Last weekend I headed to the Horse Park of New Jersey to cover Jersey Fresh for COTH. The last time I went there was in 2008 where I saw a horse fall and die of a heart condition right in front of me. That day really stuck with me over the last few years and sort of turned me off of the upper levels of eventing, but of course, that was during the rash of deaths and bad injuries.
Thankfully, this year’s Jersey Fresh was a safe day of cross-country and I had a pretty good time. My co-worker Megan and I drove up on Friday and shot a little bit of dressage, then checked out the course.
There were four different courses which made it a little confusing to keep track of, but by Saturday, I had a pretty good idea. Cross-country day fluctuated between cool, humid, sunny, hot and cloudy. I was pretty happy with what I shot and Megan and I did a nice, informal press conference with some of the top riders.
Sunday was much cooler and the show jumping ring was pretty close to everything, so it made for an easier day. The same old people won, which made for slightly boring stories, but was happy with our online coverage.
This weekend, I’m headed to Fair Hill to compete. I haven’t been there since 2009 when Oh So did his first novice, and I’m a little nervous since my trainer can’t be there, but I’m excited to jump around a different course.
I was up bright and early at 4:30am on Sunday to compete at the Loudoun Hunt Pony Club Horse Trials at Morven Park with Oh So. I wasn’t feeling too confident about my jumping because of our previous performance at Morningside and a mediocre jump lesson on Friday, but I had a nice, short flat school on Saturday. I decided to warm him up for
dressage in mostly posting trot. He came out fairly relaxed and I didn’t make a lot of demands. We did touch base with the leg yields as they come in the test and some walk-trot transitions, as well as a little bit of sitting trot.
Once I started trotting around the ring, I sat the trot and he seemed to be focused. He made a really good effort in the lengthened trot (we got an 8!) and the leg yields were a little crooked, so we lost a couple of points there. I made a concerted effort to push out his free walk and he actually did stretch down consistently for a 7, and when I gathered him into medium walk, he was still a little tight, but held it together for the most part. He got a little unbalanced in the final halt, so he stepped backwards, which he’s never done. We ended up getting all 8′s on our collectives, which has never happened. We also got a nine on our half circle in canter going right and ended up with a 26.5 from a “purist” dressage judge. I was floored! We ended up in second place after
dressage and the third place person had a 32, so that was neat to have such a lead.
The show jumping course was sort of weird, starting on a curve, then making a circle back towards the start again. We had the second fence down, I think because I tipped a little left in the air and he touched it with his front foot.
He waited in the combinations well, but we also had a second fence down, an oxer after a long gallop on the diagonal. I started looking for a spot and we got a little close to it, so he had trouble making the width and had it down his a hind foot.
That was slightly disappointing, and in the end, the second rail cost us the win. The cross-country course was almost exactly the same as Morven, which was also disappointing. I’m ready for the course to be reversed. It hasn’t changed much in a few years.
I was riding a little backwards for some reason, so the second fence didn’t make for the best photo. He backed off nicely to the picture frame at 3 and did his usual duck, which always makes me laugh. I rode a little tentatively to the log on a lump combination and then again to the elephant trap.
I practiced using my whip at the drop into water, but I still tipped forward on landing like I
did last month. Luckily, we gathered our composure and got to the angled brushes better, but I feel like I could have slipped my reins more in the air.
One difference from last month was the bounce bank to the corner. I feel like I could have had a little more power to the up bank, because I got a little left behind the motion in the air, but I think it was also because I don’t ride a lot of questions like that, so I don’t have the feel for it.
We had a better, forward ride over the trekhener and the next couple of gallop fences and had a nice ride through the quarry at the top of the hill. We ended up finishing exactly on the optimum time. We’ve never made time before at prelim, so that was exciting. Had I not ridden backwards to a few fences, we would have had a little more breathing room.
We ended up in fourth place and got a nice set of polo wraps and a gift certificate from GRC for a farm call photo shoot. Maybe we’ll get some glamour shots done!
I’m not happy with the way I rode on cross-country, and I know part of it is my balance in my saddle. I’ve realized this spring that I’m going to have to start a quest for a new one, but the thought of it is daunting and I’m broke!
Next up for us is Fair Hill in three weeks. I’m excited to ride a course I’ve never done before, but slightly nervous because my trainer won’t be able to be there.
I’m also heading to Jersey Fresh next weekend to cover it for COTH, so it will be exciting to go for the first time in a few years.
I finally got out and about this past weekend after Oh So came up with a terrible skin allergy after I got back from The Fork. It took a week for his legs to go down and be less sensitive and I feel like I could have gotten more on top of it sooner and made it to the original CT I was entered in on April 13.
So after a missed lesson and gallop, we were back in business last week. I decided to give him a longer warmup for dressage at Morningside because he hadn’t been out in awhile. He was actually very spooky, which is not usual for him. In general, he was tense and I think this week at Loudoun I’ll try posting the trot for most of the warmup to see if I can keep his back relaxed.
I thought he held it together for the canter work in the test, but the trot work wasn’t the best. We ended up with a 35.5, which is not what we’re capable of, so that was frustrating. He could be scoring in the 20s if he just let go mentally a little bit. I’m not sure what else I can do on my part at this point. We’ve only been doing this for 5 years.
The jumping warmup at Morningside is pretty far away from the ring and it’s on grass. Because of the large amount of rain we had the day before, I decided to warmup on the track, which is actually worse. There’s only room for a cross rail and a vertical and you can’t really come off a turn to them.
As a result, our actual round was pretty inconsistent. I rode slightly backwards to a couple of the fences, but he kept jumping and trying and we actually had a clear round. I think I’m letting the fact that I don’t have another horse to practice on get to me. I need a way to strengthen my lower leg out of the saddle too and I’m finding it hard to do.
So, not the show that I wanted, but onwards to Loudoun this weekend. I’m bummed to be missing Rolex when it seems like everyone but me is there, but I’ve got an awesome horse and I get to go cross-country this weekend, so I can’t complain!
I headed down to The Fork CIC last Friday to cover it for The Chronicle. I’d never been before, so was a little concerned about the long drive, but it ended up being fairly uneventful. I knew I was in the south when the cashier at Chik-Fil-A told me to have “a blessed day”!
I shot a little bit of dressage that afternoon, and got to see the winning test, ridden by Phillip Dutton on Mighty Nice.
The event ran in accordance with the new FEI rules for CICs, with cross-country on the final day. I’m not sure how I feel about this, and I know several of the riders I talked to were not fans. I personally enjoy the show jumping finale and think it makes for a more nail-biting finish. Plus, it’s the way eventing is supposed to be. How far will the FEI keep moving us away from the original meaning of the sport?
Some of the riders said that they didn’t like not being able to practice show jumping their horses after cross-country. Where will they get to learn the feeling their horses give them except when it counts at a big CCI?
It also made for a disappointing finale on Sunday when all of the riders were back at the barn taking care of their horses after cross-country and not at the awards ceremony. Sponsors and owners are the backbone of the sport and you’ve got to cater to them. There was hardly anyone left in the VIP tent on cross-country where the “awards ceremony” was supposed to take place, and in the end, only a few top placed riders actually showed up.
OK, rant over. Other than that, I had a really great time. The weather was beautiful and cross-country day was safe, which is the most important thing. The farm was gorgeous, but the layout was tough and everything was soooo far away from everything else. The stabling and horse paths were an absolute mess due to heavy rain on Thursday, but the cross-country course dried out nicely for the weekend.
As for Oh So, he had a horrible skin reaction to a newish pair of turnout boots on Monday and I thought I had it under control, but his legs really blew up yesterday and I had to call the vet out to give him some Dex. He’s really sore and the skin is cracking on one leg, so no lesson for us on my day off. It kind of throws off everything for the next two weeks because I had planned on competing at the Morningside combined test this weekend.
If he’s not sound by Saturday, I’ll scratch and enter next weekend’s CT instead, but I really need a jump lesson and have now lost the place I used to take him to during the week occasionally, so I’m kind of freaking out.
I walked him today and his legs went down, but he wasn’t comfortable enough to trot. I’m just mad at myself for not getting on top of this sooner and maybe salvaging my weekend.
Despite the crummy weather, I had a pretty good time at Morven Park this weekend. I tried to stay as relaxed as I could in dressage warmup, but he was holding in himself a little bit and once I started trotting around the ring, he tightened up. So much for that awesome, relaxed ride at the combined test. His trot work was tight, but we managed to get a couple of eights in the canter work for a 34 and second place after dressage.
I was surprisingly not that nervous for show jumping, and it helped that I was at the end of the prelim division, so the warmup calmed down considerably by the time I went in the ring. We actually only jumped a few fences in the warmup, including a tall vertical and a lower oxer, and we were good to go.
I didn’t get a chance to walk the course, so I watched a few and went in. We ended up with one rail, fence 3. We stepped over fence 2 quietly, then went for what looked to be a forward five strides, but he ended up getting there pretty quickly, and we had the front rail of the oxer down. There was a tight turn to fence 4, then five strides to set you up to an in and out that he ticked, but waited for the B element.
I got him a bit close to the next oxer, but we got that line better and he actually tried pretty hard in the triple too.
After greasing him up and checking our tack, we were off to cross-country. It had started raining again, but it wasn’t a heavy rain. After the first fence, he was off, and I pretty much had no control for the rest of the ride. I’m guessing it was because I didn’t take off the padded cover I had on the curb chain. He’d had a rub leftover from Southern Pines, and I’d been riding with it on, but I think he really needed it on Sunday!
We had our usual funny jump over fence 3, a picture frame, where he always ducks. There was a new combination at 5ab, which was a log on a mound, four strides to a big table. He popped over that nicely and made the four easily, then he was off again across the field. My reins had started to get slippery and I barely got him back for the elephant trap at 6. That’s a fence that I remember seeing when I was younger and thinking it was huge. It’s a big slanted open timber fence with a ditch on the backside; very old school. We took it on a bit of an angle to get to the next fence, and he jumped it well, but pecked a bit on landing and I’m almost certain he pulled his left front shoe there.
Again, I had no control to the keyhole, but he jumped it efficiently and was off for another long gallop before a new, very wide table. He did that well, but I fell forward on landing. Luckily, I got situated in time for a turn to a drop into water. He jumped that confidently, but again, I was pitched forward a bit on landing. I had started to tire some by that point from fighting him and my slippery reins, which I knew was a bad sign.
Immediately after the water was a set of new jumps on an angle. We got a little close to the first one, but he popped out over the second one well and then really took off. I regained control enough to have a nice jump over the mushrooms before heading to the canyon.
I’d ridden the canyon combination terribly in the spring and he had backed off it due to his greeness, so I was determined to get a better ride. It kind of sucks you in with the giant boulders on either side that form a path, then up a hill and up a bank where you can’t see anything but sky.
He jumped big in, then we jumped up the bank well and popped over a skinny three strides later. The last major combination was at the quarry. We stepped in over a new log, then did four strides like a roller coaster to another log. I’ve never felt him power over a fence as much as I did over the B element. It felt like we were flying!
We ended up about 13 seconds over the time and slotted into third place. Had we been a little bit faster, we could have won since we were only 3 points off the leader. I’ve never been so exhausted after a course before, so I think we’ll be making sure the curb chain is ON next time.
I was really pleased though with both of us. For the first time, I’m really thinking that the one-star at Virginia this fall wouldn’t be such a stretch. We’ve come out this year more confident in each other in both jumping phases and I know he can do the dressage, it just depends on if he wants to let the tension go that day or not.
I’m headed off to cover the The Fork CIC for The Chronicle this weekend in North Carolina, then the weekend after I’m planning on doing a CT at Morningside, then back to Morven for Loudoun Hunt Horse Trials.
I took Oh So up to the CDCTA combined test at Morven Park on Saturday for a little extra practice before Morven’s event in two weeks. The forecast was quite dire, calling for rain and temperatures in the 40′s, but we lucked out for most of the day. I had very late times (dressage at 1:54 and jumping at 4:15), which will probably be the only time this season I’ll have ride times in the afternoon, so it was nice to not have to rush in the morning.
I don’t say this often (or ever), but his dressage warmup was amazing. He was calm, quiet, supple, and stretching, and I felt like I could have gone in and done my test with 20 minutes of warmup. Who is this horse and what has he done with my OTTB? We’d had a very good flat lesson on Thursday, and this was actually even better than that.
Unfortunately they were running a little behind, so I was probably on for 45 minutes, but he didn’t seem to mind. We trotted right in and the test itself was pretty good. Just from watching my video I could see a difference i his whole way of going. He had a lot more freedom in his shoulders and was just generally smooth. He did start to get a little low in his poll as we started going around the outside of the ring and I think it was just because he was maybe a little bit tired. He tends to get that way sometimes if we’ve had too long a warmup.
I had to work pretty hard during the test to keep his poll up, and we did score a couple of 6s due to that, but overall, he was very obedient. We got an 8 on our medium canter circle, our left leg yield, and my position (!), and even got a 7 on the weird ‘give the reins away at X’ that I hate in prelim test A. We ended up with a 31.8 and the judge seemed to love him when we chatted after the test.
A weather front came in as I was tacking up for show jumping and it suddenly went from about 50 to 40 and spitting rain, so that was unpleasant, but he didn’t seem to mind. The course was not huge, which can be expected at a schooling show, but it was still challenging enough. There were a couple of long canters to single fences, which tends to get me picking his stride down to nothing, so that was my big thing. But we both went in, I was pretty relaxed, and he was totally listening, and had a clear round! That kind of feels good.
He ticked a few, but the fact that he was waiting in between the lines and my position wasn’t horrible made it a good round. I had signed up for a second round, but decided I didn’t need it. We ended up second.
Now we’ll have a couple of quiet weeks before Morven at the end of the month. We’re currently getting more snow, so I’m hoping that will end soon and that maybe we’ll have a dry day for Morven. I can hope, right?
Thankfully, this year’s Jersey Fresh was a safe day of cross-country and I had a pretty good time. My co-worker Megan and I drove up on Friday and shot a little bit of dressage, then checked out the course.
