I recently accompanied a friend to Europe, including Ireland to shop for horses. I wasn’t expecting to find a hunter for myself in Ireland (rare to find potential show hunters in Ireland) but I was open to maybe trying a jumper prospect for the first time, as I have been dying to get back into that ring, and I was happy to tag along this time as a friend more than shopper anyway. I currently wasn’t actively looking, heading into winter, and had plenty to ride at home as it was. Fresh out of the Dublin airport, on no sleep, we were escorted by longtime friend Philip Horgan (from Cork) to the second day of demos at the Goresbridge auction, which I knew nothing about. My eyes glazed over as I watched a bunch of uninspiring animals stumble around the ring and hurl themselves over jumps in unimpressive form. I dozed off on a couch inside the dining hall. I woke up as they were setting up for the really young horses, three and under, and forming a paddock with ugly aluminum siding fencing, and big Horse trucks as walls behind the fencing. 

Within the hour I found a hunter. I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or excited. It’s not like I could walk away from her either. She was adorable, small maybe, but adorable. We were all sitting on the couch in some strangers lorry surrounding the jump chute making fun of the other bad jumping horses and people standing outside on a porch visibly collapsing in front of our eyes from the weight of too many people. Then this creature entered the pen, and I sat up, and went s**t, that’s a hunter. This wasn’t an auction for hunters, it was for high end sport horses for jumping and eventing. I jumped out of the lorry, headed around the corner and climbed the fence along side the chute to film her jumping. She had little ambition to move forward despite her owner chasing her with a whip, and seemed to jump easily and softly enough. hmmm.

Everything was going against my normal process, however.. She was at auction, not just any auction, but the most popular one in Ireland. I hate auctions. You have to rely on pure instinct, and a bit of luck, and unless you live in the area, there is about five minutes you can spend with the horse to determine if it is right for you. We followed the little mare out of the pen, and talked to her owner for a while, getting the history. She was unbroken, not off the farm much, only 3 years old, and was standing there with the wind whipping around us like no big deal. She may have whinnied once. Around us other three year old were leaping around standing on hind legs, and dragging their handlers in every wrong direction. I called my sponsor.

It’s pretty important to have a good sponsor when your business is importing young horses, and selling them within the American market. It’s also pretty important to have a pretty good track record with past horses, and I have been extremely lucky in the 20 plus years I have been doing this. He said go for it.

That night, after the demonstrations concluded, we headed to the banquet for the dinner and live auction. It was impressive, screens were set up with video previews of the horses, and a couple of hundred people filled the ballroom. Big players were certainly there, and speculations were flying around about the money coming in that night, and the horses that were about to be sold. I felt really out of place. I was also extremely nervous. I had an idea about how much I wanted to spend on this mare, but no way to predict if someone else would be bidding against me. We sort of gathered not many big jumper and event riders were looking for a little brown hunter type mare, but still, she had incredibly good breeding (full sister to Mark Q, a highly successful Grand Prix mount for Kevin Babington).

Eventually, the auctioneer took his place on the stage and started the evening’s bidding. The first horse up had Nations Cup experience, an older gelding (Dougie Douglas) that was expected to be somebody’s Grand Prix horse. It went for 1.4 Million Euros. My heart sunk. 1.4 Million??? This was turning into some serious theatrics here, and I no longer felt I had a chance on the little brown hunter mare. From the beginning horses were going for crazy amounts of money, I couldn’t even keep track of it. Philip was beside me pointing out dealers and guessing as to where the horses were going to, who was bidding for whom, and it was making my head spin. Horses I wouldn’t give 20 grand for were going for over 100k. Maybe people were getting too drunk before they started bidding. I don’t know. I was also beginning to really doubt my instincts, but regardless, the evening carried on.

Very few were no sales, most commanded large amounts of money, and it was long into dessert before the mare called Emerald Quality finally came up for bidding. My comparatively tiny budget was making me sweat, and I had to rely on Philip for bidding. For some reason, it worked, and we landed exactly on the amount I had allocated for her. We had one other person against us, and they gave up. I couldn’t believe it. I had just purchased a hunter mare at the very same Goresbridge Auction that Katie Dinan had just purchased Dougie Douglas for 1.4 million on my very first evening of a week long trip in Europe. Not weird at all.

Now what was I going to do with her? In my mind it was pretty bad timing to purchase an unbroken three year old mare, being November and all, and I had planned on taking 6 weeks off for a pretty major surgery, so there were only a few horses to be left at the farm in Maryland before I head to Gulfport in February, and I basically have an army of two doing the bulk of the work. Beside myself, it is another girl (Stacey) trading her board bill for feeding my horses when I am not around. Well, I had a while to work it out while the mare awaited her flight and went through a 3 week quarantine. In the meantime, I purchased a blanket to keep her warm, and a halter, then bid farewell.

A few days ago, she was released from Rigbie, so Stacey insisted on coming along for the trip up there, as she has never seen Rigbie Farm, and spent a great deal of time scolding me for being cranky during the drive. I was. What if this was a bad decision? What if she was a useless horse? What was I thinking buying horses going into the winter? I hadn’t thought this through at all, and the impending surgery was freaking me out. We got there and while we waited for Sharon and Liz to come out of the breeding shed, I followed someone down to her stall in the bank barn, and switched on the light to her stall. Stacey squealed with delight. I rolled my eyes. The mare turned her little head and from her pile of hay for about a second and gave us a completely unimpressed glance, then went back to eating. Ok, she was cute. But, still. It was just a horse.

Sharon and Liz run Rigbie Farm in Darlington, MD, I trust them to tell me every observation, and give me the run down on horses that spend time with them, but they were happy with her, she had given them no trouble whatsoever, knew the walker, and was easy to deal with. Shy maybe, but easy. They loaded her up, I took the paper work, and we headed home. Stacey decided right then and there she was going to take her on herself and have her broken and ready to go by the time I was able to return to the farm, in about 6 weeks. I said sure, why not, we can ask Maddy and Sarah to help when they have time (Christmas break and warm weather helps) and you can have at it Chica. We also decided it would be fun to blog about her progress, good, bad or ugly, since it doesn’t seem to have ever been done before, and why not? Can we track the success or failure of importing a horse from Europe and finding a new home for it? Am I willing to put it all out there for judgement?? Sure, let’s go for it. So here we are.

We arrived back at the farm, and I tranquilized her for the turnout (never can be too careful the first day) and she wandered around her paddock searching for the last few blades of grass. It was still surprisingly warm, so we made the decision to just leave them all out that night, and as I drove out the driveway, I thought well, this is a good test if she is still there in the morning.

She was. and still searching for grass. My head was completely distracted, I had started the pre-op process, and my body was tired already. I had errands to run, she seemed fine, so I left all the horses alone after the morning feeding, and went about my day. In the afternoon, my phone was being lit up by Stacey with pictures of the mare with a saddle on. Not wasting any time, apparently.

When I pulled back into the farm Stacey was leading “Emmie” around the farm, saddle on, looking like a leadline pony. So far so good, I thought. That night was the last night I would see the farm for a while, I have delegated the horses as best as I can, and now can only sit back and see what happens. The temps dropped immediately, winds have picked up, rain poured down, I went in for an early-in-life hysterectomy to avoid the complications of cervical cancer, and the next day as I was driven home in miserable weather, I thought well, she might not get broken until next year, now.

I was proven quite wrong. When the cat’s away, the mice will play. But my mice played well.

 

 

Well. Day two of the circus. Everyone must have had a good night sleep, because boy did people come out with a lot more emotion today. Exciting? You bet! Controversial? Absolutely! Mud slinging? Yes! By lunch time it was obvious people were just getting warmed up. Stepping up to the microphone was the trendy thing to do. It was almost contagious. One after the other, voices were heard, and really good topics were discussed. My general impression was of the membership complaining about transparency. What is that exactly?  We want to know more about the process of decision making behind the scenes, what are the factors? Who is deciding? How do we find these answers? Stop hiding in closed meetings and provide information. Period.

The demands people were making were legit. The concerns are real, the questions were not in any way frivolous. The USHJA committees wanted feedback? I’d say today they received it. The drama unfolding seemed new to a lot of people, although it is probably very typical of this type of convention. The first meeting I attended after the rule change updates and review was the International Hunter Derby Task Force. Discussion covered everything from how to apply handy points, to prize money offered (think 10k classes vs 35k) relative to difficulty levels, to course designer involvement and education, and basically an overall impression of how the last few years have grown. There was vigorous discussion on how to determine handy bonus points in an Int’l Derby. Should the handiest track taken reflect in your score despite what the judge thought of your horses style? Yes! Should the scale be changed from 1-10 to 1-5? Yes! No! Maybe! What? Part of the advantage of attending these meetings is clarification. I may not ever have this type of horse, but it does help to hear how the people that developed this class have come to the specifications that determine the factors that provide a high score. My interpretation was that the course designers have a personal vision that might not follow the Derby vision, and the judges have a personal style which also might not reflect the Derby vision. Yikes, this is actually kind of scary.

For example, two horses that choose the exact same path with the exact same inside turns, same amount of strides between the fences, should receive a similar bonus score. If they don’t then how do we have incentive for handiness? The ridability and style is reflected in the regular score, not the bonus score. How on earth are we able to fill all these holes in education?

Next I visited a meeting about Thoroughbreds. I think there was actually 100% participation from everyone in the room. That was fun because I brought up my personal observation that maybe the height of the USEF recognized division would be more prosperous and flourish at 2’9”, rather than 3’. Firestorm of opinions? YAAASSSS. How long has it been since Thoroughbreds were even discussed in such a manner?? Ummm, a long time. I would say this was progress alone. Do I care if the USEF makes money off the Thoroughbred division? Probably not. Do I care if Thoroughbreds make a comeback in our horse industry? Absolutely. They should and will, but not particularly through the USEF.

Next was a National Hunter Committee meeting and just as my eyes were glazing over, and I was considering a nap, I received a text that informed me Vick Russell had possession of the microphone, yet again, in another room across the hall, and was not showing any sign to relinquish it. I left everything behind and made a quick exit.  Now, if anyone reading this knows Vick Russell, you know this man has an opinion on everything. EVERYTHING. If he gets a hold of a microphone, it is probably for a very good reason. This is a contoversial horse person. 48 years of personal horse industry involvement, and just about every relative, cousin, sibling, parent, grandparent, great grand parent, and offspring. Google him. Or here is something http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/01/11/pensacola-winter-classics-show-continues-through-january-at-equestrian-center/4424283/ I have no personal allegiance with him. However, I do listen to him. It is hard not to. The passion that erupts from hardcore knowledge and experience from the trenches is fascinating and real. I mean really real. I mean Vogue versus People magazine. He absolutely is the voice of breeders, young horse development, rider development, American culture development, and holds true those legitimate values. He knows he is outnumbered, yet rolls on, his sentiment is outstanding on every level and hard to turn your eyes away from. You don’t have to agree with him, it doesn’t even matter. His worries concern the entire industry, the sport, where we get our future horseman from, the examples these organizations are setting, and the cheaters that f*** the system up, which creates over regulating, incomprehensible rule changes, new ridiculous rule changes and a bankrupt horse club. His passion around the 25k Grand Prix classes and the sneaky August 1st adjustment to the rule change is proof there might be a rat in the room.

The drugs and medication Town Hall meeting was packed. Surprise, surprise. The new accountability rule changes are a scary topic. Most of it was clarified, some of it was left open for too much interpretation. If you catch ride a horse and it eventually tests positive for a banned substance, you are not likely to be held accountable. Same goes with a braider, or groom hired for the day. There must be a clear connection proven between access to drugs and application of said drugs to the horse in order to be held accountable. If you are not a member of the USEF and still get held accountable you will simply be banned from entering a USEF sanctioned event. The word transparency was addressed again. Membership really really really wants hearings published. This is for education, more than wanting to figure out how to get around another rule, but USEF was slow to respond. They defended their stance over and over again about where they were coming from for a cleaner sport, a more even playing field. Security was addressed. Empty stables at night at a horse show was a concern I thought I had alone, I even have the security cameras ordered from Amazon, but I am definitely not alone. Our livelihoods are not being protected enough unless you show at Tryon International Equestrian Center, where cameras are installed already, and incidents have already been reported. FEI shows provide more security for those stabled horses, but the rest of us? Not so much. Some Florida venues are showing motivation for cameras due to the recent slaughter rise, but we have 49 other states to consider. The future is surveillance in the barns. Great. This is good for sport, right?

Today might have held more focus to the higher competitive aspects of our sport, which at first was a little alarming after yesterday’s pledge for grass roots recruitment, but I could absolutely see the connection to the big picture. Our sport has problems, our industry has problems, and many of them came out today. There might be too many finals in Kentucky, there might be a lack of pipe line for the young jumper riders that are going from junior to Young Rider, to Under 25 to Grand Prix (think development of riders and horses) because the gap is too large between the Juniors and Young Riders, and our horse and rider combinations are struggling.

The Microchip rule goes in for another rewrite but the majority felt this needs to happen. And it does. Pet identification is our future. Horses being microchipped is going to be our future.

I just spent twenty minutes thinking about a summary before realizing, there isn’t really a summary to be made. This is December 8th at the 2015 USHJA convention. I am tired. I have been inside a hotel for over two days straight. Ironically in 80 degree weather, yet somehow I am glad I am here. Somehow I am glad I am witnessing all that is taking place right in front of me. That’s just it. It is all right in front of me.

Summary of Monday, December 7th at the USHJA Convention.

My expectations for the first day of the USHJA Convention were low. There are 138 pages of rule change proposals that people have been working on for months and months, that are to be read aloud, discussed, possibly altered, or language changed to satisfy the general membership. Breakfast is served at 6:45 am. The meeting begins at 7:30 in the morning, which means you are already fighting fatigue right off the bat (or at least some of us). I thought it a particular omen that the power to the sound system promptly went off as soon as the meeting started, but nonetheless, this was sorted out before 8 am.

Have you ever read 138 pages of any kind of material? It takes ALL DANG DAY. One lunch break, one afternoon break, otherwise you take a seat, and patiently listen. Luckily, a seasoned speaker was chosen. Luckily, there were fewer emotional pleas than normal. It went more smoothly than expected. People brought up good points. Promises for rewording were made and followed through on as best as I can tell.

Interestingly enough, there was a thorough acknowledgement of the USHJA’s areas of weakness. It is absolutely acknowledged that a 1% growth over the period of 9 years is not acceptable for sustainability. Better website design is desperately needed (think those raised fees you saw earlier) to clear the menus on menus within menus that are painful to navigate. Better use of Town Hall meetings are desperately needed. Better use of current social media venues are  desperately needed (think the FB page, Insta, and other resources). Personally, I want to see the programs explained by way of YouTube, by someone famous within our industry (and maybe hot), and make them humorous and fun, and short. Like a Smartpak video for us that we can make viral. How these programs get communicated to the membership is key, who is responsible for that? Does it come from advertising? Maybe Ambassadors to the sport, like The Plaid Horse has ambassadors for its magazine.

Probably the biggest point made was about the lack of focus on the youngest equestrians and a way to feed them into the pipeline; and finding a way to encourage anyone involved in riding, in whatever discipline, to eventually see a benefit for joining USHJA. Riding programs in schools were mentioned. The USHJA would recognize a defined curriculum, instructor criteria, levels of achievement by offering exams of different levels (think Pony Club), which would maybe connect a couple dots. maybe. Implementing is always the biggest challenge. That being said, it is a serious issue, and a social issue as well. The USHJA wants feedback, they want further analysis, they ask for broader involvement in specific initiatives…but the society isn’t exactly geared for positive feedback, it is generally geared for negative. What do we have to put aside in our own personal differences in order to figure out how to grow? The CEO of APPLE might have a different approach then the head of a horse club.  No less important, but different approach. The idea of Apple is user friendly – if you know how to use one device, you know how to use all of the devices. The organizations that work together and share information are going to be the ones that grow. So do you know how to use each device? Are we using all of the organizations to our advantage? Not yet, but the possibility does exist.

Tom Struzzeri, the head of HITS, which is the sponsor of this week’s events, took the time to walk up to a microphone today during the proceedings to commend the USHJA for shifting the focus back to the bread and butter of the horse show industry, and away from the top echelon of showing. This is huge. This is a direct consideration to all of the hard work people behind the scenes are volunteering their time to achieve. Volunteering. Maybe the largest proportion of members do not understand that the people here today are volunteering their time to interpret the rules for you, and sometimes without enough of your input. Are you filling out the forms at shows? Are you submitting suggestions? Solutions? I am not advocating either way, but I do not believe you think people within the USHJA are not getting paid. Does that make a difference? Do you feel people should be paid for your voice? Regardless, finally, after nearly a decade, it is pretty obvious people jumping and competing at a height lower than 3’6” might outnumber the people jumping above that particular height. This might be a “duh” moment for you, but it is a humble recognition for the organization. Now, do not be fooled. I do not believe a NATIONAL competition for a 2’ class on the opposite side of the country is reasonable. Do you want to see a 2’ National Final at Harrisburg?? Well, it could be a possibility.

Other issues I witnessed were specific. The stirrups might still be an issue. There is disagreement on use of safety stirrups; black stirrups versus old fashioned steel stirrups. Debbie Stephens firmly believes in the free jump stirrup technology which will inherently prevent a rider from being dragged in an accident, yet there is little ability to make those stirrups a grey color.

Safety vests are being discussed as to the need for you to have two for competition – one for over the jacket, one for over a polo shirt. Who wants to buy two? Well, you might need two for decorum sake.

My point is my interpretation of today was actually pretty interesting. And positive. If there was a way to make these meetings available on live feed so everyone in our community could witness the discussion, we might have the capability to move forward quicker. (Maybe for next year). So many issues have yet to be discussed. There are stigma issues in the hunter industry that might seem taboo here, but should be addressed. I hear them at zone meetings, but I’m not convinced I can bring them up in discussion here…maybe an outlet needs to be provided in a sort of suggestion box? In regard to the APPLE reference, the lack of education as far as navigation throughout horse shows alone is lacking. New exhibitors learning how to attend Premiere horse shows might find the process intimidating. From the office to the ingate, to the stabling manager, to the show pass fee discrepancy……not acceptable. So the spider web across the board has room for improvement, are you willing to help us? Am I willing to help the USHJA? Is there an app for that??