Tag Archives: Eventing

Recognized Show Recap: Cross Country

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After dressage, it was clear that the pressure was not on to win, and my only goal was to get through what looked like a pretty tough course. Keep in mind that this was Foster’s 3rd Novice, and while we’d been schooling Training level stuff, I still felt daunted by the test of putting everything together.

Before I even got to warm up, I asked B to school me over some fences and basically give me a pep talk before going in the start box. B filled in as student coach occasionally on the dressage team, and I trusted her to give me a both words of wisdom and a positive outlook before going on course. I am so glad she was there to see me off (Thanks B!!!)!

There was a bit of a miscommunication/misjudgment of time leading up to my count down, and unfortunately my time had started before I reached the start box. Nonetheless, I hit the start button on my watch and away we went!

XC time!

XC time!

The fences I was most worried about were #7, the brush before water, and #14, another big brushy fence as soon as you popped out of the trees that invited a left hand runout. In particular, I knew he would be tired by 14 since we had literally just run up a small mountain, and he might not have as much ‘game’ left to tackle the question.

Enjoy the helmet cam and the sounds of ABBA (Hi, my name is Britt and I like Oldies)! I would have included the real audio, but all you’re missing are lots and lots of ‘good boys’ and my making a joke about the people scurrying becoming roadkill.

Anyways, it turns out I shouldn’t have been worried. I’m proud of myself for riding every fence, and for Foster tackling every element with confidence. According to my watch and the video, we came in 31 seconds under time, which just thrills me that my occasionally sluggish pony can actually make a Novice time easily, and that we could both walk away with a spring in our step! So, so chuffed with my Fosterpants.

With the warmup time debacle, I officially came in with 7-point-something time faults. But who cares, we survived! Sunday, onto showjumping!

 

Recognized Show Recap: Course Walk + Dressage

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Because this weekend was long and certainly adventure filled, I’ll be breaking up this recap into sections. Trying to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome and all that.

Thanks B for the photos!

Thanks B for the photos!

So we start our journey Friday morning, where J picked us up in her awesome rig to make the 4 hr trip down to Tryon. Minus one instance of yelling at rude drivers honking into our horses’ ears, the drive was rather uneventful. We settled the boys in briefly before hopping on to school some dressage. Foster had a lovely dressage school, and was attentive and extremely supple in the bridle, and I was definitely pleased with his attitude, and truly looking forward to dressage in the morning!

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Then we headed out to walk the cross country course.

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YIKES.

From fence 2, it was immediately clear we weren’t at a schooling show any longer. Fence 2 was a tactical question, where the rider had to choose their approach carefully- a straightish approach that required a ride around another fence, or a more direct angled approach. From fence 3 on, the course was max height and held still further questions. A combination at 5A and B, four strides from a barn to a log but with lots to look at surrounding it. A 3’2″ (ish) brush fence at fence 7, two strides before the water. A half coffin at 12A and B, ditch then two strides to a fence. A hairpin turn to fence 13. A rather scary fence 14 that just beckoned for a run-out left. This course was going to demand an active ride, and had little let up in between questions.

I was pretty much terrified. So while nightmares of getting eliminated at the brush fence simmered in my mind, I did my best to ignore all and focus on dressage in the morning.

Luckily, a great friend and former dressage teammate came and visited me Saturday morning, which did a lot to distract me from visions of lawn darting on course.  We were having so much fun chatting that I ended up running just a tad behind schedule for the dressage, but still had a nice warmup for the test. He wasn’t quite as supple as he has been the night before, and I think if I had given him 5 more minutes of good work I would have gotten the quality that I wanted. But he was relaxed, and listening, and I felt like he would put in a pretty good test!

And old photo of B and I from our IDA days!

And old photo of B and I from our IDA days!

The test itself did end up feeling pretty nice. As I was riding, I knew there were places where I was maybe leaving some points on the table, so I tried to make the test as accurate as possible. I was a bit bummed with the free walk, as it wasn’t nearly as nice as what I have been achieving at home, but otherwise put in a workman-like effort. I tried to remind myself to keep my elbows by my side and practice better equitation, which ended up paying off.

Drop it like it's hot

Attempts at equitation

As you can see below, there are parts that were super successful (8 on a canter circle! The work is starting to pay off!) and also- my first 8 on rider (ah, that’s me?!), and Foster’s first 8 on gaits (yay pony!). Also an 8 on the medium walk transition. For the rest, I feel confident that we can bring up the 6’s will soon become 7’s and the free walk will become an 8. The test as is earned us a 30, which is also a new best score for us as a team. Our first 70% dressage score since debuting at Intro when I first bought him!

Sorry for the video quality/don’t watch if you are epileptic!

Whereas at a normal show (i.e, no prize money), a 30 would land me near the top of the leaderboard, my awesome-for-me score landed us in a 3-way tie for 6th place. Sitting at the top were scores of 16, 18, 19, and 20 – a couple of these ridden by former professional riders who are now (I’m told, I don’t know these people personally) too scared to move up to Training. But, whatever! My pony put in a great show and now we were out to tackle the daunting cross country course!

 

The Pep Talk

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Since I’m feeling particularly wilty today thanks to a very ill-timed cold, I find myself trying to get syked for the coming weekend. Catching up with friends! Pony time! Nice weather! All things to look forward to! And yet, still the little mean thoughts about embarrassing myself creep into my mind.

That’s when it’s time for a pep talk.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m obviously a visual person. While mind over matter is certainly a principle I subscribe to, the quickest and easiest way to regain confidence is to show myself I’ve done it before. Evidence that it has been done is proof that it can be done again. So here are some of the highlights of Foster’s career, my video pep talk for myself!

 

We can do this!

How do you mentally prepare for a show?

Lesson Recap: Showjumping

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Well, I’m still here, which means I survived my lesson last night with Doug Payne! (PS if you haven’t watched him Rolex helmet cam with commentary click that link- very interesting!) I’m going to go ahead and apologize for the long post, which is mostly for my own benefit to keep the lesson fresh, and the lack on pictures/video, of which I didn’t get any.

Enjoy gif's instead

Enjoy gif’s instead

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a proper jumping lesson, and it’s been a struggle to find a trainer willing to come out to the new barn for just one student, so I was exceedingly happy when Doug offered to make the drive. I gave him a brief run-down of where we were, and after watching us warm up briefly he gave me an assessment.

Not a huge surprise here- Foster balances himself with the base of his neck, which in turn makes him a little hollow through the back and short-strided. This then causes some of our issues with getting the true ‘horse’ distances, because when I put on leg he will more likely put in more quick, short strides than lengthen.

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We continued from there with a 20 meter canter circle over a pole, focusing on keeping him straight through the shoulder and getting an active, through canter. Canter poles will definitely be in our future, since as simple as the exercise sounds, we were not as successful as I would have liked! Foster was a bit dull to my leg and feeling pretty tired, and I was a little worried moving forward to the actual jumping.

Luckily, there wasn’t much cause to be concerned. Doug set up a smallish oxer on centerline, so that I would canter over it and alternate turning right and left. Foster really woke up then, and was taking really big strides after the jump which made the turn thereafter quite difficult. What was happening is that he was becoming a little on the forehand leading up to the jump, which caused him to land out of balance and quicken his stride in order to catch himself. When I sat up and properly balanced him, he landed much more softly and the turn became easier to make.

Round canter

Round canter

This led us into the next exercise, jumping a decently wide 3′ oxer on a circle. The geometry of the circle helped me keep him balanced, and as long as I didn’t stare at the fence we got pretty good distances. This is also where the whole ‘weight the shoulder to get the correct lead’ idea kicked in. It is now blatantly (I guess I’m a slow learner) obvious that I have been in the habit of leaning in the direction I intend to turn, which then means he is going to land on the wrong lead because I’m essentially blocking him from picking up the lead I really want. I especially do this going left (will tell story of how my left side is absolute poop later).

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When I kept my shoulders back and square to the fence, then shift my weight to the outside, we were able to land in balance and on the correct lead. Doug warned me not to put all the pressure on myself though, and to allow Foster to make mistakes, and to occasionally take down poles. He praised him for being smart enough not to make the same mistake twice, and his willingness to put in another stride for a deep distance rather than launch from the long spot as some horses are wont to do.

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After a bit of this, we put together a baby course that included a 2 stride over a 3’ish vertical. I was really pleased that Doug made us revisit the circle fence again, to make sure the idea had cemented itself. Definitely still a work in progress, but I was glad that he was willing to stay a few extra minutes to make sure the lesson would stick.

Overall, here are the main takeaways:

  • Be patient with my shoulders
  • Don’t let him get overbent in the neck
  • Maintain an active canter with a through topline- have the confidence that he can jump 5′ out of a quality canter
  • weight the outside shoulder to get the correct lead on landing
  • keep him balance before the fence, the quality of the canter after the fence will tell how successfully balanced he was
  • Don’t stare at the damn fence

Obviously I learned a lot, and was impressed with the attention given to both horse and rider equally. Impressed enough that I have signed up for a second lesson Sunday! Even though we won’t get a schooling ride in in between, I’m looking forward to further cementing these ideas and hopefully getting more takeaways to keep in my pocket for the show!

Show Recap: Fork CT

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Saturday seems like a crazy blur in my mind, it all happened so quickly! Maybe the time went by so fast because my watch died en route to the show (I kid you not- talk about bad timing, har har), and so I had very little grasp on what was happening when.

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Dressage
After getting to the show and letting Foster munch on some hay for a few minutes (he doesn’t eat in the trailer, but digs into the same hay net at the show- weird?), we got tacked up and boogied on down the road to the show arenas. The horse I had for the day was surprisingly fresh, and just a little tense. Still, I liked the energy I had, even though he was being a little fussy in the bridle. I decided to post the trot to allow his back to come up and release some of the tension in his topline, and I think this was the right decision.

Our test felt pretty good. The couple places I know we could improve are in one corner that I didn’t prepare enough for, and those dern canter transitions. The stretchy walk didn’t have its usual stretch either, partially because Foster got distracted by the jumping going on right in front of him. Looking at the test, the judge nailed us on this- just think of what our final score would have been otherwise! Also, you’ll notice that he decided to step out in our final halt- bummer! On the bright side though, I thought the test was more forward than CHP and that in general, he was straighter and more obedient to my leg. The test earned us a 31, good for 3rd after being trumped by a stunning 20 and 24 in 1st and 2nd place.

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Showjumping
Showjumping is the most blurry part of the day. After being distracted by the comings and goings of the day, I didn’t find time to walk the course before jumping. Go figure that it was probably the most intense showjumping course we have done to date. Serious bending lines, intense roll backs, and no less than 2 one-stride combinations. What the what?! I thought we were doing Novice! Walking the course was pretty much vital here, but I did without. Where I regretted it most was in the rollback from 5 to 6AB (a one-stride)- you can actually hear my “Geez!” trying to make that turn and get straight into the one-stride. Because of our disorganization, he didn’t find his spot to the first fence and then brought down the second element rail with his hind end. Add to that, a sprinkling of cross-canter, because that’s what Foster does at shows, and that was our course.

Leg needs to be more forward, but otherwise getting better!

Leg needs to be more forward, but otherwise getting better! Also.. does this look big for a Novice fence to anyone?

Cross Country Schooling
After all of the memory-taxing activities were over, we went out to the cross country course! I wasn’t sure how many jumps would be available, since the Fork seems to employ mostly portable XC fences in their course. There definitely was not an endless supply of fences, but there was enough to play over, given that Foster was already somewhat tired from dressage and showjumping. So we played around the water complex for a while, and Foster was an absolute champ over everything. I felt like I was actually riding, instead of coasting around to the next fence like I had done in showjumping. With a smile on our faces, we called it a day and headed for home.

Upbank combination:

Water-upbank-fence:

More water complex fun:

Impression on the parents
I think it’s safe to say that Foster redeemed himself this weekend. He put on his game face for sure, and showed off his chill demeanor and sweet disposition. While you can hear my mother’s gasping and um, other exclamations on the videos, she was impressed by his rideability and quietness. Bonus, that Foster did right by my sister as well, even ponying her back to the barn. I wish my dad was able to meet Foster, but it was not meant to be. Also, unfortunately, Foster managed pulled off both front shoes in the water complex, so he will be having the next few days off anyway- he earned it!

All of us with Foster at the end of the day

All of us with Foster at the end of the day

Our Post-show Routine

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As the glow surrounding the show starts to wear off, I’m starting to look forward again to getting back to the grind and working on the weaknesses illustrated during competition.

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Foster always gets the day off after any serious taxing day, such as a private dressage or jumping lesson, and any show. Then on day 2 post-show I like to get him moving and stretch, stretch, stretch. I find it’s a nice way to ease back into work and release any soreness-related tension he might be harboring still.

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Day 3, I generally do some kind of dressage work, but not at a typical intensity. Then day 4 we’re back to our normal routine of either a 45 minute dressage session or light jump school.

So that’s my routine. What do you guys like to do after a show? Do you give lots of time off, or get back to business right away?

Show Recap: Novice at Carolina Horse Park

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Spoiler alert- I’m about to brag on my horse.

But before that, let’s recap on the goal(s) for this show. Primarily, don’t do anything stupid. Ride every fence/movement. And then secondly, allow for the forward pace (i.e, go pony go!) and have soft elbows.

Dressage
We arrived on Saturday and first thing I hopped on and schooled dressage, which turned out to be OK, but exhibiting some tension in his neck and back. So Sunday before our test I spent the first 15-20 minutes solely on stretching work. This definitely helped with the relaxation, but got him a little flat with his movement. I made the decision to sit the trot and use my seat to get him moving a little more up. So with that, we went in to do our test.

Overall, I felt like the test was pretty good. Sure, we had a bobble in our canter depart, and he ran into the fence in our walk/trot transition (at least he didn’t take it out this time!), but I was really proud of myself for riding every corner, and preparing at every diagonal and centerline. I think the judge was a little rewarding, but here’s what she thought:

5 8's! Booyah!

5 8’s! Booyah!

And here’s the video of the test.. Other than my chair seat, I know we could improve a bit with the impulsion and forward energy, but otherwise a respectable test in my book. Also- I have to call out the ‘beautiful turnout’ comment by the judge. My friend A was my eyes on the ground, coach, and groom, and every time she helps me get ready for a show we get this comment! Kudos to her!

 

Showjumping
There were a ton of professionals in my large division of 18, so my 31.3 test landed me tied for 7th headed into showjumping. Watching the showjumping go, we noticed a lot of people getting either poles or time penalties. I have faith in Foster’s handiness to get around the course, so our warm up focused on getting a good pace and keeping my elbows soft and following. I think the pace held up through the course (with again unfortunate counter cantering from 6 to 7), though we got seriously stuck heading into the 2 stride combination, and the last 3 fences are as a result… fugly. But clean and clear and onto XC!

 

Cross Country
After walking the course twice (I was not going to get lost this time), I felt like this was a nice, inviting course to build confidence in horse and rider, and the technical and terrain questions were really appropriate to the Novice level. Here’s a look at the jumps:

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Goofing off while looking at the jumps.. we’re not in Beginner Novice anymore!

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The fences I was worried about, and planned to ride aggressively to, were 3 (the skinny), element 9A of the sunken road, and the second bank. But as I rode through the course, I don’t remembering using my bat at all! Foster locked on to every fence and I didn’t feel an ounce of hesitation- he ate it up! All the photos show his ears perked and a confident expression on his face, which makes me swell inside with happiness. We came through the finish flags with 1 second to spare!

Wrapping up

Ending on our dressage score of 31.3 earned us a fourth place ribbon. Considering the seriously stiff competition, I never imagined placing, and feel really good about future Novices this year. I am heartened by the thought that we can definitely improve on our score, and… we checked off our major goal for 2014!

  • Get a 65% or better on dressage and go double clear in show jumping and cross country.

Check!

I also need to give credit where credit is due… This weekend would not have been nearly as successful or fun without A by my side! And if you are reading this, A, thank you again!

Next horse trials, maybe this summer!

Holy Hamstrings

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… and quads, for that matter.

Well, I finally got my jump school in, after setting up 5 jumps in the small sand arena between 2’9″ and 3′. Foster was a really good boy and was jumping well with some pace (I think, at least it felt like a good pace) but I was a hot mess. I got left behind. My lower leg swung all over the place. I roached my back. Ugly.

Regressing back to 2012, when this was taken... Oh hello swinging leg!

Regressing back to 2012, when this was taken… Oh hello swinging leg!

To be a little fair to myself, it’s quite a tight space, with enough wiggle room for 3 strides before and after the jump at the widest part, so I was mostly focused on A) getting over the fence and B) not dying in the process. But I do wish all that muscle memory for jumping position was still there while I was at it!

So I went out there again last night and set up a gymnastic that I could work over. With no measuring tape I just walked the distances, and set up a crossrail-to-crossrail bounce, one stride to a 2’7″ vertical, two strides to a 3′ vertical.

After dashing out there this morning before work I hopped on and had a go of it. I remembered quite quickly that Foster doesn’t have a 12′ stride when the bounce became a one stride (what? woops!) and the two stride became 2 1/2. Ugh! So I interrupted my ride to shuffle fences around and try it again. We went through it a couple times, and I was somewhat able to focus on my position, and I felt my leg and shoulders improve quite a bit.

(Grid struggles from the clinic)

As I was cantering around, I was trying to remember all the handy pointers from the clinic, and ride with a longer rein, lower hands, and get my butt out of the saddle. While somewhat successful remembering the first two, the latter was still just as difficult. I just flat out haven’t practiced two point due to my lack of jumping for the past few weeks, and man, does it show.

Even Foster gets tired sometimes of carting my butt around...

Even Foster gets tired sometimes of carting my butt around…

So that’s where we are- a heavy butt, sore legs, and arms that feel black and blue from moving 54,230 jump standards around this week. But luckily, I’m not so worried about Foster’s stamina as much as mine for this weekend! While I know it will really only come with practice and time…if you have a magic Hulk formula for riding stamina… Please share!

 

Clinic Recap: Day 2

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Day 2 Cross Country

Day 2 was our second cross country lesson, and I felt really confident after the prior day’s success. Unsurprisingly, when I got Foster out on the field, he felt sluggish- the poor thing was tired! But he put his game face on and rallied (for a while). Since he felt so relaxed, I allowed myself to finally relax too, and felt a big difference in the ride. I could follow with my elbows more, and pay a bit more attention to the task at hand. Because I was feeling more confident, I asked Holly if we could push the envelope a bit, and boy did she deliver! We hopped over this rather large training oxer (right after the rollback in the video), and did a super fun bank combination. Foster particularly loved this, and launched himself off the bank with all the boldness I could ever want in an event horse!

Off the bank we go!

When that went well, Holly asked if I’d like to try the ditch/up bank combo. It’s a bit hard to see in the pic, but there is a shallow ditch behind the ground line- and I was super stoked to try it! Foster flew up it without hesitation- it was very exciting!

Woohoo!

Woohoo!

The themes of the day were continuing to allow him to come forward, and keep my elbows soft (though this was improved over the day before). I definitely need to add more pace to bigger fences (such as the bank above, and the training oxer in the video), and keep him straight/allow for a straighter approach to the jump. Also might try lowering my hands, as with show jumping.

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Unfortunately towards the end of the session, Foster had decided he had had enough, and put in a couple of naughty run outs. These were all to the left, and it’s my job to pull him right if this happens. No matter what! Things were going so well, I definitely let my guard down and he slipped out on me a couple times. I honestly think these were due to him being fully exhausted, and while that’s no excuse, I’m still proud of him for all the good work he did over the weekend. We ended on a good note, jumping over a small vertical into the water, and called it a day!

Summing it Up

All in all, this clinic was hugely helpful in re-establishing the basics and getting us back to where we need to be with our confidence. It was a nice, laid back atmosphere with fun people, and left us with a manageable amount of homework. I’m excited to hear that Holly will be hosting multiple clinics this year, and I am already looking forward to the next one!