Th
e Beginning
Melanie was born and raised in a very small Eastern Shore town in Maryland called “Chestertown”. She had a childhood friend who took riding lessons, and Melanie tagged along for the fun. After a summer of riding lessons at age 5, she began to really enjoy riding. Her parents could not afford to keep her in lessons, so Melanie began to ride anything she could, anywhere she could. She was the stereotypical barn rat, doing whatever possible to be on the back of a horse. Hard work, long hours, and a lot of dirt and sweat paved the rode for Melanie to learn to stick on the back of a horse! Growing up in a very small town, and trading labor for riding, opportunities for education and learning were slim to none. This is not the story of a rider brought up through the ranks of top barns, trainers and programs. No, this is the exact opposite. Starting with nothing and few prospects. But working every moment to find more! This style of horse life continued through Mel’s teen years, where she discovered a love for jumping. Low level Show Jumping and Eventing captured her attention, and she played in the local rings as often as she could figure out a way to afford it.
Boyd – The horse that started it all
Fast forward many years, and we find Melanie with her husband, Brendan Wise. Brendan is a trainer and clinician who made his start in Natural Horsemanship and Ranch/Cow/Reining horses, but ultimately fell in love with Classical Dressage, and has devoted his life to the study of it. Here in this season of Melanie’s journey, we find here with her first bridleless horse, Boyd. Very shortly before Melanie and Brendan’s relationship began, Boyd was given to Melanie by a friend. Not too long after being given to her, Boyd began to show a very troubled nature. He had severe “authority issues” that could be potentially traced to being an orphan foal, and some neglect/abuse earlier in life, before he was rescued by Melanie’s friend. Boyd’s troubled nature showed itself in many ways, but the main symptoms were difficulty with motivation and learning, as well as extreme aggression at times. Though most often Boyd was a perfect teddy bear, so to speak, he had an aggressive tendency that could quickly turn dangerous to the people around him. Though Brendan and Melanie were cautious and careful about Boyd’s lifestyle, Melanie was able to develop a very personal bond with him. Bridleless riding and training was a routine and normal part of Brendan’s training and performances. After watching Brendan work and perform bridleless with one of his horses, Melanie decided she would give it a try on Boyd! Through many hours of dedication, frustration, big wins, towering setbacks, and a good many tears Melanie and Boyd found something special together. The spooky, anxious, angry horse turned into a more relaxed, willing and confident partner. Sure, Boyd still had his “interesting” moments. But together they were able to achieve something Melanie did not think would ever be possible. With no tack but a soft dressage whip in each hand, Boyd and Melanie sored over jumps together in front of crowds with Brendan, as well as around the farm and on the trails. Bareback and bridleless, that was their dance.
Transitions – the story of Vlad
Unfortunately, on December 9th, 2015, we laid Boyd to rest. Melanie had lost her best friend. It was devastating. She was fully convinced she would never have that bond again.
A little over a year before Boyd passed, Melanie and Brendan were given what can only be described as a “train wreck” of a horse! That horse’s name: Wings. At the time, Melanie and Brendan didn’t really see much of a point to the name Wings, so they gifted him with a name more fitting of his current temperament and personality: Vladimir… after the infamous “Vladimir, the Impaler”! Starting to get the picture of this guy? Vlad was given to Melanie and Brendan by a wonderful friend who knew Vlad’s trainer at the time. Vlad had been imported to the Dominican Republic from Holland as a very young stallion. There were very high hopes for his potential, and he was trained rigorously to become the next sensation. Vlad, however, had different ideas. His high spirits and disregard for authority figures made handling and training difficult. He showed talent… if you could stay on. Melanie had it described to her from a rider who worked with him in those days as a “rodeo” when on his back. After proving to be more frustration that was worth it, Vlad was sold to the US and imported as a dressage prospect. Once again, Vlad had other ideas! After being imported to the States, Vlad never really settled in. Difficult to handle on the ground, no social skills, paced and ran the pastures and difficult riding issues plagued his new life. His habits of refusal and rearing began to increase and make progress near impossible.
Vlad’s Beginning
Melanie and Brendan have often dealt with horses of difficult natures and backgrounds, and have had great success in bringing them to new and relaxing lives. The wonderful friend who knew Vlad’s trainer in the U.S. was aware of Melanie’s work with trouble horses. When the search began to find Vlad new placement, Melanie was contacted by her friend. A short time later, Vlad jumped out of the shipping trailer full of fire and vinegar! In addition to his behavioral and emotional struggles, Vlad had been on stall rest for 4 months dealing with lameness in his feet as well. It seemed that all odds were against this little firecracker when he arrived. The goal for Vlad was to try to get him sound, get him working comfortably, and then move him to a forever home. It did not take long to realize how much of a daunting task that just might be! Melanie and Brendan made the decision to try to help Vlad hit the reset button. They wanted him to forget about the life of a show pony, and just learn to be a horse again. So for the first few months he was given to light turnout and stall rest while Brendan worked to get his feet back underneath him with regular barefoot trimming. This took time as they discovered that Vlad had developed a large amount of false sole and severe imbalances. Turnout was also quite interesting because Vlad had no idea how to be socially interactive with other horses, after being a stallion for so long. A horse would tell him to move, and he would just stand there and take the kick. Not ever moving! It took him a long while to figure out horse life. Eventually he was slowly learning to be a part of a herd, but he was not getting any more sound in his feet and body. Once they were confident that his feet were at least headed in a positive direction, they decided to send him to Brendan’s parent’s house, and turn him out with the cows! At this time, though seemingly headed in a positive direction, Vlad was still quite lame, and not yet rideable. The hope was that given enough time being a “horse”, he might one day be ready to work again. He lived with cows, and one old mare, in a large pasture for a full winter. When Brendan and Melanie came to visit for the holidays Vlad came running to the fence, and to our surprise he was perfectly sound! Happily showing off his beautiful movement in an extended trot! Everyone was excited and surprised at the progress he had made over the course of the winter.
That summer Melanie and Brendan moved from North Carolina to a farm very close to where Vlad was living with the cows, in Maryland. Vlad was brought to the new farm and Melanie was excited to finally get to work on this boy. However, Vlad feeling sound was even more “fun” than the unsound Vlad. He was hard to work with, and was a complete tense ball of nerves under saddle. Brendan started to work with him in hand on the ground to help him understand the bridle from foundational beginnings. He steadily made progress, but was still quite tense. In a way we were expecting that, given what we had seen of some of his previous riding before he came to us. He was started back into riding lightly, and quickly figured out Vlad was tense and anxious, but more than that he was a serious over achiever! He loved to show off that ground covering trot of his! We did not do a ton with him at that time, but got him back under saddle to the point where he was sound and safe. At that time the idea was to put him up for sale, as the plan was to sell him once he was going again and he proved to us he was not dangerous under saddle. Well, time went on, and he was still with us going into the following winter. This would be the winter that Melanie lost Boyd.
Little by Little
When Melanie lost Boyd she was not even sure where to go with her riding. She had a young horse that was only 2 years old at the time, and they had Vlad. Since she had nothing else to ride, one day she decided to take Vlad on a trail ride. That trail ride… she will promise you… was very scary! After dismounting 4 times because he was rearing, spinning and trying to run off because he saw something that he said was very scary, Melanie was almost positive he was not the horse for her! She continued to work with him because she had nothing else to ride. But it was not fun for her. Her heart was not in it. Her rides were filled with frustration over the fact that she was used to her nice and relaxed horse that she had just lost, and Vlad at the time was just the opposite of that nice relaxed horse, that she felt very comfortable and safe on. In all honesty: she hated him. She could not wait for him to get better so he could be moved on to his next home. But as time went on they started, little by little, to become something resembling a team. Piece by piece, ride by ride, they started to understand each other a little more.
She took him to his first show that following winter, and played around in the 2’3″ division at a local show. That is the day Melanie and Brendan found out Vlad’s passion was jumping! And jump they did! They started to jump in the warm up, and the incredibly difficult horse all of a sudden was much more willing to work! Something to note, about Mel personally is that she had not shown in many years, and was pretty nervous to take him around a course, given his history of difficulty, vicious stopping and refusals. But she did it anyway! She was terrified to jump her first 3ft course, ever, on this horse! She was so scared that she needed some extra encouragement from my grandmother, who was present at the show watching, just to get to the ring. But Vlad was amazing! He was no longer the horse she had once labeled as difficult. He was packing her around like it was nothing. A couple weeks later, Melanie and Vlad went to another local show and did the 3’6″ division. Melanie says that she was pretty sure she was hyperventilating while walking into that 3’6”ring. She knew he could do it, but as for her personally… she was not feeling so confident! Yet again, he packed her around the course. She was just blown away by this little wonder horse, and he wow’d everyone that saw him jump.
Melanie’s dream of showing on the rated circuit then came to life. May of last 2016, Vlad and Melanie attended their first rated show together: the Blue Rock Classic at Swan Lake, in Pennsylvania. They just might have jumped right into the fire when they decided to show in the 1.20m AO Classes! That was a big jump from their little local shows, but he proved over and over they belonged out there. Sadly, they didn’t have a trainer to show her the classes I couldn’t cross enter, and they lost all their top 5 placings from the entire show due to cross entry issues. It was her very first rated show, and she didn’t yet understand rules like that. It was a painful learning moment, but they didn’t let that set back stop them! They continued showing through the summer, winning some and losing some. But they were both happy to be out there. Vlad was still showing tense moments, but for the most part they were working good together. Most of their problems at the time seemed to stem from her over riding in the course with her hands. Vlad is so very sensitive in the mouth, and consequently he would add 3-4 strides in during a line, no problem, if she asked him to. This sensitivity and ability was both a gift and a curse, especially for an inexperienced course rider.
Despite their success together, at the end of summer 2016, Melanie and Brendan made the decision to put Vlad up for sale, since that was supposed to be the plan for him. It was a difficult decision that, Melanie shed many tears over. Money was very tight, and that was the original plan for Vlad. The horse she once hated riding was starting to grow on her. They had developed a partnership now that was just starting to take off. Well, Vlad left for a trial at the end of August 2016, just after Melanie had sent in her entry for the Washington International Horse Show (WIHS). She couldn’t control the timing, and she had to let him go. He left on trial, but on arrival he randomly he walked off the trailer with a lameness again. He was vetted while on trial, and they found a very strange growth in his stifle. Of course, he ended up coming home, but it was bittersweet. She was happy to have her horse back, but Melanie and Brendan really could have used the money as they are far from affluent people. A young horse loving couple, earning every inch of progress in a tough industry. When Brendan saw how painful it was for Melnaie to let Vlad go on trial, knowing that he very well may not come back, Brendan made a silent commitment to himself that if Vlad came back from the trial unsold that he would stay with them forever. He knew that he did not have anywhere near the funding to purchase a nice show horse for Mel. So keeping Vlad was going to be virtually the only viable shot he had at giving her a chance at success in the show ring any time in the near future. As it was destined, Vlad came back from trial and Brendan told Melanie was forever hers.
Not long after Vlad came back from the trial, Melanie got her acceptance letter as a wild card rider for WIHS! This was a “tears of joy” moment. It had been a childhood dream of hers since she was a young kid and watched Aaron Vale jump an amazing round to take the win on barn night! So their journey to the big arena show began. The pair didn’t have a ton of miles together yet, but she felt somewhat ready. Despite feeling ready, Melanie and Vlad were having some troubles directly after coming back from the trial. They received their first elimination at Zone finals 2016, 3 days before WIHS. This was an awful feeling for the team. All of a sudden Melanie didn’t feel so ready. But they went out there in that terrifying WIHS ring for the first time and tried their best. Their best that night, however, was not so good… to say the least. The emotion of that ring got to them both, and they had a discernably rough round. She would spend the entire coming year with WIHS on her mind, knowing she wanted another shot, in hopes of redemption.
Not too long after what felt like a sobering defeat at WIHS, Mel and Vlad started to play with bridleless. Nothing formal. It really was just playing. He was not proving to be a great bridleless horse. Vlad was always 100mph, and it was a little scary for Melanie at times, given she was used to a push ride with her former bridleless partner, Boyd. In January of 2017, Melanie and Brendan randomly decided to bring Vlad to the Maryland Horse World expo, where Brendan was invited as a clinician that year, and try some bridleless jumping with a friend of Brendan’s who was also there performing a bridleless jumping demonstration. This was, to say the least, “interesting”! During warm up Vlad was just running off after the fences and Melanie had minimal control in the taxing environment. He had also decided rearing was once again a fun activity. Though very nervous because Vlad was lacking a good bit of the control and steadiness they had recently started to achieve bridleless, Melanie still went out in the ring making the best of what she had. She recalled that Brendan was constantly reminding her, “Ride the Horse you have under you today. Not the one you had yesterday. Not tomorrow. The one you have today. He’s the one that matters.” Given that Vlad loves the crowd, he actually performed well, all things considered. No matter where he and Melanie go, Vlad always wins the hearts of the crowd. We set a new personal record, jumping 5ft bridleless that day. Up until that point she had never jumped 5ft, even in a bridle! She was very happy with this performance, but after that event the pair didn’t really do much with bridleless due to their busy show schedule.
Over the summer of 2017, they continued to play with bridleless here and there in between their show schedule. But once again, nothing formal. They were still having the issue of running off after fences. He was just confused. Looking back on that time, Melanie feels that in the bit he had no choice but to submit to the pressure eventually. But he proved to me that there were holes in our communication because when she took the bridle off he was confused about many concepts that should have still been clear. She tried to teach him everything her previous bridleless horse knew, but it was not easy for Vlad. Melanie is not completely sure what light bulb came on, but around September, 2017, something just clicked when they were schooling. He began to understand in a much more clear and deep way. When she was asked to perform bridleless at an event in the beginning of October, 2017, Melanie decided to only ride him bridleless at all times until the event. During the short time preparing for the event, she started to have a new found relaxation that she had never experienced before with Vlad. He was starting to go around like a school horse on the flat and over fences. It was an amazing feeling! At that point her daily rides were focused on establishing a clear and effective cue system with him bridleless. Melanie felt like they were finally starting to speak the same language! There is no rule book or training book on what cues to use, or how to teach, bridleless. So as a team, you start to speak a new language that is developed all on your own.
When she started to prepare for the Pennsylvania National Horse Show (PNHS), which she would be riding in just a few days before WIHS, she started riding in a bridle again. The change was instant and negative. He was back to his tense self, and it was frustrating because she had been riding this nice relaxed horse without the bridle just prior. Melanie rode him in a bridle at one point just before the PNHS, having to almost stay in walk because he was being so tough. But after a long while, struggling to find good work, she took the bridle off and he was instantly different horse. Melanie started to question herself as a rider, which there is merit to and she feels there is so much for her to learn and become better in, but in reality there was truly a big factor that they just worked better and happier together bridleless. Vlad is a horse that tells you his opinion, positive and negative, in a quite obvious way. He wears his heart on his sleeve. His opinion was that he did not like working with the bit as a team at that time. In Melanie’s words, “…when you mix a sensitive horse, a bit, and show nerves at a big competition… the end result is that one of you makes a great mistake. Normally I am the one to make that mistake, as his rider. The conclusion was that I gave him his freedom, which he appreciated and enjoyed, and now he expects that all the time! Perhaps even resents it a little bit when that freedom is withheld.” When they went to PNHS shortly after, Melanie and Vlad had a rough course. In Melanie’s heart it came down to her wanting to micromanage. She feels this is a bad habit of hers when riding Vlad because he is fiery, and the tendency is to want to contain that fire. But he is also very sensitive/adjustable. Which indulges her temptation to micromanage because he responds to it, even if the response causes the course to go poorly. Melanie felt that she always found herself holding Vlad too much at that time, causing unnecessary tension during the course.
After the horrible ride at PNHS, Melanie could not help but think that if she would have just let him do his job the course would not have ridden so bad. Whether that is true or not, who can fully say. But she knew she brought her equipment to go bridleless to PNHS, even though she did not plan to use it. So she feel that in her head she already knew the answer. She exited the ring at PNHS in total defeat. Miserable, painful, heavy and depressing defeat. She felt so disappointed. Not at Vlad, but at her riding as his leader and partner. That Sunday, one day after the show, she rode bridleless just to let loose and relax. Vlad was amazing. And so the crazy idea to ride at WIHS bridleless was born! Melanie consulted with a few trainers that knew her and Vlad as a team, and to her surprise, gained a lot of the support from them. She slept on it, but woke up Monday morning with the same thought: they could do it. Melanie felt that Vlad had been telling her what he prefers, bridleless, and she just had to listen. They practiced every day until they left for WIHS, and Vlad was doing super. Better than ever. She found herself feeling all the emotions of nervousness, excitement, fear and confidence… every emotion you could feel about going to the biggest show of your year with no bridle.
Melanie felt that she had tried so hard to fit into the world called “show jumping”, and for the most part was fitting in great. But she was about to do something that took her outside of the box of “normal”. Quite honestly, that was terrifying for her! She did not want to do this for any attention, or to get people to know who she was. That thought never crossed any of the minds involved. Melanie made that decision for Vlad. In her words, “Let’s be honest, who would try this at WIHS?!!” Only a very select few people knew she was considering it. It was not at all public knowledge. Tuesday, one day before they were to ride at WIHS, they had a chance to school in the main arena. Melanie was about to enter a ring with 20 other horses, and hope that her hot and fiery jumper, that is normally super bridleless, was going to behave in this environment! He went in that ring totally professional in every way. He was quiet on the flat, and they even schooled fences with many horses running around, who often had way less control than she had bridleless, we might add. After that schooling Melanie knew that she was ready to make this happen! Vlad was telling her, and she was listening. Wednesday, the day of my class, came and Melanie was a ball of nerves. Vlad was calm cool and collected. Something that he always is when enjoying his stall and hand walking. When Melanie started warming up in the practice ring (the infamous tiny and insanely claustrophobic practice ring of WIHS) it was overwhelming, but he did very well. Off to the show ring they went! As they say, the rest is history.
They made some mistakes in their course, but Melanie was beyond happy to fly over the last fence of that course! She finished the course with no bridle and one stirrup. When Melanie came over that last fence she was completely in tears. It was the first time she didn’t look straight at the score board. She could have been 1st or last place and she would have been just as happy! No ribbon can take the place of the feeling that Melanie felt coming over that last fence. Would she have liked to place in the top 12, and taken a bridleless victory gallop?…. of course. Who wouldn’t?! But Melanie was just so happy to have a teammate that is so amazing, that she was content with finishing the course. Melanie now looks forward to showing all of her future seasons bridleless at every venue that will allow it, and working towards coming back to WIHS in the near future.
After taking it easy through the Winter of 2018, Melanie and Vlad have worked very hard through the spring to fill some holes in the foundation of their course riding. With an emphasis on a high level of skill on the flat, giving them an incredible degree of balance and control, Brendan has been working closely with the pair to mold their course riding into something truly impressive. They have been working at a slow and consistent pace, ensuring that each piece of the puzzle lines up. The goal for the 2018 show season is to improve their ability to ride controlled, balanced, relaxed and clean courses.
We invite you all to track their progress on this website, and on social media. Follow Unbridled Wings on Facebook and Instagram for frequent updates, pictures and video as this team continues to stretch the boundaries and break the barriers of what we think is possible!
Brendan Wise, Melanie’s husband, is devoted to the study of the horse in the Classical tradition. He combines his experience in horsemanship, and western working disciplines, with his constant study and application of the teachings of the Classical Masters. The blend is a unique hybrid that opens the doors to unlocking the greatest potential in all horses and disciplines. He considers it an honor to be an influential player in the development of this incredible team.