Prepping for Plantation

It’s always hard to know exactly how much to do and how hard you should push when prepping for an event. I like to do my hard schools at least a week before the event so the last week is fairly easy and the horses is fresh and ready for the competition. I feel like we gave Union the best jumping prep we could have before Plantation.

A few week before the event, there was a jumper schooling day at GMHA, you could go in the ring and jump a round, come out and do it again! It was pretty low key, but I hadn’t done a 3’9” or bigger round with Union in public since last September. I did a 3’6” round and then they very nicely put them up (it was technically only supposed to go up to 3’6” but they were awesome and put them up for me!). My 3’9” round was much better, it was smoother and Union was jumping amazingly well. I was happy to have gotten a bigger round out of the way so I could focus on the more technical questions in the ring at home.

The next time we jumped, I set up a skinny corner; turning left was three strides to a skinny, turning right was four strides to a different skinny. The skinnies could also be jumped in a straight, five stride line. I also set up very off set one and two stride lines. Today height wasn’t the main focus, rideabililty and holding the line were. I have discovered that what I need to most work on is knowing and counting my striding between related distances (4-8 strides mostly). I usually land, reorganize and then see my distance but I rarely land thinking, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…. I believe in today’s courses this is a necessary skill, I am very happy I can ride off my eye but I need to become better at riding the line and distance the course designer is looking for. So the arena is full of set distances and I have been practicing with all the horses.

Once I was warmed up I started with the skinny to skinny line, it was a nice five as long as I didn’t land whoaing too much (another bad habit of mine!).  I then did the two off set lines which were no problem, as long as Union can see where he is going and I set him up properly he is good about these kind of lines. I then did the much harder 3 and 4 stride bending lines. Union gets aggressive so everything always seems to come up in a hurry. The four stride rode well but the first time I did the three stride I ended up pulling up in a straight line because he was starting to get too frantic. I re-approached and rode the line, it was a little quick but he was good. We quit after that, these kinds of schools really get his blood pumping, it’s best to do them more than a week before the event; this lets me do one more straightforward school, so he isn’t still in attack mode/ feels quietly confident when we get there.

My last school was almost a week before the event and we just jumped a few straight forward fences. After I warmed up I jumped a couple pretty big (4’-4’6”) jumps. We didn’t’ do much, he was jumping very well and was being very rideable, so we quit while we were ahead. It is always nice to jump a couple fences much bigger than anything you will have to jump at the competition. I always find it’s a bit of a confidence boost for myself and the horse.

The next week I hacked and did light flatwork, when I got to the event I was very happy with the courses. They were fairly straightforward for Intermediate, this was our first one of the year and it couldn’t have been better. There were a few things we hadn’t jumped before, a key hole and a log bounce down a drop but Union jumped beautifully. We were clear in stadium and cross country, with some time xc. I was over the moon with Union, he was so good and positive without being too aggressive.

I really think the preparation leading up to the event made for such a successful weekend. My next event is in three weeks and I won’t need to do anything as technical to get ready since we are coming off such a good weekend. He’d had about two months between his last event and Plantation and it was his first Intermediate of the year, so the prep was a little more specific than this next one will be.

Below is a link to the pictures from the weekend:

http://akdragoophoto.zenfolio.com/p642640725/h1ef7c666#h1ef7c666 

Hitching Post

Often the first event of the year for many area 1ers, and usually our first event back in New England, is Hitching Post. They run one recognized event and many schooling events over the summer/fall. All of their events are great outings whether it’s your first event after a long winter, you are looking to move up, or if you are taking a young horse to their first show.

The winter was so prolonged this year that our move north was much later than it usually is. We wound up moving one week before the recognized event at Hitching Post. I was worried about entering because I wasn’t sure I would have enough time to get all the horses worked and the barn set up, without any working students to help.  In the end we decided to take Rosie to the recognized event and Simply and Jumbie to the schooling event the following weekend.

Rosie had a few days off with the move, but thankfully she is pretty reliable and becoming very consistent in her work. I took her hacking one day, jumped the next, and then did a light dressage school the day before the event and she was perfect. This was her first training level event of the year, her fourth ever. She performed just like a professional; she had a very nice dressage test followed by two double clear jump rounds, winning the event.

The cross country course was such a good early season course, and the footing was perfect. We had an unbelievable amount of rain the night/early morning of the event and the very hilly course wasn’t the least bit slippery. We went right to show jumping after cross country, which can be challenging if the horse is still in cross country mode. Rosie was very rideable and jumped well around the course. We are looking at moving her up to prelim sometime this summer!

The following weekend I took Simply novice and Jumbie did her first training at the schooling event. These two are a little greener than Rosie so it was nice to have an extra week to ride them after the trip. It again, poured right before the event, but the footing remained excellent, I didn’t have studs on either horse and it wasn’t an issue at all!

Warming up for Dressage, Simply felt like a ticking time bomb and kept screaming to Jumbie in the trailer. She is normally quite good, but she was in heat and apparently couldn’t control herself haha. We had a very distracted, inconsistent test, but we stayed in the ring and got to go jump after! She jumped well around the show jumping but was a little spooky to the first few cross country fences. I had to get after her a bit in the beginning but then she got into the rhythm and jumped clean, finishing in fifth.

Jumbie has been getting better and better, she feels like a different horse this year. Knowing the courses would be very similar, if not the same as last weekend, I felt confident that it would be a good first training for her. She was very relaxed and responsive in dressage, quite different from Simply! She won the dressage and had two double clear rounds, winning her first training! I was very proud of her, she jumped stadium like it was a walk in the park and came out on cross country confident and bold. In the past we have had ditch issues but she just skipped over the ditch on the course. There was one fence near the end that had a large white hitching post silhouette on the front of it, Jumbie wasn’t so sure about this one, but with some encouragement jumped it anyway. I was actually happy to see that even if she wasn’t sure about something and I said jump it anyway she would trust me and go do it.

I want to thank Laurie and everyone else at Hitching Post for having such great events. They are always so well run, the courses are great, and everyone is always so nice! Overall, the girls all had great outings and are set up nicely for GMHA this weekend. 

ROLEX!

Well, Rolex was awesome, but seriously, how could it not be?? I had only been once before, in 2004, when I had only competed in a few training level events. Going now, with a very different perspective, proved to be a very good learning experience for me.

I was lucky enough to leave for all four days so I could watch the entire event. Watching dressage made me realize how you really need a quiet horse, or at least one that will still stay with you if they are amped up. There is a big atmosphere in that arena and a "hot" horse could easily succumb to the pressures.  If you can have a fancy, quiet horse that is ideal but I feel that quiet, or at least rideable, has to come first, it doesn't matter how fancy your horse is if you can't go in the ring and ride it!

Obviously, cross country is the meat of the sport and what everyone is there to watch. I walked the course on Friday and it was big, but in my mind they had been so much bigger. The last time I had seen the fences I was 18 with very little experience eventing. Seeing the fences now made it seem so much more possible, something I felt very relieved about. Of course walking it as a spectator and walking it as a competitor are two very different things. It still looked very tough to me, but it didn't look impossible.

The thing that struck me most was how boldly forward you had to ride.  In every combination you had to land, knowing your distance, and riding forward to make it happen, even if things aren't quite right. You saw this a lot at the coffin, horses would get stuck over the ditch but the rider had to kick for the two strides to the next fence and kick for the next two strides. This made me aware of things I need to work on in my riding.

 I need to set more fixed distances (anywhere from 2 strides to 7 strides) and practice landing and making the distance happen. I also need to start setting up more combinations on different terrain, with skinnys and angles, knowing the distance and riding for it. My horses need to be more rideable and need to start really looking for the next fence. I also want to start doing things with three of four elements, not just jump one and run on to the next. These don't have to be big fences, just things to get them to start thinking and make them confident.

Show jumping was exciting because the scores were so close. It was amazing how well the top riders rode under such tremendous pressure. Knowing one rail would drop them significantly in the standings, they all came in the ring and rode beautifully. You have to have confidence in both your abilities and your horses, and you need to have practiced riding under pressure. Let's face it, just to qualify for Rolex, these riders have been under pressure many, many times. It also showed me how fit the horses have to be, to come into the ring after galloping for over eleven minutes, and leave the rails up. There were only a couple horses that looked tired, most of the horses looked great and jumped very well.

Overall, the whole experience was really inspiring for me. Being able to see the best riders in the country, do what they do best really motivated me to go home and try harder and ride better. I came away with things I know I need to work on to improve myself and my horses, now I can't wait to get to work!

Longleaf Pine H/T

Longleaf Pine H/T

I was lucky enough to ride two horses at Longleaf Pine H/T this past weekend. I was really excited to get Jumbie (Cabin Society) and Simply (Beaulieu's Simply Cool) out. Jumbie has never competed in area 2 and Simply has only done one schooling event down here. This was Jumbie's first event since last fall and Simply's first novice!

The girls have been going very well at home and have been schooling much bigger and harder jumps than they would have to face in competition. Still, you never know! I felt like they were as prepared for their first event as they could be. Thankfully, I turned out to be right!!

I had dressage and cross country on Saturday and it was rainy and windy all day! I got on Simply a tiny bit early, thinking she would be a little high with the weather. She seemed tense and was whinnying to Jumbie, but when I started warming her up, she went right to work and felt great. I was told I was the first rider after the break. Simply warmed up so well, I told them if the judge wants me early I am happy to go! Thankfully she did and I went almost twenty minutes early and didn't have to stand around in the rain.

Simply went in and did such a nice test, she was steady and consistent, a real professional. I was so happy with her, she had every right to be tense and unhappy with the rain and wind and she was loose and relaxed. I had a couple hours until Jumbie's ride and went to get something to eat, a woman asked me if I was on the chestnut in the novice? I told her that I was, and she said she thought I had a lovely test and that I would be very happy with my score. So I pulled out my phone to check live scores and saw that she scored an 18.5!!!!! I have scored in the teens once in my life! I was so excited and I felt she really did deserve it. I then headed back to get Jumbie ready for her test.

In the past Jumbie hasn't been the steadiest horse, it's something I have really been working on with her. When I got on her for dressage warm up, I was as happily surprised with her as I was with Simply! She, just like Simply, was ever the professional. After 10 minutes I felt like I could go in the ring! I told the ring steward, again, if they wanted me early I would happily go. There was (thankfully) a scratch so they let me go before the break and I got out of having to sit in the rain, waiting.

When I came down centerline and turned right Jumbie was spooking at the dressage ring that was covered in mud. There was a moment where I thought, oh jeez. I'm not going to be able to get near the track! She quickly got over it and put in a steady, forward, relaxed test. She was such a good girl, I was very impressed with her. When I later checked scores I was so amazed, she scored a 19.5!! Two scores under 20! They were first and second after dressage, what good girls! So, then the pressure was on for cross country, haha!

I thought the cross country course looked really good, my one worry was that is was very wet and I didn't have stud holes. This proved to not be a problem with either horse and wasn't ever a worry when I was on course. I do feel horses need to learn to deal (a little) with wet/muddy footing with out studs and the girls handled it perfectly. I rode Simply first and she was actually quite green around the course. She hasn't competed much and as I said it was her first novice. She did jump around clean and made the time, but there were a couple times I thought she may stop but when I put my leg on to say JUMP she did :).

After her ride I quickly went to switch my tack onto Jumbie. In the past Jumbie has been a bit spooky on cross country, after Simply was so green out there I thought Jumbie would be worse. I couldn't have been more wrong!! When I came out of the start box I just rode her very positively forward, the last few strides I would sit up and really have my leg on but I would try and be soft with my hands. This gave her tons of confidence and she skipped around the course. She felt like a different horse than last year, she's really turning into an event horse!

Show jumping wasn't until Sunday around 12:30 so the girls went home and were turned out. Times were tight so I had Coti come to the horse park and she held Simply at the ring while I jumped Jumbie and then helped me switch horses. (Thanks Coti!!!) We went in reverse order of standing, but they let me jump Jumbie toward the beginning of the division. She and Simply had become pretty attached in the trailer so they were both screaming back and fourth to each other. I thought this may be a distraction, but when they went to work they were focused on their job.

Jumbie went in and had a good, clean round, making the time. She was just as reliable and on the job as she was for cross country. This took the pressure off a little because, even if Simply had a rail, Jumbie would win. When warming Simply up, she was catching serious air time over the oxers. Denny was laughing at me telling me to hang out. She went in the ring and did the same thing around the course. She didn't feel worried or nervous, she just wanted to jump bigger! She jumped around clean with one time fault, which tied her with Jumbie! Simply was closer to optimum time so she won and Jumbie was second. How funny to have two horses finish on the exact same score!

This was such an amazing way to start the season with these two, I can't wait to see what their futures have in store! I am so grateful to Denny and May for giving me the opportunity to ride such wonderful horses!

Consistency Really IS Key

Consistency is key, we've all heard this and quite frankly it sounds a bit like a cliche. You hear people say, it isn't all about talent, having a good work ethic and sticking to it gets you further. I didn't always believe this, I was not a naturally gifted rider. Part of me always hoped it may be true, but I always thought that the people that were better riders than me would forever far exceed my abilities.

It has recently dawned on me that so many people that were better riders than I was when I was younger have mostly fallen off the map. People move on, choose different careers, become disinterested. For a hard core rider, this is hard to understand, they were so good and could have gone so far! I now realize, this life is not for everyone. Sometimes, I think, the gifted young riders that have so much natural ability don't like when they have to try and work hard to get better. They then have the choice of digging in and committing or changing their life goals and having a "real life."

I have given up a lot, and sacrificed many things in my life so that I can ride. Every decision I have made for my future has been about having the opportunity to ride and become a better rider and trainer. I was not a hotshot young rider, I didn't go prelim until I was 23. I am just now starting to feel like I know what I am doing at 28, and I am becoming more confident in my abilities. I have SO much more to learn but that's exciting. I like learning and challenging myself. There are lots of ups and downs and in the past there have been times I have thought about giving up. I think everyone has moments of self defeat, it's getting up the next day and soldering on that gets you better.

One thing that I think has helped me get better is sticking with a program. I am not one to bounce between different instructors. I like to learn a program inside and out, I think it gives your good foundation and helps you build your own system. I have had three main riding instructors in my life, Julie Blackburn, who I rode with for years in Michigan. I left there when I went to college where I started riding with Tom Davis. I left there when I graduated college and started working for Denny.  I have been with Denny for 6.5 years, as with anything, there have been ups and downs, but when I was frustrated I didn't just give up and go to a different instructor. It takes a long time to learn how to ride and everyone teaches differently, I think you need to stick it out and try to really learn and understand everything your instructor has to offer.

Over the years I have had periods where I have felt like I was in a rut, nothing was getting better and I didn't know why. Then, it seems like, all of a sudden I can do things I couldn't do before, the day in, day out consistent practice pays off. So even if you are having a hard time, or you aren't as good as the people around you, keep going, keep riding, and keep working hard, it might not get better but it never will if you give up.

The Carolina International

This past weekend was the inaugural Carolina International Event at the Carolina Horse Park. It was also, Union and my first FEI event.  I entered the CIC*, I was so excited to be able to do an FEI event and to be able to do it at the horse park was icing on the cake.

I had dressage and stadium on Friday and cross country on Saturday. The in barn horse inspection took place on Thursday, so I took Union over, after several baths, to jog and get checked by the vet. Union then remained fully blanketed until I left the next day!

Union can be quite, let's say, exuberant in dressage so I decided to hack him in the morning to try and take the edge off. I didn't have dressage until 1:30 so I had plenty of time. I took him out and walked and trotted for about 45 minutes, it seemed funny to be out hacking a braided horse. After our ride I was able to turn him out for another couple hours and then re-bathed him and took him to the horse park.

My warm up with Union is pretty unique, I work him long and low with no pressure. I don't do many of the movements of the test before going in, it seems to amp him up. I do a lot of walking and before I go in I bring him up. At this point I can't ride him as active and uphill as I do at home, without losing our relaxation. Maybe in the future when he is even stronger and more comfortable with it, he will be more engaged at events.

All in all, I was very happy with our test, it was relaxed with no "freak outs!" A huge bonus was I was able to wear my shadbelly for the first time! I have had it for a couple years and was over the moon to finally wear it. My test was much improved over our last event so I was quite happy and I think our early morning hack helped!

The show jumping course was quite twisty and was decently big. I was the last competitor of the day to jump so I had seen several rounds earlier in the day. Rails were falling like crazy, especially the first fence! I warmed Union up and he felt amazing! He was pretty excited when I got the the warm up, so when I wasn't jumping I tired letting him stand still so he didn't wind up more. We jumped one last oxer before heading into the ring, I got him a little bit deeper and he cracked his back and jumped to moon over it! Coti and Tesla were standing next to the fence and I said, I think I'll go on that! They both laughed and agreed.

I went in the ring and like so many before me, had the first rail down! Aside from that, I had an amazing round! Union was so rideable and was jumping so well. When I finished I was so ecstatic with our round, I don't think he could have been much better. It left me with a great feeling heading into cross country!

The next morning I went over to the horse park and watched a few rounds while walking the course one last time. The first horse through had two run outs at the first corner question on the course. The next horse went off course. This isn't exactly what you want to see before you mount up! I watched another horse come through really well, and I moved on.

I had a good warm up on Union, he was much more amped up than he was at our first event of the year. He came out of the box full of run, the first several fences were straight forward galloping fences. Union was much more rideable than he was at the first Southern Pines event! When we came up to the first combination, I knew I would have to really get him back and listening to me. It was a skinny then up a bank, turning down hill to a corner. We jumped the skinny and up the bank well, I then really brought him back and made the turn. I saw that I would have to gun it to make the distance or wait, I decided to wait. In doing so it killed the canter and he didn't have the momentum to jump. So we had a stop, I circled around and he jumped it well. We then continued on and jumped the rest of the course wonderfully! The next turning question to a corner, I didn't make the same mistake again!

One thing I usually don't have to worry about with Union is the water. This water was a house in, two strides up a bank, one stride off a drop, and then out of the water to another house. Union surged through this line like a gymnastic! He finished well and after the 10 minute box he looked like he was ready to go again. It is such a relief to see just how fit your horse was when you finish the course. You always think you have them fit enough but having that tangible proof at the end is very rewarding.

Overall the weekend was a success for us, hindsight is always 20/20 and I am kicking myself for not going more at the corner. Live and learn. It's amazing how many ways there are to mess up in this sport, you just have to move on and try not to make the same mistake twice. That's all part of it, learning and moving on, not dwelling on your mistakes and feeling terrible about yourself. Now, onto the Fork!

Thanks to David Frechette for these videos:

http://youtu.be/5iLLyOApYh0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEQw8xcTV6c

Riding with Mike Plumb

On Sunday. I was lucky enough to take Union over to Mike Plumb's for a jump lesson. Mike had told Denny we could bring some horses over to school at his place over different jumps if we wanted. When this turned into having Mike watch Union and eventually to Mike teaching me I was thrilled (and incredibly nervous!). I mean how often do you get to ride with an eight time Olympian!

My nerves quickly dissipated when I actually started to ride, Mike was clear with what he was asking me to do so it was easy for me to follow what he was looking for. I've said before that I don't usually ride well when I ride with someone new, I try to do only what they are telling without integrating it into what I know how to do. Thankfully this was not a problem with Mike. He didn't have me do anything that I haven't done with Union, but what we worked on with jumping I usually do on the flat.

Mike really wanted to see if we could quiet Union down and get him to relax more when jumping. Union is a pretty intense, aggressive horse when he starts jumping so focusing on that was really great. Mike would have me really use the rail to work him in between the jumps. We would do a few jumps, work to get him quiet and do a few more. We kept cantering for a lot longer than I usually do when jumping. Instead of jumping a few and giving him a break we kept going to get him more supple and calm.

Mike would have me counter bend him, and sometimes ride him down the long side deep, patting him on the neck with my inside rein. I would then put him back together around the short side and go to a jump or two. After the jumps we decided upon, I would go around the ring again either deep or counter bending. I do this a lot on the flat but I have never worked it in between jumps. It was nice because both Union and I were used to doing it so it worked into the lesson well.

Denny and I have been doing things like jumping little fences quietly and turning and bending on landing to keep Union supple and quiet. I think what Mike had me doing will be a good addition to what we have been doing with Union. I think if in practice I can get him more relaxed and rideable I will have a better chance of keeping him with me at competitions. I am very grateful Denny allowed me to ride with Mike, I was a great opportunity!