Ponies aren't just for kids

I had the joy of growing up on the back of a pony. Every birthday and Christmas my parents would ask me "Tracy what do you want ?" My answer was always the same immediate response "a Pony!"

I had Ponyitis.

My bedroom was filled with Thelwell themed wallpaper, bedding, curtains etc etc. Books on ponies and horses, Pony club manuals, storybooks of girls and ponies. My favorite clothing was jodphurs and paddock boots.

Every weekend my Mum dropped me off at the local stables to be a helper. There my friends, fellow pony-addicts, and I mucked out stalls, perfected the steaming muck heaps into Castle like structures, hand raked the menage, polished the mirrors, swept the cobblestoned yards, raked the parking areas, cleaned all the tack and equipment, carried the water buckets to be filled, and groomed all the ponies for their lessons. We fed them polo mints, bought with our weekly pocket money allowance.

We were allowed to catch the ponies from the fields and ride them bareback in a halter (with our helmets on) back to the stables. This was, of course, after we had caught them. Usually a few of them would rather stay in the field than be ridden in lessons. It was our job to convince them to come in!

We stalked them around the fields with the ropes " hidden" behind our backs. Sometimes they tried to bite us or run us over, but we didn't care, we lived for those little, scruffy ponies.

Oh, how we loved those ponies!

Every year my parents would try to go on a trip to somewhere warm, since Great Britain is not the sunniest place to live. They visited Greece or Turkey or Spain.

I never went.

I always went to the local stables for a week long riding holiday. For a whole week you got to own one of those naughty ponies! Taking daily lessons, stable management lectures, group hacks where you stopped for lunch. We would take care of their every need and prepare for the end of the weeks competition. It was heaven!

When I was 13, I finally got my first pony. A beautiful 14.2hh Anglo Arab mare named Peaches and Creme. She was a light colored Palomino with dapples and a silky matching cream colored mane and tail. She was 4, very green and she was going through a terrible bucking streak.

On my Trial ride she spooked at some blue barrels in the field and bucked me off! It was love at first ride! I was getting my own pony!

I had taken lessons on her mother Lady Peach for a few years and had been terrified of her, she did not canter. She galloped, everywhere! My instructor made me ride her in my weekly lesson for 10 weeks straight, untilI I was able to control her on the canter around the field and over fences. Usually it ended up with me crouched on her neck with 10 yards of skid marks in the grass at the gate. But finally I became a rider instead of a passenger and mastered that nutty mare!

Creme and I had the best time, riding for hours around the local bridleways, woods and lakes. I did get bucked off a lot though! A few times after a bucking spree I hitched a ride down the high street with kind stranger, sobbing out of frustration with my crop in my hand.

Asking the kind driver to please "follow that pony! " She always ended up in the local retirees vegetable gardens, eating all their lettuce, right behind our house.

Once she bucked me off in the High Street in front of an oncoming bus, but we both survived and I got better at staying on, so she finally stopped trying to unseat me!

My sisters had ponies too Tina,Flame and Shuffles and we rode in the early mornings before school via the street lamps and for hours during the Summer holidays. We also met a few other friends with ponies on our adventures!

I have always had a soft spot for ponies and over the years have trained quite a few. My two lesson ponies for years were Dixie and Skippy. Dixie was a very opinionated little mare, part Welsh, Mini, Shetland and Arabian. I got her when she was a yearling. I bought Skippy when he was 11 and he was worth his weight in Gold. He was slow and steady, Dixie was fast and bouncy. I taught so many children on those ponies and they went to the local shows. I have trained Welsh ponies, Shetland, Connemara, Paint, Swedish Gotland, Heinz 57 ponies and POA's.

I also train Amateur riders on their ponies too. One of my clients has a wonderful Hafflinger pony who is such a reliable mare but at the same time fun to train and learn on. She can teach lead-line beginners safely and then train her Amateur owner how to do a leg yield or shoulder in. Ponies get a bad rap as being so naughty but they have an intelligence and sure footedness that is hard to find in a horse.

Have you ridden a pony lately?

Ethics and other stuff

I am re-vamping the new facility, that has sat dormant for a few years. In the process I'm learning carpentry 101!

I am really appreciative of the huge amount of help from my hard working, supportive friends. The precious technical advice from the Contractor who is working on the Guest house has been huge. His best advice is , " If it's not fun, Tracy, then you won't want to do it!"

How true this statement is at this point in my life.

This brings me to ethics of Dressage Training and Competition.

So often I see horses being pushed a bit too much in the warm up arena by my peers. You see the Amateur and Junior riders trying so hard, to reproduce what their trainers seem to so easily produce, from their mounts.

I personally refuse to over face my students and horses, sometimes to my own demise!

Since it's not easy for us to admit when we are not quite up to the level, yet.

It seems almost an insult to hear. We all work very hard on our sport.

But as a wise Carpenter recently said, 'If it's not fun, you won't want to do it! "

So let's work hard and have fun! Then we can rest easy knowing that there is always another day, another show and that our horses will try harder for us, if we ride them with the compassion and respect that they deserve!

Dressage lessons for the Hunter jumper rider!

I really enjoy teaching riders from other disciplines and quite often help riders who compete over fences fine tune their flat work skills. As a young rider and into my thirties I competed in Eventing and Show jumping and can really appreciate the benefit that good flat work can be to these disciplines.

The very fit jumpers are not quite so fit when asked to bend correctly and stretch over the top-line and their riders are amazed at how much work Dressage really is! They really enjoy the new challenge and it pays off in the medals classes and the flat classes, whens they can really ask their horses for more precise transitions which gives them an edge on their competitors!

Getting out of the school and back to nature

It is so great for the Dressage horses to get out of the arena and onto the fields and hills to relax their mind and cross train their bodies. It also helps them to develop trust in their rider. Of course it is important that you can safely walk, trot and canter in the school before you start to ride away from home. I always make sure to have a calm, babysitter type horse to accompany my young horses out on their hacks until they are familiar with the new environment before I take them alone.I am a big believer in doing your ground work and some warm up in the school before you go out, just to check the mood of your horse and ensure that everyone is relaxed before their new adventure!
Happy Trails!

Keuring 2011 at DG Bar Ranch

I just returned from a fun filled few days at the lovely DG Bar Ranch in Hanford CA.

First I must say what a welcoming place this is, such nice friendly, family oriented people, who have a true passion for horses.

I had the opportunity to present Brigette owned by Lisa Pincus. Brit as we call her is sired by Facet and is a lovely chestnut mare. She was second premium and thus made it into the mare book. I rode her in the IBOP test and she was very obedient and scored 7 on rideability. She is a very compact 15.3hh and perfect for her Amateur/owner. Whilst at the ranch she fell in love with her stall mate a foal sired by Totillas, she has great taste!

I had never experienced a KWPN Keuring before but have presented mares in performance tests successfully for Oldenburg and Hannoverian. It is an interesting process, first we present the mare for measurement and they must be at least 158cm, Brit is 160. Then they are trotted for soundness on a hard surface. Next the horses proceed to the jump chute and if presented for Dressage are just turned loose and evaluated on the 3 gaits and conformation. A few hours later the are ridden in the IBOP, a long dressage test in a short court (40m) arena that consists of 20m circles, serpentine, lengthening of stride at trot and canter, trot stretch circle and walk on both reins working and free walk. The test is called since it is very long and difficult to memorize! After this is the group session and DG Bar Cup. According to age the horses show circles, lenthening, trot walk, canter walk transitions, leg yields and shoulder in, stretch circle and free walks as announced by the inspector. The standard is higher for the older horses and the judges are really looking for very supple horses with elasticity, willingness to work and ability to lengthen, collect and relax. Overall it is definitely worth presenting your horse if your intention is to breed and it can l help the owners and breeders decide what the weaknesses and strengths of their horses are before they enter the competition arena. if you have a very willing rideable horse who is not necessarily a superstar you may want to save your money and just go watch instead!

New beginning for my wonderful Broodmare

My wonderful mare Silver Prinzess* is moving to her new home tomorrow evening, in Loomis, CA. She will be co co-owned by two wonderful ladies who I have known for over 13 years and I could not be happier for her to go to such a wonderful farm and people.

She will be dearly missed.

For the last five years she had given me three amazing foals, each of which are turning out to be lovely horses and showing all the best traits of their dam. For the first time in over three years I am finally lucky enough to have all my horses stabled in one place and it has been a much cherished time watching the mama and her two daughters play and groom one another in the pasture. Her last foal Wintz Charming (Folly, born April 1st!) has also enjoyed having mum back! Tomorrow will be a tough day for us to say goodbye!

I have all the foals I could have ever wished for and will be excited to see her next offspring!

She is the best mum and deserves to do what she does the best.

I purchased her after she had injured her stifle and had always wanted a broodmare, and have always had a soft spot for Greys! She truly has made all my dreams come true! I hope she continues to do so in her new home, for her new owners. I love you mama, make more beautiful babies and live happily ever after!

Amazing long lining by Olympic trainer Bo Jena