Live close to Berlin, Wisconsin? Want to improve your horses health and performance while improving yours as well? Join me at Edgewater Farms on October 10 to treat and pamper your equine partner and yourself through private sessions with 6 Clinicians, among them :

• Massage Therapist
• John Lyons’ Certified Trainer
• Saddle Fitter
• Nutritionalist
• Equine Dentist
• Yoga Instructor

A full day of activities is broken up with a freshly made nutritional lunch, as well as a professional photo op with your horse! This is a unique opportunity as you will have the opportunity to work with several professionals in one location and at a great price…

I will be there offering education and hands-on work in Massage Therapy. While I will be working specifically on the horses brought in, tips and tricks for dealing with rider issues relating to bodywork will also be discussed to improve balance, coordination and reduce pain and injury!

There are limited spots available so be sure to call Jackie or Carissa early!

Jackie – # (920) 428-9550
Carissa – # (920) 229-3616

• Edgewater Farms Website
• Last Year’s Event

Time is running down, the clock is ticking, and there remains but two weeks before the ASPIRE Therapeutic Riding Benefit, “Dances With Horses” in Waterloo, Iowa. Which reminds me today that I need to get my horse his traveling papers…

All deadlines aside, I wanted to make an update on how the project is progressing. My dress, which I’ve mentioned previously, is beginning to make it’s appearance in the world. We’ve been doing daily fittings as we slowly construct and create it. While it is based upon a high-fashion dress by Emanual Ungaro, it will have it’s own variations and unique qualities, the least of which being that we had to make adjustments so it doesn’t get caught up on the back of the saddle.

I thought it might be a bit more entertaining if everyone could see some behind the scenes…

And for some more visual… me and *Tanjobi playing with some ideas for our ride, of course the final ride choreography will only be revealed after the event.

More progress is being made on the front for the ASPIRE TRP Benefit Ride come October 4 in Waterloo, Iowa. I have been racking my brain on creating the right outfit for the music I’ve chosen and the impression that I want to give, and with some much needed help from my mom I think we have found a winner.

I chose to model my outfit design off an Emanuel Ungaro spring 07 collection dress.

The dress shown in the picture above is the same design I’ll be working off, but have chosen to use the colors black and kelly green. I think these will contrast nicely and set off Jobi’s deep chestnut/sorrel color. Now, choosing a costume that is a dress is a tricky one, not just because it is a dress, but because I may have to get off Jobi at some point during the ride (still figuring out the choreography on that one), so it has to be functional enough that I can walk around in it off the horse and still get back on in a short time without the assistance of ground people.

I will be building the outfit around body slimming underwear that provides the coverage needed – the bottoms cover my thighs similar to bicycle shorts – as well as the stable shaping around the bust to keep everything in place.

Outside of the fashion aspect, Jobi’s practices are starting to give some sparkle here and there. My biggest focus is to shine up his flying lead changes, really build up his strength in the lateral work and put a bit more height on his rearing. He has a stunning rear from the ground, but once I’m in the saddle it is like his ‘safety mode’ is switched on and his rears turn into baby hops. Much of it is likely strength, so I’m trying to build his hindquarters with transition work and I want to set out to the trails here soon to get some hill miles as well to get him in tip top condition.

Jobi’s lay down is lovely, I don’t think I will have any problems with that, we will see as I get some chances to take him to bigger facilities, if he gets more distracted at that time or not. It isn’t his usual self, he tends to work evenly whether at home or at shows so I’m not too worried.

Oh, and here’s a short clip showing his rear without a rider, just some easy rears. Enjoy!

So many ideas swirl about in my head, and to nail one down… well sometimes it just seems like more fun to juggle 15 balls instead of one. But, for the sake of my wanting to do a good job, I have nailed down a pretty solid plan of action in regards to my musical ride for the “Dances With Horses” ASPIRE TRP Benefit ride.

Music

Have to have something picked out for music before I can roll any other ideas around… so the first song is “Superstar” by Lupe Fiasco… and it goes a little something like this:

Play Superstar by Lupe Fiasco

Following that is “Wild Horses” by Alicia Keys and Adam Levine, which I posted a short clip of in my blog post here.

Choreography

Attempting to describe what can only be acted out… well what can I say? Other than it will definitely involve many fun and funny props during the first song, and be a bit more “girly” on the second song. haha

I do plan to employ two of Jobi’s fun skills – that being his beautiful rear, and lay down.

Costume

Initially I had a grand scheme of creating about 5 various costumes in which I would have layered strategically and de-robe to a new costume every so many strides.. but time is an issue, so I’ve settled on a single costume for myself and a tuxedo front for my pony. Seems fitting, for “Dancing With Horses” to have a dance outfit of sorts on and be all formal about matters. I myself am looking to be outfitted in a big dress, fancy but stylish.

Practice Makes Perfect

So, now that the kinks are being kinked out… I’ve been practicing some of the ideas with Mr. Jobi. He doesn’t seem to mind. I’d like to bring in some of the props soon, just need to start assembling them. He is always fun to mess with when it comes to normally scary objects. Let’s not forget that this is the horse I wrapped from head to tail in bubble wrap one time, and he attempted to help hold it for me so I could get it taped on properly… The first elaborate costuming scheme I had planned involved a rather large cape, and so I played around with a big sheet that at points he was stepping on while we were cantering, it was flapping around his head, wrapped around his bum, and even used as a mock whip. I think he just rolled his eyes and wondered when we would be finished with this and could go back out on the trail for some real excitement. Geldings…

Perhaps next post I will have more pictures, or even a short video of some of our practice! Stay tuned…

Nothing like some deadline to put a fire under my feet. I have a ride coming up, October 4, just 4 days before my birthday – which is always an auspicious time for me. It is the ASPIRE Therapeutic Riding Program Benefit Ride in Waterloo, Iowa. I have a 10 minute slot in which to ride to music of my choosing and do whatever fancies my taste, and it has been requested that I do so using one of my Bashkir Curly horses…

For the interest of safety, and attractive and entertaining outcome, I have chosen my former stallion turned exceptional gelding, *Y.S. Tanjobi. A little bit about Jobi… I bought him back in 2000 as a 2 year old stallion from Trish Rosborough of Yanagi Stables in Ontario, Canada. We stood him as a stallion until 2004 when I opted to get out of breeding horses and focus more closely on riding and training. I entertained thoughts of selling him as a stallion, but in the end couldn’t part ways with him and gelded him for my own riding horse instead. I have never for a moment regretted it!

The original photos from *Tanjobi’s for sale ad as a long yearling which stole my heart.

Jobi sired 9 foals as a stallion. *Y.S. Kinyobi was out of his first foal crop and is now successfully standing stud for Trish Rosborough. I personally held onto his last two foals, *Truman Obi and *Theodore Obi, who are now coming 4 years old this fall.

Jobi also got the chance to spend a year with me in Seattle, WA studying French Classical Dressage. Aside from that, Jobi has been shown at several of the Bashkir Curly breed shows, in a few open shows, and used to help represent the breed at the Midwest Horse Fair every year in Madison, Wisconsin. For the most part over the last couple of years his main responsibility has only been to long-distance trail riding with me and my Paint gelding, Scout. But alas, the ‘performance’ ring calls again!

Preparation

I’ve had to think a lot about what exactly I want to do for this ride. It has been a while since I’ve had to put anything together of this nature, so I have probably taken more weeks to get an idea than I would have hoped to. Now it’s just to pull it together. So let’s look at the skeleton of what I have figured out so far.

Outline Idea

I have 10 minutes approximately in the arena. It might not seem like that much time, but in some ways it can be an eternity when performing in the arena. Not to mention working just the right music into that time frame. Originally I had the idea to swap costumes throughout the ride. Come in as one famous person, and through a clever system of layering costumes I could move through a myriad of different characters by removing those layers. While I still like this idea, the amount of time I have to put together that many costumes and have the act down solid… I’m thinking that I should simplify.

Plan two was to ride in as one famous character – preferably a female, with a long skirt, and have a ‘goody bag’ of sorts tucked under the edge of the skirt that I can pull props out of and play along with the first song I have picked out. I’m liking this idea better, not only because it will take less time to put together props than it will to make costumes, but I will already be in costume for the second song in my play list.

The second half of my ride I am planning to ride to Wild Horses by Alicia Keys & Adam Levine, with me as the lady, and my steed decked out with a chestedo (chest tuxedo).

Practice Makes Perfect

So now, where am I with practice? Well, there are certain elements that I want my pony to perform that I would like to hammer down more solidly. Most notably, a lay down at the second refrain of the second song. Jobi lays down very nice, but I would like for it to become a bit more instantaneous rather than him hanging for a second or two checking out the scenery (or the ‘bed’). There are other portions, including several rears and some tight canter circles in hand, that I would also like to smooth out. They are nice, and one could hardly complain, but I do try to prepare well…

I also like to believe that Mr. Jobi likes to prepare, so with that I though perhaps a nod to his patient preparation and waiting in the tie stalls.

Our first day of practice consisted of working in hand on canter departs and canter to halt transitions into rearing and back to canter. We also laid down several times and then proceeded to some nice canter work under saddle. The majority of the riding portion will be with Jobi at the canter, since much of it will be my acting ‘skills’ (or lack thereof… haha), coupled with some spicy tricks on his part.

All in all, a good first day. More to follow!