Do you think this photograph was taken in the winter? There’s something about the quality of light on the worn wood that makes me think of snowy days and fuzzy horses. I guess it’s also the shaggy mane and ears that look just like Ellie’s these days that makes me think of 25 and windy!

Lucinda Green’s perfect weekend (outside of horses, of course!)

Jimmy Wofford Throws his Hat in the Ring

Fresh, Sassy, or Laid-Back: How do you like your horse?

Riding Resolutions: Be More Organized

Free Subscription to the new Chronicle Connection online magazine. Sweet!

{and some posts you may have missed while shoveling the snow drift out of the barn aisle}

Audio Interview with 3-Day Eventing Team Vet Brendan Furlong

Cross-Country Tips at the AEC’s with Olympian Leslie Law

My Dream Horse Trailer: Theault

We’re snowed in here in Virginia. What do you do on your snow days?

I’d recommend replicating this look which is just as relevant now as it was when Jimmy Wofford sported it, handsome scowl and all.

Jimmy Wofford wears: shirt/ pants/ watches

I just had the honor of chatting with Jamie and Glenn over at Horses in the Morning about clothes and trends and fashion. While I think Jamie picked right up on the chic 70′s trend of secretary blouses I’m worried about where Glenn will take the concept. Not so much leisure suit and disco balls, Glenn!  Call me before you do anything rash!  I thought you all might like to hear our conversation too and so you shall. Hop over to Horses in the Morning to hear a recording!  You can also scroll down for the trends we discussed and where to get them. Thanks again, Jamie and Glenn!

The 70′s are in and a secretary blouse works whether you’re having a flat school or hacking through early Sping blossoms (we can dream, right?).

So cute with boots and britches or with your jeans and boots for drinks after the barn.  Get it at Top Shop for 38 pounds.

My fave trend, though, is the striped sailor shirt that’s all over the fashion blogs. With horizontal stripes it’s casual enough to wear with your jeans and paddock boots (ahem, Jamie) but cute enough for when you meet your bestie for hot chocolate (with marshmallows) at a cafe in Paris.

My favorite is the Chance Co. striped boatneck. I’ve already got stripes in my drawer but I think that neckline is so lovely. I think I’ll need that one too. Put it in your own drawers for $60.00.  For gents there’s the St. James Matelot sweater. So handsome and entirely practical in this ghastly frigid and wet weather. It’s all yours for $170.

While all these looks work in the saddle and out Jamie, Glenn, and I also discussed competition style. The two styles I’ve noticed on the uptick are Tweed jackets as well as jackets with high tech fabrics (something Shannon and I talked about in our 2011 Fashion predictions).  Jamie seemed sceptical about the Tweed jackets but I’m telling you to go out on a limb now. Really, could Jackie O really be wrong?

images via Habitually Chic

And, as I pointed out, Bruce Davidson is always in tweed for lower level competitions as is the custom in England. It’s a custom I’m behind 100%! And, most certainly, that’s what I’ll be wearing this Spring and Jamie has climbed on board as well. Get your tweed jacket at your tack shop around the corner, online, or (my favorite if you can get there) at the Middleburg Tack Exchange.  I found this R.J. Classics at Dover for $270.00.

I attribute this slow influence of tweed in eventing circles to the stylings of Bruce Davidson as well as to our hunter and jumper friends who are, for the most part, a step or two ahead of us eventers in the style department. They know there’s nothing wrong with looking great on a horse and you’ll see tweed in all shades at a hunter show. Cross the aisle and make friends. Hunter/ jumpers have fashion advice to spare and I suggest we take it.

While tweed might be a vintage throw back, the other competition style trend we discussed is the high-tech fabrics in jackets. You’ll be able to find this in a few places including ANIMO Italia as well as Nathalie Breeches as profiled by the new online magazine The Chronicle Connection now published by The Chronicle of the Horse. How clever of them. It’s horses and style all rolled into one and we’re a fan of that on Three Days Three Ways. If you haven’t already received it make sure you get a copy and subscribe!

And, Jamie, you’re already looking adorable in those jeans and paddock boots. Don’t knock your style. Just throw on a sailor shirt and you’re reading for Manhattan!  Thanks again to Jamie and Glenn at Horses in the Morning for the most delightful start to my day.

I say we throw a party and eat cookies and ice cream.  You know, to celebrate this amazing team!  I think this is what it would look like. Would you please come? I love the bright accents of pink with the neutral whites and browns.  The horse, of course, makes the party. Incidentally, the horse looks exactly like my sweet Ellie’s new best friend: an enormous draft mare named, aptly, Blondie. Her other best friend? A tiny spitfire pony named Annie Oakley.  I approve all around.  Cookies anyone?

image via somewhere splendid

image via Penny Weight

When I was little I would tack all my ribbons up in my room so that, eventually, they wrapped all four walls. Did you do that too? Is that what your room looks like now? I like it that it’s pretty much timeless and works regardless of whether you’re thirteen or 42. I think I might try a look like this (once I have my own home office, that is!).

Jennie Brannigan wears a helmet. Do you?

Derby Cross is coming!

Globetrotting on Horseback

Stay Layered for Winter Riding

Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch and Ollie head to Florida

Tips on Your Pre-Purchase Exam

Happiest of Weekends to you and your ponies!

p.s. Who’s Edie Campbell?

I’ve never worn a horse shoe necklace but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been tempted. Mostly I just never seen one I like. But then I saw these by Annina Vogel and my world view shifted in an instant. I love how the charms actually look like what I know to be the bottom of Ellie’s foot or the shoe she wears on it. I’m not sure which is my favorite. Which is yours? Ms. Vogel makes all kinds of charms and I find them all enchanting. Look at all the creative and unique pony charms she has in her collection. My eyes light up when I look through them.

pretty pony feet charms by Annina Vogel via Dilly Dallas

photo by Emily Daily

Let’s pick up with Part II of eventer Clark Montogemery’s interview with Team Three Days Three Ways. Here he gets into the special bond eventers have with their horses, how pushing a horse too fast became a formative life lesson, and how persistence paid off.

What’s your favorite thing about eventers AND being an eventer?

I identify with being around horses and communicating with them. I love the daily interactions with them.  I love eventing because you’re not discipline-specific. I love flatwork and I love to jump and cross-country is fantastic too.  I do love the bond that eventing gives you. Sometimes it’s an advantage over other sports because you need that bond to communicate in all three different disciplines, at least to do it well.

What’s the most important thing to you in your life?

The obvious would be by wife and my family and then the horses.

What are they like?

Jess is my number one supporter and rock that I have and keeps me going, and keeps me in check.  We bounce things off each other.  We’re best friends and have a fabulous relationship.

Do you spend any part of your time riding outside of the US?

Jess and I went to England for six months and were going to stay through 2012 but couldn’t figure out our visas. They were pretty strict.  But experience was invaluable.  I hope to continue to get over there to compete at international evetns.

Why was it so special?

You compete against the rest of sport that’s the best of the best and it’s daunting.  You have time to get over that and ride like you know how to ride and not just be nervous to be around them.  They treat events like just another day at the office.  They compete on Wednesdays and Saturdays with 12 horses. Not that they’re not serious but over here it’s different. It’s a whole weekend and might be a month before you compete those horses again. That helped me – I always ride best when it’s just another day. Just riding some of big events you’ve heard about and getting that out of the way early on, it’s nice.

What are some of the contributing factors that have formed your success?

2008 was a big moment for me.  I pushed one of my horses to make the short list for the Olympics.  I pushed him too hard to make the team and we came to dead end.  He started stopping cross country then got injured in the Spring of 2009. Some other horses broke around the same time and I ended up not having anything.  It was time for me to evaluate why I was invloved in horses and it came down to I do this for a living because I love horses and love training horses.  I don’t do it for the competition or to make a team. If I do, then fantastic, but I’m not doing it for that. If I get too competitive then I could push them beyond their normal training scale.

What about in your personality?

Persistence would be a good word to use.  I’m constantly trying to figure out how to do it better.  I never figure it out.  With horses you never figure it out because they’re each different. I immediately evaluate and I’m not scared or too proud to switch what I’m doing.  I come home and watch videos of all the competitions and scrutizine myself, though not horses because they’re a reflection of me.  I see how I can do it better, always.  I will strive my entire life to communictae with the horse properly.

How do you do that?

You need to get help from people who have, over their career, done that.  Who have properly trained the horse.  I believe in the classical way of training.  I read and study on it.  I look at other professionals on same path and try to see how they’re doing it and try to emulate that. The most important thing at any point is that if you aren’t doing it properly or horse is frustrated you need to stop and look at what you’re doing.  If you don’t have the answer then go get help.

It doesn’t do any good to fight with them. What’s the reason? The main reason to fight is to have it better for a show.  You can’t make it about a competition.

I just finished Tug of War:  Classical versus Modern Dressage by Dr. Gerd Heuschmann.

That’s a great one. I just read The Complete Training of Horse and Rider and the Principles of Classical Horsemanship by Alois Podhajsky.

I’ve got no problem admitting I have definitely tried to force things out of the horses for competition. And it didn’t work and it shouldn’t work. That’s why it’s important to constantly study and to do it better.

I’m grateful to have gotten the chance to talk with Clark about his life in horses and philosophy in (and out of) the saddle. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! The good news is you’ll get to see lots more of him this competition season as well as down in Wellington at The Derby Cross March 5, 2011. More on that soon! Thanks to Clark for sharing so much of his story with us and for you for being on the best team around.

Clark Montgomery speaks with the a Southern drawl that reminds me of cowboys in Texas and my friends in North Carolina. In some ways I wanted to keep him talking just so I could listen. Who could blame me? He also spoke with the straightforward candor of someone who has had downs (as with the injury of a top horse in 2008) and ups (as with his recent win at Fair Hill International). With two horses standing tall in the limelight we’re hearing more and more from Clark Montgomery and I expect that only to increase. It’s high time we got to know him better, don’t you think?

photo courtesy of Clark Montgomery

There are a lot of blue ribbons in your record including at the Fall Fair Hill International. Can you tell us about some of them that have meant the most to you?

Winning for me is reassuring me that I’m on the right track. Though I don’t always try to win. Early on in the season or the middle of the season you might be schooling for dressage and you might not quite offer what the judge wants or you might go slow cross-country. When I try to go out and win and it works then obviously that’s telling me I’m on the right track.

It’s all the program for me. I’m always trying to build on something. You can have those five steps forward and a step or two back. I try to go forward. If it’s going well then for these horses winning is a possibility.

Going out the first of this year I have a specific plan in my head on where I want the horses at each event. It’s not winning all the time. If I win I usually like to think it’s because I try to win. I don’t go out there and try to win every event.

Where are you based? Can you tell us what your life is like day-to-day?

I’m based at Carl Bouckaert’s farm, Chattahoochee Hills.  It’s something like 2,000 acres. It’s quiet but with lots of farm activity.  There’s a 16 stall barn and there’s enough going on during day within facility. It’s rolling hills and backs up to Chattahoochee River where it flattens out.  There are lots of pine trees and miles of hacking.  It’s a beautiful place to train.

photo via Chatahoochee Hills Bouckaert Farm

Can you tell us about some of your equine partners in crime?

Everyone is noticing Loughan Glen and Universe.  They couldn’t be more different except they’re both brown. Universe is about 16 hands.  He’s a little guy and a bit nippier and lighter on his feet, a little spooky.

Clark Montgomery on Universe; photo by Emily Daily

The other horse [Loughan Glen] is much bigger and rounder.  He’s big and strong and powerful.  He’s laid back and quiet.

Clark Montgomery on Loughan Glen; photo via equisearch

Throughout my whole career I haven’t had a specific type that I like. I like to think that I’m adaptable in the way that I ride or that I can train different types of horses. It doesn’t matter that they’re different but they have talent and heart. That’s what I care about it.

What’s talent look like?

That’s so difficult. Good gaits, jumps well. Right shape and size, not too big or heavy. Not up-side-down.  It’s one of those things that when you see it you see it.

Where are you from?

From Bryan, Texas and my uncle is a rancher.

He was the first one to teach me to ride, I’d help him with the cattle.  I went to summer camp at seven and did english riding and got hooked. I forced my mom to find an instructor who ended up being Meg Flemming.  She took me under her wing.  She evented as a kid in Virginia and moved out to Texas. That’s how whole thing started. I also rode with Jim Graham and Karen and David [O'Connor] and progressed into the sport from there.

photo by Leslie Mintz

That wraps up part I (of two parts) for our interview with top eventer Clark Montgomery. But there’s more to come including his time spent competing in England, what makes eventing so special, and some good book recommendations so you can study and get even better!

by Shannon Crocker and Courtney Young

The jog lanes and cross-country courses will be hopping with style come Spring 2011 and we’re expecting to see several trends out in force.  Or, hoping to see them, at the very least.

With Boyd Martin and Will Coleman sporting grey jackets at competitions we’re expecting to see an uptick in the numbers cantering around the ring this Spring. A grey jacket looks professional and tidy while expressing a more unique style.

Speaking of jackets, we’re also expecting to see more of them coming in high-tech fabrics melding our equestrian past with our equestrian future especially since eventer favorite Doug Payne sports one. Get the same classic look but with new additions like stretch and wicking. Excellent especially for steamy show days. Try Animo Italia.

But it’s not just our jackets we’re expecting to see trending along certain lines. We’re also expecting to see more happening in the hair department on jog days. Perhaps thanks to Kate Middleton who has moved from “Waity Kaity” to Princess-in-Waiting, hair fascinators are an excellent way to accessorize your look for the jog lanes or the dance floor. Choose one that won’t spook your horse, though!

As our friends at Eventing Nation have noted, brown boots are all the rage in England. Expect that trend to be on the rise in the U.S. While our top riders can’t wear brown boots in the dressage ring at the FEI levels they sure can on cross-country. We recommend them all around.

What are you expecting to see (or hoping to see!) in 2011?

Friday already? The weeks in the new year have the same speed and endurance of 2010, for better for worse. I’m enjoying these days in the Virginia countryside and this weekend will visit a friend’s farm in Delaplane. Plus, Middleburg is on the books for today. I like it, I have to admit. What’s on your schedule for the weekend?

Fulfill your dream of becoming a model…for Der Dau

What happened at the Helmet Safety Symposium? Find out.

Let’s dream of green fields and pounding hooves.  The Badminton Box Office is now open.

Charles Owen turns 100. And Celebrates!

Cross-Country Fence Safety and Innovation

{and a few Three Days Three Ways posts}

Owning a 4-Star horse: Annie Jones Tells you How

Emily Daily’s Weanling Survival Kit

Take a Spin in a Land Rover