I hope everyone has a nice Christmas holiday season, or whatever it is you celebrate. I am enjoying a quiet day off after a wonderful dinner last night in Dortmund with my brother Morgan, and his wife Birgit. Birgit's family joined us after dinner for drinks and gifts, and it was a really lovely evening. This morning, as a present to myself, I had chocolate cake for breakfast with chocolate-hazlenut coffee. Yes, I will be going for a long walk this afternoon and riding one horse in a pathetic attempt at exercise. 

After my last ranting post, I feel much better and at peace with my decision to get shoulder surgery. I've had some good feedback from colleagues that have had shoulder surgeries, and it's renewed my confidence in having the procedure. The pain is annoying and interferes with my work, and I am finished with that.

My Osteopath therapist does believe she can fix this without surgery. However, it will take so much time and when I asked what about my riding, how can I keep riding as my job demands from me, while we try to fix this her way, this is when she asked me if I wanted to have children… So I guess this would be a good time for me to take a year or so off, get knocked up, and give my shoulder time to heal. Um, no, I got a puppy, thanks. 

Speaking of puppy, I love her. I probably mentioned that already, but it bears repeating. Love her!

Back to riding… Wednesday after working at Hermann's, I drove back to Muenster and had a jumping lesson with Ingrid. I had the privilege of riding Dante again. He is such a fabulous and funny horse. As soon as he sees jumps in the arena he gets an unmistakeable twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step (translate that to he BUCKS!). Our warm up consisted of him leaping around in joy and me laughing,  trying to stay on, and keep his head UP! Once we finally started jumping he was amazing. I haven't had a proper jumping lesson since I don't remember when, but Dante is so fantastic he lets you feel like it was just yesterday that you did a course. He gives you such confidence that suddenly you think it might be fun to do jumping competitions. In public. Cause you don't suck. The treat of riding such an honest, talented horse under the watchful eyes of the incomparable Ingrid Klimke ranks as one of the highlights of my christmas season so far. 

Last year around this time I had a need to sum up the past year, reflecting on the highs and lows that got me to wear I am. This year, I don't feel the need. It's an amazing ride every day, getting through one moment to the next. Some times you make huge mistakes and sometimes you make small victories, and I wouldn't change any moment of my life because I'm very happy and very content with where I am now.  I'm all full of warm fuzzies and chocolate cake, it's a good christmas feeling. I hope everyone else gets this same good feeling every day. 

Merry Everything and Happy Always to you and yours. Cheers!

Eiren

So first things first, I got a puppy!!! About two or three weeks ago I brought home a beautiful, funny, and smart-ish Rhodesian Ridgeback baby girl, and her name is Maude. My (former?) dog in the US, also a Ridgeback, is called The Dude, after the main character in the movie The Big Lebowski. In the movie The Dude has a lady-friend called Maude. And there's my logic. My puppy brings me great happiness, lots of cuddles and love, and she makes me laugh all the time. I needed to have a dog again, and I picked a good one.

Of course, once I paid for the dog, that's when der Toaster, my trusty green car, shit the bed on me. After more than a week in the shop and me having to rent a car throughout that time, I finally got it back. It drives way better now, no longer giving the feeling of exiting or re-entering the atmosphere with the shaking & shimmying between 40-130 km/h. On top of the new & improved smooth ride, we just got a big dump of snow here and der Toaster can handle itself very well in such conditions. So, I'm sort of forgiving it for being an old piece of shit, but my bank account isn't… 

Related to nothing, I have been helping at Ingrid's again while she is short-staffed. I rode twice last week and on Wednesday will be riding in a jumping lesson! It's been so fun to sit on Dante & Alfi again, I love those boys. Also I was invited to Ingrid's christmas dinner for her staff, held last night. It was nice to be included in that group, and it was a really lovely evening. Of course I ate to much and Maude ran wild with Ingrid's young whippet Sunny, having a good time running around, through, and into everyone. 

Now, on to news that sucks. Except it's not really news...

The ongoing drama of my shoulder continues to be drama, and not any good kind. It hurts like a mothertrucker, and seems to be getting worse. I've been to my regular "sport" doctor, the shoulder specialist surgical centre, my regular physical therapist, and an osteopath. I respect each of these people for their different views, backgrounds, and experiences they can bring to my situation. However, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM TELLS ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT. 

Don't get surgery. You need surgery. Don't do weight training, use a therapy band. Do weight training, the therapy band doesn't do anything for this. If the exercises hurt you shouldn't do them. You might feel pain during/after your exercise but you need to push through it to strengthen your shoulder area. We can aggressively inject your shoulder. You've had too many injections. You need surgery. If you do the surgery you will never have the same use of your shoulder, ever again. The surgery is very successful. It's rare that these surgeries are really successful. 

Seriously, WTF?!

So, two weeks ago I was having the regular pain in my shoulder, which I'm sort of just used to at this point. I was holding a new 4 year old stallion as a client was about to get on. Turns out he doesn't know about mounting blocks, so he shied backwards & sideways, fast, as the rider stepped up and leaned into him. I got dragged along with him, with my arm doing everything possible to separate itself from my body, straining my already cranky shoulder. 

Over the next days I made the decision to get the surgery. It hurt before but this is ridiculous. I arranged for a replacement rider to come over and cover for me while I was recuperating. I booked the date for the surgery. My mom has booked her ticket and is coming to take care of me while I'm incompetent. I'm ready.

Then it seems everyone around here starts shitting all over me because I will be making a HUGE mistake if I get the surgery. There are 100 reasons why I shouldn't have it done. 

It's like politics. You are either liberal or conservative, no middle ground to be found and the other side of the argument is an express route to eternal damnation or simply proof of incurable stupidity.

EVERYONE KNOWS what is the best thing to do. … except me. 

Alright somebody call the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaambulance and get my whiney ass outta here. I'm done, sorry for dumping all over you. 

Oh, by the way, merry xmas, happy other holidays, and so on and so forth. My gift to you will be less bitching on my next post :-)

Cheers!

Eiren

From my early Symposium departure I caught the plane to go visit my friends in Kentucky. I've known Donna Garner & Paul Sullivan, owners of Chinook Arch Farm in Georgetown, KY for probably 13 or 14 years now. When I moved to Calgary, AB I kept my horse at their farm and eventually moved in myself. We've stayed in touch and friends through my move to the USA, their move, my move to Germany, and now their pending return to Canada. All the while I've had so much fun watching Donna's breeding program develop, riding her talented horses, and simply enjoying good company!

I haven't been to their farm in three years, so it was fun to see the new youngsters and see how the ones I knew back then have developed. I have spent a lot of time stalking Donna's group of 3 year olds through the pictures and videos she posts, and wasn't disappointed to see them in the flesh. The one in particular that I was anxious to see was Alabama's 3 year old son, Stavanger. "Stav" is by the winning Oldenburg stallion Sir Donnerhall, and combined with Alabama's interesting Silvermoon blood, his pedigree is enough to get most dressage enthusiasts interested.

Though Stav is a gelding, watching him go around brings to mind the description "sex on a stick", usually reserved for stallions. Even being a dorky, not-always-coordinated 3 year old gelding, he is super sexy and exciting to watch. He has moments where he finds his balance and swing, and here you are left a little speechless. As Donna's rider James rode him around the first day it was all I could do to politely watch and not simply drag James out of the saddle so I could get on. When I finally sat in the saddle I was not disappointed. This big horse rides more like a four or sometimes five year old, rather than a horse just under saddle since July. He feels incredibly safe and balanced, and has a wonderful willingness to work. I totally hogged the ride on him the remainder of my time there, and wish I could have just packed him in my suitcase and brought him home with me. He's a horse that the Germans would appreciate, and I believe he would be competitive over here. 

Another youngster that interests me very much is Luxor, a gelding by Linaro out of Donna's funny mare, and my personal favorite, Grace. There's a story behind my obsession with Grace's kids. When I was in Calgary I bought Grace's then three year old son Chancellor, a big, ugly gelding, because there was just something about him. He eventually came down to me in the USA as a four year old and showed me more talent than I ever had imagined he had. While not a pretty horse to look at in the stall, Chancellor danced under saddle and won every class we entered together and showed promise for the high levels of collection required in the FEI level. Unfortunately, Chancellor had to suffer through my many mistakes in bringing along a young horse.  For everything he gave me, I wanted more. I lacked the patience to properly bring along a talented young horse. I pushed and pushed until he finally said, "ENOUGH!" This was just weeks before my first time competing at Dressage at Devon. Try as I might, I couldn't get his spirit back and had a horrible DAD, not even finishing my second test. I took him down to Florida and tried and tried to figure out a way to make him happy in dressage again. After some time passed I resigned myself to the fact that I blew it. Chancellor was sold to a jumping trainer who sold him on to a good home. Last I heard he was a star for his owner, never did anything stinky, and was successful in his new career. I have cried a lot of tears about this horse, and my stupidity in my work with him. But I suppose it is things like this that give us real experience, and lessons that last a life time. Trying to find the balance between when to push and when to back off is a tricky business, and this is why it's so important to have a good young horse rider, and why such events like the Young Dressage Horse Trainers Symposium are so critical in North America. 

Aaaaaanyway, back to Luxor. Where Chancellor was big, ugly and confident, "Lux" is small and adorable, and full of questions. He's flashy with all sorts of chrome and big buggy eyes that take in everything around him. He is amazingly quick and sporty, with a hindleg that just doesn't stop. Again I watched James riding and wanted to get on. I was more cautious because Lux is just so quick, but he was really wonderful to ride. This probably isn't a horse for the young horse classes, but in my mind he's a horse that will be incredible at six or eight, as he's ready to take on the FEI work. Once again, wanted to put him in my suitcase and take him home with me. 

Donna has another interesting three year old, Firenze, by Feiner Stern out of her mare Cordelia. I knew Cordelia from the moment she was born and she's always been an absolutely delightful mare, so I was curious to see her first offspring. I've seen him on a brief video, and he has swing and bounce AND a super hindleg. Unfortunately he had bonked his foot, taking off a good enough chuck of hoof to put him off work while I was there. Naturally, he's back in work now that I'm gone, and doing great so I hear. I think it was just a ploy to keep me from obsessing about him too… whatever. 

Besides falling in love with all of Donna's youngsters I also taught some fun lessons, including another Grace offspring. He's doing great with his owner and I'm excited to follow their career. With the leftover time we had great dinners and time to visit, and a spectacular time a local dive bar, where Corona was the most exotic beer available and the locals were colorful to say the least. It was a great last evening in Kentucky before heading back to PA.

My last days of holiday were spent on in a less hectic state, but still always thinking I needed just a few more days to see everyone and get everything done. My great friend Susan Peterson and her husband Topper drove down from Rhode Island and it was a treat to see them. While Susan and I headed to Riveredge West to see the Hasslers again, her husband chanced to meet para-equestrian Rebecca Hart at a Starbucks. Google this woman and get an idea of what an incredibly accomplished athlete she is. Susan and Topper went to watch her train the following day at Jessica Ranshausen's farm, and were allowed to video her work. Susan & Topper showed me the video of Rebecca's lesson and that of another para-equestrian James (who's last name escapes me right now) and all I can say is HOLY SHIT.  I don't have any actual experience with the para-equestrian program, but I've always thought it seemed like a great thing. After watching the videos I am so inspired and awed by their ability. I'm not sure how to deliver this in a way that is politically correct, but let me say that these two can f#cking ride! Both of these riders had a stronger, more effective seat than most able-bodied riders out there. I know how hard it is to try to get it all together, how much work and effort it takes to get the timing and feeling for dressage. I struggle with this every day as a rider with no major physical problems. To see these two riders, with real physical issues, make it look so harmonious and easy just knocked my socks off. I'm am officially a huge fan of para-equestrian sport and hope to support it any way I can.

So, that about sums up my trip. It was such a great time, but of course it always needs to be just a few days longer so I can see a few - or a lot - more people. It's great to be back, lots has happened, but really, I'm sure you've read just about enough for one sitting. I have to finish by saying a great big thank you to Brendan Curtis for coming over here and riding my horses while I was gone. He really did a great job, and it was nice to come back to horses that have been in good work. 

Next update will probably start with news about my new puppy or my damn shoulder. Till then, stay warm!

Eiren

Part III of my USA holiday is coming, but I've been sick the last days and just feeling whiney. I've started writing but just haven't finished. Will get it done soon. 

It's good to be back though, besides the sick thing. I'm happy to be back on my horses, getting good help. Still need to work on that walking on the bit problem I have, but some days it's better.

Also, finally saw Ingrid last week and it was soooo good to see her again, it's been probably two months since we've crossed paths! She's such an amazing person, so full of positive energy, you can't help but be in a good mood around her. We ended up chatting for about 45 minutes, and it made me realize how much I miss being around her!  

That's all. I just felt like I should update something!

Cheers,

Eiren