It's just another Sunday here in Denmark, but I miss all my family and friends more than usual today. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and 2012 is happy and healthy for you, your family, and your animals. 

Posted on HJU: 

http://horsejunkiesunited.com/2011/12/wrapping-up-an-awesome-year-in-denmark-and-very-exciting-news-for-2012/ 

It would seem I'm very wordy these days:

http://horsejunkiesunited.com/2011/12/im-married-to-my-horse/ 

Middelfart. Still makes me laugh because I seem to have the sense of humor of a 10 year old boy. 

Anyway. I forgot to quickly mention some of the AMAZING riding I saw this weekend. Yesterday was a warm up day for some "Under 25" and "Under 21" classes, where these young riders get to compete against riders their own age in the FEI levels. Because it was warmup yesterday, it was open to all ages, but I still felt more than a little old sometimes...

Let it be known that there is some good Danish talent coming up. Two riders who stood out though deserve some special mention. First, Maria Anita Andersen, who rides for Blue Hors, needs to be a name you learn. I'm not sure if she will be the in-house chief rider now that Sunne Hansen is gone, but I see no reason why she isn't capable of the job. I first saw her ride a great big young Don Romantic mare in Vilhelmsborg a few months ago and she really impressed me there. Yesterday she took 1st & 2nd place in the Intermediare I with convincing scores. She rode the very sexy Blue Hors Rush Hour to second place and a chestnut gelding (I think) named Tribiani to first. Let me tell ya, the girl can ride.

The other Danish girl you need to know is Anna Kasprzak. This is a girl I could hate because she's pretty, thin, looks incredible and talented on a horse, and must have deep, deep pockets behind her. The first horse I saw her ride, again in Vilhelmsborg, was her Honnerups Driver (yes, of Verden 2009 Young Horse World Champion under Andreas Helgstrand fame). Again, wanted to dislike her but she really did a nice job riding. She sits very quiet but rides with feeling and ability. 

Yesterday, during my bazillion hour break between classes I was lucky enough to see her school her newest horse, Donnperignon. This horse was on the German WEG 2010 team, owned and ridden by Christof Koschel until the Kasprzak family aquired him.  It was very interesting to watch this young woman ride such an accomplished horse. She was inspiring to watch!

She used a lot of counter canter with big, soft changes of bend in her warmup, until she had him so soft and loose, but energetic and electric. When he got squirrelly in the changes she would go on the diagonal, ask for one change and then halt (yes, perfectly square). Then he would get a pat, and one stride of canter, change, and halt again (yes, another square one). This continued a few lines until he was quiet and waiting, at which point she could toss out some lovely tempis. She never lost her cool, never gave him grabby or rude aids. Just seemed to say, 'calm yourself buddy, nothing to get excited about.'  

It is perhaps a little easy to say, "ah yeah, the girl bought a made horse and blah, blah, blah," with some negativity. However, when we put the envy/jealousy aside, it's nice to see a good young rider have such an opportunity and who seems to truly appreciate and enjoy her talented horse. And you know, none of us would say no to a chance like that!

So as much as these girls make me feel old, it was a treat to watch some great riding and get inspired while I had my own good time showing.  

After the show in Hjallerup last weekend the training with Countess has really taken an exciting turn. The work at home, while not perfect, is getting more expressive and steadier. My new key word in training is CONSISTENCY. 

My goal is to bring my higher standards and clarity more consistently in to the training so that Countess has a better understanding. I can’t tell her that 60% effort is okay Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but suddenly Thursday I want 90%. Then Friday? Friday is another 60% day. How in the world will she understand and accept that?

So my standards haven’t necessarily been raised, but they’ve become more clear. Countess has responded beautifully, with less resistance and questions to my requests. We’ve developed more steady expression in the trot & canter, with our one-tempis easy and relaxed, our piaffe & passage way more sitting and active. And all the while Countess is blowing her nose and relaxing more and more in the work.  It’s so exciting!

With this great progress in training I found myself strangely unenthused to go to the horse show Friday. The weather was terribly stormy, it was a loooooooooong day, I had no one to help me, and I’m sure I came up with a few other reasons why I didn’t need to do this National show. But a few looks from Morten, Chris (Hickey, who is here from Hilltop for training, more on that later) and my dad (via Skype) when I mentioned my lack of interest made me just suck it up and go.

After the horrendous drive to Middelfart (that’s right, say it out loud and try to laugh. Middelfart. I love Denmark!) Ride Club, I was a little tight for time going in to the St George. Not late, just tight. However, due to the stress of driving I had no more room for horse show stress. I simply didn’t give much of a crap, which was a weird horse show emotion. 

But maybe I need to give less of a crap more often? Countess and I had a lovely go, with a much improved score over our last National show in October (Ikast). We scored 64,211%, with a lot of room for more improvement. Some things were better than expected but I still threw a lot of points away by just not planning enough. Overall I was really happy though. Yay!

I found myself with nothing to do from 10:30 in the morning until 6:30 in the evening. I couldn’t unhook the trailer due to some idiocy on my part, so that ruled out heading in to town to explore. Instead I napped, read, listened to music, and watched a movie in my car in between checking on and feeding Countess. 

Finally it was time to get ready for the Intermediare 1. Countess wasn’t exactly impressed when I rode her into the warmup the second time; I could feel her holding back and silently cursing me out. She gave me some resistance when I asked her to bend, she was throwing changes out willy nilly and running through my reins. While I couldn’t be angry with her since I’ve never ridden her twice in one day before I also wasn’t going to put up with her disobedience. I just consistently asked for the correct responses to my aids: forward, back, bend. When she was “confused” I made myself more clear; when she was responding well, I was quick to reward. 

As we trotted off after our entry the second time that day, I started singing some music under my breath to  her. When I was bored out of my mind, sitting in my car, I watched the video of me & Countess working together in June. That was such a game changer, making that video, and it made me really appreciate what Countess is about. Somehow I found that music, from Rodrigo y Gabriella, to be perfect and when I hear it I can remember that feeling of her under the saddle. 

So with a very quiet voice I sang to Countess and myself, and found some more of that swing that eludes me in the show ring. We couldn’t keep it all the time but we found it more often than ever before.  It helped us set up for a great test, where we scored a 64,561%. Our first, and only other Inter 1 test in October ended up with a 60% so I was THRILLED to make such a huge jump in scores. 

It was a happy drive home, even though the last 10 km saw more snow and wind blow in. Countess, to her disgust, got lots of hugs when I tucked her in, and happily got to spend the day rolling and playing in the snow this morning. 

It was a great way to wind up the 2011 show season, and when I look at the progress we’ve made I can’t wait to see what the 2012 season brings us!

Just wanted to say that after my less than stellar performance over the weekend at the horse show, I've come back this week with my new focus and attitude in the training. It's WORKING!!

I really can't say enough how important my work with sports psychologist Sommer Christie has been in this evolution of attitude and thought. Of course the amazing coaches and horses I've worked with all shape the rider and trainer I'm becoming, but this business of using my brain is proving to be amazing. Wow.

Each day this week has seen drastic improvements in my work with Countess. My focus on being consistent in my demands and expectations is making my goals more clear to her and she can more easily say, 'Yes Ma'am!"

Considering it's only Wednesday, I'm pretty excited to see how the rest of the week unfolds. And then the week after, and then the next one and the next one. It's so cool to have breakthroughs!

Wohoo for bad days when you can take the lesson out of them and get better because of it!  

Sometimes I think I compete just to piss myself off and push forward to the next level. 

Seriously, after almost every competition I am frustrated with myself. My horses only do what I ask, or what I don’t ask as is often the case. This weekend was no different.

Usually my frustrations revolve around The Orange Goodness. I know that Countess is a very good horse. I have moments where I get it, and less often I have moments where I can show it. This frustrates me. 

Last night at the show in Hjallerup I was warming up as I though appropriate. Countess was distracted and fresh, more than normal, but I took a lot of time in the walk and got through to her. We did nice, boring trot and canter work. Then it was getting time to kick it up. 

I kicked and she responded. It was where we had been training, it was good. But right before I went in, I wanted GREAT. So when she didn’t blast forward from my leg I kicked a little too hard. I swear I heard her say, “what the 7u@k??!”  and off she went. 

Her turbo gear was too much and so I ended up hanging on the reins throughout the test, just as I’ve been practicing NOT doing. Sonofabiscuit. No half-halts went through, it felt like waterskiing and didn’t look a lot better. 

While I know it was ultimately my fault for upsetting her right before the test, I still wanted to clarify that this was not okay. For the first time ever with Countess, I took her back in to the warmup, picked up the reins, and schooled a little bit of lessons after our test. 

Leg on means go. NOW. 

Hands mean stop. NOW. 

Go means lead with your hind legs. Stop means keep those hind legs under you, your back up, and your neck long. 

It only took a few minutes, and in that time I had access to the horse I know is lurking under the scowling chestnut front. It was beautiful and it was frustrating.

Why is it that I can get this in moments and not consistently? I know it has to do with her strength and ability to carry. It has to do with me being clear and her understanding. It also has more than a little to do with me riding like a sissy. 

I don’t know how many times I tell students to stop being their horse’s friend. “Too much love,” is a phrase that Scott Hassler uses often when he sees us babying our horses. We love them and don’t want to upset them. I’ll call people on it in a heartbeat. But recognize it in myself? Much harder. 

I think I work my horses hard. I’m actually quite certain I do. But there must be a difference between working hard and working effectively. And working effectively has to include the challenges that lead to progress. 

No horse gets to Grand Prix with hugs & sugarcubes alone. I can love my horse so much it makes me cry, but I still have to steer this ship. I've set our course to International Grand Prix, and unless I kick both our asses occassionally, it's going to be a long road of mediocre small tour and wondering why we can't make that very hard jump to the next level. 

This is my next plan:

Set my goals. 

Work smarter to achieve the goals I have set. 

Don’t be satisfied with mediocre in training, because I’m never satisfied with that in a show. 

Love the shit out of my mare when she gives me what I ask, and love the shit out of her when she tells me off. 

And even if this post sounds frustrated, it's not so bad. Of course it can be frustrating, but it's part of the journey, right? If it was so easy we wouldn't care so much.

Besides, I had two other smarty-pants at the show who just gave me good stuff. Double Up did the St George also and was a star. He stayed up through the entire trot tour like a big boy and made no real mistakes in the canter. I continued to suck at the walk pirouettes, accidentally cueing him for a canter pirouette (that scored a 2!) which he was pleased to demonstrate. We didn't score big but it was another improvement for him.

I also rode a client's horse just for practice. He had some bad experieneces at shows in the past and so we are just schooling. Riding in to the test with a whip in hand is an automatic disqualification, and that's exactly what I did, on purpose. We don't even want the pressure of a score, we are just going in for good experiences, and that's exactly what we had.

He is such a smart horse that we've had enormous improvements in the last few weeks. I am really starting to get excited about him and he gave me such a good feeling yesterday that it balanced out my frustration with my earlier riding.  

So, we make mistakes and get better. You win some, you learn some.