The Horses From Before (2001-2010) in Photos

An app on Facebook showed me my first ever Facebook photo upload yesterday (it was Mikey). That prompted me to look through my older pictures, most of which were all jumping!

So we're going to start pre-Mikey. I leased a 15h Quarterhorse mare for 4 years before buying Mikey. Her name was RR Can't Touch This, aka "Jasmine" (gotta love QH breeder names) and she was a failed western pleasure horse and a granddaughter of Impressive (she was HYPP N/N). She was very well put together according to QH standards, just slightly cow hocked. She was quite mareish, was prone to biting, had a fierce buck, an even fiercer rear, and if she was a person she'd be bipolar. She was mostly nasty at home, but turned on the charm for new people and when in the show ring. She was a fantastic jumper and a dirty stopper at fences. I recall a time after I stopped leasing her that when the horses were being turned out (they opened stalls and they walked themselves down a chute to the fields), that she didn't agree with the gates blocking her path and jumped a 5' gate from the downhill side to get to a different field. She hated men, had scars up and down her tongue from her western pleasure life, and we're fairly sure her back problems came from them most likely flipping her over in an attempt to stop her rearing. Her chiropractor was a man, and she positively adored him. She was probably a tough mare to begin with, and her first training soured her to life. I wish I could have brought her to my current trainer- she might have ended up with a different outcome in life.

4-H Showmanship, 2001 or 2002.
Back when I used a fake tail on her because her's was barely enough to cover the fake tail attachment.

Same 4-H show as above, riding an equitation pattern. You'd never know her mane hung down past the bottom of her neck, huh? Queen of braiding, right here, from an early age!

Pony club ratings, 2002?

We did a lot of bareback/bridle-less work. Winter 2002/2003?

More jumping with no tack in the same session as the above picture.

Jumping at a hunter show, possibly 2003?

Hello knees! 2003?

Completing my very first event in 2004(?), baby beginner novice, aka the current Starter Division.

Jasmine was an incredible learning experience. We had a wonderful 4 year relationship that only ended because I grew out of her and really wanted a bigger horse (and a Thoroughbred). She worked best for me only. Her owner tried everything to make their relationship work (chiropractor, massage, t-touch, animal psychic, treats, lessons etc), however she decided to sell her after I was done leasing her. A young girl at the barn bought her but didn't ride her enough (maybe 2 days a week down from 5- me riding her 4 days a week, the woman I leased her from one day a week), so she got fat (think laminitis fat) and became difficult for the girl to ride. The girl eventually sent her on to a sale barn to be sold, she was shuffled around several times, and we lost track of her. The last we heard of her was a phone call the girl got from Jasmine's new owner who got the girl's information from AQHA. They wanted to know what Jasmine's barn name was and anything helpful about her. I expect she's crossed the rainbow bridge by now (she'd be in her early 20s), and hopefully it wasn't by sale to a kill buyer at auction (she was that difficult to get along with).

Mikey joined the barn in July 2004. The trainer who had him after the track broke her leg and called my instructor at the time and told her she had to have this horse. My instructor didn't want him, but her husband picked him up anyway. She rode him for two weeks and then gave him to me to ride for free. Between him and another chestnut OTTB mare named Andy, that's what really did in my lease of Jasmine. By winter I had changed my lease to just Mikey, and in May 2005, my parents bought him as a graduation present.

Our second show together- a hunter show where we did two walk trot flat classes and a crossrails jump class. 2005
As to his condition, my parents and I didn't know any better. I would NEVER have taken him out in public at that time knowing what I do now. This was over a year from his last start on the track, he should be much better filled out.

Our first event together where we jumped intro (6"-1'). This is a Starter fence (1'6"-2'). 2005
Too long stirrups and a green horse and a defensive rider are not a good pair. Mikey was a saint.

Sometime between 2005 and 2007. Screenshot from a video where he was very impressed by the light on the landing.

Introducing Mikey to new jumps, 2005/2006.

In 2007, I got keen to the idea that my horse was too thin (she told me he only needed more muscle), not working properly, and my instructor unsupportive and not helping us progress (a clinician told me how to ride him so he used his topline and my instructor told me if I rode him that way, I'd ride him into the ground and ruin him). I didn't feel like he was mine, even after owning him for two years- I felt like my instructor still owned him. I was also afraid of him and debated selling him. In two years of weekly lessons, we were still jumping crossrails to 2'.

I decided to leave my barn a few days after I came back from college. A friend had her horses at a place nearby, arrangements were made, and Mikey was pulled from that program and plopped into a new barn. I had no idea what I was going to do for an instructor, but it didn't matter- Mikey felt like he was mine and I could work on our relationship. The barn manager was appalled at his weight and condition and positively stuffed him with food.

My current instructor traveled in to that barn to teach several riders and I hopped on her schedule and we were off! This trainer was also appalled at his weight and said he needed some fat so he stopped cannibalizing his muscle for energy.

I had been jumping a lot at school in the fall of 2007, so I got the bright idea to come home one weekend and jump Mikey 3'2" for the first time in his life. I just full out galloped at a very upright vertical because as I approached, it really stood up to me.

More galloping willy nilly at this big airy vertical. Oh to be young and dumb again. Mikey never hung a knee again as badly as he did in this jumping session. Very out of character for him... but I also wasn't helping him in the approach.
Afraid to jump 2' to giving 3'+ for the first time (and by myself) in one summer? A new trainer was working for us.

A little less gallop as I figure out that I'm riding a totally wrong approach to the fence.

The classical "stand" in the posting trot. I just like Mikey's neck here. 2008

Riding in the field next to the outdoor, 2008. Oh what the mane does to fake out the neck! He always looked worse in braids.

Graduating from college in 2009 brought another barn change as I took a job as a working student that lasted for 6 months.

3' Hunters in Sept 2009- I finally got my act together by this point and put together a decent 3' fence.

Our first time riding in the jumper ring at the same show as the above picture. OMG SO MUCH FUN!

This fence was the second fence in a 2 stride in and out. One course had us rolling back to this jump, which rode fine for me, and the other course had us riding the two stride. I botched it every time (long to jump 2, this oxer). Trying for a straight line bit to shoulder? He was trying his guts out and I started slipping him rein in the next frame after this.

Sept 2009, jumping at home (note the "ground line from hell" haha)

Weeeeeeee! Mikey was very exuberant in this cross country schooling session. May 2010

I tended towards riding like crap on cross country because Mikey got zoomy and excited and I was afraid of him ditching me like Jasmine used to. More defensive jumping from both of us.

I did eventually get my act together in my final year of eventing in 2012. It all came together very nicely as we galloped steeplechase at this long format. I could STILL shorten my stirrups, but oh well.

Well that covers "Jan, the early years". The riding I did before Jasmine was basic hunters with my first instructor, then western and 4-H with my second. Jasmine picked up with my 3rd instructor.

On the Road to the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** 3 Day Event!

I forgot something else I wanted to share yesterday!

I work with a 3* event rider instead of a straight dressage trainer. I like it that way. I go visit straight dressage people every now and then, but I love working with my event trainer. She's near the top of her sport and isn't afraid to tackle something she doesn't need to do on her own horse in competition (ie canter pirouettes or tempi changes or piaffe/passage), and she's a smart rider who can figure out how to ask for things she's never done and know if the answer is right or not. That's why I stick with her, she develops independent thinking riders. She got me out of my need for hand holding that was holding me back.

Anyway, she went to Fair Hill's CCI 3* this past weekend to get the last qualifying score she needed for Rolex, and she got it!


Road trip to Kentucky for Rolex 2015!!!

An Eventing Side Note

As many of my readers (if I have any!) may or may not know, the USEA is looking at a rule change that will increase the size of a maximum of two show jump fences (a vertical and an oxer) for BN-T and increase the speeds and speed penalty times for BN-T. For readers who do not know about eventing, these are the basic current rules:

Beginner Novice:
-Equivalent to a training level dressage test
-2'7" max height in show jumping and cross country (brush fences up to 3' on xc)
-XC spreads 2'9" at the top of the fence
-XC speeds of 300-350mpm, XC speed fault time of 420mpm (training level speed)
-SJ spreads of 3'3" oxers, 3'11" triple bars

Novice:
-Equivalent to a training level dressage test
-2'11" max height in show jumping and cross country (brush fences up to 3'7" on xc)
-XC spreads 3'3" at the top of the fence
-XC speeds of 350-400mpm, XC speed fault time of 450mpm (training level speed)
-SJ spreads of 3'7" oxers, 4'3" triple bars

Training:
-Equivalent to a first level dressage test
-3'3" max height in show jumping and cross country (brush fences up to 3'11" on xc)
-XC spreads 3'11" at the top of the fence, 5'11" at the base
-XC speeds of 420-470mpm, XC speed fault time of 520mpm (prelim level speed)
-SJ spreads of 3'11" oxers, 4'7" triple bars

Just to note, rarely do BN and N max out their widths on SJ or XC. At the horse trials I've been to, they keep the jumps in SJ fairly square (not as in a square oxer, but the width rarely exceeds the height), but you will see a handful of jumps on XC that are wider than they are tall. What I do see most often however is optimum time (you must complete the course between OT and the speed penalty time, otherwise you get penalties for going too slow or too fast) is usually set at the top of the pace range for the level.


The new proposed rules for speeds and jump height:

There are more proposed rules that basically allow more difficult combinations of jumps on Beginner Novice and Novice cross country as well, but in the interest of not making this post a million pages long, you can check them out here.
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To whom it may concern,

I have not evented in several years, but when I did, I had no plans of ever moving out of Novice, if I made the move up successfully. I mostly did not want to move up because the jumps were 2’11” high and wider than I was comfortable and I am not the most confident jumping rider. I made the switch to dressage because I wanted to keep moving up and getting better, but I just wasn’t confident enough to jump the higher jumps. I can now ride the Advanced Dressage tests. If these new rules had been implemented when I was eventing, I probably would have quit because I was having enough trouble as it is.

Here is a rule my trainer has: if you want to show BN (which is 2’7”), you need to be schooling Novice show jumping and cross country questions at home (2’11”) so when you get out in public, none of the questions at BN surprise you. In changing even just one fence to 2’10” tall and 3’5” wide, you’ve blown the 'schooling a level above' rule to hell because that’s almost Novice dimensions. Now I’d have to be schooling Training heights (3’3”) to make the rule work, just to show BN. I don’t know many perpetual BN riders or riders with very green horses who school Training level on a regular basis. If you want to jump higher, either move up to the next level or do the hybrid divisions so you can jump higher in SJ. That’s the point of having different levels. When you’re comfortable and willing to jump 2’10” in public, you move up to Novice.

As to the pace, why aren’t we forcing riders to learn the pace appropriate for the level and jump height? I have a thoroughbred who when we started eventing, I couldn’t get him to make the optimum time (we were slow) because I couldn’t keep a consistent pace because I was afraid of the jumps and just letting my horse settle and do his job. I wore a watch, I walked courses with a wheel, I found where my minute markers were, and those helped me find the right gallop (more like canter). More experience helped too. Yes, as we got better and steadier with our pace, we started covering more ground. I was able to find my pace because I was able to stop worrying about the height and width of the jumps. When I rode my first novice mini trial, I figured out my markers simply by guessing as I walked without the wheel, and because I had learned to stay out of his way and just let him canter, I was well under the optimum time. I was close to the speed penalty time, but at no point was I pushing my horse to gallop and I never circled. The track was simply a flatter track that encouraged a big rolling stride that was set at the bottom of the Novice pace range (as appropriate since it’s a schooling horse trial). I shifted my seat to slow him a little in the back half of the course and all was well. Riders need to learn to adjust their pace. If that’s difficult to do so on their horse, they need to learn to do it anyway because as combinations get harder, you can’t be “balls to the walls” galloping at the jumps or yanking on the horse’s face to slow him down because you couldn’t rate your horse and never learned how. The horse needs to be adjustable, and it’s the rider’s job to figure out how to make him that way. Whether it’s a trainer that teaches the horse to be more adjustable and then puts the rider back on to teach the rider how to adjust, or the horse and rider learn together, it doesn’t matter, it just needs to happen. As for riders who want to ride faster on a BN course to practice the pace for a N course in public, let them and penalize them for going too fast. We can all make a choice to slow down and get a solid experience and slow time faults, or speed it up and get the speed time faults.

Additionally, the recognized events I've gone to usually have their optimum time set for the top of each speed range, or near the top. Increasing the speeds will allow course designers to use the new top end as their pace, forcing riders like me to ride faster than they're comfortable with just to make time. That's not allowing a nice experience since the rider is not free to trot a spooky jump or section of the track with bad footing. If anything, the speed fault time for BN should fall somewhere in the Novice range, not the training level range. We're jumping 2'7", not jumping down the head of the lake at Rolex. No one at BN needs to be allowed to go 520mpm (preliminary speed for jumps 3'7").

As for this part of the new rules: “The change of speed at which speed faults are calculated is to have one meaningful speed that competitors can learn and remember.”  Seriously? Riders that are capable of remembering dressage tests, show jump courses, and where that next jump on cross country is hiding are surely capable of opening the rulebook and looking up the new speed penalty time, if they even have to look it up at all after the first glance through! Please don’t insult your riders. They’re not stupid. Part of riding the next level is looking up what are allowed questions and speeds and learning what to expect on that next level. And why on earth should a BN rider and T rider have the same speed fault time? They’re competing at almost a foot in height difference, and more than a foot in jump widths. That is not making the speed appropriate to the jumps.

I don’t think raising the jump height and max allowed speed is in the best interest of the horses and riders. If a rider wanted to jump higher, or stop getting speed penalties for going too fast on XC, they should either learn to ride the level as required, or move up. If moving up is not within their ability, then they need to learn to ride the level as required. If riders don’t have the ability to move up, why change the level to force the move up? If the rider simply has no desire to move up, or a horse is simply not capable of moving up, why change the level to force them? Why should a rider who complains they get speed penalties because their horse is hard to adjust be allowed to move on? The levels don’t get easier. Make your horse’s pace match the size of the fence. Don’t make the size of the fence match the horse’s pace.

I also have an issue with the new rules about what is allowed on cross country. It seems these rules are to retroactively make already existing questions OK. Hold your TDs and course designers accountable for fences that are deemed inappropriate by the riders instead of adjusting the rules to allow for inappropriate jumps. For example: Beginner Novice is the starting point for most horses and riders who have little to no experience. The rules will now allow for a jump to be before and after the water crossing. How often have you seen more experienced horses (at say training level) jump a jump before water and then suck back and go, "whoa, there's water here!" They are surprised by the water elements still. How is a Beginner Novice horse supposed to react? How will a Beginner Novice rider (who has not competed above BN) convince a horse to jump the jump before the water when he's staring at the water? It's asking for a fall. Why are you asking the green horses and riders to navigate obstacles that are set in spooky and "gotcha" ways? Right now the most they have to to is steer to the next fence and keep their leg on, and have a good, safe experience. If a rider is bored with a level, they need to move on to the next, plain and simple. Don't adjust the levels so bored riders don't have to move up.

One thing I could support are standard championship level classes having a fence or two that are bigger in SJ, and combinations and questions on XC at the current level’s height, but the next level’s difficulty. If you’re going to a championship (area championships or the AEC), you’re probably bringing your A game and are a competent enough rider to handle the next level. That and it is a championship. Championships aren’t supposed to be hand holding events, they are a test of skill. Create a championship series at lower levels that allow the more difficult questions for riders who are looking to move up to the FEI levels eventually and the world stage.

Don't punish the backbone of the sport: the juniors on ponies and adult amateurs on their tried and true horses or adult amateurs that are nervous and just want to have a bit of fun. The professionals will continue to train their horses as they deem appropriate and move through the levels, but the thing to note is that they are professionals and it is their job to be better than the rest of us. They're the ones that will handle the changes the best. I know most lower level riders will probably be ok riding the changes. But in doing so, you've ruined the safe and fun environment that the lower levels create, as well as isolate and exclude the riders who pay the professionals.