blah blah blog

http://chronofhorse.com/article/fear-my-friend

2011-04-04T13:06:00.000-04:00

Blah Blah Blog is Moving!

2011-03-21T20:13:00.003-04:00

Well since we are moving barns and the girls are moving houses it just makes sense that this blog should find a new home as well! Last week Chronicle of the Horse asked me to join there established crew of bloggers. I'm really excited and flattered to become a fixture on such a well established site.

Please check out www.chronofhorse.com/article/13-going-30 for the latest blog. In the next few days there will be a direct link from my website to the landing page where future blogs will be posted. Thank you all so much for your interest!

Sinead

Life is a highway....

2011-03-16T22:04:00.001-04:00

I wake up... someone is moving in my bed... wait someone is moving in the bed NEXT to the bed I'm in, that is somewhat of a relief... at least someone is not in my bed, that would be awkward since I'm having trouble recalling the previous night ( Tik is in Florida, I am sure of that .. so no one else should actually be in my bed).. but still who is in the bed next to my bed and where am I actually?

This is what a lot of Event riders/ Rock stars (joke) wake up thinking during the hectic season. The feeling normally subsides within 30 seconds and the reality of the hotel, trailer, friends house or friend of a friends house that you are crashing at sets in. Now that the immediate sense of danger has subsided you are reminded that hitting snooze one more time would be pleasent(unless its cross country morning!!).

Back to who is moving in the bed beside the bed that I am in? ..... It would be Canadian WEG rider Rebecca Howard. Rebecca(my "sister"), good friend Jessi Hargrave and I have just returned from a successful DerbyCross in Florida. We are all crashing at my apartment at the Carlton Arms in Ocala. I look at the alarm and it says 2:45am meaning I have 15 min and then I am headed from the sunny south back to what still is freezing NJ. Rebecca is staying down for a few more days for Canadian training sessions. We all said our goodbyes the night before over margaritas because that is a lot more enjoyable than 3am bad coffee!

Meg and Sara left the night before to get the new barn organized and beat the shipper home. I stayed behind to get 6 horses on the commercial van and then carried on with the dogs and 2 horses to Middleburg,VA. I needed to pick up another horse and break up the 22 hour trip (the dogs are cute but not great conversationalist). The barn we had rented in NJ was a new farm that sounded like it might be a good fit. I couldn't find a spare 2 days in the Florida stint to schedule a trip to NJ to do a pre-screen, so we were working on blind faith. The owners of the property were incredibly kind and very realistic about the fact that it might work and it might not. And so a little over 48 hours after the Sinead Halpin Equestrian Team left Florida I realized ... oh no.. this is not going to work.

As most horse people know, the horses find a home and get fed before the people! So with that in mind, me being the organized and responsible boss I am had not found a place for my girls to live. I did not want to rent a home for them if I was not sure if the barn was going to work. I gave them the keys to my house and called friends, owners, vets , horsemen.... Brendan and Wendy Furlong to see if they had any housing ideas. They kindly took me in to stay as their guest while the girls stayed in my house ( they have been feeding me too well, im never moving out :) )The farm we are at now is lovely and the owners have been fantastic but it is not the perfect match.

I can say that today is the first time I have even been able to write anything down about what has been going on because it has been such an overwhelming experience. Rebecca ( the gal sleeping in the bed next to mine) could, for example, analyze the price of a bale of hay for 3 hours and it used to drive me insane: " its a bale of hay just buy it!".
and I know I would drive her crazy with my " come on it will work it self out, sometimes you gotta just take a risk Rebecca!" personality.

She normally would just look at me as she does, with that look - I'm sure most big sisters give their naive younger sibling without saying a word but the look says " I love you but you silly, silly girl". At 2:45 am when I realized Rebecca was the one moving in the bed next to mine I had no idea I was about to learn the lesson she had known for quite sometime...When you put a horse in your barn, a person in the position of an employee, buy a bale of hay ... the "buck" stops with you so make sure you have a damn good explanation of why you chose the barn, hired the girl and bought the hay!

**

I have always been very responsible with my horses care and my ultimate goal is to never have them be aware of my daily stress (Currently: trying to find a farm with suitable footing, adequate ride out, bathrooms for clients, safe fencing, a washer/dryer for boots and pads, manure removal, housing for staff on and on.. I could use some gastro gaurd!)...With that

I can happily say I have found a great barn for the horses and we will be moving on Friday. We will also be signing a lease on Friday for the girls house, I will be moving back to my house on Sunday. A week from today Meg, Tate, King, Zeppo, Baloo, myself and Ian will start packing again to spend two weeks in NC for Southern Pines and the Fork. (megan needs gastro guard too)

Lesson learned ... as the President of my business, It is up to me to make sure that the destination of my horses and staff is organized to ensure everyones happienss. - Being the president of my business means more than planning the eventing calendar and letting everything else fall in to place. I realize my girls are troopers and have stepped up to help me considerably and thank god the horses are more concerned with eating the grass in the fields then (The cost of a bale of hay - you could draw from earlier statement to tie it all together)! I am not going to dwell on the fact that I "should have" organized this all better, that is a given. But as Ralph Hill says "you gotta put money in the bank" and this experience added a good amount to the account of lessons learned!

"Life is a highway and I want to ride it all night long
if your going my way i want to drive it all night long"
Tom Cochran

PS- MANOIR DE CARNEVILLE (aka tater) and SINEAD HALPIN are now entered at ROLEX KENTUCKY THREE DAY EVENT ( just as a side note )

The truth about curry combs.....

2011-03-02T07:24:00.004-05:00

Dont worry I was never a huge fan or actually very interested in curry combs, but I hold nothing against anyone who likes curry combs.... so therefore I will not be blogging about curry combs(sorry to disappoint) but just thought I would start with a neutral topic... ;)

I am actually going to talk about one of the best lessons I have had in Florida this winter and that was by Karen O'Connor. At OCET as a rider you tend to gravitate toward either DOC or KOC and stick with that individual as your prime coach. It is a team effort and Karen and David provide team support but as far as individual lessons it gets confusing if your always switching trainers.

I first sat on the lawn at pristine Stone Hall Farm in Middleburg,Va 9 years ago. This is where I met the Legend David O'Connor. I was at first intimidated by "who he was" but we quickly settled into conversation when he asked a few questions and did not weigh the conversation down with promises of what OCET produces, its team strategies or what would be expected of me being "part of the team". He simply asked me a little bit about my life, my history in eventing and what my goals were. I was coming from a very aggressive overbearing situation and the calmness of this man helped me settle down. I had become a bit of a paranoid reactive person in the years leading up to my transition to OCET and David seemed like someone who would think before he speaks which was a new concept for me.

When I met Karen I was instantly attracted to her amazingly quick Wit, her sense of humor and all in all magnetic personality... I really want this person to like me. With Karen I felt I had 5 seconds to make a good impression or any impression because her attention span is short almost like kid looking for something that sparks. Karen has a lot to do, so make your point weather its a joke ( she will laugh), needing some help ( she will help), ask a question( she will answer)... but you got 5 seconds. This was a lot of pressure for me when I first arrived due to the fact I was already pretty fragile from previous situations so I felt more comfortable around David, I knew he was thinking alot but he didn't say it.. I could handle that.

For the past 9 years David and Karen have both been huge influences to my career and life in general( which in horses your career is your life). This winter has been great to actually be able to base my business next to theirs for a few months. I feel like the standard of not only riding but horsemanship, hospitality and training is above and beyond. When I first arrived I became aware that I have been coasting a bit on the training side and my horses need to be more broke. In realizing that I took a lot of lessons with different people, rode my horses on the flat for what seemed like 72 hours a day 8 days a week, and all in all got myself completely confused. I was not in the habit of asking Karen for help because David had always been my primary go to but thank god Karen noticed the Sparks coming from the top arena Thursday of last week...

I borrowed a leather bit from KOC to try on Tate to see if I could actually get him to accept the bit ( something Mark, David, Gunner and Myself have become obsessed with ... obsession is never a good thing) I put the bit on him and rode him low ( like mark says) not working, rode him above the bit ( like gunner says) not working, go lateral, go medium, shorten, lenghten, transitions, sit taller, post the trot, canter........ hold back tears....look up here come Karen and Max. "How is that working for ya" Karen yells (referring to the bit) I just look up and shrugging my shoulders I say " I don't know" Karen looks at me confused for about a millisecond and sees right through me and says " you have too many voices in your head don't you" here is when a tear or two slip out ..... " If anyone knows anything about too many voices in their head its me" Karen says and Max gives a big laugh.

" What do you see when you see William( Fox-Pitt) do a test" Karen asks walking beside me her on Mandiba myself on Tate. I think about this for a second we both agree, normally the frame is a bit low but the horses are accurate and look happy, not brilliant movers, they don't blow you away with words like, bold, powerful, magnificent, just happy well trained horses. She says "the judges love it". I have been trying to push Tate to some "next level" when I'm not even sure I have established the level I am at. Karen proceeds to tell me of experiences she has has where yes the coach has been right in telling her things such as Teddy's neck is too short but at the time it "was what it was" and it would be the goal for the "next year" to get him to reach for the bit. "Just be accurate, work through the movements with a happy horse, you have to do that before you can ask for more."

I went to Pine Top a few days later with this in mind. Tate was wound up! But I did not let him change the conversation. Goal: to have a soft happy horse - not brilliant and powerful just consistent. With the exception of Tate being too happy and jumping up in the air squealing ( giving us two 3's) He grew in his gaits and was confident throughout the whole test, all I had to do was take the pressure off and he grew. We got a 29 in the test even with the two 3's and Tate got a 9 on his gates. Timing is everything and there is a time for pressure and a time to just establish a foundation for that pressure. I called Karen right up and thanked her for her words... I got her attention without intention for five minutes and that five minutes will influence me as a rider/coach and person for as long as im lucky enough to work with horses.

PRO stands for a better sport!!

2011-02-20T18:07:00.003-05:00

I was really disappointed a few days ago when reading some comments on Eventing Nation in response to Will Faudree's support of PRO.

PRO is an organization that was put together by Professionals to better the Sport we not only make a living at but are also incredibly passionate about. Our simple idea was to build the sport by promoting its strengths... showcasing Top Professionals that demonstrate not only excellent ability in the tack but the ability to reach out to to people beyond the small world that is Three Day Eventing.

The reason we want to attract outside people to join the "CLUB" the club being "Eventing" not just "Professionals" is for many reasons. First to attract prize money. This prize money attracts spectators which in turn sets a high standard for the Events that the Organizers can afford to provide. That standard will be reflected in a promotable venue but also put an emphasis on good footing for our precious horses and ensure a high level of safety in that of course design and building. This affects not just the Professional but the adult amature, the young rider, the weekend warrior and every member of the club. This emphasis on safety also encourages a higher level of training and knowledge which also effects all levels of the sport. To be direct we can not invite outside people to view our sport and display poor riding, poor horsemanship and in worst case scenario a preventable accident involving horse or rider. This is where PRO comes in...

I have a healthy amount of ego that allows me to believe in myself and what I do, but I am certainly aware of my weaknesses. Yes PRO does have ego. We sat down a few years ago and looked at our sport and said how can we make this thing that we believe in and are good at grow. In this conversation we did not sit down and pat each other on the back we said "We are crap at reaching out to the general public, we are crap at taking a shower at the end of a long day and going out and socializing with people that could help our sport grow,we are crap at promoting ourselves and our sport, we are great at complaining to the organizers, complaining to the USEA, we are great at working long hours that are self serving in that we are just growing our own individual business and not actually working together to grow our sport. WE ARE GOOD AT WHAT WE DO, WE ARE HARD WORKERS, WE ARE HORSE LOVERS, WE ARE CHARISMATIC, WE ARE DETERMINED, WE ARE DRIVEN, WE ARE EVENTERS so we developed PRO to use the PRO's to PROmote EVENTING!

PRO has done some amazing things in the past two years. Free course walks, bringing prize money to events to help the organizers ( I realize this is at the top level but the intention is to have a trickle down effect), We have created a format to promote safe riding in young rider training divisions and offered free training for a week with Professionals for the winners, We have joined a group that connects athletes to charities.. PRO has joined up with Operation Home front as a group ( this being a charity that helps the families of the military.. since that is our sports foundation), we have also as individuals joined with athletes for hope.. which helps us in our hometowns to connect with charities that are special to us, there are several other things that we have done and several things we have on our agenda to keep improving not only events but education on all levels.

I understand that the name PRO insinuates it is an organization only for Professional Riders but that name is there to set a tone, not define the group. The tone is intended for the person outside the sport looking in. If PRO Tour is put on a program it assumes a certain high standard. The standard also implies that the organization is "RUN" by people very well educated and immersed in the sport this does not limit the voices in the organization. I was genuinely shocked at some of the reactions to the name of this organization. I assumed due to the fact that all Eventers, at all levels, are so intertwined that the intent of the naming the organization "PRO" would be obvious not offencive to those whom assumed they were not included in this PROgression of the sport. But you know what they say about people that "Assume" ... and i am guilty of assuming as well as certain others.

I hate talking about problems but I love problem solving.I have trouble speaking to people that are so focused on everything that is wrong... If you are going to point out a problem to me then you better have enough time to sit down with me and figure out a solution. PRO is a group that is "run" by the "Harvard Graduates" but that is only so we have a well educated panel to give our organization some depth and a respectable voice. That voice comes from "all members and all levels" in the organization. So I suggest becoming part of the solution, get involved even if that means bringing specific problems to the table and sitting there with us while we figure out a solution.

My promise as an Executive Board Member of PRO is that if you get involved and use your voice in a room where problems have a chance to be solved and an idea has a chance of becoming a reality you will not be disappointed. "We" can all be in the "Club" of PROmoting positve change in Eventing.

Wizzard looking great my hands holding the reins fipped over in one of Anne's favorite training tools!

2011-02-17T07:55:00.001-05:00

How much is an extra axel really worth

2011-02-17T07:13:00.004-05:00

When deciding to go to Aiken or Florida, Florida's final winning point was due to its close proximity to Wellington. Wellington is where the best of the best show jumpers, dressage riders,polo players and sometimes the odd lucky Eventer spend the winter. This town leaves nothing to the imagination. As I drove down Appaloosa trail to have 3 lessons with renown show jumper Katie Prudant I realized I was in the Hollywood of Equestrians. I have to admit the barns that look like magnificent houses, the horses grazing on manicured front lawns, arenas dripping with the latest felt, rubber,silk and probably cashmere left me short of breath and a desperate for an open field. But none the less it is a breathtaking sight.

This year USET granted several listed riders with a $2000 grant for training. You basically need to spend it with a specialized approved instructor ( like Katie or Oded). Fortunately this year the grants were allocated to just the rider not horse and rider combination. I decided to spend my grant in one trip getting multiple lessons of different horses, so I could get more bang for my buck ( and there was some bucking!) This also kept me from over focusing on Tate. Tate had 3 rails down in Holland so obviously he needs some attention but looking at his over all performances he is quite a good show jumper. I want to make sure I keep that in mind so I don't go overboard in his show jump training. Over correcting can sometimes be as bad as no training at all, it can easily scare or make horses nervous leading to stops or other disobedience's (which we saw a bit of this year at WEG).

My lessons with Katie were great. She is a technician who analyzes and notices the smallest details. After my lessons I came back to Katie and asked her for her overall impression and what I need to work on in all my horses. She said Im to nice to my horses on the flat. This comment in itself proves the depth of her knowledge that not a comment was made on my jumping but my flat work. She said I need to put my horses in difficult places, work through the "tough times" with them to build a stronger relationship and make the job at the competition almost a relief. This brings me back to a comment David said to me several years ago..he said" Sinead I train hard enough that I can win on 75%. So if my horse is not perfect I still beat everyone in the class and when you have the rare day of 100% you win a gold medal".. thats pretty cool.

The next day I headed over to Anne Kurskinski's farm to have a lesson and show her a lovely show jumper I have for sale. As I trotted around on her manicured grass show jump field that backs on to the multi million dollar WEF show grounds and this 5 time Olympian walked out and said " Hey Sinead how is your season going" I though the $32 dollars I spent on having two extra axles on the highway was worth this. I struggled to find something witty and brilliant to say and wow her with my intellect and horsemanship but I just said " great how has your season been? " The cool thing is she then spent the next 10 min actually telling me how her season was going in detail.

Anne has no problem putting the jumps up which is great! Sometimes your flaws are easy to mask over an average size fence but when you are cantering down to 4 and 1/2 feet it highlights the slightest lean or shift in your position. I felt a bit green at the heights in the beginning but by the end of the lesson both Wizzard and I had improved immensely. I always love it at the end of the lesson when the instructor says "great that was fun" and that is what Anne gave me at the end of our ride.

Today I have training sessions with Mark Philips which I am excited about. Tate has improved quite a bit from our last sessions so im looking forward to the next step. Then we are headed to Rocking horse this weekend, Pine Top next weekend ( tates debut yay), DerbyCross the next weekend ( derbycross.com), Back to New Jersey with everyone for two weeks after that, down to Southern Pines and the Fork for two weeks, Fairhill the next week, Then Rolex for the week.. and then and then and then... Katie said to me " you eventers work very well at speed you need to work on slowing down" so I guess Ill plan on working on slowing down sometime in May :) !

xx

How much is an extra axel really worth

2011-02-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

how much in another axil actually worth

2011-02-16T21:23:00.002-05:00

Day 3... Success!

2011-02-05T21:41:00.002-05:00

Alarm clock... zeppo(my dog) is taking up more than half of my single bed in the carlton arms. My phone comes to life.. boyfriend text ( he starts work at 5am so text begin early)... email from pnut in NZ ( they are in the middle of the day when we are in the middle of the night)... facebook message from someone in Aiken curious if I need I am there and need my horses acupunctured?....text message from a student curious about putting her horse on dream horse or equine now..... Snooze or Dismiss..... Dismiss.....brush teeth .. cup of tea.... blackberry messenger from Megan... " are you on your way Tate has some fill in his hind legs".... " I'm five minutes away"- me....7:15am ... today started like any other day......

Today I had my last training session with Mark at 9am and thank god we got to jump! I have only had a few jump schools with Tate since Boekelo and the focus has been more on single fences than course work. When horses get to the advanced level every jump counts. Meaning that I want my horse to last as long as possible so I plan every jump and what I want that jump to accomplish. I don't waste my horses legs trying to improve "my eye" or "my position" or to "try it one more time to be sure".. every jump counts. I knew today I would be putting some jumps together and was eager but also not entirely sure where Tate's confidence stood after his trip abroad.

So I arrived at the barn and looked at Tate's legs which to me are like the back of my own palm.. but Megan being good at her job and new to Tate was aware that there was a change and quickly informed me. We trotted Tate up and as I had assumed he moved perfectly but just had some fill from a hard work out and a night in the stall. I then put on the kettle, sat down on the Haygain ( which not only removes all mold spores from hay and pretty much eliminates respiratory issues caused by mold, dust and other allergens... but also makes a warm seat in the morning!) and discussed with Meg the plan for the day with the other 11 horses in the barn other than Tate ...

I went over for my lesson and I was greeted with the pleasant surprise that Karen's lesson on Mandiba was running late. I got to watch most of this flat lesson which not many people are lucky enough to do at 9 am on a Saturday morning. Tate felt great through our whole lesson and fortunately there is not much to discuss. He jumped like a million bucks and the main topic of conversation was the possibility of double studding him on the outside of his shoes for Kentucky and possibly Burghley in the fall... I like that conversation....

After my lesson I got on a young horse that proceeded to try and drop me in the field about 20 times and then my phone started making those familiar sounds.... you are only as good as your last ride.. for about 15 minutes I was a four star rider on the track to the Olympic games... that was fun... then back to reality and back to the balance of it all ... which makes those 15 minutes of High Performance so so sweet.....

I have come away from these sessions a better horseman, communicator and hopefully competitor. I am looking forward to the next few weeks where I can put what I have learned into practice and then start this whole thing over again! xx

Day 2 We have a plan

2011-02-04T19:12:00.002-05:00

My day started with an email from my friend P-Nut in New Zealand wishing me the best of luck and letting me know she was supporting me 100%, that was followed by an ever supportive facebook post from Patricia at Ecogold (Patricia is the one who has urged me to keep up with my blogs and promised me people actually do read them!) and several phone calls, texts and responses to yesterdays blog. It is a really great feeling to have everyone from close friends and family to people I have not yet met connecting in some way to the little stories I have to tell. So thank you to everyone for sticking by me even when things are not so hot!
On to today's session....

Today started with a meeting with the USOC. The USOC( United States Olympic Committee) provides Olympic sports with a sports psychologist, a strength and conditioning coach and a nutritionist. Eventers have not really taken advantage of this, but with the theme of trying to modernize our sport the USOC's goals to make us more well rounded athletes fits hand and glove with these training sessions. So my morning started with a chat with the sports psych. ironic after yesterdays mental struggles!

The first thing we discussed was that I tend to over analyze in the dressage arena and lose my perspective on my priority. Sean and I made a plan to find a "technical neutral zone" basically when I feel my mind starting to go in an unproductive way on the flat I change my focus to something technical that I can rely on. For me this is sinking down in my heels, shoulder blades down and back, heavy elbows and look around the ring ( not over focus on my horses head!).. Then once I have achieved a technical neutral to focus on something in the future about to happen like a movement or the goal I am working toward.. for example if the trot is feeling "not right" focus on the trot I need for a canter transition. This plan I feel will work really well to keep me positive and forward thinking. The other thing that Sean said that kept repeating in my head was "to be aggressive you must be relaxed" I used that all day on my horses anytime one got tense or difficult I thought relax first then my timing was much better.

When going into my lesson today I felt like I had much more of a plan. I had watched the videos from yesterday so I knew what Mark was after and I had a good sports psych. chat so had a bit of a mental game ready for action if things got complicated. The beginning of the lesson went well we started in a great place and got right to work ( not one comment on stiff arms or bad hands YES!) toward the end of the lesson we got into a bit of a ... beating my head against a wall.. moment. The Captain was trying to get me to collect the canter but the way he was asking me to do it was not making sense in my head and certainly not in the french princess's (tate). I eventually stopped and pretty much said "I don't understand what your asking me to do" to which he responded " I know you can do this" to which I said " I know I can do it as long as I know what I am supposed to be doing".. here was a moment that got a little uncomfortable but sometimes this feeling leads to great things which today it did....

I had a discussion earlier in the day with David trying to figure out a way to communicate better and understand things quicker with Mark. He basically said you have to figure out a common vocabulary so that when you get to the ring at Kentucky you guys are not talking a different language. One of the hard things about these sessions is that you have only a few days to develop a relationship with the person you will be counting on to help you at some of the most important competitions in your life. So today The Captain and I had a bit of a communication block but we worked through it. After talking for a second about the theory behind what Mark wanted me to do I applied some of my own education on a way to make it easier for a resistant horse to collect. Bingo I went haunches in when Mark wanted me to collect this made sense to Tate, Mark said " That's it, you got it" then I explained what I was doing to "get it" and he applied his theory to why the haunches in was helping and the steps that needed to come next to get the "tool" of collecting more true in days to come. Huge learning moment not only in collecting the canter but communicating with the captain!

So I feel on day two I have a plan...I have some mental games to work on to help keep my focus well directed, I am trying to lay a communication foundation between the Captain and I so I can take full advantage of all the knowledge he has to offer, and my nutritionist says i need a multi-vitamin!

Jumping tomorrow... I ll try and get some pictures ... thanks again for the support!

Frustrated in a Field

2011-02-03T18:20:00.003-05:00

I have not posted in a bit because we have been going at a rapid pace since hitting Florida. Things have been going great and the first event has come and gone with most of the horses performing well for their first outing but today I had a very frustrating day.

Today started our winter training sessions with Captain Mark Philips. I have been very fortunate for the last few years and have maintained a spot on the listed horse and rider combinations that benefit from funded lessons, recieving some training grants and last year was able to travel to Holland to compete. As we all know potential is easy to sell but at some point you gotta perform!

After Holland I was dropped from High Performance to Developing Rider due to a less than good show jumping round at Boekelo. It took me a bit to wrap my head around the decision due to the fact that I feel my horse is better than that one show jump round.. But that being said I just need to be better and not give anyone a reason not to put me on a list. So I kept my mouth shut and have been more than dedicated to fill the gaps in Tates training.... no excuses.

Since being in florida I have taken a few lessons with David who promptly told me my hands are technically not good now and that with Tate I need to keep his frame up, get him to take the bit and "sit at the end of the reins" . Tate is incredibly difficult to get to take a contact he tends to curl and sit right behind the bit... This makes communticating in the dressage ring like bad cell phone reception and you are trying to get your point across when you know only every other word is getting through. So in attempts to get my hands more steady to encourage Tate to take the rein I have been riding with a dressage whip held horizontally in both hands and with a very short rein. I felt like things were going very well or at least headed in the right direction until today...

Upon trotting into the ring today with the Captain his first comments were to put tate lower, to lenghthen my reins and that my arms are now incredibly stiff. Since starting tate back this winter I have been looking forward to the sessions to prove how much Tate and I had improved .. this was not going to happen today. Seems while trying to keep my hands still my whole arm has become stiff and in riding Tate so "up" I have lost some ability to have him push from behind.. While trying to figure out exactly what my priority should be in the beggining of the lesson I was slow to react and the captain was quick to point out that by the time he has to tell me to do something its already three strides to late. Frustration is setting in....

By the end of the lesson things started to click I got my prioritys straight, my arms bent and my horse pushing through. I stopped and expressed to Mark that I felt I needed a more concrete plan with Tates warm up. We always get somewhere at the end of the lesson but the begining always feels inconsistant, like the conversation is always changing. He promplty told me "the conversation will always change but the feeling should be the same". With that I came home and watched clips from last years training sessions and this years and realized that Tate is a completley different and better horse than last year. When uping your game and pushing yourself slightly out of your comfort zone one tends to feel as though they are actually regressing. Last year I remember not being able to complete a half pass the full lenth of the arena. Mark l said "it doesnt have to be perfect, get two good steps then move on" reconizing Tates greeness. Today I got in trouble because Tates shoulder fell in about a half an inch in the half pass that was accomplished in half of the arena. Mark asked if I felt it I said " a little bit" he responded " there is no such thing as a little bit, do it again".

The "conversation" is changing but my "feeling" of being hungry to win and desperate to improve is the same and sometimes frustrating. Today I left the ring near tears. Tonight I am willing tomorrow to come so I can do it better. I am also trying to keep some perspective so that I dont waste energy being frustrated but accept that to improve one must keep pushing outside of their comfort zone. So cheers to being uncomfortable and to good cell phone reception! xx

Made it!!

2011-01-21T18:52:00.002-05:00

Well we finally made it down to Ocala after quite the journey. Turns out the day we were planning on leaving the weather decided to dump 12 inches of snow on NJ, making it pretty much impossible to get out on schedule. I also had another small thing to figure out,, a truck ,,, being that mine was sitting broken down in North Carolina. My very kind mother lent me her car to get back from NC when my truck died. So I needed to figure out how to get 8 horses in the van and on the road, borrow a truck to pull my trailer, get someone to drive my moms car to NC , not to mention packing up the barn, the house,2 dogs,1 groom/manager,1 working student and 1 student who kindly offer to drive the car all in themiddle of one of the biggest snow storms of the season.... But when the sunny south is calling your name you get on the weather channel , find a break in the weather and press the pedal on the right!

Jill Lukens a student of mine, kindly showed up at my barn at 12pm on Wednesday to follow me down to NC to drop off the car. Dana Callinan ( my barn owner) lent me her truck so we put two horses and equipment in my trailer and headed south when there was a break in the weather, around 2 pm. Megan and Sarah stayed behind to meet the shipper who was coming at 7pm to pick up the remaining 8 horses. Jill and I got to the fork around 2 am and quickly dropped off the car to my mom who woke up long enough to give us some snacks for the remaining 10 hours and we were off again. We arrived to our farm in Ocala around 11:00am after a straight 21 hours driving. We were welcomed by a beautiful 21 stall barn backing onto the O'Connors amazing facility and not a bit of snow in sight! We quickly organized the equipment and prepared the stalls for the horses that would be arriving later in the afternoon. We then ran to get the key to the apartment before the office at the Carlton Arms closed. As soon as I sat down to sign the lease the shippers called and said that the horses would be arriving in less than an hour. Thankfully the ladies at the apartment gave me the keys and without even seeing the apartment we were back to the barn to greet the horses ( we at this point had been up around 30 hours.. things were getting fuzzy). The horses all traveled fantastic and I was so excited to see all of them. Its amazing how difficult it is to just send your "kids" off with strangers for such a long journey.. but the guys at Meadow Brook horse transport were amazing and took great care of all the horses.
Jill and I got everyone out in the fields at least for an hour while we organized blankets and grain.We got everyone tucked in bed around 7pm then we managed to crawl into our apartment, order pizza and pass out! Megan and Sara had gotten on the road around 4 am Thursday to head to Ocala and very kindly offered to stop by the barn and check on the horses to make sure everyone was happy and healthy after there long journey.Then next morning we all ventured out to the barn at 8 am with coffee in our hands,sunscreen in our bags and smiles on our faces ready to start the 2011 season in Ocala, Florida!!!

Huge Shout out to Jill who some how managed to get into the truck Friday night and drive 20 more hours back to NJ! Thanks to Meadow Brook for getting my horses south in fine form and to my girls Meg and Sara fro working about 2 days straight with great attitudes!!... and to my mom for the snacks and car :)

2011-01-04T19:38:00.002-05:00

In an eventing barn especially being a young professional saying "no" is rarely an option. To make it to the top networking is important and to survive financially teaching is vital. Fortunately I like people and I enjoy teaching. But the only way Im able to keep my horses and clients happy is to have above average help. Someone that can think on their feet, make good decisions, work a very long day, be personable to the clients,love the horses and be able to put up with me! It is vital that when Im away from the barn I am confident that the horses are being managed properly or else I can not pay attention to what im doing. I am sad to say that chrissy, my right hand lady has left to pursue another path. I have been so lucky to have her for the last year and I wish her all the happiness in the world! She knows I am her number one fan and will be here if she ever needs me. I also feel like I have someone out there that loves and supports my horses and I even if she is not right here in the barn.
I know the life of a groom is a very difficult one and it takes such a particular person. Every barn is different. Some yards run where the Professional and Groom have no personal relationship it is just a job, some professionals do it all themselves, some that have working students, stall muckers,moms or dads that help. Some barns run 7 am till 4pm no matter what, some run 6am - god knows when, some 5 day weeks some 7 day weeks. All I know is every barn is different in how they handle there staff. I have been very lucky with help. I had my first working student when I was about 21 and we both slept in my goose neck trailer ( with no living just a mattress) and took showers in the barn. Things have changed a bit since and I have over trial and tribulation come up with whats important to me with the work dynamic in my barn.
1. Horses have to be happy, Clients need to be happy, my help needs to be happy and I need to be happy. Communication, hard work, success, sleep, laughter and cups of tea help keep everyone fresh and enjoying the day. Unfortunately it is hard sometimes its hard to achieve all these things when you have a lame horse,no money, a 57 score in a training dressage test, its to hot or its to cold, the footings bad, there are to many horses and not enough fields, there are not enough horses to pay for the fields, your truck has blown up, that one person in the indoor never looks where their going, you dont have an indoor... all these things are why being a groom is even harder because you have to deal with the rider that is dealing with these things and be in a good mood!
I am lucky to say Megan kep ( formally Doug Paynes head girl) has agreed to come on board and take Chrissy's role. Megan and I have been friends since she moved to NJ. She got thrown into the deep end pretty quickly in her first year grooming. She had to learn at rapid pace while traveling to Holland, having up to 8 horses at 1 day competitions, cope with Dougs rapidly growing business and figure out her own personal role and goals in the sport of eventing. She and Doug finished on good terms and I think megans out of the box thinking, problem solving mentality and genuine love of the horses will be a great match for my operation.
oh yes and RIP my Red Truck it has been laid to rest in Norwood,NC after a long battle with... Everything !!
I loved you 2010 but Im excited to get to know you 2011!

chrissy in the snow.3gp

2010-12-27T10:50:00.000-05:00

This is what chrissy sent me when I was trying to get out to the barn to ride!! Ha ha

ps you can check out heathers website at heatherakers.com

2010-12-26T16:51:00.000-05:00

I LOVE YOU HEATHER AKERS!

2010-12-26T15:42:00.003-05:00

I will admit I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to chiropractor's,acupuncture, massage therapy, horse communicators, herbal supplements, magnetic this and that's, cleansing the ora of the barn, aroma therapy to cure ulcers and most things we are driven to when looking for a reason/excuse why our training is not working.... sometimes we just need to get better.

But I also have to admit I have been wrong once or twice in my life ;) Sometimes I sit back and ask myself am I sticking to my guns and being tough or am I just being close minded and stubborn. I also find it less expensive to spend 20 more minutes in the dressage ring convincing myself Im making a difference then to fork out $100's to someone else to fix my problem ( hmm maybe im a bit of a control freak!)

Every now and then you learn a lesson the hard way. I really think my stubbornness with one horse in particular landed me with a broken arm and a relationship with the horse that could not be pinned back together. I have laid awake at night feeling guilt about not picking up on the signs that this horse was so clearly giving me. It seemed my training was actually making him more sensitive and irritable then helping him understand and even enjoy his work. I proceeded to take all the blame on my shoulders and school him more but with this came so much more frustration on both our parts. I had trained a multitude of horses without encountering this type of resistance but didn't stop to think maybe there is something else going on I stubbornly though I can fix this.

Eventually he just clean bucked me off and broke my arm. I look back and see so many signs of things that could have been helped. If I had just reached out to a massage therapist or even a chiropractor and accepted the possibly that this horses attitude may be that he was uncomfortable in his body we might have had a much better relationship. But he lost trust in me and I acquired to much baggage with him to be productive. The horse has since moved on to another professional whom I respect a lot and I know the best thing I did for the horse was to let my pride go, move him on and promise not to make the same mistake again.

I have recently bought a lovely athletic mare who is very green but is a born eventer! A few weeks ago I noticed some similar attitude issues the old horse had shown me in the early stages of training. Eager to not make the same mistakes again it took me less than a week to start looking outside myself for a solution. I started with changing her saddle which seemed to help. Then I actually rode her on bute for two days which is one of the best ways to find out if your horse has an attitude or actually in some pain ( its cheaper than a vet telling you the same thing).. Well she returned to "stella bella" instead of "hella stella" on the bute. I quickly asked Dana ( my barn owner) about her massage therapist, Heather Akers.

I had seen some amazing differences in some of Dana's horses that Heather had worked on. When Heather came to work on Stella I told her my issues with the her and told her I honestly am not a total believer in these types of treatments . I also told her that Stella was mine so I simply can not afford something on the idea "it cant hurt".. I have to know its helping then I will find the money. After Heather worked on Stella she said " well she is stubborn, but I got some good releases but nothing major. Ride her tomorrow and see if there is a difference if not there is probably not a lot I can do for you." Heather won points right away by not trying to sell me ten more sessions before I would feel a difference and after my initial attitude Im sure Heather was a bit tenitive in telling me to expect great things :) I can honestly say Stella was amazing my next ride. She was a little tentative almost waiting for something t hurt or be tough but when she found it easy she carried on like a champ and used her " athletic ability" in a productive manner instead of making me worried about keeping my nose in one piece!

What I found after Heather worked on two of my horses is where I thought the problem was in the back or hind end she actually found a lot of issues in the shoulders. When she worked out the "junk" in the shoulders the other issues seemed like much less trouble. I took this knowledge with me into the ring today on a young horse that I have been having problems "keeping the engine" going.. I couldn't figure out if he was just lazy, stubborn, unmotivated or simply didnt get it. I changed my focus to his shoulders in the flat work and after about 10 min its like I unlocked his whole body and everything was so easy and clearly made sense! I was so excited I literally said out loud " I love you Heather Akers!"

There are things to be learned everywhere and you just have to be willing to try new things and maybe make a mistake but learn from it. You might find your massage therapist being the best dressage trainer you have had all season! I gotta go I have the horse communicator on line 1! Just kidding ... sorta :)
sinead

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2010-12-25T13:17:00.001-05:00

Christmas haircut!

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Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T10:11:00.001-05:00

For the last several years I have spent christmas with my horses and this year is no different. As long as I can remember I have loved spending the day doing the horses in the am and then carrying on to whom ever is hosting all the "stray's" for dinner! Some of my best christmas's were at the O'Conners where every working student,groom, rider, family member of any of those were welcome to a feast! I have hosted christmas's at my farm, eaten with landlords, neighbors etc.. It always amazes me how many people open their family's doors. To me christmas really is the more the merrier and every added person, dog,horse, kid adds some more color to the day. Chrissy and I did the barn this morning and now zeppo and I are off to my boyfriends farm to help clip a horse ( he does not get the day off)then back to finish up my barn then a short walk to Dana's (owns my farm) to spend christmas with
her 2 kids, husband,parents, the guys that work in the barn 4 dogs,2 turtles,1 guinea pig,4 chickens,some type of mouse,1 hamster and a turkey ( I don't think the turkey is a pet ;) ) .. Now that's some color! My family is on both sides of the country. My dad and brother are in california and my mom and jim are in NC. I will see everyone sometime between now and the new year but after having a "horse daughter" for 29 years they know christmas is spent with the horses. They used to come visit but I'm not shy in handing out pitchforks so now I get the invites to see them and leave the horses behind! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Xx

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T09:18:00.002-05:00

2010-12-25T09:18:00.001-05:00

Dreams of Palm Trees

2010-12-17T17:13:00.004-05:00

I remember my first trip south like it was yesterday when actually it was about 10 years ago!!( that just shocked me hang on need a second.... ok) This was when I was 19 and was a working student for Stuart Black. I stayed in a luxurious RV with 3 other workers. Maya slept on the couch, Erika slept on the hanging bed over the drivers seat, Mel had an actual bed in the back and I slept on the table that turned into a bed fit for a midget. After the first week we stopped apologizing to each other for running into one another bc it was just a given if ya move your gonna hit someone. It became completely normal to be brushing your teeth in your flip flops bc "something" was leaking causing there to be an inch of water on the shag carpeted floor and it was easy to ignore what ever the "prehistoric teradactyl skeeter" was that was buzzing around your head. We were all troopers and laughed more than we cried, rode a lot of horses and lived on laffy taffys, little debbie cakes and coffee( maybe that was just me living on the gas station diet ... o'well!).. That was my first Florida experience and I find my self here 10 years later (Whoa need another second...... ok ) in the role of Professional Rider trying to organize the trip south for my horses, my students, my employees, my dog and whatever animals decide to make the trip with us ( I have had a few strays show up in the tack room of the trailer a few hours down the road!)

The hardest thing about the move south is first finding a barn that you can rent for 2-3 months, this is not an ideal situation for anyone who is leasing the property. Then to find housing for not only yourself but your help and your dogs, your helps dogs , working students, students coming for a week, someone willing to rent you a place knowing you are a horse person( we don't have the cleanest reputation) and that you will only be there a few months. Next is transporting all the beast and everything that goes with them .... a lot of times including jumps. Unless your lucky enough to own two of everything, there is only so much packing that can happen before the last moment. So christmas cheer easily turn's into packing fear! With all this being said I will say these are good stesses to have in tough times like these. Whenever I feel like I just cant get things in order I just look at my horses, my black and white dog, all the people in my life and the holiday cheer comes right back and I proceed to stress about christmas shopping, like a normal person!

I have gone to Aiken for the past two years and before that I was in England. First I do not recommend going to England for the winter ;) But Aiken I do really like. It is a charming town, the events are plentiful and very close to most horse farms and its fairly affordable.

The winter is a time that I like to sharpen up my tools. For a few months I can be competing, watching and talking on a day to day basis with other Professionals. At home in NJ I love being a bit secluded from mainstream Eventing but I do crave knowledge on how everyone else is "doing it". Going south is a bit of "me" time where I can take lessons and observe the rest of the eventing world. This year I find myself wanting to go back to my "roots" with some of my nice young horses and also fine tune my top horse Tate. This leads me back to Florida. I have rented a barn bordering David and Karen O'Connors facility and that feels like home to me. I have some very nice young horses I feel could really benefit from the solid foundation work the O'Connors put on there youngsters. I also am a short drive from Wellington where I plan on making several trips to work with Katie Prudant for Tate and my show jumping.

There was once a wealthy buisness man who was asked what would you do if you lost all your money? He responded " I would borrow $1000 and hang out with millionairs for a month and then I would be a millionair again" Surround yourself with people you admire and aspire to be and you will be. For me this winter being with OCET again will be my loaned $1000.

I have put a lot of thought into doing what is best for the horses, my buisness and myself this winter. It is hard when having a horse like Tate not to just leave all the others behind and take him to wellington to train with the top dressage and jumper trainers 24/7. When you have a nice horse people have opinions and I have been told on more than one occation Wellington would be the route to go. Its also hard not to go to Aiken where the training sessions will be and I can compete every other day for 4 weeks straight. But I truly think it is all a balance.

I think working with the tops in all the disciplines is very important.. in moderation. I think competing at many events is important.. in moderation. I also think putting a focus on my program as a whole keeping all of my horses and students in sight is important for keeping the balance needed to be successful for more than just a moment. I also think that balance will complement and help Tate so much more than being too intense, then I lose my perspective. So for me this year Ocala seems to be the center of balance for the needs of my horses this winter. I also plan on only being gone for around 6 weeks due to many of my students who can not head south for the winter and need a consistent coach in the picture. I am very fortunate to be in the situation I am in with all of these wonderful things to manage. Now I look very fondly back on the RV days and I realize how all the funny and less than spoiled moments are helping keep things on track.. in 10 years from now ( whoaa......) who knows what ill be writting about!

Snow in nj

2010-12-16T18:46:00.002-05:00

Fireside chats

2010-12-13T20:30:00.002-05:00

I have just returned from the annual convention in Arizona and as always the meetings are normally interesting, the bar is normally entertaining but the "fireside chats" are inspiring.

For years I did not attend the conventions because I honestly thought if I was going to take three or four days off in the winter,I was going to spend it in the bloody sun not talking about horses! My first convention was in New Orleans and two things came out of that convention for me, PRO ( the professional riders organization) and a hell of a good time on bourbon street. PRO was the result of several people getting together and throwing ideas around about how to improve the sport and PRO is now making huge strides in improving sponsors, education, event organization, prize money and overall awareness in Eventing. Arizona being my third convention I am still seeing my piers sitting around "pontificating" ways to help our sport improve. It is the color coated scheduled meetings that inspire the ideas from my idols, my friends and myself when we are sitting around the fire in the evening that keep me coming back for more.

When I walked into the hotel I was sent a text from my best friend/Canadian WEG rider Rebecca Howard to come out to the courtyard. On my way out I ran into old friends Clark and Jess Montgomery( Clark has just been named to the Developing Rider list with some exciting horses), Michael Pollard, Doug Payne and Buck Davidson. I said a quick hello and carried onto the table where Rebecca sat with Max C(karens head groom and long time friend), Cathy W(advanced rider and friend), Vix ( a loyal groom for OC's now turned profesional and close friend), Jan Byynne(no introduction need she is just great and endlessly inspiring) and Stephanie Goodman ( a Pro. and friend based in Idaho now that used to be in middleburg). Just then walked up David and Karen O'Connor with Eventing Nation John caddying their golf bag from the golf course. At this point I am thinking this is what the Convention is about. If someone could have taped the conversations happening even at just these two tables im sure books could be written ( maybe not ones we would allow written but a cross between Jilly Cooper and 101 jumping exercises!) The evenings to follow covered discussions of how to bridge the gap between Young Rider's and Developing Rider's, How to pick a charity to donate funds to, Syndicates, Picking the next coach and how to develop a team with more depth,honesty, humility, dealing with tragedy, dealing with success and all the amazing and devastating experiences that as horse people we are lucky enough to experience.
I was not overly impressed with Ollie Townends speech. I like Ollie and have had several experiences with him over the past few years in England,US and even Canada ( at the Royal last year) and all I will say is that I do not think someone should write a biography until they are old enough not only to have had experiences but to have enough age to have gained perspective. The same I think of the role as keynote speaker at the Convention. Ollie has had plenty of experiences but right now his perspective is enough to convey an entertaining story but not one with depth.. ill hang out with him at the bar any day that being said.
I am going to finish this blog with an excerpt from a book I have been reading called " The Fighters Mind" . It is a book on the psychology on MMA(mixed martial arts) fighters. The fighting sport is amazingly similar to eventing in the terms of one day you could be champion and the next day TKO! This bit I hold close to my heart after listening to the WEG recap and in the power of "investing in loss"
" Greatness in sports is born in the moment. It is situational. Its not inherent to the athlete with the most ability,or the most dominance, and its not just about the championship (though that added pressure is essential). It's about the pure moment,the transcendence of time and place, when an athlete or a team performs miraculously under the most intense pressure, against insurmountable odds. The situation rises out of sports but speaks to universal truths and emotions, an attainment of the divine, touched by grace ( indeed miraculous). The moment steps out of time,into history, it becomes important to everyone."
This quote may resignate more with the canadians than americans but to me it says that winning and greatness is not a "given" it is a rarity. I feel very disappointed in WEG's and even Hong Kong. I feel as Americans we presume we are great because we work hard and want "it" but so does everyone else. We have been humbled and humility will again lead to greatness because now we are ready to listen and learn. As Marylin Payne said at the convention " we did fine but we just need to get better" I look forward to London and hope to do my part and do as rapper/singer/song writer Lauren Hill sung "flip a negative into a positive picture" . I am so looking forward to the 2011 season there is a new hunger in the air and I expect great things from not only my country but myself.
xx

Clinic Time!

2010-12-03T15:17:00.002-05:00

I am just running out the door to Millis, MA home of Apple Knoll Farm and Adrienne Iorio. I am teaching a two day clinic there. Adrienne has competed at the 4 star level of the sport and now runs Apple Knoll teaching students, training and competing horses as well as running clinics and shows... not to mention Adrienne is the mother of 2! I'm excited to check out the farm I have heard great things.
This time of the year I tend to almost run around more than normal trying to spend time catching up on teaching, clinics and expanding on things that maybe a busy competition schedule does not allow time for.
Last month at Hart farm myself and friend/Sports Psychologist, Scottie Reeves ran a "mental game" clinic. The clinic involved Scottie watching warm up sessions taught by me and analyzed the students ability to learn and process information. We then sent them into a course simulating a show type situation and watched to see how they applied what they had learned. Each student then had a 30 min session with Scottie to discuss their ride. This was a first time thing for Scottie and I. It seemed to be very educational for all involved, including Scottie and myself!
Next Thursday I am off to the annual convention in Arizona which I am looking forward to. All the ponies are on fine form and Tate is back in walking action! Gotta get on the road Ciao Ciao :)

Fun Outing!

2010-11-19T11:29:00.006-05:00

Things are going well at the farm and during the month of November we are always looking for fun things to do.. so when my bud matt flynn said Philip Dutton was coming down for a day of lessons I said sign me up!.. I took the two youngins King and Stella and was wickedly impressed with both of them. King jumped in a "prelim" group but has only done a handful of trainings and was fantastic. Wendy Furlong ( his owner) came to watch him go for the first time since king has been with me. I know I was really excited after our jump and I think Wendy was as pumped as me . I was also very happy Wendy came along bc the young pup zeppo locked himself and the keys to the truck inside the truck with his scampery paws! Wendy thankfully lent me her AAA card and the dog and was saved and access to the vehicle restored :).. Stella was also very good definitely put my neck strap and martingale on but she is quite the lady and I think was excited to have some people there to watch her brilliance :) Philip thought highly of both horses commenting on King being a very good jumper a few times and being surprised by stellas good instincts when he thought she was just going to be quite hot.

Tate is doing well in the field I brought him in and put him in a stall the other day and that lasted about 10 min .. he has gone completely mustang on us and will not put up with confinement so back out he went!.. He will start back in work Dec 1 which should be entertaining. Kelly Baily ( a student of mine) has purchased a sweet little OTT that has joined the team for the next few months to get some good basics as well as Jill Lukens sending her horse, harbour for a bit of training. Harbour is a lovely horse she literally bought right off the slaughter truck so well done Jill! Between Jills horse and my purchase of Stella it is giving me reborn hope that if you look hard you can still find a quality horse without breaking the bank ... and gotta love the Tb's!

so here are some pictures1

nigel at the royal last year

2010-11-03T11:57:00.001-04:00

Off to The ROYAL!

2010-11-03T07:15:00.001-04:00

By the time the end of the season rolls around I am normally ready for a little break... for about a week then im board! Fortunatly there are some extra ciricular activities that as I become a little older I have started to make an effort to be a part of. Last year I rode a horse named Showdown for a Canadian gentleman called Don Good of Good Crop Services. Little did I know that Don was the main sponsor at and Indoor Eventing Competition in Toronto. He rang me a few weeks before the event in Novemeber of last year and invited me to compete with 10 others in this exhibition event. I thought about it for about 5 sec, those 5 sec really were just spent wondering wether an indoor competition with 6,000 people in an enclosed stadiam with a horse that had a reputation for being a bit "special" would be the end of me... Then Don told me there was 10k in prize money and they put us up in a very nice hotel in Toronto so i though what the hell you only live once and this is the equivialnt of a paid vacation!

We jumped around 7:30 pm so had all day to get nervous. The course is not even set up till 12 minutes before the first horse. You litterally have you and your horse ready to jump and then run in the arena for 5 minutes, try and walk the fastest lines with the course consisting of a corner, bank, skinny, keyhole, logs and several show jumps... the music is pumping the crowd is excited and it is all a pretty big rush! The nerves are like the first time you take a baby to an event its just fear of the unknown .. I had no idea what Nigel(Showdown) was going to do or if I would even be able to get him into the stadium.. how embarrasing I drive all the way up here and am riding the Title Sponsors horse and what if Nigel just lays down in the ring! Anyway I did stuff his ears and put the biggest fuzzys I could find( off the side of a shipping halter) on the sides of his bridle and had a glass of wine to calm my nerves and off we went. Nigel was actually very good once I got his eyes off the crowd and onto the first jump he was playing the game(thank god) I couldnt go very fast bc he got really strong and he is huge but he jumped 2 clear rounds i believe only 2 of us did that, and finished in 3rd overall.

Well its that time again and I am off to the Royal for a second time tomorrow. I am catch riding a horse of a fellow eventer that lives outside Toronto. Myself and Dana(a friend and the lady who ownes the farm I am at) will head out at 5 am and will head to the farm so I can have a test ride tomorrow evening before the show starts on Friday night. Doug Payne, Holly Payne and Chizzy Wilmerding are heading up aswell, and pretty much the whole Canadian WEG team will be there..I am pumped... This weekend although a little wild and who knows what will happen is a definetly a way to keep up the adrenaline in the off season! I will send pics from the road... CIAO CIAO!

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2010-10-29T16:49:00.000-04:00

Tater in the field
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

2010-10-29T16:47:00.001-04:00

The Gang

Tate is on great form and in the field till December and will be on the road to ROLEX!

King is getting better and better.. working off the baby chubb he should be set to go training in Febuary

Stella is working hard trying to get an education in the dressage but there should be no problem jumping! She should be going novice/training quite quickly.

Classic Garden is for sale if anyone know anyone looking for a nice lesson/ponyclub horse( more info on my website)

Swing a Little is for sale as a Foxhunting/dressage/ponyclub pony (more info on my website)

Rocket is back in action and chrissy is legging him up and he will be aimed toward competing at 3 DerbyCross's in the spring ( see Inside info )

Sobe Dazzeled is preparing for her first competiton season in the winter/spring in aiken

Bing and Rhiannon are doing well and getting the basics sorted so that they can be wicked competitve in the spring

Inside 411

PRO and DerbyCross Pro has teamed up with 3 venues to create a DerbyCross series. Wellington in late january, North Carolina in March and yes yes ROLEX in April!! This is VERY NEW INFO and we are still working out the details so stay tuned to the PRO website and mine but it looks as if we are a go. Idea is 5 teams,4 horses and riders competing for top money and prizes ... this is a blast of an event and will have loud music, exciting rides and top professionals matched with a guest rider at each venue! Rocket is aimed is to be my DX horse for 2011 and I may be a bit excited but I have been doing DX's for years and Rocket IS what a Derby Horse should be!! I hear Leslie Law is already legging up his Derby horse and I just talked to Macia Kulack in Wellington and she has got her eye on a competitve horse as well!

USET High Perfomance Grants - Fingers crossed I am really hoping Tate and I get moved up from the Developing Rider list to the High Perfomace B list. This makes us eligible for all sorts of lessons and grants. Word on the street is that there will be grants available for training in Wellington,FL this winter. I am hoping to head that way in the middle of January if we get a grant. I will hopefully work with Anne K and Katie P as well as get some Dressage help.

PRO/LR Equestrian Signature Line and Launch I am working closely with PRO and LR Equestrian to develop a PRO Clothing Line( tons of fun!) Our first line, the Signature Series will most likley involve a vest, polo shirt and Jacket/Windbreaker. We are going for a Professional look that you could get off of schooling your horse and go straight to a meeting with sponsors/clients and look good! We are trying to do a fashion show with riders being the models at the launch at ROLEX! what fun :)

None of this information is finalized but it is some of what is in the works for 2011!

Hope you find this information useful or just entertaining! Thanks again for being involved and hope your enjoying the ride !

-Sinead

PS... I am headed to The Royal Agricultural Fair in Toronto to Compete in the Indoor Eventing next weekend .. so much fun! I am catch riding a horse so hopefully that all goes well ;) you can watch it live on the Royals website we are on in the Friday and Sat evening.

2010-10-29T16:41:00.001-04:00

The Gang

Tate

is on great form and in the field till December and will be on the road to ROLEX!

King

is getting better and better.. working off the baby chubb he should be set to go training in Febuary

Stella

is working hard trying to get an education in the dressage but there should be no problem jumping! She should be going novice/training quite quickly.

Classic Garden

is for sale if anyone know anyone looking for a nice lesson/ponyclub horse( more info on my website)

Swing a Little

is for sale as a Foxhunting/dressage/ponyclub pony (more info on my website)

Rocket

is back in action and chrissy is legging him up and he will be aimed toward competing at 3 DerbyCross's in the spring ( see Inside info )

Sobe Dazzeled

is preparing for her first competiton season in the winter/spring in aiken

Bing

and Rhiannon are doing well and getting the basics sorted so that they can be wicked competitve in the spring
Inside 411

PRO and DerbyCross

Pro has teamed up with 3 venues to create a DerbyCross series. Wellington in late january, North Carolina in March and yes yes ROLEX in April!! This is VERY NEW INFO and we are still working out the details so stay tuned to the PRO website and mine but it looks as if we are a go. Idea is 5 teams,4 horses and riders competing for top money and prizes ... this is a blast of an event and will have loud music, exciting rides and top professionals matched with a guest rider at each venue! Rocket is aimed is to be my DX horse for 2011 and I may be a bit excited but I have been doing DX's for years and Rocket IS what a Derby Horse should be!! I hear Leslie Law is already legging up his Derby horse and I just talked to Macia Kulack in Wellington and she has got her eye on a competitve horse as well!

USET High Perfomance Grants

- Fingers crossed I am really hoping Tate and I get moved up from the Developing Rider list to the High Perfomace B list. This makes us eligible for all sorts of lessons and grants. Word on the street is that there will be grants available for training in Wellington,FL this winter. I am hoping to head that way in the middle of January if we get a grant. I will hopefully work with Anne K and Katie P as well as get some Dressage help.

PRO/LR Equestrian Signature Line and Launch

I am working closely with PRO and LR Equestrian to develop a PRO Clothing Line( tons of fun!) Our first line, the Signature Series will most likley involve a vest, polo shirt and Jacket/Windbreaker. We are going for a Professional look that you could get off of schooling your horse and go straight to a meeting with sponsors/clients and look good! We are trying to do a fashion show with riders being the models at the launch at ROLEX! what fun :)

None of this information is finalized but it is some of what is in the works for 2011!

Hope you find this information useful or just entertaining! Thanks again for being involved and hope your enjoying the ride !

-Sinead

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2010-10-21T10:50:00.000-04:00

Ponies look skinny but nothing a little turnout in the field won't fix!! Yay they r home ;)!
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2010-10-20T06:41:00.001-04:00

back to nj

2010-10-20T06:33:00.002-04:00

we all survived and arrived back in NJ yesterday!.. till the bitter end it was an adventure and the final picture in my head from the trip will be Will in his new completly wooden clogs trying to walk, talk and drag his luggage from the baggage claim while letting everyone in the airport know he sat next to Eddie Murphy on the plane! That was the kind of trip it was :) I pick up Tate tomorrow from quarentine and I can not wait to get him out in the field and rolling in the dirt! Please check out Eventing Nation for my final Boekelo wrap up but all in all I fell so lucky to have the horse I have, the support I have and to have had the experience I just had. I have so much to work on this winter to prepare for Kentucky in the spring and have been so inspired Its going to be hard to leave tate in the field for a few months but he has earned it!.. I rode the other slew at home yesterday and thanks to sara and anna for keeping things rolling all the horses seem great. I am trying to sort out plans now for how long to be in Aiken and to see if I can swing some time in Palm Beach. I also am looking for a working student who might want to come along if anyone has anyone in mind. Ill take some pictures when i pick up tater! xx

pictures

2010-10-13T13:01:00.004-04:00

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2010-10-12T02:09:00.000-04:00

We are here!!! We landed in amsterdam yesterday am and headed straight to the horse hotel to see tiana and wait for our horses to arrive. 5 hours later they all arrived looking like they traveled fantastic! We arrived to Boekelo and were greeted with more than 5 people to help us unload, coffee,tea, and cookies! The horses got out for grass and settled in easily. We then headed over to the "bar" on the property which was already filled with people, several beers on tap, music blaring! Franz ( who basically runs everything) told us they normally have over 40,000 spectators!! We hacked out this am and the ponies were wild but can't blame them its all so exciting! Ill blog some more this afternoon when I get on my computer just wanted to let everyone know we made it!! X

2010-10-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

We are here!!

2010-10-11T12:22:00.002-04:00

Sorry about not posting for the last day but it has taken me a little bit to make sure that I have a the right charger for my computer, my american phone, my new dutch phone, to find internet access and to find who's car I left what phone, computer, charger and converters in!.... So with that out of the way.. The horses and all of us are doing GREAT! Will, Doug, Sara,Chrissy and I arrived into Amsterdam yesterday morning and after losing my wallet( fortunatly I had my passport and credit card) and headed over to the horse hotel to meet Tiana and wait for the horses to arrive. 5 hours later the horses and Nat arrived. The horses looked great when they arrived. We unloaded them and walked them around while Tiana loaded her gear and then we put the ponies on and headed to Boekelo which was another 2 hours down the road. We arrived to more than 5 people to help us unload, tea and coffee, cookies and after the horses got settled a few rounds of beer at the bar on grounds! We have all decided this is our new favorite event and it has not even started!.. We went for a hack this am and all the horses were a bit fresh but we all are a bit fresh and excited!! The other competitors should arrive tomorrow and things should get crackin so ill let ya know the schedule when I know it! xx

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2010-10-09T17:55:00.001-04:00

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2010-10-09T17:55:00.000-04:00

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Boarding

2010-10-09T17:54:00.001-04:00

Horses got to jfk an we are getting on a plane in newark next blog will be from amsterdam! Xx
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2010-10-09T09:37:00.000-04:00

Tate and everything I own!!
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2010-10-09T09:35:00.000-04:00

Horses on the way!!
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final countdown!

2010-10-09T05:20:00.002-04:00

Sorry I did not post yesterday things got a little crazy(as you can imagine).. but lessons went great. We all had our final flat school in the USA and all the horses looked and felt on top form. I originally thought we could get all our packing done in 2 trunks but around 3:30 when 2 trunks were full and the floor of the barn was more full chrissy and I realized we were being a bit optimistic.... so 4 trunks, 1 haysteamer, a muck bucket filled to the brim with other buckets, 3 haynets and 5 bags of grain.. I think tate might have everything one little french pony could need! Nat has been fantastic in making sure we all are organized and made a point to come down and make sure chrissy was feeling good and prepared. Its 5:30 am now and I am headed to the barn. Will and I have a sunrise ride at 6:30 ( we have decided to hold hands and sing songs while the sun rises ill try and get a picture ;) ..then the horses will leave at 8:30 with Dick Payne and Nat to JFK. We all then have a bit of time for last minute packing and are meeting at Sara Ike's at 3:00 to get to Newark for our 6pm flight. I will update hopefully from the Airport on how the packing, horses and Will and my trail ride :) all goes!
sinead

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2010-10-07T18:53:00.000-04:00

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JUMPPPPPPIN!!

2010-10-07T17:55:00.006-04:00

Today was a great day at "team boekelo" camp!.. Doug, Will and I met at 7 am to set jumps. With Mark in these types of sessions he really leaves it up to us to decide what the best exercises are for our horses. Doug looked a little sleepy but Will and I had been buzzing since the early hours with minds running 1000 miles an hour. I personally got up at 3 am bc I couldn't sleep due to one hundred and one things running through my head.

Last night we had a low key dinner at Sara Ike's house and it was a really funny and interesting evening. I spend a lot of time at competitions with everyone but it was nice to all just hang out and we really get on as a group. Back to this morning... Will started the day off with his mare "Missy" .. well actually Nat started the day off with her not so shy comments on everything from WEG's to Marks "fit shoes" ( you know the ones that with every step are supposed to firm up.. well everything, ya the Captain is wearing them.. ill snap a shot soon when he isnt looking ) Before Will jumped his first jump all of us including Mark were in hysterics which was a great way to start the morning.

Missy and Will jumped great. He jumped through some grid type exercises then put a course together and she was jumping great so not to much more was needed. Doug was next on Skinny. He started out fantastic but Mark and Doug both wanted to get a bit more technical with some sharp angles to make sure skinny is prepared for his trip. After a few green times through a large bounce and two verticals on a wicked angle, skinny look full of confidence and that he may have just learned a lesson that might be needed next weekend. Tate and I were next and I am thrilled with the jump school. Mark quickly adjusted some of the square oxers to ascending which really helped Tate jump up and around instead of his style which sometimes can be a bit weak upfront. A few times over the ascending oxers Tate started jumping with heaps of scope. This is a good feeling bc he is a careful horse but does not always leave a lot of room between him and the poles.

The attitude during the lessons has been fantastic. Yesterday Mark was certainly still feeling the aftershock of WEG's but by today the excitement is running through all of us even Mark was all smiles. In the afternoon we got to go to USET and pick up our official gear ( which I didn't even know we were getting!) It was a really fun experience picking up USA gear this is what it is all about. I know there is conversation around town about grant money and who deserves it and there is a lot of finger pointing going on and negativity. But I speak for all of us lucky enough to go on this trip that we are excited, appreciative, hard working and enjoying this experience. We are not in this sport to make money, we need enough money to eat and fill the truck with diesel. We are in this great sport to represent our country and do a good job with our horses,friends,sponsors,coaches,selectors and ourselves. I am young and don't know the exact equation of why Americans have not been competing very well internationally. But I do know in order for us to have a chance we need to be focused, be honest and enjoy the times when opportunity allows us to participate in something great. So that will be our formula for the next week and we are all excited to represent the USA in Holland!

Training Sessions day 1

2010-10-06T18:17:00.003-04:00

Will and Nat arrived yesterday afternoon and the subject went quickly from being super excited to then the same conversation on most eventers minds, what happened at WEG's. Now we all have our opinions and we will save that for another day but what was first and foremost on our minds was "what are we gonna say to Mark?" .. um sorry for your bad luck?... better luck next time... Well Mark what went right at the WEG's...its literally 48 hours after giving away the silver medal, can we ignore the elephant in the room.. probley not. Guess who gets the first lesson of the day and the "breaking the ice"duty, yes yours truly. So I do what I always do when im nervous just start talking and don't stop. When I gave Mark a second to talk it obviously was in the front of his mind as well and let me tell you he is as pissed as everyone else. I then did the second thing I do when im nervous.. smile,nod and agree. Fortunately Marks frustrations did not flow into my flat lesson and it went very well. I have alot of work to do on my half-pass but it certainly got a lot better.
The rest of the horses looked well dougs horse is looking like it is showing some more flash but is still having green moments in the changes and counter canters. Will's mare has a very workman like attitude and looks like she should be very accurate. Mark is not being shy at all about the fact that we "will preform well" and he is expecting quite a lot from us. I do think there is more pressure especially due to the poor performances on a whole as Americans in international competition lately. But with youth comes eagerness and we all are saying to each other we better pull this off, but we are saying this with a smile on our faces ready and excited for this opportunity.
Tomorrow we are all having a jump and Mark is being kind enough to help Doug and I on some of our younger up and coming horses since we are local. I will have pictures a bit later!
Stay tuned

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2010-10-05T08:48:00.001-04:00

At ther dentist .. Way scarier than any advanced track!!

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5 day countdown!

2010-10-05T07:33:00.002-04:00

Its 7:30 and instead of heading to the barn I am headed to the oral surgeon for a dental consult... seems that I have fractured a tooth and it needs to come out ... now! But if that is the only inconvenience on the way to Holland thats cool (painful but no big deal).. The Captain and Will Faudree get here tonight. Im interested in Marks ideas and attitude after the big US disappointment at WEG's. Seems to that the chat around the campfire is that the US has invested to much in the "old school team" and has maybe looked passed some of their obvious flaws due to them being veterans of the sport. Well this week starts the US's new movement toward supporting young and upcoming riders by sending the 4 of us to Boekelo.... No Pressure !
Tate feels great and I feel very prepared. Tate and I combined have the most experience in the group in our Advanced competitions together. Will has the most experience as a rider with his numerous 4 star and team competitions on his former advanced ride Antigua. His mare is absolutely amazing and has been completely solid in the past year or so that Will has had her. Doug and Running Order are new to the Advanced level but Doug has more time in the tack than most and has proven on countless horses that he can be competitive. This will be a big step for both "skinny" and Doug but worth the investment. Tiana and her beautiful grey horse have both won at the 3 star level and had some spotty competitions. She knows her horse very well and has every capability to win the thing if things go her way.... Im late to the dentist!! more updates later :)
s

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2010-09-28T19:21:00.000-04:00

Tates fine first.. But I thought this pic accurately shows what many of us obsessive eventers find common practice.. Tate as you know has had some sore feet so anytime I gallop or jump we ice his left front and ankle ( bc sometimes his ankle gets a little sore from compensating)...Chrissy and I know any soreness anywhere not addressed could cause a greater injury later so we ice as a preventative measure.. I had a great jump lesson with anne k today. I wasn't happy with my riding in the show jumping at the AEC's I felt tate was a bit green jumping the bigger fences but I felt I lost my balance in the air a bit which didn't help tate handle the fences. I started my lesson explaining this to anne and told her to please focus on my position and let's see if we can get this sorted. She noticed when we got a bit close to the fences I sometimes put my hands close together and on his neck which in turn limited what tate could do with his neck and tilted me forward again slightly hindering tates jump. Tater is very light and sensitive and this little move of mine could cost us a rail which is the difference between winning and losing. I am so lucky between O'Connors, Mark and Anne I have a group of trainers that I can openly talk to and work through problems to improve... So here is me on a tues night icing and watching the video of my lesson so I have a visual as well as a feeling. Special thxs to chrissy who is doing the video ( which is so boring to do!) and finishing up the barn late while I'm sitting in the stall with tate..We(professionals) could not do what we do without a strong team!
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2010-09-26T12:37:00.000-04:00

Tate sharing his field with the chickens!
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Lets get it started!

2010-09-24T13:53:00.002-04:00

I keep looking at the calender and thinking its missing a week.. but its not Boekelo is nearly here! Yesterday afternooon Captain Mark Philips(our team coach) Sara Ike(Director of Eventing), Paul Wegand(Flight organizer), Doug Payne, Will Faudree, Tiana Coudrey and I all got on a call to actually discuss the details of our trip. I think that was when I realized wow we are actually doing this thing! I have tickets booked for Tate, Chrissy and I for Oct. 9. Will F and Mark Philips are headed to NJ on Oct 5. We will get a few final lessons from Mark at Hart Farm before we all pile our gear and horses into the trailer and head to the Airport sat. am. The horses will fly together with DVM Sara Gold and Wills groom Nat( she is the most experienced groom) on a KLM flight. Sara Ike, Chrissy, Will, Doug and I will fly on a continental flight which will land a few hours before the horses so we can pick up the car and then meet the horses upon arrival. Tiana is flying from the west coast and will arrive a few hours before us all. Mark has arranged a transport to come pick us up from the airport on the morning of the 10th ( my birthday!) to ship us all to the actual event.
Tate is on good form. We have taken it easy since the AEC's and he is back in the pool due to running on the hard ground. He was a bit foot sore but seems to be feeling much better. I had a great jump school this morning. Sunday morning I am headed over to Marilyn Paynes ( before she heads to Kentucky to judge the WEG's) and she will work through the 3* test with me. I did this before richland and had chrissy sit next to her and video. I ride through the test and she judges it( i can hear on the video) and then we work through it movement by movement to hopefully improve the score. Then i can obsess and watch the video over and over until I feel I am over prepared!:) .. it will also give me something to do on the 8 hour flight. I think Tate's win at Richland was greatly due to Marilyn's specific advise on how to properly ride the test. I plan on having a jump with Anne Kurskinski next week then after the lessons with Mark I think we will be set to represent well!
On a side note huge exciting news is a new partnership between myself,Brendan and Wendy Furlong. They have just purchased a horse called Classical King which they originally bred. They have decided to place the horse with me so we can see how far King will go in the sport. He has competed through the training level and we all have high expectations. I am truly flattered that Brendon and Wendy believe in me enough to give me a chance to campaign their horse. King arrives to NJ next week so stay tuned Ill take pictures.
As we get closer to take off day I will update this blog daily!
sinead

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2010-09-12T18:18:00.000-04:00

Zep and bacon asleep we are ment to arrive home at 5:00 am !
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Final Wrap Up

2010-09-12T18:13:00.001-04:00

What a day. I would not want to be in the selectors shoes right now. 3 months ago I was not feeling to confident about our american team but now we have a large group of strong competitive combinations. Unfortunately for the selectors everyone pretty much has chosen the last few weeks to shine making narrowing down the decision of the 4 team members,2 individuals and 2 alternates tough. Fortunately for America as a whole we are going to the WEGs with a strong well prepared team!
I was pleased with Tate today. I was a bit slow to react when I realized jumping into the triple that we were further away from the second oxer than I was anticipating. Tate came down a bit early and had the back rail. It unfortunate was a $1000 rail considering it dropped me to 7th which was right outside the money. But education is priceless and I will react quicker the next time. Right after show jumping I trotted Tate up for Team Vets Brendon Furlong and Kathy Cone and he trotted with flying colors, pretty much securing our grant to Boekelo. I am so excited for the opportunity and am pumped to spend the next few weeks polishing up so we can hopefully show the selectors were wise in the selection of us.

In other news my best friend Rebecca Howard just got told she will be one of the 6 competing for Canada at WEG's. I'm sure everyone remembers but it doesn't feel to long ago I was writing my blog from her hospital room after a rotational fall that left her with 16 broken bones and a collapsed lung. So a huge shout out to rebec for coming back with a vengeance! Speaking of Rebec my favorite story from the weekend : So rebecca howard,steph roads boch (also on canadian team squad), dana cook(reb groom) and I all stayed in a little rented motor home. I got a phone call friday night from rebec asking me if I had locked the camper which I had not.. On purpose anyway but anyone who knows me knows sometimes I can get a little distracted;) and I certainly wouldn't put it past myself to accidentally lock it. So rebec not being one to sit back and be idle(obviously) decided to break in through a window. So with the help of a few girls rebec got a leg up into the camper,crawled through the window only to find herself standing in someone else's camper!! Ha thankfully no one was in there so out the window she came again and moved 2 motor homes down and walked through our unlocked door!

So onto the WEGs and Boekelo for this gang! Go Eventing!
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2010-09-12T08:32:00.000-04:00

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The final day begins!

2010-09-12T08:29:00.001-04:00

I must take back my comments on the sj course being "weird" some of the distances got moved around and when I walked this am I found the striding to be much more reasonable. I do think the track is tough. They are generous with ground lines but the bending lines and verticals make it a course that "ideal plans" will be made but in the ring some split decions will probably come into play .. So instinct will be important and its hard to practice that. Advanced starts at 8:45 so stay tuned xx
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Cross country day

2010-09-11T21:19:00.001-04:00

Cross country day!

I headed into the barn at 5:30am not because I was riding that early but bc I wanted to walk my horse for a while without being concerned with getting in a traffic jam! I must say the first few hours of the day were so enjoyable. The barns were quiet the horses were asleep and it happened to be the perfect quiet needed before a full day off cross country. My dog and I headed out to walk cross country around 7:15 to be greeted by most of the american WEGs squad doing a gallop in the early morning fog. I know it sounds cheesy but it was such a inspiring site... Just these amazing horses and riders that have such huge aspirations set for the next few weeks having a secluded gallop before the 600 other competitors arrived. It was pretty cool. Walking the course this am the ground seemed much better so cheers to everyone who sat on a tractor! Some riders were caught with some unsettling rounds more due to heading out trying to ride slow and almost being a bit passive. At the advanced level it is still important even when planning to "go slow" that a good enough pace is maintained to jump the fences well. Advanced is called that for a reason, you have to be forward, decisive and ride with intent. Today a lot left the start box with the intent of protecting their horses by going slow but ended up being less positive then necessary. But I have not talked to one rider that had maybe a not perfect ride that said anything less than what I have just said. Fortunately or unfortunately,I am not sure.. Tate is not as scopy or confident as some of these top horses, he always requires a forward rhythm to feel good about his job.. So where I did not put my foot to the floor in between the fences I did have to set out on a good clip. The fences came up easily for tate and bar adding up in the water he felt like he skipped around. I was surprised that he was so quick adding only 2 time penalties, but he maintained a forward gallop the whole time so all I can say is ..sweet ;) ... What is pretty amazing is that I'm pretty sure all riders and horses and riders stayed on grounds basically saying no trips to the hospital. I don't know if that because it is a championship event but good on us eventers!! Good day for the sport!! Show jumping looks interesting for tomorrow.. Some of the striding is for lack of a technical term .. Weird but will figure it out! On to tomorrow! Ps tate is in 4th!! SH
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2010-09-11T20:57:00.000-04:00

Me, doug and Bacon ( doug paynes dog), flyin front seat on the mini bike headed to a PRO autograph signing
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2010-09-11T20:53:00.000-04:00

Phillip Evi and Jenny galloping phils 3 WEG contenders
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Dressage day

2010-09-10T21:21:00.001-04:00

Well this comes a bit late but I have just sat down.... Which seems silly because I am only riding one horse! But somehow that can take up a day. General impression of the day was the top horses all looked pretty good. Scoring( as I'm sure you know if you checked live scoring) was a bit all over the shop. Linda Zang seemed positive and scoring on the higher end and Loris Henry seemed to think we all were a bit sub-par. For those of you who don't know at a championship competition you have two judges who sit at different places in the arena and both their scores combine to give you your final percentage. Normally these scores are within 2 or 3 points of each other but today we had differences of up to 11 percent! So a bit frustrating when one judge thinks your great and the other thinks not so much so. Anyway such is life! On to tomorrow!! The scores tomorrow again won't probably accurately show the best horse and rider pair( I am discussing just the advanced division) horses going for the WEGs and Boekelo will be doing the best thing they can to prepare there horses for "the next step" . I have it on good authority canadians will leave some jumps out that they feel are not necessary for their horses. This will eliminate them from this competition but they are using the course as schooling for the WEGs. Americans are ment to run the whole course but will go slow in order to save their horses legs. For our top horses protecting them for future team competions is a priority. Not to say that any horses welfare is not important but the horses at the top have put their time in and are a bit older so if conditions are not as close to perfect as we can make them its important to decide if its worth saving them for another day. Coming back to my day I was thrilled with Tate. I really feel right now honestly he is a strong 3 star horse with the potential to be a great 4 star horse. Last week he proved by winning richland 2 star he was above that level and today in a 4 star test he was the best he could be with the education he has and landed himself with a top third result. I was victim to one judge that thought he was great and one that did not ( 7 point difference) but when watching the video back I definitely saw plenty of room for improvement but a very lovely obedient horse. I was so damn happy to have him in that ring not matter what:)! As for tomorrow I'm a bit undecided in my plan.. So stay tuned ;) xx
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2010-09-10T10:02:00.000-04:00

Steven Bradley put in a good test really positive forward canter work.
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2010-09-10T09:49:00.000-04:00

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2010-09-10T09:46:00.000-04:00

The crowd out for dressage.. Allison is winning right now with a fantastic test I think she is on a 30. Boyd just put in a really nice test with Remington.. Just missed the last change and didn't nail the last halt... Other than that pretty flawless.
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2010-09-09T16:41:00.000-04:00

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2010-09-09T16:40:00.000-04:00

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2010-09-09T16:39:00.002-04:00

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1st day of dressage

2010-09-09T16:39:00.001-04:00

This place is mad!!! Barns,horses,dogs,trailers,campers,tents RVs, sponsor tents, Vendors at every end of the property,mini bikes,golf carts, 4 wheelers and even a bar! Get the picture!! After wondering around the property for a few hours I think I finally have the lay of the land but this property is huge! Everything does seem to be going fairly smoothly. The one thing that maybe was not thought out was schooling for the horses competing tomorrow(pretty much all fit upper-level horses) was in the middle of a cross country field with training horses galloping around. I saw quite a few that would have rather been in there jumping gear than hanging on in there dressage tack. There were high performance lessons going on all day and some competitors you can visibly see the pressure mounting and some are very much putting on a calm front. All in all the bit of the top horses I saw looked good and they are certainly getting exposed to a big atmosphere here at the AECs. I walked around the advanced track and it looks quite nice. Actually the lower level courses looked quite challenging where the advanced looks like it will hopefully be a good confident run for horses carrying on to FEI destinations. I saw David O'Connor out on the aerator so again everyone doing their part to take care of the horses welfare. The advanced dressage tomorrow runs from 8am to 5pm with every top horse in the country taking there turn,should be quite exciting. Tate takes center stage at 3:06. He was happy to do a bit of work today but after the long trip we just had an easy ride. I'm excited to be able to spend the morning watching..much to be learned! I will try and keep thing updated through the day tomorrow and def. Catch up in the evening. SH x
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2010-09-08T12:43:00.000-04:00

Baby stealing Tates hay!!

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2010-09-08T12:42:00.001-04:00

Tight quarters!

The journey begins!

2010-09-08T12:38:00.001-04:00

So we are on the road!! GPS says we will be arriving at midnight. I hear there have been line ups at the AEC's venue for up to an hour with trucks and trailers! At midnight hopefully there will be less of a crowd. Doug,Holly,Zeppo(my dog),Bacon(dougs dog) are all nice and cozy in the truck and with doug being the driver the most important thing to get our trip started was FOOD! So a slight detour to get bacon,egg and cheese bagels to add to our stash of food that Randy Clover ( Cindy and Randy own Rocket a lovely horse I have competed a bit this year) made we will most likely be a fair bit heavier when we arrive in GA. I kinda feel like making a sign and putting it in the window that says AEC's or bust! I'm not sure if because its a WEG year or such a huge display of Eventing die hards at one new fabulous venue but I have a really excited feeling in my stomach. This is gonna be a "Big Event" on so may levels. As a Professional Rider sometimes we get so busy running up and down the countryside eventing every weekend we forget that feeling we maybe had when we went to our first 3 day or where you couldn't sleep bc you were excited/nervous about the next day event. I am kinda getting that feeling now. I'm excited about competing my horse but I also feel like eventing as a whole is coming together to do some amazing things. The Professional Riders Organization is making huge strides in progressing our sport not only by bringing in money/sponsors, which brings in outside people, which in turn allows our sport to grow at every level. But PRO is also working on a lot of new ideas. PRO is making a point to have the upper level riders giving back by giving free course walks, organizing clinics, lecture demos that all will really help educate outside spectators and participants in our discipline that maybe don't have access to top professionals. We are having several meetings at AECs to further our progress in these areas as well as hopefully reaching out to some new amateurs and young riders to bring in new ideas. With this also being a final selection trial for USA and Canada for WEGs adds to the excitement! Just think that some kids in the BN and Novice divisions will hopefully be inspired by watching the greats this weekend. Those same kids in the future could be here filling the shoes of there idols. This weekend is also where the selectors will choose which developing riders will get grants to compete in Holland at Boekelo CCI *** in October. My goal this weekend is to get one of those grants. So all in all a very exciting weekend! Stay tuned !! Ps holly was just snoring in the back with the dogs but she has just popped up to look at baby(Madeline her horse) in the camera just in time to see her stealing all tates hay!!!
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AECs

2010-09-07T07:37:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow tate and I are heading to GA to compete at the American Eventing Championships. Word on the street is that there are around 700 entries which is incredible and makes the statement our sport is as strong as ever! Unfortunately unless you live in Atlanta most of us are in for a pretty long trek. Doug Payne, Holly Payne and I are car pooling for the 15 hour drive. A few good stories came from our last adventure together when we all went to Rolex together(those stories are for a whole other blog post!). Anyway I'm excited for the weekend and tate feels great. All the advanced competitors are riding 4 star test B which is pretty tough but it is the final trial for WEG selection so its gotta be a true test! I will keep blogging through the week so stay tuned! X
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Tate won!

2010-08-29T20:34:00.000-04:00

Double clear sj just fab!! Driving home now eta 4 am! Will give more 411 tomorrow. Manoir de Carneville winner of Richland Park CIC 2 star :)
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A little more 411

2010-08-29T07:30:00.001-04:00

Tate felt fantastic yesterday. I was a little nervous bc he has had only one cross country school since march and I also was a bit worried about his fitness. As soon as he left the start box I felt all those worries start to go away. Tate jumped like a million bucks and even at the last minute he felt like he still had plenty of running left. The course was very inviting and was designed by Ian Stark. The first water caught some by surprise being fence five and off a turn but other than that most of the horses understood and jumped the questions well. The ground was a bit hard but after an afternoon of icing tate looked great in the evening and looks even better this morning. Trot up is in about 20 minutes and then we wait till probably 2:30 to jump. I think I have a rail in hand but hopefully we have a solid performance to set us up well for the American EventingChampionships in 2 weeks where will go advanced. So fingers crossed and I update this afternoon. Xx
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Taterball still winnin!

2010-08-28T12:30:00.001-04:00

Tate didn't miss a beat went double clear and still in the lead !! Will give more detail later... Busy givin him some lovin and ice!! Xx
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Tates winning!

2010-08-26T15:51:00.001-04:00

Tate was very excited to get in the ring today!! We had one or to bobbles just bc tate was literally squealing in the ring he was so proud of himself:) but good enough to score a 49 and be 2 points in the lead ahead of philip. The course looks nice so hopefully we will keep the trend going on sat! Xx
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Richland!

2010-08-24T21:24:00.001-04:00

5:00 am we pulled out of lebanon,nj and 4:45 pm we pulled into Kalamazoo,MI!! We fortunately had an uneventful trip... Very uneventful bar some exciting cornfields and interesting truck stops the states of PA, Ohio and indiana had little to show us! Tate traveled fantastic sometimes after a long trip he shows signs of his allergies creepin in with a runny nose or cough but no sign of that when we unloaded at Richland Park. He trotted up feeling so good chrissy had to hang on so I think ill have my work cut out for me keeping him in a straight line sunday am. Our hotel is very dodgy so if you don't hear an update from me tomorrow please check for me at the econo lodge, kalamazoo,MI.. ;) xx
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and so on and so on..

2010-08-14T21:06:00.002-04:00

So day to day life as a struggling actor.. sorry scratch that event rider continues ;) ..unfortunately Rocket has suffered a minor injury that will keep him from finishing his season up. This is a real bummer due to how much emotional and physical work has been put forth by not just chrissy and I but by Rockets owners Cindy and Randy. They have really gone above and beyond to make sure that rocket has been happy in his work and were so thrilled with him at Millbrook. These things happen but it is always such a disappointment. They remain dedicated to his well being and cindy im sure will be at the barn grooming and spoiling him rotten everyday :) but hey everyone needs a little spoiling when their down!
I rode a students horse at waradoca today that has been a bit of a problem child. It was a successful day. I realize this horse is as precious to them, even being a beginner novice horse, as Tate is to me.. feels good to be on the right track.
I took tate his first jump lesson back with anne kurskinsky and he was fantastic... feels good, really good. I again keep reminding myself that while I have huge goals in mind for him, to be able to ride and train on such an athlete everyday is the achievement... everything after that is gravy;).
xx

Millbrook

2010-08-09T11:40:00.001-04:00

The weekend finished great with alvin jumping a clear sj to finish 4th and rocket jumping a clear sj to finish 7th in the itermediate .. Richland park is next on the list with both tate and rocket in the CIC two star.
E
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Milbrook

2010-08-07T17:32:00.001-04:00

Alvin and rocket were very good today.. Rocket is in 11th in the OI with a clear cross country. This is his first intermediate run back in over a year. Alvin finished 4th in the novice. Show jumping tomorrow for rocket! Tate has tagged along and has been more than excited to be here! X
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Great weekend

2010-07-27T09:55:00.001-04:00

This weekend we took alvin and sobe to burgundy hollow horse trials and both won! Sobe is gettin the hang of things and I think is gonna turn into a little machine but now is still needing som encouragement. Alvin was very good I think I have the bitting sorted,both horses jump clean sj and xc. I had two students have successful days too,kelly and her horse finished 5th and sara and her horse won their division! .. In other news tate did his first gallop this morning its so great to have him back in action .. His first run will be at richland in a month. S
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Y R Camp!

2010-07-14T18:54:00.001-04:00

When I arrived at Newark for my 5:00 flight I learned my flight had been cancelled and I had been put on a flight at 7.... Then shortly after my 7:00 flight got moved to 10:00. Then I realized there was no bar in the my gated area!.. So out through security I went then realizing after a few tours that there was no bar in the whole A terminal! Not that I'm an alcoholic but what is one to do in Newark for 5 hours? So on a train I got to B terminal, international terminal better people watchin than at walmart! But my plane landed at midnight at Chicago a car picked me up and I was in bed by 1 am at my friend allison springers house. I am out at lamp light equestrian center till Saturday teaching the area 4 young rider camp with allison springer and john holling. So day 1 done and successful and on to tomorrow! Off for a cocktail and some food! Ciao.
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2010-07-14T18:31:00.001-04:00

Allison,Nat, John and I
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Syndication!

2010-06-28T20:05:00.002-04:00

A common topic of conversation around the Eventing Campfire has been Syndication. Syndication in racehorses has been a huge way for the average joe to gamble at a the dream of being involved in something great.. We see it every year during the "race to the Triple Crown" the stories of horse that was to small, to slow, to fat and a small town group of people that believed in that little horse and it became a champion. I really believe if we could make it affordable and uncomplicated for people to get involved in Eventing they would. If we could show them that they could be a part of "the dream and story" that all of us die hards live everyday we could grow and become what the racing industry is today.

With that in mind I created( well i scripted and my amazing web designer and marketing extraordinaire Carol Hill designed) a Simple easy to follow "Guide to Owning an Event Horse".

At first I thought I should keep this for just myself and possible owners/sponsors of mine ( competitive nature kicking in).. but then I realized that is such a short sighted vision. If people got excited by realizing they could own a part of one of Philips horses and 2 parts of one of Karen's horses and half of one of Bucks( pretty much guaranteeing themselves a horse at WEG'S) then maybe they would decide to get involved in some of the up and coming horses and riders as well ( hopefully a horse of mine and some of my piers)..

So I am making an effort to send this Brochure out to the masses. I must make it clear this is an first time attempt at this so there are flaws and it definitely needs improvement but everything has gotta start somewhere! So please if you are a rider and in need of a horse to get you to your goals think outside the box and get creative, show your supporters they can really get involved... and if you are a patron and a lover of the sport know you really can be on the team with your riding idol or help make that small town horse/rider or struggling professional that you love and support get to there goal of being the best they can for a small contribution.

Check out my stab at it http://www.sineadhalpin.com/images/SyndicationBrochure_web.pdf

Thanks and as always any feedback is greatly appreciated and ideas so we can keep Eventing on the path to bigger and better things!
sinead

Its been forever!

2010-06-26T20:14:00.002-04:00

It has been forever since I have put out a little update on S.H.E!!
Well horses as usual have been up and down..

Tate is doing pretty well. We had a little setback and seems like maybe we discounted some pain he had in his foot thinking it was due to his original injury but after another MRI he has some deep bruising in his foot... good news is that long term that is much less of an issue than what we thought the injury was.. bad news we had to back off and tildrin the foot and now he is swimming 4 times a week! check him out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOniQ7QQcJQ
He will start back up trotting in July and will aim for competing in the end of Aug.This unfortunately puts us a bit close for Blenheim but Mark is thinking he would like to take a group to Boukelo in Holland in October so that would suit perfect.

Alvin has had some bitting issues.. I have rarely had a horse that was strong and spooky at the same time.. He is learning so much so fast sometimes he has little lapses of judgment and decides he is a racehorse again! It is a nervous thing for him, he grabs the bit when he is a bit worried. In the end I do think he will be easy as pie to ride but right now sometimes he is too busy pulling to listen.. hence I have expanded my bit knowledge and am attending a schooling show locally that will let me run xc as many times as I want (AWESOME!) so I am trying a few different ones. I do think with the events being wicked expensive this is a great thing. Events with resilient footing should hold these little mix and match events. Obviously as a Professional you try and prepare your horses as much as possible before attending an event but sometimes pressure situations(shows) intensify issues that maybe were not such a big deal at home. Unfortunately then you are most likely a few hundred in and have not represented a horse well when referring to its record. These little events are financially affordable and where as they carry no points it really allows the riders to test the waters( hopefully not literally) without causing to much trauma for the horse, the owner and the checkbook!

Rocket Man who was going to be a dressage horse in aiken and then a jumper when we returned to NJ has gone back to his roots and is now Eventing again!! I ran him at a prelim at Plantation and he was great!... well a bit tough on the flat but jumped an easy clear in the SJ and was a blast xc ... His original issues eventing were having troubles judging the drops into water.. he would fall .. at the intermediate level.. I have gone back and started a lot of ground work with him and got him knowledgeable enough so that he lets me rope him ( me on the ground eliminating rider influence and a dip in the water if it went wrong :) ) into big drops into water... he seems to have gained heaps of confidence and I have learned a lot about the style he needs to jump well into the water.. so hopefully we stay dry!! he will be headed to Maryland in a few weeks

The babies are going well and headed to some schooling shows and are def. keeping me on my toes and every now and then on my butt !!:) xc schooling but all part of the game

The open house/clinic at Hart Farm went really well. I had a great time getting to know some new people in the area and had a great turnout. There were 5 groups filled so we went from 8 till 5:30 I really enjoy teaching clinics its fun to watch unfamiliar horses and riders. Its always interesting to get in and try to not only build there confidence by showing them they can do something maybe they didn't think they could, but also hopefully give them a new and different perspective on there relationship with their horse.

So on the horizon in Maryland H/T then off to Chicago to teach a young rider clinic, then back for jersey Horse park, Millbrook so on and so forth!

I will keep this more updated! promise
xx

Classic garden the champ!

2010-05-23T15:09:00.001-04:00

Well Little alvin proved himself this weekend! He is the big winner! He jumped a great clear today after being 1 or 2 double clears yesterday in the monsoon, finishing on his dressage of a 25. I'm very proud of him he has worked his butt off the last month trying to figure out how to put his head down, be brave xc and stop being so spooky in the sj which was causing rails! So whoop whoop for alvin! S
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2010-05-23T15:03:00.001-04:00

Alvin unimpressed with the rain! Ha ha
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2010-05-23T15:01:00.001-04:00

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Survivin'

2010-05-11T16:39:00.003-04:00

Alvin had a choice here to stop.. to fall.. or to get the hell up that bank! I'm glad he chose the last option! I'm excited about young alvin he has got survival instincts! we are gonna be headed down to VA horse trials the weekend after next and hopefully we will have some more boring pictures :)!

I went to Jersey Fresh to watch on cross country day and I can t say how relieved I was that no horse or rider got hurt!.. To be honest I hate competing at Jersey because there is always some major drama and not in a good way. I think I am not alone in my feelings, there were very few entries this year in all the divisions. Well If I have a horse to compete there next year I will def. will show up to play. They finally got it right. The course was maybe a bit soft for the two star but it was a gallopy track that definitely required a fit horse to come home safe and make the time. The 3* I think asked all the right questions with plenty of galloping so the time for gettable. The track was also forgiving enough that a few had problems but were able to make it safely home. So high five for Jersey Fresh!

Chrissy is back from vacation YAY! I know from years being a working student and grooming that it is a hell of a job. I wouldn't trade any of it though. I feel that those young riders that got their way paid missed out on vital skills that one can only learn at the end of a pitch fork! Work ethic, attention to detail and honestly figuring out if this is really what you want to do with your life. Its a tough business and I'm glad I found that out at a young age. I am very lucky with Chrissy in the barn she keeps the boys(and girl sobe) looking fantastic, the yard looking great and the sense to make good decisions. So if your a working student I know it tough but be tougher it will only help you in the end.. and if you are the boss be good to your help because it will only help you in the end!
xx

2010-05-11T16:38:00.000-04:00

Survival instincts!

2010-05-11T16:31:00.002-04:00

Rolex Reflections

2010-04-28T15:29:00.002-04:00

As I drove into the horse park I almost missed a feeling I haven't had yet.. the feeling of driving into the Rolex Kentucky Three Day with my horse to compete. I tried to figure out if I would have felt nervous or excited even proud driving in there with Tate. But I know the actual feeling I had was a bit sad, very frustrated but most of all hungry as hell to not come as a spectator next year but as a rider.
The track was actually a bit soft and certainly some big questions but it didnt have the "bogie" fences that when you walked it you thought this is gonna catch some people out. I thought it would be a true test for the first timers but the old dogs should jump around clear and do it confidently. There were def. a few troubles but over all the course rode well. Oli Townend had a horrific fall that really shouldn't have happened. He rotated over a tall hanging rail before two big drops. The frangible pins did not break. There were actually 4 occurrences where pins didn't break and they should have. This i am sure will be seriously looked into and corrected before the WEG's in the fall.
I also spoke to Katie Prudant( our High Performance Show Jumping instructor) about what she thought of the event. She was shocked at how many people had time. She said how can you expect to never run at speed in all your lead up events and then show up to the "big one" were all the pressure is and just say ok today im going to go fast enough. She said "medals are won and lost due to time penalties" .. This input I think is going to help our top riders a lot. I said before that Oded ( dressage trainer for HP list) and Katie came into our training sessions they were unimpressed and demanded more and better. Jumping around Rolex is not good enough, you have to do it fast and well if you want expect to win. Speaking of the win, WFP was fantastic as usual. Cool Mountain (Ol) looked all grown up since last time I saw him( when he was doing 2 stars).. Easy keeper as always The girls were hoping he would lose weight on the flight over bc he was almost a bit fat going to a 4 star.. he didnt lose 1 kilo on the trip :)!
Show jumping day was a tough one for some. I felt terrible for Kim who has worked to get every ounce of talent out of her grey horse and he just didnt perform. She looked great dressage and xc but lost it all when her boy stopped at the 4th and then bowled through the rest of the course dropping her from 2 to out of the top 20. Sad day when it is so obvious that the horse power is just not there to not only support our up and coming s but our top professionals as well. Great day for phillip and woodburn. All his hard work with that horse paid off with a clear round and I must say boyd looked on top form all weekend having great rides on all his horses. William had a rail in hand going in but didnt need it .. he had a hunter round.
So all in all an interesting weekend but Im not feeling any more comfortable about our Team for WEG's we just dont have a long enough list to choose from. Sometimes things fall apart before they get better so hopefully some of the new ideas being implemented into team training will pay off in a hurry.. but i just don't know if we will pull it off in time for WEG's. ...
Huge congrats to David O'C he really has pulled the Canadians together! 4 in the top 10.. He had a plan and stuck with it and it had taken over 4 years but he has really molded a top class group of horses and riders. He told me this spring he finally had a real group of riders that had there heads in the game, stuck with the program and had good jumping horses.. he was worried that none of them were real dressage horses but looks like he has done a bloody good job ! 4 in the top 10 and that is without Rebbecca and Karl who both have possible rides at the WEG's.. its all going to be very interesting :)
CIAO for NOW ! s

Check out professonalriders.org!!

2010-04-21T18:57:00.000-04:00

tater wil be back jumpin in no time !

2010-04-20T14:54:00.001-04:00

a wee update

2010-04-20T14:43:00.003-04:00

Well last weekend was entertaining with the new guy! i think he will be alright though. I did find myself revisiting my childhood in the dressage ring! "alvin" classic garden.. stuck his head up in the air half way through the test and i couldnt get it back down!! I was litterally laughing .. i was like seriously i even resorted to old fashion sea sawing ! Horses keepin us humble one dressage test at a time :) but i do think that can be fixed np he just got a little confused :) he did jump all the jumps so we are now gonna work on the actual training part of our new found relationship not just survival!

Tate Trotted!! who knew i would be so excited! He feels great and is trotting for 5 min along with a 45 min walk and a 20 min walk in the afternoon.. oh the little things ;)

Im headed to kentucky on thursday to watch. I was gonna stay at home and sulk but decided to grow up and kick on so if i cant be there riding im sure as hell gonna "watch and learn"! There are a list of us "should be here but shit happens and now we are pissed but we are gonna come and be pissed together" group. I am also excited to see WFP and granny potts ( williams head girl) shall be delightful

xx

Home sweet home

2010-04-14T17:34:00.003-04:00

Well after a week of being home I feel like I am almost settled in. The Farm looks great and as great as our Aiken facility was Hart Farm is truly one of the nicest places I have worked out of. The horses are very happy to have nice spring grass in there fields!..
Tater is going to the vet tomorrow for his last shockwave. He has been walking 30 min a day and is just a wild man, i dont know if he is actually missing the work or just all the attention :).. between chrissy and I we have been sure to spend some QTT ( quality tate time) everyday other than his daily walk! Fall plans have us looking toward England and Blenhiem CCI *** . I dont think making a push for Burghley or Poe is necessary. I just want Tate to come back strong and have a good first International Debut.
We have some fun youngsters in the barn! Sobe Dazzled ( I know i cringed at the name too but she was named by my mom and there was no changin it!) She is out of an Argentine mare I used to ride that was from strong jumper lines and Catherston Dazzler. She is turning 4 this month and is wicked cute unfortunately she is a midget!! She sticks around 15' but like most little girls my mom has Rolex hopes ;) inspired by the amazing Theodor O'Connor!
Echo is another 3 soon to be 4 year old that has joined the heard. He is a Windfall baby out of a jumper mare. He is all legs but still seems to be on the small size but great little mover and adorable personality.. so look forward to the baby parade summer 2010!
I am also looking forward to a new relationship with the young riders. I have been asked to be a selector for Area 4 for the NAYRC and teach at thier clinic in July. I love teaching YR's should be a blast.
On a final note I ended up selling my Geoffry horse to Will Coalman. Im excited to see this pair move through the levels. I decided this winter Geof was prob. more of a mans horse and put him tentatively on the market. Will and I struck up and old school horse trade! We now welcome Classic Garden to the S.H.E team! He will be competing this weekend at Fairhill. He is a Chestnut 7 y/o TB who is quite interesting so stay tuned :)
S

Northern Bound!

2010-03-27T13:58:00.002-04:00

Well the packing has begun.. and like most eventers I have started to develop a system for packing... procrastinate, panic,persist and then finally and hopefully prevail! Doug, Megan, Chrissy and I( with 9 horses) are headed to the Fork on Tuesday. We are sending a few to New Jersey with Sam on Tues morning that have no need to go to spend the week at the Fork.

The horses are all well. Tate is bored out of his mind! but thankfully he gets to go on 30 min walks to keep his sanity... this normally consists of me sitting on him while he eats grass! Chrissy labeled this as Tate's "supervised turnout" its funny how sometimes you just feel safer on their back then holding them when they are fit and on stall rest :)!

I have two of Rebecca's horses Rocky and Margaret. They will go back to the Fork this week. Rocky is in full work and is fantastic! We had an exciting first jump the other day since Pinetop and he is def. happy to get back to the job! I know Rebecca is so excited to see him so it will be fun to reunite the two.

Im excited to get back to New Jersey. There are a few exciting prospects to add to the team this spring but im gonna keep the lid on that until the details have been worked out ;).. Chrissy and I are also working on setting up some clinic dates in New Jersey as well as a few out of state destinations. If anyone has any suggestions in farms that might want to set up clinic dates let me know and I will get information to them.

That's it for now i must go because I am obviously still in the procrastinating part of my packing procedure (who knew alliteration could be so much fun!)
xx

Not so good news

2010-03-18T11:59:00.001-04:00

I am sitting in front of my computer writing this letter when I should be rushing to get out the door and head to Southern Pines Horse Trials. Unfortunately I found out yesterday I will not be competing there on my Rolex/ World Equestrian Games hopeful, Tate. Tate has suffered a small injury that will bench him for the season. This means he will not be fit nor qualified to be in contention for the WEG’s. I am reflecting on the last few months as to where it went wrong but I am also looking towards the future so I wont be sitting here writing a letter like this again.
Being a part of Team USA the last few months has been amazing. I have literally told myself to enjoy all the moments leading up to Kentucky because this is what all the work is about, not just Kentucky. I have been able to participate in multiple training sessions with top instructors/competitors from the dressage and show jumping world. I have been watching and learning all the behind the scenes work that goes into molding a top class US team. I have watched the top riders really get to know the strengths and weaknesses in their horse and watch them go through the training process to improve these slight imperfections. This has been very confidence building for me. I have realized even the best have things they are constantly trying to improve.
I have made some observations and still have some questions about where our sport is heading. I’m not sure how we are going to not only maintain participation in the Elite levels of the sport but how we are going to win. To speak candidly we have some fantastic horses and fantastic riders, but we do not have enough. I know my horse is lovely but still very green. I had to keep reminding myself of his greenness due to the fact there was so much interest in him to actually be competing at the WEG’s. I could not believe that there were so few top combinations to choose from. This sport is so expensive and only a small amount of owners get to experience the “ride to the top” it makes it difficult to entice people unfamiliar to get involved. Any horse person will tell you Eventing is the daredevil discipline of horse sports. When you ask an event rider why they do it most of the time they just smile and say I have no idea, but we do know.
Eventing is sometimes like a secret cult unless you are a member you really don’t understand the addiction to the thrill of cross country, the precision of dressage, the nerves of show jumping and ultimately the honest love and connection we have with our horses. We must build the strongest bond with these animals we put our lives in there hands and if they trust us enough they will give us the same in return. I trust Tate like I would a family member. I have been in enough situations with him to know how he reacts, how he thinks in a tricky situation what makes him give the extra inch I need to win. I am constantly working to learn more and more about what keeps not only his mind in the game but also his body. I have vets, farriers, trainers, sponsors and owners all working with me to get the best relationship I can with my horse. When we are out on course just he and I, we hopefully will have the best knowledge and understanding of each other to tackle what challenges lay ahead. That is what eventing is about.
Part of this letter is to let you in on my feelings of our sport, the other part is to put the question out there... how do I get more people involved? On a whole we need more horse rider combinations so we can win medals and therefore attract an outside audience to our sport. Personally to continue this sport I have to not just have one top horse but a few. This is not so that there is always one to fill the gap when something goes wrong but to even out the pressure in the barn. I have always tried to keep a balance to my program and my horses. In hindsight the only time I really feel I have lost some balance and perspective was about two weeks ago. I got caught up in making my horse better “right now” instead of realizing it takes time. Tate was the only horse I had at the level so I took advantage of the lessons I was getting. I truly think in my immediate efforts to make him jump up to the next level put him under to much pressure. His injury is slight and even the vets said if I really wanted to run him I could but there would be a risk of a larger injury. I have learned my lesson and im gonna wait this one out.
There are so many ways to get involved in Eventing... Syndication, American Horse Trials Foundation (tax write off), Forming an LLC that owns the horses... I am eager to hear if anyone has suggestions or thoughts. Please if you know someone who you think might have ideas pass this letter along. I am a horse person and love this sport, there is nothing more I want to do than compete and bring people into the sport of eventing so they can experience what I am lucky enough to experience everyday, highs and lows.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sinead

Southern Pines and Skinnyyy Rebecca

2010-03-14T19:32:00.002-04:00

So Tater, Margaret and I headed to the Fork on Friday to see rebec, teach a few lessons and compete Margaret for rebec. at Southern Pines II. Rebecca looks fantastic, well in a far too skinny, slightly drugged and well walking like she's 80 fantastic, but none the less looking a million times better than last week. Jim dog( Jim Cogdell) has turned on the heat in the pool and rebec seems eager to get in.. so seems like the healing process is headed in the right direction

I took tate to gallop on some good NC hills since i haven't been able to find more than a slight"slope" in aiken. He is on good form and Im pumped for the advanced at southern pines next weekend!. From the sneak peak I saw of Southern Pines and The Fork the amount of effort going into the spectators,sponsors and owners is going to make these events ones not to be missed! PRO's assosiation with these event's in the PRO Tour is really kick starting some fantastic vision and correlation between the competitions organizing staff and the PRO riders.

This year has been a great year to be involved in the training lists. The sessions are very frequent and seem to constantly be keeping us on the ball. Last week I had some great flat lessons with Mark Philips and a jump lesson that remind me that there is still so much attention to detail needed. Amy Tryon was at my jump lesson and she informed me she did not do her first advance until she was 30! This information made me take a breath when I had not realized I was holding it. Our sport is so go go go you forget it takes time to gain experience. Its so easy to get to caught up in the moment and lose perspective. For me this lesson was very valuable. During these sessions I need to learn from my instructors and piers, do the best job i can for tater and CHILL! Next week is flat with Mark and Jump with show jumper Katie Prudant should be fun!

Oh Yeah .. my freakin truck died! buggerrrrrrrrr.. o well worse things can happen .. right rebec??:)!
ta ta
s

Rebec is going home!

2010-03-07T18:22:00.002-05:00

Rebecca is going home!! Tomorrow morning is the big morning.. this is a copy from Mary's email

Rebec has the green light to go home. She is clearly headed in the right direction in terms of pain control , chest expansion and activity. Target departure will be late Monday Morning. Will try the day without Oxygen first. A new breathing machine turned up today (bye bye birdie IPB machine), that requires expiratory effort rather than inspiratory. The morning was a little more of a work out comfort wise, but all in all…pretty darn good. Next update will be coming to you from The Fork….

I will be headed to the Fork on the weekend to hang for the weekend and compete a horse of rebec at southern pines. I will keep updating on her progress but now that she is feelin better im gonna let her speak for herself !! so check out her blog on rebeccahoward.ca !! Thanks for all the support
xx

just in case you need a laugh!

2010-03-05T23:16:00.002-05:00

So my first visit to rebecca i was telling her a story about when she was in the first emergency room.. unfortunately that story led to laughter which led to tears(bc it hurt) which led to her oxygen dropping and the need for more drugs! DISASTER.. but it was funny.. it might not come over while typing but ill try and tell the story anyway
When the trauma group came to get rebec ready for her little helicopter ride they had to move her from the bed she was in to the movable collapsible thing she was to ride in the helicopter on. They went to move her and she yelled in pain! The nice trauma guy said" we are just going to scooch you over to the other bed" rebecca in classic Canadian fashion said " oh surry(sorry but in canadian) i though you were picking meup" they said " no no just scooching".. 2 sec later they picked rebecca up and she was screaming bc obviously this did not feel good.. when they got her to the next bed she yelled " THAT WAS NOT SCOOCHING".. we all laughed out loud and then felt a bit awkward bc it prob was not the right time.. when i told reb this story that was what sent her into the earlier described laughing disaster!.. when i told Mary this story she pulled up a you tube video www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w7sVSMbjyM hilarious! all about cross country snow boarding and SCOOCHING! its a must watch .. hope that left you with a laugh( and def confirms the hospital lift was not SCOOCHING!)
sinead