Change is the Spice of Life

Victory gallop at Woodside Horse Trials in August.

Although it has only been a month since I last wrote a blog entry, it feels as though so much time has gone by.  Many course-changing events have taken place and I am happy to say that I am more than satisfied with my current location.  On August 27th, The Road to the Pan American Games, a fundraising event to send Ginger and I to Mexico, took place.  After envisioning this event for the last six months and seeing it manifested into a reality was surreal.  It makes me realize that everything is coming together and falling into its proper place.  As I said the event was surreal for many reasons, it was incredible to look into a crowd of roughly three hundred people and see so many who I care for so deeply and who have been such an integral part of where I am now.  It was such an eclectic, but perfect group.  In total, the event raised roughly $12,000.  Wow, that is nearly Ginger’s flight to Mexico!  As a kid, who always dreamed of a chance to ride in an event of this caliber, I thought opportunities like this were possible with hard work; as an adult, I realize this opportunity is a gift created by a culmination of good health, great timing, God’s will, an unbelievable horse, and support from a community of amazing people.  This process has helped me realize what an amazing community I have had the fortunate opportunity to grow up in.   Thank you to all of you who attended the event and many who sent their support.  I have to thank my mother, Betsy McCarley Billys, George Cook, Dhyane Hawkins, the DeBoers, Bonnie and Scott Wolfe, Meghan Dayka, and those who came and spent time backstage to make this event happen.  Without all of you, my dreams would not be turning into the reality that they are transforming into.
In total honesty, the event left me in a raw place.  I felt very in touch with the quickly approaching trip to Mexico and realized that in order to be totally prepared for the biggest ride of my life, I was not going to be able to manage a twenty-seven hours per week school schedule.  After some tears and touching talks with my mom, I knew exactly what I was being called to do.  Within a week, I packed the horse trailer with Ginger’s and my supplies and moved to Carmel Valley where my coaches, Bea and Derek DiGrazia, live.  I live in an apartment on the side of the barn where I sleep about 20 yards from Ginger’s stall.  I spend my days cleaning stalls, cleaning tack, riding and getting all the little details sorted out for the trip to Mexico.  I feel like I can finally breath and finally focus on my horse and I.  I most certainly miss my family and horse family in Fresno, but I won’t be gone forever; I have to finish one more year of school.  While I have been here, I have been able to attend a much needed dressage show to regain my horse’s relaxation in the dressage arena.  My horse and I have also been able to practice daily with our coaches, which has greatly improved my confidence.
This coming weekend I will be riding at Twin Rivers Horse Trials, our final full outing before we leave.  Our goal is to put forth a strong dressage and stadium and a confident and moderately slow cross country.  I will do my best to write an update after this weekend.  Also, I had the very fortunate opportunity to be featured in an article on an eventing website.  I have attached the link below if you would like to take a look.
Thanks for reading!
Until next time,
Lauren and Ginger
http://eventingnation.com/home/2011/08/puerto-rico-eventing—represented.html

We're Back!

This past weekend reminded me why I event: the thrill of riding, the venues, the fun of improvement, and the community.  This past weekend, at Woodside Horse Trials, Ginger and I competed at our first event since April at the Twin Rivers CCI**.  I must say I was anxiously excited about the event.  Ginger is the fittest she has ever been and I am only hoping to get her even fitter.  This was definitely a twist in the game for us.  Dressage, which is normally our strongest phase, became our weakest phase.  The extra kick of fitness kept Ginger a bit tense during our test and scored us in ninth place.  The good news and likely story is that our warm-up was FANTASTIC, this strengthening and overall fitness work has turned Ginger into a totally new animal and given her the ability and strength to move like I have never felt before.  It is exciting for me to feel that there is more to unleash, which I am going to work my hardest to do before we go to Mexico.  Bea diGrazia, my coach, and I quickly agreed that the lack of showing in a dressage court for four months and the extra fitness was the source of the tense test and put together a schedule full of dressage shows and practices to work out these nerves.

After attending my two qualifying events in the spring, I felt great about going cross country…in May!, but now it was August and I hadn’t shown out cross country for four months!!  I was nervous with anticipation for Derek diGrazia’s course hoping that the confidence she received from our two stars would carry over.  Derek’s course was nothing short of technical, true intermediate size, and forward.  There were some great questions that I have never ridden before like an island in a water complex (jump down a bank, four strides in the water, up a bank, one stride on land, down a bank into water, five strides out over a narrow chevron fence).  I was excited to see how this fitness would play out while galloping.  She warmed up great and when we came out of the box, I had a sense of calm that allowed us to gallop the first few fences out of a galloping stride.  Each combination was easy for her.  She narrowed in on all of our outs and kept a big forward stride everywhere.  It was honestly the best cross country ride we have ever had.  The confidence and education she gained this spring along with the extra fitness gave me a horse that carried me through the cross country.  I was so thrilled and excited to feel that she is better than ever and that is what we have been working for this summer, the strength to jump easily through cross country.  The icing on the cake was seeing that we had the second fastest ride of the day and we had moved up to second place.  What an unexpected surprise, but just goes to show in eventing you can never give up.

In our final phase of stadium jumping, we decided to experiment with a new bridle, a bitless hackamore.  The course was difficult with varying stridings everywhere and square fences with no ground lines.  I felt this would be a true test to see if this bridle would be the ticket to a better jumping horse out in the show jumping.  Ginger jumped around double clean in her new bridle, which pushed her and I up into first place.  It was a thrill to win because it was so unexpected and I was definitely more concentrated on getting a good feel for how my horse was doing with all the changes in our work.  Our blue ribbon was a gift this weekend, and I was so excited.  All in all, I feel we are on the right track with Ginger and getting her prepped for the games, but the name of the game is fitness and dressage work from here.

Ginger at The Summer Event at Woodside

Sophia and Ginger after Stadium

A few of my students also attended the event and had a great weekend as well!  Cheryl Gentzler on Denali took first place in her Beginner Novice class and John Marshall on Cutamo was right at her heals in second place in the same Beginner Novice division!  Marta Tatabatai finished her first Beginner Novice on her new horse Dancing Diva who showed a great promise and a great drive during the show.  It was a very fun and exciting weekend for the whole LBE crew!

Two more updates!  Check out our most recent shot out on the US Eventing website for our upcoming trip the the Pan Am Games in an article written by Chelsea Vecchiarelli at the following link: http://useventing.com/blog/?p=18720.  Lastly, if you haven’t seen already, I am holding a fundraiser for my trip to Mexico in October.  The event will be at the De Boer Royal Friesians Farm in Tulare on August 27th.  During the event, Ginger and I will demonstrate the dressage test we will compete in at the Pan American Games and a jumping course; there will also be a jumping calcutta, silent auction and dinner.  Please come and support Ginger and I at this event.  Tickets can be purchased online on the following page http://laurenbillys.com/about/puerto-rican-eventing or contact me for more information.  I look forward to seeing many familiar and new faces at the event!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,
Lauren and Ginger

Life happens when...

My student, Alex Dayka, came out on Friday to cool Ginger down

Life happens when plans don't work as expected.  This summer has been interesting to say the least.  It started with planning to go to Woodside Horse Trials, but having to scratch due to the outbreak of the EHV virus.  And more recently, the plans to ride in the Pebble Beach Dressage Show and Rebecca Farms Horse Trials were scratched as well due to being diagnosed with Lyme disease (no need to worry, as I will back to normal soon).  As I was put on house arrest to recover from this bout of sickness, I have been able to reformat my summer goals and work on some much needed office work.  The goals for this summer have always been to bring Ginger into peak fitness and fund raise for the Pan American Games.  I can say, although I was pretty down about not being able to attend these shows, it has truly worked in my favor.  I have been able to spend some much needed time on hammering down a fitness program fitting to Ginger's needs and working on some details in our jump and flat work.  In all honesty, Ginger is feeling better than ever.  Within the last week, I have been able to feel some huge differences in our work.  I am starting to see all the homework pay off because she is improving daily in her confidence, strength, and our teamwork.  I am so excited  to put together all of our practice for the Summer Event at Woodside in August.  I mentioned that we have hammered down a fitness program for Ginger; recently Ginger has spent time weekly at Annadale Equine Center, which is a local therapy center in Sanger that offers an aqua-tredmill and a horse swimming pool.  I have found that cross training Ginger has drastically changed her fitness; it has been like riding an entirely new horse.  I am excited to feel her changing weekly into a stronger and more mature horse!!

The other goal I mentioned was fundraising.  As I am going to the Pan American Games in October to represent Puerto Rico, I have been reaching out to local businesses for sponsorship to attend the games.  I am excited and so thankful for my sponsors so far that include: Stan and Wendy Simpson, Buckman and Mitchell, Valley Oak Executive Suites, Annadale Equine Center, and Pacific Crest Equine.  It has been a nerve wrecking and exciting process to spread awareness on the opportunities that Ginger and I have in front of us in the coming months.  We will be having a fundraising event on August 27th at the DeBoer's Royal Friesian Farm in Tulare.  Along with dinner, people will get a chance to see the test that Ginger and I will compete in the Pan American Games as well as a jump demonstration.  I hope it will be an exciting night that will connect the community with my horse and I, and an opportunity to raise support and awareness for the Pan American Games.  If you or someone you know would be interested in attending this event, please contact me via email (laurenbillys@yahoo.com) or on the "Contact Us" page on the webpage.  More information should be available on the website soon.
Thank you to all my amazing sponsors!  More information to come soon.  Side note, the photo above is of one of my students, Alex Dayka, who came out to cool Ginger down this past Friday.

Until next time,
Ginger and Lauren

New Beginnings

Congratulations to Marta and her new horse Diva!  Diva is a seven year old warmblood mare that has some great movement and a fun jumping style.  She and Marta had an instant connection.  I am so excited to see their progress and relationship grow over the next few years.  No horse will replace Laya, Marta's old horse, but we are excited for a new beginning with Diva.  Congratulations to Marta and her family!

A Summer of Preparation

I know it has been too long since I last posted.  Life here has been chaotic and finally now becoming relaxing.  After my last show, I was hit with the reality of finals and recovery from finals.  But in the midst of all of this some exciting things did happen.  Ginger had a nice vacation after our last show, which she deserved and suited her well.  I have picked up her training within the last week to a more typical pace, and she sure feels eager, strong, and hungry for our next competition.  Yesterday I jumped her and felt a stronger, more confident horse than ever before.  I think the two stars suited her well, and gave her some drive to push for more.  She has always been a changing horse; she gets stronger and more mature with every showing, for me it is a noticeable change from month to month.  Our schedule currently includes Rebecca Farms in Kalispell, Montana (July), Woodside Horse Trials in Woodside, California (August), Copper Meadows Horse Trails in Romona, California (September), and finally the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico (October).  It blows my mind to think that in three shows we will be preparing ourselves for the competition of a lifetime, but I feel so blessed with the opportunity and will do my best to be as prepared as possible.  My summer goals include raising enough money to attend the games, getting in good physical shape at the gym, and getting Ginger's fitness to its peak.  We are going to start some new ideas in her training to boost her endurance by swimming her in a pool and putting her in an equine aqua treadmill.  In terms of fundraising, we are planning to do a fundraising event in Visalia; stay tune for information on this event as well as the launching of my new website. 

Within the past month, one very exciting event happened for Ginger and I.  We were featured in our very first magazine article.  Lifestyle magazine is a publication for the central valley of California.  Ginger and I were featured in their "Next Generation" series, which features young people with unusual hobbies.  I have included the article's text below with some pictures from the magazine.  And the links on the very bottom are from the Twin Rivers CCI**.  Hope you enjoy all of this. 

Lauren Billys

by Crystal R. R. Edwards

for Lifestyle Magazine, April 2011

“Eventing” is the equestrian equivalent of the triathlon. Show jumping, dressage (sometimes referred to as “horse ballet”), and cross-country are judged during the competition over two or three days.

There are three constants in life: death, taxes and horse-crazy little girls. What happens when the equine obsession turns into a possible career?

Meet Lauren Billys of Visalia. Billys, a 22-year-old student at Fresno State, rides her Irish sport horse Ballingowan Ginger in the equestrian sport referred to as three-day eventing (3DE). “I started riding when I was eight years old,” she said. “I was obsessed with horses, which was strange because no one else in my family rode.”

Her obsession led to lessons, then summer camp at Mountain View Corrals in Woodlake. At that point, she was hooked. “That was the first time I ever jumped,” she recalled. Mountain View Corrals did all three-day eventing, and before she knew it, Billys had a horse and was invited to a 3DE competition when she was 13. “There was no way I was ever going to do anything but eventing at that point,” she said.

Billys currently rides out of Eden Ranch, in Sanger, and visits her coaches Bea and Derek DiGrazia at Stillwater Farm in Carmel Valley every other weekend. “We watch movies at night, and we ride during the daytime,” she said. “I get a lot of help from them and I’m constantly in contact with Bea or Derek during the rest of the time to discuss everything that’s going on with my training.” She also works with Loris Henry in Fresno on a weekly basis. “She’s one of the top dressage judges in the world for eventing,” Billys said. “She’s been a huge help in my riding career.”

Billys is a double-major in chemistry and enology (wine making). She also teaches riding and trains rider-horse pairs in what little spare time she has left, and is hoping that eventing will become a career. “I’m hoping that I can get a lot of exposure and ride in big-time international competitions.”

How big-time are we talking? “The Pan American Games,” she said with a chuckle. “All the countries in the Western Hemisphere compete. I’m of Puerto Rican nationality, and I’ll be competing on behalf of Puerto Rico.” She explained that this is the first year Puerto Rico will come out with an eventing squad. “We don’t have an official coach yet,” she said. “Those who are qualifying for the Pan American games are all based in the United States.”

Billys trains at least three hours a day, six days a week on her 16.3-hand-tall horse. The seventh day of the week, she’s still at the barn, working with other horses. “It’s a big commitment, and it’s taught me a lot of responsibility.” She described how she was handed the keys to the truck and a horse trailer when she was 16 and given a cheerful farewell by her parents before one weekend event.

“My advice to anyone interested in eventing, or the equestrian sport in general, is to enjoy the process, not just the final product. Things can change in a day. If your horse blows a tendon, you may not be going to that competition. The end product is not always a given, but I enjoy what I’m doing every day with the horse.”

To keep updated with Billys and Ballingowan Ginger’s upcoming Pan American status, visit her blog: http://laurenbillys.blogspot.com.

Pictures of the magazine spread.

Links to the videos from Twin Rivers CCI** in April 2011.
Dressage:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rideonvideo?blend=5&ob=5#p/c/E6986B19642EFB93/14/PQDUzOuRfY4
Cross Country:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rideonvideo?blend=5&ob=5#p/c/E6986B19642EFB93/16/bHkym3wInCI
Stadium:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rideonvideo?blend=5&ob=5#p/c/E6986B19642EFB93/15/_5swHrzBb2Q

Until next time,
Lauren and Ginger

Videos from Galway Downs CIC**

Today I received my videos from Galway Downs CIC** from last month.  Within a week I should have some footage of Ginger from this week.  I went to check on the Ging today and sure enough she was running around the barn loose after escaping while her water was being filled...guess that means she is feeling fine, but it sure did make me laugh.  I hope you enjoy the videos!

Dressage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3uJY2rE4_U

Cross Country:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8YHKIk-eoQ

Stadium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It-KtATfxmo

Until next time,
Ginger and Lauren

One step closer to Mexico!

It wasn't until the car ride home when it hit me...WE DID IT!!!  Ginger and I completed our first CCI** and finished in third place!  She went double clean today in the show jumping with no faults in jumping or time, she was perfect.  Show jumping has become one of my favorite phases to ride and Ginger keeps proving to me she wants to do well just as bad as I do.  This weekend was full of more anxiety than any other emotion knowing that the end of the weekend could mean the potential for an exciting future (qualifying for the Pan Ams).  As fun as it was, I can say that the feeling of relief has overwhelmed me.  At the completion of this horse show, Ginger and I are officially qualified for the Pan American Games in October of 2011 that will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico.  We are not there yet but this of course is the first step.  The past six months have all been training for the these past two international competitions both of which Ginger and I finished in the top three.  On the drive home, I finally looked back at all the dressage lessons, all the jump schools, all the drives to Carmel Valley, and all the classes I skipped to go gallop (sorry Mom) to get qualified and here I sit in my bed with a toothy grin that won't leave me because we finally did it.  There is so much more ahead but I can say that step one is done.  Ginger will now receive a well deserved week off as I jump into my Analytical Chemistry book for a reality check. Pending some details and Ginger staying healthy, I will resume training for the Pan Ams and upcoming events in a week.  My training style now though is going to start to change.  I want to go to the games with a shot at a medal, so we are going to get to work at perfecting our dressage and getting Ginger stronger and fitter every ride.  Our plan in terms of shows until then is still to be decided and will be determined in two weeks once I go back to Carmel Valley to attend "Camp diGrazia."  The next step for me is some Anthropology studying and sleep.  I should have videos and pictures to post soon, until then I will keep you updated on Ginger and keep celebrating.  Thanks so much for following!
Until next time,
Lauren and Ginger