Oh Danny Boy

**NOTE** I wrote this post RIGHT after the show and saved in anticipating adding video - sorry, I'm just not going to get around to posting the video. Besides, it was only about 30 secs before the battery died!

Well, Danny had his first ever Dressage show on Sunday. The good news is that he is DEFINITELY a dressage horse. The bad news is that we need to develop a better prep plan because he was NOT the same horse at the show that he is at home. This is okay though - I just need to know that and be able to plan for it. The fact that he was clipped earlier this week and it was like 27 degrees when I got to the farm did not help things I'm sure!



We went for a lesson on Friday and he was out of the world fabulous. My trainer rode him for the first 1/2 of the lesson. I thought it would be good for her to feel what he does and good for him to get a really good school with correct aids. Lastly I thought it would be easier for me once she set him up. I was right on that plan on all counts. She was able to make him move like I have never seen him move before - I actually had chills at one point. It reaffirmed my thoughts that this is really his destiny. After a while of watching I was really getting antsy to get on. In my head I was thinking - ok, my turn...that's good can I try...come on come on me now , me now. She FINALLY gave him back to me and it was great. He was soft, supple and forward. It was so cool to get a connection and feel his back just springing along. I left feeling really prepared for our first show in 2 days.



I had been having second thoughts that maybe it was too soon - mayby we weren't really ready. If Danny was my own horse I wouldn't care so much, but I'm riding him for his owner. He is for sale and it is my responsibility to make sure he is prepared to be successful. So I had some reservations - was he REALLY ready? Did I choose the correct tests (T-2 and T-3)? Could I actually pull this off? You have to keep on mind - Danny is 8 - sometimes he has the attention span of a 4 year old. He was broken and only ridden by his owner for his whole life. All he really knows is how the huunters go. He had been turned out for a WHOLE YEAR until I started riding him in January. Basically, he has only been back in work for about 10 weeks and he is being asked to do things that he has never been asked to do before. So, not too much pressure right??

Tack Sale

The Somerset County 4H Association is holding its annual tack sale THIS WEEK...

Location: Somerset County 4H Center 310 Milltown Road Bridgewater, NJ

Sale Dates:
March 20th 6-10pm
March 21st 9-1pm

Anyone wishing to sell tack...

All items must be clean and in safe condition

Bring Items to 4H Center
Wed March 18th - 6-10pm
Thur March 19th 9-1pm

All items not sold must be picked up by 2pm pn March 21st
Consignment fee 20%

Additional Info 908-526-1510
732-469-6295 after 5pm

He's a Rock Star!

I mentioned in my first update that I have been given a great opportunity to ride a really nice horse for someone. This is really an unbelievable opportunity because Danny is a really nice horse and this isn't costing me anything other than lessons and showing expenses. AND, the lessons are with my dressage trainer, not someone picked by Danny's owner.



So here is the low down. Mr. D is an 8 yr old KWPN/TB cross from the Concord/Voltaire line. He is a nice big boy toppping out at 16.3 1/2, and a nice mover. He has a wonderful puppy-dog personality and is really very quiet. His problem? He does not like the jumps. In fact, he is convinced that they will eat him. SO....if the jumps will eat you, it makes it difficult to be a show hunter. The solution? Dressage. That's where I come in being the resident DQ at a all hunter/eq barn.



Danny's owner is a top level adult eq rider. She is consistently #1 in our zone and #3 in the country. She horse shows - A LOT - to keep this rank. When Danny decided he was no longer going to entertain her ideas of a hunter for him, she literally "turned him out" and put him at a farm on pasture board for the rest of the show season so she could concentrate on her eq horse. So there he sat, and sat, and sat. All the while eating lush grass and getting fat! The only problem is that Danny is a "people horse". He LOVES attention and LOVES people. While he had pasture buddies, he did not like being away from people. He would harass the poor farm owner at the pasture farm by standing over him as he tried to do fence maintenance, or follow him around when he was throwing hay. Mr. Farm owner felt threatened by this and sent Danny home from "camp" in December (stupid horse). There was now a perfectly nice horse to ride - that NEEDED to be ridden and to find a job - and me, a horseless rider.



D and I have been together now since the first week of January and things have been going well. He has good basics which makes things easy. AND, he generally like having a job and seems VERY happy with he career change. He's clueless sometimes, but a quick study and things have been great. We went for out first lesson with my trainer a few weeks ago and she really liked him. She said we were a well matched and competent pair. She was also able to help me get some really decent work out of him - much more than I get at home. By the end of the lesson we were both exhausted!



This past week, it seems like we took a step backwards. I know, this happens with horses, but I was starting to get REALLY frustrated. I find it more stressful when it is someone else's horse. I feel the need to show that I am always doing a god job and moving him forward. The ultimate goal is to get him in a really nice place and sell him for a nice chunk of change so I do feel a little pressure - imposed strictly by myself - not at all from the owner - but I still feel it. This week I felt like everything was just a fight and the problems were not going away. I was starting to worry that maybe he was too much horse for me.



While discussing this with my friend, she said that she finally figured "it" out with her horse and that she wanted to come try it with Danny to see if it worked on other horses. She came out today. OMG - At first it was ugly - I mean REALLY ugly. Danny was MAD, his stuck his nose in the air, swished his tail and just refused to give in. Now, in this situation I would have said - "oh buddy, what's the matter you don't like this, here how about if I ask this way?" and he would have gotten away with being a butt. Not this time. my friend took up the contact put her hands in one place and put her leg on - and on and on until he finally figured it out to just accept the contact. Surprisingly, the resistance only lasted for about 5 minutes. It seemed like an eternity to me. I was starting to wonder how long I should let it go on before I stepped in - after all, if she really pissed him off, it would be ME who would have to fix it! But seriously, 5 minutes - maybe 7 tops and then this GORGEOUS dressage horse emerged! He was straight, he was supple, he was forward and he was in the contact. I usually get some of these things, but usually not all at the same time! This was amazing and he looked great.



I got on and by now the resistance was totally gone so all I had to do was look pretty - it was great. All of our issues were gone! We have been having a sticky right lead problem - not today. He has been bulgy and a little unbalanced - not today. It was SO exciting. There is a REALLY great dressage horse in there. I just need to learn how to bring it out!

Could this one the THE ONE?

Molly tried a pony last week that just wasn't a match - oh well. It was a good experience for her to get on something new and she what it threw at her. The pony was actually a little rude, but Molly kept her cool and really acted like a pro (especially for a 9 year old!). She did a great job riding it but it was obvious this just wasn't for her. Plus, it was at the top of our budget so in my mind it had better be nice!

Yesterday we tried another. I really had no expectations since the ad had no picture and no video - great, we could be going out to see a half lame, horrible mover and ugly to boot. However, I googled the farm - the website looked pretty respectable and I was familiar with the shows they attend so I crossed my fingers and off we went.

The pony was actually pretty cute. He is quite green, but sensible, a good mover, and good jumper. He had a nice little attitude and was really good about the jumps. Of course, as soon as we walked in I thought he looked a little off (ok maybe more than a little - he was kind of head bobbing off) but there were a lot of factors going on here I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Molly got on and rode pretty much like a sack of potatoes. I did not think this guy liked you to hang on his face, but Molly rode around with reins a mile too long. He didn't seem to care. Molly's stirrups were too long so her balance was all over the place - he didn't seem to care. He wasn't perfect - he needs work. He is inside out, a bit inverted and he gets a little quick. But I think he has a very kind attitude and when we finally did get Molly situated right and she put him together a bit he was VERY cute. He will not be something she can go out and horseshow on next weekend, but by the summer we should have something workable for the show ring (if we take him).

So here are the pro's for this one - Molly wanted to take him home as soon as we were done. He is a nice mover, a nice jumper and a nice attitude. He is also CHEAP (in horse terms) I think he can be flipped for nice money with a little work. We can take him on trial.

The con's - 1. WE NEED TO SELL TREENIE FIRST 2. He is green 3. He needs work

I think it is worth taking him on trial. We can see how he is and how much he progresses in a week. My concern is what if we really like him at the end of the week and we still have nothing happening on Treenie? Do I send him back and hope he doesn't get sold in the meantime? Can I send him back and ask for a right of first refusal? I'm kind of hoping we take him and then don't really like him because then - problem solved right? Oh boy, it's times like these when I really wish we did some other sport - like running!

The Saint and the "aint"

We showed Treenie to our first prospective buyers today - she was a SAINT and the kid actually rode her pretty well for a beginner. If these people are really interested, it would definitely be a good match.

After the "showing" I went on to ride Danny. As I said Trennie was a saint - Danny, not so much. This poor boy is eight with the attention span of a 4 year old and today was a particularly bad ADHD day. Of course, being so beautiful out I had to ride outside, but that only gave him more cause to look around and pay attention to anything but me! Riding outside also means riding around JUMPS. D really doesn't like jumps - at all. At one point I was just cantering a simple circle near one of the jumps and he literally jumped off the outside rein, did a flying lead change and bulged in the opposite direction. Well, at least he's athletic? We are officially signed up for a show on the 22nd - I hope we can stay in the ring!

I am thinking that he may benefit from some type of supplement to help him focus - I think B-1 is about the only thing out there - it is also supposed to have some calming benefits. He's not hot, but a little edgy - normally if he is unsure about something he will back off my leg (if he can't climb into my lap first) but today he was just strong and obnoxious. Oh well, I'll chalk it up to spring fever and run out for some B-1 - it certainly can't hurt!

FINALLY - An Update!

I admit it - I am a bad blogger! I love to read the blogs I follow and actually get annoyed when they are not updated in a few days. But as a blogger, I am the pits and probably totally annoying to the few followers I do have. I apologize. I promise to try to be a more frequent poster this year. How about once a week - at least?

That said, there are actually several updates to report...

1. Thanks to everyone who left messages, called and/or sent e-mails about Lexi. Your kind words of sympathy and encouragement really meant a lot to me (I'm getting teary writing this) and helped me get through a really tough time. I was having his portrait drawn by the same girl who did Treenie's and wouldn't you know it she finished it up right after Christmas - how is that for timing. Now all I have to do is get is framed and he can complete the "wall of fame" in my living room! This gal is an art student in NYC - she is VERY reasonable (like around $200). She is hoping to pick up some consignments for the summer - I will gladly pass along her info!

2. Molly finished out the year with several year end awards. She was 6th at one show series where we went to 1/2 of the shows, 4th at our local h/j assoc. AND the big one - Champion of the Intro Starter Rider division for Dressage and she was given the award for Up and Coming Dressage Rider!! This was a total surprise to us and of course she was in the bathroom when they presented the award - Oh well!

3. Molly has officially moved up to the short stirrup division for this show year - I guess this blog should really be "Adventures in Short Stirrups" now - oh wait - I'm not sure if we're staying in this division. What's that you say - you can't go back once you move up?? Of course not silly - Molly definitely will not go back to the mini's - however, she may end up not doing the full year in the short stirrups but moving to the pre-children's hunters. More on that later - maybe a post for next week??

4. We have decided to sell Treenie so that Molly can move up to a med or large pony. It has been pretty apparent that Treenie, as cute as she is, may not be competitive (aka Fancy) enough for the other divisions. And, Molly is starting to outgrow her. We will probably be able to squeeze this season out of her, but that's about it. So, she is officially for sale - she has an ad on Dream Horse for now and we have several people looking at her. Molly went and tried a large pony this week, but it wasn't for her so the search is on!!

5. I have been given an unbelievable opportunity to train and campaign a really cool horse for the gal who runs Molly's barn. She has a KWPN/TB that she has owned since he was 2. He has VERY respectable bloodlines and she had hoped he would become her Adult Amateur horse. Unfortunately, a 7, he made it clear to her that he REALLY did not like the jumps so a hunter/eq career was not in his future. As a result, we agreed that I would ride and campaign him as a dressage horse this season and hopefully turn him into a nice dressage horse for an amateur. Again- more on this in later blogs. In short, things are going extremely well - he is super sweet, and seems to love his new job. I took him for our first lesson with my dressage trainer and she really liked him. I am really hopeful for the season with this one! I'll post video soon - need to download from my camera first.

So, I should have a lot to write about now - new divisions, new horses, new opportunities. Stay tuned because this may turn out to be a wild whirlwind of a season for us!

Remembering Lexi

I had planned to wrap up the last posts of the year with a "Year In Review" theme - you know, look back at how far Molly has come and all that she has accomplished. However, although this is supposed to be a post about Molly, I have suffered a huge heartbreak with my horse and feel that I need to dedicate this post to him.

As most of my readers already know, I ride as well as Molly, my horse, Lexi, was given to me a few years ago by a friend of a friend sort of thing. I had just sold another horse and happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Lexi turned out to be everything I was looking for and then some. While I wasn't sure about his "color" at the time and I couldn't even try him because he was missing 3 shoes and had the 4th hanging on by a prayer, I took him home anyway based on word of mouth. I gave him a bath, and put shoes on as quickly as I could get a blacksmith out. When I was finally able to try him about 3 days later, I knew from the first few steps that he was the horse for me. We walked, trotted and cantered around the ring like we had been together for ages and he was SO comfortable!

Lexi the first day I got him - after his bath!

I think I got him in the last week of September or first week of October - there was just enough time to send in entries for the last show of the season - I needed 3 more scores to get my GMO Bronze Medal - I figured why not - I may only get one or two of the scores but since we were there why not try for all three. So that was the plan - enter T-2, T-3, and T-4 and see what happens. Lexi was a children's hunter, not a dressage horse - the whole "round" thing was a bit of a mystery to him but he was a good sport about it and pretty non phased by any new challenge I presented to him. The show was on the last weekend of October - the foliage was perfect. I thought - well, at least I may get some nice pictures out of this. The wind however was something that would have sent Dorothy looking for Toto! Fortunately, I did not need a reader because it would have been impossible to hear - also, the wind was blowing at you full force head on as you marched down center line. This turned out to be good for us because Lexi kept his head down in order to forge ahead into the wind. Our tests were respectable - especially for a horse that had never been in a dressage ring before. The scores were all posted at the same time - T-2 - go it T-3 got it T-4.....oh wait there is an error - we have to re do some of these....Oh come on - you're killing me! Finally the corrected scores were posted and we got all 3 scores above 60%! Not much above 60, but who cares - all I needed were 60's! I had done it, I had earned a bronze medal - and I completed it on a horse with virtually no dressage training who I had had for less than a month! That was it, I was totally in love- head over heels, hook line and sinker - you name it.

No matter what I asked of him - Lexi gave it an honest effort. He was generally interested and curious about new things - like eventing. This horse missed his calling in life. He was an absolute saint on the trails and he LOVED to jump. Eventing was a natural for him. He would literally drag me through water! He never refused a jump - he would raise his head and wiggle from side to side as if to say "Mom are you sure we want to jump THAT?" but as long as I kept him straight and kept my leg on him he would go (yes, Lexi - we're jumping that). I even won my first event with him!

In November of 2007 Lexi broke his hip - no one knows exactly what happened, but he was turned out fine and came him "Barbaro" lame - actually he wouldn't even come in - it took a while for the gals at the barn to coax him in. When he finally did come, he got as far as the indoor and that was it - I arrived about 10 min after they called me to find him standing in the middle of the indoor, shaking and dripping in sweat - he was miserable and I was scared. Because the orthopedist at the clinic thought he had a good prognosis (it was basically the race horse "knocked down hip") she suggest stall rest for 12 weeks and then hand walking etc. We did it and he came back - not exactly good as new, but he was pain free and relatively sound (did I mention that he was 20!). By April of 2008 he was back in regular work - although I had pretty much cut out any jumping. We were working on our 1st level freestyle!

Lexi and I showed the whole season this year and we had a great time - we even snuck out to go cross country a few times with Molly and my best friend - maybe a little jumping would be okay - it was certainly good for his mind. We are 1st level MF Champions for one of my associations this year - what a great year! Because we were basically limited to flatwork, I also tried a little side saddle over the summer - I love the idea, but boy was it hard! Again, present Lexi with a challenge and he stepped up to the plate! He was a very confused boy - "I'm going to keep drifting left Mom because I think you're falling off!" We only did a few lessons, but we did it - together.

I got the "dreaded" call on Thanksgiving morning (2008) from the farm - I wasn't even out of bed yet. The message said that Lexi was dragging his left hind leg - uh oh - not good - that's the same side as the hip. But it can't be the same thing again. Because it was Thanksgiving I had them give him bute and put him on stall rest.

My vet was with me in that it couldn't be the same thing again - he must have twisted something, or aggravated it etc. He took x-rays of everything that he could and prescribed a muscle relaxer, stall rest and hand walking. Unfortunately, almost 2 weeks later and he was no better - in fact, I thought he was worse. I called the vet again in total panic (I have never hyper ventilated but I did that day). He came out took more xrays and then called the orthopedist for a consult - it was apparent that is was the hip again and it was serious. Lexi's prognosis for a satisfactory recovery was "0" - we could try to let it heal to see if he would be pasture sound but his athletic career was over. Additionally, there was a very grave concern that he could go down in his stall and not be able to get up. My vet said that he would support me in any decision so I should think about which way I wanted to go and call him. Thank God my best friend was there with me. My other friend had been waiting with us drinking coffee until the vet got there - you gotta love horse friends - they're always there when you need them! I thought about things for the next day, talked to my friends and finally forced myself to text my vet - I couldn't even talk to him - it was time to let Lexi go. I hoped and prayed all weekend for a miraculous recovery, but in my heart I knew that we would not get lucky twice.

So this morning, I let Lexi go - I hope that he is pain free and in peace. He was so good to everyone he came in contact with. Even in death, he was a champ - no drama, I'm okay Mom. I will miss him immensely - I have never know a horse like him.

Be at peace my sweet boy - I will always remember you