365 days.

One year has passed since my father died.

The past year all I have tried to do is keep on living exactly how he would have wanted me to.

Seems like a good path to stay on.

--

Below is the eulogy I wrote for him, and managed to choke out at his funeral. Only now can I go back and read it without sobbing again. It's still heartbreaking to think of his suffering, and all he will miss out on. 

But finally I am reaching a really beautiful stage of grief. Mostly when I think of him I smile. I love to talk about him and remember him. I know you are supposed to "get over it" and I had one person suggest that I'm "just at that age" where parents die. (Really? 38? I dunno any age seems too young), I know it's part of life, and I accept it. 

But still miss him.

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Eulogy.

Before I begin I would like to thank all of you on behalf of my entire family for being here today and for the amount of compassion and sympathy shown to our family over the past week.

For those that do not know – my name is Karen and I am Dan’s oldest (and smartest) daughter.

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My father was my first love. He was my hero, my protector and supporter. I thought he lit the sky.

We all knew him in different ways. But we all have one thing in common – he was one we went to for advice, wisdom – or sometimes he would just say “Don’t worry.”

He truly enjoyed sharing his thoughts and advice.. I know he was a safety net for so many of us. He always knew what to do and was a rock for all of us to lean on. He loved all of us more than he loved himself. There has never been a moment in my life where I have doubted my father’s love and I know that many others are not so lucky. Most people never experience love like he and my mother had.

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Some of his last words of advice to me were “Take care of each other.”  That was my father. Still thinking of others even in his last days.

I always admired the kind of quiet dignity my father had. His stoic nature only amplified his incredibly unique sense of humor. I think we can all relate to my father’s rather dry wit at times. No one was immune from his remarks.

What I experienced last week was enormously profound. He knew what was happening, and even so – and even through a haze of morphine – he was STILL making sarcastic comments. He was still making us all laugh during such a heartbreaking time.

My father literally laughed in the face of death.

They say hearing is the last sense to go, but I am thinking for him it was humor.

___

It was a privilege to be by the father’s side during his last moments. He helped bring me into this world, and I was there to help him leave. His death of course broke our hearts, but he also left me with a sense of peace that everything will be ok.

I think we can all agree there will never be another person like my father.

But we can carry on his legacy of kindness and humor.

And we can take care of each other.

Thank you.

If you want to know where I get my twisted, dry sense of humor.
You are lookin at it.

KPG Clinic notes

Kasey teaching a friend of mine on her TB/Connemara gelding

Olympian Kasey Perry Glass was in the area again last weekend. The clinic cost more than my mortgage so obviously I couldn't ride this time, but I did get to audit!

During a short break I talked to Kasey for about 10 minutes. She DID remember me from April and is just the sweetest person possible. I love that she represents USA dressage because I'm not sure you could have a nicer person.

We chatted a bit about what's next for her and her horse Dublet. She might do the World Cup, but is really aiming toward Tokyo 2020. I had to laugh to myself as she was discussing her possible show schedule and how it affects her world ranking.

"Ah yes, Kasey. I def keep my own World Ranking in mind when planning shows."

Sorry for my lack of media

She also had some funny things to say about this years WEG and the whole hurricane situation and the freestyle getting canceled. Basically she said yes the weather was crappy, but they ride in weather like that all the time in FL. However, it seems Charlotte and Carl (yes THAT Charlotte and Carl) LEFT before the final decision was even made regarding the freestyle. So reading between the lines I wondered if that was a big reason it was just canceled.

She was also very sweet and asked about Hampton. I of course proudly explained how we were polishing the 2-tempis and even touching on the 1s. She seemed genuine and was very encouraging. Here we come Tokyo 2020!!! #not

Sadly I had to work that afternoon so only caught about 4 rides. She is a very patient, kind teacher and worked well with both green pairs and more experienced.

Here are my notes:

• Leg on anytime you take with your hands
• in shoulder-in, counterflex if the horse isn't listening to your inside leg. Push shoulders in
• In counter canter, play with change of flexion
• If your horse bobs his head in the canter, push toward the hand and play with the bit
• Transitions within gaits to build strength
• Be able to put the poll wherever you want
• Flying changes: Push off the new inside leg before change
• Do changes on small lines (like a figure 8). It shortens the space you have to collect them
• If they "stop" in their mouth, go forward
• In half pass, anytime they want to slow or disconnect, change to a leg yield, go fwd
• Open inside rein in half pass to help shoulder over
• Shoulder fore to half pass and back to shoulder fore
• Transitions!
• Keep a slight shoulder fore in mediums

2018 You Been Good

Annual torture of the horse. 2018 spoils.
This is the price you pay for having a horse crazy girl love you, Hampton.

I wasn't sure how 2018 would go frankly. Having just lost my dad, I was now without my North Star, my family was reeling with a tremendous loss and I wasn't sure I would be able to navigate.

Horse shows were unknown at the beginning of the year. My dad financially helped me a lot with showing (and Hampton in general). Would I be able to afford a show season without him?

Not only was I able to do this all by myself (money wise) for the first time ever, we had a fantastic season full of firsts, ups, downs, wtfs, personal best scores, antics and hilarious moments.

In case you missed it, here's a round- up of the year. :)

I am lucky enough that a February Masterclass with Charlotte was in Lexington, so I went to audit and write an article about the (pretty damn cool) experience.

In April we enjoy a day of lessons with Olympian and medalist Kasey Perry Glass! What a fun day and I was so happy I could give this to some of my bestest horse friends!

Rode some Icelandic ponies with my friend Steph.

(and she finally bought one of her own!)

I visit the backside of Churchill downs the week of the Derby. 

First show of the season was the KDA Spring Classic at the Kentucky Horse Park.

We did PSG and 4th freestyle. Scores were not awesome, but we did hold our own.

In the midst of all this I GOT MY NEW (free) SADDLE!!!

A Custom Wolfgang Solo

In June we venture up north to Chicago to show at Balmoral Park. LOVED this show, and we earned some of our best scores of the year at PSG! And a reserve high point too!

I start up a scholarship in honor of my dad. The community raised enough

money to fund this for almost 10 years! Holy crap!

In July Hampton comes up lame on the right front. We find navicular changes, inject his coffin joint and give him bar shoes. He appreciates this, and is sound immediately.

In August we hit up Ohio and Majestic Farm. We get decent PSG scores in the 60s,

and a great Freestyle score to qualify us for regionals. Also I slept in my trailer and got rained on.

We have a great time at IDS ride-offs as a prep for Regionals.

Regionals is 4 days of fun, exhaustion, excitement, bucklet list checking off and dumbass moments.

We show PSG in the ROLEX ARENA FOR FUCKS SAKE. Is this real???

We get 8th in a cut throat 4th Level Freestyle Championship (open and AAs)

And I blew the equitation class when I didn't realize there was a pattern.

Still, 3rd is REALLY GOOD.

Add caption

 We get invited to Nationals, so of course I forget I have bills to pay and go ahead and enter. Good thing because we end up 9th in the AA 4th level freestyle championship. And I get a SMASHING deal on these boots:

And here we are in December!

We've been working on basics. Like staying straight in The Chute of Death. And transitions.

Hoping December stays pretty quiet and boring.

What a year, eh?

Thank you all for all of your support.

No Ceiling

Superb side-eye there Hampton

Ssshhh don't tell anyone but I actually love this time of year.

I know the weather is going to shit, and things freeze and barn work gets really inconvenient, but it's this time of year - when the shows are over, and the pressure is off - when you can really start to play and experiment with dressage.

The other day, I was working on staying straight for tempi changes inside a chute we had set up in the arena. Shockingly, making your horse straight creates more jump in the canter and before I knew it, I had Hampton firing off the ground. No one was around watching so I thought ... I wonder what would happen if I tried a 1-tempi change?

It's not perfect, and I want to crap my pants when I think about having to do 15 of these in a row. But you have to start somewhere! 

(He does change on my aids, and clean and straight which is about as good as you can ask for for a first try! But you can see he gets croup high in the second change, which will mess us up when we try to do more. But for now. I'll take it!)

(slow mo, so you can see the change instead of just legs everywhere)

I also think it's probably in my best interest to get very solid in the 2s before really starting to learn the 1s. Just because our M.O. is that wheels fall off the bus for a while when learning something new. But I did want to let Hampton know that yes, this is now in the List of Things Human Might Ask For.

Slowing getting the front to come up.

So I challenge my blogger friends - challenge yourself! Try something you think is above your level.

Post your results!

 (Ok maybe don't gallop Rolex size fences tho).

Hunter gets some not so great news

My cute little tripod kitty, Hunter, has been diagnosed with diabetes.

I had noticed he was guzzling water and just soaking the litterbox, plus he was looking unkempt. And he had developed a hot spot by his ear that wasn't healing. So into the vet we went. I had the entire blood panel done on him ($$$), and sure enough he is diabetic. But not off the charts thankfully.

He isn't the first diabetic cat I have cared for. I fostered Simon, another diabetic, several years ago. He was a hot hot mess and I am hoping Hunter does not turn into that.

So, he will be getting a diet change and daily insulin injections.

Instead of dry food to be nibbled on throughout the day, the cats will now get breakfast and dinner and that is it. And only wet food. I have been learning all I can about cat diabetes, and apparently it's all about cutting the carbs. There is also a chance that with proper management he could go into remission!

I fear Buckley may revolt and possibly murder me but I sure as shit am not going to have multiple feeding schedules for two cats. Plus it's not like Buckley is skin and bones. He could use a diet, too.

Buckley says he is never fed and please send help.

Thankfully Hunter is very tolerant and will let me test his glucose at home. And the injections are just sub-Q so I can easily handle that.

If anyone has any other tips, tricks, suggestions on diabetic hairballs. I am all ears.

I don't know how these "special" cats keep finding me but they sure do.

More awards. GAWD Hampton. :)

Look at dem boots shine!!!
(also I'm not sure Hampton has ever looked this sexy)

I went up for my Indiana GMO year-end banquet last weekend. It was a lovely time, and I pounded a rum and coke way too fast on an empty stomach.

I was all like "Whhhheeerrre are my feeeets?"

Hampton had a great year, and earned me even more satin!

He was 2017 High Percentage FEI horse, and also took 3rd in the PSG Ride-Off Championships.

In addition, he earned himself a handful of USDF All-Breed Awards! This is my first time ever being in these rankings. Hampton deserves it, he is such a special guy!

What a year!

Meanwhile, Hampton is enjoying not really a vacation, but more like he is working part time through the holidays. I am working him 3-4 days a week, instead of 5-6 with more hacking days than normal.

We have the I-1 to polish! :)

USDF National Finals: Part 2 (squeeeeeee)

Lovely fountain thingie for sale.
A mere $16,500.

It was a cold 24 degrees on Saturday morning.

After my soundcheck, and feeding Hampton and hanging on for dear life trying to walk around the horse park taking him for a nice stroll, I had a few hours to kill before my class.

I made a bee line to the Allech arena where it was HEATED.

I told myself, ok you get to buy one Finals jacket or vest. That's it. No other purchases. Except hot chocolate.

I did find a very nice navy blue vest with the Finals logo on it. Happy with my purchase, I thought I'd keep strolling and check out the other vendors. Although not many were open yet at 8 am. This wasn't Rolex Land Rover in terms of vendor numbers, but there were a fair amount.

The Custom Saddlery booth had all sorts of sparkly things I could barely take my eyes off of. Behold.

If only I had the sass to pull this off.

And then my two barn friends and I strolled back a place that had boots. And, as you do, we stopped to drool over them. I usually sigh to myself and say "One day. One day."

And then ... as I turned around to walk to the next booth ... something caught my eye.

It was a yellow piece of paper. And it said "$200."

I stepped closer. There were a group of boots in a pile under this little tag. Including a pair of God-like shiny Enrico Romitelli boots that made my heart skip a beat.

But you know how it is. Whenever there is a sale THAT good, it's usually the odd sizes that no one can wear. I'm a really common size so I figured they certainly would not fit me.

I looked a little closer. They looked like they MIGHT fit.

So I tried them on.

And then. The heavens shined a light down upon me. Angels began singing.


via GIPHY


THEY FIT.

They were on sale because they had a very slight rub from being in the box.

Now barely able to contain myself, I played it cool.

"Will you take $170?"

The rep smiled at me. And he said YES.

And that my friends is how I ended up with a $700 pair of SHINY ASS BOOTS for $170.

I sure as shit wore them for awards!

USDF National Finals -- Part 1

I am hardly sure where to start.

Going to split my Nationals experience into two posts. Part 1 will be about Hampton and our tests. And Part 2, equally as awesome, will be about THE SWAG AND MY PURCHASE OF THE CENTURY.

---

*Cracks knuckles*

First. If you ever have the opportunity to attend the USDF National Finals, even if you stand no chance at a ribbon, you should make this a bucket list item.

In the 10 minutes it took me to go to the show office to check in, I saw Debbie McDonald and George Williams. And I knew I was no longer in Kansas. I do apologize as I was a bit stunned and did not break out my phone for creeper photos like a proper fan girl would have done.

Awards table

Guys this show is legit. It is the real deal. Six-figure horses strolling around everywhere. Absolute top notch riding. 42 states were represented here, so yes you see the best in the country. Ex-Olympic horses, international horses and riders, Gladstone winners, multiple CDI horses. People flaunting their money. It was like being in Wellington. Only it was 20 degrees. Ha.

Some of the trophies

--

Hampton and I arrived late Friday morning and got settled before we rode a regular PSG class in the afternoon.

He warmed up great, although the footing was pretty sloppy and it took him a while to acclimate to it. We marched in the ring and put in what I thought was a solid test! He was obedient, and we did not make any mistakes.

They had electronic scoring so my score was up on the big light board before I even walked out of the ring! That's way cool! (They also text your score to you). Our score was a 57%+ - our worst ever at the PSG. I suppose that's what I get for trying to show in front of this type of judging panel! haha!

Check your scores at these stations

But also, here's why I cannot afford to make ANY mistakes with Hampton:

From my PSG test. hahaha.
So many 6s

So while other pairs can afford a bobble or two because they are a 7 or an 8 out of the box because their horse is just plain better, I cannot. This judge gave us several 4.5 and 5s, one was on Hampton's medium walk which HAS NEVER EVER HAPPENED. But on the bright side we DID get a 7 on the left canter pirouette which I had been screwing up all year! So there is that.

Here's the thing. If I want scores in the mid to upper 60s, I would have to go back to 2nd or 3rd level. That is just the name of the game now. Hampton is just not uphill enough, or engaged enough (or even "fake engaged" like you see in Fresians) to score much more than a 6 from most judges in PSG and up. The fact is that Hampton is a downhill, flat mover. However, he is a fantastic teacher and he is teaching me how to train a horse up the levels. So we will continue onward. Scores be damned. And he is quite happy to do the FEI still so we keep going! I was disappointed in the score, but happy with my horse and all the progress we have made.

What else can you do?!

---

Saturday morning rolled around and I did my sound check at 6:45 am. FROZEN. It was barely 20 degrees.

6:30 am at the KHP

I did some shopping before my 10:39 ride time which I will post about next.

Teaser: I bought something beautiful. I went full out dressage queen.

Anyhoo, it was maybe a tick warmer around 10 when I got on Hampton to warm up for our championship 4th level freestyle class. He warmed up great. He LOVES this chilly weather. Meanwhile, there were many other fresh and naughty horses. Things were pretty interesting around the horse park haha!

Our time was up and I marched into the Murphy ring. Hampton was uphill, energetic. And stayed that way throughout the test. He was so on my aids, never dropped an ear.

I started grinning during the trot work, I was having so much fun. In fact our trot work got a little sloppy because I was like "weeeee hahahahahaha I love this!" But still, we hung right in there and got a 63%+. Which is about what we have been getting all year, and this was under 3 judges at the National level. Including Janet Foy.

Here is the full video! I don't have to analyze why we don't score that awesome. It's super obvious, but it's fun anyway!



And we didn't get stomped on, the scores (well, except for the top 2 horses I think) the scores were TIGHT. So Hampton really hung in there! We finished 9th. Out of 10 horses. hahahaha! I didn't even expect to beat anyone at this level but that's cool!

I was just so proud of him and how far he has come. He was so happy to be showing and also really showed how awesome of a horse he is when, at the end of our extended canter, two ring ladies flapped their blanket around mere feet from us and Hampton NEVER BLINKED. I can assure you probably any other pair out there would have been spooked. Not Hampton! Check them out in this clip of our freestyle. They are on the right hand side of the screen.

To me that kind of brain is worth far more than those leg flingers who get the big scores but their riders have to be to and from the barns by a ground person.

---

We got all jazzed up for the awards ceremony. Again, it was chaos but Hampton stood there half asleep as if he does this everyday. lol.

Hampton: "Oh another awards thingie. zzzzz"

We took a lap around the Alltech and that was that!

weeeeeee

What an amazing experience! I'm so glad I went, and have a long list of people to thank for helping us not just get to Nationals, but all year along the way.

Waiting to go into the Alltech

Good boy!

The colors at the horse park were gorgeous
Can you spot my new purchase? hee hee

Fluffy posing for a photo

__

This completes our 2018 show season. We may be done showing, but we are not quite done collected loot because:

To be continued ....