Mounted Archery

I explained what mounted archery was to my kids as I drove my oldest to archery practice, "I think this Fall I'll try Czech out with it...give him something new to do"

Mikayla piped up from the backseat, "Oh, you mean you're going to be just like Merida!"

As if I wasn't already sold on the idea of combining two things I really enjoy, riding and archery, now a tiny voice put stars in my eyes and I was all in, "Yep, just like Merida".

To get started the first main change is the bow. For bullseye competitions NASP shooters (what my son and I practice at home) use a bare bones compound bow with a 10 to 20 pound draw. Mounted archery though must use a naked composite recurve that has no arrow shelf and of course no mechanical trigger, with a 30 to 45 pound draw.

Nocking the arrow is said to be the hardest part, it needs to happen quickly and precisely so you can hit as many targets as fast as possible. Feather fletching is used on all arrows instead of plastic for the same reason, arrow nocking, you can't take the time to look if your odd color is towards you with plastic vaning.

I've had experience with a recurve, my Mom's is the first one I learned to shoot. Unfortunately it's too long to use mounted, but great for basic practice on the ground. The quiver also changes from a cylinder on your side (ground) versus a flat one strapped to your leg with the arrows side by side (mounted).

Next hurdle is my saddle, riding hunter jumpers I have forward flap saddles that encourage you to be forward and make it easy to get off the horse's back. Most riders I've seen use a western saddle for shooting in the US though Australian stock saddles are also popular. I don't want to invest in either yet, so I plan to dust off the bull fighting (yeah, bull fighting) saddle my cousin brought me from an auction house, that has been decorating my living room.

1) shoot with a 35 pound draw from the ground (pretty much can mark this one off the list already)

2) shoot from the ground holding an arrow in the bow hand, nocking without looking

3) shoot from the ground in motion (walking)

4) get Czech used to the bow from the ground, then mounted

5) throw things off Czech's back

6) have Czech stand calmly nearby while I shoot target from the ground

7) practice nocking while in the saddle

8) nocking shooting at a walk, dropping reins

9) trot

10) canter

11) accuracy

12) speed

Oh yeah, this is going to be fun!

Athletes Or Traditionalists

If you've ever had non-horse friends comment that riding isn't a real sport, that the horse does all the work, it kind of makes you want to choke someone.

The thing about any skill is that the better you get at it, the easier it looks to anyone watching and this is frustrating when you're dealing with lawn chair jockeys. I tune them out with my constant motto, "show me what you mean on my horse". If they can't/won't, then they don't even register on my radar.

Riders know how much strength it takes to support yourself over a fence and not lean on your horse's mouth or throw off their balance, the burning in your hamstrings as you shift your weight back and hold your upper body still using only your abs, absorbing the landing of a thousand pounds back to the ground.

Other horse people know that we, as a group, work very hard. Not only to ride well but also to manage our stables and keep them clean and stocked. Moving 50 pound sacks of grain over icy ground in the winter and sweating throwing just as heavy hay bales in the summer, hauling water buckets, cleaning troughs, the list is long.

Then we show up to an event that tests our training and fitness looking like we are heading to dinner in Britain asking to be taken seriously as the athletes that we are.

If you saw an image of Beezie

and this girl

which one makes you think "athlete"?

"But, it's tradition! Wool jackets are meant to protect you in a fall in the fields, stock ties support the neck, tall boots protect your legs, we can't muck with tradition."

With the exception of tall boots (I've torn my legs up forgetting a training ride or two so I don't care how silly I look wearing those) and a helmet, I have a hard time agreeing with tradition.

If we were allowed to compete in what we train in, think of the sponsors! The doors that open up for Under Armour to produce riding tanks that free up our arms to move fluid with our horses. Nike boot socks that cushion and cool. Adidas breeches that flex with us and look amazing.

There would still be plenty of room for tastefulness in a show arena that showcases our skills and our horses, without the pretentious suit.

Spotlight's Adventure

As summer began I had a plan in place for the ponies to get more work and the kids to get in more riding time. Until now I would saddle up ponies and the five kids would take turns. This wasn't a good way of handling it though, it always left three kids either getting into trouble or complaining while it wasn't their turn. Now that they are a little older I can take one kid up to the barn with me every day to do chores and ride, they each get one on one time and my full attention while they are learning.

Every day I'd ask who they wanted to ride and every day it was Pegasus or Czech. Pegasus when they wanted to try something like working on posting or cantering, Czech when they wanted to just do a little pasture hack.

Spotlight got passed over time and time again.

Having a sound pony, with years of use left, doing nothing but grazing everyday isn't doing anybody any good. With Pegasus and Czech to pick from, honestly the kids were horse spoiled. Spotlight takes a little more effort to ride when he hasn't been worked regularly and he just sat. The kids and I discussed it and decided, through some tears, that we would look for another situation for him and if a great one came up we'd let him go.

Not long after I found a family who was looking for a pony to add to their two large horses for the experienced kid riders to have.

It was perfect for Spotlight, he'll have his own girls to fawn over him and since the pasture is nearly dry lot, he won't have to wear his grazing muzzle that he despises wearing daily here.

So today we say goodbye to our Spotlight as he starts with a new family as official pony.

The Day After

It's the morning after Belmont 2015 and the dust has settled as we all have a deep feeling of satisfaction that a truly great horse has ended the 37 year drought and given us a triple crown winner.

I find it hard to put into words how I feel about this event that has never before occurred in my lifetime.

Last year I wrote on Belmont day about the frustration California Chrome's connections expressed but how I felt strongly that changing the rules would somehow take away from the few great horses who had managed this accomplishment, it would change their company.

Experts everywhere said it would never happen again. There would be no great racehorse in modern bloodlines that could appear and take on such a feat as the impossible triple crown. Science predicted against it even.

Then we saw him yesterday, stretched out with an ease that seemed supernatural, as he left the field and a deafening roar engulfed him. This horse was exactly the horse, in exactly the way, it should have happened all along.

As a thoroughbred lover, I have to say I never thought the experts were right. I know it's easy to say that in print now that it has happened, still the experts didnt know that "something" that my beloved TB's have in them. They don't understand the magic that comes together. More importantly, they didn't realize that the magic was not dead in our horses veins, the triple crown was just that difficult to achieve. 

In addition to loving the breed I also greatly enjoy the good side of racing. Those of us who do are constantly fighting the war to shed light on the good trainers/breeders/owners and help change the bad. To this day both of my ex-racehorses are followed by their last owners, they join me in wins and defeats and have only the best interest of the horses in mind.

I love this sport. I love these horses. And I love that for a few minutes yesterday, we all felt the same way watching a short tailed bay come down the stretch.

My brother texted me, "the city is wild right now" from his home in NYC.

Czech's breeders texted me Czech's pedigree and American Pharoah pointing out how they were related to each other top and bottom.

Bandon's race trainer and my long distance riding coach messaged joy and could feel it too.

As I went up to the barn last night to bring them in, I told the boys about the victory for thoroughbreds today. How the whole world cheered just for them for a few minutes that night.

I looked at Bandon and couldn't help but think of how similar my journey with him had been. Full of expectations, frustrations, small victories, encouragements, and experts saying to give up already.

And yet just that morning Bandon and I turned in our best show so far (is there a better way to spend Belmont morning than on a triple crown descendant?). There was no "well except for" or "he was great after...". Nope. We were each other's partner as we cruised around lines that happened to have brush jumps, oxers, and stone walls. We held a canter in the flat class while another horse was in front of us. We just did it with an ease that didn't need fighting or asking to get. And all the failures and dashed hopes that led us there made it oh so sweet. Our goal for that show was hit, then we nailed a few more just because we could. I was over the moon thrilled!

Telling the judge the story of how he came to be mine, his days of being labeled vicious, were almost funny as he tried to lick my face with goofy half falling ears.

Once in awhile special happens. You can't force it. You can't control it. All you can do is keep working, loving, and trying. Then one day it just comes along easily when the moment is there and all the tears and sweat suddenly have their meaning.

*I'd like to add that American Pharoah connections have pledged 50k in support to Thoroughbred retirement in addition to other great after care programs. If you won on AP yesterday, please consider making a portion of that a donation yourself! New Vocations, Old Friends, and CANTER are great places to start.

Enter Spartan

Just like training Thoroughbreds, I'm learning when and how to put pressure on my kids' riding to encourage them to grow but not push them too much and kill confidence. Having a few kids who are daredevils that I have to rein in, Sage was a learning curve with her extreme caution. We've tried a few different trainer styles before I left her to her own devices at her own pace. Using this method, she finally decided the other night she wanted to canter for the first time on Pegasus and had success that built her confidence to do more.

The kids aren't just learning about horses and riding, they are also having to learn how to train them. While our ponies are nice, they are definitely not dead broke mounts that patiently listen and cooperate with kids that aren't clear on their timing. The most common thing we deal with is rein snatching to graze (yanking the reins out of their hands and sometimes the little kids out of the saddle) and mild pulling towards the barn type stuff.

Last night I was trying to simplify the idea of pressure and release with horses to Hunter, my oldest son. 

"Pressure tells the horse that what they are doing right now needs to be different and release tells them, 'yes, that was it, repeat that next time.' If your timing is good, the pressure needed will be less and less. If your timing is poor, you teach the horse that pressure just needs opposition"

Hunter worked through the lesson with a slightly resistant Spotlight, getting his hindquarters to yield to him on the ground. Then I let him play a little with Czech who encouraged Hunter's timing by giving to him with slight gestures.

Riding together as the sun went down, Hunter used his new found skill set when Spotlight spooked at a dog. I was on Czech about 25 yards in front of him (no I don't work horses barefoot, I had on work boots that wanted to slip off once I was on the bareback pad) and I heard the sound of fast approaching feet and Hunter saying "whoa!"

I looked behind me to see Spotlight's head up and butt tucked running for me, Hunter on the reins, elbows bent, and centered in the saddle. Spotlight stopped as Hunter released the rein pressure.

He looked like a ghost and I had to catch my own breath as I'd seen my kid in real trouble on a horse for the first time. I flashed him a grin and said, "Fantastic! Look what you did! And look how Spotlight didn't dump you but took care of you even though he was scared"

His face looked totally confused. He hadn't seen the dog, though he could see it raging along the fence now, and he hadn't taken into account that Spotlight could have dumped him and run but didn't. He looked reassured and giggled a little. "Well, I cantered on Spotlight"

I laughed too, "yep, you sure did". Scratching Czech's mane as we walked on through the pasture, thankful that he had stood solid and didn't also spook.

That ride on Spotlight put a lot of pressure on Hunter, and the pressure was released when he did all the right things, he'll learn from that just like the horses do.

Sage has also found ways to use pressure and have success. She began asking for a hamster about a year ago, with more intensity as Christmas approached. I stood firm on my, "no more animals in the house" as she drew pictures of hamsters and renditions of me giving her a hamster and how surprised and happy she was. It was emotional warfare and the final straw was an air-mail campaign.

I could not understand why this child who had every farm animal we could fit here, wanted a rodent. She explained that it would live in her room and be totally under her care. She wanted a charge that was her's alone, not one that she helped care for occasionally. This I understood, so I agreed to a hamster for her birthday in October if she researched them.

In her research, Sage found that hamsters were notorious for biting people, but guinea pigs were kind of like a hamster's nicer sibling. As we asked about guinea pigs to a friend that had one, she offered us a pig that was leaving the classroom for the summer and needed to not have to come back in the fall. Bugsy was a good piggie but ready for a life that didn't include daily mobbings of kindergarteners.

Lucky Sage doesn't even have to wait for her birthday anymore (though she has promised to use all birthday money for care items for the pet) and has already proudly re-named the creature, Spartan.

So pressure and release works training horses, teaching kids, and conning your Mother, I bet her younger siblings are taking notes...

Update: Many of you followed our experience on Facebook the other night when Pegasus had an episode with colic. I'm pleased to report that he is completely back to normal, grumpy to be in a grazing muzzle on turnout, and happily covered in mud. The vet assured us that nothing management wise could have been done to prevent it (barometric pressure was an issue that evening) and that cooling out, preventing from rolling, and banamine in that first hour helped keep it mild.

God Gave Us Moments... and ponies

I stared at my phone screen and the words reflected back at me hadn't changed, my friend's horse was dead. Of his two OTTB's, he had lost both within months of each other. Young horses that were full of potential, gone in a flash. The next morning Bandon stopped eating. My head and heart were spinning looking for clues as to why. Hours of conversations with trusted friends and my vet to determine if the recent dental work was to blame or some unseen illness had taken hold. In the end it seems that ulcers may be the culprit and he's already back on his feed now as I order treatments.

Last night I wondered briefly if it was all worth it as I scouted through tall itchy grass at the end of a long day, looking for Spotlight's grazing muzzle that he manages to remove only when his face is wet from a rain shower. In the farthest corner of the field I find the muzzle freshly pooped on by Spotlight himself in attempts to either conceal it or express his hatred of it.

How do we give so much of our time and energy to other living beings and have it be worth it, especially when they can up and die on you in any given moment? Is it a fair trade what we get back? Is it life hours well spent or used up? The fresh news of Pegasus having melanoma adding to my worry.

Back in the barn to hose the muzzle, I see Sage in her Ariat polo chasing toads under a wheelbarrow. My heart swells a bit at the simplicity of the site and I'm just so in love with her. I send her down to get the sheep on her own and what felt like 30 minutes later I look down to check and see sheep loose in the pasture and Sage walking slowly across the arena. A wild hare darts away from her and her shoulders slump in resignation that catching her own rabbit (she's determined to make pets of the entire animal kingdom) isn't going to happen tonight. She turns her attention back out to the sheep and brings them in for me.

"I couldn't catch it Mom," she goes to console herself in Czech's muzzle and he is all too happy to share his wet grain mash with her hair.

With all the pain and heartache that comes from working with animals, these pieces of heaven are what they give us in return. They might not happen too often but I can't imagine finding them any other way for me.

Out on the Battlefields with Czech, chasing deer and ghosts.

Spotlight hauling around his boys during morning chores.

Pegasus, a living breathing little girl's dream.

Bandon being my best friend and partner through everything we learn together.

It's completely worth the sleepless nights and fretting over a missed meal or a strange bump. The saying goodbye pain that eventually comes whether or not you are ready for it. It's worth it for right now. For this sunset on this day, I'll take it.

My kids are catching on to this equine happiness lifestyle too, recently we took them to Kentucky for my oldest son, Hunter's, archery tournament. On day two in Louisville we had free time and went to Churchill Downs (of course).

They were being kids and honestly wearing on my nerves as I tried to keep track of and peace between them. As the horses came out, some began to get interested.

As the race went by, I was worn out and sure the day was a bust when the kids turned around and said that was the coolest thing they had ever seen.

Next day at The Horse Park in Lexington, we all experienced our first carriage ride. Never sure of how companies take care of horses, I'd never paid for a ride before and we all closed our eyes to listed to the Suffolk Punch teams hoofbeats fall as we traveled smoothly in the breeze they created.

They met horse breeds they had only seen in their posters. They couldn't grasp who Secretariat was (even though they've seen the movie and I've told the stories) but a Marwari was an occassion.

It was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world and just as large to me as watching Sage with the toad, them discovering their own heart swells.

I'm looking forward to summer break beginning in a few days, though it means less riding for me on my own horses, it means lots more time with my kids who are now old enough for me to let go a bit so they can discover what a farm means to them personally.

I'm also excited about regular help with their sheep...

Joy, Brought To You By Courage

While this might seem like a bit of an ego-driven post, it's balanced nicely with admissions of my own neurotic thoughts publicly so I figure that yin-yangs pretty well. If you aren't up for a happy ending, stop here.

Tuesday I turned Bandon towards my newly dried turf arena to get jumping practice in preparation for Saturday's show. I had committed to move up a level and knew that I needed to work every jump in my arena to be fair to he and I heading into the weekend. All stuff we are capable of, though not as well practiced through the winter.

Bandon cleared the first jump then ducked the next.

Ducking : Horse is on a straight line towards jump, with nice impulsion from his rear, then on the last stride, horse dives left or right crashing the standard or sort of half rearing out of the way of it. Rider either clings or is thrown over the shoulder of the horse and into the poles.

What the heck. He never does that!

Okay, back at it. More leg. More "yeah get it boy, you got this". Damn. Repeat. Three more times. I somehow convince him to pop over a small fence so we end well and stop. Maybe he's sore or something...we'll pasture hack tomorrow and then try again.

Thursday it was still too muddy so Friday we faced the jumps again. I had brushed off the last ride and Bandon had already done stellar flat work for me, aimed at the jump, all systems go, he dodges left. Over and over and over.

It didn't seem to matter how much leg or rein I used, sideways. Even the easy fence heading towards the gate. All ducked. I started worrying I was training him to avoid jumps so we got one jump and stopped.

The show was moved to Sunday and I wasn't sure what to think. It was a harder level, including both a brush and a wall jump that he had not done in a show environment. My confidence was at zero and I could not understand why my totally sound horse stopped loving to jump.

Morning of the show, I was a mess. A sports psychologist would have quit after a 5 minute look into my thought process this morning. "I can't do this. Why am I doing this? He's going to duck the fence and throw me onto the wood rails and my back will be toast. He is already a handful at shows, now I'm looking at harder classes AND coming with fresh training day problems?"

Chris comes in while I'm getting ready and sees the tears in my eyes, clearly assuming I'm partly insane as I tell him that frankly I'm terrified. He begins to ask why I'm doing it at all and I stop him before he can complete the question.

Decision time. Do it, have today be the hardest day but a beginning OR stay home and quit. I can't stay at lower levels, it's not good for me or him. Put up or shut up.

I loaded my horse (who loads by himself now, decent progress for a year) and committed to making this a positive experience for him no matter what. If we jumped a few and pulled up, so be it.  If he freaked and ran I'd circle. If he ducked out I'd head down to warm-up and work ground poles. There was a plan for every scenario in my head.

In-hand class he won, acting fairly civilized somewhat thanks to empty wrappers crinkling in my pocket. Impressive since a mare outside the arena had made him lose his boy brain.

Next it was two full courses back to back. I think I was praying out loud at this point, determined to enjoy some part of this but I honestly had no idea what would happen at the first fence and staying on became pretty important.

I put on my lower leg, told him and myself out-loud that we could do this, and we were on course. First fence he stepped a bit left, corrected, then I could feel his rear engage under us and I knew we were in full-flight mode. He jumped beautifully.

At the end of the day, my boy and I turned in rounds with rails up. We had one refusal each course, both times at the brush jump and both I'm sure were my fault. As I put him on the fence a second time he cleared with room to spare. The one time I asked for the wall jump we soared over. The kind souls ringside who had heard my proclamations that we would be able to do this, cheered along with me.

There is lots and lots of room for improvement, including riding straighter after jump lines (to keep him from head down half bucking around curves). Still, we have begun.

I wish I could go back to myself Friday and say to chill out over a bad training session, believe my long distance trainer, and not assume that I'd wrecked my horse for jumping. I also would love to tell my tearful terrified self early this morning that I was about to fly over jumps on my best friend and all the things I want to do with him would begin to happen.