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!

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!

It became my ultimate goal this spring, to successfully capture two of my horses as they play against one another down a stretch of open field at a beautiful canter… and that is just what I succeeded to do this week!

So, of course we must start out with some introductory photos. We head out on the trail starting at Palmyra’s Horsemen’s Park. The we involved is comprised of myself (Erica K. Frei), and two of my horses – Scout Sweet Dynasty (Paint gelding) and *Tanjobi (Bashkir Curly gelding). I prefer to take two out at one time, not just because we can cover more ground, but it also takes me less time to ‘work’ both horses.

Usually I start out aboard Scout, for the very reason that he is more seasoned at the moment than Jobi…

And he seems to enjoy the trails thoroughly…

These two make a pretty good pair. Jobi is quite respectful about being ponied. If given the line he’ll hold rank evenly with Scout, and is attentive enough to know just the right moment to trot or canter to keep up with us.

Every once in a while Jobi veers wide to get the best footing, according to him. Neither of these guys are shod, so we take it at their pace. They hold up nicely on the rocky footing and are great about picking where they put their feet.

Jobi never stays away for long however, and is definitely sure to voice his opinions about the matter. I think today he would prefer to lead…

We take a quick break for some re-hydration and a mouthful or two of grass before we take our canter across the field. Jobi also gets a scratch on the forehead and extra attention…

From my vantage point, you would never know just how fast we are traveling. For some reason, the image I had in my mind of these pictures was vastly different from the reality I could achieve from being so close to the action. Still aboard Scout!

Did I mention that Jobi is usually the instigator for some playful antics? He likes to pretend like he is still the stallion and take charge of the situation…

And in my attempt to show we are running, an interesting leg shot…

Jobi is still next to us… and we’re still cantering…

Look at that beautiful curly mane!

One last shot before we take it back down to a walk and mosey our way down the rest of the trail…

I hadn’t originally intended to take on 25 miles on this particular ride. I like to make my way up to doing two 25 mile rides a week in the summer, that is on a good week when time permits.. but we were just getting close to reaching the goal of 25 miles once a week. So, as we got to our normal half-way point, I opted to just keep on going. Not to mention the fact that the next stop has a portable toilet and I did have to pee. So the boys got some nice grazing time in after a great workout.

We also spent a little time checking out the bulletins posted at our rest point… and the boys wanted to read them too.

And it wouldn’t quite be a break without Scout using Jobi as a scratching post…

Before I could put myself back in the saddle and head back home, who do we run into but my favorite student, Miss Julie! Her and her gelding, Hollywood, accompanied us back down the trail for a stretch and it was enjoyable company indeed!

Of course, Jobi gets to take over the lead on the return trip. It’s a nice change of scenery…

Jobi isn’t too excited about Scout working his way to the lead…

What a fistful! I’m lucky enough to have these wonderful horses who make it easy to wander down the trail in pairs. Riding in a dressage saddle down the trail means I don’t have the handy ability to tie off my ponied horse when I want an extra hand, so instead it all gets consolidated and shoved into one hand – lead rope, reins and riding whip. Just so I can get to my camera or a bottle of water I’m satisfied…

And one last one at the end of the ride. Mr. Scout can be seen to my left. I think we were all happy to load back up in the trailer and head home for some grub after this ride!

All in all, a decisively enjoyable ride. It is always nice to run into friends and acquaintances. I also spotted a friend of mine driving past as we were on our way to Horsemen’s Park. Had a great conversation with another woman at the park just before we went home.

A slideshow of these images can be found on our photo gallery (http://www.ericafrei.com/photogallery/) as well as more photos from events, shows, and other horse activities!