Class List for Nationals

Here's the list of classes in which Lynx is entered for Nationals next week.  The other trainers in the ReBrand Initiative Trainer's Challenge have also shared their classes, and some of us will be in the same classes/divisions!  It's so exciting to see these horses having made so much progress. It says a great deal about the Standardbred breed that they can so easily adapt from harness racing to being riding horses in such a short time! 

Some things I've discovered about Standardbreds through this process is that so many of these horses have the athleticism of a thoroughbred, the brain of a quarter horse, and the gaits and body of a warmblood.  I'm confidently predicting once word gets out that this is the ideal adult amateur mount, it's going to be hard to keep them in the barn. They will be in demand.  They will likely start taking the sporthorse world by storm as the majority of folks are looking for something steady, safe, athletic, with a good sensible mind. 

They come in all sizes and colors, and so many are truly sound coming off the track because harness racing isn't the same kind of pounding on them as the galloping racing thoroughbreds does.  Once started under saddle and balanced in regular gaits they will be appropriate for a wide variety of riders.

Additionally, starting them under saddle is very straightforward and their good temperaments absolutely lend them to being wonderful uncomplicated prospects.  I'm anticipating that I'll have quite a few coming through the Bit of Honey Training program in the near future.  While my personal horses will likely continue to be OTTBs, I recognize that it's a more specialized rider who enjoys a thoroughbred and the skill set they require.  Standardbreds fill the niche space between thoroughbreds and warmbloods that so many adult amateurs are searching for!

If you'd like to get on the wait list to be considered as a future home for one of the Standardbreds that will be getting a Bit of Honey Training education, reach out to BitOfHoneyTraining@gmail.com.  

I also am starting to fill the waitlist for owners wanting to get their Stb started under saddle before advertising to a non-racing home, and folks interested in this can contact the same email.

I feel so fortunate to have been able to work with with MMXX Standardbreds on this training project with Lynx.  It will be such fun to finally meet everyone in person at the show this week, and I love the graphic they shared of the MMXX Nationals team!

It's fun to be part of another team after having run the Bit of Honey Training crew for so many years. Onward to Nationals!

Learning the Dressage Tests

Since Lynx came to me for training and much of my background is in eventing, with plenty of endurance, cow work, trail riding, and classical dressage sprinkled in!  Sometimes I wonder if I ended up eventing because I loved fast trailrides over big jumps, or because I couldn't decide on one discipline!  Either way I can find all kinds of options for a horse as a career after racing!  As a result, Lynx has had a very full and well rounded education over these past nine weeks! 

A portion of that time has been spent introducing him to basic dressage. Since correct dressage really is the foundation for anything else he might go on to do, this has been an important piece of his learning here. 

As Nationals starts just one week from today, we've been reviewing the skills from the two dressage tests he'll do there.  While he does canter here at home on each lead, and even gives me pretty clean flying lead changes while we're out galloping in the fields, he's not yet balanced enough to do it slowly on a twenty meter circle.  Because of that I've entered him in USDF Intro A & B, which are walk/trot tests.  I want to set him up to be super confident at the show!

Of course we warm up and cool off by walking around in the fields with the dogs. They're good about assisting with the dressage schooling, but do enjoy our morning hacks.

If you're curious how a person can memorize a dressage test, you can go to this blog post. 

Pre-Horseshow Massage

This morning Lynx and the dogs and I worked a little on our dressage test for Nationals, then went for a walk and headed back to the barn because Lynx had a massage scheduled!  Jaime Hammond came out again too work on him once more time before we head out of town next week.  

Lynx of course remembered her and was very interactive and communicative throughout the massage this time.  At the beginning he nuzzled my hands and gave me some reciprocal grooming as she stared working on him.  By the end he was very politely asking her to spend a little more time on the effleurage of his forearms with a gentle nudge with his nose every time she'd stop.

Lynx also feel asleep for a bit because massage just feels nice.

Happily he got a good report!  All the places where he had some tension last time had resolved, and he's built some good correct muscling over the past month.  He's in great shape heading into his grand finale for the ReBrand Initiative Trainer's Challenge.

Group Gallop and a Goose

Lynx and I were invited to a group trailride, at a friend's beautiful farm. There were eight horses all together, which is the largest group Lynx has ridden with, not counting the extra large classes at our last horseshow.  

Big groups have the potential to be kind of stressful for a green horse, but Lynx once again behaved as a seasoned trail veteran. He led the group at the beginning, even leading the charge down into and across ine of the dry creek beds.

At one point we reached a field with good footing, and our host offered to let us gallop around the perimeter.  There were 5 of us who wanted to go, and the other 3 waited at the trail's entrance into the fields.  Lynx did so well with this!  Galloping in a group also has the potential to get a horse revved up, but Lynx managed to canter/gallop in the front, in the middle of the group, in the back, and it was all very controlled.  Impressive stuff for a horse who's only been riding for two months.

We had quite the conversation as we were getting started.  To Lynx, despite being in an open field, going fast with a group of horses was very similar to his time at the racetrack.  In the beginning he did pick up the canter, but when he realized EVERYONE was going fast, he switched to his pace.  

He's remarkably quick in that gait, and was near the front of the pack.  I did have him slow down, rebalance, and then pick up the canter again each time he would pace, and by the end he realized what I wanted.  

With all the galloping we've done in our fields at home, Lynx was great galloping in the group once he realized it wasn't a pacing race.  He also was very easy to bring back to the walk, and was content riding in the back of the group at the walk.  This is a good sign that he'd enjoy foxhunting too!  

I didn't have the gopro with me today, but at the slower gaits I did take video with my phone. At the end of the ride as we were approaching the trailers again, we encountered the resident guard goose.  We have a lot of wild turkeys at our place, but I doubt Lynx has seen many geese, especially one as gregarious as this one!

In true Lynx fashion, he checked it out, decided it was no big deal, and now he's Goose-Proof.

What a fantastic ride!  Group galloping, trailriding through fields and the woods, up and down through the creek beds, and meeting a guard goose.  What a day!

Early Morning Walk with Lynx and the Dogs

Lynx and the dogs and I have been going out early in the morning to ride, and today was a walk day.  The walk days are just as important as galloping days for physical and mental development!  

https://youtu.be/UVsjCLb90bE?is=89a8Imz6guMa6sRG

I'm so lucky to live in a beautiful place with room to ride like this, and to have such a cool horse and dogs.  These are good days leading up to Nationals!

Come Gallop With Us!

This week here in Southern Virginia it's still summer.  We're supposed to get near or just over 100 degrees Tuesday through Friday this week.  That means EARLY morning rides for Son of a Lynx.  Strictly speaking, he doesn't need to do conditioning gallops for anything we'll be doing at the Nationals horseshow.  However, he did come to work with me, an eventing trainer, which means he's being introduced to everything from the three phases (plus the additional things good all-around horses have done like trailriding, bridges, cows....)  

 

That includes learning to gallop cross country in the open.  We've had several sessions of this now, and he does seem to enjoy it.  If I'm precise with my aids he can pick up either lead, and has a fairly natural flying lead change when we change the bend going around corners.  Leads and picking up the canter isn't automatic on a circle like in an arena setting yet, but the fact that he's getting it out galloping in the fields means he's figuring out the cues and that will transfer to the arena later.  After cantering up and down hills and changing leads through the woods, cantering on flat footing won't be too hard a mental leap.  Plus, it's so good for his fitness. 

 

Lynx has figured out the spots where I usually ask for the canter and then gallop, and now associates my voice cues with it.  "Trrrot" with clicking my tongue mean trot, and "CAnter" with a kissing noise means canter.  Further kissing and adding leg while the rider is in two point means gallop . To stop, I shift my weight and tilt my pelvis back, then take a deep audible exhale.  That brings him right down, so we mostly don't need the reins. 

It's interesting that the dogs also know all these voice and breathing cues.  When I was trail running regularly with Pascal (on foot), when we'd get to a steeper downhill trail I'd do the bigger exhale and he'd slow right down and stay by my side.

My dogs do their best to keep up, but my retired horse training dog, Rizzo, was really the only one who could truly keep up with a galloping thoroughbred back when she was working.  Pascal and Mahzi do their best, but Mahzi, at 70 lbs and 14 years old, is like 85 in human years.  She justifiably cuts some corners and waits for us where she knows we'll reappear.  Pascal mostly takes the same routes we do, but just catches up once we come back to the walk.  

 

I'm nearly there with the gopro video and taking spectators on a gallop with us.  I still need to fix the visor on my helmet so that it doesn't flap and hit the camera when we're really moving, but at least I've got some galloping footage with Son of a Lynx and the dogs now!  I may need to replace my SD card as this one is quite old and doesn't seem to be able to process the longer videos.  Because of that, this gallop video is kind of short, but still gives the viewer the idea of how he gallops in the open.  Not necessarily a requirement for a show pleasure horse, but a nice way to pad his resume'.  

https://youtu.be/IG4UQPkMy0M 

This video starts with us catching our breath at the walk with the dogs after warming up at the trot.  We pick up the gallop not too far into the video.

Just in case you were wondering how he is after he's been galloping - he comes right back to the trot or walk, whatever is asked of him.  Then we stroll around the fields on a loose rein to cool out, the dogs catch up with us, and eventually we make our way back to the barn.  If you don't mind me singing (I have some music going on my phone while the gopro is recording) you can ride Lynx's cool out with us here:

https://youtu.be/upg51p8FUS8 

 

Professional Horseshow Photos

So many thanks to IC You Photography for getting these great photos of Lynx on Saturday at the horseshow!