Lukas is an off the track thoroughbred with a variety of behavior problems. Lukas’s owner, Karen Murdock,  decided to take a different approach to training and use play and games methos to train.  This technique worked well with Lukas’s personality and he has used his intelligence and drive to learn to earn him a name in the record books.  I have pasted below a you tube documentary video of  Lukas and his owner.  Karen also has a wonderful website that you should be sure to visit.  She has a lot of great videos of her time with Lukas.

www.playingwithlukas.com

Quite the horse. What do you think?

I’m sure for some of you it is at bit strange reading from someone you don’t know, especially when my style of writing is a bit informal. I try to write like that on purpose, so what I post is more like a conversation than a lecture.  I guess I am also secretly hoping you will talk back.

So here is a little about me.  My first name is Elizabeth, my husband has forced me to keep my last name off of the blog for now because he is afraid of crazy people.  I began my appreciation of horses probably soon after I could talk and began taking riding lessons at 8 years old.  That was when my mom couldn’t stand listening to the whining anymore and I was finally at an age where someone would attempt to teach me.  She was also really getting tired of stopping the car at every horse on the side of the road so I could try to feed it grass, bread, crackers or whatever else I could find in our car that might be acceptable for a horse to eat.  Yes…stopping on the side of the road is a bit dangerous and feeding a horse you don’t know not the best idea, but we didn’t care and remember the whole  ”whining” part I referred to earlier.

Amazingly enough the very first horse I rode, was at a farm that would become one of the first dressage barns in our area.  This was a friends farm and after my first ride, I was hooked.  I took lessons and  rode hunters for several years after that.  My first dressage test  didn’t come until about the age of 13.  I then meddled in the combined training world for several years, because when you are a teenager jumping is the “cool” thing to do.  I now realize due to all of my jumping related falls and eating lots of dirt as a teenager, I experience a bit of back trouble now and then that is so “uncool”.

I had a mare where combined training was her element.  She did decent dressage tests and had clean jumping rounds and therefore did very well.   As I moved into my 20s,  life became more and riding became less, however, I did begin to develop a deeper appreciation for  dressage.  I tried my combined training mare as a “dressage” horse and she carried me through First Level.  I soon began to realize that competing at Second Level was out of our grasp. Collection and impulsion did not come easily to my slightly built downhill, draft cross.  Many days I felt like I was trying to make an elephant into a ballerina.  Amazingly enough on her good days, that big girl could dance!  Usually that happened when I was at home and no one was watching.  Ahhh… what a shame!

Me and "Kerry" my dressage partner

The past few years, I took a break from dressage, due to life again,  new job, new husband, finishing my second degree, and we bought our very own farm. Whew… it makes me tired thinking about all of it!  Anyone that owns a farm knows, a farm is a full time job in its-self.   I still kept riding, but mostly trail riding and pleasure riding.  I decided this past fall that my life had calmed and of course how dare things be quiet for me!  I really wanted to get back to a sport I loved.  I missed my friends, the learning, and the challenges. I missed not only the physical skill building, but also the mental aerobics that dressage challenges us with.   I enjoy building the relationship with my equine partner and attempting to have two minds from completely different species work together.  When you think about it.  It is amazing our horses are able to understand us at all.

That is where I am now.  I am an adult amateur rider like many of your out there.  I am very lucky to have a fantastic trainer, who has given me a good foundation that I look forward to building upon.  I also now have a very talented mare to be my partner in our “dressage journey.”  By the way amazingly enough,  that mare is from the farm where I rode my very first horse.  I am constantly surprised by what the universe has in store for me.

Hopefully now knowing my story will help you feel a little closer to your blog host.  I am always interested in people’s stories because everyone has a different journey with lots of paths. If you would like to share a story of your own feel free to comment!

The old girl standing in my field didn’t turn out to be the perfect dressage horse, but never would I say she wasn’t (isn’t still) a great horse. She was my closest friend when I needed one the most, through the formative years of high school and college. In her stall, I found refuge and familiarity as I dealt with a new home and life that was not. Her fuzzy muzzle the only constant in my life as I struggled to find myself and who I was supposed to be. She has known seven homes during the 13 years I have owed her, six of them boarding barns. Each move she would eventually settle in learning a new routine and making new friends. Now, I am happy to say she sits not in a boarding barn, but in my own paddock on my own farm.

I credit her and her gifts to me as a listener, partner, and friend with much of my success in life. Here is one for our old guys!

href="http://horsesinthesouth.com/Articles/Humor-Poems/oldgreymare.asp">http://horsesinthesouth.com/Articles/Humor-Poems/oldgreymare.asp

Here is a brief summary of the story to those of you that don’t want to read the whole thing. Adelinde Cornelissen was a Dutch high school English Teacher. Riding was her hobby and she had ridden through the mid levels in Dressage. Adelinde was approached to see if she would help prepare a horse to be sold. That horse was Parzival. The chestnut gelding was deemed unrideable by many at the barn he was housed at. Adeline began working with Parzival and thought this horse’s potential lurked beneath. She could get the occasional good stride from him and when she did, she knew he had talent. She had to make 10 good strides turn into 6 – 10 minutes to preform a dressage test. Cornelissen conviced Parzival’s owner to allow her to show him to get more attention for his sale. Their first few shows together were less than impressive. They had several scores in the 40s and a few times had to leave the ring halfway through her test due to misbehavior. They kept working and continuing to improve. By 2007, Cornelissen and Parzival were posting scores in the 60s and 70s and were named an alternate to the 2008 Dutch Olympic team. With her own savings, money from family, a sponsorships from Anky’s clothing line and a feed company, she decided to quit her job and ride full time. She was nervous because she now had no income and just Parzival. She didn’t need to worry because the celebration really began when her an Parzival broke the world record of the Grand Prix Special at the European Championships. Coming into 2010, Cornelissen and Parizal are ranked 2nd in the world. Shown below is a ride where she placed second with a still amazing 87.35% to Edward Gal and Totilas in the Freestyle.

I thought this was a great story and can relate to the lack of funds and to try to do Dressage with. It is great to see that a talented, hard working, rider with little money and a horse that some thought un-rideable could end up being the second best combo in the world.

Let’s face it, our’s is not the cheapest sport in the world. I was thinking of that today as I had the farrier out to shoe my horses. Over a hundred dollars later I thought, “It is too bad I don’t have something like sewing or scrabble as my hobby.” I also think about all of the neat trips I could take with the money the farm costs. Those thoughts only stay with me for a moment though because I love my farm and horses and I know if I didn’t have all of this, all I would be working towards is trying to obtain it.

This story tells me for some dreams really do come true. If I look back to when I was a child and look at my life now, I would have to say, many of my dreams have come true too. I’m sure if you take the chance to pretend that you are that small child looking at you now as an adult, you may say the same.