Escaping the January Mud

Just when things were feeling and looking great... The rain set in with a cold vengeance and we have been rendered completely useless. It's Thursday and the temperatures are dropping, the rain turning to sleet and snow. For four days, Tucker and I have been slushing feed and hay through the mud, changing out soaked blankets and letting a few into the stalls to dry out. The first day of rain, I trimmed Vicar but decided to wait to repair his cracks until things were a little drier. I trimmed Z's mane on Tuesday. But overall, we've accomplished NOTHING for 4 days. I have to tell you there is nothing that irritates me more than doing nothing.

So, soaked and freezing, I dragged Tucker off to Starbucks yesterday and pulled her into my favorite January fantasy... The Winter Mixed Sales at Keeneland and Ocala. Last year I actually escaped the misery of January and went with Yvonne Maddelena and Danielle to Keeneland for the sale. This may have been a bad idea since I really didn't need much more fuel on the fire of my passion for Thoroughbreds and racing. But the sale, the exchange of money for unproven genetics, the study of statistics and the beautiful horse flesh converged in my mind like a literary well spring. Here was a world that I longed to participate in, but even if I couldn't, I could virtually participate in. You see, the American Thoroughbred industry is the most incredible machine in the horse industry because it is thickly layered with statistics, industry press, and methods for anyone to participate. And I mean ANYONE- blue blood to blue collar.

Here's how they do it...

There are several arenas of the Thoroughbred industry that are monitored by industry tools. There is the auction- the place where genetics and the marketplace create a whirlwind of wins and losses that number in the millions. Each major auction site (Keeneland, Ocala, etc.) maintains an extensive, highly searchable database of bloodlines, buyers, sellers and prices. Sales happen several times a year with focuses on different types: yearlings, two-year olds in training, broodmares. Buyers are able to research endlessly to predict prices on their desired purchases. Matings for the year are planned and stallion breeding shares are determined on recent market highs and lows. These micro-economies illustrate trends in the marketplace as a whole. The information is abundant and search-ability rivals any Google pursuit allowing any student of the industry an opportunity to imagine themselves an expert. If you are a research junkie like myself, the tools of the auction sites are better than any candy shop I've been in.

The first Thoroughbred auction I ever attended was the Ocala Winter Mixed Sale in 1996. I talked my grandmother (who was my favorite horse show and horse activity companion until her death in 2007) into driving down to Ocala to take in the horse world during one break when I was home from college  for the holidays. While in Ocala we attended a show jumping competition and a day of the sale. At that time I was much more familiar with the world of show jumping than I was with racing. When we entered the main auction room I was struck with the formality and etiquette that was totally unfamiliar. Also I was struck by the prices. Fat colts garnished high dollars while horses of riding age that looked like perfectly good specimens for showing sold for almost nothing. I remember catching the attention of an older gentleman that could see right away that we were novices. We were thankful when he opened the catalogue and began to decipher the pedigrees and expressions of value. I knew nothing of what it all meant and a single explanation was hardly enough to discern the meaning that the other bidders battled over. However, my curiosity was sparked. The older gentleman offered one piece of advice, "Most people determine a horse's worth by their sire. But the real success of a horse is in their damlines." Anyone who's been around horses a while can recognize the tone of wisdom in an old horseman's voice. To this day when I'm looking at a pedigree I hear that fellow's voice.

Yvonne matching the catalogue with the horse.

When I attended the Keeneland Winter Mixed Sale in 2012, I was equipped with a notebook of research and some experienced company: my friend Danielle and her parents who had purchased several yearling in years passed. I was also thankful to have Yvonne with me. She is one of the few horse friends that I have that is as engaged by the world of racing as I am (I may have corrupted Tucker by now). Mind you, I had no intention of purchasing anything. I was on a pure reconnaissance mission. (In my fantasy world I will one day try my hand at the racehorse world). This adventure was definitely more fleshed out than my first sale experience. We spent time in the barns before the sale, handing over cards with the numbers for the horses we wanted the consignors to parade out for us. We stood in the holding area of the sales pavilion and examined vet records. At one point Yvonne and I talked ourselves into bidding on a broodmare that quickly priced out of our pittance budget. All the while Danielle and her father explained nuances that were passing over our heads without notice- fractions from recent races of racing age fillies and colts, conformation faults that were easy to overcome in racing versus ones that were crippling... the tapestry of the auction world increasing in intricacy and allure as the day wore on.

Danielle assured us that our experience was not complete without a visit to the stud farms. Did I happen to mention that Danielle is a very successful enabler of anyone with a Thoroughbred problem?

Winstar Farm

The view from Darley

In my opinion, one of the great treasures of Americana are the Kentucky bluegrass Thoroughbred stud farms like Lane's End. These farms are palatial symbols of American agriculture. They are immaculate, grandiose and pastoral like no other place I have seen in this country. Part of what is so incredible is the quantity of beautiful farms. We had time to visit four farms and were able to see in person great sires such as A.P. Indy, Holy Bull, Dynaformer, Street Cry and the ever popular Bernardini. It was an experience that only added to the romance of racing.

Bernardini

Flashforward to 2013 and January in the Alabama Mud

Since Danielle has relocated to Florida, she planned to attend this year's Ocala January sale. Although I do not have the means to be in Florida for the sale, the weather in Alabama definitely sent my mind to Florida. She was interested in a horse of racing age and I followed along virtually by watching the Under Tack Show of the horses galloping and making a list of virtual picks. I commented on certain horse's styles of running- some ran head high, others stretched long and low as they dug into the dirt. One gelding struck both of us as having an impressive stride and style. I also took particular interest in an English Channel colt with a broad white snip across his nose and gallop that was flat and seemed to cover twice the length of a normal horse's stride. (As an aside, I read yesterday that stakes winning horses on average have a stride length of over 24 feet). I made a list of choice horses on my Ipad and the following day of the sale, between strides across the six inch deep mud to dump the wheelbarrow of manure from cleaning stalls, I checked auction results to see how my choices did. Meanwhile, Danielle was on scene, in the action, trying to purchase her own picks. The results were discouraging for a poor horseman like myself. And based on the brief texts from Danielle after the auction, she was thinking something similar. (Two years ago it seemed like anyone could buy a racehorse at an auction with a little bit of chump change. Now the chump change is getting serious. If the racing industry is any indication of the progress of the economy, America is definitely on an uptick.) Of my picks, the English Channel colt was the highest priced. Maybe someone else was also measuring his stride at over 24 feet.

At Starbucks with Tucker, I easily engaged her research-minded nature in the sources of information and the guesswork connected with the auction. A year ago when I returned from Kenneland, we used the "Virtual Stable" on Equibase to satisfy our racing desires. Tucker filled her imaginary barn with Lawyer Ron runners and I imagined success for 2 year olds by such new sires as Utopia. Throughout this past year, we would occasionally comment on the successes or failures of our horses. We tried to understand how recorded workouts reflected on eventual races, all the time enjoying these up to the minute results available from the tool the Thoroughbred industry uses to fuel racing passions.

Just a Horse of Course

I love escaping the drudgery and frustration of a muddy January by spending hours on the internet following rabbit trails and hunches through the maze of information on Thoroughbred racing. The fields are unridable at the moment and keeping my horses warm and not losing too much weight in this weather is enough to keep me awake in the middle of the night. Thankfully I can distract myself with the genetics and economics of the sport of racing. The tools the industry provides to gather statistics means that even though I do not have millions to spend purchasing and racing horses, I can populate my fantasy world with real buys and watch their successes and failures without feeling the financial pain of the actual owners. Meanwhile, back in reality, I will continue looking after my youngsters who have migrated from their failures in the "glamourous world of racing" to our humble setting in Alabama and try to convince them that racing is nothing compared to jumping and dressage... in spite of the mud of January.

January Mud in Alabama

Mickey Mouse and his Influence on New Year's Resolutions

Leaving the Ponies Behind for a Much Needed Family Vacation

Two days after Christmas, the Jackson family left the ponies in Wilsonville and headed south to join the Baran family clan in the land of Mickey. It was a much needed escape from all things work-related, horse-related, and general daily stresses. We were thrilled to be invited to the semi-annual family gathering of the Barans, my late step-father's extended family, and were ready to enjoy some good-times in the Disney World Kingdoms with my mom, sister and the wonderful Baran clan. In spite of remarkable crowds, we managed to work our way through the international throngs of people and enjoy a few rides, a few shows and generally drink in the happy world of Mickey and friends. I say this with a tone that might sound sarcastic to some- given any previous experience with the wall to wall people of holidays at Disney- but in all honesty I was completely blown away by the wide-eyed, goofy happiness that people from all over the world could share in spite of waiting in line for two or more hours for 5 minutes of fun. And I was right in there with them.

On the 9.5 hour drive home after our four days of Disney, I had a lot of time to reflect on the power and success of Walt Disney's empire and what made it so attractive to so many people from every corner of the world. I was completely awestruck by the people- thousands of all ages, races and languages- proudly sporting a set of mouse ears. And believe me, my cynical-side was completely prepared to scoff at Mickey's classic show, "Dream Along with Mickey" at the foot of Cinderella's castle. But I had Honor, my three year old daughter and I knew I was going to watch the show for her. What I hadn't realized was that I would get tears in my eyes as Mickey tried to convince Donald that, "Dreams Really do Come True," and they wouldn't just be sentimental tears for Honor. They were sentimental tears for myself. I too really wanted to believe that, "Dreams Really Do Come True." So just like the rest of the masses, I was soon ready to don a pair of mouse ears. If Walt Disney could imagine a theme park like that, figure out a way to convince millions, maybe billions of people to travel thousands of miles, and pay thousands of dollars to stand in hours and hours of lines, anyone's dream- given the right planning, right people and right circumstances- could come true. Tears shed, I was ready to drink the Disney kool-aid.

So, how does Disney do it? I reflected on this question and these are the simple answers I took away from my Disney World experience: Stay Positive. Have a simple system and stay committed to it. Encourage optimism in others. Envision the future within the scope of your system. Produce a reliable product first, an exceptional product will eventually happen if the system, the future vision and the optimism stay in place. But above all, don't be afraid to be happy and dream big. Maybe this sounds silly to you? Well you probably need some mouse ears to get it.

Back at the Ranch

On December 19, I rode five of my horses for the last time in 2012. After each ride, I had a feeling that the horses understood some of the simple things I had been working on and we were ready for the next level. I guess it was coincidence or maybe a horse conspiracy, or just my vacation-needing imagination that made it happen in one day. Regardless, I happily kicked the ponies out into the pasture and said, "See ya, next year!"

I got back from Disney World on New Year's Day and returned to the farm the next day. As usual, time away only filled my head with more ideas and ambitions. As well as going to Disney, my mom, sister and I spent one day at Tampa Bay Downs with my good friend and source for all things thoroughbred, Danielle. The one day in another horse world had given me an interesting perspective on the horse business in general that will take weeks, maybe months to sort through. But needless to say the day at the track also confirmed some of the same ideas I had developed from my experience at Disney; namely, success is built on methodical adherence to a simple system. The key here that I think I was still missing in my program was "methodical adherence." If you know me, you know that creating and thinking forward is easy for me, but being methodical? That is an elusive skill.

On the track, everything gets started around 5:00 am, and training on the track starts at 6:00 a.m. Every horse that needs to be worked, has to be fit in before 10:00 am when the track closes for training. Several hundred horses must be worked in this four hour window. In order to successfully accomplish this especially with young, extremely fit Thoroughbred horses, riders and trainers must be efficient, systematic and cooperative. All the horses are worked in a similar fashion, in the same direction, with a very consistent routine. Riders and trainers follow "the rules" in the barns as well. For example horses are cooled out with hand walking along the shedrow, all going in the same direction with specific etiquette for any stopping and watering. The sheer quantity of horses requires a method.

I have certain circumstances that prevent me from starting my day at the barns at 5:00 am, namely a child to get to school and a 45 minute drive to the farm. However the clearly defined time in which to accomplish my training is very much a reality. Committing to training a certain number of horses within that time frame is where the method comes in. I basically have 6 hours each day to get 8 horses worked. This means I need quality not quantity in my rides, with an added awareness of how to spread out a fitness regimen between the horses to make up for the shorter rides.

The System

As I have stated before in my blog, I like themes in my training. It helps me have a touchstone by which to evaluate the progress of such a variety of young horses. When looking backwards from my competition goals for each horse, I think about where the holes are and what exercises will fill in the gaps and improve the overall way of going. Even though my horses may specialize in competition in either show jumping, dressage or eventing; I train all of my horses generally as if they are going to event. What this means is that their dressage skills, their show jumping skills and the cross country skills can not be neglected. In simple training terms, this means that they need to be supple, balanced and obedient in their flatwork; and relaxed, rhythmical and brave over all types of fences. Obviously these skills are intermingled. So the system starts with this overall objective.

On a day to day basis, I pick a skill to work on and an exercise to achieve that skill. I keep my ride simple and positive. I ride for a minimum of 20 minutes and rarely more than 45 minutes. If I get what I want in 10 minutes, I trot hills, walk the lake (in the winter I am lucky to have the lake bed filled about 2'6" feet deep with water which provides a nice strengthening exercise) or I pick a footwork challenge for the horse- negotiating a muddy bank, hopping over a scary ditch, cavaletti. When I only have 15 minutes for a horse at the end of the day, I do some sort of groundwork inspired from the Buck Brannaman clinics I have done which improve the sensitivity of the horse and encourage the horses confidence in itself and me.

Producing a Reliable Product

Last year my business became more focused on training horses for sales. Although I love and want to teach young riders, my location is beyond the distance that most suburban parents can carry their children after school for lessons. As a result I have begun to pay more attention to what kinds of horses riders want to purchase. One of the glaringly obvious realities of the show horse marketplace (especially in eventing) is that there are a lot of horses out there for sale that are difficult to ride and difficult to handle. I am most familiar with the horses available for sale in eventing and I have observed that the majority of horses produced by upper level riders that are for sale were either originally purchased to be upper level mounts but didn't make it; or they have been rushed up the levels in order to get a price that gives the trainer some sort of return on their investment. Both of these scenarios rarely produce a horse that is a suitable mount for an amateur or young rider. I am not trying to pick on upper level riders. Actually I am incredibly sympathetic. The economics of eventing is set up to create this scenario. There is absolutely not enough money in eventing to support an "event horse sales business."

Unfortunately but fortunately for me, I can not afford to show my horses all the time. I have to be very selective about putting them in shows that they can be successful in. And I have to spend the majority of time training rather than showing. This is not to say that my horses are somehow better trained than another trainers. We all know that you can train a horse to death at home, but if they have not been to a show, you have no idea how well they will handle the show environment. Rather I am stating how I have had to tailor my ideas and goals with horses based on my economics. Instead of producing a flashy, adrenaline-inducing upper level show horse, I have turned my attention to producing a reliable, confident horse that amateurs can ride in a show or clinic and have fun. And if Walt Disney's philosophy works, the exceptional product will come out of producing a reliable product with an eye on the future.

Now that I have picked on upper level riders, let me pay a compliment based on an experience I had with a horse for sale that was ridden by the upper level rider, Charlie Plumb. In 2011 I had a student looking for a horse and one of the first horses that we tried was a young horse that Charlie was competing at the Novice level. We were at an event at Chattahoochee Hills and after the event was over, we took this horse and another of Charlie's out on cross country to try. I rode this horse and my student rode another of Charlie's that we expected to be more suitable. I liked the young horse I rode, but he was clearly a bit mischievous as Charlie had told me and not suitable for the student. A year later, I was with another young rider trying horses and we tried this same horse. The horse was now competing consistently at Training level and regularly in the top 5 in its division. I asked Charlie why he had not moved the horse up and he mentioned several reasons but most importantly he said he had recognized that the horse was going to be a horse for an amateur or young rider and he wanted to make sure it had a solid foundation. When I rode the horse a year later, I was very impressed with the changes in the horse. He was workman-like, rhythmical and generally easy to ride. Unfortunately he was a bit small for the young rider I was with and therefore we had to pass on him. But I was impressed with the training that Charlie had done with the horse over the course of a year.

We all know that horses are good at making liars out of the best of trainers. Also the economics of horses can be high risk/low profit, making it a marginal business endeavor at best. But I keep looking for ways to beat the odds, stay optimistic and dream big; and I have come to the conclusion that if you make horses that make people happy over the long run, then the economics will work out. And the trick to this is making sure the horses are "broke" before you get out there competing. So the system has to have a foundation in ridability.

Disney's Influence on my New Year's Resolution

I am now a week into my new year of riding with my resolution of a "methodical adherence" to a system that produces a reliable mount and I have to say the results are inspiring. I think the two week break helped everyone and the horses returned to work feeling very sound with happy attitudes. But the routine also seems to be contributing to remarkable headway. I have already begun working over ditches, jumping banks and liverpools with all of the horses including J'Adore, Phippen, Crown and Rocky. My theme on the flat has been to improve engagement or "push" through transitions and lateral work and the horses seem to be trying harder and listening better. In general I see that everyone seems to have a clearer head about the work to do.

As the new year progresses I plan to evaluate whether the intermittent shorter rides effect fitness. One of the things I noticed last year in all of my horses was that I wanted them to be stronger and possibly a bit more fit (carrying their effort over a longer ride). I intend to do more strength training this year, including more hill work and interval training. My competition goals remain ambitious and I will have to stay consistent rain or shine with this routine to have that ridable, competitive horse that I aspire to.

So, thanks Mickey, for the inspiration and I'll get back to you Donald on whether dreams really do come true if you follow Walt's way of doing things.