Today I took the seven year old gelding "Double Up" to his very first dressage show where we rode in the MB0 class (3rd level).

Double Up is sometimes referred to as The Big Horse here on my blog. Standing about 17.2hh, he is no dainty little critter. Some days I think I will NEVER figure out how to get a tour bus to drive like a Porsche, and other days I think I'll figure out the Grand Prix on him before any of my sporty and older orange machines (Countess and Domani). 

While Double Up's size is large, his character is larger. Luckily, that character is made up of all kinds of goodness. While he sometimes has trouble figuring out where to put his legs, he always tries to figure out the lessons and to do what the rider wants. I can't ride him the same way as the other, smaller horses; he takes earlier aids as he's maybe a bit slower to react. This has frustrated me since I like the horse to say "YES MA'AM I'LL DO IT NOW!" Double Up says, "what? Oh, okay, I can do that." And do it he does. I've had to learn how to ride him, like any professional should do; adapt to the horse, they can't all adapt to YOUR system. 

So today Double Up was such a good boy. I don't know the last time he's been in the horse van, but although he was afraid he never took a step backwards and loaded like a good boy. Once we got to the show and started tacking up he was calling out for anyone, but still stood still. 

Once in the warm-up he was all business. Still nervous, but looking to me for guidance. I had to be thoughtful of my warm-up plan, since with his bulk he gets tired quickly. When you add adrenaline to the mix, I knew the gas tank would be empty quickly. I got on 30 minutes before my ride time and took lots of walk breaks. He felt great from the time I started trotting so I didn't want to do too much.

In the competition ring he was nervous of the strange trees with paper flowers in the corners and the judges booth was something suspicious, but he just kept trying for me. I made some typical mistakes - too much pressure for a great trot after the halt which made him canter, a little too big voltes, trying to make it too small on the walk pirouette… But the big guy just did everything I asked. 

We were losing power by the end (and I do mean WE - we were both sweating and breathing hard, it's a big horse to pilot around!), and more mistakes came. His last flying change was late in front, then the transition to trot went canter-halt-walk-trot, and our last extended trot was glorious until his hindlegs got too busy and he had to break into canter. 

The judge hammered me in my mistakes, and was NOT forgiving when I had him too low in the poll or behind the vertical, which I did quite a lot of. So my score sucked, but Sarah and I were both thrilled at how great Double Up was at his first show. 

This morning I wasn't at all sure what to expect or if I'd ever want to take him to another public outing. Now I know what I have to work on (yes, the same things Morten has been telling me every day, but somehow when you get a 5 from a judge it sends the same message a little more clear) so that our next show in April will be better. 

Hooray for big boys who try so hard. I'm so grateful that Morten and Sarah give me these chances and are understanding of the mistakes I make. Also, that Sarah spent seven hours of her Sunday driving me all over the countryside, feeding me, and just being excellent company is another thing I'm grateful for.

Morten is gone to teach in the US again, so poor me has to ride 10 horses again every day this week. Really, my life is pretty awesome. 

The weather has been getting warmer, and today, for the first time, I rode all of my wonderful, well-behaved, amazing horses outside! Well, not all of them - the three year old stallion with only 5 times under saddle, I rode him in the round pen. With a halter. 

I am so NOT a horse starter. Tried it once and it went alright until a spectacular fu@k-up mentally scarred me for life, but that's a story for another time. However, Tristan Tucker, dressage-cowboy extraordinaire, is a very good horse starter. He's back working on our colts after the Herning show, and it's pretty amazing to watch him work. Every day, at Morten's insistence, I hang out in the round pen while Tristan does his thing. Sometimes my brain is cataloguing all the other things I need to be doing, but most of the time I'm trying to watch his body language, that of the horse, and learn some of this amazing system. Like anything, it takes practice and time to become good at it, and I am nowhere near being good at this!

However, with brain-bucket firmly strapped on and a whole lot of trust for the guy on the ground, I got in the saddle after Tristan worked three year old "Dino." I was a little worried that I might crap my pants, as I usually don't get on horses THIS green. I love babies, I don't mind the bucking and leaping, but five rides? That's a little early for my sensibilities.

Tristan basically held my hand, walking me through each step of bending the neck, releasing, moving the hind-legs, releasing, backing up, releasing, going forward, stopping, etc. By the end I did walk, trot, and canter both directions, in a rope halter. Let me say that again, in a halter! Cool. (And good news, I didn't need diapers!)

It's so worth spending the money and having someone really good start your horse if you can't do it yourself. This is such an important part of their education, and if done poorly can create problems that may never be resolved. I'm lucky in that I've always known where to find good people for this job, and in Denmark I've got it made.

It's strange to feel like a COMPLETE beginner at something with horses, but this is where I am in this part of horse education. In a few weeks, once babies know the bridle and the big ring, I'll have no problem and all my usual confidence in the saddle. Till then I will just keep learning.

Going back to my grown up horses... I clarified something in my brain today. When I was writing about my position last week, when my neck hurt, I wasn't sure how to describe it. The idea of my shoulders pulling together like magnets didn't quite ring true, but I couldn't figure out how else to word the feeling. It's been nagging me, because more important than writing about it, I don't want to forget the feeling.  It came to me today,  so now erase the idea of magnetized-shoulders and think about the following:

Imagine a little baby puppy (who doesn't love puppies!?), and mom-dog needs to move it. She picks it up by the scruff of the neck, and puppy just hangs out, sagging body, getting moved. Now imagine you getting picked up by the scruff of your neck, as if it was something that was natural. Sit in the saddle, relaxed and hanging out like pup, and then lift from your scruff.  For me it brought my upper body taller, and really put my head on straight. I like to tip my head down, looking at the horse (how many of you are guilty of that? Looking at the horse?!). Thinking about my "scruff" brought my chin in but not down, and certainly not forced up (which can hollow your back). It just felt really natural.

Maybe this won't work for everyone, but for me it's a really cool visualization that makes a huge difference in my position and effectiveness. Scruff. Have one, and use it. 

So, besides the great time at Herning, I also had a pretty amazing week of riding. Morten was gone on Monday so I had to ride 12 horses, including all the Best Ones. Oh man, my job is just so tough some days :)

Monday was so much fun but by the end of the day I knew I was having big problems again with my neck & back. I'd seen a chiropractor two weeks before and the resulting magic made me wonder how on earth I thought it was normal to not be able to look up at 34 years old? However, my muscles have a memory and demanded to go back to their familiar place, pulling my body out of alignment and into pain. 

I woke up Tuesday and knew I had to get in for another adjustment again, right away. However, physical discomfort is part of working with horses, and so I just thought I'll get through the riding as best I could, and if the horses had an easy day or two, so be it. 

But what do I know? Turned out that with me just trying to be still with my body, because any sudden or large movement gave me incredible spasms of pain, I ended up sitting deeper and more connected to the horses than I have in weeks. Seriously, I rode better than I have in a long time. It was almost insulting. 

After having another great day of riding Wednesday, I was able to get in to the chiropractor in the afternoon. Ten minutes later I walked out feeling almost like new. I have been working on stretching in the morning, but find it hard to balance coffee, breakfast, and brain-comatose with finding the motivation to take care of myself. The evening works better for stretching, but often I get sidetracked with Skype, emails, and of course TV or movies. It's always the same; when we feel terrible we promise ourselves to take better care, but once we feel good… well, all those promises go out the window. 

However, this latest episode taught me one thing about my riding. When I think more about balancing my head on my body, with strong shoulders wanting to come together like magnets (but not pulling my back into an arch), it just slides my seat deeper into the horse, which drapes my leg longer and straighter, allowing me to ride with lighter aids. I just hope this breakthrough stays with me while I feel strong and fit. 

The rides on Countess and Domani are getting better and better, as I understand the weakness of each of them, and use their strengths to improve these areas. Our Prix St George show will be towards the end of April, so I still have over a month to get better and better.  Each week I feel more confident in our future performance.

We are still waiting for confirmation of our entries, but next weekend Sarah and I should take Real Life and Double Up, respectively, to a show. This will be Double Up's first outing, and we're starting him at M level (3rd). Some days I can hardly sit his trot or ride him on a 20 meter circle, then the next day I can do two-time changes on him and half-passes to rival any Pan Am prospect. I can only hope I get the second horse at the show, but it's more certain that it's ME that has to be prepared to ride whatever walks out of the trailer.

Beyond this show, we are going to have a busy spring and summer. There are shows every second weekend, if not every weekend. With the two four year olds, Double Up, Domani, and Countess, I will have a lot of fun ahead!

The sun is shining and hinting at spring, the horses are beautiful and healthy, the Team is fun and motivated… now, if only my room would spontaneously clean itself, life would be PERFECT. 

Last weekend's stallion show in Herning was something everyone should see! There's so much going on I think it would be wise to come every year for a few years, just so you can absorb it all. Of course with work I wasn't able to see nearly as much as I would have liked, but it was a great introduction.

Edward Gal's Thursday night clinic left me with mixed feelings. There wasn't a bad horse in the group; we saw two 4 year olds, one 7 year old, one 10 year old, and then Edward rode the stallion Voice at the end. In the first group the two young horses were incredible, but only one rider was up to the task at hand. There was a girl riding who, quite frankly, had no business being in that situation. I don't mean to be harsh, but she could not perform the basic requests asked of her (release the reins), and this could not be blamed only on the exciting atmosphere. Just because she has a young horse with more than enough quality for the World Championships does not make her the right rider to demonstrate training. It was embarrassing and frustrating to watch Edward doing his best to teach her. 

The men riding the other four year old and seven year old horses both rode very well and presented their horses honestly. In all of the first three lessons I really liked what Edward taught. His quest for tempo control, the foundation of his training program, makes sense. He had the riders position the neck low, high, and everywhere in between. He was always saying to soften the hands, make the neck a little longer, not so tight. He said many of the same things I have heard from all of my instructors: Hermann, Jimmy, Morten, and even Ingrid. Like someone clever said, "he still cooks with water too," just like the rest of us.

I was enjoying the clinic so far, when the 10 year old horse came in the ring, with a young (17 or 18 year old?) Danish girl who has been training at Edward's for a year now. It. Was. Terrible.

It's hard to put it into words. The horse had soooooo much talent. He was a hottie hot hot Rubin Royal that wanted to spook and bolt around the ring. Rollkur was the answer for them. I can't tell you if the horse was in pain because of his neck position, but he didn't look like it. I can't tell you if this was the best way to make a super hot, spooky horse (that would have unseated some judgmental readers in a heartbeat) a little more submissive, but I don't think it was. What I can tell you is that the hind legs were no where to be seen. I think perhaps the young rider was a little excited about showing off her horse's amazing gaits to her home crowd, and only focused on the front legs flying around, never mind the short, contorted neck, the tight back and the hind legs not joining the party. I can forgive the enthusiasm of youth, especially when I think back to how I rode at that age. However, I can't be so gracious and pretend I wasn't disappointed that this was okay with Edward. Damn. 

After a break Edward rode the stallion Voice, a handsome black De Niro.  Edward in the saddle is amazing. He sits so beautifully, soft in his aids, but precise and exact in everything he does. Interesting to me was that he sits quite toed-out in the saddle. Obviously it works for him, but after all the training to keep my toes IN, I just thought it was interesting. He explains things very well while he's riding, and he's very positive with his horses and also the demo riders when teaching. It's interesting that Edward never put his horse in such an extreme neck position as his student did, but then I never saw his warm up. 

So I still think Edward is brilliant and super talented, and has the best hair in the business (previous title holder, German rider Christoph Koschel, has been knocked back to Reserve Champion of Great Man-Hair in Dressage, but will still maintain the honorary moniker The Hair). However, I will need a little time to recover from the image of that 10 year old horse, so horribly (not cruel, just horrible) ridden in public. Yeesh.

Besides Edward's clinic I also saw "my" cowboys, Tristan and Will, in their clinic Friday evening. They had the same venue as Edward, and probably about 2000 spectators to Edward's sold out 3000. Not too shabby for the cowboys! They were amazing, and the crowd very much enjoyed themselves. Tristan, the ring leader in this circus, has a great sense of humor and the crowd was laughing and smiling while they were learning how to deal with horses losing their focus because of strange objects, movement, and noise. They also performed in the Gala Friday and Saturday nights, impressing many.  Tristan was back at our barn this week, working with the three year old colts, and has admitted he has had to buy a second phone to handle all of the new business after the weekend's success! 

So much more to write, but I need to take this free Saturday morning to get some other things done. I'll write more later...

This week has been awesome, and it's not even over yet! Morten has given me so much help with the horses it's been fantastic.

My baby horses (four year olds) are just rockin along and making me smile every day. With the older horses it's been a lot of lessons on the Three P's - piaffe, passage, and pirouettes. We've kicked up the piaffe & passage on the horses who know it, since I tend to not school it unless I'm told to. I basically got the green light to work on it, learn it better for myself and for the horses. Morten watches and coaches as I'm fumbling along. Often if he's finished with one of his horses he'll help me from the ground, helping me get the feeling of the better transitions into piaffe, so that the piaffe itself is easier. It's like anything, if the transition is set up correctly the exercise takes care of itself.

With Domani and Countess we've been working on making the pirouettes better, in preparation for our debuts at Prix St George. With a clear plan to get in to the pirouette (the transition in), the pirouettes themselves are getting better and better. Countess is particularly talented for this exercise, and my mistake is that I often get them too small and it's hard for her to stay in the canter. With Domani I have to really think of keeping the canter jumping, but then convince him he CAN sit on that great big orange bum of his, while keeping the tempo and turning. He's starting to believe me as I'm starting to get more confidence in the preparation.  

I know it's been good riding when my stomach muscles hurt, and hurt they do!

Tonight I'm heading to Herning for the Danish Warmblood Stallion Show. Edward Gal is teaching a clinic tonight so I'm looking forward to seeing his lessons live and seeing if I come home with any ideas. Tomorrow our cowboys, Tristan and Will, are doing a clinic and then we'll run over for the last half of the sold out Gala Show. This should be a great event, I'm looking forward to it.

I should probably clean up before heading over, I think the rest of the public would appreciate this...  

Oh hurrah, the sun is shining for two days in a row here in Denmark! What more could I ask for on a relaxing weekend off?!

Yesterday I hit the road and drove to the breeding stable Firfod, about 3.5 hours from Silkeborg. I don't mind driving so long when it's a beautiful day and I'm heading to see beautiful horses. I met up with Laura, the physiotherapist who was here last week training with Morten, and she joined me; she bought her horse from Firfod, so she wanted to catch up with the breeder and update him on their progress.

I first became aware of Firfod while browsing a Danish website offering horses for sale. A few horses really caught my eye, and I realized they were from the same farm, or similar breeding. A friend of mine joined me searching out more information on these horses with funny names, and soon we were exchanging video links and making a list of the horses we liked best. It was a long list.

Laura pointed out the tiny sign that let us know we'd arrived. Like many breeding farms in Europe, it's a place that you could drive right past, not guessing from it's normal appearance that there are top quality horses standing behind the brick walls of the stable.

Owner and breeder Morten Plenborg and his rider Ingrid Ølstad were both working when we arrived. Though the stable isn't new it is clean and fresh, a very nice first impression. 

Because my list of horses for clients was a little vague, and I was straight-up that no one is coming over for at least a month, we agreed that it would be fine just to see some of his horses loose in the ring. There are advantages and disadvantages to seeing horses loose rather than with the rider; the animation and flamboyance of the movement is usually heightened while free running in the trot, but the canter is almost always tight and lacking the rhythm and swing that comes with connection to the bit, working over the back.

Keeping these things in mind, I was still blown away by the quality of the horses. One after another, beautiful and athletic horses were brought out. While there were some that I liked better than others, Morten didn't present a single horse, between three and six years old, that I wouldn't love to have in my stables.

After they showed off, running, bucking, and snorting around the arena, what I really appreciated is that every horse came trotting up to the group of us when they thought they were finished. All of the horses are wonderfully social, trusting the people handling them down. 

I have already sent emails to the friends I was looking for, saying they'd better be prepared to make tough decisions if they come horse shopping in Denmark. It would be hard, just on first impression, to choose only one! And this was only the first look-around I've taken!

Next weekend is the Stallion Show at Herning, where I am expecting to see many top quality horses. I have to work, so I will only be attending the evening performances Thursday and Friday (Edward Gal and our own cowboys, Tristan and Will, respectively), and if it's possible, I will also attend the auction Saturday.  I will be sitting on my hands, but making a list of horses that people I know should have bought. It will be interesting to compare the prices here to the German auctions that I've been able to attend. 

Meanwhile, Morten and Sarah are back from their holiday, so it will be good to get back into the normal schedule again. Though it was great to ride so much this past week, I was pretty much wiped out Friday. I had much better rides on Countess after my breakthrough, but she still let me know when I was being an idiot. Luckily, it wasn't as often as before. Hopefully this means progress.

Anyway, check out Firfod's website; it's all in Danish but you can still see some of their horses and breeding program. And HERE is a little video I made of the horses I saw. I'll take that one, and that one, and that one… 

Yeah, that would be me, the slow learner.

Countess is a brilliant horse, and she, with Morten's help, will teach me how to be a good rider.  Brilliant does not always translate to easy though. 

My problem with her is all about the neck. She doesn't have one of those amazing, long necks (that come with their own set of problems); no, she has a kinda short, kinda strong neck. I seem to be quick to make it shorter. I can give the reins and the neck gets long, but as soon as I put my leg on, she comes straight up, and usually short, away from the contact. 

My automatic response is to grab the reins and get her neck back down, then try to make it longer. This works until I put my leg on again… 

Yesterday was not such a great ride. Every time I put my leg on, specifically my right leg, she got tight, short, above the bit, hollow in the back. Every. Single. Time. 

I was really frustrated and we ended up doing a lot of flying around the ring, trying to figure out forward and contact, how to put them together. 

Somehow, sometime over the past 24 hours, I figured something out. I realized right away, when I was riding Countess today, that every time she would raise/shorten/tighten her neck in her reaction to my leg, amongst my other reactions to her, I would take my leg off. Ever. Single. Time. 

Sheesh. How long has this been going on? I have been teaching her, by (unthinkingly) taking the pressure of my leg off after her reaction, that the short/tight/raised neck is what I want. Sonofabiscuit.

I really figured it out when I put my leg on and Countess went 'omigodomigodomgid', I kept my leg on, Countess went 'uh… oh. Okay.' and put her neck down and long, into my contact. Then my leg pressure came off. As a reward to the desired response.

It wasn't just good luck. The rest of the ride I focused on the contact with my leg, not the contact with my hand. And of course, the contact to my hand was so much better because I was using my leg properly. Not perfect, but so much better. She got lots of hugs from me while we walked and cooled out. I can't wait till tomorrow.

Seriously, some days I feel like such an idiot! However, when I cross those chasms of stupidity, that's when the grace of horses amazes me. What incredible creatures to put up with us. 

The best part is that tonight, as I was finishing up in the barn, Countess let me cuddle with her for the first time. She is normally a Snob. Yes, with a capital S. If I don't have some sugar or a carrot for her, she won't hang out at her door for any scratching or kisses; she will retire to the back of her house and look down her nose at you. However tonight, for the first time, she leg me scratch under her jaw, then down her neck and at the withers under her blanket. She even gave me little nuzzles and smoochies in return.  Maybe she was just extra itchy, but I'm telling myself that was her way of saying I was forgiven.

She'll teach me, I just hope she's patient.