I probably would not have Polestar Farm if it was not for Amy being in my life. Well, I might, but I definitely would not be the person I am today without her. Amy was one of the first people I sought out when I quit grad school at Davis and raced north to have a career in horses.  At the time, I didn’t really know that I would have a career – I just wanted to have a good time with the two horses I owned at the time! Amy immediately welcomed me into her barn and we rekindled a friendship that we started back in grade school on the soccer field.

I have really great memories of the old farm, Mapleleaf on Novelty Hill. It was a small facility that had friends in every stall – Dee Strand, Lexi Lind, Janet VonPressentin, Leigh Mesher and myself managed to not fight too much and developed a little pack of people all wanting the best for each other. Amy was the ringleader, as her strong personality dictated. Anybody who knew her as a youngster could have predicted that this young lady was going to be one tough cookie when she got wings! She helped all of us learn and ride as well as we could and she kept us on the conservative and smart path with every single horse. Because Amy was a full time firefighter during that time, we all helped chip in to make sure the chores and riding were done perfectly, it was a cooperative in some ways. Greg, bless his heart (one of her favorite sayings) was always rolling his eyes at our soap opera life out there in the barn, yet never turned anyone away when we needed a neutral friend most.

I lived with Amy and Greg for a spell or two, and it was one of the formative, life changing times in my life. Without Amy, I don’t think that I would be the professional rider that I am today. She helped me believe in my skills from the very start. She steered me to buy Blueprint, and then he became the next most formative thing in my riding life. Amy and I traveled together for most of two years – gathering up as many qualifications as we could. We camped out in her un-insulated, unheated trailer for shows in the snow and blistering heat. Our goals being quite common: Get Blueprint and Poggio qualified for their first CCI** and then move up to Advanced. We were both so driven that nothing seemed impossible. And looking back, it does seem like a fairy tale. Poggio ending up being one of the best eventing horses America has ever seen and Blueprint being my solid Advanced horse for 7 years. Both horses and us running over countless full format courses, and driving home with smiles on our faces. We always told each other that the longer we drove to an event, the more important it was to go clear XC. Otherwise, the return trip was more and more torturous given every mile we had to relive a silly run out. Funny enough, those never happened. I was always so well prepared for what I aimed to do under her guidance and ambition.

Amy’s drive and resolve flowed over everyone around her, like a fog. Suddenly, you were enveloped in it, for better or worse. She was a complicated person, and I always believe that she spoke better “horse” than “people”.  She often gave off an impression of being gruff and impersonal. Until you knew her better, she could be maddeningly undiplomatic. I often felt like she stepped on my toes as a friend, but I always knew that I could depend on her for anything and vice versa. If there was friction between us for something, it was erased quite quickly because of the depth of the friendship. She meant what she said and didn’t waste anybody’s time. Foremost, I appreciated the professional way that she conducted herself. She refused to get caught up in social melodrama and stayed true to her course. You have to admire anybody who knows themselves and their destiny that well, her path never budged. If she stepped on your toes on the way, she would sincerely apologize but you probably could have seen that it was coming had you thought about it. Amy never was un-Amy.

Today, Ive run the whole gamut of emotions about her death. Ive cried, laughed, been confused and mad. Im stuck on crying, but the girls in the barn helped me laugh when they pointed out that we can remember her by planting tulips in the trench she left on my driveway a few weeks ago. She nearly sunk her giant trailer in the wetlands when she missed a critical turn.  I think that would be fitting, since she was always calling someone “Tulip” if they were not quite as tough as they should be and its also fitting that she will leave a deep, clear path that I will look at every single day for the next year.  I think we will call it Amy’s Memorial Trench.

Rest in peace Amy, you touched so many people.

The plan this spring was to avoid the California trip which normally included Ram Tap and Twin Rivers events. While I have had a lot of fun doing that trip for the last 4 years, it just didnt make fiscal sense last year when the price of gas was around $4.50/gal. A 2011 record that coincided right when we were driving south, of course! So this year, I thought that I would do Plan B, not the pill, but which was to enter two clinics, 4 schooling shows and one Thunderbird show for the same price! First clinic was completed in January with Claudia Cojocar at Meg and Sandy Stafgaard’s lovely barn in Clearview. I rode Rory and Max and had a wonderful time, as usual. Claudia helps me as much with the basics of my riding as she does with my teaching. She is a fabulous instructor and I always learn something from watching her. Next, was the Aspen Derby, which was yesterday in all that fabulously breathtaking weather.

We packed up 8 horses yesterday and only ONE owner amongs them!!! Not to make the other owners feel badly, but it was a little funny to receive two phone calls explaining how the weather was icky and their to-do list was long…. would you mind riding my horse? Of course I will happily! Kiera Davis, the new working student, was going to experience immediate immersion with this experience! (and she passed with flying colors!)

Jon designed a fun course in their main arena, involving some portable XC fences and the bank at the side of the arena and lots of show jump fences. The first horse I rode, Cochlear, might have been the highlight of the day. I have been working very very hard with Lear this winter, trying to find out just where his insecurities lie in show jumping. This horse is a complicated animal, and I am totally committed to solving his confidence issues. Last year he did very well at BN, and moved to Novice at Rebecca and finished the season schooling at Training level. He was schooling well at that level at home, and yet, it was not the jumps that undid him… but the atmosphere at the shows. He has eyeballs that pop out to observe the smallest of changes. Nothing escapes his notice. And while he wanted to be a very careful jumper, the more careful he was the more he got himself into trouble with awkward jumps and the more nervous he would get.

He is about as laid back, nonchalant thoroughbred as I have ever met. If I had a living grandmother, he is the one I would put her on! He walks at a pace that a small child could out run, he stops to watch airplanes fly overhead, he nibbles his food slowly, and his most favorite thing is to stand still and just watch life happening around him. He might be the perfect instructor’s riding horse, one that willingly stands still in the middle of the arena for an hour. Perfectly entertained, ears up. I adore him. But I also worried about his competition abilities last year. So over the winter I designed a very specific program for him, and Aspen derby was the first test of my success.

Over the winter, I finally sussed that every day had to start with the most basic of tasks. Lear had to start out every single jump workout with a single pole… trotting and cantering for many, many circles. After that one pole was conquered, we progressed to an X jump.  I would jump that single X for 10 times and infused would be the poles to confirm his confidence. At this point I could start to introduce verticals, oxers, liverpools, flowers etc.. anything I could think of and Lear would be bombproof. His swagger is noticeable when I did this plan, but I could not skip the steps. Every day starts out like he is a 3 year old, green horse.  One other thing that made a huge difference is to give Lear plenty of rests with a long rein. If I kept the pressure on and continued with a 20 minute workout, he will feel demoralized. If I jump for 4 minutes, and drop the reins and reward him, then repeat… his attitude is through the roof. Ive never experienced such an emotionally tender horse who is also so blase about most things in his life. He is a reminder to me that each horse is very unique and it is in our best interest to try our hardest to be the horse’s guardian.

But, back to this weekend. Because it was a schooling show, I was able to use the warmup arena to my suiting.  I had a warm up pole that he hesitated at for the first 5 attempts, but then he got in his groove and continued to improve. He jumped two BN rounds that were SO much fun!!

Taukalot and Olievia (JoAnn Green’s mare) also went to the derby after rehabing from injuries in 2011. I am thrilled to say that neither one acted like an orangutan and they both had a great day. Taco, the intrepid intermediate horse, had a clean round at Beginner Novice and also tried his hand at Novice! The goal being polite, easy jumps. We did have some of those, but there were also some jumps that were a wee bit enthusiastic!  But I wouldnt expect any less from him!

Next adventure: Adult Riders hosted clinic with Scott Keach here at Polestar.

I am finally writing you a belated Happy Holidays/Happy New Year/Solstice blog. Its been a while since I wrote, and I have no good reason, other than my short-windedness might be due to the doldrums of winter. Im at that midpoint where the proverbial fog is lifting, light in the tunnel has a horn blowing with it, and days should start to have more bloom than gloom.

And then you turn on the radio and hear that it is the first day of Winter.

WTF, is all I have to say to that. Granted, last year it would have been more appropriate for me to complain about this because by this date we had already had close to 14 snow days. Which in the horse industry is equivalent to 7000 normal days. But still, I feel it is quite justified to bring this up in a whiney voice despite the El Tepid winter that we are experiencing. I guess tis the season to be grateful – so despite the fact that we still have 4 months of snowing raining muddy frozen bliss to go – lets look at the bright side of things and lets plan our upcoming year. This will infuse a dose of unrestrained optimism in me.

Many folks are asking about our spring California trip – and I have to admit (don’t read this Jordan and Marissa) that I am leaning towards Plan B, which is a mess of local schooling shows instead. The reason this is sounding so appealing is that we have 4 young horses under the age of 5 who need show experience and Erica and Shauna both need to educate their new horses at low stress venues. Ive figured that for about the same amount of money to go to Cali, I can go to a 3 day schooling show at Thunderbird, 2 clinics in Washington and 2 one-day schooling shows with 3 horses. That’s a lot! So despite needing sunshine and warmth more than a clam needs butter and lemon, I think I am heading towards the local scene.

Next Blog…. 2012 goals for me and Taukalot, Rory, Lear and Dino.

Maybe the hardest thing about a wave of change is to generate a wave in the very first place. Groups of humans have, since the dawn of time, come together for consensus and often action only happens when more than a few people agree upon a subject. An individual person is often unwilling to do something that is against the grain of normalcy. I know this because I have always been one to start raising my hand in class only after I watch someone else give a wrong answer and not get howled at. Once we see that we are safe to present a new and different idea, we may gather support, and then as a group we become much more effective. Group consensus is probably an evolutionary trait that has increased human survivorship at some time in history. However, it has it’s good points and it’s bad points and it definitely has helped with group mortality as well.  It is very bad when a group of people adopt a terrible idea, and it is equally bad when a single person can’t get the wave upwelling for a good idea.

Taking this analogy further, what we have here is the USEA pushing a bad idea and it is being accepted by a lot of people. I am not the proverbial fly on the wall during the committee meetings, and I cannot hear who is proactive and aggressive to install new safety measures and who is unwilling to change. I do know that the powers that be at USEA are proposing to revoke of the One Fall rule at the lower levels, and that fact indicates that there must be more than one person over there who is NOT willing to take aggressive steps to make our sport as safe as possible. I don’t know what their reasoning is, but perhaps some of them think that it would be terrible to deny a rider to get back on their horse if the rider does not have a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Ok, fine then. New Good Rule: those that do not have head injuries can get back on their horse and continue on the course. I certainly hope that means technology has gotten so good that we have hand held MRI machines that can instantly help with that medical evaluation by the jump judge.

What I do know is that we are lacking anybody on the safety committee with real medical training. I mean a doctor or two on the committee. Look at the safety committee for other sports: NFL and NHL are loaded with doctors. I think that when making rules that affect peoples lives, we might want to have someone with a degree or two to help us understand the vast intricacies of the human body and our ability to fix the human body when disaster strikes.

What I cannot understand is how we can revoke the One Fall rule given the increased media attention and medical knowledge about football head injuries. This summer there were two headliner articles about ex-pro footballers who had, in a very public way, donated their brains to science in order to help understand head trauma better. Those men were tortured by the aftereffects of their TBIs and they are, posthumously, helping make the world a better place. We now know that repeated head injuries in a short time period often are catastrophic or fatal, not just a nuisance.  Any single concussion can cause personality disorders, neurologic damage and cause decision making deficits. I, myself, have seen professional riders make riding/training decisions that they would never have done 10 years ago prior to the injury. But when you put two concussions together you get a whole different animal. Known as second impact syndrome, it means that successive separate incidences have an additive effect upon the brain that is often fatal.  One could argue that if you have a single TBI you are not in a position to make informed, solid decisions about much of anything until your brain heals. And to drive home that point, data from medical records of athletes with a concussion show that they are four times as likely to suffer a second concussion. I don’t know if that means you are X likely to suffer second impact syndrome, but I know that X is not zero.

I have had my own scary involvement with a concussion, and Im not wanting to go there again any day soon. So, I am making a promise to my small little group of Polestar riders and students that if I fall off a horse at a competition and have any small chance of jarring my noggin, I will not be getting back on and continue on course.  Nor will I be riding my second or third horses later in the day. I am making my own little One Fall rule that I am going to stick to because I have never been a ribbon chaser and I still have no need to be one now. A rider’s chance of a second fall is incredibly elevated after a first fall – and its not just novice riders. Just this summer alone you can see riders falling off two horses in a single event: Kim Severson fell off two horses this spring at The Fork, Boyd Martin fell off two at Plantation, and so did Nina Lignon at Southern Pines. All were on the same day and I don’t think its dumb luck.

If you think that USEA is looking out for your best interest with the revoking of the One Fall rule, then you might think again. They might want to avoid hearing about how you wasted some gas money, time and effort and are so disappointed to only make it to fence 4.  For the life of me, I cannot see how a medical condition depends upon the level that you ride. My life with Mark, my family and my animals are more important than completing an event. Myself, I am going to have my best interest at heart here.

Happy riding.

Wear a helmet

Links: http://useventing.com/competitions.php?section=rulebook&id=2950

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046702.htm

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/head.html

http://www.headinjury.com/sports.htm

Thanks to Teresa Loughlin for her information and knowledge.

My case of “Murphy’s law” this week is not nearly so important as air force testing, but still, frustrating. I leave on vacation…. And the barn falls apart. Mark and I have a history of attempting to go on vacation and mere moments before we are to get in the car, some disaster strikes a dog or a horse. This time, it is humans! As of this very moment, dogs and horses appear to be fine, but the wind is changing directions…

I want to give a Purple Stirrup award to Lorane Matarazzo who was involved in a silly accident and now her arm is in a cast. Gogo, went went and Lorane fell off. Way back in April I did decide to NEVER bail off the back of a horse ever again voluntarily. And I might add a little asterix to the end of that rule to say that if I don’t have either of the reins, as Lorane did not, then possibly bailing might be an option to consider. I believe the Purple Stirrup award will involve a goblet of wine, to help with the healing, of course.

Then, the next disastrous phone call I got from home was something about Shauna, a wheelbarrow, and her elbow. Possibly a too heavy wheelbarrow, because she is a very industrious person, aggravated her yet to be discovered arthritis and sent her to the hospital. She was hoping that she did not tear a tendon and thankfully, that was not the case. However, Shauna might be the first person in the barn who will be added to the Smartpak order. She is going to get something very similar to Taukalot: MSM, chondroiton, perna mussel and corticosteroid injections. I might need to do pre-purchase exams on my workers from here forward to see what sort of supplements they need to be on.

Meanwhile, I am having a great time here on my visit to DC. I arrived on Friday night and was swept up by my friend Teresa Loughlin to the little hamlet of Purcellville. Purcellville is better known as “That Town Next to Middleburg”, in fact, all the towns within a 30 mile radius are known that way. Thats OK, because Middleburg has product identification – horse people know Middleburg as that place where they want to live. Its the quintessential greeting card where the fox is having tea with the hounds while the hunt gallops by obliviously. Its also the only place in the country, where a black sportscar has a lovely woman in muddy wellies driving it, with a saddle, soaked bellboots and baby seat in the back. No other horse-mecca is like that. In Lexington the horse people drive faded VWs and trucks. In Temecula the horse girls drive unhooked Freightliners and F-700s. In Wellington, the horse people…. oh wait, they dont drive there, they are driven.

Quick healing to Shauna and Lorane! See you soon.

While I love the thought of warm winter stews, cats sleeping in the flickering glow of a log fire, and holidays with friends and family – in reality my mind immediately goes to the frozen pipes, hauling buckets, too few stalls for far too many horses, horses slipping on the ice, my damn dogs rolling in rotting salmon carcasses and snow sliding off roofs which appears to instantly erode ulcers in horse stomachs. Inevitably, there is a steady stream of people wanting to be winter boarders here at Polestar, because they too are having their own anxious hallucinations of horse in winter at small farm. I love to make people happy….. but somehow I also need to say NO to some people because I just don’t have any more room. Which does not make them happy.

Sometime around January, my fears about finding a frozen fish butt in Ruben’s tail as he wags his happy self in our kitchen will be replaced with dreams of going to California to an event. That is a milestone concept, because that means that I have either successfully made it through the worst of the weather struggles and can see spring ahead, or I have reached an apathetic state where I just don’t care about anybody but myself as I thrown the tank tops and shorts into my bag and run out the driveway screaming. Either way, there is always an end in sight to winter. In the meantime, I am enjoying the mushroom season and eating our way through our forest. The garden is finally slowing down it’s fall bonanza growth, honey is on the shelf, and the half cow is in the freezer. Im going to go visit my friend in Virginia and Mark is planning a road trip to family soon. Winter is not so scary today.

Thanks to all competitors for coming to the show, and I hope you are excited about another schooling show next spring. You can expect a similar format with dressage and SJ but also we might include a Hunter Pace too. Great way to get ready for next year’s competitions!

Ive been a little late with writing about Polestar news, due to the constant traffic in my life. But, the big thing for last week was the Scott Keach clinic hosted by Area VII Adult Riders.  This is my third time riding with Scott and yet again, I am really, really happy with what I learned. Ive got another little trick up my sleeve for a few horses, especially Lear. His show jumping “prowess” is scary (read that both ways) and I have been really worried about his lack of confidence when he jumped at Aspen a few weeks ago. Lear in a nutshell is careful about touching poles, and yet doesn’t yet have the skills to get himself out of trouble. His jumping form changes dramatically when he is nervous, and that is not good. I am going to work all winter on his understanding of the bit and creating a better mouth on him. At the moment, I cant even help him when he gets worried because his mouth is just not there. I go to help him add a stride and he falls apart in his jumping form. So, there is a long road ahead for me. But Im up for it. He is a lovely horse who is fun to ride, and has a wonderful mind. Besides, what else am I going to do all winter?

My students all had a great time too at the clinic. Susan Greenwald was given an additional two thumbs up for moving up to training level! She now has collected enough support to actually go do it at NWEC in a few weeks. She came out on Sunday and jumped a full course at max height, and a few with the 2 inch fudge factor higher. She rocked it. Im thrilled for her and Mr. Dalesman. He looks like the athlete he is, all proud and ears up!

Annika and Lucinda both got strong lessons on how to KICK! And Scott meant, really kick. They were both so excited about what they learned that they decided that they wanted to enter NWEC afterall. Before last week, they had decided they were both done for the season.  I think they will both end the season very well…. But don’t forget to kick!

One final word, we will miss our excellent summer working student, Marissa Williams and her horse Allstar. She has gone back to finish her degree in San Louis Obispo, but we had a wonderful time with her for the long summer. I always said that Allstar was the best named horse in the barn. They arrived here with very little jumping experience, if any at all. And due to his fabulous mind and athletic ability, Marissa was able to work on her own skills and by September they were comfortably schooling all our training level jumps at home. They finished the summer in amazing form with a win at Aspen at BN! I am so proud of her accomplishment and cant wait to see them again. Jordan swears that she will take good care of them down south until they come up for summer camp again.

The jaw dropping news from me and Mark is that we went on “Vacation”. Ive had someone drop their sandwhich when I told them this, but yes, it is true. We took a real 3 day vacation. The WS watched movies every night with the dogs, snuggled with the cats, rode my horses while we went off and bombed around amazing mountain biking trails.  We went to Mountain Bike Oregon in Oakridge OR. If you dont know it, you havent been reading enough mtn biking magazines…. its mecca. But anyway, the motto for MBO is Bikes, Buses, Beers. And that perfectly describes it. Buses allow you to have up to 3 hours of downhill singletrack. Technical, dirty and awesome! We are hooked and will be back there next year. I fell in love with the Diamondback 29er… and you must see this video: Diamondback. At least watch to 2:48, and you realize that these guys are the eventers of the bike world. Ouch!

Its off to mow, paint and rake. Thanks VERY much to my amazing group of working students. Shauna, Annika, Marissa and Lucinda are the most eager and helpful group yet. I would not be here in front of the computer without you, Id be outside doing it all myself. Thanks bunches!

Well, thankfully, they all did make it over that lump flawlessly, but thanks to their horses, not the awesome coaching they received. I only heard that they all made it over that fence, because by Saturday I was useless. Despite that, as you can tell by the photos, great results were had. Hank went clear on XC and SJ for the first time….. ever! Holly, photographer, got 2nd in the training division, Marissa rode in her first event ever and had a great time in all 3 phases. Out of the ribbons, but motivated for next time. Annika, 3rd, Susan 7th, and Mary and Gail both completed out of the ribbons. Lear wore a snarly face for most of the weekend and was finally able to school the SJ and XC at the end of the day. He got first place.