So my eventing season successfully started off early this year with two long weekend trips to Aiken!! The first weekend, February 18-20, Zara and Baby competed at the Preliminary and Novice levels at the Paradise Farm Horse Trials. We arrived in Aiken around 3 in the morning on Friday and slept a little before dressage for the girls that day. Despite the tiredness from the long drive, I had a great test on Zara and a decent test on Baby; the beautiful weather certainly helped to raise my spirits for the day, coming from snowy rainy Maryland! Zara got a 34.1, putting her 9th of 23 entries, and Baby got a 35.2, putting her 12th of 27 entries. Saturday was stadium for Baby and cross country for Zara - the morning started off early with a great clean round for Baby, and success continued with a fantastic clean ride for Zara, with just a few time penalties. Her ride was by far the best that she had put forth for me yet in cross country, as she really focused on the jumps and seemed very comfortable in a couple of the more challenging questions of the course, like the skinny to the coffin combination, roll top to corner, and through the table and 1 stride over brush into the water. The next day was cross country for Baby and stadium for Zara. Baby went first, showing her first show of the season green side, with one stop at a spooky dark with light stripes table jump, and a bad moment where she became preoccupied with a nearby jump instead of hers. Im not sure if her second problem should have been listed as a stop, since we were pretty far out from the fence and weren't even facing it (she was spooking at a biig unlabeled corner to the right of our jump, before we made the left turn towards her jump). Besides these moments, she went around the course pretty confidently, without glancing at anything else and making time. Since Zara's stadium was after, I didn't have a chance to get to scores to question the second refusal. Zaras stadium was brilliant and smooth, pulling no rails and making time; she made her third prelim of her career and first prelim of the season look like a piece of cake!! With her clean round, Zara finished 6th in a big, tough prelim division. Baby will be schooling once we are home before her next one!!
The next weekend in Aiken was March 4-6 at the Sporting Days Farm horse trials. Unfortunately Baby was left behind for this trip due to a minor lameness from a lost shoe on Thursday morning, but Zara traveled fine alone. This time we arrived with a whole day to get rested before competing on Saturday, however since Zara was in season already I knew dressage would have potential for disaster. Dressage on Saturday morning went as expected, a little rushed and a little tight. We received a 48.6, which I thought was a little harsh considering our test may have had tense moments, but also had some very good moments which received scores the same as our poorer moments. Oh well. In stadium, Zara needed a little extra help lifting her feet; the course had challenged many riders with a few rails here and there. Zara pulled the second jump, and after this I rode a little harder to keep her feet up. She ended up one second over time also. Her cross country ride went great, with no jump or time penalties, and a good, confident, strong ride over the course. She ended up placing 14th of 22. I am thinking after this weekend I may get her on depo and not have to worry about "bad mare days," since prior to this event her dressage had been much more relaxed and smooth.
Our next event will be back in area 2, starting with the Morven Park Spring horse trials on April 2. Hopefully, both of the mares will be up and running properly for that one!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
2011!
Well clearly I haven't updated this in a while! Life has been very busy between returning to college for my senior year, working and eventing every weekend. One major update it I now have a full website! I will still be updating the blog after events, but lots of information about me and my horses and services can be found on http://www.tabeventing.com, please check it out!
As far as the rest of 2010 eventing for me, we had quite a few achievements. Aces Zoomin' Dude and I successfully moved up to intermediate level and completed a few events at that level in the Summer and Fall. Unfortunately Zoomer suffered a minor knee injury, causing a scratch from the Plantation Field CIC** and the Fairhill Internaitonal CCI**. He returned to preliminary in the fall and suffered a mild rebow to his right front. He will be resting until at least April of 2011, and hopefully make a full recovery and return to competition for the Summer or Fall.
Zara also made a big move up, form training level to preliminary level this fall. After ending on our dressage score at almost all events at the training level and finally getting our dressage complications a little more organized, we moved up at the challenging Fall Waredaca Horse Trials. Our division there consisted of Phillip Dutton on 7 horses, Sally Cousins on 3, as well as many other professionals and myself on Zoomer. Zara proved she was prepared for the challenge, ending on her dressage score of 35ish and placing 8th, just behind 6 Phillip Dutton horses and 1 Sally horse! She also completed the Rubicon Farm horse trials, though with slighly less finesse in the sticky footing. We have big hopes for 2011, with a few trips to horse trials in Aiken planned and our eyes on a CCI* this Spring.
I also acquired a horse by the wonderful stallion Salute the Truth by Steuart Pittman in the Fall. After competing in a few local combined test competitions and winning each at the novice level on great dressage scores, Brilliant Truth, or Baby, returned to recognized eventing at 2 novice level horse trials this Fall, ending on her dressage score at the Morven Park Fall horse trials. Baby is offered for sale this Spring, and will also be competing in Aiken and area II until sold.
As far as the rest of 2010 eventing for me, we had quite a few achievements. Aces Zoomin' Dude and I successfully moved up to intermediate level and completed a few events at that level in the Summer and Fall. Unfortunately Zoomer suffered a minor knee injury, causing a scratch from the Plantation Field CIC** and the Fairhill Internaitonal CCI**. He returned to preliminary in the fall and suffered a mild rebow to his right front. He will be resting until at least April of 2011, and hopefully make a full recovery and return to competition for the Summer or Fall.
Zara also made a big move up, form training level to preliminary level this fall. After ending on our dressage score at almost all events at the training level and finally getting our dressage complications a little more organized, we moved up at the challenging Fall Waredaca Horse Trials. Our division there consisted of Phillip Dutton on 7 horses, Sally Cousins on 3, as well as many other professionals and myself on Zoomer. Zara proved she was prepared for the challenge, ending on her dressage score of 35ish and placing 8th, just behind 6 Phillip Dutton horses and 1 Sally horse! She also completed the Rubicon Farm horse trials, though with slighly less finesse in the sticky footing. We have big hopes for 2011, with a few trips to horse trials in Aiken planned and our eyes on a CCI* this Spring.
I also acquired a horse by the wonderful stallion Salute the Truth by Steuart Pittman in the Fall. After competing in a few local combined test competitions and winning each at the novice level on great dressage scores, Brilliant Truth, or Baby, returned to recognized eventing at 2 novice level horse trials this Fall, ending on her dressage score at the Morven Park Fall horse trials. Baby is offered for sale this Spring, and will also be competing in Aiken and area II until sold.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Room for Improvement at Rubicon
Photos by GRCPHOTO
Well this post is a little late, as I have been super busy in the month of June. Since my family was at the beach, I headed down to Leesburg for the Rubicon Farm Horse Trials early Saturday morning alone. I was perfectly on schedule, however, was apparently careless while putting in Zoomer's little studs for dressage, since we were in a grass ring. I'm not sure whether my hand slipped or Zoomer moved, but regardless, we had a miscommunication leading to a smashed pointer finger on my right hand...which wasn't the real problem. The real problem was I couldn't get it to stop bleeding and had to put my white gloves on! Luckily, I had bandaids in the trailer, and went through a few before resorting to band aid plus vetwrap. It worked to make the blood not go through, however it limited the movement of the finger. I headed up to dressage not quite on schedule, and discovered after I trekked up the entire field and got to the warmup that I forgot my bridle number. Ugh. So we trotted back to get it, and then returned to warm up in the intense heat. Warm up was ok, and the test was not our best. I had a blonde moment when I began the test, since I discovered I was riding a test I hadn't ridden before just the night before. I rehearsed it over and over, but I went down centerline, turned right, and then had no idea what it was! My subconscious saved me, leading me through the movements correctly even though I couldn't have said the test aloud right then. 38.7 was the result, which put us in 9thb of 20.
After a short break, we prepared for the jumping phases. We went through stadium with a great ride, not missig a spot or being too strong, but pulled 2 rails. Normally I blame myself for our rails, but this day I think Zoomer was just feeling a little careless. Cross country had a rough start for us. The course was a well built course of many gallop jumps, most well under normal prelim height and width, with a few technical, challenging questions and 2 full height jumps. The first fence was pretty close to the start box, which is not unusual, but today Zoomer was more forward than usual. He hit the first jump very hard, so between the first and second jumps, we slowed to a trot to make sure he didnt hit himself too bad -- still sound, so off we went. We went around the course perfectly by the scoreboard, but Zoomer's over enthusiasm didn't fade throughout the ride. He was very careless over the smaller jumps, hitting many of them whether we were galloping or in a canter. He did not hit the 2 large fences, and showed great accuracy through the tough combinations, and no fear at anything, as usual. We came in with a few time penalties, probably due to our trot break at the beginning, so no worries about those. We ended up 5th of the 20, and had we not trotted and gotten those time penalties, would have been 3rd. Certainly not a bad day!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Clean Rides at the Waredaca Horse Trials
Overall, Waredaca was a great success for both horses! Zara competed Saturday at about 8:30, 11:00 and 11:15 and we were well practiced and prepared for this one. We headed down to warm up in great time, the footing was great and it wasn't too busy. Zara warmed up wonderfully, moving off my leg well and not heavily leaning on my left. She actually was pretty even in her weight in the bridle. We warmed up our trot extensively and as usual didn't practice the canter before entering the ring so she doesn't get so tense. We entered and she was very obedient and accurate throughout the test. Her trot work had greatly improved from the previous test, allowing me to push her more forward giving a better quality trot. Her canter was also greatly improved, showing better balance and less leaning. She was much more content through the long sides and the corners where she usually gets sticky. We need more work on our trot lengthenings, as well as other areas but overall it was a good test. Unfortunately, my mistake hurt our score, as I accidentally left out the stretchy circle at C! Ugh! I just need to practice the tes over and over until it's in my head that the circle is there!. We ended up with a 38.2, about 14th of 20couple -- not too bad!
As we went on to the jumping phases, we both were confident that we would improve over the previous round. Zara warmed up well, being very good to my left leg. We went around the course very well, touching only the first fence which luckily didn't fall and missing a spot to the second to last fence, which Zara luckily used her scope to clear it perfectly despite my poor distance judgement. We confidently went on to cross country, which was a nicely built course with a few questions that had been causing problems for some training level competitors. We nicely trotted through the start box and began with a powerful confident stride. I felt a small hesitation as Zara looked closely at #3, the large steeplechase fence, but she was very brave and went right over it. She also has another slight hesitation at the first element of #4, but a little encouragement with the whip and the rest of the course rode without the slightest problem. She was great through both waters, the coffin, and the other challenging fences on the course. We cantered over the finish line, coming in well under but not too under optimum time. Zara ended up 10th in our open training division.
Sunday proved to be a wonderful day also! With similar ride times, though slightly earlier jump times, we were tacked up and ready with great warmup time. Zoomer warmed up fabulously, with great quality trot and canter work. We entered the ring in a nice forward trot, and went through our test with good rhythym and balance through all gaits. I yet again had a mental moment and made my canter loops all the way to X instead of between X and the longside, which showed off our great counter canter, but docked a few points for the improper figure(not error points, but lower scores on the movements). We could improve our trot and canter lengthenings, as well as out impulsion through some of the trot figures, but overall, Zoomer had a fabulous test. We received a 33.6, placing us 2nd in our JYOP division.
The stadium course had been dropping rails all day in the preliminary division, but with our practice through the week with Steuart, we were determined to do the course as well as possible. With a slightly sticky warm-up, we waited and entered the ring about on time. Zoomer and I went through the course very well, rubbing one or two rails, but just barely so none came down! We were one of not too many clean stadium rounds of the preliminary competitors, and one of 2 clean rounds in my division. On to cross country! Zoomer went through the start box nicely, as we didn't circle the box but went straight through. We powered through the course, which had some interesting questions that required a good bit of technicality. Zoomer jumped through all of the gallop fences, single questions like the corner, as well as the tough combinations beautifully without a single issue. He was very accurate and brave through all aspects of the course, especially showing his great adjustability through the coffin, corner and the big brush fence. As we approached the final fences, I could see that we were running short on time, but I restrained myself from rushing. We carefully went through the whiskey barrels, which were on a severe angle, and galloped over the last fence nicely. After the last, I simply loosened my reins and allowed Zoomer to cover more ground, and he happily did so. We ended exaclty on the optimum time of 5:27.
With most others in the division facing difficulties in the jumping phases, the two double-clean rounds put Zoomer ahead of the division by a large 7 points! We were also one of the only 8 competitors in the 50+ rider preliminary competition to have completely clean jumping. What a good boy! I have no complaints at all about the weekend, and without my errors as a rider, both horses would have done even better. Saturday the 5th will be Zoomer's 3rd prelim since his injury, and we're hoping to improve even more in dressage and remain strong through the jumping. Zara has a few weekends off, where she will be working very hard on her canterwork and other dressage, as well as entering a few jumper shows.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Ups and Downs at FairHill
After a weekend off of showing for both horses to move back home from school, we had plenty of time to prepare for Fair Hill, the weekend of the 15th to 16th. Unfortunately, despite the fact that this time existed, I may have procrastinated a little on the activities. Settling back into the daily work at Dodon Farm, along with unpacking, seeing old friends, and riding the three at home proved to be a challenge to achieve. With a few good sessions with Steuart, we felt a little better about our one rail from the previous event and hopeful for Zara's behavior.
Day one was training level with Zara. This being her third or fourth training, you would think we would be finally improving, however, against a division of extremely competitive professionals, we did not do our best. Zara's dressage test was an improvement over our previous attempts(with help from Courtney Amritt0Johnson, who came out to help me warm up even though she was feeling poorly), showing more relaxation and calmness; though we sacrificed some of our through-ness and forward movement to get this result. The judge clearly was hoping for more forwardness in this training level test, and we ended up tailing the division with a 43. We didn't lose all hope (yet) since clear rounds can usually dramatically improve the placing from a poor dressage ride and we usually went clear. But apparently this was just not our day.
We warmed up for stadium with a perfect amount of time for our usual warm up but Zara was heavily leaning on my left side. I gave myself plenty of time to warm up on a normal day, but not enough to work out of a bad day. We fought through warm up and on both jumping courses, starting with stadium. As we went through the roomy course, some efforts were great, but some were very poor. Most of the fences that Zara took on her left lead were ugly since I couldn't get her off of my leg aids. We held ourselves together until the downhill line, oxer 5 strides to 2 stride in and out. We pulled the rail on the oxer(on our left lead), made an interesting bowed line to the in and out to pull the first element of the combination. With a little overriding, we managed to leave with only 2 rails, Zara's first rail of the season.
I know you should never be riding a horse if you're frustrated, but it was unavoidable at this point. Between both of our errors, I was feeling a little dismantled. We headed out onto cross country in a nice calm pace, but continued the leaning on the left problem. She jumped around beautifully, and I tried to keep her on her right lead more than her left. I was impressed with her behavior through the water combination, which she hadn't done before, and also with her bravery through the coffin and the bank to roll top. Unfortunately, after we jumped the bench in the treeline, approaching the foundation, Zara switched to her left lead(which I should have caught before it happened!) and was hanging up to the fence. She did not have the focus she normally shows as we got close to the first element of the foundation, and with her head turned to the left, refusing to pay attention to my aids, we had a stop at the log. We made a medium size circle on our RIGHT lead, and went over the log and down the bank perfectly. Ugh! First stop in at least 4 years. She finished the remainder of the course with no problems, but with the 20 faults plus a few time penalties due to the stop and circle we had no chance of redeeming ourselves in the placings. Everyone has a bad day, right?
Feeling slightly defeated, I began preparing Zoomer when I arrived home for my 9:00 preliminary ride on Sunday. Getting back in the house around 10 from preparing, I couldn't wait to sleep and try again! We were up nice and early, arrived at Fair Hill right on schedule and tacked up for dressage. Zoomer and I looked quite stunning if I may say so myself, and we were ready to put our best forth. With a good warm up but some slight questioning of the test just before entering, along with an impressive spook just as we were entering at A (Thanks to a person standing by the dressage ring with their horse grazing, which did something and itself, surprising Zoomer) we did what we could. It wasn't a spectacular test, but Zoomer was very obedient and forward. We rode very accurately and I thought that we certainly had a good test for us. We ended up in the middle of the JYOP group with a 37.7 -- slightly disappointing, but I've learned to accept that with a horse that isn't the real ideal look of a dressage horse, we have to put in a fantastic test to be really competitive.
We arrived for stadium warm up in perfect time, giving ourselves about 15 minutes to prepare. Zoomer was jumping well, though a little more forward in stride than usual. We entered stadium and he and I didn't get a great rhythm through the ride. Despite our miscommunication on a few take off spots, Zoomer jumped very well, and we pulled two rails -- the vertical on the long downhill ride and the first element of the one stride combination. Hopefully well communicate better next time. We both were looking forward to cross country. I think every rider should experience cross country at this level on a horse like Zoomer. He truly enjoys what he's doing, requires a confident and correct rider, but he doesn't have to be pushed to fences or over ridden. He is a joy to ride cross country. The ride was spectacular, he was great to every fence and through every combination. He navigated the water perfectly, had no issues at the tight distance in the coffin and showed his true honesty and athleticism through the foundation. The jump was a large roll top, one stride to a big drop and an awkward 4-stride bending line to a corner that just begged horses to run out. We jumped the first element a little sticky, making our drop a little messier than usual. On any other horse, I may have had difficulty with quickly collecting and focusing the horse on the tough corner, but Zoomer allows me to trust him through any distance or question. He went through the 4-stride bending line on a loose rein, being directed primarily with my body and legs and made a perfect four strides and a beautiful jump over the corner. We had just a few time penalties, but since it was our first preliminary level cross country ride in quite a while, I had no worries. When checking scores later, we discovered that we came in 4th of about 15 at the end, and all but one rider got time penalties in cross country -- and our time was the third fastest in the division! I do wish that I had rushed Zoomer just a few seconds faster to have just 2 points less, which would have had us 2nd. What a good boy! In the meantime, Zoomer and I will be working on our communication through stadium courses and practice those dressage movements a little more before Waredaca on the 29th to 30th of May.
Hopefully both horses will be on their best behavior, and no more all-phase bad days!
Day one was training level with Zara. This being her third or fourth training, you would think we would be finally improving, however, against a division of extremely competitive professionals, we did not do our best. Zara's dressage test was an improvement over our previous attempts(with help from Courtney Amritt0Johnson, who came out to help me warm up even though she was feeling poorly), showing more relaxation and calmness; though we sacrificed some of our through-ness and forward movement to get this result. The judge clearly was hoping for more forwardness in this training level test, and we ended up tailing the division with a 43. We didn't lose all hope (yet) since clear rounds can usually dramatically improve the placing from a poor dressage ride and we usually went clear. But apparently this was just not our day.
We warmed up for stadium with a perfect amount of time for our usual warm up but Zara was heavily leaning on my left side. I gave myself plenty of time to warm up on a normal day, but not enough to work out of a bad day. We fought through warm up and on both jumping courses, starting with stadium. As we went through the roomy course, some efforts were great, but some were very poor. Most of the fences that Zara took on her left lead were ugly since I couldn't get her off of my leg aids. We held ourselves together until the downhill line, oxer 5 strides to 2 stride in and out. We pulled the rail on the oxer(on our left lead), made an interesting bowed line to the in and out to pull the first element of the combination. With a little overriding, we managed to leave with only 2 rails, Zara's first rail of the season.
I know you should never be riding a horse if you're frustrated, but it was unavoidable at this point. Between both of our errors, I was feeling a little dismantled. We headed out onto cross country in a nice calm pace, but continued the leaning on the left problem. She jumped around beautifully, and I tried to keep her on her right lead more than her left. I was impressed with her behavior through the water combination, which she hadn't done before, and also with her bravery through the coffin and the bank to roll top. Unfortunately, after we jumped the bench in the treeline, approaching the foundation, Zara switched to her left lead(which I should have caught before it happened!) and was hanging up to the fence. She did not have the focus she normally shows as we got close to the first element of the foundation, and with her head turned to the left, refusing to pay attention to my aids, we had a stop at the log. We made a medium size circle on our RIGHT lead, and went over the log and down the bank perfectly. Ugh! First stop in at least 4 years. She finished the remainder of the course with no problems, but with the 20 faults plus a few time penalties due to the stop and circle we had no chance of redeeming ourselves in the placings. Everyone has a bad day, right?
Feeling slightly defeated, I began preparing Zoomer when I arrived home for my 9:00 preliminary ride on Sunday. Getting back in the house around 10 from preparing, I couldn't wait to sleep and try again! We were up nice and early, arrived at Fair Hill right on schedule and tacked up for dressage. Zoomer and I looked quite stunning if I may say so myself, and we were ready to put our best forth. With a good warm up but some slight questioning of the test just before entering, along with an impressive spook just as we were entering at A (Thanks to a person standing by the dressage ring with their horse grazing, which did something and itself, surprising Zoomer) we did what we could. It wasn't a spectacular test, but Zoomer was very obedient and forward. We rode very accurately and I thought that we certainly had a good test for us. We ended up in the middle of the JYOP group with a 37.7 -- slightly disappointing, but I've learned to accept that with a horse that isn't the real ideal look of a dressage horse, we have to put in a fantastic test to be really competitive.
We arrived for stadium warm up in perfect time, giving ourselves about 15 minutes to prepare. Zoomer was jumping well, though a little more forward in stride than usual. We entered stadium and he and I didn't get a great rhythm through the ride. Despite our miscommunication on a few take off spots, Zoomer jumped very well, and we pulled two rails -- the vertical on the long downhill ride and the first element of the one stride combination. Hopefully well communicate better next time. We both were looking forward to cross country. I think every rider should experience cross country at this level on a horse like Zoomer. He truly enjoys what he's doing, requires a confident and correct rider, but he doesn't have to be pushed to fences or over ridden. He is a joy to ride cross country. The ride was spectacular, he was great to every fence and through every combination. He navigated the water perfectly, had no issues at the tight distance in the coffin and showed his true honesty and athleticism through the foundation. The jump was a large roll top, one stride to a big drop and an awkward 4-stride bending line to a corner that just begged horses to run out. We jumped the first element a little sticky, making our drop a little messier than usual. On any other horse, I may have had difficulty with quickly collecting and focusing the horse on the tough corner, but Zoomer allows me to trust him through any distance or question. He went through the 4-stride bending line on a loose rein, being directed primarily with my body and legs and made a perfect four strides and a beautiful jump over the corner. We had just a few time penalties, but since it was our first preliminary level cross country ride in quite a while, I had no worries. When checking scores later, we discovered that we came in 4th of about 15 at the end, and all but one rider got time penalties in cross country -- and our time was the third fastest in the division! I do wish that I had rushed Zoomer just a few seconds faster to have just 2 points less, which would have had us 2nd. What a good boy! In the meantime, Zoomer and I will be working on our communication through stadium courses and practice those dressage movements a little more before Waredaca on the 29th to 30th of May.
Hopefully both horses will be on their best behavior, and no more all-phase bad days!
Monday, May 10, 2010
A HOT Day at the MCTA Horse Trials
Due to our recent troubles with dressage in the past few events, I decided that it would be better off for all of us if I switched my original entry for MCTA with Zara to Zoomer. The decision ended up being a very good one! After multiple washes and the chaos of going home the night before, Zoomer was clean and well braided in the morning before the event. The day started out chilly, but quickly grew to nearly 90 degrees be the time I rode around 1. We had a great warmup for dressage, moving nicely through, perfectly round and well balanced in transitions. We went through the test a little more tense than usual, which I thought would be a damper on our score, but luckily, our tension must not have shown through as much as I thought it would. We ended up 6th of 21 with a dressage score of 30.9, just a few tenths of a point shy of the 2nd place score of 29.6. With scores so close together, I knew that it would be a close finish after the jumping phases.
Our stadium warm up went as usual, with a nice, forward strides to each warm up fence. Unfortunately, due to a lack of organization, riders were not riding at their times, leading to a lot of standing around. We waited probably a half hour after our original 15 minutes we set out for warm up, in the brutal heat. Many riders were disgruntled, but we all tried to wait patiently for our turns to ride. Many rails came down, and even a few stops and a fall happened during our wait, and when it was finally our turn, Zoomer performed very well, but not with the precision he normally has. We ended up rubbing a few rails, and with luck, only one came down, adding 4 points to our score. We moved on to cross country, getting some good walking time in between to help with the heat, and headed out on course. As usual, Zoomer was a stellar competitor in the cross country phase. He jumped every fence beautifully, in stride, and very carefully. He tactfully negotiated the fences that may cause complications for training level horses and riders, including the short two strides between the stone boxes, the water, the trakehner and a few others. I allowed him to choose his own pace through the course, since he may have been tired from the hot day but he proved otherwise. We went at a comfortable speed around the course, slowing down for the more challenging fences, and came in almost a full minute early. We made a large circle at the canter between fences 17 and 18 to delay time, which I should have kept better track of, but at least he proved to me that he is prepared to move back to preliminary level.
After the long, hot day, we ended up in 5th place, at a score of 34.9. Overall, I am very happy with Zoomer's performance at this event -- I am not too worried about the rail, as both the horse and myself were a little frazzled from the timing. Hopefully well be more together for the next time and keep our connection throughout the stadium course as well as the dressage test. I did notice that had we not pulled that one rail, we would have been a very close 2nd place!
With one weekend off to move back into home from college, we continue our eventing the next weekend at FairHill. Zara will be going training level on Saturday, hopefully we have imporved some of our skills for the dressage test; we have been working heavily on acheiving the relaxation and lowered poll that will earn us better scores in training level tests. In the meantime, she will no longer be wearing my dressage saddle, which seems to be pinching her and she had a few stray chunks of wolf tooth removed from her left side. With these factors removed, we hope to have much more effetive training sessions. Zoomer will be going preliminary level on Sunday, the first time in over 7 months since his injury. We feel very prepared for all phases, although we have not yet practiced the new 2010 prelim dressage tests. We better get on that!
Our stadium warm up went as usual, with a nice, forward strides to each warm up fence. Unfortunately, due to a lack of organization, riders were not riding at their times, leading to a lot of standing around. We waited probably a half hour after our original 15 minutes we set out for warm up, in the brutal heat. Many riders were disgruntled, but we all tried to wait patiently for our turns to ride. Many rails came down, and even a few stops and a fall happened during our wait, and when it was finally our turn, Zoomer performed very well, but not with the precision he normally has. We ended up rubbing a few rails, and with luck, only one came down, adding 4 points to our score. We moved on to cross country, getting some good walking time in between to help with the heat, and headed out on course. As usual, Zoomer was a stellar competitor in the cross country phase. He jumped every fence beautifully, in stride, and very carefully. He tactfully negotiated the fences that may cause complications for training level horses and riders, including the short two strides between the stone boxes, the water, the trakehner and a few others. I allowed him to choose his own pace through the course, since he may have been tired from the hot day but he proved otherwise. We went at a comfortable speed around the course, slowing down for the more challenging fences, and came in almost a full minute early. We made a large circle at the canter between fences 17 and 18 to delay time, which I should have kept better track of, but at least he proved to me that he is prepared to move back to preliminary level.
After the long, hot day, we ended up in 5th place, at a score of 34.9. Overall, I am very happy with Zoomer's performance at this event -- I am not too worried about the rail, as both the horse and myself were a little frazzled from the timing. Hopefully well be more together for the next time and keep our connection throughout the stadium course as well as the dressage test. I did notice that had we not pulled that one rail, we would have been a very close 2nd place!
With one weekend off to move back into home from college, we continue our eventing the next weekend at FairHill. Zara will be going training level on Saturday, hopefully we have imporved some of our skills for the dressage test; we have been working heavily on acheiving the relaxation and lowered poll that will earn us better scores in training level tests. In the meantime, she will no longer be wearing my dressage saddle, which seems to be pinching her and she had a few stray chunks of wolf tooth removed from her left side. With these factors removed, we hope to have much more effetive training sessions. Zoomer will be going preliminary level on Sunday, the first time in over 7 months since his injury. We feel very prepared for all phases, although we have not yet practiced the new 2010 prelim dressage tests. We better get on that!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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