The past molds the future

Every rider has had horses who have shaped his or her career. I've been lucky to have some super horses in the past and look forward to having many more throughout my life. Each horse we ride teaches us something, each experience should help the rider become better, stronger, more in tune with what the horse is thinking. It's taking away from these experiences that creates sympathetic riders who can actually train horses, not just ride them. Each horse is different and must be treated as such.

In this blog post I'd like to share a couple of the horses I've had in the past.

Enter, George "aka" Silver Desperado or Love you George, which was his awful registered name. He was a grey TB/Dutch Warmblood who I got when I was 15.  This big bold grey gelding was my first real event horse. Together we moved up the levels and learned from each other. He was incredibly difficult in the beginning, very green yet very bossy, he thought he knew EVERYTHING. More than one instructor classified him as "over bold" on the XC, he would jump anything from any distance at any time, which had a tendency to get him in trouble. When he decided he was going to jump something, i was a mere passenger in the beginning, clinging to his back hoping he wouldn't kill me.
  His flatwork was dreadful, he loved to toss his head (hitting me in the face on multiple occasions) and he couldn't canter on a circle. He was a gorgeous mover though and so talented, he taught me patience, he taught me how to deal with a difficult horse. He taught me bravery on cross country. He taught me how to coax a clean show jumping round out of a horse who thought show jumping was a silly waste of time (he liked to just barely tap his show jumping fences as if it were a game).

  In two years time he had transformed, he consistently got low 30's in dressage, he discovered that he could INDEED canter in a circle! He was a cross country machine, i pointed and he jumped, the "passenger" moments were much fewer and we ran like a team. Show jumping was a challenge but i did manage to coax quite a few clear rounds out of him. At this point i wanted to move up the upper levels and i made the very difficult decision to sell George as a training level packer. I cried my eyes out when i loaded him up on the tractor trailer to be shipped to Texas.

 I took the money from George and began my search for my upper level horse. I looked at quite a few horses, poured over ads, watched sales videos and re watched sales videos. When I saw a video of Molly, a small bay mare who jumped as if she was propelled by a rocket I knew I had to have her. She stood 15.3 and had a dainty feminine head and at 5 years old was allllll legs. I rode her twice before I bought her, and although she was green I knew she would be my upper level horse. It took me a while to be able to stay in the tack with her bold powerful jump, I still have yet to ride a horse that could jump like that mare. She was always super tight with her front end and flipped her back end up over fences to avoid touching them. If she did touch a fence you better hold on, it pissed her off to no end, she squealed a bucked after even brushing a fence.
   The day I brought her home and turned her out i remember thinking "dear God, I hope i can ride this horse" as she galloped, bucked, spun and squealed out in the pasture. She was brilliant. I started her out at Training level with good results, she usually placed in the top 5. Dressage was a struggle for her in the beginning as she found it incredibly boring but she always jumped double clear!
  I moved her up to Prelim when she had barely turned 6 and i had just turned 18. What makes her accomplishments even more impressive is that at 18 I hadn't had an instructor for a couple of years (I spent all my money on entry fees) and I brought her along myself. I will never forget her first Prelim run at Waredaca, she absolutely ate up the course. She finished 4th out of 18 horses, i was so proud of my little mare. She continued to be very successful at the Prelim level and I wish i could have kept competing her, i know in a more experienced jockey's hands she would have been an Advanced horse. I, unfortunately had to get a "real" job and joined the army. I ended up selling my wonderful little mare to an excellent home where she still lives.

Both of these horses were amazing in their own ways and I am so blessed to have had them in my life. I learned so much from both of them.

I'll write about a couple more horses I've owned in my next blog. :)

Excitement and things to come...bring on the fall season!

Here in Virginia the last couple of weeks have been absolutely gorgeous (minus Hurricane Irene, which is another story). Clear blue skies, low humidity and fall weather and somewhat of a novelty around here in August and I am certainly not complaining! I always get more motivated in the fall, I have to say its probably my favorite time of year, especially for riding. The sweltering days of summer with heat indexes of up to 110 degrees as they have been this year makes it hard to condition and train horses.  As a general rule, I really don't compete too much in the hottest months of the year (ie, July and Aug) but concentrate more on lessons and improving weak areas. This summer has been especially long and hard for me and my horses as I have been preparing for my USPC "A" test despite the heat and humidity. Acquiring proper instruction and maintaining the condition of an upper level horse is taxing on ones wallet so needless to say this past spring/summer has been incredibly stressful on me. To be honest it almost reaches a point where its not even fun anymore, pass or fail I'm just ready for this damn test to be over with!

 Anyways returning to my original point...as far as eventing goes i love the fall! The horses feel good when the air is crisp and even a little chilly and there is nothing quite like preparing for cross country day on a gorgeous fall morning. I have even more reason to be excited about the fall event season this year as I just bought a very promising young event prospect. I pride myself on having a good eye when it comes to looking at a green, young horse and imagining what he is capable of, what job he is best suited for. This young horse I just purchased has all the right pieces to be a competitive upper level event horse. He stands a leggy 16.2 hands with a sloping shoulder, gorgeous topline and perfect angles. He is, I think the most balanced youngster off the track that I have ever ridden and his temperament is amazing. His name is Abraxas, Braxen for short. Of all the horses I have had pass through my hands, i feel as if this horse is the most talented I've ever had. He just has that IT quality, i think he may be the horse for me

          Abraxas, off the track 2 weeks, ridden by Shelley Heckles of Classic Bay Eventing.

I look forward to writing updates on his progress. In the meantime, I better get back to work!