Hot Jersey, Ups and Downs at Millbrook, and a Great Comeback for Zoomer at Waredaca!

Well, I got behind and skipped a few things.. but to recap, at the end of June Zara and I did the horse trials at the Horse Park of New Jersey. We had a decent dressage test for us, and geared up for the jumping with lots of ice and water on hand! Advanced in 100+ degrees is certainly a great test of my and Zara's stamina. With the help of Mark and a newer friend, Nicole, we warmed up and headed over to warm up. Zara was wonderful, and we headed in confidently after some brilliant rides before us by Buck Davidson and Jennie Brannigan. An interesting thing about this stadium course was that it was nearly identical to the intermediate stadium at Seneca a few weeks before. At Seneca, we had one rail at the vertical one-stride at the end of the arena, when I allowed a loss of balance through our turn. Needless to say, I was excited to ride the course again and hopefully leave that mistake out! Zara went around wonderfully, keeping all the rails up. I did have one mistake, where I added a stride in a bend, but luckily we kept it together enough to get to the base and get over it just fine. Our first clean advanced stadium! We went on to ride the cross country after a cooling session, and had a great time. Zara conquered all of the questions with confidence, and we came in just a little over the time to earn 3rd place.

Zara's next event was the Millbrook horse trials in New York. I was excited, as I had never traveled there for an event. We arrived an uneventful drive and Zara settled in nicely. She gave me her most relaxed test yet, and I was very happy that we have been improving every single outing so far this year. The cross country looked fair but had an element I wasn't used to -- hilly terrain. I walked the course with Sally Cousins and she assured me as long as we are fit, we will adapt fine to the hills. She was certainly right, and Zara and I pushed ourselves to have one of the best rides we've had to date. She was light on her feet, quick, and adaptable throughout the course, and to make things better, we managed to get in tight to the time with just 2 seconds to spare. The next day for stadium, Zara was in good spirits, though likely a bit tired... I however, was quite fatigued from the ride, and did not ride my best in the stadium. With my lack of support, we had 5 rails around the course to drop us from 5th to 10th. Our drive home went well, and Zara got a brief vacation before we went back to work. I did not take a vacation, and have been focusing on my fitness and as much riding as I can to avoid that problem again!
[Video Here: Millbrook Advanced Cross Country!! ]

On a bit of a whim last week, when I saw Waredaca was accepting post-entries, I decided to enter my wonderful old mount Zoomer in the training. With some luck, someone scratched the open training division on Saturday, so we geared up to head over Sunday! Our rides were in the late morning and afternoon which gave me plenty of time to walk and prepare. Zoomer warmed up very nice for the dressage, and gave me a lovely test. Unfortunately for him, he is scored a little tougher than fancy big red horses, and we were in poor standing after the dressage. Luckily, I was entering him for the fun of it, and was very excited to jump my old super horse. Zoomer tackled the stadium and cross country with ease, and we ended on his dressage score to earn 7th. Not too bad for a year apart, and then only a week together! We will see what Zoomer's future will hold this time around!

Next on our schedule is a busy fall season for all of my mounts. Zara and I will go to Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia to try our hand at the AEC's for advanced level, followed by Plantation Field and Fair Hill. Baby will continue competing at the preliminary level after her summer vacation until she is sold. Geoni will have his recognized event debut hopefully going training a time or two before the winter. Zoomer will be doing training or preliminary as his fitness and limitations allow until I decide whether we will try and bring him back up the levels for find a new place for him to live. Very excited to be busy busy eventing again!!

Respect and Enjoy your Fellow Competitors... and LOVE AND CHERISH your volunteers!! An experienced eventer's adventure in volunteerland.

Well this blog post will be unlike my others (Don't worry, I'll still blog about Jersey... sometime), as they always cover events from my point of view as a competitor.... This time, it is from behind the scenes of the volunteers. I decided to skip the MD Horse Trials this year, as my horses have worked pretty hard this Spring. But I couldn't possibly spend the weekend of such a wonderful event sitting around in the heat worrying about my own things. Instead, I chose to volunteer at the horse trials for the weekend. I had never volunteered before at a recognized event. Here is a recap of my fantastical, toasty, slightly soggy day!

I made the potentially poor decision to go out with a friend on Friday night, and stayed out a little later than I should have. But regardless, made it up to Loch Moy by about 8:00 after a very important trip to Starbucks. At the volunteer meeting where I met my comrades for the day, we got our orders by the various hard-working organizers and headed out on the course. Throughout the day, from 80-couple degree start around 9:00 until the 100-couple degree end, every single person involved in running this show was extremely dedicated, humble and hard-working. I never heard even a single complaint. Not about the heat.. or about the jobs.. or about anything. The event ran quite smoothly, calmly and successfully all day because of this wonderful group of people who decided to devote their precious time to our passion as competitors. At the end of the day, we all gathered under the tent with food and wine (and some other beverages too). This group of volunteers, that before this morning didn't know much about each other, buzzed about the happenings from the day. Sharing the happenings at each of the jumps, complimenting many of the riders who navigated the course today, everyone stayed cheery and positive.

I was so happy to meet all of these volunteers, and although I tried to be appreciative before, after this weekend, I understand how much they truly deserve our thanks!! I look forward to my adventures tomorrow!

Plantation Field & Seneca Valley Horse Trials

After our adventures with MCTA, moving to Worthmore Equestrian Center, and rushing through fairhill, I decided to take a short break with the onset of the Summer heat and the chaos of settling into my new location. The last weekend of May and first in June, I actually didn't compete and had a relaxing weekend. Of course, I still spent most of it at the barn. Our next event was at Plantation, an event which I hadn't been to since 2008!! I entered Baby at the preliminary on Saturday and Geoni in the unrecognized beginner novice on Sunday.
Saturday was quite warm, but we hid under the shady side of our trailer and had a pretty good day. In the dressage, I unfortunately didn't study my test well enough. It's always a disappointment to negatively impact your horses score in such a careless way. Regardless, we started around the middle of the group with a very obedient test. The stadium rode the best it ever has for her, and even though we had 2 rails, every ride this horse feels more and more confident in her jumping. The cross country went extremely well, with a very bold, confident round and just a second under the optimum time to end up in 6th in the division.
Sunday we had mid-day rides, but Geoni didn't seem to mind the heat. He warmed up very nicely, with none of the greenie behavior he showed at his first event in April. He earned a respectable 34.5 to start off in 5th. He was wonderful in the stadium for a clean round, and very brave on the cross country! He got his first yellow ribbon for 3rd.
This weekend Zara competed at the Seneca Valley horse trials in the intermediate, so we would have a good run before we do the advanced at the New Jersey horse park in 2 weeks. Zara and I have been working very hard on our dressage (which I'll post about another time) and it was very rewarding for it to show at this event!! Friday evening, I developed a migraine, which was not helpful in the 3 hour haul to Seneca to walk, then 1.5 hour haul to my Mom's house to stay for the night so we were a bit closer to the event for our morning times. It was also not helpful for sleeping, waking up, or the event day in general. Ugh! After a rough drive there, I forced myself to just get through dressage, and see how it goes, then plan to jump stadium and WD for cross country if I was still feeling so nauseous. Zara gave me a great first half of our test, with a much better feel than our previous attempts. Unfortunately, she threw a big red mare temper tantrum in the canter work..... complete with rearing, striking and lunging. I was just pleased when we made it to the final halt without getting the whistle blown on us! Lucky for me, the judge had a sense of humor about it, and I'm sure it helped that for the whole airs above the ground performance I was laughing and shaking my head. She said "Whew! Good Luck!!" out the window. While I was very annoyed that Zara decided it was a good day for a meltdown, we got through it, and the trot work felt better. Definitely planning to WD still at this point, as I still feel horrible, and have low expectations for our dressage score! After taking a moment to collect myself, we tacked up for stadium. It was riding a little rough, as it usually does there on the grass with some tough distance questions to keep riders on their toes. I warmed Zara up a little aggressively, hoping to avoid the submission issues we faced earlier. We went in and she and I both jumped brilliantly. We had 1 rail where we weren't perfectly balanced through the turn to a vertical, but it was one of those rounds where you finish and you think "Wow!" I headed back to my trailer and got her boots off and tack loosened up to decide if I would run or not... Then checked my phone to see that we got a 41.2 in dressage!! Ok, I guess well have to run now! So we geared up and headed out to have a nice easy ride around the intermediate, with a couple time faults to end up in 6th. Not too shabby after such a rough start to the day! I picked up my dressage test to be SO ecstatic that Zara earned 9's, 8's and 7's on much of the trot work. It was such a rewarding experience with the hard work we have done on fixing our fundamentals in the trot work over the past 2 weeks. Better watch out once we learn how to canter!!

Next, Baby will be doing the eventing qualifying rally for Pony Club at Waredaca, and Zara is set to do the advanced at the New Jersey horse park.

MCTA and Fairhill Horse Trials

MCTA:
Zara started the weekend off with dressage in the evening on Saturday around 4pm. She warmed up wonderfully; I've found that she tends to be a bit less nervous and distracted when we ride in the afternoon. Just to keep things exciting as usual, just a few minutes before we are to enter the ring, Zara pulls a shoe. I got over to the check in station, and they said they couldn't fit me later, and the farrier would not be able to get it done in time (4 minutes to ride time). So, since Zara was very sound, and the ground was nice, we went on into the ring lacking the shoe and had a pretty good test! We scored a 45.6 to start the weekend at our 3rd advanced.
Sunday Baby was also at the horse trials to do her first recognized event of the year, running the training level. I was lucky to have the help of Dodon's wonderful Emily Hanna to help with the 2 mares for the day. We were the first trailer to arrive, and I managed to catch a walk around some of the advanced with Sally before Zara's rides. Zara was feeling very fresh in the stadium, and is usually a tougher ride in the grass. Being right next to the cross country didn't do us any favors either. Zara was less rideable than usual, and we had a disappointing 3 rails around the course. Lucky for me, excitable or not, Zara is a fantastic horse on the cross country. She went around the advanced easily, coming in with just a few time penalties to place us in 3rd.
After a long wait, Baby's dressage was around 3. Baby was well behaved in the test, and I didn't really understand the scoring. She scored in the 40s to start us in the lower end of the open training pack. Apparently it was not my best stadium riding day, as Baby was also a bit hot in the stadium and had 4 down, but was brilliant in the cross country. She showed me that she has the confidence to run preliminary at her next outing.

Fairhill:
Zara started this weekend also, with her rides early Saturday. She was fairly relaxed in the dressage, but I made a slight test error to earn a 50 under Brian Ross, which was acceptable because I am happy we are improving from our last ride with him. We again had the stadium in the grass field by the cross country, but this time she was much better behaved. I feel that I was able to keep myself much more still and steady in the contact to have a better step to each fence. We had 2 down, one of which was my mistake of a slipped rein coming around to the 4th fence, and the second was at the last fence through a tough combination. Despite the rails, it was a far better round. The intermediate cross country rode easily for her, and we didn't rush the time to come in 2 seconds over. Zara finished in 8th.
Baby's rides were early Sunday morning, and she gave me a lovely test minus a few distractions in the ring by the grandstand. Emily Olcott from Worthmore Equestrian Center came along to help for the day.  She earned a 37.7 to start off in 9th in the open preliminary. After the previous weeks, I had been toying with changes in Baby's tack, as she had a few habits that were new and undesirable. I found that she is much steadier in the bridle when she is in a single jointed bit as oppose to the french link type I have had her in for a while. She warmed up for the stadium very nicely, and I rode a little bit sloppily in the ring, but Baby showed me her scope as she successfully fixed my occasional rider errors to have one rail. She ran the cross country boldly, having a bit of a look at the big trakehner at number 5, but didn't let it affect the rest of her ride like it has in the past. She navigated the rest of the questions like a pro and made me excited for her next preliminary at plantation in a few weeks. Baby also placed 8th.

Next on the schedule for Zara is the intermediate at Seneca before the advanced at the New Jersey horse park. Baby is planned to run preliminary at Plantation, then either Surefire or New Jersey.

Solidifying our Confidence at Advanced - 5th at Fairhill!

GRC photos from Morven Intermediate

 GRC photos from Fairhill Advanced

After returning home from Aiken, with the consult of Sally, I decided that it would be best for Zara to assure her confidence before continuing at the advanced level. We went to the Horse Trials at Morven park and had a great ride around the intermediate.
We then moved on to do the Fairhill Advanced, where I also got to scope out the CIC*** course. In the dressage Zara was certainly having a grumpy day, as despite having a very nice, relaxed warm up, she choked a bit on the canter entrance, making our trot work have more tension than we have in schooling. The canter work was improved, despite her attitude about the flying changes. The judge was kind enough to consider each movement separately, awarding Zara good marks on her walk work which we have been schooling a lot.
I walked cross country with Sally, and felt confident about the course. The ground was quite hard, but we decided to run and it rode softer than it walked the day before. Zara had a pretty great ride around the course, with only a few small areas that could have been improved. The main issue we had was a misunderstanding about the skinny cabin, through steep downhill road crossing, up to a longer cabin. We went in slow and smooth to the skinny cabin, but Zara decided that the very steep hill was a bank and leaped down into the road, unsettling me a bit. Luckily for me, she was already locked on and going to the cabin at the top of the next hill, so I set my hands wide, sat back and let her take me to it. What a smart mare! The next 2 jumps suffered from the bit of confusion, as we trotted the hanging log and then I pushed her back up into a strong step for the 2 roll tops through the water and out over the skinny. We took a straighter line than I had walked, but with the step and power I had at the time, it was a better choice for her to have a big confident step through them than a more collected bending line we had planned. Our neighbor in the barns, Susan Beebee commented, "you rode her socks off at that water!" The very next jump was the fish tank table, which was the cause of our troublesome experience in the CCI** last fall, and we conquered it perfectly. We finished with a clean round and about 5 time penalties.
Stadium the next day was a bit tough, especially with the hard ground in the warmup and in the ring. Many people were having rails, in fact, Sally was the only clean ride in my division. Zara warmed up well, but felt a little sticky in the ring. We had the first rail but went clean the rest of the way around to place us 5th in the division.

Next we will do MCTA Advanced.

The Big Move: Pine Top ADVANCED!!

(photo by Ginny Nayden)

Well I'm finally writing about this, I'm not exactly sure what took me so long! Maybe just making sure I wouldn't wake up and find this all to be a dream. Anyways, as planned from last fall, Zara and I signed up for Pine Top as both of our first advanced horse trials! The excitement and nerves in the few days before quickly vanished as I focused on getting everything right getting ready for dressage. Unfortunately, some poor luck stepped in as about 5 minutes before I was supposed to "enter at A" Zara pulled a shoe, followed quickly by a lot of rain. Despite this, we held it together, were luckily skipped and then allowed to enter the ring after our time by judge Brian Ross and got our test done. Unfortunately with the heavy rains that persisted, the cross country and stadium would both be the following day. Now that the really stressful part of the event was over, Saturday was beautiful and kept me beaming all day that I would be riding the big blue numbers that day. After a decent stadium round, pulling one rail, I got one more course walk in before getting on for cross country. The course was big but quite inviting and presented a nice balance of large tables and complex questions, and rode very well for us! Here are some of the combinations that presented challenges: The first decent question was a large table, slightly long strided up a hill to a hanging log, and down the hill with a left bend to a right tipped corner. This question seemed to ride very well as long as the horses maintained their impulsion through the hill. The next big challenge was the first water jump. A large ramp with a short 6 stride bend right to a large log and drop into the water, with a forward step out and over a skinny. This question asked riders to recollect themselves after taking on the very forward thinking beginning of the course. The next big question, besides the GIANT table in between these two, was the coffin. It was a good size grouping of logs, with a long 1 stride to a wide but shallow ditch, followed by the short 2-strided option of either a left or right skinny angled brush fence. When I walked this, it was a bit worrying, as Zara and I have some work to do yet on getting really well collected in the cross country, but we worked well together and got through it with ease. The next combination, after another table, was the bounce. This question had 2 substantial log groupings spaced about 10 feet apart, into a hollow and a hard left bend 6 strides to a right tipped corner as the "C" element. I felt this was the best combination Zara and I handled that day. It felt smooth and easy for the smart horse. Another table in between, and on to the second water jump. This water was fairly straight forward, but presented many more obstacles than the other, and than any water jump I've done before. The gator jump in, 19, was followed by a drifting turn to get straight to the next 4 elements. "20AB" was a bank up, short 1 stride to a hedge jump back into the water, slightly collected 5 strides to an up bank, "C," and another 5 strides to a left point corner. Unfortunately, I should have checked my equipment better, and failed to replace my stirrup pads which are highly worn, and slippery once wet(from the first water). As we jumped in, I lost my footing and landed in a bit of a heap with no stirrups. Luckily, I learned that I CAN think fast while I'm competing, and realized the fences were numbered separate, so I made about a 10 meter circle to the right (which would have made a dressage judge proud!) and got straight to the following elements. With the disorganization that occurred and the extra leg I put on to make sure Zara's confidence stayed up through the questions, we came back into the water off the hedge bank a bit too strong, getting a comfortable 4 in the 5, and with a big jump out, got a slightly long but not extravagant 4 to the corner. I even heard the bystanders applaud my efforts, which got me going to get through the last 2 fences. After... yes, a table, and another giant table, we had finished our first advanced! AND we got through it following one of the most important things Sally Cousins has worked with me on down here for moving up: "Don't run at the tables!" Thank goodness for great advice, as getting the perfect spot to each of those tables was not only a small victory for me, but also proved how much BETTER it felt to feel your horse cover a large obstacle with no troubles.I certainly have an incredible horse to make that course feel so great! Zara was as foot perfect as she could be, and I think we handled the questions like a great team. The dressage may be tough for this horse, but to jump her is a huge joy and honor. Although we have plenty to work on before the next one, I am still beaming at such an incredible first advanced experience. We look on to plan out intermediate at Morven Park before another advanced at Fairhill in April. Home from Aiken on the 21st =]

Pine Top Intermediate - First Event of 2012!

So last Friday, after over a month of preparation down here in Aiken with Sally Cousins, Zara and I went to our first event of the season! It was a super early morning, pulling out around 5:00 to head over to Thomson, GA. Zara was braided and bundled up ready to go after feeding around 4:15. Having never been to Pine Top, I did pass the entrance once, but then parked and got situated, as only the 2nd trailer there, in the dark. Unfortunately despite my early arrival, I still managed to run a little late in getting everything including myself prepared for our dressage test at about 8:25. I lunged Zara, but not quite as long as she really needs to be relaxed. Then, upon stopping at my trailer to put my spurs on and get on, my dress boot (which has been worn a grand total of about 6 times and shown in only once at dressage at fairhill) BROKE!! The zipper broke right off.... So in a slight panic, I scrambled to find my other field boots and got them cleaned up enough to be acceptable. I got on, and after going about 50 feet realized I forgot my bridle number. Went back and got off to get it on her, got back on, and headed over to warm up. Zara was fairly well behaved in the warm up, and we went into the ring more tense than I would have liked, but did quite a decent, consistent test right up until the final canter work where we had a little tiff over the tight turn to the center line on the right lead. We scored a 44, putting us at the end of the pack, but not last. Happy to have that over with, I went on to walk some of my xc and look at the stadium course. Unfortunately I just missed the walking time. We geared up and headed over to stadium, where Zara was a bit hectic and piggish in the warm up. Our round was similar, with 2 rails due mostly to her unsteadiness -- and normally I blame the rails on myself!! We went on to walk the xc with Sally and some other students of hers to find a long, bold and big but fair course for a solid intermediate. After waiting a while for my 3:30ish ride time to come near, we tacked up and headed over. I was sure to not overdo it for Zara in the warm up, as lots of canter or gallop before her ride can make her a bit fussy with me. Unfortunately, maybe she could have used up a little more energy on warm up, as she went out to fence one VERY strong. I love having a horse that loves to take me to the fences, but not when it messes with my eye for my distance. We had a few ugly jumps over the first few and smaller of the course as she got settled into the routine. It took a lot more time to settle her into the combinations after her wild beginning of the course, so in order to be safe (and keep her sound, as the footing was a bit harder than I would have liked) we took our time. I didn't really allow her to get into a big good gallop between fences and over the big tables because I was worried I would not have her back enough to have a say in the approach. Despite a bit of a trip step into the first water, most of the remaining jumps rode very well for us. The big tables that looked a bit intimidating to walk rode like they were just another jump, and the combinations backed Zara off enough that we didn't have to go into anything complicated with a ton of pulling. I was especially pleased with her through the first water after her trip step on the entrance, as she pulled herself up, and payed attention to me to get her to the next 3 elements of the course - out of the water over a big triple log jump, one stride back into the water over another triple log jump, and out through a beach up to a skinny near the fence line. She also held herself together well to figure out the second water, which came after a big table off a right turn, with a drop in and a right turn around to a good sized bounce-out element. We crossed the finish line with a fair amount of time added to the optimum, but I wasn't too worried since Zara and I have almost always made time at the level. We certainly have a few things to sort out before the next pine top in 2 weeks, but it was not too bad of a start!! The most important thing will be getting a change to her bridle situation to make sure that I will be as safe as possible in the jumping phases. Until next time, stay warm wherever you are and hope the fantastic weather returns to Aiken very soon!!