I love Ratzinger. 

The five year old stallion and I won my first yellow ribbon (that's first place to my North American friends) today in Dressurpferde L, equivilant to the Five Year Old test/work! 

I took Ratzinger and Dutchman V, an 18hh five year old gelding, to a show in Haltern today. I first showed Dutchman in the Dressurpferde A, where we placed 3rd. We had time to get him back to the van, put him away & tack up Ratzinger, then I trotted off (on foot) to the awards ceremony while Sara, my super helper, lunged Ratzinger.

We were first to go in the "L" class, so after the lunging/awards ceremony time I had about 20 minutes to warm up. He was amazing. The horse just fills me with good, warm fuzzies. He was so wonderful in the contact, so wonderful in his swinging back, and just proud and brave, even when the judges tent flapped aggressivley in the wind.

Our score of 7.7 was good, but it left the door open for someone to take over. When I came back with Dutchman, who was second to last to go, Ratzinger was still in the lead, with a 7.5 taking second. Dutchman put in a good test, much improved (on both our parts, but mostly my not riding like such an asshole) from last weekend. He scored a 7.4 for 3rd place.

There's just something special about a powerful, sexy stallion when he works FOR you and WITH you. Ratzinger is all of what a stallion should be. I know he has so much more in him, and I wish I could bring it all out to convince the world of his physical ability.

But what I love, love, LOVE about this horse is his interior, his character. He is proud and powerful, and with the wrong character it could really work against his rider. However, after he gets his wahooeys out on the lunge line, as soon as I sit in the saddle, I trust him 100%. Perhaps the lunging is not always necessary, but I'd rather let him have his fun then get on and try to crush his expression. 

When I ride Ratzinger, I feel proud too. I don't feel like people think oh, there's that foreign girl. She obviously didn't get the German education. Instead I feel like people maybe think huh, there's a good pair. I hope Ratzinger knows when I hug him and kiss him all the way back to the van (how embarrassing for a big man) what an honor it is for me to sit on him. 

It's nice to have the ribbons, it's nice to have the prize money, it's nice to have the results on my resume. The best though, is to have your heart filled with love for an awesome creature, and have them give back to you. That's why we do it, isn't it?

Cheers,

Eiren 

Thursday and Sunday (today) I had a fantastic show in Ludinghausen, about 20 minutes from Munster. It was my first outing with Instertanz, the four year old stallion. Thursday he did his first Dressurpferde A (training level for young horses), placing 2nd with a very good score behind Damon's Devine, who won the Bundeschampionate last year as a three year old under Ingrid Klimke (different rider now). Today we competed in the Reitpferde (material) and we were once again second. We beat Devine today (she was 3rd) and came in behind the amazing Helen Langenhanenberg with a lovely mare. 

Not knowing what to expect from Instertanz, I was absolutely thrilled with him. He was so well behaved in the warm up, competition, and awards ceremony. The show grounds were so busy, with kids & ponies battling for space with us big kids and our young horses, and a very busy jumping ring & warmup on the other side of the path. He had mares on either side of him in the prize giving and was so well behaved. Wow!  

Ratzinger and I had our first win together Thursday in the Dressurpferde A for 5 & 6 year olds. He was just awesome. Later that day we rode Dressurpferde L, which is similar to the 5 year old test. He was brilliant, I was a bit stupid and made some costly mistakes. We ended up in second place, just .1 behind the winner. If I had been a little smarter and more careful in some of my transitions I think we could have had it!

Today Ratzinger and I rode in the LVM Qualifier, again in a Dressurpferde L class. The LVM Finals are at the big Munster indoor show in January, and it's quite serious competition. The stallion and I had an awesome warm up, really were together, and went in the ring like we meant business! However, I was shocked when Ratzi was nervous of the judges table and all the flowers/boxes/spectators around and behind it. Ratzinger is never spooky or looky, so I was a bit stunned and unprepared. Even still with the tension on the short side affecting our transitions, he still managed to place 4th in a very good class. 

It was a good lesson for me, as I assumed Ratzinger would never get tense from objects in the ring. You know what they say about assuming... His scores for the gaits were very good and it was the submission/rideability and overall impression that suffered. I really hope people see these mistakes as mine and do not fault the horse.

I am so proud of both stallions. I think I love them more now than I did a week ago, and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity I have!  

To finish my amazing day today I went and rode Flipper and Dante at Ingrid's. It was a beautiful evening and both boys were so wonderful. It was like whipped cream and sprinkles to top off a great big delicious bowl of ice cream. Yummy and good for the soul.

Eiren 

Working at Hermann's barn, I get to ride a lot of different horses, which is very good for me to develop as a rider. Horses come and go, sometimes to new owners, and sometimes they just... go. 

Today, two horses that have been there since I started a year ago left. They didn't get sold, they went somewhere else to be sold as we just haven't had success with them. They are both a little complicated, but super characters and talented. However, neither are easy rides. I don't know how long they were at the barn before I arrived, but it was sad for me today that they were gone.

When the horses are sold, there's always a feeling of excitement. You hope they will have a great new partnership with their owner and we all have a new dream together. However, when they have been around long enough to really get to know them, then they just "go", it leaves an empty feeling, where you just wish and hope for the best for them, but you have absolutely no control or idea of their future. It's sad. 

As a professional, this is a familiar feeling. I used to get really sad when horses I liked sold or moved along for another reason. Now, I've mostly gotten over that, and this sadness is reserved for these other horses, the ones who leave with a question mark. As a professional, you have to decide when is the time to cut your losses. When is it time to be straight up with the owner and say, "I can't give you what you want, it's time to find another way." 

I think for amateurs, who have one or two horses for themselves, it's easy to get saddled with a tough horse. You feel committed to them, they are part of your life, part of your family. I feel this way about my dog. I could never give her up just because she's sometimes a bad puppy. But with horses, because it's my JOB, and because they are not my horses, I have to look at it a different way. What are the goals? What is my part in the owner's goals? Can I accomplish these goals for the owner? If not, what will the next step be?

I have learned over the years to detach myself from the emotions of horse owning. Not to say I don't have feelings for the horses -  if that ever happened I would quit riding! And I certainly can sympathise with horse owners. You are spending hard-earned money on an animal you love, one you have dreams for. However, if I am taking money from you, it my job to be honest, even if that hurts your feelings.  This sucks sometimes.

The other emotional side of it as a professional, is when you have a horse "pulled" from you. So often riders develop a bond over time with their horse, only to have the owner, for whatever reason, take the horse elsewhere. Sometimes it's clear, sometimes, from the rider's perspective, it's hard to understand. 

I'm not entirely sure what my point is today, just that even after doing this for many years, I still get attached and feel responsible for horses that I have absolutely no control over.  They are animals with personality. You learn what they like, don't like, what they fear, what they take joy in. When that personality is out of your life, it changes things.

On a happy note though, there was another article in eurodressage.com today about the great success of one of our sales horses, Dankeschon. This is when the sales business is a good one to be in, even if I'm not the one making money! Just to know that I played a small part in this talented and successful horse's life, it's a good feeling.  

See the article here http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2010/05/06/barbanç-and-mommen-neck-neck-2010-cdi-j-saumur

I tried to make a direct link, but it didn't work so please copy & paste the link.  

Cheers,

Eiren 

It's been a busy and fun week. I had a quick trip to London (LOVED IT!) to visit my friend Anne, I bought a new car (so far unnamed Toyota RAV4), and had my second horse show yesterday. Florentinus and I came 2nd in the Reitpferde class. It's basically the same as a Material class, except  they break the class into groups of 3 instead of having a bigger group going at the same time. 

Last weekend, when we won the class, Florentinus was in the front of the group and even after a bit too long warmup he was fancy, proud, sexy, and super well behaved for his first show ever. Yesterday I was trying to help someone load a 3 year old and it cut into my warm up time.  Finally we got him ready and Anne-Marie, one of the girls from the barn helping as the groom, led Flo to the holding ring/lunging area just outside the dressage warmup ring. As she started to lunge him, the victory gallop for a pony jumping class got itself going, and all the spectators were cheering and clapping as a group of ponies flew around the ring next to us. Needless to say, Flo thought that was awesome and he should surely be involved in the fanciness! I just couldn't watch. Instead I went and asked how much time I had before my group was expected in the ring. "Minutes" was the answer. 

Well, shit. Time to cowgirl up I guess.

I ungracefully climbed on Flo (no mounting blocks and no mane to grab onto as I haul my inflexible ass up there) and just got on with it. We went into the warm up ring (an open sided arena with the very popular beer garden on the long side)  and my thought process was get your head down, get your neck longer, get away from that other horse, get your head DOWN, neck longer, DOWN!, longer, get away from that pony, man, that beer looks good right about now, HEAD DOWN!, longer neck, no, no bucking, longerneckheaddown! and in we go… 

We had about 5 minutes more in the competition ring while they calculated the scores for the previous group before the judging began. Flo was still selling sex to anyone interested, but just before we got going I was able to stretch his neck down in a loose, relaxed trot. We all were walking when the announcer called the beginning of the group, and each combination. Well eff me, turns out this time I was sandwiched between the gelding in front of me and the mare behind me. On the start list I was slotted to be in the front of our group again, and with a young breeding stallion, thats the place you want to be.  I heard the Kentucky Derby's "and they're off!"  in my head as we began trotting. Flo was quite literally chasing tail, and it was all I could do to keep him OFF the good looking brown gelding in front of us, nevermind try to keep his neck long and make the whole picture pleasant and uphill. Dammit! After a few rounds he settled in, realizing he wasn't going to breed anything if we kept trotting and cantering around. He relaxed and began to work with me, and I started to feel like, ok, we can do this. Then, we had to walk. 

Dammit dammit dammit!

Well now that brown gelding was not moving so fast, so we jigged and jogged and chicken walked so we could get closer. Florentinus has an awesome walk, so I was just mad as hell. Non stop. Jiggidy joggy, snort and holy shit! Why did the rider halt? The announcer had told us to turn right at B, and as she approached E the announcer didn't call "left" or "right", so the rider just stopped. By the time I figured out what was going on, Flo thought NOW'S MY CHANCE!!  and with a big sexy grunt he launched towards Browny Boy. Thankfully the rider on Browny had just started to turn right and I was able to haul ass left and an awkward moment was prevented. A few times the mare behind us got a little close (and by a little, I mean still in a different postal code), and Flo would shrink his neck back and give her a little sexy snort too, but her rider was very courteous of my situation, and that was the end of the drama.

We had another near-breeding in the holding ring before the awards ceremony, where a one-eyed jumping horse got just a little too close for (his) comfort and with a snort Flo was ready to offer his service. Everyone gave me good clearance after that and we made it without incident into the awards ceremony. After being relatively calm in the holding ring, now Flo was pumped. Here were all these people, just here for him. And ooh, there's Browny! Right in front of us, once again!  I did a lovely impression of a water-skier during the victory gallop, and my brain was doing it's familiar get your head down, easy boy, whoa, sweet jezuz do NOT get on Browny! Get! your! head! DOWN! whoooooaaaa buddy, head DOWN!  The crowd just laughed when Flo started bucking  and head waging, thinking that my rules were lame and he could do this so much better without me! 

It was quite disappointing with the whole walk issue, but I think he just needs to get more show atmosphere experience and learn that there is no sexiness necessary in this situation.  However, the truth is that even if we'd had a perfect walk, I don't think we could have beaten Browny yesterday. Turns out he is a Damon Hill offspring, and he was beautiful, calm, and expressive. At least that's what I heard, as I was only looking at his tail and trying to stay off of it. 

Overall I was really pleased with Flo and proud of him. Even with the lack of warm up and it being only his second show, he was such a good boy. This show had so much going on, the atmosphere was really crazy. Ponies everywhere, kids on all sorts of different wheeled toys that have no place in a Dressage Queen's path, hundreds of spectators & parents at the beer garden, loud speakers, music, dogs & dogfights, umbrellas opening & closing, kids crying and screaming, and a bunch of young dressage horses trying to figure out what the hell they're doing off the farm?! When I'm on the ground I look at all of this and think oh my god. However, when I'm in the saddle I only think of the horse and rarely get distracted by the things that go on around us, and I am so grateful to be riding brave, albeit horny, stallions.  

Next weekend no horse show, but Ingrid is taking Ratzinger to their first competition together and I'll try to go watch. This will be inspiring and let me see how it should be done. 

That's all for now. Cheers,

Eiren