Heidi & Andy, 2001

Eleven years ago, for whatever strange reason, I decided that I wanted to event. A former dressage queen who had somewhat lost my direction in where to go with my equestrian endeavors, I felt intrigued by the world of three day eventing. I looked around and found a local eventing barn to take lessons at with my little arabian gelding I had at the time.  Having never really considered an alternative breed, but quickly realizing that a thoroughbred was what you truly needed for this fun new sport I was jumping in to, I went out looking for a thoroughbred of my own.  And so that is how I came to own a big bay horse, registered with the Jockey Club as “Beachin”.    For a few days I called him Beachin around the barn, but when people started to think I was cursing at him I had to quickly come up with a new name.  I don’t remember how, exactly, I came up with it, but pretty soon he became known as Andy, and he was the horse that I would learn to event with.

Andy was just one of those “OTTBs”, an average thoroughbred that showed no speed on the racetrack.  He had stood around in a field for a few years and didn’t know much of anything when I got him.  But Andy had a heart of gold, a genuine willingness to please and an ability to figure out the job at hand, even if he didn’t have the best direction.  I wasn’t a beginner rider at the time but I certainly had no experience over fences, so I can guarantee I didn’t do Andy any favors when I was teaching him how to jump.  My knowledge at the time pretty much consisted of “I should point him at the fence and kick to make sure he goes” and sure enough, Andy somehow figured out how to go over those

Competing at Abbe Ranch, 2002

fences, whether I got him there well or not!  Together we learned how to jump stadium fences, we got really brave and jumped logs out in a field, and soon we were attempting ditches and banks and going through water obstacles.

Andy safely packed me around my first couple years of eventing.  I barely knew the rules, much less the complexities of a coffin canter or a half halt, but Andy went out on every course, faithful and reliable, even though a lot of times the whole thing was brand new to him too.  He was not a stopper, he was not spooky, he went down to the fences and got himself over, even when I was out of balance or underpowered.  He never balked, he never bolted, he just showed up for the job at hand.

My last ride on Andy

After a couple years teaching me the ropes, I then leased Andy to a younger rider at the barn and this time Andy shared his wisdom with this new rider and once again jumped around the courses honestly and safely, allowing his new rider to figure things out and be successful doing it.  When his rider then moved on to his own horse, and I had moved on to a new horse, I could no longer afford to have the two horses and I regretfully offered Andy for sale, hoping he could continue on teaching someone else.  He found a home with a lovely young girl who wanted to use him for dressage, and so I sent Andy on his way, hoping for the best, as we all do when we sell a horse on.

Over the years, occasionally I would see a local ad for Andy.  I tried to follow his progress through owners – once I saw an ad that listed him as “Free to a good home” and offered to take him, even though it meant shipping him out to Virginia, but the girl told me she had just found someone to take him and assured me it was to a good home.  I asked her to please pass my information along, but a couple of years passed and I lost track of him once more.

Andy, age 17 - in Wyoming

That was up until the other day, when I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from someone in Cheyenne, Wyoming, saying she had just purchased a lovely bay gelding named Beachin, and after doing some research on the internet, had come across my website and the information on Andy.  I was so happy to hear from her, and to hear that she promised to give him a home for the rest of his life as a dressage and hacking horse.  She had lost her own horse last fall in an accident and by some stroke of fate she found herself with Andy.  We swapped stories of Andy and put pieces of his history together.  Somehow he ended up with the name “Stanley”, but after talking to me, she began to call him Andy and he seemed to respond to it, so she said he may return to his original name!

Andy is now 17 years old and has been a part of many peoples lives.  I am amazed at how one special horse can touch the hearts of so many, at different times in their lives.  Just look at the stories of Black Beauty or War Horse and you know that Andy’s story is just one of many!

As a professional whose life involves watching horses come and go, it is so rewarding to be a part of a story like this one.  I know not everybody is able to stay in touch with their former mounts – quite often they get sold on and lost amongst the many noble equines out there.  I guess I am truly lucky to know the whereabouts of several of my most special eventing partners:  Andy, now living a well-loved life in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Leo – now about to compete at the Intermediate level with his young rider, and Gemini – who is living in Connecticut and wrapped up his competition season last year by jumping clean at a CCI*.  There are many more out there that I have ridden and owned in the past, and there are some I have lost track of and may not ever hear of again, but I can but hope that they are becoming a special part of someone else’s life and giving that special joy that every horse owner knows.

Life Is EZ

I’m so excited to finally be able to officially introduce “Joey”.  I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself before everything went through with pre-purchase exams and what-not, but everything looks ok so this past week I purchased this charming and polite young thoroughbred.

This coming 4 year old raced at Charles Town until last September under the name “Life Is EZ”. He was sold via a CANTER ad and then got to spend the next couple of months hanging out in a field learning to be a horse.  After his “let down” time, his new owner wanted to find him his next home, which is when I came across an ad for him on Craigslist, of all places!  I rode him around his turnout field for about ten minutes, it was only his second ride since leaving Charles Town last fall.  He was reasonably behaved and I liked the feel of him so arranged to bring him to Windchase a couple of days later.  After my vet checked him over I was very happy to be able to take him on as my next project!

Naming him “Joey” (after Joey Tribbiani from the sitcom Friends!), he started to settle into his new life and so far I have been quite pleased with him.  He’s had about five rides now and is very smart, trotting and cantering around the ring politely and even beginning to trot over some poles!  He’s quite sweet, and although the first couple of days he was a bit shy and unwilling to accept any offered treats, he is now opening up, enjoying mints and loving his new pampered life!  I think he’s going to be quite a nice project to bring along and with his easy going disposition and his willingness under saddle I feel like he will turn into a super pony club or amateur’s horse.  I really do enjoy getting them at this stage and teaching them their basics and it will be so fun to prepare him for his next owner, whenever it is that I end up deciding to sell him on!  If he continues to learn as quickly as he has this past week, hopefully we’ll head out to some competitions this spring/summer!

So for 2012 I hope to get Logan back out at novice and move him up to training at some point.  I also hope to soon find a new prospect to bring along and start out throughout the year.  I have been looking over the past month or so and actually did find a youngster I liked very much, but he unfortunately did not vet out so I am back at the start in that endeavour!

I am now heading into my fourth year at Windchase and there are still some days when I feel like I can’t ride one side of a horse, and other days when I feel like quite an accomplished rider.  There is still so much for me to learn and yet I think back to when I first came to Windchase and can’t believe what a different rider I am now.  I don’t know why some things happen when they do but coming to Windchase back in 2008 has turned out to be such a turning point in my life.  If you had asked me back then if I thought that my expected 8 month stint as a working student would lead to four years later and holding a job as an assistant trainer at Windchase, I’m sure I would have laughed at you and said “Yeah, like that would ever happen!”  But here I am, and most days I head out to the barn and can’t help but think of how lucky I am to have the kind of job I had always dreamed of having.  So here’s to 2012 – I don’t know what it will bring, but I’m sure the journey will be exciting.

I got to ride Organillero again in the novice.  Having had a few more weeks to get to know him better I was looking forward to see if we could improve upon our last outing, and improve we definitely did!  Freshly body-clipped and enjoying the cooler weather he was a little bit more keen in my dressage warm-up, but now that I have a better feel of him I was able to ride him through it and felt like I had him at a pretty good point going in to the test.  He was steady and obedient in the test, and although I felt like there were still things I could have ridden better, I wasn’t displeased.

There was no time to check the scoreboard as we headed back to the trailer, did a quick tack swap and went out for our jumping rounds.  Oregano loves to jump and came out confident and bold today and went well around the showjump, but cross country is really his finest phase.  Once again, I had a great time cruising around the course on a horse that was enjoying his job just as much as I was at that point!  With clean and clear jumping rounds, Oregano finished in 2nd place on his dressage score of 27.0, a definite improvement from our first outing together!  Now I’m kind of bummed that it is late in the season as it would be fun to continue taking him out some more!  The thing about my job is that I ride a lot of sale horses, so you never know what might be your last competition with them before they get sold.  On the flip side, the good thing about my job is there are always plenty of horses to ride!

Hacking with Fairlight

There are some I do get quite attached to, of course, and when they get sold and head to their new homes it’s a bit sad to see them go and not have that ride to look forward to every day.  One horse I’ve particularly enjoyed this year is Fairlight Star, a lovely young mare by Brandenburg’s Windstar that Phyllis has allowed me to work with and help bring along.  But, she has found a new home and I’m sure will make her new owner very happy and will go on to do some amazing things, as she is one of the most talented horses I’ve ever sat on!  We went out on a hack together the other day and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful autumn colors around the farm. Although Fairlight will be leaving, fortunately I still have lots of other nice horses to ride to keep me busy!

Heidi schooling "Sir Prancelot"

Fortunately it did stop raining long enough last weekend for us to enjoy a nice day at the Unrecognized starter horse trials at Loch Moy last weekend.  Phyllis let me ride one of her youngsters, Reiver, in his first event and he won his Intro division and handled everything like a pro!  He was very professional for a young four year old thoroughbred and is really going to turn into a nice ride.  I was also given the ride on “Sir Prancelot”, a really cool four year old thoroughbred/draft cross gelding.  Prance competed in the Elementary division for his first event and was super well behaved, finishing in 2nd place.  He’ll go out at beginner novice next time out, now that we know how he will handle the show atmosphere!

Another total and complete random update I wanted to throw out there is a book recommendation for all of my horsey friends!  I met the author while I was in Georgia at the American Eventing Championships and picked up a copy of her book “The Dressage Chronicles”.   Having finally made the time to finish reading it, I have to say I was really impressed and enjoyed reading such an accurate portrayal of my horsey lifestyle!  It is about a girl who signs on as a working student at a dressage barn, so needless to say, there were a lot of scenarios that felt a little too familiar for me!  Check it out at http://www.thedressagechronicles.com or look for it on Amazon.com.

Tizi & Shandon at Windchase, 2008

Also, I have to give a HUGE shout out to Tiziana Billy Prem – Tizi came to Windchase as a working student the same week I did and we learned how to be working students together!  Tizi came from Guatemala with her big palomino horse “Shandon” and she spent almost a year here improving her skills and competing Shandon.  We attended the Waredaca Training 3-Day together and it was sad to see her head home.  However, she has gone on to bigger and better things and is now representing her country at the Pan American games, so I have to wish her and Shandon the best of luck this weekend!

This time, though, I was on a new ride, a clients horse Organillero, in the novice.  I only just started riding him after the AECs, we managed to squeeze in one light cross country school on a decent day and then due to the weather, have been restricted to show jumping in the indoor arena this whole time, so I wasn’t quite sure how he was going to feel out at the event in a big showjumping ring!  But ‘Oregano’ as he is called, has some experience under his belt so I at least had that going for me!

It felt good to be back out competing again and it is always so nice to compete at Loch Moy because they do such a wonderful job and make the most of their facility.  I was thrilled to see a new show jump warm-up ring when we pulled in and the dressage rings just looked beautiful all lined up in a row.  Oregano put in a decent test with a couple of bobbles, things I feel I can smooth out as I get to know him a little better.   He was keen and bold in the showjump and jumped around clean and I had a great time cruising around the cross country.  Oregano is enthusiastic and brave which always makes for a fun time out on the course.  He finished clean on his dressage score to finish in 10th in a pretty tough professional division and I am really looking forward to taking him out again at Waredaca!

Our division once again was first up in the Grand Prix arena at 8:30 this morning.  I guess Little Gem and I are getting used to these early mornings!  We took a hack around to get loosened up, watched some of the showjump rounds and then were lucky enough to have Phyllis here to coach us.  Little Gem was feeling pretty good and fresh, obviously not tired from our busy week and after a handful of warmup fences we felt ready to go in.  She felt great and was really jumping well and maintaining a nice forward canter and I adjusted in the lines beautifully.  Unfortunately she just tapped out an oxer coming in to a line so added a rail to her score to finish her in 20th place, but only 8 points behind the leader.  It was a very close and competitive division and it was a very tough showjump course that really shook up the standings in most of the divisions.  So knowing all of that, I wasn’t displeased at all with Little Gem’s performance and thought she put in a really solid performance this weekend, being fairly competitive in a tough championship division!  No pictures yet, but I was able to get video of our round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fy-gWHxxtY

So then, just like that, the 2011 American Eventing Championships were over!  After all the excitement and build up and anticipation of the big event, its a little depressing to go back home with it all said and done but I’m sure I’ll be preoccupied with riding a bunch of young horses in no time!  Now it’s time to set new goals for next year and hopefully get to return and enjoy it all over again!

We climbed on bright and early and headed down to the warm up.  With the sun slowly rising we did some trotwork and jumped a few warm up fences to ready ourselves to tackle the 18 obstacle cross country course.  The first few jumps rode well and we began to get in a rhythm but as we looped around and our direction changed, suddenly we were running directly into bright sunlight and seeing some pretty strong dark shadows and false ground lines from the jumps we were headed to.  Little Gem was not too sure what to think about this scenario and I instantly felt her back off a bit and drop behind the leg in response.  Piecing this all together in my head I rode more agressively, demanding we get the job done that we came here to do!  The ride just before and through the water ended up being quite sticky because of this, it was a short rather twisty part of the course and I had no place to really kick her up and get her back in front of the leg, but as we twisted back around and jumped a few fences that were still entirely in the shadows, I was able to get her back up in the bridle and finish out the course a bit more respectably!  So although I had to work for it a bit, Gem finished double clear on the cross country and in 14th place.  We were done, cooled off and put away by 9:30am and had the rest of the day to enjoy watching the upper level showjumping and some of the beginner novice cross country.  And no, this was the one day we didn’t do ANY shopping.

The weather, staying lovely as it is, was a bit chilly this morning, but once braided, dressed and tacked the sun came out and it got just warm enough to be quite pleasant!  Little Gem had a fantastic warm up and really felt spectacular.  I was very excited going into the ring and hoped I could do the big grey mare justice and give her a halfway decent ride.  The test flowed well, I caught myself with a little accuracy errors and thought the free walk could use more stretch but overall I was really pleased and thought Gem put in a brilliant test.  I felt it was one of her best tests ever, she just flowed in her trotwork and her canterwork was balanced and steady.  I thought for sure it had to be a pretty well scoring test, but as we all know, dressage is quite subjective, and she finished the day with a 29.5 from the judge at C and a 32.5 from the judge at E, giving her an average score of 31 to place her tied for 13th in an enormous professional division of 36 horses.  So really not all that shabby for a big grey irish draught mare that was a broodmare up until two years ago!

With the dressage test out of the way early and with no additional horses to ride (I’m sorry you are at home Logan ) we had the rest of the day to kick back, eat some lunch, watch some cross country, take a course walk with Leslie Law and enjoy the competitors party in the evening.  Oh, and we did a little more shopping, just to kill some extra time!  The course tomorrow looks technical and will require some precise riding, but I think Little Gem will be up to the challenge if I can put her where she needs to be for the fences!  The footing looks great, we have a fresh early ride time of 8:36 so I think Gem will be full of run!

I can’t even begin to say enough good things about the American Eventing Championships!  Chatahoochee Hills is an awesome venue, breathtakingly gorgeous and it creates a wonderful atmosphere to be here with fellow competitors.  There’s just something about fun loving eventers and the comraderie they enjoy that truly makes the AECs special.  If you are qualified and you have the opportunity to go, I think everyone should try and go to the AECs at least once in their riding careers, for it really is a fantastic event and a great representation of our sport at ALL levels.

Little Gem enjoyed a nice ride down in the schooling area today, a final tune-up for our dressage test tomorrow.  Though starting off a little stiff in her back and a little fussy, she loosened up well and by the end of my ride I felt I had a really nice supple fluid mare underneath me.  Now hopefully I can recreate that tomorrow in the dressage ring!

So far this years AECs has a very different feeling than last year.  Without the WEG mandatory outing things are a little more laid back around the event, although you can still definitely tell that it is a major championship event!  But without a lot of the ‘big names’ we saw last year it’s focus is back on the regular every day rider that has worked super hard to be here.  I also feel much more relaxed myself, not only because I have one horse rather than two, but I know Little Gem so much better now and feel more in sync with her in the competition environment.  Plus, there are a few other added improvements such as:  1) We lucked out this year somehow and managed to get a stall in the permanent stabling.  You may be thinking ‘a stall is a stall’, but if you are, then you haven’t seen the permanent stabling at Chatt Hills!  It is truly divine!  I must remember to get a good picture tomorrow.  Along this theme, we also got a tack stall in the main barns (which is actually a ‘tack wedge’ in the design, but it works great!)  and 2) My ride times this year are awesome!  Last year I had mid to late afternoon ride times, and I would spend most of the day fretting and worrying about what I needed to get ready for.  This year I ride first thing in the morning, which leaves me with the rest of the days to enjoy myself and sit back and relax!  and finally 3) the weather!!  Last year was hot and humid and a bit gross.  So far Atlanta has welcomed us with perfect eventing weather – slightly overcast at times, cool with a mild breeze.  Cool enough for a light jacket, warm enough to be comfortable.  We can’t complain.  Not yet anyway!  The food in the Patron’s tent has been exquisite – far better than last years, and the footing on the cross country looks like it will be pleasant to ride on.  I’d say that the people behind this event have done a wonderful job of listening to the input and criticisms of last year and have done everything within their power to make the proper improvements.  Kudos to them!

Now on to tomorrow, when we tackle the novice dressage at 10:18 am!!