Rookie Hunter Division Champion

It's late and we're all tired, but we ended Saturday with beautiful jumping rounds over both crossrails and 2'. Lynx was so extremely tired as his last jump round wasn't until after dark, and we'd started with the first class of the day at 8am! He really pulled it together and landed us with a clean sweep of first place ribbons in all his jumping classes. This resulted in him winning the Rookie Hunter Division championship title for the entire National show! What an incredible accomplishment for this horse who only arrived at Bit of Honey Training LLC on July 6th to learn to be a riding horse.

We did a crossrails jumping class and a 2' class. Lynx impressed everyone in both by having really good form, and tight knees over each fence.

What a great overachieving effort right in front of the judge!

I love the expression on his face, he enjoyed the jumping so much!

What a wildly successful show!  This horse really showed everyone what he could do and all he'd learned at Bit of Honey Training.  I'm so very proud of him!

Here's the video from his last jumping round.

https://youtu.be/qn81Z5Pimc4?is=kbLqSigsS-xGT4Wx

Dressage Day

Finished dressage! Lynx tried so hard and was so confused.... I had bridle tag numbers on the sides of his browband, as is appropriate for dressage tests, but he thought they were odd blinkers and so defaulted to the old correct answer of "pace". I did eventually get him into the trot during the second half of the tests, so I count it as a victory. 

Between tests we hacked around the show grounds in an effort to help him understand the job here is like the job at home, trot only. Once we'd walked all over and then returned to the arena he realized trot was the right answer. Our second test was similar, he didn't get the trot until the second half. He had it beautiful in the warmup, so he DID do all I asked of him this morning. What a good guy.

This halt photo makes me laugh...  the look on Lynx's face says "well what the heck was THAT?!" A surprisingly common reaction horses have to their first official dressage test.  He's an awfully good sport!

Back at the stall afterwards Lynx has been super chill.  He does look for me when I leave the stall, but had been happily eating and drinking.

Arrived!

Smiling photos as we started on the road this morning...  ah we were younger then. 

It was kind of a wretched drive up, taking many hours longer than it should have.  With three accidents (thankfully none involving us), truly scary drivers cutting us off trying to get ahead.  Horrific traffic around DC, and again Baltimore, and again Philadelphia and again getting on the NJ turnpike.  Yeesh.  

We did arrive safely, if grumpy, just barely before dark. Lynx is already a champion for riding in the trailer that long and being that well behaved! He ate and drank well in the trailer.  He unloaded and happily had a long guzzle of water, ate his dinner, and was busy working on his hay bag when we left him to go set up camp with my trailer.

Our ride times are about 8:45am for our first dressage test, and about 10am for the second.  It will be an early start, but we'll be done before lunch.  Hopefully we're both feeling better in the morning!

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!