Fancy Prancing

On August 18, 2020September 28, 2020 By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Oh SoLeave a comment

Oh So and I have spent the last month working on our Third Level tests at three dressage shows. We started off at By Chance Farm in July. It was pretty hot, but we got up before dawn to get there and ride before 9am! At least we were done early.

We rode Third 1 and 2. Last year we only ended up getting to one dressage show, and we scored in the low 60s in both tests, so I was hoping to see some improvement this year.

Heidi and I know he’ll never have a clean right to left change at this point, so we accept it will be a 3 or 4, but there’s so many other things he does well.

At By Chance Farm. InFocus By Bruce photo

I struggle to sit his medium/extended trots, so those are always a weak point, but I was surprised how well we scored on our canter half passes and our good change. We got 8s!

He has a pretty good rein back, but he kind of resisted in the test, so that ended up with a 6. He got a 7 on his gaits, but 6.5s on the other collectives. His poll can get low in trot, so the judge commented on that. It’s not that I’m forcing him down that way, it’s just that he naturally wants to leave his head there, so I constantly have to remind myself to lift him up.

The second test we got a few more 8s, including on our entry and our shoulder-in right and renvers right. We ended up with a 63.81 on test 2 and a 64.45 on test 1! Our highest scores yet. We won one class and were second in the other.

The next weekend we went to Loch Moy and ended up with a 63.78 on test 1 and a 64.07 on test 2. So, consistent! Heidi was able to be there to warm us up, which was nice.

We turned a few 5s into 6s and 6s into 7s, and got another 8 on our left to right change from one judge. Similar comments though–keep him more up and more engaged. I got a 7 on my position and one judge commented that I had good hands. We ended up second in both of our amateur classes and won the TIP award for our level!

Yesterday we did our last show of the summer at Beverly Equestrian. I rode in the indoor for both tests, and he did feel slightly tighter for the first test. We weren’t able to trot around the outside, so we started in the ring. I saw our reflection in the mirror and thought he looked more up in his frame.

We ended up with a 62.36 on test 2 and rode test 3 for the first time and got a 60.87. I was disappointed with the marks because he felt pretty much the same as the last two shows. Unfortunately I didn’t have a video to compare. Maybe the first test felt slightly less polished in the transitions. The judge dinged us for the extended/medium gaits and the transitions. Fair enough when he doesn’t have huge extended gaits to start with. It makes it harder to show a clear transition. She saw some irregular steps in the trot half pass right, which Heidi had actually noticed too during our lesson this week. Not sure what that’s about.

She said his haunches were leading in the canter half passes and while I felt the rein back was smoother in test 3, she said he wasn’t square behind. In test 2, she wanted more flexion and bend in the renvers and more bend but less angle in the shoulder-ins.

We were first and fifth in our classes and won the TIP award for our level. One rider walked by before our test and asked who Oh So’s sire was! That was quite the compliment.

So, not the improvement I’d hoped to see after three shows, but I know what we need to work on. More power in the extended/medium gaits, show more change in the transitions between gaits, and watch the hindquarters and bend/angle on lateral work.

My goal had been to reach 65 percent, and we got close! I think he could get maybe 67 percent if everything went perfectly, but isn’t that what dressage is about? Trying to put everything together on the day. We’ll keep working, but for now, back to running and jumping!

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Beverly and Loch Moy, Tara Jelenic Photos

Winding Down The Season

On October 16, 2019October 23, 2019 By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Morven Park, Oh SoLeave a comment

And just like that, my fall season is done! I decided to wait to write until I had all three events done, so here we go (I’ll work on a Burghley blog when I get some more time)!

We started out with CDCTA in September. I had only been back from England for a few days, so not ideal, but I had a friend hack him a bit while I was gone to keep him moving.

It’s been a long, hot summer, and by September we were not getting much rain, so the ground was definitely firm. I hadn’t actually ever competed at the new CDCTA site, just schooled a few times. Everything is on grass, which can definitely be a challenge.

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I was a bit nervous because I ended up getting my old dressage trainer as my judge. She’s never judged me before, but we worked together from about age 12 until four years ago. I was able to put it out of my mind and put in a decent test for a 30.2.

Show jumping was on a bit of a hill and was in a tightly roped space. I wasn’t super pleased with our round, but we got the job done clear, which a lot of people didn’t.

Cross-country felt pretty good, and we ended up winning and taking home the reserve TIP award. We were also the highest-placed CDCTA member, so we won $600! We got to do a little victory gallop with our neck sash, which was fun. It was fun to see a lot of friends at that event, and I was able to catch up with my former trainer afterwards and we had a nice chat. She thought Oh So looked really well, which was nice to hear.

2019-09-15 19.24.58-1 — He was not super into getting tacked up again for his ribbons!

We had a cross-country school at Surefire the week before Morven, and it was hot! The heat was just relentless, right up until two days before Morven when fall finally arrived.

I entered the Area 2 novice championship having never done any area championship at all. I was a little disappointed we didn’t have two dressage judges and that the cross-country was the same as the regular novice. So basically I paid $300 for the privilege of show jumping last.

Dressage was nice and steady, and we got a 29.8 to be fourth out of 48 people! Cross-country was one of the best rounds we’ve had in awhile; I didn’t mess with him, and everything came up nearly perfect. It was a bit odd to go straight to cross-country and have to do show jumping last, but I think he enjoyed himself.

We had about an hour to get ready for show jumping, and I didn’t get a chance to walk the course because the course walks never seem to happen when I cam actually make them!

We came around the turn to fence 4, and while it felt a little short, it didn’t feel bad, but he had the front rail down behind. That’s the first rail he’s had in probably two years. Lisa says I just lost some impulsion around the turn, and with him maybe being a bit flat and/or tired after cross-country, I needed to just squeeze him off the ground a tiny bit more.

It was a real bummer because we plummeted to 14th place when we had moved up to third after cross-country. In the end, we were the fourth-best amateur, so we got a few points out of it.

I had really wanted to do well at Morven, and I’m still really happy with everything, cross-country especially, but it’s just tough when we don’t ever get to practice show jumping last. I think we maybe did it once or twice a Virginia Horse Trials.

I was also bummed they didn’t at least give separate amateur or Area 2 Adult Rider ribbons to the top amateurs. They really should have split the class into amateur or rider and open. I know I didn’t earn a ribbon that weekend, but it would have been to nice to have been recognized considering that may be our one and only time doing a championship.

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We headed straight to Loch Moy last weekend for the Maryland Horse Trials 3 as our last event. Dressage was nice and steady, and I worked a bit on riding a more forward trot and canter after a lesson I had with Heidi earlier in the week. She asked me why I don’t try taking a risk in the ring, and I figured, why not if he’s relaxed? At home she has me riding a pretty big, almost medium trot in warmup to get him to use his body and open up his step more in trot. At Loch Moy I definitely didn’t ride that big, but a fraction more, and I think it showed. He tends to get comments that he is steady and beautiful, but needs to use his back more and sometimes that we need a bit more impulsion, which is funny considering how he used to around very tight and tense! We scored a 27.6 to lead.

Show jumping was fine, maybe not the smoothest I’ve ever had. I was adding in a few lines for some reason and got in my knee a bit, which is the habit I’m always fighting.

Unfortunately that carried over to cross-country, and I had a few fences where I really needed to support him with my leg better, and I didn’t. He’ll still jump the jumps, but sometimes I can tell after having a fence where I didn’t support him as much that he’ll be slightly backed off to the next one. It was also a huge contrast to Morven’s nice galloping course. At Loch Moy it’s very twisty and turny, and the fences come up really fast.

We ended up winning and getting the TIP award and a bottle of wine! A great way to finish the season.

Now we’ll head into the off season working more on our Third Level movements, maybe riding without stirrups and going back to Loch Moy to school the derby course in the arena. My hope had been to do a few more dressage shows, but we did a lot this year, and I traveled a lot, so I think I’m good for now! I’m just tired; I’ve been at a horse show in some capacity pretty much every weekend since June.

It looks like we’ll end the season on the USEA national leaderboard somewhere, which is super cool, and we’ll win the CDCTA and Area 2 novice amateur year-end awards too!

I’m so grateful every time I get to ride Oh So, and to be able to have another winning season is just icing on the cake.

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CDCTA HT. GRC Photo

Morven Park HT. GRC Photo

MD HT 3. GRC Photo

Winding Down The Season

On October 28, 2018October 29, 2018 By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Oh So, Travel1 Comment

The 2018 season’s gone out with a bit of a whimper and not a bang for me unfortunately. With Seneca being canceled and now Waredaca getting a few inches of rain, I decided to scratch today.

I knew at the beginning of the week that I likely wouldn’t be running cross-country because of the wet weather forecasted, but with reports and photos coming in yesterday of trucks being towed in and out and knowing that the dressage and show jumping warm up are on grass, plus having to get up at 4:30 a.m., I decided not to risk it for a combined test that wouldn’t count for anything.

2018-10-14 13.24.08.jpg — Hanging out at Loch Moy.

My trainer asked me to consider what I would get out of it, and honestly, probably not much. We’re both bored with the novice test and don’t *need* to do it, and we’re looking ahead to some local winter jumper shows for practice. I hate to throw another $200 down the toilet, but that seems to be the nature of this year for everyone. I just wish Waredaca would have made that call for me. I was still undecided right up until I went to bed last night, and really could have gone either way, but I also think I needed a quiet day where I can get some stuff done around my apartment, have a nice ride and probably clip him again since he grew his hair back so fast!

Continue reading “Winding Down The Season” →

Soggy September

On October 2, 2018October 3, 2018 By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Oh SoLeave a comment

Well, things didn’t go according to plan at Seneca. It was pouring rain on Saturday when I went up to walk my course, and Lisa and I pretty much knew we wouldn’t be running the next day.

Fortunately they made the decision a little easier for me when they cancelled all competition on Sunday, but it was a real bummer for me and for the event!

I had to head to WEG the next day with my co-worker and friend Kimberly. We arrived late afternoon to check out the venue and get our credentials, which went pretty seamlessly.

The venue was a complete mess, but the two main stadiums and the footing were great. I keep telling everyone who asks how WEG was that I went in not expecting a lot of polish, and we definitely didn’t get that. The media center was not ready for us on Monday, but by Tuesday it was functional. There was air conditioning, power and WiFi, which was about all we really needed. They fed us two meals a day plus a generous afternoon snack, which is more than we could have asked for and very much appreciated.

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Donation Derby Fun!

On December 4, 2017December 28, 2017 By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Oh So1 Comment

It’s been a crazy busy month with my vacation, a trip to Ocala and Thanksgiving, so I haven’t had much time to blog. Now I’m off to California tomorrow for the USEA Convention and for a quick visit to L.A.!

But before that I was able to get Oh So out to the Loch Moy Donation Derby on Sunday.

I was super excited to ride Saturday, but after I fed him his breakfast and went to clean his legs up I realized he’d sprung a shoe! He lives out in a decent amount of mud and hasn’t lost a shoe for a very long time, and it was quite dry, so I was pretty upset.

Luckily the derby ran a second day, so if I could find a farrier to tack it back on I’d be OK.

I spent the day calling about 10 farriers with no luck, and by 4 p.m., I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be going- a great way to cap a pretty horrible year of wasted money and disappointment as far as my riding goals.

But a local farrier came through in the end by some miracle at 5 p.m. and we got it back on!

Continue reading “Donation Derby Fun!” →

Winding Down

On October 29, 2017December 28, 2017 By Lindsay BerrethIn Oh So2 Comments

I debated titling this post, “There Goes The Season,” or “What Season?” so please excuse the following whine session!

I was prepped and ready to go today to the only event this fall that I could get to, the Waredaca Starter Trials.

Between travel and making sure I felt absolutely ready as far as my ankles go, it just took us awhile to get to this point, and last night they decided to postpone to a weekend I’m not available due to the possibility of inclement weather (which didn’t start coming in until well after my ride times would have been today).

It’s been exceptionally dry this fall, so of course the one day I could get to an event it had to rain!

Continue reading “Winding Down” →

November Update: We went to a show!

On November 23, 2016December 30, 2016 By Lindsay BerrethIn Competition recap, Oh So2 Comments

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I’ve waited all summer but I finally got out to a show with Oh So on Nov. 12 at Loch Moy. I haven’t had a place to practice in a real dressage ring all summer, so my accuracy was lacking a bit, but he was very well behaved for our two first level tests.

I’ve never actually been to a show by myself, but I wasn’t able to find anyone to help out, so off we went. Logistically for a dressage show it’s OK, but then I don’t have anyone to video! I did manage to get the ring steward to help me out for the second test though so I could have something to show Heidi.

The first test he got a bit rough in the contact, not ugly, just not as soft in my hand as I would have liked, especially coming back from the lengthened canters. We scored a 66%, which was not what I hoped for, but that’s why we did a second test.

I haven’t been schooling trot lengthenings much at home because I don’t want to stress his tendons, so those were a little weak this time around too.

I had about an hour between rides, so I got off and stood around in the freezing cold. No kidding, it was 26 degrees when we got there!

I did a short warmup for the second test, and it flowed much better. The judge mentioned he did get a little behind the vertical, and that’s something Heidi is on me about a lot, so I always work to keep my hands up and push his nose out, but sometimes he sneaks behind a bit and I can’t tell from where I’m sitting.

We ended up third and fourth and won the TIP reserve award.

It was nice to get back in the ring again, even if it was just in time for the season to end. I’ve got some things I want to work on this winter, including perfecting our right to left flying change. I worked on that a bit today in my lesson with Heidi, and I think we’re both just stuck a bit on it, but I have some homework until next time. This was the first time I’ve ever really continuously asked him for changes during a single ride, and he got the left to right every time, so that was good.

Harley’s first event the week before went very well. We had a minor meltdown in dressage warm up in which we couldn’t get the right lead at all, and he missed it in the test, but got it on the second try. He scored a 31, which I was pleasantly surprised by, but it was only good enough for ninth out of 10.

I was a little rusty in the show jumping, but he jumped all the jumps and jumped clear on cross-country!

Now I’m off to Ocala for the weekend to cover the inaugural Jockey Club International, and when I get back the arena cross-country course at Loch Moy will be open, and Oh So will be ready to have some fun!

15129062_10103165574804667_682911825069334913_o — GRC Photo.

15194325_10103165574879517_8159194542781987263_o — GRC Photo

Starting A New Chapter

On May 10, 2016 By Lindsay BerrethIn Bear, Competition recap, Oh SoLeave a comment

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It’s taken me a couple of weeks to sit down and write this blog, mostly because I’ve been super busy with a trip to Rolex (more on that later), but also because it’s been hard to put into words how I feel about Bear being sold.

It happened very fast. I got an email from a mother asking if he would be suitable for her 12-year-old daughter. At first, I thought it didn’t sound like a good match, but I let Lisa talk to them, and she thought it sounded promising so we went ahead and set up a time to meet.

The girl was very mature for her age, and seems like a perfectionist (sound like anyone??), and when she got on Bear and rode him around with a loose rein like a hunter, he just plodded along, no problems.

Lisa thought it was a good match, the girl loved him, and we set up a vetting for the following Monday. He passed with flying colors, and I dropped him off that evening, less than a week after they tried him. We hadn’t had any serious interest in him all winter or spring, so it was surprising.

I hardly had time to think about it before I set off for Rolex on Wednesday!

As all horse people know, our horses are like our children, and we want what we think is best for them. I can’t say I imagined Bear going to be a schoolmaster for a junior with no concrete eventing goals as a 6-year-old, but that’s just a testament to the kind of quiet, good soul he is.

I thought I’d find him another amateur like me, or, in the back of my mind, I thought of the countless stories I hear when interviewing riders every week–of how they had their horse for sale, and no one came to see him or he didn’t pass the vet, and they ended up taking him through the levels–like it was destiny that they keep him.

I feel like I had a lot more to learn from Bear and that his education was far from complete. I feel like I hadn’t quite unlocked his potential in dressage. Even though my dressage trainer Heidi said his trot was never going to be huge, there were glimmers of what he could be.

The same with the jumping. He was just getting to the point where he was really enjoying his job, becoming braver and really taking charge on course. I really had hoped to complete a novice successfully before he was sold. He felt the same over a training level fence as he did over a beginner novice fence, so I know there was so much more potential in there.

But when I dropped him off at his new home, I knew he’d be in good hands. It was a smaller barn, like mine at home, and he has a kid who will love on him and learn from him.

When I said goodbye, he was just quietly grazing in the small paddock they set aside for him, greeting his new buddies over the fence, and seemed perfectly content.

In the end, he doesn’t care whether he goes prelim or putters around beginner novice the rest of his life, but it’s hard to not see him through his full potential, if only to prove to myself I can do it.

All of my friends and acquaintances asked why I was selling him, and why I didn’t keep him while Oh So was slowly moving towards retirement age. In the end, it’s about the cost of keeping two horses going and some poor timing.

Oh So is 16 this year, and I’m not sure how long he’ll keep going. In his mind, he’ll go until he’s 25, but his body won’t hold up. We take it one day at a time and hope he stays sound.

I wish everything in life didn’t have to come down to money, but with horses, it always seems to. To have two horses competing, plus paying for board, farrier, vet, lessons and shows for both is just not feasible for me at this point.

But now I have some money to put away for my next horse, which I don’t plan on selling. It’s just too painful. I’m now left with a lot of free time on my hands, which in a way is good–maybe I can pursue other things outside of horses.

I’ve been going kind of non-stop with either one or two riding horses, plus taking care of the farm since we bought the place in 2002. This is the first time in my life that I only have one horse to worry about, and it feels a little empty right now.

But at the same time, I’m happy to be back with my partner in crime as we move on to our next adventure. For now, that means a combined test at Morningside in May, then the starter trials at Loch Moy to get going. I’d love to do Seneca and Surefire in June, but I can’t plan too far ahead with him.

I’m keeping my eye out for another boarding barn, something smaller, so if you know of anything near Leesburg/Purcellville/Middleburg, please let me know! I’m also keeping my eye out for other riding opportunities to keep myself fit.

Here’s a video of my last show with Bear at Morningside. He was second in the novice CT with a 30 in dressage. Our show jumping round was in the rain again, and was a little rough around the edges, but he jumped clear! That plus our win at Morven Park and the TIP Award was a perfect way to cap off our career together.

Rolex was a whirlwind trip, but I got a chance to visit my brother, sister in law and niece at their new house in Cincinnati, eat lots of chili and watch Michael Jung be amazing! It was my first time as a member of the media, and it was fun and kind of chilling to stand in the middle of the ring for dressage and show jumping, something I’ve only ever watch on TV or from afar.

Cross-country day was pretty gross and wet, but it was a safe day overall, and I was really happy with my photos and got a cover shot out of it!

COH_COV

Off to Jersey Fresh this weekend!

A Trifecta

On November 22, 2015November 22, 2015 By Lindsay BerrethIn Bear, Competition recap, Oh SoLeave a comment

It’s been pretty non-stop since I got back from Fair Hill in October. I made a pretty major life change and became a boarder for the first time in 13 years.

While I was perfectly happy with my life, my parents thought it was time for me to move out and be closer to my job. They want to retire eventually and not take care of two crazy OTTBs, so here we are. Sam and the minis are still at home, along with my two cats. I really miss having them around, but I’ve been able to get home about once a week or every ten days to get my fix.

Boarding after taking care of my own horses for so long has been a major adjustment. I like controlling every aspect of my horse’s care and now I can’t, and that really irritates me. From how much hay they get to which paddock they go in to how many times the arena gets dragged, I’m struggling a bit and my OCD is freaking out.

The good news is the place I’ve found is about as good as I can get for my budget and is close to my apartment in Leesburg. I can stop by on my way to work to turn them out and ride on the way home. I’ve got friends nearby who can help me out and the barn owner comes highly recommended. It’s not the fanciest place, but there’s tons of rideout, an indoor and a little cross-country course, which Oh So has been loving.

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The boys are both in a small paddock together right now but will be going out in a group next week, another thing I’m freaking out about.

They were pretty awful about being separated at first, but they’re slowly getting better–just screaming now, no running.

The good news about being in the area I’m in is that it’s closer to a lot more things. On my first weekend, I took Bear cross-country schooling at Loch Moy, which is now only 45 minutes away. We worked through some of his “teenage” moments at the water and down banks that weekend and he finished really well.

The next weekend I took him to school at Hunt Club Farm. He did his first ever combined test there, but now they’ve got a nice cross-country course. I think doing the two back-to-back weekends of schooling really helped both of our confidence and we went to the starter trial at Loch Moy and won our beginner novice division on his dressage score of 26!

I wasn’t really happy with our dressage warmup because it was so crazy and I just didn’t have a plan. He felt behind the leg, but he was mentally handling everything. We had a few minutes to work near our ring and after watching our video, I think we actually looked a little quick in trot. Sometimes I think I look for more out of him compared to Oh So, but I need to just take it down a notch and trust we’re actually moving forward. As a result, I drew my heel up a bit as I was kicking/using my spur, so I looked awful!

I got a little rapid in my show jumping, taking a few “bids” three strides away and he thought that was great fun! He was a bit wild and I just didn’t keep an even pace, so not the prettiest round, but he was certainly going and enjoying himself.

Cross-country was much more steady and he was very brave and attacked each fence. A few in the woods backed him off just enough to make for some nice jumps, and he went right in the water.

The week before Loch Moy I took Oh So for an outing at Waredaca’s Starter Trial. He wasn’t quite ready to do the full thing since he hasn’t cross-country schooled since this summer before his tendon sheath issue, so we did a novice CT.

His warm up was quite good, but once we got onto the bluestone near our ring he tightened up a bit and got very strong in my hand. We must have faked it well because we got a 27! Lisa made some good points in our warmup about downgrading our work for the novice test. It’s so easy and while we both prefer a test with more to do, for now, we can warmup with more transitions and a more open frame, rather than counter canter and lateral work.

Our show jumping round was a bit rough in between the fences since he was so eager to go, but we got it done. In fact, he was almost a bit backed off, which was a weird feeling. I think just not being out for awhile had him quite up.

We ended up winning the combined CT division and a Waredaca gift card!

Last weekend I took Bear to a new event for me, Full Moon Farm. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a new event, so I had a little tinge of nervousness.

We warmed up mostly on the grass to get him thinking forward and finished up on the sand near our ring. I still didn’t really have a plan, other than thinking forward and working on our transitions, but we ended up with a 26.8. I was a little surprised since I thought the score might be a bit higher due to the recognized element and the fact that the test felt similar to the one at Loch Moy, but I’ll take it!

Show jumping was on a grassy hill, so Lisa and I talked a lot about how we would ride the turns and slopes. It was quite open, but as a result of focusing on my turns, we had 2 time faults! Oops. It was a smoother round than Loch Moy, but we didn’t get all of our leads like I was hoping. He did a few cleaner flying changes though, so that was cool. He doesn’t quite know how to do them on command, so the fact that he was balancing himself was good.

We’ve been lucky this fall to be able to event this far into November, and the footing on cross-country was about as good as it could have been. It was a little tacky, something Bear’s never seen before.

This prize was a bit of a head-scratcher.

He was a little wide-eyed as we started since the course is kind of like a roller coaster and goes by the parking and the show jumping. There’s a lot to look at, but once we got to fence 5, a jump with a roof over it, he seemed to be pretty on. He did the little down bank to a roll top well, a bending line, an up bank and the water and ditch perfectly. We actually picked a line to the water to get the best footing, so he barely had to put a foot in it, but we were still between the flags!

We ended up winning the open beginner novice division, which was a great way to end the season. I feel like with some consistency over the last few weeks, we hammered it home to him and he gets it now. With me traveling so much this year and dealing with getting his feet right, we were just inconsistent. He probably could have been going novice by now, but it’s OK. He is still only five (and still for sale!).

Yesterday I took Oh So cross-country schooling and he had so much fun. He just wants to run and jump and was actually frustrated that we were walking around with a group of babies before our lesson! He was jigging and prancing and generally being silly, but it makes me smile. Every day I can still ride him is a blessing, so we’ll take it one day and one jump at a time. I’m hoping to take him to a derby at Loch Moy in December which is entirely run in their arenas.

Doing A Whole Lotta Nothing

On February 23, 2015 By Lindsay BerrethIn Bear, Morven Park, Oh So, Travel1 Comment

As the title implies, the last week has been a total waste when it comes to riding. It started a week ago Sunday when we had an absolutely bitter day, with temperatures in the teens and wind chills below zero at night. I can’t remember the last time we had 60 mph wind gusts, and we had to barricade the barn doors because of how strong they were.

I actually had a very good lesson with Bear the day before where we worked on shortening his stride. I guess I’ve always thought that the concept of shortening the stride was a little too advanced for Baby Bear, but Lisa said it was time.

We’re not exactly working on it yet in canter on the flat (mostly just working on proper bend on the circle both directions, some short bursts of counter canter and some lengthening down the longside to get him moving forward), but when we set up a simple vertical on the short side of an indoor ring with a placing pole on both sides set a little short, as long as I kept my leg on around the turn and sat up a bit, he grasped the concept easily.

Oh So actually got a bath before the big snow storm!

I was excited and inspired to continue with some homework later in the week, but that never happened because of the Polar Vortex 2015 edition!

The ring was quite dry and unfrozen last Sunday despite the temperature being in the low 20s and I could have ridden if I wanted to deal with the horrible wind. On Monday late afternoon, we got our first serious winter snow storm–about 5 inches that fell over night, luckily.

And ever since, it’s remained below freezing, save for this Sunday, so no riding! I’m bummed that we had to get pretty much all of our winter weather within the span of a week. We got another 3 or 4 inches of snow on Saturday, canceling any plans I may have had to trailer out to an indoor to see Lisa.

I walked Oh So up and down the driveway one day and actually took him to an indoor about 5 minutes away on Sunday, but the footing was not good, so I decided not to take Bear and ended up walking him around the outside of the ring where my dad had plowed and it had melted because it was 50 degrees (!!!). We went up and down the driveway a few times and that was that, unfortunately.

It’s not looking like we’ll get much melting until later in the week and I scratched the dressage show Bear was going to do last weekend and the derby cross for Oh So this weekend.

Will it ever end? 😦

I’m more concerned about Oh So losing fitness since he’s ring fit, but is lacking with hill fitness. Bear will be the same when I get back on him as he was the last time I rode, which is a strange feeling for me!

My tentative plan, depending on how much we can get out to school cross-country, is to enter Bear in a combined test at Morningside in March and then Morven Park beginner novice, but only if he feels very confident and I don’t feel too rusty! We can always make it a CT if the footing is bad or we’re not totally ready. If he’s not sold by then, he could do CDCTA or a starter trial at Loch Moy in April.

Oh So is going to need to regain his fitness on the hills since he wasn’t quite there last year after he did something to his hip. We’re going to be very careful about when we start competing and probably won’t do a full event until late April, maybe Loudoun Hunt HT.

I’m a planner by nature, so it’s really hard for me to not have a schedule for Oh So, but roughly, we’ll do a couple of novices, mostly to get me back into jumping the bigger fences, and do training for most of the year and see how he goes. The vet was pretty confident about the strength of his tendon last year and as long as we’re careful about what kind of footing he goes on, I don’t see why he couldn’t do prelim again. I’m actually more concerned about his hind end now that he’s older and had that injury to his hip. I hope that was a one time thing, but I’m guessing he has some arthritic changes in his hocks too, so we’ll be continuing with hock injections once a year like we’ve been doing for a few years.

But this all hinges on the snow melting and actually getting out to school cross-country and see how he feels.

As for my trip to Florida a couple of weeks ago, I had a really awesome time, save for it being quite chilly, but I guess it doesn’t even compare to the -1 we had last week at night!

I covered the Adequan Global Dressage Festival CDI 3* and 5* and unfortunately the winners were the usual suspects and a bit boring to interview, but how can you complain about watching some of the best horses and riders in the world?

I went over to the WEF showgrounds on Saturday night and watched the Great Charity Challenge, a fun costume class run like a relay against the clock. I hadn’t been to WEF since 2004 when I won an award from the American Hanoverian Society, and it’s changed so much. It’s pretty much a circus world, like, literally there were fire throwers and circus food!

I had to miss a big jumper class the next day because of my flight, but it was fun to get a little glimpse into a world that I will probably never be able to participate in.

Everything Eventing

Tag: loch moy

Fancy Prancing

Winding Down The Season

Winding Down The Season

Soggy September

Donation Derby Fun!

Winding Down

November Update: We went to a show!

Starting A New Chapter

A Trifecta

Doing A Whole Lotta Nothing