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.

We finished our season with Sara Schulman attempting her first two-star long with her Cooley Chromatic, which seems like months ago because time is flying! Caden, as we call him, had a beautiful dressage, and cross-country was mainly good—I thought he handled the hill well, and jumped amazing. Unfortunately, at the second to last down the steep hill, there was a sharp turn to an upright skinny and they never quite got their balance back to make it work. Caden got under the jump and jumped Sara out of the saddle, which sucked for Sarah. If you’re not winning you’re learning, right?

Sarah also rode a client’s horse, Merlo VDL, and did a great job. They were fourth after dressage, with one down in show jumping in the pouring rain with no studs, jumping around in a beautiful rhythm. 

Now we’re in the part of season where we’re practicing how to get balance, and I’m teaching tons of clinics. At home, my friend Sue Lyman has been helping me work on shortening and lengthening at the trot and canter, and making transitions from trot to canter to counter-canter and back to the trot and back to the true canter again. We also work on balance in the turns and making sure our horses are listening to us…duh, the basics. 

Sometimes I feel we get too far away from the basics. One exercise we do is going in an open five stride line to a short turn to an oxer, then coming back to the trot over a small jump. I think this is a good time to practice all those things because sometimes, I think we get away from making sure we’re connected, relaxed and responsive, and we have really good positions with our heels down and chin up. I used to look to Reed Kessler to model great position, and now I think about Jenny Brannigan. A good position can help us react quicker and get balance done early. ​

I was super lucky because my mom and sister came to support me, Sara Shuman groomed for me, and then on Saturday, Laila Martin and Marlene Lyons came to help as well. I also had my great cheering squad from Vermont. My dressage warm-up was both the best work I’ve ever done, and some of the worst work I’ve ever had as far as Storm's tongue and the bit go. I wouldn’t say he felt nervous, but the connection was difficult. Other than Tuesday night, when I first got to Maryland and Storm found everything so impressive (I could hardly walk him), he otherwise never felt nervous and I was impressed with how he handled the whole competition. My test went better than expected, which is always a nice thing. Although I always have trouble with connection, which is a work in progress, and Storm still needs more strength in the canter, I can feel it coming together. ​

The highlight of the weekend was Inmidair (JR) and Maddie Wood-Lewis, who’s been leasing him until we find a horse for her. (If anyone has a good 2-star horse for sale, let me know. Just remember, Maddie’s been riding JR and loves that feel, just not the budget for a horse like him, LOL!) I think her dressage could have been a little better if she’d allowed more time to warm up, as JR was definitely having a party in his pants going down center line. Maybe he thought he was at Kentucky again, who knows? Jumping he was foot perfect, and JR told me we’d made his year. He doesn’t know it but he’ll be out again at Morven Park and I can’t wait until then. ​

Back at it—Inmidair (JR) and Maddie getting ready to compete.