From the Top

Photo Credit: Giana Terranova Photography

I've often heard people say that 'everyone has a story to tell'.  I never thought my stories were much worth sharing, however, I think that may have changed as I make my transition from Hunter Princess to Dressage Queen.  Honestly I just want to keep track of my journey, but maybe I can entertain you on the way...

How did it come to this?
I have been a hunter my whole life.  Slow and pretty has always been my joy.  I had numerous friends who turned to other disciplines but the hunters have always held my heart.  I showed locally as a kid, hunters.  I went to college with a strong riding program, hunters.  I became a professional and taught and trained, hunters.  I reclaimed my amateur status with the goal of showing in the Adult Amateur Hunters.  I have taken a week vacation for the past 8 years down to WEF for WCHR week, that's right, I took a vacation from hunters to go watch more hunters.  This is a love that runs deep.

So what happened?
Three years ago I found myself with a "free" horse.  He had been a successful show hunter but had kind of slipped through the cracks and got donated to a school program that ended up not having use for him.  I had bonded with him trying to get him ready to be a school horse so the school offered him to me.  As I am quite the optimist when it comes to potential, I took him thinking I would be able to fix him and turn him into a nice horse for myself.  Lots of work, time, professional teams of people, and a rehab later I felt fully confident that my horse was ready to head back into the show ring.  I had a professional rider for him that he liked and chose a low key 'A' show that had a 2'3" division, piece of cake for a horse that had plenty of scope for 3'6".  We moved into the show for schooling day.  He settled in like he had been going to shows his whole life (which makes sense because he has).  I got him out to hack him and get him warmed up and ready to school over the fences for the professional.  He felt wonderful, quiet, calm, responsive, ready.  The pro came after finishing her other horse and got on, felt the same things hacking him.  She pointed him at a simple, plain, low jump.  NOPE.  My lovely, kind, pleasant horse hit his panic button, jumped the fence like a deer and everything unraveled from there.  My lovely, kind, patient pro tried everything she could to bring him back but it was a hard and fast 'no'.  This horse, could not mentally handle jumping anymore. At least he was clear about it!  It wasnt the horse show, it was specifically the jump.  Ok, thats fine, I had no need to make the horse do something he hated so I started feeling around with friends to see if someone was looking for a lovely dressage horse.  My plan was to lease him out to a dressage home and for my trainer to find me an appropriate hunter to lease.

Uhhh, it still sounds like you are a Hunter.
And then the second shoe dropped.  The farm where we were, where my trainer worked out of, was closing.  I was going to have no where to keep a leased horse in just a few months and no trainer to train me as my trainer was taking this opportunity to retire from teaching after having tried and failed to do so about 6 years previous.  I had other good trainers that I could go with to achieve my goals but to be 100% honest, I didnt have any interest in showing without my trainer.  So here I was, with a dressage horse and no trainer...

Making the Best of it.
I lined up a few lessons with a lovely trainer that I had worked with years ago to improve my flatwork and right off the bat I was in a whole new world.  As we continued getting guidance it turned out that not only were my horse and I both naturally predicated towards dressage work, we were both loving it!  I am sure that if it were not for the series of huge disappointments I would not have ended up in this world and, while it was uncomfortable, I am incredibly grateful for it.  I am now in a brand new discipline and enjoying the brand new learning experience.  My horse is the happiest I have ever experienced him and loves the challenge and getting new things taught to him.  Each lesson my dressage trainer is impressed with how far we have come since the last lesson.

Whats the difference?
I am learning how to accomplish a lot of the same goals with different methods.  Lets all be honest, every discipline comes from good flat work and a rideable horse.  Where you take it from there is up to you.  You can head at jumps, you can take the flatwork to the next level, it all has the same basics that you build from.  What has been the most amazing to me is realizing how comfortable I have become in the Hunter world and how much I know.  All of a sudden I am in a new world I dont know any of the rules!  Oh, lets take a moment for the rules, dressage has SO MANY rules!!!  There are pages on just the bit alone!  So down the 'reading the rule book' rabbit hole I go, learning as much as I can when I can.  Trying to ask good questions to my trainer and my wonderfully tolerant friends without being too annoying.  This is a grand new adventure and while I have no clue where it is going to end up, it sure is going to be a fun road to roam down with my four legged partner.