2023 Father's Day Blog
The Story of My Father, Ron Hunter's Military Service (leading a black ops anti terrorist mission) during the 1988 Olympic Games (& a few other little pertinent horsey industry type things thrown in:)
This is my Dad really young, looking pretty handsome. He and my mother, super model gorgeous in her youth, made quite the couple. But if you look closely you can see this is someone you probably didn't want to screw with.
Dad & Korea
My Dad led a successful black ops way way off the books mission that saved lives against a terrorist attack during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. I could tell you the name of the general he knew well who ordered him to do it (who later became a Presidential Chief of Staff) & told him it would be completely forever off the record (though I won’t) & I could tell you every detail of the event.
Suffice it to say multiple North Korean terrorist teams were infiltrating the Olympic grounds preparing to kill Olympians (& probably spectators as well) just prior to the games. My father was in South Korea for a year in advance, training for the attack the US government seemed certain was coming.
No U.S. soldiers died in the operations (there were two ops, a marine officer friend he played golf with led the other one) but EVERY terrorist was executed at the engagement that happened on the Olympic grounds. There were no prisoners taken because there was to be no evidence of the event that might cause world wide uproar and or panic.
This is the military funeral we had in June of 2022. He died in February, but my mom and I just couldn't handle people and public grieving at that point. So he was cremated as he always wanted, and we waited until June, his birthday and fathers day, to host the military funeral and the celeration of life. This is my mom Diane and me and my younger sister Laura and brother Ben at the military funeral in Springfield, IL.
Losing Him
I know this story thoroughly because I had to finally pull it out of him (after hearing bits and pieces over the years he trusted his oldest child with) and listen to my dad painfully retell it & document it for the Department of Veteran Affairs (along with a few other thousand pages of paperwork my Mom filled out) so the VA could basically completely ignore helping us financially, until my father was long gone.
Dad was haunted by it the event his entire life. He, as the ranking officer, was left with the task of point blank shooting in the head captured young men he assumed had families (probably being manipulated, brain washed & or forced by their corrupt communist government to commit the act) on the Olympic grounds so that some of you could safely enjoy competition & world wide recognition … & the affluence that almost always goes with that level of success.
It was so bad for him at the end that my mother & I practically joined him physically & emotionally. While trying to maintain a somewhat normal life & keep a 200 pound man, whose body completely froze up over a years time alive, somewhat functioning & in one piece as long as possible.
We dealt with him falling down daily for months and months on end, furious & frustrated with his situation to the point of being suicidal, & slowly unable to do anything but to be completely bed ridden & not even be able to talk or drink or eat. So that it was a relief when he finally just let go & took his last breath while laying in a hospital bed in the small tv room in his farmhouse (with me, my Mom & our CNA Heather there with him … my mother & I sobbing over his body).
The only other scene I've ever seen or felt like it was watching Niall's mom at the funeral in Lexington holding on to him & uncontrollably wailing (a mother unexpectedly losing her young, AMAZING, physically distant but one of the great joys of her life, I'm sure … son.) It's a feeling and an image one never forgets.
My mother had to use her OWN money to hire what local help she could afford (again, the angel in human form named Heather) so we could just barely survive the whole ordeal. This HERO of a lifetime decorated military officer, family man, big hearted horse (& all of nature LOVING) good guy; that the wealthiest country in the world basically financially tossed aside (with his family) at the end. A man whose father & grandfather served in both World war 1 & 2 & whose grandfather & great grandfather were both Senators & Congressmen in the State of Illinois for decades.
& we wonder why I don't celebrate veterans day or memorial day? (& I'm a veteran myself technically … tho I'd attribute my real service to this country mostly to what I was put thru moving constantly as a kid, & by what i've done for this sport).
Because it's total bull shit. If you want to honor these warriors don't give them a few days kind of (how does that really help veterans?) … stop putting them through bureaucratic hell to avoid taking care of them and that saves a few pennies when it's time to pay them back for giving everything to their country.
He left us way earlier than he should have because of chemically induced Parkinson’s Disease caused by his military service. The Covid he caught at the end in spite of all the required vaccines simply sped the process up. Which was already on overdrive due to his body being poisoned while working as a chemical officer for decades & being exposed to agent orange & God only knows what else thrown over the fence while sitting in South Korea in the Demilitarized Zone for a year training to save Olympians.
Our US military used him & hid the results of his service … they kept it a secret even though in truth it is a HUGE story (that a retired general no doubt COULD confirm).
Kind of like the professional Wellington crowd of hunter-jumper horse show land … a large powerful organization of supposed heroes that likes to large scale keep BIG secrets (no matter how much it hurts the little guy … even if they are exceptional & honorable & risking everything to be that person in the face of huge dangerous odds that ultimately save these guys the supposed exceptional’s butts..)
Not that a terrorist attack from a tiny country like North Korea that publically murdered Olympians & unraveled the 1988 Olympics would be embarrassing to the Global Community (& potentially start a World War). Or the largest, most powerful country in the world not winning a single medal in the Sport of Kings on its own turf, even with its best riders and wealthiest sponsors scouring the planet & only buying the top already completely proven & made horses that exist..
NONE of which we've bred, even though we've been breeding & have had a stockpile of the fastest long distance race horses on the globe for the past 100 years … alot of which happen to jump quite well. Even after they are retired as two to four year olds who have mostly had their minds & bodies completely destroyed by an industry that only cares about money so runs & pounds the hell out of them while they are still infants & their bones are barely set. That is if the best of them are fortunate enough to outlive the onslaught of drugs & corruption they are subjected to so that say possibly 8 of them at a little event like the Kentucky Derby don’t mysteriously drop dead. They outta start calling it the Kentucky Killer.
So even the most clueless of non horsey U.S. citizens are horrified & going ‘hey, you are a horse person … what the hell is going on over there with those poor beautiful sweet baby race horses? In an industry of what's appearing to be 'obviously something is really not quite right here?' & we wonder why the real horseman that actually love the animals over what they can provide us (& STILL kick butt competitively) are large scale driven out?
It does not paint a pretty picture regarding the most powerful & elite of our supposedly democratic human society.
This is the military cemetary in Sringfrield Illinois. My Dad was such a wonderfully modest simple man in so many ways (though extremely intelligent and complicated in the internal demons he fought as well) ... he didin't even care about a military funeral. He just wanted his ashes thrown to the wind somewhere on the farm. I never had to worry about gifts because a $10 movie DVD or a Dad or horse wherever we happened to travel to Tshirt (he loved the Justify one I bought him after he won the triple crown) and he was happy as a clam. But my mom and I decided he deserved a little more. So put we buried a third of his ashes under the tombstone in Springfield (I would have loved to have had him in Arlington with the driving horses funeral but too far); spread a third of them under the tree on the farm where he buried the two first dead but perfectly formed twin foals Vennie produced that just broke his heart (before I fully understood the importance of an early ultrasound) and sent a third of his ashes home to the Colorado mountains with Ben, which my Dad loved skiiing in so much.
Dad saving the lives of U.S. Equestrian Show Jumping Olympians (and possibly their equally if not more famous horses) … Greg and Gem Twist, Ann and Starman, Joe and MIll Pearl and Lisa and For the Moment
But I digress. So anyway … just for fun I looked up what equestrians I might have known whose ass my regular guy dad … (follow orders & drag your family all over the world wherever & whenever they tell you, collect a decent but not terribly life altering paycheck every two weeks & never take a penny more you haven't earned. Even when there is a bag of millions of terrorist cell cash you just squashed sitting right in front of you in South Korea; who your Marine golfing friend grabbed in his mission and then he basically mysteriously disappeared from military life; or maybe all life in general. & in spite of a stellar mind blowing military career do whatever job it takes to keep the money flowing after retirement; high school science teacher, truck driver, even Viroqua taxi driver making $8 an hour at the end, not willing to give up working til his body got so bad that he ran his old farm truck (because he couldn’t afford to buy a new one) thru a building downtown & HAD to quit driving) … saved.
The U.S. Olympians who he almost certainly kept from being machine gun mowed down or blown up grenade style (as these same powerful elitists helped to drive his top professional daughter out of the sport by ignoring the obvious George deception towards her that kept him from EVER seeing his families total financial security, & worried about paying the indoor off right up to his death bed).
Let's see … silver team medals for Greg Best & Gem Twist (back when we use to know how to ride American thoroughbred blood Internationally …those two were worth saving); Ann Kursinski (no comment on the politics because like everyone else in Wellington i don't remember ever hearing her publicly say, 'Hey, George knows who Amy is, 100% guaranteed, because i definitely know who she is even tho I’ve never even met her before.'
I am sorry for the crap Ann had to endure as a kid from the old boys club child molesters, but we sure rectified that, didn't we? & I do appreciate her bringing Sue K. on board as her long time helper. Sue who was kind enough to educate me to the fact that we needed to be spending about 4 hours after every Grand Prix on basic spa style maintenance on Cradilo (icing every limb, professional massage & acupuncture, all manner of magical expensive energetic devices, & basically anything one can think of to keep this horse comfy & going just a little while longer), so she was definitely worth saving …
& oh … this one makes me laugh … Joseph Fargis. My one long time childhood hero who as it turns out is-was great friends with George & just absolutely loves Amy (NOT) … even though they don't know who I am.
Joe himself schooled me for about an hour on the importance of keeping full buckets of fresh water in front of your horses every second & about 3 feet of bedding in the stall even with full thick rubber matts (ANY shavings strike me as a luxury in that scenario … my horses are still sleeping better than I am) in Wellington.
After I waltzed in (in 2011) for 24 hours for the Young Horse Series with my two 4 year old Cradilo mares. & handily beat his student with both of them on her 4 year old with him standing at the in gate. & then he had to watch me do the same thing in the 5 year old Young Jumper Championship Final the following year in Kentucky (destroying some of our very best International riders, one of whom had worked under him for years, effortlessly leading the class for 2 out of 3 days at least). I saw you standing over there ringside watching us in Lexington … looking ornery.
The first thing he said to me in Wellington (before he had a chance to make a phone call to George & find out I was at the top of the underline in red list, no doubt) was, 'Who the hell are YOU?!'
What is this … US army basic training with Joe as a drill sergeant with a hard hat, a crop & a whistle & me as a 12 year pony clubber leaving home with her horsey for the first time? Talk about a rude awakening to Wellington reality.
Well … you can't win em all obviously. Tho I sure tried … I told him I couldn't afford to spend $2000 on bedding for one night of competition with two horses or to keep two grooms guarding the stalls & running to dump & refill water buckets every 20 minutes all night. (& I was thinking even though I really do believe in the need to stay on top of the water … just ask some of my lax past local Viroqua working students I didn’t hesitate to instantly fire over that exact issue … horses in the wild do go for days on end without water & travel miles to find it when it's sparse).
I'll tell you what … I kissed his ass & worked on flattering him via his virtual mentoring of me & my love of Touch of Class (the thoroughbred mare he won the Individual Gold on in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics) more than any other single non-straight (I'm assuming) human man I've ever met.
Thinking about it now, since you may not still be alive Joe if it wasn't for my Dad … Ron Hunter … you might wanna rethink that attitude towards me. Especially given recent events with his daughter coaching us to a bronze medal for our sport this past year.
Sorry, I don’t know Lisa Jacquin at all. Though I do think I may have seen her at Horse Shows by the Bay one time and maybe saw her on a nice 5 year old young stallion at the Young Horse Series in Wellington. I’m not 100% sure. It's a name I grew up hearing (along with For the Moment), so you pay attention when you see them at a horse show (especially other than Wellington, where you are inundated by the rich and famous every which way you turn.)
I wonder if George coached that 1988 team? Wouldn't that be the ultimate in universal irony? I don't have time to look it up now … & I don't even want to know really … not yet. I've seen enough, & I can almost guarantee one of you will tell me at the next show.
Anyway, who'd of thunk the Old Olympic Boys Club (minus George) would have to consider welcoming Amy & her Cradilo babies back in from Viroqua, Wisconsin after barely seeing a single rated horse show for almost 6 years. Ah … the Lord (& Niall) sure do work in mysterious ways.
This is a picture of Dad and Calue, my first hotter than hell little appendix quarter horse I did the jumpers with as a kid (and even did a Fran Dotoli clinic on … I’ll tell you that really funny story some other time.) I’m sure this picture makes a whole bunch of you cringe … like it sort of does me. Hey, at least he’s got a mild bit in his mouth. I guarantee I wasn’t around for this shot. I tried so hard to turn my Dad into a good horseman and rider. Things got better as we got into getting him a few nice ott thoroughbreds to ride. Somewhere there is a really great picture of him looking fantastic on his favorite gorgeous thoroughbred mare Abby (nice riding clothes, nicely tacked up in his lovely saddle he inherited from Erik as I was probably the one that tacked her up, with his mom, Grandma Margaret, that I’ll dig out sometime). There will be facebook posts and pictures every year I’m sure around this time. Anyway, once I was off to college and California, my Dad loved having free rein of Calue (because he certainly never did when I was around). My brother loves torturing me with stories of how they all jumped on Calue bareback (without my permission) and galloped him around ruining every drop of the carefully decade long settling and training I eventually had into this horse that basically raised me. We owned Calue (who Dad bought me at the age of 11 when the horse was 12) until I HAD to put him down at the young age of 34 years old. The horse broke his back leg on the farm when he was 24 years old I think, shattering his entire pastern, but my amazing Milwaukee vet at the time Dr. Beverly somehow managed to patch him back up to even being pleasure ridable. This horse saw the best life any animal could ever imagine. He was 100% a full on beloved member of the family. So any of you who have tried to push around the idea that I abuse my horses and don’t 100% love them with ALL of my heart, can take a ride on Pink’s love boat in her video I recently facebook posted … the ‘SS F… Y.. !’ And by the way, I’m convinced (along with a few of my more aware family members), that Kalua’s Ace is my first ever horse Calue reincarnated into the amazing gorgeous animal I always wished and dreamed he was as a kid. My Dad and I spent what felt like 20 minutes (maybe 5-10) pulling Kalua (aka Junior … do you get the barn name now?) out of his tb damn Glory, because he was so big at birth. I had a rope on one leg and dad had a rope on the other. We both pulled the entire time with our full weight breaking into a dead sweat, collapsing at the end. I was SURE the foal or Glory was going to be dead or certainly have both legs broken. But nope, he just popped up (probably before me and dad could get up) and looked fantastic. Only an Irish Sport Horse man (a thoroughbred foal would have been broken in half) … and we wonder why I love the breed? Anyway, I hate to say it but regardless of the talent that horse shows or what he has to go through as a green 14 year old Grand Prix horse with me trying to get back to it, there is no longer enough money on the planet for any of you to ever get your hands on this one (though I may let a few of my more favorite people, hmm, I wonder who would be on the top of that list?, really show me what they’ve got and try to get this monster around his first few big open classes. Though I bet that idea being publicly displayed gives her mom a mild heart attack. You didn’t have a clue what you were getting into buying Deluca … did you Brandie? Don’t worry … neither did. I was just hoping for soon to be easy instant fame and wealth as a breeder and developer as you and Momma and Hunter sky rocketed to the Olympics … and helping out a super cool kid I really liked and was blown away by didn’t seem to be too bad an idea either. Though I have to admit after i got the text minutes after I sold her to you from an Ocala trainer that had been watching her all season I had initially quoted a $2million sale price to, asking what my bottom line price was and hoping to hear a little lower number, the sale I had just made to you with a number about 2 digits lower started to seem like it might have been a bad idea, especially for the purpose of my investors watching every move I made. If only I had known what the next 6 years or so were going to bring. Yeah, before you go crazy full on psycho kill or destroy the poor innocent horseeman investors, you need to remember NOTHING fast happens in Equestrian Show Jumping. Hang in there ... because I know a few of my past clients and supporters are starting to wish they did. Although I'm guesssing those that may own any horse I had anything to do with might be starting to feel pretty good right about now.
This one is self explanatory. My Dad and Laura and Ben; and I was probably about 18ish? Mom was constantly dressing us up and making us take pictures ... I hated it alot of the time (though I look pretty happy here). And I still do hate it for the most part ... and now they all like to do it.
Talking to George & the industry
& by the way, George a-hole sellouts who are supposedly well paid & educated that put hundreds of pages of defamation on the internet on me that devastated & tore apart my family in a way I don't know if we will EVER fully recover & be the same from … if I want to believe my father was a part of a religious rapture that's been happening over the last few years & Covid is a sign & omen of, because i believe we are in a form of a Biblical Revelations style Apocalypse, then that is MY RIGHT.
It is called FREEDOM OF RELIGION & is the primary reason this COUNTRY EXISTS; for your elite asses to rape, take advantage of & run its people into the ground for whatever excuse you can find so you can become a little richer & more powerful.
All you MORONIC IDIOTS did with that slew of documented defamation that leads DIRECTLY back to your boss is hang him, by securing a win for me in a sure to be soon coming lawsuit. & I don't care what country you are hiding in or what power you think is protecting you George, unless you want to be extradited to U.S. prison (with potentially a few of your far younger but equally famous friends … you are going to show up, or take the far less painful path out & settle for EVERY PENNY I WANT.)
& I'll tell you another thing. I strongly suggest you spend another few hundred thousands of dollars (at least, maybe millions at this point) on me legally, and hire a new team of attorneys. Because MINE who is paid ridiculously less SO FAR (believe me) is going to wipe the floor with them. & if I can I'm going to find a way to ruin every one of their reputations (or maybe deport a few of your close financial and marketing advisors, one of whom I suspect use to be my student) for illegally attacking and professionally & personally destroying a good guy average ish poor, again so far, U.S. citizen to keep a (by my grace) free child molesting murderer & his friends in power & wealthy.
& i'm going to talk to everyone else now … Wellington. If a SINGLE ONE OF YOU stand in the way of these clinics of mine I'm promoting, which I KNOW will transform the sport in this country (because frankly I was only operating at about 10% as a coach in the world cup finals thanks to all the obstacles you put between me & Hunter, & we still killed it against the best in the world & had em really worried for a minute there) I'm going to just lop you right in with George. As a matter of fact, you should be hanging flyers up at every horse show you go to (management included), telling all your friends, giving me the thumbs up, and telling them my price is a GREAT DEAL (compared to what most of you have or would ever charge) and the best thing going since sliced bread.
Because I don't think you really want to be in George’s corner right now. You guys like to win. And you are pretty good at spotting a clear winning or losing competition. Given the way things are going and with what my future probably looks like politically (because I seriously doubt anyone I don't want there, from an ethics or fake buy your way into top horsemanship standpoint, no matter how good they once were or seemed to be, is going to be on ANY INTERNATIONAL TEAMS EVER AGAIN.)
So if Brandie & Hunter want to pay me a TINY amount (compared to what I MADE SURE they just won, and they possibly made on my mare they sold); because I just transformed their entire world; because they were smart enough to notice a true horseman and a mind blowing horse, & kind enough to take us in, then believe me when I say YOU BETTER FRICKEN LET THEM! Because if you don’t (even encourage it I would say, like yesterday would be nice) I’M GOING TO FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE and start giving you a tiny little taste of what your kind have been doing to me for decades. They DO NOT NEED a pile of you giving them hell or even threatening their safety, as I strongly suspect.
As I said to George … you Wellington are no longer in charge. You lost that right when you demonstrated your total disregard for honor, your profound capacity for a shocking level of deception regarding the masses, & your complete rampant out of control ego. USEF is ultimately run by good guys, & they are behind me. For good reason. You are going to run the entire sport and industry into the ground, and probably the entire world considering the kind of power you have. Especially if the tactics I’ve been coming up against are what you are using to run your business … as I also strongly suspect.
Spirit really doesn't care about who has the most money… you should know that by now. You didn't create this world … power comes from above. That's why mine is finally skyrocketing (as I always knew it would because this is what I came to this world to do) … in spite of your collective piles of money.
If i'm not around
If I’m not around, Hunter & Brandie (& guess who else?) Dennis is in charge. Dennis, then Brandie, then Hunter is the military style ranking order … though that is a pliable scenario depending on how things go. We all lived under George for years … you should understand this concept.
We're going to start bringing Ocala into this loop a little bit. Because every time it produces something decent you guys just take it as if it's your accomplishment (horses & people). I know Wellington isn't going anywhere (although don't test my power too much … I better start having some very pleasant experiences with the horse show management or a whole lot of folks could lose some serious money on West Palm area property value) … but you need to share a little bit.
Ocala is becoming an increasingly nicer & nicer place (I'm told). It's extremely horse friendly, & they deserve a real shot at the International world. I'm talking about more than one FEI week while you have ALL the rest, more than one or two riders, and the ability to sell expensive horses without driving to & having to deal with Wellington. AND guess what else? … here it comes, an International Olympic Coaching Team.
Because you guys have had it forever & have made a HUGE mess of things. & I'm not talking about medals (although we haven't been that particularly impressive for a while now). I'm talking about basic human decency & safety. If people keep mysteriously dying even MORE than have been lost people are going to start going to prison. I promise you. & I don't care how much money or fame you have, or how many of you secretly know or get together & decide it is a good idea (literally stabbing your 'friends' in the back in the most brutal & horrific of ways).
You think you are civilized & sophisticated & classy because of your money & horses & the ability to compete them & be surrounded by beauty & luxury? Those of you committing these acts are primitive beasts. A veneer of pretty doesn't change that basic fact. You fight so hard to keep it all (while people like me are fine with being in the dark mud for a while) because it hides the truth of who you currently are.
IT IS NOW OVER …. AS ORDAINED BY A HIGHER POWER other than me. That should be pretty fricken obvious by now; even to the completely enshrouded in darkness clueless as to what's actually going on in this universe. You are being given a chance to do the right thing BEFORE you have to face your creator. & you will face him. & i'm going to tell you right now you are going to be SHOCKED to discover who some of his top people are sitting right beside him. Testing, testing … things are not as they may seem … who are you REALLY?
This is my Dad probably just recently retired from running the UW LaCrosse ROTC program (and his military career) fixing up the farm. This place right now is pretty fricken gorgeous (most of the time when I can keep up with my end) but getting it there was no small task. I was gone in California for most of it, but my parents and Ben dug in and got the job done. That’s what good guys do … they work hard and fix things and make them better when they are given the opportunity ... for everyone.
Help … or move
So either be helpful or get the hell out the way (‘Move Bitch’ … as one of my favorite Ludacris songs likes to say). & don't EVER try to get between Hunter and I again. I love that kid (obviously, look at what I’ve done.) She's incredible … the real deal … & I'm going to make sure she gets every shot at the VERY top … not the third place status, some of your cluelessness and ego getting in the way, top. Because she has earned it … & has learned the meaning of the word INTEGRITY. Try following her lead … it's a good one … as i'm pretty sure she's going to follow mine (& whoever else I pick to help).
I'm a horse trainer … do you want the carrot or the 20,000 volt pig taser, because you are a stubborn temporarily insane stallion that doesn't seem to be accepting reality and thinking clearly right now?
I'm a good trainer. We can partner & come together & do amazing things … or I'll keep making life really hard for you (& a few others can join George … like you TRULY deserve … not this chance I’m giving you … or spirit really … working through me). Because we need good partners. I'm looking for great grand prix horses man … the best in the world. But you only need to toss me into a few big hard jumps, after years of care & training, before I'm going to find something else. Performance is the name of the game … which is about strength & ability & TRUST. Who wants to ride a horse they can't trust?
Pull it together U.S. hunter-jumper industry. Stop fighting one of the best things that's ever happened to you (the Hunters). I'm going to prove it … there are going to be a lot more than words moving around and competing in my world soon. & if I can't still somewhat continuously impress you, you can get rid of my ass as a leader & find someone better. And I’ll gracefully bow out (without blowing up the entire sport and industry).
Even without the money sitting in the bank (yet) & the blackballed disappearance, I am still one of you as an American horseman. Get over the loss of George. In spite of the horror of his & his crew's obnoxious EVIL behavior … he's sitting somewhere comfortably I’m sure. I'm not going to take ALL of his money. I know I'm a protege of his on some level as a show jumping trainer and rider … I guess I can painfully admit that. But he's had his time … too much of it. & what he did to me & a pile of others was brutally viciously wrong. & he is NOT going to FULLY get away with it.
Because we (the U.S.) are NOT a kingdom or a monarchy. We fought to remove ourselves from the tyranny of elitist royalty. We are the HARD EARNED USE TO BE WORTHY LEADERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC WORLD … which is without a doubt the most enlightened, fairest style of government that exists. Everything else is comfortable (or uncomfortable) slavery. We are NOT (supposed to be) a primitive ego controlled third world country that thugs around with machine guns & mows down and steals what it wants from the innocent.
Anyway, back to horses. Can we please get some good American breds (other than my handful) going here? I know we need the European horses (Cradilo, Pepita) but can we work towards getting a little something of our own back? Support these U.S. breeders & our own horseman just a tiny bit more. Some of you top riders spend the time to develop them. Babies need good riders too (in that way Shane …you are OK:)
& let me help. It's called clinics. I'm telling you man …there is no luck happening here. I know exactly how to do it & many of you are still screwing it up … in spite of my & Lisa & Shane’s lead (& there are probably a few others … oh yeah … Alex's young jumper comeback was pretty impressive; Colt USA I think it is … I can’t remember his name right now, the other Grand Prix rider that starts babies but he wrote a book … that’s ambitious … although I haven’t had the time or money to buy or read it. I think I’m doing pretty well on my own though … sorry. The Kudmores of course … although statistically you guys need to improve on producing Grand Prix horses last time I checked; and I’ve heard some scary stories about some of your management practices regarding the home farm and your babies (no offense … I do love Karen and Southern Pride and I should probably stick her on my list of trainers, if she doesn’t mind, under credentials … even though it was only one or two light schools).
Anyway, EVERY pro needs to stop messing up these beautiful babies we keep getting our hands on. Put your ego aside & learn to do it right. Competing on made & developing equine talent are two completely different skills. We ALL need to be able to do both (at least try if you are under the age of 40).
Conclusion
OK… I think I'm done for a while. You guys can all take a breath (the ones who aren’t looking probably yet again at what it would cost to get a hitman into a remote farm in Viroqua, WI. Maybe the next time will work out. I mean how many assassination attempts on Amy is God really willing to stop? We’ve gotten away with so many. NONE IS HOW MANY WILL WORK. And a few years of prison might not really be that bad. IT IS … TRUST MY PAST EXPERIENCE WITH WORKING IN ONE, & THINK ABOUT IT. Surely we could find SOME fall guy other than George … he’s not going to be around that much longer.
Anyway, I'm exhausted from these last couple of blogs. I need to go feed some horses (clean their well straw bedded stalls, I promise, dump & fill some water buckets I pray aren’t empty) & ride em (in between grooming, shoeing, dragging rings & setting jumps, oh yeah, & working my other part time job occasionally so we can all stay fed).
So that one of you can win our first U.S. bred International medal in forever on a few of them someday soon here. God knows I'm not going to be doing it for a while (if ever.)
It's gotten kind of xtra hard thanks to an attack that finally reached right into my backyard with people who I thought were loyal to the death to me; so that the very idea of a working student or two makes me break into a cold sweat. Hopefully I can sell a future world beater & industry game changer for more than 5 cents (so u guys can make a 100,000 percent return & I can stay stuck in financial disaster with a loss of millions of every penny I ever made or could get out of any one else in the genuine belief in & hopes of a real future business over the past few decades). That sounds fun.
Maybe I'll just forget this whole idea, keep my head in the sand, keep trail riding them & hang on to them as pets (until the defamation lawsuit with George finalizes at least). Then i'll probably just go buy a Caribbean island with lots of nice green pasture, a hammock with a view of the sea & a private horse friendly jet. I could drag Mom along & perhaps that'll make her happy (because the island will be small enough that we won't need fencing or to mow or weed wack as the horses eat it all.)
I don't think Dad would fully approve of that path though … (he was a pretty intense powerful leader & go-getter for 99% of his life) … but oh yeah … that IS the ENTIRE POINT of this Fathers Day blog.
I can tell you one thing FOR SURE … I'm not the only one that owes him a 'thanks Dad' for ALWAYS being there (even when we were locking horns; he could be an ornery character). Because in spite of it all I sure do love & miss you in my life EVERY DAY.
So Happy Father's Day Dad … I hope you are FINALLY getting to see a glimmer of the hope of success we had always dreamed of for our family through the horses we had so much fun with together (most of the time, when we weren’t working our butts off and spending everything to take care of them) and I hope/know you & Niall & Nancy & Stephen are having a fantastic ride on all of the so very many beautiful and talented horses we put in the ground on this farm over the decades.
Dad happy on the farm picking apples. He sure loved this place. He finally had some peace. And below is him and his still living brothers (Uncle Gary has passed away and I suppose he and Dad are probably playing golf together) in their final time together a few months before his passing (Uncle BJ, Uncle Jeff and Uncle Mike). Uncle Mike said he wanted to see Dad before things got too bad so his final memory of him could be them having a beer at the farmhouse kitchen table together (any of you who have been to Ledges lately while I was there have seen and possibly even met Uncle Mike and Aunt Val. As far as family and horse shows go, they are definitely some of my still living biggest fans. And you got your wish, didn’t you Uncle Mike:)
June 2023 Blog ...
'A Short Happyish Story Time Blog (I promise) on Acknowledging the Lineage of Horsemanship, the Ethics of Sportsmanship and the Midstates Horse Show'
Backstory
After Niall Grimes, the top Irish trainer who first genuinely 'saw' (Avatar style) & encouraged Cradilo & I in 2006, died of a 'heart attack' in October at the age of 31 in peak athletic physical condition at a horse show in Lexington, Kentucky practically right under my nose (in 2007, the first year of our-my real grand prix career) … I was lost. Because he definitely represented that which was our potentially hopeful and helpful future … on multiple levels.
From a rider’s perspective things were pretty bad for Niall that year (his business however, as far as I could tell, was doing fantastically & absolutely on fire.) He was planning to meet us at Trader's that summer (a big show in Indianapolis) but instead had a brutal accident in a Grand Prix jump off in Lexington in the Spring & severely messed up his knee & basically lost his top horse Mr. President (as he later told me they were both hauled out of the ring in an ambulance.)
Fortunately, I met Dennis at Traders & he gracefully came to our rescue at that show ... & helped us to make a very impressive one dumb nervous rookie rider rail debut in a big grand prix with all the top riders & a few of my long time favorites in it. Beezie & Margie & a young up and coming Charlie were in it; Chris & David & other notable names I might keep remembering & adding. Most of which many of you will recognize. Just think of international medals and that should cover at least half of them, except maybe mine until a few months ago. Kent was there a lot … tho I can't remember on that year, but probably … maybe Andre.
You get the idea … it ran a tad competitive for a 37 year old first real time rookie grand prix rider on an irish draught stallion in his first 6 months of EVER seeing ANY rated hunter- jumper show. (But according to a rumor that’s been going around for years George has no idea of who my horses and I are. Yeah … that's totally viable to ANYONE with even half a clue ... just on that performance ALONE.)
And we were just out of the ribbons in 13th place.
BUT just prior, when Niall knew he wasn't going to be there (with me freaking out slightly ... if I had known who was actually going to be in that class I probably would have had a heart attack myself and all of George's problems would have been gone), he had recommended I ride with his good friend Scott Lenkart. And please don't be insulted by that joke. Niall is with me everyday ... he never stopped being my trainer ... or none of this would have happened. Believe me. Well anyway, after Niall’s passing Dennis was not in my area but Scott sure was.
He was on one of those rare really impressive winning streaks you occasionally see at the National Grand Prix level (though I've noticed they get to the almost never status the bigger & harder the Prixs get). So for a while there I clung to Scott as the trainer on the ground at every horse show we were at together; a little like a baby clings to her blanket when you take her out of the crib for the first time.
Scott was the trainer who truly impressed upon me the importance & value of the deep distance with a horse like Cradilo RID. It was a rare warm up with Scott standing at the jump that I didn’t hear the repeated resoundingly belted single word 'deeper!' … galloping up to almost every big fence on my (ok our) beautiful 17.1 hand 1500 pound monster of an Irish Draught stallion.
The same way I never took a lesson from Niall that didn't involve the increasingly toying command 'eyes up Amy!' in that gorgeous Irish accent at least 5 times (both of which have stayed with me, & Niall's phrase of which has taken on a whole new meaning since he's left).
I then SAW the legacy of Scott & Cradilo (and the deep distance), gently offered repeatedly as an option by me (over the years to Brandie and Hunter, first with Momma and then Pepita), clearly being used & working extremely well in Hunter’s final World Cup ride this past April. We horseman are propelled forward under a lineage of trainers & horses. We carry a pedigree of learning, the same way our horses carry a pedigree of DNA, from person to person & horse to horse.
The point is I definitely attribute my current somewhat enlightened state to a large & vast group of trainers & horses from all corners & over many, many decades & years, along with the very unique to the Grand Prix level of my sport path I’ve been on. All of which sort of came to a climax as Cradilo & I were working to become somewhat solid in the Grand Prix ring (& not an anomaly in a don’t blink or you might miss it kind of presence, which was the most likely scenario). Because I can tell you getting that stallion & I somewhat consistent at that level was no small or easy task. It was at times painful, humiliating (good for keeping the old ego in check, which some of you men in particular who disappear after one unpleasant ride with a big audience should take note of) … & it took a village.
So when I say the best of American horsemanship is yet to be seen (& own a motto of ‘Soulfully Producing the best of the American-Irish’), I'm not just talking about me. Though I may in truth be one of the current most full collective libraries walking around (out of the pure absolute necessity of gathering information and putting it to the test over the years) not spending every spare moment in the Grand Prix ring. It's hard to tell … because many of the top grand prix riders would rather ride than teach or coach I’ve noticed (and they have full on earned that option some of us haven't had the success or opportunity/luxury to yet enjoy:).
Acknowledgement
I've always acknowledged the trainers that have helped me to learn anything of value. Even the ones that have deceptively worked hard at ruining my career & almost every good relationship I’ve ever had, including the business I’ve refused to sell out on (but that has cost me everything else) & thus pretty much ruining my overall life. It almost certainly would have been kinder to have just put me down in many ways (though who knows how many times they've tried; I’ve been pretty hard to get to in recent years & I have a lot of guardian angels).
But I STILL leave their names on my website under Amy Hunter, credentials, as trainers I’ve ridden under (a page I have updated a little but that I need to keep working on). Why? As an example to my students of how important it is to acknowledge the skill & help that basically saves your butt in this sport … because NO ONE gets to the highest level on their own. & that ethical sportsmanship like honorable acknowledgement is not about ego … it's about the truth. That light that ultimately saves all of us.
Nothing makes me feel prouder than a student/protégé having the courage to behave honorably (even prouder than a medal for her country in a world championship on home turf). Even if the most important & powerful people in her life are making a legitimate case to her as to why it’s risky on multiple levels, & a bad professional strategy (though obviously that’s a case I strongly disagree with). Though I must admit I suspect she has a few almost equally powerful Amy blog admirers in her ear as well (thank God).
And they are STILL trying to keep one of the biggest stories of the year (kind of paramount to winning our only international medal in 2023) under wraps … these guys continuingly working really hard to keep an even bigger story buried I suppose. Hmmm … It seems like there might be some powerful, kind of scary force at play here, doesn't it?
I wonder how much has been paid out (under the guise of interesting sponsorships & creative advertising) to make all this happen? George, you might as well just settle with me … because I foresee you and your crew trying to keep all this under wraps becoming possibly very never endingly expensive. Damn that blog … how much would it cost to blow up all access to the public internet by anyone who is not at least at 100 millionaire status and on the right list of names? ANYWHO …
So in her own way Hunter has taken that hard path that goes against the current stream & forges coal into diamonds (& crushes the fake fool’s gold into dust, as I've seen happen so many times with students who dream of greatness but crumble under real pressure & the lure of greed). That path that will create the new leaders that save our world … & are actually WORTHY of being followed (there’s a novel concept).
Not because of money or fame … but because of heart tempered by integrity. That is true greatness. & that is what our horses & the pursuit of excellence on them is here to teach us; by minimizing our ego, & maximizing our strength & the desire to actually care about & partner with something other than ourselves; another God created species.
VIDEOS
This is the video of Cradilo and I in that first Trader’s Grand Prix in 2007. I remember Dennis having a small meltdown because I was trying to count and ride 12 strides to the last jump & slightly missing after a beautiful & shocking grand prix ride. Because that's how confident I was in my ability to find a decent distance off my eye at that time (& clueless as to how bad an idea that was).
That's how I knew Dennis Mitchell was a real horse trainer. I just met this man & had the best ride of my life my first time in the real 1.50m grand prix ring on a rookie 14 year old disabled retired breeding stallion that no one believed could do it 6 months ago (as we were plopping around 1.20m at the Ledges winter indoor) riding against folks I've been admiring from afar forever; & he's already annoyed that I didn't help my horse enough. This is definitely someone that's going to bring out the try harder & as Dennis likes to say 'ride better' aspect of my performance.
Oops ... sorry guys ... it turns out this video is not on youtube but is on an actrual tape (yeah, we are talking about 2007). I'll dig it out eventually and put it here, but it's going to take little time. At least you still have the narative ... so we can create a little anticipation!:)
This is Cradilo and I in a Grand Prix at Traverse City, Michigan in 2008 with Scott schooling us (there he is in white by the in gate).
I really liked this show back when the Reinheimers were running it & it was Horse Shows by the Bay … & Traverse City truly IS amazing. Hopefully new management hasn't done to this show what they did to Trader's. Because I went from loving that event to … eanh … not so much enjoying it anymore. We'll see I guess … :)
When I listen to this song I put to this class (one of our typical one rail early rides, but one which was quite pretty) I realize at this point I was sort of like Frodo the hobbit leaving the Shire for the first time. With NO IDEA of the dark eye that was watching me & the powerful ghost like forces he commanded (which had already started to be unleashed, whether I knew it or not).
& here's the song that I hope represents me and Cradilo's kid's now …
Anyway, the Midstates (Mason City, Iowa) Horse Show was definitely a part of making that learning experience really fun (probably a little too much fun for what were supposed to be respectable athletes some years) … & made the whole adventure at times somewhat affordable (if we were in the top money at least ).
That show happening now and wrapping up as I’m writing this blog (without me seeing red towards the entire sport) is I'm guessing why I'm feeling nostalgic. What goes around sure does come back around (as the dust & outcome of the past war starts to settle).
So yep, if all goes as planned, I'll see you guys at the Midstates Horse Show this September … fingers crossed riding in the Grand Prix rather than spectating (which is why I wasn't particularly motivated or even close to ready on any level to being there this week).
But I’ve even firmed it up (& a few other things) on my schedule for the fall at least … though I hope I don’t regret that move. So good luck today guys in the prix that's hopefully happening. Even if I’m not there YET my thoughts are with you … :)
May 2023 Blog ...
'Conspiracy theories online on Amy Hunter (that's me folks)
Another ‘common horse sense venture’ into Reality with a capital ‘R’ … i.e. the ACTUAL TRUTH (if you are interested)’
So, once again my family has been kind enough to gently (yeah, right) alert me to yet another epidemic of lies sprouting up on the internet regarding me and conspiracy theories. And while I’m trying to take this seriously (because what I’m told is as many as 100s of pages of an online document that sounds like it’s written by a bunch of well paid investigators and legal types and commentators with nothing better to do must be honest, because we all know they NEVER lie or deceive or twist the truth for money; hello, do you live on planet earth?) I’m laughing as I write this. Because what I’m seeing is probably about five people in a room, one or two of whom I could guess, creating a bunch of aliases and fooling you guys yet again into believing this crap.
Because if your brain is occupied by the remotest level of common sense and intelligence these guys just completely hung themselves in regards to me and a potential defamation case. In other words, you just clearly documented your never ending slander which started with yep, George Morris, an Olympic coach billionaire who I’ve met multiple times, cliniced under and rode under his assistant for months in multiple locations (and was the catalyst to permanently removing from the sport). Which there are a pile of witnesses to (granted, they are a little scared with what has been good cause) so you guys just made me (and anyone who is brave enough to come forward with the truth) disgustingly filthy rich. Thank you.
Lets start with this. I’ve have never been arrested and have no criminal record. Period. I’ve had some speeding tickets (the transition from California where folks regularly commute to work at 80 to 100 mph to Wisconsin’s firm 25mph to 55mph max has been a tough one). Especially when you’ve been a pro of 40 years in a sport that pays you the faster you go on one horse power.
I worked as a correctional officer in a the Vernon County Sheriff's Department for close to three years. Historically speaking, I book people in … I don’t get booked in. So if you plan on coming after me criminally based on a blog and facebook good luck. I probably know the law close to as well the lawyers George has hired. You can not establish ‘threat’ or ‘intent to do harm’ unless it’s based on lies. If people are putting information out there that is true, thanks to this thing we have called freedom of speech, you have no criminal case. Especially with a 53 year old woman as squeaky clean as I am, with a professional record in law enforcement. So good luck with that one.
Secondly, I have never been admitted psychiatrically anywhere. I haven’t seen a psychiatrist for decades because frankly I’m well adjusted enough in spite of all of this that I can survive without them (unlike about half of modern civilization which is why these guys are so busy). You will not find a doctor who has seen me with any regularity who is going to testify to me being insane or whatever else you want to call me, again based on a blog or facebook. You could possibly hire a sell out from the outside but I actually completely trust my current medical physician, who is well aware of who I am and the stress I have been under since bad guys have escalated their personal attacks the closer I come to proving success in the sport beyond any argument (with my horses and students). I’m pretty sure Doctor ? is one of those rare non-bribable types … so again … good luck. Although I have occasionally partaken in legal anti depressants and an alcoholic shot or two (I’ll admit while I hate beer I do like fireballs) I am the single most non addictive person I know. It’s the squeaky clean thing again … I am addicted to my horses and the sport I love that I have raised them for. That is it.
Now, my family, being completely stressed out by the fact that you are shining a bright light on them and I’m not all that happy (to put it mildly) with some of them right now; is another story. Because many can’t see the obvious truth of this weird guerilla warfare type situation I have been repeatedly subjected to, and I would say are ego-embarrassed by my struggle and unwillingness to sell out, and a refusal to give up on the truth I know. And while as I have more than publicly alluded to my family on the whole has not at times been particularly supportive (they would rather be competitive and controlling, and that is putting it very generously); but that does not again, constitute me being medically insane. Again, you would probably have to include about half of the country if this is your standard for sanity. It constitutes my very ‘normal’ family having a hard (and not very graceful) time giving by far the kindest and biggest hearted person in the group the benefit of the doubt and wrapping their mind around a very not normal situation.
Let’s just dive into the common sense part. Why in God’s name would a blog written by a poor starving artist horse trainer that lives in Viroqua, Wisconsin require this many pages of detailed educated sounding defamation online? There is only one reason expensive investigators and attorneys are hired to completely publicly (and legitimately sounding) destroy a reputation. Come on guys … we’ve all seen the movies. Because all of my whistle blowing has been true (and probably a whole lot more I am NOT YET aware of).
Ridiculously wealthy and famous bad guys are like kings in our world. They solve problems by having them removed. They murder innocence. They’ve been doing it for thousands of years … can we say ‘Jesus’ … that guy so many of you like to worship but you don’t seem to recognize similar murder’s of innocence happening right here and now? The only question is, are you going to let them get away with it because it makes your life easier? Well, I can tell you my answer. It is no. Which is why I am in this situation. But it is also the reason my life is about to take a major shift towards awesomeness … better than any life I’ve been dreaming of and imagining (and working hard for) for many years.
Now, let’s talk about recent events. I just helped a 25 year old win a bronze medal in an international world cup final. I was the real though hidden coach on the ground. Every time she listened to me, her mare jumped clean. Every time she listened to the men on the ground, they had rails. It’s about as clear cut and simple as it can get. Horses are WONDERFUL because they always simplify the truth. This person is the real deal and of the truth, and these guys are fakes. Does the coach do the work? No. Does a good coach make all the difference … absolutely. It’s the reason NFL coaches make as much or more money than their players. USEF knows it, Hunter and Brandie know it, anyone with a real clue to top show jumping knows it, and most importantly, Pepita Con Spita (Hunter’s horse) knows it.
Do I want to get these guys suspended? Absolutely not. Will I? If I have to … definitely. Why? Because we live in America. When you sacrifice to help people makes hundreds of thousands of dollars and become hugely famous based on your professional knowledge earned over four decades you get paid. If I don’t get paid the ridiculously small amount I’ve asked for USEF will suspend them. Why? Because they broke a contract (based on a sale of what could have been a very expensive horse) and it’s obvious I was the missing key ingredient to us winning a bronze medal in a world cup championship.
Now I’m going to talk to George and crew. If you want to call me crazy for talking to directly to them that is your prerogative, but considering they are investigating and posting this huge conspiracy theory blog on me (which I will never read because I will not feed into YOUR insanity and a really BAD PLAY for someone who is clearly getting desperate) I KNOW they are going to be reading this. I know you are getting desperate because you are going after weak points … a family that has no real professional understanding of the sport or industry. Kind of like the local society I live in that you have been taking advantage of. But that is changing. People are catching on.
YOU HAVE LOST THE WAR WITH ME. IT IS OVER. Stop being thickheaded and concede. OR I WILL PUT YOU AND SEVERAL OF YOUR FRIENDS IN JAIL. You sitting in jail will not bring my two trainers back. It may get me taken out as well. Because I know the only reason I’m still breathing is because I have not yet put you away. But if you are going to do everything in your power to keep me unrecognized and poor in spite of continuing to prove I am one of the best at what I do (definitely the least paid and recognized), I don’t have a problem with leaving the world early. We all have to go eventually. And I have some really cool friends waiting right on the other side. So I’m honestly not too worried about it. But you are. I’m too well known at this stage for you to take me out without going to jail. So we appear to be at a stalemate. Which of course is what you want, because if things keep moving forward as they are you are in some serious trouble.
Well I have bad news for you … I have already beat you … regardless of the made up offensive case to a suit that hasn’t even been filed yet you just published. USEF knows the truth with Hunter … which means the industry will soon know, and USEF knows the truth regarding you.
If Pepita could talk she would say hey Hunter, lets make sure Amy is always in our corner. Pay her because she deserves it, and not paying her is not worth the alternative, and lets see if we can pick up a few more medals (higher than third). Pepita would also tell you George and all of his friends are pretty much useless … because they’ve been buying totally easy, made, tailored to them horses their entire life. But the three of us (four if you include Brandie); we are only going to get better. We are only going to prove the reality of who I and we have been the entire time without any doubt; because Hunter (and Brandie) have not been on the path she has been on to lose. Anything other than the top three will painfully, quickly in this sport, regulates you to ‘no one cares’ status. She wants to win. Simple … I love it. It is the reason I do still love the sport. Despite the bull s—t, at the end of the day at it’s very core it is designed to be fair.
You were permanently suspended. Your rider, your guy, just got his butt handed to him internationally by a 25 year old! And by me … and that was thrown together at the last minute. Your illegal attack last fall was my motivation. Every time you come after me I come back stronger and beat you. Being poor is not a crime. Bankruptcy, foreclosure, having your electric shut off … none of that is a crime. Or a large percentage of this country would currently be in jail. Especially not when you have been under attack for decades on end by serious, scary, powerful bad guys. But it’s not fun, and I am currently over it. So I am going to end this stalemate right now. You are no longer in charge.
You are going to remove the conspiracy theory blog immediately (the only person that ever talks about my family online is me), or by this week the FBI will have a full account of what my professional investigative journalism law enforcement engineering rock solid intelligent mind KNOWS (and many intelligent folks suspect) to be the truth of two murders initiated by you. I will create such an HUGE media storm (I have not even tried and look what I have accomplished) that they will HAVE to conduct a legitimate investigation. You will not be able to buy and bribe enough of them off … especially with the current good guy (as opposed to your last friend) we have sitting in the white house. Their sophisticated forensics will put you and your friends away. You are a multiple accounts child molester … a federal felony … removed and permanently suspended after 50 years of running a sport. Why are you not in a US prison? Why has your money not been confiscated? These are excellent questions some media would certainly consider if properly motivated.
I am filing a defamation law suit against you. I am taking half of your worth (and we are going to track down every penny to see where it has mysteriously disappeared to, so you can stop hiding money, which just makes your guilt obvious). A large portion of that money is going to Niall’s family. (And I know you guys are pissed and dreaming of revenge but it won’t bring Niall back. Let George be and let’s just take his money … he’ll be gone and facing the real music soon enough). I will also share the waiting bounty with whatever attorneys and witnesses want to come forward to help me in the pursuit (and hey, good guy attorneys, now would be the time to print off and document however many pages of defamation and their hidden writers we need to track down that are currently on the internet, but I would bet real money will soon be suddenly and mysteriously removed).
You are going to settle. Because if you don’t and the truth comes out in court via witness after witness and apparent obvious truth after apparent obvious truth, once again, you (and your accomplices) are going to prison. Not a fun place for a 90 year old rich murdering child molesting male and his wealthy spoiled friends. You can’t hire enough attorneys and bribe enough witnesses to bury so obvious a truth. I am one of the best at what I do. I knew you were a fraud 30 years ago, and yeah, I didn’t want to ride with you. Sorry that your ego couldn’t handle that fact and sorry I didn’t nip you in the bud back then (which in retrospect I realize I could have). That is a mistake I am now going to rectify.
OK, so what is the morale of THIS story from Coach Amy kiddies? At the end of the day the GOOD GUYS ALWAYS WIN. Just ask Marvel Comics. They know that truth. Even when things look hopeless. Desperate, sad, miserable … really really really hard. Why? Because God is good. Because this world was not created and is not sustained by bad guys … by ego … by darkness. They are not the real power … even though in many ways it seems they have most of the resources (i.e. money). We good guys need to change that. Take their money and you will begin to see them for the leaching fake shadow people they actually are. They are viruses … they feed on us. We good guy creators have the power.
You do not have to legitimize bad guys by buying into their threats. If I can beat George Morris (and regardless of how things look, trust me, I already have) you can beat whatever bad guy I know is working on you right now (either in your head sitting on your shoulder with little horns and a tail, or directly in your life). Because that is why we are here. To be challenged, to find the truth, to become stronger, and to overcome, in spite of the darkness.
I know many of you aren’t sure how this story of mine is going to end. You are worried (especially if you are a member of my close family or friends). But I’ve got good news for you guys … IT IS FINISHED. Now just sit back and watch as the power of that which I SERVE, that which has breathed life into EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US, plows through the darkness we have all given too much credit to, and makes the truth 100% apparent, undeniable and obvious.
Unfortunately, that’s how you guys need it and or like it though … fully manifest and requiring zero faith … as clear as the nose on your face. That’s when you FINALLY kind of believe. But remember, the morale of this story, is that somebody or some small group of supporters has to believe and act accordingly BEFORE it is manifest. That is how you WIN … you dig up, hold to and claim the truth even when it’s unseen, unknown and buried in lies. Even when you are laying in a ditch covered in mud with the whole world starring down at you; with some of the closest souls in your life you’ve been there repeatedly for, putting their boot on your head and shoving you a little deeper in, ultimately working to finish the job under the guise of ‘I’m the normal productive one.’ No, you are just the sad one.
You shine a bright light … you be the bright light … and everything else (in a little time) just fades away. And if you want my honest opinion as to how to make that job a bit easier … go get yourself a horse (though I will warn you right now while they are 100% honest; they are quite dirty, training them is brutally hard on the human ego, and unless you can hire a small army they are a whole lot of work!:)
April 2023 Blog #2 ...
‘Facebook, Politics and War ...
What Do They All Have in Common?’
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 – The Complexities of Facebook
Viruses of the Mind
Chapter 2 – Politics -
Weapons of War
Chapter 3 – I Don’t Care Who You Vote For
Chapter 4 – The Rapture
Chapter 5 – Is This Really Human Nature?
Chapter 6 – Living in Backwoods Small Town USA
Chapter 7 – Out of Control Ego
Chapter 8 – Money
Chapter 9 – Spirit’s Take
Chapter 10 – Revisiting Facebook
Chapter 11 – George in Europe
Olympics
Chapter 12 – The War in Ukraine
Chapter 13 – Let’s Talk to Russia
Just Because Ukraine has Democracy
You had Democracy
You’ll Get There with the Competition Horses
Chapter 14 – I Know What Many of you are Thinking
Chapter 15 – I’ve Got Bad News For You
Chapter 16 – The Middle East
Chapter 17 – Let’s Just Keep Pissing Everyone Off
Chapter 18 – Get to the Bottom of Things
Chapter 19 – The Signs Are There
Chapter 20 – Enough About You Guys … Back to Me
An Appeal to the Middle & Working Class
PREFACE
Ok guys, now this should be OBVIOUS but while my last blog was factual based on an actual real live experience I had, some of this blog is CONJECTURE (look it up if you don’t know what the word means.)
It’s a thing called COMEDY, a genre & writing style I’ve been enjoying & playing with lately. Because it’s entertaining (probably more to me than anyone else; I amuse myself & laugh for days on end at these blogs). It lightens up tense realities (hopefully) & most importantly may encourage people to think & discuss current issues WITHOUT blowing each other up.
While I would definitely call myself a pacifist first (I feel guilty stepping on an ant) sometimes when things get really rough the only way to reign these bad guys in & get the world back under control, before ridiculous amounts of innocent blood is shed, is via incarceration or overpowering violence (or the threat of violence; i.e. my gun that I’m pointing at you is bigger than yours).
1) Let us Ease into this Though … The Complexities of FACEBOOK
Remember when I was talking last time about operating & communicating on lower vibrational waves? That it is ego control on a mass level which is a state much of our world is in. It’s what a lynch mob is … & we have Facebook Lynch mobs killing your reputation as the Taylor Swift song ‘Look what you made me do’ points out.
Facebook as it is currently often used (or other social media), is damaging minds & youth on a level comparable to out of control drug & alcohol addiction, in my opinion.
They can all be dangerous escapes that exact a heavy price (not present in the now & connected & open to guidance from your higher power). This is why when people quit Facebook these days it’s kind of a big & almost shocking deal in our society (on par with quitting drugs & alcohol or abstinence).
Now, like all things it can be spiritually beneficial to your life if you use it properly. This means acting out of inspiration (not desperation). Find a way to balance & connect & be satisfied or better yet joyful in your current situation, & tap into the social media when you can feel the energy of ‘I’m in a good & powerful place’ flowing thru you.
If I’m not feeling that way I won’t tap into Facebook for months on end because I don’t want to put that toxic energy into the public ether. & since many people are checking to see if you ‘like’ their lives on a regular basis, they like to punish you when you show back up to let you know you are no longer a member of the Facebook Popularity Club.
How will I go on!!?? Well, I love what I do & that which I do it with 80 hours a week (because animals are not judgmental or worried about your liked status) & the powerful beauty I’m constantly surrounded by, regardless of how my professional career is going. So, I know I’ll be just fine.
As a matter of fact, I hardly notice my lack of likes or comments most of the time; unless I’m feeling inspired to put a story or a message out there, or unless my family is having a meltdown because I’m not Facebook popular enough for their comfort level.
It doesn’t matter that I have tens of thousands of the movers & shakers running human society reading my blogs & enjoying them. Or that I’m physically changing the world in some powerful painfully earned ways, few people will ever come close to (after a lifetime of sacrifice & struggle). Nor does it matter that I’ve finally PROVEN I’m one of the top professionals in my industry after decades of battling with a ruthless billionaire and his small army.
A couple of hundred people in my life may be mad that I haven’t been checking in & following their lives and lead, so I must be an uncaring loser. Trust me, you don’t want that much attention from me. I could end up showing up on your doorstep with a pitchfork looking for help shoveling s—t or feed, or needing a tow in the middle of the night or a few thousand bales of hay moved.
Come on guys … this is high school stuff … all the bad parts. And you are using Facebook to keep us perpetually locked into it and psychologically torturing the entire world.
Anyway, I try to get on Facebook when I’m feeling good, & if a happy post of a friend’s pops up at that moment I assume the Universe is talking to me & I’ll like it, or if I’m really inspired even comment.
It’s like having a drink when you’re out or at the end of the night, or a smoke when you really need to unwind every once in a while.
That’s not unhealthy overpowering addiction, in which case you are almost always ego controlled, no matter how much of a nice & popular person you can be when you can temporarily pull it together.
That’s using the tools God & man have given us to enjoy life a little more. There is a MAJOR difference between that and addiction; & it is not about the product, it’s about how you use it.
Sometimes I get on Facebook (most of the time really) to put information out there. It is a useful business tool as every company & politician on the planet has figured out. That’s not about friends or family … that’s about professional peers & potential or current clients.
Some of you may be just as busy as me, but there is definitely an unpleasant non spiritually inspired trend happening here. & while Jesus said get behind me Satan, I say get behind me Facebook.
It’s not physical lynching but it can have a similar ‘she’s a leper’ type of affect, & it is a key tool used by ego for manipulation. & I hate to say it, but you are a bad guy puppet if you are operating as a whole on that level … your mind completely clouded, kind of like a zombie.
I happen to think all these zombie & mind control series and movies (Star Trek’s Borg) Hollywood has been spewing out are a fairly accurate symbolic assessment of much of current modern society.
VIRUSES OF THE MIND
Like one of my favorite preachers has said, we have ‘a virus of the mind,’ and it’s the perfect description of many of our current states.
Before we actually understood the biology of viruses, human society had NO IDEA why people were getting sick & often contagiously dying in droves. They certainly did not know how to combat it. It was called the plague or witchcraft or whatever, & it understandably terrified people and was spreading & out of control.
Once we accepted that viruses, something we couldn’t see, actually existed & had the power to possess one’s body & not only wreak havoc but kill; we were able to begin to figure out how to beat it (I.e. vaccines).
I’m sure it was a scary realization for many. This highly contagious little creature is attacking my body & doing serious damage. I’m fighting something it’s hard to even wrap my mind around, much less become fully aware of.
Once we accepted the FACTS & got to work on tackling the problem, it wasn’t quite as scary. That’s how I see out of control collective conscious ego.
If you accept this concept is true, it can be scary. The idea that there may be an outside influence coming inside & affecting your most intimate perceptions, thoughts & ultimately your decisions. Even if you are fully aware of it thru a powerful conscious connection with spirit, it is still hard to recognize. It will work to become a part of your psyche & influence your thoughts without you even knowing it.
Viruses we are at first unaware of, and then with time become knowledgeable of, like COVID, still challenge us & do very real damage. But the eventually discovered truth (through medical research) has literally set us free (from lockdown) & we are well on our way (I hope) to reining this nasty little bug in completely.
Which demonstrates that what I’m saying does not need to be frightening or overwhelming. However, the truth of what is getting a hold of the hearts & minds of members of our society & causing them to do unthinkable acts needs to be figured out. & I KNOW this is deeper than psychology. This is energetic … & thus ultimately spiritual.
The good news is you can break free from this mind control anytime you want to, & tap into that clarifying light of truth. But you may need to step away from all those influences for a bit (friends & family & peers & toxic media) to clear your head & re connect authentically.
Even better yet, pets & horses & riding & nature in general are a great way to hit the mind reset button. Nature in general will pull you into the present if you truly allow it to take over the nonstop mindless chatter running through many or our heads, for a second or two.
If you prefer to keep yourself in one piece, especially during equestrian show jumping, that and other styles of riding horses tends to force you into the present moment. That’s why authentic horseman tend to get where I’m coming from more easily & enjoy the blogs, while some of you non horsey folks are not understanding or enjoying them.
Regardless, Facebook (or Nosebook as Abraham likes to call it) is often a comment in and of itself on much of human societies OBSESSION with approval & its absolute unhealthy NEED to always be a part of the judgmental peanut gallery (or out of control yet somewhat nastily empowered ego). However, this need to be popular and accepted completely ties your hands and makes it harder to flow with the energy of creation that will carry your soul (the essence of who you truly are) to where you ultimately want to go.
And while Hunter & I are risking everything to perhaps have the influence to actually improve the world, maybe some of you are afraid to hit a like button? REALLY? Then I don’t ever want to hear or see a post from A SINGLE ONE OF YOU about how much any aspect of this world sucks.
Your fear and unwillingness to move past your comfort level is a MAJOR part of the problem. If we stick & work together, we can accomplish ANYTHING, regardless of an unfair playing field often set up by society as it currently stands.
Out of control ego on a mass level isn’t going to be reined in (& ultimately dominated by spirit) by the experts & the leaders … it’s going to be reined in by each individual person doing their part to make their piece of the world right.
Regardless of what’s in your bank account or how you may appear to others, each individual has equal access to tapping into the energetic field that will turn things around. & if you can tap in as an aligned group your power & thus influence exponentially increases (as many of these bad guys & members of elite societies already know).
We HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER GUYS … not allow ourselves to be torn apart by fear, & over fed & over indulged egos. THAT’S why I have not quite Facebook yet. Because I know my 200 or so mostly ‘normal’ friends together (closer to 500 with the ACE page) have more power than any single billionaire, even with an army of sell out mindless tools backing every move he makes.
OK, enough of the light stuff (yeah, this is a heavy one.) If these subjects truly resonate with you, you may need to read this one a few times. Because I know I am (rereading and rewriting it, get it!?:)
2) POLITICS – WEAPONS OF WAR
I personally have no problems with weapons designed to protect the U.S. or protect a democratic country under assault trying to survive. But I DEFINITELY have a problem with international politicians (& ex politicians) working together to flame the fans of war, & risk creating a global crisis. So they can sell weapons & fear or regain power, in a current society in which MANY citizens seem to be pretty naive & easily fooled as to what is actually up.
Thousands of civilian casualties in the form of innocent children & their parents is not ok as collateral damage for what is a CLEAR play for GLOBAL POWER by bad guys from multiple countries (not JUST Russia).
& in my spiritually tapped in & fairly accurate international opinion, (as I was sure 100% right about Hunter Holloway & her World Cup campaign) several of these outright SCARY, EVIL, EGOMANIACAL men come from right here … the good old U.S. of A. (I will go into more details that convinces me of this potential truth later.)
A country which is supposed to represent, as printed on every dollar bill, ‘In God We Trust’ … not in God we pretend to be good guys. & then proceed to fool half a nation into creating absolute chaos that results in innocent American life after innocent American life (some being our service members no less) being killed right here on our own home soil!!
3) I DON’T CARE WHO YOU VOTE FOR
Now I’m going to tell you right now I don’t care what party you vote for. I am an independent. I use my head & intuition & try to educate myself on the facts.
However …if you are being swayed by religion in a country that was created to GAIN FREEDOM FROM oppressive non sensible RELIGION, & which is SUPPOSED to be based on the brilliant concept of the SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE, then YOU ARE WRONG.
Not only are you wrong … you are easy to manipulate & fool & ultimately be led to the slaughter. Led as if by a pack of wolves herding and driving sheep over a cliff, so they can easily feast at the bottom.
WAKE UP! Just because someone says something you want to hear, or taps into some pathetic uneducated bigotry or hatred or an (at times understandable) desire for a revolution, does NOT mean they are a good guy who you should follow blindly (completely ignoring those bright flashing universal signs screaming there is something very wrong with this picture!)
If you are one of those rare individuals with a pile of money stocked away & you want to save a little on taxes so you can upgrade on that yacht next year or buy a 4th house (or maybe a nice Ace Sport Horse😊) or whatever … is it really worth annihilating the entire planet? Because I’m here to tell you guys biblical style, that is where we are at!
If things don’t change immediately, like now, like yesterday; Mother Earth is going to keep hammering us on Spirit’s behalf. I mean who do you think controls the insane killer weather we’ve been experiencing? I know it’s not us! I know the animals don’t enjoy floods & fires & hurricanes & tornadoes & tsunamis. I mean come on … we are obviously ALL being sent a message.
4)THE RAPTURE
I could make an argument for the fact that COVID represented the Rapture (if you believe in that sort of thing). When in recent history have so many people died in a short span of time that caused the entire planet to go into lockdown? The weak & the meek (our elderly) … those that we are told will inherit the kingdom and will be spared of the hardship that is to come?
The Bible is FULL of symbolism … who is to say disappearing wasn’t symbolic for a whole bunch of innocent people quietly & quickly dying over a short period of time?
I know my father was personally one of the best people I’ve ever known (in terms of believing in AND actually risking and eventually losing his life to do the right thing for country & family). He was totally inspiring to young students, soldiers and strangers over & over; working to the very end at whatever job he could find so that he could continue to engage with and influence society, no matter how beneath him and low paying the work was.
He wasn’t in great shape at any point during that last year of his life but once he contracted COVID, things went downhill pretty quickly. Who is to say all these people didn’t leave early to be spared what could be coming next?
5) IS THIS REALLY HUMAN NATURE?
I’m honestly not trying to scare the heck out of people. But from what I can see unless someone’s dropping a bomb right on top of your head, modern society can be about as callous & ego controlled as I could possibly ever have imagined.
All many of us seem to care about is feeling good & celebrating … no matter what’s happening down the road. How many holidays & excuses to party does one country need? I can barely keep up & focus on training up good horses, because everyone surrounding me is so focused on getting to the next holiday where they are going to party their asses off & celebrate having a bunch of jobs many of them hate. Talk about escapism.
& we wonder why we are losing young citizens hand over fist to a drug epidemic and suicide? Because the entire society has been taught to be a good little lamb & perform your miserable job so boss man can get richer & if you are lucky, he may give you a little cookie in the form of a holiday-vacation. If you are unlucky as I’ve been a few times, you could find yourself being pulled into the boss’s office mid-shift with a group of your peers, and being brutally given the axe with zero notice, Hitler style.
And as long as you live in a nice house & drive a nice car & have a partner and 2.5 kids & a life that at least appears to be good, you are the best & everyone else struggling with a slightly different lifestyle is a P.O.S.!
It has nothing to do with whether you’re a good person or not, or trying to actually follow your dreams so you can live in a state of genuine love & joy & ACTUALLY make the world a better place (like my dad did, which I will talk more about someday).
It’s all about appearances. So OF COURSE everyone is going to act like complete asses to get rich, & forget about everything that actually matters in the process. & you wonder why some of us are disgusted with humanity & would rather spend time alone in nature with a horse!? Yeah, because I’M the crazy one. Because I’m putting what may be a scary truth forward to explore, & some people really don’t like it.
Like some of my family members. That last blog on Hunter was about nothing but love (especially if you listened to most of the music). There was some joking & poking fun and pointing out the harsher reality of who some of the people I’m dealing with truly are, but for the most part it was pretty darn joyful, all things considered.
But some in my family still want to call it angry ranting. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? Did you even read the blog or listen to the songs?
It may seem extreme to call family out here; but if you’ve been going around publicly talking behind my back & undermining my relationship with family members for many years, looking to gain recognition or power or property, while for the most part smiling to my face so that I was unaware, I’d say you’ve more than earned it. If you were anything but blood, there would be no trust heading in your direction from me ever again. & this relationship would be OVER until perhaps the next life (& only if God could give me a really good reason for you pulling this unwarranted crap.)
& yeah, many of my Facebook friends don’t want to like the International bronze medal (if they even saw it) because 99% of them are working class. They don’t want this lobster climbing out of the bucket leaving them behind! Many can’t even be happy for me. They are too busy thinking of ways to follow the lead of out of control ego & keep me down with them. Misery loves company … truer words were never uttered when it comes to middle class humans.
& we wonder why I’ve been thinking about quitting Facebook like a bad habit!? (And if you want to unfriend me because of this, bye, don’t let the door hit you on the booty on the way out. And definitely don’t ever try to friend me again; because I’m thinking I may keep that number at about a max of 50 people in the future. And you get to be here by my invitation only).
I realize maybe like me you are too busy, but how many of your friends just pulled off what I just did? I’m pretty sure if a Facebook friend you knew just helped coach their team to win an unlikely top 3 in an International NFL Super Bowl out of about 42 other teams you would ALL be hitting the like button! & I don’t care what I previously posted that was harsh & you didn’t agree with (or was kind of scary if true). You would still find the time to check in & positively react. I know I would!
6) LIVING IN BACK WOODS SMALL TOWN USA
My horses & I have been competing against & sometimes regularly beating Olympic medaled International competitors for a decade, & Vernon Counties response, along with most of the equine industries media coverage (thanks to George), was to completely ignore me.
I have never had one drop of media coverage in this location, although I’ve been picked up by the Milwaukee Journal, The Associated Press & ESPN.
Or they do everything in their power to financial squash me via what’s so far been clueless or corrupt judges. & refusing to give me a decent job after I pissed off one of the wrong Old Boys Club local leaders (I worked for, for almost 3 years). Who was practically running the entire place & pulling some really shady s--t forever. I feel like I’ve been living in an Old Western film for about the past 20 years now.
Btw … I endorsed the new leader of this ‘club’ & I’m pretty sure he’s great (that old karma thing again) along with a few friends that still work at that same job, so it’s all good now. And I’m FAR from talking about everyone in this area (I’m speaking mostly of what are and have been some leaders).
THANK GOD I have some FANTASTIC neighbors and there are SOME truly wonderful community leaders (August, Hayley, Tim, Mike, Howard, Nick and Bill) who have saved our butts more times than I can remember, at a level I KNOW would most likely never happen in town (certainly not regularly without involving the local police).
I’m probably one of the few if not the only citizens (under the age of 60) in this county with a tough AGRICULTURAL (no less) Engineering Degree from UW Madison, but I couldn’t even get a job here substitute teaching.
It doesn’t help that I have an ex husband & an ex boyfriend (maybe a few) that are solid certified members of the same club, being at times very creative with their description of who I actually am (to save face for what legit asses they could repeatedly be … though at least one has admitted it to me multiple times now.)
For those of you who live in the city or the suburbs … you haven’t SEEN the rapid spread & blind full endorsement of b.s. gossip (especially coming from generational members towards an ‘outsider’) until you’ve spent a few years or more in small hick town USA. (It’s even worse than horse show land). And I’m pretty sure it takes a couple of lifetimes, at least, before you are actually ‘in’ enough to have ANY local pull.
How dare I, a WOMAN, empower myself & not want to deal with that kind of egotistical crap regularly in my life from someone who is NOT blood? Unfortunately, that piece of paper giving the government some control over my relationship doesn’t hold much meaning for me, when it’s being used to attempt to control my emotions and my life (and that dream which I have been pursuing for the entirety of it).
So, according to a certain parent I’m still hanging out with (when she’s not furious with me) who doesn’t want to be in my blogs, I guess the general local take is I’m a nice person, but I don’t pay my bills.
Well, when you are a single woman having to drive 40 miles one way to get a job (sometimes a very high & sometimes a very low but not a very consistent dependable wage)
in spite of having a $75k plus education you spent ten years pursuing. & owning, caring for and training 6 high end performance horses (make that 12 horses for almost 15 years) in an industry that’s been brutally & unfairly blackballing you by Olympic medaled men for 3 decades now; it can be hard to keep up.
Especially when you refuse to sell your remaining horses for 10% of what they are even close to being worth, if you are lucky (like you did with most of the rest), so others can enjoy & make all the profit on your decades of hard work! I told USEF I would keep the remaining horses as pets for the rest of their lives, before I would sell them at a huge loss or cheap EVER again.
After years of this no matter how hard you try, you can get a bit of a f--k it attitude. I’m just going to focus on keeping us fed & healthy & ride as much as I can. When this farm & the weather of Wisconsin isn’t regularly trying to kill us all with extreme sub-zero cold, humidity, blizzards, torrential rain & flooding, 50 plus mile an hour winds & mud you get stuck in (and pulls shoes off of horses almost daily) & ice you fall down on every time you walk outside for months on end (& oh yeah, what feels like monthly electrical outages because a bunch of the telephone poles are snapping in half due to the tornado like winds & falling down all over the county!)
I know everyone has their challenges. There are still plenty of farmers here, but most of them have bobcats & multiple tractors & fully enclosed barns & are actually respected for what they produce with a weekly check & a lot of community and governmental support (although there is a reason small family dairy farms are disappearing like the dinosaurs from the area, almost as quickly). I am still producing livestock here and shoveling a whole lot of feed & poop, & it would be nice to be SLIGHTLY acknowledged.
Perhaps this is petty, but sometimes a hamster in a cage, a plant in a small apartment (though I doubt you could find one smaller than what I live in right now) & an office job in the city sounds a like a fairly luxurious life.
Because if my family had been here for a few hundred plus years or so, maybe I would have a yearly day named after me & a parade thrown in my honor by now. Like they did in Ayer, Mass for the NFL football player who graduated from the High School I was attending at the time; back when they decided to honor a black man no less, in this fairly incredible manner.) Can you imagine that happening here? I don’t think so. If it doesn’t involve a black and white cow or a green and yellow jersey … it ain’t happening!
Can we say there’s been a slight case of sexism, nepotism & ego control running thru the halls of government here? Maybe if I’m an assistant Olympic coach next year & we actually medal (or one of my horses does some day) our existence will be acknowledged in the weekly Vernon County Broadcaster & The Chronicle of the Horse BEFORE we are buried 6 feet under.
7) OUT OF CONTROL EGO
While there is NO excuse for the kind of mass murder of innocence that’s been taking place right under the civil supposedly democratic world’s nose; for an entire huge country to reach that level of complete endorsement (whether they want to or not) of such an act … there is far more build up to this point than any of us want to acknowledge or take responsibility for.
As I said before, like a virus, out of control ego is highly contagious. So, if you have an entire modern society that cares about NOTHING but money & property & a comfortable lifestyle & success FIRST …that attitude spreads & manifests in different ways in different places. (& in my opinion that dark mind control removes the spirit from one’s person … in other words pieces of your soul actually say ‘I’m not sticking around for this … I’ll see you back on the other side when you check out.’ Ask a REAL practicing shaman about it sometime.)
8) MONEY
I’m not saying all seeking of success & the deserved following financial reward is always wrong (obviously if you look at what I’ve been up to beyond the intensely sacrificial lifestyle it’s demanded so far) I wholly believe in the pursuit of the American Dream. It’s the best thing modern society has going.
& Jesus said … ‘I have come that you may have life & have it more abundantly.’
However, I am saying, if you want to ultimately be happy & actually make the world a better place, rather than destroying it with your ambitions, the inclinations of soul & spirit in charge rather than following the lead of ego must take precedence first.
In other words, you adhere to ethics & morality … then the rewards of success (the fruits of your labor) are simply an eventual result, even though secondary in your focus. Do not destroy, use up & run over innocence to get or stay ahead. & certainly don’t lie to & deceive masses of people to pretend like you are not a power hungry bad guy, when a little digging of actual facts shows that you so OBVIOUSLY are.
9) SPIRIT’S TAKE
I know a whole bunch of you who are sooo compassionate for other’s struggles, you are going to say I chose this life. But sometimes you unknowingly find yourself in a deeper hole than you ever expected or dreamed existed. Even if you’re praying daily for guidance & are basically a good person.
I chalk that up to spirit saying, ‘We are going to give you plenty of reasons to want to make the world a better place when you get the chance.’
& since you are going to have to be Rambo-Rocky style tough to survive the next few decades, when you finally see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel; we are going to make sure you are strong enough & have the will power to throw some strong, damaging & potentially lethal punches (like powerful bad guy’s freedom is going to be removed for a long time or forever) if anyone tries to get in your way!
Well … I’m here to tell you it worked. I may be joking a lot but believe me when I say I am a highly motivated individual and professional right now.
& I think my students (the most recent being Hunter) feel the vibe I’m putting out of ‘if you get the opportunity you better be willing to do or die if you want me in your corner!’ But since that seems to be her general take on competing anyway, I would say it was a pretty good fit.
So can you kind of see why now I’ve come to the conclusion ego works collectively on humans to say, ‘She is a threat to our power, so anyone we can get into the head of … we are going to make sure they hate her regardless of who they are?’ Fortunately, spirit tends to fight with equal opposition on some level (though often not quite or nearly as obvious.)
Unfortunately, this is pushing some family members to a toxic egomaniacal state of jealousy & threat (of losing control) that is surprising to even me (& this is not a parent). & that is saying a lot. Sometimes it takes time for manifestations to catch up in a manner that’s obvious to everyone (physical & right in front of the nose on their face).
At this moment in time, I think I could win the Nobel Peace Prize & some folks would still be looking for ways to demonize me, make me out to be a loser & tear the family apart. But as many of us know, controlling,100% addicted men will bring that out in women. Has anyone else ever had any experiences with family members like that? Yeah … exactly.
10) REVISITING FACEBOOK … yep, we are not done yet …
I think not liking or commenting unless you are majorly inspired (I like to say ‘Moses style’) is the best solution. It’s like Christmas or Birthdays … I won’t buy you any presents & you won’t have to buy me anything (unless you really want to). Trust me, that will save all of us a whole bunch of time, money & expectations. Especially if like me you don’t have any human kids … because we single animal lover types tend to get really screwed on that one! However, if people were buying presents for my horses, cats and dog once a year I may decide to love it!
That might be an idea for all you companies looking to capitalize on holidays & birthdays. Happy birthday Spot!! Here is a special $50 treat with a fake candle on it from Uncle Jo … now blow! Given how animals as pets are desperately needed & loved in this society (I would venture to say as much as kids or more) we would all be giving gifts 365 days a year & nobody would be able to afford to eat!
Unfortunately, in spite me trying this strategy (actually telling people on my Facebook pages not to like or comment EVER), the entire world still wants to use Facebook as the ultimate character reference (seriously!?) and you guys are still checking to see how much people like me.
Well, I can tell you they don’t like me very much, because I don’t give a f--k about many of their ego based opinions, & don’t have time to like them.
& much of the sport horse show world hasn’t been too thrilled with me either, because every time I barely show up out of no where, my horses & I tend to kick butt & often make others look stupid. It has to be embarrassing, if people actually understand what’s happening (kind of like Hunter last week!) And one or two or ten have and may find themselves no longer participating in or legally influencing the sport on any level, temporarily or permanently.
And guess what? … too bad! Unfortunately for you this is not Russia. If enough regular working folks actually understood what was happening here (without checking my Facebook page to see how much I’m currently being punished by my supposed loving family & friends) I might begin to raise even more hell than I already have.
Facebook can be an ego controlled trap, the way all popularity contests ultimately often are. Ego uses popularity to control the entire human race. People don’t want to acknowledge the truth or expose bad guys, because they are afraid it will make them unpopular.
Or this tendency to pretend like you’re doing well via Facebook pictures & posts, when you are actually falling apart, which prevents healing. (She’s going through a nasty divorce? What? All I’ve ever seen is posts about how wonderful everything is … daily … almost hourly!) You can not find a wound & scrub it clean if it is hidden under layers of dirt (i.e. lies & pretentions).
Your connection to spirit & your authentic self is 100% dependent on your ability to stay in the present moment & clear your mind of the dark garbage. Constantly comparing yourself to your fellow man to see who is doing better (has more stuff, more vacations, more friends, more likes, more positive comments) so you can out compete with them does not lend itself to tapping into the higher power (that as Abraham likes to say ‘creates worlds.’) Which is basically the unending & powerful original source energy that you happen to depend on hugely, when you are working a farm & sport horses in Wisconsin.
Look, the only way to truly reach your full spiritual potential is, at some point, to be willing to temporarily walk away from everyone else (the noise of everyone else’s opinions & expectations for you). Once you have found your true connection & you are on solid ground, then you can rejoin society in spurts from a place of true empowerment.
If I could justify it, I might quit Facebook right now. My website is doing well enough that I am beyond needing it (when website analytics show 500 plus people checking it daily to see if I’ve updated anything, when I’ve specifically posted that I haven’t).
But I like the idea of rewarding supposed friends with putting the information out there to them first. However, if you don’t appreciate it because I’m not checking in on you all the time (or ever, sorry guys), when I've barely had time to shower for the past 5 years or so, maybe I need to rethink that.
If you are a Facebook friend & I actually know you (you’re not someone with multiple mutual connections who looks like an interesting person based on their (I pray truthful) profile; I can almost guarantee I’m occasionally thinking of you & wising you well, or you wouldn’t still be there.
I hope at some point in the future I can get my work schedule into the realm of reasonable, so I can do things like have days or even possibly a whole weekend off to reconnect with folks on Facebook & in person. & actually have some semblance of a tiny bit of a life that doesn't directly or indirectly involve horses (caring for and training them, or working to pay for them).
11) GEORGE IN EUROPE …
back to Horse Show Land … we weren’t going to stay away too long …
There is no doubt in my mind that George is still strongly influencing international show jumping, particularly in Europe (as I alluded to in my last blog).
For example, the F.E.I. hosting a picture of McClain on the front page of it’s website (I’m sorry, did he win the last World Cup finals or an individual Olympic Gold Medal I’m unaware of recently?)
It is reminiscent of George continuously being front & center on USEF’s website. I wonder what it would take to sue an international equestrian sports organization? Any international attorneys out there interested in enlightening me?
If I had a trigger happy psychotic Putin sitting in my back yard, I would personally be more worried about universal karma regarding deciding to not only provide asylum for, but to actually have some of your top riders working with & under a murdering child molester.
I mean Europe … what the hell? I expect slightly improved ethics from our older, more sophisticated & supposedly wiser brothers. What’s going on? Are George & Trump & Putin playing golf & concocting plans of world domination together in your backyard somewhere?
Is George telling you if your riders beat the U.S, so we are forced to take him back, he’ll talk to his buddy Putin & encourage him not to push into Europe? I guess a literal gun-bomb to my countries head would make me consider working with anyone as well.
Maybe that explains why Sweden’s rider & the 4th place Brazilian rider were the most relaxed out there. Sweden’s neutral policy, & the fact that Brazil is a pretty good drive from Europe, is making it easier for them to avoid George’s political influence.
OLYMPICS
Anyway, I hate to say it to you guys, but with the current blue collar redneck attitude towards child molesters in MY country (& the fact that there is more human Irish blood in the U.S. than there is in Ireland); & then throw in the kind of media attention I could create if I wanted to at this particular moment; I can almost guarantee George (or any of his close buddies) will not be thugging their way to an Olympic stage ever again in this lifetime. He definitely won’t be doing it for the U.S.& probably not for any other country, if I have anything to do with it.
& until Putin & his army of thugs find themselves living a considerably less comfortable lifestyle in orange or black and white stripes, or whatever you guys like to dress your inmates in over there … his country won’t be revisiting the Olympic stage again either anytime soon.
So you are stuck with George. I would say from the last World Cup Final, it should be pretty obvious his American riding style ONLY at all costs philosophy, has some major flaws.
I wonder if that has anything to do with our complete & total inability to produce international show jumping horses? While in the meantime a large number (I’m going to guess the majority) of European riders start off in or at least spend quite a bit of time in the dressage saddle (i.e. as deep & connected a ride as you can get).
Unless your goal is to learn how to chum up to the top horses & riders in the world currently winning to make you look good, George is not going to help you nearly as much as you think with your competitive horsemanship.
& I’m going to make sure that while you are learning how to ride like an automaton on a horse most certainly developed by someone else,( because George’s style almost never produces Grand Prix horses from scratch), the world will see you clearly for what you are. You are nothing but a total sell out to humanity, willing to do a deal with the devil, for whatever inexcusable reason you can justify your actions by.
And by the way, that obviously doesn’t just go for European riders and the one U.S. rider-horseman I finally discovered and have been calling out lately. There is another one … with what appears to be just as much of a God complex (though considerably less warranted, as far as I’m concerned.)
Even if your father is a famous musician; I STILL may FULLY expose you for the indefensible pawned sell out to a child molester you have been (& apparently still are). I’m sorry, but you are not even in the same UNIVERSE as REAL horseman. I would bet one of my stallions you couldn’t push my gelding around 1.15m clean, if your life depended on it. So step aside kid, & let the big boy horseman play, before I start naming names & do irrefutable damage to the legend (whose music I happen to kind of like.)
12) THE WAR IN UKRAINE … finally
I’m thinking if Putin & his army of thugs don’t stop this Neanderthal primitive mentality, egomaniacal, borderline pure unadulterated evil invasion NOW, like yesterday; OR they don’t immediately find themselves retired to small rooms with lots of bars & cement … the country of RUSSIA should NEVER see another Olympic Games again (or even an FEI level horse show) for the remainder of human society’s existence.
& in my current army brat ex milartaryistic, democratic loving warrior opinion, that is generous. Since my honest inclination is we should have, as a global community, already blown the entire place off the planet (& I can tell you my father would have been the first US military officer to give the thumbs up & lead the charge on that one.)
However, I have close friends who are direct imports from Russia, & I love their Russian Akhal-teke horses. Which I’ve infused into my breeding program & spent quite a bit of verbiage promoting on this website. I also took two years of the Russian language in college. So I have a large amount of respect for the Russian culture & their horsemanship.
And, just because most of the Russian people seem to be clueless (or scared s--tless) to their current leaders run on either overtaking the entire planet; or simply being a spoiled child that’s feeling left out & unappreciated so he’s going to start beating the neighborhood kids up. Until mom & dad take notice & give him a cookie; doesn’t mean they all deserve to die a horrible death.
Yep … that’s right … Amy knowingly makes another psychotic billionaire enemy with a small (or in this case large) army behind them. When you have one or two already gunning for you non-stop, what’s one or two more!?
13) LET’S TALK TO RUSSIA …
JUST BECAUSE UKRAINE HAS DEMOCRACY …
Just because Ukraine has successfully integrated democracy & you guys haven’t quite yet, doesn’t mean they need to go backwards with you or die. It’s harder to integrate governmental change the larger the country is. You should be following their albeit smaller lead & expanding upon it.
Your out of control ego could destroy human society globally (nature will carry on eventually). Is that really what you want to save Russian face? … for humanity to start over? … that’s a HARD path I don’t think any of us want to revisit (if you believe in reincarnation as I do).
I know I like my car & computer & electricity & a TV & a couch & a bed. And I live a fairly primitive, hard lifestyle right now to have what I have & do what I do (as MANY Russians still do).
Yet I DEFINITELY DO NOT want to venture back that far. (Star Trek is one of my favorite shows. I have my eyes trained on a better future … I want a replicator & a star ship damn it!) I also still enjoy an occasional horse show (& hopefully I’ll be there on a more regular basis in the near future.)
YOU HAD DEMOCRACY …
I mean you guys HAD democracy. What happened? Are you gonna give up that easily? Because of a few economic bumps in the road & a few hoodlums running around raising hell? We had to fight a civil war! I thought Russians were supposed to be so tough?
Why are you folding to a leader steering you down a path that’s causing the entire civil world to be disgusted by your blatant complete & total lack of any morality or ethics? Wouldn’t you rather be at the Olympic Games kicking international butt as you have done so many times in the past?
YOU’LL GET THERE WITH THE COMPETITION HORSES …
You will get there on the equestrian end. You have great horses (at least I know you do.). I have one sitting right here who is a grandchild of one of your Russian Akhal-Teke dressage horses that medaled in the Olympics in Rome (Absent). Whom I prize & i will not sell (though I’ve had offers). & I have his deceased full brother’s frozen semen I pay on yearly.
As you may have noticed with the George scenario, we American sport horseman can be a little slow on the uptake (myself included). It took a LONG time for me to figure out what was up. By the time my stallions are recognized for their gifts we may all be dead,& I was born here & have been a member of this equestrian world forever!
& Europe isn’t great about giving credit to ANYONE but their own countries for breeding lines. It’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to track down thoroughbred or Akhal-teke blood, but if u have a good eye & knowledge as a breeder you know it’s there! I’m told there are many hundreds of Russian Akhal-Tekes used for breeding sport horses, or were at least, in Germany.
For a country to evolve from the stand point of sport horsemanship, is the slowest process in the world. & it’s one of those sports that requires you to put your ego aside to learn from those who have been doing it longer. No one becomes good at these sports without receiving a lot of help from other sources & countries (it is the reason I have used Irish, Russian Akhal-teke & American thoroughbred blood).
Most American thoroughbreds need help to be Grand Prix horses, as will most Russian Akhal-tekes. You guys just have to accept that, & start crossing for hybrid vigor rather than sticking with pure bloods only. We will always need the pure bloods for foundation stock, but if you want a bunch of them regularly in the rated show jumping ring you have to get more creative (as I did).
14) I KNOW WHAT MANY OF YOU ARE THINKING TO MY THREESOME PLAYING GOLF IN EUROPE COMMENT ABOVE … there is no way! …
What I’m saying may seem extreme but do the math guys … & follow the money (again, that old concept called horse sense). We’ve got quite a few 1%ers in this country making a ton of money off producing weapons of war. Militaries are only going to buy a limited number of them ‘just in case,’ if war no longer exists. Peace is not particularly profitable for these guys (& they’ve invested a whole lot in ensuring it never happens).
Shame on you guys. I hope none of you are horse people, because you should know better. You are taking advantage of weaker societies & ignorance, & innocent children are dying horrible deaths regularly.
Take the hit of investing in suffering (not a very useful product for the world) & put your money elsewhere. Perhaps an international construction company, so you can begin to redeem yourself & help to rebuild. Because I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think 100 years at most of being a king is worth a literal eternity of hell.
What good is it to gain the whole world, if you lose your soul in the process (does that sound like something maybe you have heard somewhere else before?:)
I mean my God people, this is Basic Morality 101. Maybe we need a stone tablet struck upon by lightening with these ideas very simply numbered (up to 10). So modern society can catch up with what a bunch of ex slaves in the desert were trying to sort out a few thousand years ago!?
15) I’VE GOT BAD NEWS FOR YOU … HELL EXISTS
I’m not going to get into this too much here because this blog is already heavy and long enough; but hell does exist for those consumed by darkness (regardless of most new age preacher’s playing it safe style of ‘we are not going to piss anyone off & just proclaim to love & forgive everyone for everything;’ so it’s a free for all.)
If pain is always self inflicted, & no one but yourself is ever to blame, why bother having laws & consequences? & what do you think our society would look like if we tried to go back to that? Remember the days of the Wild West … regular lynching’s & gun fights in the streets?
And even if we do fully create our own reality on some level, it doesn’t mean that the guy or group that did the traumatizing isn’t 100% WRONG & doesn’t need to held accountable, presented as an example & locked away.
But our corrupt justice system doesn’t work that way. We are putting the poor & disempowered away nonstop while you rarely see the wealthy & famous in jail (they have to have drugged and raped like 30 women, not just one, and they are still turned loose early!) These guys are literally getting away with murder. That’s what happens when you have a justice system based on bribery (i.e. who can afford to hire the best attorney with the highest level of status)?
I am not dissing attorneys or the system they didn’t necessarily create. Legal expertise is an EXTREMELY DIFFICULT & IMPORTANT JOB. I have a great attorney (with an amazing firm behind him) who has generously saved my butt more times than I can possibly remember. I am CLEAR on how important it is to have a good attorney. But when the wealthy are using that system to get away with criminal behavior regularly (or trying to bend and influence administrators and courts (so they can steal property like horses), something within the justice system needs to change.
Our higher larger selves come in knowing there WILL BE major trauma … not because any of us little people enjoy it or trying to create misery for ourselves. But because overcoming the trauma & the resultant manifestations of that which we do not want (but almost always follows, because we are so fully dysfunctional after ongoing emotional & at times physical abuse) encourages us to take on the bad guys.
It encourages us to band together and CHANGE THINGS & make them better … like creating laws & electing leaders that are actually honest & honorable. It encourages us to step out of our box of little ambitions for a moment & to do WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE DONE to bring this world back into balance.
Like me writing a blog for days on end, which is basically a commentary on & an appeal to human society, rather than going out & riding a horse like I want to, because the sun is actually shining for once.
But this is more important. Spirit is talking to me … major players are quickly shifting to bury me (& my truth) once again … & this information needs to get out there. I know it in my soul. & so do you … which is why you are wading thru this piece (far from my normally light, delightfully entertaining blogs!:)
Anyway, if you simply observe nature, our most obvious example of God on planet earth; there are ALWAYS consequences for poor decisions that hurt the whole, & they are often brutal and vicious.
16) THE MIDDLE EAST
Now we’ve been pulling masses of troops out of the Middle East. We are basically saying, we are not going to battle what amounts to an Amish uprising & takeover anymore (comparable if it was here) on your side of the planet. It’s gone on too long, it’s expensive, & we are losing & injuring our own warrior citizens hand over fist, damn it!
You guys need to jump into the modern century (because most of us stopped with the primitive tribal warfare a few hundred years ago) & handle this s--t yourselves. You have the money, I know you do, because I’ve seen your horses & I know about what you pay for them!
17)LET’S JUST KEEP PISSING EVERYONE OFF … why not?
Anyway, these three dudes (& I don’t care if he did con his way into being a President, you get the dude verbiage if you are a complete P.O.S.) are bound to die off eventually (I hope, although I think a bunch of us have been praying for that for a long time).
Yep, & now I’m probably pissing off 90% of my potential clients at horse shows, a few valued & loved family members & the majority of my neighbors here in Viroqua.
Fortunately, I’ve noticed horse people care more about their horses, riding well & kicking International butt than politics, so it seems to be far from hurting my professional aspirations.
& we Viroquans are so busy trying to survive little Antarctica here seven months out of the year; we HAVE to band together regardless of societal opinions if we want to still be standing to ever see another Spring again (which I’m told will appear & stick around for more than three days … eventually).
As for family, blood is thicker than water. We’ve survived HUGE obstacles (because unfortunately on some level they all got to go on this miserable little boat ride of being a blackballed whistle blower towards as rich & powerful a bad guy as it comes with me) & we still always manage to find our way back and stick together.
In these cases, LOVE does overcome all. & EVENTUAL long overdue major public professional International success seems to slowly be helping as well, even though it took three decades of hell to get there. (I told ALL of you it WOULD happen BEFORE I died of old age, damn it! Oh yee of little faith). And it’s looking like it may take another three decades of arm twisting before anyone actually acknowledges it.
What can I say guys, like I’ve said often here, the truth hurts. Especially when you have bet everything in your wallet at the window, & that horse is dragging behind looking like he’s not even going make it to the finish line (in this last win or retire a loser race, losing of which will possibly get you sold off cheap to the U.S. Hunter-Jumper industry).
Ah … I love this blog & that little thing called karma. (Just ask George about it.) What can I say? At the end of the day (as much as life can often suck), God IS good. & he-she creatively gives just as much power to the good guy warriors that know what do with it. (Even if the money is sitting in the barn burning hay and churning out poop, rather than in the bank.
18)GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS, PUT THE TRUTH OUT THERE, & TAKE ON THE BAD GUYS
If people are going to take advantage of you for being a good person (the nice guy never gets the girl, no good deed goes unpunished, that sort of thing), then you have to develop a very strong & tough side. You must foster an unfeeling warrior side you are willing to fully engage, to demand that things are made right by you and your kind. Allowing good guys to be run over will not fix society … it is a major part of the problem.
Well I’m sorry, but some of us intuitively understand that if we don’t start getting to the bottom of things & removing gross amounts of power like their money from the pure (albeit at times well hidden) evil, this world is in some SERIOUS trouble.
These bad guys are not looking to give that power (and especially their money) away because you are a nice loving Christian person … trust me. So, a little firm demanding intensity with the willingness to back it up is required. Even though they are REALLY GOOD at turning the tables on you by playing the VICTIM and working on your and other’s guilt. It’s new age deception and manipulation at a highly sophisticated level, but you HAVE to be able to see through it.
Because I would actually like to see the planet that’s been here for a millennia (with all its beauty & diversity & nature) go on for a few more centuries. I’m kind of attached to mother earth, & plan on coming back for another lifetime or two (as I’ve said, I believe in re-incarnation … because it just makes sense … and my animals have proven it to me beyond a shadow of a doubt more than once).
I do occasionally use this blog for shock value by putting what might be a very hard truth that people are not ready to hear out there. & you may not understand it or be a believer yet. Which is OK (I appreciate the fact that you are even reading this and attempting to.)
But my thumb is set upon, & strongly picking up the pulse of the dynamics of the sport I’m so deeply involved in. I see direct & palpable results to my willingness to put the truth out there & work to enforce consequences.
There are MANY bad guys in the world who will only back off when they are forced to by severe consequences directed personally at them. & unfortunately, many people will not do what is clearly right & fair unless you expose them & twist their arm on some level. It’s appears to simply be the immoral society we currently live in. So, unless you want to lay face down in the mud your entire life, one has to behave accordingly.
19)THE SIGNS ARE THERE …
To be so blind that you see obvious sign after obvious sign & miracle after miracle; to still miss or completely ignore them (or to even attack those helping to deliver them) is a pretty profound level of a full engulfment in darkness and self delusion.
There is no Christ figure that’s going to float down from the sky (any more than there is a Rapture that’s going to float some of us up) … that is not how this is going to happen.
If you believe the general tone of the Book of Revelations (which I happen to be convinced of) then you understand something is clearly going down RIGHT NOW.
But WE make it happen (or not happen). The Christ within US seeks, finds & comprehends the truth, understands it & then THINKS & acts accordingly to solve the problems we face.
The future of this world is in OUR hands, guided by spirit or controlled by human ego, as it has ALWAYS been. We are just simply at a critical point in time, in which the division of the aware & the consciously asleep is escalating, & growing past the point of sustainability.
I do believe either way we will survive it … the only question is how painful will that process be, how long will it take & how much more will be lost in the interim?
20) ENOUGH ABOUT YOU GUYS … BACK TO ME …
AN APPEAL TO THE MIDDLE AND WORKING CLASS …
Hey, working class sports fans; I know you guys barely realize my sport exists, but it’s as super cool as anything (football or basketball), as Europe has already figured out. And in spite of it’s elite ‘Sport of Kings’ reputation, there are quite a few normal working class (or poor horse country class) folks doing it.
This old, white, child molesting billionaire dude named George Morris, who is willing and able to bribe ANYONE; who is a total elitist and hates regular folks (this dude despises the working class, believe me) is purposely trying to cause our country to lose international medals on our own soil, so some of Europe (where he seems to be hiding out) can have a better shot at winning!
I am one of you; making less money most certainly because I’m feeding 6 ginormous horses and working alone. This dude & his friends have been guerrilla warfare style burying & blackballing me & my horses for decades (even though I’m a good guy) & I think he is trying to make a run at coming back into power (or at least at having his pawns-sell outs 100% in charge).
By a full blown miracle, I managed to force helping the young rider whose style I know quite well win an International medal here at home, & this guy is still trying to bury it. I haven’t been paid for my work yet either guys; probably because this dude has a gun to their head, and they are afraid of consequences from this bad guy who still has WAY too much power in our sport. Even though I have repeatedly helped these wealthy folks (by practically giving them a top mare), and most recently being the key element to them winning a whole lot of prize money and gaining a ton of media coverage!
Are you guys going to allow for so OBVIOUS an attack on the blue collar working class stand?? I need a little help here. This dude (George Morris) should not be influencing the world. He should really, in all fair American style justice, in actuality be in a U.S. prison with his piles of money confiscated and helping to balance the U.S. budget! (Because child molestation is a federal felony & he has multiple accusations, plus I’m pretty sure he was the force behind murdering a U.S. citizen and an Irish citizen on our soil). But he’s running around Europe freely raising hell for our country (helping us to lose medals in our backyard; read my previous blog for more information).
I would ask you to call your Federal Congressman & Senator (& share this as much as you want via Facebook or whatever media outlet will pick it up) because it is unfair b.s. to the competitive standing of our country among the International Sport of Kings (i.e. it makes us look weak, stupid & inept as athletes & horseman!)
Because these kind of people & anyone they can get behind them (usually by bribing them or scaring the crap out of them) are trying to bury me AGAIN. In spite of an against all odds bronze medal salvage as a coach. Most of the good guys in the sport (& yes, there are many good wealthy folks that love horses; thank god some of their kind are helping to run the country) are too scared to make a move against them that will actually be fair and helpful!
It is an absolute obvious crushing of the American dream by the elite upper class. & we are currently at a stalemate. Thanks guys … I appreciate your support and you spreading this around! …:)
FOR NIALL ...
April 2023 Blog ...
'‘Hunter Holloway and the United State’s only Bronze Medal in the April 2023 Omaha, Nebraska Show Jumping World Cup Finals from a Covert Coach’s Perspective’
Table of Contents
Chapter 1- Saturdays final ride with Hunter
Chapter 2 - Egging on the Big Boys (as I so love to do!:)
Chapter 3 - How This Covert Coaching Scenario Started;
the inspiration of last year’s World Cup Finals …
Chapter 4 - Last fall’s Minnesota Harvest Horse Show … again
Chapter 5 - Hunter’s Spring Grand Prixs …
Chapter 6 - Time to Re Connect …
Chapter 7 - Bad guys or pawns … still in power …
Chapter 8 - What Went Wrong? …
Chapter 9 - And Why?…
Chapter 10 - Back to Hunter …
Chapter 11 - A Deep Connected Ride verses a Light Soft Ride
Chapter 12 - Hunter’s Brilliant Come Back
Chapter 13 - What a Competition!
Chapter 14 - The Next World Cup finals
Chapter 15 - Back to coaching … my style
Chapter 16 - Acknowledgement
Chapter 17 - The Future … The 2024 Olympics …
Chapter 18 - In Conclusion
PREFACE
Welcome back to Amy’s rare (every two to six months maybe) but highly anticipated, both loved and hated by all, Show Jumping Equestrian Blog. I’m going to try something a little different this time and jump around chronologically, in spite of covering a linear event. This is another long one so hopefully the tactic will help keep people’s focus. Here we go … hold on to your saddles!!:)
Chapter 1- Saturdays final ride with Hunter
This rider … what an experience coaching her in the World Cup Finals in Omaha last week was!
I have her complete and sole attention (after a total derailing is overseen by the men ‘large and in charge’) and mention a few final words to her via the last of a long string of 10 plus pages of notes and texts over the past few weeks; and she walks into as tough a 1.60m indoor as you will EVER see and completely transforms her ride from an hour ago to EXACTLY what I wanted.
Do you know how hard that is when you have muscle memory set in from since when you were (I’m going to guess) like 3 years old; trained into a particular style of riding horses up to 8 plus hours a day for upwards of 350 days a year of your entire life?
And she does it!! In the most pressurized situation any athlete could ever find themselves in on top of an ultra sensitive horse. Which is like sitting on a giant deer (fitted & tuned to a razor sharp edge) just waiting for an excuse to explode.
I must have watched that last round like 15 times. It is absolute athletic prowess, sheer determination and a textbook demonstration of horse and rider connection. Can we say surreal other worldly GREATNESS in the making? Remember the Name is right.
I just honestly was like wtf?? Is this really happening? She’s putting her future in my hands. You better be rock fricken solid on this Amy.
And then I’m thinking to the Universe; that’s why that happened with Deluca-Momma Ace (it wasn’t just about exposing The Dark Side of the George). I pissed so many people off with the move of selling that mare at a loss; and made my life so much harder for years on end.
I just felt like it was spiritually divined destiny for Hunter to own her (as did everyone else directly involved I believe). Hunter resultantly got a taste of something she liked, and went out and bought another one that feels like a clone to Momma to me (both mares of whom I loved the first time I felt-saw them flash across the ground and effortlessly power over a jump). I know this type of horse inside and out. They are 100% my jam.
I watched her show mine for six months after I trained the horse from scratch for six years and we won $25k our first six months in the Grand Prix ring together. So I can see everything that’s working and not working as I’m watching Hunter’s career develop. In fact, through the process, I get a whole new take on Grand Prix horses and riders in general.
So yeah, I knew exactly what needed to change as her current mare seasoned. And I believed from experience with my horses of that type (which are very difficult to keep consistent) those most recent three rails in Wellington were nothing, and the mare was the same amazing horse as last year. She just needed a little different ride.
Talk about karmic destiny! The scary thing is this team is only going to get better (especially if I have anything to do with it). This mare jumps better the faster she goes (within reason kiddos). How do you beat that!? So good luck International Show Jumping World.
Chapter 2 - Egging on the Big Boys (as I so love to do!:)
Europe has been dominating the sport for a while now. You guys better breed a bunch of ultra fast sensitive horses and train em up for the Grand Prix ring really quickly (like that’s gonna happen!); cause I don’t see too many like Pepita (granted, you bred her too) sitting around over there.
We have a stock pile of super edgy speedy thoroughbred blood over here. I can think of a handful of riders just in my neck of the woods alone who are speeding around some big tough courses on anywhere from 50-100% American thoroughbred racehorse HOT blood.
That’s kind of what happened at the Midwest Five and Six Year Old Young Jumper Championships in 2012-2014. We showed up with my two half American thoroughbred Cradilo RID mares, and your horses looked like they were asleep on the courses for the most part. If I hadn’t been out ridden (just barely) by international top riders & Richard hadn’t been subjected to entrapment in 2014, we could have easily won all three years (instead of 1st, 2nd & 3rd). It would be a shame to see that happen internationally.
& wait until you see a few more of mine (who I haven’t managed to get to the rated venues yet) that are sitting in this barn going over something big enough to get your attention. I doubt too many of you guys have seen or felt power & speed in one piece of horse flesh like I’ve got hanging out back here in the boondocks of Wisconsin (I know I haven't!)
It’s put me in the emergency room twice in the last couple of years & laid me up for about 4 months. & other than a neck injury, I haven’t spent much time in a hospital throughout my entire career up until this point, all things being considered. But it was touch & go for while there. Can we say BOOM! … What just happened!!??
I’ll tell you what, after getting this guy going (yes, I’m talking about my Flexible stallion) & enjoyable I can almost guarantee I’d be winning every bucking bronco rodeo contest in the country if I had to (& don’t let the extra weight fool you; it just makes me harder to buck off!:)
Not because he was so bad … he’s a sweetheart that tries really hard & doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He’s just a little girthy & a typical ultra sensitive, willful, sexually frustrated stallion in his prime; & he is so fricken athletic that it’s almost impossible for any entity attached to his body to physically stay with him when we were still engaging in a debates about what should be happening while I was up there.
It may seem like a bad business strategy to criticize my own fantastically bred Irish stallion, but I honestly don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Sometimes it’s like you are selling a Porsche to a 5 year old that can just barely reach the steering wheel, & they just don’t know it or care. The professionals can’t be so money hungry that they are willing to omit information or flat out lie just to make a sale. You might as well put a loaded gun in a kid’s hand, encourage them to play with it & wish them good luck.
But if (like US race horse breeders for the most part focusing primarily on speed, and not worrying too much about everything else) all you are breeding for is EXTREME speed, power, & sensitivity on the ground & over a fence (& this horse’s jump is so naturally smooth & flawless I doubt even the European breeders will be able to pick him apart for once) then this is the horse for you.
But if you are breeding for mares & stallions especially (the geldings should be OK) this breeder would include a clause regarding potential offspring that says ‘to be started & possibly only ridden for about the first 5 years of training by hardened professionals.’
But that’s why god gave us Lionel, aka Ace of Spades … for similar though maybe not quite as extreme ability that comes in a delightfully naturally rideable, agreeable, user friendly version!:)
I know, I digress from the topic at hand. But this is my blog damn it, so I can talk about whatever I want to whenever I want to! As I’ve been saying for many years now … if you don’t like it don’t read it!
Chapter 3 – How This Covert Coaching Scenario Started; the inspiration of last year’s World Cup Finals …
I watched last year’s final in Leipzig, Germany online. I had a pretty good idea of what had gone wrong for Hunter on day 2. It was frustrating because to be brutally honest it struck me as a rookie mistake (to that particular kind of horse, which granted there are not a lot of in the International Grand Prix ring these days). Most are not quite that edgy (which ultra speed, sensitivity and power in combination gives you).
I have been there or close to there so often with similar in type horses who are very challenging to manage at this level that at times I have to stop & think about what I actually know in my bones.
There have been a pile of off the track thoroughbreds (OTTs) starting with me at 14 years old with Mitch & Wizard; James in the derbies in California & a bunch of tb mares. Some of whom I took to Florida (even Wellington & Tampa) & all over to show & some we kept here to breed & too many to name all in between. All were fast & sensitive & many were very hot.
Then there is the horsey love of my life Cradilo, one of the few RIDs (Registered Irish Draught’s) to ever consistently long term compete Grand Prix in this country (& I’m pretty sure the only one developed here to that level for that length of time). He was insanely powerful & could be very strong; as can be all his offspring I’ve bred since (who have been a combination of both traits in varying degrees). And I have spent a lifetime trying everything under the sun to effectively train these guys up.
Anyway, I was also extremely impressed with how Hunter had come back & recovered on day 3 of those finals. That was a turn about I didn’t think most even highly experienced top International riders could have pulled off. Once something like that happens (running thru multiple fences) during a brutal out of country week on a super sensitive mare, 99% of all equine teams are going to quickly spiral down & probably not even make it around from that point forward.
But not Hunter. She completely transformed her style & it looked like instinctively went into an intensely supportive & somewhat defensive WE ARE GOING TO SUCCEED OR DIE TRYING AT THIS ride! The mare then consequently absolutely melted & flowed under that particular balance & connection, giving them in my opinion the best ride they had had all week. Who’d of thunk!?
I would say that is when the Universe first lit a fire under my butt regarding Hunter & Pepita’s highly promising (to my thinking) World Cup ambitions.
But what was done was done, so I tried to be as supportive as possible via some Facebook posts. I then filed it away under’ the most motivating way to learn is thru painful experiences’ (which show jumpers tend to dole out in bulk) & went back to my busy borderline overwhelming, ambitious & hopeful training plans for the year after yet another punishing winter in Wisconsin.
Chapter 4 - Last fall’s Minnesota Harvest Horse Show … again
Then there was the Minnesota Harvest Horse Show, which I would say highly motivated me in two ways regarding Hunter. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail (because there are two long blogs behind this one that cover it fully) except to say the sort of miraculous re appearance I put everything on the line for us to make, and the resultant blogs had an impact and folks were finally paying attention!
It honestly wasn’t that big a deal to me because I’ve shown up after a long hiatus and pulled miracles out of thin air with new horses and students more times than I can possibly remember, over and over and over. At the end of the day in a way it was more annoying than anything because I walked away owing money rather than making it when it definitely in all fairness should have been the opposite.
However, it did kind of re remind everybody that I’m pretty good at what I do, and have been clearly displaying that fact repeatedly for decades. And the right people seemed to be enjoying the blogs. I was lightly hearing from trainers and friends connected to high powered folks within the industry and realizing the show had helped to shift folk’s perspective on me closer to the reality of who I actually am and have always been.
In addition, after later mulling over the show even more and connecting some of dots regarding who a certain winning Grand Prix horse had been purchased from and who he was connected to and who he was connected to and on and on that … not only had I and was I up against men of old retired Olympic horse god status, I was up against out there doing it right now leading the charge men of Olympic horse god status.
I had suspected this might be true prior (although as always it was very well hidden) but now I had a clear line of ‘ah ha … the lightbulb has come on.’ Now I’m not suspecting … I know.
Chapter 5 – Hunter’s Spring Grand Prixs …
So I’m always keeping light tabs on the sport, no matter how deeply pushed into hibernation or how frustrated with the industry I am. I am sitting on a group of really nice equine athletes I’ve spent decades breeding & training specifically for it, after all. And I like to keep tabs on certain riders and horses … Hunter of course being at the top of the list.
I was watching the rankings for the World Cup Finals (definitely my favorite International Championship) because I know several of the riders first hand. I was just trying to keep tabs on how things were going, especially regarding Hunter and Pepita. That’s when I saw the 5 star Grand Prix in Wellington where she had 3 rails.
As I watched it I knew exactly what was going wrong. As a matter of fact, I saw it coming last year when they were going clean. I knew in my gut almost for a fact that the ride wasn’t going to work long term on that mare. I’m 100% positive I even alluded to it on one of my facebook posts.
But Hunter is a top rider now and an independent leading professional and I would never impose an opinion that one is not ready to or wants to hear. In spite of all these blogs as a general rule of thumb I don’t give away the really useful Grand Prix level information (in which you may win a lot of prize money as a result) unless I’m being respected in my favorite manner, with a paycheck. And I know for a fact most trainers like me feel exactly the same way. This information way too difficult and expensive to earn.
After I saw the ride though, I knew if things didn’t change that would probably be it for Pepita (as far as being a top international show jumper with Hunter). I figured it would be just a matter of time before Hunter sold her and moved on, the idea of which honestly broke my heart a little (because it had happened for whatever reason with Deluca/Momma Ace).
But, I haven’t exactly felt sought out in recent years regarding this sport so I still wasn’t quite ready to reach out and put my neck on the line. Healing and re connecting after major trauma takes time.
I was definitely worried about Hunter and the mare’s future though. I then watched her ride her bay gelding in the Ocala Live Oaks Grand Prix, a horse I had been following a bit with her when she was showing Momma. I didn’t realize she had another horse she could campaign for the world cup. It was an impressive ride. What was even more impressive to me is she had been developing him and had kept him going for seven years.
I remember the announcer alluding to it being a bad thing (they’ve been together for a long time so of course they are going to succeed). She then commented on another rider’s round on a horse he’d been riding for like 6 months, as a potentially valid excuse as to why he had a rail in the jump off. And guess which rider was currently more popular … i.e. almost at God status?
I absolutely hate it when announcers get political and say things like that. Because I see it exactly the opposite. It requires far more skill and focus to long term develop a horse and keep it going than to go buy a new one (or borrow one from someone else) every time things start to go wrong with your current ride(s).
More specifically, how many horses has that person gone through? If they are going through 20-50 horses every year or two, I’m not really too impressed by the fact that you can ride one in a Grand Prix decently in spite of not having it very long. If you switch out enough eventually you are going to find one that works for a little while. Now if you only go through a few top horses every few years, or even better hang on to them for the entirety of an upper level top performing career (5-8 years maybe); then I’m impressed.
Which brings me to another point. Online announcers, you are basically a talking journalist. Your job is to be unbiased. Present the facts, entertain with little tidbits of information & education but do not work to sway the audience towards any particular competitor or to promote a small particular group of trainers. It’s called sportsmanship.
If you don’t display it how do you expect the sport in its entirety to? I could say the same thing to every inch of media covering this sport. Your political leanings & poor investigative journalism (i.e. a seeking out & reporting of the TRUTH) are part of the reason the industry was so successfully controlled for so long by a dangerous, damaging (to anyone considered a threat to the elite faction he found worthy of his support) mafia style tyrant.
Anyway, what had me even more excited regarding Hunter and this event is how handily she beat my newly no longer just suspected nemesis … who had been seriously and illegally (according to USEF’s Code of Conduct) making it close to impossible for me to financially make a professional come back, no matter how good we were.
And while as impressive as Hunter and Eastern Jam were-are, I didn’t see her competitive for the top ribbons at the world cup finals on him. He’s a really, really nice horse that I’d love to have in my barn, but if you want to even think about winning the Finals you have got to be venturing into the realm of horsey legendary greatness.
Chapter 6 - Time to Re Connect …
I’m also one of those people who believes deeply in an energetic world we can’t see (I think I’ve made that clear in past blogs). We all communicate, on a level that has nothing to do with words or physical connection. We communicate through the spiritual light realm and we communicate and interact through darker vibrations.
So even though I hadn’t spoken to Brandie or Hunter in years, I could feel that we had stayed connected and were communicating through it all (I was most certainly talking through my blogs and facebook; and hearing back from the industry and Hunter in particular on a certain level).
Bad guys/ego works to control people by dividing and conquering. The ability to destroy relationships is one of their greatest strengths. The more powerful and threatening relationships are, the more they want to tear them apart. If you are mutually tapped in though, you can circumvent all of that.
No matter how much pain and hurt and a sense of betrayal there is, if you really want to, you can put ego aside and remember and connect to the soul of that person, in a manner bad guys can’t even feel or see because they simply are not operating on that level.
So I could feel that it might be time to re connect. And I was highly motivated. It’s like the hand of God reached down and said Hunter can win this final if you get involved. Don’t let this opportunity slip away … put your ego aside … be strong and reach out. Its hard to explain but I was gradually lit on fire.
So I wrote a letter to Brandie and Hunter like 10 days before the final started and texted it to Brandie … basically saying I felt I knew how she could get the mare back on track and could possibly win the finals on her, etc, etc. Brandie responded saying thank you and a few other things, and from that point forward I just kept going, working 100% on inspiration and vibe.
I did not hold back. If there was information I thought might be useful I gave it to them. I just basically said if you don’t like it … toss it away … all I ask is that you please don’t give it away (this world is competitive enough!)
By the time the finals started it was pretty obvious they were taking the advice very seriously and using it. And we could all see it was making a major difference from her last competition. It was exciting and gratifying to see.
I’m not going to say seeing the other trainer wasn’t frustrating. But I know the power and influence this blog has on the industry. I knew the truth would come out. So I wasn’t nearly as worried about credit as I was about them actually
reaching their full potential in that competition.
And looking back now I almost feel I was more effective because I was in the background. I wasn’t faced with plowing my way through ego and politics and piles of people watching every move you make. I could focus 100% on figuring out and working to convey to Brandie and Hunter what I felt made the most sense from a training and riding perspective for the mare.
Chapter 7 - Bad guys or pawns … still in power …
I know there is a group of you out there reading this blog right now having a meltdown, as you were hoping you would be able to keep muscling Hunter and sweep this under the rug someway somehow. One rider in particular, highly motivated since last fall to make sure my horses and I never resurface.
But you should have learned from your long time coach’s arrogance. Medals, money & status does not make you an undefeatable God, even in a David verses Goliath scenario. Especially when David has the actual power that makes this world tick behind her. You never should have come at me as hard as you did last fall dude.
With my set of skills so obviously on team Holloway. But you have managed to help bury the truth of that hard earned expertise, under layer after layer of piles & piles of creatively bribed lies.
You guys have been getting away with this carefully crafted illusion, unwarranted professional slander, demonizing, blackballing from any and all types of success or support (particularly financial) and eventual isolation from every friend, ally and client (even family members) for decades.
But every once in a while clear thinking genuine horseman (like Niall & Nancy and Dennis & Brandie & Hunter & others) see thru it all & understand that I am a serious ethical horseman who has earned the right to sit at the table, & my horses and I are overall an asset to this sport and the world in general.
But you have had a good run, particularly when we consider all the profound darkness that’s surrounded you from the beginning. You have even managed to far outlive the life (at the top of this industry) of your mentor, & I found that surprising.
Usually when a corrupt monarch like King George is completely exposed & overthrown, his closest allies who have helped to legitimize him go with him. They certainly are not selected for yet another shot at the Olympics! & we wonder why I’m highly suspicious (after this experience, positive) of current Olympic coaches being George pawns.
By now the completely unethical major subterfuge just pulled over the world’s eyes should be apparent. It is most certainly a breech of USEF’s Code of Conduct.
However, I’m here to tell you unequivocally their true INFLUENCE IS QUICKLY COMING TO AN END. & hopefully while it will take a little time, the REALITY of the situation, the TRUTH, will make itself apparent in the physical soon (in a form additional to this blog).
In the meantime, if any of you feel like these guys are still controlling you and your hands are tied to make moves that are fair & right; you need to know all you are doing is allowing fear to be used to legitimize bad guys.
In other words, I hate to say it, but you may in a way be part of the problem. The world needs you to break free so the good guy warriors willing to risk everything actually have a chance to straighten things out.
& USEF the same goes for you. If these Olympic coaches can get away with this, that Code of Conduct amounts to NOTHING & George might as well still be in power.
How do you expect the industry to follow codes of sportsmanship if you don’t ensure that and are following them as well?! In all fairness any damage they do or have done under your banner you should be liable for as well. So again, I would seriously consider taking some quick action.
You know, when I was posting on my Facebook page about consequences like criminal charges if there was ANY foul play, this is kind of what I meant.
You better be happy she medaled, in spite of the fact that those type of mixed signals caused by your involvement would have ended any chances for most riders to push thru and make it to the stop of the standings. But you definitely need to seriously stop pretending like you helped make it happen.
As always, you are working to get away with as much as you can by hiding your control behind new faces, trying to break & impede lines of communication & having a death grip on folk’s willingness to speak the truth.
Nothing (animal or human) mysteriously got hurt, which would have inspired an immediate contacting of the authorities & the media by me; but still, you are walking a fine line.
To all you top riders who have stayed away from multiple international competitions lately; I get it. It’s a quiet show of protest to the crap that’s been going on & a show of support for the good guys.
There may be a bit of simply not wanting to get your hands dirty as this hidden war wages on; or perhaps like me you prefer to keep that which you love & yourself safe & in one piece, so maybe you really had no choice.
But for the most part I take it as you showing us all you will not be controlled by bad guys anymore. You are one of us. & we good guys appreciate it, & hope to see you and your horses back soon in full form on a more fair field of play.
I’m still surprised by how effective egomaniacs are at putting & keeping whistle blowers underground & hidden. Once again though, the mutual love of the horse & the pursuit of excellence regarding them ultimately brings out the truth of who the good & bad guys actually are.
Ok, that got pretty heavy. You know, when you’re blogging like this it’s kind of like riding a course. You’ve just got to let it flow and see where things take you. Let’s take a breath and go back to the lighter more entertaining yet educational and informational mode.
Chapter 8 – What Went Wrong? …
As many of you professional horseman out there probably know, settling is fundamental in a highly pressurized competition with this type of horse. Otherwise you may find yourself running thru all the jumps & possibly ending up in the Rocky Mountains with your equine partner.
Because of what had happened on day 2 last year, and the brilliant but intense speed class on day 1 of this year, I was particularly concerned (like everyone involved no doubt) with making sure Pepita was encouraged whenever possible to relax.
Unfortunately, there are about as many theories on how to settle equine athletes as there are horses on the planet. Clearly when I said Wednesday night ‘now we need to settle her BIGTIME’ those words were misunderstood.
This is where a little less ego & playing who gets to control the up & coming super stars & take credit for their success; & a little two way conversation would have been nice.
Because call me crazy, but I’m of the opinion that when at one of the most difficult & competitive competitions on the planet for your sport & you just endured two days of grueling courses that are eating the best solid equestrian partnerships on the planet alive (& day three’s courses will be even harder with tireding teams); you may want to think twice before settling in a jump off in which every pole & millisecond makes or breaks you for the entire competition.
And if the mare jumps better & easier at speed & is the fastest horse left in the class; why would you use a 1.60m jump off to slow & settle her (resulting in a time fault & a rail!!??)
This is where my 40 plus years of growing up on & consistently producing & jumping piles of some of the hottest horses on the planet may come in handy. Settle her on the flat … please! You can easily do it with a little know how without the drugs (I promise you; it’s true) & not completely destroy your rider and her countries chances of winning an international gold medal.
I know after the ride & rail I was upset, but I tried to hold back & wrote with a few additional comments something along the lines of ‘I don’t think that jump off ride did the mare any good from a training perspective’.
But what I was thinking is, hey, whatever supposed top trainer came up with or went along with that idea, you just veered us off track from the consistent clean rides we were borderline miraculously establishing.
And now we are coming from behind & have to work extra hard to put them back together to where they so tenuously were (because they just started working on this major change in concept & style like 10 days ago)! They had 3 rails off the style they know best & are most comfortable with in the last 5 star Grand Prix in Wellington; like a month ago. What are you doing!!??
Chapter 9 – And Why?…
So I just have to wonder if George and his pawns are actually trying to hold her back? … or truly that clueless to what I was so obviously trying to do (& succeeding at in a pretty profound way given their turn about from her last big Wellington Grand Prix to those first two World Cup final classes)?
You are the coaches … (the big, powerful, important top men on the ground soaking in the limelight while the women, Hunter & her mare, take all the risk & do all the work) … whose job it is to protect your young rider exposed to unimaginable stress from bad decisions with clear headed (because you are not on the horse under the gun) thoughtful knowledge based communication & training decisions.
What are we, a pride of lions here? The males lay around in the treetops soaking up the sun while the females go out on the hunt that keeps everyone fed & takes care of the young?! & they get all the attention & the glory & even more power and control!? Because boys are bigger, have testicles, a louder roar & a pretty mane? That’s some serious b.s.!
It’s not that I don’t get the allure of following a man’s lead in the sport. I’ll admit; a lean straight horseman (or not straight is still easy on the eyes) jumping around nicely on a gorgeous horse; throw in an accent & especially a sincere love for the animal & that’s a hard mysterious kind of magic to not want to get to know.
I can understand how to an industry overflowing with women (in the US at least) an aging American female trainer (albeit somewhat gracefully I hope) might not be nearly as interesting; but at the end of the day it really does need to be about who knows & communicates with the horse best.
Cause here’s the thing … horses don’t care about your sex appeal or political pull or even your bank account. It’s all about whether or not you have grain in the bin, carrots in your pocket & an understanding of what makes them tick & feels better on their backs when you’re pushing them to the absolute limit.
I’m sorry but we are talking about a rare international gold medal in our home country here (that Hunter, Brandie & I were just barely able to salvage with a bronze), so it’s more than a slight mind boggling mystery to me that truly needs to be solved.
USEF you have your work cut out for you. But again, you may want to get on it because in Grand Prix horse years that next World Cup final & the Olympics are right around the corner.
Chapter 10 - Back to Hunter …
Anyway, I didn’t tell Hunter I thought our chances of any top ribbons might have just been completely screwed. I just told her to ride super aggressive in that first class Saturday, and threw in some details to motivate her.
I’ll be very blunt with riders when it can do some good (no one has the time or focus for anything else in those circumstances) but I was hoping I was wrong & the mare & Hunter could go right back to their previous state. In that case dwelling on the past just inhibits your riding … so I tried to keep it positive.
As for that first ride & those two rails on Saturday (after Thursday’s jump off), sadly we had definitely lost the momentum of what I wanted & the mare had been jumping clean under. I honestly believe the pair was mostly paying the price for & feeling the continuation of the casual jump off (& heart breaking results) the day before.
I know Hunter had at least like four people in her ear; me, her mom Brandie who developed her & I was relaying thru & is a top Grand Prix trainer & rider herself, a US Olympic coach & a Portuguese trainer named Louis. Who one of the show commentators seemed to be in love with (though whom I’m pretty sure is new to Hunter’s scene.) Apparently though, according to the commentator repeatedly, Louis is really good at teaching riders how to turn. Great …
So I talk about a deeper more connected ride in that first letter & along comes a European trainer to show her how it’s done (as if all Americans are clueless to the concept).
Chapter 11 – A Deep Connected Ride verses a Light Soft Ride
So in this song if you changed word 'boat' to 'horse trailer', exchanged the truck in the video out for a GMC rather than a Ford, and exchange "Rod and reel' for 'saddle' you will have my anthem song for the year ...
Look, I’m not going to get into this too much guys. There are many books out there on the subject (probably so many that it just confuses trainers and young riders more). And as I’ve said repeatedly now, my horses and I actually like to eat and have shelter.
And maybe even every once in a while go to a Rated Horse Show without having to worry about being suspended if the entire world of top trainer haters descend upon me at that one event; and I completely go overbudget and lose any hope of making money like all of us working class like to see happen every couple of weeks.
I’m also finally feeling inspired to try to get some clinics going again. I’ve even had a few top trainers tell me they will help me achieve this goal. But there won’t be much to teach as a clinician if I give it all away here. Especially given competitive trainers in this sport’s inclination to just take whatever I put out there and pretend like it came from them (easy to do when you haven’t been to a horse show to put out the word and defend yourself in a million years)! By the way, I’m willing to travel (within reason, I’m also working to get back to the Grand Prix ring before my horses and I die of old age) and you will shortly notice a CLINICS tab on my website with more information.
Here are the basics … a deeper more connected heavier ride is back with the body, usually a longer rein, more contact with the seat and leg and usually more weight in the hands (i.e. more contact with the horse’s mouth). The deeper the ride, the easier it is to drive the horse’s hind end under with the leg, seat and your body weight.
A lighter softer ride is more forward in two point with the upper body, the seat lighter in the saddle or not there at all and a lighter connection on the horses sides with the leg (usually) and lighter contact with the hand or no hand at all (i.e. the reins are loose and usually shorter if you are jumping).
I could easily write for another 20 pages if I wanted to go into more detail and really explain how the different types of rides affect different horses; but suffice it to say it is rather important (particularly at the highest level of competition) that you are aware of what your horse needs at that time, what type of riding you are using, and why.
This idea that one style is American and the other is European I find to be quite annoying. Yes, we (and I will begrudgingly give George quite a bit of credit for this), the United States perfected the style (and eventually shoved it down the entire world’s throat). But the forward seat and the original use of it came from Italy (it’s true, look it up).
And yes, back in the 20th century European riders tended to ride significantly deeper. Now a days, there are almost as many Europeans riding lightly as there are Americans. There are also a lot of Americans who ride quite deep and connected.
There is no developing a Grand Prix show jumper from scratch if you don’t know how to effectively drive and connect. And I am not the only one who has and is doing it (though breeding and shoeing them as well may narrow that field to one).
There are also plenty of US riders at the top of the Young Jumper Championship standings. No rider out there is pushing 5-6 year olds around 1.20m to 1.30m courses at speed at a competitive level of intensity that might as well be the Olympics if they don’t know how to effectively drive and connect.
And I myself know there is a no more connected driving ride on the planet than a few of the 1.60m rides I had on Cradilo. If you watch our Trader’s Grand Prix video on the front page of my website, you’ll see that I was so connected with my seat & leg that I pushed a 1500 pound Irish draught stallion right over & out of 1.60m Grand Prix ring & into a VIP tent. Its another example of the fact that you want to make sure you have equal connection with the mouth and control of the front end when you start driving like this.
And I can pretty much guarantee there is not another rider in any country (other than maybe Ireland) jumping heavy drafts this high consistently for extended periods of time.
What I personally like to see is versatile riding. If you are really a top rider you should be ale to do it all, as the horse and the situation calls for it. There are some beautiful examples of this in the International competition ring. I was particularly impressed at the finals with Yuri Mansur with his stallion Vitiki of Brazil as an example (they were 4th overall). He had an impeccable versatile style that supported his horse beautifully, but still gave him the freedom and encouragement to use his body well.
And if you watch the three videos I posted from the Minnesota Harvest Show, you will see 3 different types of rides I had to use to get my rusty gelding and greenies around those courses. Granted, I’ve barely shown in six years, so I’m FAR from where I want to be.
The stallion and mare have also barely shown and were jumping the highest they ever had in a show ring. So I’m overall deeper than I would normally be, but I’m assuming the Hunter Derby ride on the stallion is lightish (if I ever want to get this blog out I don’t have time to look at the videos again now).
I KNOW the 1.30m ride on the gelding is extremely deep and connected (I defy you to find anything more so online). Because we had had a miserable warm up; I think due to rock hard footing in the ring and a USEF steward that was harassing me over b.s. the entire time. So I knew I needed to RIDE to get around that course well (and this horse likes a connected deeper ride anyway).
And I’m guessing the rides on the bay mare at 1.10m to 1.15m were probably somewhere in between. She’s green so needed connection and support, but the fences weren’t that big for this mare’s level of talent so I could lighten up a little to smooth out the flow and allow her to really learn to freely use her body.
The point is, where in this scenario given all of the above do we need European trainers to figure out how to use our bodies more effectively? I have worked with several European trainers (hello, Niall!) obviously and have nothing but respect for good horsemanship, and I don’t care what country you are from. And I do believe often there is something to be learned from every professional with real experience.
But it’s hard for me to imagine anyone being more motivated to see an American rider win a medal on their home turf than a citizen of the United States. It has irritated me in the past, when I’m starving and scratching to survive in the this business and I know I’m just as good or better than 90% of them out there with equal or better horses, and I’m tossed aside while trainers come over from other countries and are instantly inundated with good clients. There has to be a happy balance.
Chapter 12 – Hunter’s Brilliant Come Back
So … back to the finals. They had been veered off track AND in the first class Saturday Hunter struck me as a competitor suffering from a slight case of deer in the headlights syndrome from too much contradicting sensory input (we’ve all been there).
Fortunately, after those two rails I had her full attention & she came back into the ring for the final round & JUST KILLED IT!!
Anyone who understood what they were witnessing; a total transformation back to the, ok, I’ll say it, more ‘European’ style I was looking for (you happy?); must of had their jaw on the ground. Hunter brilliantly nailed every single distance as they were insanely fast & clean & just BEAUTIFUL, at the last & hardest moment of the entire week.
I live on a 135 acre farm in nowhere’svile, had a horse on the cross ties in the barn & my laptop on the stall ledge, & I’m pretty sure the neighbors about 1-2 mile away could hear me screaming at my computer for the entire ride & a couple minutes after!!
What a week. I got almost nothing done, & went distinctly backwards on more than one front because half blood stallions find all sorts of creative ways to get into trouble when mom is totally distracted & focused on something else for days on end. And this week isn’t going much better considering the length of this blog.
Chapter 13 – What a Competition!
But what a competition!! Such a coming together of an elegant society of beautiful horsemanship & animals and pure warrior like athletic ability and partnership.
I do have to admit though, between Hunter’s ‘European coach’ & the course designer, I was feeling slightly invaded by Portugal. I had to check to see if this country actually was in Europe. Yep, there it is, just West of Spain. (Yes, my geography kind of sucks these days. It’s called being stuck without reprieve on a farm in Wisconsin for 5 plus years.)
Has Portugal ever even had an international show jumping team or rider over here (or consistently over there for that matter)? I know I’ve never heard of a Portuguese warmblood sport horse. Looks like they have plenty of ocean though.
I wonder if they are a non-extradition country to the US & George has purchased a beach front over there?
Or maybe he’s hanging out in England & instructing ex Grand Prix riding female show commentators on how to hide political agendas while sounding perfectly fun & agreeable; & riders on how to make sure their horses are properly tied (& most definitely never by the bit!:); & showing trainers & coaches how nicely an institutionally empowered fascist mentality backed by billions can motivate a rider to at least try to perform.
The course designing was impressive enough. If you can get 40 plus International Grand Prix riders together & not get a single grimace or complaint all week (that I heard or saw at least, though I am wondering if Daniel Deusser thought the striding in the triple day 3 might of rode a little long) then you have certainly achieved something.
& I do so enjoy watching the horsemanship; because it truly is profound. Honestly, unless it’s my horse, my rider (or me, myself & I) I don’t care much about the rails & time nearly as much as you guys do.
I just like seeing the horses go; for the most part very elegantly & ridden beautifully. The International Grand Prix riders really are something. Like I said, my favorite just to watch had to be Yuri, but Dennis Lynch of Ireland was fun to see go as well. Of course I would like him better if he was sitting on a little Irish blood, but se la vie! (Sorry, but I use to give Niall a hard time about not riding his own countries awesome horses as well, so I don’t see myself letting any Irishman stepping foot on this soil off the hook on that one!)
The connection between the winning pair, Henrick von Eckermann and King Edward of Sweden was impressive. Edward jumped his heart out for his rider, and their connection and understanding of each other was clearly rock solid. Their obvious relationship was reminiscent for me of Flexible and Rich Fellers, who won the finals in 2012.
Harrie Smolders and Monaco N.O.P. earned their silver medal. Harry smoothly pilots what strikes me as a somewhat squirrely athlete (not so easy to ride) around those ginormous courses fantastically. Sometimes it’s more enjoyable and impressive to watch the riders who are truly being challenged by something not quite as ridable as so many of these horses are these days.
& Daniel D. What a display of horsemanship & a complete control of ego. He protected that amazing little stallion from a bad experience so impeccably. That’s almost impossible to do in a triple combination. Often trouble in the triple is intermission time for spectators & a visit to the ring from the horse & human ambulance, & he made it look easy. & then just marched out of the ring, giving his horse a soothing pat, as if it was completely inconsequential.
The horse was far more valuable to him than the competition. He built trust with that move; even though it may not seem like it to the untrained eye (& even some trained eyes). Horses need to feel protected by us; not disposable. And now we are all a little clearer as to why Daniel won one of these finals a few years back.
There were a pile of gorgeous, big, dark stallions at that show. Just breath taking. What a showcasing of horse flesh. I’d like to know what magic you’re putting in the drinking water over there to consistently produce that!?
I’m hoping and betting everything my two stallions are going to give you guys a run for your money & maybe even redefine the breeding of top show jumpers a bit (in the North American breeding industry at least).
But I’ll admit I’m not sure I could hit the repeat button & clone them out in varying groups of drop dead gorgeous stallions consistently floating around 1.60m courses. That is quite an achievement.
& the 17 year old stallion Balou du Reventon Harry Charles of England rode … wow! Too bad his rider couldn’t keep his stirrups; maybe the horse could have really shown his stuff if he hadn’t been packing around what seemed like a guy having multiple bad days. I have some ideas for you that might make all the difference; but they are gonna cost you. I’m thinking maybe a free breeding … :). Just kidding … I’d say you guys win the blue for the cutest combination popping around very nicely, most of the time.
I’m thinking all the Brit’s got together & went out drinking at the beginning of the week (believe me, I’ve known and hung out with more than a few!) Thank god for the unending lure of the American bar scene … once again it works in my favor!
There wasn’t anybody there that wasn’t really fun to watch. I mean sometimes you are cringing (God knows Cradilo & I had that effect on more than a few spectators) but it just makes things more interesting. It would be pretty boring if every round was perfect.
There were no horses & riders at this show that weren’t extremely talented and hadn’t put their time in (or you wouldn’t get thru the ingate & over the first jump). If I commented on everyone this blog would be 50 pages long (instead of 20ish) & none of you would read it.
For now it seems I have the attention of the upper peer of the sport so I’m going to keep things short enough to be entertaining but long enough to be a full meal. Cause I’m not gonna lie … it’s fun to put the real truth blatantly out there in a world so over run at times by stifling etiquette & cloak & dagger guerilla warfare still (in the US at least). It feels good to lighten things up a bit & smile with my fellow horseman (even just via cyberspace!)
Chapter 14 – The Next World Cup finals
So can we please have the next World Cup Finals in LaCrosse, Wisconsin? It has the highest bar per capita rate in the country. We can just get all the riders so inclined hammered & then we only have to worry about beating the sober ones. I’d think we could lose at least half the serious competition that way!
I know, I know, sportsmanship & horsemanship first Amy, as you so often preach. Well, you all should know the rule of law I grew up under … ‘winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.’ Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, in my world it’s in the water & the blood.
I mean Saudi Arabia for the next finals … really? … it’s sooo hot! & what is the likelihood of any female Grand Prix riders covering their faces? If I’m there & I open my mouth to do anything but breath there is a very good chance I’ll be shot or simply mysteriously disappear from existence).
I’m just kidding guys … calm down. I actually spent time with Prince Fiso of Saudi Arabia in Boston when I was a senior in high school. One of my best friends, Jennifer Comer’s father, at the time was an Army colonel in charge of security at Fort Devons, Massachusetts. So we all got to escort the prince for a weekend in Boston. He was the nicest guy in the world … he bought me a book I still have on John F. Kennedy at the Boston Museum.
Here’s a funny story … Prince Fiso wanted to know how much we thought it would cost to buy the USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy, sitting in the Harbor at the time). I remember us all laughing as we told him we were pretty sure the US government & the Department of Defense wouldn’t be too interested in parting with it, at any price.
He also made a point of making sure I knew in his country the women were treated like queens. Considering the fact that many of the women in his life probably were actual queens, I wasn’t completely convinced at the time of the sexual equality he was proclaiming (but maybe we’ll find out).
He was super interested in horse sport & the Atlanta, Georgia Olympics coming up, & was picking my brain a bit. But I was like 17 years old … so u know … probably not very useful.
I did eventually see his name in a few articles regarding those games though … he had managed to work his way in there somewhere. (A little purse with an unending stack of rolled up $100 bills will do that for you in this country. We American horse folks don’t care what your skin color is, your clothing looks like or your religion; these hay burners are expensive!)
Anyway, I am well aware that this culture has taken the pursuit of excellence in horsemanship very seriously for a long time (I’m sure well before our country was even a glimmer in the rebels of Europe's eyes). I’ve no doubt any World Cup Final the Saudi’s put on will be incredible.
And what true sport horseman wouldn’t love to see Saudi Arabia? No Arabian horses equals no thoroughbred equals us maxing out at about 1.10m in terms of an equine athletes jumping ability (even Cradilo had that thoroughbred & thus Turkish & Arabian blood back in there somewhere; no doubt about it!) & who knows, maybe the Prince Fiso we hung out with is still alive and into equestrian sport!
Chapter 15 - Back to coaching … my style
Anyway, coaching riders to success is a common theme in my career. You can only work with what you’ve got, attitude being paramount & 1st & foremost. But, you give me the right materials that I can see a vision for & I’m quickly (& often miraculously) dangerous. Which many trainers have already discovered & worked to remove & hide from the show industry (with George & a few others of God like status leading the charge).
But these kids-young people are a blast, especially when they are riders with a super cool horse. & I happen to feel like a fish in water enlightening & motivating them. Particularly when they are hungry & absorb it like a sponge … I just love it!! It’s almost as fun as riding at the highest level yourself!:)
It dawned on me after the event it wasn’t just about riding Hunter’s shirt tails that was happening here; there was a little bit of riding mine (though granted, significantly shorter and older but perhaps a little wiser) as well.
People were finally beginning to see the truth thru George & crews lies after the crazy push of the last show we performed in. Which I’ll admit, I’m OK with (sometimes flattery will get you everywhere; especially if you have something to offer) as long as I’m respected, acknowledged & actually paid according to results for my time, as any lifetime enduring pro would expect.
Because two heads are better than one & a team is an absolute requirement at this level of the sport. I told Brandie I’d only take 10% of the credit if she won, but since she didn’t & I was the only one that didn’t get to be there I’m going to take about a legit 90% as the coach on the ground putting things together & bringing out their best (& not seriously fin up what Brandie & I set into motion years & weeks ago).
Granted, I didn’t walk & talk course technicalities with her, but Hunter herself probably could have given every rider there tips on how to handle the layout of the jumps (myself included), so I wasn’t too worried about it.
& although I was strongly hinting about the type of distances I thought might be beneficial; I was leery to be overly demanding on that specific aspect. At that height every horse has their own style that tends to demand a very specific type of approach & take off at the jump. & it can change depending on the horse’s state. It’s something really only a top rider (preferably with an expert eye right there on the ground) can eventually feel & figure out.
And Hunter was winning in Ocala Grand Prixs & beating some of the top international riders in the world before I even met her at 18 years old. But Wellington, typical to form at that time, didn’t seem to be paying much attention.
Anyway, in my experience, it’s the overall tone of the ride that really makes a difference & has a chance of consistently generating clean rounds. So that’s what I have been & was pushing to analyze & discover & find a way to communicate to Hunter.
Chapter 16 - Acknowledgement
So in spite of the lack of acknowledgement for Amy’s role in this so far, (though I’d be shocked to hear any denials) you are probably feeling a lot of confidence coming from me as to exactly what happened; because there is no doubt in my analytical, engineering brain as well as to many of the other top horseman in the know (& probably most of them at that show).
I don’t blame Hunter, that’s for sure. I know there is pressure along the lines of … if you want to ride on International Teams in the future you are going to ride under blank trainer ________ (and that list of names definitely did not include Amy Hunter).
Like I’ve said so very many times … politics are so much fun. God forbid by bin good we slight the ego of any powers who think they may still control (at least they are desperately trying to) participation in up & coming international competitions.
I hold back a lot (believe it or not) because effective pros need to be respected & paid (not taken advantage of & then undermined, run over or tossed to the side). But this kid (you are a kid to me, don’t be offended) was demonstrating such inspiring heart & ability & a genuine love for this impressive & unusual mare that I decided to just take a chance.
I mean, I know she was riding for herself and her horse and family & coaches on the ground & fans & country; but as far as impressing with overall horsemanship & star quality; I’ve trained enough competitors to know she was mostly (or at least equally) riding for Ms. Viroqua, Wisconsin.
Mission accomplished kiddo … yet again you’ve knocked my socks off with graceful professional presentation & conduct, yet highly effective FEARLESS riding.
Don’t get too comfortable though. You know what I actually wanted (expected really). None of these top horseman (with all their countries & resources behind them, since our sport has a fan base more like that of NFL football in Europe) are going to be remotely interested in making that goal any easier for you. Especially with me needling them on, Muhammad Ali style. So there is still plenty of work to be done!:)
Chapter 17 - The Future … The 2024 Olympics …
So a bronze medal (with things going far from 100% right) in as competitive & tough a World Cup finals as any of us have witnessed … let’s hear it for the Hunters (seen & unseen!) If we can keep things on track with her equine superstar (that knew & eventually got exactly the kind of focus, attention & ride she wanted from her person, btw), Paris 2024 Olympics here we come!
Can we say serious infusion of fresh blood & profound overthrow of the US Olympic old boys club (which has obviously been the bane of me & my horse’s professional life for about three decades now!?)
This is a scenario that in my humble opinion is way overdue. I guess sometimes all good deeds actually DON'T go unpunished; & everything good does come back around.
Don’t be afraid folks … we all know how important those medals are to the world stage status. & I’d bet my life the best of US horsemanship is yet to be seen. But is it too much to ask that we not sacrifice the highest ideals of the American dream, competitive sportsmanship & ethics to thug our way to the toppish there?
I know we need a good solid anchor or two, but does it ALL have to be about money, power & status? This is a sport, right? Isn’t it supposed to be may the actual best guy (in this case horse guys) win?
I know I & a bunch of other horse people not necessarily born into or backed by billionaire status would sure appreciate the opportunity. & I’m going to take a wild gander & guess the horses we’ve given everything to be with & love more than life itself would appreciate the enduring honor & respect we demand for them as well.
Because after all … showing off their intensely wild power & speed, artistic elegant grace & sacrificial (enduring thru the ages) partnership with us is what this is supposed to be ALL about!
Chapter 18 - In Conclusion
So yeah … that FEI Omaha event was something. I felt like I ran an emotional marathon last week & I wasn’t even there (& I’m not sure if I’ll ever fully recover & get refocused on what’s right in front of me). But how cool … to be a part of it on such an intimate level. Wow!
Anyway, if I could take the entire experience we all just had, with its profound love & heart & mutual sacrifice; with the meaning of working out our differences & finding the actual truth on a horse’s back in a competition ring; if I could turn it into pixie dust & spread it over the entire world; I would bet my life out of control ego would begin to just melt away.
& as a myriad of problems resultantly disappeared we might find ourselves on the whole learning from, following & partnering with nature’s lead for once (rather than constantly working to blindly overpower it.) We could swiftly be living in a more fully balanced world that actually consistently worked to protect the innocent, as every mother in the animal kingdom so intensely knows how to do. & perhaps THEN it would begin to make some modicum of sense.
December 2022 ...
'Sometimes the Truth is Stranger than Fiction'
PREFACE
This blog is written for horse people; specifically for hunter-jumpers trainers and riders operating at a fairly high level. It’s why I am at times so technical in regards to horsemanship and don’t bother with explanations designed for the layman.
Horses (I would argue the most powerful & spiritually connected animal that has intimately partnered with & uplifted humans for eons) tend to prove to astute trainers & managers regularly, healing energy work is both real & highly effective. They also teach the actual TRAINERS pursuing the top of the sport how to not only subdue the horse’s ego (so that it is useful rather than damaging in regards to achieving a partnership), but also their own.
So serious REAL horseman (not necessarily those writing the biggest checks or winning the most ribbons), tend to be more connected, open minded & enlightened to some of the energetic concepts I explore & have come to believe in. Some of these methods were almost miraculously effective with the highly debilitated Grand Prix stallion I rehabbed & developed for & throughout Grand Prix level competition for 6 years named Cradilo, & all of my other horses on a lessor level as well.
If you are not a fairly sophisticated horseman, there is a very good chance what I’m writing is not going to make much sense. In that case rather than judging and concluding on concepts you can’t possibly understand (because believe it or not high level horsemanship is extremely technical, and the hunter-jumper industry itself is even more complicated), I recommend you not read the blog.
I’m not quite sure why it’s become required reading for all those connected to me (or who even know of me) but that was certainly not my intention. There is a reason this blog exists on a website dedicated to show jumping sport horses. Feel free to read it if you want to (it’s a free country, kind of) but commenting if you’ve barely touched a horse or jumped a fence or don’t even know who George Morris is, is nothing more than a demonstration of your absolute ignorance.
That being said, the specific blog below is not only about horses (though they are most certainly as always there). I'm addressing EVERYONE here. I don’t believe this is something I will do very often, because I am first and foremost a horseman working to improve an industry that has had some serious flaws which have directly long term influenced my career.
SOMETIMES THE TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION
I wasn’t planning on writing another blog until we went to our next horse show BUT I've had a few interactions that have inspired another address. After a rough week of putting my last aged thoroughbred broodmare down, a flat tire in the middle of the night after work, and stressful conversations with my attorney; I was excited to have a few downish days for the Thanksgiving Holiday. All things considered (the difficulty of first holidays when a fundamental family member has ‘shuffled off the mortal coil’) we were having a nice time of it.
Then a certain family member showed up extremely concerned (borderline freaking out) over an apparent rumor going around the internet that I’m crazy (an opinion that she seems to share, so I’m not sure if this was a warning, or making sure I know just who is in charge in my familial structure). So a group of us landed in a fairly big fight (with me alone defending myself) and I was thus inspired out of need yet again to battle with the power of the pen and write yet another thorough explanation regarding me, my business and all I believe in.
By the way, I should mention, these are the same close family members that told me, (when I told them George Morris was destroying my career & profession & he HAD to be removed from the sport), that George was probably just a nice old man & was definitely never going to be removed by USEF. How they thought they knew this (which they were clearly wrong about) when they’ve only been to a handful of the hundreds if not thousands of shows I’ve attended is beyond me (& one of these relatives is a self proclaimed horse hater). But there you have it laid out as it was & continues to be regardless of the mounting evidence against George and crew to the contrary.
Anyway crazy?; OK??? … how many crazy people do you know that earn broad engineering degrees from a top school, stick with a hard challenging business for decades while under the constant attack of a powerful billionaire and still continue to succeed and influence the industry, and have a blog that upwards of 15,000 people (about half of which are probably the upper echelon of international society) are reading and have been reading for working on a decade now?
Furthermore, if you know anything about training sensitive powerful performance horses (which I’ll admit, many of you do not) they do not respond well to the irrational confusing state of crazy. They respond to a clear, consistent, safe, and highly controlled environment.
Male chauvinist pigs have been using two words to completely undermine and dismiss what are often strong, threatening, potentially highly successful women for hundreds of years … ‘she’s crazy’. That’s all they have to say, and the entire world seems to believe they have some hidden PhD in psychiatry and tends to agree once it becomes mob style popular. Some of the worst chauvinist pigs I’ve met are women, and they are certainly part of the reason sexism is every bit (if not more) of a problem in this world than racism.
We’ve already had a black President … the country screamed no way (and voted in a racist sexist playboy billionaire with a highly questionable background) at the mere thought of a female president. These chauvinist women are so lost to their own power and enamored with men; they’ll sell out their own sex just to be viewed favorably by and included in a relationship, an old boys club controlled community, or a clearly patriarchal society.
For those of you buying into this trend regarding me, has it occurred to you that everything on the internet isn’t necessarily true (such as I guess multiple comments somewhere stating I’m crazy?) And by the way, you should know I rarely read Facebook reactions or comments. I’m putting information out there because I know it’s an important part of promoting a business these days … especially you want to be cutting edge. But I’m not remotely interested in partaking in the know it all gallery’s popularity contest (likes & dislikes or comments). That would draw me regularly into a useless ego battle that would inhibit my ability to connect spiritually & put my truth out there.
Regardless, do you know how easy it is for a high ten figure billionaire to manipulate facebook? I MYSELF could get on there and create 100 aliases and make 100 nasty comments on one potent writer with some different theories to start an unpleasant trend.
George Morris convinced one of the most financially potent, educated, recreational sports and industries that exists that he was a great guy … a lover of children and horses. Yeah, he definitely loves children, a little too much; and some of his old boy friends have been permanently removed from the sport for breaking horse’s legs and committing insurance fraud. Multiple books by reputable authors have been written on the extreme corruption of the U.S. Hunter Jumper industry. But you think the man that ran the sport for 50 years and collected many billions of dollars in the process is really just a misunderstood good guy?
I can tell you from personal experience (with outside witnesses) these guys have hired hackers that are tapping into wire transfers and influencing paypal accounts; they are altering website analytics, reading and disappearing emails, facebook messages, and phone texts.
According to google George has mysteriously lost most of his wealth in the last several years. How do you lose $86 billion when you are collecting a half a billion a year on interest alone (at least)? Yeah … he’s lost the money alright … to hidden Swiss and Cayman Island bank accounts. No doubt being close friends with what was the current (and now ex) President has had its benefits.
And that’s the perfect demonstration and the act of someone who is definitely totally innocent and wrongly accused … disappearing piles of money. But manipulating facebook comments for what I’ll admit is a marketing genius (who certainly knows how to train masses of humans a heck of a lot better than horses) is challenging. Come on guys … just open your mind a teeny weeny bit and give it a LITTLE thought.
How many movies have we seen in which the main character is running around trying to save themselves from whatever nefarious force is working to quietly take them and all those close to them out, fighting back while the entire world is screaming that they have lost their minds and must be stopped? Sometimes Hollywood gets it 100% right (many are spiritually tapped in artists after all) and highlights the old saying that ‘truth is often stranger than fiction’.
My new favorite series is the Terminal List with Chris Pratt. For those of us who feel we’ve been totally and brutally screwed by a corrupt industry that only cares about the bottom line, the sense of holding to your truth and doing whatever it takes to achieve justice in this story is truly satisfying. I definitely feel an alignment with the main character.
While there is one major bad guy in my life, it’s taken far more than one person to accomplish the hidden devastation and attack I’ve had to deal with. I absolutely have a list, and while I CAN understand an eye for an eye philosophy, I DO NOT believe in murder, obviously. Let me make that 100% clear here, so this analogy isn’t twisted and misunderstood and used against me.
However, I can totally understand the need for truth and justice (regardless of whether the gullible masses recognize it) and a willingness to do whatever it takes, down to your last breath, to accomplish it. My list consists of punishments of USEF suspensions and lawsuits. And unlike The Terminal List series I’ve started at the top and I’m going to work my way down.
I’m not particularly happy with how things have been going within the industry in spite of our impressive showing this past fall. So, the grace period is over and I’m about to start digging out contracts starting with the most high powered players (forget my letting you off the hook in the past) and sending them to USEF. I strongly recommend USEF take them seriously regardless of my current state within the organization or USEF will be added to my list as well (something that would not be that hard for me to justify given the last experience I had with one of your licensed stewards).
So I strongly recommend a few of you shake a leg, stop listening to and playing along with the George pawns (and I don’t care how many championships they’ve won) and start helping to promote this incredible rock solid up and coming world beating mare that I’m selling for what I consider the deal of the century. And I’m talking like yesterday. Because it’s just going to take one email with a document attached to seriously shake up the U.S. Hunter-Jumper hierarchy more than I already have.
HOW I SEE IT
Ok, time to switch gears. I know some of how I see the world is confusing to those who hold to popular belief. That does not make me wrong. Galileo knew the world was round when EVERYONE believed it was flat, and his society incarcerated him for pressing and holding to that truth. I could list 100 influential cutting edge thinkers who were persecuted and no one believed until they were long gone. Society often balks at the truth when it confronts and contradicts popular thought. People have a physical stake in holding to their beliefs, and it takes WORK to change them.
I will describe very clearly and simply here exactly how I see the world. Because the reality of it is, I’ve been holding back. I’m very aware of how threatening and hard to hear some of this information is (particularly if I’m right) … so I have been couching my words and beliefs regarding what I have learned from my unusual experiences.
As a preface, the foundation of much of what I will be talking about can be found in multiple books written by PhD psychologists, psychiatrists, and theoretical physicists, if this seems that far out there to you. I’m not going to put a bibliography here because I’ve done it before, and this is not a book (though that is coming someday), it’s an equestrian blog.
My personal take on all of it is a little different than anything I’ve ever read or seen, but we all have different experiences and perspectives that lead us to interesting new conclusions. That is what being a cutting edge thinker is all about (as I can almost guarantee no one who followed the peanut galleries opinions, or what I like to call the know it all gallery, has ever singularly changed the world for the better in a major way). Remember that, when you are collecting in groups and attacking another’s beliefs and philosophy.
We are all energetically made up of two main parts. We all have a soul (when we first come to this world at least) and we all have an ego. Soul is represented by spiritual light energy. Ego represents both the physical and a dark heavy energy.
Both forces connect directly to their larger counterparts. There is a spiritual realm that exists and holds our larger selves and the forces of creation, goodness and God if you want to call him or her that; and there is a realm of darkness. I don’t know where they are exactly (I doubt there is anyone living who does) but I suspect both are in a way right on top of us via another dimension. As one of my favorite spiritual leaders (Mike Beckwith) likes to say, ‘the veil is thin’. Meaning the curtain between various dimensions and worlds can be accessed if you are sensitive and attuned.
The spiritual realm is the source of all life, and the source of all knowledge. It is literally the light; of truth, of creative power, and of all things living. It is comparable to an electrical current continuously and benevolently sourcing us and our world. The dark realm is a place of ego. It is the dualistic opposite that always exists in the physical realm. In this world there can not be hot without cold, life without death, and there can not be light without darkness.
For this very simple explanation of how I see a system that is extremely complex, our souls are sourced by spirit. Ego, or the dark realm, is sourced by our (human’s) dark thoughts. A prolific spiritual teacher has said a human mind’s creative power is so strong, that when you think a thought, that thought then has the power to think itself. This is extreme and sort of boggles the brain, BUT, it supports my belief that the dark ego controlled realm is a force and an entity within itself created and supported by us.
So if the law of attraction is true (like attracts like) then all things light and spiritual are drawn to and return to that realm, and all dark thoughts and that which is created by them is drawn to and becomes a part of the dark realm. The same way the spiritual realm could be called God or heaven, the dark realm can be (and has been) called the Devil or hell.
And we can tap into either realm with our thoughts and our feelings. As a matter of fact, every thought and feeling we have does just that. As Jesus said, you can not serve two masters. This is what he meant. While both ego and soul exist in most of us simultaneously, at any given moment of focus and choice, you are either coming from a place supported by spirit (i.e. you are in alignment with your soul or higher self’s intention) or you are coming from a place supported by ego (I.e. you are in alignment with ego’s intention).
Even though ego is OUR creation, it has become an entity with a life and a personality all its own. It has intentions. This is why it has been given the personae of the Devil for thousands of years. Because while it ultimately can not compete with the power of spirit, it is still a very large, well fed (given our current state of human civilization) and powerful force.
It influences those connected to it and works to achieve its personal goals. And those goals are simple … to usurp and compete with spirit and to become a God itself of sorts. There are entire thousand page books that describe ego (A Course in Miracles is one of them) but basically the human ego I am speaking of does not respect or love that which created it and seeks to ultimately conquer or destroy all of life.
It is both extremely intelligent, as it has lived and manipulated humans for thousands of years, and extremely insane (as if it could destroy life it would ultimately destroy itself). I think of this entity as the Joker from the Batman story; a powerful scary enemy you would really prefer to not have directly influencing your world because you know it’s going to end badly.
Jesus called the Devil the Prince of this World. The reason he called him that is because most of human society is ego controlled. Spirit is there in all of creation (as those inventing and innovating and building and producing and teaching at some level are usually tapped in, which means connected to spirit) but there is always some big ego working to take that which they did not earn or make from those who did. They are often willing to do whatever it takes (including the threat of or actual physical violence) to accomplish this theft.
Out of control human ego wants unending resources and power, while an animal’s instinctual ego wants to survive. An animal’s ego ultimately automatically subdues itself to spirit's intentions. It is violent, but only out of the necessity to survive. An ego subdued to spirit is a useful and necessary entity in the physical world.
An ego working to dominate spirit is the very definition and ‘source’ of evil. Yes, evil is not sourced by spirit. But it does clearly exist (all you have to do is take a look around). And it continues to exist for a reason … it is sourced by human thought; and an unwillingness to confront it, subdue it, and put it in its rightful secondary place.
As I said we all have an ego. We have to take that ride if we are going to be in the physical body. The difference between out of control ego and an ego that’s been subdued is the difference between a horse you can ride that will carry you to wherever you want to go and a horse that will ultimately throw you. Only spirit can subdue ego. The same way only a top master horseman can subdue and train an extremely difficult and athletic horse. Your will alone will not accomplish it.
In our current society (detached from nature, 100% dependent on money and most subduing willingly to all those who possess the bulk of it), if you are not spiritually tapped in on a fairly regular basis, you will be ego controlled. This means you will automatically subdue to the intentions of a force far bigger than you … in many ways often becoming intellectually and emotionally a puppet on a string.
I suppose one could argue subduing to spirit is the same thing, but spirits intentions for us are ultimately strength, self empowerment and freedom, while out of control ego’s ultimate intentions for us are slavery. It represents the perfect definition of arrogance (believing you can overcome and separate from God) and with every additional acquisition (first a person’s mind and then all of the resources and power it can convince that person they must have to be considered successful) it convinces itself and those it controls it is in fact a God in it’s own right.
Ego controls with manipulation and deceit. Spirit influences with inspiration. Ego rewards its followers willing to overlook morals and ethics in exchange for power; with money, camaraderie and recognition among the ego controlled. Spirit rewards its followers with a sense of self, intellectual freedom, strength and clarity. Ego seeks to destroy those who follow spirit and works to dominate them while spirit works to free and enlighten those who enslave themselves to ego (for the comfort and ease it is willing to temporarily supply).
So, that is the slightly boring description (sorry, it had to be done) of how I see the world. Here is the more interesting description.
I look at say a stallion and I think, OK, he has an ego and a soul. His ego is interested in eating, shelter from extreme weather, avoiding being eaten by a predator, and chasing away or potentially killing other males so he can breed.
His soul is here with a higher intention. If it wanted to be wild he would not have come to me. He has come here to pursue excellence with humans via the sport of show jumping and to demonstrate a spiritual connection and co creation across species in a powerful and beautiful way.
He is also here to teach me in his own special way, as I am here to help him to control the wild instinctual ego focused purely on survival and procreation. We are evolving together. How do I subdue his ego without enslaving his spirit? How do we peacefully and powerfully partner all of these complicated moving components?
I look at a human, say a student or a friend or a family member, and I think, OK, she has an ego and a soul. Which one is running her life? If she truly is spiritually tapped in, we are going to have a great time together. We will get along, we will respect each other, we’ll smile and laugh a lot, and the disagreements will be few and gentle and easily avoided by focusing on the good things in life. What’s important to her? Is it a love of the horse or a love of the learning or a love of family and friendship and camaraderie and sharing all we’ve learned about life while we’ve been apart?
Or is there some manipulation and deceit and control happening? Is she pretending to be one thing to me (or to those with any ethics at all) and then working to undermine me behind my back for whatever attention or property and success she can acquire? Can she justify any and all of her behavior as long as it leads to approval from the ego controlled peanut gallery and more power? If she is ego controlled, when the truth finally comes out it’s going to be ugly.
Because unlike so many spiritually tapped in and playing nice with an ego controlled society, I’m not going to subdue to smooth things out and fit in. The good guys are as much responsible for the poor state of the world as the bad guys are. They don’t want to fight with ego, because as things stand it often leads to an unpleasant sacrificial lifestyle. They would rather coast and be comfortable than fight to put ego in the secondary state it belongs in.
Well, if the ego of this world becomes too big and bold there will be no more coasting. There was no subduing Hitler if you were of the wrong descendancy in the wrong location. And eventually there will be no avoiding and smoothing things over with out of control ego if it becomes dominant enough. If you are consistently spiritually tapped in and strong enough to stand in its way, you will eventually be hated and a target.
At any rate, which place is this person in most of the time? Are they solidly in one place or are they swinging back and forth repeatedly trying to figure it out? Do they go from loving you to hating you in an instant, without any real or valid reason? Is most of society pulling and dragging them in one direction and the beauty of the horses and the farm and nature just not enough to keep them from becoming completely lost in the darkness? I think I’ll just stick with the horses as much as possible for a while; they are less complicated.
In the meantime, every spiritually tapped in entity I meet is a friend. The big welcoming smile of a young girl on a cute pony passing me by at a horse show, an interesting and healing 5 minute conversation with a stranger, the wag of a dog’s tail, the quiet loving nicker of a horse waiting for breakfast, a helpful neighbor pulling my rig down the road in the middle of the night, a kind text from a friend, the warmth of the sun or a bird’s song … it’s everywhere. Seen and unseen powerful forces working to keep me going and pursuing my dream in spite of all of the obstacles. It’s the reason I’m still here and still trying. You simply don’t have to look very hard or far to find that camaraderie if you are tapped in.
And every ego controlled human I meet is a potential enemy … not to be trusted. I hate to be so harsh, but a lifetime of experience has created that opinion. If they aren’t working to tap in spiritually in a very big and regular way and they are a member of normal western society, they are probably a risk. It is just a matter of time before they are going to flip to the will of their true master, and there is nothing I can do to stop it (other than to maybe write about it here).
They might not even be aware of what they are doing but they will not see the truth, even if it is obvious and staring them in the face. Because their mind is literally immersed in and controlled by darkness, meaning they are easily deceived and manipulated.
Looking at it from a broader perspective, our world is being taken for a ride by ego. We are on a big, powerful, athletic, aged untrained horse that is getting nothing but pets when he’s running us through a barbed wire fence. He's bucking fiercely, throwing us off, stomping us into the ground & breaking a few bones. Most of us are letting him get away with it … & still rewarding him & trying to ride because we have to if we want to experience the physical without a major, painful battle.
In the meantime, human society is rewarding & feeding that giant egomaniac because he’s really good at corruptly collecting money, & punishing the spirit connected master trainers that are willing to fight & sacrifice to get him under control. The masters are often struggling financially because guess what?; spirit doesn’t care about ginormous piles of money nearly as much as it cares about truth & connection & the freedom that can be expressed & lived when out of control ego isn’t constantly ruining everything.
So, that ego needs to be brought under control … whatever it takes. & he (& all those he influences and puppets) are going to throw a fit because he’s led & had his way forever with so many. Unfortunately, he’ll do us in if we are not careful, because he is psychotically determined to maintain power. Once the needed dominant creator & rider, spirit led humans, have him under control, THEN we can have a good working partnership & an amazing society that is considerably fairer & less painful for ALL of us.
So you get the idea. I could honestly go on and on explaining why I see the world this way and how many other artists are seeing the same thing and describing it without even really knowing it. Jesus was describing exactly this when he spoke of evil (using words such as ‘get behind me Satan, they know not what they do, only one has been lost, etc’); as if there was a force outside of Judas and the others that murdered him influencing the situation. But I’ll save all that for the book or future blogs and keep this one in the realm of reasonable length.
YOU MIGHT BE EGO CONTROLLED IF …
I do have one last little monologue of sorts that’s been running through my head this week (that perhaps will lighten this up a bit and make a few people laugh). I’m sure it’ll offend more than a few sensitive egos as well, but it wouldn’t be a blog by Amy if I didn’t accomplish that task.
Given that I’m surrounded by rednecks here in Vernon County (and I would have to admit I am probably about half redneck myself) I’ve got a new ‘you might be a redneck if’ (which I happen to think is often hysterical) … followed by ‘you might be ego controlled if’ (which probably won’t be as funny, but I bet it’s enlightening if you really think about it).
‘You might be a redneck if … you have a full deer carcass laying in your front yard being dragged around and chewed on by all the neighborhood dogs for days on end.’
I mention this because I’m positive it’s a sight I never would have seen in a million years in the local I went to high school in, and because it’s really hard to train a 10 month old puppy to stick around the farm (even when you live on 135 acres) when there is a fresh meat free for all a little ways down the road.
SIMILARLY …
‘You might be ego controlled if … you hate all dogs and or horses.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you think long term fooling someone into believing you are a friend when you are actually plotting their demise is a useful and perfectly acceptable strategy to getting ahead or acquiring whatever it is you are after.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you believe as long as they aren’t in jail yet their methods of acquiring wealth and success are perfectly acceptable and these folks make for good companionship or leadership.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you have a tendency to regularly swing between both loving and hating the same person within a few minutes, a few hours or a few days.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … If you are on what you believe is the perfect path & have everything you ever thought you wanted & needed, & yet are still completely miserable a whole lot of the time.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you are more worried about what everyone else says & thinks & does than your own hearts desire & souls inspiration.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you watch the innocent murdered on a screen daily & think it sucks for them but I’m ok, so I’m not going to worry about it too much.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you don't realize we are all made up of the same basic energetic stuff, and we are all connected & working as a whole spiritually. What happens to one of us happens to all of us; & there is no total peace, freedom & joy until the human world gains control of its collective ego & stops the enslavement & unwarranted excessive destruction of life.’
‘You might be ego influenced if … you believe there is no evil, no dark ego, & no spiritual or karmic consequences to a complete lack of morals & greed. Because if you glance in the direction of free nature (spirits purest demonstration of itself in the physical), you’ll notice every action has at times brutal & always definitive consequences.'
‘You might be ego controlled if … you like to eat sushi (gross!)’ Just kidding:)
‘You might be ego controlled if … you judge a person’s success and worth by their bank account. Period. End of story.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you feel children and spouses are private property meant to be emotionally or religiously or in whatever way possible beaten into submission.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you believe your religion is the truth and anyone who even imagines to believe in anything else is evil and must be exorcised from your world.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you believe your political party is the truth and the answer to the world's problems and everyone else is evil and must be exorcised from your world.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you believe anyone that doesn’t think like or look like or behave like or write like you is evil and must be exorcised from your world.’
‘You might be ego controlled if … you find yourself highly offended by a blog written by an innocent horsewoman who has spent her life trying to follow her dreams and beat back the bad guys who find the fact that she has decent horses and is pretty good at what she does without a trust fund (how dare she be that good without being in our piles of money club) unacceptable.’
‘You might be spiritually tapped in you read the same blog and think … hmmm … she brings up some interesting points that I shall ponder and consider. Apparently her unusual experiences have given her a different perspective that’s worth contemplating. She certainly has every right to freely without emotional, financial and literary attack pursue her dreams (like all of us) and believe and write whatever the heck she wants!!!’:)
October 2022 ...
the Minnesota Harvest Horse Show and a whole bunch of other stuff
FINAL DRAFT
PREFACE
Thanks to the ability to accurately monitor website hits (if you find the right app that hasn’t been hacked by an incredibly controlling tricky billionaire), I know this piece has a large and international audience; from the regular Joes like me (who like to shake the foundations of justice every once in a while just to remind people it does still exist for normal people) to the rich, the powerful and the very famous (you don’t even want to know).
I’m also sure it’s being ripped to shreds, which is why I’ve gone into such detail. I felt a pressing need to put most of the ideas out as quickly as possible, so I sort of speed wrote this after the Minnesota Harvest. Now that I’ve had some time I realize I’ve missed entire paragraphs and concepts so I’m going to finish what I would like to call my first draft and do a little expanding and editing. Changes in the final draft are an addition of #3) Working Students and additions to #2) Politics and #7) The Minnesota Horse Show.
Don’t expect perfect (or any) grammar at all however. It’s kind of how I feel about riding the hunters … I’ll try my best for posterity's sake but I’m a little too battle worn and tired right now to worry too much about it. Any publisher-editors out there that want to clean up a highly explosive might get the author shot blog … for free? 😊
Anyway, I hope most of you reading this are smiling in spite of the strange mix of the beautiful wonder of great horses and their adoring human’s performing and the general horror of the people working hard to manipulate all aspects of both.
This is a long one … some I’m going to give you guys a
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Satire
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Politics
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Working Students
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I know who I am
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Pick a side
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Battle
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The Minnesota Harvest Horse Show
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CROSS TYING A HORSE BY THE BIT, (the Noavel halter and Shoeing)
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Blackballing and the Industry
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Standing Wraps
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Bits
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Footing-Florida
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Posting the canter and riding with a long rein
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Ace of Spades, aka Lion or Lionel, as a breeding stallion
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SATIRE
Just to change things up, I’m going to start this blog a little differently this time around. Here is a little satire that has been running thru my head this past week. This is me imagining some of the guys who at least think that they run this industry talking, who were definitely watching this show planning for next year (because they clearly strategized for this year).
‘Hey, can we please get one or two people from the last Olympic Games to go ride in the Minnesota Harvest Grand Prix in 2023? You know Minnesota … it’s a state West of Wisconsin and those 5 big lakes. Amy’s trying to make a run on the Grand Prix circuit AGAIN (what is this, like the 6th horse of her own making she’s taken to the big stuff; how ridiculous & pitiful is that? You don’t need to understand em; you just need to write a check, look good & spur em around). If she even gets around the course next year it’s a potential disaster. So can you bring your Olympic horses (if you haven’t sold them for a billion gazillion dollars to one of Middle Eastern princes yet?)
There are too many eyes watching right now to actually put her in the ground (and my God, people are actually starting to like her; but so many of us wanna do it, it would solve a lot of problems; I mean come on, who in the Grand Prix world doesn’t love kiss ass back room deals & corruption?) But let’s at least emotionally & financially drive her back into the ground. Maybe USEF will stop trying to act like they run the sport (how dare they), continue to let us do whatever we want, & she’ll never re surface again.
& can we get some horses that have never or barely ever shown? We’ve got to address this showing up out of nowhere issue she’s been doing her entire career & beating out imports that have been to 5000 shows under top European professional riders (but we still performance drug em here just to be safe).
I mean, the entire idea of getting her gone is backfiring because the financial disaster of it was suppose to force her to sell the horses to us for pennies on the dollar. & now she’s showing up after 5 years & getting ribbons in almost every class on horses that have mostly barely shown?
Will $86 billion allow us to genetically engineer & speed grow a top show jumper … & can we program all the training into it? We don’t wanna mess with horsemanship … it just needs to be like a car. No one will know. It’ll be just like importing them; they’ll think we trained it up & came outta no where!
Can we also get Hunter back on something with as little to no thoroughbred blood as possible? Now that this kid has discovered the power of pure speed & endurance in the form of a half thoroughbred & has learned how to ride & manage it (from Amy’s horse, Deluca-Momma Ace), we’ll soon never be able to beat her.
If she’s got to be on something with thoroughbred in it, can we just make sure it’s registered with whatever random warmblood registry so only a few people know … don’t let that horse’s real pedigree get out.
Well, if they can spot thoroughbred blood in a horse from a mile away on a small screen 10 feet from their face & are competitive breeders … I guess we’ll just have to take em out. We’ve got a few pharmacists on the books …
Because we’ve been mostly dumbing our horses down for Americas ambitious but green (when it comes to effectiveness) riders. We certainly don’t wanna share any credit with racehorse breeders for show jumpers (especially not American ones), so there is as little hot blood as possible in most of our horses. I mean there has to be some in even the heaviest jumper or they’d do nothing but trip over or go thru a jump. But you know, fly that info under the radar.
I mean how are we going to manipulate & control Hunter (& her growing group of fans) if at least one of our old boy’s boys can’t beat her?; or at least keep her convinced we are going to beat her. We’ve been riding these nice easy horses for so long half the top guys don’t even know how ride the slightest amount of heat anymore. & now these kids are coming along comfortable jumping huge on that kind of up, crazy lightning speed? This is a disaster.
These women are going to end up running the entire sport. Next thing you know they are gonna have the gall to try to sell a horse & actually make a profit when everyone knows it’s the men that sell for all the profit. You just make the horses good & give ‘em to us, try not to break your neck (unless your name is Amy Hunter, maybe we’ll get lucky & the 2nd broken neck will finally do her in), & we’ll try to help you not lose money. If you are a good quiet girl we may even allow you to continue to breath & go to the shows occasionally.
It’s the sport of KINGS, not the sport of queens or princesses. The entire patriarchal world could be upset by this … this is a matter of golf or death … we gotta get on this! Wait … let me put my cigar down first. Does anyone here know how to ride a horse? How is it we r controlling this industry again … especially now that George is out?
.
You get the idea … satire is so fun. You can make interesting points & make people laugh all at the same time:)
2. POLITICS
Anyway, I’m not happy with any of the parties or politicians or how the government is being run. I want the ‘we care about all gods creations equally, but if you put one foot out of line we are going to kick ur ass from here to next sunday, (& don’t even think about corruptly bribing us. Because bribery is the polar opposite of what we the people r all about, and we will put your butt in jail for an excessively long time for it’) … party. & I don’t see that actually happening anywhere.
Unless I’m 100% sure that politician is not completely full of it, I’m going to start voting for whatever random independent is on the ballot. Maybe if enough people start doing that someone will come up with a party & some rules that actually work (instead of two sides who are BOTH so corrupt & diametrically opposed they can’t seem to get anything done but ignoring & screwing over the people). & you wonder why Trump was able to fan the flames of people’s anger & frustration so easily? Gee, I can’t imagine.
I’m going to make these guys work for my vote (not just assume I’ll have to vote for them because the alternate party is so completely corrupt). If a bunch of us did maybe they would start to become useful and begin to think about how they can genuinely help the people rather than focusing on what they can do to help themselves (like just existing there under the constant assault of a party made up of 99% wealthy tyrants).
I’m fine with a new politician every term (especially if it’s a woman perhaps thinking about something other than how to take over the world) if that’s what it takes to actually get something done. You guys don’t need to work in the same spot for five decades. If you are one of the good guys move around a little … make it hard for them to catch you.
Or train up some replacements and bow out and let someone with a bigger sword and a little more fire to actually fight back and do some damage step in. That’s what the bad guys do. They’ve got a line of up and coming assholes they are constantly working on, just waiting to step in and be even more brutal (a little smarter and less obvious) than they were.
You guys tend to live in your own little worlds. But since you are the now & future leaders of this one you may want to begin to pay better attention. Because if things get too bad spirit & Mother Nature will hit the reset button. & then we are starting over … it’s back to the Stone Age. & I don’t foresee many A rated hunter-jumper horse shows in that future scenario.
OMG, is she really gonna go after Trump? Half the countries gonna hate her with this blog & if he or any of his mob catches wind she’s gonna have a serious problem.
Too late … I’m already there. Between the VA completely ignoring my families desperate attempt to get some real help for my dying father who gave EVERYTHING to this country, multiple lawsuits (the most recent against the state) I should of inarguably won at the hands of supposed ‘justices’ (justice is a ridiculous word to describe most of the judges I’ve come across in this country), a past best friend who is a high ranking officer working for the Pentagon abruptly brutally turning on me & leading a revolt among my students … & a federal bankruptcy trustee literally trying to steal my horses out from under me (with one of my ex client George pawns & crew in her ear) I’ve already figured out it’s not just George & crew I’ve been up against here.
Take my case with Wisconsin Unemployment …
I was bartending years prior but according to Wisconsin Unemployment my layoff had nothing to do with Covid when the bar I was at was literally forced to close down because of Covid. Plus I had a business I was losing money on (guess what that is?; as it turns out horses eat a lot) which qualified me for every drop of unemployment as well, but these guys still figured out a way to screw me.
Both the Republicans and the Democrats, who are too afraid to stand up to the 99% Trump controlled rethuglicans, because that means you might actually have to grow a spine & fight. Instead of giving endless speeches about how great the world is going be if we can just get along with the egomaniacal tyrants trying to blow up the entire planet.
The only way any sensible person is going to get along with these guys, if you are not a millionaire well on your way to being a billionaire, is if you allow yourself to be tied up to a chain gang line & help them to build another Egyptian pyramid.
So, they screw me out of like $30k plus damages and dragged me thru the mud for years wasting months of my time on what’s basically a technicality, during the single worse year the United States has collectively gone thru in like 200 plus years.
I know George has pull, but I don’t remember him lining up every government agency with his little army of evil doers (George’s minions just like to hang out at horse shows or in the shadows on social media). Remember the very public lining of the Pentagon right before Trump was removed?
Or on a more personal note, important emails have disappeared. There have been major problems with companies like PayPal or clipmyhorse.tv. I’ve had other bizarre things happening; like international wire transfers getting lost, getting in fights with big international organizations that act like they know me somehow; it’s been intense and ongoing. The type of things that never happened in my 46 years of life before Donald Trump became president in 2016.
Anyway, trying to ignore or avoid or placate the George tyrant for decades did me absolutely zero good, & I’m sure the same could be said about his ex presidential friend who seems to be cut out of the same cloth. And how do I know they are friends? Because a few years back (maybe tenish) Trump hosted the main event Grand Prix at a huge horse show in Central Park, New York City, New York, with all the big name riders attending.
I’m not talking about a sign on the side of the ring with his name on it … it was the TRUMP GRAND PRIX. And believe me, when George was in power, there was no hosting anything in the Grand Prix world, especially in New England, without his very specific and very deliberate thumbs up. They might as well have put a bright neon flashing sign on the side of the ring saying … ‘GEORGE MORRIS AND DONALD TRUMP ARE GOOD FRIENDS!’
You know, normally I don’t get involved in politics these days. But when I know someone with the kind of power Trump has managed to collect is probably playing golf in West Palm with conning, mobbed up murdering child molesters, I tend to take notice. If you wanna alienate me because of that then your ethics tell me you are probably not quite the kind of person I want to involve myself with anyway, because like attracts like.
If you really know who these people are (and let’s face it, most of my non horsey family & friends do not) you eventually realize they are seriously scary. The big egos put you in an impossible situation and then blame you for being in an impossible situation. & we want them leading the country again!? Are you guys f---ing crazy? Maybe he’ll actually succeed at an attempted coup this time & instead of the United States of America we can be the United States of Fascism… a bright shining light of dictatorship for all the world to admire & look up to.
I know we want to keep the taxes down so we can upgrade to that bigger yacht next year, but is it really worth succumbing the entire planet to the forces of darkness & welcoming in the 4 horseman of the apocalypse? Is giving an extra couple of percent of your worth to U.S. Government so they can hopefully take a little better care of the population that helped to make you so wealthy really that horrible for you?
& while we are at it as we are touting freedom, let’s make the concept of societal slavery official so the peons can feel good about it. The Communist did it, & look at those guys at the top. Their mansions & offices are way bigger & prettier than ours.
it’s getting a little crazy up in here … can we please hit the stop & reset button? To a bunch of guys in weird suits with feathered pens a few centuries ago sitting around trying to figure out how to get out from under a maniacal monarchy & never let a small upper class run a ginormous group of citizens again?
Because I’m pretty sure the sort of situation I find myself in is not what they envisioned for us as standard operating procedure. & it doesn’t matter whether some of the elite upper class (or some ex students who are bin totally puppeted by them because they are not strong enough to stand firm against ungodly amounts of money & power, or they simply need to justify their incredibly WRONG, horrendous, traitorous, deceitful and spying narc like primitive tribal behavior) think about me.
3. WORKING STUDENTS
This section is currently being edited ... I will have new version up within a day or two.
4. I KNOW WHO I AM
I’m clear & connected enough to know who I am. I’m human & make mistakes but I am one of the best people I know; everyone who spends time with me (especially with my horses) & doesn’t immediately succumb to the increasing barrage of George pawn deceits & manipulations & bribes (like my most recent working student and her parents); benefits. They have fun; & they walk away stronger & better people (& often times with a huge Nationally or Internationally recognized accomplishment). Which is why they tend to stick around in terms of years & decades rather than days & months …as is so often the case with students in hard demanding sports.
It’s the reason I have friends all over the country & the world, who I may not have seen or spoken to in years (because I just don’t have that kind of time) but every time I go somewhere I spend half my time catching up with old friends. Thankfully several quite intelligent, well adjusted & powerful folks in their own right have figured out my horses & I are worth having around.
Everything else is just a lie conjured up by the peanut gallery so they can justify & control. It’s not pretty, but guess what?, I don’t care!:) Because I happily know who I am & enjoy that which I am surrounded by.
5. PICK A SIDE
So pick a side & get on board because we are lining up on the battle field. It’s just what’s energetically happening in the world everywhere right now. If you try to play both sides the George’s of the world are going to put your back to the wall & make you pick theirs (your indecisiveness alone makes you their pawns).
They can’t take all the pros out of this sport guys. Unless George is gonna buy an army & take on the US military & police force this is going to end. & if they don’t stop NOW a lot of people are not only going to be suspended, but they are going to go to jail.
Thou shall not kill. It’s the first super important lesson of the day. Murder (or mysterious accidents) is not a valid solution to someone who is thinking about blowing their whistle because they no longer want to be a sell out, or to your competition that may be doing a better job than you. If you are even aware of a homicide, or encouraging it, or don’t speak up about it, you don’t have to pull the trigger (or spray or drop god only know what) to be what’s called an accomplice.
& you WILL go to jail for that. Maybe not for life … but I bet you won’t be doing any Grand Prixs or stewarding any horse shows anytime soon (if ever) by the time you get out. & you will be a beaten down sad person. A little how I’m feeling right about now. & you guys think it’s entertaining that you got me out? It’s kind of funny because I deserved it because I beat all of you a few times on multiple self made horses in Grand Prixs in Mason City, Iowa?
I could get every one of you I’ve been involved with (that’s been pulling this crap) removed from this sport, at least temporarily. Especially with the new Code of Conduct you probably ALL broke this past week; & the fact that about half of the pros (& a bunch of amateurs) know exactly what’s going on.
Your little mafia godfather who you are pretending isn’t even gone & has no idea of who I am, doesn’t have the power to stop that. I wish he had idea no of who I was. You do remember I rode under Chris, showed George a sale horse & cliniced under him, right? If you think there is a single past, present or potentially future Grand Prix rider or horse George isn’t 100% aware of (as long as he’s still drawing breath) you are completely clueless as to how the higher levels of this sport has been working for about the past 50 years.
At any rate, he couldn’t stop his own removal. Do you really think he’s going to stop yours? It may be years later, but my horses & I are still here, and he is not.
So Yeah, it might not be a bad idea to politely acknowledge me, smile & look to have interesting little conversations with me (& be thrilled that I have a gracious memory. You should be hugely relieved I tend to focus on the good times & appreciate & support ALL successful pursuit of excellence, not just my friends & family, & everyone else has a red dot on their head).
Unfortunately, you guys are going to find out soon just how very serious I am. I was financially blackballed yet once again this past week. I had a great thing going with a SOLID new potential serious client (& yes, the 13 year old beat a bunch of your clients after one ride on her horse & a 10 minute school from me so I’m sure that really pissed you off, and maybe mildly freaked you out).
So like vultures you descend upon these potential clients & several of you started talking shit & feeding a bunch of manipulated twisted b.s. based on LIES, & I’m struggling instantly to even keep the connection (even tho I’m bending over backwards working miracles for her child & her horse for free).
So now I can’t even think about getting paid to teach down the road or sell her an amazing deal of the century future world beater horse. & when it’s the top people who are doing this, the Grand Prix riders & the owner of the horse that just won the Prix & the Welcome, it’s devastating to a new relationship. & everyone of you pros knows it because you’ve all been there.
This is it man. I’m going to USEF formally. You have all been warned & you are too arrogant to listen. I have a right to develop clients, sell horses & make money (as a top pro of 40 years doing things none of you have done; 3 years of top young jumpers bred by me, two 1.60m horses, a 1.50m horse, two 1.40m horses & an off the track thoroughbred doing 1.50m derbies on the West Coast harder than anything I’ve ever seen here.
All of which were developed by me, 67% of which were bred by me). Throw in Influencing a top 20 World Cup rider … & you guys simply are not there. Oh yeah, and I’ve shod myself all horses but the thoroughbred thru the entire thing.
I get to feel some reward as a result of my success. Whether I was in the Grand Prix ring Saturday night or not, & whether I’ve gained a few pounds or not. I’ve made it back to the Grand Prixs many times & I’ll be there next year (assuming I come back here), against all odds. I can almost guarantee it.
I know how to pound the pavement & run miles (I am ex military), & I know that’ll take the weight off, because I’ve done it over and over my entire life when things get outta control. I just need to have more than 30 seconds to do something other than train & manage 7 horses & a 135 acre farm & 2 dogs & 3 cats & occasionally help a 70 something now single mother & shoe my horses & a few other clients; & oh yeah, work an entirely separate job at night so I can survive.
Every once in a while I do need to eat & sleep because you can’t do all that fighting Wisconsin’s challenging weather on an empty stomach tired. If I can get a few hours off it’s a miracle, & a full day off or a social life or spending time with my family are just fading memories of the past. & an actual vacation; what’s that? I can’t even begin to remember how many years it’s been since I cruised away for a few days.
So thanks George for driving away every useful professional relationship I’ve ever had & making it impossible for me to make money in the sport while far less trainers than I who sell out to you & your minions are enjoying huge financial success. It’s been great.
If I could do it all over I’d be an army officer like my father with a few trail horses & never would have heard of George Morris. As political as the military has become these days, it seems like they could use a few leading soldiers that like my father understand the meaning of the words HONOR & LOYALTY.
So anyway, that top dog Grand Prix horse owner leading the fray of a mob like series of verbal attacks on me to my client, and she knows who she is (I guess you all do if you know the owner of the horse who won the Prix), is going down. If I give her a warning & a break she’ll just pretend to be my friend yet again & then quietly be pissed that I have that much power, and put a knife in my back. Maybe at George’s beckoning (tho I’m beginning to wonder), but he’s not here. That excuse is fading by the day. You are just as nasty as he is.
So if you were there while she was blabbing or some of her clients or friends were, feel free to put something in writing so USEF has proof (tho they didn’t need it for George with me; they had already suspected the truth & found it themselves). & no one public ever needs to know who you are. Just send it along to USEF (& anything else you have experienced that validates what you have read in my blogs) & they can put it in a folder labeled ‘Amy’s up & coming several dozen protests & charges’ which could legitimately probably be against about at least half the Grand Prix level pros in the US hunter jumper industry.
I know plenty of you are my friends; as there were a lot of big smiles & friendly conversations, which I appreciated. But someone other than me must be willing to stand up. Because it seems like the professional slander against me was all over the horse show. So there are a bunch of witnesses out there.
Get Amy away from a decent client. Holy shit, if she has a little funding to work with she’ll be going International on a self bred in a few years, probably with a few students (possibly on horses bred by her) right by her side!
Not one in the United States has ever come close to doing that. We can not have it. That would make this an actual sport based on competition & sportsmanship & horsemanship, & she would have even more clout than she already has after a handful of shows. Because people are starting to respect her & her horses because they are beginning to understand who she is & what it’s taken to be here.
Anyway, the George puppeting (or crying out to him for help because my horses and I are so good it’s a little scary and surreal) has to go. He’s dangerous. He belongs in jail. I haven’t put him (& his friends) there yet for this shot. But it must be honored.
I’m also not dealing with any more George (or maybe Jim is the right name as it turns out) controlled stewards harassing me EVER AGAIN. It was like de ja vu … history on repeat … nothing has changed. & it’s not fair.
I don’t need to talk to a licensed steward about my tied up dogs when there are 50 puppies running loose 20 feet down the aisle. Or have a 10 minute conversation with her about the stupidness of not having all the poles & cups needed at two jumps in a tiny ring so my one person doesn’t have to reset the jump back & forth repeatedly, as I’m warming up for a class.
It’s a miracle if I have one person there to set at all. I can not afford an army of help. It’s discrimination by a USEF licensed official of those without huge financial backing. & then trying to make me go in first in a 1.30m stake class over a technicality you were clearly looking for when I was second in the posted order of go? How obvious can you be? Is George or Jim on the phone right now? It is grossly unfair. Frontline would probably love to do a story on all of it. & I am done. I can almost guarantee USEF is reading this … so they know about it already.
I’m sorry if you are friends with my ex good friend of like 15 years who is a steward. I trusted him for years & years & was convinced he was a good guy; but when he started manipulating me years in advance with an eventually purchased barn in Ocala to push me to sell my horses cheap (which I did with two) & worked to put all sorts of asinine ideas in my head (like geld my stallions, I don’t really need to market myself or my horses like I’m doing this fall because he’s going invest & get me to Ocala), it became pretty clear whose side he was on. If he was genuine at any point (which frankly I’m kind of doubting the more I think about it) that has clearly changed … dramatically.
There should not be a single licensed official that has a relationship with George Morris. His influence has to go. The blackballing has to stop. Those trainers need to go because they think his money & power makes them indestructible. & not just his money & power … his ex politician friend’s money & power. & these trainers think they are untouchable.
6. BATTLE
Last week was a full on battle. It pushed me & my horses to the limit. On some level since I’m still breathing it was kind of fun, & some truth yet to be seen or fully understood continues to come out as a result, & that’s always a good thing, but I wasn’t prepared to go to war alone.
So If I say something here that offends you I’m sorry, but I am a truth seeker. That means nothing is hidden under a rock. Sometimes the only way to get to the bottom line is to fan the flames of the situation with slightly obnoxious & offensive comments (I’m pretty sure Howard Stern & my sister have that tactic down to a fine art). Then you can wake people up, get their attention, & eventually hopefully thru communication (both pleasant & unpleasant) get to the bottom of what’s actually going on.
Healing does not happen if the wound is not scrubbed clean. & this world is so challenging these days many of us are walking around completely traumatized & openly emotionally bleeding out.
I’m a trainer & a healer guys … of horses & humans. I’m gonna push your buttons to see your reaction, possibly battle it out a little & smooth things before we go into the show ring. That’s how you train … it’s the only way it works. Ignoring problems does not get to the bottom of or solve them. & if there is resistance or orneriness or a gaping wound there I’m not gonna ignore it.
Even if you buck me off or hate having your leg scrubbed with iodine, if I think you’re a horse worth messing with, I’m going to get that cut taken care of or try to get back on & work things out. Because we can’t do anything if you are hurting, & getting somewhat on the same page is the only way we can ever be friends or have a fun & accomplished partnership.
None of this makes me a bad guy … it makes me a good guy. & not to preach, but Jesus said it first; the devil comes disguised as an angel of light. We’ve got a bunch of little devils walking around messing with our minds & twisting everything around so up is down & good is bad. It takes a minute to figure it out. But do the detective work to not be deceived … if you really are one of the good guys & you succumb I can guarantee you will regret it at a later date.
7. THE MINNESOTA HARVEST HORSE SHOW
So, back to something a little more pleasant.
They really did do the Minnesota Harvest Horse Show up right this year. After being away for so long, I exponentially appreciate how pretty these shows are. & I really have missed all that. This one was no exception. It’s always been a great show that way. the MHJA goes out of their way to do the best they can to present this sport with the class.
And this horse show has a real history … the program this year had a list of past Grand Prix riders to at least a couple of decades back. Of course, Niall (Grimes’) name was there, while my sale mare Nia Ace (his namesake) showed here for the first time this year. To see the name of the trainer and friend I’ve regularly grieved the loss of for a decade and a half truly hit home. These horse shows that have been going on for decades represents the solidity and importance of this sport. Pursuing excellence on horses represents a heritage that can be found in no other world. It has a value that can not be defined in words … it can only be felt.
What we do is also as much a performing art as anything else, & art very simply requires presentation encompassing beauty & thoughtfulness & care. If it’s not displayed in a manner that respects it, then it’s just a painting thrown in a corner, or a lovely statue tossed in a closed drawer.
Top Sport Horses of any kind these days are such stunning animals. They truly have only become prettier & prettier over the years. For a long time I was more of a thoroughbred person in part because they were simply more elegant to look at standing still & moving. The warmblood’s heads could be a little coarse, their movement clunky and their jumping heavy. Everything about the thoroughbred seemed lighter, more refined & more athletic. I joke about thoroughbreds & warmbloods in my satire, but most high end warmbloods these days really are stunning lovely athletes. Things have definitely changed.
& then you throw in the labeled blankets & beautiful artistically crafted tack, the riders shiny boots & jackets & all the history behind the sport that comes thru visually, & everywhere you look at a show like this you see moving performing historical art surrounded by a display of comfy stalls heavily bedded with the smell of clean shavings … flowers & welcoming Halloween candy & carrots & apples. Everything screaming out we care & love our animals & welcome & look forward to camaraderie with other horseman who feel the same.
There is live music at night & food & drink everywhere … I barely needed to leave to eat a single day.
I half expected a waiter in a tux to offer me Hors D’ oeuvres & my choice of wine while I was cleaning tack & shoveling poop. They just really went all out.
& the Hunter Derby & the Grand Prix … wow. The derby ring was just lovely, w a big crowd & a lot of kids waiting to see their friends & trainers ride. I was nervous as hell because I genuinely had no idea what my stallion was going to do (be spooky, try to stop, be a little quick, be a little behind the leg), & I so wanted to not choke & present him well for his first time out in a big class.
& you know, it’s been a while since I’ve done the hunters. Thank god for Mitch Steege, my junior trainer pounding it in to me, & thank god I had the green hunter classes Tuesday & Wednesday to remember. Shoulders back, thumbs & chin up, don’t post the canter (which I so love to do) or let your reins get too long (also love) … Jesus … I’m too old & battle worn to be primping on a horse.
Most importantly, do NOT miss a distance. Not so easy when you just changed your entire position, stopped posting at the canter & are looking for long soft spots as opposed to the deep powerful jumper distance I’m constantly working to find.
It’s quite a gear switch; especially when you have been training your horse to be a competitive show jumper his entire life. But a couple weeks of softening up & getting him comfortably jumping around light at home seemed to pay off. & jumping is jumping, so a good round supple but alert clean jump is the same no matter what the discipline.
It was beautiful & fun & feel free to watch the video I just posted if you have the time. My favorite part was collecting the ribbon & galloping around with the other riders & waiving to the crowd. Sometimes no matter how old you are the fun stuff at a horse show remains the same.
& the Grand Prix, it was electric. A perfect crowd pleasing course & number of jump off riders, a great host just totally playing to & engaging the audience, fun little events to break the evening up, & horses & riders that for the most part seemed to be enjoying their job & the attention they were receiving. It was a good one. If they had an air force fly over & the mayor of Minneapolis-St. Paul speaking it would of rivaled a big Traders Point Prix back in the day.
So yeah, a lot of challenges, & I’m sure it’s going to take me about three weeks to recover from this one (I’ve started writing on day one & I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck) but also fun, fun, fun. This sport is the best, which is I suppose why people get so crazy over it. I don’t think I’ll ever totally understand it, but I do understand how much more fun it is to be a part of it than to be away.
I know this is long but I also know a whole bunch of you guys are reading these & to be honest this blog has influenced the industry (& cleared the way for our return). So I’ll keep going.
I often like to go over some horsemanship stuff that has come up at the shows (and a whole lot of ‘stuff’ came up at this show). Because at the end of the day that’s what matters the most. & obviously I don’t mind sharing some free information if it improves the lives of the horses (& those of us caring for them). So here we go …
8. CROSS TYING A HORSE BY THE BIT, the Noavel halter and Shoeing
Last week a certain someone (whose horse won the Prix & the Welcome) walked by me & my stallion on the open cross ties in the aisle hooked to the bit on both sides. She made some comment under her breath & looked at me as if she was about have a coronary & I just smiled & completely ignored her (a skilled I’ve mastered from growing up as the underdog professional at these shows).
But I was thinking, here we go, just the excuse she needs to go to town. I can just hear it now …
‘OMG!! Did you see what she did? … she had him tied by the bit! He could pull back & rip his mouth open! She’s not a real pro … she doesn’t deserve to own that stallion or those nice horses or have good clients (or to eat). Everyone grab your pitchforks & your torches, she is awful, she is the devil, she will destroy us with her strange but extremely successful tactics of horse management; she has to go at any & all costs!!!’
Never mind the fact that he was standing there falling asleep all week in a halter, but every once in a while when I was in a hurry I would hook the ties to the same fat eggbutt snaffle he’s been going in since he was started as a 4 year old happy as a clam (not even thinking about pulling back) with 5 million people & horses going by & under him. What a great way for an overwhelmed trainer to get a nice stallion use to a crowded horse show.
Never mind the fact that American cowboys & the Amish (our current real life cowboys) have been tying horses to tress & posts by the bit for centuries.
These same cowboys only crossed & explored about 3000 miles of open country over deep rivers & huge mountain ranges against grizzly bears & understandably pissed off Native Americans, but what would they know about surviving on a horse?
& I can tell you right now, if there is ever an apocalypse the Amish are going to become the new ruling class. If there was another ice age, while most of us were frozen under 1000 feet of ice, the Amish would be happily driving their cart horse to their neighbors exchanging baked goods & beautifully crafted furniture.
As their retired standardbred racehorse stood patiently waiting all day (TIED BY THE BIT) to a frozen tree so it could take them home thru an icy river to their waiting Belgium draft horse that just got done plowing 10 acres of frozen ground thru a blizzard with a 10 year old kid so they could feed the family & the livestock for the year. But what would they know about surviving with a horse?
Let’s listen to the English (which there is no doubt is where that rule came from; probably some Pony Club Manual) whose entire country is about 300 miles long & their idea of a hard day was cantering ¼ of a mile thru a drizzle over
to their neighbors living in a castle with 20 employees so they could have afternoon tea. & yep, that stable boy probably did as he was trained & properly put a halter on the horses head before he tied him.
But they aren’t exactly in survival mode, are they? He probably had all the time in the world to take that bridle off & put a halter on. Buts it’s going to take the Amish two hours to get home in what would take a car ten minutes, so they are a little short on time. & the cowboys had the entire US to explore & domesticate, so you & I could have the freedom & the resources to go to a super cool horse show.
Given the fact that my working student of a year & a half decided she wasn’t going to the show two hours before I left (even though she only had to go to two horse shows this year and she knew that was part of the job when she took it and most working students love going to the shows, seem a little suspicious?) & I was there alone with two green & one extremely rusty horses, with the horse show gate screaming out my name every time I turned around, which mode do you think I was in? Survival or afternoon tea?
& let’s just think about the entire concept from a trainer’s perspective for a minute. How many times have you had a horse pull back on the cross ties & break its halter or a tie, feet & legs flailing on the cement, praying it’s only the halter that gets broken; & now it has a fear & a habit that’s almost impossible to break & you can only cross tie them if there are three walls surrounding their sides & hind end? Because standard halters act like slings and actually cradle the horse’s head which encourages them to pull and lean.
Have you ever tried tying a horse by a bit? Because I can tell you I’ve never had one pull back, because they respect the bit. We spend years training them to make sure they do. & then they get into the habit of not pulling back, no matter where you tie them or how many people and horses walk by. I’ve NEVER had one rip it’s mouth tied by the bit. But I’ve sure had them rip the corners of their mouth riding them (all pros have).
Which is why I learned the trick of wrapping bits with rubber and using bag balm between the bit & the corners of the mouth … & Preparation H. when the bit isn’t in their mouth if there is a sore. I learned that from Jay S. … the famous bit maker (who actually invented & introduced me to the segunda bit).
This week I learned many new things from a horse shoer named Roger Newman of Somerset, Wisconsin. One of them involved a piece of equipment, a halter device called a Noavel. I had never seen one before & it was kind of scary looking & I was a bit leery of putting it on my stallion. Instead of nylon or leather going around the horse’s nose, with this device it’s a thin metal bar.
But Roger was blowing my mind about every 10 minutes with one of the most informative horse shoeing consults I’ve ever had & I was going to trust him on this as my stallion was getting a bit fidgety as we were shoeing him for the upcoming $10K Hunter Derby just prior.
The result was amazing, because stopping an edgy half thoroughbred stallion from moving on the ties is almost impossible, but this device did it. & guess what? It might as well be steel going thru his mouth because it’s just steel wrapped around his nose! Who’d of thunk!?
After we finished Roger wanted to wander around, & like any good horse trainer who has just discovered something new and useful, I really wanted to get to understand this thing. So I braided him for the first time ever in his life in it (very worried prior about him standing for the braiding) & he stood perfectly for another hour (just like he had with the shoes). Lion is good, but standing perfectly with no fidgeting on the cross ties for 4 hours in a strange busy location is not normal behavior.
Then, I realized they were actually allowing us to show the horses the Hunter Derby course via hand walking (I wish someone had told me about that!) & I had like 5 minutes to get up there & still needed time to show him the ring (& it’s a five minute walk). I was in tennis shoes & not dressed, Lionel had a saddle on but no bridle, & I wasn’t going to make it. So I threw a hard hat on & a couple lead lines on both sides of the Noavel, jumped on & trotted thru the barn & down the street to make it just in time (you may of noticed us looking very differently from everyone else as we were hand walking the ring in front of a decent crowd).
The point is, I’m not sure I could have done that in a normal halter. This device equals humane instant obedience (no yanking on a chain & possibly hurting their nose), & that’s a handy thing to have on a green stallion at a horse show. But if I hadn’t been open minded (OMG! … you wanna put that on my horse?!! you are crazy & evil … be gone with you strange horse man!) I wouldn’t have learned about this incredible device.
& btw, with Roger’s help that stallion went from sort of clunking around the Green Hunter division earlier in the week (& granted his feet were long & due) to absolutely floating as much as I’m sure his little body was capable of. It was an incredible transformation.
His feet looked like Picassos from my perspective … I wanted to hang the entire image on my wall but it was 3D & could not be captured. You guys have a powerful resource in this localish horseshoer (45 minutes from St. Paul) & trainer that I wish I had ... I highly recommend you make good use of him and pay him whatever he charges if you are having problems.
Anyway, If you had asked rather than looking for a reason to completely undermine all my efforts with the entire horse show, you might of learned something. Have you read that new Code of Conduct every one of us had to sign to join USEF?, because I’m pretty sure you just broke it on about 10 different levels. But you have an agenda that has nothing to do with horsemanship … don’t you? Making sure my horses and I don’t succeed, & sadly that’s what this is actually about.
It’s kind of like George Morris having a meltdown because I wouldn’t put a spur on a beautifully going off the track (OTT) thoroughbred while riding under Chris in Tampa. ‘OMG!! … she has dared to defy me … the King. She must be removed from the industry like a virus! We must end her! ‘
Maybe if a few more pros had used their brains & actually thought for themselves when this rigid tyrant trainer (& rigidity & horse training are a dangerous combination) had one of his regular meltdowns he wouldn’t of become one of the most powerful scary child molesting egomaniacs on the planet (as far as I’m concerned), & Niall & Nancy might still be with us.
9. BLACKBALLING & the INDUSTRY
This kind of behavior is not right … you do not get to blackball me & force me to sell my horses for a fraction of their value. It’s no different than being a land baron & financially forcing people out of & off their property. I’m going to get fair prices for these animals if they are sold. & as we all know a show jumper’s value goes up exponentially the minute they perform at a big event & beat & ribbon against solid competition … which all 3 of these horses have done at the last two very serious horse shows (for this area) we’ve attended in the past month.
So the prices are going up by the day … not down. But a good solid blackballing will end any potential of a fair sale or steady income from clients. So then, unless you are an idiot who wants to lose the value of everything you’ve invested in & sacrificed for your entire life (in my case 4 decades), you are forced to sit on the horses. & it’s not like putting a car in the garage … you still have to invest & train (which is a huge commitment with performance open show jumpers) as their bodies are aging.
It really is the most impossible & unjust situation that represents the polar opposite of everything this country stands for. That’s why these tactics HAVE TO STOP AT ANY AND ALL COSTS. They are destroying the industry because success is based on who you know, who you are willing to sell out to, how vicious & manipulative & conniving you are (smiling to someone & getting as much out of them as you can as you quietly go undercover destroying their career & lives) & has nothing to do with the pursuit of excellence in horsemanship.
Then a real leader (not a marketing wiz) with genuine information & demonstratable skill is snuffed out & only a few improve over a five year period of time (& several seem to go backwards). As many horse shows as they’ve been to & horses they’ve gone thru (& managing to weasel your way onto George’s radar, in large part thanks to me), frankly, for many of them the improvement is not particularly impressive. (Like I’m just wondering, but are any of you making a run on the World Cup finals at any point in the near future?)
10. STANDING WRAPS
Nancy Whitehead, one of the top trainers in the country I rode under & sought advice from for years (before this athletic fit older women mysteriously died of a brain aneurism I guess sitting in Wellington a few winters ago, as if that’s not a little suspicious) use to tell me all the time she had lost complete faith in standing bandages & no longer wrapped her horses at shows. I myself have always thought it was just an easy superficial method of judging & undermining other trainers.
I do personally like poulticing or rubbing down my horses legs at night at shows & then wrapping them, but I honestly don’t always have time to do it. Which doesn’t worry me that much because my horses are fit & well looked after, standing on decently balanced feet, getting plenty of turnout & movement, & long term sound & competitive without vet work at the highest level 99% of the time.
I’m just as concerned about energy work (because we are all just big giant lightbulbs shinning bright or dimming, & that’s when the physical things start to break) & as importantly, keeping a horse loose & feeling good in its top line & thru the major muscles in its body.
I can not tell you how hard it is to watch all these horses jumping around stiff & hollow; because I know they have got to be in pain if they are that tight. In that way Chicago has you guys beat by a landslide. I don’t think I saw a single inverted horse at that last Ledges horse show (ok, maybe one or two). The height or discipline or the type of horse does not matter. Round & supple are not dirty words, & trust me, I know even extremely hot sensitive horses can be developed & go well (without drugs). It just takes more patience.
So don’t try to undermine & judge me on wraps if your horse is walking out of the stall threatening to tie up because he is so tight he can barely move after standing & you don’t even know it. Those are two entirely different levels of management, & when it comes to the big problems I’m very good at solving them before they can even begin.
& maybe before you judge take a look at how clean my three horses legs are (one a teenager) after jumping harder for 3 days & at a higher height than you have ever dreamed of getting close to because it’s so far beyond your current level of knowledge & skill.
& perhaps wonder what it is I’m doing that allows me to get away with this without wraps forcing the legs to be tight. Whose sole purpose is to keep inflammation out of the legs & provide support, so that swelling doesn’t harden & become arthritic.
Do you even know why your wrapping your horses legs? Do you understand what clay actually does (works on the horse’s energy as well as pulling out inflammation)? Do you understand what liniment does (cools or heats up depending on which type you use)? & can you comprehend if they aren’t swelling at all under hard daily high jumping maybe they don’t need it? Do you get that you would never wrap your horse daily at home under regular work because too much support could actually weaken the tendons & cause problems?
So if you are at a show & you don’t have the time you skip that step & take them for a walk to loosen their bodies instead … or spend more than 30 seconds flatting them out of the stall prior to a huge test of physical ability because you don’t feel like standing around sitting on or holding them at the gate.
I can do this all day guys. I can shoot down & put holes in every bad thing you have to say about me. Because I’ve done it all. & I don’t live alone with my dogs in the top of a barn (when I can be in a nice house with my mom, if we are getting along that day at least, or definitely be living with a nice male partner in his super swell house if I wanted to) looking at horses 80 hours a week because I don’t care or know what I’m doing.
11. BITS
It’s like thinking just because a bridle has one rein & a D ring it must be kinder than a double rein leveraged bit. Well that’s total b.s. The strongest bit I know (without being what I consider cruel, like a double twisted wire) is a single rein big D ring. I can tell you from direct recent experience a segunda bit, depending on its sharpness & the size of the port, will keep an insanely powerful & athletic, up, sensitive green Flexible-Cradilo stallion thinking twice before they have a playful mischievous little blowout (like young boys overcome by testosterone do) & accidentally break you in half (whoops, sorry mom). & I don’t know of a two reined bit (other than a double reined segunda which doesn’t exist so you have to have it hand made) that can do that. Things aren’t always as they seem.
Dennis use to tell me that all the time … this industry is a house of mirrors. So if a trainer is trying to undermine another trainer that’s literally working miracle after miracle for the entire show to see, you may want to dig a little deeper before judging them on something that seems so easy and obvious.
Or better yet, unless you’ve walked in their shoes, don’t judge them at all. Because you just have no idea what’s actually going on; & maybe they don’t have the time or energy to explain every detail in a twenty page blog doing damage control for their career whose 40 years of actions accumulated & presented powerfully in this one week truly should have spoken for themselves, & not require it.
12. FOOTING-FLORIDA
So overall the horse show really was run very well. They had it moving pretty fast, which is understandable given the number of rides and the fact that none of us wanted to be there showing until Midnight. I wish they could of relaxed the tone just a little, because depending on who was at the gate; you might of ended up feeling a little like livestock being cattle prodded thru a chute. And you know, that’s not a very fun vibe for a horse show. More importantly, it makes people nervous which in turn makes the horses nervous. But, they got the job done, and I know that is not an easy job. That gate person is determining a lot, and there is huge amount to keep track of and major pressure on them.
My one valid concern (which I heard several other people complaining about) is the warm up ring for the main stadium. It’s tiny and the footing is horrendous, while for some reason what looks like the same footing in the main stadium is quite nice. They can water and drag that warm up and after about 10 minutes and three or four horses jumping the ground is already becoming rock hard.
And I’m not sure if you guys are aware, but you can RUIN at top open jumper with ONE FENCE jumping them on hard footing. All they have to do is hit the ground on the backside of a big jump hard one time and get a nice little sting and they are never going to pop off the ground in the quite the same manner again. They will always be tentative and worried. And I don’t think there is enough padding material to put on a horse shoe to stop it in a ring like that (unless you literally want your horses on high heels; which as you can imagine isn’t so great for those tendons).
So even though you have all these lovely things happening, like the This Old Horse event (which I just love the idea of) and a program delightfully explaining the sport to laymen and interesting information on new joint products and carrots and apples everywhere; that warm up ring screams out either ‘we don’t know what we are doing’ or ‘we really don’t care that much about nice horses’. Throw in the fact that you are absolutely terrorizing some of these kids trying to warm them up in there, and honestly guys, something really needs to be done.
And although it’s been a long time since I’ve shown anywhere but locally, I’ve been hearing rumors from other top trainers that hard ground is a problem at many of the big shows. But the exhibitors keep showing up and spending money so the horse shows aren’t doing anything about it. It’s one of those things that if you don’t really understand the details of training a top show jumper, you might miss. Kind of like having a beautiful barn with silver and chandeliers everywhere, but the horses are eating the cheapest grain you can buy and its actually affecting their ability to perform, but no one can see it so no one cares.
I have competed in AA rated shows everywhere in the U.S. … all of California, Colorado, Michigan, St. Louis, Lexington, New England, obviously the Midwest and all of Florida (Ocala, Wellington, Tampa, Jacksonville and Naples … though if I showed up in Wellington today I’d probably have be carrying a pistol on my side) … I’ve been around. I’ve honestly never seen a warm up ring close to as bad as the one you guys have at this horse show.
If I actually do FINALLY get what by next year will be my 14 year old gelding to the level of Grand Prix (what I believe will be a serious competitive Grand Prix horse that I actually own fully and can keep) you can be sure that I’m not going to be warming up over 1.50m on hard ground. You guys better be in there with the drag every ten minutes, or do something with that ring, or we aren’t coming back. We’ll just head up to Travis City and take our chances with the big wigs (at least you’ve got the FEI there keeping an eye on things as well, assuming they are as committed to cleaning up the sport as USEF, and I pray, not totally corrupt).
I don’t know why improving that ring is such a big deal. All they have to do is get a jack hammer, take that cement out, widen the ring 10-15 feet and double it’s length (it’s a temporary ring, its not going to cost that much). I’ve looked at that spot … they have the room.
Then just let that dirt you’ve already got in there settle for about 10 minutes (maybe roll it once) and you’ll have a perfect hard, supportive base. It’s covered so you don’t need to worry about drainage. Then add about 3-5 inches of sand, depending on the kind you get and how it all settles out, and voila, now you’ve got supportive but cushioning footing and some of the top horses and riders in the Midwest thinking about coming.
If what I’ve been hearing is true, I don’t know why the big show facilities don’t do the same thing. Again, bad footing screams out we are not good horseman … we only care about dollar signs. Maybe they are in cahoots with the breeders in Europe and figure if they can help people burn through horses everyone will have to go over and buy more. I really don’t know … but it’s seriously messed up. You don’t have to spend 100 million dollars on synthetic footing (at least) to make a good jumping ring.
Granted, I could have built a house and would own a nice truck (though don’t get me wrong, I love big green!), If I hadn’t spent about half my budget for my indoor on footing. But it’s not something I regret. I can live anywhere, but I can not re create these horses or teach them to jump and keep them sound without a good ring. If you need a little help, let me know … I have an Agricultural Engineering degree and definitely wouldn’t mind working off some show fees (but I’m going to charge just as much as you guys do!)
Also, I’m working pretty hard to make the capital to get to Florida & it’s going to be pointless if I don’t want to go to any of your shows because the footing is too hard or not consistently supportive. & I’m going to need a facility to train out of because it’s usually too expensive (& I’ve come to appreciate smaller numbers of horses, known people coming & going & locked gates) to stay at the shows long term.
So I need to find someone who is not going to help me or my horses have an unfortunate accident if we don’t sit in the corner & do as we are told (how likely is that to happen, have you met me?:) AND have a ring with decent footing & a set of jumps.
Or I guess I’ll just sit here again this winter. We like our police force in Vernon county. We have like over 100 cops for one county of maybe 5000 people, & many of us know each other & these guys seem to know who is coming & going.
Plus you would have to get past my heavily armed redneck neighbors, my dogs (Ronin with his police dog breeding & training) & about a half mile driveway covered with on average 3 feet of snow from November to March because right after you plow it the wind immediately blows it back over. I have an indoor & mom has a wood stove … & I have a fondness for my Dad’s big old automatic shotgun as well …so staying in the boondocks may be the safer bet. I’ll leave that to the Universe to decide & guide me on; as I always do.
13. POSTING THE CANTER AND RIDING WITH A LONG REIN
Here is why I like posting the canter … like posting the trot it’s a little easier than fully sitting or fully standing (it takes less control because you are moving your body as nothing is harder than holding a single position). It’s a nice balance of I’m going to connect to you with my seat, which gives you support and assurance, helps to keep you in front of my leg and to drop your hind end (if you have been properly trained and developed), yet on the next beat I’m going to get off your back, which frees up your topline and your entire body and allows me the extra weight in my stirrup to make sure I’m heavy in and connected up through my lower leg. The rhythm of my posting the canter also tends to help horses stay more even. But yes, for formal classes, like a Hunter Derby or an Equitation class, it looks a little sloppy and I can understand why they don’t want to see it.
I think I’ve talked about why I like the longer rein on my website, but I’ll go over it a bit here as well. The longer rein allows you to put the horse in a longer frame. A longer frame is useful because it is not as stressful on the horse’s body. Keeping their head high and up with a super short two point rein is extremely difficult for many horses to maintain. If you couple that with a light ride (not a lot of supportive seat or leg to hand) it’s about the most unsupportive ride you can have for an open jumper.
It’s often easier for a horse to flex it’s hind end underneath itself (and to stay more relaxed) when it’s head and neck are down and it’s in a lower frame. That’s why you often see top European show jumpers going around in a really low frame and then popping up right before the jump to get light on the front end.
None of this can happen if you can only ride with a super short unyielding rein (which is a good thing at certain times when it is needed). However, if you can ride with multiple lengths of rein you can help that particular horse to put it’s particular body where it can perform better. If you watch me in the show ring you’ll notice my rein is quite short with Lionel (he has an upright topline and his neck naturally curls flexed through the jaw and up), a medium rein with Nia who has a medium length topline, and a long rein with Kalua who has a super long neck and likes to go in a long frame and then pop up right before the jump.
14. ACE OF SPADES (aka LION or LIONEL) AS A BREEDING STALLION
I just wanted to talk a bit about breeding in general and the stallion I brought to the show in particular because I am now officially beginning to promote him (right here) which I have never done before.
After you’ve bred a handful of horses, you begin to realize breeding is a super mysterious and funky thing. Especially when you are looking to create hybrid vigor by crossing two completely separate breeds. At first you just never know what you are going to get. Is it going to look like a thoroughbred or a draught, is it going to be hot or quiet or in between, tall, short, what’s happening here?
But then as you get to know the stallion and the lines better and specific little intricacies of your particular horses (in my case Cradilo has almost always been the stallion and I’ve used 3 thoroughbred endurance race horse lines (2 of which are related) and one Akhal-Teke cross line (which is just a genetically ancient thoroughbred) you start to get a picture of what you will most likely produce with various combinations at various times of the year (I can tell you fall babies every time are going to be smaller).
Cradilo has shown me that he is a potent stallion. If he’s in there, you are going to see him pop up eventually. That’s why what this breeding program has done with these young jumpers and open jumper after open jumper is borderline miraculous. Cradilo and one of Amy’s nice thoroughbreds (race horse bred mares) and boom, you’ve got a really nice open show jumper.
It has scope, plenty of step (but it’s adjustable and naturally balanced), it’s probably ridable (even if it’s a little hot like Deluca/Momma and Chanel) teenagers can still figure it out and learn to ride them and they aren’t going to get hurt, it’s probably going to go (they tend to be forward and brave) and because of the speed of the thoroughbred and their sensitivity they are probably going to be fast (or fast enough), leave the jumps up and be really hard to beat.
Do you guys have any idea how unusual that is for breeders of sport horses??? You don’t get two top young jumpers three years in a row out of the same tiny program. The young jumper championships are one the most difficult things you can do with a horse. It’s every bit as much proof as a Grand Prix of a horse’s ability.
THEY ARE FIVE YEARS OLD!! You are jumping up to 1.25m by the end of the year. Against top International competition (the best young horses and some of the best riders in the world). When I first did it on Fatima Ace in 2012 and we were winning all week until day three in Lexington (we ended up third overall) one of the guys who beat me just came back from being an alternate on the U.S. Olympic team and the other one was a winning International Grand Prix rider dating and having children with one of the most famous humans on the planet (at least her Dad Is, but I’d say she’s made a pretty good name on her own as a Grand Prix rider).
So we are not talking about a schooling show just outside of Madison, WI. You might as well be in Wellington doing a FEI level 1.60m the end of the winter circuit on a nice 12 year old and rocking the entire show jumping world. It is no joke.
And I had NO experience in those finals … EVER. What we did (Richard Rinehart and Chanel and Fatima and I) was unheard of. They embryo transferred the same line three times and showed up at the 6 years finals with a top Grand Prix rider married to yet another ex Olympian just so they could barely beat Richard and Chanel with one of their three horses (Chanel was second in the 6 year old Midwestern Finals after winning the five year old finals).
The intimidation factor alone for that six year old final would have been enough to have put me in the hospital. But Richard and Chanel just slipped a little and had a rail … but they were like 5 seconds in the lead. If you put them on a flat race course that means you are Secretariat and there is just no one behind you … are there any other horses in this race or what? It was mind blowing guys. Anyone that knew what was up was floored. Then trainer after trainer I know (many who I’ve ridden under) tries to do something remotely similar with their young jumpers and they can’t even get in the ribbons in one class!
And if that isn’t enough, as if we haven’t completely rocked the young jumper and show jumping world in general, the horses start breaking into the Grand Prix ring. On basically a non existent show schedule because Amy barely ever has money or clients these days because George is breathing down her neck having a constant meltdown. I am making him look so stupid for throwing me aside like yesterday’s garbage as a 20 year old that he can barely handle me breathing the same air as him.
If we were in Europe (where they actually know how to breed top International show jumpers) the entire line would have been shut down just off of that alone and never see a horse show again. Because they would be considered too valuable to risk injuring. They would be living in the breeding shed from that point forward, kind of like Indoctro.
But not here in the United States. Here you guys just barely notice what’s happening even though I’m screaming it from the rooftops. A few totally pawned top Grand Prix riders and course designers say things like, ah, Fatima’s only a 1.10m horse and you all believe it!!
Really? Have you EVER in your life developed a show jumper? She was clear in her first 1.40m as a 7 year old, and had two rails in her first 1.50m. This isn’t a horse from Europe that’s been jumping around 1.60m for three years. There isn’t a horse on the planet that’s been a top young jumper that isn’t at least a solid 1.25m horse, because at that age it is pure athletic ability and heart. They are too young for a trainer to really teach them how to jump. They are either amazing or they aren’t.
So then it’s Grand Prix horse after Grand Prix horse, whether it’s the small Grand Prixs or the big Grand Prixs. I’ve got the top horseman in the world interested and watching what I’m doing (and eventually buying my horses) and we are barely there. It’s absolutely completely and totally unheard of. You don’t get two top young jumpers and four grand prix horses and still counting out of breeding like 10 horses. You breed 5000 nice horses and hope that maybe you get one young jumper or one Grand Prix horse over a 30 year period of time … if you are lucky.
So yeah, George was a little freaked out. And believe me, he was and still is watching every move I make. And doing everything in his power to stop me. Because he was wrong about me, in a BIG way. It’s kind of like him passing on Touch of Class when they tried her. David Bowlie told me that story. She cross fired behind (which is common on horses with an incredibly powerful but loose, and thus athletic hind ends; did you see Nia Ace go this past week?) and George went, ‘Nah, I don’t think so.’
Then Joe Fargis comes along, snatches her up and ends up winning the Olympic Gold Medal in 1988 on a American thoroughbred mare! Whoops Georgie … you missed that one … turns out you aren’t always right. That’s what’s happened with me and my horses, and you guys don’t believe he’s actually really
been after me? USEF sure believed it.
So now I finally get back and you finally get to see this stallion, Ace of Spades, perform. And he’s cute, but he kind of looks like a little thoroughbred. And he’s so subdued. Cradilo use to whinny (as much as he could) every ten minutes and made sure the entire horse show knew he was there. This one sure doesn’t act like that. Are we sure he’s a Cradilo son? Maybe Amy’s just making it up.
Well, here is what Amy knows. He may look like a thoroughbred, but he’s got great bone, great feet, the temperament of a nice quiet Irish Draught (smart, brave, sensible) he’s scopey as hell for such a little guy (he’s popping over 1.15m at home like it’s a ground rail) and he’s as fast as anything she’s ever been on. You just don’t know it yet because you haven’t seen him galloping around in the field with a mare in the next paddock over. He’s so confident and comfortable under saddle and in his own skin that he doesn’t need to be nervous and quick, unless there is a really good reason or mom asks for it.
And when you watch that Hunter Derby video from last week, he’s smooth. Everything flows together, and the jumps just sort of unfold out from underneath him, like so many of the Cradilo babies. And guess what else?, my favorite aspect of Lionel? He is the single most trainable and ridable half thoroughbred stallion I have ever imagined.
I don’t even want to tell you guys how easy this horse has been to train. I’d rather take the credit for being a genius. All I have to do is practically think it, and he starts trying to figure out what he needs to do to make it happen. That is a beautiful, beautiful thing when you are climbing on green horses 8 hours a day. So yeah, you have to look a little, but there is definitely something about this horse.
Here is the other thing that I’m super excited about. The Flexible stallion I have that you guys haven’t even met yet, the Cradilo grandson, looks and goes just like Cradilo, only better.
If it hadn’t been for Cradilo’s extreme disability in the form of a breathing problem as the result of poor management, he would have been in the Olympics. He was that quality. Everyone knew it, until we realized he just couldn’t overcome his disability. He could show us minutes of greatness, but he couldn’t do it enough (because it was hard for him to breath) to be a consistent top 1.60m horse (which is what he was truly meant to be).
But since I’ve lost him I’ve been trying to find him again in all of his foals. That’s why I bred everything that I could for so long. I just wanted to see him there again, in a form that I owned and couldn’t be taken away. And I see bits and pieces of him, in every kid, but not Cradilo. Not until Ace of Diamonds … Flash.
There is Cradilo’s head … finally. And there is his body … a lighter version … but I finally got Cradilo back. He looks like him and he feels like him under saddle. And he’s a sweetheart, and there are no disabilities. I have to take it slow with him, because this one is a sensitive powerhouse, but I finally got what I was after. The motivation behind all the work. It wasn’t just to produce a Grand Prix horse. It was to get back what was so brutally taken from me, and to give it a chance to exist in this world without the pain and struggle that was the result of ignorant arrogant horsemanship.
So, what have we learned? Cradilo shows up in his grandkids. He skips a generation … like so many horses do. That means Lionel is priceless (to me at least). Because regardless of how he looks or how he performs, he’s going to consistently re create dependable greatness. Some of his offspring may be a little lighter or taller or heavier or shorter, but if you don’t see Cradilo strongly in every one of Lionel’s offspring, I will be shocked.
I’ll tell you what, at least Canada is going to start finding out … and we’ll see where we go from there. Take care guys … and I’ll see you around. 😊
September 2022 ...
Back at the Shows Via Ledges Fall Medal Finals:)
So we made it back again … finally. And once again … it’s been a challenging year. Between the never ending long Wisconsin winters and the painful suffering and passing of my father this past February here at home, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to put it together emotionally or physically to be ready to do anything of any quality in terms of show jumping this year.
But horses are healing, and show jumping is a blast, and what we came to this world to do. So I pulled it together, worked my butt off all Spring and Summer, and took the dive hoping I had done enough. I’m never sure what will be my first horse show under circumstances like this, but this year it was little later than last year with no smaller warm up shows … the Ledges Medal Finals. I’ve been feeling a little more confident after our fairly successful outing last year and figured we could probably get away with it, and I was right.
Ledges is dressed in her best Sunday clothes this week, overflowing with live flowers and greenery, beautifully painted jumps and well manicured perfect footing; this small and convenient, distinguished professional facility looks the part of the Sport of Kings. There is an excitement in the air, even the show jumpers braided for the low open classes, the nicer hunter jumper facilities of Chicago having made this their temporary home as the kids excitedly warm their horses up looking forward to the Equitation Final Divisions I’m to happy to admit are an important staple of the U.S. Hunter-Jumper industry.
It’s nice to be back. Coming back to the A Rated shows after a hiatus is always a bit like coming home. Familiar smells and sound I’ve grown up with flood my senses … authentic Mexican music plays in the background filling my ears and the smell of liniment and glycerin soap floods my nose as trainers and rider gather in front of stalls with rows of elegant horse heads curiously hanging out listening to the chatter regarding the upcoming event; as if they understand their part and the fact that at the end of the day, this is all about them.
I’m reminded of just how important this little facility is to me. Without it, it would be hard to ease into the sport in a manner in which I can be competitive, yet challenged. I trust the show manager I’ve come to know over the years. I know my horses will be safe, the show will be run professionally and everyone knows the country is watching and we all need to be on our best behavior. It’s a good launching point, and I know no matter how many times I have to re-launch as I fight my way back in what may be the slowest come back ever, this show will be there.
My two horses, Kalua’s Ace, my current horsey soul mate and hopeful up and coming Grand Prix horse, and Nia Ace, a big beautiful talented mare I’ve been carefully guiding along with huge hopes for the future (though I’ve always suspected that future may belong to someone else) both performed beautifully, all things considered. I’ll let you watch the recently loaded videos and read the descriptions on the front page of this website for the details (in case you went straight to the blog and somehow missed it).
But suffice it to say, even the friendly Blake the great (gate guy) was impressed with our comeback. And if you know anything about these professionals who are paramount to running shows smoothly, you know that after watching thousands of rounds a day at some of the biggest horse shows in the country, week after week and month after month, they are not easily impressed.
According to the show program, Pat and Puffer were the course designers. Tuesday, day 1 of the show the courses were perfect. Inviting and smooth and a little easy, setting a tone for rhythmic horses and confident riders that is so important and fundamental to the start of a good horse show week.
For Wednesday, day 2, the tone of the courses took a distinct turn for the technically difficult, and these guys decided the entire jumper show was going to focus on turning and jumping right. From my perspective, this could be considered both a good and a bad thing. Good in that if you happened to be a little weak to the right as a rider and trainer, it was a great opportunity to see where you stood and work on strengthening that unevenness.
Bad in that if you happened to be a little weak to the right and were hoping to win some prize money in spite of a gazillion years away from consistent showing for both you and your horse, you could pretty much kiss those hopes goodbye at a first glance of the course.
But, if you are a professional show jumping rider hope abounds eternal with each new course (or you find some other way to spend your time) and I was still excited to see if Junior and I were ready for the challenge of the week we had been preparing for, for months on end (the $5K 1.25m Stake class).
The Stake class stayed true to the courses we had been riding all day (thank God for a warm up horse in the form of Nia) so the lines were well understood despite some being a bit long or on the half stride or whatever. This year the course stayed pretty true to 1.25m … with a couple of big oxers that sort surprised you and looked a little out of place.
Junior and I had a great round going. He was ridable, being a bit quiet from the 3 classes the day before, but still popping up over the jumps in a relaxed and lovely fashion with a little encouragement from my spur. I was proud of myself because the first rider had had a rail (I was the second) and it would have been easy to justify leaving strides out as most were to save a little time and possibly get a higher ribbon.
But I remembered where we were (at the beginning of our little horse show run after another year off) and I knew if I flattened him it all with length my still getting fit horse and I would probably begin to fall apart. The strategy worked, and I was surprised to find us clean with only one jump left.
Unfortunately, I failed to recognize prior while studying the course (a skill I’m a bit rusty at) the last jump was a little trappy; at least a 1.30m plus oxer a few strides off the rail, turning right for like the 7th time; and despite the decent distance (which at this stage is all I’m really asking of myself) I had not warned Junior with a stronger more put together ride of the challenge as he was tiring, and we had a hard front rail.
Damn … that sucks! There goes a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand dollars and a win out the window. Ah … why do we love this sport? It is brutal! Oh well, turns out everyone has four faults, and they are all pretty good and very much regulars at the shows. That makes me feel a little better.
I found myself the last couple of days thinking about a conversation I had had with a new face carrying a thick accent who walked about as if he really knew what he was doing and the jumper riders seemed to be kind of scurrying behind. He was friendly, I liked the cool warm up he put one of the riders through, he made interesting comments on the rides and I had heard the words Nations Cup mentioned, which of course caught my ear.
He felt the courses on day 2 were very user unfriendly, even a bit cruel, given the number of amateur riders preparing for their week. I was a little miffed walking out the stake class ring, and I mentioned the word politics to him (wondering if George’s long reach had rattled my life yet again) and he covered his ears and said I don’t want to know or hear it. I found it hopeful and some comradery in that I wasn’t the only one horrified by standard operating procedure in the United States (particularly if you want to survive as a course designer or horse show). Maybe there was hope for our sport yet.
But thinking about it these past few days the courses on day 2 were fine. Its their biggest show of the year at Ledges, the only open jumper big money class, and one or two trappy jumps is OK, standard and makes up part of the interesting challenge. The courses weren’t dangerous or damaging, and as long you had done your homework (at home and in studying the course) they were perfectly manageable. If you know anything about Pat you know he’s going to challenge you, bring out your weaknesses, give you something to go home and work on and ultimately make you better. There is no getting back to the Grand Prix ring hoping to be competitive if you and your horse are uneven.
While most were friendly and professional towards me there were a few with a light tone of irritation or perhaps she got what she deserved … who does she think she is going after George? She doesn’t deserve to be a successful professional. I guess I can understand that opinion if I work really hard on wrapping my mind around where these people are coming from (many grew up in a very different world with his voice in their ear; him being one of their leaders; the elite one percenters).
If enough of you have that attitude maybe I’ll never have the support as a professional I need to get back to consistent showing. That’s OK. I’ll keep showing up once a year; 12 months older & fatter (thanks to menopause & Italian fat woman genetics & barely having time to sleep, much less work out), while most of you are at the shows at least 20-30 weeks out of the year with personal trainers all fit & tight; & I’ll continue to make you look inept to anyone with a clue as to what’s up. The good news is if I ever do have the time-energy to work out and lose a few dozen pounds, 1.50m will feel like 1.25m to Junior & we’ll be instantaneously ready for the National Prixs!
I’ll just keep on being competitively right there with you or maybe in the near future I suspect even beating you on the same horse year after year; while some of you are going thru top horses like microwave popcorn during a Netflix series binge. Because you struggle to keep what the international masters have created going, much less even thinking about making one urself; especially from an egg & an idea for a better horse.
And I’m sorry (not sorry) if that irritates you. It’s not magic. I know what I’m doing & have mastered the skills to manifest it. If you are willing to treat me like the 3-4 decade consistent pro I am (in spite of the fact that I’m not a tall skinny man who has bought an Olympic medal or two) I’ll b happy to save you the hard time & work of figuring it out yourself & graciously teach you what I know (for a price), as so many others have done for me.
Because I put my ego aside & sought out & then respected & listened to my trainers … a whole lot of them. If you guys wanna compete with me & my horses instead of learning from us in whatever fashion is comfortable for you (the reason Hunter & Brandie are on the top of the international track; I learned from them and they learned from me and my horse; so I’ve been appreciative even when things could’ve gone very differently if I had wanted to show everyone I can be just as brutally vicious & heartless as some of you) then so b it. Game on.
I’m just following & reacting to your leads & clearing all the lies & manipulation with a fresh wind of the truth of who I am. We are innocent & good & have the right to be here despite our lack of blue blood; whether you & your dethroned king George like it or not.
This is a sport run by USEF; not a private country club run by the most brutal vicious asshole with the most money & the biggest mouth. Deal with it, or take the risk of losing everything & ending up in jail.
Your money & fame does not raise you above the law. & I have zero problem putting an old man who has had his good moments, or what once use to be close friends or clients in jail & working to take everything they have so brutally & often illegally acquired. We’ll round you guys up & put you away like your 80 year old Nazis in hiding & throw away the key. In this country it is the will of the people; not the will of one rich guy or one small group of rich men.
You guys have acquired so much power & such a false sense of godhood you have lost touch w the reality of the country you are living in. Your money & your freedom to live like a king in spite of the horrors you have & still are committing can go away with a change of the tide of the will of the people; French Revolution style.
So appreciate what you have; give back to those you’ve climbed over to get there & remember what integrity, morals & ethics are. Spouting or playing on religion & the ignorant & emotional doesn’t cut it.
My horses & I are your wake up call. I warned George here (read the blogs). If he had listened & backed off as I asked (rather than being an arrogant egomaniac that simply squashed me & my horses like a bug left for dead for all to see) he would still be there torturing all of us with ridiculous standards of perfection. I’m sorry if you miss that. Feel free to keep the good & the concept of the pursuit of excellence he pounded into us … I know I have.
He tried to take everything torturing me unendingly … almost everyone close but family turned & betrayed me Judas style; smiling & pretending to b my friend every step of the way till the end.
They went after all my horses. Being sold a handful of them at gift prices to far less than accomplished horseman wasn’t enough. They manipulated me from every angle; judges, government agencies, bank wire transfers; repeatedly. Close friends of years offering to invest & buy farms just encouraging me to sell horses my out of a top breeding program at a huge loss; only to disappear & leave me hanging.
My FAMILY has suffered because of the corruption & cruelty of this industry. My financial investment & belief in this profession & sport & the related financial disaster has been their disaster. My father died not knowing his wife of 50 years & daughter who has always been there for him would be financially secure; in spite of a successful military career, a beautiful paid off farm & his daughter & their horses receiving national recognition.
Those of you who loved George & still glare at me or make less than friendly comments in the warm up ring; you need re read & contemplate the meaning of that new Code of Conduct you had to sign to join USEF. More importantly ponder what it means for ur show career if you are reported for multiple violations.
It’s people like you that empowered & legitimized this man … a child molesting monster with the power & will to end careers & lives. Hell, he could buy an army & invade a small country if he wanted to (& maybe they already have given who some of their friends are), & more than a few of you are complicit.
Might does not make right. Especially when we are dealing with an innocent animal that has carried us around & uplifted us for thousands of years, & the children & young adults that love them. I mean come on; u have to want to protect the rare raw beauty & innocence of this sport if you are going to be here & have influence.
I refuse to allow one bad guy to define my relationship with an industry & group of people I’ve grown up with for four decades. Prior to the hard core George blackballing I was only ever gone from rated showing for my first year of college. & those of us who are the real deal don’t stop doing what they love & have mastered because they can’t perform or be rewarded publicly. So it should b of no surprise that I kept going (doing whatever it took to survive); despite almost everything being removed by George (& life in general) the past 5 years.
It has been a hard, long miserable road that has almost killed me on multiple levels; when it should have been the opposite. & no, not everybody succeeds at the Sport of Kings against all odds with self made horses & has one of the richest men in the world, a medaled Olympian & coach they’ve been the catalyst to removing, continuously vengefully trying to destroy them from every angle.
Sorry, but what I’ve been and continue to go through is unique in its brutality; particularly dark, hidden & repeatedly heartbreaking & emotionally devastating; whether you like that truth or not (trying to feel like we are not that different & I’m just an annoying complainer which justifies your bad behavior & inexcusable lack of respect.)
Some of us are different. Many of you look at potential greatness & try to minimize it or take it down so you can justify your lack of heart & unwillingness to humble yourself & learn. You want to look the part without doing the hard work of actually becoming it. I see past the fake b.s. & appearances & work to build the real potential & greatness up for the world to observe & be empowered & inspired by (whether it’s a horse or a human or both). & that means we are fundamentally different; coming from & pulling in two opposing directions.
Ok, enough preaching. Can we just have some fun please & ride & jump some amazing equine athletes? After a five year hiatus I am ready to do this sh-t. I mean, what’s cooler than cruising around beautiful courses thoughtfully designed in fantastic facilities letting the competition decide which of ur comrades has put it together best in appealing to the spirit of this magnificent animal called the horse?
I know there is a lot at stake; bragging rights, money, fame, the success & ability to continue to be there if you are a struggling pro. Even Determining which Country is the best or maybe shaping World Politics. But you know, it feels to me like this is a big enough pie for all of us to enjoy & share. Do we really need to professionally slander and drive each other out because someone has a slightly different perspective and methodology (that works) and because past George or the next up and coming ordained George (that’s a scary thought) says so?
Anyway, see you at the shows guys (hopefully sooner rather than later). Sorry I wasn’t able to stay and watch the equitation riders battle it out this week … believe it or not I would have enjoyed that. But I have two nice Irish stallions at home that stay much more content (and out of trouble) with regular work and a lot of attention. Speaking of which, just wait until you see what I’ve got coming down the pike next. (Don’t hate me … I may have literally put it together & cut out & polished the resulting diamonds, but I know these pony creations started with and were the result of an act of smiling divinity. And I give credit where credit is due!:)
December 2021 ...
a trip for Amy down memory lane and a response to Hunter Holloway winning the World Cup Qualifier in Las Vegas and a Sportsmanship award at that same National show last month
Hunter Holloway winning the World Cup qualifier in the Las Vegas national show last month & then receiving the shows sportsmanship award felt a bit like a defensive answer from the industry to the blog I wrote (& lightly though granted perhaps less than positively mentioned her in). Here is my response to that.
First though, let me further explain my perspective, where it came from, & why I feel I have so powerfully earned the right to an important opinion.
Raised by Real Horseman
You know, being good at producing horses; even being better at it than some of the solid trainers you’ve ridden under; doesn’t make u a bad guy. Being a strong confident independent woman (which our highly sexist society, especially most of the old boy’s club business world hates by the way), in the face of all adversities & setbacks, doesn’t make you wrong. And being forced to market & sell your strengths & achievements, because you have the top dog in your sport just trashing your reputation at every available opportunity for decades (& I barely did any marketing for the longest time), does not make you arrogant.
I was raised by real horseman & women. My education was thorough from a young age. From Captain Williams in Fort. Benning, Georgia at the age of 9 to Christine & Sylvia Banister (who was winning everything in the high junior jumpers as a teenager on a saddlebred cross) in Colorado & an entire pony club of true horse lovers & horseman (and a group of solid young jumper riders); to Danny Quinlan & Mitch Steege in Massachusetts & a myriad of other horseman friends (too many to name) who I dabbled with from my extensive travels at a young age (including several strong European trainers and riders); I grew up immersed daily in this world.
I was jumping around 4’ on a 15 hand Appendix Quarter horse ex cow pony at the Estes park A show in Colorado when I was 13. I won everything in the 3’6” jumpers on that same horse (Calue) in New England at every show but the A circuit (which I never went to as a high schooler). I trained an Off the Track (OTT) thoroughbred for showing & eventually won repeatedly on him in every division as well at these same shows. including qualifying for the New England medals; not such an easy feat in my situation.
I was working top imported stallions at Harwood Farm in Littleton, MA when I was 17 (including the Holsteiner stallion Limelight). So u know, between weekly lessons with Mitch (who btw was an awesome open jumper rider on a nice warm blood the entire time I rode under him, who rode with a longer rein & a body often light but back & in the saddle & slightly hunched shoulders; sound familiar?) … & then Danny’s daily regiment (both for 6 years); the stars aligned for me almost perfectly as a teenager as far as experience & education goes.
& it didn’t stop as I got older. International top Breeders like Tito pontecorvo (and his Russian Akhal-Tekes) became my friends & clients; as well as top horseman like Dennis Mitchell, Jay S. (the original bitmaker of some the most interesting & useful bits developed in an industry that’s been going strong for thousands of years); USEF Steward & horseman Jim Powers, top horse shoer’s (like Brad Ross) I met in my travels and at shows; and of course the myriad of A circuit jumper & dressage trainers (most who at least use to be listed on my website) & just good homegrown horseman like Joy & Jerry Hey & Shan DeWey that weren’t nationally known but none the less the real deal, just to name a few; & I hungrily absorbed it all.
And then there were the horses. From 11 & 12 years old I was riding through thousands of open military acres in Colorado Springs (at Fort Carson and at the Airforce Academy) on my own at the foot of the Rockies for hours & days on end; running head on into rattle snakes & animals caught in bear traps.
Later at Fort Devon’s, MA jumping series of picnic tables at parks bareback for fun; finding and negotiating death defying feats with my army brat friends to challenge our ourselves thru (100 foot drop sand pits, deep lakes, 4’ banks) jumping anything we could find or easily build; you name it and we did it. It’s amazing we all survived looking back. And Even though I don’t wear the hat I have definitely always been a half wild cowboy at heart; just like the wildly hot little cow pony I grew up on.
And more recently; hours & hours & years & years spent in the saddle riding; getting to know, learning from, & training my own horses. Alone time caring for & on top of an impressive equine athlete is one of my greatest teachers.
The point is, even in my early twenties my radar for REAL horse people & horsemanship was finely tuned.
How do you define the real deal? …
There is a feel to these folks; a quality, an essence, a mastery, a respect, a level of sacrifice given & a number of scars earned, a magic touch horses instantly respond to (even if that person is just standing by the fence) because they recognize it as well; a quality one can’t truly describe or capture in a movie. And I can spot it blindfolded from a mile away.
So when I met Mr. Famous, George Morris, & got to know the man a little bit, I eventually wasn’t all that impressed with him as a horse trainer & developer of horses. I know he was a good coach (particularly standing at the side of the show ring; I saw him in action) when he wanted to be, & I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’ve learned a few things about being in the saddle from him.
I did grow up in New England with Mitch working consistently at molding me into a decent equitation-hunter rider. It turns out watching Mitch jump around had a more meaningful impact. But I was expecting God like magic from George. And what I found was in the middle of a very distinguished pack at best as a total horseman, & more of a marketing guru. And he knew I knew. And he was admittedly enough of the real deal to recognize who I & my horses were (a genuine threat to his carefully crafted image).
The truth is if you are determined (and wealthy) it’s not that hard to buy ribbons & even medals at most levels in this sport. Especially when people like George Morris give you the thumbs up & have designed an entire industry (while adjacently subduing the threat of any real non approved horseman) geared to allow you to do just that. But that’s not horsemanship guys.
Having the ability & means to buy a Picasso in a far away country, ad a few brush strokes & then paint your name over the original signature does not make you a master. It makes you a rider, maybe a decent fine tuner, but a bit of a fraud if your trying to claim total master horsemanship based on it, if we are being brutally honest.
Because if you’ve never created a horse from nothing but an idea, pulled them out of their dam, watched them stumble around trying to get their long legs under themselves; nurtured & patiently watched & hoped as they played & grew, & then nervously climbed on your hopeful top athlete for the first time ever; spent years & years teaching them to stay balanced, rhythmic, relaxed, yet extremely alert & clean over anything that happens to be on the ground in front of them in any & all distracting environments (& by the way, all this eventually needs to happen as fast your little legs can carry me) you can’t claim to be a fully certified master.
I’m sorry; not when there are those of us out there riding well at the highest level on multiple horses (not necessarily showing all the time; not required to bin the real deal by the way) who have.
You wanna be great?, then actually BECOME great … learn ALL or at least MOST of the skills it takes. Stop worrying so much about ribbons & the appearance of being the best & take the time to continue learning & try making a horse or two for top competition (& good luck if your new to it & don’t have the right person guiding your; because your gonna to need it!)
And so what if those green ponies make you look bad? (& btw, whether it’s a greenie for the 1.10m, the 1.30m, the 1.50m or a 1.60m indoor World Cup Qualifier; if the horse & or rider have barely done that height in that ring type; they are green to that new level.).
I LOVE watching some of my favorite horseman fight their way around a big course on the back of a greenie; especially a quick, crazy athletic little shit that’s giving them some trouble. That’s grade A entertainment (more fun than watching them win a huge class like the World Cup finals) & helps you to remember who they are & why they are sitting at the top of the sport.
And people need to be educated to the fact that developing these horses is incredibly difficult. No matter how talented or willing the horse is a lot of rails are going to come down … sometimes the breaks will slam & bodies may fly … it won’t always be pretty.
This false American idea everything must be textbook perfect is a well honed hallucination; simply the result of writing lots of checks so others far away do the hard & sometimes ugly work required first.
Anyway, the point is, only in this world are people so completely upside down & backwards in their full comprehension of what’s truly going on that you can turn an innocent professional horse loving victim of the grossest level of blackballing (yes, me) somehow into the one in the wrong & the perpetrators of this crime (& their friends) into the good guy victims because they manage to stay at some level in the limelight of success.
Hunter’s Killing It …
But message received; many in the sport feel Hunter’s a good kid & perhaps on her way to becoming that rare version of a truly great horse woman; the bottom line being for whatever reason many of the shot callers (at least the noisy ones) are behind her. I just need to feel certain it’s the right reasons, & not another George backed business as usual power play (like the last Olympic Games so obviously were, to me at least).
Look, I shined a spotlight on Hunter & Brandie when they may have had the skill & backup but clearly did not have the political clout to make a run at top international competition. (Hunter was third in the Maclay Regional Finals in Missouri & the announcer didn’t even know who Brandie was when she won third in the Hits Million in New York that same year).
And my light shining (while not fully seen by everyone & definitely dulled by George’s shadow) in the form of a few Facebook posts, some website additions & handing her my awesome mare made a major difference for them, whether folks are willing to admit it or not.
And I get it because I felt the same way … I loved this team (Hunter in particular & the entire operation & family in general). I was impressed by the skill in action (these women can seriously train, ride & recognize a top four legged athlete) & the effort & mastery demonstrated thru a mother daughter connection. They had a love and respect for the horses, & a certain amount of unusual kindness required to bring in & assist a stranger (who granted had some very nice horses & was under the constant watchful glare of Mr. Big) that really stood out.
That’s why it was so deeply personally hurtful when they would no longer speak to me (after I begged Brandie not to go down this path when it was clear they were being influenced by the old boys, & then I did threaten, not carry out, to sue as they began to completely ignore the contract).
Then my mare disappears from competition, Hunter wins the Medal Maclay with Diane Carney judging & George commenting (I mean, come on) & then Hunter becomes George’s new partner & apparent best friend (& it’s highly publicized). That was some pretty major salt in the wound & borderline emotional torture for a horseman standing on the sidelines. Kind of like giving Hunter a Sportsmanship Award at a National Show after all of this, right in the midst of me attempting to scratch my way back into the sport.
I’m an artist … not an executioner (I was forced into that role)
HOWEVER, unlike our ex Olympic coach & friends, I’m actually NOT out to destroy potential in horses or the humans I feel may have slighted (or have in fact wronged) me. Despite a fact that’s often been ignored, I am a true unbiased teacher at heart (as were both of my parents). Cause you’re not much of a teacher if you engage in favoritism among a group of students. I love to see anyone or any horse I’ve touched bloom as far as or even beyond the possible.
But part of that evolution involves who you are becoming as a whole person; & requires the full respect & acknowledgement of (not the destruction of) those who have given you a leg up; from both the individual & the industry. It’s called honesty, integrity & honor; & a star athlete (or sport for that matter) is nothing more than an illusion of excellence without it.
I’m also a profound lover of the United State’s sport of Hunter Jumper & I am a patriot. In spite of how it may seem.
You have to remember much of what I have written is from the perspective of someone trying to survive & hold on under the constant fire of Major General George Billionaire & anyone he can pay off or rally. Which has often been my closest friends & allies because that is classic bad guy behavior.
They alienate the strong independent good guy & make them appear unloved & crazy because those kind of people with real leadership ability in a community of camaraderie are extremely dangerous to the corrupt & powerful (we have a way of exposing them & then eventually removing their ability to use their power to manipulate the world to their will).
I mean come on guys … how many whistle blowers have disappeared off the planet; dying alone on a virtual deserted island?
Thanks to a group of really nice horses I’m not going out that way … or at all for that matter. & you guys don’t even know … you haven’t seen anything close to what these animals are capable of yet. Because the person who knows them best hasn’t had an unencumbered shot at it.
This sport is still a relatively new world for the United States
The point is we as a country are new to the world of sport horses. We didn’t create the English saddle, dressage, show jumping or even the forward seat for that matter. Compared to where we stand, English horse sport is an ancient world. As a country we chose to create the western saddle & cowboy culture, saddle seat, & take a run at improving the thoroughbred by producing the fastest racehorses we could imagine (which I feel we succeeded at).
Creating our own distinct equine culture was our way of becoming independent (as all countries have been doing for thousands of years). & all of those U.S. equine industries have had, & still have, much to offer to America’s overall horsemanship. But as it has stood so far, this has not been enough for us to be at the top of international showjumping on horses we ourselves have bred & developed.
So yeah, I would much rather see us out there competing at the highest global level (even on horses produced predominantly in other countries) as opposed to not being there at all.
We can’t learn firsthand or share what we know (or become aware of what we don’t know) if we aren’t in the ring competing. & we do know a lot about the forward seat & the light riding most American thoroughbreds & crosses (& as it turns out a lot of made warmbloods) naturally prefer at least part of the time. We also know a whole lot about starting & training ultra sensitive high strung horses (at least I know I do!:)
But still; trying to claim you are the best in the world because you’re winning ribbons on horses you didn’t breed or develop? (all while claiming horseman who are actually developing horses from nothing are no good); that is immature & egocentric.
Like a rich 10 year old kid thinking they are a top horseman because they can show up, climb on a western pleasure horse & win when mommy & daddy wrote a big check for it & Cowboy Bobbie has done all the training & most of the riding. But just pat little Johnny on the head, tell him great job & let him think he’s the best so mommy & daddy keep spending money.
That’s many of us; only our heads have grown so big from getting so many ribbons & pats we’ve forgotten who we are in this scenario & what the reality of the situation is.
We still have a lot to learn as a country and industry about producing Sport Horses for International Show Jumping. (For example, don’t let one person shut down some of your best American bred potential jumpers & producers, which is exactly what the young jumpers championships are designed to point out, because the sport is being run by a rich blue blood snob who doesn’t want to deal with the in home competition, or lose a tiny little piece of his ginormous pie).
I’m not stopping anyone (so far, that doesn’t really, really deserve it)
Anyway, I would love to see Hunter (& a few others) out there in the World Cup finals going for it on whatever horse they have that can give them a real shot. & I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it’s a thrill to see that kid (who I know my mare & I helped to develop) in the top 10 of a World Cup finals North American League qualifier list (sitting ahead of some of my favorite female horseman of decades in this sport; women who influenced me because I so carefully watched & listened in at every opportunity).
While I definitely believe in sometimes forced accountability & more importantly the resultant clarity; ADMITTED mistakes (not ‘Woohoo!, we sure played her, she didn’t see that one coming; & we got everything we wanted with zero consequences!’); Mistakes u actually LEARN & then evolve from are a good thing & must on some level be moved past by all parties (even those hurt) if we are to improve our world.
I’ve had close friends make moves at George’s beckoning far less forgivable than the brutal politics Hunter & Brandie participated in (though maybe not quite so obvious.)
And I know, under George’s rule there was no chance of ever being on an international team (or for a genuine professional who needs to make money to perhaps even have the clients to consider such a thing) without his direct approval.
So, one could make a case for the likelihood that for Hunter to have a real shot at the path they had committed so completely to (& she was showing such great potential for) they had to play George’s corrupt little game. But I would certainly think & hope (especially after my last blog/bomb) that is no longer the case.
Cause guess what?; I do not enjoy experiencing years of an entire industry (far from just George) running over & then overlooking the bodies of real horseman & their equine partners scattered on the side of the road & then left for dead as all this exciting drama is unfolding.
And I’ve got news for you guys; our next level of evolution (learning how to consistently produce our own top international show jumpers) is going to come directly from horseman that have more to offer than standard US Hunter-jumper produced procedure.
The point is; I know Hunter’s strengths. When she rode & then purchased my crazy fast, sensitive, powerful, hot ISH Cradilo mare (who every unbiased horse person that got to know her described as ‘amazing’) I was straight up floored by the original ride I observed.
I’ll never forget it.
In lightning speed, Brandie built them up to a 1.40m ish wide square oxer w ground poles everywhere & another smaller jump down the line, & within another minute or two of Deluca-Momma Ace sorting it out (& Hunter barely moving thru the slight scramble on a strange horse) they were negotiating it beautifully.
It was absolute elegant poetry in motion … a graceful astounding work of performing art & training to behold, unfolding right before my very eyes. I probably would have handed her all of my horses at that moment if they had asked. I was so completely dumbfounded & awestruck by the other worldly horseman’s magic I witnessed.
But I also know Hunters weakness (in spite of all the ribbons) which I learned as I watched her continue to show the mare. Because my professional student bought Deluca (Momma Ace) in embryo at my behest & I spent six years developing that mare (started her, campaigned her in the 4 year old Young Horse Series in Wellington & the 5 year old Young Jumpers Championships as I believed I was suppose to, & given our situation, in my mind successfully competed her at up to 1.60m).
And this unique perspective has enlightened me to a few of the holes that need to be filled in regarding much of our ongoing work towards developing top horses with their riders.
Despite appearances we are not the best … not even close … not yet
There is always room for improvement in this sport … that’s what makes it so much fun. & I guarantee there is a large group of Europeans out there who are going to make sure we are aware of that fact every chance they get, when it really comes down to it.
So go for it guys. I have no intentions of stopping anyone (even though I know I probably legitimately & justly could, which is why some of you are so worried about it).
As long as I believe a portion of the industry (especially USEF) is attempting to be honest, respectful of for example me & my horses, & evolving in a direction that will improve the world with excellence backed by genuine sportsmanship (regardless of your bank account, fame or the ribbons & even medals hanging on your wall) I’m fine with for now being a slightly rusty pro watching the coolness from the ground or a couch.
Because no matter how much support you have (or even what country is behind you); no matter how many times you’ve been there or what kind of world beater you’re sitting on; I’ve experienced and seen enough to know that’s a long, hard, dangerous road. & at the end of the day (especially in the finals) it’s just you, the horse, the ground & a set of ginormous, unforgiving obstacles in a small ring.
And maybe I’m wrong, but my little psychic radar is telling me there’s an epic international battle brewing this year. (& admittedly I may have the stoked the flames to that fire a bit with my last blog. But I certainly didn’t start it; I just pointed clearly to what’s been there, obvious to some of us, in plain site for a long time).
Anyway, those intense classes are fun to watch if you don’t mind holding your breath, but I would definitely want to make sure my ride & I were firing at 110% if I was in the ring that week.
Go for it … if you’re wearing an American flag and really giving them a run for their money (or at least making them work for it) there is a 99% chance I’m going to be cheering you on …
But I genuinely wish ALL OF U the absolute best of luck. & you know, if it is interesting enough I’ll probably be commenting (which many do seem to enjoy, or at least respect or maybe hate enough to read) on the backside if I feel respected & inspired by the sport enough to actually want to watch it.
And I’m sure the entire experience will be fun for all of us, as long as ponies & riders all come home in one piece. (So you know, don’t get too crazy folks; we aren’t 3-day riders & it’s just a horse show. If you are there getting around, we all know you’re good.)
P.S. & no offense to the 3-day riders because now I KNOW I’m going eventually hear something about that comment. I study your trainers because you are so impressive at what you do. Your top trainers consistently incorporate dressage & jumping with hot, sensitive horses together better than anyone. But we show jumpers do tend to prefer broken bones & horses on the ground to be an anomaly, not a regular addition (though it does obviously happen) to weekly high level events. What can I say … how can you jump close to twenty close to 6 foot fences at speed and still be kind of a wus? I don’t know … ask our ‘brave yet chicken’ horses!!:)
October 2021
Here we go again ...
Back to the rated shows and the Minnesota Harvest
Back to horse show land after 4 years away. So much the same, & yet everything has changed.
The first couple of ledges shows this summer were thankfully low key. It wasn’t quite the crowd I had become accustomed to … no big prize money to draw out what I consider to be the major power players … just a few quiet controlled medals finals & enough interesting stuff happening in jumper land to bring out a few good trainers & competitors.
But at the Minnesota Harvest it all came back in a wave, as if I had never left & nothing had changed. There were many new names & faces for me, & a few old ones missing; but I had forgotten how many people I knew in this region. As I wandered around re-adjusting to the scene of a larger competitive venue I kept finding myself stopped & engrossed in conversation. Which was nice. Feeling quietly welcomed back in this way; catching up & discovering how folks were doing & what they had for horses these days. In many ways it felt like coming home.
But with a homecoming comes the old dysfunction; & almost immediately the reality of junk I have had to deal with for decades in this industry just to be a part of the sport came full frontal; slamming back into my face.
To begin, when I pulled in at 2am with my new 17 year old never ever at a rated show working student & 2 horses (one a stallion that had also never USEF shown and had barely been off the farm) we were welcomed by a large pallet of shavings not belonging to us sitting right in front of & blocking one of my stalls (that had to be moved individually before we could even unload the horses).
This might seem like an innocent mistake except at ledges where the same right hand man manages these things, my one stall door (as I only brought one horse) was off the hinges. It was the only door in the entire barn in this state of disarray (not an easy feat to get back on alone late at night).
Mr. Right Hand happens to be friends with a long term ex of mine; who wasn’t particularly happy with how our relationship ended (me on the end of a cocked and loaded shotgun shoved into his chest). After ten on & off years of dating Mr. Ex & fairly brutal emotional & even sometimes physical abuse to me (& my dog formerly owned by him) I discovered womanizing, lying, cheating, never there when u need them, substance abusing self admitted assholes aren’t really my cup of tea (no matter how attractive, talented & when they want to be charming, popular & nice they can be).
However, like attracts like so to expect this right hand man to actually just do his job I’m helping to pay for without a regular little knife in my side I suppose is too much to ask. Throw in an occasional nasty comment to me or about me here & there by him (because he knows EVERYONE) & u have a recipe for me suddenly being eyed suspiciously by new important acquaintances, gate people that were formerly friendly giving me a hard time, etc. All I can say is it better be the ex-guy and not the ex-Olympic Coach influencing him … because if it’s the latter I may feel the need to do something drastic (because this dude has got his tentacles in a little too much too close to home for my comfort level).
And then there’s the dog … ‘dun, dun, dun’ … Ronin. Yep, I still have him. Eighty pounds of muscle & teeth, a pure whole Belgium Malinois, the canine breed preferred internationally by law enforcement & military to kick ass when required. A dog who at times enjoys randomly barking ferociously (granted usually at loose dogs) to make sure everyone knows he’s on the job. I can see why Ronin might give one pause.
Just like his owner, either loved or hated by all who come upon him in horseshow land. I had barely stepped foot in the barn the first morning when a next door neighbor-owner commented on something he had done wrong for the first five minutes he was tied to the wall on a short leash.
As I watched her granted extremely cute but loose dog running around (like most other peoples, which is so against the horse show rules for those of you not familiar) I mentioned I could try just turning Ronin loose like her dog & maybe that would solve the issue. She didn’t seem fond of that idea, which ended the conversation (at least for that hour with her).
So rush around on zero sleep, get the green stallion tacked up in record time as it states in the program the ring will be open until 7:30am … just enough time to show both horses the spooky stadium they’ve never seen (& didn’t get to see yesterday because rather than packing I spent most of the day rewiring the back end of my old international truck; another story involving a day of me cursing a different ex under my breath).
As I’m in the ring hurriedly wrapping it up w the stallion this same not to be named right hand man stands up & announces the ring will actually close at 7:10 (after making a few snide comments to me about him being the new guy or some b.s. I didn’t pay much attention to).
So I guess it’s hand walking for my gelding and $45 to jump around a little course he really doesn’t need the practice & wasted energy on just so he can spend 90 seconds in the ring under saddle before we try to negotiate something challenging.
As I’m walking up to the ring to learn the course, I find the PTSD kicking in and myself nervously wondering who the course designer is and what they may have in store for us. While at the last ledges show Pat (the manager of both shows, who is definitely one of my favs by the way) designed some really nice user friendly courses that felt tailor made to help gently push us up to where we belong, yet safely get our groove back. However, I know at this show it will be a designer from the outside.
With the disastrous experiences I’ve had with course designers in the past (like Ryan Beals, Erik Hasbrouck & Charles Throckmorten) I’ve learned the very hard way these officials are highly susceptible to political influence. Given what I’ve been dealing with for the past year at home & what our recent Olympic team looked like (that was definitely at least 75% George’s team) I’ve come to realize the reach & influence of this child molesting ex Olympic close to a hundred billionaire coach is still very much in play.
I look at the courses … Esparza is the designer … FEI level 3 from Mexico. Great … he is international. Given George probably has more (open at least) international influence now than here in the U.S. that could be bad. I guess we’ll find out. On day one course designers are usually fairly gentle, giving the horses a chance to ease into the new week. If it’s tough today we could be in trouble this week.
I walk the course, & it’s a one stride combo, vertical to oxer an extra 3’ long. I’ve never seen that before … that can’t be right. Walk it again … yep … that’s right. In a tight indoor (where longer distances are even harder to manage) on day one? Is this guy trying to kill someone? To call it trappy would be generous. There’s another of the same type of combo. Maybe this one will make sense. 4’ extra long … even worse. And one of the combos must be jumped twice if you’re clean in the power phase. Jesus.
Well, thank god my horses have oodles of step (even though the smaller stallion no one has seen looks like he may not) & scope (thank u daddy Cradilo). And I still remember how to ride a course working against your success or even survival sometimes. Beause while I do of course challenge my horses at home, I tend to avoid setting them up for adjunct failure. Thankfully, by the next day the courses returned to normal or even a little easy for this particular show (I overheard Pat telling the designer to be nice, so we know where that came from).
Anyway, are you guys getting the idea? And it just went on and on the entire time I was there. The other trainer neighbor & crew repeatedly harassing my newbie working student regarding Ronin while I was at the ring & she was scrambling to get a horse ready for me (until I decided to let this trainer meet the new not so nice Amy). This is the dog I watched the next day with maybe a 3 year old super cute little girl hanging off his neck with a full body hug for minutes, while Ronin just delightedly smiled & wagged his tail. Yeah, he’s a killer.
I’ll admit, he was being a little obnoxious. Perhaps if this wasn’t his third horse show in 5 years because his owner and her horses were tossed out of the sport like yesterday’s trash (after 35 years of support and participation) he would be better behaved. But the dog is tied to a wall, in a stall or on a leash with me or Alyssa right there most of the time. And I’ve got to tell you, I think he’s got the right instincts.
Piss on everything and mark your territory thoroughly because some of these people are thinking about trying to take or negatively influence our stuff that does not belong to them; & bark loudly & protectively because ‘Danger, Will Robinson,’ I sense here it could even go as far as trying hurt someone I care about. Because given the one bad and two good owners this dog has had, he has a pretty well honed asshole radar.
The thing with Ronin guys, which has been a common theme in the handful of horse shows I’ve attended in the past 5 years, is it is competitive harassment. Kind of like the polar opposite of sportsmanship … but we’ll get into that later. Because I’m not even close to being done … in this bitch session of me doing a highly overdue exorcism of some seriously damaging demons, I’m just getting warmed up.
But back to the show for now. So, after an exciting week of feeling welcomed back by old and new friends, the horses and my student doing amazingly well all things considered, and surprisingly, the same old undermining sh-t I’ve been dealing with for decades, I say my goodbyes and walk into the office to pay my ginormous bill. (Because my hopes of winning a little prize money in the Welcome Stake have been dashed by admittedly my own fault … a tired gelding pushed a little too hard at home for something we just didn’t have the time to get ready for.)
The Coup de Grace at Minnesota and Mason City
For the coup de grace, I’m chatting with Nicole and thanking her for the week when Patty, the other person working the office, very publicly hands me a four year old bill from a Mason City Horse Show. I sort of raise my eyebrows and say really? Thinking this is how you welcome me back? She says something about them sending one to me forever ago and I say something about my life has been so insane for so long that I’ve forgotten more than I can remember in terms of those kinds of details (like one smallish horse show bill).
This act was definitely intended by Mason City management and friends to both get my attention, and to humiliate me. Given what I’ve been through it’s going to take a little more than that to make me blush. And don’t think I don’t have a strong inclination as to where this motivation came from. Only one connected person in Minnesota came up to me talking about what great people the Urbans were (and by the way, you are now on my radar), and why wasn’t I going back to the show I frequented so regularly for over a decade?
Well, now you’ve got my attention. And you apparently want to talk about this in public? I have nothing to hide. Let’s talk about it. At the last Mason City Horse show I attended in September of 2017, the entire show and the Grand Prix was deliberately rigged against me in a painfully obvious way by management and the trainers, at the behest of the then God like monarch of the industry (since removed) George Morris.
And I know, at that time it was super exciting to get a call or email or any kind of contact from George or any of his agents, but by this point I’ve gotten kind of use to it, and frankly wish the man never knew I existed. Because whereever I go, especially if I’m having any success, a George minion or minions (or in Hunter’s Holloways case) George himself, with bribery checks generously flying, is sure to follow.
For a small rated horse show like Mason City to get that kind of attention?; I’m sure it was extremely flattering and overwhelming. And not just flattering but maybe a little scary. Because George has permanently removed so many professionals from the sport (affected horse shows and sales and employment and manipulated Olympic teams) on a whim it’s a standing joke within the industry.
But guess what? As horse show managers and course designers and trainers, you broke the rules big time by allowing yourself to be influenced in this way. It didn’t really happen you say? It’s just my imagination you say? … Ok, lets get into a little more detail. I’ve only been doing rated shows for close to four decades all over the country; so why would I have a clue?
Your horse show went from practically rolling a red carpet out for me earlier in the season (after I sold my mare Deluca Ace, now Momma Ace, out of the Grand Prix ring to Hunter Holloway); to practically gunning me and my horses down as we stepped off the trailer in September. Almost all of the trainers and management were cool and unfriendly that fall … to put it mildly. Trainers I had worked with and ridden under for years were hostile (if they were even willing to talk to me) … one had a client that even tried to get my dog put down by law enforcement. It was as if the most powerful man in the industry had put out the doctrine that I was officially blackballed … and everyone got the memo except me.
But you know, I’m kind of use to that kind of nasty competitiveness and un sportsmanship like behavior in this industry (though not usually at that show, which was the main reason I was so often there). So, I ignored it and focused on the intro $15K Grand Prix I had won in the past multiple times on two different horses. I was campaigning two new geldings that were both going fantastically and had ribboned in the same Prix the week before with one rail. So there was a high expectation one of them would win it or come home with a high placing and a decent check. Which would be nice after a season of as usual, doing nothing but spending money for the privilege of being at the shows, even though I was an accomplished pro of decades and was ultimately there to make money.
Then came the Grand Prix, designed by Charles Throcmorton on Fort. Collins, Co; who I rode, boarded with and groomed for, for a few seasons while at CSU. It was a single round speed class (timed first round) and had 3 bank drops in it. I don’t want to go into too much detail but for those of you who don’t know, this is unheard of for a $15K Grand Prix. I’ve ridden in the Pebble Beach Derby-Prix twice, notorious for being a nightmare, and there aren’t 3 drop banks. I have never seen that in any Grand Prix-Derby and probably never will again (accept maybe at this horse show trying to save face).
To make things even more obvious, every horse in the class jumped this drop bank line at speed as if they have been doing it forever, and because of the way the course was set there were no high placings without doing that exact line. That line was obviously practiced, over and over, by every horse in the class. I was the only one completely unaware, and wouldn’t risk my green already seriously pushed that year horses and do the line. The class was booby trapped specifically for me and my animals.
When I talked to Dan Urban about it after the fact, complaining naturally, he told me the ring had been open all week and I could’ve practiced the line as much as I wanted. Yeah, like I’m going to practice 3 drop bank jumps at speed on my up and coming Grand Prix horses for fun? Whatever.
The entire thing was ridiculously obvious. So yeah, that was the straw that broke the camels back. After a summer of scrambling and scraping to show after neck surgery and coming back on two up and coming but green open jumpers I had bred (after what turned out to be a bad sale of my top horse and the starvation of another top mare the year before), just be shut down financially and emotionally every time I turned around? To be so completely betrayed by people I thought were on some level friends? Olympic level riders complaining about my dog trying to get me thrown out of the Hits show South of Chicago, blackballed from the ability to sell nice prospects by trainers even if an owner-client really wanted a horse.
I was sick of it. I couldn’t do it anymore on multiple levels, and I was done (you win George). Since the only thing these people seemed to understand or be affected by was money, I decided to hit the sport where it hurts to get its attention. I could have paid that less than $1k bill. And the other larger bill with Hits eventually. I allowed myself to be suspended, because I stopped caring about being a part of the extreme manipulation and corruption I saw everywhere I turned within the industry. I knew the suspension might finally get USEF (and others) attention as to what was going on, and how wrong and devastating it was. And from where I’m finally sitting right now, it worked.
So Mason City, I’ll pay your bill (at my leisure). Then I might take a couple more hundred dollars and file charges with USEF, and we can have a conversation in Lexington with everyone involved about exactly what happened at that horse show. You know, those officials aren’t as dumb as some of you seem to think. They’ve got a pretty good handle on the shenanigans that happen in the horse industry. Many truths are obvious and simply stem from common sense if you follow the chronological order of events. Since USEF is (or was) thankfully working to make things better (at least somewhat fair) by addressing these specific kind of issues, I really don’t think they’d mind delving into it a bit.
So, you want me and my horses back at your horse show? I can’t imagine why … Cradilo and I only promoted it relentlessly for over 10 years, made some of the top horseman in the country aware of its existence, and brought participants and trainers in from all over.
I think given the above that’s a pretty big ask. But I’ll consider returning, if you throw a welcome back Amy party and there are like a dozen roses waiting at my stall door upon my arrival. Oh, and you’re going to need to testify in court to the truth (not the b.s. made up excuse) as to what actually happened at that show. Who specifically you were influenced by … and I’d prefer that promise in writing.
Anyway … moving on. So much ground to cover.
I truly prefer not to be entirely negative, (though hold your horses because I’m going to open pandora’s box later in this small book) so let us talk about the positive.
Minessota Harvest is in many ways a great show (and Mason City use to be one of my favorites, especially back in the days of Saturday night tailgating and Grand Prix video parties at Prime and Wine). The Harvest facility is inarguably the coolest permanent fairgrounds in the country (I’ve seen at least), has great decorations, sponsored exhibitor food, drink and live music all day and every night, meals and get togethers, and then of course there is the stadium that often has a decent crowd; and the footing isn’t bad either for a part time indoor horse show.
I’ll admit in spite of everything, I was sad I had to leave early (Friday) and miss watching the Grand Prix and joining the festivities. I would have loved to have watched one of my favorite Grand Prix riders, hurricane Lisa blow in (often a terrifying if your competing and unaware, and yet awe inspiring event) and dominate. I would also loved to have seen Kristin on her new super cute gelding (finally something ridable and scopey after watching this kid for years fighting to survive around big courses on talented but tough thoroughbreds) and watch some new friends getting around competitively in what has always been a challenging venue to show in (even with horses that know it well).
And I learned some things … politically (as important a landscape for a pro to know as any course you might ride in horse show land), like definitive confirmation George is still very much alive and well and pulling strings; even though this is supposedly bigtime against the USEF rules now (and could potentially get you suspended and joining him).
I learned some things about my horses. Junior and I are operating at a whole different level of communication these days. Unfortunately, he was tired and sore coming to this show. After his impressive Chicago class, I had my sites set on the Welcome Stake (up to 1.45m indoors; no joke) and we did some serious jumping once a week in the month leading up. Slight overkill on my part as it turned out (but there is only one way to get to know a horse for the big classes), as I was having to kick my gelding around the warm up from day one when he’s usually pulling to get to the jump.
We scrambled around the first 1.25m with one rail but for the 1.30m on day two we didn’t make it around. However the conversation that happened between us in those few seconds is what was new and impressive to me.
It went like this …
Amy jump 1; ‘we made it but I really did not like the way that jump felt’ … Junior; ‘I’ve got a little more in me; I can keep trying’ …
Amy jump 2; ‘OK, clear but that felt even worse, now I’m getting worried’; Junior, ‘yeah, I felt that one, that was hard’ …
Amy jump 3; ‘huge oxer on end, I don’t like the distance and I’m not even sure we should keep going, we are circling, what your take?’; Junior ‘yeah, since your open to the idea I’m thinking this could be bad for both of us, I think I’ll start putting the brakes on three strides out for a gentle stop;’
Amy final jump ‘Do you have one easy courtesy exit vertical in you just to make the trainer in me feel better?’; Junior ‘yeah, I can do that no problem’;
Amy ‘Good boy, no worries then, we are all good.’
And for day three we finished clean and fast for a second in the 1.15m … always a good thing to know how to do on a tired pony if you ever plan to do any championship weeks, like say the Young Jumpers.
A division I really use to enjoy, by the way. Granted in the end I decided it was too much too fast for my particular breed; but it’s kind of like the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing for show jumping. As a horseman it can be hard to watch those nice horses running that hard that young, but there is no doubt it is an amazingly impressive level of natural ability and careful training to have them going so well so young (and both are ridiculously competitive).
As for Lionel (Ace of Spades) he solidified what I already knew … this is an incredibly nice green stallion. Four rounds and one rail at his first rated show with not so much as a single lunge required. I did discover however he does have a spook; something short of a rafter of wild turkeys flying right out from under him I’ve almost never seen at home. Lionel felt the stadium was OK but the people moving around in the stands as the show grew definitely got his attention, and created at least a little concern. I also discovered he can full on gallop sideways for 30 feet on cement and not fall down and break both of our necks (or even slip for that matter); so that’s good to know if we ever come across a big course we are committed to completing in bad footing.
The point is all in all Minnesota was a decent week. But I’m going to tell all of you right now, business as usual is not going to fly. Not now that I know how the organization that technically runs the sport, USEF, feels about things. And they are willing to act on it with severe penalty if need be. (I know, it seems like it’s the scary trainers calling most of the shots, doesn’t it?)
I’m calling every one of you on every bit of it (eventually by name if mentioning your b.s. here isn’t enough). Because the only way we purify this sport to what it is meant to be … a representation of the pinnacle of top and good horsemanship …. is with the unabridged, brutal and yet healing truth.
The only way my horses and I come back and stay (and I have no intentions of going anywhere after everything we’ve been thru to hang on) is that lit up path is cleared and tended to, so the total darkness some of us have been immersed in by King George and his court never takes over this sport again.
Why it took so long to get back
You know, I would have been back the beginning of last year if it hadn’t been for a group of my supposed closest clients-students-friends ganging up and throwing me under the bus in the most vicious of manners. And every possible situation (from the U.S. Federal government to State and Local government) and multiple personal situations going profoundly wrong repeatedly.
It’s almost like one of the wealthiest men in the country, who has-had extreme political clout and international influence among a myriad of some of the wealthiest and most influential men in the world, is super pissed at the person who initiated his demise, and looking for revenge.
Maybe because I was the catalyst for removing him from the ‘Sport of Kings’ he made billions in and ran in totality unencumbered for at least three decades. I mean let’s face it, he’s a tenured member of the West Palm Old Billionaires Boys Club and our ex-pres has hosted a Grand Prix in New York City, something you didn’t do unless you had George’s thumbs up back then, so you do the math on who his friends are.
And let me just remind you, the child molestation charges they (thru Safe Sport) removed him on were filed with USEF in 2012. He was still on the front page of USEF’s website monthly for years after this.
I published my ‘Dropping the Bomb on George’ story in November of 2017 (the first and only at the time Grand Prix level pro jumper trainer to publicly go up against George). I had my ‘why I no longer want to be in your sport’ suspension hearing with USEF in October of 2018, where I submitted 15 documented points occurring over two decades regarding my being black balled from the industry by George Morris.
In July of 2019, I pitched and connected with several large influential groups of potential investors in California, and publicly introduced the idea of a group of extremely corrupt men led by George Morris running the sport. Two weeks after I returned home from the pitching session, George Morris was removed. It’s pretty obvious guys … it took a lot of work and courage by a lot of good people and victims to get this guy gone … but I definitely got the ball rolling in a big way when it didn’t appear the totality of will required to take down the sports main cover boy was actually there.
So yeah, like I said he’s alive and well, has an enduring legacy, and still has major influence. He definitely doesn’t want me or my horses (and a potentially very large and painfully exposing and costly lawsuit) back. And he is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure I am practically squished out of existence; without himself and his friends going away to jail for a long time for the obvious if I were to simply disappear or strangely turn up dead. But let me tell you what happened last year, and you can decide for yourself.
2020-THE YEAR FROM HELL (FOR A WHOLE BUNCH OF US)
Its hard to even know where to start with this, but I suppose I can start with my two long term working students, Tanya Troken-Fogel (now just Tanya Troken I guess after a second divorce) and Sarah Mae Edwards. Tanya has been riding with me on and off since she was 14 years old, so close to 20 years (though she did take a 10 years hiatus off) and Sarah I believe was with me around 3 years (brought in by Tanya).
These are two people I became very close to, despite them being far from ideal working students (and there have been many over the years). Things have been tough for past 4 years, for sure, and it has taken a toll on all of us (though certainly none of my people subjected to anything near what I have personally been through for decades).
There were certainly red flags on these two, like constant never ending excuses and I’m sure lies as to why they often couldn’t make their three days of work a week (required if you want to jump) and they were rarely on time. Throw in months on end off yearly for various injuries and personal events and you have far from the ideal and consistent help required to do this work. But I maintained 12 horses for over a decade in one form or another and just simply could not do it on my own (especially not when working to bring money in from outside the profession constantly).
And all the right words were there, like I’m never going to leave and I’ll never betray you (if I had a nickel for every time Tanya told me that I’d never have to sell another nice horse again) and we’ve got your back; bla, bla, bla and often times the actions were there. You know, Tanya was standing beside me at the USEF Hearing, and that was a stressful day. So they knew very well what was up.
Now I’m wishing I had paid a little more attention to the red flags, because I was strait up played and conned by the entire group in the end. Like Tanya selling an expensive truck behind my back to a long term (ten year) client in Virginia, Lt.Col. Megan Spreier-Meinholz. Megan is an Army Officer working for the Pentagon in Washington DC who I sold a really nice gelding to, Quinlan’s Ace, as a two year old. She was in the area at the time and kept her horses here for years, but eventually had to move to pursue her military career. I often had Quin in training and we talked and texted regularly (as while she didn’t have time to ride, she bought a full draught Cradilo mare on my recommendation and she has been breeding Irish Sport Horses).
I made the mistake of helping Tanya to sell a pony to Megan (commission free of course), and apparently this gave them free rein to start talking behind my back and create a relationship that in the end overshadowed my connection to both of them. But as I’ve said before, like attracts like. I’ll admit, I was pissed about the truck. I guess some part of me could see the writing on the wall, and Tanya had pulled this kind of behind my back crap before (though owned up before it went too far). A working student that was manipulating for way too much control and power regarding every relationship I was involved in. I could go on and on with many examples, but enough said. And Sarah, as it turned out, was 100% loyal to Tanya only.
The bottom line is, I choose to trust these three people. And I know, there are some of you who are going say I’m gullible or easily played or whatever; but being a good guy requires a certain level of innocence and trust (Jesus said only those who are like these little children will enter the kingdom of heaven). You have to believe in people (and horses for that matter) to bring the best out in them, and that does mean at times you are going to get burned.
Anyway, Tanya has always told what I called ‘fish tales’. You know, she’d say things like ‘I won everything when I was a teenager doing rated shows’. And I was finally like (after listening to this for years), ‘ah, you barely did any rated showing, we were just getting started when you disappeared, and you far from won everything’. As it turned out the lying and manipulation went much deeper than this, but I choose for a long time to see the best in her.
So, Tanya fell in love with a mare I owned named Fatima’s Ace. This mare was the catalyst to the three year Young Jumper Championship run I had (as a breeder) beginning with Fate leading the 5 year old Lexington score board until the third day, when we ended up 3rd overall (and she was 7th in the nation, yes, with me riding her).
Richard Rinehart and another mare I bred named Chanel who I introduced him to, then topped my effort by winning the same 5 year old finals the following year (2013) and placing 2nd in the 6 year old finals in 2014. While Fatima didn’t make it as a consistent Grand Prix horse (though she did ribbon in her first 1.40m and 1.50m, see the Abuse page under Our Horses here as to part of the reason why) the last few years she has been as far as competitive records go my most accomplished owned horse.
I was toying with the idea of selling Fate to Tanya. I went back and forth on it a few times; mainly because after I had flat out given a small portion of Fate to Tanya she completely ignored the mare when she was injured with an abscess and let me handle it alone; and that did not make me happy. So there were signs there as well, but overall the love seemed genuine, and Tanya came back and did an impressive enough job the following year for me to decide to sell the mare to her for pennies on the dollar to what she could actually be worth jumping around and winning, especially with George removed.
Since I truly believed Tanya wasn’t going anywhere, (I knew ownership would be an ego boost for her), I needed the money, and this was a way to never say goodbye to my living first born Cradilo baby I had been through so much with, it seemed like a win win. I allowed her to make payments on the mare, gave her the deal of the century on board and shoeing, and it seemed everyone was happy.
I also sold Megan a top mare, Autumn Ace, genuinely believing in her honesty and having the horse’s (and my) best in interest in mind. I had started advertising Autumn at the beginning of the year for real money and was getting steady interest though had yet to clinch a deal.
Megan actually wanted my two best mares left (after the Fate sale) and was offering what I considered to be a distinctly bad deal (red flag). I had Quin in full training for years, hoping for an opportunity to get back to the Grand prix ring, where the intention was to sell him after he was going around respectively. The horse is very scopey, very brave and very ridable (especially after years of training with me). I was hoping to re enter the Grand Prix world with two nice horses, and so was willing to continue to train and maintain Quin practically for free for years (other than occasional low board checks) for the opportunity.
The bad deal was Quin in exchange for these two top mares, and Megan was pushy about it. Autumn was the only full sibling mare to Chanel, she was an easy really nice mare to ride and show (I believe a top amateur jumper prospect and possibly even a nice speed horse given the chance) and definitely a potential world beating female producer (the only one left of this top line other than Chanel, who I don’t own, is getting older and has seen a lot of hard miles in the show ring). And Nia, a horse I consider to be every bit as much a Grand Prix prospect (if not more) than Quinlan. Quin is a great horse but I had Junior sitting right there, also just as nice in different ways and overall lower maintenance.
So, there was just no way, and she was unhappy about it, which was not like Megan (red flag, red flag). I just attributed it to her husband being overseas and life being kind of hard for her right at the time (now I realize someone else was pulling her strings). I tried to make her a little happier by giving her a great deal on Autumn, paying in full on a past investment (and it really wasn’t a good time for this) and free board and shoeing on Autumn until she could get her shipped (which took forever). Throw in some free nice sentimental tack, and it was a pretty sweet deal for Megan, and not so great for me.
So back to earlier in the summer; things started going wrong. My horses for the first time were not happy (especially Junior) being ridden by the working students and began behaving in ways they normally do not (looking back I believe they felt what was up and in the works for quite a while). I started getting tougher because I needed these girls (who were often riding more than working) to actually listen and follow instruction and stop screwing up my animals I was consistently having to fix all of the sudden. Then, Tanya had to take another long hiatus of many months off for yet another surgery and had another ten reasons for why she couldn’t come out and simply clean tack or hand walk her horse or something easy like that. So yeah, I wasn’t exactly happy with the situation.
Little things were going wrong, like setting hay on fire in the barn while grinding a horse shoe; and then big things, like one of the stallions getting out and attacking one of the geldings, and the most horrible, my beautiful one year old Blue Healer puppy Boomer being run over. I was trying to save the puppy, and it was going to be expensive, so Tanya somehow came up with the money to pay off Fate, telling me to go save Boomer (which it turns out was impossible).
The day after Tanya paid off the mare (and trailered me and my horse to the vet clinic, calling me Mom and Aunt Amy to her son as she had been doing for years) she disappeared. A few days later Sarah left the farm mid work and left me high and dry having to work that night. The next time I saw Tanya and Sarah was months later on video during a court room conference. The next time I saw their two husbands who had been regulars for years was when they showed up that weekend with a horse trailer and the Sheriff to pick up Fatima.
Long story short, I said you aren’t taking her, I ended up on the phone with the D.A. threatening me with fraud, I held tightly onto the mare for months feeling completely long term manipulated and conned, and we ended up in court. After a ridiculous and obvious amount of perjury from Tanya and Sarah and another owed payment finally given (she was trying really hard to get out of) I begrudgingly released the mare. With the terms if I discovered any sort of abuse or mistreatment (if Tanya or Megan didn’t honor the embryo transfers I had contracted in the sale, or the first right of refusal on Fate), there would be future USEF hearings and lawsuits.
Throw in being laid off from my regular job multiple times and not receiving a penny from Wisconsin State Unemployment (who I am now suing) all year while everyone else I know was doing very well on this covid relief; and not receiving two of the three government stipends (it appears the IRS ‘lost’ my last two years of taxes I sent in, though the state had no problem receiving them). Add the inability to find any employment that would work with the farm and horses, having to put one of only two Cradilo stallions in the world down, and finally, being thrown off and breaking my arm in half in November (if I had hit the ground any harder I would have been picking my arm up from across the field) and you get the idea of the kind of year I had.
And I know, it was a terrible year for a lot of people. So much death for so many; and in a way though none in my family were lost from Covid, a part of me felt like yeah, if I’m going to have a particularly bad year this should be it (I might as well join the crowd). But I was not attacked by a virus I knew was after me. I was betrayed by some of my closest friends, in the most treasonous and traitorous of manners, for the worst of reasons (money and property).
And it all stems back to George. I know, some of you (even the good guys) are going to say I can’t blame George for all of this. But you are wrong; I most definitely can and do. But Amy, we create our own reality. On some level you called this to yourself, and you must accept responsibility for the life you have created. And on some spiritual far away level I suppose I agree … my soul, all of our souls, have agreed to all of this. And evil, maybe it doesn’t really exist, because it was never intended to be by God.
But the blatantly clear reality of the situation, here on planet earth, is evil does exist. Perhaps simply manifested by man, but we are powerful creators, and our greed and arrogance and immorality has created one hell of a mess, with the darkest of dark evil men (and sometimes women) running way too much of this world. And the truth is, I (the little old human named Amy Hunter) fell straight under the watchful eye and condemnation of one of these powerful men. And he has wreaked absolute havoc in a life that Amy the person (maybe not my soul) would have given anything to have avoided.
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE (WHO ISN’T A TOTAL SELL OUT) …
JUST NOD IF YOU CAN HEAR ME …
So why does is stem back to George? Because his MO (method of operation) is bribery. What else does any human need $86 billion for? He understands human nature fully. Very few can resist that combination of fame and money … especially when they were raised in an industry seeing this guy on the cover of magazines with medals around his neck on a regular basis. So when this force of (human) nature named George Morris comes calling, almost none resist.
So the chain of command affecting my world is King George Morris (big dog at the top), General Eric Hasbrouck and Lieutenant Ivona Butcher (she’s been working for George for years) … spreading out last year to all the little grunts, my own personal clients and students.
If you read the Abuse page (on Fatima) on my website you’ll know who Ivona is. This Chek female dog/ex student has been raising hell in my life with hired attorneys for years. Based on one small investment with no collateral and no end date (a stock market type investment); and she has spent at least 5 times that much torturing me with attorneys. Ivona perjured herself in court suing me (and winning) for unjust enrichment on Fate claiming they improved the mare when all they did is starve her, make her lame and put stitches in her head for the two months they had her (oh, and then charge me for it in the lawsuit).
If you bother looking up Fates record, she went from just having ribboned with me in huge hits ocala open classes to barely doing anything the longer Ivona and Eric had her at comparatively smallish East coast shows. But, we can’t seem to find a decent honest court room judge for Viroqua, and the current one as far as I can tell is a clueless sell out (highest paid lawyer wins no matter what the obvious truth is). And then there is the fact I didn’t even bother showing up to court. Because at the time I just didn’t have the emotional stamina to go through the circus like fiasco Vernon County’s legal system likes to participate in.
Ivona and her husband Corbin, whose parents own a local vacation home, have dreamed of becoming CEOs and owning and then flipping a company. But they couldn’t find the investors. They did however find George Morris and I (through Eric) and discovered he was willing to pay for her to put me through hell (whether in the form of investors or suitcases full of cash or both, I don’t know).
And I’m well aware Ivona doesn’t mind breaking the rules. Last thing I knew she had a website specializing in importing Chek warmblood sport horses and collecting professional commissions on sales (with supposedly a lot of happy buyers and sales, though half are probably made up) all while riding as an amateur at the shows. This is very illegal in USEF/USHJA land.
So Ivona connects up with Tanya (though Tanya has told me over and over how much she hates Ivona because of the Fate starvation, not that anything coming out of Tanya’s mouth means a thing) and Megan and Sarah and God only knows who else (definitely at least one official from the Department of Justice and one local court room judge through high paid attorneys); and those three are fully aware of the possibility of being bribed by George because they have been warned by me, and you have a toxic situation.
Ivona is for sure on the payroll for a while now, and Tanya has definitely been bribed. I know Tanya didn’t have the money to pay off Fate, hire an expensive attorney (and she told me she was going to hire an arsenal of them, OK), and go through a pricey divorce, all at the same time, and all completely unemployed. And I know this girl … I’ve known her forever. She’s spoiled and arrogant and loves nice stuff, and the opportunity to actually be paid and get the horse was just too good to pass up.
The way she turned on me was so decisive and so premeditated; these girls worked me over so completely, acting like they were my best friends and we were family the entire time. Which was easy to do, because that had been the truth of the situation for years. So, they just kept on doing and keeping things appearing as they had been for a long time.
And I would bet everything Megan and Sarah were bribed as well. For Megan to want to get those mares out of me so badly? … it didn’t even make sense. I flat out asked her, ‘so you’re breeding world beaters now?’ She said she just wanted try to breed a couple of nice ponies for her kids. And she’s told me she wasn’t even 100% sure she ever wanted to go back to rated showing after all of this.
But she does love her new trainer Jennifer Lee of Virginia, who is totally strait line connected to and working with George, and as far as I can tell she would do a great deal for her (including paying her $1700 a month plus shoeing to ‘train’ and sell Quin as an equitation horse after he had been with me for years learning how to be a nice Grand Prix horse for free).
Megan had promised me a 5% commission on the out of my hands Quin sale before she came to pick him up last fall (which I was not too happy about after all that time and work and investment). When she told me he was sold and I reminded her of the promised commission, and other than my facebook page she completely disappeared. I know Megan well enough to know she was not that worried about what was probably a small commission; but George sure is.
George doesn’t want me getting a penny that might lead to me going to a horse show and legitimately exposing and removing his now tentative hold on the industry for once and for all. Because he told the entire industry I was no good, and my horses were no good. He has shut down (from achieving full potential) every single horse I’ve put out there except Chanel (and even then he got in and severely damaged my relationship with her owners).
Quin an equitation horse? REALLY?? Maybe they can turn Autumn into a hunter and then blame me for her not ribboning. And my horses and I suck? … Nothing could be further from the truth, which is why my return (which will now finally prove that once and for all) is such a threat.
I have no doubt George has used his political ties to influence the government and it’s officials on multiple levels (I’m even wondering if he’s affecting my very disabled father’s ability to get VA benefits he has 100% earned and we could really use right now). The final straw for me though was when they went after all my remaining horses.
I’m not going to go into too much detail, but it will all come out in the lawsuit. And trust me, they went after the horses hard core. The entire group of officers and grunts. Not that any of them would have a clue what to do with my horses (including George and Eric) except maybe how to stop them in their tracks from showing any real potential.
But since that is probably their goal anyway (because they are such wonderful and accomplished horseman), I doubt having the ability to actually train sensitive half thoroughbred horses that haven’t been developed for five plus years by some European matters much.
YOU MUST HAVE DESERVED THIS
You must have done something to deserve all this … I mean Amy, you aren’t perfect. No, I have done nothing to deserve this and I am totally innocent; but correct, I am not perfect. I do get ornery, after zero days off for years on end, working two jobs (the horses and the regular income) non stop to make all this fly, and dealing with help that had nothing but excuses and attitude. You know, a Wisconsin winter with a broken arm and seven horses to take care of alone (my sister and her kids were able to come up that first weekend and help); and I’m not too much in the mood to put up with anything from anyone these days.
I have been a good trainer to all of these people, better than they deserved. Available constantly for free advice and free help, genuinely working hard to ensure they had a shot at becoming decent horseman, and genuinely caring about their lives and futures. Tanya came to me severely overweight, on the verge of divorce and working a terrible job carrying a husband that was unemployed; a dysfunctional mess. As she has admitted many times, I and my horses put her (and her marriage) back together.
And Megan had submitted the paperwork to leave the military while she was here (talking about staying in Wisconsin, going back to school, and becoming a nurse). And I was like are you fricken crazy?! I literally talked her into staying in the Army.
But like my mentor Danny Quinlan use to tell me all the time, ‘humans are no damn good.’ I’ve unfortunately come to agree with him; not only adhering to the saying, ‘no man, no cry,’ … but taking it at times as far as, ‘no human, no cry’.
We live in a society that rewards and praises manipulation and deceit; and puts the concept of might makes right and of course fame and wealth, on the thrown of achievement above all else. But it’s still not an excuse. These guys new exactly what they were doing and who they were dealing with.
George Morris is a murderer … of innocence. He’s murdered children’s innocence subjecting them to his perversion, he has ended multiple good grass roots horseman’s ability to live the American dream and climb the ladder of success through hard work and sacrifice with his manipulation and guerilla warfare type tactics. And he has actually murdered a good man (one that I know of, but anything is possible with these people).
I know George Morris and friends murdered Naill Grimes in 2007. He was my Irish trainer, a genuinely good guy who helped everyone, and was on the fast track to International Grand Prix level success. Niall was brought into the country as an assistant trainer by one of King George’s court members, and eventually left her to pursue his own path. And like the mob, you don’t leave these people without their permission.
He was doing extremely well, and to boot was helping Cradilo (who had just negotiated his first big Grand Prix at Trader’s Point with one rail) and I bigtime. None of us knew Cradilo’s botched tie back surgery would stop us from going all the way because we were performing a miracle just being there … we were an unknown and definitely a threat. Especially partnering up with Niall.
I was married at the time but well on my way to divorce based on a bad experience earlier in the year that convinced me I had partnered with the wrong man; and Niall and I were into each other, plain and simple. Not acting on it other than hanging out and working together … but there was a future partnership calling that was obvious.
You know what they say about a woman scorned, or in Niall’s case women. And if they are rich and powerful and use to getting everything they want practically handed to them on a silver platter? … and you leave or won’t even consider them for poor and grassroots? That doesn’t go over very well.
Those are some serious accusations to throw around Amy. I know … trust me. Why do you think it’s been so hard to write this? Why do you think it’s taken so long to put this out there; knowing full well how many and the kind of people that read my blog? (Just because I don’t get a million likes on facebook posts doesn’t mean they aren’t being read and followed guys.) You can say I see ghosts or talk to ghosts or whatever you want, but the truth is there, and if you look closely enough with clear unbiased vision, it’s obvious.
So yeah, totally thrown under the bus by people who use to be friends for money and property and I don’t know, maybe some attention or arm twisting from powerful people.
CONSEQUENCES DO EXIST
Here’s the problem (for you guys) … bribery is illegal. Giving it and receiving it … with the intention to do harm. Whether that’s severely purging yourself in court (like Ivona and Tanya) or attempting to influence government officials and thus the government’s performance; or simple professional slander in a small community that can affect future work and current work for that matter. And bribery is tax evasion, which is also obviously illegal (and something Uncle Sam really doesn’t appreciate). Clearly murder is illegal (even if its not a US citizen) and child molestation is a federal crime as well.
You know, we like our penal system in this country. I personally think it could stand to see a little lighter skin color and higher income bracket. I think putting away a few of these self proclaimed kings (who are nothing more than thuggish tyrants) would do the country a lot of good. You know, just to kind of remind everybody that the good guys are still in charge and there are consequences for being a POS (piece-of-sh-t). Even if you are sitting on a big pile of money, are famous, and have had an important now ex title. Maybe we should remind these guys all that money can go away instantly when you break the law … and right now it seems like our government could use the financial boost of a few billion dollars confiscated.
Then there is the fact that George Morris has been permanently suspended by USEF, and there is a new Code of Conduct. I can pretty much guarantee if you are being influenced in any way that affects the industry or its members by this once Olympic Coach you are violating the Code of Conduct and susceptible to suspension yourself. And there are some of us out there (at least one on her way back) not afraid to do a little enforcing as is required.
Amy, you are really taking a risk here pissing these people off (even more). Tell me something I don’t know. I may be risking everything right now (though how does that change anything?) But it certainly can’t get any worse. Because George Morris doesn’t just know how to take someone down financially in this sport; he knows how to take you down emotionally. He certainly knows the kind of impact deep repeated personal betrayal and constant prodding at horse shows has on the ability for one to train horses and compete.
But I risk my life every day on this farm … the equipment, the horses, the jumping, the weather and footing … none of it is particularly safe or comfortable.
You know, I can’t speak for how anyone else feels (like law enforcement or family members), but I’m open to not personally pursuing prison time for any of the above; if my animals and friends (trainers, students, etc) and family continue to lead safe and normal lives. But if the kind of weirdly horrendous sh-t that’s been going on continues to me or the people I work with and care about and respect, then its game on, and I’m not worried about the consequences.
Not in this life at least. We all end up in the same place (6 feet under) and a few more of you may want to be thinking about those kind of real consequences that do in fact exist, and at times come to face you sooner than you may expect.
Regardless of everything, there will be a civil lawsuit. George has been busy paying everyone except his victims and that is going to change. I’m getting a little sick of all of my ‘friends’ and associates jumping on the wave of my accomplishments (I’m pretty sure George wouldn’t be too interested in you if it wasn’t for me) and making money off of whatever delusional made up reason they can come up with to justify the bs they have put me through by climbing on board with this known child molester.
When in reality the only reason was arrogance (these people are or have become too good to take instruction and actually do the work and sacrifice to learn and develop real skill to become what they were telling me they wanted me to help them be) and greed (an easy paycheck and really nice horses you had very little to nothing to do with producing all yours).
You know, even correctional facility inmates know that child molesters are some of the lowest forms of life. They call them ‘choe-moes’ and they have an extremely low survival rate in prison, because the inmates themselves have zero tolerance for these predators and bullies. Yet we have an entire industry full of people sympathetic for this guy because he smiled at them or wrote them a nice postcard or they participated in a lesson or whatever. I mean, how many people and horses does he have to hurt (he’s literally put entire groups of students via clinics in the ER) for you guys to forget about his money, blue blood membership and accomplishments (I guess) and see who this man truly is?
And please don’t come up to me and tell me what a nice guy George was and how sad it is that he’s now sitting in his castle on a pile of money alone without the ability to go to any horse shows or make tens of thousands of dollars on daily clinics. It’s like going up to someone who just survived a concentration camp during the Holocaust and telling them how sad it is Hitler has to hide out in his mansion in the Alps. Really? … do you have any idea how insensitive that is to the people he hurt? I’m thinking even that could be considered a code of conduct violation.
Anyway, alright, I think I’m done. Bitch session officially over; demons exorcised (for now). So, we are back. And I know …we didn’t quite come out guns blazing as much as I would have liked (as far as competition goes) but give us a minute. Four years is a long time. I would say we’ve done OK given the above. It is true, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And I’m still standing here; definitely one tough bitch. I guess we’ll find out if that strength translates to business acumen and competitive Grand Prix rides soon enough. See you at the shows … 😊Amy
April 2020
Rebelling for the Good ...
As I watch the national drama of the Corona Virus continue on, I find myself further contemplating the implications and meaning for society at large and the personal implications of our role (myself, my horses and students) within it. It’s clear I’m definitely in the minority in calling for as much non involvement as possible from the government (regarding forcefully shutting and locking down all of aspects of normal life) as most of society quietly succumbs and does exactly as it is told.
As millions of people are laid off and thousands of small businesses are closed, the government goes on in its often inept fashion. A huge percentages of those applying for Unemployment in Wisconsin are being denied for whatever bureaucratic reason the organization can come up with for not fulfilling it’s one sole purpose; while politicians go on perfectly cared for, paychecks on time and complete with health coverage in tact, indulging in never ending argumentative stagnation as the population continues to suffer.
As I face and own my rebellious nature I realize even in observing the men and women who I admire (spiritual leaders and speakers, successful business owners who are producing and developing cutting edge products and thought), most have a personal reason for not wanting to go too far out on the limb of ‘this is way out there, and what is really going on here?!’
Obviously, there is good in our society, government and the way of life it professes to support. However I am hoping after this fiasco we are all currently living through, more will become aware of the fact that there are serious problems infecting our world that have to be addressed and overcome if we are to survive, let alone create a society that truly works for the good.
If we allow Ego controlled bad guys to run things (or even practically worship them because we are so impressed with the undeniable property and power they’ve managed to collect, regardless of the manner in which they’ve come this end) the world is never going to feel like a safe place.
If you continue to support and feed a system that is failing it’s members for whatever reason (and from what I’ve seen usually there is some Egol anchored at the top, manipulating and micromanaging to maintain power) you are a part of the problem. If our current society’s mindset existed during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, America would be a British Colony and slavery would still be legal.
The enemy and evil this world is facing is incredibly sophisticated and well hidden, intimately tied with and often using individual spirit for its own end. We have to open our minds and hearts, dig deep and search to come to the truth. This is absolutely necessary because we can not move beyond that which we are unaware of.
I can not train and subdue or hopefully ever partner with a willful stallion who possesses a natural inclination towards the fight for dominance if I do not fully understand him. I have to raise my awareness (and reflexes) and jump in and get to know him, no matter how painful or even detrimental to my well being that learning and training prospect may be.
Pain is the most powerful wake up call there is. While it hurts to see the innocent of the world suffering, there is a leveling of the playing field and global unification that is happening that feels healing on some level.
As someone who was brutally driven out of an industry after a lifetime of work and being right on the precipice of proving their capability beyond any dispute, an entire horse show season being shut down for a reason outside of the industries control or power strikes me as just Karma. Though I believe the Corona Virus is an absolutely destructive attack by the heavy energy of Ego, nothing can exist in this world that isn’t allowed by Spirit.
A virus that infects and affects the wealthy as well as the poor feels like a brutally honest truth. This world is going to rise or fall as one, regardless of our social status, priorities or opinions. So much of the population is perfectly willing to overlook gross injustice as long as they have their comfortable little slice of the pie and can bury their head on their couch in their TV or computer or cell phone.
In the same way the human named Amy Hunter would much rather have avoided being on the radar of the dominant power in her industry named George Morris; spirit had other plans for her. Those leaving the world prematurely due to this virus are on some level (whether they realize it or not) making a powerful statement and asking us all to dig a little deeper.
There is no amount of 'just focus on the good energy' and 'find a way to be happy' that is going to unravel the messy out of control partnership we find ourselves in with Ego. You can not be in this world without taking a permanent ride on the horse called human Ego. That horse is a herd member, drawn to and influenced by Ego's collective human consciousness. If you've ever ridden horses in a group you know its very difficult and requires tremendous discipline and training to stop individual horses from running with the herd, particularly when its panicking.
Unfortunately, right now that herd is led by a stallion that does not want to be mastered, and no amount of petting and feeding him carrots will change that fact. One is going to have to take away the illusion of all his power and control (i.e. tie that boy to a wall and let him just stand there alone for a while) and make him understand where his meals are coming from and what his exact job is.
Spirit via the creation of humanity created Ego. There is no life or creation or world without Soul. That force must dominate if there is to be balance and productive partnership, as opposed to Egol’s dangerous manipulative destructive chaos that always follows when it leads.
It is going to take a group of extremely strong soulful individuals completely aware of what they are up against and the end result they are after, led by spirit and supported by an understanding community, to bring this situation to balance and a partnership that works. Because a huge portion of society and the men at the top of it are run by this egoic force, a rebellious attitude and a willingness to fight and potentially sacrifice for change will be required.
While things from my current perspective are extremely bad, they still have the potential to be better than ever. This zombie like sleep walking consciousness so many are living in is the furthest thing from the absolute reality of who they are. The enemy of the good in this world is big and in our face and pulling our strings stronger than ever, but there is tremendous spiritual power and guidance right at our fingers tips as well, if we can just know its there and tap in to it.
We simply have to be willing to become aware of and on some level embrace ‘the more’ in its entirety. It can be better than we have ever dreamed to imagine, but has in actuality become far worse than we are willing to come to know.
Either way, it’s a wake up call that will continue to knock at our door louder and louder until we courageously pry it open. We have to be willing to discover and live by the real truth of what’s on the other side in spite of the house of cards we’ve so carefully crafted. We’ve been drawn into an illusion of safety that is empty in a human world run by Ego and the ideology that as long as it looks prosperous and successful and is relatively easy, anything goes.
A Horseman's Perspective on Riding out the Corona Virus
March 2020
So, the absolute National panic over what amounts to a particularly nasty flu demands comment from an alternative perspective. If one has any gage on the energetic state mankind and the world currently reside in and how the balance of this energy affects health, an epidemic representing a lower frequency taking physical hold is no surprise. I have personally stated more than once if we don’t get a handle on the out of control ego currently running our society and the coinciding heavy energy that is engulfing us, there are hard and even potentially disastrous times ahead.
The average flu kills .01 percent of its victims … usually the elderly and weakened. The corona virus so far is statistically killing 1-3% of those it infects. In the 20th century Small Pox killed as many as 500 million people. 20-60% of those infected died, and 80% of all affected children did not survive. Yet right now, those supposedly in the know in our society are taking measures which will have a dire effect on the economy (hundreds of thousands, probably millions, being put out of work and needed services going away) in a drastic and unreasonable response to a virus which in the grand scheme of the past century is mild at worst.
If you are on a large boat that is clearly struggling to maintain its balance for whatever reason, and a huge potentially detrimental wave is on the horizon, the last thing you want to do is begin rattling the boat as much as possible by terrifying those on board and throwing the entire situation into even more chaos, all while trying to run from the inevitable wave. You turn and face the swell head on and remain as still as possible. The same thing applies to tackling a big fence on a horse. You need to be the most balanced and still at the base of the fence and in the air, at the most dangerous time during the entire endeavor.
Shutting down businesses that are required to run society and allow folks to survive is not maintaining what current balance we have; keeping things exactly as they are as much as possible is. Every aspect of society that has been working needs to stay the course.
There is no avoiding the spread of an air born virus in a society that sources so many of its resources from concentrated areas. Every honest health official has stated plainly this epidemic will happen and spread throughout the country and the world as it already has. If you are at risk, then yes, lay as low as possible, and be smart.
Beyond that, we need to continue buying, selling, conducting all manner of sports and arts and social gatherings as much as possible as a way of spitting in the face of ego and its fear mongering. Bring the Corona Virus on, because we will overcome it. Some will leave this world as they always do, and most will develop the anti-bodies and be stronger on the back side. The faster it runs its course the sooner we can get back to living the life that matters to our souls.
For those who are struggling those of us who are called to the path (as we will all be called to address this issue in different ways) will rise to the occasion and be as supportive as possible in whatever way we can be … like the good spiritual selfless beings we truly are.
Energetic strength and balance (and a distancing from a runaway society if it is required) is what will overcome this epidemic. Panic and worry because folks are not sure how they are going to survive the economic implications of multiple major industries shutting down does not lend itself well to a balanced strong energetic state; on a personal level, on a societal level or on a global level.
From my perspective this epidemic is a clear representation of the egoistic state human society resides in, and the attack of a force that is fighting to maintain control as spiritual awareness rises.
To think Uncle Sam, ultimately run by disconnected ego-maniacal politicians (regardless of the political party) is a big brother that is going to take care of you is naive and simply wrong. There are certainly those in the government trying to do the right thing, but the momentum of an Egol (Evil Ego) controlled system shoving us into a far worse situation is obvious.
Because many have put so much of their belief and faith in society, government and employment, a large portion of the population is behaving like a herd of sheep, being blindly led over a cliff to the slaughter.
Jesus said you can not serve two masters; being in the world but not of it means we work within the dictates of society when we have to, but keep our eyes firmly on the ultimate prize. That prize is an enlightened, spirit run heaven on earth, ego well in rein, and humanity experiencing the freedom and prosperity we’ve all come to call the American Dream.
This government of, by and for the people needs to be reminded that a temporary small disaster is not an excuse for fear mongering and vying for political power and control in an election year. A global health scare is not an excuse to force the country into what could become yet a further police state, removing folk’s ability to make income and support themselves with the services they choose to participate in. I don’t care what every other country in the world has decided to do; America has always been and continues to try to be different, and that rebellious attitude towards any form of dictatorship has always been our strength.
Most people know how to manage their health and have good instincts when it comes to supporting business or staying at home. American society does not need to be micro managed in this way. The recent choices our government has made represents an inexcusable loss of freedom and is proof of an ego controlled political system seeking to maintain power through fear.
We have to be smarter. We have to see past the illusion of this potential little sickness and death, which surrounds us at all times anyway, and connect to what’s real and what matters. This dream like illusion of control and comfort egoistic society has so skillfully lulled us into has made us weak. There is not a single human that has one modicum of control over the outside world they live in. We do however have the ability to tap into a source that will support, protect and give us direction, ultimately seeing us thru to a happy ending, no matter how hard things become.
This is a universe and a God that always supports us and is at its core root energetically one of peace and love. But at the end of the day we are all creators, made in the image of God, responsible for the life and world we live in. This is a clear and obvious truth.
However, I do not agree with the commonly held concept (among some intellectuals and spiritualists) that there are no forces outside of ourselves working upon us. And I do not agree with the concept that peace and love are always the solution to establishing energetic balance and wholeness. It’s a nice and comforting idea, but one which from my perspective represents a borderline delusional take on the world we are actually living in. Hitler, a classic egomaniac (though not nearly as well disguised as they are today), was not going to stop murdering millions, no matter how lovingly we asked him to.
I have personally felt the outside attack of a huge, almost insurmountable power that took over my chosen sport and industry, and focused very deliberately on destroying both my career and life without any real provocation other than one less than positive encounter and a seeking of the truth via horsemanship and success by the production of good horses. No single person can overcome this kind of onslaught without a tremendous amount of focus and concerted effort and help, and they are guaranteed to suffer as they fight to stand against it.
Every state in existence has an equal and opposite (or it can not exist or be known), and the state of goodness has an opposite called evil. This force, like all creations has a desire to continue on and expand. Currently on this planet it takes the form of out of control human ego. Any of us that have had their lives severely altered by this essence (whether its by an Olympic Coach, a locally supported corrupt old boys club, or ego-maniacal politicians running the country into the ground) know it is real; an outside pressing force exerting itself regardless of one’s natural sane desire to avoid confrontation with it.
This world right now is engaged in energetic and spiritual warfare that is climaxing and only ends when one side clearly prevails. Oftentimes, the reality of a war in a land far away doesn’t hit home until one becomes uncomfortable themselves, losing property or security or physical well being. It’s nearly impossible to fight and beat an enemy that is unknown, and guerrilla warfare is by far the most effective if the enemy can continue to stay hidden and illusive.
Whether they realize it or not, those spiritually connected, truthful, transparent and strong are at war. It’s a fight for control and power and represents a balance of energy I’ve written of over and over. While we all have an ego and must fight to subdue it, if the outside forces working against us are powerful and focused enough, it is impossible to win that battle alone.
Many have taken the stance regarding ego of ‘if you can’t beat it, join it.’ While that surrender does lend itself well to temporary success and security in our current society, there is an ultimate price to pay (which we are feeling the weight of now) for making that deal with the devil.
This idea we are all intrinsically responsible for everything that happens to us is a misguided one, excusing an egoistic world for atrocities inflicted upon the spirit (nature and human) that never should have been allowed.
Yes, on a broad spiritual level if you are in this world having a hard time you have chosen that path. But, like Jesus, you may have chosen to come under the oppression of evil men so that you could shine a light on the reality of the state this world is in, hoping to self motivate and inspire others to fight with you to change it.
Most spiritual teachers love citing Jesus, and few deny the power of his life and the resultant affect on humanity. What is now rarely acknowledged is the fact that he consistently spoke of an entity that worked on both his life personally and the outside world. A belief in the Devil is considered ignorant superstition and is no longer popular.
But there is an energy and force at work that a huge portion of the human population has become engulfed in. I call this out of control human ego; but I also state that we are creators and while it’s true this consciousness is nothing more than a shadow representing our darkest thoughts, it is one we have granted a powerful life and will of its own to with our consistent focus on, belief in and subduing to.
Jesus stated the Devil comes disguised as an Angel of Light. He called this entity the Prince of this World and addressed him personally, in the both desert alone, and in speaking to Judas (telling him to get behind me Satan), who was engulfed by this force. The presence of Jesus, his peace and love and complete enlightened awareness of reality was not enough to prevent his murder. While of course he ultimately overcame death as we all will; in my Heaven on Earth the most profound, honest and strong teachers and men of God are not brutally put to death by men consumed by ego.
Jesus said all this I do you will do and more. Our clear task is to create Heaven on Earth by recognizing and overcoming the dark egoistic energy that currently runs human society, both within and outside of ourselves. As we come closer to understanding the truth of the universe and our own intrinsic spiritual nature, ego becomes more and more threatened. And the war escalates.
An enlightened, connected successful person with the time and space and security to contemplate and live by the spiritual truths of the universe; to hone those skills and become empowered is the last thing ego wants. A population forced into survival mode, too desperate and worried to find clarity and understand who we are (our true self ultimately knowing that all is well), is a world that can be managed by an illusionist who hides in the minds of men and the ether of energetic darkness and seeks only to collect power for itself and maintain control over this world at all costs.
This world is going to re balance itself. It will cull the ego energy smothering human society and damaging the planet. Individuals can work to become aware of and discipline their and their communities egos, or they can become a casualty of that culling process.
To simplify, think of it this way. Ego is a horse one’s soul must ride to come to the physical world. That horse can be well trained and disciplined, a herd of many responsive horses following a lead spirit horse steadily marching and carrying their owners to a higher and better place. Or that same horse can be completely out of control and dangerous, constantly vying for power, throwing and trampling its riders, or running off following its lead Egol (Evil Ego) horse over a cliff.
Egol does not respect or care about love. To it, love is simply a weakness to be taken advantage of and overcome. It exists in a state of made up rules that ignore universal laws and twists truths, developing clever intellectual concepts to serve itself as it goes along. It is the ultimate pretender (having tricked the best of us many times), and when it takes over it uses the soul like the soft inside creamy lure of a donut. But the poisonous outside one has eat to get to the good stuff (to see and find the soul) is not worth the destruction and pain that always follows an ego controlled life.
The truth of who one is and which force is running their life can be fluid; but becomes evident with age, time, persistence and an unbiased seeking by those who need to know. There are some people perfectly happy living within this state and a world engulfed by it, and they will not be easily removed of the resultant power and success they’ve accumulated. There are those unhappy within this state who will be open and may work to change as the truth becomes apparent.
The bottom line is the light and universal laws that dictate creation will win. But as Jesus said, what good does it do a man to gain the whole world if he loses his own soul? To become ego engulfed and seek only to satisfy and protect your own life or family or community (because even an evil man takes care of his own) as the world spirals out of control is the ultimate in shortsightedness. Ego has continuously won the short game, and may continue to do so for a little while. But I and anyone truly tapped in can tell you spirit will win the long game and the series … no matter how many small games appear to be lost.
The only question is, what will mankind’s path to that ultimate happy ending look like? If we continue to remain in the dark, succumbing to and feeding an out of control ego (whether intentionally or not) within and outside of ourselves, that wake up call will increasingly be a necessarily painful one.
The Road to Healing ... October 2019
As I’ve been wading through the intense emotional landscape of a major shift in the U.S. Hunter jumper Industry that I was involved in; horses and human friends leaving this world, and then an unexpected trip to the Emergency Room (all within the past two months) I find myself feeling a little caught between two worlds and needing to explain a few things to both.
The first world is the Show Jumping Industry, wondering how long it’s going to be before the horses and I re appear and when if ever another string of more proof of the claims I’ve made regarding this line of horses and my ability to develop them is presented.
Much has already been accomplished, but I have said repeatedly the best of what this breeding program has to offer is yet to be seen.
We were absolutely stopped in our tracks with two horses while submitting via competition this very proof in 2017 intentionally, by the leader of many decades of the sport, as most intimately involved in watching the drama unfold already know. That power however, has now been publicly squelched and a clear more welcoming door has been opened for us to step thru. So, the repeated question ringing in my ears from multiple sources is; what’s the hold up?
Well guys, trust me, I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve been working hard and steadily at sorting out the financial backing, the training of horses and management required and the simple logistics of getting this team where we need to be to step back into the profession competitively and succeed.
However, my source of understanding (my spiritual self and the universe that supports it) has demanded just a little more patience, and with good reason. In the same way all questions are eventually honestly answered when they are put out there and the truth is unwaveringly searched for (seek and you will find), the universe gave me exactly what I needed to press forward.
While feeding late one night a few weeks ago after the current job, not being particularly alert, I was knocked over and trampled by one of my horses (as a group galloped up the hill into the barn to be grained) and was stepped on hard on one shoulder a few times and a foot once. Nothing is fractured or broken thankfully, but the first few weeks of recovery was very painful and all my ambition for anything but just sitting still and sorting of licking my wounds went out the window.
As I was sitting there feeling the pain and wondering why this now??, the answer suddenly became crystal clear. That accident was the perfect manifestation of exactly what I’ve been going through within my chosen profession for decades, and particularly in recent years, and helps to explain why it is taking a little more time for me to get fully emotionally on board and jump back in.
When you have been knocked down, trampled and left for dead (which is exactly what George Morris and his clan of supporters did) it takes a minute to recover. Even if the major leading offender is no longer there and you’ve survived with no long term injuries, you still can't just get back up and go on as if nothing happened.
Healing is painful and it requires time and focus and the opportunity to honor the trauma and potentially life threatening ordeal of what you’ve just lived through. On an emotional and energetic level the soul and universe demands it, and if you try to ignore the signs of trouble and press forward (as I was, feeling a new level of outside focus and pressure to perform coming from multiple directions), it will get that message across to you in a more forceful way.
I needed to grant myself some space and the permission to process how I felt about what had unfolded, to come to understand at a deeper level what those events meant for me and my work and the new being we now as a result are, moving forward.
The second world I need to explain a few things to is the community I live in. I live in a place that on a broad scale has no understanding of the profession I’ve chosen, and has not been particularly supportive through the massive challenges (given who my adversaries have been) of simple survival and holding on to a business representing a lifetime of work. Unfortunately at times, this community and some of its members have been a flat out corrupt and destructive force in my life.
As I’ve said before, the energetic force I call out of control human ego (or what Christianity would call the Devil) has a consciousness and a will of its own. That will can weave through entire groups and even well meaning individuals and influence behavior, particularly if a community is operating from the stance of the closed, nepotistic, non progressive mentality of sexism, bigotry and ignorance.
Even the appearance of an enlightened and progressive sub culture can be a farce, if in the end it subdues itself to the powers that be to promote its own survival and success because it is afraid to endure the guaranteed pain of battling for truth, strength and empowerment.
Ego fights to survive and maintain power through deceit. When the lies are being exposed by a community member who has been wrongly judged and condemned, that force tries to justify its behavior on multiple levels by creating never ending angles that falsely explain the current situation.
I am not making up stories to entertain; I have been directly involved (and was most likely the main catalyst) in the suspension of George Morris, past coach of the US Olympic Show Jumping team. I am the only named individual who publicly went up against this man prior to his suspension.
In both a story published on my website named ‘Dropping the Bomb’ in November of 2017, and by speaking before a USEF (U.S. Equestrian Federation) hearing committee in Lexington, Kentucky in October of 2018. Each hearing member received a list of 15 cited incidents of abuse and corruption directed against me and my horses over a 25 years period, the last of which related directly back to George Morris by competition, paperwork and broken contracts regarding the most recent sale of what was my best horse to one of the top 18 year old riders in the country.
I also went on official record describing why I was considered a threat (a past that involved riding under this man via clinics and riding under his assistant trainer, and the breeding and producing of US Grand Prix horses).
Sexual misconduct rumors regarding George Morris have been floating around the industry for decades, but two weeks after I began publicly speaking in front of financially influential audiences regarding the high level corruption I’ve been dealing with in the sport, George Morris was suspended and banned.
If you can’t wrap your mind around these simple obvious facts and truths happening right under your nose, do some research. Look into that world and come to understand how unusual and rare what I’ve accomplished with these horses is within in the United States Show Jumping Industry. You will not find one shred of evidence to dispute anything I have publicly stated.
The twisting of truths so that some can explain their now very tenuous position of ‘Amy’s actually a bad guy’ because of whatever they can make up (as I work towards financial stability and taking the place I have earned within my chosen profession) when in reality you are the out of control ego trying to manipulate public opinion to your benefit (no different than George Morris) only works on those who are gullible, easy to deceive, and possibly have something to benefit from that take.
Ignorance is not bliss, it is laziness. Long term it gives a foothold to forces that ultimately do not care about the well being of others or the state of world in general, but only care about power and alliances which allow that force to maintain control. Ignorance in the end leads to passively being manipulated and controlled by and ultimately becoming one of the bad guys (as Jesus said, he who is not with me is against me, and you can not serve two masters).
I fully understand the importance of facing the truth on multiple levels, regardless of how painful it is, and for that reason would never bend my experiences publicly on such important life altering issues for the sake of entertainment.
I’m interested in healing and producing beautiful powerful statements of expression which demonstrate that resultant strength and wholeness. I want to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what is possible (even when you don’t have great physical resources) by simply understanding and aligning with the universal support and power we all have direct access to.
In that vein the next writing project I hope to finish within a few days is called ‘Horses and Energy; Climbing the Mountain to Balanced Wholeness,’ which will help to further explain what I know to be true regarding healing and the producing of Grand Prix horses, and perhaps pave the way for some new methods and ideas regarding how we do things moving forward.
Loss and Change and a mare named Charm ...
August 2019 ...
Between the surprise death of Charm, the suspension and ban of George Morris (a definitive goal I’ve personally had for the past two years), and the work I’ve been doing to firmly re-establish myself in the industry via backers that understand and empower rather than demand and force compromise, I’ve found myself in a very contemplative and reclusive state these past few weeks.
A 22 year old thoroughbred mare dying is not a total surprise (even if they never had a sick or lame day in their life, as was the case with Charm) but as with Glory, I was hoping to recreate what has proven to me and several others to be a top and rare line, based 100% on an American bred mare. As long as Cradilo’s frozen semen was out there and Charm was alive, that possibility still existed. It’s simply frustrating, because I know for a fact there are a multitude of locations overseas that would have understood the value of this line simply by what was accomplished in the Young Jumper ring, much less the achievement of Grand Prix. As an undisputed successful breeder, the support would have been there to re create this line many times, as it should have been to guarantee its success.
However, I live in the country that has appeared so far to be perfectly happy buying its big wins, rather than firmly demonstrating our own ability and care as total horseman, not just folks that can finesse and learn to ride nice and already accomplished horses. We are at the infant level in terms of breeding international show jumpers, and that endeavor requires tremendous patience, love and sacrifice.
I’m not saying winning doesn’t require focus and skill and a momentary concern (and usually some serious finances) but the love of horses that motivates one to watch and care for their lifespan in its totality, from beginning to end, whether it’s winning ribbons and putting you in the spotlight or not, is an entirely different thing. If you breed and produce and train (and perhaps even show) and hang on to at least a few horses right to the end, you are operating at a different level of depth and connection. A country that has evolved beyond symbols (like ribbons and medals that can sometimes be very empty in reality) recognizes, supports and rewards this grassroots but fundamental contribution.
Since we are not quite there yet, the best US produced jumper line in its totality I’ve ever seen is preserved in 4 horses, only 2 which I’m 90% certain are breedable. Those are not good numbers, and to succeed it’s going to require an awakening within the sport of sorts that is hard to imagine, though most certainly possible.
For starters, folks need to get over the shock of George Morris (the reality of who he was and his resultant suspension). There is darkness and corruption that has gained tremendous foothold through hidden agendas and concealment around every corner in this world. Some of them are right in your face (or your head) on a daily basis, convincingly pretending to be something they simply are not. There was a time when I sought George’s approval just like everyone else in this industry, and it was a long time before I truly understood who this man I had unknowingly made a strong enemy of was.
The good news is, there are those of us who get a little more deeply involved and able to get to the bottom of things a little quicker and are willing simply say, ‘hey, this guy should really not be granted the power to influence thousands of lives,’ and thankfully there are some good guys listening with the courage and ability to take action and do something.
It doesn’t mean the sport and the work we do with horses isn’t very good. We are one of the few sports that honors nature at least on equal footing with mankind (sometimes even beyond man). This demonstrates an acknowledgement of a power other than the human ego, which is fundamental to our positive evolution.
Show jumping is a great sport worth pursuing. We just need to keep our eyes open a little wider and not be deceived by theatrics and marketing. Any horse person knows the difference between loving and partnering with a horse to pursue excellence, verses using a horse to build up ego and a sense of being on top. The signs are obvious … and has nothing to do with fame, wealth or power.
What are some hands on changes within the industry that may help? First and foremost, be careful who you choose to follow. Whether it’s a trainer or a clinician, winning ribbons is not enough. I believe competition is important, and I’m always a little annoyed with those who haven’t successfully competed in a few decades but are still riding the wave of some short term successful run they had on one or two really good horses. There are plenty of trainers out there who have been successfully competing on and off throughout their career on a multitude of horses, and their knowledge will far surpass someone who won a few big events way back when.
I get even more annoyed with those trainers and clinicians who have never shown. If you show you are going to lose … even the best in the world lose more than they win. It’s good for all of our egos, and keeps us well in check and focused on the broader sport and the horse, exactly as we should be. To believe you have the right to teach on a broad scale, when you haven’t truly delved into and fought through the battlefield of professional competition would be like a general who had never been to war trying to lead an army. Knowledge comes from experience, and competition is the testing ground. You don’t have to have won a gold medal to be a top trainer, but you certainly need to have been out there trying and proving yourself as one of best in whatever applicable ring more than once.
Obviously, producing your own horses from the very beginning ads yet another layer of knowledge and competence, that this industry would do well to begin to acknowledge, rather than simply watching for the rider collecting the most points or ribbons.
If you are one of the rare trainers or riders producing your own show jumpers in the United States at AA rated shows from the beginning remember, especially in the 1.20m and higher division, most of the horses you are competing against were purchased in another country already made. That means they were already jumping around 1.20m to 1.40m clean or mostly clean, probably in a show ring, the good shows being much easier and cheaper to get to in Europe. So, it is not a remotely fair or even competition.
I’ve had good trainers trying to produce their own nice horses at big shows tell me they felt like a looked down upon fool for having anything more than one rail. Any horse, no matter how talented, jumping around the biggest scariest course it’s ever seen, maxing out athletically, is going to have a handful of rails (I consider three rails or less in this situation to be a very promising start). The horses purchased in other places simply had that experience somewhere not here right under our ever watchful noses.
It is not the sign of a bad horse or trainer, but a needed part of the learning process. Nothing teaches a horse to leave the rails up better than hitting them. When you are developing an upper level show jumper things will get messy sometimes. Good trainers do try to minimize this situation because some horses can be ruined if the experience is too out of control, but on occasion they may need to simply scoot around and finish the course, no matter how ugly it is. The theoretical image of perfection this country has come to embrace is fake, based on someone else doing the challenging dirty work that we simply pay to avoid, and does not lend itself to understanding what is required to produce top horses ourselves.
In my opinion our sport may want to think about offering classes for show jumpers bred and produced in the United States only. Highlight and reward the folks that are doing this rare and difficult work. Something like a division called ‘US Produced’ for owners that have purchased a horse before the age of two years, or a trainer that has consistently trained and produced the horse in its entirety from backing to whatever level it is showing at. This would support US breeders, helping them to sell youngstock prior to backing so they can remain financially viable, and it would acknowledge owners and trainers taking the long hard road of attempting to produce, and sticking with a horse long term to ensure the best chance of accomplishing that end goal. It’s complicated and the details may need to be tweaked, but you get the general idea.
There are many aspects of our sport I like, exactly as it sits. I am one of the professionals that likes the myriad of 3’ classes we now see at the A shows, whether in the hunters or the jumpers. The sport being amateur driven in this country has its positives and its negative. The biggest negative we’ve already seen … being easily fooled by Olympic level trainers with less than stellar constitution and practices … these trainers being allowed by this naivety and ignorance to hurt other horses and horseman to maintain power at any and all costs.
The positive is most amateur riders love their horses. Unlike professionals, they are usually not in the sport to make a financial living, but simply because they enjoy the animals and the experience and the self evolution that comes from participating in it. I know from experience amateur riders like to win as much as pros, but the win at all cost scenario tends to be much less prevalent. Carrying someone around less demanding courses at beautiful venues month after month, and being very well cared for in return, is a good life for a horse. Especially if they find themselves in a home for life (and I love owners that appreciate what their horses have given them enough to stick it out for the long haul).
So you know, from my perspective, all is well. Right now the US Hunter Jumper Industry looks better and more inviting to me than it has in a long time. So ride on guys (which is exactly what I'm doing here at home), and with a little luck my horses and I will be right there with you before anyone even knows it … 😊
August 2019
GEORGE IS BANNED!!
WHA WHA WHAT?? REALLY??!!
I always seem to start off saying it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Given I’m pretty sure I’m the only Prix level professional that’s publicly confronted George Morris in a big way (on my website via the article ‘Dropping the Bomb’, through facebook and directly through a USEF hearing last fall) I just have to comment on recent developments.
First and foremost, the strongest emotion I am feeling right now is one of gratitude. I feel so grateful for the person or persons who came forward regarding the abuse, the folks in Safe Sport and USEF (I won’t name names, but I have a pretty good idea, and you know who you are) that have taken down or at the very least taken a strong swing at this man who from my perspective is the epidemy of everything gone wrong in the world.
The man has been a giant in this industry, and has created such a strong delusion of the opposite of what he actually is through mass repeated decades of marketing, (in spite of what I know is evidential fact, especially if backed by witnesses who actually own up and come forward) that I wasn’t 100% sure he could be taken down. You guys did it though. Justice is served … finally … faster than I ever imagined was possible … especially given the time it’s taking me to recover from all of this to attempt to put some case together.
I’ve been so frustrated with the idea that I had to try to take this man down alone … thinking why little old me? I’ve been so sad because what I’ve experienced directly has made me want to give up quite completely on humanity (even on what appeared to be the good guys who just love horses). But you guys have given me renewed hope for what can be accomplished by those still willing to fight the good fight, and I feel so proud.
I’m amazed by the speed and power of all of it. Score #1 solidly on the board for the good guys, for the first time in a long time in my world. I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the past, because I prefer to focus on a bright future full of beautiful happy horses and new horseman finally coming out from under the shadow of this man and his legacy to have the opportunity to come into their own potential.
It has been a dark few years for me. I’ve been a lone crusader, who most of my family and friends and community members thought was crazy for even attempting to confront this Goliath, very much out on a limb that has seemed ready to give at any moment. I have felt so completely thrown under the bus by most of the friends and peers I’ve come to know and respect in my profession (though I know it wasn’t all of you) either for fear of this man, or just plain obliviousness to the reality of who he is.
The one ray of hope was the USEF hearing last fall … and at the end of the day the organization I feared had granted him the ability to garner way too much power was his demise. All I can say is wow … what a ride. The best and worst of humanity all in the exact same small little world and sport.
The fight is not over, and I know that. George Morris is not alone … he never could have accomplished what he did directly against me and my horses alone. There are still many people out there who are pawns and minions and strong believers in George … and because of his fame and their association with him they will fight to save him … whether he is wrong or right.
George Morris is a man that has developed a system that works in producing international wins some of the time. But those wins are ego fed constructs that have very little to do with who we are as horseman. He has a system of pounding every peg, round, square or whatever shape it happens to be, through a round hole. Every once in a while (very rarely) a peg fits perfectly in to that hole with a horse and rider, and wala, you have an international team. More often (like 99.99% of the time) from my direct experience, he’s simply aligning with a team that is already winning and working.
That is not horsemanship. Pushing a bunch of horses and riders through a system to find out who may be great because they are still standing at the end does damage (sometimes irreparable) to the 99% that don’t make it. Horsemanship is about developing horses and riders to the best they can be at that moment. Which means you are 100% flexible and never shove a peg into a hole that doesn’t fit.
The horse’s future quality of life depends on their ability to do a job well for an owner. Riders and future horseman staying in the sport depends on them having positive experiences on horseback. If a horse can accomplish something as simple as safely carrying a rider around a 3’ jumper or hunter course with an occasional ribbon, that horse will probably be very well taken care of, loved and have a nice life (and give his owner a wonderful and unusual experience). Even this entry level takes skill to achieve, and can be easily destroyed or severely set back by a culling system that only concerns itself with finding the team that can win.
You may say, well, George slows it down in the equitation ring. That has the appearance of being true, but if you take a hard look at his baby, the Medal Maclay, you’ll find that class is much more about politics then actually finding the next up and coming skilled equestrian and trainer. In the past 15 years, the same minuscule group of only five trainers have won the finals. 80% of these folks ride out of Wellington in the winter and 87% ride out of the East Coast.
Are you seeing a pattern here? I mean, how many hundreds and perhaps thousands of trainers from all over the country have competed in the Medal Maclay over the past 15 years with the hope of receiving some recognition?
This concept of riders who are winning International Grand Prixs, an Olympic level of competition, some of them actually beating Olympians, riding in the Medal Maclay (and surprise of surprises winning it) is laughable. There is no other sport I know of in which you pit a top level (though maybe young) competitor against basically what are entry level high school kids in the sport.
Let puts a NFL Football team against a local high school team and see who is going to win. The Medal Maclay is rigged to keep a small group of people in power, as is the US Hunter Jumper Industry with George and crew at the helm.
Look guys, this man who so many people in our industry seem determined to worship as a God has worked really hard at regulating me to ‘backyard breeder’ with no hope of ever being taken seriously as a horseman in the US Hunter Jumper Industry (if he had it his way).
I took and rehabbed a 13 year old retired broken down stallion that was standing in a field and had zero competition record to the Grand Prix ring within a year, and we stayed there for five years. I then bred this stallion to my hand picked and bred thoroughbred mares, and produced three competitive young jumpers (two being top in the nation), the first two of which who I rode myself. The third horse I bred, who was first and second in the young jumpers finals, I hand picked for a working student I had just brought in to the industry, and then introduced her to the trainer that would set her and her horse on a path to the top.
All three of those horses have competed and ribboned in the National Grand Prix ring, two of which I trained and rode. Two of them are solidly still in this ring, and one has done multiple international Grand Prixs.
That is 100% track record guys, which is unheard of. You would be doing very well at a 1% track record as a breeder in the US producing Grand Prix Jumpers. The two geldings I bred that are coming up behind these mares, look even better. I’m convinced they will be solid International Grand Prix competitors, and they are both relatively easy and uncomplicated. And the young Ace horses and the Flexible and Cradilo stallion behind them? … just wait and see … because these horses are mind blowing.
I rode under a top trainer as a junior, did the equitation classes (even qualified for the New England medals on an off the track thoroughbred against all odds), and have ridden with some of the top horseman in the world, but I should be a backyard breeder in Wisconsin because according to George I’m not really that good? You don’t see any politics happening here?
George Morris isn’t an elitist snob who has made a small fortune over the decades and he doesn’t want to maintain his power and wealth and legacy until the day he dies? This man worked hard to snuff me and my horses out, and I am not the only one, and I can prove it. Is that really what I deserved because he didn’t like me? Because I refused to wear a spur on an off the track thoroughbred? Is this really the man you guys want to hero worship, in spite of this new evidence that on top of all of the above, he has been sexually molesting minors within the sport?
Things aren’t always what they appear. Marketing and image can be bought, and there are some top notch, long term actors out there convincing you they are something they are not. George Morris likes people that are already winning, and with a lot of resources behind them, that can somehow make him look good. Anyone or thing deemed a threat (whether a good horseman or horse for something that doesn’t fit into his image of perfection) he works to destroy. And he does it to maintain power. Professionals that know who this man is are afraid of him, and with good reason.
You know, I have a friend who grew up and lived in communist Russia. He use to speak of fear being in the blood. Because during the communist regime everyone directly knew someone who had lost everything or died, because they dared to oppose those in power. Corrupt men in power are afraid of the truth, because it is the one thing that exposes who they really are. In spite of marketing and acting and appearances and popularity, truth cuts through to reality.
If we are living in fear of losing our jobs or the stuff we’ve accumulated because some person in power over you is going have a meltdown if you dare to confront them or expose a truth they don’t want out there, you are not living in freedom or in a free democratic society. I don’t care how many flags we wave or fireworks we set off, or how many countries we go fight in to liberate, or pursue freedom.
If freedom isn’t 100% guaranteed right here at home, first and foremost in the form of pursuing the American Dream, then it’s all just a giant delusion designed to make us feel good and keep us trapped under the power of the few and often corrupt.
I was a little girl that was born loving horses, and who by some miracle that did not involve great wealth, had the opportunity to pursue that love and dream. The mini apocalypse of the past few years George Morris has put us through as a result of that love and dream and a refusal to give in to bad guys (for me, my horses, and anyone who has ever stood by me or supported me), the attempted destruction and wasted time of a life that should have been a great successful professional career, has been just plain wrong in any way you look at it.
Even though it may seem done, I will continue to pursue my case against George Morris in whatever form I can, because this is a legacy that needs to end completely. His kind and way must not be empowered by his success if this world we live in is going to avoid self annihilation. For me it’s a legacy of the darkness overcoming the light … by having a power it never should have been granted based on a well presented lie and our desire to appear to be on the top.
On a lighter subject, I’ve added a page to my website, called Favorites. Nothing gets you through a rough time like music. It connects us directly to who we are and shuts out that ego voice in or outside of your head that tells you you’ll never do it. These are a few of my favorites that have seen me through the last few years … there are a lot more than these few songs but I’ll ad to it as I have time 😊
USEF Hearing - October 2018
I was happy to discover my first interaction with a USEF (The U.S. Equestrian Federation) hearing panel was conducted thoughtfully and professionally, by an unbiased panel, and I was allowed to briefly express on record some of my general concerns and difficulties within the US Hunter Jumper industry. This interaction has given me the confidence to move forward in an official capacity through USEF regarding violations of Article GR702d and Bylaws 403. If you have violated these regulations as I have persevered to an unwarranted blackballed end, regardless of whether you are a USEF Course Designer, Steward, Judge, show manager; a trainer, buyer or student; now is your opportunity to come forward. I fully understand the intensity of the politics of succeeding within this industry and will not file a protest, charge or grievance against someone who is willing to officially own up to the pressures that led to this misconduct, for a brief period.
If you are convinced I’m delusional for going up against George Morris I have two suggestions … 1) Research history (it’s always the underdog with less to lose who dares to take on and often defeats the giant) and 2)Ask yourself what has George Morris actually physically accomplished as a horseman other than a brief run of successful competition as a young rider on horses produced by someone else?; endlessly pontificating on and detailing a rigid style of riding and training that 90% of the time followed explicitly only works on one type of horse (one fully developed and confident in its job) for a limited period, and a cunning ability to align himself with and take credit for (whether deserved or not) those who are succeeding??? The ultimate sign of an entire profession falling under the spell of a carefully crafted illusion is that this man has been allowed to bend the rules to his will and literally emotionally and physically torture and make or break horses and horseman on an international level for decades, virtually unchallenged.
Let's talk about ... 'FREEDOM OF SPEECH'
You what know guys? There’s this thing, it’s called freedom of speech, and it is the most important concept this country and most civilized beliefs and societies were built on. Here’s what it means … I get to say whatever I want to say, regardless of how unfair it seems to you, or how angry it makes you. Now, there is a lot of spin out there (people seeking attention, seeking to manipulate, whatever), that should be overlooked by anyone trying to live in peace.
But every once in a while, someone is presenting an important truth that should not be ignored or be cause for retaliation. People fearing for their livelihood (or their animal’s wellbeing in this case) because they have something to say that those in power don’t want out there is reminiscent of the Gestapo or a Communist Party form of government. It is absolute tyranny. Especially when that person has spent decades for the most part simply, quietly doing the hard work and focus of pursuing their profession.
Anyone that knows me can tell you, other than proving my horses in the show ring, teaching or an occasional balk over some misrepresented manipulation I feel needs to be straighten out, I focus on work and avoid human drama as much as possible. It’s the reason I’m a horseman living on a farm in the remote country.
People freaking out over some possible truth being put out there (without carefully investigating the facts of what might actually be happening), especially when it has the potential to over throw or shed light on those in power, is usually a sign that 1) a true nerve is being hit and 2) they are somehow embedded or aligned with that power in a way that makes them feel safer or stronger and not open to even discussing in an educated factual way the potential truth. In other words, THEY are likely biased and unclear. And their hype at the end of the day just becomes more manipulation.
But those who are clear are going to simply observe the events, come to conclusions of their own, move forward and make decisions accordingly (and they tend to be a lot quieter). So, I could CARE LESS about negative spin. I’m interested in keeping the bad guys at bay by exposing them (and anyone who would hurt a top horse in a sport that is supposedly dedicated to their preservation and shining a light on them, definitely falls into that category). And making strong and useful connections with the good guys, which I know this sport is also overflowing with. That’s it. Mission accomplished. See you at the shows … :)
Summer 2018 - response to Chronicle Forum
This is in response to some bantering and other feedback I’ve received on the Chronicle of the Horse forum called ‘jumper conspiracy’ I’ve recently posted on.
I don’t have to defend myself or prove anything regarding George Morris. I’ve lived it for the past several decades. I was a good investigative reporter for a year and have the front page newspaper articles (and resulting job working for a top US congressman) to prove it. I know how to follow the lead and obvious conclusions of events and facts, no matter how well disguised they are.
My Grand Prix mare (Deluca Ace, now Momma Ace) being sold by me to a top young rider who did not have the political clout all the embedded professionals know it takes to win the national medal maclay finals (ie she was third in the regionals just prior, the same show at which she won the grand prix) and then the mare being shut down (after Hunter won the finals) because that mare solidly in the 1.60m ring would have made my career as a breeder and developer of these horses was the final obvious lightbulb turned on for me. And Mr. Morris and his minions are still effectively undermining me with students, right in my own backyard in some pretty nasty ways, just within the last few months.
Many top professionals in this country and internationally know my claims are true, and I’m far from the only professional’s career he’s done serious damage to. People are simply afraid to come up against this man, and frankly, unfortunately with good reason. (I know, I'm sitting here hiding out in no where Wisconsin, while you're trying to make a living at the shows.)
I think Bill Cosby has shown us that just because someone is good at portraying one image (ie the father of equitation and kids learning to ride well), backed by powerful organizations in the past (like the Chronicle, Practical Horseman and USEF) and a master politician-publicist doesn’t mean they are who they portray themselves as.
Coaching the Olympic Team to a few gold medals, when you’ve repeatedly paired up the top professional horse-rider teams in the world is not something I consider to be a huge feat of horsemanship. Now if there was some genuine leadership going on, such as talented amateurs getting the amazing new experience of representing their country in top international honorable competition, as the Olympic Games were originally created for, I would be more impressed with a winning coach.
Has George Morris done some good? I’m not going to say young riders learning to focus in an extreme manner on body awareness and position and more technical courses than say the hunter ring, while cruising around and learning to chill on some very made, confidence building horses isn’t a good thing. It does develop a controlled and attractive, though I’m not sure always 100% effective (particularly in developing horses), rider. But there are plenty out there at the very the top, the best at what they do, that never had the full benefit of that experience. And it does not justify the iron fist brutal control this man has been given and clearly abused in this sport in this country, especially when the highest level of equitation competition from my direct experience is as much about kissing his ego-maniacal derriere as riding well.
If you’re in love with the idea of him and his philosophies (as many of my students and clients were, and I just let that slide until he made it impossible for me to) than I am sorry to potentially shatter that happy illusion for you. But I have a right to speak out on my experience, and defend my chosen career (and the horses and students) I am deeply immersed and invested in.
And it is not my job to prove anything anymore than it was the 30 women Bill Cosby drugged and raped. I’ve done enough just by living it, finally putting it out there, and fighting to hold on for a fair experience as a professional in this industry, while trying to pick up the pieces on the back side. Taking this on sounds to me like a good job for skilled lawyers and anyone in this industry with the clout and desire to really get to the bottom of it. But there are going to be a lot of powerful people that will not enjoy being under that magnifying glass. So you will have your work cut out for you.
I personally plan to keep my main focus on horsemanship as long as my body and the universe allows it, and not be swallowed up by all this political drama. I just want the world to get a chance to see who the stallions I fell in love with (and their legacy’s I am working to promote) were, and what amazing things can be experienced and accomplished by ANYONE as a horseman with just good old fashioned desire, determination and hard work (if the bad guys are kept at bay and not worshiped by an entire industry as false gods).
But for the sake of the horses and future generations of the people that love them, this darkness that has haunted our industry for a long time (there are several well researched books that highlight it) really does need to be exposed and eliminated as much as possible. Because if you shut out the genuinely good and real horseman fighting to do great work based on economic status or a high school type popularity contest so many trainers feel they need to be in on; you severely damage the good evolution, honor and integrity of the entire work. And this work (cutting edge horsemanship) has been an important leading aspect of human history and the our evolution as a species for thousands of years.
Spring 2018
So, it’s been a long time. I have to admit I have been in full hibernation mode for quite a while. Wisconsin winters have a way of doing that to you if you like keeping your fingers and toes for future riding. But Spring is coming, and the universe and the good guys in it are calling me and my horses back out in to the world.
I’m sure many are wondering what … no Florida … not happy with USEF … why? Or maybe not wondering (it should be kind of obvious by now but who knows what the spin is out there), but I’m fine with filling in a few of the actual truthful details here for those of you that prefer reality over gossip and manipulative marketing.
When you work your entire life and put everything you have into breeding and producing top horses, and then one of the most known horseman (and his cronies) in your industry in the world decides to make it impossible for you to succeed selling; by manipulating and creating a smear campaign in a world (totally based on reputation, by the way) by in a completely unwarranted way professionally slandering you at a level that has been mind blowing to me; it makes it IMPOSSIBLE for you to financially succeed in that industry. If you can not sell top horses it has taken a lifetime to produce at a profit or at least break even, you are for all intents and purposes being driven out of the business.
These kind of tyrants (big and small), firmly seated in whatever community they’ve managed to weasel their way in to, have a way of making you out to be the insane devil. So that they can justify their horrendous behavior (in fact it is the opposite, they are the bad guys). And unfortunately, if they have worked hard enough at creating that often false image and have collected enough political and financial power, a lot of folks (sometimes even once good friends) will unknowingly get drawn in to it.
The only thing I have found these people really understand and take to heart, is economics. So, I have no problem taking away the thing they cherish the most (power in the form of money and recognition and admiration) in what little way I can in an effort to get people’s attention as to what is going on and make a point. This idea that we should never ‘rat’ on anyone, or dream of doing damage to their bank account (being willing to enslave rather than empower ourselves to keep them afloat), no matter how they behave or because they are scary and willing to get really nasty (even to the point of taking your life away sometimes) to stop you is ridiculous.
We are trying to live in a free country. Being afraid to be honest when bad powerful people are doing wrong things because of what the consequences may be is right along the lines of communistic government and dictatorship. I’m pretty sure we know that doesn’t work, and have all been working really hard to stop that from being our way of life in this country. But if you just let it slide, so you can stay comfortable in whatever niche you have worked hard to carve out, it will eventually come back to bite you in the butt. Because we are all on this same ship called earth and are going to sink together or stay afloat together.
Now, I don’t have a problem letting certain small things slide (pretty much forgetting that they ever existed) if you have consistently at the end of the day behaved like a friend and helped me to stick around. Or have simply gotten caught up in a system that is more than a little flawed and unjust, or you know, just stuff happens. We are all human and make mistakes … nobody is perfect. I have no problem being very good to those that have hung in there and been good to me through this huge battle I seem have inadvertently gotten caught up in trying to live my dream of being a good horseman.
So, if you have been slightly harmed by this financial attitude of mine and know me; have a little faith. I am stubborn enough (and have nice enough horses and can ride and train and do whatever it takes to hang in there) to get my point across and eventually succeed. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. If I’ve been going to your horse shows for years and years and spending thousands and thousands of dollars on them and bringing other clients to them and shining a light on them obviously you are long term getting the thumbs up from me. I may not be happy with every move you make, especially if you or your employees are being affected by these politics (which allows me to justify putting a little crunch on you), but we will catch up and I will make it all right and be back.
If you have been one of the guys that knows in your gut I’m a good person that gives it everything I’ve got to make it all right eventually, and you have been caught up in this and have gone out of your way to do harm for attention or whatever (to me or God forbid one of my animals), than I owe you nothing as far as I’m concerned. Except possibly a law suit for professional slander and damage or criminal charges for animal abuse.
So buyer beware. I am tired of being pushed around by this industry that after 4 decades of formal study and blood, sweat and tears that I have become a master horseman in (yes, I said it, humility has gotten me nowhere), which I will happily prove over and over yet again without a problem given the opportunity. Literally by the grace of god. Because if not for divine intervention, I would definitely still not be here after the winter I just had.
That’s what’s going on guys. I was more than a little disappointed with how things went in my life starting last fall on both a personal and professional level, and frankly, the universe rightly decided I just needed to take a break from a large chunk of humanity. If not for a group of horses I love deeply and a minuscule group of loyal friends, I’d probably be absolutely done with all of it, sitting on island in a 3rd world county somewhere living out my days on a beach, never lifting a load of hay, pitchfork, grain bucket or hoof again, for as long as humanly possible.
But, that is not what the big guy in the sky seems to have in store for me. So, I’m a good little soldier (with the right General), I do love what I do and I do love sharing it with the right people (especially when it’s going well) and we are starting to gear up to get back at it. I’m riding, training, teaching, shoeing, talking to buyers and I’m even doing the regular job thing. With a little luck and a whole lot of back breaking hard work (what’s new) I’ll be able to hang in there and get another shot at making all this work in the way it should of come together (in my happy dream world at least) like 20 years ago … :)
Fall 2017
So for those of you who read my recent ‘Dropping the Bomb’ article you know after decades of sort of watching and trying to figure out what’s been going on in the Hunter-Jumper industry (after the situation with the last two horses I’ve put out there, and the recent three I’ve worked to promote) I finally came to the irrefutable conclusion I was being blackballed from the top and needed to take it head on if I were to even have the chance to prove my horses (are I) are what I say we are.
What you don’t know is I’ve formally asked USEF to look into the accusations of blackballing, professional slander and horse abuse regarding George Morris, Erik Hasbrouck, and the most recent horses (Fatima Ace and Deluca, now Momma Ace) who have unfortunately been caught up in all of this. And there will be legal ramifications, particularly if USEF does not take a hard look at its’ own organization, because I am not going to let years of unfair damage for having a polite opinion and fighting to economically survive go. Overlooking what has happened for fear of the political and professional consequences has only caused it to escalate, so the idea of that simple path is over for me. The good news is I have a pretty clear idea of the political and economic machine working behind this industry, and so my focus will be more on those at the top who have had the power, ability and intention to instigate and do harm.
I’m sure it’s hard for many folks to believe this is or has really happened … given the fact that I had a hard time believing it myself and I lived through the strange manipulations (and watched myself, my horses, my clients and friends suffer for it). But trust me, I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t know it was factual.
The truth is they have been playing both sides in brilliant and impressive form. On the one hand, telling folks my horses aren’t really proven nor that good (and I’m just a crazy want to be), and on the other hand, doing some pretty fancy political maneuvering in an attempt to make sure my horses aren’t consistently out there. Letting me send them clients and horses while they milk them for as much money as they can in as short a time as possible, abusing the horse intensely for months and then blame me as a horseman and the quality of my horses when it doesn’t sell … a plan sabotaged (unknown to me) by them from the beginning anyway.
On the one hand they preach overall horsemanship and pretend to be behind breeding programs based in the United States, and on the other hand they go out of their way to do in as well rounded a horseman and breeder as any in this country. It is all designed to be deceptive and very confusing.
You know guys, Darth Vador doesn’t always come in the form of a black cape and mask and breath loudly … sometimes he comes in a pair of breaches and a polo shirt, and may even have prestigious medals and blue ribbons hanging on his wall. I mean, even Darth Vador was pretty good with a light saber, had plenty of followers and some real talent at manipulating the force. That doesn’t mean we should put him in a leadership position and worship him as a God without taking a hard look at how he’s been doing things.
Sportsmanship and horsemanship are about the unbiased unbridled pursuit of excellence. The NFL would look very different if only a bunch of white guys with a minimum of a million dollars in their bank accounts were allowed to try out and play professional football. It is the intensity of desire and persistence and a drive to be the best at what you do and to dig deep to get there, that creates great sport and art.
A self proclaimed top horseman, who consistently drives out those in the form of horse and human he alone deems as unworthy in whatever manner he wants to to get the job done, is a dangerous thing and the exact opposite of horsemanship and sportsmanship.
Every physically and mentally functionally solid horse, particularly that has a human behind it that loves it, should have the opportunity to become the best it can be. All horses have some minor weaknesses and flaws. Horsemanship is about seeing beyond those anomalies to the potential and heart that is there anyway. Horsemanship is not egging on the weaknesses, and then throwing that animal away when they eventually self implode under more pressure than they are ready to handle at that moment.
This doesn’t mean every horse will go to the Olympics or ever even could, and it doesn’t mean we don’t all evolve and move towards a better fit for our goals with time (for example the horses I prefer to ride and train right now are very different than those 20 years ago). It doesn’t mean there isn’t a time to push an athlete; but pushing to bring out talent or weaknesses that needs to be worked beyond, and destroying to gratify an over aggressive ‘I told you so’ ego, are two very different things.
Any horseman, regardless of financial background, body type, age, color, creed, etc that is willing to put in the work and focus and love of the horse it takes to even think about seriously pursuing this work should have the opportunity to do just that. They should not have to play a political, economic, high school type popularity contest that is rigged for them to fail, not even having the opportunity to pursue something potentially amazing because they aren’t a member of whatever club. True sportsmanship and horsemanship leaves all that behind because it is purely about a love for top performance and a partnership with the horse.
That true open minded, soul searching, evolutionary attitude is what’s going to take this work and this world to the next good level. Allowing someone with power and fame to control, manipulate and destroy that natural process leaves us all in a weaker, smaller state. I will not be bullied by those who barely know me, and who think they have the right to define who I or my horses are, when they don’t truly understand the path we’ve lived to even be here. If you are so convinced we are nothing and have no value, then what is the harm in giving us the fair economic opportunity to play the game? The simple fact that you are so threatened by us proves you suspect or know we are the real deal, and have a role to play in helping to define the next new direction the sport will take.
October 2017; Big news;
Ace of Hearts, only Cradilo stallion (potentially ever) offered for sale via online auction here ...
Aceofheartsauction
**Auction Details**: Now that the auction is officially running and going well (and I have a better handle on how it works), here are a few notes if you would really like to have a shot at owning this stallion but are a little shy about an unfamiliar method of purchase ...
1) Don't be intimidated by the tech if you are not computer savvy. It's super easy, just follow the directions, then it works just like ebay (you can literally do it from your smartphone).
2) Bidders are anonymous. I have to approve you joining the auction via email (which is sent automatically by the auction site when you sign up). I would appreciate a brief description of yourself and your website, or facebook or email address. This way I can verify authentic horseman with the ability to truly promote this stallion. (And ensure that no one is working to sabotage the auction by falsely driving the sale price up.) I am training horses this week, so though I would love to sit by the computer I just can't, so it may take me a minute to verify and approve buyers. (While I will do it asap, I do recommend you not wait til the last minute to sign up at least).
I don't need to speak to potential buyers for you to bid once accepted in to the auction, but feel free to contact me with questions, via email or cell phone, (and text or call), with any questions.
3) I guarantee I will sell Levi to the highest bidder accepted in this auction, and go down the bidding list to give others an opportunity if that deal falls through for some reason.
I have been selling horses for 30 years to some very top horseman. My reputation in this is extremely important to me, as my current track record of satisfied buyers is 100%. I like this concept for selling rare equines, and would like to do it again in the future. So this sale is 100% legitimate, I am personally running it, and I intend to make sure Levi's new owners are 100% satisfied.
4) This sale can be as anonymous or as public as you, the buyer, want it to be. While I will let people know Levi is sold once the sale is 100% complete (vet check done, etc) I do not need to disclose the buyer.
4) I will contact you via email with the trial contract and a couple of easy down payment options shortly after the auction concludes.
Cradilo and I thank you (it is his legacy you are helping to carry on) and good luck!:)
Kogan's Ace,
Ace of Heart's
older full sibling,
Free Jumping up to 5'
The big news this week is I’ve decided to sell Ace of Hearts (barn name Leviathon) quickly via a private online silent auction Aceofheartsauction to any solid horseman with good intentions. Levi is a 15.3 hand 5 year old bay stallion who is functionally sound for breeding only, and one of only 2 Cradilo stallions that currently exist in the world. He is my only stallion available for purchase,very possibly indefinitely (or at least for a very long time).
So, if you are looking to get in on what is proving to be amazing jumping line genetics, possibly some of the best in the world, in quantity via a stallion fairly inexpensively (at least at the starting bid, depending on how the auction goes), this will be the ONLY opportunity.
And it’s one worth pursuing, because Cradilo genetics are proving to be strongest through the grand sire line (though this is common in many horses). What this means is the genetics this stallion carries through may throw Cradilo attributes better than Cradilo himself, and from what I’m seeing that is more than likely. This is not a decision I’ve come to lightly, but I’m moving my operation to Ocala for the winter and want to lesson my equine responsibility while increasing capital.
I bred Levi’s dam Koganna (ie Annie) while I had his grandsire Kogan (a rare full blooded Akhal-Teke imported from Russia) and grand dam Porcia (a tb cross mare by Puritano, a Westfalen imported from Germany) in full training in California, and then bought her back as a 4 year old. I then bred Annie to Cradilo three times, and Levi was the last colt which I have kept whole. (Go to 'Our Horses', 'Koganna' to see pictures and video of Kogan jumping). The pictures above are of Kogan in California with me and one of his great great grand sires Absent ... who won the individual Gold medal in dressage in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Absent's sire Arab, was the Russian National Show Jumping Champion. The pictures below are of Puritano, an imported German Westfalen stallion residing in California, and JD love, an American bred thoroughbred mare, who in turn produced Porcia (Koganna's dam).
I rode Kogan (read Koganna’s synapsis under Our Horses for more info), the grand-sire (who Levi very much looks like), over his lifetime. The first time was in Wisconsin as a 3 yr old when I met his breeder Tito Pontecorvo (fresh from Russia through a LaCrosse exchange program) and HE was the horse that blew my mind. I write about the experience in a California Horse Publication a few years later in an article that was listed on the front cover ... though the article repeatedly mistakenly calls Kogan the wrong horse, Greguar ... see Ride article here. (The pictures below are of Porcia ... Levi's grand dam ... while she was in training with me in California).
Tito is one of the top Akhal-Teke breeders in the world, and now resides in Texas. Tito has published a book, called My Passion for Akhal-Tekes (with Kogan in it) and has a website ... www.akhaltexas.com. The Akhal-Teke, , the Persion Arab (which was often not distinguished from the standard Arabian Horse we all know of from the Arabian Peninsula) or Turk Horse, (thus the Byerley Turk), is as a minimum one of 3 foundation lines ALL thoroughbreds came from. Hundreds of Akhal-Tekes, not just one, were imported into England in the 17th century, when the thoroughbred was originally created. There is NO long backed and thus fast, scopey light sport horse (with a flat topline) without the Akel-Teke. Most Arabians have a shorter back. Simply look at a picture of most standard Arabs, then most standard Akhal-Tekes, and then most thoroughbreds. Which does the thoroughbred look more like? It's the Akhal-Teke ... by a landslide.
The Akhal-Teke breed is for all intents the original thoroughbred, being the core of of the English breeding program that created the thoroughbred; adding huge endurance, huge strength, and just a simply insanely strong will to survive and excel. Hundreds of the almost extinct breed reside in Germany … not a coincidence. And I know, many original Arabian and thoroughbred breeding countries may want to disagree. But, given what we see when it comes to politics, would the Turk's horse of thousands of years being practically eliminated from credit really be that much of a surprise? Russian horseman got it right with their understanding of the important of and obsession with preserving this breed.
Tito states the Akhal-Teke influenced the creation of many breeds, and now that I've developed an eye for them, I must admit, I I see the influence strongly in some of my favorite supposed non Akhal-Teke horses. Even Cradilo himself ... tall, long and heavy ... and yet he was quite a narrow horse given his size. Cradilo had a distinctly different build than many Irish Draughts, who are often quite wide (built like a German Tank as my mentor Danny Quinlan use to say).
In my opinion, width in a throughbred type build is great (heart and lung capacity) but width in a draught can be overkill when it comes to adding weight, and more useful to pulling a cart than going over a jump. The point is, I looked at Cradilo and saw a giant Akhal-Teke. He even matured in their notably distinct way. Koganna looked a little like a course quarter horse as a 4 year old, but by 7 years of ago she had lengthened and became quite refined looking. Cradilo went through a similar transformation ... looking very heavy and drafty as a 3 year, and then much more sporty as a 5 year old (some of the Irish Draught folks actually complained he was too tall and light to be a full blooded draught). There is NO doubt in my mind the Akhal-Teke influence was in Cradilo somewhere.
Regardless, you mix that potent Akhal-Teke blood with what was undisputedly the top Irish Draught Grand Prix jumping stallion in the US (because he was the only one that could consistently do it) and throw in a little good old fashion drop dead gorgeous and very correct American thoroughbred mare named JDs Love, and a really handsome kind Westfalen stallion named Puritano, and how can you go wrong?? Photo below is of Koganna or Annie ... Levi's dam (looking fantastic after three foals by a very large stallion!)
What we went through so this colt could be here today was nightmarish for all of us. But he made it, is as ambitious a soul as I’ve ever met; and is strong and healthy. He wants the entire herd to himself and to do nothing but breed mares, which he should be doing a lot of. This is a breeding stallion to the core, and he is going to produce phenomenal A circuit show jumping horses. I will not sell him without a handful of breedings for myself in the deal because I do want this blood guaranteed. It’s important.
Levi doesn’t necessarily look the part of his sire (at least in size, especially in movement, and as the type of sport horse stallions we are use to looking at) because he was born 5 weeks pre mature and should have been dead 100 times over his first 5 weeks of life in the hospital.
But if you watch his video closely (I was NOT able to capture it in the photos) when he's standing still there is an incredible build there, that is a beautiful combination of strength and athletic ability very reminiscent of both Cradilo and Kogan.
Those potent genetics are there, and at the end of the day the ONLY thing that matters in a breeding stallion is the quality of what he carries and his ability to pass it along. (Some of the most amazing looking horses were terrible breeders and vice versa!)
In truth vets couldn’t believe Levi survived the trauma of not standing up for 4 weeks. Then we had to throw him on the ground as a weanling to wrap and re-splint his legs on a daily basis for many months, even though it was painful for him and he would sometimes bleed (blood would spurt out of the delicate arteries on his ankles) when we pulled the wraps off.
But promoting and caring for Levi is and should be a serious job I just don’t have the resources for. I want to focus on putting his full and half siblings in the limelight of the international grand prix ring, and I don’t have a lot of time to waste. So this is an incredible opportunity I’m happy to share with the right person willing to write a useful check.
I will be promoting his full brother, Kogan's Ace, hopefully in the 1.60m international Grand Prix ring, but definitely in the 1.50m national grand prix ring, and maybe in an occasional hunter classic or equitation medal, just to show the world what’s possible with these wonderfully temperamented horses. Because these horses (in the non breeding version) really are super user friendly and just plain cool.
Yes, the other stallions I own may create a little more speed and possibly power. But the Akhal-Teke line is significantly easier to train and may hold up better because they have amazing feet, (which are perfectly conformed and so tough it’s like cutting through flint). They are drop dead gorgeous with beautiful coats, they will do the hunters and the equitation and win … and I honestly can’t be sure of that with any other combination of Cradilo blood I've produced or know of at this point.
The other full brother to Levi, Grimes Ace, I sold to what has basically been my niece Ella Barnet for over 6 years, because I wanted her to have something really neat she could excel on, and yet be safe. Grimes is an absolute baby sitter … he will never let anything happen to Ella … and he pushes her just enough to make her improve. He has a little edge because he is bred to be a real show jumper, not a hunter or equitation horse, though of course he could do it.
But his job is to be clean and fast, he’s easy to ride and work with, and yet has enough umph (and thus challenge in him) to be ambitious and help a rider to win … not just survive. Easy horses do not make great horseman or riders … the horse needs to have something that challenges you. Because a Grand Prix course will every second from the moment that timer starts to the moment it stops. It is a hard world for a horse and rider to survive, no matter how talented they are.
And some course designers seems to enjoy risking destroying horses and riders in whatever way possible for whatever reason. I’ve ridden under 2 course designers that I thought were actually legitimately and very successfully working to help me train the horse. Charles Throckmorton, of Fort Collins, CO; who I rode with briefly and one of the trainers who inspired me to ride Grand Prix (behind Mitch Steege naturally). Because they were both so good at it and made it look so cool. (I watched Charles win the Denver Stock Show Grand Prix one year, THE A show out west in the winter for decades, and I watched Mitch win many an open jumper class on his bay warmblood gelding as a teenager). And then there was the famous course designger Olaf Peterson of Germany, whose courses I rode one year in Ocala on Cradilo.
You can actually feel the track these guys lay for you working to help you train the horse. Building confidence gradually laying lines that encourage smooth eveness, yet power and ridability. It is brilliant work I wish they ALL had a basic understanding of. Only the big money Grand Prix of the show that week should be difficult enough to test and possibly wreck a green or not quite up to snuf horse and rider. And even then, it should be done with focus on what level you are at, and NOT towards whoever is politically popular at that particular horse show. That is a big no-no guys. My money is just as good and I work hard to be at the shows … I should have an equal shot at the win. Maybe we need to look into regulating that sort of thing more at horse shows?
Anyway, back to the point … Grimes was easy for me (and all of my regular students). Because the horse I grew up on, a little thoroughbred-quarter horse named Kalua, was hard. He was so hot there was no doing a flatfooted walk on the way home from any trail ride for the first like five years I owned him. He ran away with me … in the field and at the jumps … it was a rough world for a 13 year old and involved some tears … especially in the beginning. These horses some of you kids are riding are too easy for your level and ambition. Though I do appreciate what they are, sometimes it's honestly hard for me to see them as a real horse (more like a carnival ride that does what you tell it to when you push the right buttons).
So, I don't think it would be a bad idea to incorporate some different blood that is very safe because it wants to take care of you when you love it (strongly through the Irish and Akhal-teke horse) but that may force you more to learn to ride and become horseman. Horse are not necessarily supposed to be too easy. Sometimes your trainers work really hard to make them that way for you (so you can win at that point, and everyone can be happy). But that strategy a top rider does not necessarily create ... and definitely not a top horseman.
And, once your good enough I thinks it can be way more fun on a challenging, strong willed and minded athlete. This sometimes means speed, edge … they may even buck or rear or be so fast you fall off until you learn how to stick on. You will only be as good as the intensity of the athlete you learn to ride. We want them safe and well trained, but really good horses will make you reach to keep up, when you are ready for that kind of horse (yes, when you are tiny, like under the age of 10, the first horse should be a dead head babysitter). And then, when you head towards the Grand Prix ring for the first time, it won’t feel as if all heck has broken loose because you are unprepared for something REALLY tough.
Because no matter how good the horse is, being consistently competitive in the Grand Prix world (and especially making Grand Prix horses) takes a real rider and horseman. This means plain and simple you know how to stay on when things get unpleasant. If you were me as a kid, you didn’t want to walk back 10 miles from the middle of nowhere on an Army base in Colorado Springs that is thousands of acres and literally on the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Where we run in to things like rattle snakes and dogs caught in bear traps.
Yes, this was my real life with Kalua as a young teenager. So I learned how to stay on a tough horse. And now, staying with fairly easy horses (which you do want when you first go to the Grand Prix ring) on tough courses is very doable, even at 47 years old and a light show schedule. We may not always win, but we’ll be there to keep learning and improving until we are ready to win.
But you have to earn the horse that gives you that opportunity. Because if you aren’t ready for it you may destroy it. And they are very expensive because somebody spent decades at least (it really took centuries if you look at international sport horse development) breeding top athletes. Somebody else risked their life and spent a ton of money to train and turn that horse in to a real Grand Prix competitor. It’s kind of like buying a nice house … you’ve got to give it a little thought … and the horseman has to be properly prepared. Because if you burn the house down … oh well … there is no insurance on ruining, via poor riding and management, nice horses.
Which is why you want to encourage your trainers to buy the right horses (not necessarily their friend’s horses or better yet for them, THEIR horses). Though this may sometimes be the best horse ... everyone needs to open their mind and you need to follow your heart a little ... because something that makes your trainer the most money may NOT always be the best horse for you. The professional advice you do need to follow when buying a horse, especially if you are very ambitious, needs to be unbiased.
Because some Americans have earned their reputation as not being the best sport horse breeders (for top competition at A shows). I happen to believe (and I’m well on the way to proving) mine are some of the best bred in this country and possibly some of the best in the world. But many of the US sport breeders don’t seem to know enough about lines, conformation and the breeds themselves (they didn’t even get that the Akhal-Teke was important and worth preserving, which really was a shock to me) to try to be breeders.
If a horse is not physically functionally sound, they will not consistently produce good horses. Cradilo was conformationally sound (his legs never gave him a lick of trouble over a 5 year intense grand Prix career) and he throws that in his kids and grand kids. In other words, any flaw he had never stopped him from being a really nice consistent Grand prix horse. If the physical flaw is serious enough that a breeder needs to take note of, it will stop a horse from reaching it’s full potential. And by the way, sometimes temperament does stop top stallions from going Grand Prix … this is not necessarily a show stopper for a breeding animal … especially for show jumpers. They need edge.
Anyway, the breathing issue that didn’t stop but definitely hurt Cradilo (see Cradilo's story under writings) was ignorantly man made, as I’ve been saying all along. Not ONE of his offspring have possessed anything close to it. And the rest was because he was a really heavy Irish Draught foundation stallion that was designed for breeding only, supposedly too big and heavy to be a Grand Prix horse. But it doesn’t mean he isn’t an AWESOME grand prix stallion.
Cradilo stepped over a 1.50m course and a 1.60m fence (see Trader's Point video under out horses). If the horse should be jumping 1.50m but can just barely win at 1.35m after years of shows and drilling there’s probably a problem. You have to be a good enough horseman to see the major flaw (such as strait hind legs or post legged as it’s called, or hocks that don’t hold up swinging cleanly and smoothly and mostly strait when they move). If the horses is literally practically crippled behind, but loves the rider so much, they will still go around big courses and win anyway, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a good stallion. That is crazy heart, but it is not physical soundness.
You can preserve those good qualities, but only by very carefully adding tremendous strength. A horse with no flaws that doesn’t win will beat the horse with a deadly flaw that wins more, as a breeding stallion any day of the year. There’s no competition. But, if you don’t understand what a good breeding stallion is, you won’t know that, and you can be easily fooled. By people that have invested so much that they can’t or won’t be honest and unbiased enough to admit what their breeding is slowly proving anyway (unfortunately, it takes many years and a lot of horses to prove or disprove breeding stock). If their stallion's offspring have never been really competitive in the young jumper ring or consistently looking good for the 1.50m grand prix ring they are not a top prix producing stallion. There is a flaw there that needs to be bred out, before they can think about consistently producing world beaters.
And the European warmblood breed registries in the US don’t seem to be helping. It seems many will register anything with an owner willing to pay over and over yearly, as far as I can tell. But, the international market wants to produce and sell it's own horses, so how motivated are they to really help us if we don’t know what we are doing? This is why I haven't used the U.S. warmblood registries so far. For the moment I prefer the foundation registries like the Irish Draught Society, or the Performance Horse Registry, or the Jockey Club … which don’t gauge you yearly. But you do need to have an eye because their inspectors are looking for type, and not necessarily a horse that will be competitive in the show ring.
I’m sorry to lay this out so bluntly (I know I’m going to offend some people here, what’s new?) but it just doesn’t seem like some folks in the US are grasping what’s happening. Europe, the land full of real professional show jumping breeders, would give their eye teeth to have Cradilo and Kogan’s blood in one horse. I will bypass the US breeders and sell it to another country if folks don’t pay attention and quickly act (we had major international interest in Cradilo when he demonstrated for the 2010 World Equestran Games in Lexington ... it's what motivated me to find a way to freeze him successfully).
Because I am tired of educating and proving my breeding points over and over just to be overlooked by an industry that seems to only pay attention to living at the shows and eventually winning (it's bound to happen every once in a while if you go to enough shows and work at it long enough). And coming up against those that want to own the hunter-jumper world, and are threatened by any body that dares to have ideas of their own and succeeds consistently making really nice horses. Powerful people who seem to be willing to do anything to undermine me and my program.
(Sorry George, but the last thing my traumatized off the track thoroughbred, that is going beautifully and I've been settling for years by the way, needs is a spur. I'm no longer in the military, I have the right to and should be protective of my horses, and to believe some equine athletes need never see one. -Sweet Baby JamesXX, Tampa, FL, 1996- How about we pretend like we live in a free competitive capitalistic society, and not spend decades working to demonize and chase any professional with some talent and a mind of their own out of the industry?! I didn't realize I was making an enemy for life with that small move all those years ago.)
At any rate, the intense political manipulation is working to stop a natural freedom seeking evolution this industry should be allowed to undergo, and in turn hurting the horses and horseman (not just me). Every aspect of this industry does not need to be controlled. Folks will figure things out for their best interest with guidance ... not dictatorship. And new respected leaders in the industry that have earned the right to be there in their own individual way coming forward in various shapes, sizes and backgrounds may be a part of it. It doesn't mean anyone else is going down (unless they are actively wrongly doing damage) or getting a smaller piece of the pie. Thanks to the never ending resources this universe provides, the one that put us all here, there is and will continue to be plenty to go around.
The point is, if I don't see the minimum bid on Ace of Hearts made in a few days from initiating the online auction, I know exactly how to and WILL go after the international breeding market with this news. America could lose a much needed opportunity to breed a great deal more of its own good horses (based on American thoroughbred blood and horses bred on this soil) because I am going to, like any smart business owner, make money (and probably a great deal more if I involve world wide breeding competition).
I have a very small number of these animals, and many U.S. folks only want to spend real money (the kind that makes a difference to a professional in this business) on horses that can win in the show ring or are pure towards whatever random breed. Well, the best breeding stallions aren’t all like that … and usually NOT when it comes to producing show jumpers. You need foundation blood … but not always in it’s pure state, as pure bloods do not allow for a thing called ‘Hybrid Vigor’.
Promoting an important stallion is a responsibility … one that can pay off greatly and put you in the limelight … for the better or the worse depending on how you handle it. Ace of Hearts, barn name Levi from Leviathon … was named after the mythical sea serpent that was God’s answer to Job, as in the bible, when he complained about how hard his life had become. God basically said look at how cool this animal is? Can you create something like this? No … you can only look at it and wonder … because it is by it’s nature (not by tools or weapons) more powerful than you … and thus demands your respect. In other words, don't whine about hardship; just trust me, I've got this! (Breeders do dabble in creation; but horseman are not Gods. There may be some enlightened work happening to move things along, but for the most part we simply use what the universe has given us to enhance what’s possible more quickly than evolution … a very thorough but long process).
At this moment there is no getting to this blood without me and my horses. I'm willing to change that, but not without the kind of respect that comes in the form of a dollar amount. Levi is one of two Cradilo stallions in the world, and Cradilo is gelded. The tiny bit of frozen semen, which we don’t even know will work, was collected and paid for by me when he was under my legal lease. This semen is mine, and I will be taking legal action to undo the extremely unjust and illegal glitched piece of paperwork that has kept it from me. And if one drop is missing, that law suit will exponentially become more expensive and there may be some criminal prosecution (it’s called theft guys). And if you buy one of these illegally created horses (IF it’s happened) you will be liable as well. I’m sorry I’m having to be so tough, but this business has brought me to that point (trust me, I did not start out there).
Even if the semen was used today there still wouldn’t be a Cradilo stallion out there capable of producing for at least 3 years. And the top in the country breeding university I interned with (CSU) STRONGLY suggests never breeding a stallion before the age of 5 years. Because if they have a bad experience prior (which can happen even with a dummy and teaser mare) they may not bounce back and ever be breeding stallions at all (it happens more than you know). So, really, to do things correctly it is 6 years before there could be another producing Cradilo stallion out there. I guarantee if I ever sell his half brother stallion (or any part of him, whose two full siblings are killing it in the A circuit show ring, with him soon to be close on their heels) it will take a small fortune. Because I really don't want to, these horses are priceless, I’m making them more valuable every time I step into the Grand Prix ring (and I am just getting started), and I know it.
Five figures for Levi with the agreement to take him back if he doesn’t pass a basic health exam and collect commercial grade semen (ie 30% viable), and being happy to prove his Cradilo as a sire genetics via DNA (which my veterinarian collected prior to him leaving, and is on file with the IDSNA) is a gift to this industry. I will need a ten percent deposit prior to delivery directly to the vet clinic, there will be a trial contract signed, and if he doesn’t pass these two basic requirements ONLY money will be refunded in full. I’m doing it quickly (via an online auction that will close in a few days) because it is easier for me to just rip this band aide off fast. And, I don’t want to give anyone in the industry with an agenda of their own a chance to think up ways to hurt me, my business or another one of my horses.
Either by literally abusing them or possibly buying them and then not using them for whatever mysterious reason; or creating so much false press about me (it’s called professional slander guys, and you are legally liable if I pursue) that people are afraid to buy. Why? Because they are great horses, they will be worth a lot of money in an industry that does spend, and a lot of supposed top people are starting to look kind of silly either not seeing or completely over looking them before now.
I may be a strong woman, but I don’t have a power monger agenda (just being respected and making a living is fine) … these horse are proving themselves. I’m simply a horseman that saw what they were and thought it was worth pursuing … and yeah … in some ways got lucky. But it’s been mostly hard work, good horsemanship, a willingness to take risks (and sometimes look foolish) and sheer determination. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like success like everyone else, but the horses have always come first.
Back to Levi. I love this horse and we have a bond, and this is not easy for me. He IS an aggressively wanting to breed stallion. I would not let him go to anyone that doesn’t have access to those with experience handling willful horses. But, I lead him back and forth to his paddock safely (thought granted with a light on my feet awareness) every day. I cross tie him and brush him and clip him and work on his feet … easily. And he has never bit or kicked me (though he is quite mouthy … but I do feed my stallions treats ... I know ... bad Amy ... it makes them so happy though!)
Levi’s full brother Kogan’s Ace (KC) is a pushing 16.3 hand drop dead gorgeous bay gelding that is incredibly easy and will be a nice Grand Prix horse and hunter (right now I use him as an occasional school horse while I play with him and give him time to grow up and focus on his older siblings … as the draught and Akhal Teke are both very slow growers). I spent what to me was a small fortune keeping Levi alive as a weaning (5 weeks in the hospital). And I spent years riding and getting to know his dam Annie. Selling her was emotional for me .(but once they’ve had one pre mature foal it’s much more likely to happen again) … even though it was to an amazingly wonderful home. So this is a line I know and love intimately.
I am just one little person that can only focus and hold on to so much. My other stallions can live with each other and the geldings. Levi now needs to live alone or with mares (tho he has spent some time recently with mares not in heat and I was impressed with how well he handled himself); which does make him more work. He could be started easily, and ridden lightly on trails and such. I think he would enjoy it greatly and this was my tentative plan, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea to put that added stress on his front legs. His front ankles and one pastern has some arthritic build up and damage from the splints when he was a weanling. But trust me, he is functionally very sound (he gets around just fine, and use to like to stand up and stay there shockingly for minutes on end, just to show me how athletic he really is). But it is something that should be consulted with via a top vet prior to training and light riding.
Anyway, that’s the deal guys. If you think I’m greedily holding on to all these amazing bloodlines and keeping the prices ridiculously high, here is your opporunity to get on it reasonably and do what I did … be patient, have some foresight, and make your own. Otherwise, if you want this product all shined up and perfectly prepped and proven decades later for you, it going to cost you at least what it cost me. Now what’s not fair about that?
May 2017
So again, it’s been forever since I’ve blogged on my website (3 years, yikes!) But, I’m about to ‘jump’ back in to the world of ‘showing’ after surgery a year ago, and over a year off from the ‘industry.' The surgery was a success and my neck feels great for the first time in many years, but I’ll still be kind of easing in to things. We'll be at Mason City in June and Hits Chicago in July for a start this summer (consistently with Quinlan Ace, Kalua's Ace, and a changing youngster ... Autumn Ace to start in Iowa); and I find myself wanting and needing to put a few things out there for those interested, just to set the record straight before I head back.
It’s been a crazy couple of years. As it turns out, this sport we all love and enjoy so much can be hazardous to one’s health, and in April of 2015 a mild fall left me temporarily unable to move and resulted in 3 doctors telling me if I continued riding I would very likely paralyze or kill myself (there was a damaged disk pressing on my spinal cord mid neck as a result of several jumping falls over the years). So, I weighed my options, decided we all have to go sometime, and for the survival of the business so many have sacrificed for (though granted mostly me) I needed to push on until the timing was better for a hiatus. There was one Cradilo mare a past student purchased in embryo (on my prodding) I had trained from scratch in particular showing nice Prix level promise (Deluca Ace, now Momma Ace) and I was hell bent to get that mare out there and show the world the greatness I’ve always believed was there in both Cradilo and his prodigy.
I pushed through, and with a lot of medical help in the form or therapy, massage, prescription drugs; and some really good (though green) horse flesh under me I was able to sustain at the Prix level and catch the attention of some elite horseman. Now granted, I didn’t get the money I definitely needed, wanted and most certainly what the mare was worth (a detail I didn’t need the entire industry knowing but thanks to a few overly chatty and well connected friends that cat’s out of the bag); but everything does happens for a reason.
For me, like so many of us, this work isn’t just a job. It’s a calling; a spiritual one imprinted on me not from family or friends, but my own soul from the second I was born. And one I have very rarely wavered from. The verdict is still out on whether that sale (a one time deal, trust me) was the right decision or not … we’ll see. But if I want to put a horse of that quality in the hands of a pair of professionals the likes of which alter my entire perspective on the work (through, by the way, months of free training at one of the top venues in the world) it is my choice and right to do so. I’ve worked with a lot of top pros over the years, and there are some good ones out there who have strongly influenced me, but never quite to this extent.
And I’ll admit, I pissed some people off (which if you’re tied in to the gossip of Amy and her horses, you’ve already heard about). Mostly an impatient and pushy small investor or two with an overly ego driven grandiose idea of their own involvement. The only major investor in this business is me (and maybe Cradilo himself), and since no one else has put in anything close to the realm of what we have; the final decisions will always be mine. And though I do play by rules and actually have a strong code of honor when it comes to horses and all things I consider universally inspired, they are not necessarily the same rules played to by our ego driven society.
The good news is, I’m excited to get back at it, and I’m particularly thrilled to show off the stock I’m sitting on and have been working to carefully develop for so long. In terms of overall quality; speed, power and heart, it is as good or better than anything I’ve ever seen or felt anywhere. I'm a better trainer than I've ever been, and though there is always more to learn, I'm quick on the uptake when it comes to evolving from past mistakes. Honestly, if you guys can’t see the potency of the stallion named Cradilo I fell head over heels in love with all those years ago with this group of offspring (until they are winning in the Grand Prix ring), then there is simply no helping the level of ignorance prevalent in our industry in this country when it comes to the basic concept of what a good American bred athletic show jumper looks like (and the crazy idea that only Europe is capable of producing them).
And I know many are kind of waiting and watching to see what happens; but even a non horsey spectator can watch a horse win at high level and realize they are a good animal and surely quite valuable. To produce top Prix horses that are US made, we need to have a little more vision than that, and actually support those creatively finding ways to really stand out (that doesn't necessarily involve brunch at the local country club).
Then, much to my surprise, there are a few high level industry folks out there proactively working pretty hard at snuffing this little Ant out before she gets a real foot hold to show what’s possible (with a farm in a remote location, sheer determination, good old fashioned horsemanship, and some really good stock that only she has, by the way; definitely an annoyance to some of the elite). But, like my Uncle told me the other day (making me laugh pretty hard) … you may be an ant in that world, but you're a noisy one. So, here's more noise.
Guess what guys? … You don’t have to live at the horse shows or in an elite location in a fancy barn to be a top horseman. Horses make good horseman … they are the ultimate teachers. And you don’t have to have over 50 horses and a large group of clients either. Sometimes that overkill can actually take away from your ability to focus well on the horses, students and overall horsemanship. It’s the reason I can sit on this farm quietly training my horses 7 days a week 24 hours a day, show up at the shows rarely, and still do very well and gain quite a bit of attention (and watch out if I get there with any sort of consistency). I've been at this long a long time and have worked with many great horseman. I'm to the point now where the top equine athletes I’m sitting on teach me 75% of what I need to know. The rest comes from other horseman, and some of that you do have to be at the shows to really imbue yourself with. But the information is out there in other forms as well for those looking. At times I think the money and glamour and social society surrounding big shows takes away from horsemanship. The real horseman are not at the parties or the beaches (very often at least) … they are sitting in the barns trying to figure out what their horses need to evolve in to something truly magnificent.
So when I go to these shows and I feel myself judged by whoever (and then they try to put a spin at a high level that’s so insanely off the mark, just to discredit me) because I’m not consistently there to defend myself or really a known quantity by many; I get a little annoyed. Please don’t take this the wrong way. Many of my favorite people in the world are the wonderful horseman, trainers and clients I’ve met and had the good fortune of working with at the shows. But at the same time many of the most shockingly horrendous horseman and ego driven humans in general I’ve ever encountered have been sitting right there at those shows as well, and some I use to actually admire as horseman. Now I get to know them and realize they are flat out sacrificing the animals in various forms for their own attempted political and or financial gain. We’ve all read the books, and there may be another one coming out soon with me as the author. At this moment in time I’m not sure how good a well shed light would continue to look for the industry (and do we really need another book telling the world so many in this industry could care less about good horseman or horses ... that don't come with a trust fund at least?) But, this stories not over yet.
The point is, I've proven over and over I'm good at what I do, and own rare and extremely nice bloodlines only I have gone to great lengths to preserve in any sort of quantity (that are now cut off other than my stallions via Cradilo being gelded). So if you haven’t bred, trained, shod, raised, cared for and ridden your own nice Grand Prix horse, I expect and will be satisfied with nothing less than respect from you. And I don’t care what kind of professional God you think you are in this industry, or how much Mommy and Daddy spent to buy you a nice horse and good trainer … the actual horseman in the equation by the way kids.) I have earned the right to be here, succeeding and making a viable livelihood. I have influenced some of the top horseman in the world with my philosophies I’ve been singularly preaching (in the US hunter jumper industry at least) since the 90s. And though I haven’t received any actual credit for it by those I’ve influenced, I can clearly see the obvious change in the horses and the work at the shows.
So, to the small group who has tried to end my career before it could even begin on a larger scale; back off. This ant isn’t going anywhere. I am just getting started; and at the end of the day when the timing is right the truth will come out and you will only make yourself look bad. To all of those who are my friends and have quietly helped me to negotiate this incredibly difficult industry … thank you … I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon. :)
Spring 2014
It's been a really long time since I've 'blogged' on my website. I know I have some followers of the site, so first I want to apologize to you for not keeping you posted. As you've probably noticed, I'm in the process of giving the site an entirely new look, and it's been a major endeavor. I've been wanting to honor all those who have taken this journey with me and my horses (ie purchased from and train with Ace Sporthorses) and I promise that will happen soon!
In addition, with all the publicity Cradilo and I have received lately (the story was picked up by the Associated Press last year) I've had many people ask me to explain to them what happened. In most cases it's an issue of I really don't want to talk about it ... too painful a subject. But now, I've had some time, and I do intend to tell our story here. I hope to get it done by the end of the summer, but be patient. I'm a big believer in keeping things positive, and telling some aspects of this story in an uplifting light is going to be a challenge. (Hence I've been sticking to the old saying, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.) But, I think I'm finally up to the task.
If you've followed my work at all, you know the 'name' of the business and thus the horses names have been going through some flux. Wanting to primarily credit the great stallion that gave so much of his heart to our ambitions (Cradilo of course), at first all the names were 'by Cradilo'. Then, after dwelling on it, I sort of came to, hey, this was very much a mutual effort! Producing exceptional horses required more than a great stallion. It takes exceptional mares and a top notch 'program'. Thus it became 'ASH Sporthorses' and 'ASH Cradilo' (my initials) behind the horse's names, rather than 'by Cradilo'. After a few complaints from potential new owners about the length of the name I'm adamant about the horses keeping (which I must admit, you guys have a point) I've finally decided upon 'Ace Sporthorses' and 'Ace' as the acronym that will follow the horse's names. Ace of course stands for 'ASH-Cradilo Enterprises', and it's short, sweet and to the point.
I also thought it was quite smart (I've always admired other breeders with 'catchy' names), as I've often thought of this particular industry (particularly the pursuit of producing Grand Prix jumpers) as a high stakes poker game. Following through with that particular analogy; while as a general rule of thumb I've been happy just to sit at the table, many of the hands I've played so far I would have to say in the end I've lost (though yes, I've gained invaluable experience). So calling these horses Ace ... when they are most definitely what I consider to be my 'Ace's in the hole' ... strikes me as highly appropriate!
I'm also quite happy about not having to hear Cradilo's name repeatedly mispronounced (they like to pronounce the silent 'I', which in my opinion makes him sound like a flower) and has been happening for nearly a decade now. Just in case there are any announcers out there reading this, and for the young jumper classes; it's pronounced 'Crade-low'. See ... doesn't that sound more masculine? I know ... spell it the way you want it pronounced (I actually did think about changing the spelling on all of my horses names, it's been so frustrating.) Anyway, don't ask me ... it's an Irish thing!
At any rate, there has been a great deal of news, which I do intend to fill you in on. All of the horses continue to progress and grow, and I must say what I'm starring at on the farm is absolute eye candy! Much of the time, I wander around in a state of semi-shock; knowing these incredible animals are all sitting on our farm belonging to us! We did do some showing last fall, and quite a bit of training (though after the hay winter from heck the year before, we were very focused on producing an over abundance of forage last summer), and I do have some good video from last fall that will be fun to share.
I also intend to do quite a bit of showing this year. Fate and Deluca will continue on pursuing the 7 yr old young jumpers (with perhaps some small GPs and/or welcomes), and Grimes and Jn will do their first A showing. Also, several of these guys will be solidly started and taken about to the local schooling shows. I will probably get a tentative show schedule up, but the plan for rated showing is Ledges the end of May, Lamplight the 2nd week of June, Lexington and Traders over the summer, and Mason City, The Kentucky National and MN Harvest in the fall. I promise, I will get some good pictures of the youngsters this summer (after they've shedded out), and try to keep you posted a little better than I did last year. See you around! Amy
June 2017
So, we’ve returned home from Mason City and I find myself needing to blog again on my website (two months in a row, wow!) as there is some information and misconceptions floating around the industry (I was unaware of) that definitely need to be addressed.
But first, for the good news. All three horses performed absolutely beautifully. With one never ever and two that hadn’t shown in over a year, the amount of willingness and pure ability I felt was just astounding. Good old Mason City had a new course designer I’ve never ridden under before on the docket and it changed the entire feel of the horse show. Though it was still wonderful to visit with, ride under and with, and watch some of my favorite professionals in the industry; there was a tone of seriousness and intensity (one rider told me in the office at the end of the week ‘I’m feeling a bit beat up’) that I’ve not experienced before at this show. Though I can’t help but wonder if some of what I’ve been coming up against in this industry had something to do with it, if the goal was to prove my young and rusty group wasn’t all that I’ve been saying they are, I’d say that goal definitely backfired. I walked away from that show thinking all three of these horses overall (particularly in terms of ridability) feel better than anything I’ve produced so far.
So, let’s do the math. Of the 5 horses I’ve bred (4 of which I’ve trained) by Cradilo (the stallion I rode GP) out of my thoroughbred mares (that are on the A circuit), Fatima was 3rd in the 2012 5 year old Midwest young jumper finals and 7th in the nation, and went on to win 3rd in her 1st 1.40m grand prix and 9th in her first 1.50m grand prix as a 7 year old. Now granted, due to 100% trainer error (I had a pretty serious injury that scared us both a little beyond recovery her 8 year old year) she has yet to continue on with that career, but that mare is still young and the possibility of the bigger jumpers is very real and in her future; simply because I know we can and would like to quiet a few of the doubting toms.
Chanel, another mare I bred and sold to a working student as a weanling, went on to win the 5 year old young jumper finals the following year and was 2nd in the 6 yr olds (both years with Richard Rinehart) in 2014. Richard was convinced that mare was a competitive 1.50m horse (and it turns out he was right; she just finished her first 1.50m Grand Prix in solid form under lease professional Sarah Meier), and she has had a stellar career with her amateur owner rider under Aaron Vale.
Deluca Ace (now Momma Ace) successfully completed the 5 year olds, won a 1.40m prix as an 8 year old against many made horses and ribboned in multiple others at top shows, ribboned in one of her 1st 1.50m the fall of her 8 year old year and successfully completed with me in multiple 1.50m indoors as a late 8 year old and 9 year old. She also completed a 1.60m in Ocala with me, and was subsequently sold to the Holloway family (mother and daughter are both top Grand Prix riders).
Now, I’m convinced Quin, Autumn (both full siblings to Chanel) and Kalua’s Ace (aka Jn) are on the fast track to the Grand Prix ring, because they feel as good or better and are far less complicated than all of the above. So I find myself wondering, if we accomplish the goal of GP again, what breeding and training program has come close to these kind of statistics?? Because as far as I know breed a couple hundred and you may get a nice grand Prix horse, if you are lucky. I’m constantly hearing about people scouring the planet, spending large sums of money; and here we sit, right in the good old USA, with what may be some of the top grand prix producing bloodlines in the world.
And I’ve been there … I’ve searched and bred and eventually gave up on the Grand prix ring because I couldn’t find the horses. Until Cradilo dropped into my lap. What does a top jumper need more than all else? … heart, scope and athletic ability. And you use Cradilo blood with a mare he likes (preferably something very athletic, light and with a lot of blood) and he’s going to take care of the heart and scope every time. And a good mare will take care of the overall athletic ability and endurance.
So is it possible we are looking at blood that comes close to guaranteeing the grand prix ring every time? I’m pretty sure that would be unprecedented. And of course the training and environment has everything to do with these goals as well. I believe at least 50% of nice potential grand prix horses are ruined by impatience, poor shoeing, ignorance to basic horsemanship, etc. But still, to have the raw material towards that goal practically guaranteed?! And now Cradilo’s gelded, the semen I froze is in dispute (because I made the mistake of listing the owners name even though I legally had a full lease on the stallion) and only I possess the two stallions by him and one grandson stallion by Flexible. Given what his grandson looks like (Cradilo’s cloned twin in grey), I suspect Cradilo is even more potent as a grand sire, and I suspect the lighter crosses (3/4 thoroughbred to ¼ Irish Draught) may be even more conducive to athletic ability and soundness. I guess time will tell and we’ll find out … but it’s pretty exciting to be right on the verge of what could be a game changer in US breeding of Grand Prix show jumpers for sure, and possibly internationally.
Given the reaction I’ve been getting from some powerful influential horseman in the industry, I can’t help but think we must be some sort of a threat (to an entire industry based on importing horses from Europe) and hitting a nerve. So now to the less pleasant aspects of my work I am yet again being forced to address (trust me guys, I’d rather just breed, train and ride nice horses). But I’m not going to let a few people on a mission to save themselves from some pretty serious misconducts spread rumors; manipulating and lying and bending the truth in a way that makes me out to be something I simply am not; so my horses and I can be undermined and anything I have to say (true or not) can be easily dismissed by the overall industry.
Here’s what happened. I had a student from Chicago with a summer home in my area find me on the internet and start lessoning regularly. She then moved to New York City, and was looking for a top trainer to continue working with (while flying back to the Midwest to continue riding with me). I recommended this supposed top trainer once from the west coast and now in New York, who I didn’t know personally, but I had watched win quite a few grand Prixs on the west coast and I knew had a reputation as a solid horseman. She began riding with the trainer and continued flying back to ride with me. In the summer of 2015 she made a very low 5 figure stock market type investment with no term limit (ie no time frame in which she was to be paid back) and a high yield based on it being high risk. In the fall of 2015 she made an additional mid 4 figure investment to assist lightly in the goal of bringing a couple of horses to Florida. For this additional funding it was agreed she would be sent a horse to sell in New York (and I was willing to pay out of the sale price for her to ride and show for a few months) by August of the following year if her investment wasn’t returned by the end of Florida.
I personally shipped her a top horse (on my dime) right out of Florida in March of last year (Fatima Ace, who had been successfully competing in Ocala for 2 months prior) and they failed at the sale a couple of months later. It is no wonder, because the mare came home hundreds of pounds under weight (and this mare stays fat at home on two handfuls of grain a day) with stitches in her head and dead lame (when she’s NEVER had an off day). I have pictures and video I have posted on facebook … but it’s honestly actually painful and depressing to look at … and I prefer not to put it on my website. So, it’s no wonder she didn’t pass the vet check (while this trainer and ex client are insinuating in the meantime my horses aren’t sound and I am purposely selling them this way … hello, isn’t that the purpose of a vet check?)
This supposed top trainer (who I think was on the defensive and had good reason to be because he knew the care this mare received at $3500 a month was neglect at best and flat out abuse at worst) then turned these clients who I sent to him against me and they have basically been harassing me (via in depth lawyer depositions I’m pretty sure are intended to gain knowledge about my overall future business plans in hopes of someone acquiring a cheap or free horse at my expense) and manipulating the truth in the industry over a low 5 figure non secured investment ever since.
These investors have NO collateral and NO ownership (and apparently they are spreading the rumor that they do). Legal collateral requires registration with the state … ownership requires regular sustaining payments. They started asking for collateral well after the money was invested. I thought about giving it for a moment, realized they were only concerned with finances and not the well being of the horse (at their unwillingness to sign an agreement specifically outlining the care of the horse), and quickly decided against it. Despite all of this, I was still willing to return their investment when it was feasible (ie without hurting the animals or business) in spite of friends and clients telling me I was crazy to even consider it, until she began emailing everyone I know that I had defrauded her. Now there is professional slander as well as damage to property on my behalf, and I no longer feel I owe these folks anything except the opportunity for me to legally put the truth out there and have it proven and validated. Which I will do when the time is convenient to me and the business (ie the horses).
I am honestly not entirely sure what all of this is about, but I recommend folks get the facts before believing someone based on them having been around a long time, winning some Grand Prixs and now designing courses. I am a good person that takes excellent care of my horses; clients, students and employees (when they behave appropriately) and have a strong code of honor. I’d like you to find someone who has bought a horse from me that feels anything but grateful, because to my knowledge they don’t exist.
Has the industry been difficult financially? … absolutely. As a middle class Prix level professional in the wrong location for a group of students that can afford A showing, it’s been a nightmare. It’s the worst industry I know of to work in. Folks seems to think it’s a privilege to slave away for decades, eventually finally producing top horses, and to not be paid. Apparently, breeders aren’t allowed to make money (even if they train, shoe and show). Do the math on breeding and raising a 5-10 year old that is showing top potential or competing at a top level with a professional that does nothing else (and has been doing it at a loss over and over for decades in hopes of finding the right horses), and anything less than high 5 figures is an absolute insult and flat out highway robbery (especially considering we spend thousands a week on showing, and will happily drop four figures on a pair of breeches and nice hard hat)!
I am done giving horses away and losing money … the prices I’m asking right now are deals for what I have in to it (trust me, any accountant would agree), and I will go to my grave and enjoy every one of these amazing horses on this farm alone before I sell them for anything less. So if you’re waiting to see what happens … you are going to lose out on a good horse because it’s going to be an eternally long wait.
The next horse show I will be at is Alan Rheinheimer’s Equifest 1 the end of July, followed by Hits in Chicago the end of August, back to Mason City in September, and possibly the Minnesota Harvest in October. I look forward to seeing more friends I’ve missed and been away from for so long, and am hopeful that these horse shows will manage their staff in a way that is non-political; appropriate and safe despite the drama apparently involved in working to prove a US based potentially top line.
ACE SPORTHORSES
