Category Archives: The Horse

Fair Hill Young Event Horse Championships: Dressage

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Part of my reason for coming to Fair Hill is the watch the CCI*** event, but the other big (if not bigger) reason is to support my friend J in her goal of competing her young horse in the YEH Championships. Cooley Mullingar, aka Ollie, is a 5 yr old Irish Sport Horse gelding with the squishiest moose nose, giant ears, and a cuddly goofy disposition. It’s J’s plan to bring him up to take him up through the 2 star level, while the rest of her friends shake our heads in awe and praise her balls of steel.

J had a great test, and handled the atmosphere with more aplomb than my 9 yr old will ever have. The 5 year olds complete a dressage test reminiscent of First-2 in pure dressage, and then get their tack removed for a comformation and jog assessment. Dressage counts towards 35% of their overall score, and conformation 15%. The jumping phase, a combined showjumping and cross country course, makes up the other 50% of the score.

Luckily for J, Ollie is a cross country machine, and I am so looking forward to watching them ride around a very exciting course tomorrow afternoon!

2Pointober

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When I returned to blogland after a not-quite-hiatus, I found that I came back right in time for 2Pointober! For those of you wondering, as if a devotion to blogging isn’t enough, the horsey blogging community also likes to punish itself with a competition that focuses on burning calves and achey bums. We’re a sad and depraved bunch, for sure.

The 2-point position as done by a pro

And yet, I am excited that this year I can finally participate, after missing out due to 1) not meeting the baseline deadline or 2) not having a horse that could participate.

But this year, I actually got my act together and snuck in a ride in the failing light to see what my baseline could be. Recently I’ve been starting to feel stronger in my jump position, and thanked those weekly jump lessons as I got started. I had a barn mate timing me (aka yelling at me and lying to me about the time). My goal was to see if I could make 3 minutes. And when I got there, she told me if I could make 3 then I could make 5.

So I did. You guys, I actually was able to hold a 2-point position for five. freaking. minutes. 5:04 to be exact!

Photo by High Time Photography

I did canter the whole time, doing changes over a pole to switch things up. But I don’t know how much I can keep that up. So stupid question for those other 2Pointober-participants out there… What do you guys do while you are working on your 2 point? Are you trotting? cantering? Doing 20 meter circles? Or what?

In any case, I wasn’t able to replicate my 5 minute success when I practiced this week. Granted, I’m not particularly surprised- Jack and I had multiple days off, I was coming back from the neck sprain (or something) from HELL earlier that morning, and I didn’t have someone egging me on while I was at it. I hit 2:18 and then Jack broke gaits, throwing me off. He was fairly tired at that point in my ride (and so was I) so I called it a day at that.

I’m setting myself back by taking some time off from riding while I’m traveling, but I hope to get back to it as soon as I return! Bring on the burn!

2017 Fall Plans

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After having so much time away from competing and riding with real goals, it’s hard not to sign up for all the things now that I have a going horse. Especially when said horse will (presumably) benefit from getting exposed to more and more venues. Finding a balance has been a little difficult, and as I mentioned yesterday, I imagine Jack will greatly appreciate a couple weeks off to just get lightly worked and pampered.

November tends to be the end of the season around here, though I may be able to squeak in a dressage show or XC schooling come December. We’ll do one more horse trials at the Carolina Horse Park in a month, and then I’ve signed up for a clinic with Boyd Martin after Thanksgiving. That in itself should be a pretty big cherry on top after an eventful year!

There’s been a bit of a lull on the blog of late because I’ve been so. damn. busy. But hopefully this week will mark a return back to normal posting!!

In which Jack expresses his opinions

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Jack has been a busy boy recently… each week we have been both a dressage and a jump lesson (that we trailer out for), sprinkling in massage and chiro appointments to keep him comfortable. But still, going from light work to being in a program like that takes some getting used to. The golden boy has changed so much physically that the saddles I got fit to him upon purchase in June no longer are a perfect fit. This plus other things have made him a little sore, so while I’m off to Fair Hill this week he’s going to get some down time. And a reflocked saddle. And a shoulder relief girth. Seriously, the things we do for horses.

opinions, we has them.

One of the fun habits Jack has picked up that has specifically shown me where he’s sore is shoving. Like craning his neck to wherever you are, putting his nose into you, and pushing you with that big noggin of his. While not so charming (and I have been consistently telling him this, to no avail), it has been helpful (silver lining?) in indicating to me exactly his likes and dislikes. Things that will earn you a shove include putting the saddle on, pressing on anywhere sore (i.e, his back), bath time, and tying him in the trailer. Some of this I am attempting to remedy the situation, other times I am forced to tell him how expressing his opinions that way is going to be rewarded with my own opinions- and he isn’t going to like it. We’re still working on communicating with each other, and hopefully after his couple weeks off will instill a better attitude in him.

Documenting Fair Hill 2015 | PC: JP

Meanwhile, Fair Hill. I’m heading up north Wednesday to support a friend in her Young Event Horse competition, and staying through the 3*** and beyond. My plan is to do some photo shoots while I’m in the area, and I can’t wait to see actual sweater weather and all the fall colors. I would love to connect with any other bloggers out there too, so please let me know if we can meet up!

Show Recap: Running Start BN Combined Training

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Saturday, Jack and I (with the help of our amazing friend C) headed out to do a quick Combined Training event in Southern Pines. The goal was to get a little more exposure and get a confidence building round. Essentially we were to do our dressage test, go back to the trailer for a tack change, jump, and head home again.

Jack’s dressage test was okay. The next time I take him out I’ll be adding spurs, because I feel as though his tension translates into getting behind my leg, and I definitely was not able to be nearly as quiet as I am at home. Still, the judge liked him well enough, giving him an 8 on the following movements, as well as his gaits:

  • Trot circle right
  • Change rein KXM
  • Trot circle left
  • Change rein HXF
  • Downward transition to trot
  • Free walk
  • Upward trot transition + turn down centerline

We got dinged overall for our hollow moments which was not surprising- again I know that we are going to have hollow canter transitions for some time until we re-wire Jack to use his hind end instead of his massive shoulders to change gait. The test scored a 29 (71%) with plenty of room for improvement.

Our jump warm up was also just okay, and I needed a swift kick in the butt to hold to the base of the fence. Our jumping round was then the total opposite, as each fence impressed Jack more and more and we got ugly chippy distances and even a stop at the swedish oxer (which is fine- that’s a new question to him and no ground line). So after having cowboyed him through the course, I was not satisfied and quickly requested a schooling round, which is what you see below.

It’s amazing what change you can effect when you actually ride. I was really thrilled with the result and felt like Jack would have a very positive note to end on. The pony got lots of pats and stuffed full of treats and we were homeward bound.

Thanks to a brain fart on my part, we likely won’t be competing in October, but definitely lots of lessons and hopefully even a clinic with a certain former trainer of ours. The more miles the better!

Sold: One Unicorn

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Yesterday, Riley got on the trailer and traveled down the road to his forever home.

The process of selling him was a somewhat difficult one in many senses. Besides the obvious emotional anguish of assessing each person as a good (or not) fit for him, the sheer logistics of allowing people to see him was overwhelming. Balancing constant phone calls, comments, and messages inquiring about him with you know, basic life/work/Jack commitments was not easy.

But Riley’s new person is a dream come true. A former Cornell vet tech looking for a trustworthy companion to spoil, it’s an understatement to say that she loves Riley. And that she understands how much he means to me, and even joked about creating a facebook page for him, is just… amazing.

I’m so thankful to know that Riley has landed on his feet and will be spoiled and loved for the rest of his days. It’s so hard parting with the horses we grew up with, but when they become someone else’s family so readily it’s a blessing indeed.

Happy trails, sweet boy!

Show Recap: September War Horse Final Thoughts

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Our only real goal for the War Horse Show was to end on a number and not a letter with Jack. With Riley, it was to show him off to potential buyers and just have fun. The other goal with Jack was just to experience our first overnight show together, which was exceptionally revealing in helping me understand my new horse’s brain.

Things I learned my horse will get anxious about:

  • Being left in his stall
  • Other horses whinnying
  • A random fence not on course in the showjumping ring
  • Footing, particularly going downhill
  • Leaving his buddies

Things I learned my horse will not get anxious about (even if I do):

  • Horses galloping toward him and away
  • Crazy horses in warmup
  • Tents/bikes/dogs
  • Being put to work

Things I learned/remembered about myself:

  • Seriously, I must walk my course 3 times. 3 TIMES!!!
  • My friends are the bomb-diggity
  • If I tell myself to dig deep, I can and will. No more excuses for riding like a sack of potatoes!
  • I really need to find my damn pinny holder
  • Porta-potty advertising is the best advertising (as a show that is)
  • I can ask more of Jack and expect him to rise to the occasion

There are so many things that I walked away from the show knowing that I can implement next time. The more exposure and miles we get together, the better off we are going to be!

Show Recap: September War Horse Cross Country

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So after showjumping, somehow Jack was leading a large division of horses. The opportunities for messing that up were endless, and well, it only took one.

Unfortunately there is no GoPro video of the incident, so you’ll just have to trust my version of events. I won’t say that it was the absolute smoothest cross country run there ever was, but then again, I don’t think anyone expected it to be. We had a nice jump over 1, a long spot to the scary bright feeder at 2, and then I hemmed-and-hawed over trotting 3, which was a fence with a downhill away that Jack had worried about the footing for the day prior.

Fence 2

Fence 4 was a max (if not Novice sized) coop at the bottom of the hill, and from there we got in somewhat of a groove through fence 8. And then fence 9AB. Ughhh this combination. What the course designer was trying to accomplish, I have no idea. It couldn’t ride as an angled line because you would land in the trees, and it wasn’t set as a bending line either. Instead, it was a rolltop then a squiggly line to a small cabin, going downhill. The footing was already getting churned on the schooling day, and Jack would land and attempt to lurch into the trees where the footing was better. In any case, trainer agreed that trotting was the best idea for this solution, and so when I landed from fence 8 I cantered on and then slowed to the trot.

And proceeded to trot right past it.

For whatever reason, I had thought the combination existed in the second trail head, not the first. So when it caught my left eye I cursed myself and looped back around to the combination. Of course, making a somewhat big loop like this at the trot is bound to incur time faults, and our 8 time penalties moved us from 1st to 10th.

Still, the rest of the course rode just fine. Jack braved the water that Foster always found terrifying without question, and jumped the last 3 fences with confidence. I came through the finish flags with a huge smile on my face and having learned a ton about my horse and excited for our next outing. But more reflections for tomorrow!

Show Recap: September War Horse Jumping

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After dressage was settled, the nerves started sinking in. This is my first time doing anything more than maiden since…2015? In any case, I was lucky to have friends there to tell me to take deep breaths. Jack, meanwhile, had finally settled and was miffed that I woke him up from his nap to tack him up. He warmed up feeling like a calm hunter horse, which, though great for the relaxation, needed more push and packaging to get around the course we had ahead of us. We both were tired, and I had to verbally remind myself to dig deep and ride every fence.

Our round wasn’t maybe as smooth as it had been in the schooling the day before, but it was clear. Jack went from tired and strung out to feeling looky and up. The chips we got were a combination of not being quite balanced/forward enough and him being a little more backed off of the fences. There’s still so much to improve, but I was impressed that he stayed rideable and attentive as we navigated the course, even if we didn’t quite make all the turns that we had hoped to accomplish. The clear round moved us up into 1st out of 19 and then it was off to XC! But that’s a tale for tomorrow.

… what face am I making?
PC: High Time Photography

Riley’s warm up for jumping was again short and sweet. Basically W/T/C and do a cross rail a couple times. I had realized that morning that he has schooled stadium fences all of twice in the last 18 months, but figured that since it was small and he is basically a point-and-shoot ride that we’d be fine. And we were.

Given that his fitness is still a work in progress, I determined that I would simply feel it out in regards to cantering vs trotting the course. It’s therefore pretty unremarkable, but since we went around clear Riley earned a lovely blue ribbon and lots of pats for being the best boy ever.

Tomorrow, XC recap for Jack!