Bold Equine Dressage

24/07/2024

When you find the itchy spot.

14/07/2024

Slowly getting back into the swing of things after having Bill in February. I had a lovely lesson this morning with Kathy Geyer Rowse on Natalie’s sweet young horse, Romy. Then Bill and I stuck around to watch the next lesson. He was captivated watching Dawn ride.

18/06/2024

An entire industry has been created selling you the idea that there is a method to fix every problem.

What is extremely popular is a video for every problem, and for every fix there are three more problems created, for which there’s a method to fix too.

I get asked nearly daily to create a video about specific problems (I saw your video on trailer loading, but what about loading a chestnut mare into an Adam trailer?). These can be helpful to see, but the mentality over time has shifted into specifics instead of looking at the big picture.

Good, all encompassing horsemanship creates a foundation wherein problems melt away holistically. If you understand how all things connect, you stop seeing things individually, but as a whole. You have to fix the whole and stop looking for quick solutions.

Teaching people to be actual horsemen, to stop looking for quick tips and tricks, to start seeing the whole and the connection of all things, means rewiring our minds from conditioning and marketing over the past decades.

So if you have a problem, it isn’t living in isolation. It’s part of a whole picture. And you have to look at, and feed the whole, for the symptoms to melt away.

11/05/2024

Natalie and I took her 4 year old QH on his first field trip today. He was absolutely super and we had a great time. I really love helping horses gain confidence by having positive experiences in new places.

19/04/2024

Very useful insight.

Most riders implement the “keep their minds busy” technique when their horse is spooky or distracted. I don’t totally disagree with this technique but what many instructors and riders miss is the energy that the rider brings when they try to keep the horse connected. Most riders start to bring intensity and tension into their body as they try to “make” the horse stay focused. The tension the rider brings doesn’t allow the horse to settle into the small questions we may be asking, instead the horse can become more tense because of HOW the rider is asking the questions.

Calm but directed energy is one thing, but frantic busy work is not helpful for you or the horse.

17/04/2024

Back to teaching with baby Bill in tow. Everyone looks great!

09/04/2024

This rings especially true as the maternity leave for my third baby is drawing to a close. I try to bring my best to all aspects of my life but it’s a balancing act.

I get asked a lot how I balance family and career.

The answer is, I don’t.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to do well, unless you have an enormous outreach of support.

Something is always going to be missed, some aspect is always going to be squeezed- either your clients lose out, your kids lose out, your marriage loses out, or the horses lose out. I’ve found it sort of rotates, you can only focus on so much, and there is only so much time in the day.

So my best advice, taken for whatever it’s worth from one very messy life, is to just relax into it. You’re not going to be able to do a perfect job at everything.

The best I’ve come up with in terms of making it manageable is the following:

1- decide on and establish boundaries with clients about what times you can be contacted and how, set work hours and stick to them, and get your business as organized as you can. This can eliminate 100,000,000 texts and a lot of mess later. If you’re in a mess of poor boundaries or poorly defined expectations, clean it up as best you can. It’s well worth it.

2- let some things slide- decide what isn’t priority and relax about that thing. Do dishes in the sink trump kids needing attention? Does the lawn really need to be *perfect*? Who really cares about the baseboards? Don’t waste precious energy or brain power on what you can’t control and what isn’t essential. If everyone is fed, clothed, and happy, how’s a little mess going to compare to the real priorities?

3- be honest about what you can handle and what you can deliver. If you’ve got kids, not everyone wants to be around them. That’s totally fine. People can decide where their money is spent, and if they don’t want noise and chaos as part of their purchasing experience, which is totally fair. But as a mom to an infant and a neuro-spicy toddler, that’s a promise I can’t make. So you get to decide if you can deal with the naked kid streaking in the background- no harm done if it’s not your cup of tea.

4- carve out at least one thing for you every week and guard it with your life like it’s the holy grail. I’m not kidding. Or 15 mins a day over the week. Whatever it is. Exercise in the garage or in the bathroom. Go to a yoga class. Take meditation. Just leave the screaming kids and close the door and don’t look back so you can come back ready to dive back into the endless triage. Don’t make excuses for why you can’t do it cause the dishes need to be washed or something- your brain needs something like this.

5- either your kids will be mad, your husband will be mad, or a client will be mad. Just relax. Having people love you all the time isn’t the cake walk you think it is anyway. People get mad all the time and they don’t die. Breathe. And repair.

Lastly, my least favorite-

6- outsource for help. If you can afford it, hire help. Whether that be barn help or nanny or house cleaner. If you can’t, find trades. Something has to give- don’t expect them to do everything just like you want all the time. Find out what’s important and make sure that’s in order, but maybe chill out a little on details that aren’t essential.

So in a nutshell, relax into the chaos. Communicate clearly, organize your time best as you can, repair relationships best as you can when you inevitably neglect someone, and don’t forget about you.

I’m told it’s a short ride. Doesn’t feel that way now, but I believe the gray hairs when they say it flies by and to enjoy it now. I don’t want to look back on this time and see me wasting it with resentment and stress. So I’m choosing to let go of what I can, take charge of what I can, and enjoy the life I’ve created for myself.

26/02/2024

I hopped on Charlie for a few minutes today. It was my final ride before giving birth to my third child in a few days and he was perfect, as always. Charlie was quite the handful as a younger horse and it makes me really appreciate what a solid citizen he is as an old man.

31/12/2023

At 7 months pregnant I am riding less and less these days but I was happy to have a lovely little ride on my good buddy Rolo today.

01/12/2023

I love Charlie’s little herd. They get along really well and their colors look so pretty together.

30/09/2023

I was pleased to received this in the mail today. Thank you Rolo (Morgan Fields-Sivak) for helping me earn the scores at Second level I was missing.

28/09/2023

Super excited for the future with these two! Romeo is Natalie’s first horse and even though he’s only 4 his laid back personality and excellent start (thanks to Sue Cooper at Impulsion Unlimited) mean he’s the perfect match for her.

24/09/2023

It’s not just to look pretty.

Dressage makes a horse more comfortable to ride, period. It improves the riding experience for both horse and rider. We've all ridden horses that throttled our pelvises, jostled our teeth, or shook our insides silly. Most of us have also had the pleasure of riding ones that felt like fluffy clouds, smooth sports cars, and fluid dancers. The difference is how each horse uses his body, whether s/she swings energy through his/her back or thuds along like a hammer against the ground. Dressage has real purpose and important benefits for our equine athletes.

17/09/2023

So I’m crazy late posting but needed to congratulate Morgan on her excellent riding at last weeks show. Rolo has really figured out how to be a show horse over the past year but still carried tension in the canter in the show ring. Morgan did an awesome job putting in solid tests and helping Rolo work through his tension within in the confines of a dressage test. My favorite part was hearing him softly blow through his nose while canter past in his last test.
I’m supper proud of both of them!

07/09/2023

I have definitely found this to be true.

03/08/2023

Lovely shot of me and Netflix

Capturing the thrill of the show ring. 📸
━━━━━━━━━━━━
https://tentephotography.mypixieset.com/

31/07/2023

After a few cancellations for bad weather I was finally able to judge my first schooling show! It was a beautiful day at a beautiful facility and there were a lot of lovely rides.
Thank you to the SVDA for having me and to Margaret Little for judging the last bit of the show so I could coach my student. It was Sharon’s very first show and she did an awesome job! I’m super proud of her for getting out there and giving it a try.

23/07/2023

We had an incredible weekend at the Whispering Miracles Dressage Show.
I had the privilege of showing Arianna Bonnet’s talented 5 year old, Netflix, who was bred here in VA Beach by Lisa Dickman. I started him under saddle two years ago and Arianna has been doing a great job with him since then, but is currently expecting her second baby so she has handed me the reins for a little while. I had a blast showing him at his very first show.
On Saturday he earned a 70% on Training 1 and was High Point of the show! He also won his Materiale class with a 74%! We had a few more green horse moments this morning and I rode with my reins too long so ended up with a 61% at Training 1. But another win and a 72% on the Materiale! Netflix is such a fun and talented young horse and I’m excited to be a part of his development.
Morgan Fields rode Rolo in her first show in over 10 years and absolutely knocked it out of the park! A 66% on First 3 and First level High Point winner on Saturday. An even more accurate test today earned them a 69% on First 3! Morgan showed great poise in the show ring and Rolo is becoming such a steady boy. I’m so very proud of this pair!

13/06/2023

I couldn’t be more pleased with Rolo’s performance at the Whispering Miracles Equestrian Center show this past weekend. His confidence has grown enormously since his first show two weeks ago and he behaved like an absolute gentleman.
USDF introduced a new award program this year where riders can earn their medals “with distinction.” I just lacked the scores at Second level for my Bronze Medal with Distinction, but earned them this weekend with Rolo! He also earned his scores to qualify for regionals! It was a very productive weekend. Thank you, Morgan, for the opportunity to work with your special boy!

11/06/2023

Super proud of Rolo today! It’s only been two weeks since his first recognized show and he felt much more confident and rideable. I love helping this horse figure out how to use his body in a positive way and love how hard he tries. 68% on both Second 2 and 3.
Huge shout out to his owner, Morgan, who does a meticulous job taking care of him and getting him ready for the show. I was home with a sick baby for the beginning of the week so Morgan rode him and had him feeling great. Super excited to see her ride down centerline on him soon!
Looking forward to riding again tomorrow!

29/05/2023

I was privileged to ride Morgan Fields’ High Roller (Rolo) in his first recognized show at the beautiful Whispering Miracles Equestrian Center on Sunday. Rolo was his absolute best self in the warm up, really showing off his potential. Although he wasn’t a fan of the water splashing up on his belly and face in the show ring and got a bit backed off the aids he let me ride him through it and walked away with two very respectable scores of 63% for Second Level tests 2 and 3. The future is bright for this horse and I’m so happy to be able to develop him.
Kelley Padilla did a great job improving on her scores from the day before, but more importantly, being more present and proactive during her tests and implementing the skills we work on during lessons. Good work, Kelley!

27/05/2023

Super proud of Kelley Padilla for earning her second Second Level score for her USDF Bronze Medal today and also winning her class!

18/04/2023

I was listening to a podcast while riding and heard, “We spend most of our lives looking for parking for jobs we don’t even want to do.”
How lucky am I to spend my days driving up to beautiful barns to ride amazing horses?

19/03/2023

I received my certificate in the mail yesterday and I’m absolutely thrilled to have graduated the L Program with distinction! This program was incredibly educational and much more difficult than I anticipated. I’m so proud of this accomplishment and grateful to the very many people who helped me along the way.

06/03/2023

I took my final exam and finished the L Program! Now begins the anxious wait for the results 😬
Thank you to Lisa for flying down from NJ to fill in as my scribe. You were awesome.

01/03/2023

Pine was loose eating grass around the ring when I rode Charlie but decided maybe following along would be more fun.

21/02/2023

08/02/2023

Good advice. Just do it.

Truth is…. you’ll never be ready.
Sign up anyways.
You know how you get a horse used to shows?
…Showing.
You know how you get the motivation to ride on days that are not ideal?
…You have a date on the calendar that’s rapidly approaching.
You know how you become proficient at doing the things?
…You do the things.
Whatever it is you want to do…
Sign up.
You’ll figure it out.
(Picture of Alison because I think she should just sign up for something. 😂❤️)