Relocating IRIDE

IRIDE has relocated to the mountains of northeast Alabama.  Specifically, to 66 acres on Lookout Mountain, near Mentone, AL.

We have been working on the property to build a stall and pasture for Jelle, and I am happy to report that he is settled in nicely and loving it here in the mountains.

Getting used to the differences in philosophy in the horse culture up here has been a bit of a challenge, but I was forewarned of it with my experience at a stable/summer camp a few years back.  And quite frankly, the quality of the professional equine services has improved since then.
More about the specifics of that later.

I have found that I have about 15-20 acres of good quality hay.  I was quite happy about that, until I discovered the difficulty in getting someone to come bale it for me.  So, my husband and I are cutting a row at a time, and drying and gathering the hay the way I imagine the Amish do it.  The hay is thick and good quality, so the job is not that difficult.  And bottom line is that Jelle has great quality hay that is ultra fresh, organic (we haven't had to fertilize OR herbicide the field), plentiful, and cheap! 

The only expense we have incurred is the diesel for the tractor to cut it, and the personal man-hours of labor for my husband and myself.  Good thing it only takes about 20 minutes for the two of us to gather enough hay for a couple days.  I figure that a bale of this hay only costs us about $2.00 or so.

I have also had an influx of new students from this area (I travel between Chattanooga, TN; Huntsville, AL and Rome, GA during each week for regular lessons).  I am grateful for the warm welcome I have gotten from the dressage community up here!  There are quite a few talented, serious, and committed riders in this area!  I am also pleasantly surprised about the quality horses that they have.  Another thing that surprises me is the number of showing opportunities here.  There are almost 20 USDF/USEF recognized dressage shows within 2-1/2 hour's drive from me between the months of April and November.  That is plenty of competition opportunity for the students as well as for Jelle and me!

Pondering the Value of the Blog

Wow, it has been five months since my last post (and that sounds like the introduction to a Catholic confession, doesn't it?).  That is why I am pondering the value of this blog, but then again, I think the whole purpose of a personal blog is just to spout off when it is convenient for the writer, yes?

The training of Wimbley has been going extremely well, since the heat and humidity this summer was not nearly as bad as last summer, and so we were able to train pretty much continuously.  We did have a couple of young-horse mishaps in the pasture, resulting in a week or two off here and there, but they were just scuffs; nothing major.  We always worry about the risk of the major stuff, don't we?

One of my students was not so lucky, and her horse had a pasture mishap that will result in several months off.  I feel SO bad for her (and her horse), and will keep my eyes open for an alternative for her, of course.

I remember posting way back when I posted last that my goals included getting my USDF Instructor Certification, since I feel that I am ready for the testing, and also signing up as a participant in one of the "L" judge's programs to start my journey to be a dressage judge.  Well, no one in all of North America has offered the certification testing (or workshops, or pre-certs, or anything), so I am still waiting for the opportunity to open up.  I do need to email the USDF liaison for the program and ask if they have a list that I can be put on to receive information for whenever someone does decide to offer any part of the program (and also to make sure they have all the information about my participation in previous workshops and pre-certs up to date!)

There were two different organizers offering the "L" program, and they were already full (there is a limit on the number of participants allowed in each program) when I contacted each organizer, so I missed out on both!  I did tell the organizer of the one here in Florida that I would like for her to contact me first when they offer the next one.  I never even heard back from the organizer of the other "L" program, so I guess she was inundated with participants.  Oh well, I will keep trying to reach her, as well.

I have decided to retire Bogart, my 27 year old gelding.  He still looks good, and is sound when not being ridden, but is starting to be just "not quite right" when worked, so I don't want to hurt him.

I have also become the sole owner of the mare that I had in partnership with another person.  I am conditioning her for next spring to breed her, and I am considering the options that are available to me.  I will be posting some of the options, and thinking out loud here on the blog about which direction to go, so I will be so grateful for suggestions as we go along here, as well!  Please feel free to jump in with a suggestion or observation as it comes up!  I will post her information, pedigree, history, etc. in subsequent posts.  Pictures, too!

Well, that catches us up on the generalities of the last five months.  I will post more specifics (and more frequently) in the future.

Donna Dora

Sometimes, a great opportunity comes along. That is what happened when I was looking for horses for a lesson program at Storm Grove Stables.
I had seen this mare when looking for a horse for another student of mine back in September, and was really impressed with her (but she wasn't for sale at the time).
To make a long story short, I contacted the trainer this time, looking for a horse, and she mentioned Dora to me, saying that she was now for sale. The partners at Storm Grove were actually considering a breeding program, and this mare would certainly fit into their vision. In addition, I am always certainly looking for great training prospects for dressage, and this mare certainly fit the bill in every way.
She has super rideability, great gaits and conformation, incredible temperament, and great bloodlines--she is by Donnerschlag (Donnerhall)x Dresden (Duellglanz) which is heavy Hanoverian breeding in the very important D-line. Her foal papers are Oldenburg, and she is entered into the Main Mare Book in the Holsteiner Studbook. She was one of the top-scoring mares at her inspection with 44 bonit points over 6766667.
We will probably also look into getting her entered into the Oldenburger Horse Breeders Society North American division of Verband der Zuchter des Oldenburger Pferdes e. V. mare book (we were told it would be no problem to get her in the main mare book, and one can only hope that she achieves premium status, as well). I will also have to look into whether she could be entered into the Hanoverian mare book, since she is heavily Hanoverian in her bloodlines. I am still learning about all that, since my main focus over the past 15 years has been riding and training, not breeding. But I have always thought about getting back into breeding a baby or two if the right quality mare came along. I have always admired the Donnerhall line, so this is the chance of a lifetime.



I am also looking forward to continuing her dressage training, but the breeding comes first. I have a partnership on this mare, and we are looking for a stallion that we think will cross well on this mare. I am considering a few different stallions, but I keep coming back to Dresden Mann. He is Donnerhall as well, and I will have to ask the advice of breeders who are much more experienced with the lines than I am if this will be too close in the line, and I may need to consider a less closely related horse. But here is a link to Dresden Mann's video, so you can see why I like him....
Dresden Mann video on Youtube
I like that he is only 16.1 hands, since Dora is 16.2, and I want the resulting foal to stay between 15.3 and 16.2 if at all possible. I am not a fan of sheer size. I think the "smaller" horses are much more marketable, manageable, and are not as prone to maintenance issues. I have a 15.3 hh Dutch Warmblood gelding who did the meter-fours in Germany before being imported, jumped here in the U.S. until he was 14 or 15 years old; I "switched" him to dressage (although I still jump him lightly for fun) when he was 18, and now at 25 years old he is still sound with no "maintenance", and competitive at training/first level in Wellington. I don't think I could be saying the same if he were 17+hands.
Anyway, if anyone has any further thoughts or knowledge of Dresden Mann or his offspring, or any comments or suggestions for a possible match for Dora, I would love to have you post them!I am so much looking forward to all the possibilities with this mare!
Thanks also to Bianca Berktold for making this possible, and to Franzi Pfeiffer-Blackstone for advice, and to Storm Grove Stables (Nicole Baudo and Joy Nottage) for partnering with me in the purchase of this exquisite mare!

90.7% What do you think?

I can say that this is an amazing ride. I can also say that I enjoyed watching it, and I put it in my favorites on my account at Youtube. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_FDK04vXaI

I wonder, now that we have broken through the "glass ceiling" of 90% (it wasn't that long ago that 80% was unimaginable), if we are going the way of other olympic judged events (I am thinking of ice-skating, gymnastics and diving, for instance) that we will soon have to re-think our scoring system....because after 100%, where do we go?

Now, before you start thinking, "well that won't happen, because how often do you see a perfect ride?", remember--a score of ten does not mean it is "perfect"; a score of ten means it is "excellent"...and we don't even have the luxury of tenths of points (yes, I know--halfpoints for freestyle) It is not just semantics. There are real consequences to approaching 100% scores, and there are widespread ramifications. I wonder if anyone at the FEI organizational level is thinking about this--I wonder if our FEI judges are thinking about this?

But then, watch the video, and ask yourself--"where would I have taken away points?" I understand the score, and agree with it when it is judged against our current standard and methodology, but this is what begs my question in the first place.