January 14, 2010

Becky and gang left on Thursday, Jan 14 and Natalie Norby-Sellman arrived on the 15th. Natalie is a small animal vet (although she is, in fact, quite diminuitive, I meant she treats small animals) and a student of mine. She had a conference in Orlando, so she came up for a quick visit. I gave her the, by now, well known 'grand Ocala tour' complete with fried green tomatoes at The Ivy House and a meal at the Horse and Hound! I was hoping she'd try the 'Full Monty' but, forgot she was a vegetarian. The ploughman's lunch worked for her. John tried the Full Monty hamburger while he was here. I call it the 'just kill me burger' or 'desperately seeking calories burger.' It is a hamburger with a potato cake on it, topped with cheese, bacon and ham. Oh yeah, and served with french fries, cause a potato cake and ham on a bacon cheese burger might not have enough fat in it.

Natalie and I went out to the Florida Horse Park to watch a little of the Ocala Winter Dressage Show. Faces are becoming familiar to me here. I had a few people I'd met earlier this winter call a "Hello, Jodi," to me, which was a pleasant surprise. Wim Foekema was showing Ovatio and Isabelle with Jacob Kennedy serving as groom. Jean Thornton, former MN resident and J.O. boarder was the 'r' judge in ring three. She still owns and stands the Lipizan stallion Conversano II Aloha II that she had in MN decades ago. She is more into cremello sport horse breeding now. She's a very nice gal. I was supposed to scribe for her on Sunday, but. . .

I volunteered to work at the show on Sunday. Gayle Witty was the manager of the Orlando show who was kind enough to let me 'sit' with Sarah Gieke (judge) and not work at all at that show in December. Well, it WAS work for ME, but, not productive for HER. She told me I would be a ring steward on Sunday. I showed up at 7:30 AM and she asked if I would scribe for Jean Thornton in ring 3. I was thrilled, that's a great job for an aspiring judge. I was wearing jeans which is a no-no when working in the judge's box, but, I was a last minute substitution, and it was for Jean, so I wasn't worried. I grabbed my scribe's kit equipped with written tests, day sheet, bell, red pens, black pens, stop watch, water and cookies and headed out to find my judge. In walks Marilyn Heath to the show office!

Marilyn was the head of my USDF "L" Judge's Program and one of three examiners for my three day final exam last August. Don't misunderstand me, she was great! Ran the program really well, is passionate about what she does, and is spot on for her knowledge of judging. BUT, because she is 'all that' you DO NOT meet Marilyn unprepared, wearing jeans (major sin in judge's program) and expecting to coast through the day. I was all three of those things that day. Marilyn looked at the clipboard in my hand and said, "Are YOU my scribe?" I explained the situation. She went to the show manager and asked to have me switched to her ring. Bless her heart! I knew that, like flu shots, chemotherapy, exercise, etc, it may be painful, but will be good for me in the end.

So, off we went to Ring 1 with me trying to remember where you mark down the errors, how you scribe a para class and looking with dread at the grand prix rides on our day sheet. In the "L" program I only had to judge through 2nd level. There are many, many tests between 2nd and grand prix I, not only, did not know, I had never scribed at that level. Oh, well, punt. An added bonus was that Cheryl Holekamp an 'r' going for her 'R' judge's card was 'sitting' with Marilyn, too. Oh goodie, she could pick on both of us. At least I could say, "Sorry, I didn't see that. I was too busy writing down your comments!" Cheryl is the owner of New Spring Farm which stands Windfall and Baron Verdi, along with other trekehaner stallions. Windfall is one of the most successful eventing stallions in the nation. Baron Verdi is the very talented young stallion that Darren Chiacchia had his unfortunate fall on Cross Country. I explained and apologized several times for my attire (not fitting for a USDF judge) and got along just fine. Marilyn was very helpful and I learned even more about developing a judge's eye.

Monday as a down day. I rode my horses, did chores and went to my farrier, Roy's, birthday party. I brought a bottle of ChocoVine wine that I found in an Ocala wine shop along with a caprese salad hors d'ourve to Wim and Robs. The ChocoVine is a combination of dutch chocolate (Wim) and fine red wine (Rob). It was similar to Bailey's Creme. Very yummy and there were NO calories on the label, so I assume it's dietetic as well as delicious.

Tuesday, Jan 19 began my three day USEA Instructor Certification Clinic with Karen O'Connor. This was a level III/IV workshop. I had audited one I/II and been a participating instructor in another level I/II workshop right before I was diagnosed with cancer. I was using this as a refresher with the hopes to find a testing this spring/fall for my level II or III.

The program was held at Ashley Leith's parents farm in Ocala for the first two days and at the Florida Horse Park for the third (cross country) day. They served a free breakfast at 7:30 AM to encourage attendees to arrive on time. It worked for me, I'm very food oriented, but, not for every one else. Scott Keach, a former Olympic eventer from Australia and participating instructor, tried to overtake Karen O'Connor in her own drive way in an attempt to NOT BE LATE! Karen had to remind him that as SHE was the CLINICIAN, it was likely he would not miss much! Scott rode in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, on the Australian Eventing team and is also a Grand Prix Show jumper.


Tuesday was the dressage teaching day. Most of the instructors were nervous about this. I don't blame them. Dressage is my strongest phase of eventing, but, it would be intimidating to be presented with Michael Larson riding New Spring Farm's Trekhaner stallion, Baron Verdi, as your demo rider as an aspiring USEA certified instructor. Some of these instructors had never even been through an ICP at all and had only ridden training level. Yikes, is right! So kudos to them.

We spent all day Wednesday practice teaching stadium jumping. Recurring theme was safety and the quality of the canter. Improve the canter, maintain your tempo and length of stride and the jumps will take care of themselves. Amen!

Thursday was windy and a bit rainy. We traveled 30 minutes to the Florida Horse Park, THE windiest spot in central Florida. Each day started out with an hour and a half lecture, a demo lesson taught by Karen and then each instructor taught a 30/40 minute lesson with discussion to follow. Thursday's focus was on galloping position. "Ninety percent of Americans gallop with their reins too short." Capt. Mark Phillips quote. Karen concurs! So, almost every rider had to spend quite a bit of time altering her position and improving the canter/gallop before any jumping was done.

Karen O'Connor treated us all as equals, which was a surprise. Being a participating auditor was the best of both worlds. I got to be involved in all of the lectures, discussions and questions without the torture of having to teach in front of 30 people and have my lesson plan dissected by Ms eventing herself, Karen O'Connor. It was a very productive three day clinic. I have been through the program before, but, it solidified a lot of the USEA's teaching in my brain. I'm ready to test now, I just have to find an open assessment. Karen and Ashley are trying to put one together for us later this spring.