Tina Konyot with Calecto V, 12-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion

Todd Flettric with Otto, a 14 year old Danish Warmblood gelding

Katherine Bateson -Chandler with Nartan, a 15 year old KWPN gelding

Steffen Peters with Ravel, a 12 year old KWPN gelding

Catherine Haddad with Winyamaro, a 10 year old Hannovarian gelding

Pierre St. Jacques with Lucky Tiger, a 15 year old Danish Warmblood gelding

Sue Blinks with Encinitas, a 12 year old Dutch Warmblood gelding

Jan Ebeling with Rafalca, a 13 year old Oldenburg mare

The official “Team” and alternates will be named sometime before the September 22nd deadline.  I did notice a good showing for the geldings, however, something in my underdog gut makes me want to root for the mare at the bottom of the list.

My big question is, Are you going?  For me and my finances and this bad economy, pretty much any extra money I have goes into my farm.  My horses come first, so that means I will be viewing the games the best I can from home.  I will be doing some research to see how to best follow the games and will let you know what I find out.   I would love to hear from those of you going to the games and what types of difficulties you have been having getting tickets, etc.

References

Horse Channel.com

The AllTech FEI 2010 World Equestrian Games

I have slowly learned this task of attempting to break into the publishing industry is quite formal with a strict etiquette. If you would like to write for a publication, make sure to read submission guidelines.  Many publications, magazines in particular, like to you send a query letter about a topic of interest you have in writing for the publication.  This letter has its own guidelines for composition.  I have found everything related to writing  has a guideline. For example,  writers have their own style of resume which is different than the work experience based resumes many of us are accustomed to.   The query letter also has its own format.  An article from writing-world.com is excellent in capturing the necessary components while avoiding common mistakes.  After you send a query letter it may take from 4 weeks to 6 months to get a response.  My goodness, I would forget what I was planning to write by then!  Many publishers plan very far in advance to make sure publications are distributed in a timely manner.

I am always amazed at how much there is to learn about my new endeavours.  When I built this website, I couldn’t believe the volumes of information I had to absorb to put it together.  In my naivety, I thought writing should be fairly simple.  All I need are the words in my head and a computer program to allow those words to exist in the electronic world so they can be shared.  Once again… how silly of me.  Why should I think anything in this world is simple?  Give me a saddle and a horse, that is what I say!

If you know of an equine literary journal, magazine, or online publication you would like to share.  Please feel free!

Well my dear reader friend, I will tell you I am in that exact same boat.  I think many of us are.  Those of us that practice at home alone, without a mirror, can easily develop poor position.  It is difficult not to fall back on bad habits when many of us can onlyafford a lesson once a month.  We must, however, make working on our position a priority!  Your position is the basis of everything in Dressage.  Your position influences your balance and aid effectiveness. Proper position allows your body to move with your horse, supporting and not hindering your horse’s  freedom of movement and expression. We must have good position,  because everything in the Training Pyramid dictates it so!

Now…I step off of my soap box… pull out that bar of soap and take a bath with it, because I am just as much of a poor position offender as anyone.  I do may of the position no-nos, such as rolling my shoulders, hunching my lower back, letting my leg slide forward, and lifting my heel.  The one I do the worst is breaking my wrists.  It looks terrible! Somehow I picked it up early on in my riding career.   I will see students of this particular instructor today and all of them break their wrists.  When I see it I want to yell at the children, “fix your wrists now, before it is too late!” I grumble to myself, Thanks for putting that bad habit on my riding-to-fix list, FOREVER!  We all have something we need to work on and improve.  We need to recognize our weaknesses and work on stregthening them just like we do with our horse’s. In my opinion, it is even more important that we work on ourselves.

During my last lesson with my instructor, we worked heavily on my position.  After my lesson in 85 + degree heat and humidity, the idea of throwing up crossed my mind several times.  I kept it together, went home with my sore muscles, and felt that I had had a good, productive lesson.   I really felt a difference when I hopped on my mare a couple of days later, focused on my position, and my sitting trot was MUCH better!  Yep… that ole’ position stuff is the root of all that is good and evil about our riding. 

Below is a video of Jane Savoie discussing dressage rider position.  I thought this was a great video with some good pointers we can try at home to improve our positions.  A good practice if you can’t get regular lessons is  to videotape yourself riding at home to see how your are doing.  How we “feel” we look can be very different than how we actually “do” look!

A toast to the “perfect position”… Even though we will never find you exactly, may we briefly touch your existence to make us better equestrians!

County Logic Girth

I kept the girth in the back of my mind and decided I wanted to see if I could find something a little less costly.  I found several other brands M. Toulouse, Prestige, Le Tixerant, and Jaguar.  These boast the same kinds of results as the Logic and many were just expensive.  I decided that I would team up with my good friend EBay and hope a used Logic in the size I needed would make its presence known.  I waited for several weeks and did some more research on the girth while I was waiting.  I’m glad I did my research, because you will find out with the Logic, that you have to order it about 4 inches shorter than a normal girth. This is because the Logic has elastic on both sides so it is pretty stretchy and it has a fairly long extension of leather after the buckle rollers.  I had a 30″ Wintec on my mare, so I ordered a 26″ Logic girth.   It ended up being just right on her.

After a little more time, finally a Logic appeared on Ebay in the size I needed.  I scooped it up for $100.00.  That definitely beat $225 new and any other competitors prices as well.  Listed below are my likes and dislikes from my four month use of the the County Logic Girth.

Likes

• Nice quality leather and buckles
• The stretchy elastic seemed more comfortable to my mare than my Wintec which didn’t have much stretch at all.
• Nice sized, wide girth to spread out girth pressure on the abdomen
• The shape of the girth did  fit my mare better with the her forward girth groove than a regular straight girth.

Dislikes

• I eventually noticed some rub marks right behind my mare’s elbows. The girth is made so that the seams tend to grab her  hair.  I think this is what caused the rubbing.
• The girth is leather which needs regular cleaning beyond just wiping off like the Wintec and the hair grabbing seams cause cleaning to be difficult too.

To correct the rubbing, I bought a girth cover to go over the girth.  Because of the shape and size of this girth, buying a girth cover that will fit it was tricky.  Yes, with me it does seem like everything is a bit complicated… doesn’t it? I did finally find a stretchy, Terry Cloth girth cover that fit the girth well, however, even the small was a little too long so I had to cut and resew the end of the girth cover.  I read a lot of reviews and only a few had rubbing or pinching problems.  I think it is just how the logic happened to fit my mare with regards to the seam.

I do like the girth.  It is the one I am currently using on my mare.  She is pretty sensitive when being girthed up.  I have noticed that she seems better about this girth and a bit more comfortable.  I think County could do some remodeling to fix any rubbing or pinching problems.   If you do decide to buy this girth, make sure the end facing up in the photo above is the part facing the front of the horses.  Many people put these on wrong which causes a multitude of problems.  If you have had any success with girths at home you like, please feel free to share. I would love to hear about your experiences as well!   Have a great weekend!

Holy Cow! Are you kidding me? I was trying to be concise.  Hmmm…this isn’t good.  How long exactly is 250 words, like two sentences?  I don’t know if I can do this! After I got over my small huff, I thought to myself.  Alright,  this is excellent practice for yourself in learning how to condense. A wonderful exercise for me to maximize word usage without my story losing its message or meaning.  This is GOOD for me. I want to improve my writing…right?

So I began cutting…and cutting…changing wording…and cutting some more.  It was downright painful.  I felt like I was sitting in a chair with duct tape over my mouth and only a small hole in the center of it.  Through that small hole only every fifth word could be heard.  I had beautiful, descriptive words that I felt so bad erasing had to close my eyes when I did it.  This is so HARD I kept thinking! I wondered if this is what it was like to live in a third world country and have no freedom of speech. No, absolutely not… that was thousands of times worse.  That thought made me glad that I live in the U.S.A.  A privledge many of us take for granted everyday.  Not in every country could I have my own blog that I have the ability to spout off about absolutely anything I want to. I started to feel better and excited about my rather breif story.  After all of the cuts had been made and my writer’s figurative bleeding begun to clot, I checked my word count one last time… 270 words.  I couldn’t bear to do anymore and hoped they would accept the story as is, and off it went.

Here is the contact for the Virginia Horse Journal.  A different topic of interest is listed in each edition for the upcoming edition.  If you write one and it gets accepted, be sure to let me know so I can pick up a copy to read!

Virginia Horse Journal

So far, no word on the article I sent to the USDF Connection.  I sent a follow up email a little over a week later to make sure they received the article. No response.  One thing I have noticed in this day in age of technology and computers, is a bit of lack of respect for communication.  Send me a one word email that says, “received.”  Or a short email saying, “your article is terrible, please don’t send us anything else.” Some sort of response or acknowledgement of your existence might me nice. I like to know where I stand…silence is the worst to me. Maybe that’s why I have so much trouble condensing my writing.  FYI…this post is 605 words long .

Other than myself, my husband can receive editorial credit on many of the articles posted.  Now…neither of us are professional editors, as I’m sure many of you have noticed.  We do the best we can and my hope is as long as you enjoy reading and understand my point, my job is done.  Most of the articles I go back and catch a few things, are ones he doesn’t get the chance to read.  Since all of my articles are sent to his email via the subscribe option, I hear about everyone of those mistakes.   I have taking a basic editing course to bone up my skills as a writer on my “to do” list some time in the future.  Maybe it will help you grammar gurus out there from cringing when you see me misuse a semicolon or something.

My husband refused to let me put up a picture of him.  Honestly, if I were in his shoes, I don’t think I would let him put up my photo either.  I will say… he is pretty darn cute and intelligent most importantly for his decision to marry me.

The rest of the team…

Cody in his usual spot. I always have to watch the wheels on my chair. If you put down your feet, he lays on them too.

Cody is the primary supervisor of all AOD activities.  Although he tends to do much of his supervising with his eyes closed, you always know he is watching and better not take too many coffee or facebook breaks.  Such breaks or slacker-like activities may be tolerated only if a cookie is awarded before taking part.  He is a benevolent supervisor easily won over by food. Wouldn’t it be nice if all supervisors were so gracious and easy to please. Cody was originally my husband’s dog who I have carefully over time stolen away from him.  Possibly it is the fact that he prefers a quite spot in an air conditioned house over taking his chances with the noise and shower of sparks he finds outdoors attempting to sit next to my husband’s welder.  I like to think it’s really my irresistible company that keeps him coming back each evening.

Maya serves AOD primarily in a supportive role.  She encourages insightful prose with the frequent hand or leg lick.  Her talents can be expanded to  include the occasional toy squeak. Amazingly enough she has been able to master such toy squeaking in a rhythm allowing maximum thought provoking on behalf of the writer to take place.  This is quite a feat from a canine lacking in opposable thumbs.  Possibly, I have decided she  could be rented out as a muse to “real” writers and make millions.  Nope.. I don’t think that will work.  I would miss her too much.

Cute Maya is always close by when I am writing. Ready to give a few licks of encouragement if needed.

Little Maya came to us a rescue dog who selected us to be her family a little over a year ago.  She was rescued from an owner who kept her chained in the yard and only fed her the occasional food scrap.  Personally, I think anyone that treats an animal like that should have the roles reversed for awhile to see how well THEY handle it.

When we first got her, she was very thin with a dull coat and quite terrified of most everyone, especially men.    I went to see her at the rescue place after passing over a face too cute to resist on petfinder.com.  Yes, another guilty pleasure of mine.  I beleive after Maya, the mini horse, and oh wait… and the goats, I am officially banned from the site by my husband.   What is funny is between the two of us, I think he is even softer than I am.   I met Maya at the rescue and watched amazed as the little, scruffy, thin dog,  gathered up  the courage to come over and lick my hand. That was all it took.. in the car and home with me she went.  I can’t even start to express in words what joy that sweet, fuzzy dog  has brought to our lives since her arrival.

Oh and by the way, after a few months of good food and a loving family she is gorgeous!

Now you have met the entire AOD team. Hopefully you can fully appreciate the group effort to keep this blog at its best.   I’m sure many of you have a team of your own at home.  They support us and love us unconditionally.  Who could ask for a better team than that!

I found intriguing that most magazines will not take any previously published material and they retain all rights to the piece.  I can understand the previously published part, but it is a bit interesting that you write the article, but they have the rights.  Once accepted, you will have no rights to your own work?  Interesting…

I guess that is comparable to a novelist writing a novel and then submitting it to a publishing company and the publishing company gets the rights to the piece.  That is — unless –you are a really good novelist and have your own PR person that makes contracts to hash out the writer’s rights and the publishing company’s rights. Then the “rights” to the piece may be slightly different. I think that is how it all works.  Any writers out there, feel free to set me straight!

I’m running full steam ahead with my mission and submitted Article #1 TO….drum roll please… the USDF Connection.  Yes, I know that is not much of a stretch for a dressage rider and blogger, but it is a start and that is what I’m looking for.  I enjoy the USDF Connection and they make it a priority to have an amateur angle on stories included in the magazine.  I wrote a piece that I hoped would be a perfect fit for  ”The Tail End.”  That is the section which is on the last page of the magazine.

The last page section of  most magazines  happens to be my favorite part.  That section usually includes some witty, gem of a story that you don’t have to sit down and analyze the technical aspect of what the writer is trying to convey.  Those articles are just pure fun and I LIKE fun! Many times I will read the last page section first.  I know it seems like there should be something wrong with my reading pattern.  Sort of  like eating your dessert first.  Well… I do happen to have a taste for desserts… so maybe that is a perfect reason!

Listed below is the link to submitting a manuscript for the USDF Connection.  If I don’t have any luck… maybe you can!  If you do and write a piece for “The Tail End” you can take pleasure in knowing that I am at home reading your article first!

USDF Connection Contributing  Guidelines

http://www.usdf.org/connection/contributing-guidelines.asp

The Timeline: 10 Weeks

The Purpose:  Can I get published?

I have tasked myself with a new mission on behalf of  The Art of Dressage.  I am going to write one extra article a week for 10 weeks. I am going to submit each of these articles to an equine related magazine to see if they are interested in publishing it.  So you ask yourself ,”why are you doing this Elizabeth?”  My answer, “Why not?”   I love writing.  That is why I created the Art of Dressage in the first place, so I could write and my writing has a purpose.  Someone may actually be reading it!  That should be a good enough purpose…right?  The Art of Dressage provides me with a creative outlet.  My stream of consciousness thought pattern is actually productive. Instead of unleashing the power of my thought processes on my poor husband, who’s best expression when he experiences the full force  is –”huh?”  Now, I can create articles and stories that someone might just benefit from. That was my reasoning behind it and also because I wanted to see if  I could create my own website.

I decided that I wanted to push myself a little harder and see if what I write is not only worthy of the screen, but of the actual page.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn’ t.  Maybe I am just setting myself up for complete failure and everyone will think what I submit is junk.  Who knows?  I won’t know until I try, so here is me trying.   I plan to chronicle my journey with the publishing industry right here on The Art of Dressage.  What will this do for you readers?  Well it  may be quite interesting and it will also lay out a path for you to do the same if you so desire.  I have just begun researching how you get published in magazines.  Every magazine is different and seems to have a different process.  Another of my goals is to see exactly what kinds of magazines are out there.  I know about the big ones, Dressage Today, Horse and Rider, Equus, Practical Horseman, etc., but I’m sure there are many others out there I don’t even know about.  Some might be great, untapped resources that are filled with talent, but lack the name to get a lot of readers.  Who knows?  One thing is for sure, I will find out!

So I’m asking you, who should I submit articles to?  Any suggestions?  These don’t have to be “Dressage” magazines either.  I’m planning on picking a few that will stretch my skills a bit.  What do you like to read?

I got the book and did a quick skim through it.  I usually skim books by reading the parts  that jump out at me. Then go back later and read the introduction, etc., when I have more time.  The first thing I noticed was that this book was made for skimming.  It is set up in chapters somewhat representing the training pyramid.  The exercises are drawn with diagrams and written in big words.  I wondered why the words were so big?  Then when I went back and read the introduction like I was supposed to in the first place.  I found out the book was made so that it could be hung on the wall or on a post in your arena. Then you can refer to it as you are riding.  I thought “wow that is a great idea.”  Then I wondered, but who has a “wall” in their arena?  I guess this author must have access to an indoor.  A lot of times riders that have indoor arenas also have instructors on the grounds, so why would they even need a book on dressage arena exercises when they have someone to tell them what to do all of the time anyway?  Alright, I’ll leave it alone…I still like the “big” about the book.  It looks – neat.

Overall, I have really enjoyed the book.  I have tried several of the exercises some of them have worked great!   I’ve only had the book one month and have just scratched the surface of the exercises inside of it.  One word of caution I would throw out to readers.  Keep in mind your current level of training and fitness of your horse.  I have just selected exercises to practice that I know will work well with the type of training exercises I am already working on with my instructor. Don’t try to stretch for something you and your horse aren’t ready for yet.  Let a knowledgeable trainer help you with those kinds of things.  Listed below are my comments on the book.

Likes

• nice size book with one of those neat plastic spiral bound thingys so the pages are easy to turn
• The diagrams are easy to read with good keys
• The book has a level of difficulty scale which is indicated by the number of little horses in the key. This is helpful when determining if you should try the exercise or not.
• The diagrams are accompanied by written steps to help understand how the exercise should be ridden.
• Tips are included with many of the exercises which are quite helpful.

Dislikes

• The only real dislike I could come up with is that book is pretty big.  So it is a bit heavy to lug around.  See…I like the size of the book, but then I complain it is too heavy to carry around,  leave it to me to put the same item in both categories.

Suggestions

• I think the author of this book should make some small companion books.  Maybe base them on the test level you are training at so they aren’t so dense in size.  Make this pocket size so we can have it on us when riding if we want to.  Then those of us without  ”Walls” can use the book while riding.   Maybe that’s my million dollar idea? I’m always joking I’ll come up with one. Yeah… I like that .

If you are interested in the book, I do have it on my little Amazon widget on my home page.  I recommend checking Ebay first though to see if you can get a deal like I got.  If anyone else has experienced this book and would like to comment please feel free!

Two Sides to Every Season

Summer = longer days, a tan, nice smelling flowers, green grass, lots of yummy fresh vegetables and fruits cheap, sleek shiny coats, water that flows freely, and the convenience of  feeling all of your extremities.. .all of the time.

Summer also = heat, humidity, sweat, sunburns, lots and lots of bugs, posion ivy, dust, and pollen.

I live in Virginia, however, about this time of year it feels like instead of living in a beautiful mid-Atlantic state that enjoys mountain showers and coastal breezes, you have been sent straight down to the Mississippi swamp land. Here you swelter and contemplate taking your chance with the alligators for a cool swim to rid your body of the ridiculous amount of heat trapped inside of it.  The heat is one thing, but the humidity adds a whole new level of fun to the summer months.  It feels like it was not too long ago that I was writing an article for you guys about winter riding tips.  Well now that we have broken 100 in VA, I believe this article is a bit overdue, but could still help some of you trying to battle the heat wave.

How hot is TOO hot?

Photo of me with "Moonshine." Wasn't she a cutie?

This is a question I have also been contemplating lately as the thermometer has reached triple digits this past week.  I remember back to when I was a child and I leased a cute, fat, pony name Moonshine.  Moonshine is still very high on my list when it comes to favorite horses you remember in your life.  At the barn where I leased Moonshine, they had this neat chart that told you when it was too hot or cold to ride or work your horse.  It had some kind of formula that slips my mind now.  I thought the formula may be outdated as well and I figured there was now a new one to follow.  Well..there is a common formula and it is listed below.  Remember this formula is just a guideline and should not be viewed as a hard and fast rule.

How to calculate Heat Stress Index:

Take the outside temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and then add the relative humidity.  For example if it is 80 degrees and 60% humidity the number would be 140.  Here is what the scale means.

130 and below – very small chance of heat stress

130-150 – Horse will experience sweating and need to watch water intake

150-180 – Chance of heat stress more likely, watch water intake and signs of stress, use judgement (you may not want to ride if you calculated this number with a very high humidity)

Over 180 – Good idea not to ride.  Find a shady spot with lots of fresh water for your horse and do the same for  yourself!

Many other factors need to be considered when assessing the well being of your horse buddy in the heat.

• Make sure to take into consideration the age and fitness level of your horse.  An older more out of shape horse may not tolerate being worked in the heat as well as a fit, young, horse.
• Be very conscientious of your warm-up and cool down with your horse.  You are always conscientious right? A good cool down will help your horse ride hot muscles of lactic acid build-up that may make him or her sore.
• If  it is extremely hot, consider modifying your workout time and location.  Ride early in the morning or late in the evening during the cooler times of day.  A long walk down a shady trail may be a better option than a hot sand covered arena.
• Hose your horse off with cool water to help cool him or her off.  The actual process of cooling your horse takes place when the water evaporates of their coat.  Use this to your advantage.  Make sure to scrape your horse to speed evaporation.  If your horse is really hot, you can cool with water, scrape, then cool with water again until he or she starts to cool down.
• A must have is free choice salt or mineral available in your horse’s field or stall during the summer.  Horses loose lots of valuable salts and electrolytes through sweating in the hot months and must put these back into their bodies to stay healthy

Hope these tips help you a little when you hit the saddle with those blazing rays outside.  Remember horses are not warm weather animals.  Most horses are more comfortable naturally if the temperature feels cool to us.  That means when it feels hot out to us, it really feels hot to our horses.

Enjoy the long days of summer and STAY COOL!

References:

www.horse-sense.org