An Incredibly Successful Dressage At Lexington!

By |2015-07-15T06:41:41-04:00July 15th, 2015|News & Events|

11053507_994630087238319_3199517754521775624_oTeam Sprieser had an incredible Dressage at Lexington! From Training Level to Grand Prix, our riders racked up major wins, checked off goals and had a blast. Here are the highlights from the show!

Huxley Greer & Vesuvian
3rd 3, 64.231
4th Place 3rd 3, 64.744

Jane Hart & Harlem Heartbreaker
Training 3, 63.182
1st 2, 61.25
Training 3, 62.955

Angelika Hellmer & Aniko
4th Place, 1st 3, 63.824
1st 3, 60.147

Lisa Hellmer & Galvani
5th Place, 1st 3, 65.735

Lisa Hellmer & Aniko
6th Place, 2nd 2, 63.718

Kristin Hickey & Capital Call
1st Place, 4th 1, 66.216
1st Place, 4th 1, 67.973
Champion 4th Level SHAC

Kristin Hickey & Leapfrog
4th Place, 4th 1, 61.216

Meg Melusen & Glenhaven Serengeti
6th Place, 1st 3, 61.471
1st 3, 60.294
3rd Place, National Dressage Pony Cup, 61.667

Heather Richards & Hastening Cardoon
3rd 3, 63.718
3rd 3, 61.923
Reserve Champion 3rd Level SHAC
USDF Bronze Medal!

Jennifer Schaller & Lithgows Smartwish
4th Place, Training 1, 62.826
Training 2, 61.538
Training 2, 62.885

Cathy Scholten & Casey
2nd Place, 2nd 1, 67.121
3rd Place, 2nd 2, 65
2nd Place, 2nd 2, 66.154
2nd 3, 62.439
Champion 2nd Level SHAC

Natasha Sprengers-Levine & Galvani
6th Place, 2nd 2, 62.564
3rd Place, 2nd 2, 63.59

Natasha Sprengers-Levine & Harlem Heartbreaker
1st Place, Training 2, 69.231

Lauren Sprieser & Stratocaster
3rd Place, Developing Horse PSG, 68.603
Intermediate I, 66.053
Winner, Two-Tempi Challenge Fundraiser for The Dressage Foundation (58!)

Lauren Sprieser & Beverley Thomas’s Fiero
4th Place, Prix St. Georges Challenge, 67.763
1st Place, Prix St. Georges, 68.289

Lauren Sprieser & Ellegria
1st Place, FEI TOC (Grand Prix Special), 69.216
2nd Place, Grand Prix Freestyle, 71825
Reserve Champion, FEI Freestyle Challenge

Also congratulations to our SHAC team of Kristin Hickey & Leapfrog, Heather Richards & Hastening Cardoon and Cathy Scholten & Casey for taking Third Place overall, beaten only by Training and First Level teams!

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Two fantastic new horses for sale at SSH

By |2015-07-08T05:19:59-04:00July 8th, 2015|News & Events|

We don’t often do sales here at Sprieser Sporthorse, so when we do, you know they must be special. We have two wonderful geldings looking for new homes, and they won’t stick around long; they’re both terrific!

First up is Kilkelly All’s Well. Ozzie is a 16.3h, 12 year old Irish Sport Horse who’s had a tremendously successful career in the both the IDSHNA and Open hunters, including multiple wins at Upperville. But he loves the flatwork, and his soft mouth and comfortable gaits make him a pleasure to work with. He’s schooling all the First Level work with the potential for much more. Ozzie is confident beginner appropriate; he’s delightfully uncomplicated and tolerant, but also not a deadhead, and would be a terrific and FUN lower level horse.

We are also thrilled to present Rubicon. Ruben is a 17.1h, 3 year old Oldenburg gelding by Blue Hors Romanov out of Alabama, a Danish Trakehner mare by Silvermoon who also produced my terrific Small Tour horse Stratocaster. Ruben has Fender’s gorgeous face, big tail and long legs, but is even looser through his body, and for three years old, he could not possibly be simpler. No lunging required; just hop on and ride around. Ruben loves working both in and out of the arena, and would be equally appropriate for a confident amateur or Jr/YR as he would for an ambitious professional looking to invest in a horse to take up the levels.

Video on our Sales page; photos below. Email me at lauren@spriesersporthorse.com to learn more about these two very special boys!

[huge_it_gallery id=”3″]

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The Long Way Around

By |2015-07-08T05:06:29-04:00July 8th, 2015|COTH Posts|

JohnnyCanter1I’ve made the decision to offer my phenomenal six-year-old, Johnny Road, up for syndication. Johnny’s always been one of my favorites, not just because he’s got freaky talented legs and a wonderful mind that takes pressure better than any horse I’ve owned at that age, but because he’s my kind of nerdy—he’s smart and clever and more than a little obnoxious, and I find that combination tremendously endearing (which probably explains why I’m still single.)

I’ve owned Johnny two years, since he was four, and at four his job was to go to shows at Training Level until he didn’t try and kill me. The first show, he spent a lot of time trying to kill me. The second show, he was a rockstar by Day Three, earning High Score Training Level for the show. And so I checked off that box, took him back home, and let him grow and develop and didn’t really freak out about what he was or wasn’t doing.

At five, I went to one more show, just to make sure the Dirtbag instinct was still dead. It was. High score First Level of the show. And I kept him home the rest of the year, where he grew almost a hand, sprouted this unreal topline from very little hard work, and proceeded to just generally be a pleasure and not keep me up at night.

 

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse, and click here for more information on joining the Johnny Road Group!

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Tie Me Up

By |2015-07-08T05:08:36-04:00June 15th, 2015|COTH Posts|

11425767_1135613333122135_2544840236101030467_nSocial media is funny. Every now and then I’ll write a blog that I think is AWESOME, really knocking it out of the park, and it’ll get almost no response. And every now and then, I’ll flippantly post a funny little photo on my Facebook orInstagram page, and it’ll go viral.

Such was the case with the photo of my Very Sophisticated Classical Dressage Training Technique to try and teach me how to ride Ella with my reins short and my hands down—a neck rope made of baling twine. I slip the twine under my finger holding the reins (which is why I prefer twine to a neck rope: less material in my hands) and, should I attempt to stick my hands up my nose, the twine will hit her neck and remind me to put them back down where they belong.

That photo blew up my Facebook page. TONS of comments, 200-and-counting “likes”… who knew that my redneckery was going to be such a hit?

The success of that picture got me thinking of all the other creative, and not-so-creative, ways that I help my students (and yes, sometimes myself) address bad equitation habits. Here are a few.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

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How Ella Got Her Groove Back*

By |2015-06-09T21:20:26-04:00June 9th, 2015|COTH Posts|

ellamorvenpiaffesmall(*Before we begin, an author’s note: I came up with this blog’s clever title as a reference to the late 90s rom-com, but really, it should be called “How Lauren Got Her &#$! Together And Is, Slowly But Surely, Learning How To Ride Her Nice Horse.” But that has less of a ring to it. Carry on.)

Ella came home with me in January of 2006. She was 5. I was 21. Neither of us had any idea what we were doing.

I got incredible help from lots of people—Lendon Gray, with whom I trained while in college; Roz Kinstler, my wonderful friend who helped me my first winter in Florida when I was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing; Pam Goodrich, the first person to drive it home to me that riding horses and training horses are different skills; Scott Hassler, the first person to tell me Ella was really special.

Read the rest of this blog at the Chronicle of the Horse!

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Six Years Of Dreams

By |2015-06-16T23:26:47-04:00June 9th, 2015|COTH Posts|

With future FEI horses, the six years of dreaming of how good they’ll be is spent doing boring but crucial development work. Photo by Sara Lieser.

As my students all can attest, I’ve been geeking out all week about an article featuring nuggets of wisdom from Carl Hester. I’ve been so stoked about it because a) he’s awesome, and b) so, so many of the things he highlights in the article are things that I believe in, and preach to my own students.

He’s also got a great way of putting some really wonderful but complicated things about horse training. One of my favorites from the piece is that when it comes to training a young horse from the beginning of his career to Grand Prix, you’ve got six years of dreams.

Read the rest of this blog on the Chronicle of the Horse!

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Big Winners at VADA/Nova Summer Dressage

By |2015-06-09T05:30:11-04:00June 8th, 2015|News & Events|

lisamorvenbigtrot2Congratulations to our riders on their OUTSTANDING performance at the VADA/Nova Summer Dressage show at Morven Park this past weekend! Here’s our results:

Kristin Counterman & Esperanza –
2nd Place, FEI Pony Team Test, 60%
1st Place, FEI Pony Individual Test, 62.439%

Kristin Counterman & Caroline Stephens’ Three Times –
1st Place, FEI Junior Team Test, 67.297%
1st Place, FEI Junior Individual Test, 66.053%

With these results, Kristin and both her rides are qualified for the USEF Festival of Champions, as well as for the Region 1 Junior Team for the NAJYRC! Congratulations, Kristin!

Lisa Hellmer & Aniko –
2nd Place, Second Level 2, 61.923%
2nd Place, Third Level 1, 60.606%

Lauren Sprieser & Ellegria –
1st Place, Grand Prix, 68.6%
1st Place, Grand Prix Special, 69.608%

Lauren Sprieser & Beverley Thomas’s Fiero –
1st Place, Developing Prix St. Georges, 67.426%
2nd Place, Developing Prix St. Georges, 66.544%

Congrats to all!

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Horse Show Brain

By |2015-05-12T12:46:45-04:00May 7th, 2015|COTH Posts|

horseshowbrainI had the most incredible ride yesterday. I’m pretty much on top of everything for the Grand Prix on Ella, but there’s a gear in the passage I’m still not 100 percent confident in, and in my last lesson with Michael he put me on a 20-meter circle in passage and had me just play with it—what happens when I use my leg like this, what happens when I use my seat like that, until I cultivated the passage I wanted.

Yesterday, I rode outside, as it’s just gorgeous in Virginia right now. The sun was low on the horizon, and it was cool and crisp, and the birds were chirping, and the air smelled like apple blossom, and ultimately none of those things mattered because as I rode, I had one of those cool tunnel vision moments, where the whole world falls away and it’s just me and the horse.

In his book “The Talent Code,” which I highly recommend, if you haven’t read it, author Daniel Coyle calls moments like that “deep practice.” Unlike regular practice, this is deep, profound and zen-like, and it’s the most important and powerful practice of a task you can do. It’s fleeting. When you’re in that place, the world becomes very small and very quiet.

I love moments like that, rare as they are. They are, fortunately, as rare as the equally quiet, small world moments I experienced riding tests in the beginning of my career, the moments where I’d warm up, go down centerline… and completely fall apart.

I call it “Horse Show Brain.”

It manifests a little different for everyone who experiences it. For me, when it would happen, everything suddenly speeds up. Everything happens faster and faster, it seems, no matter what speed we’re actually going. For others, I’ve heard it described as a zoning out, where you “wake up” and the test is nearly over and you’re not sure you how got there. And for still others, something starts to go awry, and all of the tools you’ve learned as a rider suddenly elude you, like when people get under the spotlight to sing the National Anthem and the words spontaneously vacate their brains.

At a recent show, two of my students made big, important level move-ups, one to third level, one to Prix St. Georges. Both are good riders on solid horses (that we’ve trained up the levels ourselves, thankyouverymuch) who are totally ready for the level. Both are also very bright women, smart and successful both personally and professionally. They’ve been running through the test at home, without problems. They were ready.

And because I’ve been doing this a long time, I knew that one of two things was going to happen.

Option A was that on Day 1 they were going to remember all that they’ve learned, show up, ride their tests like we’ve practiced, have a great time, and then do the same on Day 2.

Option B was that on Day 1 they were going to freeze up, ride below their usual standard, spend all night fuming, and ride like rockstars on Day 2.

Guess which happens most often? And guess which happened to them?

That’s not entirely true. My student making her third level debut kept her wits about her for most of the test, only falling apart a bit in the flying changes, and you could see it happen, watching her face.

Bless my Prix St. Georges student, her brain left the building entirely.

And sure enough, we got dinner that night, and everyone was frustrated and sullen, and the next day they both manned up, got it together and rode like champs.

It’s so frustrating, as a trainer, watching your students go through this. I imagine that it’s a lot like parenting, watching your young children get dumped, or get their first C grade, or not get picked for the team; you know it’s going to happen, and you know it’s going to make them better in the long run, but you wish you could take the pain and frustration away.

But I can’t, and so I watch my wonderful students flame out, and then I’m there to hold their hands while they vent, and then help them put themselves back together for Day 2, when they keep themselves together, rely not on their reptilian brain but on their big ol’ frontal lobe, the one that knows to drive into the changes, the one that knows to let go of the curb rein, the one that knows that the most important part of the half halt is the letting go part after, the one that remembers to keep the leg on and the butt down and to not stare at the neck.

And maybe, one day soon, they’ll have a ride where the birds and the trees and the crowd and their fears and the rest of the whole wide world disappears, and it’s just them and their horses alone in that beautiful zen-like state that allows the greatness to come through.

(And if not, there’s aways cupcakes and margaritas. They help. A lot.)

 

Lauren

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