How Far We've Come.....How Far We've Yet to Go

Well, 2011 is almost over and I have to admit that at this point I've been doing a whole lot more looking forward than looking back.  Don't get me wrong I've done plenty of reflecting throughout the year, basking in the good memories and learning from the not so good ones, but it's really been a great year.  I am soo excited for 2012!!!!  This time last year I didn't even know if Snoop was going to make an event horse and now we're four weeks away form doing the PT at Sporting Days!  We are really starting to get that "old married couple" thing going on which is great.  I feel like we're partners now.  When I start to get frustrated with him I make myself look back to gain perspective and boy has the little man come a long way!!!  He went from having stops at beginner novice in May, to a win at Novice in June (on a 29!), to four clean trainings and a clean T3D in October!  I am still cautious to not get too far ahead of myself, but he's such a talented horse it's hard to not get excited for his future!  I needed a great year in order to keep going in this difficult sport after several bad ones and I got it.  Check out the pic below of Snoop's one and only event in 2010.  He was still looking very much like a racetrack rat!  Not anymore.

Snoop 2010

Snoop T3D 2011 courtesy of Xpress Foto

We had several big changes during the last half of the year and the last few weeks of December have been a bit of whirlwind!  Scott moved up to training with Cheddars this year and had a great clean xc round at Erie, but it has become apparent that Cheds is ready to live a bit of an easier lifestyle.  Scott learned so much from him and they are great partners.  We are very fortunate to have had him sort of "fall into our lap" 18mos. ago.  We love the crabby old QH!  My return to the racetrack this year after 3 years away was a very welcome change and I've been loving it!  We we're very busy these last few weeks with almost all the horses racing at one point or another.  We moved barns in November which is always unsettling, but the horses handled it well and are very happy.  We've also acquired a new addition to the barn!  Only just this past Thursday we welcomed a beautiful 4yr old bay TB mare into the barn.  She's an excellent mover and so athletic and light on her feet.  Of course she's also just a little thing at 15.3h because I wouldn't have it any other way!  Scott doesn't understand what I have against big horses, but he said now I have "a matching set of powerful munchkins!"  She only ran 7 times and she's young so I look for her to be fairly easy to re-train.  Famous last words right!  

Last, but not least is my personal favorite new happening.  Scott has taken over the training duties of his new event horse in-the-making, Dougie.  I don't like riding the horse much, so Scott asked if he could try him before we got rid of him and they love each other!  It's very cool to watch him ride with his head and be patient and forgiving with this old, stubborn racehorse.  He started 59 times and is coming 8yrs old, so he's a bit set in his ways.  He's a perfect first project for Scott because while he may be a pain in the a@#, he's very sensible and won't do anything dangerous.  I am very excited to help them train and form a partnership this year!  

We are now armed with a fancy new digital video camera (thanks Mom!) so be on the lookout for footage of the new horses soon, but until then..........GO EVENTING and GO 2012!!!!

Snoop T3D courtesy of Xpress Foto 2011

Show Jump Schooling

We are planning a trip to Lakeside Arena on Friday, Jan. 13th to do some schooling over their show jumps.  If anyone is interested let me know.  Should be a fun and productive way to break up the winter boredom!

Ups, Downs, and Learning How to Go with the Flow

Anyone who knows me well, knows I haven't always been very good at going with the flow.  I haven't always been the most patient, laid back person either, but I've gotten a lot better as of the last year or so (thanks Snoop!)  I'm very good at turning small setbacks into catastrophic events!  So when we were asked to leave our very nice facility at the end of October (owner basically wanted the place dusted with Pledge once a week and aisles power washed every 3 days, etc.. Uhh, don't think so), I have to admit I panicked a little bit.  We kind of saw it coming and it was definitely for the best, but relocating horses is just plain stressful no matter how you look at it.  There are very few places in this area that are suitable for training upper level event horses, but I was lucky enough to find a nice work-in-progress 10 miles from my house!

The only real downfall at the moment is my lack of indoor arena, but construction is set to begin on a 100x150 indoor with a new barn in Dec. or Jan.  The outdoor is huge, but the footing was bad so the wonderful owner had new footing hauled in for me last week.  Now the only problem is getting it from the driveway to the arena with all the rain we've had!  The bobcat is too heavy and will destroy the arena before we fix it, so he's going to wait until the ground freezes this week to haul it in.  I've bought a new rain suit and a waterproof quarter sheet for Snoops, so like true eventers, we WILL make it work this winter!  I've got my horses all set up to get snow pads for the winter so we can ride in the snow and will be purchasing a very large quantity of calcium or magnesium chloride to keep my arena from freezing as best I can!  I'm learning all sorts of new things in my quest to ensure that I can ride all winter long!

With that being said, the horses are noticeably happier in their new home.  I think they like being around other horses and all the barn kitties.  Never a dull moment!  I also think they're enjoying being trained outside more.  I have to admit that with an indoor like I had before, it's hard to want to ride anywhere else, but the horses get quite bored.  We have a very nice round pen and miles of cleared paths for hacking and galloping, as well as a gallop field and a crazy hill across the street that I'd like to get permission to use in the spring!  Spending so much time just trotting and cantering out on the trials and in the fields and making Snoop go really forward into his bridle has done wonders for developing his medium gaits!  We shipped to an indoor to ride over Thanksgiving and I was very pleasantly surprised by the lengthenings I was getting.  He felt a lot less like a chihuahua/hackney pony cross and more like a real dressage horse!  I've just been trying to maximize what I do have at my disposal and not dwell on what I don't have right now.  I've just had to get a little creative, but everything will be okay.  I got a little bent out of shape when my footing wasn't actually in my arena by yesterday and my mom said, "Seriously, what's 3 or 4 more days in the grand scheme of things?"  She's right.  It's not the end of the world.

I will get some pics up when it stops raining, but until then.....GO EVENTING!

My Kingdom for a Horse.......that LOVES it's job!

So I watched the video of the late dressage horse, Blue Hors Matine, on EN yesterday and what a treat it was!  Not only because she was a phenomenal athlete, but more so because she very obviously LOVED her job and gave a 120% to her rider.  I'm not gonna lie, I didn't even know who she was until yesterday because I just don't follow the dressage world very closely, but I'm so happy I got to watch her perform.

This led to me to start thinking about how happy Snoop has been lately, and how hard he is staring to work for me.  (Yes, I cheated and brought him back into light work early.  He was becoming insufferable for his pasture mates and humans!)  I think this is starting to turn into a true partnership, not a "me against him" or vice versa thing.  He wants to make me happy and after Midsouth I truly believe he is starting to take his job very seriously.  He wants to make me happy and I'll do what ever it takes to keep him happy!  He loves the new barn too, but more on that in another post. 

I find so much joy in watching or riding a horse that truly loves it's job.  It doesn't really matter if it's an event horse, a race horse, a dressage horse, or a horse happily packing it's child around their first cross rails division at a hunter show.  Hickstead, Zenyatta, Teddy, Out and About, Blue Hors Matine, Henny, and my old upper level horse The Provost-just a few of the horses out there that have given everything they have every time out because they love it.  I'm still just a horse crazy little girl at heart and one of the qualities about a horse that will always be at the top of my list is it's try and it's heart.  Without those two things talent doesn't always mean much. 

I leave you with Cozy Sunday's view of the racetrack every morning.  She's not the most talented horse in the barn, but she tries harder than all of them put together and takes her job very seriously.  She has yet to run, but we will soon find out how far that big heart in that little body will take her!

PS:  In my quest to try new things and because of my general love of all sorts of equine athletes, there is a trip in the works to go ride some cutting horses!  Don't worry, I'll be sure to get a video that should be worth a few laughs since I have no idea what I'm doing!

Until then......GO HORSES!

2012 Schedule

**This is TENTATIVE as always**

Jan. 13 Show Jump Schooling @ Lakeside

Feb. 4 Sporting Days

Mar 2-4 Sporting Days

April 7-8 Spring Bay

May 12-13 Winona

May 31-June 3 IEA

June 16-17 Lost Hounds

Aug 4-5 Penny Oaks

Sept. 1-2 KY Classique

Sept. 28-30 Jumpstart

Oct. 18-21 Midsouth 3Day 

22 1/2 days left....But Who's Counting?

I am.  Counting down the days left of Snoop's vacation that is.  I have to admit that as pathetic as it may sound, I'm having a hard time getting out of bed every morning since I don't have riding Snoopy to look forward to!  His vacation is well deserved and needed no doubt, but that doesn't mean I like it!  I just really look forward to getting on him everyday and can't wait to start putting the finishing touches on him for a successful move up to prelim in early 2012.  Lot's of homework to do and a great plan in place to make sure he's completely ready. 

As you can see he is enjoying himself thoroughly!  It took a lot of hard work to get that dirty and then evil mom goes and gives him a bath!  Don't worry he did the same thing the next day and no bath.  I have plenty of other horses to ride and keep me busy, but it's just not the same.  It's funny when you go to start a new one off the track and all of a sudden your difficult, half-crazy, opinioated upper- level -horse- in- the- making, but still green seems like a fine-tuned 4* horse in comparison!  Gave me a little perspective on just how far Snoop has come.  He is officially the new "big horse" in the barn!

On a totally unrelated note, I promised I would get that pic of my new friends from Midsouth posted and it seems I have finally figured it out.  My new smart phone makes me feel really stupid sometimes!

Well maybe not.  The above photo is from my phone and now I can't get the other one to upload.  AHHHHHH!!!!!  I will keep trying.  Until then GO EVENTING!

Super groom Maggy, Super pony Zena Warrior Princess, and Nicolette Merle-Smith

Oh wait, I just figured it out.  Had to publish the post and then go back in to edit and add the other picture. Oh technology!  

Midsouth Videos

Pics from Midsouth

****ALL photos courtesy of Xpress Foto!!****

Midsouth: The Best Weekend Ever....Almost

Wow, I can't believe Midsouth has already come and gone, but let me tell you as of last Wednesday and Thursday I thought it would never be over!  As I unloaded Snoopy at the Horse Park Tuesday night we got a hail storm and that was pretty much how it went for the next 2 1/2 days!  I've never been so cold, wet, and miserable in my whole life.  I think if we hadn't known the weather was going to improve several of us would've packed up and gone home!  The wind and rain were relentless and despite the fact that I wanted to be snuggled up in the bed, Snoop had to have his 25 walks per day plus 2 rides.  The weather didn't seem to bother him a bit and he could care less that his mother was turning into a human Popsicle.

Snoop handled the week very well, although he was definitely confused by the fact that after a few days away from home he hadn't really done anything.  He also didn't quite understand why he was walking around an indoor barn at the Alltech Arena waiting to jog with 25 other horses!  Pretty sure he thought that was all quite silly, as did my husband, Scott.  Neither one of them could really quite figure out what the fuss was all about!   He passed with flying colors.

By the time dressage rolled around he was nearly unmanageable.  Our warm-up was a bit of a catastrophe, but I have to say he really did settle down and listen to me in the show ring.  It wasn't the best test he's capable of, but close enough for a very respectable score of 40 to put us in 18th out of 36 horses, only 7 points off the lead.  Not too shabby Snoops!  Middle of the pack was my goal after dressage so I was happy.  The steeplechase school we did about 3 hours before the test certainly didn't help is relaxation any, but it was well worth it come Saturday.

All I can really say about the endurance phase is "what an awesome horse!"  He ate up the 'chase and xc like they were nothing and was ready for more at the finish.  He was so bold and his confidence was at an all-time high.  It was a very cool feeling!  My little horse is actually turning into the horse I know he can be!  We added nothing to our dressage score to move all the way up to 12th!  The icing on the cake was yet to come though.  As we were cooling Snoops out after xc, Samantha Clark asked if I would do an interview about Snoop for EN.  Of course!!  She'd had her eye on him all week, but I mean who wouldn't.  He's just that sexy and he knows it!  It was a very cool experience and I'm grateful to her for allowing me to share with the world how special I think my little munchkin really is!  You can see the interview at this link: http://eventingnation.com/samanthalclark/2011/10/lauren-snider-and-route-66.html

He passed the jog Sunday morning easily and then the LONG wait until show jumping.  I never thought 3:00 would ever come.  He warmed-up great and didn't feel tired at all.  He was jumping better than ever.  I rode the best sj ride on him that I ever have and he jumped fantastic, but got too bold to both combinations and pulled the B element of each simply because he ran out of room.  He used to be spooky at combos and now that he's so bold the tight distances are even tight for him.  We'll fix that over the winter.  While it was very disappointing to get that close to a ribbon (would've been 6th with a clean ride) he far exceeded my expectations.  I am beyond thrilled with the little guy.  I did the long format 3day to answer some questions about my horse and got the answers I was hoping for every time and then some.  Very exciting for his future.

I have to say thank you soooo much to everyone who helped us at the event including my wonderful husband Scott and student Tracy Stamper and everyone else who has helped get Snoop where he is today.  It hasn't been an easy road and it literally has taken a village to get him this far.  Also, a very special thanks to Dr. Laura Werner and Dr. Michele Frazer.  Without these two wonderful ladies we may still be going BN!  Thank you!!!!  Hopefully the journey has just begun.

Finally, did I mention that I also made some wonderful new friends and had a blast all the way around?  Well I did and it was awesome.  Spending the week with Nicolette Merle-Smith and her super pony Zena and super groom Maggy, as well as Sue Jellum and Grace made my week!  It was great to have such cool neighbors.  I have a great pic, but being as I am a very green iPhone user I haven't figured out how to upload it!  I will keep trying.  Until then GO EVENTING!

***ALL photos on this post courtesy of Xpress Foto!!!!******

Farewell Speedy!

Congratulations to Lauren Stiver of Kansas on her purchase of Speedy!  I think they will be a great match and wish them all the best in their eventing pursuits.  It should be the great home he deserves.  Good luck guys!

Perspective, Perseverance, and One TOUGH Horse!

We all know that eventing is a sport of the highest highs and lowest lows, sometimes all in the same weekend!  We took Cheddars and Snoopy to Jumpstart this past weekend to run Training and let me tell you there was never a dull moment.  We arrived at the horse park literally with a "bang!"  We were driving around the round about at the entrance of the KHP when an old man in a dually came around at us going the WRONG WAY!  I could not react fast enough with a 4 horse trailer and he crashed into the fender of the trailer!  The horses were fine and no real damage done to the trailer except a crinkled up fender, but the wheel well of his truck was pretty much done for.  It was just an annoyance having to wait for a police report to be completed and Snoopy and Cheds getting very restless in the trailer.  The horse park was mad chaos because of the Arabian Sport Horse Nationals.  You could barely get anywhere in the park all weekend.

We decided to stable in different barns to see if that would help Cheddars with his barn sour issues.  After a few hours of screaming and carrying on by both horses, it seemed to do the trick.  Cheds was much better behaved than usual!

It was freezing outside Friday and Saturday which made for some very fresh horses.  Snoopy is always a handful and he's fit for the 3day so I decided to forget the flat school Fri afternoon and go for a canter back by the Hollow.  He enjoyed it and it seemed to settle him.  After a quick tour around the dressage arenas he was put up for the night.  Cheds was wired for sound as well, but he needed to go down and behave at dressage warm up, which he did for the most part.

I decided it would be a good idea to go have another canter early Sat morning and it was definitely a smart choice.  Snoop is high maintenance, but it paid off for his best Training level dressage score to date of a 35!  That tied him for 8th out of 20 horses and I was very happy.  Bobby Stevenson's judging was very accurate and his comments on both horses were spot on.  Cheddars was much better for Scott than he has been lately and ended up 11th in the same division with a 39.  The horse is fabulous, but when he's strong it's hard to keep his poll up.

Snoopy was a very strong double clear on xc and moved up to 6th.  We still have some communication issues to work on, but he didn't throw any fits like he did last time out.  Scott and I rode 18 minutes apart so he was starting just as I was getting Snoop taken care of.  I was taking studs out when one of my friends' students came around the corner crying and telling me my husband was ok, but his horse was down.  I've never felt quite the way I did at that moment in my whole life.  I was relieved that Scott was ok, but as I was running out to xc, all I could do was cry, convinced that we were about to be putting our beloved horse down.  By the time I could see the fence Emily came running towards me telling me to go back to the stall.  They had gotten him in the ambulance on his own.  Dr. Chris Newton and the whole Rood+Riddle team were fantastic, as well as Dr. Werner from Hagyard who keeps Snoopy's back in good shape.  He was sore and cut up, but ultimately fine.  Apparently he got stuck in the bad footing on takeoff at fence 3 and couldn't quite make it so he tried to bank it and stuck both of his hind feet through the slats on the front of the table and went over backwards.  Scott probably saved him from a broken leg by quickly laying on his head so he wouldn't try to get up with his legs still stuck.  When help arrived they pulled him free, but he wouldn't get up.  We assume he was just stunned because he did finally get up on his own.  I thought for sure he'd be crippled Sun morning, but he was spinning his stall when we got there and walked out well.  What a tough, tough horse!!  If that had been Snoop he'd be laid up in the clinic right now!  He looks very good today and was very full of himself.  We love him dearly and look for him to be just fine and winning all the Novice in the spring!

Snoop and Cheds happily in their paddock Sunday afternoon!

This "incident" gave me a whole new perspective on several different things.  First of all, I now kind of get how my parents feel when I leave the start box and have told me all these years how much they worry bout me.  I've never had anyone to worry about, but now I have my husband and he's my whole world.  If anything happened to him I'd be lost.   I worry about my students as well, but it's not the same.  Second, I got to truly experience the closeness of the eventing community this weekend.  I got lots of hugs Saturday afternoon, some from people I don't even know that well, and a general outpouring of support and concern for Cheds and Scott.  It just reconfirmed why we do this crazy, difficult sport.  I also really just watched the way people care for their horses and each other this weekend and made some new friends.  It was inspiring and enlightening.  I can't thank Emily Palmus enough for all her help and concern this weekend.  What an amazing woman and true friend!

Snoop warming up for SJ Sunday.
  

Snoop jumped very well in the show jumping, but was very strong as usual and we had one rail because of it.  Despite the 4 faults we still moved up another place to finish 5th in a big division.  Could've been 3rd with a clean round, but I'm still figuring out all of his 973 quirks!  Once we iron out a few more wrinkles he will be unstoppable!   I was very happy with him overall and things seem to be right on track for the 3day.  Wish us luck!!!

See you at Midsouth and GO EVENTING!

Life is Good!

"Archie"-Mark Thomas Racing Stable mascot extraordinaire!  

After a rough week or two during and after KY Classique, things are really going well around here and we've been very busy with all sorts of new stuff going on!  Snoops had been a little crabby after KY Classique and I feared that his kissing spine might be bothering him again.  After palpating his back it was glaringly obvious that he was indeed sore.  I got him through the week and then took him to Hagyard for Dr. Werner to inject his back again.  He's good as new!  His first set of injections lasted about 6mos., so she is optimistic that we will be able to manage him this way.  After Jumpstart she is also going to give him a shockwave treatment just for good measure.  That plus his new Ecogold Triple Protection half pad and his Back on Track blanket (we call it the million dollar blanket!) should leave him feeling his best for the training 3-day at Midsouth!!!

That brings us to poor Cheddars.  While all this was going on with Snoopy's back, Cheddars was savagely beaten by the hateful Haflinger pony I had in training.  What a witch!!!  I had just put them out together while they were waiting for the farrier and it took her all of two seconds to pin him up against the wall and beat the crap out of him.  He was sore for about a week and also kept pulling his front shoes off on top of it!  Ahhhhh!!!!  We finally got his feet sorted out and he's feeling fantastic now.  He too should be in fine form at Jumpstart if he can keep his head about him in the dressage!  Scott and I are stabling far apart to see if that helps any.  It can't hurt to try.  The things we do for these horses!

That brings us to the good news.  I finally quit my horrible serving job and went back to doing something I love to help support my habit-galloping race horses!!  A trainer that I love and have worked for on and off for several years recently came back to Turfway, as he does every fall, and is having me gallop a few every morning.  Not only do I get paid to do something I love, but it will also ensure that I am plenty fit for the 3-day.  This led directly to my next piece of good news.  We've got a new horse!!!  It took all of 3 days of being back at the track for someone to offer me a free horse.  I was skeptical, but I  liked the look of him and decided to gallop him to see how he moved.  He hadn't been out of the stall for 3 weeks and was a total gentleman which scored him major points right away!  He is a good mover and he's got great feet.  We decided it couldn't hurt to take him and see how he pans out.  He may work for Scott when Cheds retires, or I might just steal him!  Time will tell.  He's living the good life right now, learning how to be a horse out in the field at a friend's place.  He needs to put on about 100lbs.

His name is Glitter Canyon, or "Dougie" in the barn.  He's by the stakes winning stallion Glitterman.  We can't wait to see how he does!  He's been very good about everything so far!

My final piece of good news is of course about Snoops.  Our dressage has either been very good or very bad this year, very inconsistent.  I have felt lately that we were spinning our wheels and that I was nagging at him and causing arguments that never should've happened.  I want to get this sorted out before the 3-day so I decided to take a lesson from Reese Koffler-Stanfield.  I needed someone with a fresh perspective about this horse who hadn't already formed negative opinions about him.  So we braved the nasty weather Monday and shipped an hour and a half to Reese's farm in Lexington and let me tell you it was worth all the trouble!   She is very strict (which I am used to), but also very mellow (which I am not used to!)  It was just what the doctor ordered and I've had a fabulous week with Snoop. We just tweaked a few things and the difference is night and day!  I will be heading back for another lesson the week of Midsouth and hopefully many more to come! 

Still a few ducks to get in their row, but I am extremely positive about the the direction things are headed around here.  See you at Jumpstart and Go Eventing!

A Weekend to Forget

Ok, so after I locked my keys in my truck, broke my watch, broke my necklace, and nearly melted, I probably should have seen the signs to just put Snoops back in the trailer and leave KY Classique before I ever went down center line.  Something told me for days before that this wasn't going to be a good outing.  No reason really, as Snoops was doing fine and his last jump school leading up was phenomenal.  I just didn't feel right about it.   First of all it was ridiculously hot-100 degrees Fri and Sat.  Couple that with 3 events in the last six weeks and I just don't think either one of us wanted to play.

Our dressage lacked anything desirable for a good test.  Not forward, heavy in the bridle, and just plain flat.        He was also very unfocused and didn't like warming up in the small ring with 20 other horses.  We got the crappy score we deserved.  He probably could've used more warm-up, but I didn't want to take too much out of him before jumping a very big xc in the heat of the day.  What am I talking about-the "heat of the day" was pretty much all day!

Several of us in the xc warm-up were trying to convince each other that this was indeed a good idea and that we needed to improve our attitudes really quick if we were gonna give our green horses a good ride!  I felt very heat sick before I left the box and I had to kick Snoop up the hill to the first which is very unlike him.  He also decided after fence 2 that the bit I thought we had agreed on was suddenly way too much.  Every time I touched his mouth he went crazy which made it really difficult to balance in front of the fences.  It was clean, but ugly with a few time penalties since we spent so much time arguing.  He felt like he could be jumping the Prelim course at his first 2 trainings, but not this day.  The jumps weren't the problem, but the communication was a huge problem.  He has to remind me every once in awhile that he is indeed still very difficult to manage at times.  I still love him though, and don't worry, I've made oodles of excuses for his behavior during the show!  My all-time favorite quote from Jimmy Wofford's book: "If you purchase a horse that you didn't like when you first saw him, you will never be happy with the horse.  You will never make excuses for him, and you will never enjoy yourself as much as you would riding a horse that you fell in love with at first sight."  I have always taken this to heart, having experienced both sides of it.

Snoop show jumped clean, which says something because I think something like 50-60% of horses over ALL divisions had at least a rail.  The course was very small, with nothing about the jumps to hold the horses at all.  He was very unimpressed which made him very hard to ride.  I think he was still a little mad about Sat. as well and I've been schooling prelim SJ fences at home.  We managed to claw our way up to a 9th place ribbon-5 spots from where we started.  He came home quite sound and happy with the cooler temps.  He almost killed me when I turned him out on Mon. night!  We can both now enjoy several weeks at home until Jumpstart, where I anticipate a much better showing!

See you soon and GO EVENTING!

And the Winner Is.....

Congrats to Kathy Alexander for winning the raffle in support of Snoop's trip to the Midsouth T3D!!  Thanks to everyone who supported the cause!  FYI- Snoops is entered in the 3day and unless he has trouble  at Jumpstart it should be a go!  I'm gonna shut up now before I jinx us!!
Thanks again!

Attitude

Time for me to play armchair psychologist for a minute.  Seriously though, think about it, for your riding AND your life:


"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, or say, or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.  It will make or break a company.....a team.....a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.....I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes."
-Charles Swindoll

Our Erie Adventure

Our recent trip to the Erie Horse Trials was anything but boring!  We took Snoopy and Cheddars.  Snoops did his second training, and Scott and Cheddars were making their first attempt at training.  We left early Friday morning and the trip up was uneventful, although Scott did try to teach me the fine art of drafting off a tractor-trailer to improve gas mileage.  Looking at the back of the same semi gets really old after about an hour!  This was Snoop's first long trip and he was not amused.  Cheds thinks road trips are fun, but every time we stopped Snoop had that wide-eyed, "When do I get to get off this trailer?!!" look on his face.  They both bounced off the trailer and seemed none the worse for the trip.

The Erie show grounds are beautiful!  Nothing too fancy, but just gorgeous land!  The show staff seemed quite surprised that we made the trek from KY and treated us like royalty the entire time we were there.  The eventing community in Erie seems very tight knit, but everyone was very welcoming to us "outsiders."  You can definitely tell the organizers have been at this for awhile as everything runs like a well-oiled machine.  I think scores were posted in World Record time!  We rode in the afternoon and then went out to walk xc.  That's when things started to get interesting.  There are a lot of woods and we got very frustrated, getting lost several times, but eventually we found our way.  I went up there looking for an old-school xc course and boy did I get it!  This was definitely not the same boring coop-table-coop-water-coop routine we get at the KHP!  The jumps were big and after the first 3 fences, the questions just kept coming.  It rained quite a bit so the footing was a bit muddy.

I'll let the pics speak for themselves!  Check out the slide to the left-it was STRAIGHT UP to the logs on top!  The goal for snoopy at this event was to improve on his tense dressage from Penny Oaks and we did just that.  He was excellent and ended up 4th after dressage.  He would have been 3rd, but his idiot mother (yours truly) made an error early in the test!  He improved on his PO score by 7pts!  Scott and I rode back to back and this was exactly the scenario Cheddars didn't need!  He was very rotten in his test, only worried about where Snoopy was.  It's a shame because on his best day he should beat Snoops!  Scott did a good job of just keeping him in the arena.

Saturday was laid back as we only did dressage.  They had a wonderful pig and corn roast that evening free to all competitors and volunteers.  Sunday morning brought us to xc, and with more rain Sat night, the footing had deteriorated some, but I thought it was safe.  Snoopy put in a fabulous double clear to move to 3rd!  Cheddars also finished clean, but with some time.  We were on course at the same time, but Scott said it was the best xc ride he'd ever had!  The old red-head really rose to the occasion.  Snoops was not very confident about the footing in warm-up so I had to do a lot more jumping than I normally would to help build his confidence.  It seemed to do the trick as he was foot-perfect on course!

It down-poured again before the Training SJ and it was quite slick.  We had to get our rounds in in between storms!  Snoopy had what I believe to be his best SJ round ever, but with 2 rails down.  He just wasn't getting off the ground like he normally does, but was very honest and rideable.  He had the first down and that was probably due to not enough help from his pilot!  He also caught the first part of the triple with a hind foot and I can only chalk that up to footing.  The distance in was perfect and he jumped out of it great.  Unfortunately those 2 rails cost us a 3rd place ribbon and we dropped to 6th.  I am very proud of my pony though!

Cheddars had a very difficult time with the footing, and after sliding on take-off and crashing through fence one, his confidence was pretty much shot.  He jumped 2 and 3, but 4 was a big oxer downhill and he said "no thanks".  It's unfortunate because he always show jumps clean, but we're not mad at him.  He doesn't have hind shoes, so obviously no studs.  We'll rethink that next time.  Overall the trip was a succcess!

Now on to the good stuff!  Hotels up there are kind of far away and very expensive, so we decided to pitch a tent.  There's a campground about 1 1/2 miles from the show so we thought we'd give it a go.  The place was interesting to say the least, and a little scary.  Think "Cabin Fever" meets the 1950's.  Scott kept messing with me and trying to scare me all weekend.  I was just waiting for the guy with the butcher knife to slash through our tent.  I'm not really a camping kinda girl, but whatever it takes for me to be able to afford to show I'll do it.  It stormed on us one night and I thought a tornado was gonna whisk us away.  We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!  I'll let the pics tell the rest of the story.

Our lovely shower facilities!

Scott chillin' by the tent.

Pic of Snoop in his stall just cuz he's cute!

You can view pics of the horses at www.brantgamma.exposuremanager.com  Go to events and then to the Erie Horse Trials.  Riders are listed alphabetically.  Snider and Snyder.

See you after KY CLASSIQUE!   Go Eventing!

Help Send Snoopy to the Midsouth Training 3-Day!!!

As you all know this sport is expensive and it has been especially hard for us to fund all of our fall events that are so close together.  The goal for the end of the season is to get Snoops to the training 3 day at Midsouth in October.  In order to make this happen I had to get creative and decided to put together a nice raffle.  The tickets are $10 and the prize includes dinner for two at TGI Friday's, a $50 gift card to Lowes, a $50 gift card to Target, and a $25 gas card.  If you're interested in buying tickets please contact me via email or phone.  Info is in my profile and on our website.  Thanks!

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Penny Oaks HT

We took two horses to the Penny Oaks HT at the Hoosier Horse Park in Indiana this weekend.  I rode Snoopy in his first Training and Brooke rode my husband's horse Cheddars in her first novice.  It was a very successful and fun weekend!  Snoopy has been very relaxed in the dressage at the last few shows and I have been able to get him a lot more up, which resulted in a 29 at his last event, but for some reason this weekend he was very wound up.  I just couldn't get the relaxation I needed to get a good score.  He was obedient, but very tight and tense and the marks and comments reflected that.  I was a bit disappointed in us, but hopefully he will improve on that score at Erie in two weeks.  The cross country asked a lot of questions including a full coffin, up-down bank in one stride to a 3 stride turn to a roll top, coop on a bending line to a corner, etc..., but I thought it was very fair.  Snoopy was awesome and exceeded all my expectations for his first training attempt.  He was more bold than he'd ever been and very trusting.  It was the most fun I've had on xc in a long time!  He easily jumped double clear, although was quite strong at the end.  I definitely needed more brakes!  He was very brave in the show jumping as well, but again quite strong.  He easily jumped clean, but had 2 time penalties because I had to fight him to listen at times.  He finished 5th and I couldn't be more proud of my baby!!  He's quite proud of himself  too!

Snoopy SJ Photo courtesy of Xpress Foto

Snoopy XC Photo courtesy of Xpress Foto

Brooke rode Cheddar's in her first recognized event which was also her first Novice level event and she did a fantastic job!  Cheddars is a great horse, but he has his quirks and he has severe separation anxiety at shows which can make him very difficult to handle in the warm-ups.  Brooke put him to work and had a lovely test to score a 33 and put her in 7th out of 22 horses after dressage!  This was despite that fact that he was screaming for Snoopy all the way through his test!  They had great clean XC and SJ rounds to finish the weekend in 6th place!  Way to go!

Brooke SJ photo courtesy of Xpress Foto

We had a blast and I also had a new experience that I have to mention: Mini Bikes!!!!  Brooke's dad Johnny brought up his two mini bikes for us to ride around during the event, and I have to admit I was very apprehensive about giving it a go!  I felt like maybe I should put my helmet and xc vest on before I even attempted it, but it was actually quite easy and tons of fun!  I did stall out on the xc by myself, but somehow managed to figure out how to get it started again.  Special thanks to Johnny and Brooke's friend Nathan who were incredibly helpful all weekend.  Thanks guys!  

Snoopy and Cheddars photo courtesy of Scott Snyder

PS Sorry about the bad photo-Snoopy was in no mood to stand still for his photo shoot!

Until next time.........GO EVENTING!

Fall 2011 Calendar

You all probably know how I feel about plans at this point, but there comes a time when you at least have to make an effort to plan, be optimistic, and hope everything works out the way it's supposed to.  So here is the "plan" for the remainder of the season.  Obviously, it is always subject to change and we may add to it, but I think it's pretty set in stone.


Aug 6-7  Penny Oaks

Aug 20-21 Erie

Sept 2-4  KY Classique

Sept. 30-Oct 2  Jumpstart

Oct. 19-23  Midsouth

Pics of Snoopy from Midsouth

Pictures of Snoopy from his winning weekend at Midsouth PC HT!  Photos courtesy of ESY Photography.

Welcome Chunky Monkey and Stubbs!!!

We've all been missing Gus Kitty around here, including his best buddy Cricket Man.  Since I can't bring Gus back, I figured the next best thing to do would be to get another shelter cat.  I hate the animal shelter because I hate leaving other animals behind!  I went in for one and came out with two!  Stubbs is a 1yr old stray and Monkey was surrendered from a house with too many cats.  We're all just getting used to one another.  It's funny to watch them explore their new home!  Be back soon with more horsey news!

Chunky Monkey

Stubbs

Gus Kitty's Champagne Run Recap

Well, I've got some bad news, some more bad news, and also a little good news.  Champagne Run was supposed to be Snoopy's last Novice event before moving up to training, but when the heatwave came over the Cincinnati area at the beginning of the week he went off his feed.  He was very lethargic and just totally not himself.  He was even a little colicky for a few days, so obviously showing him was out of the question.  If you read the last post you know I decided to take my very green OTTB Speedy instead.  What a learning experience that was for both of us!  The bad news is that we didn't finish the event-eliminated at the water.  The good news is that he learned a ton and I learned a lot about him.  His eyeballs were popping out of his head when he arrived the KHP.  Every time they announced over the loudspeaker, he got very nervous like he was on the track.  He managed to keep his cool pretty well though.  When I rode him Friday night in the dressage complex he was almost unmanageable.  It was a lot for him to take in and needless to say our test Saturday wasn't much better.  He'd never been in a dressage arena and thought that little rail must be a cavaletti!  Every time he went towards the end or side of the arena he tried to jump out.  It was very embarrassing!  He actually did have some beautiful moments in warm-up and by putting myself in a situation where he had to be good enough to go be judged in the ring, the holes in his training became glaringly obvious.  I'm not strict enough with my green horses and I usually pay for it at some point.  With that lesson learned, I don't consider the experience a total catastrophe, more like learning a good lesson the hard way.  Cross country warm-up was fabulous!  He was far more relaxed and jumping the crap out of the fences on a loopy rein.  The first nine fences went fine, although he was definitely a little taken aback by the size at first.  He jumped great, but then didn't want any part of the fence before the water.  Several horses felt the same way, as my husband watched 2 or 3 others refuse to go anywhere near it within about 15min.  I knew that might be his one issue.  The only thing he has any issue with is water.  I was not upset, he just needs more schooling.  Too bad that's the hardest thing to school near home for most people!  Overall I think Speed had a good experience and we both learned some things.  Now I really know what HAS to be fixed before he competes again.

Now for some more good news.  While Snoopy is not quite back to his old self yet, he is much brighter and eating better.  I have started to ride him lightly, albeit at 6am every morning due to the heat.  I've done everything I can to make the horses comfortable, but they're still pretty miserable!

Finally, the really bad non-horse related news.  I got home from the show Saturday evening and went out to call for my cats at bedtime.  Gus Kitty didn't come in at his curfew, but he does this every once in a while, so I wasn't that concerned.  Still wasn't home Sun morning-not home Sun night.  I got very panicked.  We looked everywhere, including driving up and down this dangerous road we live on looking for his body-my worst fear.  Still nothing.  Finally on Monday, something told me I needed to go to the neighbor's house and I would find my answer.  I had never met them, or even seen them and their house reminds me of that house from the Tom Hanks movie "The Burbs".  Scary right?  Joking aside, I was actually afraid I might be in danger going over there, but I did it anyway.  First he said he hadn't seen him so I started to walk away and then he stopped me.  He asked "Is he orange?"  Yes.  He proceeded to tell me that he had gotten hit and showed me where he was.  I had to see for myself.  I walked down the road and found him in what had been tall grass a few days before.  Explains why I didn't see him sooner.  My poor husband heard me sobbing from our house and had to help me off the road and up the driveway.  I love my animals and I am a bit of a "crazy cat lady" although I only have two.  Well, one now.  Farewell Gus Kitty.  You will never be forgotten.

Until next time.......

Best Laid Plans.......

Well, it's been pretty much all positive here at Starfire Eventing for about the last 2 months with the horses winning and staying healthy, but it seems we've hit a bump in the road.  I made a promise to myself when I started this blogging thing that I wouldn't just write about the good stuff 'cuz we all know that there's always a lot of ups and downs with horses.  If you've been following this at all then you know about my horse Snoopy and that he is my baby and I think very highly of his ability.  You also know that it's been a very hard road with him, but I thought we were finally on the right track with our win last time out.  The "plan" (ha ha) was for him to go novice at Champagne Run this weekend and then move up to training at Penny Oaks.  Everything's going exactly according to plan, right?  Not so much.  We had a crazy heatwave hear in the Greater Cincinnati area at the beginning of the week, at which point Snoops promptly quit eating.  I thought when the heat broke he'd be fine, but that was not the case.  He is drinking and eating grass at least, but very lethargic and just not his normal, obnoxious self.  The vet thinks heat or ulcers, but he's been on a very strict ulcer management program since his bout last summer so we are perplexed.  The plan for the moment is just to keep and eye on him and make sure he is getting plenty of fluids and at least grazing.  I've got every fan we own in the barn right now to make sure he stays cool during the day.  Ugh, every time I start to make progress with this horse something happens.  I really could care less about the event, there are plenty more, but I am very worried about my baby.  I just want him to get healthy.  I feel like a lost puppy having not been able to ride him since Sunday.  Every ride and every little thing he learns to do right gives me such pleasure.  Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery for Snoops!

Speaking of speedy, it looks like my green horse Speedy is going to get to make his eventing debut in Snoopy's place this weekend!  He's freakishly scopey and quite brave, but the dressage should be interesting to say the least.  He's not a big fan of circles in the "sandbox" yet.  If you're going to be at the KHP this weekend and would like to be entertained and perhaps have a laugh or two, check him out at about 11:20 Saturday morning.  All jokes aside, he is a VERY nice horse with those Hail to Reason/My Babu bloodlines.  He should handle it fine, but if I feel at all that he is over-faced or uncomfortable, we'll just call it a day.  I'm just looking for him to have a confidence building, fun weekend.  I certainly don't want to scare him.  It will be good for him to gain some show atmosphere experience at the least.  Wish us luck!

Until next time,
Lauren

Midsouth PC H.T. June 25-26

I've not been really sure about just how to go about this post over the last few weeks.  I'm still not really sure, but it needs to be done so if I seem to jump around a lot I apologize.   I entered Midsouth at the last minute because I had some extra money and it seemed like the right thing to do with Snoopy at the time.  It was his second novice, and although his first didn't go quite as planned, I was strangely optimistic.  I've learned that the only plan you can have for a horse is to make sure that plan always has at least four back-up plans!  Especially with Snoopy.  I've had him for over 2 years and it's taken me that long to get him mentally and physically capable of competing.  Many people have told me he's a lost cause, my husband included, but I wasn't giving up.  I've given up on a lot of things in my life and he wasn't about to be one of them.  He's difficult, nervous, eccentric, has back problems, etc....  He hated me when I was galloping him on the track and he hated me when I brought him home.  Hell, he hated everybody and would just assume bite you as look at you, but I loved the little guy from day one!  He also has a general disinterest in dressage-he can only take it seriously about twice a week.  I have to mix things up for him and that has worked wonders.  We still work on dressage in the gallop field he just hasn't figured that out yet!  He's also decided I'm not so bad after all, and I even catch him nickering for me every now and then.  He won't admit it, but he has turned into quite the momma's boy!  Anyway, I finally felt he was ready to show this year so we've done a few BN combined tests and events, as well as his first novice at IEA in June.  He was too low at the poll during most of his tests to get a decent score, and a little chicken  on XC.

This brings us to Midsouth.  Snoopy has serious separation anxiety and I had to drop two horses off at different locations on my way to the horse park, so needless to say he was a basket case by the time he got into his stall.  I bedded him 2 feet deep in straw and went off to park the trailer.  I got back to the stall just in time to see him spinning the stall so bad that he had pushed all the straw up against the wall and wiped out on the blacktop floor!  Oh my, what a way to start this event off!  He was fine and eventually calmed down about 3 hours later.  Like I've said before, no trip with horses is ever without at least a little drama.  I had a shorter dressage warm-up than usual (I got sidetracked watching the prelim XC!), but he felt great trotting around the outside of the arena and I was quite happy with my test.  I figured it was at least good enough to put me in the ribbons.  Turns out the judge thought even better of it than I did as he scored a 29 and tied for 2nd!  I about died when I saw the scoreboard-maybe my hard work was finally paying off!

He went clean xc, although he was a little on the rank side.  He was a run-off on the track and is having a hard time figuring out that it is possible to relax and gallop at the same time.  We continue to address this issue.  My clean xc ride kept me in 2nd and I spent all evening Saturday going over my warm-up plan for SJ and grazing Snoopy around the outside of the SJ arena.  For once, things did go exactly as planned on Sunday and he easily jumped clean.  I was only out of first by .5 and the first place horse had a rail, as did more than half of our division.  We won!!!  Winning any event on this horse at this point in his career  was just incredible.  I think it means more to me than my NAYRC CCI** medal because I worked so hard to get it, and so many people told me he was never going to be able to do this.  I know we're still a long way from Rolex, but this silly little win has boosted my confidence with this horse ten-fold.  I feel like anything is possible with him as long as we stay on the same side!

Wish us luck at Champagne Run, and if all goes well there, we're moving up to training at Penny Oaks!

Kick on , keep your head up, and GO EVENTING!

Leg Up H.T. 7/2/11

We took 3 students to the Leg Up mini trial at the Hoosier Horse Park on July 2nd and it was a blast!  Anna Hood did the starter with her green OTTB Bravo, Tracy Stamper also did the starter with her horse Gus, and Brooke Evans did the beginner novice with my husband Scott's fabulous horse Cheddars.  Let's just say all the girls had a great weekend!

Anna won the starter division on a 25.6!  It was Bravo's first horse trial and he's a very nice horse that shows a lot of promise for the future.  She had a lovely test (as I'm sure you figured out from the score!)  He was very good in the SJ, starting out a bit green, but finishing the last half quite confidently.  He topped the weekend off with a clean xc round despite the fact that he thought the fence judges were horse-eating trolls!  He didn't mind the jumps, but was apparently quite spooky about everything on his path to and from the jumps.  I'm sure he'll be less worried next time.

Tracy was second in the starter division.  We call Gus "Gus the Bus" for a reason.  His back is long enough for 2 saddles and he's toed in, etc...etc..!  This doesn't really lead to him being a favorite with dressage judges since his hind feet can't even get into his front tracks!  He actually can go quite nicely, but Tracy is recently back from having her first child so she's still learning how to get the most out of him.  His test lacked bend and was a bit sluggish.  He's a very kind soul and a I showed him all last year at novice for his pregnant mother to make him a packer and now he is.  They had a very nice SJ round despite an interesting choice of line from 1 to 2 by his pilot!  He easily went clean xc.

Last, but certainly not least was Brooke.  Brooke got the ride on my husband's horse at the last minute because I sent the horse she was supposed to ride to a new home a week before the show.  She's a good rider and usually get's to ride the more undesirable mounts since she doesn't have her own.  It was a nice to treat for her to get to show a horse she could actually enjoy!  Her dressage test was beautiful, but Cheds was slightly low at the poll throughout and the judge crucified her for it (judge's own words!)  Oh well, she only got to ride him a few times before the show.  She made up for it with beautiful SJ and XC rounds to move up 6 places to 3rd!

Way to go girls!!!!!!

As a side note, no trip with horses is ever without a little drama and this was no exception.  I always forget about the giant fireworks extravaganza they have right across the street every year during the show.  We were about to leave for the night at about 9:30 when the fireworks began.  Bravo and Cheddars went absolutely crazy.  Gus was just looking at them like, "Really?"  Apparently he really is bomb proof!  Anyway, I was afraid to leave them until they calmed down which was after 10:30 and the traffic was terrible getting out.  The other girls were at their hotel only a few miles away while Tracy and I had to go another 10mi to ours.  No big deal and we got to the Motel 6 at about 11.  Tracy came out of the office and said they don't have our reservation.  What?!  We got out the confirmation and whadya know-Super 8.  Oops.  I was only off by two numbers right?  Another 5 min to that hotel, 15min to check in, and a shower that I thought was going to give me second degree burns!  Who ever heard of not being able to get cold water  at a hotel?  Needless to say I hit the snooze button a few extra times Saturday morning!  All we could do was laugh.

Welcome!

Ok, so this is my first ever blog post.  I've always been firmly against using any type of social media (i.e. Facebook), but I finally learned that if I want to grow my business I just need to put myself out there, so here goes!  I am a CCI** level eventer from N. KY, based out of Karen and Barry Ashepa's beautiful Shepwood Farm in Lawrenceburg, IN.  We offer training, lessons, sales, and breaking for show or race, focusing on each horse and rider's individual needs.  Horses don't come off an assembly line and they should each be approached in a way that best suits their needs.  Riders are much the same way.  I've been riding for 25yrs and if there is one thing I've learned it is flexibility in training and teaching.  No two horses/riders are quite the same and that must be acknowledged to get the most out of each horse and human or you're just spinning your wheels!

I'm sure most of you are probably saying "Who the h*@# is she?"  Well, I've been "out of the mix" for awhile, so to speak.  A series of struggles over the last several years and life in general have gotten in the way of my goals.  Funny thing about life, it tends to do that to all of us at some point or another.  I'm back now with two really awesome horses and some great students so WATCH OUT fellow eventers!  The one to keep an eye on is Route 66, or "Snoopy" as he's known to those close to him.  My little(literally!), eccentric OTTB.  He has more issues than Newsweek, but slowly and surely we're sorting through and analyzing all of them.  He's a great talent and has given me patience I never dreamed of!  It all paid off 2 weeks ago with a win at his second novice!  Watch out Rolex!  Just kidding-sort of.

Anyway, enough about all that.  Our website, starfireeventing.com, will be live very soon.  You can learn more about me and our operation there!  Stay tuned to the blog for recent show updates and news.

Kick on, and GO EVENTING!