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Dressage Today Podcast: Interview with Morgan Klingensmith

Season 2 Episode 12—Hear from the groom of Adrienne Lyle’s Olympic mount Salvino.

In this special Olympic wrap-up episode, sponsored by Vita Flex, co-hosts Stephanie Ruff and Aviva Nebesky share their thoughts on the recent Olympic dressage event. The conversation shifts to what the riders were wearing and Aviva’s latest saddle pad adventure. That rolls right into the “Ask the L” question about the preferred color of gloves when showing.

Together they interview Morgan Klingensmith, who has gained notoriety as the groom of Adrienne Lyle’s Olympic mount Salvino. Morgan was born and raised in Ohio, growing up just a few miles from where she works full time at Betsy Juliano’s Havensafe Farm. As a young girl, she spent much of her time riding ponies and started lessons in eventing at age 10, competing in that discipline until a few years ago. She started working for Betsy in 2014 at her Ohio barn and moved to her show horses in the fall of 2016. Morgan’s job as a full-time, professional groom keeps her very busy and on the go. She takes time out to share an insider’s perspective of the Olympic dressage event.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Stephanie Ruff: Hello, I’m Stephanie Ruff.

[00:00:07] Aviva Nebesky: And I’m Aviva Nebesky.

[00:00:09] Stephanie Ruff: We’re the hosts of the Dressage Today Podcast, where you can find us talking about anything and everything dressage related. Our conversations span the world of dressage from leading riders to local level dressage heroes. We’re talking training advice, showing tips and sharing stories to inspire your own dressage journey. So tune in then tack up.

Hello, and welcome to this special Olympic dressage wrap-up edition of the Dressage Today Podcast sponsored by Vita flex. We have an interview today that you’re not going to want to miss. We’ll be talking to Morgan Klingensmith, who is better known as Salvino’s groom. She was with him in Tokyo. So if you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at the Olympics, here is your chance to find out.

[00:00:59] Aviva Nebesky: Oh, that’s exciting. I can’t wait to talk to her.

[00:01:01] Stephanie Ruff: I know. When it comes to the Olympics, as we all know, since Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of us, if you wanted to watch it live, it meant waking up at 4, 4 30 in the morning, which I did.

[00:01:14] Aviva Nebesky: I did not.

[00:01:16] Stephanie Ruff: Now. I will say I did not watch everything. I will admit. I didn’t see it all. And I may have fallen asleep sometimes, but I did see our riders and some of the other big names of course Charlotte and Carl from great Britain and the wonderful, fabulous German riders who, and but it made it a little bit tough, those early morning hours.

[00:01:41] Aviva Nebesky: Yeah, it did. I watched mostly on my laptop through the NBC Olympics.com, I guess it was, I started out very diligently with ride number one day, number one. And I have to tell you, Stephanie, that rider set the tone so magnificently. I probably watched two thirds of the rides and those horses are magnificent and those riders are amazing.

They are just such a joy to watch, but honestly, there weren’t a lot of horses that I would have felt comfortable getting on, but the very first rider in the grand Prix, and I believe it was Phoenix de Tenao. It was a Portuguese rider and it was on a Lusitano and I watched the ride and I believe it got something like a 72%.

Nothing to sneeze at. But the horse was just so correct and relaxed and happy and there was harmony. And while it didn’t have the wow factor of maybe, Sanceo or geo there was just something so pleasing, and I thought this is the horse I want to bring home and ride. And it was just, it was lovely.

[00:03:05] Stephanie Ruff: And I’ll tell you, it’s funny you say that I’ll tell you, I’ll give our listeners kind of an inside tip. Last week I interviewed Robert Dover for the next issue of practical horseman to get his insights on the Olympics. He wasn’t there, but like the rest of us, he watched a lot of the streaming and he said the same thing that you said Aviva that overall, these games were some of the most fabulous horses and riders and, pairs and harmony that he has seen in a long time, over the years. And he probably could be considered an Olympic expert because he’s been to six of them. So he’s seen a few rides. And and he said the same thing.

And that’s wonderful. That’s great for our sport. And to see that.

[00:03:53] Aviva Nebesky: When you and I were talking after you had gone to the selection and we had talked a little bit about it, and I said, just the quality of the riders that didn’t make it to the Olympics, that the quality of riding in the U S and that I, I believed that we were going to medal and there was a time when that was really not optional. Now we’re up there and the horses and the riders are just brilliant and it’s fun to see some different names. New people coming up the ranks.

[00:04:26] Stephanie Ruff: Yeah. And we managed to get a little bit mainstream with Steffen and Mopsy went a little viral on Tik TOK with their freestyle, which then crossed barriers all over the place.

And so we were introduced, at least the freestyle was introduced to a lot of people who had no idea what dressage was.

[00:04:45] Aviva Nebesky: And positively introduced as opposed to what was it? Eight or 12 years ago when you know, it was about what an elitist sport it was and Stephen Colbert did his thing.

[00:04:55] Stephanie Ruff: Yeah. Yeah, no, it’s nice.

Very positive and funny. And then. With Snoop Dogg and Kevin Hart watching it as well. So we hit the main stream for a little while and who knows, we might pick up a fan or two and so it was just fun to me. Overall, just a pretty positive experience for the U S dressage and dressage in general .

[00:05:22] Aviva Nebesky: And I loved all the different helmets.

It was fun seeing everybody in helmets and how they made them each unique and special. I’m so used to, I always ride with a helmet. I’ve always ridden with a helmet on. I’m the helmet police. So when Charlotte started riding with a helmet and I didn’t, it looked so normal to me. And then I realized that it wasn’t, but this Olympics, everybody had one on and they were every bit is elegant with those beautiful helmets as they were with their top hats and fabulous new blingy brow bands and the blingy shadbellies. And what did you think about the Dutch orange shad belly?

[00:06:06] Stephanie Ruff: They were bright. That’s what I’ll say they were bright.

[00:06:11] Aviva Nebesky: Yeah. I was surprised they were on the color wheel, but we’re not going to go there.

[00:06:15] Stephanie Ruff: Right.

It might not be on the color wheel for everyone, but and I think you better be able if you’re going to wear bright orange, you’d better be able to carry it off. That’s you know, that’s all I have to say.

[00:06:26] Aviva Nebesky: And it seemed like all of their horses were black. It was very striking.

[00:06:29] Stephanie Ruff: It was very much yeah, it was different. But I agree with you about the helmets and people taking kind of their own unique sort of style to them. And some of them had flags, some of them, like you said, had blings. So they did, they were they were a really nice addition to the entire ensemble. Yes. Yeah. So not a distraction at all.

And yeah, I think it was, it looked perfectly normal to me too.

[00:07:00] Aviva Nebesky: Speaking of wild and crazy with the Olympics. I need to share with everyone that I finally got my tiger striped salad pad to add to my saddle pad collection. Yay. I have a very good friend who I met through judging and she makes custom stock ties that are quite stunning.

And she’s a very talented artist in many ways. And she makes lots of saddle pads and they’re not for public consumption. They’re for her. And I got hurt, and so I decided to tug on her heart strings a little bit. She would make me a tiger Stripe saddle pad as a get well gift and it arrived in my mail today.

And it’s just so fun and I can’t wait to put it on my horse and wear it. And

[00:07:51] Stephanie Ruff: I don’t know, maybe you should get an orange shad belly to go with your tiger striped saddle pad.

[00:07:56] Aviva Nebesky: I have to admit I did buy a shad belly. Hopefully I’m going to need it, but it is blue. I don’t think I could pull off orange.

[00:08:03] Stephanie Ruff: But no, we, I will admit, I saw the picture of said saddle pad, though. I look forward to seeing it on the horse and your entire ensemble that you put together with the tiger striped saddle pad.

[00:08:19] Aviva Nebesky: Yes. Okay. I’m going to have to work on that. It may include yellow.

[00:08:25] Stephanie Ruff: Okay. Okay, good.

So stay tuned. In other words, there is more to come from the saddle pad saga, but you did not buy this one. It was a gift. So you did not you I

[00:08:38] Aviva Nebesky: I’ve sent her money to thank her for it because that’s the thing about when people make things. We don’t think about it. I do, but most people don’t think about number one, it’s the cost of the materials, which is always more than you realize.

And then there’s the time that’s involved. So I did. I’m considering the manufacturer of it and presentation as the gift and I’m paying for everything else.

[00:09:02] Stephanie Ruff: It’s a donation. You made a donation. There you go. Well good. we can’t wait to see it on Tiger. Soon very soon. Yeah.

[00:09:13] Aviva Nebesky: I got to figure out now that you’ve put the pressure on.

[00:09:19] Stephanie Ruff: So when we want to see the whole outfit

[00:09:22] Aviva Nebesky: yeah. I guess I’m safe with black britches and black boots, but I’m not sure what to do with the shirt, so we’ll work on them. Okay.

[00:09:41] Stephanie Ruff: And today’s Ask the L question goes along with our clothing theme. And this is actually over the years one, I’ve heard talked about a lot and I’ve heard people in part their different opinions. And so the question is it, do you feel that it’s true that white gloves show more movement in your hands compared to black gloves. And do you have a preference of white, black, or no gloves at all?

[00:10:09] Aviva Nebesky: I don’t like no gloves. I have to say I know that people who don’t like gloves really don’t like gloves. Yeah. I think that gloves just give a finishing touch and. I like white ones and I don’t this idea that white gloves show off a busy hand versus black gloves, being more discreet.

Come on. I can see your hands, it doesn’t matter what color your hands are. I can see your hands. I can see what you’re doing. And honestly, as a judge, I’m looking at your hands part of the time, because if I see something going on with the horse, with the connection or with bend the first thing that, the first thing we always do is we blame the rider.

It’s always the rider’s fault, right? We’re not communicating adequately with our horses. So I look at the rider to see what the aids are and to see what’s going wrong. And the first thing I do is I look at hands and then I look at whether the person is pushing the horse from behind or whether they’re riding front to back versus back to front, the way that they should be.

If they’re trying to massage the horse or wiggle the horse down into a frame as opposed to going honestly through the back. An answer to that question, wear gloves, wear white gloves. If it’s a schooling show and you’re not wearing really nice schooling clothes, you’re just wearing maybe dark britches and a polo shirt.

I don’t think that black gloves are a problem, but if you are going to wear. And for now we are wearing white britches. If you’re wearing a coat wear the white gloves, it just gives it a more polished look to me.

[00:11:42] Stephanie Ruff: Okay. I’m a glove person as well. I, riding even all summer long in Florida, just riding not showing, I still wear gloves.

It doesn’t matter. It could be 110 degrees. I still wear gloves. I can’t stand not wearing gloves.

[00:11:55] Aviva Nebesky: Yeah. And I can’t wear gloves to do anything. Yeah. Gloves to groom. I can’t wear gloves to do the barn, to muck stalls. I hate having gloves, but I can’t ride without them.

[00:12:04] Stephanie Ruff: So yeah. I’m so I’m totally with you.

Yeah, I get it. I completely get it. So I don’t know where that happened along the line, but yeah, I’m very much a glove person, so good deal. That is our fashion advice for the day.

[00:12:19] Aviva Nebesky: This from the woman who has a tiger Stripe saddle pad so take it with a grain of salt.

[00:12:26] Stephanie Ruff: And we just want to let our listeners know that if you have a question about showing or judging, you can email me at sruff@equinenetwork.com or reach out to us on DT social media.

And when we return, we’ll have our conversation with Morgan Klingensmith.

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Morgan Klingensmith was born and raised in Ohio growing up just a few miles from where she works full time at Betsy Juliano’s Havensafe Farm. As a young girl, she spent much of her time riding ponies and started lessons in eventing at age 10, competing in that discipline until a few years ago. She started working for Betsy in 2014 at her Ohio barn and moved to her show horses in the fall of 2016.

Morgan’s job as a full-time professional groom keeps her very busy and on the go. Most recently, she vaulted to notoriety as the groom of Adrienne Lyle’s Olympic Mount Salvino and was his constant companion on their recent trip to Germany and Tokyo.

Morgan, thank you very much for joining us today and taking some time to share all about your experiences, Tokyo.

[00:14:41] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah. Thank you for having me.

[00:14:43] Stephanie Ruff: And the first question is I think before we get into everything else, the first question is one. I think everybody wants to know about, and that is how is Salvino doing?

[00:14:55] Morgan Klingensmith: He’s doing good. He’s enjoying his time with Adrienne out in Colorado. Right now. He’s having some well deserved, downtime.

He’s getting some turn out he’s, he’s being a horse, so yeah, he’s fine.

[00:15:09] Stephanie Ruff: He obviously like he didn’t go in the freestyle. So is he okay? Is he just taking some time off now?

[00:15:20] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah, no he’s doing great. He, we decided to pull him out of the freestyle and he’s doing great now.

But we’re just giving him, he, this is a normal procedure for us, for, any sort of big competition you’re in for. We always give our horses time off when they come home.

[00:15:37] Stephanie Ruff: And I’m sure it was quite a trip,

[00:15:40] Morgan Klingensmith: It was a journey, very long

[00:15:44] Stephanie Ruff: journey. Good. We’re glad to hear that because we were all a little, a little surprised that he didn’t go in the freestyle and certainly I know everybody was hoping that he was good and fine, so everyone will be happy to hear that he is getting some well-deserved RNR.

So then on to more about you anyway could you tell us a little bit how you got interested and how you got involved in horses and riding?

[00:16:13] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah, so I guess, I didn’t officially start taking probably like riding lessons or anything, so I was about 10. But before that I had a lot of actually Amish babysitters and we used to ride all the ponies out in the field and actually way back.

So I’m 25 now, but when I was about, three, four or five years old, my babysitters at the time were actually the managers of Betsy’s farm. So I in Ohio here. So when I was little, I was actually around Betty’s farm a little bit in and out. Getting lead line pony lessons, stuff like that.

But then when I was about 10, I started taking some lessons at a local eventing farm here. And I evented up until I was about just a few years ago. So that’s kinda how I got into,

[00:16:58] Stephanie Ruff: so are you, do you still compete?

[00:17:02] Morgan Klingensmith: I do not compete inventing any more? No.

[00:17:04] Aviva Nebesky: So do you still ride,

[00:17:07] Morgan Klingensmith: I do still ride.

I’m actually taking on more of a role for Betsy riding some of her horses.

[00:17:14] Stephanie Ruff: And do you have any, have you had any mentors or people that have really influenced you over the years besides your Amish babysitters?

[00:17:25] Morgan Klingensmith: I guess some of my childhood, trainers and, I think Betsy has played a huge influential role.

For me, I’ve worked for her the last seven years. I’ve gotten a lot of guidance and help through her. And just being able to all these opportunities she’s given me to, watch, Adrienne and Debbie train and all the other US athletes. Yeah.

[00:17:47] Stephanie Ruff: No that’s pretty spectacular to be able to do that at a young age.

So speaking of traveling there, could you tell us a little bit about how the horses traveled to and from Tokyo? Did you go with them or did you go with savino?

[00:18:05] Morgan Klingensmith: I was actually on all of the traveling horse flight to, into Germany and to Tokyo all the horse flights. So, we traveled over to Acchen and we had to do, a quarantine before Tokyo and each, there’s two horses into a crate and their pallets.

And so the trip over to Tokyo was a little bit longer, we were expected to go into Dubai for to refuel. So that flight was estimated about 19 hours time. And but everyone traveled, extremely well. And they made it into Tokyo. Great. We, we plan to do, whatever we can do to keep them hydrated and ready to compete.

The journey started. And we did, on the way back, we were actually were able to fly directly from Tokyo into Asia. So that trip was a little bit shorter. It was about 12 hours.

[00:18:57] Aviva Nebesky: How do the horses handle that Morgan. Do they react to how we do with our ears popping into the noise and all of that?

Or do they just hang out and sway and eat hay the way they do in training?

[00:19:09] Morgan Klingensmith: Honestly I find, and, unless you have some turbulence here and there, I find that a lot of horses travel, they fly better than they do trailering. They’re not moving in the plane, as your trailer you’re constantly stop go.

You’re constantly turning the horses are having to balance their weight where, I think on these flights and when they run a little bit smoother, without turbulence, obviously they tend to just think that they’re in stalls like they hang out and they eat hay.

[00:19:33] Stephanie Ruff: It’s a, just a big cargo plane, basically. How many horses fit on that?

[00:19:37] Morgan Klingensmith: On our flight over now, the flight over to Tokyo, we had 30 horses wow. And then some equipment, but yeah.

[00:19:51] Stephanie Ruff: So that’s a bunch. That’s a bunch of horses.

[00:19:53] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah, it was. I believe there was about, I want to say seven groups on the flight for those including some veterinarians as well in that seven.

[00:20:06] Aviva Nebesky: And you pack all of the water and the hay and grain and all of that.

[00:20:10] Morgan Klingensmith: We pack a lot of mashes for their meals and their grain. And we usually you’ve sent, about huge, a large portion of hay in to hay net. So about a bale of hay net for each horse. If they need extra, hay we’ll pack an extra hay net for the container, but the space is fairly small up front, so you really can’t pack it too much or else you can’t get in there.

But they have tack bags and we put their meals in there and they, the plane services they provide, they put in water containers. They usually do about two containers. Per crate, the one for horse. So that’s how we do. Okay.

[00:20:45] Stephanie Ruff: See, I think it’s fascinating because most of us don’t, and I will say it was cool to see some of the video clips of the horses loading up and stuff like that because most of us have no concept of how.

I knew they flew, but you don’t really have a concept of how they get loaded on the pallets and they get, just kind of lifted up and stuck in the plane and

[00:21:04] Aviva Nebesky: yeah, we have that vision of them going through the metal detector. Sorry.

[00:21:07] Stephanie Ruff: So once you got to Tokyo and everything, what was your schedule like while you were there?

[00:21:11] Morgan Klingensmith: It was so they, the barns opened at six and then they would school. The riders would come in, usually around eight or nine to school, the horses tack walk them or whatever they want to do in the morning.

And then we would have big wall during the day and actually in Tokyo then. On the venue, they closed down all the arenas and essentially the barns from 11 three say it was where you horses weren’t supposed to go out. That was supposed to be the, the hottest time of the day.

And, we would have schooling or competing in the evening. So they really wanted to make sure that these horses weren’t outworking and they had their rests, before. We were allowed in the barn, a lot of the times we would turn the lights off and let the horses rest.

[00:21:57] Aviva Nebesky: Were there places that you could take the horses out and just hand grazed them and just let them be horses a little bit?

[00:22:03] Morgan Klingensmith: Yes. You could take them out onto the cross country schooling area that they had on the venue. If you wanted to do any hand grazing. But there’s, arenas that you could walk in as well.

There’s lots of, pathways.

[00:22:16] Aviva Nebesky: How did the horses do, did they enjoy the facility? Horses have opinions.

[00:22:21] Morgan Klingensmith: I think that they did, I think that, the barns were set up really well. They were air-conditioned. So I think that they were quite comfortable in the barns.

And I know we were at a barn that was separate from, the other stables. We had to go down through a tunnel. Farther away, but it was fairly quiet back there. And, I don’t think any of the horses had any issues with the facility itself.

[00:22:42] Aviva Nebesky: And it was all of the American horses, stable together for dressage eventing show jumping?

[00:22:48] Morgan Klingensmith: All the American horses were at one end and then German horses were at the other end. So that would include and I believe Austria was in the middle. It’s a couple Austrian horses. And it was so the U S dressage, jumping and eventing were there while we were there. And I believe para is on their way there.

Yes.

[00:23:07] Stephanie Ruff: Yeah, no, they’re on their way. It was certainly hot and humid and everything. And you mentioned the barns were air conditioned, but were there other measures that you had to take or that you were taking to help?

[00:23:20] Morgan Klingensmith: I honestly, from my take, I don’t think it was any worse than Wellington weather.

People are, we’re thinking it would be much worse. And honestly, I think that summers in Florida are much worse. Good to know. But it was actually quite nice in the evening. The humidity dropped down significantly during Showtime. So super nice. where in Florida, the humidity stays high pretty much all the time.

[00:23:49] Stephanie Ruff: Yes, it does. So then, overheating and stuff like that, wasn’t a big issue or anything.

[00:23:55] Morgan Klingensmith: Not for, I don’t think any of the U S horses has had that issue, but we made sure that, they were properly cooled and we checked temps quite often, right after rides. And then we brought our ice buckets to sponge them and stuff like that.

[00:24:12] Stephanie Ruff: So of everything that happened while you were there, is there one moment that stood out to you or what were some of your favorite takeaways from your time?

[00:24:20] Morgan Klingensmith: I think that it was really cool walking in, even though the arena wasn’t, for, people or anything, but for the awards ceremony, eight or nine hours, like the first ones to walk in, it was very cool.

[00:24:32] Aviva Nebesky: So speaking of the award ceremony, I’ve been thinking a lot, dressage is such an individual sport. But for the Olympics, there’s the individual part of it, but it’s also a team and it’s the four of the horse rider combinations working together and all of the staff working together to, to succeed as a team Does that change the way that people interacted with each other or the dynamics.

And did everybody get along and was it truly a team experience?

[00:25:04] Morgan Klingensmith: I think it was a truly team experience that, I, our group, even the grooms we all got along super well. Their riders are all very close and it was very much a team effort. There was no. Hatred towards anyone for anything.

I think it was, everyone got along super well.

[00:25:21] Stephanie Ruff: That’s good. That always helps.

So we want to shift gears a little bit since we are talking to you as an Olympic level groom. We had some grooming questions that we wanted to ask and a few podcasts, actually, I guess maybe it was our Olympic preview podcast. I’m not sure a few podcasts ago. We were talking about, because I was at Wellington for the selection trial, and I had commented how I loved all the horses tails.

They were the most magnificent tails I have ever seen. What is the secret? Can you tell me the secret to that fabulous tail?

[00:26:01] Morgan Klingensmith: I personally I think like good nutrition and I make sure they’re very clean. Conditioned. And I don’t like to brush my tail unless it’s for an important occasion. I think you’re brushing your tails.

You’re, you’re breaking off pieces or strands and you’re bending at the tail too much. And I think that aspect but yeah,

[00:26:26] Aviva Nebesky: so do you hand separate the hairs every time you groom?

[00:26:29] Morgan Klingensmith: I’ll, pick up the shavings and stuff yet. I don’t, I really don’t. The girls get annoyed at me when I walk by and I’m like, are you brushing that tail?

[00:26:38] Aviva Nebesky: Which also another question, I know there’s a lot of controversy about bathing horses and using shampoo and they say, don’t shampoo frequently because it takes the natural oils out of the skin. How often do you use shampoo when you bathe your horse?

[00:26:51] Morgan Klingensmith: That’s, it depends on each horse and their own personality. Some horses tend to have better coats that are skin some get itchy. I would say at least post once a week, I think that we do some bathing or, If they get really dirty in the paddock or, so there’s a lot of different variables to that

[00:27:12] Stephanie Ruff: or if they’re gray, right?

[00:27:16] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah, exactly.

[00:27:18] Aviva Nebesky: And fortunately, you didn’t have a gray to deal with.

[00:27:20] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah. Duval was at home.

[00:27:22] Aviva Nebesky: So tell me a little bit about the the braiding the braids are always just so spectacular. Do you change the way that you braid based on the individual horses neck to show it off to its best? Or do you just generally braid everybody the same way?

[00:27:37] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah. Yes, I do change a little bit, but I also, it also depends on the opinion of the rider. What they want. Okay. They’re the, they’re the ones that are gonna look at it. But I, we usually ask the rider and I also will base it on there if they don’t care, their necks, yes. So horses that tend to have a longer.

Thinner neck. I might do some poofier braids or not as many. For Salvino and the stallions that have the crestier neck, I tend to do smaller. And more of those ones.

[00:28:07] Aviva Nebesky: Do you sew them all in or do you use bands?

[00:28:11] Morgan Klingensmith: I fasten down with bands and then I saw them in.

[00:28:16] Stephanie Ruff: So how long does that take.

[00:28:17] Morgan Klingensmith: It depends how many I do, but usually 45 minutes, probably. I’m not the fastest braider, 45 minutes or an hour, depending on the horse to how well they stand. Oh yeah.

[00:28:30] Stephanie Ruff: That’s still, that’s not too bad.

[00:28:34] Aviva Nebesky: Yeah. And things have changed with braiding. I remember when I got started riding for dressage we all use white tape and I don’t see tape anymore.

Nope. And they used to be the button braids. And now they’re the braids that are on their own. They’re wider and they’re on top of the neck. And there definitely seem to be styles of braids.

[00:28:56] Morgan Klingensmith: I think everyone has their own unique way of braiding. That’s what I find anyways, I think everyone’s a little bit different.

And so when people ask, can you teach me how to braid? And I was like I can, but you figure it out on your own. The more you practice, the more you figure out what you liked and how you like it.

[00:29:12] Aviva Nebesky: So no secrets to share with us.

[00:29:19] Stephanie Ruff: Okay. Just got to do it.

[00:29:22] Morgan Klingensmith: Right.

[00:29:24] Aviva Nebesky: So another question for you. I noticed that almost every horse that went into the arena had its hooves polished before it went in. And then as soon as they got into the footing, they got fluff all over their feet. So what was the point?

[00:29:39] Morgan Klingensmith: It looks nice when you put it on. I do understand the concept of, yes, you’re, they’re going to get dirty in a few minutes, you would like to think that it’s also keeping the hoof itself healthy.

[00:29:50] Stephanie Ruff: Okay. Okay. Not just for show.

And so are you a groom full-time well, you mentioned you’re riding a little bit more, but so do you do horses full-time or do you have a job outside the farm?

[00:30:08] Morgan Klingensmith: No, I do horses full-time

[00:30:11] Aviva Nebesky: How many horses do you groom on any given day.

[00:30:14] Morgan Klingensmith: Usually I want to think about this six, six to seven.

[00:30:22] Aviva Nebesky: And does that include tacking up and untacking. And do you get on and warmup for riders or

do you just,

[00:30:30] Morgan Klingensmith: yes, that includes it depends. We’ve got I have some other groups with me and depending on our schedules, most of the grooming and then basic care.

There’s a couple that I ride as well. And so obviously it just depends on our schedule sometimes. If I’m not busy and I do all the tackups for myself. And texts, if I need courses that are going back to back, I have helped with that. But that was basic care therapies.

Turnout. Here in Ohio, we do stalls as well. So just general care,

[00:30:58] Stephanie Ruff: regular, everyday horse stuff. Yeah. So you’re in Ohio now, are you. Do you, when do you come down to Wellington? In the winter?

[00:31:08] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah, I come down and we’re at Havensafe farm with Becky Juliano.

[00:31:13] Stephanie Ruff: And so yeah, so you’re there.

Now, do you have any other big shows or big events that you’re heading off to anytime soon? Or are you there for a little while?

[00:31:21] Morgan Klingensmith: I will be in Chicago Adrienne is bringing One of our horses that we had sent to Colorado while I was gone to Adrienne’s barn. So she’s going to bring her there.

What, and Tom, some of Adrienne’s other students and clients will be competing, so I will be there for the week. And so we’ll leave on Saturday.

[00:31:44] Stephanie Ruff: You at least I hopefully you’ve had enough time to be home and get readjusted to the time zone and where you’re at and all of that.

[00:31:52] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah, I think so

[00:31:56] Stephanie Ruff: last question is one that we like to ask everyone, because it’s just what I like to hear what people say.

And so what do you think makes a good horse person?

[00:32:05] Morgan Klingensmith: Obviously, hard work and dedication and the passion and love for the horse to the sport. I think that’s all very, important.

[00:32:15] Stephanie Ruff: And obviously that’s something that you have to be so dedicated to these animals and take such good care of them.

Yeah. I want to thank you for sharing your experiences with us and taking some time to talk with us today. It was really good to get you to know you a little bit better, and we look forward to seeing you out there again with some of Adrienne’s horses and Betsy’s horses of course, again soon.

[00:32:48] Morgan Klingensmith: Yeah.

[00:32:48] Aviva Nebesky: Thank you so much Morgan.

[00:32:50] Stephanie Ruff: Thanks. Again, both to Morgan Klingensmith for joining us today and to our sponsor Vita Flex.

thanks for listening to the Dressage Today Podcast. If you’ve missed any episodes or to subscribe, go to apple podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts while you’re there, please rate and review the show. Learn more and read in-depth training articles at dressagetoday.com or you can visit our subscription video site ondemand.dressagetoday.com. Be sure to give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Happy riding, and we’ll see you at X. The dressage today, podcast is a production of the equine podcast network and entity of equine network, LLC.

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