I was told at camp by professionals a few things Steady and I need and since I know a few of my followers happen to be tack whores I figure who better to ask. So now I need to prioritize and save for each of them.
First Dorothy was adamant about me getting new stirrups. For safety reasons. They are small and not safe. What are you stirrup suggestions? I cannot spend a fortune considering it is not the only item that I need in the near future and I will probably get something better in the future but for now I would like nice and safe.
Peter said running martingale. I want a breast plate martingale combo. Do you have a style that you like best as far as breatplates go? A friend suggested an amish tack maker so I will most likely purchase from them but would like to know what style to go with.
I also need stirrup leathers. Suggestions?
Peter said mouth strapped shut. As of now I have a drop noseband that will work but eventually will buy a new bridle all together. Considering I have a black saddle and my bridle is brown. I am thinking something with a flash since Peter was not trilled with figure 8's
Not your average OTTB given another chance at a new life and a mostly average busy Mom who never gave up on her dream to ride again. An unlikely pair at an unlikely time, learning to event and loving life!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Last day and the wrap up.
Last day Thursday 7/14/11. We are all at this point I think, hot, tired and full of information. And I personally was 4lbs heavier due to that amazing food I have been talking about.
We got to pick our trainer for our Thursday lesson. I choose flat with Dorothy Crowell. #1 I had not gotten to ride with her as much as I had wanted. #2 we have done enough jumping on an out of shape horse for one week. It was set up for a 45 min semi-private lesson. She wanted it to be 20 minute private. She felt like she could be more personalized this way. We warmed up and watched some lessons before us. Then it was our turn. She said since she hasn't seen us do much to go ahead and do walk/trot/canter in each direction. Other than Steady's head being higher than normal I was very happy with the go around we showed her. I was hoping for a "that was nice", "you guys are doing great" or something along those lines. Instead we got, "that is kind of what I expected, you are a very correct rider, and look nice up there." Oh yay, she thinks we are great! "but you are what I would consider pretending to do dressage" Whaa? :(. She then gets on Steady and explains that he needs way more work on stepping under himself. Ok I can say I have heard this term a million times and even thought I knew what it meant but she set me straight and I can see what she meant by the pretending dressage statement. Though probably kind of harsh lol. She took the time to really make me understand what and how to get him to step under himself. She got him to do it and was fairly happy with how quickly he caught on.
Steady: "Argh this sucks!!"
Steady: "what in the world do you want from me woman?"
Best part about him is he will keep trying till he makes you happy.
Then I got on for a couple minutes so she could try to get me to do it. Hmmmm I think she is chasing me saying "I am going to grab your had if you don't start holding it up!!!" Uhhhh who me??? Me don't get it?!
She made a comment that I thoroughly didn't understand and that I thought was kinda rude. "you may just have to do this exercise for the next 5 years and then maybe you can start doing real dressage". Are you kidding me? Walking in a cirle for 5 years? NOT gonna happen. After getting Steady put away that statement was still bothering me and I really wanted to go chat with her about it but I knew she was busy and running behind and it wasn't the best time.
The rest of our conversation was started when I mentioned the fact that Steady was not acting his regular self for most of the week and I explained to her how he had progressively been getting worse and worse. Also explaining our XC experiences. Which led to the conversation that will forever change the way I will see and deal with Steady.
What I now know and have in the past failed to recognize but has changed how I will deal with my horse for the rest of his life; I have always grouped him in with the run of the mill OTTB group. So I read and learned alot from OTTB owners. Alot of that information has been extremely helpful in our transition from track to home life. But what I failed to recognize was something that Dorothy helped me to realize is that an OTTB that has won $350,000 and ran for 9 years is not the typical OTTB. The only reason he lasted that long at the track is because he was extrordinary at what he did. You don't hear of many OTTB's that have had that long of a career nor won that kind of money being retrained for anything and for a reason. So to group him in with the OTTB's that didn't 'make it' at the track is doing him an injustice. That he must be treated and handled completely different for those reasons. So if something isn't working for him I better listen up figure out why and how to fix it. I explained to Dorothy the situation that came about every time we got out on XC with other horses cantering around. She said that he has no business ever having to be put into that situation and that I have not just a right but an obligation to speak up before hand to any trainer and tell them that we either go first and be done or don't go at all. She said a good clinician will know that is what is right and if a clinician won't do it then just accept the fact that you wouldn't want to learn from someone like that anyways. Take the loss of money and know you did what was best for your horse. WOW! I first of all never knew I could do something like that and secondly would not be surprised if I got dubbed as a diva. But Dorothy covered that too. She said I shouldn't care if people think I am being a prima donna(Thanks Kelly :) because if they think that then they don't know what they are doing anyways, so who cares what they think.
That information alone was worth the cost of camp and that is no joke. She gave me the confidence to go with my gut and if people don't like it screw em'!
She didn't stop there she also offered me the opportunity to come to her farm as a working student and that is something that will most likely be on my list for next year. Possibly in place of Event Camp. We shall see.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my camp experience. I cannot tell you how much it has helped me process all of the information to write it all down. I came home so overwhelmed. I knew I had had a good time and had learned alot but couldn't understand why I actually felt more discouraged than anything. Now the discouragement has faded and in its place has come a new rider. The experience has changed me as a rider forever in so many ways and the more I get on my horse post camp the more I am realizing it. I now know that discouragement feeling was simple information over load and if I can just take that information and properly put it into my daily work Steady and I will be at an entirely new level by next year. All that said I am still undecided if camp is the best place for me and Steady to learn. There are many reasons why and it did take some processing to come to that realization. It was also one big reason why I was discouraged. I went to camp hoping to gain ground in our training and came home feeling like we had lost some. Having had a few post camp rides I realize that is not at all true but that it was just an unhealthy situation for my individual horse. I became so much more intuned with him over those 4 days than I ever have before. We also developed a much stronger bond. So event camp was a huge success and now I will linger on those memories for a long time to come. I will leave you with not just my all time favorite photo from camp but all time favorite of me and Steady!
Just goes to show that the correct positioning of the tongue is key in jumping! But DAMN we look good. If I do say so myself :)
We got to pick our trainer for our Thursday lesson. I choose flat with Dorothy Crowell. #1 I had not gotten to ride with her as much as I had wanted. #2 we have done enough jumping on an out of shape horse for one week. It was set up for a 45 min semi-private lesson. She wanted it to be 20 minute private. She felt like she could be more personalized this way. We warmed up and watched some lessons before us. Then it was our turn. She said since she hasn't seen us do much to go ahead and do walk/trot/canter in each direction. Other than Steady's head being higher than normal I was very happy with the go around we showed her. I was hoping for a "that was nice", "you guys are doing great" or something along those lines. Instead we got, "that is kind of what I expected, you are a very correct rider, and look nice up there." Oh yay, she thinks we are great! "but you are what I would consider pretending to do dressage" Whaa? :(. She then gets on Steady and explains that he needs way more work on stepping under himself. Ok I can say I have heard this term a million times and even thought I knew what it meant but she set me straight and I can see what she meant by the pretending dressage statement. Though probably kind of harsh lol. She took the time to really make me understand what and how to get him to step under himself. She got him to do it and was fairly happy with how quickly he caught on.
Steady: "Argh this sucks!!"
Steady: "what in the world do you want from me woman?"
Best part about him is he will keep trying till he makes you happy.
Then I got on for a couple minutes so she could try to get me to do it. Hmmmm I think she is chasing me saying "I am going to grab your had if you don't start holding it up!!!" Uhhhh who me??? Me don't get it?!
She made a comment that I thoroughly didn't understand and that I thought was kinda rude. "you may just have to do this exercise for the next 5 years and then maybe you can start doing real dressage". Are you kidding me? Walking in a cirle for 5 years? NOT gonna happen. After getting Steady put away that statement was still bothering me and I really wanted to go chat with her about it but I knew she was busy and running behind and it wasn't the best time.
By Steady's face it is clear that he is thoroughly enjoying his lesson with Dorothy. <---insert sarcasm here. I still love the photo. Thanks Karen, from CONTACT!
So I ate lunch, good bye wonderful food made my personal chef, ok she wasn't my personal chef but close enough. Packed up and made our way back home with no excitement. Thank God. I plopped on the couch and there I stayed for the remainder of the evening. My truck stayed packed for 2 days before I finally mustered the energy to unpack it with the help of my lovely family. In that time I couldn't stop thinking about Dorothy and her comment so I decided to email her and just ask her what she meant instead of drive myself crazy over it. I found her on Facebook and sent her a short email thanking her and asking her what she meant. Her response was quick and short. "Too long to explain over email" then included her cell number and said, "call me". I was impressed with her by that alone. She was done with her 'job' and did not have to take the time to email me let alone have me call her. I called her a couple days later and I had an amazing conversation with her and she changed my thinking forever but more on that in the next paragraph. She first appologized if she seemed snarky in the lesson. She admitted she was tired(as were all of us after the week in that heat) and that she kinda had a bad attitude because she really wanted to be on XC instead of flat. She had spent most of her time doing flat and like every eventer really just wanted to be out on XC. Now that I can understand. She said she was trying her best to give everyone because we deserved it but feels she may have been a bit off. She went on to explain that her statement was sarcastic and she never meant we would spend an actual 5 years on it. But that it would probably feel like it will take five years. Oh, phew that is a relief. So take away from both flat lessons. Lateral lateral lateral lateral lateral. I cannot stress enough how much we will be working on lateral.The rest of our conversation was started when I mentioned the fact that Steady was not acting his regular self for most of the week and I explained to her how he had progressively been getting worse and worse. Also explaining our XC experiences. Which led to the conversation that will forever change the way I will see and deal with Steady.
What I now know and have in the past failed to recognize but has changed how I will deal with my horse for the rest of his life; I have always grouped him in with the run of the mill OTTB group. So I read and learned alot from OTTB owners. Alot of that information has been extremely helpful in our transition from track to home life. But what I failed to recognize was something that Dorothy helped me to realize is that an OTTB that has won $350,000 and ran for 9 years is not the typical OTTB. The only reason he lasted that long at the track is because he was extrordinary at what he did. You don't hear of many OTTB's that have had that long of a career nor won that kind of money being retrained for anything and for a reason. So to group him in with the OTTB's that didn't 'make it' at the track is doing him an injustice. That he must be treated and handled completely different for those reasons. So if something isn't working for him I better listen up figure out why and how to fix it. I explained to Dorothy the situation that came about every time we got out on XC with other horses cantering around. She said that he has no business ever having to be put into that situation and that I have not just a right but an obligation to speak up before hand to any trainer and tell them that we either go first and be done or don't go at all. She said a good clinician will know that is what is right and if a clinician won't do it then just accept the fact that you wouldn't want to learn from someone like that anyways. Take the loss of money and know you did what was best for your horse. WOW! I first of all never knew I could do something like that and secondly would not be surprised if I got dubbed as a diva. But Dorothy covered that too. She said I shouldn't care if people think I am being a prima donna(Thanks Kelly :) because if they think that then they don't know what they are doing anyways, so who cares what they think.
That information alone was worth the cost of camp and that is no joke. She gave me the confidence to go with my gut and if people don't like it screw em'!
She didn't stop there she also offered me the opportunity to come to her farm as a working student and that is something that will most likely be on my list for next year. Possibly in place of Event Camp. We shall see.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my camp experience. I cannot tell you how much it has helped me process all of the information to write it all down. I came home so overwhelmed. I knew I had had a good time and had learned alot but couldn't understand why I actually felt more discouraged than anything. Now the discouragement has faded and in its place has come a new rider. The experience has changed me as a rider forever in so many ways and the more I get on my horse post camp the more I am realizing it. I now know that discouragement feeling was simple information over load and if I can just take that information and properly put it into my daily work Steady and I will be at an entirely new level by next year. All that said I am still undecided if camp is the best place for me and Steady to learn. There are many reasons why and it did take some processing to come to that realization. It was also one big reason why I was discouraged. I went to camp hoping to gain ground in our training and came home feeling like we had lost some. Having had a few post camp rides I realize that is not at all true but that it was just an unhealthy situation for my individual horse. I became so much more intuned with him over those 4 days than I ever have before. We also developed a much stronger bond. So event camp was a huge success and now I will linger on those memories for a long time to come. I will leave you with not just my all time favorite photo from camp but all time favorite of me and Steady!
Just goes to show that the correct positioning of the tongue is key in jumping! But DAMN we look good. If I do say so myself :)
A memorable evening!
I am not sure if LeeAnn was the least bit amused by any of it but after a few drinks I sure was. Though I had no liability issues at stake either. We will start at the demo. Peter is so informitive. He doesn't just do the typical "do this, not that" type trainer. He give the why behind almost everything he teaches. You may just get sick of hearing all the 'Peterisims' that I have picked up. If I could get the dang video to load you could hear and see alot of it for yourself, ugh, technology. Here is the demo in photos.
Regular single link snaffle. Hate
Elevator bit. Like.
Peter: "Do you want to know a quick way to put way more strain on your horses joints when jumping?" Put your fat melon too far forward. I may be paraphrasing there :). Here is your melon on a stick.
Peter explaining how many joints are in one leg of a horse compared to ours. At one point he was using my leg as an example by touching my calf, knee and ankle. Honestly can't remember much of what he was saying because all I could think about is the fact that I had not shaved my legs...lol!
It was not easy to hold and that is just the weight of your head. Not to mention we are usually too far forward with our entire upper body. Which is putting approx. 500 lbs of added pressure upon impact to your horses joints and ligaments. No wonder there are so many injuries in sport horses. Paraphrasing again.
Onto whipping! Proper whips, a jocky whip.
If this is what you own "throw that thing in the bin!" as Peter said to one of the students in our lesson.
The three ways to whip:
Wake up! to the shoulder.
Courage! Right behind your leg.
Right after I hit myself in the leg and Peter saying "you probably deserved it more than your 'horse'!"
In the words of Rachel, "
Wake up? Courage? Punishment?
All of that led to this. Enjoy
First, bits, what he likes what he hates.
Gag bridle with french link snaffle. Like.
Regular single link snaffle. Hate
Elevator bit. Like.
Peter: "Do you want to know a quick way to put way more strain on your horses joints when jumping?" Put your fat melon too far forward. I may be paraphrasing there :). Here is your melon on a stick.
Peter explaining how many joints are in one leg of a horse compared to ours. At one point he was using my leg as an example by touching my calf, knee and ankle. Honestly can't remember much of what he was saying because all I could think about is the fact that I had not shaved my legs...lol!
It was not easy to hold and that is just the weight of your head. Not to mention we are usually too far forward with our entire upper body. Which is putting approx. 500 lbs of added pressure upon impact to your horses joints and ligaments. No wonder there are so many injuries in sport horses. Paraphrasing again.
Onto whipping! Proper whips, a jocky whip.
If this is what you own "throw that thing in the bin!" as Peter said to one of the students in our lesson.
Item of appearal only!
The three ways to whip:
Wake up! to the shoulder.
Courage! Right behind your leg.
And rarely punishment. Quick and hard to the hind end. Above. He cautioned against whipping a horse that has stopped because it is scared. Saying this may eventually lead to falls if a horse, fearful of a whipping, may jump a fence when it was best to stop.
Me trying my hand at it.
Right after I hit myself in the leg and Peter saying "you probably deserved it more than your 'horse'!"
In the words of Rachel, "
Wake up? Courage? Punishment?
All of that led to this. Enjoy
Stadium Ride-a-test with Dorothy Crowell
Oh boy, as the days/rides went on the tension and energy level was building in my horse. It seemed to be a theme that in each ride we focused a great deal of time finding ways to keep Steady under control and halfway balanced. I was a bit bummed about that because this was not a usual nor a problem that will likely happen in any other situation than the 4 full days of 2 lessons a day, cantering with other horses and him being out of shape. My theory on why he was acting this way after getting home and sorting it all out. I think a big part was that due to all the soundness concerns before hand he did not come to came conditioned for that kind of work and I think he was over compensation with his crazy energy level to overcome his lack of fitness. He was trying hard to keep up with all I was asking him but I really think that the amount and type of work along with the heat was a bit much for him. I wish I wasn't having so much trouble uploading video. First of all the information given is so valuable but also I would love to show you the difference in Steady on day one in grids with Peter and day 3. Day one he was calm, relaxed, head low and listening. Day 2 a little quicker, head higher. Day 3 taking all my strength to keep him at a reasonable pace and balance is gone, head so ridiculously high in the air.
Waiting our turn...
So this brings us to our staduimRace-a-test Ride-a-test. Guess what we had to work on the entire time??? Him rushing! He was turning a bit better but his head was high and he was rushing in between fences. This was the first time we rode with Dorothy and the first expereince she had with my horse. So her first impression was not the best I am sure. She was extremely understanding and wise to the fact that Steady is not the run of the mill OTTB. He didn't come off the track young because he didn't do well at racing but instead raced for many many years and was extremely successful and experienced and honed in the skill of racing. I really liked that about her. She gave us the exercise of Walk/Trot Pop. Start walking up to a fence and about 4 strides out take a deep breath in, give a little pressure to go into a trot, exhale over the jump then land and go right back to a walk and reapeat all the way around the course. The idea is to get him to anticipate the downward transition after a jump. I will incorperate this exercise into our scheduele at home.
Having a chat with Dorothy.
Good lesson and then it was hosing off, eating dinner and onto a demo with Peter that led into that double bareback jumping craziness. Post to come and video!
Waiting our turn...
So this brings us to our staduim
Having a chat with Dorothy.
Good lesson and then it was hosing off, eating dinner and onto a demo with Peter that led into that double bareback jumping craziness. Post to come and video!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Onto Wednesday only two days left.
The week was flying by the food was still incredible and we all looked forward to every meal. First on the scheduele was XC with Peter at 3pm. Which meant a slow morning, which I so needed. And lots of time to ride along on course with Peter on earlier lessons. OH and plenty of time for eating! Have I mentioned the amazing food?!
Finally time came for our lesson so with my bridle and a borrowed martingale we headed out to warm up a bit early. But wait Peter was waiting and said hurry up as he flew away in his golf cart. Oh well, I guess we are starting early. First thing out he does a short lecture on cantering and sends us out to canter through the field.
Ahhhhh guess what Steady was head high, strong, and unbalanced for most of the first moments. As is Peter's tradition after a few go arounds he has everyone come in to have a chat. Two of us clearly had alot of work to do at the canter and the third he gave a few tips but then had them start jumping a bit. Steady and I were on a circle trying to perfect a balance canter....humpf...xc my butt. Ok ok I understood that I needed that canter more than I need to jump anything so we continued to work.
Uh Steady do you think you could get your head just a little higher I don't think it is quite high enough yet....geeez.
Then we moved to the water complex and walked through the water a bit as he lectured then off to the field for more cantering for us. We worked and got a few moments of beautiful canter and Peter said if this horse was in training with him if he gave him a half circle of a beautiful canter he would hop off, pat him and let him eat grass for a bit and be done. I loved to hear him say that because I think that will help to incorperate some of that into our work. So time was almost up and we had spent the entire time cantering in circles. Peter has a chat with me and I express my desire to jump something, anything. By express I mean I started crying like a baby. I felt so stupid. It was not on purpose and I couldn't stop the tears. It was just disappointment but I was still happy with my lesson. But it made Peter feel quite awful. He appologized over and over and I kept saying that he is right and I am not upset at him in any way but he is a sucker for a crying girl. So he said if I can get a nice balanced canter long enough to get through the Lincoln log to water to the red steps I could do it. We did and it was beautiful and fun! I jumped off and gave Peter a big hug and thanked him. I was mostly grateful that even though I was being silly he took my feelings seriously and without jeopoardizing anyone still allowed me to satisfied.
Working on a better balanced canter in an open field was added to our list of training endeavours. Open spaces, speed and racehorse are not the best combination. During one of the sessions I was sitting in on I was talking to a gal and I mentioned how I was afraid to gallop my horse. She said why? I said, because he used to race and was really good at it. She laughed. I also know now that lack of fitness was adding to the problem. He just was not capable of carrying himself correctly for long periods of time. So he was often unbalanced and falling out through his shoulder. And as Peter said if a horse is unbalanced his back goes down, if his back goes down his head goes up, if his head goes up he is in flight, if he is in flight we become a predator. So with each long hot hard day of tough lessons he was progressively getting a bit more flighty. Which soreness, fitness and stress were all contributing factors. Non of which are his fault. He was trying and pushing because I was asking him to but he just was struggling and I could tell.
No matter what he still is a pretty boy, frantic racehorse temperment or not.
Finally time came for our lesson so with my bridle and a borrowed martingale we headed out to warm up a bit early. But wait Peter was waiting and said hurry up as he flew away in his golf cart. Oh well, I guess we are starting early. First thing out he does a short lecture on cantering and sends us out to canter through the field.
Ahhhhh guess what Steady was head high, strong, and unbalanced for most of the first moments. As is Peter's tradition after a few go arounds he has everyone come in to have a chat. Two of us clearly had alot of work to do at the canter and the third he gave a few tips but then had them start jumping a bit. Steady and I were on a circle trying to perfect a balance canter....humpf...xc my butt. Ok ok I understood that I needed that canter more than I need to jump anything so we continued to work.
Uh Steady do you think you could get your head just a little higher I don't think it is quite high enough yet....geeez.
Then we moved to the water complex and walked through the water a bit as he lectured then off to the field for more cantering for us. We worked and got a few moments of beautiful canter and Peter said if this horse was in training with him if he gave him a half circle of a beautiful canter he would hop off, pat him and let him eat grass for a bit and be done. I loved to hear him say that because I think that will help to incorperate some of that into our work. So time was almost up and we had spent the entire time cantering in circles. Peter has a chat with me and I express my desire to jump something, anything. By express I mean I started crying like a baby. I felt so stupid. It was not on purpose and I couldn't stop the tears. It was just disappointment but I was still happy with my lesson. But it made Peter feel quite awful. He appologized over and over and I kept saying that he is right and I am not upset at him in any way but he is a sucker for a crying girl. So he said if I can get a nice balanced canter long enough to get through the Lincoln log to water to the red steps I could do it. We did and it was beautiful and fun! I jumped off and gave Peter a big hug and thanked him. I was mostly grateful that even though I was being silly he took my feelings seriously and without jeopoardizing anyone still allowed me to satisfied.
Working on a better balanced canter in an open field was added to our list of training endeavours. Open spaces, speed and racehorse are not the best combination. During one of the sessions I was sitting in on I was talking to a gal and I mentioned how I was afraid to gallop my horse. She said why? I said, because he used to race and was really good at it. She laughed. I also know now that lack of fitness was adding to the problem. He just was not capable of carrying himself correctly for long periods of time. So he was often unbalanced and falling out through his shoulder. And as Peter said if a horse is unbalanced his back goes down, if his back goes down his head goes up, if his head goes up he is in flight, if he is in flight we become a predator. So with each long hot hard day of tough lessons he was progressively getting a bit more flighty. Which soreness, fitness and stress were all contributing factors. Non of which are his fault. He was trying and pushing because I was asking him to but he just was struggling and I could tell.
No matter what he still is a pretty boy, frantic racehorse temperment or not.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Steady Smiler
This is so exciting I had to share!
Steady Smiler is his race name and with the help of a new friend that I met at Event Camp and a little research I found out alot about Steady's races in various articles and also that he was owned/raced by the same people for most of his life. So I went on a google hunt to see if I could contact these people. It wasn't all that hard to find them and soon I came across an email address for them. I took a shot in the dark and sent an email. I will just copy and paste the correspondence we have had since then. It is so freaking amazing!!
Hi there, my name is Amy Grayson and I currently own Steady Smiler and I am retraining him to be a family pet/eventer. I was just researching his history and saw that you owned/raced him for many years. I was just wondering if you have any information, photos, videos of his racing days. I would love anything you have or can tell me. He just retired last year running his last race at the age of 10 when I got him. Thank you in advance.
Amy Grayson
Hello Ms. Grayson, I am so happy that "Smiley", is doing well. Rob and I purchased Smiley as a yearling, and proved to be the best investment we ever made. We were sad when we lost him in Toronto, but that is racing. I have Smileys winning pics along with DVD of his races, and would be happy to copyand forward them to you. Currently my house is under renovations so you will have to bare with me for a monthor two. Hope that works for you. Smiley is a very intelligent horse, he could never be pushed to do anything, but when he is ready he gives it his all. you have an amazing horse on your hands, I wish you all the success no matter what you do with him. Please send me your address and I will forward the info. Sheena
I am sooooo grateful that you responded. I would have to agree with everything you said about Smiley's (I call him Steady now :) personality. He is a fantastic horse and continued racing until he was 10. His owner wanted to keep racing him but thankfully his trainer at the time stepped in and since the owner owed her money she sold him. She felt he deserved to have a retirement while he was still sound, which was a miracle in itself.
I would love those things the copies and I would be incredibly grateful to you for them.
I am attaching a photo from last week that was taken of Steady (Smiley) and me jumping.
Amy
Ahhhh! I miss him all over again. Thank you he looks fantastic. Please keep in touch and letme know how he gets on, after all he was the best we had. I should tell you that you can never push Smiley, he is his own master, he preformed so well for us because we allowed him to be that way, obviously after we lost him he was pushed to preform, and he never did well. At Hastings Park, when Smiley went out to gallop, he would step onto the racetrack and automatically back himself into the corner, and for 20 minutes he would look at the mountains,the other horses galloping by, and only when he was ready to go, that he would indicate so.Such an intelligent man.
I can't tell you how it fills my heart to know and hear where he came from and that he was truly loved. I would have to agree that he is a very special horse. I couldn't have described his personality better myself. He has taught me those things about him over the last year and a half I have owned him. I initially tried to push him to do things but that never went well. Now I have learned that if I am patient and kind he will do anything for me and will never give up. The more I know and learn about him the more I am just in awe of all he has done seen and is capable of doing. I feel blessed that he owns me. He has a good life now and has many 'jobs'. He has a knack for bringing people together that otherwise would have never met, he is sweet and gentle with my three little girls, he puts up with me :) he loves trail rides (as long as he is in front) and like I said we also do low level eventing. I will definitely keep in touch and I really look forward to the photos and dvds! And I definitely understand the renovation part. Are you still in racing? Who knows maybe some day the family and I may make our way to hastings and we can meet. Again thank you, you have blessed my soul with you words.
Amy
Like I said AAAhhhmazing! Also here is a photo that my friend found for me online of Steady in his racing days. He looks sooooo young here.
With all of this in mind along with the last year and a few months I have owned Steady and the experience of event camp I have had a huge revelation about me, my horse and the path that we are on. So be on the look out for the post titled "The Revelation". It will be after all the camp posts are up since all of those experiences are so relevant to the revelation.
Steady Smiler is his race name and with the help of a new friend that I met at Event Camp and a little research I found out alot about Steady's races in various articles and also that he was owned/raced by the same people for most of his life. So I went on a google hunt to see if I could contact these people. It wasn't all that hard to find them and soon I came across an email address for them. I took a shot in the dark and sent an email. I will just copy and paste the correspondence we have had since then. It is so freaking amazing!!
Hi there, my name is Amy Grayson and I currently own Steady Smiler and I am retraining him to be a family pet/eventer. I was just researching his history and saw that you owned/raced him for many years. I was just wondering if you have any information, photos, videos of his racing days. I would love anything you have or can tell me. He just retired last year running his last race at the age of 10 when I got him. Thank you in advance.
Amy Grayson
Hello Ms. Grayson, I am so happy that "Smiley", is doing well. Rob and I purchased Smiley as a yearling, and proved to be the best investment we ever made. We were sad when we lost him in Toronto, but that is racing. I have Smileys winning pics along with DVD of his races, and would be happy to copyand forward them to you. Currently my house is under renovations so you will have to bare with me for a monthor two. Hope that works for you. Smiley is a very intelligent horse, he could never be pushed to do anything, but when he is ready he gives it his all. you have an amazing horse on your hands, I wish you all the success no matter what you do with him. Please send me your address and I will forward the info. Sheena
I am sooooo grateful that you responded. I would have to agree with everything you said about Smiley's (I call him Steady now :) personality. He is a fantastic horse and continued racing until he was 10. His owner wanted to keep racing him but thankfully his trainer at the time stepped in and since the owner owed her money she sold him. She felt he deserved to have a retirement while he was still sound, which was a miracle in itself.
I would love those things the copies and I would be incredibly grateful to you for them.
I am attaching a photo from last week that was taken of Steady (Smiley) and me jumping.
Amy
Ahhhh! I miss him all over again. Thank you he looks fantastic. Please keep in touch and letme know how he gets on, after all he was the best we had. I should tell you that you can never push Smiley, he is his own master, he preformed so well for us because we allowed him to be that way, obviously after we lost him he was pushed to preform, and he never did well. At Hastings Park, when Smiley went out to gallop, he would step onto the racetrack and automatically back himself into the corner, and for 20 minutes he would look at the mountains,the other horses galloping by, and only when he was ready to go, that he would indicate so.Such an intelligent man.
I can't tell you how it fills my heart to know and hear where he came from and that he was truly loved. I would have to agree that he is a very special horse. I couldn't have described his personality better myself. He has taught me those things about him over the last year and a half I have owned him. I initially tried to push him to do things but that never went well. Now I have learned that if I am patient and kind he will do anything for me and will never give up. The more I know and learn about him the more I am just in awe of all he has done seen and is capable of doing. I feel blessed that he owns me. He has a good life now and has many 'jobs'. He has a knack for bringing people together that otherwise would have never met, he is sweet and gentle with my three little girls, he puts up with me :) he loves trail rides (as long as he is in front) and like I said we also do low level eventing. I will definitely keep in touch and I really look forward to the photos and dvds! And I definitely understand the renovation part. Are you still in racing? Who knows maybe some day the family and I may make our way to hastings and we can meet. Again thank you, you have blessed my soul with you words.
Amy
Like I said AAAhhhmazing! Also here is a photo that my friend found for me online of Steady in his racing days. He looks sooooo young here.
With all of this in mind along with the last year and a few months I have owned Steady and the experience of event camp I have had a huge revelation about me, my horse and the path that we are on. So be on the look out for the post titled "The Revelation". It will be after all the camp posts are up since all of those experiences are so relevant to the revelation.Thursday, July 21, 2011
Lesiurely walk and just plain crazy fun!
Tuesday evening I had a friend ask if I would go out on the cross country course with her so that she could jump her other horse that she just brought along to camp for the experience. Cool story behind her other horse. I did not know this lady prior but she had purchased said horse from my Dad years ago. This mare was born on my families farm and was the only horse of my Dad's that I specifically wanted. She didn't make it well as a racer due to an unstable mind on the track. This lady took her and has done just wonderfully with her. She calls her, her "whip horse" in other words her hunting horse. They do hunts weekly. So I was excited to go out and witness her jump out on XC. She is a phenomenal jumper and if it were not for dressage she would be a great event horse. But for the same reason she was not successful at racing she is not good for dressage. She just doesn't have a level head when it comes to that kind of pressure. It was lovely just to walk the course with Steady and I got a few photos of the jumps.
Watching other rides during some down time. Oh wait the arena is the other direction. Ok I am gabbing instead of watching. I am sure this is right before Dorothy politely yelled to shut up! Ok she used much nicer language :)
Have I mentioned how incredibly spectacularly amazing the food was? MMMMMMM...hungry gals grubin'. Oh yeah, and drinkin'! The best crowd ever!
Back at the barn all sorts of sillieness was ensuing. This was a trick that I never did quite understand but it sure did look fun!
Some were better than others.
Peter's atempt.
hmmmm....
It was a nice try anyways.
Photo's courtesy of Amy at Moose on the Loose!
Watching other rides during some down time. Oh wait the arena is the other direction. Ok I am gabbing instead of watching. I am sure this is right before Dorothy politely yelled to shut up! Ok she used much nicer language :)
Have I mentioned how incredibly spectacularly amazing the food was? MMMMMMM...hungry gals grubin'. Oh yeah, and drinkin'! The best crowd ever!
Back at the barn all sorts of sillieness was ensuing. This was a trick that I never did quite understand but it sure did look fun!
Some were better than others.
Peter's atempt.
hmmmm....
It was a nice try anyways.
Photo's courtesy of Amy at Moose on the Loose!
It wasn't all good...XC with Leslie Law.
First I must say that this was just my circumstancial experience. Everyone I spoke to really enjoyed their lesson with Leslie and I enjoyed his teaching in the demo but the combination of the situation made my experience less than fun. But this is my experience none-the-less, as the lessons and week went on Steady got more and more high strung. So in my earlier lesson with Peter he started putting his head higher than normal. Thus he suggested a martingale. Which I understand his point BUT this problem was brand new and I have never had the need for it before now. Though I agree that there is nothing wrong with having it there as a safety net. I just have never made it a priority until now. At home or the many, many times I have trailered out for lessons or clinics or shows have I never gotten this sort of behavior out of Steady. Well it seemed it started building but being out on cross country just put him over the top.
I will start at the begining. After my lesson with Peter I went on a hunt for a martingale to borrow. In the process I was offered a martingale along with the bridle that had the reins with the stops on it. It was a figure 8 bridle and I thought I would give it a whirl. Gotta love eventers! They will give you the shirt off their back if they know you are in need.
We get out on the coarse and he has us canter around in a large area together. I could see off the bat that something was different about my horse but I did not know exactly what it was. Then out to jump some jumps. After each jump he would have his head high then flip out his nose all of which was giving me no control. Leslie first said I was coming down on his back and that is why he was doing it. I made sure I wasn't landing on his back and still no change. I suggested the tack may be the issue and he made a crack about "eventers and their excuses". My frustration was building and I was for the first time ever scared to be on my horses back. A few more times around and it was like pressure underneath me was building my control was getting less and less. We removed the martingale finally and there was no change. Then Leslie got on him. He took him around and he had no more luck than I did. I kept saying it has to be something because my horse has never acted like this. My best guess was the tack. At this point I was so stressed and finally Leslie said to go and change his bridle. It was one of the most frustrating experiences, telling people that there is something wrong and feeling like NO ONE would believe me. Like any one of them would know my horse better than me. I have never experienced anything like that before and I hope I never have to again. But later I will fill you in on an expert opinion I got that really helped me.
I felt I needed to go back and changed my bridle but I was so looking forward to cross country. Steady rocks at it! He is so brave and willing at everything and I just thought we would have fun. Now I am walking my way back to the barn, tears coming down my face while everyone else made their way to the water complex. I was struggling to change the reins because my hands were shaking so bad and thankfully two other riders jumped in to help get me back on my way.
I was headed back out but all shaken up. Not to go into anymore details but a couple other comments were made that were probably not a big deal but in my state of being overwhelmed they hurt pretty badly. I made out to the water before they had finished and he had me first walk him through the water then canter him through then over the lincoln log jump. He did it all no problem. Steady was still tense but I could feel the tension slowly decreasing. Though he was not my regular XC rock star he was more managable.
Then to the ditches. We popped over the first small ditch(about 2 ft) no problem. I was so proud since he has never seen let alone jump one before. Then Leslie said go for the big one(about 3 ft) to all of us. Steady didn't even hesitate! He jumped it a bit big but you know there are trolls that live in there and he needed to make sure he cleared it so as not to be eaten by said trolls. But one of the horses refused repeatedly and the rest of the time was spent with them trying to get that horse over the big ditch. Over all I was very proud of my horse and proud of me for knowing my horse and knowing that something was not right. By the end he was still antsier than normal but not where I felt unsafe.
This experience was the beginning of the big epiphany I had about Steady over the next couple days. Now I know my horse better and that he and I are a team and if my team mate is struggling with something it is my job to do what ever I have to do to get to the bottom of it. This was the biggest lesson I took away from all of it. I already knew he was brave, willing and a freaking rock star but seeing him do the water and ditches like they are nothing was so gratifying. I took a horse straight from track life a little over a year ago that was afraid of something as simple as a hill. But he has built so much trust in me that he knows I would never ask him to do something that would hurt him that he will do even the unknown scary stuff with confidence. Oh boy was I a proud Mama! I was frustrated that I never got ANY recognition over any of it from the trainer. I mean I know in my heart that we did awesome but a little affirmation would have been nice. Especially after the start we had.
Sorry no photos of XC and I am having a heck of a time uploading any video :( I may just have to add video later.
I will start at the begining. After my lesson with Peter I went on a hunt for a martingale to borrow. In the process I was offered a martingale along with the bridle that had the reins with the stops on it. It was a figure 8 bridle and I thought I would give it a whirl. Gotta love eventers! They will give you the shirt off their back if they know you are in need.
We get out on the coarse and he has us canter around in a large area together. I could see off the bat that something was different about my horse but I did not know exactly what it was. Then out to jump some jumps. After each jump he would have his head high then flip out his nose all of which was giving me no control. Leslie first said I was coming down on his back and that is why he was doing it. I made sure I wasn't landing on his back and still no change. I suggested the tack may be the issue and he made a crack about "eventers and their excuses". My frustration was building and I was for the first time ever scared to be on my horses back. A few more times around and it was like pressure underneath me was building my control was getting less and less. We removed the martingale finally and there was no change. Then Leslie got on him. He took him around and he had no more luck than I did. I kept saying it has to be something because my horse has never acted like this. My best guess was the tack. At this point I was so stressed and finally Leslie said to go and change his bridle. It was one of the most frustrating experiences, telling people that there is something wrong and feeling like NO ONE would believe me. Like any one of them would know my horse better than me. I have never experienced anything like that before and I hope I never have to again. But later I will fill you in on an expert opinion I got that really helped me.
I felt I needed to go back and changed my bridle but I was so looking forward to cross country. Steady rocks at it! He is so brave and willing at everything and I just thought we would have fun. Now I am walking my way back to the barn, tears coming down my face while everyone else made their way to the water complex. I was struggling to change the reins because my hands were shaking so bad and thankfully two other riders jumped in to help get me back on my way.
I was headed back out but all shaken up. Not to go into anymore details but a couple other comments were made that were probably not a big deal but in my state of being overwhelmed they hurt pretty badly. I made out to the water before they had finished and he had me first walk him through the water then canter him through then over the lincoln log jump. He did it all no problem. Steady was still tense but I could feel the tension slowly decreasing. Though he was not my regular XC rock star he was more managable.
Then to the ditches. We popped over the first small ditch(about 2 ft) no problem. I was so proud since he has never seen let alone jump one before. Then Leslie said go for the big one(about 3 ft) to all of us. Steady didn't even hesitate! He jumped it a bit big but you know there are trolls that live in there and he needed to make sure he cleared it so as not to be eaten by said trolls. But one of the horses refused repeatedly and the rest of the time was spent with them trying to get that horse over the big ditch. Over all I was very proud of my horse and proud of me for knowing my horse and knowing that something was not right. By the end he was still antsier than normal but not where I felt unsafe.
This experience was the beginning of the big epiphany I had about Steady over the next couple days. Now I know my horse better and that he and I are a team and if my team mate is struggling with something it is my job to do what ever I have to do to get to the bottom of it. This was the biggest lesson I took away from all of it. I already knew he was brave, willing and a freaking rock star but seeing him do the water and ditches like they are nothing was so gratifying. I took a horse straight from track life a little over a year ago that was afraid of something as simple as a hill. But he has built so much trust in me that he knows I would never ask him to do something that would hurt him that he will do even the unknown scary stuff with confidence. Oh boy was I a proud Mama! I was frustrated that I never got ANY recognition over any of it from the trainer. I mean I know in my heart that we did awesome but a little affirmation would have been nice. Especially after the start we had.
Sorry no photos of XC and I am having a heck of a time uploading any video :( I may just have to add video later.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Up and at 'em! 8:00 am show jumping with Peter!
Late to bed early to rise! Not sure what but there is something wrong with that statement. Tuesday morning I awoke ready for the day ahead. Fed Steady, fed myself got ready and headed out for my lesson. I rode with 4 other ladies which made it a bit crowded but we were in the large out door arena. We spent alot of time in the show jumping lesson doing grids. Come to think of it, it was all grids. But it was good and what we all needed. We are in Starter division and so that is where we needed to focus. Though the grids got bigger and higher = fun! Steady started to get really unbalanced and on the turn to the fences fall very badly through his right shoulder. So we worked alot on this issue. When I cam from the right it was much better and was finally told by Peter to just come from that side. We focused on position, position, position. And rythm vs. speed. He explained that we need not help our horses "find a spot" that we need to have a consistent rythm leading to a jump and let the horse find "the spot". Then we "look up, kick up and stand up". Ride balanced to the next jump and repeat.
One break through I had was at one point I was working on Steady to make a balanced turn and Peter yells "turn your body!" As soon as I turned my body I felt Steady turn under me. I had no idea that when I was asking him to turn I had my body turning in the opposite direction in turn throwing his balance off.
He also got on to us for not improving the lead we were on. I think we were all focused on the fact that if the horse was on the 'incorrect' lead that we would just kind of let it fall apart. But that horses will natrually counter canter as along as they are balanced. So he was persistent to tell us to improve the canter we were in.
He concentrated so much on explaining horse antomy and natural balance and it was by far a huge educating experience. That if a horse needs to be counter bent to feel balanced then counter bend him. Always keep your horse balanced and never take any jump unbalanced.
He told me that I need to ride Steady in a martingale and he needs his mouth strapped shut. Then explained very clearly why his mouth needed to be strapped shut. I was under a huge misperception of drop nosebands, flashes and figure eights(though Peter DOES NOT like figure eights). Come to find out that my noseband is a drop, LOL. He explained the huge amount of leverage there is in a horses mouth because of the long 18" jaw. Then he showed us how painful it is to yank around on your jaw if your mouth is open then had us try it with our mouth shut. No pain! Thanks Peter! Steady thanks you too! I have alot of this lesson on my helmet cam but it will take some time to get videos uploaded so be patient with me. Next ride 1:00 pm.
One break through I had was at one point I was working on Steady to make a balanced turn and Peter yells "turn your body!" As soon as I turned my body I felt Steady turn under me. I had no idea that when I was asking him to turn I had my body turning in the opposite direction in turn throwing his balance off.
He also got on to us for not improving the lead we were on. I think we were all focused on the fact that if the horse was on the 'incorrect' lead that we would just kind of let it fall apart. But that horses will natrually counter canter as along as they are balanced. So he was persistent to tell us to improve the canter we were in.
He concentrated so much on explaining horse antomy and natural balance and it was by far a huge educating experience. That if a horse needs to be counter bent to feel balanced then counter bend him. Always keep your horse balanced and never take any jump unbalanced.
He told me that I need to ride Steady in a martingale and he needs his mouth strapped shut. Then explained very clearly why his mouth needed to be strapped shut. I was under a huge misperception of drop nosebands, flashes and figure eights(though Peter DOES NOT like figure eights). Come to find out that my noseband is a drop, LOL. He explained the huge amount of leverage there is in a horses mouth because of the long 18" jaw. Then he showed us how painful it is to yank around on your jaw if your mouth is open then had us try it with our mouth shut. No pain! Thanks Peter! Steady thanks you too! I have alot of this lesson on my helmet cam but it will take some time to get videos uploaded so be patient with me. Next ride 1:00 pm.
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