Will I watch?

This Saturday is the Kentucky Derby. On Sunday NBC will cover last weekends Rolex Kentucky 3-day event. Will I watch them? I don't know. I haven't watched the derby in years. Its not that I don't agree in any way with racing horses however, its such a high risk endeavor for them. Catastrophic breakdowns happen when the body is stressed to the point that it is in racing- particularly if the horses are not appropriately prepared or asked to run for the money when the signs are there. I know there are ethical and horse first trainers out there and that they do sometimes also win.... Now, as a show-jumping rider Michael Matz was an idol which made me so excited to follow Barbaro last year. But, tragedy struck and its hard to watch and hard to know that of the horses starting a race like the Derby its not wholly uncommon or out of the norm for one of those horses to suffer and injury and possibly a complete breakdown. I don't enjoy watching them run that much to risk seeing one of them come to such a fate.

Then there is Rolex. Now, I've done very low level eventing and cross-country jumping. I've felt a horse get excited and WANT to go run and jump. I know that when we run and jump anything the horse could trip, fall, crash. However, in stadium jumping the fences fall. Horses occasionally lose their footing running on a grass field and fall, but rarely does that end up in anything other than some sore muscles. Heck my horses can and do fall running of their own volition in their own pasture! Its those danged huge solid fences that don't come down where a horse can get tangled requiring extraction, flip and die, or otherwise suffer serious if not life ending injuries. And as almost everyone knows now, 2 horses died on Rolex this year. Did the rider's do something grossly wrong? No. They just had mistakes, missteps, and subtle problems that resulted in serious tragic endings. The problem is that in the sport of eventing years past and now, with long and short formats, a misstep can result in death and major injury at a significantly higher rate than in show jumping, or certainly dressage! Yes, I ride dressage so it may seem I have my bias, but this was a huge part of why I came to this sport.

I thought at one time I wanted to do endurance. I crewed for top riders at Tevis, who conditioned their horses well, had solid rapports with their horses who were thus calm, competent, and highly successful. However, I did not like seeing the numbers of riders who had no basics in seat and position, grossly impacting their horses negatively both by physically hindering and laming the horses as well as being totally unsupportive of the mental states of the horses resulting in crazed animals metabolically crashing as a result of tension and nerves. This sport sees its share of equine deaths in spite of veterinary screening at frequent stops along a ride. Can it be done right? You bet! Sadly, I think that this is one sport that could nearly eliminate those occurrences and be an "extreme" horse sport without much risk of extreme consequences. Unfortunately, however, I find that I no longer head up early in the morning to Robinson Flat, and hit Foresthill by early evening only to head to Auburn at mid-night to watch the front runners come in even though I would most certainly participate in this ride if I had all the circumstances together to do it right.

For the coming weekend however, and NBC coverage of the Kentucky Derby and Rolex?.... no, I don't think I'll watch. Because, I ask myself- would I watch the Rolex coverage if I knew there were no horse deaths? And my honest answer to that is, no. I want to support horse sports on TV, but I don't really want every non-horse person in the world to potentially see the most disastrous consequences of enjoying sport with our horses. We have show-jumping Olympic selection trials that could be shown. There are dressage selection trials coming up. I'm sure there are other big time Reining events that could be shown. What about vaulting? Its gorgeous and amazing all in one.

If the eventing powers that be can find a way to eliminate the potential for rotational falls that almost single handedly pose the risk for death as a result from mishapped jumping effort then, I would probably get right back into watching the sport. It is a tremendous test of horsemanship. A highly respectable testament to the abilities of the horses and riders. Forgiving fences would NOT minimize that respect in any way whatsoever. If anything it would make the horsemanship and the horsemen and women involved in the sport far more respected.

Tough day of training

Ernie has been training hard lately. Its all about going forward UPHILL and to the contact! His gluteus muscles are popping out like never before, and he's showing me the suspension that I've known was in there, but never could quite coax out. March made it 1yr since he got the clearance to go into full training after healing and rehabbing his sacro-iliac injury. At that time he was doing approximately 1st level work on a 5day per week schedule with instructions to increase his workload by no more than 5% per week. I wasn't exactly sure how to decide what constituted 5% of workload, but tried to really feel my way out through ever increasing demands. We leveled things off last summer for a couple of months to enjoy going back to some shows at 2nd level where he was a star, and then got back onto the track of getting to 3rd level while still chasing our dreams of FEI. He's got the idea of changes, but isn't entirely sure he wants to wait or let me truly ride him STRAIGHT before them, but what a relief it is to have that problem now! His half-passes are super fun and we are really doing work on half-steps now... weee!!! Working pirouettes are taking very good shape and he feels many days like a 4th level horse in the making. That flying change "trick" just needs to be more solid.

In light of that he spent a lot of time today stretching, suppling and working on long and low as you can see here.










Philipe has the tricks down and all his clever dominant stallion attitude too! He's still very certain that he knows far more than I do (which he's probably right, but darn I hate that he knows it) Fortunately, I'm starting to earn respect for my abilities and he grants me all of himself a good fair portion of the time. ;-) But, as we are really trying to get ourselves ready to show 4th level and schooling a bit of FEI, "going for a ride" is definitely not getting any easier. Its that point where you wonder if the horse will really have all that it takes physically and mentally to be an FEI horse. So, I always wonder and try to be observant to the clues that would tell me if my horse likes what he does or would rather we didn't.

We'd already ridden in the morning, working hard, asking a lot, praising often, but then asking for a little more. I'd put Philipe and his pasture mate Romeo out on their 2 acre spread. After a couple of hours I went to retrieve them, but Philipe was a ways off and Romeo closer. When I started to head for Romeo first, Philipe immediately turned and headed my way, grumpy faced telling Romeo the whole time, "She's mine buddy!" As I got the camera ready I kept backing up hoping to get some time to snap his sheepish mosey towards my pockets.

Ultimately I got this half-grumpy look to Romeo telling him to back off, half-pissy that I'm walking off, half where's the cookie look! LOL .... but he is such the handsome little spanish macho man!

Some pictures from the '04 Trials

Robert Dover and FBW Kennedy at the 2004 Olympic Selection Trials

Just in case going to watch the Selection Trials didn't sound exciting..... Here are a few pictures I took 4yrs ago. The bleachers were amazingly close to the court which did make for some tenuous moments for a few horses, but absolute wow factor for those of us watching. Please don't take these pictures without asking- I'm an amateur photographer, but I did snap them myself.

Guenter Seidel and Aragon

Steffen Peters and Floriano

Dressage Olympic Selection Trials

4 yrs ago I attended the Olympic Selection Trials when they were down in San Juan Capistrano, and they will be there again come June. Of course mom and I are going again. As its just a couple weekends after my birthday, I've got it planned out as my "birthday gift/vacation" in one.

Obviously we will be cheering our hearts out for Krisi and Rociero. Currently they are well placed on the leaderboard for qualification. This is a great opportunity to see some of the East Coast riders also. I'm really looking forward to watching Courtney King-Dye. Fuzzy clips downloaded at molasses speed via my dial-up on YouTube have certainly impressed as well as her articles in the mags. Lisa Wilcox is of course also on my list of "would like to see". Steffen never disappoints as a truly amazing rider. Debbie is fabulous as well, but if I had to put any money on it, I'll be she tries to opt for a bye again if Brentina shows well in the upcoming qualifiers. Sue Blinks is out with Mark these days, who most of us on the West Coast have seen a lot over the years back when Leslie Reid of CAN was riding him. I distinctly remember warming up at Rancho Murieta (in the small indoor since it was pouring rain) for a training level test as the last rider of the day before the CDI while she was warming up for the CDI Grand Prix. All the while very aware that not only were his legs lifting higher in the extended trot that my poor Philipe's head, but that I felt supremely small in that arena with a horse who is a mere 15.2hh (with shoes on) and well.... other than the the CDI riders in the ring it was just little 'ole me!

While 4yrs has meant tremendous progress with both boys as they've moved up the levels, I'm in even greater awe of the top riders. It takes so much skill to ride at that level. Not just riding skill, but handling, management, professional presentation, business management..... so much goes into it that its mind boggling. Certainly though, all 12 of the rider's who make the final trials are worthy of watching closely. It will be very exciting.

To get tickets go to:
Dressage on the Road to Hong Kong

Off my soapbox and....

.... sitting here once again on iTunes scanning song selections for freestyle pieces, getting lost in genres and artists who would most likely NEVER be found in a freestyle! LOL Oh, well, you never know there just might be a way to pull off some punk dressage. If you saw Romeo's mane lately you'd think it was possible!

Otherwise, I'm just grumbling at the rep from the at&t store. I bought a new phone tonight, quite techie, MP3 player, camera etc.... and well the guy put the memory card in bass akwards or something and it won't come out to go into the adapter to the USB port so I can download my music. This is truly upsetting because you know its vital..... _VITAL_ to be able to put some other obnoxious ringtone on there. I'm kidding, sort of.

But, back to the topic at hand, dressage a la musical freestyle and my thoughts of having various selections on my phone which would then be on my hip while I'm on my horse and viola music to ride to. Sounded so simple in theory.

Priceless Schoolmasters!

There can never be enough said about the value of having a horse that knows more than you do. Its amazing what a student can learn from a horse that is at least a few steps ahead of them. Unfortunately, its commonplace for people to buy a horse based on breed, color, cuteness or some other irrelevant characteristic and then hope to learn and succeed on it. Sometimes this does happen, but all too often students find themselves with horses that are either unsuited to their abilities, and/or unsuited to their stated goals. Since horses are a 'pet' for most people they then find themselves too attached to let go and yet unable to feel successful by progressing in their sport. (often as much as they say they 'love' the horse, its the horse that takes the blame) In those cases, its absolutely vital to keep a horse in full training with a professional. And yet, even then, its often necessary to make a change.

In the barn I have horses in training that are young and learning from me rather than the owner and experienced campaigners who are keeping their knowledge and skills sharp for their learning owners. Its wonderful!!

I just know life is too short!
1. get a professional to select a horse suited to your abilities and goals.
2. keep that horse under the watchful eye of your trainer so they don't lose those skills
3. if you REALLY want that younger horse follow steps 1 and 2 above without any failure!
4. In all cases invest the most you possibly can and get the best you can for your money. (you might just get lucky and find a great deal)
5. If you can't do all the above, then be realistic about what you can achieve and be willing to work a whole lot harder for smaller amounts of progress. Unfortunately, you may have to change your direction all together in some cases if you can't change out to a different horse.

Speaking of sports

While the previous post was about dressage sport, this is a quick little shameless plug for my brother's infant blog about his two favorite sports, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. 4yrs ago I'd never seen a hockey game. Now I know what "icing" is and can identify an effective forecheck. This season I've learned about "neutral zone trapping" and that makes things pretty well evened out among us since he can do a very funny fake German accent and rattle on about the connection, "more forward", "no, no he's not listening to your leg", and "half-halt".

I can't claim to pay enough attention to the sports to formulate any strong opinion of my own, but I find his perspectives interesting and the two sports enjoyable to watch with the added knowledge I get from him.

Turmoyle's MLB and NHL Blog

Being a professional athlete

It is really easy to forget that above all things, that is really my job. Dressage is after all a sport. Some might not agree, but then I've never met a "detractor" of this fact who actually RODE! So, for the intent and purposes of further discussion in my world at least, it is a sport. And the IOC says so too. I don't just do some dressage in my home arena simply to pat myself on the back. I do it for sport, to prove its worth to the highest standard in front of a judge and all who are there to see its successes and shortcomings. I do aim to win, place well, achieve scores etc.

I get up at the crack of dawn each day to go feed the stable of horses, go through the daily rituals of stall cleaning (yes, I still do that more often than not), grooming, riding and teaching. Most of the time I just feel like a giddy 17yr old girl hanging out at the barn on the weekend in dusty boots, some sort of coordinated cute breeches/shirt/visor combo slopped with a mix of horse slobber, hair, and plenty of arena dust. I ride and ride and ride until I can't ride. Its easy to get caught up in the fun and forget to keep the focus on the 'work'.

I do take the time to workout. For a while I did Curves in town which was a mild workout that fit nicely into my schedule. Years ago I did the marathon training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (HUGELY rewarding and fun!) and a couple of years ago I got a personal trainer and a regular gym where I busted my rear and got very very fit. This past year? Eh.... UHmmmm........ does it count that my size 6 jeans still fit? At least Starbuck's doesn't know me by name or what drink to make when I walk in the door.

Shamefully however, I've not been as on top of my regime as usual. And yes, I have had to come face to face with the reality that I might be fit by the rest of the world standards and my BMI is fine, however, I'm not the athlete I need to be.

With that lack of higher standard, comes the ultimate pitfall of asking the body to do more than it is prepared to do receiving a subsequent injury or soreness. As I am riding the boys at a higher level, and asking even more from them requiring that I ride on an every increasing level of skill I'm not keeping up as I wish.

An honest reassessment -
1. I'm not as flexible as I could/should be and focusing on that in the past few weeks has yielded some interesting discoveries about the flexibility we need as riders
2. Like all people, I'm not symmetrical and past injuries really affect this... thus affecting the above flexibility which will be uneven and then the aids cannot be symmetrical enough to help the horse become more symmetrical
3. The body can get VERY creative in holding on to old patterns: Read- I THINK I'm executing things correctly only I'm not quite.

Athletic development of the dressage rider!
Beyond Pilates, Yoga, etc. there are specific 'skill sets' that riders need and can be gained with or without the attachment to a 'style'.

Stretching, stretching, stretching!!
Work on unstable surfaces: I LOVE my Bosu ball!
Reflexes: play games as part of your training- catch, volleyball, soccer... anything that will tune reaction time
Cardio: I don't have a personal issue with this, but I know many riders who could not sustain a sitting trot for 20-30 minutes let alone 5.

Nourish the body with plenty of good food and pamper it-
We do chiropractic for the horses, massage, joint supplements, lasers, iceboots etc.
We deserve it too.

Every rider is an athlete
Not every rider wants to do this professionally, however, its not fair to ask the horse to carry us with impulsion, straightness, and engagement in an athletic manner without making our athletic development a priority in the relationship. So, for all those students of mine who are noticing the lessons are getting even MORE intense well.... I've been too lax on myself and don't want to dare being complacent with any of you. So, just to be sure I'm not, a full scale barn wide meticulous attention is being paid to this in each rider... the results of which many of them are FEELING!

Fortunately everyone is loving it and rising to the challenge. I'm determined to help everyone max out their potentials. To really be successful there isn't room for settling or slacking.

Champion students!!

I have a quick report from 2 of my students who went to major shows this weekend.

Janice took her super gelding to the Arabian Horse Assoc. of Northern California (AHANC) show this weekend and took the top sport horse score of 85.8% WOW!!! Not only did he win his division, but the Championship as well with the highest score. Way to go!

Micaela took her adorable mare Condalezza down the Region 1 IALHA show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center where they placed top 3 in all classes, won an open class against the pro's, and brought home a reserve Championship. Her young stud colt, Financiero del Sol also placed 2nd in his halter class.

Congrats to both of them on jobs well done.