Background on ME

I'd like to begin this blog by noting that everything I write here is my opinion and is based on my own experiences. What works for me and my horse may not work for you and yours, or you may have a different opinion. This is a GOOD THING! Everyone should do their own research and learn as much as they can about what works for them. I am not a vet or an authority on horses or this sport. I love to learn and want to do all I can to be successful in endurance. I welcome different opinions and discussion topics, as long as they're done in a respectful and constructive manner.

Okay, I think that covers it....This entry will hopefully be the longest one I ever post because I'm trying to cover my history of getting into the sport. Sorry if you've read/seen it all before, I totally give you full permission to skip this one and move ahead! I PROMISE it will get more interesting as the season goes on.

I currently reside in Norfolk, VA and race mainly in the Northeast and Southeast regions of the US (as termed by the American Endurance Ride Conference http://www.aerc.org/). I currently am training/condition/racing one horse, Legalas (owned by Lisa Green) and live with my crazy energetic dog, Jack. But more on all that later...This year marks my fourth season in the sport of endurance. I've gone so many places and got to do so many amazing things, I thought it would be fun to document my experiences and share them with my friends, family, and whomever.

I have been an athlete and horse lover all of my life. I was the kid with 200 "My Little Ponies" and Breyer horses scattered about the room, and who would yell "Mommy HORSEYS!" whenever we passed by a pasture along the road. Once, when I was 2, I even wandered across several acres of open field (with retention ponds) to pet a horse through the fence of a neighboring farm (my Mom was in the kitchen cooking, completely unaware. Needless to say she was not amused). I started riding horses when I was 6 years old by taking hunter/jumper lessons in my hometown of Bloomington, IN with the then-coach of the Indiana University Equestrian Team. As I got older, I moved barns (http://www.rockyriverfarm.com/) and rode dressage and some light jumping, always on school horses because my family could not afford to buy my own horse. I think this was a great thing for me; it not only taught me how to ride in several different disciplines with different technique, but it taught me to be very appreciative of the equine opportunities that came my way. To help pay for lessons, I worked as a barn hand cleaning the rider's lounge, cleaning stalls, sweeping aisles, grooming horses, etc. To be honest, it never felt like work for me because I loved being there so much. I did a few school shows and did very well, I even ribboned in my very first English pleasure class!

As I got older and involved in more hobbies (swimming, soccer, music, etc), I had to make some tough choices and riding fell by the wayside a bit. I still loved it, I just didn't have much time to balance. I still rode occasionally and even took horse trips and vacations, and knew I'd come back to it someday. The summer of my senior year of college I worked at an equestrian camp via Camp Tecumseh, YMCA (http://www.camptecumseh.org/) and discovered endurance via my friend, Karis. I had only heard a little about it, and definitely was interested. I thought it would be the perfect combo of my athletic background and competitive race personality with my love of horses.
Counselors at Camp pictured below:

So, one day in grad school while I was sitting in the most BORING computer class EVER (seriously, the instructor gave us assignments on how to google for information), I decided to look up endurance. The first website that popped up was a training ranch in Moab, UT called Global Endurance Training Center (http://www.globalendurancetrainingcenter.com/). I thought "That would be a cool summer experience," and on a whim, sent them an email to see if I could work there that summer. I quickly got a response back from Dian Woodward, who said they could definitely use the help! I went out to ride that December (so they could make sure I knew what I was doing somewhat) and not only had a great winter vacation, but also landed a summer job.

That summer in Moab was one of the hardest, but also best of my life. I learned more about horses and endurance than I ever thought possible, and I also gained a wealth of confidence. There were weeks where I literally was the only person on the ranch maintaining and riding and training....it was great! I did things on horseback that I never thought were possible! Christoph Schork and Dian have a great facility, a wealth of knowledge, and their horses are well-conditioned and trained. I even got to do my first 50 mile ride at the Happy Jack endurance ride in Wyoming (thanks to Mel Hare for driving us!). I was also in the best shape of my life; for those who haven't worked on a ranch/farm before, trust me the physical labor is incredible. I also learned a lot about my own fitness and physical capability, and how to go all day in a labor-based job. Trick: in the desert, keep your sodium levels up, and move at a slower pace to conserve energy. Trust me, the productivity level is the same as if you try to go 100% and crash mid-day. If you ever get the money and opportunity to go out and ride with Christoph and Dian, I HIGHLY recommend it. The scenery is beautiful and it is some of the best training in the world, and Dian and Christoph are some of the most warm and welcoming people you'll ever meet. Their program is great for both beginners and advanced endurance riders. I recommend riding up in the La Sal Mountains and at Behind the Rocks, those were my favorite places. Also, make sure to play with Flint, one of the coolest dogs ever, talk to Dian about the genealogy of her Polish Arabian mares, and ask Christoph to cook dinner for you (potato pancakes = AMAZING). Both of these amazing people have been in endurance for a number of years and have racked up thousands of miles; they are great advisers to me.

After returning from Moab to grad school at IU, I had one semester left of classes. I continued to take lessons once a week to stay in "riding shape" and looked ahead to how I could get back to endurance. For those who don't know, riding in general is a pretty demanding sport depending on what discipline you do. For endurance, imagine doing Pilates and instead of moving sections of your body, having the ground underneath you move continuously and you have to keep your body still, supple, and upright. Now imagine doing that for 8-12 hours. Yeah, ouch.

I managed to land an internship in Norfolk, VA with an entertainment company (http://www.sevenvenues.com/). Almost immediately, I began looking for a way to keep riding. I sent out an email via AERC and Endurance Net for riders in the area who had extra horses that needed a solid rider. This is how I ran into Heather and Jeremy Reynolds. Heather and Jeremy are very well-known endurance riders; I hadn't met them before but definitely recognized their name from my summer in Utah and keeping up with the latest race results. They've won Tevis a few times and gotten the coveted Best Condition award there, as well as competed internationally very successfully. They recently just returned from the President's Cup race in Dubai, where Jeremy was the first overseas rider to finish on Sir Smith! A very prestigious honor! They had recently moved to Virginia from California to work for CreRun Farms in Doswell, near Richmond (www.crerunfarm.com). They were both training the track horses there (did you know there is also Arabian Track Racing that is separate from Thoroughbred?), and also taking horses off the track and training them for endurance. It's a great concept; track horses can make great endurance horses. They're generally bomb proof because they have been through so much crazy stuff already in their race career. They're competitive, and they're so HAPPY to get off that circle of dirt and get out on trail that they have great attitudes. CreRun has hundreds of horses, so Heather and Jeremy definitely needed an extra rider. They had also brought their own horses, and were trying to qualify for the 2008 FEI World Championships in Malaysia with two of them (Gem and Smitty). The hot, humid climate of VA was definitely going to be helpful for that....

I had a great season in 2008 with the Reynolds. I drove up to CreRun every weekend (it's about a 2 hour drive) to ride and train with them. They even let me bring my dog, Jack, and crash at their house! We had lots of fun trying to find things to do around Richmond (since we were all new to the area) and happily our dogs got along really well too! This is a big deal for Jack, he can be kind of cranky with other dogs. I got to do 3 races and crew for several others, and explore the training options around central and Southeastern VA, as well as races all over the Eastern US. We definitely racked up the gas mileage that summer! I became a much better rider; nothing gets you in shape like jumping on a myriad of race horses, and I learned even more about the sport of endurance. Jeremy is also an awesome farrier, working mainly in barefoot but he also does shoes. I learned the pros/cons to barefoot vs shoes on horses and got to use new and exciting products he was helping develop, like Renegade Boots (http://www.renegadehoofboots.com/). I also met a lot of new people in our sport, which was DEFINITELY useful for the future. And through the Reynolds, I learned more about FEI racing and what competing on the national level entails.

In October/November of 2008, the Reynolds decided to move back to CA. I was incredibly sad, I think I cried the entire way home from our last day riding together. These were my first real friends in Virginia, I had moved down here with only Jack and knowing no one! But it was definitely the right decision for them; their family and friends were all back West and they were ready to head back and focus on developing their own company, Reynolds Racing (http://www.reynoldsracing.us/). Heather has her own blog on their website; it definitely is a good read and a good way to keep up-to-date on what goes on in those higher echelons of FEI racing! Since they moved back, we've kept in touch and I even got to fly out and do my first FEI 50 with them last August on TA Tiran. Though Tiran was definitely a handful during the race (Jeremy had switched out his bit 2 days prior without much testing, he didn't like it much), we had a great ride and it was awesome to see my friends again. Heather and I even got to do a whirlwind tour of San Francisco the night before I flew out! I think we got like 2 hours of sleep but it was a total blast. Here's a picture of her clowining around with her sweet ride (just kidding, we were slap-happy and this car for some reason is hilarious):

I'd love to do it again someday, when I can afford it and take some extra vacation days. My job doesn't give me many to work with, and FEI is definitely EXPENSIVE as all craziness. For example, an AERC ride entry typically ranges from $75-$125. Registering a horse usually costs about $10 on top of your really inexpensive member fee. An FEI ride however, usually averages about $500 PER RIDE. This doesn't include the cost of your FEI membership, or for passporting your horse for FEI either. Yeesh.

After Heather and Jeremy left, I took a few months hiatus since the compteition season was winding down. But it didn't take long before I got the itch back, and sent another email out. This time I got a response from Mary Howell in New Kent, VA. I had met Mary via Heather and Jeremy; she's kind of like the go-to person in our area for endurance because she knows everyone and all places to ride.

I have to write a paragraph to talk about how amazing Mary is. Mary has a heart of gold and never ending energy. She has dragged my ass back and forth across this side of the country countless numbers of times, and I owe her everything for getting me to where I am today. THANKS MARY!

Mary has two horses, Shiloh and Frank. Shiloh was 17 that year and was nearing his 5,000 miles award for endurance. Frank was a youngster who she was just getting started. I got started with Mary, riding both horses but mainly focusing on Shiloh. Shiloh and I did 3-4 races last season, including my first 75 at Biltmore. We won the Lizard Run in SC and got his first BC award, and placed top ten at other rides too. Mary rode Frank and got him started. We also did several other rides on horses that belonged to her friends who, for whatever reason, needed an extra rider to take them through. It was through Mary that I met Lisa Green.

Lisa and her husband, Andy, have three sons and live out in Star Tannery in the mountains of Northern VA. Lisa campaigns her mare, Amana, in FEI and is trying to qualify for the 2010 World Championships in Kentucky. The year previous, Andy had bought a raffle ticket for the famous Old Dominion Raffle Horse, donated annually by Asgard Arabians in West Virginia (http://www.olddominionrides.org/, http://www.asgardarabians.com/). He did this without telling Lisa, and in an ironic turn of course they won! The horse's name was Legalas, Legs for short. For those not familiar with Legs or Asgard or the Old Dominion raffle horse, he had a bit of a reputation proceeding him. Asgard does some great breeding, they are notorious for turning out amazing endurance horses. But they don't do much in the way of handling them at a young age, so they basically stay untouched and live wild on the side of a mountain in the herd until they are sold. In Legs' case, he had been out with the herd for about 3 years before becoming the raffle horse. He is small, but definitely built for the sport. Bone for days, feet like cement, short back, compact, and bred from the "hottest of the hot" according to Tom Sayvetz (one of the Asgard owners). He also was nervous as anything I had ever encountered before; scared of anything unnatural, and combined with his amazing athleticism this was a rough combo. A lot of riders in our area know his reputation for this from when Andy and Lisa took him home from the Fort Valley ride; he had to be drugged and dragged in order to get on the trailer and apparently put on quite a display. Lisa and Andy are both great riders, as are their kids. But Legs was a lot to handle. He was, and still can be, pretty dangerous, and he definitely takes a strong rider. He has dumped me and gotten me pretty hurt several times. Lisa needed someone to devote themselves to his career full-time. I met Lisa and stayed in her trailer at the Sand Hills ride the previous year; she is close friends with Mary and liked how I handled and rode Shiloh that weekend. So when she needed a rider for Legs, Mary talked her into recruiting me. I was nervous, but super-excited to accept the challenge. Here was essentially my own horse to train and compete, what could be more awesome? Little did I know how much work he would be....

For the first several months of our partnership, Legs was in training at Meadow Springs Training Center under the tutelage of Judie Ricci in Northern VA (http://www.meadowspringstrainingcenter.com/). Judie and her young assistant, Jennifer Supinger, are some of the most amazing trainers I have ever come across. Both natural horsewomen, they are both gentle but assertive and have taught me a lot about how to handle my horse. They are also a whole lot of fun! Jennifer is one of the most amazing riders I've ever seen; definitely is worth checking out her youtube site (www.meadowspringstrainingcenter.com/jennifer.htm). The girl jumps 3+ feet bareback, in fact does most of her riding bareback, and trains her horses with no tack on. Did I mention she's only 18? I am in total awe of this girl, I'll admit it. You can also see early training pictures of Legs on Judie's training page there.

Legs improved exponentially through his training at Judie's. When I first went up to ride him, he was still incredibly nervous, doing his patented "Sit and Spin" move every time something new came up on trail. When I say sit and spin, it was FAST! This horse can flip around the other direction in the blink of an eye. It's an amazing thing to watch for sure. But as the weeks progressed, he got better and better and was easier to ride out on trail. Great job Judie and Jennifer!

I started driving up to the farm on weekends to work with Legs and help Judie out with whatever she needed. Our weekends typically went like this: Jennifer and I would go out on Saturday, sometimes with other riders, I on Legs and her on a different horse, and do a longer conditioning ride. Sundays were the beginner trail ride days, we'd do a slow 5 miles or so with whomever wanted to go out. I usually would take Legs again, because it was good experience for him. Scattered in there were barbeques with local friends, and random chores and training other horses in the arena. Awesome times.

Legs' first ride with me was supposed to be the Old Dominion LD in June 2009. Unfortunately, because of his trailer issues (which still crop up today, I'm sure I will continuously mention them as this blog goes on), he got tangled in his butt rope and got a bit of a rope burn that kept him from going. But not to worry, Judie started working on his trailer fear and we geared up for the Sand Hills Moonlight LD later that summer. We also prepared to move him from Judie's to a boarding facility closer to me. While he almost dumped me several times in the ride (seriously, the worst spook was when the glow sticks marking the trail moved from the right side to the left), he finished strong, placing 7th, and we were very happy. Lisa was also at that ride with Amana, she won and got BC. Andy crewed for both of us and was great help!

After Judie's, we moved Legs to Riverview Farms in Williamsburg, VA. This private boarder is about a mile down the road from great training at York River State Park, very important for me since at the time I didn't have a truck or trailer to transport him. It was also close to Mary, which was also important since she was helping to haul me everywhere! Unfortunately, we had to move him a few months in because of some issues with the boarder. To make it short, she's an incredibly nice person and has decent facilities, but is very inexperienced and unconfident with horses. There were too many on the property, and we weren't confident that she could handle any emergencies that arose. The straw that broke it was when she wanted to bring in an additonal horse for his already too-small pasture, and when I said no made up a bogus excuse about him being food dominant and dangerous. For those that don't know Legs, he is definitely at the bottom of the totem pole in herds and is so not-dominant it's crazy. He has yet to meet a horse he doesn't get along with. So we got him out of there ASAP, to Laurellye Farms in Gloucester, VA (closer to Norfolk).

We did 3 more rides in the 2009 season, the 50 at Virginia Highlands (20th place), the LD at Fort Valley (2nd place), and the 50 at Mustang Memorial in NJ (7th place). Legs got better and better at each ride, and I am always super-impressed with his spirit, drive, and desire to please.

I now board Legs with Joy and Michael Mahler in Gloucester. Joy had an amazing career in endurance with her horse, Orion, and is slowing working her way back with her granddaughter, Lexie, after a back injury. Joy and Michael have been an amazing help to me; they helped advise me in purchasing a new truck, buying and rebuilding a small trailer, rescuing me when he decided he didn't want to get on the trailer out by ourselves, and providing invaluable advice and support. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Joy and Michael for being there for me and Legs! And that brings us to the end of this amazingly uber-long entry and into the preview of the 2010 season......you can also follow me on facebook if you'd like more pictures and less reading material. :-)