2014 Year In Review

Keep sending in your whorl photos!!
I'll compile them and publish them next week. :)

But now ... dun dun dun ....
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Time for my annual Year In Review post!

Of course, if you've been reading this blog all year you already know what happened. But here is a summary anyway.

JANUARY

Managed to find a photo from winter 2014 that DOES NOT have ice or snow in it!

- If you believe in Hell, then it would have been frozen over because the ENTIRE MIDWEST was so cold ... and frozen ... and icey ... and snowy ... and just horrible, horrible wintry hell. So, we weren't doing a whole lot. I spent my mornings hammering ice out of buckets, thawing snaps and cleaning frozen poo out of stalls.

FEBRUARY

- The arena is till basically an ice skating rink so we don't get a lot of work done this month either.

- There are a couple of warmish days mid month that give us some time to get back to the arena. Then about 4 inches of snow arrives. My sense of humor vanishes.

Hampton is all like "WHAAAAAT is THAT?!"

- A little rescue pony named Moses comes to the farm to learn how to be around people. Eventually he gets started under saddle, too! 

MARCH

 - I start working more consistently with OTTBs and find I really enjoy it.

- I buy a new saddle, and spring starts to finally show up. Hampton and I start getting more rides in and spend quite a bit of time hacking up and down hills to help rebuild fitness.

APRIL

- There is a thief who makes a visit to our farm and steals blankets, bridles, saddles and actual farm equipment. We become paranoid and put locks on everything. (some of the bridles were found and returned to the owners, but as for anything else, I'm not sure. Also unsure if an arrest was ever made)

- I question the abilities of the Hamper after someone tells me he probably won't make a Third Level horse. Thankfully, I shake it off and keep moving forward.

- We attend the JJ Tate Clinic which BLOWS MY MIND. If I ever get the chance to lesson with her again, I would sell an ovary. I would sell both of them actually. Both Hampton and I are a changed pair after two days with JJ.

- I also get out to Rolex where I meet up with some fellow bloggers, enjoy the shopping and get goosebumps watching cross country.

MAY

so downhill. My breeches were soaking wet, I'm shocked you cannot see my pink
legs through them.

- We attend a small schooling show for our Third Level debut. It's cold, pouring down rain and the first time either of us has attempting this test at a show. It was not quite a disaster, but it was certainly not a great show. The judge is kind and gives us OK scores of 57% and 58% - and that was with Hampton LAUNCHING into the air during what was supposed to be a flying change.

- After that "confidence builder" (not), we head off to the big KDA show at the KY Horse Park for the same tests. Our first test was, for real this time, a CLUSTERF*CK. It was a disaster. Hampton totally fell behind my leg and shut down in the ring. I later realized I did not warm him up correctly, and the "instructor" I paid to help me stood silent on the sidelines and instead insulted my horse and tried to shame me. Thankfully, I realized what the problem was (I need to warm him up to be sharper and BUST HIM if he falls behind the leg), and our other tests were much better. But I left that show knowing I needed some real help if we were going to keep showing.

- I earn my USDF Bronze Medal!

JUNE

- We take a road trip back to Indiana for some lessons with my favorite instructor. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. I explained our issues to her, and what happened at KDA. Her answer was "I have a prescription for that." Finally! Someone who knew what to do! It got a little ugly, but I faced our issues and rode him through it. The bucking in the flying changes immediately improved, and rarely happens these days.
- We start teaching Hampton a little passage, and I ride her Grand Prix stallion to feel what the "tricks" are like.
- Hampton turns 7 years old.

JULY

- We keep working on our homework from June.

- Hampton decides he wants a week off and comes down with a rather nasty case of cellulitis.

AUGUST

Chicken arms!

- We continue our dressage homework, but take a little break mid-month when I decide it would be fun to take Hampton to a hunter pace. He loses all control of gerbils and rears straight up in the air. I abandon the jumping group and join the trail riders and end up enjoying myself instead of fearing for my life. I make a mental note not to take Hamps on any more hunter paces.

SEPTEMBER

- We make another attempt at a USDF rated show at Harmony in the Park. It's a total success. We end up with scores in the 60s, plus Reserve Champion High Point AA at Third Level. Hampton is wonderful and does not give me any issues. Which was a good thing as I had a stomach virus that week and was running on fumes.

- Hampton and I move to a new barn.

OCTOBER

Weird moment in time, but not as downhill as May!

- We get out to one last schooling show. It goes pretty well - we get more scores in the 60s and Hampton feels fantastic.

- Hampton gets his toe nails done by a new farrier who basically traumatizes Hampton to the point where he can no longer be hot-shoed. It was a terrible incident.

NOVEMBER

- We keep plugging away at various dressage homework.

- Hampton's passage starts to really improve. We start to work on canter pirouettes more seriously as well as the canter zig zag from PSG.
- We take a quickie road trip to school a little bit off the property. It was a local schooling show, but I did not enter because I'm not a fan of the judge. (He was one who judged us in May and had nothing good to say at all. So, blacklisted.)
- I get yet another part-time job to help with money matters.

DECEMBER

(not from December)

- Here we are.
- The weather, while gloomy and nasty, is not bad enough to keep us from working!
- I start riding a local schoolmaster type to help me learn the movements I need to teach Hampton.
- Hampton gets daily treatments on the Theraplate. (I should do a post on this, as the results have been interesting!)
- I am done Christmas shopping. Boom.

So there's 2014.

It was a year of learning, for sure.
Learning about dressage.
Learning about my horse.
So much learning about dressage.

Learning about myself.

Pretty thankful that both me and my awesome horse are happy and healthy.

Looking forward to 2015!
(goals to come)

Show me your whorls!

I came across THIS ARTICLE today. It's about whorls (or swirls) and how the number and placement may or may not indicate a horse's personality.

What do you think?

Send me a picture of your horse's whorls - let's stick with just foreheads if you can - and send in a little snippet about their personality and if you think the whorl theory rings true with your beast.

I'll run them all on this blog. Maybe we can prove the whorls wrong?

Send photos and snippets to: finalchapter.karen@gmail.com

And don't forget your name, horse's name and a link to your blog if you have one. :)

2014 Goals and comments

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a post about my goals for 2014.

Let's review 2014, shall we?

Here is what I laid out for myself:

Goals for 2014:

• Show Third Level, get my bronze medal.
• By fall, show a kamakazie Fourth Level test.
• Attend FHF adult dressage camp
• Attend JJ Tate clinic in April (Lexington). At the very least, audit.
• Buy a new saddle
• School more Fourth/PSG
• After I blow all my savings on a saddle, start saving for a used truck
• Always always put Hampton first, let him tell me what he's ready for
• Host a clinic at the farm
• Attend 2 rated shows if financially possible

1) Show Third Level, get my bronze: SUCCESS! It was not without struggle, that is for sure. But we did manage to get those scores in May. Later in the year, I improved on those scores so I felt like I did actually "earn" that Bronze medal, instead of scraping by.

2) Show a kamikaze Fourth Level test: No, we didn't do this. We just were not ready and trying to reach this goal would have just set me up for more disappointment. We maybe could have pulled off 4-1 but sticking to Third resulted in more positive experiences. There is no rush anyway!

3) Attend FHF adult dressage camp: No, because it was on the same dates as the JJ Tate clinic. 

4) Attend JJ Tate Clinc: Yes, and it was AWESOME.

5) Buy a new saddle: Yes! I have enjoyed my Amerigo this year but it is for sale now. It is a perfectly great saddle but I am fighting with it some because of my long thigh. So, I will be shopping for another one over the winter. Yay.

6) School more 4th/PSG: Success! We have started pirouettes and continued developing Hampton's fancy trot. I have played around with some tempis as well although the flying changes are still a major weak point and need more polish before we try any test with tempi changes.

7) Start saving for a used truck: Nope. Not even in the cards. It will likely be years before I am in any sort of financial situation to buy a second vehicle. I'd likely have to get a better paying job. OR sell the horse. That's just reality, but it's not such a big deal as I do have the ability to borrow a close friend's truck if I need it.

8) Always put Hampton first, let him tell me what he's ready for: Success.This is so interesting that I wrote this well before the year blew up in my face. Because this theme is really what 2014 was all about. In the spring, I stood up for my horse and I stood up for myself. You cannot let people bully you and manipulate you. Others wanted to write Hampton off. I realize he is not international material. I really don't want an international horse (yet). I want an enjoyable horse who is more than a competition vehicle. He is my buddy, a member of my family. But you also never write Hampton off as a dressage horse. You may think he isn't capable, but he will keep on trying. I never thought he would learn passage. Or even be able to do a decent flying change. Too bad so many people pass up the mediocre horses on first glance. Their loss!

9) Host a clinic at the farm: Nope. Things just didn't fall into place here. Not a big deal.

10) Attend 2 rated shows: Success! I am hoping to repeat this for 2015, and possibly add a 3rd rated show. I am currently working 3 jobs in hopes to start a savings account. And by savings account, I mean more money for showing. haha. Half kidding.

Next up: Year In Review and 2015 Goals.

Thanksgiving passage

Finally I have some video of the Porkchop passaging!

Thanksgiving meant the boy joined me at the barn. Which meant I put him to work and made him take some video. Too bad I deleted his commentary which was in a British accent.

Please keep in mind that 1) Hampton is not Totilas or Valegro 2) I am not Charlotte D. 3) We BOTH only started learning this late summer.

With that said, part of me wanted to edit this video and include only the good moments. But then I decided to leave it as is so that everyone can see that yes there are some neat moments but we fall out of it a lot and go flat. All part of the process. Hampton needs strength. We both need timing. It's a work in progress but he is getting the hang of it.

WW: Schooling off the property

(used with persmission)

Hampton's heritage: My King

I've written about Porkchop's so-called pedigree a couple of times before.

A little about Hampton's pedigree

Pedigree geeks unite

I am a big believer in riding the actual horse, not his papers. But I do like looking back and seeing what Hampton's ancestors have accomplished.

My King

My King is Hampton's great-great-grandsire. He is a 1966 Rhinelander. He was 17 hands. Interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of size in Hampton's warmblood lines. I assumed he got his size from the Clydesdale, but that may not be totally true.

My King was bred and trained by Ed Rothkranz. They were part of the 1980 Alternate Olympics for the Canadian Olympic Team. My King is a son of Martel, who was on the Bronze medal winning German Olympic dressage team in 1952. 

It's a small world, as Ed Rothkranz currently lives in southern Kentucky.

My King produced a number of successful babies, including horses in both dressage and Grand Prix jumping. Dr Reiner Klimke owned a mare, Amantiado, by My King.

My King was also a Grand Prix jumper.

My King and Ed

Does anyone else have a horse who goes back to My King?

Keep on truckin'

Porkchop and I have been working 5 days a week on our Dressage Skillz.

Three of those days I focus on suppleness - keeping him loose and swingy, working on bend and perhaps throwing in some lateral work.

Some lovely hacking out in a back field today while the weather
was still warm.

Two days I really focus on AMPING UP THE HAMPER. This of course has increased his spook factor, but so be it. It hasn't gotten out of hand (yet) and actually at times helps me keep his poll up. Ha, take that horse. His passage has gotten so much stronger and more consistent. Now I can start to use it and dial it back out to a "show trot" that we can take to the show ring. It's still a work in progress but we are playing with it. I've also started to really focus on the canter pirouettes. This is a brand new movement to me, so they are not perfect. Or even that good, really. But thankfully this is one thing that Hampton is VERY good at. If I can learn the timing and the aids, I know this will be one of our highlights. I'm pretty sure we will have decent piros by spring.

(I promise to get video of passage soon!)

Example of what our faces look like when attempting PSG canter zig zag.
Good grief.

I spend a lot of time doing forward and back. Like, a lot of time. Sounds boring, but when you start to feel the results it is suddenly not so boring. I also focus on transitions especially in the lateral work. For example, trot leg yield across the ring - around X slow down to a jog-trot (still leg yielding) - and then go forward again and keep leg yielding. Leg yield to ranvers is also super beneficial to Hampton - especially the right ranvers.

The flying changes are better and better - although I still deal with a lot of anticipating by Porkchop. He is just very smart and thinks he is helping. So I do a lot of "changing my mind" and keeping counter canter, or just changing direction, turning, something to keep him listening to me and not changing when he is anticipating. Canter leg yields are our best friend. That exercise has helped me more this year than anything else. If you have a horse with a tight back and tight hips - this exercise is for you. Do it. I love you, canter leg yields.

Looking pretty fit.

Things are coming along. Just in time for winter. ha.

But the good news is that we now have an indoor, although small. Plus an aquatread AND a theraplate at the barn to help keep Hampers fit and loose.

So we will keep on truckin.'

Pretty much.