Back in November I received an email from Pam Medlin, who said that her daughter Kaylin and Kaylin’s friend Katellyn are both working students for Rebecca Howard.  Both girls are home schooled and they will be checking in with us throughout the spring about all things eventing, Ocala, home school, and training with Canada’s very own Rebecca Howard.  I’m hoping that this series will help us look into the issue of pursuing a traditional education while growing as a young rider.  Needless to say, these are our youngest ever guest bloggers on EN, so we will please keep comments at a suitable level of kindness, as always.  Let’s check in with Pam, Kaylin, and Katellyn upon their arrival in Ocala.
—-

By Katellyn Padgett:

After the goodbyes were said and hugs were dispersed amongst family and friends before I knew it, it was time to finish exams and load up the trailer. I was lucky I had my lackeys aka my mom, dad, and boyfriend to help my cram 6 weeks worth of random items into the trailer at home before heading to the barn to try and fit my horse in as well as saddles and bridles……. Maybe? Luckily it went in successfully without any error. I turned and took a look at the barn and said “HA I’m out of here, see you and the cold later!” I have to say that saying by to my boyfriend was hard but I’m lucky that he is very understanding about it and wants to see me do well. Before I knew it we were on the road.

Starting off was of course easy because I was just so excited to be on the road. Soon it turned into the trip that would never end. I found it’s never a good idea to chug a Monster energy drink before a 9 hour drive. Sleeping took up most of the time and the anxiety kicked in when we crossed into Florida. We were making good time until we had to wait thirty minutes at the agricultural center so they could make sure that my horse wasn’t stolen. And then in a blink of an eye or few hours maybe, I was at the farm.

When arriving to the barn it was very dark so I didn’t really see the barn. We unloaded and made Andy all comfy cozy for the night. After we left the barn the next step was to get to the camp ground to unhook the trailer and set it up for our six week stay. It was defiantly weird knowing that I was going to be waking up every morning without my parents and in a trailer. At least I have Kaylin and Pam that I was already close with from the get go. When I saw the barn that morning I thought that it was nice. That day we cleaned and set up all that was needed for our stay to be a successful one.

The next morning I had to say good bye to my mom and dad. I have to say that my family keeps me grounded and I wouldn’t be anywhere I am today without them and I am glad to say that I’m very close to them. So when they left I had to suck up the tears but I hugged them and watched them leave and put myself to work to get my mind off of it. Later that day I hopped on Andy, got to work and made sure he saw the property and was comfortable. The next day we woke up and just hung around the trailer until we left for our lesson.
—–

By: Kaylin Medlin

We left The Fork around 9:30 Friday January 13th morning and started our long journey to Ocala. We finally made it to the barn around 7pm Friday night. I was completely over the long day so I just got all of Harley’s things off the trailer for the night and left the rest for Saturday.

The barn is nice. The weather was a bit cold the first few days, but now it’s warm and awesome! Last Saturday was the organizing day around the barn and at the RV park (The Wild Frontier) where we have the trailer set up. Last Sunday we went on a hack/tour around the farm and the adjoining farms. The farm we hack over to ride at is 60 acres with stadium jumping, cross country fences and a dressage ring. There’s a nice area for trot sets between the pastures and the cross country field is going to be a great place to do a gallop.

Jess (Meckes) has been teaching us a lot of tips and tricks of grooming this week. Today we tackled quarter marks. I’ll have to borrow someone’s bay or chestnut horse to practice on because quarter marks won’t show up on Harley.

We’re going to trailer out and do some cross country schooling. We’re also going to go to HITS and compete in a few jumper classes. Our first competition will be in February and I’m looking forward to getting our season started.

We have been working all week on getting the trailer set up for the six weeks. The horse part of the trailer is like our walk-in closet. The living quarters gets chaotic if we aren’t diligent about keeping things clean and picked up. We’ve turned the mangers into hanging space for our clothes. The Dollar Tree is a great place to go for buying things like plastic tablecloths to cover up dividers and mangers so your clothes don’t get dirty. I think we’ve been pretty creative in our set up.

EN guest blogger emeritus and good friend Holly Hudspeth joins us today with her thoughts on returning back to simplicity.  By now, Holly needs no introduction to EN, but you can read more from Holly at her blog.  As always, thanks for writing this Holly and thank you for reading. 
—-

Holly showing some love to Last Monarch “Stewie”

From Holly:

Growing up in Minnesota, riding was often a challenge in the winter. It was also a time for great fun and games. When I was young, I rode with a local trainer, Mary Heil (now Schenck). At her farm, there was no indoor, yet she taught all throughout the winter. We would do everything in the snow, and I would jump my quarter horse Spicy over the snow banks. I taught Spicy to pull a tube while riding him, giving fast and wild tube rides to everyone. Those days were simple, yet fun. Our horses were always happy, as were we. After reading Samantha’s great article on Mary King recently, I loved how simple her program is, and it sounds so different from many of the programs over here. I was thinking when my days with horses seemed that way too. But the question is, why does everything seem so difficult and complicated now?

Then I thought of the song by Toby Keith called “American Ride.” If you haven’t heard it, it talks about how Americans are all about everything in excess, and people always reaching for bigger and better. It talks about the shift from simplicity towards all the “shiny” new objects in today’s world. It reminded me of how Eventing seems today. Bigger rigs, more shows, more horses, more lessons, more clinics, and the list goes on. In 2010 I was caught up in this rat race. When Last Monarch was short listed for the WEG, I became so wrapped up in the moment I moved away from what I believed in. I am not proud of it, nor was it fair to Stewie. I shipped him all over the place, went to Middleburg, Culpepper, West Grove, and Hoffman, all within a month and a half. I left my business and husband behind, chasing this notion I had to be everywhere, in order to get somewhere. I believed what I was told, Stewie does not have a great trot, and needed to move better. I rode him different in the ring, the way I was told, and my dressage scores went from 35, to 45 and 46 in the two advanced horse trials I did during the training sessions. Doesn’t make sense does it?

The experience wasn’t all bad though. Pulling out of Chatt Hills after the final outing to go home, I realized something. Somehow the sport I loved was not going the way I envisioned. That day brought me back to thinking about how fun and uncomplicated things used to be. And while I was so mad at myself for abandoning what I believed in, I knew it would not happen again. When I read all the fabulous articles about how very successful riders from other countries run their programs, and win medals over and over, I think we are missing something here. Mary King’s yard is a mere 3 acres, and she is amazing time and time again. I have been to England a few times, and the places I have been to consisted of stables, a ring, and turnout. There were no magnetic blankets, ice machines, or hay steamers. Yards there are workmanlike and organized. Why are 10+ competition horses, plus all the students and monthly clinics seem to be the American norm today? It is not like you can ride or care for all those horses the way you should. Something always has to give. Having worked two jobs to support my first advanced horse (who I did not even own), and having worked hard ever since, I completely understand the need to make money. Horses and competitions are not cheap. But more horses equals more help. More help equals more cost. More cost equals more and more of all the running around! People’s personal worlds become so big and crazy, I do not think they even know how to slow it down.

I decided this past fall to sell my young horse. With a new baby, new students, and Stewie, my days were filled. And anyone who has ridden with me or has been my working student, knows I am not one for doing things half throttle. I still believe you should be there when the farrier comes, have a relationship with the vet, know your horse inside and out, on the ground and on their back. I was having a difficult time balancing it all, and my family, Stewie, and my loyal students came first. Not more horses. Down the road that will change, but I was not about to make myself crazy in the meantime. Setting personal boundaries was my way of getting back to having it all more simple.

I hope everyone reads all the fabulous stories about people like Mary, and absorbs what others like George Morris or Denny Emerson has to say about how riders used to train years ago. Their ideas about a hands on approach with a strong emphasis on proper horse management has gone a bit by the wayside. I think the best advise is to make it all a bit more simple, and not hop on the “American Ride” train. It obviously works for many of the best riders in the world, why not us too?

—-

Katellyn

From Pam:

Katellyn Padgett (age 15) and Kaylin Medlin (age 14) are two friends who are on their way to Ocala, Florida for winter training and the start of spring season.

Kaylin has been training with Rebecca Howard for nearly two years and Katellyn is new to Rebecca’s training program. This is the first time for both of them to go away for winter training.

Blogging for EN will be part of their high school English curriculum and a great way for EN readers to hear the perspective of first timers traveling for winter training.

Katellyn and Kaylin hope to bring you lots of insight, photos and perhaps videos during the six weeks in Ocala. They hope to entertain you too!

~ Pam Medlin – mom, home school teacher and chauffer
—-

When I was first told that I had been invited to go down to Florida I couldn’t have been happier, until the month before I was scheduled to leave. The month of December was filled with plans of moving and what to do about school. Since I am in public school nearing the end of the semester and the all-important exams, I had to schedule all of my exams the week before I leave. I struggled to get the two state mandated exams figured out so I won’t fail those classes. We finally came to an agreement with all my teachers that I will be staying after school the week before I am supposed to leave to do my exams so they’ll be counted. Currently I am being handed study packet left and right and being tutored by all the teachers that are supportive and what to see me succeed over the course of my time in Florida. I feel that I will miss some of my true friends that I have at my school. What I won’t miss is the typical high school atmosphere where it was everything to be one of the “popular” kids and never really focusing on how the real world works. I’m excited about being home schooled while I’m in Florida!

I would have to say that packing is very hard. When you’re used to normally being gone for three days, to being gone six weeks and not know all of what you need. I have managed to fit the majority of my horse’s supplies into two large boxes. All that is left for my horse are his saddles, bridles and the basic necessities for every day riding. I have found that my normal show kit was of course not adequate for the showing I will be doing, or for the trip itself. My to-do list now consists of packing my horse’s supplies, finding some way to fit eleven bags of feed onto the trailer and packing for myself. As of right now, I have prepared myself mentally for thinking about starting to pack all that I need. I have started a nice collection of polos and lesson approved riding pants. All I really need to do now is help them find their way into the trailer along with my show clothes. So I am starting to figure out what I thought the easiest part to be was packing, has now harshly proven me wrong.

Riding is a mental and physical game and you need to be fit and prepared in them both. I have found that I need to greatly work on my endurance, and core strength. The core strength is being taken care of in one of my high school classes, weight lifting, which also covers my leg and upper body strength. As for my endurance I have been doing a lot of cardio exercises mostly running about a mile a day. My horse is a different story. I am still getting used to him and the ride he has. For now I have been doing a lot of hill work for the muscle build up in the hind end and to strengthen his legs. Also for him for the flat work I have been doing trot and canter sets and really focusing on my transitions and accuracy in my movements. The jumping aspect for my horse is mainly focused around straightness, balance and my eye to the jump itself. I am sure that I will have the routine changed by the time I am done in Florida and I know all of it will be for the better.

The only major drawback for me about going to Florida is going down there without my mom or dad. I haven’t ever spent more than ten days without them before and I am very close with my family. Friends and family have been very supportive of me going down. Some have even helped with the funding for supplies needed to go. I am very thankful for all of them. My friends however took a little more convincing that it’s an awesome opportunity for me and I needed it. None of them could really accept the fact that I was quitting school for what they called my hobby when I refer to it as a soon to be life style. In the months leading up to the day I leave I have had every emotion I could think of and they are all mixed together, all playing together and becoming one big ball of stress for me. I have learned to deal with these stresses by just going out on a hack with my horse. It always seems to calm me down and I’m at peace for the remainder of the time. Hopefully being able to calm myself will help me in the art of being patient and finishing the first thing I started successfully and safely just has my dad always tells me. Another thing my dad tells me to help me know everything will be okay when I leave, is that six weeks is a short amount of time in the whole span of my life.
—-

I have not started packing. Procrastinating seems to be so much better, ha ha! When it comes to riding however, I would rather be doing that 24/7. I’ve been trying to get out on the cross country as much as possible, but with hunting season going on it hasn’t been easy.

We had a clinic a few days ago at the farm with Sinead Halpin, Lynn Symansky and Rebecca Howard. I am definitely a little bit sore after having three jumping lessons and a dressage lesson in two days. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, both from the riding and the Thursday night potluck/discussion the group had with Sinead, Lynn and Rebecca.

Goal setting is something I’ve always tried to do, but after hearing that even top event riders get nervous and need to remind themselves of goals daily, I decided I would try and be more focused on my goals and how to achieve them this season. The first goal I set was to get my final two qualifications for my T3D event. I’m hoping to compete in my T3D event in May at Southern 8ths Farm in South Carolina. The second is to fix my transitions in my dressage test. I got some awesome tips and advice from Sinead during my dressage lesson at the clinic on how to do this.

Rebecca has told me I have to ride the entire month of January without stirrups. It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s one that I will gladly accept. I’m also going to start running and doing yoga to help with endurance and flexibility. Core strength is coming, but I plan to add some exercises to help with that as well. By the time we come back from Ocala I’ll be a different rider!

I am home schooled, so I will continue to do school as usual. Hopefully it won’t take more than a few hours. Rebecca has already said no going into the barn until school work is done. That’s going to be hard since I love to be with Harley every chance I get.

The competition schedule is set up so that I will compete at least twice while we’re in Ocala. I’m looking forward to competing someplace I’ve never been before, as well as checking out all of the local shows too. All in all, Ocala is going to be a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. I’m looking forward to it and I’m looking forward to having my friend Katellyn with us for six weeks.

Here’s to a great winter wherever you may be.