Month: May 2017

Every year when Badminton rolls around, Bobby and I follow along online and dream about how fun it would be to fly over to jolly old England and attend in person. It is, after all, the ultimate 4*. The paramount event.

Last year, watching the carnage (and there’s no other word for it, that’s exactly what it was) at the Vicarage Vee took some of the wind out of my sails. That fence was really hard to watch, and it punished anyone and everyone who didn’t meet it exactly right.

This year saw a new course designer and no more Vicarage Vee. I was hopeful we’d see an event just as big and gnarly as Badminton is known for, except hopefully without the carnage. Alas, that last part was not to be.

Hung legs were everywhere. I stopped counting after 14. Some of them resulted in horse falls, a few rotational or awfully damn close to it, but miraculously a lot of these horses were able to pull out their “fifth leg” and save themselves (with the assistance of many a broken clip). Still… it was hard to watch. Horses don’t get to this level if they have a tendency to hang a leg (no one wants to die), so something was contributing to them either getting to the questions wrong or misreading them.

Two spots in particular that made me cringe were the The Lake and the PHEV Corral. At The Lake, the distance from the bank up to the brushed jump did not work out well for most people. I don’t think the horses jumped the bank the way the designer thought they would, and as a result the distance was off. There were a lot of runouts here, but also some scary falls. At the Corral, I hated having very upright fences, the rails of which were quite square and the second of which was on a hard angle, toward the end of a course like this. There were many horses that just got in a bit off-stride and couldn’t get out of their own way, resulting in a hung leg.

I love eventing because it’s hard, and it’s gritty, but I don’t love seeing genuine horses make mistakes and get punished with a fall. For me it takes all the horsemanship out of it. That’s not to say that I want XC to be easy – heck no. It shouldn’t be a dressage competition. But the Rolex course seemed to do a bit better job of turning mistakes into glance-offs or refusals, whereas Badminton sent a lot of horses and riders into the turf. Granted, it’s always done that. This is nothing new.

Bobby and I both didn’t make it that far into the coverage before we lost heart and closed it. It doesn’t leave me with a warm happy “omg eventing is so awesome” feeling. Instead it made me feel… uncomfortable. I lost all desire to go watch in person.

Did anyone else watch? What were your thoughts?

Alternate title: STOP DRAGGING THIS OUT, DID HE GO DOWN THE BANK OR DIDN’T HE???

But first, the course. Fair warning, I did a real shit job of documenting the course with photos (as in I took none and had to scour the internet to find a few to put here), so here’s the map again.

After I was done with dressage (praise be) I left Henry at the trailer and set off to walk the course. They were doing jumper rounds in the stadium ring so I didn’t wait around for a break to walk the first three fences of my course, which were all stadium jumps. Jump 4 was another stadium fence set in the fence line, over which you jumped OUT of the arena, landing on a downhill slope. I figured Henry would be a little confused about jumping out of the arena, so counting that plus the downhill landing I figured I’d just stay back and keep my leg on. That’s usually the right answer.

Then of course the very first XC fence was a down bank. Super. I got permission from the TD beforehand to just skip the bank if we had an issue there, but… I really wanted to jump down the damn thing. Mostly because whether or not he jumped off the bank was going to be the real test of how much we’ve rebuilt his confidence about them. The bank itself wasn’t very big but it was going down a big hill, so on the approach it kind of looked like you were jumping off a cliff. Plus it was another downhill landing. I have to be honest, I stood on top of that thing and felt in my gut that he wasn’t going to jump it.

After the down bank it was a bending line right to a small bench, then you kept rolling out into the big field with a little bit of a longer stretch to 7ab, a vertical to oxer in and out of stadium fences. Then you hung a right and jumped the red train car

straight to a stadium fence vertical set in between trees.

Then it was a right turn through the water and up the bank out

loop around back to a skinny into the water from the other side, and out over an uphill log.

After that it was back up the hill to the T rolltop, with a distance that walked either a long three or short four to the triple up bank. I was excited to ride this, it looked super fun.

After that there was one more stadium fence hidden back in the trees, then we looped around and had a little brush fence at the last.

Overall I thought the course looked really fun and inviting. If we hadn’t literally just had a down bank issue, I’d have gone so far as to say it looked easy. Nothing was big or tricky, although I thought having the stadium fences scattered throughout was definitely a challenge. Henry is not particularly careful, especially when he’s in his flatter more forward XC mode of jumping. Getting him rocked back for the stadium fences was going to be one of the hardest parts for us.

My plan for the bank was simple: I was going to stay in the back seat and ride it like both of our asses were on fire. I told my trainer that I was going down the bank come hell or high water, either with or without the horse (and if I went without the horse, could someone please go catch him?).

Henry was great in warmup, he definitely woke up once he realized we were jumping (ah, there’s the energy I didn’t have in dressage). He was a little confused when we went from XC warmup to stadium… he kept looking back down the hill toward the start box like “wtf kind of cruel trick is this?”. The first stadium fence was fine, but he landed pulling on me a bit and I didn’t get him back quick enough to make a very balanced turn to 2. That kind of dominoed into him getting a bit crooked off the ground and pulling the rail there, but then he was more reasonable to 3. I landed from 3 with my spurs in his ribs because I knew he’d balk at 4, the jump out of the arena. Pretty much every horse was really backed off of that, and I’d already seen a couple stop there. Henry sorta weaved his way down there in a very skeptical canter, but he went.

I landed and immediately sent him forward again… I wanted him thinking forward as much as possible before we got to the bank. He was a bit confused about how the hell we’d just teleported magically from stadium to XC, but he never needs to be asked twice to gallop out onto cross country. We came around the corner, I sat up, kicked him forward, and we attacked the bank. And while Henry leapt off of it with considerably more gusto than necessary, he didn’t even hesitate. Perhaps the override wasn’t needed after all, but we made it so whatever. We’ll smooth it out next time.

I had to steer to the bench with super long reins after the big leap down, but we got down there and over it fine. Then he was off and running at 450mpm, which would have been great except the next fences were stadium jumps and the course speed was 360mpm. Thanks to Dr. Bristol we had a stadium canter back by the time we got there and popped through the in and out fine.

***Side note: you have never seen seasoned event horses more confused as when you combine an XC course and stadium course together. Horse minds were being blown all day.***

Then I let him go a bit more forward again to the red train car. I thought he might back off a little there since it’s in a new location next to the trees he always loves to spook at, but he locked on and was delighted. Then another whoa and balance again for the stadium vertical, right turn down to the water keeping a bouncy canter up the bank out. I’m pretty sure I could feel Henry smiling by this point – he loves water. I pretty much just steered as we looped around to the skinny back into the water and the log out.

He landed and wanted to charge up the hill (HENNY GO CROSS COUNTRY HENNY GALLOP) but I could only let him roll for a few strides before I had to bring him back again. We had to fit four strides in between the bench and the triple up banks (because charging forward and flat to up banks is not the death warrant I would like to sign, thanks) so I found a short distance to the rolltop, landed whoaing, then let him maintain the collected 4 and pop up the three banks. And it was SO FUN.

After that it was just a hop over another stadium fence and around the corner to the little brush box at the finish. Aside from the rail at fence 2 we were clear, so we added 4 faults to our dressage score. Still, there were enough issues to move us up from 6th to 4th. Mostly though I was just really thrilled that he went down the bank. We definitely still need to keep rebuilding his confidence more, but good to know he isn’t totally broken about it.

While I did think that in general it was a lot harder for us to really get in a good groove around a course of mixed stadium and xc fences (me probably more so than him), it was still a total blast. I would definitely love to do more derbies every once in a while!

Saturday was an early morning. I was up at 4:15, pulled out of the barn at 5:15, and we were parked, unloaded, and Henry was happily munching his hay at Pine Hill by 7:30. I picked up my packet, dropped off the raffle items I’d brought (thanks Mango Bay and Majyk Equipe!), and slowly got Henry ready.

The morning was pretty cool with a little bit of a breeze, so I thought Henry might be a bit up. Yeah no. Our warmup was fine, but I was having some trouble motivating him enough to really get him pushing with the inside hind, especially to the left. When he finally did start pushing and connecting into the outside rein the quality of his trot improved tenfold, but I knew I’d have my work cut out for me in the ring.

The good thing is, not so very long ago I had to ride my test as if I were sitting on a stick of dynamite. He’s still sensitive and tense at times (pretty much just in the walk and transitions these days), but overall I can ask for more now. Sometimes he responds, sometimes he doesn’t. He seems to have a particularly hard time in this arena because the corners are quite deep… we get bogged down a lot and he doesn’t want to go IN them at all.

For the test itself he was obedient for the most part, but I got nothing on any of my lengthenings (he politely declined, thank you) and I kept losing his hind end a bit. The medium walk was shuffly and the free walk was hurried, both of which she really nailed me for. Ouch, double coefficient.

On the plus side we at least got the one 8, and his other best scores (a 7.5 and two 7’s) were for things we’ve historically been shitty at – the stretchy trot and the canter/trot transitions. THAT part did make me pretty happy. Note to self, next time work on the walk and the lengthenings more in warmup, because ouch the 5’s hurt. Also – time to put the spurs on.

Either way, I was pleased enough with his test, because he’s still working light years better than he was last summer. If I could actually take some dressage lessons again at some point, it would probably really help. Or if he hadn’t had like 3 of the last 6 weeks off because my life has been nuts. Details.

The judge was not very charitable, but she scored everyone that way so it was fine. We got a 37, and the best score in either Training division was 33. Her comments were pretty spot on (and pretty detailed, for a dressage test). Yes our lengthenings were non-existent, yes the walk work was not good, yes he’s on the forehand a lot. Henry’s butt is literally 2″ higher than his withers and I still sit like a jumper convert, so we are no strangers to the forehand.

While it definitely wasn’t our best test, it was also far from being our worst.  We were sitting in 6th after dressage in a fairly tightly packed group of scores, which is fine, I’ll take that.

Honestly if Trainer had let me withdraw and go home at this point, I would have. I was tired, and once I walked the jumping course and saw the down bank, I was pretty certain that we were toast. But we’ll cover all that tomorrow…

Or I suppose we could call it Double Derby Day? Yes tomorrow is the Kentucky Derby (which I haven’t paid any attention to at all this year, aside from the one-eyed horse) but it’s also the Benefit Derby at Pine Hill!

I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I love eventing derbies, I love benefit shows, and I love Pine Hill, so this is basically the trifecta (see what I did there?). So many of my friends and favorite business owners stepped up to donate money or products and it was all very much appreciated. Can’t wait to see the program and the signs and the raffle.

But of course, when I started getting all gung-ho about this shindig, I forgot that it’s literally the day after SO’s birthday… which is today. That means if I wanted to leave the today (it’s a 2 hour drive and my dressage time is 8:52, sooo leaving today would be ideal) I’d have to be gone on SO’s birthday. Considering that I was gone for 2 weeks in March when Presto was born and just got back from a week at Rolex, I thought it a bit unwise to test his patience by being gone for a horse show on his birthday. Instead I’ll be leaving at the absolute pre-ass crack of dawn tomorrow to make it down there in time.

And after I’d already made plans to stay over tomorrow night and XC school the next morning (Trainer’s baby shower is on Sunday afternoon and only about half an hour away from the show venue, so I figured I could roll it all together), SO informed me that we had movie plans for Saturday evening. See above about not pushing my luck at the moment. That means I have to basically jump off my horse after the jumping phase and floor it for home, which in turn means I’ll miss the big raffle at the end of the show. Boo.

They posted the derby course the other day though, which is awesome. I’ve been able to learn it in advance, so that minimizes how much time I have to spend walking. I don’t think this is a particularly ideal format for us, with stadium jumps sprinkled in throughout the XC course (if we don’t have a rail at every single one, it’ll be a miracle). Nor was I very happy to see a down bank right at the beginning, considering that just a couple weeks ago we discovered that we still have a down bank issue. I already have plans to XC school a lot in May to work through it, so if we have an issue with this one at the derby I’ll probably just retire. No point in pushing Henry’s already semi-fragile brain at the down bank.

Otherwise though I like the course a lot, and nothing else concerns me. I really hope he does actually decide to go down the bank, because I love how the water is set up and I definitely want to go up the triple bank!

Either way, even if we only get to do dressage, we need that practice too. Plus the money from the show goes to a good cause. Can’t beat that. Anyone else have other fun derby (Kentucky or otherwise) plans this weekend?

​Who’s the cutest baby horse in all the land?

Presto is 7 weeks old today, although Michelle took these pics for me on Monday. Can you believe how much he’s filled out??? Looking at him now (aside from all the hair missing on his butt and his neck) I don’t think anyone would ever know that he spent his first 3 weeks clinging to life at the vet clinic.

Even though he’s not at an ideal age to judge his conformation (if we’re following the “3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months” rule), I continue to be really happy with how he’s put together. He will never be the super developed, muscular horse that Liam is, and he’s not supposed to be. Liam will be a showjumper, all power, and Presto will be an eventer, a (hopefully) lighter and more streamlined horse. And right now, he REALLY looks like a baby eventer. I love how he’s put together, definitely still really happy with the cross.

Height-wise he’s catching up to Liam pretty quickly. When he first came home from the clinic Liam easily had a hand on him, but now they’re pretty close. He nurses pretty constantly, nibbles at grass and hay, and helps himself to Sadie’s food. I sent videos to his vet the other day and she was blown away by how great he looks.

He also seems to be having tons of fun at the breeding farm, playing with all the other mares and foals. It makes me happy to see him out there enjoying himself… I’d say he’s earned it.

On Sunday Sadie was bred back to Mighty Magic, so fingers crossed that we see a little black dot on the ultrasound in another week or so. I think some lucky buyer out there would be very happy to have a Presto full sibling next year!

As for the rest of the Willow Tree mares, they’ve just gotten started on breeding season so only one has been scanned in foal so far: Laken to Diarado. I’m very interested in this combination… even though it’s really meant for the jumper ring, I’ve seen so many Diarado’s pop up in eventing lately.

 

And as for Liam… he’s doing Liam things.

And of course, Liam and Presto remain the best of friends. It looks like Liam is sold to a GP jumper rider, which will be the perfect home for him. He’s a big, fancy chunk of a colt who knows 100% that he’s a BOY.

I won’t have time to head down there to see them this weekend, but planning on the weekend after. Hopefully then I’ll have more pics and videos (Presto will be almost 2 months by then!) and more positive ultrasound results to share. And maybe he’ll start shedding so his poor bald spots blend in a bit better…