Dressage and Endurance Day:
Sorry that my weekend got a little crazy and I couldn't get to my computer like I wanted to. But there are a lot of good things to talk about- so here it goes!
Dressage is dressage. I struggle a bit with my horse at the upper levels because he is an OTTB and moves like a typical TB does. While he has a great rhythm and presence in the ring, he still trots like a pony half the time, so it is difficult for him to score well. Add that on top of having to ride in the big ring, sit the trot, and perform movements we have only dreamed of up to this point, and it is a recipe for a not so great score. But all in all I was happy with my test when I came out of the ring, and even more thrilled with it when I saw the videos. He tried his little heart out and gave me 110%, and I felt massive amounts of improvement even from Penny Oaks a few weeks ago. All in all though it did not score very well, and we found ourselves sitting in the bottom 3rd of the scoreboard after the first phase. But there was still a lot of weekend ahead of us- and I was looking forward to it.
I do have to give a huge shout out to the two adult amateurs who were also 3 day first timers this weekend. They both laid down killer dressage tests and were sitting in the top 10 out of 30 horses, both on very good scores! Both went into the big ring and showed off how fancy they can be, and handled it like professionals! Get it girls.
Saturday morning the barns were buzzing with energy bright and early. We had set up our vet box buckets the night before, so all we had to do was load them in the truck and get our area set up down in the vet box. With having so many riders in the 3 day from our group we just set up a team area, that way if horses came in back to back and we had limited help people weren't running from one end of the box to the other to help.
I set off on roads and tracks right around 9:30 and my horse felt great. He warmed up like a pro on phase A, and by the time I got to the start box for steeplechase he was primed and ready to gallop. My awesome friend Deb was there to help me shorter my stirrups and wish me luck. Goose definitely knew he was about to finally get to gallop like he was at the track again and I felt like I was at the races. We left the box and it was one of the most amazing feelings I've ever gotten to experience. I know now that the baby horse I had 6 months ago who I had to kick to get Training level speed is officially gone, and at times we were going 600+ mpm with great balance and plenty of room for more. I came onto phase C with a giant grin on my face and extremely proud of my horse, unfortunately (?) he doesn't understand the concept of brushing fences yet, so we definitely tried a little harder than necessary haha.
This is where things get a little hairy for my day. I had a watch malfunction which threw me off on my time during phase C. I did not realize my watch had not started until I was about two and a half minutes in, which then left me guessing on how quickly I needed to go throughout the rest of the phase. I was fortunate that I was sandwiched between Dorothy Crowell and Cathy Wieschhoff so I used that as a bit of a clock as well. If Dorothy passed me in the same spot I passed Cathy then I figured I was doing alright! I came into the vet box with only 7 seconds of time, and those easily would not have been there if my watch had worked, so I was ok with all of that.
Goose left the box for phase D like he had not already been going for almost an hour. He was jumping everything right out of stride, and was not tired at all. He answered all of the questions I asked him without blinking an eye, until the water. The water at Hoosier Horse Park is quite a spooky one, and I know this. We also had to come to the Preliminary drop off of a rough angle, and unfortunately I just trusted him a little too much after I saw the distance, and he decided that he was not going to jump into the water unless my leg was there. I kicked myself the rest of the way around the course, but continued to gallop on home, and have him jump several other tough questions, including a huge horse eating ditch and a set of double up-banks that are usually on the Preliminary course. Getting back to the vet box he still felt wonderful and cooled out great.
As the day went on and scores were posted I found out that I was the only one in the division to have a stop. Now I am really kicking myself because we are firmly sitting in last place, and I know my horse deserves better than that. In the grand scheme of things though everyone has to take their turn at the bottom of the leaderboard, and at least this time it was for something minor and hopefully I have learned my lesson. This horse is fabulous, but he is not silly brave like my last two horses were, and he does need my support. I could not be happier with how he jumped and despite the stop it is the best cross country round he has ever had.
I am overwhelmed with pride for the other riders from our group. Both of the women who I was sharing a tack stall with completed their first long format endurance days with 0 faults added to their scores. Both of them were glowing with pride when they came into the vet box, and they had done their homework with their horses. I feel so blessed to have been a part of this experience for them, and I hope they had as much fun as I did. Our three young riders also went out there and came home with 0 faults between all of them, and their horses looked wonderful after the cross country. Way to go everyone! We were very lucky to have a following of people who helped out, took pictures/video, and had food and water waiting for us when we forgot to eat. Thank you everyone! IEA also did a fabulous job and had wonderful volunteers who sat in the sun to help on roads and tracks. A very great event for anyone to do their first long format at!
Sorry that my weekend got a little crazy and I couldn't get to my computer like I wanted to. But there are a lot of good things to talk about- so here it goes!
Dressage is dressage. I struggle a bit with my horse at the upper levels because he is an OTTB and moves like a typical TB does. While he has a great rhythm and presence in the ring, he still trots like a pony half the time, so it is difficult for him to score well. Add that on top of having to ride in the big ring, sit the trot, and perform movements we have only dreamed of up to this point, and it is a recipe for a not so great score. But all in all I was happy with my test when I came out of the ring, and even more thrilled with it when I saw the videos. He tried his little heart out and gave me 110%, and I felt massive amounts of improvement even from Penny Oaks a few weeks ago. All in all though it did not score very well, and we found ourselves sitting in the bottom 3rd of the scoreboard after the first phase. But there was still a lot of weekend ahead of us- and I was looking forward to it.
I do have to give a huge shout out to the two adult amateurs who were also 3 day first timers this weekend. They both laid down killer dressage tests and were sitting in the top 10 out of 30 horses, both on very good scores! Both went into the big ring and showed off how fancy they can be, and handled it like professionals! Get it girls.
Saturday morning the barns were buzzing with energy bright and early. We had set up our vet box buckets the night before, so all we had to do was load them in the truck and get our area set up down in the vet box. With having so many riders in the 3 day from our group we just set up a team area, that way if horses came in back to back and we had limited help people weren't running from one end of the box to the other to help.
I set off on roads and tracks right around 9:30 and my horse felt great. He warmed up like a pro on phase A, and by the time I got to the start box for steeplechase he was primed and ready to gallop. My awesome friend Deb was there to help me shorter my stirrups and wish me luck. Goose definitely knew he was about to finally get to gallop like he was at the track again and I felt like I was at the races. We left the box and it was one of the most amazing feelings I've ever gotten to experience. I know now that the baby horse I had 6 months ago who I had to kick to get Training level speed is officially gone, and at times we were going 600+ mpm with great balance and plenty of room for more. I came onto phase C with a giant grin on my face and extremely proud of my horse, unfortunately (?) he doesn't understand the concept of brushing fences yet, so we definitely tried a little harder than necessary haha.
This is where things get a little hairy for my day. I had a watch malfunction which threw me off on my time during phase C. I did not realize my watch had not started until I was about two and a half minutes in, which then left me guessing on how quickly I needed to go throughout the rest of the phase. I was fortunate that I was sandwiched between Dorothy Crowell and Cathy Wieschhoff so I used that as a bit of a clock as well. If Dorothy passed me in the same spot I passed Cathy then I figured I was doing alright! I came into the vet box with only 7 seconds of time, and those easily would not have been there if my watch had worked, so I was ok with all of that.
Goose left the box for phase D like he had not already been going for almost an hour. He was jumping everything right out of stride, and was not tired at all. He answered all of the questions I asked him without blinking an eye, until the water. The water at Hoosier Horse Park is quite a spooky one, and I know this. We also had to come to the Preliminary drop off of a rough angle, and unfortunately I just trusted him a little too much after I saw the distance, and he decided that he was not going to jump into the water unless my leg was there. I kicked myself the rest of the way around the course, but continued to gallop on home, and have him jump several other tough questions, including a huge horse eating ditch and a set of double up-banks that are usually on the Preliminary course. Getting back to the vet box he still felt wonderful and cooled out great.
As the day went on and scores were posted I found out that I was the only one in the division to have a stop. Now I am really kicking myself because we are firmly sitting in last place, and I know my horse deserves better than that. In the grand scheme of things though everyone has to take their turn at the bottom of the leaderboard, and at least this time it was for something minor and hopefully I have learned my lesson. This horse is fabulous, but he is not silly brave like my last two horses were, and he does need my support. I could not be happier with how he jumped and despite the stop it is the best cross country round he has ever had.
I am overwhelmed with pride for the other riders from our group. Both of the women who I was sharing a tack stall with completed their first long format endurance days with 0 faults added to their scores. Both of them were glowing with pride when they came into the vet box, and they had done their homework with their horses. I feel so blessed to have been a part of this experience for them, and I hope they had as much fun as I did. Our three young riders also went out there and came home with 0 faults between all of them, and their horses looked wonderful after the cross country. Way to go everyone! We were very lucky to have a following of people who helped out, took pictures/video, and had food and water waiting for us when we forgot to eat. Thank you everyone! IEA also did a fabulous job and had wonderful volunteers who sat in the sun to help on roads and tracks. A very great event for anyone to do their first long format at!
Goose walking back from XC: Photo Credit Karen Strow
Galloping around phase B: Photo Credit Lee Carson
Headed out to Phase A: Photo Credit Lee Carson
Important reminders: Photo Credit Karen Strow
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