#USDF

[griffinequestrian]

When I sent off my entries for the Thoroughbred Makeover, I couldn’t wait for the chance to gallop out on this famed cross-country course. Eventing at the horse park was still awesome, but the dressage competition may have been the highlight of the entire Kentucky trip.

I picked Wyatt because he was talented. But I also picked him because he was a challenge. Wyatt put all my years of riding and horsemanship to the test. It took weeks before I could safely get on his back. There is nothing about him that is my “type.” But he’s taught me so much. Wyatt, it seems, is an acquired taste.

This horse will never be the most relaxed one in the dressage court. So on the days he shows up, it’s really special to be able to show what a lovey horse he really is. We’re finishing in the ribbons in both divisions this week and I could not be prouder of this guy. He is the type the Makeover is made for - give him a chance, and he will do anything for you. It’s a tremendous feeling of validation - I did this! This horse is self-made. The journey was hard and stressful but 100% worth it, and War Feather is worth is weight in gold.

Training Level Test 2: We scored a 68.793%

Our demonstration ride. We have 5 minutes to show what our horses can do. They dinged me for running out of time just before we finished even though this video shows we're under 5 minutes (??). We scored a 42.2/50 that went toward our final score and ended in 6th place.

#equestrian #thoroughbred #ottb #horse back riding #equine #horses #horse #dressage #USDF #Thoroughbred Makeover #RRP #Kentucky Horse Park #retired racehorse #Youtube

[onetempi]

Mule ears. Wait. Rocher ears. Yeah. . . . #vscocam #nc #farmlifeinthecity #dressage #americanwarmbloodregistry #totalhipreplacement #totalkneereplacement #thirdlevel #chronicpain #gelding #vtosaddlery #usdf #rocher #georgewilliams https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-YcgnO-lv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#vscocam #nc #farmlifeinthecity #dressage #americanwarmbloodregistry #totalhipreplacement #totalkneereplacement #thirdlevel #chronicpain #gelding #vtosaddlery #usdf #rocher #georgewilliams

[horseworksinsurancespecialists]

Got to love that post-test smile!🤩 Big congrats go out to Yvonne Kalow and Believe in Miracles on winning their Third 1 test at NEDA Spring at Fieldstone Show Park! This super team rides with Ellie Coletti of Cloud 9 Sport Horses. #dressage #usdf #neda #equineinsurance #horseworkshandlesit (at Fieldstone Show Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfE842wJ5hx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#dressage #usdf #neda #equineinsurance #horseworkshandlesit

[bioluminescentfrog]

SHE IS SO PRETTY

#dude usdf ioqugfiuqiguqwnniu #LOOK AT MY STREAMER #dude i am feeling gender envy and I dont even want to be a girl #ivorycello

[krizste]

#TRHT-HDFS-USDF-FFFD #oc #my art

[draftmare]

We had bit drama this year with the whole USDF baucher thing, but we also had girth drama this year, ugh.

It started early this year when I FINALLY got my hands on a County dressage saddle that fits both Sydney and I perfectly. The problem was that my girth from my previous County was oddly too long. Granted, the old County was on a WXW tree and Sydney really only needs a W tree, so I don’t know if that was the difference, or if it was the fact that the old County was a 2009 and this County is/was a 2021 that was being passed around as a demo. Anyway, long story short, I bought a new girth. I treated myself to a girth I had been wanting for a while, a Lemieux Gel-Tek, which is modeled after the ProLite and Fairfax girths (LeMieux is actually rather notorious for knocking off famous brands for cheaper). I had had one in brown for my string of ill fated and ill fitting brown dressage saddles, and had really liked it. This one, however, appeared to be a dud. Every time I used it, it dyed Sydney black. I reached out to the company and they told me to just condition it, and that it would eventually stop. Well, I didn’t want to wait for to eventually stop, not when it was leaching who knows what kind of chemicals on to my horse’s skin on an almost daily basis, and she already has a type of cancer and a couple of sarcoids to boot.

I bought a Professional Choice Ventech girth, but this time with fleece, I say this time with fleece because the girth I used for my old County was the exact same girth, just a 32 inch, and with neoprene. Something about it being shorter just made it not sit right on her though, but I held on to it because I knew in my head that we had been using this brand and style of YEARS without issue. We will come back to this thought in a minute.

Next up on the try list was a WOW brand H-girth. I did some pretty extensive research about these girths, and how they were well suited to horses with Sydney’s conformation: big belly, forward girth groove, saddle needs to be kept back despite gravity saying it should go forward. The only thing I kept seeing was that these girths were more meant for the WOW saddles, which all come equipped with a point billet, which I mean, makes sense considering they are made by WOW. My saddle does not have a point billet, both billets come straight down off the tree, which works much better for Sydney because the saddle isn’t being pulled forward into her shoulder. One of the other riders at the barn has one of these girths, so I got to try it for a couple of rides, and then further internet sleuthing assured me that there are people that use them on saddles without a point billet.

Did it work? Sorta… Was it ideal? Not really. The straps kind of angled back towards each other because of how my billets are. Even though WOW says these can be used on saddles without a point billet, the spacing makes it really hard. We used this most of the summer until I started to notice that she was getting some rubs between the straps as her winter coat was coming in. This to me indicated that she was likely getting rubbed all the time, it was just now her coat was long enough to make it obvious.

So, I swapped her to the Professional Choice Ventech girth, and she promptly got a girth gall. I was MORTIFIED. I have never felt so horrible. Thankfully, I wasn’t on some 5 hour long trail ride, or anything like that. She got a week off for it to heal, then swapped back to the WOW girth while trainer and I pondered what to do. We didn’t really come up with any solutions other than to keep riding in the WOW girth for the time being while I scoured the internet for information.

This past week the saddle fitter came out, and I grilled her for solutions. Side note, OMG did getting my saddle flocked make a huge difference. I could feel it sitting differently with more wool in there. I wish I had been a little more insistent on her coming out sooner. I can also now toss the fluffy half pad and go back to my ProLite half pad, which feels so much nicer under my butt.

Fitters suggestion was the Total Saddle Fit StretchTec girth. It’s an interesting design, meant to be anatomical as well as move with the horse as their body expands and contracts during different points of a ride. I didn’t really want to spend full price on yet ANOTHER girth this year (are we keeping count?), but thankfully there are a ton of these available used (which may or may not be concerning), it was just a matter of finding the right size and color at a price I was willing to pay. This ended up giving me my first experience with buying from the TackTack app. Everything went smoothly, and I ended up with a basically new girth for a song.

I had my first ride in it today, and so far it seems to tick all of the boxes. No rubs, allows the billets to hang straight down, and fits her well. Time will tell if this ends up being our ultimate winner. I am crossing my fingers because I have no idea where I would go next.

#equestrian blogging #blogging #horsblr #dressage #dressage tack #appaloosa #belgian draft #draft cross

[mac-and-thefox]

Real life talk for a second, if you'll indulge me.

As a lot of you know by now, in the real world I am a riding instructor and horse trainer. Tomorrow and Sunday I will be attending the second of three assessment clinics as a part of receiving my Instructor/Trainer certification from my industry's national governing body in my country (its the USDF Instructor/Trainer certification for anyone that's truly curious). I am the youngest candidate in this session. If I pass this, I will be one of...maybe 10 people in my state that have this credential. If I'm being honest, I'm scared shitless.

This is a really intense program and the assessors that conduct it can be brutal. I will be demonstrating my teaching style by conducting a lesson with a demo rider/volunteer and having to defend my specific style and reasons for my methodology. It's conducted in front of an audience of auditors as well as the two assessors and is pretty much all day long for two days. I left the first clinic (riding skills) in tears and with some incredibly huge feelings of imposter syndrome and therefore have been an anxious wreck about this coming up all week.

I guess what I'm saying is...if anyone has any positive vibes to spare or fun distracting thoughts to share for this weekend, they would be deeply appreciated.

💙

Pony pic as an offering to the masses

#mac's thoughts #thoughts from the barn

[claviicl3]

damn they weren liying

those cuddles do ugfh

they realy do

they usdf

...cudbles

#cubgles #cuddwls #cudls #woa

[horsesarecreatures]

So, USDF is offering "dressage university" now. 😆 You can earn credits and rEcOgNiTiOn.

[damnitdeandean]

So, I haven't been posting much because being an adult kinda sucks. But also because I've been working with Pnut. Working our asses off really. And it all paid off weekend before last. I'm still kind of in disbelief. I've been told for years that he wasn't good for anything besides glue and other such charming things. BUT! I've finally found a great facility and an amazing coach and now he's becoming the horse I knew he could be in my gut, only I didn't have the tools in my toolbox to get him to this point. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of writing, especially after the big USDF show in August. Thanks for everyone that's stuck around, I swear I'm not dead and I haven't run away lol.

#loki z #pnut #pinto horse #dressage #sport horse #equestrian #dressage horse #equestrian life #gunner horse #german sport pony #heart horse #hard work paid off #makin a mess #life on skid row-ish #fanfic #writer problems

[customspediacom]

Memahami User Specific Duty Free Scheme (USDFS) dalam Konteks Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA)

#IndonesiaJepang #KerjaSamaEkonomi #IJEPA #Globalisasi #beamasuk #djbc #perdagangan #Ekonomi #UserSpecificDutyFreeScheme #SKVIUSDFS

[griffinequestrian]

Cruising through Training Level Test 2. Definitely some bobbles, but overall the quality of his gaits have come a long, long way. Especially that canter!

#equestrian #ottb #thoroughbred #horse back riding #horses #horse #equine #dressage #Thoroughbred Makeover #flatwork #RRP #retired racehorse #USDF #training level #Youtube

[onetempi]

One for the road. . . . #vscocam #nc #farmlifeinthecity #dressage #dressagetoday #usdf #grass #bridle #snack #americanwarmbloodregistry #letsride https://www.instagram.com/p/Ciz_nnxOold/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#vscocam #nc #farmlifeinthecity #dressage #dressagetoday #usdf #grass #bridle #snack #americanwarmbloodregistry #letsride

[boondockerblog]

Day 44 & 45 (Red Rock BLM)

A couple days ago we had planned to leave this beautiful area - the Cactus Forest - for another beautiful area - Cabeza Prieta in Ajo AZ. Yesterday a dear friend in the Tucson area became severely ill and we need to stay around for a few days to support them.

The Big Sky

Maybe it's because there's so much visible sky in the desert that we see more moon, more sky divers (see Day 33), more airplanes and today full moon and Ultralights

The Seemingly Unending Desert

And maybe it's because there's so much open land in the desert that we see more animals and more plants.

Look who came to visit us today⬇️

Rangeland Grazing - so often in AZ, NM, TX, FL we're surrounded by cattle. Here's why - the USDF and BLM manage 450 million acres of grazing land (20% of the entire US). Those big animals all look like big dogs to us so we love when they come close. You've seen many pictures over the years as we meet them by the motorhome, on a run, on a walk.

[a-wa-c]

It never ceases to amaze what lengths the USDF will go to to sell a "four" year contract.

#shitpost #anime

[watching-constellations]

This has been a pretty eventful couple of weeks. I've been working in Kentucky at an international show jumping competition, and I finally realized that I'm really and truly not ready to give up on riding and competition. I still want to be everything I wanted to be before it got too hard to withstand my own head, and I'm not going to let my fear stop me anymore. I had a dream where I walked Brielle down the barn aisle towards the arena, and I heard voices yelling at me, asking me if I was sure, telling me to just sell the horse already, and telling me I was making a terrible mistake. I heard everyone whose opinion I care about. I smiled and told them I was sure, and that they couldn't stop me. I told them I wasn't going to listen to a single word they had to say, and I was just going to do it, no matter what.

Then, just a couple of days later, I got the news that Brielle is finally sound. The vet cleared her to begin walking under saddle, and if that goes well, to start light work in a couple of weeks. It's been months of mystery lameness, and finally, finally we've gotten somewhere, right when I decided that I'm ready too.

Then I got a little more news. My semi-retired FEI horse, Merlin, blew a massive abscess and might be okay again. I've spent the past month worrying about whether he would need to be retired completely, and if he could be kept comfortable. Only time will tell for sure, but I think he might be okay, and we're doing enough to make sure he's happy after all he's given me. I didn't break him through riding him at the upper levels. It's a silly thing to worry about, probably, but that doesn't stop my brain.

And then a little more. My mom seems to be trying to get me to take the ride on her mare. This is a young horse with FEI potential who's been described as a "Ferrari of a horse" by one of the best trainers in the state. The trainer is a grand prix rider who's competed at the international level to CDI-W, and if she's impressed, well, I think I ought to be too. My mom wants me to come up and try the horse, and I'm going to try to schedule a time. Soon I might have two FEI prospects.

And more. I may have finally found a new barn to move to with the kind of care and facilities I actually want for my horses. There's no dressage trainer, but I realized this week that I don't need one. I'm already an FEI-level rider. I know how to train a horse. I'm at least as experienced as most of the trainers within driving distance, and the thing holding me back is my self-doubt, not my abilities. I'm good enough on my own, and I'm okay with doing this myself. Hell, I'd rather do it myself. That way, I don't have to compromise my ethical principles or push myself beyond what I know my limits are. I can work with the barn's jumping trainers for cross-training and to get another body on my horse, clinic as needed, and do the rest myself.

I've taken a couple of years off from dressage, riding seriously, and chasing my goals, but I don't think I've fallen behind. Somehow, I've accidentally ended up with a great job in the horse industry (and some ideas on how to make this job work even better for me!), two phenomenal FEI prospects to work with, a facility to go to that offers what I need to train the way I want to, and the beginning of the return of my confidence.

It's really fucked up that all of this showed up right when I was really wanting to pull the plug and be done with this sport already. It's almost cruel, and a little bit funny. I was ready to give up and be something else, and I'm getting yanked right back into the horse world. Apparently no amount of college will lead me out of the barn and into a life free of hay and leather cleaner. I think I've finally realized that I'm not just an average backyard rider anymore. I'm good. Like, really, unusually good. People don't normally get their USDF bronze medals as teenagers. Twenty year olds don't normally ride Prix St Georges freestyles in a halter and jump without a bridle. They don't normally practice grand prix dressage movements, and then immediately turn around and do spins and sliding stops on their friend's reining horse. They don't usually train horses completely at liberty to become so attuned that they respond to a single word, the tilt of their head, or raising a single finger. Most people can't look at an unfamiliar horse and immediately understand what it's feeling, and what it might want and need. It's just hard to see that I have something here when to me, it's so normal to know how to do all of these things. Who cares that I didn't qualify for NAYC a couple years back? I'm good enough to train my own horses anyway, and I know how to do things that other dressage riders don't.

I feel more like myself than I have in years. One of my friends told me that this, the riding, the competing, the trying, was such a big part of who I am, that when I stopped, I lost a piece of me too. I think I'm still here, right under the surface. I think I'm ready to come back.h

I'll be home again in two days. I'll be on a horse again in two days. I don't know what's going to happen next, and I won't pretend to, but I do know that I'm not out of the running. Nothing is broken, and nothing is damaged. I'm exactly where I need to be, and I'll get where I'm going. And, apparently, I'll be riding a horse to my destination.

#my posts #horses #my tumblr is just my journal at this point but I'm okay with that