The Green Horseman

I recently wrote about the updates around the horses at home and about Stanley and Tiger’s progress through the beginning of May.

Stanley has been such a treasure. Always willing and ready to learn and grow. Both of my trainers love him, too, so I know it’s not just me being overly biased.

At the end of May, I took Stanley on our second off-property adventure. Together we trotted down the centerline for Stanley’s first-ever dressage show.

Stanley stood incredibly well at the trailer, even when Tiger went away to perform his test. He looked around a bit but ultimately ate from his hay bag and stood politely. When I got on things changed a little bit.

After getting on, Stanley was a lot hotter than normal. Completely understandable since this is such a new thing for him. There were horses and people EVERYWHERE. The last time he was at such a busy venue he was probably going to race. Despite being “hot” he listened to me. He walked and trotted around…choppy strided and sightseeing…but he DID do what I asked of him. He didn’t blow up or get belligerent. We warmed up for a good long time before our first test. The judge seemed to be very good-natured and as we approached she could tell he was super neon green. I came up to her and said “Good morning, I’m rider # and we are here to provide today’s entertainment.”

We successfully did the Intro A test while channeling Stanley’s inner giraffe. He trotted his circles, looked around. Free walked. Looked around. He DID halt nicely.

I stayed mounted while I waited for our Intro B test. He didn’t wish to stand still so we continued to walk and trot around the warm-up ring. I finally got the courage to canter. I half expected it to be a frightening mess. I wasn’t sure if he’d take off. I wasn’t sure if he’d have brakes. I wasn’t sure if he’d go on a bucking spree (he alluded to wanting to earlier).

In fact, when we cantered Stanley released some of his tension. It was balanced, quiet, and lovely. He was MORE manageable during and after our canters. WHAT?!

We then rode our Intro B test. We were still sightseeing and we continued to test in the giraffe category.

At the end of the day, we came dead last but earned a ribbon for 6th in intro A. What I’m thrilled about, however, is our scores. Well, more-so the comments. Our judge Karry Brothers made valid points and notes. Her final remarks were incredibly encouraging and left me smiling. It was clear she had a great sense of humor and understood that he is green and learning. She gave us a lot of credit while giving us fair scores and something to work toward in the future. Judges like her are WHY I fell in love with dressage!

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Tiger and Suzanne also did an excellent job riding first level and took home a second place ribbon.

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In the week following I came down from my high of the dressage show I began to have some confidence issues. The adrenaline of riding through Stanley’s excitement left me shaken. He wasn’t all that exciting overall and I laughed with it the whole time. I never got flustered or nervous but I’m sort of a weenie and in the withdrawal from the day something told me to worry.

In my dressage lesson that week both of my trainers gave me the pep talk I needed. I told them I was worried about cantering out in the wild at shows and I’m not certain I’m the equestrian I need to be to do this. They both were incredibly supportive and helped recalibrate me.

The next day I took a lesson with my jump trainer (who also reinforces my dressage training). We had a fantastic ride and it reconfirmed that I AM the equestrian the Stanley and I need.

Isn’t it so odd how our minds play such games with us?

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On Friday was the beginning of a truly remarkable weekend. I woke up early and arrived at Graphite Hill Farm at 6AM to set up a table for Wahbee’s Woodworking. I also brought a bench that’s available for sale so spectators could sit and enjoy it. My friends arrived shortly after I got set up.

Around 7AM Boyd Martin arrived with the farm owners, stepped out of the side by side, reached out his hand and said “Good morning, I’m Boyd.”

Oh. My. God!

It took everything in me not to fangirl and to speak fluent English.

If you don’t know Boyd Martin he is a three time Olympian and two time Pan American Games gold medalist. Everything that I have read and heard about Boyd say he’s a great person and hard worker in addition to his success and fame.

They weren’t wrong.

My friends and I eagerly worked jump crew while Boyd taught the clinic. We reset jump rails. Moved jumps as needed. Even without riding we learned SO MUCH from Boyd on Friday.

While a couple of my friends stayed the whole day Suzanne and I needed to run back to the farm in the afternoon. We bathed Tiger and Stanley and got them nice and clean. We tucked them into their back on track scrims and lycra hoods. We packed the trailer and headed back to the farm for the evening’s meet and greet with Boyd.

I talked to Boyd and showed him some of the jumps I build. I gave him a Wahbee’s Woodworking hat and got my own signed. A little while later he addressed everyone and spoke about what it takes to be successful.

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I stayed the night at Suzanne’s since she lives closer to the barn. We woke early on Saturday and loaded up the boys. We got to Graphite Hill early and I got started tacking up Stanley. It took hours of riding to calm him and I wasn’t too sure what to expect from him that day. We went into the indoor arena where I got to lunge him. He was calm!

I got on and we walked the quarter mile to the outdoor ring.

Our clinic session began at 7am sharp. Boyd arrived for the day wearing a Wahbee’s Woodworking hat!

Stanley was still pretty elevated compared to home, but he was nothing like he was the week before! We cantered with 7 other horses around a large ring with a PA system going and a good number of spectators. His brakes were delayed, and he offered no collection, but he did it. With so many new things I was incredibly proud and impressed with him.

In our group we had another pair with a similar situation. Our new friend got her horse 5 months ago and has been training off the track. Similarly Stanley and I have been together for 6 months.

As we continued through our almost 2 hour session Stanley got more relaxed (and more tired). Our first jump was over a small vertical and into a muddy area with glistening water also facing harsh shadows in the corner. He kept refusing…not like him. We did finally get him over the jump but it took some convincing. Although we DO need to get used to situations like this I wish it wasn’t the first jump of our session.

The rest of the session went quite well. We jumped oxers, combinations, and even went over a liverpool. Stanley didn’t think anything of the liverpool, just kept going with the flow. Towards the end of the class he was calm, collected, soft, and PERFECT.

One of the highlights was how Boyd collected all of us at the end and gave us specific talks based on our individual rides. He told me he really likes Stanley and although I love him a lot I need to be serious about getting him to understand that going over the jump (“Under, Over, or Through”) is a non-negotiable thing. I completely understand where he’s coming from, because if/when we go higher and to cross country there needs to be no question about whether he will make the jump. It’s something that I will work on moving forward.

After our session we walked back to the trailer. Tiger had been patiently hanging out in a stall we rented. I gave Stanley a nice rinse and applied some poultice and liniment. With him settled we got Tiger tacked up and ready. Luckily there was a ride between mine and Suzanne’s so we had plenty of time to take care of both boys. With tiger tacked up I put Stanley into the day stall and we proceeded back to the arena for their session.

Tiger was a complete professional and the pair performed all of their tasks well. It’s amazing to see how much they both have progressed over the last year and a half. At the end of the day in their individual talks Boyd told Suzanne she could have told him Tiger was an expensive warmblood imported from Europe and he would have believed her. My heart sang! I was completely bursting with pride.

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We brought the horses home and settled them back in and immediately returned to the farm to finish watching the clinic. The final session of the day included some incredibly talented and well known local riders. One being the legendary Marcia Kulak. It was thrilling to see them jumping 3’6″+ and inspiring to see how adjustable the horses were in their strides. It’s something to strive for.

The Boyd clinic may have been may favorite to date. I took home a ton of knowledge and ideas for exercises. I respected his views and admired his sense of humor. He was incredibly honest. If you weren’t doing well he called you out on it. If you were doing well he’d praise you. If you weren’t listening or paying attention…he got pissed. Understandably so. He was there to teach and instruct and to inspire so if people weren’t taking it seriously he was wasting his time.

To be honest it blew my mind to see some of the kids there that didn’t seem to understand what an incredible opportunity they were given. There weren’t many of them luckily but the privilege was high in a couple. I would have given my left arm for this opportunity at their age.

Overall we had an incredible 2 weeks. We grew and learned and grew some more. Stanley grew up a lot.

I’m so proud of how far we’ve come in such little time. Our next adventure: a combined test!