A Rising Star

Good Day!

Still reeling from last week’s shoot in Phoenix, it seems like ages since we filmed the show in Martha’s Vineyard, but those are the episodes that are playing now. Even though my mind is still processing the episodes we shot last week, I still remember the MVY shows well, especially this week’s episode.

It features Katelyn, a very young and very talented rider—at the tender age of 8, she is already an accomplished equestrian—showing hunter, pony club and dressage. Her goals are to ride in the Olympics one day and I have no doubt that she has the talent. I told her parents to forget saving for college—the horse she’ll need to take her to the Olympics will cost way more than four years of college!

But now she is riding a very nice, right-sized pony who, remarkably, is very sweet and dependable. They are just cute as a button together and at a level where she is primarily working on refinement. One thing I noticed was that Katelyn had to look down to see if she was on the correct diagonal—so that’s what we made the episode about—teaching her to FEEL her diagonals instead of looking (see my Training Library for more info on this topic).

Katelyn is showing primarily in equitation—as young riders should. And while you can get away with looking down for your diagonals in schooling shows, to make it in the highest levels, you need to feel them. Surprisingly, they are not hard to feel but sadly, most people are taught from the beginning to look. And looking always interferes with your feel because your mind will over-ride what you feel.

I’ve taught a lot of people to feel their diagonals and some of them get it right off the bat, while others have to practice for a while. What’s difficult is not feeling them, but rather posting at a given point. Most people just begin posting, then look to see if they are on the correct diagonal—so they are not posting at a certain time. These people have the most difficulty getting their diagonals by feel—they can feel the right time, but they have trouble posting at a given time. But all it takes is some dedicated practice. Katelyn had to practice but got it eventually.

One funny side note to this episode… Katelyn had a total melt-down right before we started filming her—tears and frustration and nothing could console her. That was not entirely unusual—especially with kids—because the pressure seems like a lot, but Katelyn is typically a very happy and cheery little girl. We have since learned that our “cast members” are feeling a lot of pressure at the beginning of their show. The first thing we do is film their “before” footage—where everyone on the set is watching them perform-- and then we go straight to the interview—which is just them staring at the camera and telling their story. It’s a really hard beginning. In fact, the rest of it is pretty easy because once I come in and take over, they only have to follow directions and I do most of the talking.

It didn’t take us long to get Katelyn straightened out, especially with the help of my multi-talented crew who soon had her laughing and chanting, “I’m cool, I’m cute, my horse does not need bute.” And it was on with the show!

I am on my way now to sunny CA for Equine Affaire. It’ll be a fun but hectic weekend and I look forward to seeing lots of familiar faces there, doing my presentations and judging the Extreme Cowboy Race on Sunday. Leaving single-digit temperatures behind this morning and arriving to 75degrees has its own appeal as well.

Enjoy the ride!

Julie

For training tips from Julie, visit the Training Library at http://juliegoodnight.com/q&a.php and check out her online store--full of training tools and DVDs-- at http://juliegoodnight.com/products.html

Six more episodes "in the can"

Greetings!

It’s been a very hectic week or so. I spent three days at the Western & English market show in Denver. It is one of the biggest market shows there is—a show where manufacturers and distributors sell goods at wholesale to tack stores and the like. It’s a bit overwhelming with all the products, from fashion apparel to tack to new and innovative products just coming on the scene. It’s fun but exhausting, and a great time to network with other professionals and see what’s new in the industry. It was nice to say hello to a fellow clinicians like Ken McNabb, Craig Cameron, Chris Cox and Stacey Westfall.

On Monday, we jumped a flight to Phoenix and Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday was spent filming six new episodes of Horse Master. It’s a very busy three days when we film. We start at first light and continue, with only a brief lunch break, until the sun sets and it’s too dark. Thankfully, we have an awesome crew—the regulars are Heidi (producer), Steve (videographer and editor), Cheryl (wardrobe) and T Cody (trainer that works with the riders in their practice sessions). We are also always dependent on a few volunteer “grips” (Hollywood slang for go-fors) and this time we had two local women that were absolutely incredible to work with—Vicky and Leanne. We always try to have fun while we are filming but it is still lots of hard work and long days and I appreciate the dedicated work of all the crew.

We had a great variety of subjects to film—Barbara, with a giant forward moving TB that she couldn’t stop; Andrea, with an OTTB (off-the-track Thoroughbred) who she was hoping to convert into a family horse; Mika, with a herd-bound QH mare that threw tantrums any time you separate her from her buddy; Beth, whose spooky young horse was afraid of everything, including the saddle; Devon, a young man with a half-Arab sport horse that had very explosive canter transitions; and Laurie, whose TB gelding wouldn’t load in a trailer (understatement).

I think all of the episodes turned out well. My two favorites were Devon and Laurie, because their horses made the most dramatic turnarounds. When I watched Devon as we filmed his “before” footage (the very first thing we do in each episode—this is the time when we decide what the issue really is) I could see the very obvious problem, but wasn’t sure what I could do for him. When Devon cued his horse, he would explode into the canter, sometimes bucking, always running off; then he would be nervous and jiggy and anticipating the cue. “Rocky” was a very handsome horse that they bought with the hopes of showing but his behavior made showing impossible and it wasn’t obvious to me what Devon was doing to cause this kind of reaction. I got on and rode Rocky and found the key to smooth transitions and amazingly, Devon was able to change the way he rode this horse right away and the results were tremendous. Both Devon and his mom were thrilled with the progress they made.

The trailer loading episode was pretty wild and I have sore muscles all over my body as a reminder. Turned out the horse had some ground manner issues (no surprise) and had learned the very nasty trick of rearing, snatching his nose away and running off, dragging behind him whoever happened to be holding the lead line (fondly referred to as dirt skiing). This issue was separate from the loading problem, but made loading difficult, if not downright impossible. I had to put a chain on his nose, over the rope halter, in order to gain the leverage I needed to keep control of him. Once we got that problem resolved, it was a short time before he was walking calmly in and out of the trailer. Again, the turnaround was very dramatic and I think we got some great footage.

As always, it’s good to be home again and I am enjoying a relaxing day on the couch, reading, catching up on emails, CNN on the tube and watching the snow storm up on the mountain. Maybe I’ll muster up the energy to unpack and do some laundry; on the other hand, maybe not. Life is good.

All the best,

Julie

For training tips from Julie, visit the Training Library at http://juliegoodnight.com/q&a.php and check out her online store--full of training tools and DVDs-- at http://juliegoodnight.com/products.html

East Meets West

Good Day!

I have started my final countdown today. I leave town early Friday morning for two back-to-back trips (what a way to start my travel year!). Normally packing is quick and easy for me, but back-to-back trips always makes it a little challenging, plus one trip is a shoot for Horse Master—and that is a major packing gig! Since each show requires two outfits, plus extra stuff for commercials and special projects, plus my saddle, bridles and gear I might need—it’s a packing night mare! Happily, the hardest stuff is done, thanks to assistance from my wardrobe wrangler, Cheryl.

It seems like forever since we filmed the episodes that are currently running—back in September at Martha’s Vineyard. When I think back on how much has changed in the past four months—gas prices, the election, the economy, the weather—it seems like a lifetime! But I remember filming this episode well, because it involves a horse I used to own.

I bought Jackson (known at AQHA as Quick Foxie Doc) in the summer of 06 in AZ. He was much a younger horse than I normally buy for resale, as a 6 y/o, but I was totally smitten with his solid gold temperament and his extensive training. He was also bigger than I prefer, but so pretty, a joy to ride and a perfect gentleman. I knew I’d find the perfect human for this horse, but little did I know it’d be a wisp of an 11 y/o girl and this NRHA money earning reiner would end up as far east as you can get and turn into a hunter.

It’s true, Jackson is built more like a hunter than a reiner, with his big scopey frame and his tall stature. When Lilly and her mother and grandmother came to look at horses, I had a barn full and she rode 4-5 different horses. Jackson was not the one I thought would be perfect for her, but I knew she wanted to try them all. Lilly was already a really good rider, so I knew she had the ability to handle any of the horses I had to offer—most of whom had been bought with beginners in mind. Really, what it boiled down to was chemistry and there was no doubt from the very first moment, that the chemistry was strong between Jackson and Lilly.

A year later, I end up in Martha’s Vineyard with Lilly and Jackson scheduled for one of the six episodes we were filming in three days. It was great to see them both and how beautifully their relationship had developed. Jackson will do anything for Lilly and he always takes good care of her. I was pleased to see how well he was going as an English horse—not really too surprised, since the foundation of reining training he had would take him anywhere.

I got on Jackson in Western tack, so see what it would take for him to remember his reining maneuvers—he was an awesome spinner with big stops. The spins were right there where I had left them, but the stops took a few reminders. Not surprising since no one had done anything similar to a spin with him, but they had been stopping him English, not Western, so the waters were a little murkier. At the end of the day, a well-trained horse will always remember his training, no matter how long it’s been. And if his training is not devolved, by spoiling him, scaring him or hurting him, it won’t take you long to find it.

If you don’t get to watch Lilly and Jackson on RFD this week, you can read all about them in America’s Horse this month. Check out my website for a link to that article.

Back to packing!

Julie

Goal Setting

Greetings!

I haven’t been riding much lately, have you? Between the holidays, tons of work to do in the office and the bitter winter weather, it’s been hard to get motivated. I have ridden one of my geldings for sale a few times, because I had some motivation for that, with a buyer coming to see him.

What I need is some motivation to ride my own horse. Once I am on him, I have plenty of motivation because he is a total blast to ride! It’s the suiting up and braving the cold and treacherous trip to the indoor that I have trouble psyching myself into. Especially if I have no pressing need to ride—like a clinic, show or expo to prepare for. It’s not like he needs the training--he’s very push-button and can stand for months and still be on the mark in his riding.

But when I have a goal looming in the future, it is an easy thing to get myself motivated to ride. This year, because of a hectic travel schedule, I don’t think I’ll be able to do any competing and it looks like I may only make it to one, or at best, two clinics with my husband this summer (hopefully he will not read this). So it looks like my horse may be destined to get fat and out of shape this year.

For now, it’s easy to make the excuse that it’s too cold (sometimes it is in January—once it’s in the zero range, we don’t ride for health reasons), too windy (a true concern when it is gusting to 30-40 mph as it does with some regularity here) or I’m too busy (like now with several deadlines hanging over my head)! Soon, both Rich and I will get antsy about riding and we’ll find the motivation. Maybe I’ll work on a new video with my horse for this summer or record more mounted workout audios.

This is my last of four weeks at home and I am going to take full advantage of it. As much as I love to travel, it’s always good to be home. Our new pup is growing up fast—she’s nearly doubled in size and she’s training up nicely and staying out of trouble for the most part and it’s been good to have time at home with her.

At the end of this week, I head to Denver for the Western/English Apparel and Equipment Market, then on to Arizona to film six new episodes of Horse Master; these are the first of nineteen trips I’ll make in the first half of this year. I’d better start packing!

Enjoy the ride,

Julie

A Wet and Wild Ride

Good Day!

I am so glad the holidays are over! Although I truly enjoy them, I am always happy to get back to work and back to a normal daily routine. And then there’s the post-holidays diet; I am even glad for that! As much as I enjoy all the delicious party food and drink, the Christmas cookies and the elaborate holiday meals, by the end of the holidays I feel so over-stuffed that it is nice to get back to simple meals and my exercise regimen.

Today on Horse Master, starts a series of all-new episodes, filmed at Martha’s Vineyard, that will run for the next six weeks. This week’s episode is called Wave Runner and it is one of my favorites. Partly because I got to do all the riding in this one and partly because we were at the beach. We took a young eventing horse named Poco, and introduced him to the surf for the very first time.

It’s one thing to cross still water and it’s a little harder to get a horse to cross running water, like in a stream. But at the ocean, when the waves are coming in and out—it’s a whole other story. The owner was recuperating from a broken collar bone, having been thrown from her horse earlier in the year, so she could not ride—leaving it all up to me. When I first approached the surf, I couldn’t even get within 50 feet of the water without him balking on me. For a moment, I thought I might not get him in at all.

Surprisingly, within about 10-15 minutes, I had his front feet in the water but he was shucking and jiving at every wave—leaping sideways and up in the air. Although there are some pretty wild scenes in the show, I am not sure the camera really conveyed the challenge of the ride. For one thing, the shore was very sloped, which doesn’t show too much on film. And the drop off once we were in the water was severe, so once I got his whole body in, we were suddenly up to his belly.

And then there was the vertigo—we both got it from the waves and sand moving in and out. I could tell that when I felt the vertigo, the horse was feeling it too because he would start walking sideways. With vertigo, you lose your perspective and are not really sure what direction you are moving. It’s a bit disconcerting.

Almost all the footage of this training session was included in the show—maybe 10-15 minutes were cut due to the time constraints. At one point, Poco jumped so hard that I thought I was going for a swim without him, but I managed somehow to stay on and keep going. Unfortunately, I think that part was cut.

By the time it was all said and done, I had Poco standing belly deep in the ocean with waves crashing into him and we were both soaking wet. It was one of the most fun times I’ve had on a horse in a long while. Although the horse was a big chicken, he tried really hard and finally sucked it up and went for it.

I hope you get to watch the show. A portion of the show is available for viewing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQnChIArvas&feature=channel_page. This part shows him first entering the water and getting that first shock of wet toes. It wasn’t long after that he was completely in the surf. The show will air today at 5:30p EST, or you can set you DVR for one of the re-airs Thursday at 3:30a or Sunday at 1:30a EST.

Now I am headed out to the barn to give a lesson to the new owner of Luke! She’s so excited about her new horse and we want to make the most of her time here so that she can get to know him better. He’ll get on a van in a few days to head for the east coast and his new home in Massachusetts.

Until next time,

Julie