Indelible Session

From ShortHorse Studio's Website:

Equestrians know that horses are etched into our beings. Each leaves an indelible image, like a tattoo on the soul. The Indelible Project is being put forth to express our experiences - our joys, sorrows, humorous moments and devastating losses - as though we would wear them on our skin.


Each image will be created from two separate sessions: one with you and one with your horse. Both sessions can be done in one day, but it may not be necessary or possible to do so.

(c)SHS. One of Heather's "Signature Collection"
which was the precursor to the Indelible session.

(c)SHS

Let's begin with an introduction. Heather McManamy of ShortHorse Studios is an artist first, photographer second. I think the order is important, because many people can pick up an expensive camera and call themselves photographers, but there's a lot more to it then picking the right lens and knowing when to push the button!


Now off of my soap box...


I asked Heather if she would like to collaborate on a story for Horse Nation-- maybe I could tag along on one of her sessions? She did one better! She said "Let's do one of YOU so that you get the whole inside process."


I, of course, said Heck Yes.


We started the process by talking through different ideas for the final image. The question that really set me on my heels was "What part of your body has changed because of riding?"  Really when you stop to think about it, this is a big question. There may be injuries, there are certainly muscles, there is the emotional toll, both the sweat and tears but also pride and confidence.

(c) SHS. The first Indelible Session.
The bond between horse and rider.

Have you ever experienced the stranger or new acquaintance saying "Oh, you ride horses? The one time I rode a horse I..." and then they tell you the story. Even if they themselves didn't actually ride the horse, even if its not actually their story... they want to share it with you. No one ever walks up to Lance Armstrong and tells him about the time they went bicycling. It's one of the things I find most fascinating about horses, and its what this project is all about, because if horses could leave such an indelible mark on all of these people, just think about all the millions of ways they have changed you!!


The concept that Heather developed was spot on. As I was an eventer, we were going to focus on strength and courage, whereas the first Indelible Session sought to capture the grace and bond between a dressage rider and her horse. Each shoot is completely customized to the particular horse and rider. For my shoot, we used a dark red dress and fabric, with gold make-up (aka, my cross country colors). We did the photoshoot in our cross country course while the apple trees were just starting to lose their blooms, so the setting was pretty magical. 

(c) SHS. A selection from the first session.

We took pictures with me standing in front of jumps, standing on jumps, laying on jumps, walking up jumps. Heather also climbed trees, stood on jumps, and ran circles around me in order to catch me from multiple angles, with different lighting. Her part-time assistant, and full-time Significant Other, Mike, was also constantly on the move, making sure the light was coming from just the right place. All together, we were at it for about two hours. It didn't feel like that long, because the whole process was very fun.  As barn girls, we don't often get a chance to get all dressed up and be girly, so it was a nice change of pace, and since riders tend to be pretty physically fit, we tend to "clean up pretty well."



The horse session was much faster paced. What's that old Hollywood saying? Never work with children or animals? That's where Heather's mettle came in! We took my cute little 4 year old up to the water jump, which was actually very deep after recent rains! Even my trusty Dubarry's were no match... they don't protect from the horse splashing water into the tops of your boots!! So, we had a young horse who's still a bit green with water, me not able to go more than 5 feet in from the edge because of the depth, the sun was setting, and somehow Heather had to get a cool photo before the light was gone! 

(c) SHS. Zahra's session.

Well, of course, Heather stepped up. We got Zahra playing in the water, pawing at it, jumping down the banks, galloping through it... and Heather caught the playful spirit of my horse perfectly! We took pictures for two hours with me, and only 20 minutes with Z, but they. were. awesome. Zahra's just more naturally photogenic I suppose!


The last piece was pulled together by Heather; in my imagination it was done in the middle of the night, with the light of her monitor as the only glow, and a bottomless cup of coffee, as she bent layers, masks, and vectors to her will. The final image, in my opinion, is almost ethereal. A benevolent horse goddess looking down upon her creation. What do you think, HN? 

(c) SHS. The Final Image.

So, you think you want one too? Here are the requirements:

Candidates must:

• be comfortable with showing some skin (no "parts") in a safe environment 
• be comfortable in front of the camera or willing to try  
• own or have access to a horse 
• have a horse that can tolerate lighting equipment, props, etc.  
• be open and willing to take direction as well as initiative – this is a collaboration and ideas are welcome!  
• sign a model and liability release 

Visit shorthorsestudios.com/indelible.html for more!

Why Eventers Leave the Midwest

Alison Springer, Becky Holder, Eric Dierks, Jon Holling, Ralph Hill.... what do all these people have in common? They're Area IV eventers who got the **** out of dodge! But what drove them away? The unbelievable long, cold winters? Of course. But that couldn't be all of it-- after all, the nomadic eventing life revolves around going South for the winter anyways, so why not come back to the Midwest for the summer? We have a few decent events, and any four star eventer would have a glut of business from all the people scrambling to take lessons. So there must be another reason.

Culturally, we're not as horse oriented as out east, and I learned that lesson in a BIG way in my recent attempt to secure a beautiful cross country course here in the Wisconsin for the next generation of young eventers. The original owner died a few years ago and had his land set up into a trust for future use. He was a lover of the sport-- importing horses from Ireland, bringing in top notch trainers, and building all of his jumps to the absolute highest standard. I have never seen another place on earth where you could jump UP a bank, land in water, 2 strides, up another bank, INTO WATER!!! It was a pretty cool water complex :)

Recently, I sent the most professional proposal I could to the members of the trust, with the full weight and support of the WDCTA behind it, only to be rejected because the land had been re-insured, and could therefore no longer host equine activities. I didn't know the owner very well, but I knew him enough to say that anyone who knew him at all would tell you that that was not what he would have wanted.

So my point is, cherish what you have. Build relationships where you can. Steer clear of the politics. Do whatever you can to do your part to ensure that our sport continues... because if you don't, who will?

The alternative? Trail Rides through Suburbia.

The Saga of the Blue Tarp

I don't know what it is about ordinary tarps, but my 4 year old event prospect, Zahra, just can't stand them.

Proof that Zahra will jump things
that are NOT tarps!
(c) ShortHorse Studios

She has been so accommodating and wonderful about her training. She figured out how to do dressage and now has even the full time dressage riders oohing and aah-ing at her floaty movement. She learned how to jump and now tackles the 3' oxers like they're child's play. She's happy to go out on trails by herself, and will jump our little cross country jumps while we're out. She's been over small ditches, up and down small banks, and into water. It seems like she's on the path to be a great event horse!

And yet...

She has this overpowering irrational fear of tarps.

I like to do some ground work with all my horses, especially the young ones. Its a great way to establish a partnership, create boundaries, and introduce new concepts. So over the winter with my green-broke then-3 year old, I was doing groundwork once a week. Everything was going smoothly. We were establishing a connection, learning to move away from pressure, and trying new things. Until one day I thought it would be a good idea to bring out the big bad tarp. It's so versatile-- it can simulate water, a ditch, or be just a scary blue tarp!

Zahra completely wigged out. She adamantly refused to go over it, and I was completely flabbergasted. This is the horse that climbed up on the "elephant stand" on her first go, went on trail rides solo, and generally kept a good head on her shoulders-- and yet now she was acting like... a three year old!! I tried to get after her, and it just made her frantic, and LESS inclined to listen.

Keep in mind that this was December/January when all this was starting, so I began to panic a little bit. Sure she can do the dressage and the show jumping, but if she won't walk and/or jump over the tarp, how on earth will I get her into the water or over a ditch??

What I see

So we spent some more time working on the tarp. We slowed way down. I would let her watch other horses walk over it. We would stand in front of it until her blood pressure dropped. I could even pick up the tarp and put it ON her. But still, she would fight when I asked her to walk over it. Usually, if I had a cookie, she would oblige. Once she walked over it once, it became a non-issue and she would walk over it again and again.

As the weather got nicer and we started our introduction to cross country, the tarp work fell by the wayside. She had no problems with the REAL ditches and water I exposed her to, so the tarp fears faded.

What Zahra sees

Until April 1st, April Fool's Day, and Zahra decided to make a fool out of me! I was at a Leslie Law clinic and he had an inflatable Liverpool (aka, glorified tarp) that he was using to simulate the ditch in a coffin exercise. Gulp. We did all the exercises in the lead up to the coffin beautifully, including a big ol' corner jump! When our turn comes for the coffin, Leslie gave Zahra and I a break and invited us to walk around the tarp a few times, and then just trot the Liverpool by itself. And... she didn't. A guide rail was added. A lead horse came in to try to help us over it. Leslie got a lounge whip. Nothing. Well, lots of rearing and bolting, but certainly no jumping. Finally, he said (and I quote!) "Well, I'm not sure I can get her over it either, but I'll give it a go."

For about 10 minutes the rearing and bolting continued, but Leslie DID ultimately get her over it, and once she'd been forced over it twice, it was a non issue and she never looked at it cross eyed again. I got on, jumped through it, no problem.

About a week after that, on a Monday, I decided to revisit the issue. I took out my old faithful tarp and folded it down to a small rectangle, and then covered it in poles. At the other end of the ring, I also set up an unrelated trot pole exercise to complete the illusion. Over the trot poles we went, no problem. Over the pile of poles, no problem. Back and forth we did everything 5-6 times, never a foot wrong.

I was so happy! My plan was working! Now, to remove one pole from the pile and expose just a tiny bit of tarp... But as soon as we walked up to the poles for me to dismount, I felt Zahra tense up when she saw a little bit of blue tarp peeking out. No problem, I thought. She's already jumped it many times, we'll just go jump in once more before I move a pole, now that she knows the tarp is there. She trotted right up to it, and then bolted away at the last second. And so began again the bolting and the rearing. Eventually, I was able to get her to walk up calmly to the poles (but not over them), so I asked a friend to grab my rope halter, and  after a few minutes, got her over the poles.

That was the last straw. I sent my good friend Ruth, natural horseman extraordinaire, a message that night that said HELP! I may have just taught my horse to never trust me again!! We agreed on a game plan where she would do some ground work with her, and then at the end of the week, I'd take a lesson to learn how to fix the problem.

After the first day, I got a message from Ruth saying "She started out REALLY upset. After an hour she would follow me over stuff." I found out later that "really upset" meant she walked into the arena, saw all the tarp stuff set up, and took off running around the arena trying to escape.

Ruth working her across the tarp.
Photo (c) ShortHorse Studios

Throughout the rest of the week, Ruth worked with her a little bit during the day, and I would ride her a little bit after work. On Friday we met up for our lesson. She had several tarp obstacles set up, all of them intending to be jumped over. Since I really don't need her to be able to actually walk over a tarp, we zeroed in on making her comfortable with jumping the tarps, and who cares if she ever walks across one?? So, we started with her following me over a pole wrapped in a tarp. No problem. Then I walked across a piece of plywood with a tarp underneath. No problem. Next was a folded up tarp with barrels on either side, and a bit of wood across the middle of the tarp. She opted to jump the barrel the first time ("That's ok! She's following you into pressure") but then the second time hopped across the tarp. I was so impressed!

Following me across the pole wrapped in a tarp.
Photo (c) ShortHorse Studios

The next step was for her to go over these obstacles without me. So I walked next to her, encouraging her forward and out, on a 10m circle. She willingly walked over the pole, then the plywood, but at the tarp and barrels, she stopped. I calmly walked in front of her, hopped over the tarp, and she came too.

As soon as Zahra jumped over that tarp by herself, she got a big reward of treats, and she was done with work for the day!

That was Friday. Sunday, at a Ralph Hill clinic, we had a fake ditch (read: tarp) for our indoor cross country school. I explained the problem to him, and we took baby steps. First standing quietly next to it, then jumping rails on the ground next to it, then, towards the end of the lesson after she had jumped a few other things well, he said "Ok, now canter your liverpool!" I gritted my teeth, squared my shoulder, and put my leg on in a death grip. Zahra surged forward, and we jumped it!!

We're still on the road to recovery, but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Riding in France, or How I Learned to Train the Greenies.

When I studied abroad in 2008, I was given the very unique opportunity to ride horses for college credit. It had been my goal to try to find somewhere to take a few lessons while I was there—what I found far exceeded those expectations!!

Almost as soon as I set foot in Montpellier, France, I started trolling the internet looking for somewhere to ride. This is actually pretty hard to do when you really think about it. If you google the town you are in, and horseback riding, all the results will be horse-for-hire trail riding tourist-trap places! Not quite what I had in mind, but if I really got desperate for a horse fix, the option was there. Finally I found someone! It was an eventer married to a dressage rider dynamic duo, just a few miles out of town. Perfect! So I e-mail them, saying in my most perfect French that I am a student here for a few months, I've competed at the CCI* level, and could I please come take some lessons? The dressage riding wife writes me back and says that they are no longer together, I would have to call her ex directly to discuss the plan, and here's his number. Gulp. My first phone call with a native French speaker??? It took me two days to pull together enough chutzpah to make the call, but I did. And the first words out of his mouth? "How did you get this number??" I explained, now even more out of my element, that his ex-wife gave me the number. He then informed me, quite curtly, he had moved away from the area and he couldn't help me. As a last beacon of hope, I asked if he knew if there was anyone he could recommend in the area that could help me. "Non. Il n'y a personne." And then he hung up. How French. How devastating.

I completely gave up for a few days. I tried to come to terms with the fact that I would not get to see any horses, let alone ride, for the next few months. Of course, I quickly realized that that was just not an option! I started looking again, and the way I finally found Nadia (and here is your pro-tip): I searched the name of the city in COTH archives!!

Nadia, on her horse Pimlico

So, that is how I found this CCI*** eventer, Nadia DeBuck located just outside of town who agreed to let me come out and do a trial ride. When I called her, I was ready to do anything-- grooming, barn chores, anything-- I would have happily swept the barn every day, just for a chance to be around horses! But she had a groom, and she was pleased with my background (the benefit of having done a CCI is that its has international street cred!), so she wanted me to come out and try riding a horse.

L'écurie

Getting out to the barn for my first "trial ride" was an adventure all in itself! I lived right downtown, near the opera house, so I had to wake up in the pre-dawn to catch the very first train of the morning, take the light rail to the furthest stop, where Nadia's groom, Ann-Marie would pick me up in her "camion blanc" (pro-tip #2: should have looked up the word "camion" before hand-- then I would have at least known to look for the white van!); that first day, we had a hell of a time finding each other, seeing as neither of us knew what the other looked like (plus I was scrutinizing every single white, gray or silver vehicle, instead of just looking for a white van). Once we found each other, off we went, for the last 10 minutes of the trip out to "L'écurie de propiétaires dans l'Hérault." There I met Nadia, and she had me ride three horses that first day: an older, sweet horse named Harold, a crazy spunky gray pony, and one of the youngsters. I hadn't realized it was a test, but it absolutely was. First, can this girl actually ride? Let's put her on a safe horse and find out. OK, she can ride. Can she be useful? Put her on the crazy pony. He bucks. Hmm. That went well. Let's see if she can ride babies. Wow. Ok, let's keep her! 

For Nadia and I, it was a win-win. She had more horses in training than she had time for in a day, and I just wanted to ride!

But wait! There's more!!

This is Neno. I'm 5'11" WOW.

There was a class offered by my study abroad program whereby if you wanted to do learn about French business in the real world, they would find you an unpaid internship, and you would also have a one-hour-per-week class to learn about French business practices. So I approached the teacher of the class and said "Hey! Why not an internship at a stable?" They said sure, have Nadia fill out these couple of forms and have her give us a call.

…And that’s how I got college credit for being a horse bum!!

I went out to the barn 3 days a week in the morning, from 8-12, and rode anywhere from 2-4 horses, went out occasionally on the weekends, got to tag along to a few shows, and generally had an awesome time! The only thing I couldn't do was jump the horses, because their owners would come out on the weekends for jumping lessons, so no jumping for me. Of course, with all the money I saved by not paying for lessons, I did a week of cross country schooling in Ireland over my Spring Break. But that's another story...

Exercising the hounds in Ireland

Nadia was pretty spare with her corrections with me-- partly the language barrier, I'm sure, but I also always felt that she trusted me enough to know what to do, and to do it correctly. At the end of the day, we would always talk about all the rides of the day-- what went well, what needed work, and how to fix it for next time. This hands off approach really gave me a lot of confidence that I was truly a "good rider" and hadn't just gotten lucky with one good horse!

Oceane with her owner, Thom

It also helped that I could really see the horses progressing in the months I was there. I remember one horse, Oceane, an 18HH 5 year old Selle Francaise monster of a mare, was extremely difficult to work with when I first arrived. She was stubborn with a bad work ethic-- she was bigger than you and she knew it!!  She had figured out that if she planted her feet on your way to the mounting block, you couldn’t get on! But I was almost a foot taller than everyone else at the barn, so my long legs came along and just started getting on from the ground, and she quickly learned to just quit her whining and go to the mounting block. Although there was one time she refused to leave her pasture-- it took Nadia, Ann-Marie and myself all working together to bring her in! Her stubbornness made her very difficult on the flat, but with patience and persistence, by the end of the semester, her dressage was competitive enough that she was winning the 5 year old classes with her young rider!

Neno, doing the 6 year old class.

Nadia was a great believer in “éthologie” for young horses. Ethologie is basically the French equivalent of natural horsemanship, practiced at the celebrated Cadre Noir long before Pat Parelli or his ilk were even born.  She insisted on all the babies beginning their ring work in a halter, putting pressure on them so they learned to cope with this level of stress before a rider ever sat on their backs. And it worked! The two horses we broke out while I was there never set a foot wrong, and we were trail riding them within the month. The core belief that I took away from éthologie is that the horse is looking for a leader, and you need to show him that YOU are that leader!

Working with Nadia and her horses gave me the confidence to return to the States and say “Yes! I know how to start a young horse!” And that’s just what I did for many local breeders and trainers, and I am looking forward to taking all that knowledge I've amassed since helping Nadia and breaking out my own homebred, Puck, this fall!

As a parting thought, I'd just like to add that a lot of my other American friends spent their study abroad time going out to discotheques and meeting French boys, and at the time I felt like I was missing out on some of those experiences. But then I remember the time I groomed at the CIC* at Nimes, and slept in the back of the camion with Ann-Marie and her daughter Audrey, and I think maybe my French experience was the most authentic of all.

La paysage autours de l' écurie: La France, Authentique.

Intro to Teaching

Teaching horses is easy. Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. Expect little, praise often. I love the progression of teaching horses... even if its not always the lateral progression we hoped for! I absolutely live for the moment when you feel the horse underneath you "get it."

Teaching people is a completely different ball of wax, and one that I have given a wide berth to all these years. Recently I've had occasion to trade a couple lessons for favors to a couple different victims volunteers and it has been an education for me! I rarely talk about riding-- either I'm busy doing the riding, or I'm hanging out with friends or co-workers who haven't the slightest idea so I try to talk about other things. So now to switch gears completely and to try and talk non-stop about riding is tough! I think many people get the introduction to teaching through Pony Club, but since I was never really involved in a Pony Club, I missed the gradual, regimented introduction, and just dove in head first!

So here are some initial lessons I learned while giving my first "lessons."

1.) The easiest way to diagnose the problem is to watch the horse. Maybe the riders heels go up a bit over the fence, or she pinches with her knees a bit, but if the horse is flipping his head because she forgets to release, that's where you should start. Working your way back to the rider is much easier after you have a happy horse.
2.) No exercise is too simple. Its easy to want to "go big or go home" with the exercises like the big time clinicians, but instead it is important to "teach the rider in front of you," just like you must always "ride the horse underneath you." You can teach a lot with just two poles on the ground!
3.) Imagining you are the one riding can help diagnose the problem, but its also a crutch. By imagining its you up there, you can imagine what you might do different, but by the time your brain has connected to your muscle memories and then back to your brain, the moment has probably passed when you need to tell the rider to do that thing that you would have done if it were you!
4.) So, knowing that, what do you do? Go with your gut instinct. But then make sure you explain your gut instinct as you go-- as you're articulating your idea, you might just say something worth saying!
5.) There's an expression that I love in French, "la conaissance des escaliers." Literally it means "the knowledge of the stairs," but it is expressing that moment when you walk away from someone and come up with the perfect comeback as soon as you leave their presence. Similarly, there are many moments of 'Ah ha!!' about 40 minutes after the lesson is over. Best thing to do is to write it down and plan to work on it next time. (There will be a next time, right?!)
6.) The more you do it, the better you get. Duh, right? ...So, who wants a free lesson?

Why I hate the Doctor (or, why I love my vet)

I have a confession. I hate going to the doctor. I know a lot of people hate going to the doctor, but usually it has something to do with fear. I'm not afraid of my doctor, she seems really nice. I just wish going to the doctor was a little bit more like going to the vet.

I'm an eventing rider, so I'm no stranger to pain. If I fall off a horse, I'm not going to go running to the ER-- I'm going to get back on and finish my ride! So when I finally decide a pain is troublesome enough to call the doctor, I expect results, not a run around.

The set up to this story is I tweaked my knee out polka dancing last December (don't look at me like that--polka dancing is awesome). When I called in December, the nurse told me R.I.C.E: rest, ice, compression, elevation. It still hurts. So here I am, 3 months later, finally saying "Ok. Time to go see the doctor."

So, here's how I see the differences between my doctor and my vet:

1.) I have to tell the doctor what is wrong with me. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know what's wrong. You're the doctor, you tell me. When my horse is acting funny, my vet figures out what the hell is going on, going to great lengths, up to and occasionally including ultrasound, MRI, and designer drugs.

2.) I am not in a lot of pain. On the frowny face scale, I'm maybe a 4. On the Hyperbole and a Half pain scale, I'm only a 1. Nonetheless, it is a very inconvenient pain. My knee clicks when I go up stairs, and it freaks me out, so I walk up the stairs awkwardly to avoid the click, which is now making my OTHER knee sore! It also clicks when I post the trot, but I ignore that, because I'm not going to stop riding even for a day for the sake of this wussy knee injury. When an injury is not life changing, the advice is to take 2 ibuprofen and call her in a month. But I want to make this injury to actually be dealt with! In order to be my best, I must be sound! If I tell my vet "I don't know what is wrong, but something is wrong." We will find it and we will fix it!

3.) I'm in my mid 20s, that means I'm like an 8 year old horse who is fully trained in its sport of choice (eventing, for me). It's time to inject my hocks! Get me on a maintenance program of Adequan! At least tell me to throw some glucosamine in my oats! My vet would never say to a sore hock "Oh, give it some bute and wait a month. We'll see how it looks then."

4.) Doctors seem very afraid of alternative medicine. I asked a doctor once about chiropractic and he basically said it was just a bunch of voodoo. Given how much acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic help the most elite equine athletes, why are we still thinking its a bunch of phooey for people? Horses don't understand the placebo effect!

5.) Of course, to give my doctor some credit, she did assign me to some Physical Therapy to strengthen that knee, and I will try really hard to follow the therapist's advice, but if they say "No riding in the jumping length stirrups" or worse "No riding" that would be really tough for me to listen to! When a vet says "3 months stall rest, then hand walking, then light riding, etc..." I follow it to the letter of the law!! It is hard sometimes to treat ourselves as well as we treat our horses, isn't it?

And, finally,
6.) My vet bills are going to give me ulcers, sending me back to see the doctor. (Unless GastroGaurd will do the trick??)

Wisconsin Winter Olympics

Ok, I know, this winter has been a breeze so far. I only rode in my new-for-this-winter Carhartt’s once, and there was only one week where I thought “Meh… horses are fine. I’m staying home and watching TV.” But in general, winter is a time of hibernation for those of us not fortunate enough to travel South for the winter. But even in this less-than-ferocious winter, it still takes dedication and a little creativity to keep ourselves and our horses engaged over the long winter. There are only so many 20-meter circles you can do before you're ready to become a new Marvel comics style Super Villain: The Dressage Queen!

Here at my barn in Southern Wisconsin, we have started an annual "Winter Olympics" as a fun way to break up the winter, give us all something to look forward too, and generally dispel some of the ill-will that comes when nearly 100 eventers, dressage riders, trail riders, and natural horse folk are forced to share two arenas for 4 months, a la Big Brother (Seriously, are there cameras in here? Is network TV making a profit on these hissy fits??).

Zahra and I in our pre-game huddle

So, our barn has 4 barns: Dry Barn, Dairy Barn, Main Barn, and Long Barn, plus rough board. So these are your 5 teams! Last year, the title went to the Dry Barn, so we were the defending champions. Of course, this year no one from our barn could make it, so it was me on my awesome 3 year old, and another eventer girl on her awesome Standardbred. Our team was by far the smallest, but we were determined to be a force to be reckoned with!

Our resident dressage trainer, showing us how its done in the Puissance!

First, for the eventers, was the jumping portion of the day. Two classes: Gambler's Choice and Puissance. The Gambler's Choice is an arena full of jumps... some are small, and some are tall, and they each have a different point value. You have 90 seconds to successfully jump as many jumps as possible to score your team the most points. So plan your route carefully to maximize those points! While that 3'9" triple bar might be worth the most points, that don't amount to a hill of beans if your green horse refuses to jump it!! The Long Barn dominated in this class, taking 1st, 2nd, and 4th! My Zahra girl jumped a 3' vertical, which is a full foot higher than we've jumped so far, so she definitely is a team player!

Next, the Puissance is two jumps, one is for "warm up"and the other is for points. The jumps start at 2'6", and get taller and taller every time they are successfully jumped. If your horse knocks the rail or refuses, you're out. Last rider jumping wins. Again, the Long Barn came in first and second here!

Egg and Spoon!

The next few classes were anybody's guess as to who would win!  These were more mounted games/gymkhana type events.  Egg n Spoon races, pole bending, and the bucket brigade (Filling up a bucket of water, one cup at a time).

Pole bending, bareback in a halter!

In our small indoor, we had a trail class set up: 3 minutes to accomplish as many obstacles as possible while staying mounted (because cowboys never walk!) This year's trail class had many wild and crazy suggestions, from jumping bonfires and snowmobiles, to releasing chickens and goats into the arena. Most of these were tongue in cheek suggestions, because this stuff actually happens at our barn! Everyone at shows wonders why my horses are so bombproof. Its because there's nothing a show can throw at them that they haven't already seen at home!! In the end, it was slightly more traditional with events like walking across tarps, climbing on top of a block, opening and closing a gate, and moving a coat from one place to another. Only 2 of the at least 12 riders who attempted were able to complete ALL the obstacles!

There was an equitation elimination that started easily enough, walk trot canter each way, but it took adding in flying lead changes to determine the winner! It was, of course, a dressage rider who ultimately took the title-- for the second year in a row!

For the dressage riders, there was a musical freestyle class judged by a real dressage judge, with a REAL great sense of humor! Most teams did a Pas de Deux. The winning pair, from rough board, paired a quarter horse and a half Friesian for a test. An unlikely combo, but don't let these two fool you, they LOVE dressage!

At the end of the day, the Long Barn had a decisive victory, receiving the perpetual trophy and bragging rights for a year. But the Dry Barn, with only two riders, hung onto 2nd place, and Rough Board came in 3rd. Hopefully all the good cheer will have diffused tensions enough to get us through the rest of this winter, when the outdoor arena and Hunt Field will once again be viable options to ignore each other!!

She who organizes the madness

About the Photographer: We are very blessed to count a professional photographer among our boarders. So if you ever need a photographer for anything with a horse, a dog, or anything at all, you should contact Heather at ShortHorse Studios. Seriously, amazing.

Horse Nation!

Zahra is definitely becoming a huge influence on my life. I'm more crazy motivated about my riding than ever before, and I think its starting to affect the day to day! I have a website under development, a logo being finalized, a custom cross country jersey ready to be ordered, I'm writing this blog about my random little thoughts adventures, and now I'm a contributing blogger for Horse Nation! Whoa Nelly! So, I will be posting any and all Horse Nation posts to this blog as well, because, hey, why not?
Go Riding!