If you are in Southern Maryland or the surrounding area and are looking for fun things to do with your horse, check out Southern Maryland Equestrian.
I wanted to take a moment to introduce a new resource to riders in Southern Maryland. Southern Maryland Equestrian (https://sites.google.com/site/southernmarylandequestrian/home) is a new website run by my friend, Diane, who is frequently featured in this blog. For a few years, Diane had posted a schedule of shows and dates for events around Southern Maryland on a local forum. She recently set up this information in website form. It includes dates for hunter shows, dressage shows, events, hunter paces, etc and a page of useful links.
If you are in Southern Maryland or the surrounding area and are looking for fun things to do with your horse, check out Southern Maryland Equestrian.
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I’ve been pretty quiet here on HJC blog for a while now. This tends to happen when I get busy with un-horse-related things and activities (all good though). I’ve gotten a chance to do some fun horsey things too. In October, my friends Julie, Susan, Diane and I traveled to Elkton, Maryland to spectate at Fair Hill International CCI ** and CCI***. I grew up in Northern Delaware, only a few miles from Fair Hill, so watching the event has been a tradition for me even though I’m not an eventer. My friends on the other hand, are all eventers. They competed in a starter trial at Fair Hill in the fall, although they had never been to the three star competition. We had a great time. I saw the event from a new perspective this year having learned much more about eventing after supporting my friends at their competitions. I even jump judged at the Marlborough Horse Trials this year. I also found myself studying the “questions” on the course more strategically this year, thinking about and comparing the tracks and striding chosen over the obstacles by each rider. I’m pretty sure that this was from Holly’s influence on my riding. We watched the cross country and the stadium jumping. My respect for the triathletes of the equine world was renewed watching these horses. Their versatility, conditioning, and boldness is remarkable. The cross country and stadium courses were demanding and nearly everyone made mistakes in one or both stages. There were some gasps from the crowd in stadium when a couple of horses bungled the “in jump” of combinations and struggled to make the “out.” It was impressive to watch the horses and riders extricate themselves from these sticky situations. The phrase “getting it done” comes to mind. While the audience was holding it’s collective breath, the riders kept on riding, stayed on and got away. They typically did this with only four jump faults for the debacle, even though the jump was demolished. Although the cross country courses for the two star and three star looked challenging and two or three riders came off in the two star, nobody got seriously hurt this year, which was great. In the end Boyd Martin won the three star for the second time on Ying Yang Yo. Boyd Martin trains out of Philip Dutton’s True Prospect Farm in West Grove, PA which is near Fair Hill. He and Dutton are local heroes of sorts. Martin, a member of the US Equestrian Team, recently suffered a personal and professional tragedy when 6 of 11 horses residing in his barn were killed in a massive fire. It was great to witness another career high for Martin on his home turf. Also at Fair Hill, there were Shetland pony races as well as a championship Pony Club games rally, which were almost as exciting as the advanced eventing! After having some wine, a few of my friends took great pleasure in harassing the cute Irish Dubarry rep. It was great fun for us (not sure about for him). At least in the end one of them bought some boots. A week later, we also hosted our first in barn show of the season at Woodbury Equestrian Center in Leonardtown, Maryland. We are hosting a winter series of three schooling shows this year complete with end of year prizes. We worked very hard to paint and repair all of the jumps prior to the show. Our barn owner, Ricky, worked tirelessly to improve the footing in our outdoor ring. The ring and courses looked great and the show was a great success. We hope that it continues to grow in size. Patrick and I competed successfully in the 2’6” hunter and equitation divisions and then Julie took him in a couple of 3’ rounds. He was on all day. He missed maybe three spots out of about 50 jumps for the day and got down the lines every time. He was great and showed his butt off. The only issue we had was when the costume class entered the ring. I was holding Patrick at the rail as horses marched in dressed as a panda, a giraffe, and a carousel horse, to name a few. Patrick watched with interest. The trouble started when my friend Diane’s horse, Lincoln, entered the ring dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Let me paint the picture for you; 17h paint draft cross with a 3’ top hat, a beard and a blanket bearing the presidential seal, while being led by a woman dressed as a secret service agent as the audience hummed “Hail to the Chief.” This was all a bit much for Patrick. His heart started beating so hard that I could see it pounding through his chest. I had to take him 100’ away and try to distract him while the class finished up. He managed not to panic, but he was very concerned and pranced in circles uncharacteristically. I am so glad I didn’t try to dress him up as a Leprechaun or something. He probably could have caused quite a scene in the class! This past weekend, Diane, Julie, Julie’s sister, Kate, and I went on a trail ride. Julie and Diane insisted that we “go fast.” So it was agreed that Diane would ride Patrick who is somewhat green for out-of-ring activities while I rode her confirmed eventer/fox hunter Lincoln (of costume class fame). Julie rode a training project, and a former fox hunter was borrowed for Kate, who hadn’t been on a horse in a while. Kate and I noticed, once we got going, that we had both been strapped into protective vests, placed on reliable “granny horses” and give “the big bits.” I had Mr. Pelham while she had Mr. Gag. Touché. The trail ride went smoothly. All horses were good. It was a fast paced ride. Patrick put his head down and shook it on the first trot. That’s a dirty pony trick of his that we have seen before, but he proceeded to be good thereafter. I was proud of him because that trail ride would have been awfully exciting to most horses that hadn’t done it much. A few more miles, and I think I’ll be able to ride him out myself without fear of going splat. That’s my hope anyway! I was also proud of myself. I have not been on a ride that exciting in probably ten years at least, but I survived, and you know what? It was fun.
As readers who follow this blog know, my coach has been Holly Stello for over a year now, ever since I moved to Southern Maryland. Originally, Holly lived in our area and trained out of two local barns, one of which was the barn where I ride. Several months ago, Holly and her husband relocated about an hour’s drive north of our area, but she continued to teach lessons 1-2 days a week at our barn. More recently, Holly got an offer she couldn’t refuse. She was asked to manage a farm in her new area and accepted. Unfortunately for me, the new commitment means that she can’t continue making the weekly drive to Southern Maryland to train and teach lessons. I know that both of us wish that I could continue training with Holly regularly, but we realize it’s not in the cards right now. Holly is my friend as well as my trainer, and we have a great relationship on both levels. Of course, I wish her success in her new position, but admit that I will with miss our weekly lessons with her while she gets her program started up north! We have already discussed the possibility of working together at some shows, and I’m willing to bet that she’ll come visit us down south once things are settled at the new farm. This change meant that I needed a new trainer to help Patrick and I continue progressing on a weekly basis. Luckily, I already knew the perfect person. Her name is Julie Devine. She is a friend and a well-known trainer locally. She started riding hunters as a child and did a little bit of “A” showing while in her high school equestrian program at Chatham Hall. The basics of her riding are George Morris-influenced. She is a firm, but forward and sympathetic rider. This style has served her well throughout her career, particularly in her work with young horses. She rode IHSA in college and was the captain of her team at Kenyon College. She also became intrigued with eventing during college, and began competing in the discipline. She’s been a working student for Missy and Jessica Ransehousen, who are international event and dressage riders, respectively. Jessica served for many years as the chef d'equip of the US Dressage Olympic team. Julie also worked for the Woodlands pony farm in Virginia where she trained the young stock. Julie is known in these parts as the go-to trainer for young and problem horses. She fixes horse problems that other people say can’t be solved. She’s exceptionally brave and strong for her size. She has evented her aptly named baby thoroughbred, Shakey Man, through training level successfully, and they are just getting started. One of Julie’s most interesting recent projects was a petite, rescued thoroughbred mare named Annie. Despite being almost 12, Annie had not been ridden in years and most trainers seemed to think that she wouldn’t add up to much, proclaiming the mare to be too hot and difficult. But unlike the trainers before her, Julie believed in Annie and had a job in mind for her. Within a couple weeks of working with the mare, Julie had her jumping confidently and learning dressage despite the fact that Annie had no experience in either discipline. Julie worked her magic, pulling out all the stops, from her Morrisian riding techniques to the natural horsemanship techniques of Buck Brannaman. Fast forward a couple months. Annie is a winning beginner novice eventer and a cross country machine with potential to do more. With Julie’s help, the once jobless mare was sold to a wonderful home with a young event rider.
In addition to possessing some serious riding and training skills, Julie is an all-around great horse woman. She spent about a year as the manager of our 27 stall boarding barn before resigning to take a job in her degree field as a counselor for troubled youth. Let’s just say that those psychology skills will probably come in handy while teaching my lessons! For my friends and me, she remains the go-to person for all questions about horse management. So, I am looking forward to working with Julie. I think that her hunter-turned-eventer background is going to be helpful. I love the precision of the hunters but respect the “gallop on and don’t sweat the small stuff” mentality of the eventers. I think that Patrick and I can benefit from an infusion of this mentality into our hunter rounds. As always, we’ll let you know how we’re doing. I had the great pleasure last week of auditing a clinic with George Morris at Persimmon Tree Farm in Westminster, Maryland. Holly was there too. She audited all three days as part of the USHJA trainer certification program while I came on the second day only. Most of my readers will probably know who George Morris is and how he is significant to our sport. If you are a rider and don’t know who George Morris is, or you’ve heard of him but don’t really understand what he has done, it is worthwhile to look him up. He didn’t exactly invent the sport of hunter/jumper riding in this country, but no one has done more than him to shape modern hunter/jumper riding in the United States. The way he has done this, I believe, is by being a great teacher who has produced many great teachers. Because he has created many good teachers, his style has spread like wildfire throughout the hunter/jumper community. Oddly, many of the concepts Morris taught at the clinic and his way of going about schooling horse and rider were familiar to me even though I’ve never seen the man before in my life. The reason was that most of my long-term instructors, were trained in the Morrissian style. In fact, I think that most of the quality instructors in this country were trained in the same way, if not by Morris himself, then by his students.
It’s also worth mentioning that Morris basically wrote the bible of hunter seat equitation. It’s called, not surprisingly, “Hunter Seat Equitation.” I have had a copy since I was a kid and read it cover to cover at least three times, going back to reference certain sections when I need them. If you don’t own a copy, I highly suggest that you get yourself on Amazon.com and buy one tonight! It is the only book on equitation I own, and quite frankly, the only one I need. I watched about six hours of teaching at this clinic, so I’ll just try to relay what I think were the key take home messages. Morris placed a tremendous emphasis in all three groups he taught on impulsion and forward motion. Without impulsion, he said, you have nothing. One of the exercises he set was a two stride to a three stride with a wide triple bar as the first jump, then a single, then a square oxer. The jumps were set on a horse show step (35’ to 47’). He wanted the horses to really gallop forward. He despises the backward, sleepy rides of the modern hunter ring. He explained that soft arms make a good distance at the jumps. He encouraged riders to push their horses forward through the turn and then soften their arms so not to hinder the horse in finding a distance. And if a spot was wrong? Well, he said “make a decision and live with it.” Even if the spot was too long or short, he wanted riders to be decisive and follow through. The rider must produce the pace to the jump, but the horse must learn to be self-sufficient at the jump. Morris did not want to see riders continually picking at their horses in front of the fence. Rather, he wanted the rider to set the horse up with a good pace and track, but it was the horse’s job to actually jump the fence and the rider’s job to go with him. Also about finding distances Morris said, “if you see the distance move up, if you don’t, wait.” Morris likes a bold, forward ride, so it is no wonder he likes a good thoroughbred. There were several at the clinic. “I can smell a thoroughbred,” he said, admiring a tall young bay in the 2’6” group. He continued on to lament that we have a surplus of talented ex-thoroughbred racehorses in America and it is a pity that we are not utilizing them more often. He dislikes how the use of heavier warmblood breeds have influenced the sport. Morris also placed an emphasis on equitation, correcting equitation flaws in the riders even though many were quite accomplished. Throughout the day, he told several riders to fix how their foot was placed in the stirrup to make their legs “prettier.” To be a great rider, he told them, “focus on the details.” He also noted that when the upper body is vertical, in the walk or canter, for example, it should actually be angled slightly in front of the vertical in order to “go with” the horse. One rider in the 2’6” group was a ducker who severely over-exaggerated her two-point position. “Acrobatics! Unnecessary acrobatics!” He shouted. “The upper body should do nothing.” Throughout the course of her session, the rider was able to correct her ducking habit with Morris’ help. Morris had the more advanced groups jump a liverpool. Some of the horses refused the unfamiliar water jump. One horse threw it’s rider during a refusal and then threw the professional rider who got on to school it. However, the horse was not allowed to get out of jumping the obstacle. It was asked to jump a tarp and then finally the liverpool again. Morris said that jumping the liverpool was about challenging the horses and riders. He prides himself in finding challenges, even for the most accomplished riders in the world, in order to improve their skills. He also said of the riders falling off, that while instructors should not want riders to fall off, it is an inevitable part of the sport and that riders should be prepared for it. Morris also worked on the automatic crest release with the advanced group. To perform the release, he had them ride through a low gymnastic line and told them to think of lowering their hands while maintaining direct contact with the horse’s mouth. I found this to be a useful cue and tried practicing the automatic release on Patrick when I got home. Another exercise I used when I got home was a figure eight over a single square oxer. Holly has had me do a figure eight pattern over a single jump before, but I found that adding the square oxer really sharpened Patrick up. In the advanced group, Morris encouraged riders to angle the jump (which was about 3’6” in height) and to make the circles of the eight smaller and smaller. It was a pleasure to watch the advanced group ride. All or most of the four riders were professionals who were exemplary riders. At the end of the day, Morris addressed the auditors with some closing remarks. I feel that he was speaking, in particular, to the coaches who are responsible for developing future riders. He said that working with riders over low jumps was useful, but “our goal is higher [fences].” He favors a strict, no-nonsense, and brutally honest teaching style. Throughout the day, he said that many American riders are “desperate housewives” and “Pampered! pampered, all of them!” He doesn’t believe that riders should be handled with kid gloves, but rather, that they should be challenged. He talked about the two types of fear, physical fear and emotional fear. He explained that physical fear is a fear of getting injured and is valid, while emotional fear is the fear of making a mistake and has no place in riding. “Emotional fear is rampant in this country,” he said. Even though physical fear is valid, he said that riders must constantly fight it. He noted that some riders have more physical fear than others. Of his personal experience he said, “I had to ride horses, but I was scared to death. I fought chicken.” My impression is that George Morris is probably most interested in getting his message out to professionals who are responsible for training other riders and to riders who are in a position to climb to the upper levels of the sport. I think that is an appropriate mindset for someone in his position. He is looking at the big picture for the sport. However, he treated all of the riders and horses in his clinic with the same level of dignity and gave them all a great lesson regardless of whether they were pros or “desperate housewives.” So what can somebody like me take away from this experience? While I have goals, they are fairly humble. I do not intend to climb to the upper echelons of the sport. What I got out of this clinic was that I need to keep stretching myself and my horse and getting outside of my comfort zone. This might mean doing bigger or different fences than I’m used to or exercises that are harder than I’m used to. I need to keep checking myself so that I don’t get sloppy with the details of my equitation. Morris’ message about fighting physical fear also struck home. As most of you know by now, I’m kind of a chicken. In order to accomplish my goals I will have to keep fighting the legitimate worry about getting hurt. I know that if you gallop at a big oxer and worry about getting hurt, it might not end well. That’s a given. However, it was comforting to know that I’m not alone in the struggle against physical fear and that many accomplished riders also struggle to control this emotion. After watching the clinic, I felt bold and inspired. I went home and had a great ride. Holly and I formulated a plan a few weeks ago to take Patrick to the Maryland Horse and Pony Show. This show is a very nice, USEF recognized, “AA” rated show that is held at our home venue, the Prince George Equestrian Center. We decided to ship Patrick in for the day only to ride in the local hunter divisions, which took place back to back, first thing in the morning. I would ride him in the 2’6” and then she would ride him in the 3’ division. My truck was still broken, so luckily, my barn buddies, Margaret and Wade agreed to trailer us. This was fairly saintly of them since they weren’t taking their own horses and we had to leave at 5:20 in the morning. Boy, was I grateful!
I braided and bathed Patrick myself, which meant I had to get up at the ungodly hour of 2:50 AM. It had been a long time since I had to get up that early for a show, although I went to bed early, so it wasn’t too bad. I trudged out into his paddock at about 3:20 to fetch him. It was so dark that I had to approach each of the three bays in the field to figure out which one was him. Of course he was the last one I looked at in the very back of the pasture, but when he saw me, he marched right up to me with his ears pricked. It was very cute. I was pleased with my bathing and braid job. It was the first time I had braided Patrick and he looked quite handsome. The braids were neat, even and not distracting which I was glad about. Being able to do my own braiding is a big money saver which might even allow me to do more shows. “Well” I said, “if things go terribly awry at the show, at least we’ll still look good.” I was worried about how things might go because the temperature had dropped about twenty degrees overnight. It was like someone flipped a switch and suddenly summer turned to fall. Luckily Patrick was unfazed. He was very calm all day and acted like a real pro. I have been riding and showing since I was a kid, but this was my first USEF rated show. If you’ve never done one, let me tell you, it’s a different world. The classes are basically the same, the rings are the same, but that’s about where it ends. When we arrived before the show, there were horses being lunged in circles everywhere, clearly by grooms and not by owners or riders. The permanent stalls were all decorated with banners, tack trunks and coolers in the stables’ colors. Blinged out golf carts zoomed by, carrying people in breeches and designer sunglasses with their packs of fashionable dogs. The horses were all big, beautiful and warmblood-like, basically without exception. With the arrival of “the A Show people” and their horses and their stuff, the whole ambiance of our familiar showground had changed. The whole place reeked of money. It was a little surreal for me, who had only spectated shows of this quality in the past, to step into the ring on a horse I owned and actually compete against “the A Show People.” The local divisions were large because “local” was considered to be within one hundred miles of the showground. There is a lot of good horseflesh within that radius. There were many pros riding extremely good quality horses. It looked like they might be using the local divisions as a warm-up for other divisions. There were about 30 horses in the 2’6” division and about 25 in the 3’. I had expected the divisions to be a mix of the really nice horses that were at the show for other divisions and a few horses of lesser quality that you wouldn’t normally see at an “A” show, but that wasn’t the case. The horses were top quality across the board. Holly and I had good, respectable over fences rounds. Each round had a least one minor mistake which could put us out of the ribbons. Holly had one 3’ round that we thought was good enough to place, but it didn’t. Of course, we didn’t feel disappointed because competition was fierce and Patrick had really done his job well. Who could complain? However, we didn’t walk away empty handed. Patrick is exceptionally talented in the hack. He’s an A++ mover and he couldn’t care less about the traffic in a crowded hack class. I walk into my division hack confident of this fact. Holly’s major advice to me beforehand was to stay to the inside track of the ring where I could be seen the best by the judge. “Do not go on the rail. Ever.” She told me. The class got underway. I steered Patrick around the other horses as if they weren’t even there, staying to the inside track. We extended the trot up each long side of the ring. His canter departs were prompt and flawless. I let all of his gaits be forward beyond my comfort zone. I asked him to tuck in his nose very slightly but otherwise left him in his natural frame. It was such a big class that we hacked at each gait for a long time. He was so perfect and consistent in his responses that it was like driving a machine, not riding a horse. Lining up, I knew it was the best I’d ever showed off any horse in any hack I’d ever ridden in. I also was prepared not to get a ribbon because, well, that’s out of my control. The announcer began calling the class. Sure enough, first through fifth walked away to collect their ribbons. All professionals, we thought, on hulking warmbloods. Then they call our number! Sixth place in a highly competitive hack class of twenty? I’ll take it. I knew that we did a great job, but it was really nice to be recognized by the judge for our effort. That little green ribbon is on my mantle! Holly went on to ride to 7th place in her flat class too. So we have ribbons from our first “A” show. Patrick was great and after that experience, I don’t think there is any hunter show in America where I would take him and feel outclassed. Of course, I have a lot more learning to do, and I prefer to do it primarily at the local shows which are cheaper and more accessible. I’m feeling comfortable competing at 2’6” at this point, so over the winter, I will continue working on my goal to compete at higher fence heights in hope that I’ll eventually feel comfortable competing at 3’. However, the Maryland Horse and Pony Show was a fantastic experience and I think the “A” circuit hasn’t seen the last of us! Hurricane Irene hit us in Southern Maryland on the evening of Saturday, August 27th into the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, August 28th, my birthday. It was a Category 1 hurricane when it hit our area and dropped over 8 inches of rain. Happily, all of the horses at our boarding stable weathered the storm safely. Both barns remained intact, although there was some minor flooding inside. The indoor riding arena sustained minor damage when the wind blew the big garage-style door and two people-sized doors clean off their hinges. The worst damage on the property was to Patrick’s turnout field. Multiple large trees, uprooted by the combination of rain-saturated soil and heavy wind, fell into the field, destroying the fence (see video). After seeing the hurricane-ravaged paddock, I was extremely grateful that Patrick and his turnout buddy, Scooby, were inside during the storm. The farm also lost electricity for over 48 hours following the hurricane. However, the farm was minimally damaged compared to other homes and properties in our area. There must be thousands of downed trees here. This is a heavily treed area, and many of the downed trees have fallen on homes, cars, outbuildings, and power lines. At this writing on Tuesday afternoon, many homes here are still without power. The kids didn’t go to school today or yesterday. The damage in Saint Mary’s County is substantial. For example, I went outside of my house at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, hoping to go check on Patrick soon after. My house was not damaged, although I had no less than five large downed trees in my yard, several no more than ten feet away from the house. It was just dumb luck that the house didn’t get hit. However, I had a larger problem. The road out of my cul de sac was blocked by not one, but two separate sets of trees that had fallen across the road. The neighbors and I spent the next couple of hours chain sawing our way out. It took my husband and I over an hour to drive to the barn (it normally takes 20 minutes). Once we got there, as I mentioned, Patrick and Scooby were fine. They had been turned out in an alternate paddock and were enjoying the beautiful post-hurricane weather.
This is the first time I’ve had to prepare a horse to weather a natural disaster. Here are a few things I learned: 1. Inside or Outside-In a hurricane, some people prefer to keep horses in the barn while others prefer to leave horses outside. There are pros and cons to each approach, so owners must decide which approach is best for their horses. In the barn, the horses are protected from flying debris, as well as wind and rain. Outside, horses have the opportunity to dodge debris and will not be threatened in the event that the barn fully or partially collapses. We elected to keep our horses in for this storm. Our barns are newer and structurally sound. This turned out to be a good decision considering the danger posed by falling trees during the storm. Not only could the trees have fallen on the horses, but they also broke the fence, potentially allowing the horses to escape and encounter other hazards like traffic. 2. Water- Horses can go a couple of days without food and probably suffer no ill effects. However, access to fresh water is absolutely essential. Without it, horses are prone to colic and dehydration, either of which could result in death. Our farm’s water supply comes from a well and is accessed by using an electric pump system. Anticipating that the power would go out, we stockpiled as much water as we could by filling all water troughs on the property. We put one full water trough in each barn in addition to the ones out in the paddocks. We asked all owners to bring extra buckets and jugs which were filled with water and placed outside the horses’ stalls. Even with the power out for over 48 hours, we had more than enough water for the 20+ horses. 3. Identification-Each horse wore a breakaway-style halter with the owner’s name, phone number, and the name of our farm. Some owners also chose to braid luggage tags with contact information into their horse’s mane or tail. Some owners also chose to write their phone numbers (in large writing) on their horses using a white, water resistant wound spray. I especially like the latter method because, in the event that the horses escaped from or had to be let out of the barn, anyone who spotted the loose horses could contact the owners without having to catch the animals. In addition to these methods, Patrick also has a microchip. Micro chipping is a simple, inexpensive procedure that allows lost horses to be identified. Rescue organizations and veterinary offices frequently have scanners that can detect the chips, which are placed in the crest of the horse’s neck. If a chip is present, the chip number will register on the scanner and can be looked up in a database to identify the animal’s owner. It is easy to prove ownership of a micro chipped horse in the event that the horse is lost during a natural disaster or stolen. Visual forms of identification are important in a disaster, but one advantage of micro chipping is that microchips are more permanent and will not fall off like halters or wash off like spray paint. 4. Contingency Planning-Our barn management had plans and back-up plans in place for Hurricane Irene. For example, our barn manager lives off-site, so plans were made for getting hay and water to the horses in the event that the roads were not passable for her to get to the barn. We planned to keep the horses inside during the storm, but a back-up plan was made to turn them out in the nearest paddock in the event that the barns became structurally compromised. |