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I was nervous about flying but this was a once in a lifetime chance for training with the best rider in the world and I wasn’t about to let a bit of fear back me out from it. Humberto (of Fly HFR) drove us from the Vetport (I met some FABULOUS people in the quarantine with lovely horses) to check in at the airport and pick up our boarding passes, board and get the prep for flying away! The check-in was fairly painless and I was completely shocked that TSA didn’t stop me with my carry on bag which has all my video equipment in it. Perhaps they have better scanners now and could see it was all video and audio equipment? I had my a comment to my flying colleagues that my bag was a target for TSA and I am appreciated them waiting for me to obtain Picollo’s boarding pass but that I would likely slow them down at the security point as I always get pulled. It was a joke that since I was with a Swiss and a Columbian we might all get tagged. Haha! So that was a nice point. Walking to the jet way I snapped a quick picture of the containers. If you look closely just behind the engine you’ll see a series of white blobs which are the containers with the horses in them. They load them up to the cargo area with a crane. It’s all so amazing to me! Oh and if you’ve taken the JFK or LAX flight to AMS then you’ve quite likely flown with horses in your cargo.

We arrived to Brent’s farm about 11 in the evening Wednesday night. The transport up to Brent’s took about seven and one half hours as the regular drive (no horse box or horse) takes about four and one half. It was long but I was very glad I estimated for a fall out plan and left with lots of extra time. Carrara had drank some water and was eating her hay and apart from a few shifts she was hauling very quiet and comfortable. That Brenderup horse box works like a dream and it was so easy for me to work with by myself!

Brent offered to use his Suburban to tow the rest of the way up to the airport in New York and knowing it’s like driving a Cadilac (complete with seat AC!) I quickly jumped at the chance to drive such a fun/fancy vehicle plus he’s more familiar with it too and since he was dropping me off and making the empty horse box return to DC solo, I thought it would be less stressful on him. OMG! I can’t believe we didn’t get a picture together that day!!!! I just realized I don’t have a photo of us driving up but I was exhausted and stressed and it completely slipped my mind! Dang it! Well, here’s a picture of Brent’s hands driving the last leg to the airport. You’ll see NYC in the background. Thanks Brent. You made my maiden voyage in the new horse box and my send off to Holland so enjoyable. It’s so nice to have such a close horse enthusiast friend and we celebrated several decades of friendship that day (I won’t spill the beans and go into just how many!). Seriously, you’ll need to come visit me!



Okey so did I mention we drove out of Brent’s farm that morning just after three? Yes, only a few hours sleep and back on the road to arrive at the Vetport of JFK about half past nine in the morning. Here’s Picollo just after arriving to Vetport JFK with everything we’ll use for the next several months. I love the simplicity and spareness of living out of a suitcase! Two tack trunks for Carrara (one large and one smaller) and two suitcases for me (one large and one smaller too! actually one is my clothes and the smaller is all the HorseGirlTV video and sound equipment) and then there’s two bags for little Picollo of course!



Here’s Carrara munching on hay in her Vetport stall. They must quarantine there for, I believe it was, seven hours prior to departure. I later pulled her wraps so her legs could enjoy some air and used the comfy padded wraps to make a very uncomfortable bed on top of the tack trunks. Picollo and I curled up together and tried to nap. Hilarious side note is Humberto (the super awesome rock star exporter I worked with!!!!) came in looking for me and to check us in and didn’t see me as we were completely covered with a blanket (yuh it was kinda chilly in New York). I heard him and sat up and he about came out of his skin. I guess I must have looked like a ghost!



This is Carrara and I in her stall. Before preparing to load into the container and fly away!

This is Picollo not being a very good co-pilot. He might not be the best of help with loading and transport but he’s definitely cute and that makes up for much of his lack of ability to be of help with the horse.



We drive to Brent’s near DC and then continue on with the rest of the journey to NYC and JFK airport.

The journey began at approximately half past two in the afternoon today. Carrara, Picollo and myself drove away from the North Carolina stable to drive up to NYC, fly to Holland and begin training with Anky. It’s exciting beyond words yet it’s quite the journey so it’s also nervous.

This is the last time I am closing the gate at our stable in NC for quite some time.

We had a fun time yesterday with a casual photo shoot for FITS breeches. I really enjoy riding in my FITS and Sheryl was kind enough to send me a brand new pair in black for the shoot! Of course, what would a HorseGirlTV shoot be without something bright in orange, teal or purple and we just finished it off with my favorite ball cap from Devonwood! Just like all my FITS, they are too comfy and I get this deep close contact that really makes working on the FEI moves so much more secure and exact. Plus they are pretty darn stylish too!

It was a pretty North Carolina day with the recent rains really showing up on the green, green grass. Nope this picture is not photoshop enhanced. Not too hot or humid! First, we walk out to the arena. Miss C was super mellow today and a good thing as it was opening day of dove season.


I love this picture of the HorseGirlTV pad!


There were tons of warming up and early on schooling pictures but I thought this schooling pirouette was pretty nice. Working on that inside hind!


It was a great ride with everything coming easy and most everything soft and forward so why not school to the top? Just a few seconds of course! Yes, yes! She can sit and this is with less than 6 months of working with the Dutch system of movement after starting all over from the ground up on her training! Super mare!

So I haven’t been working on changes too much or getting too terribly stressed out about it. There are far more wacky things to get stressed out about lately. Hah! I’ve sorta been trying to have the western rider or jumper mentality of flipping the change instead of the dressage rider, spending the horses entire life to get that single flawless, straight, over two feet thru change. Again, I can only laugh. But today! Today!! Did I type TODAY???? Well, today all our changes were clean and pretty through and to the dressage classics relief pretty darn straight too! Of course they were all forward but there wasn’t that jumping through the change and speeding up or going on the forehand immediately. It was, dare i say, brilliant for where we are at in this training time? Ok. So I’m not saying I was brilliant, perhaps it was part me but perhaps it was part luck. Never the less, she changed, it was comfy and as one of the photo will attest, she was also thru!



Now and again we work on the halt trot transitions and sharpening the transitions. Perhaps you’ve read an earlier post which shows a darn good thrust coming from Miss C’s hind end. This day, and again I’m making no claims of miracles, I was able to do our walk to halt transitions with ONLY (yes I am 100% dead serious) core muscle. This was no pokey walk. This was a working walk and I would used my core to ask for the halt and she would halt! Wow! The trot halts are still with more of the entire body and sadly still a good bit of hand but we’re working on it. But, I digress. Back to the halt, trot transitions. In working these and when she feels like there’s some consistent give and lift I will ask for a wee bit of an extension to see if she’ll carry herself in it. Well she does carry. Her tall yet narrow withers lift like a car jack and she will carry. There’s not a super duper picture that expresses this as the extensions were too few but there is this pretty artistic shot of a working trot!



I am getting so excited to train with Anky. I wish I had more and more time to get better and better but wait, that’s what I’m going for so bring it on!

Ok. So maybe fall isn’t 100% here but I was sooooooo excited this morning when I was able to don my new Mountain Horse jacket to prep for riding! I haven’t had (don’t ask me how I went without it) a waterproof jacket for several years now but Chris at Equestrian Collection and the folks at English Riding Supply hooked me up with two amazing Mountain Horse jackets. They are functional and fashionable. I know as soon as it gets way cold I’ll be ready for summer again but I’m so looking forward to snuggling in these jackets and getting beyond this awful southern humid summer season! Whew! Nice job on the polos to eh? Oh and we can’t forget the awesome Devonwood cap! I sooooo miss my Pacific Northwest horsey friends!

So there’s been lots of controversy talk on the horse forums lately about Dutch rider Edward Gal and his tremendous mount Totalias with of course so many complaints about the Dutch system of movement. To each his own I say but I can’t express how excited I am about training first hand with Anky and studying this system like it was my Master’s Degree because quite frankly, to me it is my Master’s Degree in riding.

What I’ve been working on learning physically (after years of being told “rock them back” with the reins while driving with the legs) from this system is the very elementary concept of the brakes and the gas, the whoa and the go, and never using them together. That the mystical half halt should moreso be a fantasy term and that you work the brakes and gas so well together that your half halt (if you must use that term) comes from there.

If with all this training and working on myself I’m able to get this kind of sit with my mare then I can’t wait to see what professional world class lessons can help us achieve together. This is a great mare, no doubt. When I bought her she was honestly, completely confirmed in walk, trot, canter with excellent leg yields and a decent shoulder-in. We started all over from the ground up with the Dutch style (as best as I could of course) and well… just look at the push in those soon to be elongated and plumped up muscles of her hind end!

I’m pretty excited about this! Chris with Equestrian Collections was kind enough to connect me with the fabulous folks as English Riding Supply and they are sending me an ANKY Dressage Saddle to ride in! To top it off, and this is where the giveaway comes in, Chris at Equestrian Collections is the donor of the giveaway saddle! They are so awesome and this is a really great promotion! Equestrian Collections is going to be publishing another way to enter the sweepstakes on Monday so I’ll blog about that here as well.

Equestrian Collections, English Riding Supply and HorseGirlTV teamed up to giveaway an ANKY Remy Carriat Dressage Saddle. We’ll be announcing the winner on February 28th so remember to Tune in. Tack up. with us here at HorseGirlTV for the winner announcement! We just sent a Tweet today about the finalists selection so if you’re already following up on Twitter then you already know! Submit finalist selection entry to Team HorseGirlTV for the drawing in March by filling out the form online at http://team.horsegirltv.com.

This FREE, brand new ANKY Dressage Saddle is valued at $2800.00!

Any taxes are the responsibility of the winner. The decision of the judges is final. The winner will be announced on here and on Equestrian Collections sometime in March so remember to check back!

This contest is void where prohibited by law. If we have a winner located outside the US, they will pay shipping of the saddle.

Best of luck to you all in this awesome give away! A big thanks goes to Chris at Equestrian Collections (http://equestriancollections.com) for putting this all together AND more importantly providing the give away saddle! Thanks for your support EC! As I always say, thanks for watching HorseGirlTV and we’ll see you next time!

Tune in. Tack up.

Angelea and Team HorseGirlTV!

SOOOOO much has happened in the last 4 days. I had that rough long weekend (SEE previous blog) followed up with the final scramble to get everything ready for this weeks shoot with Jessica Burkhart. For those of you who’ve been living under a rock this last year, Jessica is the hot tween author of the brilliantly written Canterwood Crest series.

Yes and for the existing fans, I’m on Team Eric but please do keep in mind I just finished “Behind the Bit” so I might not be hip to the vibe of the newer releases and we all know how fickle our little academy friends can be. Whew!

So Jessica flew down on Tuesday and I had a BLAST chatting with her, picking her brain about writing and writers and just talking world views. She’s such a smart and talented gal.

Wednesday morning was the shoot and we set indoors as it was just too darn hot to step out into that humidity. The interview was smashing and I think we really captured some great content to inspire young and old riders alike to live their dreams, try hard and become a success. Jessica has a wonderful story to share and it was fabulous to capture it for HorseGirlTV. We’ll be launching this webisode on the 15th of October so look out for it.

We also have 8, yes count em EIGHT, autographed copies (Thanks Jessica!!!) from the series to give away to HorseGirlTV viewers. If you haven’t already joined the team, go to http://team.horsegirltv.com and join for free to participate in the drawing.

Now for a fun photographic step through yesterdays events just let the mouse scroll…

Setting up and checking audio (yes Picollo helps when he can):


Post shoot “Hey are you still awake up there?”:


Cleaning up Miss C for her author photo shoot:


Awwww, cute pict:


And a little touch of wacky: