I prefer to be guided by an agent rather than try to wing it myself, so for this trip, I gave Babsi and Martha a price-point ceiling and a general type: 6-8 years old with a flying change, big enough for my 5’10” self and keen but not totally feral. Then we picked a week where I could get away from my day job, booked tickets to Denmark, and off I went!

THURSDAY

3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Let’s go! I’ve made my way to the Miami airport two hours early because I’ve never been here before. But airports really aren’t that hard, so of course I’m at my gate, just sitting around. I could eat dinner now and then just crash once I get on the plane, armed with ALL the sleep-inducing drugs, but it’s a Lufthansa flight, and the Germans are a terribly prompt people, so I’m sure they’ll do a quick dinner service (included in the price of my ticket), and I won’t lose much sleep time, right?

Ha. The plane is delayed, and then dinner takes forever. I finally pop all my pills and try and settle in, only to be serenaded by several squawking children screaming the songs of their people alllll night long. I probably achieve four hours of restless sleep. This is gonna be a good day.

FRIDAY

8 a.m. Central European Time It’s 3 a.m. back home, so breakfast isn’t really on my body’s radar, but I’ve got time to kill in Frankfurt, Germany, before my connection to Copenhagen, and I am never queasy except for when I’m on a wacky international travel schedule, so a sandwich it is. European bread is magnificent, and I’m almost willing to forgive the little gremlins who kept me up all night. 

Noon Denmark! I’ve never been! It’s windy! But I managed to sneak a wee nap while connecting through Frankfurt and another few minutes on this plane, adding maybe half an hour to the sleep total. Add to that the restorative power of a German brötchen roll, and I’m ready for the day.

That’s good, because after being picked up (and handed a sandwich for the road) by Babsi and Martha, who have been playing equestrian tour guides here in Denmark for 15 years, our first stop is the barn of Olympic medalist and one of my total heroes, Cathrine Dufour. Cathrine doesn’t have anything meeting my criteria at the moment, but Babsi and Martha are looking for a few other clients, and they’ve asked if I would be willing to play crash-test dummy and test ride amateur-safe FEI schoolmasters. (I am happy to oblige; riding horses at Cathrine’s barn is not exactly a burden!)

Cathrine is an utter delight, and I manage not to totally geek out and embarrass myself, which I consider a great professional and personal achievement. Also, she follows me on Instagram now, so I’m retiring, because there is nothing else to achieve. 

7:30 p.m. At one of the four barns we visit today, I sit on one horse for me, and it’s not what I’m looking for, which is fine. On this trip, almost all of the horses I will see have been pre-screened by Martha and Babsi, so they’ve already ruled out some that they didn’t think passed the muster, but there’s still 10 or so for me to meet while I’m here. Sometimes that’s how these trips go, and sometimes they’re more last-minute, and I end up seeing more horses that haven’t been pre-screened. 

My rule of thumb is that if I think there’s a chance that the horse is what I want, I’ll at least get on, but I’m also a savvy professional, and I know fairly quickly if it’s My Horse. And if it’s not My Horse, I don’t linger on. There’s no point in wasting the time of a seller. I don’t consider that rude, nor does almost everyone I’ve ever tried horses with, anywhere in Europe. (Most Americans feel that way too, but not all!)

9 p.m. Unfortunately today involved a tremendous amount of driving, so we don’t get to our hotel until quite late. The dark and my lack of sleep on the plane have me falling asleep while talking, which Babsi and Martha either don’t notice or are too nice to say anything about.

I rally to inhale a delicious dinner that I wish I’d had more time to appreciate and a glass of red wine to help me sleep, which I probably don’t need, because in spite of the early-to-my-body hour, I’m out like a light and sleep right to my alarm—unheard of for me!

SATURDAY

7:30 a.m. Oof. My body still thinks it’s 2:30 a.m., so this feels like an early start. But a worthwhile one, because after a delicious breakfast composed almost entirely of cheese (I’d like to live here now) and a cuppa, we’re off to the first barn. We  see two super candidates there, and then we’re off. We look mostly at horses for me today, with a smattering of ones for amateur clients (that I am, once again, tasked with riding; what a terrible burden it is to sit on fancy and civilized beasts, woe is me).

2 p.m. Lunch is from a gas station, but if you’ve never been to a European gas station, it is a very different experience than the average Shell on the side of the highway in the U.S. I have the willpower of a gnat, so I treat myself to a delicious fish and chips with French fries. It belatedly occurs to me that there’s more sitting trot in my future today.

2:47 p.m. I have regrets. Especially because our last stop of the afternoon is the stunning Blue Hors stud, a gorgeous facility that does it all: breeding, stallions and training from the ground up to the Olympics. We sit on two horses there that are phenomenal in their training and type, and while they’re younger and greener than what I’m looking for on this trip, I will cheerfully accept donations to bring one home because he could be a world-beater when he comes along. Holy cow.

We also must be playing our cards right, because we are invited back for the 30th anniversary stallion show, and even better, given seats in the VIP section. By some miracle I packed eyeliner, because it’s…

4:30 p.m. … and we’re off to a different hotel (the hotel we stayed at the first night had a special event requiring all of its rooms this evening, so we got the boot) for a quick costume change, so we can get back to the shindig. 

5:30 p.m. We have an absolutely SMASHING good time, with delicious food, fine drinks and, above all else, exceptional equine entertainment. They present many of their top breeding stallions as well as some of their offspring. (Some are presented under saddle as young as 3 years old—the size of the cojones on those young horse riders, to just waltz on in on something that has MAYBE been a few weeks under saddle? Daaaang.) Such an inspirational night, to see both the tremendous quality of horses and very peaceful riding. But also an intimidating night, because boy howdy, the bar is getting awfully high!

SUNDAY

9:30 a.m. I’m delighted that we get a later start today, especially because today the clocks sprang ahead in Denmark. So I lose another hour compared to Florida, where it’s currently 3:30 a.m. But I gain another incredible breakfast, and off we go to try more horses. 

In general, trying horses in Europe is both inspiring and comforting. Because yes, they’re breeding MORE good warmblood dressage-type horses than we are, and in smaller countries where that horseflesh is more concentrated. But they also have boring horses. They also have horses with the same things we deal with—imperfect mouths, imperfect feet, cheeky moments of temper. And European riding is just like American riding: There’s good, there’s bad, there’s everything in between. There’s nothing magical about a human butt just because it has an EU passport. 

Some we see at huge training and sales stables; some we see in a farmer’s backyard arena. Some are bred out the wazoo; some have unremarkable genetics but have learned to do stellar things. 

2:03 p.m. Lunch is a candy bar made of marzipan smothered in dark chocolate. Sorry, not sorry.

6 p.m. Many businesses in this country, including many restaurants, are closed on Sundays. Martha and Babsi’s usual haunts are on that list, so we try something new for dinner, and it’s an extraordinary meal, hands down one of the most amazing meals of my life. I’m a bit of a foodie, so meals made by kindred spirits are a joy, but the love and thoughtfulness these guys put into their meals, including tremendous herb-infused beverage concoctions from their garden? Extraordinary. We’re going to have to go get more Danish horses just so I can come back and eat here!

MONDAY

6 a.m. My last act before going to bed was sending videos to my brain trust: my coaches, as well as some trusted friends, plus the members of the Elvis Syndicate. And this morning, I catch up on all their comments, which are the same as mine. So today, the name of the game is trying the two we all liked the most and hopefully narrowing down to one. That means a nice short day, which means a late start, which means I can sleep in… or at least I COULD sleep in, if I knew how. These four- to five-day trips are exactly the right amount of time to acclimate to the new time zone. Blarg.

11 a.m. Our two top choices have been narrowed to one. When trying sale horses anywhere, I always like to try them twice—once where the usual rider rides them first, so I can see them go a bit, see what decisions the rider makes, and see what the warmup looks like (which sometimes really doesn’t matter, and sometimes matters a great deal); once where I start them from the beginning. 

And that was the factor today. One horse that I liked two days ago goes vastly, vastly better when I start it first; one goes vastly, vastly worse. And this is the voodoo magic part of horse-human matchmaking: I’m a perfectly competent rider, and so are the people selling the horses I liked, but there’s a chemistry factor that really does transcend the “specs.” Both horses met my criteria on age, training, temperament, type, height, the works, but the first one also liked me a lot, while the other was indifferent about me and my riding. So that’s that!

1:30 p.m. It’s hailing.

1:45 p.m. Nope, it’s snowing. Time to get out of Denmark.

1:52 p.m. Ok, a quick trip to a tack shop. I’m expecting lots of glitter and colors, as are de rigueur in U.S. dressage fashion right now, but this shop’s offerings are quite tame. Now time to get out of Denmark.

2:06 p.m. Weeeeell, maybe one quick stop at a grocery store to bring home some candy for my staff. Also, it’s really snowing. OK, now time to get out of Denmark. 

But alas, my flight isn’t until tomorrow at o-dark-thirty, so I’m delivered to the airport hotel, where I get my first workout in in about a month, have a quite-delicious meal, and go to bed at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Eastern time) so I can wake up at…

Tuesday

4:30 a.m. Central European Time My journey back to the U.S. begins, at least according to Eastern Time, around the time some people at home are going to bed Monday night (10:30 p.m.). My flight from Copenhagen to Frankfurt goes off without a hitch, but there were labor strikes at the Frankfurt airport yesterday, so it’s a mess, and my flight to Miami ends up two hours late. 

3:30 p.m. Eastern Time I land in Miami at just the right time to—after negotiating customs and getting out of the airport—hit the city’s afternoon rush hour traffic  By the time I get back to Wellington, it’s 7 p.m.—and 1 a.m. to my Denmark-adapted body. But it’s OK, because the spinach I put on my Domino’s pizza is probably the first vegetable I’ve eaten in 24 hours, so at least I’ve done something for my health. 

8:30 p.m. Just before I crash, at what feels like 2:30 a.m. to my body, I get a ping from my American vet saying I can set up a vetting for my top choice. So I fire off a text to Babsi, still in Denmark. Let’s see what the future brings!

The post A Week In The Life: A European Horse-Shopping Trip appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

A well-known catch-rider on the West Coast, Haness can be found in most open classes at a horse show. We caught up with him during Desert Holiday II in Thermal, California, to learn what a typical day at a show is like with the Hunterbrook Farms team.

5 a.m. I spend all night thinking about how to prepare the horses to win. That’s always on my mind. I wake up usually around 5 or 5:30 to start riding horses around 6 a.m. I like to ride my horses myself to get a feel for how their mood is that day, how they are and what kind of preparation they might need to be their best. I generally like to ride my favorite few in the morning to make sure they’re dialed in and ready to compete.

6 a.m. I get started riding. My assistants and my boyfriend Ryan [May] will all have a horse to ride. I’ll probably ride one to two horses in the morning before the show starts.

Nick Haness with Charismo Z. Sara Shier Photography Photo

We have our breakfast; I’m definitely a Starbucks guy, so my favorite breakfast of champions would be some sort of passion tea lemonade refresher and their egg-white bites. I do not like coffee, but oddly I’m obsessed with Starbucks iced teas. I love all their refreshers, the peach tea, or last year they had an amazing kiwi refresher. I had that, like, every single day. I love a lot of sweet, sugary, bad drinks for you.

After breakfast we start collaborating on anyone’s ideas of changing bits or what tack is needed for the day. We have a little meeting with the grooms in the morning and get all of that organized and situated before we’re turned loose. Once I am at the show ring, it’s a never-ending process.

We do all of our planning before that and get the day organized. Then my assistant Gabby [Gavalas] will go check in with all of the horse show staff and back-gate guys to generate a good guesstimate of what my timing will look like. I’ll be running between hunter rings and jumper rings and all in between, back and forth.

Our Hunterbrook team mascot, Hunter, who is my dog, will join us in the golf cart all day and sit up by the rings to watch his dad show. So that’s really fun. He is a big part of the routine in the morning.

Nick Haness with official Hunterbrook mascot, Hunter, at home (with one of his customary Starbucks drinks). Photo Courtesy Of Nick Haness

8 a.m.  Oftentimes I’ll do between 30 and 60 rounds a day at the horse show, between my own horses or catch-rides for other trainers I’m riding horses for, so once I get a leg up in the saddle on the first horse at 8 a.m., my feet don’t touch the ground pretty much all day.

It’s pretty known at the West Coast shows that if the back-gate guys see me coming to the gate, they pretty much have to find a way to put me in the ring as soon as possible. Otherwise I would hold up the horse show all day long because I have so many horses to ride.

Nick Haness with Fair Play before he starts a day full of riding. Photo Courtesy Of Nick Haness

It’s a lot. I think my adrenaline kicks in, and actually it’s pretty fun and pretty easy to get through that many rounds as long as I keep moving and keep going and keep getting on the next horse right away. It kind of just rolls into the next one, and I just sort of keep going, and I don’t even think about it.

When I’m competing pretty heavily, and I’m catch riding for another trainer like Archie [Cox] or for Carleton Brooks, I usually ask that they have someone on their team warming up the horses for me just a little bit before I get there. That way the horses have a little bit of time to warm up before I have to hop on and jump a few jumps and just go in the ring. I believe training horses is done at home. When you are warming up for a class, you just keep it short and simple, jump a few jumps and save all the good jumps for the show arena.

Nick Haness catch rides many horses throughout the year such as Roaring Fork Farms’ Estimated Prophet for Carleton Brooks. Kimberly Loushin Photo

I leave [coordinating with other trainers] up to Gabby and Ryan. They basically text everybody and say, “Hey, Nick is on this horse at Ring 4, and in 15 minutes we’ll be heading back to Ring 1.” We kind of just ping-pong around the horse show from ring to ring and keep everyone updated via text. I have my phone on me when I’m competing, but I’m not really checking it, so I’m sort of useless. I’m focused on the horses and what ring I need to go to next; they’re managing my schedule for me.

4 p.m. As things start to slow down is about the time that my need for candy starts to kick in. That’s my jet fuel. I am definitely a sugar and sweets, candy person, so I’ll find a secret stash of Skittles, M&Ms, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, gummy bears, licorice—anything kind of sweet or fruity. That’s how I regenerate and get myself kind of brought back up to speed after a long day of showing and competing.

I eat a small amount of real food during lunch. I don’t usually work up a really large appetite when I’m competing because I’m more thirsty than I am hungry. I’ll generally have a very small lunch, probably like half of a sandwich or a salad with just a little bit of protein—something that does have some nutritional value to it—because riding is definitely a sport where you’re exercising, and your brain is working hard, and your body is working hard, so it is required to have a lot of water and just a little bit of protein and jet fuel throughout the day.

4:30-5 p.m. When my riding day winds down, I go back to the tack room. That’s my 20-30 minutes catch-up time where I sit on my phone by myself with no one around. I pull up all of my videos from the day and watch all my rounds and make sure I like the way the horses are going. It’s just sort of a time to kick back on the couch with my dogs and not have to deal with any people or any schedules or anything that’s stressful. I like to really unwind and take in and watch all those rounds from the day and watch my favorite rounds and see which of the horses went the best and how I can improve for the next day. It’s one of my favorite things to do at the end of the day.

5 p.m. Once the end of the day is done, and I’ve had my candy and watched my videos, updated my Facebook and my Instagram for the day, then it’s time for grain and medicating, which is another fun part of my day.

Nick Haness with his custom grain cart. Photo Courtesy Of Nick Haness

We have a really good system: We have this huge cart on wheels with like 30 horse buckets built into it. Everything is labeled with what the horses need for the next day as far as their supplements and medications. I actually really enjoy feeding the horses their dinner because I feel like it’s their reward for being so good. They get so happy and so excited to see us when they see that bucket and grain cart coming in their direction. That’s always a really fun part of the day, giving them their final treat and reward of the day and their little dessert.

Then it’s time to write the board for the next day, and start to make the plans for the next morning. We send a screenshot of the board to our braider, so she knows what horses are showing the next day and what classes they’re going in and what time they’re going to be showing, so she can decide on her schedule when they should get braids. We also send a screenshot to the grooms, who have probably gone home by now because they’re tired, and give them a heads up on the schedule for the next day.

6 p.m. The nice thing about where we’re competing right now [at Desert International Horse Park] is that we stay at the horse show in a motor home. One of my favorite things is that we’re so close to the show and to the horses. I can go back and forth from the motor home and check in on the horses as many times as I need to.

Generally after the show is over and I’m done, I go back to the camper and shower—a really nice hot shower to just unwind from the day—and then it’s time for dinner.

In this area and many areas that we show, I love to go out and dine. I’m not usually someone who cooks dinner at home and stays in. I kind of get my second wind, get a shower, and go to dinner. And not stay out too too late, but have a nice dinner and come back and check on the horses one more time before I go to bed.

The lengthiest part of the day is outside with the horses. I’d rather go to bed super early so I can recharge and be ready to go for the next day.

While Joe Exotic the zebra doesn’t travel to shows with Nick Haness, he gets a photo-check here because he is big part of Hunterbrook Farms, where Haness keeps a menagerie of animals including pigs, goats, alpacas, miniature horses, a miniature donkey, parrots, emus and a camel. Photo Courtesy Of Nick Haness

The post A Day In The Life With: Nick Haness appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

In addition, his client Marnell dominated the indoor season with Babylon, earning the championship in the small junior hunter, 15 and under, at Capital Challenge, the Washington International (Maryland) and the National Horse Show (Kentucky)—and at the last tying for grand junior hunter champion. The pair finished their year with the small junior, 15 and under, Horse of the Year honor.

Based in Wellington, Florida, French relocated in 2020 after more than 30 years on the West Coast to run the hunter side of Olympic show jumper Kent Farrington’s sales and training operation. With the 2023 season already under way, French takes us through a show day at the Holiday Finale at Wellington International, conveniently located less than 10 minutes from Farrington’s farm.

This interview has been lightly edited.

4 a.m. When I wake up, I go right to my stretching/workout room to do about 20 minutes of stretching. Then I lie on the Bemer blanket for 10 minutes.

John French’s mornings start early, with stretches, a Bemer blanket and quiet time. Photos Courtesy Of John French

4:30 a.m. Normally I don’t really eat breakfast, but lately I’ll have a little bit of smoothie. I make it with spinach, almonds, apples, pears, blueberries, blackberries and flax seed. Then I go downstairs in the garage and clean and polish my boots for today. I have a cup of coffee and watch the news.

I get up early just because I need that morning time to myself.

6 a.m. I had three horses I needed to get into the ring before the show today, so I rode those first.

Originally two horses [Luxor and a new horse, La Premiere] were supposed to show in the Rost Arena, and Wyatt was supposed to show in the Grand. But last night they changed the schedule, and all the classes were moved to the Grand. So, I rode them all in the same ring.

It’s La Premiere’s first show, and so yesterday I made sure to get her in the Rost ring. The Grand is a bigger ring and there’s a lot more stuff to look at, so I took a little bit longer with her. But it’s nice to get to ride them in the morning around the jumps, so it all worked out.

La Premiere is a new horse, and she’s about to compete at her first show in the 3’3” greens. French spends a bit extra time getting her acquainted with the ring in the morning before her first show.

7:30 a.m. I went back to the barn and rode Milagro. I run back and forth to the horse show sometimes three or four times during the day if the horses are spread out.

Kent’s got his jumper side, and then I’ve got another barn next door that he rents for the hunters. When it’s early in the morning, I can go over to his side and ride in the big ring, on the track or in the grass field because nothing is going on over there yet.

In the early mornings, French likes to walk across the canal to Kent Farrington’s jumper’s side. With Milagro, he trots on the track that surrounds Farrington’s outdoor course and ring.

The track goes around the grass field and the big ring, so I did some work on the track and some work in the ring. My ring is more like a show ring, so I think it’s nice for the horses to get out and ride on the track and not always be in a show-ring feel. I also take each horse once a week and either ride them along the canal or on a trail ride.

9 a.m. I went back to the show and showed Wyatt in the 3’6” greens. Today was his first time showing in the 3’6”. He had a rail in the first class, but he won the second.

French heads into the ring with Wyatt for the 3’6” green division. After a successful 2022 in the 3’3″ greens, this was Wyatt’s first show in the 3’6″.

10 a.m. I went back to the barn and rode a pony that I, until recently, owned myself in Europe. The lady that owns the barn where we keep the hunters, she ended up getting the pony. I’m helping her train it and bring it along so that one day it’ll be for her kids. It is a large, but luckily, I’m small enough that I fit the ponies pretty well.

French schooling Luxor:

Next up, I taught a lesson to one of my amateur riders where we focused on her not falling back in front of the jump and having to catching up with the horse over top of the jump. I wanted her to be where there wasn’t such a big move in the upper body. I had her doing two cavaletti in a bending two strides. And then a bending nine strides to a jump on the rail, or a bending seven to a fence on the diagonal from the cavaletti. With this exercise, she was already in the right position and really didn’t have to change much at all when the horse took off from the jump.

Noon I was a little early getting back to the show; they were running a little behind. Because I was rushing back and forth, I gave myself 10 minutes to sort of meditate and try to clear my mind.

I sometimes need just a few minutes to get back in the zone for showing. When you’re rushing back to the barn, you’re riding and you’re teaching, and you get the call and think you’re late to the show and you rush back to the show again, it can be too much adrenaline. I just needed to get calm again and relaxed. If I get really calm, then I can always pump or psych myself up again to where I think I need to be.

Sometimes on a certain horse, you want to stay in the really relaxed and calm mindset, and sometimes you want that more positive and “I’m going to out there” attitude. It depends to me on the different horses that I’m riding. I like to first get myself relaxed and then decide how “up” I want to be.

French prepares to go into the ring with Luxor, owned by Robinson Ridge LLC, in the 3’3” greens.

12:30 p.m. I showed Luxor and La Premiere in the 3’3” greens. La Premiere hadn’t jumped in that ring or anything, so I did do the warmup first. I knew she would be taking a look at the jumps a little bit, and I didn’t want to rush her, so I just added strides and went super slow. I decided to stay in the ring and do the first round while it was all fresh in her mind. Everyone said she was the most improved. The next round ended up getting in the mid-80s and second behind Luxor. And then second again [in the final round], so I was really happy with her.

Luxor won both classes, and La Premiere was second in both and won the under saddle—and that was her first horse show she’d ever done.

2:30 p.m. I went back to the barn and rode Babylon.

I was riding him at my barn first, but he was a bit lazy there. He kind of acts like he doesn’t want to work that hard. You’ll be riding along and all of a sudden, he’ll make this groan and try to pull up and come back to the walk—and then you’ll have to be like, “No, we have to keep working.” There were a couple ponies in the ring riding, and he was more interested in them. So, I decided to take him over to Kent’s place and ride him around the track.

After the show day is complete, French heads back to the barn to ride Babylon, who he decided needed a change of scenery from ring to track.

The track’s very big, and I can canter around; it’s not just going around in circles. It pumps him up and gets his adrenaline going a little bit more, and then he’s much easier to keep going forward. When he’s out on that track, he really stretches down and uses his head and neck at the trot and the canter. He just enjoys it; to him it’s more fun than ring work, and I can get I can get him to work pretty well and use all his muscles.

After I got off of him, I went over the schedule for tomorrow.

4 p.m. I went over and had a meeting with Kent. If I have any questions for Kent or to go over anything, the best time to get him is between 4 and 5 in the afternoon when things are winding down over there. We needed to touch base about a couple clients, and he wanted to show me some videos of some hunter prospects in Europe and see what I thought of those. We try to get together a couple times a week.

The way our business is set up, I kind of do my thing over there on the hunter side and he leaves a lot of it up to me. But there are times I think it’s definitely good for us to talk and let him know how the horses are going and how they went at the show. He definitely wants to be involved and know what’s going on. It’s nice to go over and fill him in on everything.

5 p.m. Get home.

One thing about me, I never carry my phone when I’m riding. So during the day I might check my phone going back and forth to the show, but I don’t check it otherwise. It would slow me down. At night, I’ve got people to call. I’ve got plans to make for New Year’s Eve. People send me videos of horses; I probably get four or five videos a day. I’ll look at videos and get back to those people. Then I have to set up some trials for people that are coming in town next week; I need to get a group together for them to try and set the times up for that.

I’ll do a few calls now and a few after dinner.

6:30 p.m. I start making dinner so we can eat by 7. I wouldn’t say I’m a great cook. It’s hard because my husband Carlos is vegan, and a lot of those dishes aren’t that easy for me. He’s into super healthy, but sometimes when I come home, I need some pasta or something. I eat mostly fish and vegetables. With him it’s more specific dishes like tofu and Beyond Meat.

I have salmon that I made a few pieces of the other day. So, I just may have to heat my dinner and probably cook some sort of vegetable. For Carlos I’m cooking Bambara beans, and I’m going to make that with some peppers and onions. It’s kind of like an African dish over rice.

8 p.m. We normally watch—I hate to say it—a couple hours of TV a night.

I like looking online at horse properties. Kind of like horses, just trying to find that horse property that might be a steal somewhere in the country that might be the new up and coming Ocala [Florida] or something. I love being on Zillow, and Carlos is always like, “What are you doing? We’re not buying a house.” We’ve done that in the past [in California]—bought some houses and fixed them up a little bit and sold them.

9 p.m. If I have to get up at 4 a.m. again, which I do tomorrow, I try to be in bed by at least 9 o’clock. Tomorrow’s another show day, and I get to do it all again.

The post A Day In The Life With: John French appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Three months later, the 41-year-old is still traveling, following the Major League Show Jumping Tour as it winds from Canada down through the United States to a current three-show stop in Mexico. From the second of those three shows, the Club Hípico La Silla CSI5* and CSI2* in Monterrey, Mexico, Ballard takes us through a day in her life on the road.

The mountains of Monterrey, Mexico, provides a stunning backdrop for the Club Hípico La Silla, where Erynn Ballard currently is competing several horses including Quilana Denfer. Ashley Neuhof Photo

Monterrey Mexico: It is Day 1 of our two weeks of showing at the incredible venue of Club Hípico La Silla. There is so much history and charm to this venue. Major League Show Jumping has given us the opportunity to travel both coasts of Canada and the United States as well as three incredible shows in Mexico, of which this is the second. It has really allowed for exposure at a much higher level for North American-based riders.

These shows have a different feel to them, for me especially. It’s not my “ride and show 10 horses a day” kinda of speed. On this specific trip, I only have four horses to show, but all will show today, and the first day of any show is definitely our busiest. I’ll be one of four riders showing today, along with Natalie Dean, Wesley Newlands and Karime Perez Nuñez, who represent Ilan Ferder Stables.

Every morning Wordle starts with “HORSE.” Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

4:45 a.m. My alarm goes off. I am for sure a morning person—it’s pretty much routine now to wake up at this time every morning, even on a day off. I always start my day with Wordle, and always with the same word. My friend and fellow show jumper Alison Robitaille and I send our Wordles to each other daily.

5 a.m. Coffee! Well, in this case this morning, it is hot black tea in the hotel room. I am a Starbucks addict, but in Mexico my day starts before Starbucks is open and my oat milk latte (“latte de leche de avena”) will have to wait for tomorrow when we start a little later in the day.

Caffeine and yoga start the day, though tea has to suffice if it’s too early for Starbucks. Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

5:15 a.m. Yoga. This has been a much different year for me. Representing Canada at the world championships earlier this year, I spent a lot of time in Europe and a lot of time alone. My yoga mat has traveled the world with me. I try to stretch or do some yoga every morning before I ride. I use the Peloton app for all my workouts, and this morning I do a 20-minute “Focus Flow: Hips” routine.

6:15 a.m. Arrive at the show. We have our whole day planed on the white board, with horses and the schedule for the day. I have two to hack before they show and two to longe. All four will show later.

The whiteboard keeps everyone on track throughout the day. Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

6:45 a.m. The first thing on my agenda is to longe Gakhir.  “Curly” (the nickname comes from when he was a young horse and his mane would stay curly after his braids came out) has really become my best friend this summer. Working for a dealer, horses come and go. This year Ilan gave me the opportunity to be in Europe for four months and I spent every day with Curly. He has such a big, kind personality. I wouldn’t want to spend four months with anyone else!

We longe a lot on the first day of the show. When we are on the road so much and turn-out is very limited or non-existent, a nice 15-minute longe offers the horses some free time and independence. It seems to really work for “Curly” to relax him on the first day.

Ballard starts the equine portion of her day by longing Gahkir to loosen and relax him—the stunning views are just a bonus. Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

7:15 a.m. My first flat ride is Django Du Lys. He belongs to Wesley Newlands and will jump in the CSI2* 1.40-meter class this afternoon. I give him a nice ride to make sure he’s relaxed and ready to show. Each horse’s schedule is planned individually for a show day, and it’s always planned based on what will suit the horse best on that day. Some longe, some flat, some Ilan prepares for us in the mornings, and some just go to the ring. It’s about finding the right balance of energy and making sure the horse feels good and relaxed, and it’s very, very much a team effort.

Django Du Lys’ morning ride includes a hack along the paths of the equestrian center. Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

8 a.m. First class, the CSI2* 1.40-meter. We have five horses jumping in this class. My horse is Nikias Ligie V.V., a 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood (I’m Special De Muze—Ligie, Royal Feu) Ilan owns and today is the first time I’ve competed with him. He gives a great feeling at the jump. We finish sixth in the class with a clear round—what a great start! Wesley, Natalie and Karime all jumped their opening two-star rounds clean as well.

Ballard and Nikias Ligie V.V. finished sixth in his first 1.40-meter class of the week. Ashley Neuhof Photo

9:30 a.m. Longe Narcotique V/H Dingenshof. “Narcotique” is another 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Harley VDL—Jidona van het Dingenshof, Chacco-Blue) of Ilan’s. She jumps later on today. I try to spend as much time with my horses as I can. As I mentioned earlier, each horse has their own program. It is not always me who rides them before the show or even the day of the class, but it is really important for me to have a relationship with all of them on the ground. I think it’s easy to get so caught up in the sport that we lose perspective of why we do this. It becomes more about the horse doing it for you and less about the horse doing it with you. We have to remember that horses are not machines; they are our partners. So to hang out with her on the longe is time well spent.

After longeing, Ballard spends some time hand-grazing and bonding with “Narcotique.” Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

11 a.m. Karime shows both of her 7-year-olds. Karime is a U-25 rider from Mexico who has been riding with Ilan since January. She has two young horses she brought to Mexico, and they are getting the opportunity to show in the most beautiful ring that’s being used here for the young horse classes. Such a great experience!

12:30 p.m. CSI5* 1.40-meter class. Narcotique and Curly both have an easy start to a big week! Curly jumps an easy clear. Narcotique ends up with 4 faults. Both horses jumped great. Natalie also jumped a super clear on her grand prix mount for the week Acota.

We have a table in the VIP area where I might grab a snack between classes, but I try to eat as healthy as I can and really limit my dairy and gluten. In a VIP, they don’t always have selections of suitable food, so if possible I eat in the mornings, try not to snack too much and eat a dinner as healthy as I can. Living on the road and trying to follow a specific diet can be nearly impossible.

3:15 p.m. CSI5* 150-meter class, the feature class of the day. I am riding Quilana Denfer a 9-year-old Selle Luxembourgeios (Quidam De Revel—Salina IV, Cento) owned by Mario Onate. This is my fifth show on her, and we have had some really good results. I think she is a serious horse for the future; she’s got everything it takes. We have 4 faults today because I over-rode a little at the Liverpool, but the rest of the course she jumped rub-free with ease. I decided to take her for a long walk home. I prefer if I have the time to walk them back to the barn myself. It’s another small way that I can spend time with the horse.

Walking to the stables from the show ring on Quilana to unwind together. Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

6 p.m. We wrap up at the show and head back to the hotel. We always do the list at night for the next day, with a start time and a break down of what each horse will do. My favorite thing is to see them all tucked in a night with clean shavings and munching on their hay after a day of jobs well done.

The white snip at the end of Curly’s nose is easy to see, but only his closest human friends know he has a heart-shaped spot in the middle of it that makes a perfect target for good-night kisses. Photo Courtesy Of Erynn Ballard

I hate to say that my day ends with the horses, but it usually does! I take a quick shower and find dinner close to the hotel. I am a big Netflix watcher and usually fall asleep watching TV. It’s time to get ready for Friday, where the best news is that a later start in the morning means Starbucks for breakfast!

The post A Day In The Life With: Erynn Ballard appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

I’ve always kept kind of a crazy schedule. In high school, I worked the graveyard shift as a waitress at Denny’s to support the horse who started my dressage career, a Tennessee Walker-Quarter Horse mare named Maxine. My first Grand Prix horse had anhidrosis, so I’d routinely get up in the middle of the night to ride him at the coolest part of the day, then catch a few hours of sleep before starting my own workday.

These days, the crazy hours are so I can go running. I’m training for a 100-mile race called the Javelina Jundred. (Javelinas look like wild boars and roam the Arizona desert in little herds. The “j” is silent, so it’s pronounced like “havelina,” and the organizers of this race are really committed to the silent-j thing.) Daytime high temperatures in Phoenix are still in the 80s and even 90s well into October, so that means lots of early morning alarms so I can in get my own miles before I start riding and teaching.

Running is something I picked up just a couple of years ago, when I was going through a really stressful time during the winter of 2017-2018. It was sort of my version of a midlife crisis. I went for a run one day to blow off some steam, just running for as long as I could, and then walking, and then running some more. Then eventually I could run for 30 minutes at a time, which was pretty amazing.

I did four or five half-marathons and then did my first full marathon in February 2019. I actually qualified for the Boston Marathon and was planning to go, but that was supposed to be in April 2020, and of course it was canceled because of covid. All the other races were canceled too, so I starting to run on the trails. And the trails caught me; they just got my soul.

When I first started running, I was so stressed out with so many different areas in my life, between motherhood and work and everything else. It was the one place I could go where I wasn’t a wife, I wasn’t a mother, I wasn’t a horse trainer, I wasn’t a business owner, I wasn’t a daughter. I was just just me, unapologetically me, just out there, doing something for me. My whole life revolved around trying to give to others, so it’s like my one selfish thing I do for me. I have kind of a demented sort of self-care… going out and running until my feet feel like they want to fall off my legs!

2:30 a.m. Wake up, feed the dogs (Riley, a rescued Lab mix; Oakley, a full-sized Australian shepherd; and Bailey, a mini Aussie) and pack lunches for me and my son, Ronin, who is 9. My husband, P.J., is out of town on a three-day business trip, so everything is on me today!

My husband P.J. isn’t here today for me to take his picture, so here’s a recent family photo. Photos Courtesy of Cyndi Jackson

3 a.m. Make breakfast, which I’ll eat in the car on the way to the trailhead.

3:15 a.m. Leave for my parents’ house with a still-sleeping Ronin in the car. I carry him in the house and leave him sleeping on the couch, then head out to the trailhead.

3:55 a.m. Throw on my pack (which contains water, electrolytes, and snacks, as well as emergency supplies like Band-Aids, Neosporin and of course tweezers for any unfortunate interactions with a cactus) and hit the trail. It’s currently 76 degrees, and I’m doing 8 miles today with a couple of friends. The fact that I had people meeting me at 3:55 in the morning to go for a run is pretty special. That’s my social life, from 4 in the morning until like 5:30. Normal people go get drinks after work with their friends; I go run with my friends before work starts.

A quick 8 miles with my girls before heading off to the barn! I often get some great sunrise photos out on the trail, but we were done before the sun came up today.

5:20 a.m. Finished with my run, now I head off to work.

5:45 a.m. Arrive at my barn, Bar A Ranch, a gorgeous 20-acre dressage facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a covered arena (an absolute must in Arizona) and access to trails. (My business, To The Max Dressage, shares the facility with Missy Gilliland Dressage. I love working alongside Missy!) I drag my horse’s supplement baggies into the barn and restock, and do a quick wardrobe change.

It’s still dark when I arrive at the barn before 6 a.m.

I have 12 horses in my program at this location, plus my mom’s horse, who lives at her place. They range from 3-year-olds to FEI-level, and I usually have 10 or 11 of them on any given day, either for a ride or a lesson.

A freshly groomed arena awaits me when I start on my first horse.

6 a.m. I’m on my first horse at 6 sharp. Florisson (“Jack”) is my sponsored horse, owned by Ann Damiano. He is my superstar and is just coming back from a joint injection that got infected earlier this year; we definitely thought we were going to lose him a few times. Then while he was laid up, I had a fall and broke my arm and some ribs and tore my rotator cuff. He is going really well, and I’m super excited to have both of us back in good health again.

Florisson (“Jack”) is my superstar!

One of the horses I’m working with today is Fanfare, a 3-year-old Oldenburg by Fidertanz that I bought as a weanling from Hidden Springs Ranch in California. Kristina Vahe, who is Missy’s assistant trainer, started him for me. I co-own him with Allen Kalchik, one of my clients (who also owns Ehrengold, the horse I rode in the I-2 at Regionals).

Fanfare, my 3-year-old, being ridden by Kristina Vahe, who started him for me.

Allen went in on this horse with me three years ago because he really wanted to help me get my own personal nice horse. He’d seen some nice horses come and go out of my program, and saw a little bit of heartache each time a good one left that I was hoping to spend some time with. So he and his husband, James Cramer, decided that they would like to invest in a baby horse with me.

I also have a quick interruption to meet with the vet to recheck a horse that’s set to go back into work after a lay-up.

9:35 a.m. I take a break to switch horses in their turnouts. My groom (Michelle Ross, who is amazing) hurt her knee, so she tries not to do a lot of walking! So I’ll take a 10-minute break and swap horses out of my four turnouts and then go back to work. We don’t have grass pastures, but our horses get some time out in paddocks every day to stretch their legs, roll and act like horses.

Leading Jack out to his turnout. Notice all the cacti in the background… it looks a little bit different here in Arizona!

12:15 p.m. I have to stop in the middle of a ride on a 3-year-old to FaceTime with Ronin about his schoolwork. 

12:30 p.m. I finish up my last ride and help bring horses in from turn-out.

1 p.m. I leave the barn for the day and head to my parents’ house to pick up Ronin.

1:30 p.m. Arrive at my parents’ and have a quick chat with my vet, who’s there floating teeth and doing vaccinations. (Normally I would also be riding and/or teaching here, but the horses have the day off because of the vet visit.) We briefly discuss a melanoma on one of my retirees, and he tells me that my own personal FEI horse is the worst horse he’s ever done dental work on! 

I’m very involved in all of my son’s education, but the one thing that I don’t do is manage his riding—he rides with Grandma. He has a 10-hand Shetland pony named Midnight, who is owned by our good friend Amy Jackson; she has been generously sharing Midnight with us for the past few years. Ronin trots a tiny bit, and then he mostly gallops around the arena, then he washes his pony and puts him away. (He does longe the pony first, but it’s mostly the pony free-longing around the round pen and Ronin just trying not to hit himself with the whip.)

My son, Ronin, on his 10-hand Shetland pony, Midnight, with my mom Kay Lorenzen in the background on her horse.

1:45 p.m. Back at home. I do a little school work with the kiddo. Like everybody else, we were doing school remotely in 2020, and in 2021 we had the option to continue doing school online, which we decided to stick with. There were no vaccines yet, and with my parents being older, I didn’t want to put them at risk. Even when Ronin was going to in-person school, I would drop him off at my parents’ house in the morning, and they would take him to school, because I would have to go to work too early. And my husband is in construction, so he starts early too.  

So we did online school for that whole next year, and while it had improved from the crash course they had to put together at the start of COVID, I still didn’t love it—it was too much screen time. So we decided to buy a curriculum and start homeschooling. He does worksheets in the morning, and then in the afternoons we’ll do actual lessons and work through things. Our actual sit-down-together schoolwork is probably an average of a couple hours a day, six days a week. My husband helps with a lot of schoolwork on the weekends and his days off.

If Ronin comes to work with me, which he does a few days a week, we go over what his schoolwork is going to be the night before, and then he does his schoolwork in the clubhouse at the barn. Once he’s done, he can go hang out with my groom, he can help with the horses, or he can have some screen time until I get done with my work day.

Ronin takes care of his schoolwork.

2:40 p.m. We leave for Ronin’s music lesson. He has a riddle book, so I spend the entire drive answering riddles.

3 p.m. Ronin’s music lesson starts, and I’m now going to do my second run of the day to get 5 more miles in. 

My second run of the day, when it was 90 degrees.

4 p.m. Music lesson is over, and Ronin and I head back home. There are more riddles. 

4:25 p.m. Arrive back at home, feed the dogs, and finally—after running 13 miles and riding a bunch of horses—I get to shower.

4:45 p.m. Start making dinner. Our whole family is vegan. I fold laundry and have the kiddo read some of his school book to me while dinner is on the stove.

5:30 p.m. Eat dinner and start to fade away…

6 p.m. I get everything ready for the next day—Ronin’s clothes, my clothes, lunches made and in the fridge. And then everybody is in bed by 6:30 p.m.

The post Day In The Life With: Dressage Rider And Ultramarathoner Cyndi Jackson appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Senior editor Mollie Bailey has been covering hunters, jumpers, equitation and much more for the Chronicle since 2007, and she’s been coming to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to blog since 2008. Bailey, Middleburg, Virginia, takes us behind the scenes to see what it’s like to report on a championship competition in real time.

4:45 a.m.
I only hit snooze once, which doesn’t feel like nearly enough after staying up too late to work on last night’s junior jumper story. I get dressed, putting on my lucky Medal Finals day socks that were gifted to me from a fellow equestrian reporter. I pack up the camera batteries that have been charging overnight and head out.

Bailey’s lucky Medal Finals day socks. Mollie Bailey Photo

5:30 a.m.
For junior weekend at Harrisburg, we’ve called in a guest star, Anabel Barnett, who interned for the Chronicle over the summer, to help handle the volume of stories the weekend produces. The two of us arrive at Starbucks, which is surprisingly busy for this hour on a Sunday. Even though we’re not that close to the horse show, there are plenty of bleary-eyed customers in breeches getting caffeinated as well. I make sure to grab a juice with extra vitamin C, as The Crud is the stuff of Harrisburg legend—spending multiple days in an enclosed, dusty space seems to lead to people getting sick. Imagine that. (I would, in fact, come down with The Crud three days later, so the juice didn’t help too much.)

6 a.m.
I stop by the in-gate on our way up to the press room and snap a photo of the course to post online. Press officer Emily Riden has kindly lent me the key to the press room at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, as she correctly anticipated that we would be the first ones to arrive. We drop off our equipment there before settling into our table above the ring. Anabel and I get to work writing the What You Need To Know article for the class by describing the course, uploading photos of it and filling in missing information. We discuss how to accurately describe several jumps in the course—there’s always something a little creative out there—and guesstimate some striding.

Bailey employs what she calls “the turtle technique” when carrying double backpacks with all the camera gear. Anabel Barnett Photo

6:30 a.m.
Oliver Kennedy, who announces on the Medals Finals livestream stops by—he’ll be sitting at a table near us—and fills us in on who will be commentating for the day. I manage to snag a paper copy of the order of go from my friend Liz Soroka, who on paper is a technical coordinator for the show, but in reality is one of the many behind-the-scenes folks who do anything and everything to make the show happen. In the first round of the medal, I will shoot selectively and post photos online as quickly as possible for readers to see. To help plan for that, Anabel and I circle who we think will be the top candidates to return for Round 2 so I can be sure to photograph them. We circle a fair number of names, and we guess right about half the time.

There’s plenty to do while riders are walking the course between 6:00 and 6:45 a.m. to prepare for the blog. Mollie Bailey Photo

6:57 a.m.
Riders walk the course until 6:45 a.m., then the tractors come in to drag. There’s about a two-minute lull where the ring is empty while announcer Kenn Marash announces the judges and course designer. That’s when I climb to the very top seats in the coliseum and take a picture of the empty ring with the course set. We upload that photo and add it to the What You Need To Know article.

There are approximately two minutes when the ring is empty of course walkers, tractors and horses to grab this seemingly simple photo. Mollie Bailey Photo

7 a.m.
When the class begins I sit with Anabel for a couple rounds to help fill in the course description of how many strides riders are doing from one fence to the next. Anabel will be doing the lion’s share of the actual blogging while I photograph. She’s a former equitation rider herself and has been to Harrisburg several times to compete in the Medal Final. It’s her first time blogging for us, but she’s been practicing, and sure enough she immediately shows that she has the technical expertise to describe what’s happening and the tact to do so kindly. I publish our articles and upload them to social media. We’re officially live for the next 231 entries set to go in the first round.

A few essentials for Medal Finals day. Mollie Bailey Photo

8 a.m.
The first spot where I pick to shoot isn’t working out well, but it does have the advantage of being near where our computers are set up. I photograph a few riders from there and upload the images. I’m struggling a bit with the quality of the photos—it’s a dark ring, and I can’t use the equipment I’d like for this particular course—but I experiment a bit, and the images improve.

9 a.m.
I find a new place to shoot which suits much better, but unfortunately it’s a third of the way around the ring from the table where we’re set up. I spend the next several hours photographing riders, then trotting through the concourse to upload them as efficiently as possible and add them to the blog. By the end of the day my Fitbit congratulated me on meeting my step goal despite not doing any actual exercise.

I check in with social media and my editor at home who is keeping an eye on the blog and sending occasional feedback. When the standby lists are announced, I make sure I’m back at the table so we can double check that we write down the correct numbers.

Noon
Anabel takes a break to grab some food and decompress—it’s mentally taxing to not only pay close attention to every moment of every round but also comment on it, upload comments to the web, and proofread for errors. I take over blogging.

12:30 p.m.
Anabel returns, so I go back to my rhythm of photographing; jogging through the concourse to upload, resize and post photos; checking our social media; and heading back to my spot. When the day started the vendors all chatted with me as I headed through the concourse, trying to give me samples of spreadable bacon or face cream. By now they’ve given up on me.

2:15 p.m.
I realize I haven’t eaten anything, so I quickly house a granola bar then get back to work.

4 p.m.
We have a final standby list of the 25 riders who will return for Round 2. Anabel’s mom, Missy Shaffer, has stopped by to watch the class, and she snaps a picture of the second course for us. We upload the course map, and Anabel writes a course description. I find a new place to shoot in the ring with the new course. I chat with Brian Lookabill, who is announcing the second half of the class and ask that he send me a picture of the list of the trainers of the top 10 riders for a chart we will print in the magazine. Although the live blog takes up the lion’s share of our time today, there will also be one story to write for our website this evening and one or more for the next issue of the magazine, so we need to make sure we’re collecting information for all of those.

4:20 p.m.
Round 2 starts. By now I’ve switched my camera equipment, and I’m much happier with my photos.

Bailey was much happier with her photos in Round 2, like this unretouched image of Skylar Wireman. Mollie Bailey Photo

5:30 p.m. I decide to forgo shooting the test and just watch instead from the in-gate, which is filled with stressed out trainers and supporters hoping their rider will rise to the top. The judges announce that they’re testing four riders, who are handed printouts of the test on their way through the in-gate. The test also is announced several times. Riders have to exit through the out-gate and cannot watch their fellow competitors work off. The whooping and whistling from where I am standing is deafening.

After the four riders go, I stop by our table to check on Anabel. She’s doing just fine, though she does describe blogging during the second round and test as “very stressful,” and I agree. But she’s done a great job.

If you look toward the top of the photo, you can see the table where Bailey and Barnett were working. Mollie Bailey Photo

I head down to the ring for the awards, along with media from the horse show and the U.S. Equestrian Federation. There we photograph the awards, and show manager Pat Boyle—who personally handles the award ceremonies and does a great job—tries to get winner Luke Jensen to do a fist pump during his victory gallop. He complies, though perhaps not as dramatically as Pat would like.

Luke Jensen with his celebratory fist pump. Mollie Bailey Photo

6:30 p.m.
We head up to the press room for the press conference with the top three finishers plus judges Karen Healey and Mark Jungherr. While we’re waiting for them I post a photo of Luke on Facebook announcing his win, buying myself time before the web story goes up. The press conference is pretty short, and I arrange to chat with Luke and his trainer Missy Clark after the horse show for a bigger story in the magazine.

The top three at Medal Finals: Luke Jensen (center), Skylar Wireman (left) and Kate Egan. Mollie Bailey Photo

7:15 p.m.
I check in with my editor about what time I will be done with the story and get to work. I edit photos first while Anabel transcribes, then we say goodbye as she leaves to get dinner with her mom. I buckle down and write a short story, upload it and photos to the website. I longingly watch other media leave to go get dinner while my stomach grumbles.

8:45 p.m.
I finish my story and send it off for editing, then call in a delivery order just before the restaurant closes. As I walk through the horse show to leave, I can see a few professional horses are flatting in the main ring. Tons of trucks are bringing in horses for senior week and loading up equitation horses who going back home to rest up before their next championship in a week or two. My car is the only one in that section of the lot—most of the medal competitors have long since headed home.

9:15 p.m.
Back at the hotel I answer a slew of emails, including two small corrections for the blog sent in by riders’ mothers, so I update that. Thankfully my computer waits until now to die, reminding me I need to buy a new battery. When my food arrives I realize I’ve forgotten to order silverware, so I wash a fork from yesterday’s Chipotle to use.

10 p.m.
I briefly consider driving home to Virginia but decide I’m too tired. Instead I shower and go to sleep, another year’s Medal Finals over.

The post A Day In The Life With: Chronicle Reporter Mollie Bailey appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Over the past seven years, he’s taken working student positions with trainers like Bill Schaub and Martien van der Hoeven. Since the beginning of 2021, Jensen has worked for John Brennan and Missy Clark at North Run in Warren, Vermont.

We asked Jensen to take us through a normal day at the home base in Vermont as the barn geared up for their next show.

Luke Jensen and Jamaica tied for the R.W. “Ronnie” Mutch Equitation Championship at Devon. Kimberly Loushin Photo.

6:30 a.m. When we’re home, I get up around 6:30. I’m not much of a breakfast guy, but [I grab] a little granola bar or something and then head to the barn.

Warren, Vermont, which is where we’re based, is a ski town. So, there’s a lot of lodges and Airbnb opportunities that you can use. Sometimes I end rooming with some of the other riders. Cody Rego, who is the other working student here, is definitely a permanent roommate more than anyone else. We travel together year-round.

Also, I feed my dog Ernie right when I get up, so he finishes eating before I have to leave. He has made being at the barn into quite the job and makes sure that I’m doing all my tasks correctly. He’s my best bud. I take him everywhere I go, to every show and place I get to travel to.

7 a.m. And then the day starts. I take care of two or more horses when we’re home myself. Jamaica always is the standard that I take care of, plus one other. I’m showing a jumper right now named Montiego Bay, so I’m also in charge of him.

One of the horses Luke Jensen is in charge of is Montiego Bay (note Ernie supervising in the corner). Photo Courtesy Of Luke Jensen

The first thing I do is grab a wheelbarrow, and then I go to my first horse’s stall with a pitchfork. We give them hay first in the morning. Then I clean my stalls and take the buckets, wash them and give them fresh water. After I clean the stall, I sweep and make sure the aisle is tidy.

And by that point, once they’ve had their hay, we feed. I take off wraps and roll them up at some point in there. Once I’ve done that and they’ve eaten, I get brushes and groom them to get them all cleaned to face the day. That’s kind of the full morning ritual.

8 a.m. We get ready to start riding the horses. I’m usually on my first one around 8:45. I got on my first one at 8:30 today and flatted two horses for North Run.

We have our outdoor rings at the top of the hill, looking over the farm, and it’s beautiful. You can see Sugarbush Mountain in the distance, which is a big ski mountain. The horses really love it, and it’s just a relaxed flatwork to make sure all their gears are working.

Today, as we’re getting ready for the horse show at Lake Placid (New York), I rode each one for 45-ish minutes. It depends on what’s going on; if it’s a super light day, sometimes less.

10:30 a.m. I have a lesson at 11 on Jamaica, so, I start getting ready around 10:30. It takes a good half hour to get him nice and clean. I clipped him yesterday, and he’s white, so I need a little extra time.

11 a.m. Earlier in the week, we’ll usually have a flat lesson with one of the horses. It really depends on the time of the year. Since we’re gearing up to go to a horse show, there are a lot of lessons today to get ready.

Some stunning views from North Run. Photo Courtesy Of Luke Jensen

It was a lesson with Missy today. Any day, it can be with Missy, John or Maggie Gampfer. We did things that you would expect in a test for the Medal—counter-canter work and stuff like that. Anything you’d expect to see at the horse show, Missy, John and Maggie always have that incorporated into lessons.

My lesson on Jamaica was with Alex Alston and Zayna Rizvi—and then later on in my other one as well. Usually there are three to four people in a lesson for the most part, which is fun. It adds a little competition to it.

Jamaica’s feeling good. He’s feeling ready. He had a good week and a half off since Upperville (Virginia), so he seemed refreshed and ready to go.

Noon. Directly after we finish the lesson, I trot my horse out. But once that’s done, and the horse is cooled down, I take him in and undress him. Today, I took Jamaica and put some ice boots on him. Then I got Montiego Bay ready for his lesson.

We always have some sort of exercises. In the course today, there was a triple combination. We didn’t do too much, just a little bit to make sure all the forward and backwards and left and right was working. We usually have a triple combination and short lines to long lines.

Gearing up for two weeks at Lake Placid Horse Show (New York), riders have been practicing all the possible tests asked at North Run. Luke Jensen is the one in the full chaps:

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2 p.m. By 2 p.m. or so we’re done riding and everyone’s getting ready to help put the barn away. I’ll take my chaps off and put my normal work paddock boots on and get ready to start getting everything done.

For both horses, I ice their legs as soon as I get off from jumping. I take those off after half an hour. Once those are done, I start brushing the horses and getting them all clean. At the horse show I’ll do whatever they need: poultice them or liniment. Once I’m done brushing, I start wrapping their legs, and I throw on the magnetic blanket while I finish up all the things I’ve got to do.

I do eat lunch, but I’m sort of running and gunning as I eat. Today I had a sandwich after I got done riding, but I was still walking around doing stuff one-handed.

After I put my two away in terms of their wraps and their blankets, I’ll do my quick afternoon stall pick, and I refill their waters and hay if they need it. I sweep their stalls. I’ll clean their tack after that.

2:30 p.m.  The grooms and the working students—myself, Cody Rego and Callista Smith—do whatever we can to help everybody finish their work. That may be to water the horses, sweep the aisle, give hay and help Nikki Arnold, who is our manager. I did a lot of sweeping today.

We probably finished around 4, and then it’s time to feed the horses. At home Nikki will have the grain ready and all organized into different stacks for each aisle and sections of the barn. Usually, everyone grabs a stack and goes. If the grooms are busy, obviously I’ll do more. But I like to feed my own horses, so sometimes I’ll go for the stack of the aisle that they’re living in.

Lots of sweeping. Photo Courtesy Of Luke Jensen

4 p.m. Once everyone is fed, I’m pretty much free to disperse.

I’m a senior in high school, and I’m wrapping up my classes, so that’s how I spend a lot of my afternoons. Up here in Warren, it’s very pretty, and when I can, I try to get some hiking in—enjoying the outside and enjoying the area. So, either that or school for the most part. Today though, I chose school.

I go to school online at Indiana University High School. I’m taking three classes right now, and then I have one more after this. I’m nearly done with these, and as soon as I’m finished, I’ll be glad to be graduated and done with high school. 

Dinner Up here in Warren there are a lot of cool places to eat. We’ve got all kinds of tasty options, but in terms of my normal dinner choices, I try to keep it fairly healthy for the most part when I’m in one place for a while, because once you get on the road it’s a little bit harder to do that. So, when I can keep it clean and nutritious, I try to do that. Tonight I had salmon, rice and some squash.

Ernie enjoying the end-of-day wind down. Photo Courtesy Of Luke Jensen

8:45 p.m. I worked on school until about 8:45 and then did some reading to unwind. Some nights I work later; some nights I fall asleep before I get much done. I am currently reading “Discourses On Livy,” by Niccolò Machiavelli, but I often regress back towards a lighter read, so right now I am also reading “Lonesome Dove,” by Larry McMurtry.

10 p.m. Time to go to sleep.

The post Day In The Life With: Equitation Rider And Working Student Luke Jensen appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

She grew up in Athens, Georgia, where she began riding at 8 and started eventing at age 15. While in high school, she competed on her own horse and worked as the barn manager for Dublin Downs Eventing. She obtained an undergraduate degree in animal science from the University of Georgia, where she was on the UGA Eventing Team for four years and president of the team for two years.

After selling her most recent horse, began attending shows with Coleman as one of his head grooms. She’s currently in Europe with Coleman, where he competed at the Luhmühlen Horse Trials, June 16-19, finishing 12th aboard Chin Tonic HS in the CCI4*-S. They’re now preparing for the CHIO Aachen (Germany) CCIO4*-S, to be held July 1-2, where Coleman and Off The Record will be part of the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team for the Nations Cup competition and will defend their 2021 title, as the first U.S. pair to win the prestigious competition.

She took us through a typical day at their farm in Ocala, Florida. 

The two top priorities each day are, one, ensuring that all of Will’s riding goals for the horses are met, and, two, providing top-level care for each horse in our barn. The demands of five-star riders and their horses are intense, and I believe the key to successfully meeting these demands is to make sure our barn processes run smoothly and efficiently. I am fortunate to work with a team of people who share these views.

Prior to joining the team at Will Coleman Equestrian, Erin Jarboe competed at preliminary with horses like Sir Rockstar. Photos Courtesy Of Erin Jarboe

6 a.m. The day starts with breakfast and coffee, time allowing! I never like to start the day rushing, so I try to give myself enough time to fully wake up before heading down to the barn. If I’m running ahead, I’ll quickly tidy the house so that when we’re done in the evenings, everyone can come home to a clean space.

7 a.m. We have a group of four to five of us living and working together. On a normal day, we start the barn by 7 a.m. Most of the horses are turned out at night, so the morning consists of bringing horses in, feeding grain, then dressing, turning out and mucking the stalls of the few horses who stayed in overnight. Once morning chores are underway, I check the riding list written the night before and have Will’s first horse of the day groomed, stretched and tacked up for him by 8:30 a.m.. Stretching is an integral part of our pre-ride routine.

8:30 a.m. At this point in the day we are in the thick of the hustle! Will does most of his riding from now through the early afternoon. Often, we must account for Will teaching lessons or taking lessons himself. If Will is jumping, or has an important dressage school, he may ask me to video. Will values having us watch how the horses go day to day. This helps our team to better care for the horses as individuals and allows us to provide feedback when Will is warming them up at shows.

Depending on the day, I also manage which horses are leaving the farm to gallop or do an off-property therapy such as Aquatread. Many days there are horses who need to be hacked or lightly flatted by the team. Usually, these guys wait until the afternoon, when Will is done riding, and I can get a ride in!

Every day, the all-important and less glamorous tasks take up a bulk of the time. These consist of laundry, cleaning tack, making grain and so forth. We also assist with client horses and sometimes even watch baby West Coleman so that Will’s wife Katie can ride or teach!

Keeping an eye on West Coleman while doing barn chores.

11:30 a.m. The horses get lunch hay, and we do a quick pick of the stalls as well. Not all horses get lunch grain, but the few that do get it around this time. We don’t often take a lunch break; we eat on the go! Occasionally we will order food to the barn for the group, especially if it is going to be a busier day!

1:30 p.m. Will typically is done riding his horses, and now we will ride any horses on our lists for the day. If I don’t have any horses to ride, this is a great time to pack for any upcoming shows or lessons or do some therapies with the horses. Especially leading up to big competitions, the horses may get regular treatments such as Functional Electrical Stimulation, which sends electrical impulses that mimic the brain signaling a muscle to contract. It can help correct muscle spams that can come from normal work or from injury. The FES is a therapy that we use frequently, can do ourselves in the barn, and the horses enjoy.  A session can take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.

In the afternoons Erin Jarboe gets to hack or do a light flat school on any horses on her list for the day.

2:30 p.m. We throw dinner hay around 2:30 or 2:45, so the horses can get their dinner grain around 3 p.m. If the weather is nice, the horses can be turned out for the night before 3. Now that it’s summer, the horses mostly get turned out later afternoon to avoid the worst of the heat.

4:30 p.m. Ideally we finish the day by 4:30 or 5 p.m. The remaining chores include tidying the barn and resetting everything for the next morning. Often there is more to do, such as having the veterinarian out, getting horses shod, or packing for a show. It’s not always possible to finish by this time, but it is what we strive for.

6:30 p.m. Dinner for the humans! I really enjoy cooking, so most nights I make time to cook something and usually have leftovers for lunch the next day. We also have frequent team dinners at Will and Katie’s house, which are always fun. They are both fabulous cooks.

8 p.m.: “Lates.” As a team, we head back to the barn to check on the horses for the night. The horses inside get hay, and a few get grain. We check waters, wraps (if there are any) and change blankets as needed. We try to vary who does lates so that no one ends up doing it every night.

Erin Jarboe (center) groomed Tight Lines for Will Coleman at the inaugural Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill.

We work as a team as much as possible and try to plan our work each day as efficiently as possible. This sometimes allows us to take short afternoon breaks on the less hectic days. In the evenings we often cook for each other, go out to eat as a team, or we get treated to dinner by Will and Katie. We work hard, and we enjoy our time together.

The post A Day In The Life: Eventing Groom Erin Jarboe appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

“I’m not ‘running’ ”—with emphasis on that word—“any operation,” she says. “I’m just riding my own horses. I don’t teach anyone; I’m technically an amateur.”

Being “just” a rider is perhaps one of the only concessions that Jorst, 57, Reno, Nevada, makes in a life that involves three equally all-consuming passions: running her equestrian clothing line, Kastel Denmark; competing internationally and holding down the No. 34 spot in the FEI Dressage World Rankings; and being a mother and grandmother to her two adult daughters and two grandsons.

“You can try to do everything 100% all the time, but that’s not going to work; you just have to accept it’s not always going to be as big as it could,” she says.

Typical of the positivity she exudes, that statement comes out as an affirmation that it’s OK not to limit oneself rather than an admission of guilt over not giving all, all the time.

Charlotte Jorst and Kastel’s Nintendo won the Grand Prix Special during Week 10 of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (Fla.) with a score of 72.93% on March 19—their fourth win of the 2022 AGDF season and one of the recent performances that earned them a spot on the Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Team shortlist for the 2022 ECCO FEI World Championships. Susan J. Stickle Photo

Her days generally start and end doing Kastel business, and on days when she’s home in Reno, each of her passions conveniently overlaps the others: She rides in clothing from her Kastel Denmark line and posts pictures of herself to social media to advertise the brand, and she rides at a barn where her daughter Christine McCormack, a real estate agent who rides hunters and has two horses of her own, now lives with her sons, Mattias, 5, and Otto, 2.

“She took over my barn because I’m gone all the time. She lives at the barn, so I get to see her and see the kids every day,” Jorst explains. “For the little kids, I think it’s kind of fun for them to see their grandma out there in the snow and rain and see her doing stuff.”

Jorst didn’t start riding seriously until age 35—certainly an anomaly amongst riders representing their countries internationally—and says it was because of Christine and her little sister Camilla, who were 9 and 6 at the time.

“I’d always dreamed of riding, and then I was like, ‘There’s no time like the present!’ ” she says. “I started riding with them and jumping with them at this local little barn. I’d pick them up from school at 3 p.m., and we’d go to the barn so we had something to do together after school.”

Now, at home in Reno, Charlotte is able to go hiking with one daughter or eat lunch with the other and play with her grandsons after riding.

“Family is everything,” Jorst captioned a recent picture of her with daughter Camilla Jorst taken at Lake Tahoe, Calif. Photo Courtesy Of Charlotte Jorst

But life doesn’t always sort itself so conveniently, particularly with all the travel that showing internationally demands, and when that happens, “You have to compartmentalize a little bit,” she says, “and you have to make it a priority when your kids come.”

So when Christine and the grandchildren came to visit her in Florida during the winter season, and a four-day trip to Disney World got scheduled right before she was entered to ride her up-and-coming horse, 9-year-old Zhaplin Langholt (Zonik—Sonia Langholt, Stedinger), in the Summit Farm Future Challenge Young Horse Prix St. Georges, she decided “he can be turned out four days and be all right” while she went to meet Mickey and company with her family. (Apparently she was right: They won the class with a score of 74.14%—almost five points better than their nearest competition.)

In May, Jorst was named to the shortlist with her longtime partner, 19-year-old Kastel’s Nintendo (Negro—Rodieni R, Monaco) to represent her adopted country at the 2022 ECCO FEI World Championships, coming up in August in her native Denmark. More recently, she was named to The Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Team for the prestigious CHIO Aachen (Germany).

“Now I’m going to Europe for 2.5 months—there’s a season for everything for me,” she says. “Right now, I’m in the middle of this very high competition season.”

And while “Nintendo” has been on fire this year, piling up Grand Prix victories during the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (Florida), Jorst also is planning for his future retirement: Three clones of the stallion were born in May—Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 64 and Super Nintendo, as named by the family—along with one clone of “Zhaplin,” who has since been named Led Zhaplin, courtesy of Camilla Jorst’s partner, Zack Bergstrom.

“I’m 57, and when I’m 60-something, I don’t want to ride something I don’t know,” she said of her decision to clone the horses. “I don’t want a new 5-year-old that I don’t know if it’s going to dump me somewhere. With Nintendo and Zhaplin, they have great temperaments, really sweet. I know everything about those horses; they are really safe. I’m not 20, I’m 57.”

Follow along for a day in Charlotte’s very full life:

Jorst, here with Zhaplin Langholt, wears clothes from her Kastel Denmark line while riding and posts pictures to social media to help promote the brand. Photo Courtesy Of Charlotte Jorst

7 a.m. I get up and start the day by drinking coffee, checking texts and answering social media posts.

8 a.m. My first work Zoom call of the day lasts about 45 minutes

9 a.m. My second work Zoom call. It’s hard to get out of this one, but I told them I had a hard stop at 10 a.m., which is when I leave for the barn.

On the way to the barn I make a phone call to Joelle Spinoso, Kastel Denmark’s director of product development and my right-hand woman. We have a lot to discuss, so I tell her I’ll be in to the office later.

10:30 a.m. I get on my first horse, Nintendo. I’m wearing a Kastel sunshirt from the summer collection as I always take video and pictures to post.

Heading out to the ring with Zhaplin and groom Zenón Cruz. “Yes, he leads me around all the time,” Jorst said. Photo Courtesy Of Charlotte Jorst

11:15 a.m. It’s Zhaplin’s turn for a ride. In between horses, I check on the contractor who is building a couple of new barns for the horses. I specifically check on the fencing as we don’t know if we have enough.

I also schedule the weekend’s rides as my trainer Charlotte Bredahl is coming to teach, and everything needs to be in order.

A charming neighbor has called the police because of the construction. The police arrive and leave angry at the neighbor for calling them.

Noon “Botticelli” gets ridden. Atterupgaards Botticelli (Benetton Dream—Atterupgaards Dicte, Caprimond) is a 10-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding I purchased in 2018. I am working toward Grand Prix with him, but he’s extremely hot and spooky, which has kept us out of the show ring so far—a real shame because his piaffe and passage are so great.

Sometimes working and riding require multi-tasking. Botticelli gets a break during his ride while Jorst signs Kastel paperwork. Photo Courtesy Of Charlotte Jorst

1:15 p.m. I go to my daughter Christine’s house for a quick lunch with her. I am lucky to have both my daughters living locally in Reno, so when I am home instead of traveling, I try to divide my time equally and spend as much time with both of them as possible. (That said, on this particular day, I spend lots of time with Christine and don’t get to see Camilla.)

2 p.m. Zoom call.

2:30 p.m. I leave to go to Kastel. In the car I call my consulting group to discuss various business issues.

3 p.m. At Kastel’s headquarters, we just got a wire from a new German customer, so a huge order is going out with stickers for euros and different pricing, which requires checking everything.

3.15 p.m. I have a conference call with a commercial real estate broker about finding a new, larger space for Kastel. This is a real headache as there is no space to be had in Reno, and the proposal is not good.

While the hours at the office are hectic, it’s nice to know Zhaplin and the other horses are back at the barn relaxing. Photo Courtesy Of Charlotte Jorst

4 p.m. Joelle and I continue meeting about how to solve some complex accounting issues. We have a follow-up call with consultants to get help and input.

5 p.m. Leave Kastel and stop on the way to Christine’s house to buy a gift for my son-in-law, Zack.

6.30 p.m. Enjoy dinner with Christine and my grandchildren, Mattias and Otto.

7.30 p.m. I put the grandchildren to bed. Being able to see them so often is one of the joys of having Christine and her family living at the barn.

8 p.m. Check on today’s emails—there are many—and respond where necessary.

10 p.m. Time for bed.

The post A Day In The Life With: Charlotte Jorst appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Instead, Redman is a human resources manager for the federal government. She started Benchmark as a side business in 2012, after years of volunteering for CANTER Mid Atlantic and starting CANTER’s Delaware Park branch. In Benchmark’s first year, she sold seven horses from her 11-acre farm in Camden, Delaware. Now, her business buys and sells closer to 200 horses, almost all Thoroughbreds, every year. Some sell off of videos alone as soon as she lists them; others stay with her for months while she sorts out health issues or training challenges. Redman estimates she’s sold more than 1,000 horses in her lifetime.

“I never anticipated that it would become what it has become,” she admits. “It’s crazy, but you just evolve as you go, and we really figured out a way to make a small farm work for a sales operation.”

Jessica Redman. Photos Courtesy Of Jessica Redman

Today, she has a barn manager, a rider and barn help who keep the thriving side-business going, while she runs the show in the downtime around her government job’s workday. Her husband Ian, a former aircraft inspector who didn’t grow up around horses, has gotten in on the act and today runs a horse shipping business and helps evaluate prospects for Jessica while on his travels.

While her sales business has grown exponentially, Jessica said she’s not tempted to give up her day job.

“I don’t ever want to do it full time,” she said. “It’s just a hard life, and there’s no back-up plan, and I just never want it to feel like that is my only source of income.

“It’s kind of two full-time jobs, because I never really thought the [sales] business would go the way that it has,” she added. “Really, what it comes down to is [that] nice horses sell themselves pretty easily. It’s not that hard when you become very efficient at the process. I’ve got a lot of contacts, a big network [to source horses], and we’ve all worked together for so long, that we all know the plan we execute it.”

And while she’s usually got a barn full of athletic, young horses, Jessica, who grew up participating in Pony  Club and eventing, said she doesn’t do much riding much herself anymore.

“I’m not that much into competing because I’m too busy,” she said. “Sometimes, when the weekend comes, I don’t want to look at a horse right then.”

She does own one personal horse, though, “Rex,” registered with the Jockey Club as Added Expectations.

“He’s a good ammy horse, a $500 horse from Louisiana, because when I ride, I want to relax,” she said. “I’ve normally always owned the things I can’t sell. I’m riding the [kind of] horse that I recommend to a lot of buyers, the kind an adult ammy can go have fun on.”

So what does it take to balance a full-time job, a side gig selling 200 horses a year, the occasional pleasure ride, plus a veritable platoon of house and barn cats that haven’t even been mentioned yet?

Read on …

Who needs an alarm clock when you have kittens Zena and Zane racing across your bed to wake you?

6:30 a.m. Wake up and cuddle with my cats for about 30 minutes while I check email and browse Facebook. Right now, I have two kittens, so they have me awake before my alarm goes off as they run, jump and use the bed as a fighting zone. My business is very dependent on horse shopping, so I am always checking to see if any interesting horses pop up.

7-8 a.m. Feed and medicate Bigglesworth, my ancient cat who has to be fed a soupy cat food mixture. I have coffee and yogurt while I check work emails and look at my calendar for the day.

I touch base with my barn manager, Amanda Halley, to discuss a general plan for the barn day. John Devin, my amazing farm help, turns horses out and starts on stalls, cleaning buckets, hay, water, etc., and Amanda arrives and starts on her list.

The whiteboard helps the team at Benchmark keep track of daily duties related to their rotating fleet of incoming and outgoing sales horses.

This morning she knocked out a clip job nice and early so we could get conformation pictures done with a snazzy clip. We really believe presentation is everything in selling horses, so we like our horses to look nice.

Stacy Willson, our barn rider, arrives a bit later and will help with barn work or whatever else needs to get done. Generally, everyone has the plan of the day, and they don’t need me at all.

8-9:30 a.m. Back to work: I focus on reviewing applicants for my vacancy announcements that closed, which is my priority for the day.

9:30 a.m. I pop out to take conformation pictures of horses while the sun is out. Amanda and I are a well-oiled machine at confo pictures, and generally we can get them done quickly if the horse cooperates.

Barn manager Amanda Halley (pictured with Win For Winslow) takes care of giving new horses a spa day, complete with mane pulling and a fresh clip job, so that they present nicely in their conformation shots.

One horse had a fat leg due to mud and getting his feet done, so we scrapped his pictures. One horse was ouchy on his feet so he didn’t want to stand nice enough for pictures. We managed to have one successful photo shoot.

While I am out there, I look at another horse who has some swelling in the jaw area, which has doubled in size overnight but is otherwise normal. I take some pictures of that and consult with my vet on our plan of action.

10 a.m. Back to work for a few hours while Stacy and Amanda ride some of the horses. We generally have a plan for which horses are getting training rides and which horses we need to video. We always want to have at least one video of each sales horse, but I don’t always have time to fit it all in. Amanda and Stacy video when I can’t help.

Stacy Willson handles the training rides on horses like Love Point, shown here, while Redman is at work.

Noon I head out to take some pictures and video of two of our new horses. One of them believes he is dying because he had his hind shoes pulled, so we scrap the video, but we do ride him to assess his temperament.

The other one has a lovely first ride, and I take some pictures and video of him. We always show a bit of the horses’ in-the-barn personality, mounting and then some walk, trot and canter footage from their first ride post-track so buyers can assess them.

On her lunch break, Redman heads out to the ring to video horses, like Crossing Verrazano being ridden by Stacy Willson, to document their first post-track rides for potential buyers.

1 p.m. I head back to work while Stacy unloads two new arrivals and gets them settled in. We have frequent turnover here, so horses are always shipping in or out, which requires a lot of coordination. Feed Bigglesworth his third meal of the day. Old cats are time consuming!

3 p.m. Back to the barn to check in with Amanda for a recap of the day. She wrapped a horse with a sore foot, medicated the horse with swollen jaw area, exercised another horse in the free area and gave one of the new arrivals a bath. Blankets got changed around, and a horse that is shipping to new home tonight got a ship-out blanket, halter and paperwork ready.

We discuss the plan for tomorrow and write notes on our white board. Horses come in for the night and get dinner.

One sad newcomer: Newly purchased Deo Forte laying down in his stall feeling very uncomfortable. He ended up having abscesses in both his left front and hind feet, which resolved with proper care.

4 p.m. I usually spend time after work editing the horses’ pictures and video to get them posted to Facebook and update my website. Sales are a very social-media-driven business, so it is important to keep my website updated and do some posts about the sales horses.

I am not a professional photographer, but I have very basic editing skills and I manage to maintain a simple website myself which I update daily. Generally, once I post about a horse, I start answering a lot of messages via Facebook, which can be super intense.

5 p.m. Feed the cats and cook a Gobble meal for my husband Ian and myself. I am not big on grocery shopping, so meal delivery service makes my life run smoothly.

Foster cat Meow Meow is slowing finding her place in the rhythm of life at the farm.

6-10 p.m. End the day with a mix of browsing Facebook to see if I need to buy any horses, putting in a few hours of work with my full-time job to ensure I am completely up to date, and hanging out with my cats. I like to read a book to relax, but I also have my shows that I like to watch. I’m sad that “Yellowstone” is over. Right now, I am fostering a cat for a family in a shelter situation, so I spend some time loving on her. She was a bit shell-shocked on arrival but seems to be warming up to me now.

10 p.m. Head to the barn for night check and to meet a shipper picking up the horse to go to his new home.

Recently sold Zipzaptime gets loaded up to ship to his new home in Maine.

11 p.m. Head to bed

The post A Day In The Life With: Jessica Redman appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.