Horses like Elvis, and like Ellegria, and Dorian Gray, and Fiero, are unbelievably wonderful to train. They have their hiccups and misunderstandings along the way, but they’re generous of heart and mind, and talented of body and limb; they soak up the education presented to them like a sponge, and they make their way up the levels, and that’s that. It’s hard. Of course it’s hard. But it’s relatively linear. On a gifted and kind horse, you rarely despair. It’s great fun. I highly recommend it.

Then there are the Pucks. The Midges. The Fenders. The ones whose bodies, or minds, or both, aren’t always on your side. The ones who, at least for a time, do not care who you are, or what your credentials are, or how fair or methodical or correct you are; they do what they want. And what they want is absolutely, unequivocally NOT what you want.

Getting those ding dongs on your side is time consuming, exhausting, occasionally scary, and will fill you with doubt. There are times where it is sheer misery. And I freaking love it.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

A few years ago, in the midst of a spat with disaster-fatigue-induced depression, I had the word “grit” tattooed on my left wrist. I adore it, I adore the meaning behind it, and I look at it often for comfort.

I don’t think it would surprise anyone to hear that I’ve needed a little grit lately, because I think we all have. This is one of those times where a whole lot of awfulness is beyond our control, and we’re just going to have to bear it a while. And I know I’m not alone when I say that I’m just freaking tired of it. It’s exhausting. And since I’m not a molecular scientist, and since I already wear my mask and don’t go anywhere, and since I’m already registered to vote, there’s no action I can personally take to make any of this take less long. So I’m at my limit.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse.

I don’t believe in editing my work. Or second drafts. If you’re reading a blog of mine, there’s an overwhelming possibility that it was a one-hit-wonder, something I banged out in one sitting, ran quickly through spell check, and sent off to my editors. Boom, done. But I’ve written and rewritten this blog about five times now. Is it because goodbyes are so hard, and there’s so much I want to say about my amazing friend, Beverley Thomas? Maybe. But mostly it’s because I’m still not ready. I thought we’d have so, so much more time.

In 2013, I received an email from a woman about training for her horse. She said she was older, had bought a young horse, and that her current trainer was doing the lion’s share of the riding, but she wanted to ride the horse more herself. I was braced for disaster, but the horse was a treasure, one of the best-tempered animals I’ve ever encountered. And the lady was perfectly capable of riding him. So into my program came a horse named Fiero, and his owner, Beverley Thomas. It was the beginning of a friendship the likes of which I’ve rarely known, and one I figured would carry on until time stood still.

But two weeks ago, after not hearing from Bev in two days, we drove to her home to check on her and found her unconscious. She passed away last Thursday. It’s just impossible to believe that this bright, ferocious force of a person is gone. But she’s gone.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse.

I don’t believe in editing my work. Or second drafts. If you’re reading a blog of mine, there’s an overwhelming possibility that it was a one-hit-wonder, something I banged out in one sitting, ran quickly through spell check, and sent off to my editors. Boom, done. But I’ve written and rewritten this blog about five times now. Is it because goodbyes are so hard, and there’s so much I want to say about my amazing friend, Beverley Thomas? Maybe. But mostly it’s because I’m still not ready. I thought we’d have so, so much more time.

In 2013, I received an email from a woman about training for her horse. She said she was older, had bought a young horse, and that her current trainer was doing the lion’s share of the riding, but she wanted to ride the horse more herself. I was braced for disaster, but the horse was a treasure, one of the best-tempered animals I’ve ever encountered. And the lady was perfectly capable of riding him. So into my program came a horse named Fiero, and his owner, Beverley Thomas. It was the beginning of a friendship the likes of which I’ve rarely known, and one I figured would carry on until time stood still.

But two weeks ago, after not hearing from Bev in two days, we drove to her home to check on her and found her unconscious. She passed away last Thursday. It’s just impossible to believe that this bright, ferocious force of a person is gone. But she’s gone.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse.

After the relative ease of running a schooling show at our own farm a few weeks ago, my team and I decided to brave the first recognized dressage show in Virginia: Dressage At Lexington, a big, long and prestigious show that normally marks the end of our summer competition season. This year it was the beginning, and it meant hot weather and a bit of anxiety about competition rust, not to mention, um, COVID.

But with good judgement, fantastic facility and competition management, and a clear plan in place, we had an extraordinary show. Here’s what we learned.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

Elvis came to me with an incomplete understanding of how to really bridge the hind legs to the bridle while keeping them quick. He also had a fair bit of anxiety about the piaffe. I did my homework, focusing on quickening those beautiful floaty hind legs of his, making him really connect his ends and not getting caught up in the fancy expressive “show trot” that was his particular proclivity. I did such a good job that I absolutely killed his expression. (Naturally, by the way, this process finished up right as I was entering my first CDIs. Oopsie.) I focused so hard on keeping the hind legs quick that I quickened him right into shuffling.

I got some good help in Florida about reintroducing the idea of expression in a more correct way, but then I panicked again when at home on my own and overdid it, creating a lot of loft but too much slowness. I knew I was going askew, and I started letting my own emotions into the training, which did not help.

Enter my assistant trainer Jess Idol, watching quietly from the side, who pulled me aside and, with exceptional politeness, said “So… can I have him for a few days?” Elvis doesn’t belong to her, and she feels no urgency to get it done. She quietly set about re-establishing the rules and Elvis’ understanding. And in two days, she’d done more than I’d done in a month. Does she have superpowers? Am I a bad rider? Of course not. But he doesn’t belong to her. And her perspective isn’t tainted by years of time together.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

Here in Virginia, the governor’s plan had been to release us from the stay-at-home order on June 10. So with bated breath, we all watched to see what would happen to the show local to us scheduled for the weekend of June 13-14. It was canceled. The next available outing within a reasonable driving distance would have been mid-July, and the next one that we could have hauled into would have been weeks after that.

Please understand that my team and I absolutely respect our various organizations’ decisions to run or not run their shows and understand they have to work with state rules and officials. We agree with all of the vital safety requirements put forth by the U.S. Equestrian Federation, by the Commonwealth of Virginia, etc. We love science; we hate the coronavirus; get ‘er done. But we also love showing and hate not having goals. So I looked at my team and said, “Screw it, let’s hold one ourselves.”

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

Barns are reopening their doors, clinics are being scheduled, and shows are starting to creep back onto the calendar. But whether showing is a thing you’re going to participate in or not, and whether you’re a beginner or an international level rider, there’s a huge opportunity to make the most of time out of the show ring and practice basic skills. I had Olivia Lagoy-Weltz, Katherine Bateson-Chandler, Sabine Schut-Kery and Becca Hart on my little Virtual Cocktail Party show recently, and I asked them what they were up to with their horses, with so much up in the air on their Olympic trajectories. The things they talked about resonated not just with me, as someone working towards their level, but also as someone who teaches riders of all levels.

Here are some questions we all should be addressing, from green to Grand Prix.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

It might be June, or it might be July, or it might be 2021, but eventually, horse shows are going to become a thing that we all can resume doing. But how to do so safely, in this new world order? Some day a vaccine will become available to the masses, but it won’t be anytime soon. So we’ve got a while between when the world starts to reopen, and when the world’s citizens are rendered safe from this virus by science. 

“How to reopen” is a question the whole world is asking, not just horse folks. Bowling alleys, football stadiums, clothing boutiques; everyone and everything has a set of challenges ahead. We’re lucky, we in the horse world, that much of our lives, both in practice and in competition, are spent outside.

But not all of it. The U.S. Equestrian Federation’s recent town hall meeting addressed some of the concerns on how to reopen shows, but there’s more ground to cover, as USEF officials pointed out, and they’re crafting rule changes and lists of best practices to guide all of us as we emerge into the world again. I can only speak from the dressage show perspective, but here are a few ways we could address those indoor and close-proximity challenges, to bring horse shows back to the world in as safe a way as possible.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!

How do we keep going in these crazy times? Shows are on hold. Many barns have closed. Clinics are canceling. Some things about life are frozen in time, but not all: We want to keep learning, stay inspired and see other humans. So how can we do so? The internet.

A source of so much negativity and nonsense, the internet still rules for its power for good. Here are a few ways to use it wisely:

1. Virtual Lessons

These have been a thing since long before the coronavirus, but the technology is not foolproof. Still, it’s out there, and you can make it work. A few ways to do so:

– If you’re lucky enough to have a Pixem (and it WORKS; they are a little tricky, particularly in indoors), you connect it to your phone, connect to the internet, and connect to your trainer of choice. Boom, done.

– If you don’t, you’ll need a cameraman and an app like Skype or FaceTime. Your camera holder “calls” your instructor, and off you go.

When I’ve tried it, I’ve found that it works best if the rider wears a Bluetooth headphone of some sort, so they can hear me rather than trying to crank up the volume on the cameraphone. And that means that your camera probably needs to be in the middle of your arena, so you’re not too far from it, lest said Bluetooth headphones disconnect (a dressage arena is quite a bit longer than the average Bluetooth range!). If you’re shopping for headphones, look for something with “Class 1” Bluetooth, which goes farther than the typical “Class 2.” And if you’re really stuck or really need to have the whole arena, use a second phone: one for video and one in your pocket to call.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!