Category: Fair Hill

October Update: Lots of travel and change

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Fair Hill, TravelLeave a comment

I’ve just finished off my whirlwind fall of travel, and I’m ready for a break! Since I last updated I’ve been to Plantation Field, Cincinnati, Dressage At Devon, Fair Hill and the Virginia Horse Trials.

Plantation was the first weekend where it really felt like fall. I covered it for the first time officially for COTH, and Phillip Dutton was a fitting winner at his hometown event.

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The ruins at Plantation Field.

I visited my brother, niece and sister-in-law in Cincinnati the following weekend, and it was kind of hot but I had a good time playing tourist and eating Skyline chili! The city is undergoing a lot of change, and my brother lives very close to downtown which is fun, plus they have a great view!

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Dressage At Devon was up next and back to cold and rainy. I went to Devon a few times with my mom long ago, but I’d never been as a member of the media. It was fun to see some different faces than who we usually see in Wellington, even if the scores weren’t as high. I wrote a commentary for the magazine, which I’ve only ever done once before, about how I hope riders and spectators will continue to attend shows like Devon, or Morven Park, which was on the same weekend, because they’re so unique and historic.

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Under the lights at Devon.

My favorite event, Fair Hill, was up next, and while the weather was the driest and warmest it’s been in the 15 years I’ve been attending, it was unfortunately a little underwhelming this year. The entries were down, and Marilyn Little sparked a lot of controversy when her eventual winner RF Scandalous was seen with blood on her mouth on cross-country day.

After two of the most stressful weeks of my work life trying to write the story of the win while also reporting on what it meant to have a three-star national champion win with blood on her mouth, I hope what came out is a fair portrayal of what happened.

The “blood rule” was followed in theory, but there’s since been a lot of discussion about whether it’s right for the public image of the sport to allow a horse with visible blood to continue. I try to always see both sides of an argument, so I won’t weigh in, but I have to say I was disappointed with several things posted on the internet about how the media handled the incident.

It’s difficult when the sport is so small and everyone is friendly. We love feel good stories and stories of winners but we are journalists and have to report on the bad things as well. I feel like sometimes the riders get a little closed off when controversial things happen, but we’re just doing our jobs asking for the facts. If top riders want to get the press and be treated like celebrities, they need to realize that sometimes that means answering tough questions.

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Fair Hill cross-country day!

After Fair Hill I had a free weekend and took Oh So and Harley to a flat lesson with Heidi. She gave me some tips with Harley about keeping his walk and canter more forward and asking for more bend in all three gaits, so now I have some homework.

Oh So was very good, and we upped the work a little by adding in some canter/walk and walk/canter transitions.

I’m hoping we can get back to where we left off this spring and continue to work on those transitions and eventually get clean changes both directions.

He’s finally pretty much back to full flatwork and now we’re getting ready to pop over some jumps for the first time since June this week, so I’m excited!

Both boys were very well behaved during gale force winds with leaves hitting us all in the face and dust swirling around!

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Oh So and Harley take on the coliseum at the VA Horse Trials.

This past weekend we took Harley to the VA Horse Trials for some exposure and I brought Oh So along to ride in good footing. Both boys traveled well together and settled in. Harley was very professional for being 5 and they both thought they were living the life of luxury with Meghan and I tending to their every need.

I schooled Harley on Saturday and Meghan sat on Oh So. She’s only ridden in a dressage saddle a few times, so she was working on getting her balance and playing with some leg yielding, but she was pushing all of Oh So’s buttons by accident, and it was pretty funny. He would offer a turn on the forehand, haunches, leg yield or rein back and not get frustrated, so that was cool to see him play schoolmaster.

A lot of memories came flooding back, and I don’t know if I’ll ever compete him there again, but I’m glad we went.

Today I moved Oh So to a new farm just up the road from where he was in Waterford. I found a deal I couldn’t pass up where I’ll be able to afford two horses if I decide to get one in the spring. The only thing is he’ll be living out 24/7 so I’m pretty nervous about it , but he settled right into his paddock today and made friends with a mare across the fence line. He ate his dinner and was checking out some chickens when I left him, so I hope it goes well.

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Meghan and I did some sightseeing at Natural Bridge in Lexington.

We won’t have an indoor, but we do have lights, so back to living the way we were at home. I’ll just have to pull out my winter breeches a bit sooner!

Harley is doing his first event this weekend on my (30th, gulp) birthday, and I’ve entered Oh So in a dressage show at Loch Moy the following weekend. It may be the end of the season, but I’m going to squeeze in what I can!

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Oh So checking out his new digs.

I’ve been thinking a lot about bucket list goals as I’ve been interviewing people this fall, and I came up with a list of my own. I still feel pretty aimless without having any competitions to look forward to, but here’s what I’ve come up with.

  • Complete another training three-day (I did one in 2006 with Sam and finished 2nd).
  • Complete a CCI*.
  • But before that, I’d like to finish a prelim on my dressage score.
  • Ride at the Kentucky Horse Park.
  • Earn my USDF bronze medal (maybe Oh So could take me there!)
  • Ride at another AEC.
  • Hit up a few other events I’ve never competed at like Plantation Field and at the Horse Park of New Jersey.
  • Compete at an Area 2 championship (that never seemed to work out with Oh So’s schedule).

I think most of these will have to wait until my next horse, but I’m still holding out hope for Oh So!

My Favorite Photos of the Year

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Fair Hill2 Comments

I had a pretty crazy year of travel for The Chronicle and I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos I’ve taken.

I mostly covered eventing, including Red Hills, Bromont, the Carolina International, Great Meadow, Jersey Fresh, Plantation Field, The Fork, Fair Hill and the AECs, as well as CDI***** dressage in Florida, the USEA Convention, two Jimmy Wofford clinics and the Pan Am Games.

I wrote about my favorite memory for COTH as well.

“This year I headed to my first ever championship as a member of the media when I covered the Pan American Games in Toronto with my co-worker Lisa Slade.

I was a little nervous, having heard tales of chaos and stress at multi-discipline championships from other more seasoned staffers. But I’d also heard them rave about how amazing it was to see Valegro dance to music or feel the tension so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife as the final horse cleared the final show jump in eventing.

In the end, the experience was much more the latter. Sure, Lisa and I had to sneak in PB&Js every day for lunch because the few food vendors were overwhelmed and yes, there were some stressful days worrying about getting our coverage up even though we were wet/hot/cold/hungry/tired, but to me it was worth it to experience the U.S. team on the podium multiple times, and to be able to witness equestrian sport on a global scale.

I wish I’d had time to talk to every rider from another country and learn their story, but reporting on the medal contenders was first priority, leaving little time for much else. I did get to talk to a few South American riders across all three disciplines over those two weeks though, and learning the stories of what they go through to be able to compete at the Pan Ams, which for many is the pinnacle of their career, and how excited they were to bring attention to equestrian sport in their countries was really amazing. They took their jobs as ambassadors of the sport very seriously and with a great amount of pride.

There really were so many memorable moments, it’s hard to choose! McLain Ward riding the spicy Rothchild to his first individual championship medal, Brazil’s Ruy Fonseca so close to an individual gold before dropping the final rail in the eventing to give Marilyn Little the gold, the impressive Brazilians across all disciplines, Steffen Peters’ elation aboard Legolas in the dressage…Some say the Pan Ams aren’t as prestigious as other championships, but to me and the many riders who were privileged to be there, those medals and experiences mean so much.”

Without further ado, here are my favorite photos in no particular order.1DSC_0038

Brazilian dressage rider Leandro Aparecido Da Silva’s daugther gave Di Caprio a pat after his test at the Pan Ams. I’m not the strongest candid photographer (I’m working on it!), but this one was pretty sweet.

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Buck Davidson and Ballynoe Castle RM at Jersey Fresh. “Reggie” and Buck’s partnerships is one of my favorites. I just love how Reggie is jumping picture perfect over this massive table and how Buck is in the perfect balance. This is something to emulate!

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Kim Herslow and Rosmarin at the Pan Ams. Dressage riders are the most emotional riders as I came to find out at the Pan Ams. Kim took a moment after her test to give Rosmarin a hug, even among the loud cheering in the stadium.

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I turned around quickly and captured this shot of a rider during dressage day at Fair Hill. It’s my favorite event to go to, especially when the weather and fall foliage cooperates like it did this year!

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A lot has been said about Marilyn Little this year, but this photo captures the side of her I see when I interview her at competitions. RF Demeter is a special partner for her, and it showed after they won the Bromont CCI***.

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Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border standing off at Fair Hill. I love a photo of a good jumping horse, and “Crossy” sure looks scopey here! Kim is soft-spoken, but I love interviewing her because she’s so real. She’ll humbly admit how difficult it was to learn to ride this horse and it’s wonderful that they’re now on the same page (and getting results!).

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McLain Ward and Rothchild at the Pan Ams. This photo (in its’ original form here) was a little back lit, but our design team worked their magic, and it became my second ever cover shot! It’s also one of the rare shots of “Bongo” with her ears forward. McLain’s partnership with this fiery little horse is one of my favorites in show jumping.

 

Introducing The French Bear and some random updates

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Bear, Competition recap, Fair Hill, Oh So, Rocky, Toppers, Travel1 Comment

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It took more than two months to find him, but I’m excited to introduce everyone to The French Bear, or “Bear”, my new project horse.

Lisa found him for me via Diana McClure of DMC Carousel Racing Stables in Berryville, Va.

Bear is a 2010 bay Thoroughbred gelding (Gators N Bears–Femme De Diable, Devil His Due). He raced 16 times this year and was about to race again when Diana convinced his owner to sell him.

According to Diana, who also broke him, Bear tried very hard on the track, but his best wasn’t good enough. He never won, but he did get several thirds and won about $16,000.

I brought him home last Wednesday and Oh So was immediately jealous, of course!

I gave Bear Ace for the first few times in turnout, but he was fairly quiet. I put him out with Sam this weekend and they seem fine together. Sam actually seems uninterested, maybe because he doesn’t want to deal with a “kid” in his old age! Bear seems independent and happy to graze away from him, but he didn’t like being in a paddock by himself the first two days, so that’s when we decided to put them together.

Our first ride on Thursday started when my jump saddle slipped under his belly when I

Sam's enjoying his new buddy.
Sam’s enjoying his new buddy.

tried to mount! Thankfully, he just stood there, but I clearly need a different girth or a different saddle. I’m looking into a more narrow saddle, but I wasn’t expecting to have this expense. He’s so narrow right now though, so we need to find something. He’s about 16 hands, but I think he’ll grow a bit more.

Our second ride started well enough, but then he started being a bit nappy by the gate. A dressage whip helped, so that’s our new tool! I’ve been walking and trotting him over poles and working on very large circles.

On Tuesday night, I had my first lesson with my dressage trainer, Nicky. We started with some basic lungeing, which he knows, but we added an outside side rein. He was very good to the left, but to the right, he was a little reluctant and kicked out a bit when she asked him to go forward. We ended it on a good note though and then got on.

The first thing Nicky noticed was I need to define exactly where I’m going with him, instead of just trotting around the ring on big circles and straight lines. She said I need to decide which letter I’m turning in and think of square turns for a while so he doesn’t learn to fall in and so he learns to listen to both my leg aids.

We worked a little on dropping my weight into my inside seat bone when turning and she gave me a tool to get him to move forward past the gate instead of stopping and refusing to turn right, which is the only direction it occurs.

She wanted me to prepare for the disobedience by lowering my inside hand a bit, then wave the whip, which would be in my left hand, near his shoulder so he sees it. That seemed to correct the behavior, so we’ll keep going with that!

I’m excited and a little nervous to start with “raw clay”, so-to-speak. I’ve never had a horse so green or young, and Oh So was my first OTTB, but he already had his basics on him and was jumping small things.

I think Bear’s willing attitude will make it a lot more fun. He seems intelligent and willing to try things and I think he’s a real cuddlier, a bit different than Oh So for sure! He actually enjoys being groomed and doesn’t fidget, and he doesn’t try to kick my teeth out when I put on his blanket.

I’ll be sad when the time comes to sell him, but I can’t afford to keep and compete two horses at once. I think we both have a lot to learn from each other. I’ll try to update the blog whenever I can with some videos and/or photos after my lessons.

This fall has been kind of weird for me. On the one hand, I’ve been traveling so much that I haven’t had much time to miss riding, but on the other hand, this is the longest I’ve ever gone without riding regularly in my life and I still just feel a little lost.

I never thought at the beginning of the year that I’d be bringing home a new horse and taking on a challenge like this.

My life thrives on routine, which can be good, but can also be a little bit of a detriment. For the last 10 years of my life, fall has been the time I look forward to the most. The weather gets cooler and I start my competition season in September, move on to Morven Park in October, take a weekend at Fair Hill, then finish up the season with a great time with my

My view for Harrisburg

friends and trainer at VA Horse Trials.

I’ll be missing VA for the first time since I can remember, but it gives me a chance to go to Galway Downs instead, so I’m excited about that. I’m just really missing the competition season.

I won’t be able to get to a lesson with Lisa until next weekend, but I think it’s good for Bear to have a few weeks to settle before we put him back on the trailer.

I had a quiet weekend this week after Harrisburg to get to know Bear and relax a bit. Although it was a long week at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, full of 8am-11pm

days with little to no downtime, I felt that the coverage that me and our intern, Taylor, provided was pretty good. We had fun shooting, especially the jumpers, and we

ended up getting some decent hunter people to talk with, which was a what I was worried about.

A Corn Husk horse at Fair Hill.
A Corn Husk horse at Fair Hill.

Check out our Pennsylvania National Horse Show coverage.

We drove over to Fair Hill for a few hours on Sunday and although I was disappointed to miss cross-country, I was glad just to be there and be outside for a bit after a week indoors.

On Sunday, I went to see Cavalia with my mom at National Harbor, which was a lot of fun. We went to see it a few years ago and really enjoyed it, and this show was similar, but with a little bit different theme. I really love watching the acrobatics. It’s basically like Cirque Du S’Olei with horses.

Toppers and Rocky had a fun trip down to the vet on Thursday so Toppers could have a couple of teeth removed. Rocky went for moral support and so I wouldn’t have to deal with him screaming at home while simultaneously dealing with a new horse and Oh So on stall rest.

The surgery was successful and the vet even gave us his two teeth, one of which was rotted and the other fractured. They shared a stall at the clinic and apparently Rocky tried to help by pulling out Toppers’ catheter!

Now I’m off on my final trip for COTH this year, Galway Downs in Temecula, Calif. I’ve been to one event in northern California as an intern, so I’m excited to see some SoCal eventing. I’m flying into San Diego, and I wish I had some time to check out the city, but I have a pretty packed few days. I’ll be flying home on Monday, then heading to day 2 of the William Fox-Pitt clinic at Morningside in Warrenton where I’ll cover it for our website.

The Insanity Begins

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Fair Hill, Morven Park, Oh SoLeave a comment

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There really hasn’t been much to say the last few weeks. Oh So is fairly calm on stall rest and I’m really getting the urge to ride. I am physically aching to ride, which is driving me nuts! I’ve only ever gone 2 weeks without riding in my entire life.

Lisa found me the perfect project horse, an OTTB that was 7 and had been started under saddle, like Oh So, but hadn’t done much since he stopped racing at 4.

We had him vetted last week and he was totally sound and perfect…until we got to the X-rays. He ended up having OCDs on his hocks, so no go, unfortunately.

I was so close I could taste it, and now I’m just feeling a little down in the dumps. I just want a horse to ride! How hard can that be? Lisa is back on the hunt again and has a couple of leads that she’s checking out this weekend. I just feel like I flushed $1,000 down the toilet.

Oh So had an ultrasound yesterday and the vet said she saw about 15% improvement on the accessory ligament and 25% improvement on the suspensory. She had hoped for more improvement on the accessory, but overall, we’re moving forward positively.

Since I had nothing to do last weekend, on Sept. 22, I made my first trip to the Plantation  Field International Horse Trials in Unionville, Pa. (check out my photos here.)

2013-09-22 07.53.45The self-proclaimed “best event ever” is in it’s sixth year hosting CIC divisions and while I’ve been to many of the east coast’s top FEI-events as a spectator or reporting for The Chronicle, for some reason, I’d never made the trip. Plus, we have so many events in Virginia and Maryland that a four hour drive to compete and stay overnight seems like a lot of effort!

Nestled in the heart of the Brandywine Valley, Plantation Field is smack dab in the middle of eventing and hunt country and since it’s inception, is starting to become riders’ last run before the fall three-days.

In striving to be the “best event ever”, Plantation Field engages the community. Several local business and riders sponsored cross-country fences, donated money, or set up booths in the trade fair.

Bringing more interest from the public is a constant battle for horse sports, so this year, the Plantation Field team stepped up the trade fair and held “a weekend in the country”, that included a Kid’s Corner, Wine Bistro, Beer Garden, and to top it all off, a Downton-Abbey themed tailgating contest where spectators came in their poshest tweeds.

The event is taylor-made for the spectator, with the trade fair at the crest of a hill 2013-09-22 10.34.23-1overlooking the cross-country course on one side and the show jumping arena on the other.

While there were several spectators that made their way down to the water jump, many were just as happy to sit under the food tent, drink a beer and watch from the top of the hill.

I took photos of the CIC divisions, and the three-star division got dramatic when 7 horses and riders fell at the A element of the water jump and officials ultimately decided to take out the A and B.

Plantation was the start of a pretty insane next 6 weeks. I’m off to the AECs in Texas today, then home for a couple of days, then up to Capital Challenge in Md. for a day, then Morven Park.

I’ll have a weekend off before spending an entire week in Harrisburg, Pa. covering the Pennsylvania National. Unfortunately, that falls on Fair Hill weekend, which is celebrating its 25th year. I’ve gone for the last 11 years of my life, and I’m devastated to miss it, but we’re short-staffed, so I have to fill in.

I’m hoping to drive from Harrisburg to Fair Hill on Sunday morning so I can at least catch some of the show jumping.

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Ups and Downs

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Fair Hill, Oh SoLeave a comment

I decided to wait to post anything about the last two weekends until I’d finished the Virginia Horse Trials yesterday. What started out as excitement to try a new course resulted in the worst event of my career and now a loss of confidence.

Last weekend I went up to Fair Hill since I hadn’t been there in awhile. Lisa couldn’t come, but I felt prepared. I knew the dressage warmup was going to be crowded and small, and it was definitely like bumper cars once I got there. Oh So did the best he could, but he was definitely tense.

When it got closer to my time, the warmup cleared out a bit and I was able to have some time to warmup around the outside of the ring before it was my turn. The test itself was calm, but had a surprising lack of impulsion that I really didn’t notice until I watched my video. We ended up with a 36, which was disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.

I had expected show jumping to be on footing, so when I got up there the night before and saw that it was on a grassy hill, it bothered me a bit, but I didn’t lose any sleep over it.

His warmup was ok, but I think he was thinking cross-country. I didn’t jump anything huge and I didn’t pick too much to the jumps. When I got in the ring, the first two fences were nice, then he had the third down on the way up. As I came around to a triple bar to a one-stride, I picked and he got too close to it, adding a third stride in between and nearly unseating me.

I had to circle to get to the next fence in the line, and after that, it all fell apart. I think we were both frazzled and I didn’t ride him with enough pace. We ended up with 9 rails down, which was both embarrassing and upsetting.

I tried to put it behind me for cross-country. I thought the course was nice with some different things to try and not too many max galloping fences. As I came around to fence 7, a simple right-handed corner, I think I took back and got him a little too close, so he jumped awkwardly over it and I came off on landing. I tried to hang on, thus falling under his feet and I got kicked in the back of my thigh and pulled a muscle in my other one. He galloped off, probably wondering why mom was on the ground.

I’ve only fallen off him once before during a cross-country school, so that was upsetting enough, but the show jumping, where I have little confidence as is, really bothered me. I decided to drop down to training for the Virginia Horse Trials just as a precaution.

Our dressage warmup at Lexington was quite good and I trotted into the ring feeling confident, but then I cantered too early and the bell rung, so our rhythm was upset and I think I let it get to me. He acted like an ass for the free walk to medium walk as usual. Unfortunately the training level test has no challenges to keep him or me occupied, so we ended up with a 38.2, when it should have been 10 points lower. We were also in an open division with barely any chance of being competitive unless we scored below 30.

The cross-country course was basically like speed bumps, so no problems there. He tripped up the bank out of water because it was so small and started lining up the prelim coffin at the end!

My plan to have a confidence building show jumping round didn’t pan out, as we had three rails down. The first one was my fault, because the first fence was off of a tight turn. The second one down came off a similar turn and we got a little close to it, but he could have tried. The third rail was off of a rollback turn and there was no reason for it to come down since he hit the spot perfectly. He just wasn’t being careful.

So, now I feel like we’ve hit rock bottom. I’m going to try not to let it get to me between now and Seneca in three weeks, but I still haven’t decided whether to drop back to training level for that one. I think the other two phases will suffer because they’re so easy for him and I’m more confident, but I also don’t want to have another bad show jumping round.

I know my saddle isn’t helping, so I’m trying to get going on testing out a few different brands, but I think the bottom line is that he doesn’t think there are consequences to knocking rails and I just can’t practice enough on one horse.

I’m considering a bit change again and maybe trying a lesson with a jumper trainer in my price range. If anyone in the Middleburg area has any suggestions, please email me at piaffeprincess86@yahoo.com.

I know we’re competent at this level, I just need to be consistent with my riding, keep telling myself that we can do it and figure out the key to getting the best possible jump out of him.

Fair Hill International: A beautiful fall weekend

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Fair Hill, Travel1 Comment

I was up at Fair Hill this weekend covering the event for COTH. This was my 11th year in a row going and it’s always my favorite because it’s the best time of year. When I first started going, there was still the long-format, so things have changed a lot over the years, but it’s always well-run and just a good time.

I wasn’t feeling as excited this year because I’m still bummed about my run at Loch Moy. It’s just really got me feeling less confident. But I put that aside the best I could to cover dressage on Thursday. I also did coursewalk photo galleries for the CCI** and CCI*** in an effort to try something different with the coverage for the magazine.

My coworker Sara joined me on Friday and we shot dressage all day. Overall, I wasn’t that impressed with the dressage this year in the CCI***. Maybe it’s because many of the top riders weren’t there and the field was small, but there wasn’t any one horse that I thought, “Oh, he’ll win the dressage”.

My weekend took a bad turn when my car wouldn’t start on Friday evening. We tried jumping it, but it wouldn’t even turn over, so we left it there overnight and I got it towed in the morning (apparently the tow truck got stuck in the mud to make things worse). I ended up being distracted throughout the day on Saturday worrying about my car and if I was going to be able to go home the next day. It turned out that the shop it was towed to couldn’t figure it out and thought maybe it was a problem with the anti-theft system, so I had to have it towed to a Ford dealership, who wouldn’t be able to look at it until Monday. So, a huge towing bill later, the car decided to start when we checked on it on Sunday night! So, a huge headache for what turned out to be nothing (I hope. The car is currently at the Ford dealership at home to see if they can figure out why it would randomly not start).

So, back to cross-country. It was a picture perfect day and even though we had a very heavy thunderstorm on Friday morning, the footing held up enough that not too many people withdrew. It was also a safe day, which was nice. They didn’t change too much on the cross-country which made it kind of difficult to get some new shots, but I think I got some good ones.

Show jumping day was also gorgeous. Hannah Sue Burnett won the three-star and was a very gracious winner for the second time. Connor Husain won the two-star and was quite overwhelmed which was cute. I always love Fair Hill because you can stand right in the warm up arena for dressage and show jumping and hear all the gossip and the way the top riders were coached. Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin got help from dressage rider Michael Barisone, while a lot of the riders were getting help from Lauren Hough for the show jumping.

Here’s a link to all of our coverage from the weekend along with a ton of photos. Hope you enjoy it!

Now I’ve got two weeks before the ATCs with Oh So. I’m going to try to get a cross-country school in to practice with my lower leg. I had a really good ride this morning on the flat, so at least I’m feeling confident there!

Fair Hill International

On By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Fair Hill1 Comment

I had a wonderful weekend at the Dansko Fair Hill International CCI***. I was asked last minute to help the Chronicle with some photos on Saturday, so I worked for GRC Friday and Sunday and simultaneously for both on Saturday. On Friday I shot the Young Event Horse Championships. I’m also writing a story for COTH which should be in next week’s issue. There were only about 10-15 horses per class, so it went quickly. The day started out mild, but when we had four horses left, a big thunderstorm came and they held the rest of the horses until after lunch.

I shot dressage for the rest of the afternoon, but it poured rain for most of it. It was miserable! But, it’s not Fair Hill unless it rains at least one day. I sat in on the press conference too which is always interesting.

Cross-country day was gorgeous and reminded me again of why I love Fair Hill so much. The footing dried out throughout the day and only a few people withdrew. It was a safe day for the sport with only a few rider falls.

On Sunday, I got some shots of the jog, then the CCI** show jumped. I was really happy with how my photos came out. I was playing around with a 70-200mm f/2.8 and a 300mm fixed. Boyd Martin won for the second time in the CCI***. It was a great story, considering the horse was retired from upper level competition a few years ago. Here’s a link to the COTH coverage featuring some of my photos.

I had a good dressage lesson last week and will jump Oh So this week. We have Waredaca on Saturday, then our prelim debut next weekend at Lexington!