Shepherd Ranch Horse Trials - Part 1

Finally, after all these years of riding together, Carolyn, Nahmi and I are getting to do our first show with everyone on board their horses.  Miracle of miracles (knocking on wood here) all four boys – Simon, Sparky, Reese and Junior – are sound, we’re sound (of body anyway), and ready to have a really great weekend. 

Getting up at obnoxious o’clock in the morning after a late night finishing up some work I’d been putting off (shocking!) should have been tough, but I think I was so excited that getting up early was easy.  And that’s without coffee!  (‘cause I wasn’t up early enough to actually make some and Starbucks has not succumbed to my brilliant idea that they deliver at 5:30 am :D)

Loading was great with everyone – including the sometimes sticky Junior – just marching right on.  Could it be that the babies are growing up?  With a little bit of teamwork we left Goldspirit Farm and were on the road by 6:28, two minutes ahead of schedule. 

Susan’s trailer arrived at Shepherd Ranch slightly ahead of Nahmi and me because – be prepared to be shocked – they had to stop to go to the bathroom and Nahmi and I didn’t!  I know that only people who have gone to shows with us before will get that, but usually Nahmi and I have the smallest bladders of the gang.  The one stop combined with the bigger truck and possibly heavier foot J got them there in time to stake out the best parking spot and find our stalls before our arrival.  After that, we moved together with the precision of a Swiss watch to get the stall guards up, waters filled and ponies fed. 

Ahhh, time to relax… for about two minutes.  Isn’t that the way horse shows always go?   We should have had hours to go tack shopping and unwind but before you knew it, it was time to get ready for the practice test we all signed up for. 

The practice dressage got off to a bit of an exciting start as Junior bolted on the lunge line, slipped, fell and skidded around the arena on his ass.  The cool part is that he got his brain back in gear and Carolyn rode a very respectable test with no bucks, running backwards or balking.  Simon and Reese put in respectable tests as well, and everyone got some good coaching from the judge.  If you have the opportunity to do a practice test the day before, I highly recommend it.  Seasoned vet that he is, Sparky got to sit this out and relax in his stall.   

Tomorrow – the real thing!

Playing Hooky

Dressage 101

By Carolyn Bahr


There comes a time in every working adult amateur’s life when a choice arises, especially when they own a green baby off-the-track thoroughbred.  Do they give their baby his/hers first show experience or do they let their trainer/coach do it?

I live in two worlds: my professional busy post-production television career, and my fun, extracurricular, equestrian pursuits.  With my first OTTB mare, I chose having my trainers lead the way, and not hopping into the irons until my horse had her show experience laid down.

But this time, I picked a different path.  I’m not the same rider I was almost a decade ago, and Junior, certainly isn’t the hot mare I use to own.  He’s a solid guy, talented, somewhat easy going, gelding -- the perfect partner in which to step up and challenge my skills.

Junior Studying Sarah's Words To Live By:  Be Bold, Ride Tough

Following the advice of both my trainer and my good friends, I entered our first show with me as rider.   I christened Junior with a show name, Playing Hooky (‘cause lets face it…. If I ever get to show, it’s ‘cause I skipped out of work!), chose both a level that would be easy for both of us, and venue that would be inviting.

May 1st, The Meadows of Moorpark derby day arrived.  The first challenge was met with success, loading into the trailer, and we were on our way traveling with fellow Eventer, Sarah Wood and her horse Tiberius.  As our coach, Susan Friend LeTourneur of Goldspirit Farm  and eTwister, Marla White, went to get our numbers, we were off to lunge.

Both boys were superstars and very quiet.  Things were looking up for my show nerves.  We left them happily tied to the trailer as we went to walk our derby jump course.  Mine was a combo platter:  Easy Beginner Novice was a combination of Beginner Novice fences mixed in with the Intro BN.  Nothing struck me as scary or undoable, though I was bit squeamish about the solid log jump back into the arena.  Course memorized, it was off to get ready for dressage.

Trek Back To Trailer

Tiberius was up first, and while he was gone, Junior held up well being left at the trailer by himself and only me for companionship.  It wasn’t until twenty minutes in when some other horse let out a bellow, that my quiet, well-behaved, baby decided he didn’t like to be alone.  Good timing, since we were already tacked and almost ready to head for our warmup.  Thank you fellow eTwister, Sherry, for helping me get on my fire-breathing dragon and was quite good-natured about us trotting away and leaving her behind. Warmup was interesting.  He tried very hard and at least settled slightly.  Off we headed to our arena.  Finally, it was show time! Still on the muscle, but trying to be good, as soon as the competitor before us halted and saluted, I was off trotting outside the arena to give Junior a view of what’s to come.  We stopped at the judge’s booth, chatted (to make sure he knew they were people in there and not horse eating monsters) and also passed it both directions.  After wishing us a good ride, the bell rung and I made our way to letter “A”.

Over Fence #1

With some encouragement after a slight balk, I got Junior into the arena and cantered partway down centerline.  Forward is good, right?  Or did he think we were going advance?  In my dreams.  It was an interesting test.  The wind picked up and blew down part of our court as we were trotting directly at it.  There were some more illegal canters and one tiny buck, but we managed a square halt and salute.  With a big smile I patted him and told him he was a good boy.  Definitely not the test I was expecting out my fancy TB, but not horrible for the first time out.  Hey, we stayed in the arena and didn’t get eliminated after all, and he did show moments of relaxations and throughness.  Next time we’ll get ‘em.

Into The Arena

Next up, his favorite phase, jumping.  It use to be mine, but after several mishaps with my previous horse, I‘ve learned I don’t bounce as well as I use too…  I was determined to put my luggage aside and give my boy the ride and confidence/support that he deserved.

Last Fence!

A few rides ahead, we waited outside the field to watch a few rounds.  That’s when I discovered something new about Junior – applause.  Apparently with his failed career on the race track, he hadn’t heard the crowds before, or maybe he did and he had a flashback, either way, I, all of sudden, had a very alert, springy, bouncy boy.  Needless to say, we left the area and waited for my trainer to tell me to head on in.

Our time had arrived.  We galloped into the field, halted and saluted our judge.  She rang the bell and we were off.  A derby consists of both stadium and solid field jumps, and with a deep breath, we kicked on to the first of the colored poles.  I tried to clear my mind of past rides from other shows and concentrated on the here and now.  Five strides, four strides, three strides, I waited to see what Junior would do about his first competition fence.  I kept my leg, I sat up straight, and lo and behold, he cantered right up and jumped it.  Never once taking a “green” look or backing off.  Good boy!  I just had my first smile of many.  Ten jumps total, and he never looked at a thing, just happily cantering and jumping and asking mom, “what’s next?” Even my scary solid fence, he never thought twice about.  After clearing our last fence, I was grinning ear-to-ear, so proud of my boy and myself.  Jumping was fun again!  And boy was it great to hear:  “Double clear for Playing Hooky and Carolyn Bahr.”

WINNING Weekend - duh!

Last weekend, Sherry and Poznan had a great showing at the Flintridge Horse Trials (March 12-13).  They must have had tiger's blood in their veins (last Charlie Sheen reference, I promise), earning an amazing 24.5 in dressage.  They had a couple of time faults for having a bit too much of a stroll through the country side during cross country, but that's just the way they roll.  (ok, THAT was the last Charlie Sheen joke... probably).  All in all, they ended up in first place, adding another blue ribbon to their collection.

Sherry showed in one of the hybrid classes that Flintridge offered, meaning that she rode the dressage and stadium jumping phases at one level (in their case Novice) and the cross country round at a lower level (Beginner Novice).  These classes are a great way for both horse and rider to build their confidence at a sort of in between step,.  More people really need to enter these classes to support the effort of keeping our sport safe and fun for all levels of riders.

Brent also got a chance to work on his latest invention - stirrup cam!  Figuring that the helmet cam doesn't effectively translate how exciting a cross country course can be, he placed this tiny mini digital recorder where it can catch the up close and personal view of the jump (frankly, a view none of us hope to have!).  Haven't heard how well it worked but Brent's attitude is if at first you don't succeed....

Carolyn treated herself to a little bit of winning attitude as well, buying a Hit-Air vest to wear at all the shows and schoolings she knows she and Junior are going to in the future.   Even magical Vatican assassin warlocks (ok THAT really is the last Charlie Sheen-ism) don't bounce so good against hard objects and the Hit-Air vest is an air vest that instantly expands when you become involuntarily separated from your saddle (aka fall).  In the spirit of e-Twisters hanging together, she's loaning it to Sherry for the event at 3 Day Ranch this coming weekend (March 18-20).  Hopefully we'll never learn if it works or not because we won't need it....

The most exciting thing about the weekend though was seeing Sherry and Poznan just continuing to get better and better.  Ok, there were a couple of chuckles as, quoting the judge, they "staggered to a halt" but their score also reflected a 9 for a canter transition.  They looked really amazing in all three phases and we're keeping fingers and hooves crossed for a great show for both Sherry and Cappa this weekend.

A Moment to Mark the Passage of a Friend

Normally, Eventing With A Twist is here to report our hopefully interesting adventures following the pursuit of eventing.  Today, I'm temporarily hi-jacking our blog to celebrate a life of an honorary e-Twister.

Last week, I had to say goodbye to my horse partner of nearly 19 years, Tequila.  At the age of 30 something, she died the way she lived - playing hard and giving it 100%.   Some people called her a rescue horse but in fact, I'm pretty sure it was she who rescued me. 

Our relationship wasn't always an easy one.  I think it was actually mutual disdain at first sight.  As a working student at a local riding school, I typically got to ride all the psychos in exchange for my working student hours.  I opened her stall door and she came lunging at me, ears back and teeth bared.  After recruiting a friend to hold her while I tacked, riding wasn't any easier.  We had the "run" and "run like hell" gaits down pat but anything else was questionable at best.  (And remained so for months on end.)  But this was a gymkhana class, not some hunter eq thing, and when I pointed her at the barrels it was pure magic.  A few days later, pole bending was even better.  Her manners were still atrocious, but I was undeniably hooked. 

She failed out of being a school horse since no one else wanted to ride her and was about to be sent back to an owner intent on dumping her at any cost.  Suddenly I was faced with the dilemma of owning a horse for the first time in my life or losing her.  Thankfully,  three other friends were willing to take the dive with me and "the Tequila moms" were born.

I think our rocky start quickly turned around when disdain became mutual bitchy respect.  Soon into our partnership she tried to dump my ass, but riding western at the time I merely got "weaned" on the horn (use your imagination, you'll figure out what it means).  Shouting, "I saved your life and I can send you back" like a maniac, she paused and behaved like a lady thereafter.  Well, for about 10 minutes but it was enough to teach me about this communication thing.  The bond grew until not that many years later, all I had to do was think about turning or changing gaits and she'd pretty much do it. It's a connection I fear I'll never share with another horse - can there ever be another quite like her?

About this time in a blog is where the writer is supposed to share some insight on coping with loss.  Sorry to say, I don't have much wisdom to share in that department.  After going to the barn to take care of her 5 days a week for 19 years, there hasn't been a day since she's been gone that I haven't started to schedule my day around those visits only to realize she isn't there anymore.  I drove down the road that I took to the barn the other day and was suddenly lost, having no idea where anything was if I didn't start the journey from the barn.  There's a whole community of people at the barn that I'll never be a part of again.  She was my anchor (and I mean that in a good way), she gave my life center and balance right from the start.  A friend commented that losing her horse was like losing a spouse.  I'm sure people who have lost spouses (ones they liked anyway) would disagree but I will say I feel completely adrift without her. 

I started writing this blog as a way of expressing that grief, a catharsis for me even if no one else read it.  In the process, I started thinking about all the things I remember about her and I woke up smiling this morning for the first time since she's been gone.  So if I do have any wisdom to offer maybe it's to focus on all the gifts these wonderful animals give us in the short time we're blessed to have them in our lives.  My favorite was her sense of humor.  For instance...

There was time I worked for an hour to get a flying lead change - something I knew she could do because she hit every change doing pole bending. I finally got it, only to have her swap it back a stride later.  Or in dressage class once when I asked for a shoulder in and did a piss poor job apparently.  After struggling with it, she gave it beautifully, as if to say "you mean this?" then promptly stopped.  The message was clear.  "Yeah, when you learn to ask for it correctly, then I'll give it to you." 
The times that all I had to do was give her a slight twitch of the rein and she make a ferocious shark face at an on-coming rider who was rudely riding too close in the arena, whip lazily cocked in our direction.  She quickly got the game and seemed to enjoy scaring off the hunters.

The time someone asked me if she was a Paso Fino when she was being an exasperating nut on the trail.  How that grew into her slowing herself down from the canter to the walk when passing other people, then picking up the canter again a polite distance away.  Somewhere between those two was the time she took off at a gallop on the trail before I'd quite gotten up in the saddle.  There I was, clinging to her side like Spiderman before finally getting all the way in the saddle and bringing her under control, only to be chastised by other riders for galloping at them.  Like it was my idea! 

The way she'd behave differently with each of the four moms, a feat that stunned animal communicator Lydia Hibby so much that she devoted an entire chapter to her in her book.  

How she helped me grow as a rider, putting up with my one-lesson-a-week beginner hands and seat with the patience of Job.  Looking back, it's a miracle that I survived it.  I doubt very many horses would have put up with the things she did, including riding in reindeer antlers. I know I would never have become an eventer if not for the courage and thrill-seeking she inspired in me.

The way she smelled.  And yes, I'm vain enough to say I think we both loved the attention of people commenting on how beautiful she was, the last time being just the day before she died. 

The "thumbprint of Allah" that  friend pointed out on her neck, a pretty rare thing for a horse that isn't an Arab.  Sadly, that friend has long since passed away too.  Maybe she's with Teq now, grooming her up for me.  It's a nice thought, but I'm kind of hoping for that reincarnation thing being true.  Because if there is another horse out there for me, I'm going to look for one with that same slightly wicked twinkle in their eye.

Mostly I remember how she loved to run and finally thinking about her makes me smile.  To steal from Bob Hope a little, thanks for the memories Tequila, you were the best. 

Ian Stark Clinic; 16,689 steps to enlightenment by marla

This weekend marked the 13th annual Galway Downs Fundraiser Eventing Clinic.  It was, as always, an amazing experience for riders and spectators alike.

Poor Barkley!

Carolyn and I came down Sunday to watch Scottish eventing guru Ian Stark teach his cross country clinic.  The day started with the typical Galway welcome - high wind gusts strong enough to knock your socks off.  But what's a little free dermabrasion between friends, right?  The first group of riders with Ian, including Hawley Bennett-Awad, did an amazing job.

Jack and Cappa over the brush

Then we were off to watch Cappa and Sherry ride with Gina Economou.  Both riders and ponies brought their "A" game to the party, achieving the quality of canter needed to accomplish their goals.  They ended their session going over a Training oxer and corner.  Woo hoo!!!

Look at the snow!!

Later, Tina had her round with Susan Friend and wow, what a difference a year has made.  Destino looked like a grown up pony, doing his fences straight and right out of stride. Ok, Tina probably had something to do with it but the duo never looked better.  They also ended their session on the Training corner, so kudos to all "eTwisters" all around. 

The star of the day, as always, was the incredible Ian Stark.  The most fun was watching him with his Preliminary group, including our old friend Madison Loving on her dollar horse, Dan. No kidding, he cost a dollar.  They shaved a few tail feathers off the duck in the water complex but overall did an outstanding job.  All of us spectators had several laughs off Mr. Stark, including the moment he told Gina Economou to stop being such a woman and just go.  Or was he talking to the nervous mare she was on, a new partnership that was on their first cross-country go?  His decidedly dry sense of humor and brilliant insights into riding drew a bigger crowd of spectators with every set of jumps he tackled.   The great thing was that the man seems to have infinite patience for helping riders over rough spots, while keeping the session light and stress free as well as just darned funny.

Ian's biggest tip of the day that seemed to be recurring theme in all the groups - ALLOW, ALLOW, ALLOW.  The most gasp inducing jumps came from riders picking too much in front of the fence.  Words of wisdom I hope to use some day when my horse is back to work.

Other trainers who helped make the fundraiser a success included Fredric Bouland, Barb Crabo, Robyn Fisher, Erin Kellerhouse, Debbie Rosen, Alice Sarno, Kim Scheid, Tamie Smith, Sarah Vandenberg, and Wendy Wergeles.  Seriously, if you've never been and you're committed to the sport of eventing, you've got to make effort to come to one or both days of the clinic, either as a rider or an auditor.  It's worth the drive down.  

A special thanks to our friends Larry and Pat Sawyer, who wined us and dined us and let us drink all their Edradour scotch before crashing on their couch the night before.  Being an hour closer definitely made it easier (although not easy after all the wining and dining!) to get to Ian's first clinic at 8am.   Oh, and the 16,689 steps?  That's how many steps we walked during the day to keep up with everyone's rides.  Just saying....

Congrats to the eTwister girls and their ponies for a glorious day!

Moving Day by Marla

Sadly, a few of us had to leave the lovely Day Creek Ranch and head for a barn closer to home.  No, we weren't thrown out for bad behavior :) -- it's just the damn economy.  We needed to bring Junior (Mints) and Reese ('s Pieces) closer so we could assume the mantle of riders and ride our ponies ourselves instead of leaving their care entirely in the hands of our trainer.

The day dawned windy as heck on the other side of the hill, but perfect for our new destination, Lakeview Terrace.  Good omens all around. 

Thanks to the help of good friends, the move went smooth as silk and in short order we were popping the cork and drinking champagne toasts at our new digs.



Sherry, victim of silly horse accident #2 couldn't hobble around to help, resting her foot on a bed of ice instead.  (Hmm, darned convenient timing though, eh?)


The boys fit right in, and in not time Junior (how do you spell that again?  :0)  was cozying up to Reese.

Later, Carolyn thanked all the helpers with a fantastic meal at Sherry's house (ours was geographically inconvenient).  Suffice to say, as at any EWAT event, a good time was had by all. 

Sherry had such a good time, not only did she keep her ankle elevated, she got a chronic case of hiccups.  The cure, as seen here, is a bit dubious unless you have someone to help you hold your ears or plug your nose or some such thing.  Or is this just an excuse for Brent to get crazy with his wife?  :) 

Looking forward to all new adventures from our new barn in 2011!

First Outing of the Year!

Congrats to all the Twisted Eventers who met up at Meadows of Moorpark Equestrian Center on Sunday for a great day of schooling.  Though a little chilly (perhaps I should ask East Coasters if that's true?  :0) the footing was perfect for a fun and - best of all - safe day of cross country.  Kudos to Randee, Tammy and their crew for grooming their new and improved footing to near perfection.  Considering all the rains we've had lately, it was amazing.

Getting there?  Well, that was a whole new adventure but let's just say it only cements the idea that if you aren't sure where you're going, DON'T ASK ME.  I get lost getting out of the back of the trailer, for Pete's sake!  All was well eventually and we even managed to find our way home without (much) incident.

Sadly, my still camera ran out of battery power almost as soon as the horse & rider combos took to the course.  Even worse, I missed the shot of Boy sleeping in the most awkward position in the truck on the way home, but without the sound affect of his snoring it probably isn't the same anyway.