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.