I’m trying to get better about updates! I had my last competition with my little young horse, Orientated (Tate), a six-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred, at Morven in the Training. He’s such a good jumper and just a beautiful package, but he is an internal horse so I’ve had to give him time. He’s not hot but would tell someone he is! He did great in all three phases, with just a rail behind in show jumping out of the combination. He’s really stepped up, doing only four competitions this year. He has a  good shape, makes time easily, and is balanced. I think he’s going to be a fun one to produce for the future. 

I felt badly that Morven didn’t get more entries. It’s such a beautiful venue for the new eventing championships, which I hope will bring more people in the future. I decided to go to England, those tracks will seriously produce an FEI horse. When I got home, I went to Maryland to help my student, Lisa Apted, on her five-year-old homebred, Leviosa Z, and Sara Schulman and her Cooley Chromatic in the 3-star. I thought the designers did a good job on the courses and that they get better every year. Both these student's horses have been, in their own way, fun to help continue through the sport. 

Lisa had a really nice dressage test with the mare making just a few mistakes. Her conformation score was great and show jumping scores were really high. On the cross-country, they almost got a little lost on course, which broke their rhythm. Lisa should be so pleased with the job she’s done producing the mare for sport! 

Sara was second after dressage. She keeps her horse at Katie Lichten’s and Kelli Temple and has been helping her for the last four months or so. Kelli made the trip up to Maryland to help her, and you could really see Sara and Caden put things together, which was exciting. He handled cross-country like a champ. We had taken him to Bromont in June to get some fitness under his belt and you could tell how much Caden had grown up from then to October. I think he’s one of best horses in the country. They went clear with only 1.2 time and stayed in second place.
 
They had a beautiful show jump round and I couldn’t be more proud of Sara and Caden! It’s been exciting to help guide them through the levels. Sara’s done a great job producing him—I’m so happy for her and it was a pretty special moment for me to watch her come in second! Eventing Nation did a great write-up on Sara and Caden here: https://eventingnation.com/sara-schulmans-cinderella-moment-at-mars-maryland-5-star//

Now it's the down time of the year. I’ve just started back jumping Storm, so that’s exciting. I’ve also bought another Thoroughbred, and hopefully will buy one more. I’m back to basics with my riding, and, trying to always improve my teaching, just participated in the United States Center for Coaching Excellence’s (USCCE) coach training, learning how to be a coach developer. It was a little challenging because I haven’t been in school to be a teacher, but gaining more tools for myself, and better ways to communicate to all students, is always enlightening.
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Currently, I’m getting ready to have some family time, teach some clinics, and organizing to head to Florida in a month. 

It’s been a long time once again and I though it would be good to catch you up on everything I’ve been doing. I had a great time at the Olympics in Paris with my family, the trip of a lifetime. One of the highlights was our family bike ride around city that my brother organized. A lot of roads were closed so there wasn’t a lot of traffic, which made it ideal to tour around on bikes. Another highlight was Versailles and the eventing competition. The setting was so iconic and beautiful. The organizers did an amazing job—the arena, the cross-country—all the details were second to none. The whole experience was pretty special, so much history there, and I’m pretty sure we’ll never have another Olympics for the horse sports at such a special place. The other highlight for me would be that Tom, my sister-in-law Jen and I got to see the first round of the #1 tennis player Novak Djokovic, from the third row, thanks to Colby Connell. Of course it was really great to see other sports, swimming, soccer, etc., any sport at the highest level is amazing.

Paris is a great city to walk, so the more you like to get out the more you’d like it. One day Tom and I racked up 15 miles!.
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Tom and I left France early because I had big plans for Storm and I wanted to prepare for my fall season. Five days later I was at Fair Hill. I was pretty proud of Storm, who did a good job in all three phases, though I could tell he hadn’t been out in a while, especially in the dressage. I used Fair Hill as my prep for the AECs. I’d not been to AECs since 2016 and it was so nice to have it at the Kentucky Horse Park because it’s such a beautiful venue. I was last to go in the dressage (and the cross-country) and Storm did a nice test, I was really proud of him, and as he gets stronger and grows up he’s going to have a great test in him. 

It’s hard to wait all day for cross-country but I managed to keep my nerves in check and was so proud of my horse because he was the bomb! It was a great prep for England, just what I needed. Show jumping under the lights was quite hard on Storm, especially because the Horse Park isn’t really set up for nighttime competition. We also had a lot of delays so we went much later than planned. I walked up main road in the dark, and the first warmup was in the dark. We weren’t allowed into the main warmup til we were eight out. I think this blew his mind, maybe because he raced under the lights? On top of this, I couldn’t ride him in the hackamore, so we had a quick bridle change to a snaffle I’d never jumped in. I could feel Storm’s heartbeat going down ramp to the arena; I wasn’t sure I could actually jump he was so shaken. I ended up having two rails, a little my fault as I couldn’t ride forward into the contact. Storm did get better and better as he went on. When we finished my good friend, Debbie Snyder, took him from the Horse Park to her farm in Kentucky, and took care of him with Sarah til he shipped to England.

I flew home to Virginia, and packed up all my stuff so I could meet Storm in England. I went to Rebecca Howard’s yard; Lynn Symansky had helped with with that decision. It turned out to be a great choice for me. Rebecca helped me with Storm and was there as a friend for all things pertaining to him. It was a great experience to be there. I was able to ride with Grant Wilson from Holland, I’d ridden with him in the states as well. Rebecca helped me on the flat, and with a little cross-country and show jumping as final prep before we went to Blenheim. 

I competed at Blenheim 21 years ago and I thought going again would be a great step for Storm. Parkland courses are really great to build a bottom on a horse—Morven, Fair Hill, Maryland, Kentucky —they really help to develop your horse. I decided to try Blenheim over Morven because I thought the atmosphere would be a great prep for my horse for the future. My dressage test was adequate and I say that because my noseband came undone seven times, til we taped it, so we didn’t have a lot of warm up, maybe three minutes. Storm handled the atmosphere well, he’s trying to grow up! Cross-country was great, the only thing is you need to stay on your line, then you have options. If you cut in or out at all, it doesnt allow you to have the connection. When I went to 7AB in the arena, I knew I needed to be going to first jump, but he was wide-eyed, so I should have pushed him out after but I went for the first thing I saw, on the wrong line for the second. I never presented because I ended up about 10 feet from the jump. Storm handled the rest so well and he is going to be the horse that wants to make the time. He finished cross-country like he’d done nothing. 

I’ve done a lot since Morven—my favorite thing for me in April was going to Fair Hill with Storm. I walked the course and thought it was massive, but really well designed with great flow. I knew if I had a great run there, I’d be ready for Bromont because it was as big as the 4-star had looked at Bromont last year. Storm did not disappoint! Dressage is still work in progress and I had one down in the show jumping, but I had the best cross-country I’ve done with him yet. I was super excited because it made me feel like I was on the right track for my goal that I had set out to do last year—the 4-long at Bromont in 2024. 
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First, I had to go to Tryon in order to do the 4-short because I wasn’t qualified for Bromont. Our dressage test was fine, about the same as I have been doing, and I know it will be better than it is right now. I had 2 rails in the show jumping, #4 was mine because I got there too deep. The last one was unlucky, Storm barely rubbed it behind. We had a great cross-country, with a much better rhythm to start than I’ve had. We finished in the top ten, which was a nice bonus, and I’d finally got my qualifications for the Bromont 4-long. 

Florida is done and dusted. I’m so thankful for the whole experience every year, from my family that I live with—Barton and Susan Merle-Smith—because they make the whole living/workout/life advice/friendship experience so enjoyable for me over the winter. I’m also thankful for Barbara Riddleberger and Claudia Sarnoff for having my horses at their great facility, which also gives me the opportunity to help Claudia with her horses and get Claudia’s help. Their farm is such a beautiful place to be, I feel beyond lucky. 

As far as the horses go, I was able to do two Novices with Tate, which were super fun, Ocala and Majestic Oaks back-to-back. He learned a lot and has come home to Virginia a better horse. Tate now seems to understand he has a job; the physical part is easy for him with his build and athleticism, but it wasn't always easy mentally. He’s matured so much in such a nice way. 
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Storm went to Bouckaert Equestrian Horse Trials, where his dressage was fine and he did nothing wrong, but he just wasn’t connected. Cross-country was a bit of a muddle, and though the organizers did a great job preparing the ground, Storm lost a shoe at the second fence. He was great to jump around without the shoe and with the footing holding enough that it didn’t give me the feeling I wanted, but sometimes that’s how it goes. My horse answered all the questions, though, even if it wasn’t the type of ride or the flow I wanted in a cross-country course. 

The show jumping was great, however. I asked Mike Huber to help Shaena set jumps for me, so that she didn’t feel pressured in her first FEI warm-up where unlike national horse trials, you get a jump assigned to you. Mike is such a great friend and really good eyes on the ground, and helped me warm up. I had two rails, which normally I have because I don’t get Storm’s balance done soon enough to be able to give him enough of his head and neck to finish with his hind legs. ​

​Sometimes, when you have a problem and different eyes watching you, you get different suggestions for how to fix it. In my case, Lynn and Phillip had the same idea—to use a hackamore on Storm. Claudia loaned me one to play with and I did some local jumper shows to practice. I decided to use it in a competition environment when I got home to Virginia because I was planning to run Storm at Morven in the Intermediate.

We got all the horses home by the weekend of Morven and I was lucky enough that Tom Finnen, my other half, agreed to groom for me because I only had an hour for all three phases. I rode Storm at home, put him on the trailer to Morven, did my dressage and he was the best he’s been. Jacquie Brooks had come over to the farm before Morven to help give me a feeling that I was looking for in my everyday work: feeling Storm’s hind legs and his back up. This was super helpful and my trot work was the best I’ve ever had. The canter work was fine, just not quite the same connection but the right idea for now. ​​

Show jumping was great; I ran into Lisa Apted and she came and set jumps for me. The hackamore is certainly the right idea, Storm didn’t want to touch a jump, thought I didn’t have the precision I typically do. (Not that I am always as precise as I need to be anyway, but less than normal.) I think it will be a work in progress as it always is. 

I can’t believe we’re almost through February of 2024—time flies when you’re having fun and you have horses! I had a quiet December for me, and Tom and I were lucky enough to go skiing and have Christmas with my whole family. I came down to Florida at the end of December, a little earlier than usual, and I'm back at Barbara Riddleberger and Claudia Sarnoff’s Corner Oaks Farm and living nearby with Barton and Susan Merle-Smith at Marnick Farm. 

The horses settled in right away and got right to work. I’ve been trying to work on my connection from leg to hand with all my horses, which is always my goal but I feel like I need to make that better in all my horses in order to make all three phases come together. When I’m in Florida I’m lucky because I get more help for myself, so not only do I get help from Lynn Symansky like I do at home, but I also work with Barend Heilbron, Jacquie Brooks and Ian Whitehead. All four have really impressed on me how important the connection is. Of course I know that, but it’s good to be reminded that it has to be better. 

I’ve really taken the time this season to go cross-country schooling with Lynn, with both Ransom and Storm, to push myself to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I’ve been working on my connection in that phase, too. 

I’ve been lucky that Kaylin Dines, a good friend and client, is here full time for first time ever. It’s been good to help her with her horses consistently, plus I enjoy all the others I get to help here, especially Claudia and Susan. 

Since my last update a while ago, I’ve moved to the Advanced level with Storm. Our first competition at the level was in July at Loch Moy. He was quite green in dressage, and had one down in show jumping, and though not entirely rideable in that phase, he handled the bigger jumps better than he had done at the three-star level. I didn’t really know what to expect for cross-country but started out riding like I always do. Storm was a little green at the leaf pit bank, but handled all the questions really well and was completely on task. 

I opted not to go to Millbrook and to do a cross-country school with Phillip at Windurra instead, which was really helpful. Phillip worked on trying to keep Storm a little quiet and understanding the jumps. Sometimes Storm’s deceptive in that he can jump like a warmblood but he’s actually more careful than you’d think. Between Lynn Symansky, myself and Phillip, I’ve been able to really make sure I’m always dotting my i's and crossing my t's and I felt quite prepared for Great Meadow in August. 

Storm was fine in dressage at his second Advanced, but got his tongue above the bit, and handled show jumping well even though I had one down. When I went out cross-country he made the jumps feel big, almost hanging up in the air. I first felt that over fence 3, a big square table. I thought to myself, I need to get going! I had a better shot at 4A, 4B was a chevron, and my second thought to myself was, my horse doesn’t hold a line at all. In don’t have a great connection to the bit on the flat yet with Storm, so it’s hard to get a great connection to hold the line on cross-country. I did a good job at the next combination holding that line, but at 9AB I picked the wrong line, which was too direct, and we ended up in a non-jumpable spot. I jumped the middle of jump 9A, tried to veer right to make B work, and Storm listened to me but there was no way for him to jump it and he ran by.

I circled back and jumped the angled B jump straight, went up the hill and got held. I had to go back downhill, start up again and jumped the table and water, which were next, but I never got in a rhythm. When we came to the coffin I got backwards and couldn’t make it work. It was an interesting coffin with the ditch then out at a right angle to the corner. You could ride the combination in two or three strides, so backwards over three make for either option. I tried jumping just the corner, but there wasn’t really a good way to get back there and help Storm understand the question. I was kicking myself because I know our problems were all my fault, just silly riding. But Tom was pragmatic and said to me, I’m so happy that it didn't go quite as planned because the footing was so hard, and you didn't want your horse to get hurt, and there's always another day. Sometimes things work out the way they should. 

Right after that Great Meadow I talked to Lynn, and called Phillip and told him what I had felt on cross-country. He words to me were that Storm shouldn’t make the jumps feel big, something must be not quite right. I had to go to Burghley as a Selector, so I sent Storm up to Phillip's that weekend for him to ride so I could come back from England and go cross-country school with him. It was super helpful because I think Phillip came to realize how Storm feels, and suggested he needs to be a running with a little more pace to make him get across the jumps, for where he is with his jumping style right now. He also needed to be better off my leg, so I would give him a little stick off the ground or when I landed. Phillip helped me to feel what that’s like. 

​I decided to enter our third Advanced at Tryon. Prior to the completion I needed to practice two things, first in the show jump ring. One, I needed to be able to hold a line to a corner, and two, to ride an open distance, such as a four-and-a-half stride line in four, and to hold that canter. So I worked on those things with Lynn a bit and then went to Tryon. 
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I had forgotten how nice that facility is. It’s a lot to look at but it’s great for developing a horse. The best thing was the footing cross-country and the cross-country course itself, which was amazing, flowed in a progression, and asked all the questions. I had the best dressage test yet, although I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to contain my horse for the first halt and salute! I had two rails in the show jumping, one I got a little quick with my body and the second he got a little flat behind. 

I started out on cross-country with much more pace than I had been, and Storm was much easier to ride, a little green at 10AB but I think I went up the hill too late so he was feeling restricted. I decided to circle and then jumped right through squirrels, but they gave me a 20 for circling, even though I hadn't intended to present at the jump. In hindsight, I needed to be better at giving him time to get on the right line, rather than acting like he’s experienced at this level.

I always say that you have to keep things quite simple in your head. The basic concepts are always the same, but it doesn't mean they're easy for any of us to execute. Watching Burghley is always inspiring, especially because you get to watch so many world-class riders at once. My next plan is the 4*-short at Morven, and then I'm going to work on trying to be really competitive next year. It's so fun to have such a nice horse again! And, I think it's always important as riders that we have good friends like Phillip and Lynn that help support and coach us, and balance our lives.

​As a rider, trainer and coach, just because you’ve dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s that doesn’t mean that everything’s going to go right. Being able to hold a line, and have your horse understand coming off your leg, being able to connect your horse from your inside leg to the outside rein at one level, doesn’t mean you can always do it at the next. It takes ten years to train a horse, and working to have the balance and canter you need to keep your horse brave and confident is not always that easy. I always ride cross-country the best when my dressage and show jumping haven’t been that good, because I want to get one phase done well. I’ve learned that the faster the pace helps Storm feel confident. I have to remember how much he’s improved in the last two months, which can be something we take for granted. There’s a huge difference in his form from Loch Moy till now, with much better strength and connection. I can’t wait for Morven!

I keep thinking that I’ll get better about doing these updates, but life gets in the way. All spring, Lisa (Apted), Sara (Shulman) and I worked toward our planned trip to Bromont. As an event, Bromont never disappoints! If you want an amazing competition to go to with an incredible facility that’s in a different, foreign-feeling country, with the best area restaurants, I highly recommend it! I feel that if you’re going to try and develop a horse into a five-star eventer, Bromont is the best education and test. The combination of the terrain and the level of the courses really helps horses to get better at their job. The courses show where your strengths and weaknesses are. 

Lisa, Sara and I were all pleased with our horses. Storm was the best in dressage yet, and although that will always be a weaker point for us, I was thrilled with him. Cross-country, I had a little trouble with my watch so didn’t go as quick as usual. In hindsight, I could have set him up a little less for some of the combinations in the beginning, though I thought I did a great job at the end of the course. My horse was amazing and came out of the cross-country easily. Storm tried really hard in the show jumping, too, but unfortunately I was too deep to a couple jumps so had two rails behind. It was not the result I wanted but I’m certainly super proud of him. 

Lisa did a great job with her mare and although she still has work to do (like all of us), she really stepped up in her execution in all three phases. Again, maybe not the result she wanted, but she did a great job. And Sara, what can I say? She won the under-25 and I couldn’t be prouder of her. 

As far as the rest of the barn, we’re working on dressage and show jumping and enjoying the summer heat. I just moved Storm up this past weekend and I will update soon about his Advanced debut, I promise!

I have continued my learning since getting home. I ended up doing a combined test at Morven because Storm had an old cut that had grown down in his foot and and it really bothered him. He was quite lame when I got home from Florida so my farrier, Zeb Foltz, put a cross bar on Storm’s foot for more support. I decided not to do the cross-country because he was so lame earlier in the week, and even though by the event he was sound, I worried about him compensating on that foot. My goal is to do the 3-star long at Bromont, so I didn’t want to take a chance. He was good in both the phases I did do, and I thought the dressage was better than his score, but I wasn’t the judge. He was also good in show jumping with just one down.

I was lucky that my friend, Chris Talley, asked me a month ago if I wanted to ride with Julia Krajewski and her partner, Pietro Roman, at his and Hannah Heritage’s Zaragoza Acres. The timing was perfect because I was able to do a day of flat after Morven and learned some great, simple exercises (even though Storm was very fresh!). Everything was easy to execute and the exercises were good for getting the horses more engaged. For instance, we did square serpentines with ten-meter circles added over the centerline, then walked six or eight steps, went back to trot and then back to the square serpentine with ten-meter circles. This really helped to get Storm better connected.

Julia and Pietro both helped me with my show jumping with a great exercise of verticals with placement rails in three and four strides, working on ridability and the jump itself. After that we did a course, and I found the prior work set my horse up super for that.

I was able to do the cross-country as well, and it was great to put pressure on myself and Storm. He was a bit fresh, making it hard to keep a rhythm, but the exercises were definitely helpful. We started with the bank, making sure we could trot up and down, so that the horses had to think about putting their feet down rather than jumping out. Then we jumped off the bank and turned to another jump, and it was clear that Storm figured out that he only needed to do as much as he had to off the bank, making it easy to jump the next jump. The clinic came at the perfect time—thank you Chris and Hannah! 

Here are some great videos from the clinic that I reposted on my page from Chris' Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/jan.byyny

Next up for Surefire Eventing will be the 3-star at Fair Hill for Storm, and some clients will be there with their horses, too, which should be fun. After that, I can’t wait to head to Kentucky as a selector and to spectate. 

I thought you would appreciate this article I did for the USEA. There are two things I want to add: I ended my Florida season with two wins—at the WEC I won my second level test, and at Ocala I won a division of Intermediate with Mr. Storm! I was super proud of him for putting in his best show jump to date (thanks to my trusty friend Lynn Symansky for setting jumps for me) over a quite challenging and technical course. Storm was fast out on cross-country without me even meaning to be, and the win was a nice way to finish our time in Florida .

One of my passions is continuing to be a good student, because I think no matter how old I get, there are multiple reasons learning new things inspires me. First and foremost, it helps me be a better rider and trainer, so my horses benefit. Second, it helps me be a better teacher by exposing me to different ways to have a relationship with a horse or a student. 

I always bring down horses to Florida that have recently come from the track that I’m restarting to a new career. With any horse I have, whether in training or restarting, I’m big on groundwork. David O’Connor impressed this idea on me over 20 years ago because it allows me to see how a horse handles pressure and their reactions to new things in their environment and to new concepts in their education. I’ve been fortunate this winter to meet Lauren Barwick and her husband, Fabian Brandt, from Bridging the Gap Horsemanship. I’d heard a lot about them from a friend and her daughter who had had them work with their horse. Not only is Lauren a 4-Star Senior Parelli instructor, she is a five-time Paralympian in dressage and five-time World Para-Reining Championships team member for Canada!
 
I decided to call Lauren and have her work with two of my babies. One I have is named Charm, so I’ve been joking that Charm has been going to Charm School. It’s been a really great education because their approach is a little different than mine, and I’ve learned more about right- and left-brained and introverted and extroverted horses and how you approach them differently. It turns out I have a left-brained extrovert in Charm, who is quite confident in herself and her surroundings but tends to say, "I won’t," not, "I can’t."

Working with Charm is a little like administering a Meyers-Briggs personality test and then learning how to interpret the results. I thought I knew these things, but having her behavior explained in a different way has been super helpful. You don’t want to have a horse say, "I won’t." You have to figure out a way to have them be on your side. If they need to move their feet, let them. Or, if they are gate-sweet, find a way to make them work at the gate until they want to work somewhere else. 

I’ve benefitted from being exposed to a different thought process, which improves my approach to all my horses, and interestingly, my clients. I already knew some of this—different pressure points, when to put your leg forward or back to address yielding haunches or moving shoulders, etc.—but having someone explain their system in a new way to add to my system and using the things I like that mesh with my own program ups my game. If you’re in Ocala, Florida, I highly recommend Lauren and Fabian. 
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This time of year, one of my other passions is having time to work on pure dressage and pure show jumping. In March, I’m all about show jumping, and my clients and I go to HITS Ocala regularly. This year, I was also lucky enough to do the hunters with Claudia Sarnoff’s horse, Helloway. If that’s not a specialty unto itself, I’m not sure what is.

I recently went to the USEA convention in Savannah, Georgia. I didn’t make a long trip of it but wanted to be involved with the committee for the newly branded ECP (Eventing Coaches Program), the old ICP. I think everyone should get involved with ECP. I got ICP certified 19 years ago now and in the last year and a half they’ve revamped the program. I went to the Ocala symposium last year to see what it’s about and feel they’ve really made it a good, fun way to get better as a coach. Their interactive format demonstrates how to coach and how to keep us all involved in learning and I found it inspiring. The organizers presented different ways to solve problems, and even demonstrated cross-country coaching, which isn’t done enough. Peter Grey gave a great talk about what the judges are looking for in the dressage tests. I would like to be involved in a workshop because I think it makes you a better teacher. The program felt like a bit of a chore before, now it feels like a necessity to improve your skills. This year’s symposium is January 17-19 in Ocala. People should try and make it. Last year we had bad weather but it was still standing room only and really enjoyable. 

I had not planned to go to the awards luncheon but my great other half, Tom, was kind enough to come with me. He’d never been to Savannah, and I’d only been once. Right before we left Allison Springer told me that Nancy Winter was being awarded the As You Like It Owner’s Award, so we all went to the luncheon to see her receive it. Nancy has supported Allison and me for years and has always been there for us, and it was really special to see her win the award. 

It was great to see everyone get the awards they deserve. I was also happy for my friend, John Bourgoin, to get the Mike Huber Award for his work with the Young Rider program. And it was fun to see Kevin Keane, who never ages and only gets better, receive the the Capital Square USEA Adult Amateur Rider of the Year award and the Col. Allen D. Smith Memorial Trophy. I’ve loved watching Cassie Sanger from Area 1, who had a break-out year and was awarded Young Rider of the Year. I’ve seen her get better and better, and hats-off to Darrah Alexander, her coach—they have a system and it works. Cassie is a calm and class rider who has a great feel with her horses.

Finally, my advice is, if you go to Savannah, take the trolley tour.