Road Trip!

In a little more than a week we're off to Massachusetts! I think we are all very excited to be there. However, we are DREADING the drive. First, if you've ever been on a road trip with your whole family in a small sedan, you will understand what the horses are going through back there. There's a lot of 'I'm not touching you', 'I'm hot', and 'Are we there yet?'. Plus it is hot back there. We're pretty lucky that we don't have to hear most of it. Just the occasional 'bam' when someone kicks the trailer.

So how do we prepare Smellie for a long stressful drive?

First, prep starts well before we load the horses onto the trailer. Two or three days before we leave Elliot starts on a full tube of Gastro-Guard which he will continue through the trip and a day or so after we arrive.

Elliot will also start on mineral oil a couple days before we leave. He usually eats it pretty well in his food (one of Elliot's best traits), but sometimes we even have the vet tube him with a gallon of mineral oil to make sure he gets enough. This keeps everything moving as it should since his eating and drinking won't be normal for such a long period.

Betsy and I plan to drive through the night so that we keep it as cool as possible. Even with all the windows and vents open, it gets hot in that tin box with six horses on board. Driving in the night will make it a little more pleasant for the horses, though perhaps not so pleasant for us. We will also do the trip in two legs. The first will be from Starkville to Lexington, VA (about 12 hours) where we will stay at the Virginia Horse Park for a night and let the horses rest. More importantly we will let us rest. Even switching off driving, it's a long haul. The second leg will be from Lexington, VA to Sherborn, MA (about another 12 hours). We drive slow and stop fairly often so it may take us longer.

We're pretty lucky that our horses are used to traveling. Our closest event is about six hours away we're all used to getting in the 'magic box' (as a friend calls it) and taking marathon drives. Still, traveling is hard on horses. An hour in the trailer, is actually more work for a horse than an hour of riding because the horses don't know when we are stopping and starting or turning which means they're constantly shifting their weight to stay on their feet. Our trailer is air-ride equipped which provides a little nicer ride, but I would hazard a guess that is still not cushy.

We do not ship long distances with hay. First they do not have access to water and it seems like it is asking for trouble. Second, hay bags and hay are dusty. 12 hours of breathing in dust on top of an already stressed immune system is a good way to give a horse pneumonia.

Out truck gets about 1 hour (give or take) every quarter tank of gas with a full load or horses. This means we're stopping every four hours, though lets be honest we're stopping more often than that to pee with the amount of caffeine we're consuming. At every stop we peek in on them and offer some water. A lot of times Smellie only wants to splash me with it, but I feel better for having done it. He's much happier about the jelly beans that I also sneak in for him.

The dogs don't seem to mind the trip. They just pass out in the back. I wish I was a dog sometimes. Well, I wish I was my dog sometimes.

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Living the Dream, part II

Elliot also works hard. Those 6 or 7 hour work weeks are really rough on a guy...


But seriously, Elliot is like any other professional athlete: He works hard, gets treated very well, and is completely adored.

There are different theories on how to condition an event horse. I buy into Jimmy Wofford's theory of riding them pretty much every day (Jimmy has a number of interesting articles on his fitness in Practical Horseman, here's a link to his most recent which in turn links to the earlier). He does not need to get ridden hard everyday, but he goes out and does something each day. It keeps the dust off and also is good for his body to keep loose and moving. The only day Elliot gets completely off is after an event (unless there's an injury or the weather is particularly bad or I have some terrible illness that leaves me hospitalized).

Elliot gallops every fourth day working backwards from cross country day of his next event. Running and jumping is easy for him. He gets fit quickly and stays fit easily so my gallops on him do not need to be as long as some of my other horses (even some competing at lower levels). Currently, Elliot is doing three 7 minute gallops proceeded by a trot. Gallops do not mean fast. These are more or less slow canters. As he moves up the levels he will do more sprint work and more hill work. The trots will also get longer. I worry less about Elliot not being fit enough than I do about Elliot being too fit. He can feel like lit dynamite sometimes.

The days that he doesn't gallop are divided between long walks, long trots, dressage, and show jumping. He works about an hour every day.

We want to make the hard days at home so that when we get to the event he is fit and well. As they say, 'a fit horse is a sound horse'!

Elliot's days, like mine, follow the same basic routine:

In the summers he stays out at night because it's brutally hot in during the day. After the three board fence fiasco, he has been going out by himself. I feel a little bad about that because horses are herd animals, but another injury would also be bad news so we have to weigh the pros and cons. Plus he's got a little bird friend. They hang out.


He comes into his stall in the morning. He gets free choice hay because he is burning so many calories, and we want him to stay round. For the same reason, he gets fed three or four small meals a day versus two large ones. Horses are grazing animals and not designed to digest large amounts of grain. As a result, large meals are not good for their stomach. In an effort to avoid gastric ulcers, especially because of Elliot's history of colic, we do what we can to keep his tummy happy (this also includes daily feed through supplements meant to improve digestive health in horses and GastroGuard when he travels).

Smellie hangs out until about 3pm, when I get there. I groom him, do his stretches, and ride him then he gets dinner and goes back out.

Somedays I also to do extra things like putting 'the lights' on him to help with muscle soreness.


An upper level horse also requires a lot of maintenance. We are lucky to have such a great team keeping Elliot feeling good. Mississippi is not the mecca of English riding let alone eventing so we have spent a long time finding professionals we trust to work on our horses. Elliot gets his teeth done every six months; he gets a chiropractic adjustment and acupuncture every month; he gets his feet shod every five weeks.

You cannot expect them to perform at their best unless you take care of them. All the extras are totally worth it.

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Living the Dream, part I

Life with horses is crazy, especially where I am in my horsey career. It's non-stop. There aren't many days off. There are many late nights, early mornings, and just long days. You don't make lots of money, and the money you do make inevitably finds its way back into your horses. You have to LOVE it to want to do it for a living. Actually, I think you have to be borderline nuts to want to do this for a living. Crazy lady. Right here.


For those people born with the bug, all these hardships are totally worth the rush of riding a good horse. It's something I am not really sure I can explain; it's something magic. Stephie Baer describes it as an addiction. Maybe so. We put ourselves through a lot of hell searching for the next high.

And maybe this isn't the life of all professional horse people. I would love to hear that it is not in fact the life of all professional horse people because it would give me hope. It is however the life of many professional horse people I know and spend time with.

My days go a little something like this (things are especially busy since we are in between working students, which means Betsy and I are doing all the stalls, all the riding, all the teaching, plus all the other regular work associated with running a barn like taking horses to the vet, holding horses for the farrier, hauling/unloading hay and grain and shavings, office work, etc.):


Wake up as early as I can manage, which really ends up being not that early. I want to be a morning person, but ever morning when the alarm goes off I decide I will start tomorrow. Usually I hit snooze a few times until my guilt starts to outweigh the sleepiness.

Sometimes I make myself a cup of tea and some breakfast. On a good day I will even make myself a fruit smoothie, but that requires that I have been grocery shopping that week so more often I just head out the door to the farm.

I clean stalls while Betsy brings in and feeds. We have 13 stalls. Some subset of these usually does not have horses in them because we're letting the floors dry, or they needs repacking, etc. This morning, for example, I did 11 stalls. This may not be many, but sure felt like it. At the moment our manure dumpster is beyond completely full. This means you have to dump the wheelbarrow on the ground and then shovel the manure into the dumpster. You essentially shovel all the crap twice (and now you know the secret to my guns).

After stalls are clean, I head to my day job. I work as an architectural drafter for Bill who owns the property where Redbud is located. I spend a lot of time with Bill. Maybe too much time with Bill... I also drink far too many Diet Cokes and am usually far to cranky. I work in the office from 9 (-ish since I'm usually running late) to 3. Then I dash back off to the farm.

Afternoons at the farm are filled with working as many horses as possible, teaching some lessons if Betsy needs to be in two places at once, grooming my horses, cleaning tack, and any other odd jobs I have time for (which is not many). I work at least two horses everyday and often get to as many as six. Some of these are the horses I compete, and some are horses in training with Redbud Farm. Betsy does most of the teaching because I make kids, and honestly some adults, cry and then they don't come back. It's bad for business. I am super anal about grooming my competition horses. I want them to turn heads at the events, and the only way this happens is putting in the elbow grease at home. Cleaning tack and doing extra chores happens less than I would like. In an ideal world, all the bridles would be cleaned, wrapped, and put away; the tack room would be tidy; winter blankets would already be washed and packed up. Sometimes it just not worth the extra time at the end of an already long day so we live with some chaos.


Around 9pm I head home. We eat a lot of pizza. Pizza or Ramen Noodles. I'm so sick of pizza. I'm not so sick of Ramen, but I'm sure it's coming. This kind of diet is probably why I am not skinny as a rail after all the stalls and horses each day...


After dinner, I unwind for a bit before falling into bed between 10-11pm. Then I wake up and start all over again.

On the days I don't go to 'work', I'm often spending 12 hour days at the farm doing all the things I did not get to in the week like dragging the paddocks and arena, setting new jump courses, repairing jumps, clearing brush, mowing, clipping, pulling manes, cleaning the trailer, cleaning the tack room, etc. It's more of a bus man's holiday than a day off.

And sometimes you just run our of steam.

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Where No Smellie Has Gone Before

I entered Stuart Horse Trials in New York this morning. Well, I overnighted my entry this morning. Fingers crossed I get in. It's about a week after the opening date.

Betsy and I are headed up to my old stomping grounds for July and part of August. It's going to be so awesome. We are taking six horses; three are our own and three client horses. It may actually pay for itself this time, but probably not. We'll come back south broke as always. Going to be eating Ramen noodles everyday...

It's going to be so worth it, however!

First, I get to run some tough Area I courses. We need a few more good intermediates before the CCI2 at Fair Hill. I am feeling super after CHC International, but I know we are still green at this level and I want some more our my belt. I'm entering him at Stuart and Millbrook both of which should be solid courses and also good terrain. We should walk away with some great education!

Second, I get to show Elliot off to everyone in Area I that I grew up riding with. When I was a kid I rode a lot of horses but did not really have my own. My sophomore year in high school, my family bought a wonderful quarter horse gelding named Sterling. I shared him with my mother. He wasn't fancy but he was just what I needed at the time to get my confidence up and make me think I could do anything. I ran him through training level before he did a very low front suspensory and had to more or less retire to the lower levels with my mom. I was hungry for more so I catch rode a lot of horses. Now I get to brag about my very own, very special horse!

Third, I get to see my family, and they get to see me compete. My mother rides. We rode together when I was a kid. It's another reason why horses are very special to me. My dad doesn't ride, but he likes to watch me and my mother ride. My parents came to all my events when I was living in Area I. They were my biggest fans. Living so far away now, they don't get to see my ride much anymore. They're still my biggest fans, but it will be nice to see them cheer in person!


Fourth, we get a chance to school at some of the great places, like Ledyard, and do some serious conditioning work on hills. The later is less important for Elliot since he's easy to get fit, but will be great for some of our other horses.

Fifth, we can escape some of the brutal Mississippi heat. It is already getting oppressive outside and it's only June 5. July is going to be terrible.

Sixth, it's time for a rematch with Area I. The last time I went up north with Elliot he was running beginner novice and not very successfully. Our first event ever was at Huntington. Denny Emerson, who doesn't know me from Adam and was coaching one of his own students at the time, picked me out in cross country warm up to tell me that Elliot was a nice horse. I promptly got eliminated at fence four after a stop at each of the proceeding. This time it's not going the same way!


The list goes on and on. It suffices to say that going up north is going to be great for our horses and for us! Cannot wait.

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Show Jump Phobia

Every horse and rider has their weak link. I find mine to be the show jump. I have 'Oxer-itis' Jimmy Wofford told me.

It's a fairly irrational fear. I am a capable rider. Elliot is a phenomenal jumper. His front end is tight and his back end is as good if not better. Plus, he wants to play. I don't have to worry about him quitting and when i get there wrong (oh so wrong), he's there to save the day.

So what's the deal?


You'd think I'd be scared of galloping on down to some of those massive table on cross country. I suppose those make me nervous too, but I don't choke. I can channel the nerves to my advantage. The technical questions on cross country don't bother me. Off a drop to a skinny, down a slide to a skinny, angled tables? Fine. Of course everyone gets nerves, but I feel in my gut that I can get the job done.

SJ course? Panic. Forget how to ride.

Now, this maybe this whole post is a little bit of an exaggeration. I am running horses successfully at the preliminary and intermediate level. I have brought horses along to this level that were green, or worse yet problem children. I am not completely inept in the show jump arena. However, my record is riddled with rails while I am almost always double clean cross country. It is maddening because these rails often cost me a top 5 placing. I'm constantly say, I hadn't had those rails down I'd have been...

But as my father likes to remind me, there is no should have, would have, or could have in eventing. I didn't get the job done. Period.

I've had this phobia for a very long time. I think this is part of the reason why it seems to be getting worse. It's very deeply ingrained in my mind. I've gotten myself to the point that sometimes I even forget my courses! I've fell off twice in show jump arena last year, for not better reason than I was picking to the fence due to nerves! Ridiculous.

The first horse I ran preliminary was a cross country machine. We ran fast and clean at the preliminaries we did, which wasn't many. We struggled in the show jump arena. At my first preliminary, I had two run out going into the triple. This was back in the day that stops were 10 points each. I racked up something like 40 jump penalties that round, plus time. My second preliminary was at Groton House Farm, and I was so excited because I was in 4th after the cross county. I went into the show jump and had so many rails down. Stephie Baer, who I was not riding with at the time but vaguely knew, was next to go in and all she could do was give me a knowing smile. I was gutted. My third preliminary, I promptly got eliminated in the show jump. I did not even get to run cross country.

I think that's where it all started. It wasn't because of the horse. Prince was wonderfully special, and I owe a lot to him. I was green and didn't really know what I was doing and I got scared. A seed of doubt got planted in my head. It has been festering and growing ever since. Now I have a little garden of doubt.

Later when I was working with Stephie she said my brain was my worse enemy. When things started to fall apart in the arena, I never recovered. I don't leave the mistake behind. I dwell on it.

There are multiple real reasons show jumping makes me more nervous than cross country. Horses can get tangled up in the poles, whereas they can put a foot down on a solid cross country fence. Everyone sees everything in the show jump arena; they see all the mistakes, and I know people talk. Also those rails come down so easily. You cannot win the event in the show jump, but you can sure lose it!

Are these the reasons warming up for show jump my palms sweat and I feel weak in the knees? I'm not sure.

And the really important question, how do I fix it?

I don't really know the answer to that either. I have certainly gotten better. I am starting to ride individual jumps not the whole course at once. I set reasonable goals for myself, like two rails down versus a perfect clean round. Each time I reach one of those goals, I can set a new reasonable goal. I follow Jimmy Wofford's advice: 'I am not going to see the spot more than three strides out for now so just wait for it'.


This summer while we are up north, I hope I can drill the show jumping. Jump some big courses in a new places. Learn to get my head completely in the game and the negative thoughts out. I'm tired of losing the event in the show jumping! My horses are wonderful and they deserve to win. I think I do too!

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