All That Glitters Eventing

08/10/2025

A reader asks Jim Wofford, “When should I start putting studs in my horse's shoes?”
Jim Wofford: My smart-aleck answer is, "When do you want to stop slipping?" There are many different theories about how to put studs in your horse's shoes, and my observation is that most of them work. My personal preference is to put four caulks of equal size in the front shoes. This will ensure that your horse's foot remains level as it strikes the ground. For his hind feet, I like to have a slightly larger stud outside behind than inside. This allows his hind foot to pivot as he plants it, which will help prevent torsional injuries to the lower leg.
If we give our horses any sort of additional traction in questionable footing, they seem able to do the rest for us. My only additional comment is that when you can't decide between "road studs" and "little bullets," always go with the next largest size. I am sure I "overcaulked" a horse at some time in my career, but I do not know exactly when that happened. However, I can tell you to the day when I competed with not enough caulk and wound up sliding into a jump and injuring my horse. Learn from my mistake.
Jim recommends keeping a wide selection of studs in your grooming box, because you must be ready for any type of footing. A good assortment includes: 1. Little road stud, 2. Small grass tip, 3. Medium grass tip, 4. Large grass tip, 5. Little bullet, 6. Large bullet, 7. Small block, 8. Medium block, 9. Large block. If you are competing on grass dressage arenas, use small road studs or little bullets all around. Short, wet grass on firm footing is one of the slickest situations you will encounter.

More frequent reader questions and Jim’s responses here >>https://practicalhorsemanmag.com/training/jim-wofford-the-eventing-faqs-of-the-matter

08/10/2025

Just a little heads up if you are looking at our horses… we do NOT overproduce our young horses. So when you ask for videos, do not expect to see them trotting like Valegro and jumping like Explosion at 3/4…

I can see what a horse will be in the future from how they walk, canter and how naturally athletic they are over their first little fences. A fancy trot doesn’t impress me. Athleticism isn’t about hitting the sky and throwing their back legs almost over their head. You can engineer that. Natural athleticism is how light they are over the ground, how they eye up a fence and how they get from one side to the other whilst being respectful of a pole. Yes they need to have a good technique but they don’t need to be looping the loop. Horses that explode over a small fence every time are going to be very hard on themselves physically.

We are producing quality, well bred young horses with longevity in mind. We aren’t trying to win 3 or 4yo classes - in my opinion they prove nothing about the horse’s future prospects, all you do is shorten that horse’s career. Darc Maxim was the most unimpressive 3yo loose jumper 🤣 and was “nice” but not flash as a 4yo. Yet she went on to win the 7yo championship, Foxhunter second round and many other big classes across the country.

Our 4yos will politely WTC, know what a contact is, hack out and pop a few small fences. That’s it. We don’t expect them to do any more! All our 4yo fillies are done and back in the field after doing 8-10weeks work this year, most of that consisting of hacking. The geldings have come in now for their turn. We play the long game and take our time because the horses always come first.

So if you need to see a horse throwing big shapes round a course of fences - we are probably not for you. But if you can see a quality, raw young horse - Or you can trust us to show you one if you can’t, drop us a line!

03/05/2025

The most spectacular mare, the big lady, the best girl, the original unicorn…it may be the end of our era, but it’s the start of another for you and .eventing.

Part of the beauty of horses (and why I got into teaching in the first place) is being able to share the magic, and I know you’re adored. 💕

Happy birthday, ! ♥️♥️♥️

01/27/2025

An edited , because man oh man do I ever feel overinterpreted: Sometimes horses CAN ACT naughty. (Also, at this point, maybe keep reading, folks.)

It can be pain, or it can be freshness, or it can be because someone’s reinforced it being a thing the horse can do that gets the rider to get off and leave it alone, or it can be a handful of other things. For sure, sometimes horses really do misbehave for the first time, ever, away from home and in public. And for sure, when a horse is young and fresh (or, frankly, old and fresh!), or when the naughtiness has become a habit, sometimes you’ve gotta hike up your Big Girl Panties and set some boundaries so the horse learns they can no longer behave that way. But barring those, you’ve gotta wonder, as you’re watching a horse in the warmup arena behave in an ugly fashion, over and over, what the rider hopes to achieve from that competition ride.

Training is done at home. It’s time to show when training is going well at home most of the time. And if you’ve got one of the horses where you’ve ruled out pain and saddle fit and they’re a good egg at home and then they go to the show and blow up, schooling shows can be a great way to bridge the gap.

Of course there are horses that are cheeky monkeys the whole way up, in spite of phenomenal vet care and excellent, thoughtful training, that still require some intestinal fortitude to throw a leg over. But when the horse is on its hind legs more than it’s not in the warmup, it’s probably time to go home. When the horse is slamming on the brakes in every single flying change, it’s probably time to go home. When the Technical Delegate is following you around, it’s probably time to go home. And for sure, when the Certified Good Boy starts doing Very Bad Things, it’s not only time to go home, but it’s time to call the vet and saddle fitter, and rule some things out.

If I deleted your comment, ask yourself this: did you read this whole thing? And do you think that maybe, just maybe, it’s hard to master a subject as nuanced as horse training in a post the length that the average social media user’s gerbil brain will sit still for?

📸 Susan J Stickle Equestrian Photography LLC

01/26/2025

01/03/2025

I hate breed shows.
I get it- if you are breeding dressage horses, your offspring might be super nice, but the chances of them getting into the right hands and becoming a Grand Prix horse is quite slim, no matter how nice they are. Keeping them around until an age where they can compete and shine is seriously cost prohibitive.

Breed shows are a way for breeders to show off their product without having to rely on future owners and a lot of luck. It judges conformation, the walk, and the trot on young horses being presented in hand, because honestly, what else are you going to do with them.

But breed shows are the epitome of missing the forest for the trees! Breeders end up breeding for breed shows.
Breed shows reward ridiculous spider like trots, and “early pretty”.

Do you know what most people need when picking a stallion or a young horse? A solid canter, trainability, and character- none of which can be tested at a breed show.

There are great stallions, who have been pretty much bred out because their offspring take a long time to mature. The Old G line Hanoverians come to mind. Those were some solid rideable versatile horses!!! But they have completely fallen out of favor because they look like yaks until they are seven, and while many of them reached Grand Prix, they were not overly supple (cough *weak*) uber movers! Those horses would do terrible at breed shows, but they were easy under saddle,  were good at flying changes, and lasted a long long time!!!

If you are picking stallions this winter, don’t be too dazzled by whatever four-year-old is popular. My suggestion is to look for the stallions that have actually been performance tested through Grand Prix.  If you really are interested in some of the Young Guns, maybe look for one who, in their second and third generation pedigree, have OG sires who had long careers, and lived into their 20s.
Personally, the last thing I would breed to is a flash bang young popular stallion, who’s sire and two grand sires were also wildly popular as young horses, but never actually made it to the FEI levels, or had short careers. 

12/17/2024

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12/17/2024

For years, whispers floated around the polo fields of America about the mysterious, mustachioed young man who galloped across the field with unmatched skill, then vanished before the champagne corks popped at post-game celebrations. Who was this elusive figure? Little did they know, behind the disguise was not a man at all—it was Sue Sally Hale, a trailblazing woman determined to rewrite the rules of a male-dominated sport. Her secret life was as audacious as it was inspiring, and her story is one of grit, courage, and sheer defiance against societal norms.

Sue Sally Hale’s journey began at just 12 years old, when she fell in love with polo while riding her pony in the hills of Los Angeles. But in mid-20th-century America, the U.S. Polo Association barred women from competing in their prestigious tournaments. Undeterred, Hale crafted a bold plan to infiltrate the sport she loved: she disguised herself as "A. Jones," a male player. With her hair tucked under her helmet, her chest taped flat, and a fake mustache provided by Hollywood makeup artists—courtesy of her stuntman stepfather—she took to the field. For nearly two decades, she dominated matches in her double life, leaving rivals baffled and fans impressed, yet never suspecting her true identity.

Her masquerade wasn’t just about playing polo; it was about breaking barriers. Hale faced ridicule, rejection, and threats from male players who felt threatened by her skill. But she refused to back down, riding through her pregnancies, finishing games with broken bones, and even humorously proving a point by playing a match astride a mule. Her relentlessness eventually paid off. In 1972, after years of campaigning and threatening to expose her ruse, the U.S. Polo Association finally admitted her as a member, forever changing the sport’s landscape. Today, nearly 500 of the association's 3,600 members are women, a testament to her enduring legacy.

Hale’s passion extended beyond the field. She was a mentor who trained countless players and ponies, a poet who captured her soul in words, and an artist who sculpted beauty out of raw materials. Her personal life was just as vibrant; married to Alex Hale in 1957, she balanced her roles as a mother of five and a polo legend. Even in the face of adversity, her wit shone through. When male players tried to intimidate her, she’d retort with a grin, "Gentlemen, better boys than you have tried."

Hale’s story didn’t end with her triumphs on the field. Her daughter, Sunny Hale, carried her torch, becoming the top female polo player in the United States. Sue Sally Hale’s legacy is a powerful reminder that no dream is too audacious, no barrier too unbreakable, and no disguise too elaborate when it comes to defying the odds and changing history.