Final Show of the 2014 Summer Season

Last weekend we attended our final show of the summer season in Grass Lakes, MI.  We got so lucky with the weather because earlier in the week the forcast was for rain but as the weekend progressed, we ended up with hot and humid, minus the rain.
This was a big weekend for Team Equisential.  Royal Waltz did his first Grand Prix and won his class with a 64.7%.  What a big milestone that was for him since he started training with me as a six year old and he is now eleven.  He is such a prince, he put in a great effort and produced a really clean test. He rested on his laurels the remainder of the weekend, enjoying a nice hack on the other days of the show.

Damon had a huge weekend.  He needed Thursday and Friday to settle in and he showed Training Level 2 on Saturday for a 75% and Training 3 on Sunday for a 70%.  We were able to warm up with all of the other horses and he marched right down to Ring 3 and was able to compete with confidence even though we had not had a chance to school him there.  Just as importantly, he was able to hack back up to the barn through all of the traffic and confusion without being escorted by his bonus mom, Mary Anne.  He finally relaxed enough to really show his beautiful gaits in the competition arena.What a great ending to a fun summer! We are headed back home to Florida around the beginning of October and we are looking forward to great Winter Season!

Settling into a rhythm........

Just before the July Waterloo show, we bought a different saddle for Damon in an effort to find something that will accommodate his large shoulders.  In Germany, he was ridden in a Passier, so I bought a used one with a wide tree since the open style of pommel suited him better than my beloved County Perfection.  When the saddle fitter came to adjust it for him, she gave me the bad news that the entire underside of the saddle had to be re-fitted which would require taking ALL of the flocking out and starting over. The good news is she did a great job(Katie Gussenhoffen)and Damon has more freedom but I can't say that I care for the seat and it is hard to keep my leg in position because of all of his huge movement.  I miss my County!  But, we are trying to buy some time to be able to find just the right saddle for him since he will be changing and growing as a 4 year old.
Since we haven't had any shows in the last month, Damon has settled into a nice routine at home.  He loves to be ridden first thing in the morning and then enjoy a couple of hours of turn out afterwards. We have even been able to venture out for longer hacks by ourselves, which he seems to really enjoy.
I had some minor surgery which puts me on light duty for a few days and Mary Anne has been great to step up and ride Damon and Royal for me.  Damon was a perfect gentleman for his "bonus Mom" and she did a great job with Royal, working all of the movements from the Grand Prix. It is really nice for me to see the horses go and know that they are so rideable for someone else.
We are pondering going to the August Waterloo show at the end of the month.  It would be our last show of the summer season before heading back home to FL in early October.  Time goes by so quickly, we are already making plans for the Winter Season.
Just an interesting side note, one of our clients, Rachael Horton, has a 5 year old from the same farm in Germany where we bought Damon.  His name is Franklin HW aka "Frankie", also a very talented young horse.  I wonder if Damon and Frankie know each other?  Most of the horses at the farm in Germany have been purchased when they are 6 months old, turned out until 2 and a half, broken at three, turned out again and started again 6 months later.  They have a great track record of producing good looking horses with good minds and that have been handled and ridden well.  If you are looking for a wonderful young horse, go to their website, www.hwfarm.com .

WATERLOO IN JULY

We had three weeks at home to debrief from the Dressage Derby and get ready for Waterloo in July.  We had the luxury of taking only 4 horses, Damon, Royal, Valdeon and Boca.  Mary Anne, Andrea and I have worked together so long that we can finish each other's sentences, making it a real pleasure to show together.
A couple of days before we left for the show, Damon's owner, Sarah Bushong-Weeks, came out from Denver to meet Damon for the first time.  She was out of the country when he arrived in Ohio and this was the first chance that she had to come for a visit.  Of course we had sent her pictures and videos of him since his arrival but there is nothing like meeting him in person.  After seeing his pictures and videos, it is still amazing to meet him in person.  He is larger than life and has the most outgoing personality and wants to play with you all day. I don't think he knows how to spell tired, although I might have seen him resting once or twice but he asked that I not tell anybody.  He is tireless, should be a politician, always up for a public appearance.
The good news is Damon had three weeks to rest between shows, the bad news is that he got rested.  Sarah watched me ride him at home and commented on how quiet and sensible he was but she was in for a surprise when we got to the show.  He put on quite a show on the lunge, if he wasn't bucking he was leaping and did every acrobatic move he could think of.  Fortunately, he was quite obedient under saddle, although you could tell there was a lot of tension right under the surface.  Sooooo glad he is a team player and holds himself together in spite of his nerves.
He put in a good test, 69.4% and the canter work had improved quite a bit since the last show.  The judge said she wished that we would have gone for a more dramatic trot but I explained to her when we spoke after the class that we can have huge gaits, as big as you want, but we can't do that and navigate the test pattern of 10 meter half turns.  She said she understood my dilemma and said that he needs more time to grow into himself and let go of some of his tension.  She did comment on how wonderfully balanced he is both longitudinally and laterally for a youngster and wished us good luck.
Waterloo was our last qualifier for the Young Horse Finals and we were not able to make the cut into the top 15 in the country. It was a long shot to try and get him qualified in such a short time, but he did a great job handling going to 4 shows in 8 weeks, especially since his first trip away from home was on the plane to come here.
We have some time to settle in now and probably won't show again until the end of August.  Our goal is to continue gaining confidence away from home and to be able to relax enough in the ring to show the gaits that he is capable of.

He surely knows who his people are, every morning we are greeted with a huge bellow and a horse that is eager to go to work.  You gotta love that!!!!!!

DRESSAGE DERBY OF OHIO

Yet another new experience for Damon last weekend.  The Dressage Derby of Ohio is held at Lake Erie College where Damon's classes were held in the indoor arena.  In the past, that arena has proven to be intimidating for a lot of horses so I was very curious to see what his reaction would be.  We got to school there on Friday afternoon which was a big help. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to lunge up on the Hunt Field (which proved to be a little exciting) but I was pleasantly surprised at how settled he was in the indoor.
We had rain that night which the footing outside was a no go for lunging so I decided to school him lightly in the morning in the indoor warm up arena before his afternoon ride. To complicate matters, the warm up had about 6 horses in a 20 x 40 area but I quickly found out that Damon is very brave, even when horses crowd him.  But, I have to say it was a challenge to canter him in there with his big stride and all that traffic. He handled it like a pro, another feather in his cap!  Warming up for the afternoon ride was the opposite, he was the only one in there which made him mildly concerned but he persevered .  The greatest thing was that he marched right down to the judge's stand which sits about 6 feet from the dressage arena and never missed a beat. I have to say in the test itself, his nerves showed a bit on his entrance and he broke at one of the trot lengthenings, but otherwise obedient. We had the same judge that we had last week in Waterloo and she was still pretty hard on him about the amount of tension he showed but she had no way of knowing how inexperienced he really is so we took it with a grain of salt.
Sunday was the 4 yr old Qualifying test and he really did an excellent job.  He was much more relaxed and the test had a better flow to it and afterwards the judge gave him kudos for how much he had improved in only one week. Their overall impression was favorable but they want to see more self carriage, especially at the canter and more relaxation at the medium walk. He scored a 68.2 percent. All of those things will come with time and I must say that what he has accomplished since he came over from Germany  6 weeks ago is extremely admirable. He remains a happy, outgoing horse with a great head on his shoulders and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Now we have three weeks at home before the show at Waterloo, which will be the final chance to qualify for the Young Horse Finals.

WATERLOO DRESSAGE JUNE 2014

What a difference one week can make!  Damon went to his second horse show last weekend in Grass Lake Michigan. He was accompanied by his more seasoned friends, Boca and Royal Waltz. He already knows that the "fuzzy halter" means that we are taking a road trip, although one never knows if it is around the block or across the ocean......it is so hard to be a horse and not know where you are going, with whom and for how long!
We had the most beautiful weather ever, cool in the mornings and sunny and 72 in the afternoons.  This time we were there on Thursday and he didn't have to compete until Saturday and Sunday so he had more time to settle in.  The other big difference was that we got to school in the arena where he had to compete. Our first test came on arrival Thursday afternoon.  While I was schooling Royal, Mary Anne was hand walking Damon around the show rings.  The atmosphere was a lot more electric than his first show and after about 20 minutes of horses calling (including Royal), Damon had a whoopy attack, lept up in the air and kicked out, landing a blow right to Mary Anne's thigh.  All she could think of was that she was going to throw up but she couldn't let go of the lead line at any cost.  When someone ran to her assistance, she decided it was too embarrassing to throw up in front of everyone so she toughed it out.  Let's just say that you could even see the nail holes from his shoe on her breeches. Fortunately, nothing was broken and a couple of days later, she had forgiven him his indiscretion. After some lunging he schooled well the first day.

Friday and Saturday, Andrea and Boca rode in their first Intermediare 1 class and scored 65% and a first and second place.  Royal rode the Intermediare 2 again and had 65% and two second places. We had the chance to ride the 4 year old test on Saturday not to count for the qualification for the Young Horse Finals and I am happy to say that he was much more settled about being in the arena and the judges box.  He did a great job although there is still too much tension for him to show what he is really capable of.  The warm up on Sunday for the Qualifier class didn't do much for his tension factor since the Young Rider Freestyles were taking place with booming music during the entire warm up for us. He was like a sail fish on the end of the lunge line and I was wishing I had a few sandbags tied to my waist to help hold on to him.  About 4 minutes before my test, he slowed down enough for me to climb on and off we went. Once again, he did a wonderful job in the arena, huge improvement over just one week ago in a much more electric atmosphere.  He scored a 70% in the Qualifier with the remarks that he needs to stretch more to the bit and show a longer stride at the walk. Not easy for a horse that is built as uphill as he is but that is a quality that will serve him well at the upper levels, so we will take that comment with a smile and look forward to the higher levels! Off to our next Qualifier this weekend at the Dressage Derby at Lake Erie College.

Nothing like a horse show to help a horse grow up.  The first ride at home after the show was so matter of fact for Damon, he was so relaxed and fluid, one of our best overall rides to date. After his training session, he spent a lazy afternoon in the pasture. He was so relaxed after 4 hours of grass that we practically had to drag him back to the barn.
We are off to Grass Lake Michigan on Thursday for our next show. Damon will have Thursday and Friday to settle in and then he will compete in the USEF Four year old test on Saturday for practice and Sunday will be his first attempt to qualify for the Young Horse Finals. It will be interesting to see his reaction to the whole process the second time.  At least this time he will get the chance to practice in the arena that he has to compete in, which should be really helpful to take care of his show nerves. It is a nice feeling to know that he loads and ships well, stands well for braiding and enjoys doing new things. We have started building our trust and relationship and can't wait for our second try!

FIRST HORSE SHOW!!!!!!!!!!  We just got home from our first horse show with Damon in Jefferson, OH.  I had someone ask me tonight "when was the last time you did something for the first time?"  That's what we did ALL weekend.  First time loading him in the trailer, first time going to a horse show, first time riding in the outdoor schooling area with 20 other horses, first time in a dressage arena, first time braiding him, first time riding a dressage test. It takes a village.  If Mary Anne wasn't handwalking him around the show grounds, I was riding him.  Now I know how new parents feel when they hope the baby will finally let them get some rest.  I only hope that he is just a little more tired than we are after the weekend but I wouldn't bet on it.
Amazing to think that 4 weeks ago he was a horse in a video that was very impressive and now he is the horse that I am riding at a horse show that is breathtaking to watch.  Even more wonderful to ride, when he is in his groove it is like sitting on a cloud that is moving on ball bearings.  We had a practice run at the USEF 4 year old test which is the equivalent to a First Level Test.  He made a great effort in spite of being tense in the arena and a little worried at the judges box.  Let's just say that the stretch circle at C was a little dicey. In fairness to him, he didn't even get to school in the arena before the test so he really had no idea why he was in there and what was going on.  Judge's comments were favorable and she gave him a 66.4% with the proviso that his score would improve dramatically when he gains confidence and gets rid of some of his tension.  Not bad for a horse that had never been off the farm until he got on the plane to come to America.
He actually loved being at the show because he is a real attention monger.  He was described as stunning, breathtaking, the whole package and just plain sexy. Finally on Sunday morning, he had to lay down and take a nap, THANKYOU, there is a GOD.  Unfortunately his ride on Sunday was in the afternoon and we had a deluge of rain and decided discretion was the better part of valor so we scratched.  So after a day of rest (we need more than he does!) we will be back at it to prepare for our first Qualifyer in Michigan next weekend.

Damon has been a busy boy in the last week.  When you are four years old, everything is new and exciting and there are so many "first times" to be negotiated.  We had our first ride outside in the outdoor arena which as you can imagine was rather energetic.  But the good news is, we finished on a great note and as four year olds go, he was a team player and tried to do the right thing.
I was in Denver over the weekend teaching a clinic so Damon's "Bonus Mom", Mary Anne was in charge.  She spent a lot of quality time with him, lunging him indoors and outdoors.  But the most exciting thing they did was to take a field trip to the race track at the back of Legacy Farm.  Damon has a personality that is as bright as the moon and he is curious about everything.  Even if he is initially afraid of something, he can't rest until he has put his nose on it. Once that happens, everything is AOK.
I can't believe how much he has improved under saddle in such a short time.  His balance is improving daily and his bearing on the rein is becoming so light and responsive.  He can already half halt off of my seat at the trot and will make transitions off of the seat. The canter is still a little more green than the trot, but it is so big, you feel like you are riding on a giant Ferris Wheel it is so round and lofty.Today after riding him indoors, Bonus Mom Mary Anne walked with us down the lane toward the racetrack with me in the irons for his first mounted mini trail ride. He was cautious on the way out but very well behaved, his confidence improved on the walk back home.  He really enjoys the stimulation of doing new things and can't wait to see what is on the agenda for tomorrow!

If there ever was a horse that was born to be a celebrity, Damon would be the one.  He has taken to having a constant stream of people outside of his stall looking at him like he has done it all of his life.  I had my best ride yet on him today, we rode through some of the movements from the FEI Test for 4 year olds. He is such a natural, everything is so round, you feel like you are riding a huge perpetual circle.  His canter to trot transitions far exceed the norm for a horse his age, they are effortless for him.  The only way to describe his canter, especially the right lead, is delicious.  In spite of being such a big mover, he is so light on his feet and can ride a serpentine that would make a First Level horse cry.
He always draws a crowd when I school him, someone suggested we sell tickets to fund our future trips to Europe to train and show. The best part of having people watch him is the look on their face, something between being stunned and disbelief.
Life in America is good.  Damon got introduced to peppermints today and got to play with a Jolly Ball in his stall for the first time.  He likes to throw it out in the aisle and have someone hand it back to him like a large pacifier.  What a clown!

Damon continues to impress me.  Rode him today after his day off and during the middle of a terrible thunderstorm (thank goodness for indoor arenas) and he went around like the champion that he is.  Bev and Lisa Van Nieuwal came out to watch him go and he didn't disappoint.  I am amazed at how mature he is for just turning 4 years old last month. This horse is the real deal and he is destined to do great things!

FIRST RIDE!!!!!!! Rode Damon for the first time yesterday and he was really great.  The only problem that we have had so far is keeping his shoes on.  That seems to be hard to do when your legs are up around your ears.  Mary Anne and I flipped a coin to see who would have to call Jason the SECOND time in 2 days to come and put our right front shoe back on.  He is such a prince, he never said a word as he put the shoe on for the second time.  Damon has settled into his turn out really well, he has a nice quiet PRE Spanish horse, Val, as his companion in the next paddock over.
SECOND RIDE today, amazing how sensible and brave he is in the indoor arena, being 4 years old and his first time away from home.  Germany to OH is a pretty big first trip.  Being at Legacy Farm is going to help prepare him for a horse show atmosphere because we have about 60 horses on the place and lots and lots of activity.  We are aiming for the first weekend in June to take him to the WPDA show in Jefferson, OH, probably as a non-compete horse to let him see what it is all about.  If he settles in well, we may do one class on the second day.

Damon arrived in fine style last night at about 7:30.  Marvin called when he was about one hour away to let us know his arrival time and it was all we could do to not meet him half way.  When he finally pulled in, we were all in the driveway with cameras for pictures and videos of this special occasion.  To say that we were excited would be an understatement, and even though I had seen him in Germany about 10 days earlier, I was still taken aback when he got off of the truck.  He traveled really well and stepped off of the truck looking fresh as a daisy.  He walked into the barn and made himself at home and probably wondered why all these people were staring at him. Regina took endless photos to put on facebook and text to all or our friends and family.  We stayed with him for a couple of hours to make sure he was settled,then drove home in almost complete silence.  I think Mary Anne and I were just numb with disbelief that he was finally here.  Then we looked at each other and said "now what?".
We finally fell asleep after texting pictures to everyone and after a good night's sleep, went out to the barn this morning to lunge him and turn him out.  Tacking him up was described by Mary Anne as like trying to wrestle an alligator on steroids. It took both of us to do it; he was a little fresh after traveling for 5 days. Let's just say thank goodness for a good round pen to contain him on the lunge line.  His feet didn't touch the ground very much but they did at least once because he pulled a shoe off.  Thank you Jason for coming out within the hour to replace it! Later in the day we turned him out thinking that he would have the edge off, but his feet didn't touch the ground much then either. He is really out of this world. Even people that are not knowledgeable about horses can tell that this horse is something special.  He has so much charisma, you can just tell that he is destined for great things.

He made it to New York! There were 13 other horses on the same flight and he ended up riding in the container with Shawn Harding's new young horse, Regent.  Shawna made the flight with the horses so Damon had someone to feed him carrots from Amsterdam all the way to New York.  The world is his oyster!  He is supposed to get out of quarantine tomorrow morning at 9:30 and then he will have an 8 or 9 hour trailer ride to our farm in OH.
Needless to say, we will be watching the driveway from about 5:00 tomorrow on.  I only wish we had a red carpet to roll out for him, he is probably expecting it by now.  I am sure he will be happy to get finished with this trip, he has been travelling since last Monday.  Pretty big first trip off the farm!!!!!!

This is the beginning of an incredible journey. I love this moment because all things are possible. As I write this, Damon's Design HW is on the plane flying from Amsterdam to New York, due to arrive at 9P.M. tonight.  He will be in quarantine until Friday morning, when Marvin will pick him up and bring him to our new summer home at Legacy Equestrian Center in Chesterland, OH.
We are all breathless waiting for the call to say that he has arrived safely. Sarah Bushong-Weeks(Damon's new owner), Mary Anne and I have all been breathing into a paper bag since this all started back in April.  Let me back up a bit to fill you in.  One night at home, Mary Anne pulled a video up on the computer and said, "I found your next horse".  I took a look and of course he was amazing but I wasn't in the market for an international caliber horse right then. Several days later, we were at the barn talking with Sarah and Regina about horses for sale when we pulled up the video of Damon to show the girls.  The next thing I knew, Sarah and I were talking about what a great journey it would be to campaign a horse like Damon and before you could blink your eye, I was on a plane to Germany for a test drive.  And yes, even at 4 years old, he rides as good as he looks!!!
The following week was a blurr with pre-purchase exams, second opinions from Dr. Genovese(who else?), travel arrangements and oh yeah, did I mention there was a trip to OH with 8 horses in there also? The rest of the summer will also be moving really fast since we are going to try to get Damon qualified for the FEI 4 Year Old Championships this summer in Chicago in August.