Online Dressage Schooling Shows (ODSS) are a great idea for lots of reasons!

Many of switched to ODSSs at the beginning of the Pandemic because we had to.  There just weren't any shows to go to for community health reasons.  Covid was new and there were many unknowns.  

But now that things are opened back up again, there is still a place for these online showing options all year long!  If you haven't tried one yet, maybe give it a try!  Here are just a few of the perks of online showing:

In the cold weather months many of us can’t go to shows, because there aren’t any.  The weather puts a stop to everything dressage showy.  So ODSS are a great way to keep getting evaluation on your progress as you work towards your goals. 

If you are like me, you lose your motivation when you aren’t competing.  These online shows allow us to keep competing when the local shows have shut down for the winter.

Online Shows are a great way to see if you are ready to move up a level.  They are a kind of a put your toe in the water and get a judge's feedback before heading off to an in person show and shelling out all of those fees.

Oh, and then there are all of the fees at in person shows.  It is much more cost effective to show online!
 
Some of us have show nerves.  ODSS allow you to stay right at home where you are comfortable.  It’s almost like the judge comes to you! Your horse won't have the looky loos either!

No travel time and no trailering fees is a nice plus.

Your ride time is your choosing. Ride and video when you want...not when the show management says.  Too hot at 2pm...ok ride at 7am.  Too cold at 8am, ok...ride at 2pm.  Hate to rush home from work to make it to the evening show...don't bother...ride when it's convenient for you.

I could go on and on...and I bet you are right now...thinking about all of the advantages...

But, If you are going to be entering online dressage schooling shows, here are a few thing to keep in mind when filming.

• Make sure to film from the judges perspective.  Have the camera located a ‘C’.
• Try to minimize distractions in the video.  Distractions can be visual or auditory.  People talking loudly or noisy equipment running nearby, makes for a very unpleasant video to watch.  Visual distractions don’t help either.  Dogs running around playing and barking, people passing in front of the camera just to name a few distractions.
• Use a tripod so the image is nice and steady.  The judges don’t want to be nauseous watching you ride.
• Have easily visible arena markers.  They don’t have to be fancy, or store bought, but it does help if the judge can see where you are in the ring easily.  Don’t lose points because the judge couldn’t tell where you were.
• Practice riding and recording the test a time or two.  That way you can pretend you are the judge,  and watch your own video playback to make sure everything is all good.
• Consider lighting.  Imagine being the judge trying to judge a black horse as the sunsets in a dark arena.  Or watching a video where the sunlight is facing right at the camera and you can’t see what is happening in the video.  
• Watch out for sun glare from windows of buildings and car windshields. These can make the video difficult to see
• .Make sure your camera battery is charged.  Nothing worse than finishing your best ride ever, only to find out the camera died half way through!

But all in all, the process couldn’t be any simpler and the advantages are many.  So why not give Online Showing a try? 

I would love to hear your experiences and advice!
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Want more Info on our Online Dressage Schooling shows?  Follow this link

​So the world is sideways right now!  This Coronavirus Pandemic has everything turned upside down.  Here in Pennsylvania, all life-sustaining businesses are shut down.  What does that mean? That means I can go to the barn to take care of the horses but I can’t do anything that generates cash flow for my business.  So things are going to get interesting.

Everyone is experiencing their own personal stress in this current situation.  People can’t work.  Kids are being home schooled. People are worried about catching this illness or giving it to loved ones.  Many are like me and now have no income and are trying to figure out how to pay their bills. Bottom line, anyone with a brain in their head is stressed.

I have been trying to post something helpful every morning on my facebook page.  Today I want you to think about practicing gratitude!  Yes, in this difficult time, I want you to think about what you are grateful for!

Please read the article I have linked to here. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-gratitude Then come back and make comments about what you are grateful for.  Every day on my facebook page I will be posting something I am grateful for and I want you to respond what you are grateful for in the comments and on your own page #practicegratitude #getthroughcorona

Please share this blog post so others can do this too.
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It doesn’t have to be anything big.  It can be the simplest of things.  Maybe there was a beautiful sunrise or sunset.  Maybe you are grateful for your sense of humor or your positive attitude.  You might be grateful to still have a job or having time with your kids while they are home from school.
Being grateful for even the smallest of things can lower your stress, help you sleep and overall improve your mood…so let’s do this.  Let’s find things to be grateful for!
 
I will start. 
I am grateful for myself and everyone I know not having COVID-19 at this moment
What are you grateful for?

Mother’s Day is coming!
That means people will be trying to figure out what to get their Mom’s.  It’s hard to decide sometimes.  I often hear from my fellow equestrians, that are Moms, that they wish they had gotten__________.  You fill in the blank.  Or this year, I wish I would get __________.

But the truth is, that non horsey people don’t always know what to get horsey people.  We are a strange breed afterall!

So, let’s make it easier for them and come up with a list of Mother’s Day gifts that we equestrians would want! So, in the comments section, tell me what you would want for Mother’s Day.  I will compile a list of say "The Top 10 things Equestrians Want for Mother’s Day". Then we can circulate it.

If you don’t want to comment here, message me.  And feel free to share this blog post.  The more input the better! It will be interesting reading what everyone wants!  Let's have some fun!

​We all spend a lot of time in our barns!  Let's face it, we would rather be there, than just about anywhere else!

We all know a clean barn is a safer barn.  We all know a clean barn saves us a lot of time...which gives us more time to ride or play with our horses! Which is what life is really all about, right?!

Sometimes life gets busy, and the barn gets messy.  For me it's October that gets me every year.  October is such a busy month for my business.  Before I know, it I look around in November and the barn looks like a bomb blew up!  I waste so much time looking for stuff!

I spent November so tired from October and just had a bunch of other stuff happen that I never got the barn put back together.  Then the holidays hit, I had to clean out and condense my storage stalls to make room for a now boarder,  I got bronchitis and now here we are in January.  I can't stand it anymore!

Well, I have made a decision to get it all put back together, using this 30 day plan.  Looking at the big picture just seemed overwhelming, so I didn't start.  This plan lets me break it up into bite size pieces, get started, and tackle the project over 30 days.  I warn you, it gets contagious once you start!  There are days I have done an extra project or two.  

You will love completing a task, and looking at your finished work!  It will inspire you to keep going.  You will also enjoy the amount of time and frustration you will be saving yourself as you complete each task.  

If you are feeling like your barn is a little to messy, download this 30 day declutter plan and get started. Please let us know how it is going!  Post pictures and tag us #biamontestables so we can see....and celebrate your progress! Come on back here and leave a comment about how it's going!  Let us know if you have any ideas about keeping the barn clean and orderly! 

There's an old saying, You Can’t Pour From An Empty Cup!
 
In the book I am currently reading, “Fear Is My Homeboy” by Judi Holler, there was a section that resonated with me. It's about protecting your assets. Now the book is more for entrepreneurs but it applies to riding as well as other aspects of our lives.
 
As equestrians we take care of our horse, our saddle, our trailer etc. Those are all assets, and we have invested a lot of money, time and energy into them. So we take time to take care of them.

But what about us? Our time, our energy, our physical health, and our mental health, our habits, our stamina, are all assets as well. We need to protect those assets too!

If our horse gets an injury, that derails our plan.  There is time lost in healing and rehabbing. We give a lot of attention to caring for those other assets.  But how much time do you spend on self care?  If we don’t take of ourselves, we can derail the plan! Ask yourself, What do I do about self care?  How am I protecting my assets?
 
Take a few minutes and ponder that…
Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup.  Make sure you are keeping your cup full!

Barn Managers juggle managing horses and managing budgets.  It’s our responsibility to provide the horses with everything they need, in the most cost efficient way possible.  That applies to staffing and resources.  Most people seem to forget that this horse business, is well, a business. 

One of the things we managers have to think about is the cost of feed.  Not only should we need to know a fair amount about feed stuffs, how a horse’s gastrointestinal system works as well as what their nutritional needs are.  I am often amazed how little people in this position know about these topics, esp in the days of “google it”.  My brain always wants to learn more…more, more,  more!  I read a lot.  I talk to other equine professionals.  I take classes.  I contact companies and ask them about their products.

I have contacted the companies of every feed product we have in the barn to ask them for more detailed nutritional information about their products.  Companies are very receptive!  It may take them a few days to get back to you with the information you want, but the will!

Recently I contacted a company about their rice bran.  I wanted to know how many calories are in a pound of their product.  They got back to me within 48 hours.  Their rice bran meal has 1400kcal/pound.  Of course, I should have been more specific in my question, so have shot them another email.  I need to know if that’s total calories or digestible energy (DE).  There is a difference! We managers need to know about stuff like DE, the difference between a mcal and a kcal.  Yes, I actually know how many calories are in all the feed we use.  People often look at me like I have snakes coming out of my head when I can just spout off that type of info.  Well, that’s part of my job.  If you bring your horse to me and it needs to gain weight, I need that type of information to develop the correct feed plan that is specific to your horse. Oh, and we do a lot of math…so pay attention in school kids!  We use a lot of math formulas to figure out what the heck to feed George, the big bay on the end. 

But, it’s not just about calories.  It actually does matter what is in the grain!  What does it mean when the label says grain products vs soybean hulls? What about the calcium/phosphorus ratio?  How about what is the story with the selenium content of your region’s soil? What is the Non Structural Carbohydrate (NSC) level of the feed?  What the heck is the difference between NSC and the other kind?  What do NSCs do in the horse’s hindgut?  Let’s not even get started on hay!!!!

Every horse in our barn is on a different feed plan based on their needs.  I check their weights regularly.  I have a few horses in the barn whose owners almost never come to the barn.  I don’t get to see these horses naked in the winter unless I go take off their blankets to evaluate their weights.  I do that every Friday for those horses.  The horses in regular work I see going by me, or standing in the grooming stalls naked on a regular basis.  My eyes, and hands, immediately go to checking those horses’ weights.  I want to see and feel their body condition. Most people don’t even notice that I am body conditioning their horse.  They just think I am just petting and snuggling them! I then make adjustments accordingly.  I like horses to have a body condition score of about 5-6.  My boarders are funny.  They have no idea what their horses are eating.  I am happy to tell them if they are interested, but from experience they all trust me to manage their horse’s nutrition.  You can always tell the new boarder.  They are the ones helping me in that department. 

In this instance I am weighing options for an older mare that has very few teeth left. She is in good body condition now, She has hay in front of her 24/7 but it gets harder every year for her to chew it. So we were trying to decide what to add. After looking at everything we said no thank you to the rice bran and decided to add a lunch of beet pulp.  She loves it, and the cost per calorie is less.  The bonus is it good for her and her hind git. In addition the beet pulp is a great alternative as you can replace something likev80% of a horses long stem forage requirements with it.

In this case I am looking for the best option for an older horse who does not have many teeth left.  This horse is in good body weight now, but hay is difficult for her.  Cost is an issue, there are not unlimited resources.  She currently has hay available 24/7 and there is some quidding. Her grain now is extruded and high in fat, low in NSCs already.  After looking at everything, we decided to not add rice bran but to go with the addition of a beet pulp lunch.  She loves beet pulp.  It's a good, cost effective feed source that is good for her and you can use it to replace up to something like 80% of the long stem forage requirements.  It's also inexpensive, high in fiber and adds water to her GI tract.  It's no big deal for me as I already feed beet pulp am and pm to all the horses anyway. 

Now, I am no equine nutrition expert.  There are Equine Nutritionists!  Yes, it is an actual thing and they go to school a long time to become that expert!  But the stuff I am mentioning here is just basic stuff that every person managing your horses feed should know.  You should ask them.  Whoever is managing your horses feed should know this stuff, even if it’s you.

I mentioned something about calories in the rice bran and that based on the math I wanted to increase their hay the other day to someone and was reminded that not everyone knows that kind of stuff.  So I thought I would share a little bit here.  I will share some links if you want to learn more.

Let’s do it a fun way, Q & A!  See if you know the answers to these questions before following the links I have included after them!!! 

1. How many calories does a horse need per day to maintain their body weight? Hint…it’s a range depending on the variables.
2. Which has more calories per pound, fresh grass in the pasture or hay?
3. What is a good body condition score for a horse?
4. What is considered a moderate vs a heavy workload for a horses
5. Which has more calories

Now here are some links you might find helpful and informative.  Share any links you have too!  You can never know everything and there is always more to learn!

So now follow the links and see how you did on those questions...go ahead, I will wait...

So how did you do on those questions?  Did you learn anything new from any of those links???

  
General Info on this stuff:
https://equinenutritionnerd.com/2014/02/20/calories/
http://www.myhorseuniversity.com/node/678
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/32961/types-of-carbohydrates-in-horse-feed-diets
http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/horse-feeding.html
http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/feed-tag-conversions.html
Video on Body Condition Score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq0ZXnSlsNQ
Body condition score diagram: http://www.thehorse.com/free-reports/30154/equine-body-condition-score-poster
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Show season is winding down here in SE Pennsylvania.   It’s the time of year when we start to think about putting pajamas on the horses at night, and should we clip.  As we move into winter our thoughts go to teaching our equine athletes new things that they can show off next show season!  We start to work on whatever is next for our horse to learn: changes, better balance, getting suppler, being less on the forehand, staying steadier around a course.

We work on our horses’ fitness as well.  Riders typically expect their horses to be at the top of their game physically.  Can your horse expect the same from you???  What are you doing to stay riding fit?  It should be fit to ride, not ride to be fit!

You want your horse at proper weight, but are you?  Did you know that the experts say that a horse should not carry more than 20% of its body weight in equipment and rider?  For a 1000 pound horse, that means the saddle, bridle and whatever other tack you are using, plus you, should not weight more than 200 pounds.  Apparently, carrying more than that is bad for them and can cause injury over time.  Lots of riders don’t know that, have never given it a thought, or have never done the math.  It’s something I have to think about all the time with regards to my lesson horses.  I am always considering rider weight and my horses.

More than our weight, what about our fitness level as riders? Watching riding lessons you hear things like this all the time:  ride more with your seat; you need a stronger core; quiet the hands; hold your position; stay more organized in your body, stop gripping with your leg, and many other things.

I know I have said things like that thousands of times!  As an instructor I was limited to only being able to help my riders while they were in the saddle.  Much of the work needed to have quieter hands, a stronger core, and a better seat comes from the time out of the saddle.  It was up to my students to figure it out once they went home.  Ya know what, most of them didn’t.  So the lessons went on the same way, over and over and over.

NOW I can actually help the rider in AND out of the saddle.  << insert Angels singing ;-)>> Now when I say you need a stronger core it doesn’t end there.  I have a program I can hand them, that if they do it, they will have a stronger core and lots of other progress in the saddle.  Those riders are able to find and activate muscles now that they couldn’t before, like those upper abdominal muscles that are so important.  Those riders have better strength in the muscles needed for riding, like their back muscles between their shoulder blades.  Those riders are now stronger, more fit and therefore are able to use their bodies more efficiently in the saddle so they not only ride better, they can ride with less effort and for longer.

It’s been fun to watch from the instructor’s seat!  It started with one client who asked me what I was doing to stay in shape.  First that client started using the program.  Then as another rider saw what a difference it made, she started using it.  Then a 3rd rider saw the 2nd rider improving rapidly and decided she needed to do it.  Now when they arrive for their lesson all they can talk about with each other initially is how they are doing in their workouts.  How they are getting stronger and more flexible.  They are super excited to try out these new bodies on the horse.  They laugh about what a difference it has made.  They also tell me how they are fitting into dresses and pants they haven’t worn in years as their body shape changes, sometimes even though they aren’t losing weight.  Others are losing the weight they have always wanted to lose.  There is a big smile for those victories as well.

I love that I can now share this simple workout and meal plan with fellow riders as well as help keep them motivated with the fitness accountability group!  Being their fitness coach is just an extension of being their riding coach.   It’s fun to watch them interact and support each other in the group.  It’s fun to see them celebrating each others successes as well as giving advice and being encouraging when one of them is struggling.  They keep me on track to!  On those days I just don’t feel like working out, I just check in with the group and they give me the nudge I need to keep going!  When I need a new healthy chicken recipe for dinner, I ask the group.  Poof, recipes appear!

It’s not just the riders that have benefited from this.  The horses are so much happier!  It’s is easier for them to carry this fit rider!  The rider is holding their body in place and balancing themselves better so the horse is not needing to do it.  Now the horse can just focus on his job, not the riders unbalance!
It’s a win, win, win!  The riders are riding better, progressing and having more fun.  The horses are happier.  The riding instructor feels less like a broken record and gets to do more fun, interesting and challenging things with their riders!

All this started because I decided to lose weight and get in better shape.  I am so happy I did.

If you would like more information or would like to join our Fitness Accountability Group, just let me know!  We are not an exclusive club!   You don’t have to ride at our barn.  You just have to want to improve, and to commit to wanting to eat healthier and get regular exercise!

Remember, life’s a journey…enjoy the ride!

Here in Bucks County PA we are suffering from NO rain!  We need it desperately!  We don’t need build an ark kind of rain, but some nice slow steady rain for a few days. I know my pastures are TIRED and THIRSTY!  
One thing I have always noticed in my 30+ years of barn managing is that people often forget that all of this dry weather brings up lots of issues in terms of horse and pasture management.  Horses are at greater risk of colic and laminitis (founder) now while the grass is stressed from this drought and after we finally get rain and it begins to grow again.  Grass after a drought should be thought about just like it was spring grass.

I thought I might share some articles that people might find helpful and interesting.  Feel free to share and comment to add to the discussion!

http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-health/preventing-grass-founder.aspx
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/28103/managing-horses-during-drought
http://stablemanagement.com/article/horse-pasture-management-drought-situations-29096
https://www.southernstates.com/articles/managing-pasture-during-drought-conditions.aspx
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/26766/pasture-sugars
http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/VCNApreprint.pdf
http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/nfcfactors.pdf

As barn managers, we wear a lot of hats.  The worst hat is the one we wear on the day one of your horses needs to be euthanized.  See for good barn managers, we love your horse like it was one of ours.  I equate it to loving a step child or an adopted child.  While the horse has its own human, its owner, it also has us.  We feed her, clean her, talk to her, monitor her, scratch her favorite place, attend to her injuries and care for her when she is sick. While most horse owners spend a couple hours a day, several times a week with their horse, we spend 12 hours a day with them or more.

We know all their little idiosyncrasies, quirks, moods, likes, dislikes, and routines.  We spend all day in the barn with them.  We change their blankets when it warms up.  We do cool showers on a hot day.  We apply fly spray when they start stomping bugs.  We go out and reapply their fly mask when it falls off again, and straighten their blankets when they get crooked.  We administer their meds, dress their wounds, wrap their legs, and assist the vet.  We see them at their worst and we see them at their best.

Our job is to make them feel safe and secure.  It’s our job to give them a barn that is consistent and predicable so they can be relaxed.  It’s our job to worry so they don’t have to. We laugh at them when they are silly.  We scold them when they are naughty.  We know every facial expression they make.  We know from the barn door when something isn’t right with them with one glance or whinny.  We celebrate their birthdays.  We celebrate their blue ribbons.

It’s also our job to end their lives with the vet.  I never let a horse that has been in my care leave this world alone.  They should have someone who loves them there to see them on.  Most owners can’t be there for those final moments.  They don’t want that to be their last memory of their beloved horse. I totally understand that.  Horses don’t typically just lay down and go to sleep.  It’s more like a tree falling over, hitting the ground with a thud.  So that is our job too.  To be there for those final moments, telling her that it is ok.  It is Ok to go.  That they were a really good horse, and that they are loved.  That we did everything we could for them and that we will miss them everyday.  It’s our job to send them off properly, kindly, decently, respectfully, and lovingly. 

We do it with tears in our eyes as our hearts break yet again.  We do it because it’s the right thing to do for the horse and it’s the right thing to do for the owner, even though it’s the hardest thing to do for us.  We love them too.

Then we take care of the owner. We comfort them, give them a shoulder to cry on.  We give them big hugs.  We make sure they can get home ok.  We call them to make sure they got home ok. 

Then we take care of the body.  We make the necessary phone calls.  We wait for the truck to come to pick up the body.  I can’t personally watch the body be removed because I don’t want that to be my last memory of my lost friend.  I know how they do it.  I hear the sound of the winch as they get the body onto the truck.  I know what it would look like if I would go out there to see it. Then we clean everything up like it all never happened.  We rake the drag marks up from where the body was. You see, the rest of the clients don’t want to see any of that.

 Then we go back to the day to day activities of the barn.  The horses that remain still need to be fed and cared for. We go back to helping young riders lift saddles.  We go back to giving warm welcomes to the lesson clients as they arrive at the barn.  We go back to looking at that little scratch on that persons horses hip. We go back to talking to you about your horses supplements. We go back to checking to see if your saddle is pinching your horse’s withers.  We walk past that empty stall over and over again.  We have one less to feed, one less to hay,  one less to water, and one less to bring in.

We call the owner to check on them later in the day to see how they are doing.  When it’s all said and done we clean up, put everything away and turn off the lights like it was just another day and we go home.  Then we cry.  Then we grieve. 

I was having a conversation recently with some horsey friends of mine.  They were telling me that the barn where they keep their horses is closed one day a week and on major holidays.  Boarders aren’t allowed to come to the barn on those days.   That got me thinking and wondering what others thought of this practice and how many barns are run in this manner.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I love learning how other barns do things and why!  I try to be open minded to others thoughts and policies.  There are lots of different ways of doing things and different does not necessarily mean right…or wrong for that matter.  It is just different.  What works for one, may not work for another.  But it is always fun to explore the differences.

At Biamonte Stables, we are open every day.  Our boarders can come to the barn 365 days of the year.  We prefer that our clients come to spend time with their horses as much as possible.  Handled and exercised horses are much happier horses!   It doesn’t change what I do when clients are in the barn.  In my world everyday is pretty much the same. 

Holidays are no exception.  In fact, we love when the clients come to the barn on holidays.  I usually give staff off for holidays.  In fact I have only had 1 Christmas off in 30 years.  That was because my staff got together and gave me the week off for my Christmas present that year.  My husband and I went to Florida to visit family.  It was Ah-mazing!  Thank you Sandy and Lauren!!!!!

I am just not that boss that makes people work on Christmas if it is not necessary!  I try to make the 2 big holidays, Christmas and New Years, a lil special at the barn for me, the horses and anyone who stops in.   Christmas I have coffee, mimosas, and snacks available for anyone who stops in.  For the horses we always do the Christmas bran mash.  Often clients come for the feeding of that.  Its fun and the horses love it!  We go all out for that bran mash.  We chop up apples, shred carrots, dissolve peppermint, and stir in applesauce and various other ingredients.  All the horses have stockings hung on their stall fronts for Santa to put things in for them when he comes.  I love to see clients come out to the barn on Christmas.  I hate spending Christmas alone so it makes it nice for me too!

New Years isn’t as big a deal.  I just do coffee, bloody mary’s and snacks.  But it is still nice to see the clients and start the new year off with them!  Even the neighbors know to stop by the barn on these 2 holidays!

So I was left wondering and of course thought I would ask… because you know I love a good discussion!
What does your barn do?
What do you think about barns being closed on certain days and on major holidays?