The Ever Important Lecture on Hydration

The Ever Important Lecture on Hydration

While it has been a mild spring, summer has crept up on us which brings up the ever important discussion about hydration for both horse and rider. This is especially important as the show schedules become more intense. However hydration also affects the retired horses and pasture puffs just as much. Here are some great links to articles to help you figure out if your horse is dehydrated, what to do if dehydration has set in and ways to encourage your horse to drink.

Keep the Ribbons Coming!

Driving Success
Congratulations to Wendy Kilgore and her partner Will who won at Louisville’s Hermitage Classic Combined Driving event last weekend! Champion Training Dressage and Second in Combined Test. Her first CDE!

Can’t believe what a great weekend all the riders from Stone Place Stables had September 15-16. We took eight horses to Flying Cross Horse Trials and two more horses went to other shows. Denise Hellmann went to Indiana and got her final score to get her bronze medal. LeAnn Ross went to Horse Aid at Masterson Station and brought home two second place ribbons.
And the results from Flying Cross…

• Sarah Busche 3rd BN
• Emily Smith 3rd BN
• Lauren Carlisle 5th BN
• Emily Hagan 1st N
• Whitney Drury 5th N
• Amy Seiler 6th N
• Rene Robertson 6th T
• Maxfli 3rd P

It doesn’t get much better than that. Way to go girls!

Summer Show Recap

The summer show season is coming to a close. I know it’s been busy but want to step back and give a show recap to highlight all the hard work everyone has put in. We’ll kick things off with Penny Oaks. We had a lovely showing from the barn, Lauren Carlisle finished on her dressage score of a 45.5 to earn the 7^th spot in the BNR division. Also in the BNR division was Emily Smith on Higgins making her USEA Sanctioned horse trial debut. She conquered the water on cross country, had a lovely dressage test earning a 38 and ended up finishing 11^th out of 16 riders.

Next up was Richland Park H.T. a must attend event! I competed at the Preliminary level on Maxfli and Rene Robertson competed at Training on Top Secret. This venue is perfect for getting your horse acclimated to a higher energy surrounding and to prep them for a move up to a higher division. The courses are tough and the competition is fierce. We both completed and gained valuable experience. Can’t wait until next year!

Kentucky Classique was next on the calendar and fortunately they added a Starter division to broaden the competition a little. Amy Seiler rode Manchester going Novice and a few rails held them to 10^th place but a double clear cross country round and a great dressage test definitely demonstrated their progress. A few more shows and they should have all their ducks in a row. Sarah Busche tested out her new horse Angle of Attack at the Starter level and ended up in 2^nd place.  They will be moving up to Beginner Novice at Flying Cross.

The fall show season is already here, and I look forward to seeing everyone wrap up this competition year with great success. Just remember to kick on!

What You Can Learn from the Olympics

The 2012 Olympics are in full swing, there have been ultimate highs and the lowest of lows. In watching the games it is easy to pick up on one thing, to be successful you must RIDE…Sounds easy enough but taking your eye off the prize for one split second can spell disaster. Just watch the video of falls from the Olympics.

If Mark Todd had stopped riding his mount Campino do you really think he would have made it around? He was quoted as saying, ““I felt for the last few minutes that I’d got off the horse and had to carry him…I don’t think I’ve had to work that hard for a long time. I was absolutely puffed.” If you didn’t catch his ride, watch it and you’ll see what he means.

While the jumps and combinations weren’t necessarily difficult the terrain brought forth a unique set of questions. The entire course had to be ridden, every jump, every turn. Some riders made it look effortless and easy while others had to dig in their heels and fight for every meter on that course.

So how can you relate to these Olympic riders? One answer – RIDE. Sure the jumps on your course many only be 2’7 but working hard from the very beginning will be the only way to achieve that blue ribbon. Don’t believe me here is a comical article published four years ago written by Denny Emerson that still rings very true.

Aiken or Bust

Watch out Aiken here we come! A group of ladies from Stone Place and myself will be in Aiken until the beginning of March with plans on doing a few local shows and taking some lessons with the likes of Boyd Martin, Lynn Coates Holmes, Stephen Bradley and Jan Byyny to name a few. However I haven’t forgotten about those of you staying in the cold weather in Kentucky. This is a great time to work on some of the basics before show season starts. Try riding without stirrups a few times to work on posture, strength and form. Also this is a great time for some pole work. One great exercise is to place four poles on the ground equally spaced on a 20 meter circle. Start off by cantering and maybe try to hit every other pole, then all four. If your horse is behaving and staying in a round frame then try shortening and lengthening their stride. This is a challenging exercise so make sure you give your horse a break or two. There is also a Lynn Coates Holmes clinic at Spring Run Farm February 24-25. Also don’t forget about the Covered Bridge Combined Test at Stone Place! March 11 will be here before you know it. So you may also want to start brushing up on your dressage tests.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

Summer is definitely in full swing! I would like to remind everyone that in this heat there are precautions to take not only as a rider but with your horse as well. Here is a great article on keeping your horse cool and below are a few quick tips:

Consider the time of day you ride The hottest time of the day is afternoon. Try getting up an hour early to ride. Or, if you are not an early riser, try riding in late evening. These times when the sun is not as high in the sky are cooler times to ride.

Ride in the shade If you have a covered or indoor arena with plenty of air circulation, ride there. If you do not have a covered space, try riding on trails or in and around the edges of fields that have tall trees for shade. This will lessen your horse’s exposure to the direct heat of the sun.

Condition properly Evaluate your horse’s current physical condition and his/her body condition score. Most obese or poorly muscled thin horses cannot combat the extra stress of working in the heat. If your horse has not been in regular work or you are unsure about a new mount’s work history, begin your summer workouts slowly with approximately five to 10 minutes of trot only. Increasing your total workout time by five minutes each week, as well as increasing the intensity or speed at which you ride, will give your horse time to acclimate to the heat and humidity.

Replace electrolytes Give your horse electrolytes in a water bucket or in feed. The horse loses salt and other minerals when he sweats, and these must be replaced. When adding electrolytes to water, make sure you also have a water bucket available without electrolytes. The horse might not like the taste of the electrolytes or he might not need many electrolytes.

Cool the horse properly After you ride in the heat apply cool water to your entire horse. Spend time hosing his largest muscle areas and the largest and closest-to-the-surface blood vessels, the jugular vein in the neck and the saphenous vein on the inner thigh. Doing this cools the body faster.

Stone Place Boarders Pot Luck Dinner!

Stone Place Stables is very excited about having it’s first ever boarders pot luck dinner on Wednesday July 13th. We want to give everyone a chance to meet some of the Wallace family and hear their goals for the farm. They are looking forward to meeting you! Mary Lowry will also be at the dinner to help us accomplish all of our goals. The farm will provide chicken, buffalo and veggie burgers to grill if you will bring your favorite side and a lawn chair.

We will also be giving out door prizes of gift certificates to the hitching post and free lessons!! It should be a fun night. In addition to everyone getting to know each other the farm has some bookkeeping to get current. We will have new emergency information sheets that we will need everyone to fill out. We ask that you all be there, so please mark the date in your calendar and join us for a fun evening! Please let me know if you do plan on attending and if you are not able to attend please get in touch with me so that I can get you up to date with everything that is covered at the meeting.

Thanks so much and I will see you all soon!

PS – Don’t forget to like our new Stone Place Face Book page!

Spring Run has Its Highs and Lows

This weekend at Spring Run proved to be one filled with emotional highs and lows but everyone had a good time, and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone! We had six riders compete this weekend, myself, Whitney Drury, Sarah Busche, Chelsea Hackbarth, Jessica Ramage and Emma Burch. Jessica took the blue ribbon in the Novice Rider A division finishing on a score of 31.5! Emma Burch also won the Second Stride graduate trophy on Winston with her first day score of 34.3. This was a great learning experience for everyone as it proved to be a challenging cross country course at all levels. We’ll now have a little break from the showing action. However there are two great mini-trials early in July that I encourage everyone to take advantage of. The first is the “Big” mini-trial at Flying Cross on July 3 which offers BN-P and then another on July 10 at Lands End which will offer Baby Starter through Beginner Novice. Entry forms can be found at www.42fleurdelis.com

2011 Eventing Season is Well Under Way!

The year has definitely started out with a bang with lots of exciting things happening. One thing that I am excited about is the creation of the 42 Fleur De Lis Mini Trial series right here in Louisville. Right now the series consists of six mini trials with a year end awards banquet. These events are economical and a great way to introduce new horses and riders to eventing. For more information click here.

Another exciting thing that has happened this year is that some of the young horses are now competing at the Beginner Novice level: Fancee, Manchester and Big Glen are a few that have enthusiastically completed their first event.  I also have several horses and riders moving up to the next level including Sarah Busche and PJ, Lindsay Satterthwaite and Bella and Emma Burch and Winston. This year will prove to be an exciting competitive year!

On a side note I would like to encourage everyone at Stone Place to keep a close eye on ticks on yourself and your horse. We have had several horses have some issues. If your horse suddenly becomes ear shy or starts acting erratically they very well could be the cause. And just like with humans, ticks can pass on many diseases to the horse so best to get them taken care of asap.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LANE ROLAND, LINDSEY SATTERTHWAITE AND RENEE ROBERTSON FOR AWESOME RIDES AT FLYING CROSS ON AUGUST 21-22, 2010

 Renee and Rooster were first in a HUGE Novice division of 19 riders.  They had a fabulous dressage score of 29 (a full 4 points higher than the second place horse).

Debbie rode Lane Roland’s Cruiser for a third in Open Beginner Novice finishing on her dressage score of 32.5

This was Lindsey and Bella’s first USEA event together and they placed fourth out of thirteen riders on respectable dressage score of 35.