(this should be a PS after the previous post, but web program doesn't work that way) 

Monday this week I rearranged my schedule to go for a gallop with Ingrid, Carmen, and Erin. I got to ride my old friend Flipper on a beautiful, sunny autumn morning along the river Ems. 

I've said it a thousand times already and I'll say it again. I am SO LUCKY that I came to Germany to work for Ingrid. She is the most amazing woman in the industry, surely one of the most amazing human beings I've ever met. Just spending a morning with her refueled my tanks and made me remember what kind of person I want to be - gracious, positive, generous, and if I can have a teensy weensy percent of her talent, then I'll be satisfied.  

Everyone wants the bad stuff first, right?

Last night I took my Lil' Buddy, Erin Freedman, to meet her horses in preparation to fly back home to the USA. As I write this she is probably in the air, on her way home. Erin has spent the last 11 months working for Ingrid, learning and riding. While I am excited for her new beginning at home, for all the success she is bound for, I am sad to be losing one of my friends.

To make matters worse, Jimmy (aka Jim Koford to all you in North America) is also soon jetting off for warmer temperatures. As he had planned, he's heading back for the Florida circuit with his fabulous and now more experienced Grand Prix horse, Rhett. Unfortunately, he's heading off sooner than I'd hoped. I'm losing Jimmy next week! Boo!

I'm a little afraid of what's to become of me and my pathetic attempt at a social life in Germany. Erin, Jim, and I had surely an unhealthy co-dependant (times 3) relationship here in Germany. Nothing like being foreigners in a strange land to make people the best of friends. I'm certain our tight friendship prevented us from making some actual German friends, but it was so easy for the three of us to hang out, so it seemed like more work to mingle with the locals.

And then there was one.

Sigh.

But, the good stuff. Jimmy's help with Alabama has been almost indescribable. The Greyness came to me with some amazing natural talent and some good tricks up her sleeve. I've never sat on a horse with such an easy feeling in the flying changes, only to discover that left to right was ALWAYS late behind. Doh! I've been working for a long time in places without mirrors or consistent help available, so I've shied away from the changes. Jimmy has gotten us to a point where they are almost always clean, as long as I ride correctly (which, with Jimmy's help is getting easier). Today he gave us a lesson and I had some of the most beautiful changes as well as collected work towards the piaffe. She's not yet strong enough to really hold that level of collection, but the tastes of it she gives me are absolutely delicious. The beast can sit! She is always my last horse of the day, at it truly is saving the best for last. No matter how tired I am or how frustrating my day has been, I get in the saddle and ride. She inspires me, excites me, and gives me hope when other things are going south. That's a good horse.

Poor Alabama, she doesn't know that because our days with Jimmy our now limited, we are going to boot camp. We will be working together every day until he leaves, so that I can continue on with the most confidence possible. Hopefully after he's gone I'll be able to haul over to Ingrid or Hermann and continue progressing, and I'll be proud to show them what I have.  

One final brag about The Greyness: her four year old son, Stratocaster, had an excellent end of season show with his owner & rider, Lauren Sprieser. You can read about "Fender" and his greatest accomplishments yet on her blog. Hurrah Lauren & half-of-Alabama's-genes!  

If you believe in your heart, honestly and truly, that a particular horse is an idiot, then go with it. If you choose to trust this same horse, don't be surprised when you end up in the dirt. And it can be a looooooong way to the ground!

(Perhaps "idiot" isn't the right word, since we like to think that all animals have a special gift inside of them and it's my fault as the trainer for not being able to nurture this gift and bring it out. Maybe "coward" and/or "slow-learner" may be more fair.)

Like people, not every horse can be clever. Just trust me on this one.  

In my experience, a common problem with adult amateur riders is their fear of making mistakes. This isn't just limited to AA riders, but also for young professionals and, well, I suppose almost everyone. The difference is the level of fear and what we do with the mistakes. 

Riders fear making mistakes because they love Pony and don't want to do wrong by Pony. So rather than do something wrong, they do nothing. When trying to learn a new movement and running into problems, the fear of being wrong often blocks the right path. Doing nothing is not the same as doing the right thing. No how, and I bet Pony would back me up on this if he could. 

Lucky for me, I've learned to embrace mistakes - otherwise I'd never learn anything. Really, if there is a wrong way to do something, I've done it. This is how I learn. I wish I was one of those naturals who just did everything right the first time, but I'm not. In fact, I'm not sure how many of those people actually exist.  So I will go on making mistakes so later on I can confidently think, 'nope, I know that doesn't work, maybe I should try a different approach.' This comes in very handy as an instructor because I have made a lot of the same mistakes my students make, and often I understand why they're doing something, and hopefully can explain why it can be different. 

Today really clarified the benefits of mistakes, as I will explain.  Let me start off by saying I think the great stuff of today came a lot from this new way I'm trying to think as I'm in the saddle (see yesterday's post).  I was riding my favorite four year old gelding and he was awesome. Because things are easy for him we play around with the work from the Five Year Old Tests. Sometimes we play with walk pirouettes, counter-canter, and we are just introducing canter-walk and walk-canter transitions. I say we play with these movements because I only challenge him when the basics are really solid, and I've never pushed him to the point of frustration with these types of lessons. Today he was a magical young man so I started doing my counter-canter exercises, starting with shallow loops down the long side and finishing with a true counter canter all the way around the short side. 

The left lead was easy, so we had a little break then tried the right lead. The shallow loops were good but once I started in harder lines he started losing the balance and switching leads in front. I tried a few times, all the while going through my checklist, "Am I being clear in what I'm asking? Am I sitting in a correct way to influence him? Because he's a baby, am I over riding the movement, causing him to lose his balance? Can I break this down into easier to understand questions?"  I made some changes to my seat & position, but no luck. We just kept hitting a certain point in the exercise where it became too difficult for him to have success. So I took these mistakes and made a lesson out of it. 

What was different on the left lead vs. the right? Biggest difference is his acceptance of the outside rein, which makes him easier to adjust and position going left (when he takes the right rein). So I went right back to basics, cantering back on the right lead, on a big circle or straight lines. In these elementary lines I encouraged him to accept and take my left rein as a support, rather than just offering false inside bend and having no true straightness and balance. I occasionally counter-flexed him, moving his shoulders around while maintaining a big, forward canter. I could see in mirror that he got straighter in his body, rather than having his nose and tail to the inside while traveling in a straight line. 

After trying a few very shallow serpentine lines again with our new and improved solid outside rein, I called it quits on that high note. No, maybe we didn't accomplish my original goal, but better than that we both learned a lesson out of the earlier mistakes. 

The thing about mistakes is that they are unavoidable. The only people who never make mistakes are the people who never do anything, and I've got too many goals to live like that.  One great thing about mistakes is that the horses will let us know when we make them. It's just up to us to 1) listen, and 2) make a change. 

Eiren

Back home and sooooo good to be riding again! While teaching in VA & NC, I sat on a few horses, but  today I was back on my own kids. Poor Alabama must wonder what got in my head while I was gone, because I'm a whole other level of focused and inspired, and I want to ride my very best to get the best out of every horse I can. She is not impressed.  Being grey and fancy should be enough some days, what's this nonsense about being more through and using a better inside hindleg? 

Lucky for me, just before I went to Kentucky I moved Alabama into Munster so I could have Jim Koford's help. He is so quick to see what is the biggest problem and a great communicator which helps me get better while keeping the ride positive. Best of all, he's available. Due to the language barrier the Germans haven't clued into how good his lessons are, so he has time to help me after he's done riding. I do get a laugh that I am working with an American here in Germany, but I'm super happy with the help and feel we're making great progress, so it's just meant to be. 

Besides Jim's great advice, rolling around in my brain are excellent bits of advice and training tips I got in Kentucky. One might think this came from some fancy schmancy dressage trainer, but no, it came from a New Zealand cowboy. Bert Elstob was in town for WEG, also staying with my friend Donna. Donna's neighbor bought three fillies at the recent Keenland yearling auction and Bert started working with them. Now, whatever we think of starting horses as late yearlings, the truth is, it happens. The lucky ones get a good start, and I think these three girls can count their blessings. 

It was very interesting because all three fillies couldn't have been more different. There was the ultra dominant/confident mare who tried every trick in the book before simply agreeing to try what was being asked, there was the mare who tried hard but was quite sensitive to outside stimuli and had a very good buck in her when the saddle first went on, then the final filly was just a saint, super submissive and ready to say yes to anything to please her people. It was so interesting to see how Bert worked with each type, his consistent questions and simply waiting for the girls to get the right answers. 

In certain circumstances where I would have become a bit impatient and more demanding, it was good to see Bert just take time and wait for the girls to figure it out. He allowed them to make mistakes so that he could show them another way. Contrary to those moments where I would have wanted to push on with it, Bert and his unwavering patience made extraordinary progress in the training, and he was sitting on, walking, trotting, and cantering all of the mares by the time I left. All of this with a western saddle and rope halter. A rope halter, people! While I might think of a bridle and bit as a wee bit of control on the young mares, Bert thought it was just unnecessary stress for them at the beginning. Talking to Donna yesterday she told me that after I'd left he even rode the mares back home over to the neighbors. Less than a week with a rider, out of the round pen, in a rope halter. 

What was extra cool about being there for the training, it's that Bert is an excellent communicator. There were many times where if you changed the jeans & bigass belt-buckle for breeches and tall black boots, he could have been teaching a dressage clinic from the words he spoke. (I call him a cowboy but just calls himself a Professional Horseman, and has worked within many different disciplines, including riding in dressage competition.) He gave such good examples and analogies that I've already taken many of them and used them as my own. Plagiarism at its finest! 

I'm hoping that I  can train my brain and continue to use these little bits of wisdom, as I think this thought process brings a little more fairness to training. When I run into resistance I ask myself ,'what is it I want? What am I asking for? Am I being clear enough? How can I break it down into an easier question so Pony can have success?'  While trying to think like a cowboy, I'm visualizing Edward Gal's incredible position and perfect hands, and hoping I can use better riding to help communicate clearly with Pony. 

Lucky for me and my horses, I'm starting the weekend slow. The stallion barn gives the horses the weekend off, so it's just a few at Hermann's and Alabama right now. This is good because half the time my head is still stuck in the US, going over all the great things I got to see and do.

After my mess up with the flight, once I got there the clinic at Eliza Sydnor's was so much fun. What a great group of people and some very interesting horses. I ate amazing food (Eliza took me to a pig & goat roast! How awesome is that?), learned how to correctly pronounce Saxapahaw, and even went for a trail ride before I left! The same state of awesomeness of course applies for the clinic at Benco Dressage in Virginia. Besides working with my wonderful friends Courtney & Benny Pfabe and their clients, we also stopped in at professional riders Lauren Spieser and last but not least, Renee Carter's stables (lucky they are only about 10 minutes from each other). It was extra cool to go to Lauren's and work with her and Fender, since that big, four-year-old, almost-black gelding is the spawn of Alabama. I saw Fender in November of last year, when he was still known as Stavanger at Donna's farm. I rode him then and liked him. Let me tell you, I rode him at Lauren's and LOVED him. He has changed so much in the past 11 months, growing taller and stronger, and Lauren has done a brilliant job keeping him confident and bringing out his movement. I tried to convince Lauren to send him over to Germany with me, but no chance. I am expecting great things from this combination, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that all their stars align along their journey since they both got the talent and goods to get the job done. For those who don't follow Lauren's blog on Chronicle of the Horse, you can see the story she wrote here about my visit. She is one of the funniest writers I've come across, and it makes me feel almost famous to be included in her chronicles. However, I have to say it wasn't 30 minutes Lauren, it was like, 25 minutes. C'mon. 

Well, I'd better get to bed so I can ride better tomorrow. Cheers!

Eiren

I'm sitting at the Raleigh/Durham airport waiting for my ride, after telling her I'd get in at the wrong time. This is after missing my flight last night. I need a secretary...

I'm spending the next two days teaching a clinic at Eliza Sydnor's farm in North Carolina, after teaching at Benco Dressage in Virginia yesterday. I know I've said it before, but I love teaching clinics. It's always so fun to meet new people, see new horses, and when I can help someone, all the better! I miss this when I'm in Germany, where the language barrier limits my teaching abilities. 

Meanwhile, I'm still recovering from WEG, what a great experience. Other than the overpriced, sucky food, the Games exceeded all my expectations. The dressage was amazing to see live and I have every ride on DVD for future viewing. I am so impatient to get home and ride Alabama, it's probably best for her that I have to cool my jets for a couple more days! The inspiration of seeing such top riders was worth the trip. Their tact and feel and some absolutely perfect positions make me just want to work harder. 

Ingrid was amazing in the eventing. I watched her dressage (11th place was pretty low for her quality of ride, I thought) and cross country. She made that very tough course look like a stroll in the park, and moved up to 4th place after her run! My friend Anne and I had a beer with Ingrid and her husband Saturday night and we wished Ingrid & Braxxi good luck for Sunday's jumping round. I didn't see her go, but two expensive rails knocked her down to 13th. Braxxi!!!

Besides all the great horses and sport, it was great to see so many friends at WEG. I had a lot of fun with everyone and it makes me miss living on this side of the pond. However, I'm still looking forward to getting home and back at it, hoping to get good enough to one day get in the ring with the calibre of riders I saw this week... 

Cheers!

Eiren