Sweet Water Equestrian LLC

05/16/2024

Attention Competitors!

Entries are now open for our first schooling show!

Signing up for a horse show can be daunting, even if you've done it before. If you're not sure where to start, or need a refresher, we've created a helpful guide to take you through the process using Horseshowoffice.com

Please take a look and share with your friends! Find the guides on our show page. There is a guide for both the Schooling Shows and Recognized Shows.

https://northwoodsdressage.weebly.com/2024-show-schedule.html

12/07/2023

Martin Kuhn clinic at Spring Hill Farm Dec 16-17.

Auditors welcome! $15 per day. There will be coffee and snacks. (And probably puppies! 😜) Contact me with questions. Schedule will be posted soon, but will run approximately 8am-4pm both days.

Rider spots are currently full but happy to take names for a wait-list!

10/02/2023

03/19/2023

International dressage competitor and trainer Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel explains this important piece of the training puzzle.

02/03/2023

16yo, 16.2h Appendix gelding, 'Spider' available for lease or possible rehoming. Pleasure background and knows some dressage basics. Fairly straightforward horse suitable for an advanced beginner rider. Open to an on or off-site lease or lesson program with option for rehoming to the right situation!

10/10/2022

We had a fantastic time auditing the Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel, Dressage Training symposium this weekend. So much wonderful information! Stay tuned for future opportunities to learn from Felicitas. The symposium was interactive and each session was fascinating! Many lovely transformations took place.

06/28/2022

We had a fantastic weekend at the NWDA Cooler by the Lake Show!

Leah Nelson rode Natascha Kempe Artangs mare, Elessar at First Level. She qualified to ride a Freestyle at the next show and had overall show High Point with a 72%.

Leah also rode Brio Tanzen owned by Dale S. Lewis and Holly Sampson. Brio earned a 68% in their 4th Level Freestyle on Saturday. A little boo-boo on his face on Sunday prevented him from wearing a bridle so we didn't get to enjoy all the high winds on Sunday!

Kathy Faccio made her Intermediare I debut and earned a score towards her USDF Gold Medal!

Dee Closson had lovely rides at First Level on Zebaron!

Thanks to North Woods Dressage Association for an excellent show. So lovely to see all our horse show friends again!

EM Photography took such beautiful photos I had a hard time picking my favorites!

03/17/2022

Happy spring! 🌼💖🌷 Cozy season is winding down, Glop season is approaching. 🤣

GLOP

“Glop” noun, as in, “My horse rolled in the glop.”
“Gloppy” adjective, as in “My paddocks are a gloppy mess.”

Glop is a new word that is a combination of, but not limited to, such words as grime, goo, goop, slime, and slop.

Glop is 4 parts wet manure, 5 parts mud, 3 parts slime of an unknown nature, 2 parts last year’s leaf mold, 2 parts some other disgusting substance.

My farm, currently, is under a severe glop watch. My horses roll in glop. The glop dries on their bodies in thick sheets that can best be loosened by a garden rake. We wade in glop. We haul hay carts through acres of glop.

It will be observed that glop and glitz are not related terms. Neither is glop a close relative of glamor. The horses in the big shows are not gloppy. Most of the famous riders of the sleek horses at the major venues rarely deal with glop.

Glop is a hidden reality of the joys of springtime that many never get to experience in a close, intimate and personal fashion.

02/15/2022

Don't even get me started, but here's a 95 page visual guide to 'understanding' the dress code updates... 🙄

11/08/2021

Click button below to view the NWDA Newsletter

08/15/2021

Drawing parallels between yoga and dressage has helped this Grand Prix rider and trainer elevate his balance and strength and see the training journey through his horses' eyes.

08/11/2021

What a great weekend we had at the final North Woods Dressage Association Recognized Show of the weekend! Thanks for the many wonderful photos from EM Photography. Does the background get any prettier than the woodsy, deep green of the Bayfield County Fairgrounds? So grateful to have these lovely shows in our backyard.

Brio Tanzen is making his way into a real FEI horse, earning up to 63% in PSG this year. He's such a handsome, generous horse and it's a pleasure to develop him. Thanks for the opportunity, Dale Lewis and Holly Sampson.

I got to step in for Natascha Kempe Artang and show her beloved Danzario, earning a 65% in First Level. He was mister reliable. He's a special marshmallow and I can't wait to see what he and Natascha do together as he grows up! Natascha showed him Saturday up to 66% - he's a very consistent little show horse already!

Ellesar was shown by Christina Steenekamp and Annsofie Artang. We are still getting to know this lovely mare in a show environment but she had some great tests, scoring up to 65%. She and Annsofie are a match made in heaven, and Christina is completely obsessed with her.

Dee Closson and Zebaron had lovely, harmonious tests at Training Level and he's turning into quite the confident young horse.

Kathy Faccio and Aidan had solid tests at PSG, gaining more experience at the level and making many improvements from the last show!

Alexandra LaFleur is getting Riggs much more rideable and balanced. He is my favorite little splotchy horse and is gaining a bit of a fan club, showing off a bit of his talent!

Olivia Huston crushed their first Recognized Show together, delivering harmonious and elegant tests into the 70s at Intro Level.

Thanks for the excellent show everyone!

07/27/2021

THAT. JUST. HAPPENED. is 🥈 at the 🙌

07/23/2021

Woohoo! Olympics time! Love this photo from the horse inspection. ❤️

04/28/2021

Photo credit EM Photography

04/28/2021

Do we have a toxic debt culture in the dressage world?
Does it sometimes get in the way of the horsemanship?

Here’s some of my thoughts, what do you think?

Your horse doesn’t owe you anything, he never has.

He never owed you in the first place. A horse is incapable of owing us anything.

He never asked for this life, these expectations were placed upon him.

It is not up to you to decide that he now doesn’t owe you anything because you feel good about achieving something together, because a dressage judge made you feel validated.

The burden of debt in this relationship is heavy in the other direction.

It doesn’t matter how much you paid for him, how many matchy-matchy sets you bought him, how much you’ve forked out in vets bills or even how many tears you have shed over him.

A horse is a horse, he came into this world to be a half-ton bunny rabbit. He doesn’t care whether he has designer parents or a fancy price tag. He cares about feeling safe and comfortable with his needs met. By some miracle, most of them also seek to cooperate with us once they trust our intentions.

He very graciously and generously goes along with our silly games and crazy ideas of ‘fun’ that serve him very little purpose, when in all honesty he would probably rather be in the field with his horsey friends eating grass.

Everyday I strive to make my debt to the horse right and be grateful for their cooperation (and understanding of their sometimes lack of cooperation).

And how can we do this?

*Seek knowledge – learn the theory,
*Try to be the best rider you can be – develop yourself and your independent seat,
*Ask reasonable questions of your horse – be clear and patient,
*Reward often, end the exercise, a rub, a soft word, doesn’t always have to be a cookie,
*Step away from the part of our ego that feels frustrated and angry, work on developing emotional control.

Take a step back, ask yourself how can I make this horse’s life better for him.

Some people are happy to keep their horses in a herd, never riding or training while some people have high sporting ambitions. A happy horse is never a ‘wasted’ horse. I have no judgement about the entire horse keeping spectrum as long as the horses’ physical/ emotional needs are met AND we remember that,

The horse owes us nothing, we owe him everything.

PC Beth Barkway Photography

04/15/2021

Contact me if you're interested in riding in a clinic with Paul!

"Your Best Self," an excerpt from Paul Belasik's latest book, Dressage for No Country:
What if dressage was instead about reaching a place where you are near the “best idea” of yourself? You might not be famous, but your horse likes and respects you, people like and respect you. You work hard, but you’re not nervous about the outcome. How you feel about your work won’t change much because of some judge’s opinion. You are less concerned with how you measure up to an external yardstick because you are seriously engaged in how you meet standards established by your own tests. When you are riding, training, or teaching, you are so focused, you are often unaware of time. Even when a session is difficult, you feel right with your horse. The stiffness in your back seems to have disappeared. If you get frustrated, you can quickly recover your attention. Your emotions can’t seem to get a foothold; the anxieties in your life seem suspended for a while. What you do together with your horse seems like cooperation; a mutually beneficial dance, and not like a continuing argument.
Have you ever seen pictures of people swimming in the ocean, their hands clasped around the dorsal fin of a dolphin as the dolphin carries them along? They feel excitement, fear, joy— their faces say it all. They can’t put into words the rapture they are relishing, a suspension of any editorializing or sarcasm. It is a powerful jolt of pure experience, in that moment of communion with nature itself. Even though the positive effect of that connection can’t be entirely explained, most people acknowledge it is important. We ride horses. Do we find ourselves forgetting how ridiculously amazing that is?

02/10/2021

Biggest horse and smallest horse! We had to get a picture of Moose and Star together tonight.😍 Star is just visiting during the polar vortex! 🌴

01/02/2021

This exercise is a tricky one but a good one!

Janet Foy explains these movements and their role in developing the horse and rider

05/04/2020

"Horses are like water, in some respects. They fill empty spaces that the rider provides, which has positive as well as negative repercussions. The rider can form the horse’s posture and gaits by utilizing this principle. On the other hand, the horse will escape through holes in the rider’s seat and network of the aids, just like water runs through cracks and holes in a bowl. That is not ill will, but simply the path of the least resistance, which is followed by water, electricity, energy, and horses alike.

This principle has an obvious physical dimension, but also a less obvious, mental one. The horse will leak through holes in the rider’s concentration as much as through gaps in the seat and aids. The more distracted and unfocused the horse is, the more disciplined and focused the rider has to be, in order to direct the horse’s attention towards the work through a combination of concentration and gymnastic exercises."

- Thomas Ritter
artisticdressage.com

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Photo credit: Jenna Vainionpää
https://www.facebook.com/pg/photographerjenna/

03/27/2020

I'm feeling for all my friends and colleagues in the horse community these days. Tough decisions abound that nobody likes to have to make or abide by. I'm hopeful this act of solidarity brings us all closer in the end. I hope that some perspective is gained and that the health and well-being of our community is bolstered by our collective sacrifices, big and small. Thank you to our barn community for their patience, trust and understanding. Stay well, everyone.

In the past few days, many states have announced stay-at-home orders. In many places, this has meant that equestrian facilities, as “non-essential businesses” have had to close, cancel lessons, and…

02/26/2020

Food for thought! I've observed similar revelations regarding toes. It's 5pm, do you know what your tongue and toes are doing?! 🤣

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12/17/2019

Are we excited for 2020 yet? Yippeeeeeee!

Here is our 2020 show dates! We have some exciting new things! Like adding Mayflower III & IV! Also, we have added a day to Dressage Fest making it two shows in one weekend. Happy holidays from the OCF crew! We cannot wait to see everyone next year for another amazing show season!

**Mayflower I & II are May 8-10**

10/31/2019

Happy Halloween y'all! Throwback to Brio's favorite costume. 🎃

10/15/2019

Hi all! We are helping to collect blankets for Equine Allies. There is a stall in the barn with a sign on it. Please drop your blankets off there. Contact Leah Nelson or Beth Stauber Johnson if you have any questions! Thanks so much!

10/03/2019

Dr. Laura is one of the most popular talk show hosts in radio history, offering no-nonsense advice infused with a strong sense of ethics, accountability and personal responsibility.

10/03/2019

There’s this thing about working with horses… it’s one of those things that is responsible for making working with horses difficult, soul-shattering hard work. And I don’t want to be Debbie Downer …

06/17/2019

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of judging a Ride-A-Test/Fix-A-Test clinic at the gorgeous The Kenwood Stables LLC. It was a beautiful day and all the horses and riders were so much fun to work with! Great horses, riders and hosts, wonderful scribe, facility and food! Thanks so much for having me! 🌞

06/16/2019

Catching up on a little show report! Brio Tanzen owned by Holly Sampson and Dale Lewis went out at 4th Level Test 3 and earned 63-64%, qualifying for Regionals with plenty of room for improvement. He's such a good boy and it's so fun to be riding him in such a grown-up test!