State of Competitive Show Jumping - Spur Marks

There's been controversy about the FEI blood rules due to an incident involving Bertram Allen and his horse Quiet Easy.

 His spur marks drew blood and according to the FEI rules, any blood due to spurs results in disqualification. FEI Jumping Rules Article 242.3.1, "Mandatory Disqualification - Horses bleeding on the flank(s), in the mouth or nose or marks indicating excessive use of spurs or of the whip anywhere on the horse." The spur marks posted by his groom on twitter: 

I'm shocked by the amount of support I'm seeing for Allen from both top riders as well as my horsey facebook friends. Yes, it's a small cut, but it's still blood caused by spurs. This was Allen's response: 

"I am utterly devastated, just speechless. I have a fantastic relationship with all of my horses, and their welfare is paramount. My foot must have slipped against Quiet Easy's side..."

If you're doing Grand Prix level show jumping, maybe you should know how to not have you foot "slip" with the force required to draw blood"

... as I was riding against the clock." 

aka I was using my spurs to make my horse go faster

"He's a sensitive horse..."

I....what? If he's sensitive, then don't use spurs? 

 "...and it was just a tiny nick."

*sigh*

If you take a spur and rub it against your skin, as a human, it won't leave marks. But if you do it over, and over, and with excessive force...guess what...you'll bleed. As a rider, it's *our* responsibility to know the amount of force to place upon the spurs, we're the ones who can decide whether or not to use spurs, or how sharp/what shape/what length they should be for our particular horse. 

Do I think this guy abuses his horses? No, I'm sure they're well cared for and he didn't intentionally cause his horse to bleed. But I do think that he was rightfully disqualified and he should take this as a lesson to learn from.The rules are there to protect the horse's welfare and I'm still shocked that people are fighting against it. 

End of the Year Analysis

I set a few goals for Calvin and I to accomplish in 2015. This year has been a huge year of change for me personally, more than I expected from the get-go. However, with change comes positive growth and I'm really happy to be standing here at the end of the year looking back at all we accomplished.

Here are the goals set forth Jan 2015:

Goal 1: Finding our motor--impulsion (check!)

Check! Calvin is much more responsive to leg/seat aids. This is one of those "never stop working on it" goals. Not only have we found the motor, but we've been practicing transitions to help fine-tune the stop/go pedal.  

Goal 2: Straightness, straightness, straightness! (check!)

The amount of times Calvin has shoved my leg into the railing has greatly decreased. Since he's growing up, he's learning to be less wiggly under saddle and stay straight.

Goal 3: Building a solid top line (check!)

Calvin really learned to travel long and low, indicating a stronger back. He's really filled out due to both maturity and the amount of work done under saddle. 

Goal 4: Beginning Piaffe 

This was a goal I pushed back for a few reasons. First, I honestly didn't ride him enough this year to feel comfortable teaching him this advanced move, perhaps if I was able to ride 4 days a week this could have happened. Also, his brain just doesn't seem quite there yet to handle the bit of frustration of learning the piaffe, I'll push this into mid-year 2016, with the hopes of having a basic piaffe by the end of 2016 :) 

Overall I'm really happy with our progress. His brain "falls out" less often and he starts to act more like a grown horse and less like a baby. That being said, he's still definitely a baby and I can't fault him for doing baby things like spooking, being wiggly, etc. When I think to my past and all that I did with my previous four year old horses, I'm so happy to be going slow with Calvin. He's super responsive, sensitive, and happy with his "job" of being a dressage horse and that's really all I wanted.

Dressage Update with Pics!

I was fortunate enough to get my mom out to help me take photos of me and Calvin. Those following our progress know what I'm working on: transitions, going primarily off seat/leg, and stretchy trot. He still has baby brain and gets easily distracted by other horses in the arena or outside. However, his brain doesn't fall out anymore, so we've got that going for us ;)

The video is interesting to watch, I'm doing so much work but you can't really tell unless you know what to look for. I'm not so worried about his "frame," but I don't want him to go around with his head up like a giraffe. When he sticks his head up, I increase rein pressure, so being a giraffe is uncomfortable. The "neutral" position is head down or level. On top of that, I'm always working on having him be more forward in the trot. 

Had to add an "oops" moment in here. Calvin tried to "visit"--i.e. divebomb--my mom the photographer. You can see I'm pulling hard left and using my right leg as hard as I can! Never a dull moment with babies. 

How we finish--loose rein, focused, stretching long and low.