for three months over the winter, this year I brought a lovely group of horses with me, Dominic my GP horse who is now into his third winter down here, Landino who I've been working with over the past year and is showing huge talent and progressing rapidly and a lovely PRE mare named Ocita, I want to say a huge thanks to all of their owners (Susanne, Konra and Shawneen) for their confidence in me as a rider and trainer, it means the world to me and is what makes this all possible.  I also want to say a big thank you to everyone who supported our 2013 calendar fundraiser and in particular our monthly sponsors (Konra and Don Young, Shawneen Jacobs, Leslie Cockerline and the Hollies Executive Golf Course) as well as Elizabeth Toth for the amazing photography featured in the calendar.

Our journey south started on the 28th of December, I had a quick holiday season at my brother's place in Nelson with the whole family and then zipped home on the 27th for the last minute packing and hit the road the morning of the 28th (special thanks to Shawneen, Joanna and Larisa for helping with the huge packing process!!).  We crossed the border in Washington that morning and overnighted at Tulip Springs in Kennewick Washington which was a lovely facility for the horses and a great guest house for us to stay in, the second night we were on to Salt Lake City in Utah with the horses spending the night at a fantastic barn called Riverbend Ranch Equestrian Center, we grabbed a hotel for the evening a couple minutes down the road, the third night we were into Albuquerque, New Mexico, we were thankful for good roads on this part of the drive as there are some very steep mountain passes, it was very cold through the mountains so I was quite glad I'd waited to clip the horses as there were parts where we got down to -22!  In Albuquerque the horses stayed at the Broken M Ranch which has some nice oversized stalls for the horses to relax in overnight, we were surprised to wake up to a skiff of snow in the morning in Albuquerque but luckily once the sun came up the roads were clear and we were moving along, the fourth night (New Years Eve) we got into Wichita Falls in Texas and Legacy Equestrian Park which is a great facility with wonderfully accommodating hosts, at this point we were finally able to change the horses out of their winter blankets into some lighter sheets, though it wasn't exactly warm but at least into the plus digits!!  Our last evening we were in Mobile Alabama at a really neat little overnight called the Rocking A Ranch, I would gladly recommend any of these facilities to people traveling with horses as overnight stops, they are all great spots, very horse and trailer friendly and at most places you're either able to stay on site with the horses or very close at a hotel minutes away.  We pulled into Florida late on the evening January 2nd, we were rolling along pretty well and at our very last fuel stop before getting into Jupiter I checked the tires and found one of them had lost half a tread (looked like a defective tire) so thankfully we were able to put the spare on before it blew and continued our trip into Jupiter.  So now after a few days the horses are all settled in at the beautiful Lady Jean Ranch (http://www.ljrelite.com), the first few days were dedicated to unpacking and setting everything up (getting hay organized etc.) and giving the horses a few days to rest after the journey.  Yesterday I had my first little school on the horses, all were good and feeling quite fresh and eager to get to work which was great so today I had my first short lessons and will start to build up from here.  I have to say I'm very much looking forward to getting back into a lesson and training program myself for a few months and I also want to say how appreciative I am of my clients back home who are patient  and understand that this time away to further my education gives me so much more information and tools to apply to my teaching and training when I return back in the spring, I've always felt that a coach/trainer who doesn't continue to further their education is not doing their job to the best of their ability, and on that note I'll be looking forward to getting back home in the spring and sharing everything with you all and wishing everyone back home good weather and happy riding, will try to keep the blog updated with information as much as possible with all that is going on and to everyone back home feel free to email or message me at any time for anything!