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Partnership

Partnership

By Lauren Allen|2015-05-12T12:36:53-04:00April 16th, 2015|COTH Posts|

I am sitting on an airplane to Las Vegas. The couple next to me are in their 80s, and have been married for 57 years. He holds her hand while they snooze. A love like theirs is something we all should be so lucky to know.

The timing of this trip sucks. The expense is daunting. But six months ago, when one of my best friends announced that, as she’d be celebrating a Birthday of Significance in April of 2015, she wanted our other bestie and I to join her in Las Vegas for the World Cup Final, we couldn’t not go. Life is short. World Cups in Vegas are few (I know they’ll be back in 2017, but… Omaha or Vegas? Sorry, Nebraska.)

So even though I’ve barely been back in Virginia long enough to do a load of laundry, even though I’m missing an important NAJYRC and Developing Horse qualifier, even though I’m showing Grand Prix in a few weeks and can’t seem to ride the passage to piaffe transition the same way twice, even though—to top it all off—I’m moving out of my rented house and back to the farm, I am on a plane to Las Vegas, because I love my friends and, in spite of my consistently consistent lack of availability to grab a bite or meet up for an activity, and in spite of my constant and neurotic prattling on about the highs and lows of life in a plucky little high performance horse sport, they love me, too.

I am doing this for all the fun professional reasons as well, of course. How often are we so lucky as to see these European greats on US soil? Watching Isabell Werth ride anything is a Master Class. Edward Gal’s incredible simultaneous control and stillness is an inspiration all its own.

But the partnerships. No one gets to the World Cup by chance, but the top group. Charlotte and Valegro. Laura and Verdades. Two of the most incredible love stories of the modern dressage era. Two very young women of humble origins, on the right baby horse at the right time, growing together into the greatness that we see today, but also all we know about them behind the scenes, how Valegro loves his hacking and turnout, and how Verdades takes his confidence from Laura-not-just-as-rider-but-as-groom, at his side. A love like theirs is something we all should be so lucky to know.

My two friends and I are all very different, different backgrounds, different stories, though we have a few key commonalities. We’re all riders, obviously. We’re all strong and driven women, none of us shy about attacking what we want with gusto. We’re all also accomplished in our respective fields, and we all got that way because we’re equally bright (a good thing) and neurotic (a sometimes-not-so-good thing, though the itinerary for this trip was rather meticulously planned, and we’ve got sufficient sunscreen and breakfast bars to feed a small army, so that’s something).

We all also really need this trip, even me, in spite of it’s less-than-ideal timing, or maybe even because of it. We’ve all, independently, had a case of the oh-my-gods before this trip. The expense. The timing. Various personal and professional calamities that are just part of life and living.

And here we are, on this plane, tickets scrimped and scrounged for, savings tapped into, partially because this is the World Cup Final, and they don’t come around often. But also because we are people who love and care about each other, have each other’s backs (even when it ain’t going so good), and who will cherish the good times and make the most of everything. A love like this is something I am so honored, so privileged, so blessed to know.

Lauren

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The Best Winter Yet

The Best Winter Yet

By Lauren Allen|2015-05-12T12:34:29-04:00April 9th, 2015|COTH Posts|

My last week in Florida finished in typical whirlwind fashion. I made the brilliantly boneheaded decision to show Fender one last time on Thursday and Friday, with the plan of then packing Saturday and leaving Sunday, because there’s nothing like trying to pack up your entire life to help you focus on a horse show.

Fortunately Fender is impervious to nonsense, and had his best show yet. The amount he has matured, not just over our five years together, but particularly in the last six months, has been just unreal. I’ve always said there is something magical about 9 years old, where even the looniest of loonies gets his ducks in a row, and Fender is no exception.

We did an open Prix St. Georges class the first day, which is not the best test for Fender. I find the pattern of the walk to the first couple movements of canter doesn’t let him stay in front of my leg as easily as some of the other tests we’ve ridden together over the years. So that has been my focus over the winter, and it paid off with a 68 percent from a serious international judge, not far away from one of my year-end goals of 70 percent from such a judge. The icing on the cake for me was her telling me that sometimes his neck is too high and that he’s not round enough.

Being excited about this may sound insane, but since I have been diligently working from age 4 on keeping his neck from being too low and too round, this is a major victory!

The second day we rode the Developing test, and damn if I wish it hadn’t been a qualifier, because he was just outstanding. That test flows beautifully, but to top it all off, there was a colossal five-minute rainstorm, followed by an absolutely explosive musical freestyle, all while we were in the warm-up, with horses losing their cool everywhere around him, and Fender never blinked. He then went on to be the best he’s ever been in the ring for 73 percent, a blue ribbon and a very big class, and big smiles all around. Mission accomplished!

The show was the cherry on top of the best Florida season I’ve ever had. Client-owned Fiero and Bo made huge progress for their owners, both doing their first FEI tests with great success. The baby horses—Danny, Dorian and Johnny—all return home so much more rideable, through and useful, than when we left. They all are in varying degrees of solid in their flying changes, and the older two are quite solid in there half steps. Most importantly, they confirm for me every day what I’ve always believed—that they are the best I’ve ever had, and will all be very successful international horses.

And there’s one more horse to complete the story—Ella. To make a long story short, I never wanted to sell her, and it was about necessity and making what was, at the time, the best choice, which over time became about needing to make a sacrifice in order to keep my pipeline of horses going. It doesn’t make any sense to put all of my eggs in one basket, and since no one is buying international horses for me, I have to make them myself.

For reasons surpassing understanding, Ella has been difficult to sell. She’s not terribly big, she’s a mare, she’s red, and she’s in the United States, at a time when people are all too happy to schlep to Europe and spend twice as much. And it seems stupid for me to be sacrificing and slaving with the hopes of riding CDI Grand Prix one day, when the possibility to do so was very much within my grasp.

I ended up making the difficult decision to sell one of my good young horses, though I had the great fortune to do so to a client, who will keep him with me and, even more unbelievably, let me finish the year as his competition rider. I am so blessed and honored, and so excited that I’m bringing Ella home!

So home we went, and an extremely and mercifully uneventful trip, only to have my car blowup 24 hours after my return. (Go figure.)

I’ve hit the ground running, riding and teaching my little heart out, and got the best welcome home present I could possibly have received in the form of great success at our first Virginia show of the year, the highlight being the successes of my junior rider phenom, Kristin, who rocked both the junior and pony divisions at their first qualifier for the National Championships. It’s great to be back! Let’s get to work!

Lauren

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The End-Of-Season Blitz

By Lauren Allen|2017-02-14T09:24:21-05:00March 28th, 2015|COTH Posts|

<img class="alignleft wp-image-349 " src="http://spriesersporthorse generic cialis eu.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/endofseasonblitz.jpg” alt=”endofseasonblitz” height=”500″ srcset=”http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/endofseasonblitz.jpg 720w, http://spriesersporthorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/endofseasonblitz-225×300.jpg 225w” sizes=”(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px” />We’re down to the wire in Florida, with just days before my horses and I pack up and head home. And without fail, there’s this sudden franticness, to get everything done, to see everyone, to cram in those last lessons. And last week was no exception.

The weekend before I got the call that Fender and I had been invited to ride in a USEF Developing Rider Clinic with Debbie McDonald. I was thrilled, even when they told me that my rides were on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, the two worst possible days of the week. Tuesday I was also scheduled to ride both Fiero and Johnny as demo horses for a USEF Judges’ Forum, and Wednesday I’d scheduled a photo shoot with the amazing Sue Stickle for an article I’ve written for Practical Horseman.

A few frantic phone calls later and I got everything moved around. Johnny and Fiero went early, and went great. They’d both had Monday completely off, and I’d been teaching in Virginia the previous three days, so Johnny and I took a little time to get it together, and he cheerfully squeaked his way through demonstrating First Level Test 3 and some Second Level work. I get a gold star for reading comprehension for completely forgetting to practice the rein back, something I’d yet to introduce to him, and felt like a total putz when asked to show a group of 150 judges what a good rein back looked like. Needless to say, we did a fine job of demonstrating what a BAD rein back looked like. Derp.

But he was good, and they told me that he was a little too quick and too up and open in the neck, and I pretty much don’t care because I find that the best way to kill your chances of being great at Grand Prix is to teach your horse to be good at First Level. And so on we go.

Fiero was great, of course, and they loved him, of course, and we got lots of praise and then bolted out the door so I could drop them off and pick Fender up and head over to the Developing Clinic.

Fender was also a wee bit on edge from his day off, but he just cracks me up – he doesn’t get phased or frazzled anymore, and the more I just sit there with my leg on and tell him to focus on me, the more he does. Where did my baby squirrel go? He grew up.

Debbie is just the loveliest person, and her lessons were so complimentary to what Michael and I work on—she’s got this quiet, meticulous way, a pleasant contrast to Michael’s bold and brash, but she’s also a teeny tiny woman, and is so gifted at getting so much done with so little physical effort. She told me lots of things that Michael tells me (which is not a complaint; I love it when other world-class dressage minds confirm the program I’m in!), and also gave me two cool exercises, one to address Fender’s inconsistent contact in the walk (using renver and haunches in to help him stabilize), and one to think about the idea of passage (using posting trot to help him move his back). It was a great experience, and I’m so grateful to the USEF for making it possible.

I pushed my Practical Horseman photo shoot to today (cue the frantic consumption of salads and riding of my bike), and spent Thursday and Friday running around getting all the things done that didn’t get done on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m looking forward to just getting to ride my horses!

Lauren

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All Of A Sudden

All Of A Sudden

By Lauren Allen|2015-05-12T12:33:42-04:00March 21st, 2015|COTH Posts|

I remember this one day. It was the summer of 2010. Midge was 8. And I got on, and I picked up the reins, and there he was. He was connected to my hand, hind legs, withers, bridle. He was balanced and organized. He was just THERE. He felt like an expensive FEI horse, and while he still made mistakes, still needed to develop in his strength and timing and coordination, still wouldn’t do his first Grand Prix for two years, all of a sudden, he was there.

One of the things that’s toughest about training horses is that training is cumulative. If Einstein’s definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, then horse training is insanity: you pick away at things, address the same little nuances, ask the horse to try and carry himself over and over and over and then, all of a sudden, he can.

Ella and Cleo and Fender didn’t have “That One Day.” They just kept developing, bit by little bit. But for Midge and, last week, for Fiero, the years they’ve logged all came to a head in one beautiful moment.

For Fiero, it was, magically enough, at the show two weekends ago. (What timing, right?) I hopped on, picked up the reins, and there he was. Fiero is also 8.

Like Midge was at the same time, he’s doing the Prix St. Georges, but there’s still pieces of strength and balance and organization that are ongoing in their development. Of course he’s not finished. But That Day, and every day since, he’s given me the kind of feeling I think he’ll give for the rest of his life—up in the bridle, long in the neck, connected and organized, even on the days when he’s tired.

It’s a really incredible feeling, and not just because riding horses that feel like that is pretty dang fun. It’s an incredible feeling because I know I played a role in him, and in Midge, feeling like that, that through diligent and meticulous (and sometimes exhausting and frustrating and backbreaking) work, I helped them find it.

That Day makes all the other days—the days when it stinks, when it’s not so easy, when you swear up and down that you’re doing everything right and you can’t get it right anyway—all worthwhile!

Lauren

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That Boring Thing We Do Before Cross Country

That Boring Thing We Do Before Cross Country

By admin_debbie|2017-02-27T07:41:49-05:00February 25th, 2015|COTH Posts|

As a dressage trainer in Northern Virginia, I teach a lot of event riders. And I mean a LOT. Like my strictly dressage students, they run the gamut—from the grassroots to the international levels, beginner novice at the local combined test to Rolex. Some of them are better at hiding it, and some of them don’t even try, but without fail, they have one thing in common: before they start riding with me, virtually all of them think that dressage is that thing that they have to suffer through before they get to the fun stuff.

I, however, love dressage. No, really. I LOVE it. I dream about it. I’ve loved it since I was 10 years old. It’s not just my job; it’s my passion. It’s my life. And like any proper zealot, I am on a Mission from God: to convert the non-believers.

In a few days I’ll be co-teaching the YRAP (Young Rider Advancement Program) clinic with my friend Skyeler Voss at her Morningside Training Farm in The Plains, Va. If my adult event-rider students are hard sells, convincing youth riders that dressage is worth their time, much less fun, is like the Mission: Impossible. But I fear neither death nor bored teenagers. I will convince them.

Here’s how.

1. Convince them that they’re already doing dressage in their jump lessons. Because they are. There’s Big-D Dressage—the sport where, through diligent and systematic gymnastic training, you do half-passes and leg yields and canter pirouettes and tempi changes—and then there’s little d dressage, where diligent and systematic gymnastic training makes your horse patient, adjustable and elastic.

So when you, Pony Club Penny, are working on making sure your horse goes to the base of the jump instead of taking off from Neptune, that’s dressage. When you work on checking your horse two strides out, and then getting a quick answer after he lands, that’s dressage. When you work on straightness, alignment, balance, engagement? Dressage, dressage, dressage.

2. Show them how they’re more likely to win when they dedicate a little energy to dressage. Look at the score sheet from your last event, Pony Club Penny. Is there a transition you could have done one point better? Could your free walk have been one point looser? A circle one point rounder? Your centerline one point straighter? If those four things are true, you could have had a rail in hand. Every point better you do in dressage is seconds on cross country. Tiny efforts, tiny improvements, add up by a magnitude, and have real-world meaning on the other two phases.

3. Show them that dressage isn’t just boring circles. I think trainers who teach kids well are really creative about finding ways to keep things exciting. It’s a pretty adult concept to stay focused for 45 minutes on something so nuanced as bend, or connection, or trot-canter transitions. Snoozefest.

I give my kid riders really hard, technical, precise exercises, exercises with a tangible victory. Do a 10-meter circle. Count the number of steps your horse takes. Now do another one in that many steps, plus one. Then add another step. Then add another. Or on a 20-meter circle, do transitions between gaits every 10 steps. Now do a transition every eight steps. Now every six. Or make a six-loop serpentine. Now make seven loops. Now make eight. Now do them only quarterline to quarterline.

They won’t be bored.

4. Finally, call their bluff. You’re such a good rider that you don’t need to focus on your dressage, eh? Then I bet you are a better rider than any of these people: William Fox-Pitt, who gave an amazing clinic at Morningside a while back I had the pleasure of auditing, and who spent much of the first day picking apart every tiny nuance of some very exceptional riders’ flatwork. Ingrid Klimke, who’s made many international-caliber Grand Prix dressage horses. Michael Jung, who sits so beautifully he looks like he could be an Olympic dressage rider for any country in the world, including his own, who’ve won more team medals than any other. And on, and on, and on.

And think about this: because I am diligent and focused about my dressage, as long as I could make it around cross country without hyperventilating (which, admittedly, isn’t out of the realm of possibility), I’d probably beat them at an event. Seriously—a wimp-ass like me would probably kick your butt at novice, Pony Club Penny. Do you want to get beat by a wimp-ass? I didn’t think so.

Look out, kids of the YRAP program, and beyond. This zealot is coming for you, preaching the gospel of Dressage, bringing the word of Our Lord Half Halt to the masses. And you’re going to love it.

Lauren

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