We had a triumphant first recognized outing to CDCTA’s Spring show at Morven Park. Huge congratulations to Torrey Wilkinson for finishing her USDF Gold Medal, and to Kristin Hickey and Becky Lee for Zarco’s Second Level High Score! We’ve also got an upcoming weekend with Michael Barisone, and fun news about summer training and lessons. Read the rest here, and sign up to receive our e-newsletters directly in your inbox.
A while back I had a client enter a show at a big level, her debut at that level, and her first show after a long competitive gap. Her horse is an amazing creature, a phenomenal athlete with an equally incredible mind, who’s also had a long history of health issues, including trying very hard to die on her twice, fortunately to no avail. She’s done the lion’s share of the training herself, and he’d spent a month with me to finish up one last piece of the test. Was she ready to do this level? Mostly. Was it going to be incredible? Certainly not.
But I talked her into entering anyway, and here’s why. First, on her best day, she was close enough. Second, the show was close, and we—my students and I—were going already. This client doesn’t live nearby, so it was a great opportunity for me to be there with her to talk her through it. And last but not least, horses are horses, and she’s been thisclose to this level for two years, marred by an annoying injury in the middle.
Screw it, I told her. Life is short. Carpe diem. Get in the ring.
Read the rest online at The Chronicle of the Horse!
Years ago when he was a wee thing, Midge learned the flying changes fairly quickly, and rapidly got comfortable with the fours, threes and twos. But the ones eluded us for almost a year. Midge, with his combination of crazy Dutch Harness Horse knees and boundless enthusiasm, could get through a few, but soon enough he’d be launching himself with reckless abandon in about 37 directions at once, and strong and brave and long-legged thing that I am, I couldn’t hold him together.
And that, I learned, was the problem. No one is strong enough to hold back a tidal wave.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
Where in the world is Lauren? We’ve had several requests for her 2017 clinic schedule, so here it is!
April 23 – Ft. Defiance, VA
April 29-30 – Ottawa, ON, CAN
June 24-25 – Newton, PA
July 1-2 – Pittsburgh, PA
July 29-30 – Turtleford, SK, CAN
September 2-3 – Tunbridge, VT
November 18-19 – Lebanon, CT
Lauren is now accepting clinic dates for late summer and early fall; email her to learn more!
After a whirlwind last week in Florida, an exciting trip home involving—you guessed it!—two flat tires, and 2 1/2 days to move into my new house in nearby Warrenton, my Floridian team and I are safely back in Virginia, reunited with the home team, and back up and running. I’ve got a few relatively quiet weeks at home until we start the usual spring chaos of constant horse shows and clinics; I’m home one weekend between the end of April and the 4th of July.
But whereas last year I had a full string of horses to show, and even more at home, plugging away at their work, this year I have… Danny, who is maybe going to do a Grand Prix at the end of the year, or maybe not.
And that’s it. Hurricane is spending the summer at Camp Barisone. And other than my wonderful 25-year-old Billy, who I visited in his field today as he enjoys his well-earned retirement, that’s all I’ve got.
It’s weird, having the fewest horses I’ve ever owned since I was a teenager.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
We’re back up and running at Sprieser Sporthorse North, with some new faces, new paddocks and a new round pen! Read all about it, and if you’re not yet receiving our newsletters in your inbox, click to sign up!
Third Level, Test 3. Ring 2 at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival.
To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and having begun to develop an uphill balance at Second Level, now demonstrates increased engagement, especially in—
JOHNNY ROAD: HI! Hi hi hi! Omg you guys, we’re at a horse show!! It’s been a few years since I went to a horse show because there was a period of time in which I thought grabbing the bit and running with my head in the air was an appropriate response to being asked for a flying change, and also there was a while where I thought going sideways was pretty stupid. But now I’m a big boy and I’m here and I’m braided and it is SO EXCITING and oh, hey Mom! That was the bell oh boy oh boy oh boy—
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
As I’ve said many times before, Danny is the most talented horse I’ve ever had. He just thinks like a Grand Prix horse, partially because I’ve been diligent in training him to think that way, but partially just from nature, the beauty of the successful purpose-bred animal.
He’s agile as anything (sometimes for evil); he can coil and spring like a cat, with this tremendous energy and expression. Right now, with a gun to my head, I could do a pretty presentable job of everything from Grand Prix except the ones, where I can consistently do four or five, and have pulled off as many as nine. He has not yet hit his ninth birthday.
Horses like Danny are terribly fun to ride, and also a terrible temptation. I could lean hard on the ones and probably get 15 by late spring, and put in a whole season at Grand Prix with him. We’d get some good marks.
And it would be a terrible, terrible idea.
Because there are still moments in Danny’s typical work week where he’s a mess, moments where he drops the contact and puts his flexible little neck too round and I have nothing in front of me anymore. There are moments where his back fatigues and so he flings his legs into the air instead. There are moments where he falls on his forehand so hard it’ll take me out of the saddle.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!
We are thrilled to have secured the lease of a new property for Sprieser Sporthorse South 2018! This exquisite private farm in Loxahatchee, Florida offers all the amenities – airy stalls, beautiful private turnout, hot and cold wash stalls, excellent footing, and immediate access to a meticulously maintained trail system. We’re accepting reservations for full training stalls at lauren@spriesersporthorse.com. Come train in the dressage capital of the Americas!
My horses and I trundle along down here in Welly-world, making little nuggets of progress, and soaking it all in.
Ella is working beautifully. I love my relationship with this horse—we’re an old married couple now, and as such we have our little spats because we know how to push each other’s buttons, but I love her and she loves me and we know each other so well that we just move like one organism. That isn’t to say that we don’t have things to work on, because there’s always things to work on. But she’s so solid in who she is now, and I’m putting together work that feels like a finished product instead of a work in progress, and that’s a beautiful feeling.
If Ella is at the end of that journey with me, Danny is at the beginning, and it’s terribly exciting. Danny hasn’t always been the most straightforward of creatures (um, understatement of the century), with his twirl-first-ask-questions-later reaction time, his terribly athletic little body that can go every direction at once, and more than a hefty dose of cheek, he’s been an exciting ride.
But he’s working for me, not against me now. And because he was such a goon, he forced me to take my time on the foundation, which means that now, the work comes from a really solid place.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!