A Day In The Life

I thought now would be a good time to write a bit about what the days are like here and more about the area etc.  Basically the horses are stabled at the Lady Jean Ranch in Jupiter, website for the barn is as follows for anyone interested http://www.ljrelite.com/index1.html, it's a beautiful facility, lovely airy barns with tons of stalls, beautiful tack rooms and lounge area, covered round pen, oversized indoor arena, 20X60 outdoor area and a beautiful full sized training track, also multiple large grass paddocks for turnout, the owners of the facility are great and extremely welcoming, the barn is fairly private and not too busy which is really nice for training.  My day starts around 7:00am, the board here is only a dry stall so we are responsible for all the feeding and cleaning, so I get up to the barn in the morning and do the feeding and stalls then usually head back to the RV park (which is conveniently located about 8 mins from the barn) and get myself cleaned up and ready to ride, I usually try and ride Tango and Roz before my lesson on Nico depending on my lesson time that day, after I finish their training sessions I like to ride them out for a good cool out around the track, Roz hasn't been out on the track yet as this is all still new for her but I'm planning to get her out there in the next day or two as she seems to be well settled in, Nico and Tango I take out there everyday and they quite enjoy themselves, gives them a good chance to really stretch out their muscles and a nice change of scenery.  In the afternoon I usually turn the horses out and tidy up the stalls and get their dinner ready for them, clean their tack and then I usually try and watch the rest of the lessons for the day, I learn a lot by watching the other lessons so I try and get in as much watching time as possible.  There's a nice diversity of riders at the barn once again this year, another mixture of riders from across the continent, me from BC obviously, a group from Alberta, a group from Quebec, a group from Nova Scotia and a group from Chicago with a variety of juniors, young riders and professionals, all talented and with a variety of quality horses.  I like watching lessons of all levels as I find I can draw something useful from watching every lesson, whether it be something for myself, my own horses or something that will help me with teaching my own students when I get back home there is always information to be had!  I finish up the day by bringing the horses in then head back to the trailer for a shower and dinner, then I usually go back up to the barn around 7pm to put on their blankets for the evening, do a final stall tidy up and top up their hay, all in all it's amazing how full the day can be even with only 3 horses to work, but full in a good way!  Definitely loving every minute of it so far and looking forward to seeing how the horses progress in the next little while, though also definitely a bit homesick and missing everyone and all the other horses back home, I hope the weather is holding up back home and everyone is getting in lots of riding time!  The Courtenay Fraser clinic is happening back home this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Serendipity Farms in Kelowna, should be a great clinic, Courtenay is very knowledgeable and an excellent teacher, the clinic is full with 10 riders each day however auditors are welcome at $20.00 a day (see Joanna Cockerline at the barn if you're registering for auditing on the day of) also I have spaces still available in the February and March Courtenay Fraser clinics in Kelowna at Serendipity, if anyone back home is interested in riding please email me at jmlittle75@hotmail.com and I will forward info:)  On a side note I really think I need to find some better titles for these posts but I have to admit I'm a bit too lazy to be creative with titles, this title is only vaguely more creative as I stole it from my favorite Beatles song, any future suggestions welcome haha!

First Days Of Training

After the long days of travel the horses needed a couple of days to rest and then a couple days of very light stretching before going back to full work, we are now two days into our training program and so far I am very pleased with Nico.  Yesterday and today have probably been two of the best rides I have had on him in terms of focus, relaxation and suppleness.  Before we left home Nico had a check up with Dr. Brit Mills his regular veterinarian who reported that he is feeling better than ever physically, this obviously made me very happy as one always likes to hear that their horse is in top physical condition and I can honestly say that I'm definitely feeling it in his body in our rides.  The past few months I took the time to really go back to basics with Nico and clean up some of the areas that I thought weren't clear enough, no matter what level of rider you are you always have to be willing to go back to the very basics and clean things up if you want to progress.  I felt that Nico needed a clearer understanding of some of the aspects of pressure and release, he has always been a horse who is almost afraid if you give away the contact too much and would react almost negatively to a softening at times, mainly because he is afraid of his own balance and feels like he needs something to hold on to, I wanted him to be braver about 'being on his own' so to speak, as I felt this would help him gain confidence in his own balance and help him achieve that little bit of extra carriage that he needs to be in self carriage for the Grand Prix ring, I am happy to say that I think that extra time I worked to make him better understand this concept has really paid off, I feel like he is slowly becoming much braver in carrying himself and consequently more willing to be expressive and use himself.  Today I not only had the feeling that he was really with me physically but mentally as well, for those of you who don't know Nico he truly is an ADD child, he sees and hears everything around him and this sure can make it a challenge to keep him focused but today I felt he was 110% focused on me and truly trying his hardest, this felt like a real milestone!  We worked through his tempis which felt great (his changes are always a highlight) and then did some piaffe work which felt quite good, his piaffe is feeling much more real now, the next goal will be to get it a bit more on the spot as he still has the tendency to want to travel a bit too much but given his greeness at the level that is okay.  The other horses are doing well, I think Florida has brought some life to Tango I can't remember ever seeing him so spunky he seems quite excited to be here, quite cute actually!  Rozzie took a couple days to get back in to work, she was a very good girl but was definitely tired from her first big girl road trip, she had today off and seems to be back to her perky self, riding wise the goal for her over the next couple months will be to get her more uphill, more up in the shoulders and up and out in the neck, this is also a matter of strength with her and starting to understand what a half halt is all about, it is important to remember that she is still playing catch up in her training physically, although she's learned all the tricks quite handily, muscle and carriage is just something that can't be rushed.  Generally though I am very pleased with how she is developing, she works very hard every day and is always game, have to love that quality in a horse!

Travel Time!

Finally have a couple of minutes to update the blog!  So the date of departure arrived shortly after the holidays, had a nice Christmas up in Nelson with my brother and his wife's family and then dashed home on the 27th to get the last minute details in order before hitting the road early on the morning of the 28th.  We got on the road about 8, Nico, Roz and Tango all loaded up steadily into the trailer and we were all packed and ready to go (Larisa came along to help with the horse handling and my mom to act as navigator and GPS operator and of course Oswald!).  We headed out to the US boarder through Osoyoos and arrived there around 10am, things went fairly smoothly at the border and we were soon on our way into the US, the first day we drove through Washington and Oregon, with our first overnight stop being Pendleton, Oregon, I tried to space the travel days with a shorter day then a longer day alternating to give the horses some recovery time, the first day went very well and we arrived in to Pendleton around 6pm, we even had enough time to unhook and go in to town for dinner, we stayed at a bed and bale called Neighbors which was quite nice.  We hit the road bright and early the next morning off to Joseph, Utah, this was a longer day of travel, the roads were a tiny bit icy as we passed through the blue mountains but really nothing bad, we got in to Joseph in relatively good time but as we pulled in the driveway of our overnight stop we noticed one of the tires was hissing air, unlucky to have a damaged tire but lucky that it happened literally right at the end of the drive!  In the morning the owner of the farm was kind enough to put the spare tire on for us and we drove in to the tire shop to get the other one repaired (I wasn't about to take the chance of driving the rest of the way without a functioning spare tire, just in case), the repair was quick and painless and we were on our way shortly, next stop Albuquerque, New Mexico, the drive on this day was truly spectacular, the mountain ranges between Salt Lake City and Moab are phenomenal, I will try to upload some pictures in the next little while, we crossed over into Colorado then down in to New Mexico, more beautiful scenery, the overnight stop was fantastic, The Broken M Ranch, located right in town and with fabulous large, well bedded stalls, plenty of water and a wonderful guest for us to stay in as well, complete with all sorts of extras, the most comfortable king size bed plus a fully stocked kitchen and bathroom, wonderful!  Next morning we were up and off, this was our shortest day on the trip and also New Years Eve!  We traveled to Whichita Falls, Texas and we celebrated the new year by sleeping right through it!  Our overnight was Legacy Park, another fabulous bed and bale, literally two minutes off the highway and with paddock sized stalls and an apartment directly across from the stalls and wonderful hosts, definitely would recommend it!  Our next day of travel took us all the way from Texas straight through Louisiana and Mississippi  to Mobile, Alabama, Alabama has some beautiful scenery, it's very green and quaint to drive through, I quite liked the feel of it, we managed to make great time and went in to town for a traditional New Year's Day dinner at Cracker Barrel haha!  Final day of travel, we were so eager to arrive in Florida that we were up at 4am and on the road, we arrived into Jupiter around 4pm and after 6 full days of driving we were all happy to see our winter home!  The horses did great on the trip, all ate, drank and hauled wonderfully which is always a relief.  Little Rozzie was a real trooper on her first big girl road trip, she got in the trailer willingly each morning and was quite interested in the adventure, only on the last night did she show how tired she was by immediately having a nap in her fresh shavings.  Nico and Tango hauled well too though they did seem to have some "male bonding" occurring, there was a lot of talking between the two of them, Tango was always the last horse to load on the trailer and I've never seen him jump on a trailer so willingly, he literally was dragging me to the ramp by day 3, I think he was worried he was going to be left behind!  The horses have settled in at the Lady Jean Ranch in Jupiter very well, they're loving their winter home, they had a couple days to rest after the trip and had their first turnout in the big fields since we left home, they loved that and all had a good trot and canter around to stretch their legs, this morning I worked them all for the first time, just a light stretching work, tomorrow will be more of the same and then we will start to pick up and get into the real work, we are still getting ourselves settled into the RV park in Jupiter so things have been a bit chaotic but are starting to get organized now so should have more time to blog!  To everyone back home, hope you're all doing well and happy riding and once again I have to say the biggest thank you to everyone who has supported me and this journey, I'm amazed at the incredibly supportive people I have surrounding me at this time and will forever be thankful to you all!

Travel Procedures

A friend asked me to write a blog post about prepping the horses for a journey across the continent and what is involved, obviously it's not the same as popping your horse in the trailer for a trip down the road, for those of you who are on the road frequently with horses this will be a fairly generic and boring post but for those who haven't traveled cross country with a horse it might be of interest.  The prep for the journey really begins about 3 weeks before we hit the road, first and foremost the horses have to have current coggins and health certificates in order to cross the border, so I schedule a vet check approx 2.5 weeks before we are to head out of town (health certificates are only good for one months time so you don't want to get them done too soon, coggins are good for 6 months so not such a worry) at this time I also have a full body checkup done on Nico to make sure that he is in good shape, have to make sure the horses are in tip top condition physically, this means not only having their muscles and joints taken care of but also making sure they are in good healthy weight to travel (horses tend to lose weight on long trips so you don't want to start the trip with an underweight horse-consequenlty you also don't want your horse so overweight that they're completely out of shape when they arrive).  As the days get closer I begin the process of packing the horses equipment, have to make sure we have a good selection of blankets for our time down south, also updating the first aid kit (a first aid kit for this kind of travel has to be extensive, not only with bandages and wound dressings but also some critical elements in case of emergency-sedation and banamine just in case someone were to get sick enroute-hopefully not but always best to be prepared, also a few farrier tools just in case someone gets a shoe half off or something that needs immediate attention).  The horses also start on ulcer guard prior to travel and they stay on it through the traveling days and for several days after arriving, the stress of hauling often creates ulcers in horses and it's best to treat these things proactively rather than waiting until something is really wrong.  A few days prior to travel I also like to load the horses on and off the trailer a few times just to make sure they're relaxed and easy about the loading procedure, it's been a few months now since they've traveled so I like to double check that they're easy getting in and out, only takes a couple minutes but it's a good thing to do as there's nothing worse than driving 10 hour days and getting held up because of a last minute loading issue that could have been addressed prior.  I also have to start to determine the route we will take down south, I plan the first couple of days to be shorter as we will be in winter driving conditions on those days so they are roughly 9-10 hour drives, also have to find suitable "horse motels" where the horses can offload and rest overnight.  During travel there are several things to guard against, shipping fever is a serious issue for many horses, I take the horses temperatures every morning during travel to make sure no illness is developing and for several days upon arrival to make sure everyone is healthy, also making sure the horses can put their heads down during travel, trailering with the head tied up is a major cause of shipping fever so it's important to me that the horses have mangers to eat out of when trailering long distance and not hay nets, hay nets have to be hung up high so the horse spends most of the time with their heads up eating, in a manger they have to put their heads down at chest level to eat allowing their sinuses to drain properly, I also make sure to feed them on the ground at the overnight stops to make sure that they get everything drained and this also promotes stretching of the back muscles which get tight while standing in a trailer all day.  This year I will also be weight taping the horses prior to departure, during travel and on arrival, Nico dropped too much weight during travel last year so this year I will try to avoid that happening again.  Water intake also has to be monitored very carefully during the travel, it's important to know how much the horses are drinking normally as different horses drink different amounts, as the horses obviously don't have waterers in the trailer I take a big sealable bucket of water in the back of the truck and at the stops offer them a bucketfull, some horses get used to this and drink as soon as they are offered on the road, Tango is a great traveler like that he drinks whenever offered.  It's important to pack enough hay and grain for the horses to last the trip down and for the first while to transition down there, the hay and grain in Florida is different than the products we have here so I like to gradually transition them onto the new feed, I particularly like the Purina horse feeds in the US.  I also make sure to take enough of their supplements down as you never know if you will be able to get the same product down there.  Upon arrival it's important to allow the horses some down time to rest from the journey and acclimatize to their new environment, being that Florida is such a humid environment it is important to keep watch for fungal and bacterial infections which develop easier with the horses in such a climate, I usually give them a couple days to rest and then start back with some very light riding, only stretching for the first few days and then gradually easing them back in to full work, and providing all goes smooth, life is good!:)

Countdown!

The countdown to our Florida departure is officially on!  Thought I would take some time to finally update this blog, have to apologize for not updating over the summer months but life has been very very busy, in a very good way but busy none the less!  This summer was a productive one for Nico and I, we did a couple of shows at the PSG/I1 level again to get Nico's confidence back up after last winter's stressful shows in Florida, he returned to the show ring well at the home shows and earned his highest scores to date with an FEI Panel in the PSG/I1 at the Calgary Dressage Show in June.  Over the summer months we participated in two clinics with Markus Gribbe, Canada's Technical Leader, the clinics were highly productive for us and I feel we gained a lot of good insight from Markus, he was very positive about Nico and I making the transition to the Grand Prix level which was exciting and a bit scary all in the same breath, big thanks to Shelagh Hohm for organizing these clinics out in Cochrane, Alberta and for inviting us to attend.  In September we showed the PSG/I1 at the Alberta Provincial and Western Regional Championships for the last time, the FEI panel of judges was highly encouraging and had much praise for Nico and I, always nice to hear "I love your horse and I love the way you ride him" from an Austrian FEI judge!  In October, we made our debut at the I2 and GP level at the Pacific Regional Championships, although very green and lots of mistakes I was pleasantly surprised with the transition into the GP for Nico, he handled it well and the judges comments basically reflected my own feelings about the test "shows much potential for the level, now just needs time to confirm, a great starting point!"  The summer and fall months also brought excitement for several Little Dressage clients, congrats to Shawneen Jacobs on her purchase of Monty, Robin Whittal on her purchase of Jake, Leanne Peniuk on her purchase of Diamond Gem and Ann McKinnon on her purchase of Akilah!  I am now prepping to head down south to Jupiter, Florida where we will train with Albrecht Heidemann for January, February and March 2012, we will be hitting the road in a couple of weeks time, Nico had his last checkup with vet Brit Mills this week and Brit reported that he is in great physical shape right now and is very happy and healthy in his body so that's a great feeling to have going in to the new year, this year Nico will get to have some company on the drive down as Rozzie (the up and coming super mare-more on her later:) will be coming along to gain some life experience as well as Tango who will be heading down to be on the sales block (if anyone is looking for a great PSG/I1 junior/young rider or adult amateur schoolmaster keep him in mind, he is a good boy!:).  I have declared Nico for the 2012 Olympics in London however I am in no way naive about the grandeur of such a challenge, Nico is very new to this level and I'm well aware he needs time to confirm and solidify, I'm proud of him for even being at this level at his age so at this point I don't have any expectations, my foremost goal is to confirm him at the GP level and take in a couple of small shows in Florida and see how things go, if beyond that he is ready for the CDIs and the qualifiers that would be a huge bonus but I'm not putting any pressure or expectations upon him to achieve that, he has all the talent and when the time is right he will come into his own, if that happens to be now that would be great, if not I am still building upon his experience tremendously and it will make him a stronger and more solid competitor in his years to come and that's the most important thing, it's an accomplishment in itself to have brought him along from the very beginning to this stage and I'm proud of how he is developing.  In addition Rozzie will get some great exposure to life on the road which will be fantastic for her, I'm thrilled with how this gal is developing she's a super worker and is brave and sensitive, I love her personality and with time and development I think she will be fantastic!  The declaration list for the 2012 Olympics is up and it's very exciting to see that 8 riders from BC have been declared which is great for the dressage industry in this province, dressage in BC has come a very long way over the years, best of luck to all riders declared, it's a strong list of horse/rider pairs and in the end when all is decided I'm sure Canada will be sending a very strong and capable team to London!  I also have to say a big thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters who have contributed to the upcoming show year (please see the sponsor/supporter list), huge thanks to Susanne Berger for the amazing support year after year and providing me with amazing mounts and the vehicle in which they travel, thanks to all of my fantastic clients who help keep me motivated and inspired, I thoroughly enjoy working with each and every one of you, and also thanks go out to Courtenay Fraser who will be traveling up to conduct clinics at Serendipity Farms for my clients while I'm absent (if anyone is interested in riding with Courtenay please feel free to contact me at jmlittle75@hotmail.com for more information), also thanks to Sylvie, Ashton and everyone at Serendipity Farms for helping to run things on the home front while I'm gone, thanks to Mary Miller and Joanna Cockerline for their ongoing technical support and friendship and thanks to Larisa for road tripping to help with the horses and to my mother for road tripping to navigate the route from the passenger seat (providing she doesn't get me lost twice like last time!;)  I'll do my best to update this blog regularly while down south, until then Happy Holidays to everyone and all the best for 2012!:)

Finally Back Home!

After a few days of recovery I figured it was time to update with the final details of the 'hell tour'.....which really from start to end was genuinely the drive from hell!  Seeing as we couldn't get the truck in to be fixed until Monday we decided to make the most of our stay in Rapid City and rented a car to drive up to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial, I have to say I've always wanted to take in these sights so although it wasn't a planned trip I'm glad I had the chance as they were incredible to see.  I found the Crazy Horse Memorial to be very interesting, it was facinating to watch the video of the sculptor who started it and how he used to pack the dynamite up the mountainside day after day-made me really aware of just how lazy modern day society has become with all the luxuries that we take for granted every day, hard to imagine how this guy found motivation every day to hike up that mountain all by himself packing tools the whole way.  We took the truck in to the dealership first thing on the Monday morning to get the tires replaced and the alternator fixed...took them two hours to fix the alternator and ten hours to track down and put all six tires on the truck (after taking them off they ended up finding structural problems in two more of the tires so basically I managed to drive from Tennessee to Rapid City with only one half decent tire out of six-I think that's pretty darn impressive!!;)  We left Rapid City at 6:00 that night and made it to Billings, Montana where we overnighted at a very nice jumper facility, we were up at the crack of dawn and on the road again at 5:30am, heading to Libby, Montana to pick up another horse enroute to Canada.  The drive to pick up this horse involved winding up a muddy dirt road before arriving at the place where the driveway was washed out....so we had to drive truck and trailer through a lake up to the bumper to pick up the horse....the excitement never ends!  We made it to the boarder crossing around 8:00pm and this was the only portion of the trip that was easy, the poor lady at customs was so befuddled with the horses and their paperwork that she didn't even bother to look in my passport oops!!  We crossed the boarder in to Creston where we were met with a snow storm passing through so once again we were back driving around 30km up and down the mountain (I was feeling pretty thankful for the new tires at this point in time!).  We made it in to Kelowna around 2:00am and got the horses off safe and sound, I have never been so happy to see Kelowna before in my entire life!!  I had barely been home for two days before my sister in law went in to labour and had a little girl, so I arrived back home to Canada just in time to become and aunt!  Needless to say it has been an exciting week, hence the late post!  I'm back to my regular routine now of riding and teaching, have had a really productive week getting everyone back on track, my young prospect Roz is doing very well, Sylvie had been keeping her fit for me over the winter months and did a great job as little Rozzie is definitely starting to grow up and I am excited to see how she progresses over the next few months, also had some great lessons this week and am thrilled to be back working with everyone and to see that they all did their homework diligently over the winter months and also excited to have some new faces at the barn and in lessons to work with!  I plan to keep this blog going now that I am back home, the posts may be less frequent and will definitely still be mainly about horses, training and my experiences and sometimes I might throw in some other interesting topics along the way (haha be prepared it might get weird but it will always be entertaining!!:)

Never A Dull Moment!!

At the beginning of my last post I made the comment that it would likely be my last post from Florida, for the beginning of this post I am going to make the comment that I HOPE this is going to be my last post from South Dakota!!  So I figured I had better update just in case people start wondering where the heck I am, I promise I AM coming home and haven't just disappeared into the abyss (although that's what it feels like!).  So day one of the journey home began perfectly, we hit the road around 2 am and were cruising along fine, got through the agriculture inspection and crossed into Georgia, thinking life was good and we were making excellent time and then went to pull off to fuel up and bang the truck dies right in the middle of the exit ramp, I tried to turn it over several times and nothing, thankfully there was a gas station five minutes down the road so ran down and got one of the service guys to come up and he 'guaranteed' me that we had run out of fuel....now I'm looking at him skeptically because I never let the fuel guage go below a quarter tank but he assured me that was totally it (okay now I admit I'm no mechanic but I know what a fuel gauge looks like when it's empty:s) so he pumps some diesel in and says turn it over, of course nothing, then he messes around for what seems like an eternity, meanwhile people are screaming at us and honking for us to "move the truck".....right because I thought I would just park it in the middle of the exit and take a nap for a bit, sometimes you have to wonder what goes through people's minds!!  Finally he concludes that he can't fix it and we have to get it towed, now the good news in all of this is that McKenzie who was stabled at the barn with us in Florida was driving behind us with her trailer (we had decided to trailer both Nico and her horse Prinz in my trailer so that they had company to Tennessee so they were driving behind us with their empty two horse trailer) so we were able to get the trailer towed to the gas station and quickly off loaded the horses and reloaded them onto the other trailer (the one bright side to a crappy day!) so we got the truck towed in and they determined there was a problem with the pressure getting the fuel to the engine, they did some work on it and we were stuck in Georgia for the night, we had an interesting meal at a local buffet (O'Neils' Buffet to be exact and you're greeted at the door by O'Neil himself who assures you that it's the best chicken n' dumplins you'll ever have-needless to say there was not a normal sized person in this buffet;).  The next day we got back on the road around 1:00, made it to Atlanta just in time for rush hour and got in to Tennessee where Nico was about 10:00pm.  The next morning we got on the road around 7am heading out for Omaha, Nebraska, made great time in the morning, as we got past Saint Louis we stopped for fuel and pulled back on the highway just in time for it to be closed due to accident, we had to be rerouted off of the interstate and naturally the guy gave us directions that took us down all sorts of tiny side roads and twists and turns, finally we rerouted to the interstate and arrived in Omaha around 10:00 yesterday night.  We got up and hit the road this morning at 8am, heading out on our 'easy' day to Rapid City, South Dakota, making excellent time, as we pulled in to Rapid City (a full 45 mins ahead of schedule) I stopped to top up the fuel and noticed a nail in the back left tire of the truck....great......then I walked around to the other side of the truck and both the rear and front tires were completely stripped to bare......even better!  We had just enough time to rush Nico to the barn and get him settled for the evening before zipping in to Wal-Mart to see if we could get the tires replaced, as we pull in the battery light all of a sudden pops on as well.  So to make a long story short.....something in the alignment made the tires strip completely unevenly and NO ONE in Rapid City carries 19.5" tires so we are stuck waiting for new tires.....and......the alternator is in the process of crapping out on us so that will have to be fixed before we can hit the road, yikes!!!  Now the saddest part of the whole story.....I had the truck serviced last Friday before the big journey, a lot of good that did!!!  So all in all I really thought this road trip was worthy of having its own blog post as it's definitely one for the record books, so I am now on a forced holiday in South Dakota until Monday and hopefully will be back on the road as soon as possible!:p