[Auburn]

A friend of mine is sponsering a Sinead Halpin clinic at Alexandra Slushers' farm this weekend. She called me on Wednesday to tell me that the brand new jumps that were being used for the upcoming clinic had been stolen out of the field.

The thieves stole poles and standards. There is no gate by the road in the pasture from where the jumps were taken. Somebody had the nerve to climb into the pasture and throw the jumps over the fence and steal them.

I told my friend to call Cathy Wieschhoff to see if she could lend her some jumps for the weekend. Cathy to the rescue! We are so lucky to have her as the Chair of Area8!

So, if any brand new jumps show up at your farm in KY, would you please investigate what brand they are? These are a particular brand. Please send me a PM?

Be aware that there is a jump thief loose in KY!

[ACMEeventing]

Boy, that really sets the bar on all-time-low. I hope karma punches them right in the kisser.

[JWB]

Watch Craig's list, etc. We used a tack branding iron to melt initials into PVC jumps but you never really expect them to actually walk off!

[olympicdreams04]

Wow! Ridiculous! I will keep an eye to craigslist for sure. Maybe alert Dave at Wise Choice as perhaps they would try to sell them there. Post on Area VIII, MSEDA, etc to alert people and hopefully they will be found. I purchased some jumps from Lawrenceburg, KY two years ago and stopped at Walmart on the way home. The PVC standards that were light and easily moved were stolen from the back of my truck in broad daylight. A$$hole$!

[LexInVA]

Sweet Jesus, that's just ghetto.

[2ndyrgal]

Really crappy. Guarantee it was someone that knows the farm.

Sucks.

[eventersmom]

That is beyond low. I hope they catch the responsible party. You might consider listing the stolen items on NetPosse.com. They deal with stolen horses and equipment. As the mom of a participant, a big THANK YOU Cathy for coming to the rescue.

[TheJenners]

Sweet Jesus, that's just ghetto.

Quoted for posterity!

Not a bad idea to throw a brand on jumps... Hmmm.

[LexInVA]

Marking them both conspicuously and inconspicuously is always the best way to go. A good marking with invisible substances that show up under certain conditions always helps a lot.

[TheJenners]

That only works to identify items already taken that you have been able to locate. If they get whisked off to a private farm... Less likely. I'd rather not go through the hassle of finding and proving ownership;deterring is the name of the game.

[riderboy]

Wow, that sets a new standard in bad behavior. I hope the pole-ice jump on these guys fast.... Sorry, couldn't resist!

[ACMEeventing]

Wow, that sets a new standard in bad behavior. I hope the pole-ice jump on these guys fast.... Sorry, couldn't resist!

GAH!!!!

[event1]

WOW-that is really unbelievable. I live in Simpsonville (about 45 min from Lexington) and I will tell everyone I know and keep my eyes/ears out. Hopefully they will be caught!

[leahandpie]

Wow, that is so, so low. It reminds me of the jerk who went into my neighbor's barn (where my horses lived) and stole all of my nice blankets. As in.. they stole all the Rambo's, and left the 600 denier WB's. They knew what they were looking for...

UGH!

[LLDM]

Wow, that is incredibly common. Unfortunately, it is not that unusual. We have a local Pony Club that puts on a first class unrecognized event every year. A couple years ago some a$$hat made off with all the dressage letters in one ring the night before the event. I believe these too had been loaned by some kind soul for the event (either that or it was the Pony Club's set and the other was set was loaned). I felt so bad I made a donation to help replace them.

I mean really, it is truly depressing when fellow horse people sink that low. And only horse people could use jumps and dressage letters - or know their resale value.

SCFarm

[FoxChaser]

This needs to go on the MSEDA & Area 8/ Area 8 Adult Rider FB pages. Ridiculous!!

[dreaminOTTB]

Terrible - I live in Area VIII, just a little ways north. I'll have to start watching Craig's List .....

[Auburn]

FoxChaser,

Do you know how to contact Erin to put it on the MSEDA website? I will mention it to Cathy for the Area8 site. If so, then thank you!

The first day of the clinic went really well. Cathy brought over plenty of jumps to use. Sinead watched us warm up, then gave us suggestions of how to better use our time warming up. We had to drop our stirrups and work on halt-walk, walk-trot and walk or trot to canter transitions. We concentrated on using a bracing of our backs to initiate the upward transition. We added leg, as needed. Then, we incorporated the bracing into helping our half-halts become more effective. She wanted us to start feeling that our horses were using their hind legs more actively, since this is from where their power comes.

The first jumping exercise was canter ground poles, then 3 or 4 strides to another pole, which later became a jump. The first time through, Tess and I did our always comfortable four strides. When we came back through, we had to do it in three. Being an older person, the three is always scary for me and takes me out of my comfort zone. I made the mistake of opening my big mouth and telling Sinead that Cathy has had me working on doing every jump from a more forward energy. For the rest of the time, we had to do the exercise in three.

The course work had a bounce, then angle to a vertical, rollback to an oxer, an angle back to the vertical, angle back to the bounce. The outside line was an oxer to a vertical, to a parallel oxer to another vertical. I love parallel oxers, because they really help to encourage a better bascule over the fence. That oxer really helped a horse that was "jumping over his shoulder".

I learned how to perfect my turns and approach, but overall, Tess was so good that we did not need as much feedback. However, I learned a ton by watching the others in the group. Our group had one rider who wants to move up to Training (BN group), a confirmed BN rider (me), a 22 year old horse/young rider and a super green mare with an experienced rider.

The green mare earned the most improved award! Sinead used some interesting exercises with her that I had never seen before. In the beginning of the lesson, the mare was rushing the fences and leaping two feet up higher than the jump, straight up and landing with her head up and bolting a bit. The rider stayed on every single time. I would have been eating sand. By the end, the horse was trotting into the fences, beginning to use her head and neck and canter off looking where she was going. Her progress was very cool to watch.

Today is cross country day.

Thank Y'all for checking around for the missing jumps. I know that there is slim to none chance of ever getting them back, but we can always hope.