For those of you who follow my $900 fb pony facebook page, you already know how this weekend turned out. But before we can get to the conclusion, first we’ve got to take a journey, and that journey of course includes a soon-to-be-famous (surely?) Course Walk with Bobby. Brace yourselves.
We arrived at Texas Rose Horse Park on Friday around mid-day, unloaded the boys, set our stuff up, checked in, and then got on to ride around. It was quite warm and humid so we opted to mostly just hack around the grounds, enjoying the beauty and wide open spaces of TRHP. It truly is the most beautiful facility in Texas, hands down. I can’t wait for AEC there.
One of four dressage arenas in the foreground and stadium warm-up in the background
riding with Bobby and Halo in the front field
AND THEN… it was course walk time. Bobby was doing BN and I was doing Novice, so first we walked our courses separately, then walked each others together. You know what sucks in 90 degree heat and crazy humidity? 3 course walks. But we’ve got a reputation that we’ve got to live up to now with our jump photos, so we suffered for the sake of art. Unfortunately, because we were about to die, we only did fun pictures for my Novice course walk. As suggested by Sarah, we did a “Where’s Bobby?” theme to start with, then it kinda morphed out of control as we got delirious from heat stroke, which is of course where things got funny.
nice inviting little fence to start with, heading straight towards the highway in the background
fence 2, a stair step box next to the highway
Very simple vertical logs at 3
decent size table at 4, off of an uphill approach
little slanty log on the hillside at 5
little up bank on an uphill approach. There’s water right behind that Training rolltop, which wasn’t flagged for Novice but if you didn’t go through it your approach to 7 was not gonna work.
cabin set a couple strides out of the water
another decent sized table at 8, very square but not too wide
to the Trakehner at 9
then it was a slight downhill roll to 10, the open oxer, which I thought looked small
11 was the down bank, which wasn’t actually that big of a drop but because it was set on a big hill, it looked ginormous when you were cantering up to it. Plus the landing was on a very downhill slope, which meant it would ride bigger.
to get to 12 we had to take a hard left after the bank and canter back up the steep hill, with the chevron jump at the top. This was a serious question because of the terrain.
straight ahead to 13, the Weldon’s Wall
14ab was two rolltops set on a bending line. Another good question, but I loved how there were a couple different approaches you could take on how to ride this. I dig it.
dead Bobby on the b element
another little house thing at 15, set a couple of strides before the water (which is shaped like the state of Texas. Because Texas.)
Our pimp cups took a water break at 16.
Another table at 17, this one not super tall but very very wide. Like 4 1/2 feet wide at the base. Honestly I tried not to make eye contact with it when I walked by.
and a cute little brushy box to finish
After the course walk I actually felt pretty good about it. I got a few raised eyebrows from friends when I chose Texas Rose as our move-up, because it’s not known to be an easy course, but I actually walked off feeling like this could potentially be perfect for him. The course was open and gallopy, which suits him well, and he has zero water issues so having two water crossings was no biggie. I thought there were a couple of legitimate questions but nothing super hard or unfair… it’s really well designed and flowed nicely, and there was a little bit of everything. Water, tables, trakehner, related distance, weldon’s wall, etc – great variety. The only thing I wasn’t too sure about for Henry was the giant-looking down bank followed by the sharp turn back up the hill to the chevron. Otherwise I felt like as long as I rode him forward and positively, he’d handle all of it just fine. Nothing looked super big to me either (except the width of 17, mother effer that thing was as wide as a house), which I thought was a good sign.
After the course walk I put XC out of mind because first we had to get through Saturday – dressage and stadium!
Since monsoon season shows absolutely no signs of relenting, and we have another event next weekend, the plan for this past weekend was to RIDE at all costs. Since our place is basically under water, on Saturday we hauled over to a covered arena down the road and did a little dressage work. It was the first I’ve been able to ride Henry since Greenwood the weekend before, so he was a little tense but the wicked humidity soon zapped all of his energy right out, nervous or otherwise.
how Henry feels about adventures
There were mirrors on one end of the ring, which was both AWESOME and awful at the same time. It’s great to be able to see things, but it’s also horrible to be able to see things. Sometimes I’d be like “this feels pretty good” and then I’d look in the mirror and be like “Oh, nevermind…”. Mirrors are like having a lesson in and of themselves.
Who dat derpy horse?
On Sunday I decided to take him over to the local h/j show that was happening this weekend and just enter a couple jumper classes. I figured this would be good experience for him – get tossed on the trailer, come out, get tacked up, warm up, then go in the ring. Usually when we go places we have the benefit of taking a day to settle in.
This is my majestic creature. He is very very majestic. Also, I forgot to bring a hairnet. My ears felt so naked and exposed.
I had originally signed up for a 2’6″-2’9″ and a 2’9″-3′ class, but upon seeing how little the jumps were set I decided to scratch the smaller one and add the 3′-3’3″ instead. It ended up being pretty perfect because the first class was more like 2’9″ and the second class was more like 3′ (I think maybe one or two of the jumps was actually 3’3″ but that’s probably it). They weren’t our best courses ever but he clocked right around that spooky ring with no questions asked and was a trooper about it. If I could quit pulling to the short distance that would be great.
No touchy
It was fun to get back to our jumper roots for a while, but it also really made me appreciate eventing and having ride times. Oh how quickly I’d forgotten about the “hurry up and wait”. And wait. And wait. I had to be somewhere at noon so as soon as we finished our second class I jumped off, shoved him full of cookies, stuffed him back on the trailer, and away we went. Although I did stop on the way back from closing out my check to grab his ribbon from the bigger class. Don’t be impressed, there were only 3 of us.
He’s not impressed either.
All in all it was a good weekend with lots of riding time, even if it did require trailering out to get it done. It looks like we’re going to end up having to do the same thing this week too if we want to ride at all before the event next weekend, since this stupid daily rain shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Over it.
After Saturday’s adventures I was pretty happy to be done with dressage, but I was still quite worried about the two down banks on XC. Saturday evening I walked the course with a trainer that I had never met before but was recommended to me by my trainer, and she had some good suggestions about how to ride the down banks. Still, mostly I just laid awake and thought about it all night. Figuring out the brain of Henry and what will work best for him can be a tricky thing.
Gimme your hat
more weird licking. Mmmm Animo tastes good…
It was another long day of sitting around, since my ride time wasn’t until 1:32. We were all bored to tears. Finally it was time to get on and head to the warmup. Trainer For The Day came over about halfway through my warmup, watched me jump a few fences, made some more suggestions, and bid me adieu so she could get back to her clients. I greatly appreciate her taking a few minutes to help, it made me feel more confident in my plan. We marched over to the start box, walked a few circles, then wandered in at 30 seconds to go. I faced him backwards until we got to the last 10 seconds, then we turned around and waited for every eventer’s favorite words – “HAVE A GREAT RIDE!”. The best sentence in the world.
I will put the helmet cam footage here first, for those that want to watch it. I dunno what the weird clicking noise is, but if you can endure it there’s a little bit of fun audio. I’ve already ordered a skull cap so I can mount the helmet more securely next time and hopefully get rid of the clicking. I’ll angle it a little more downward too so you can see more Henry. But hey, it was our first foray into the world of Helmet Cam.
He came out of the box all business, looking for the jumps. We popped right over the first three, made our left turn onto the path into the woods, and hopped over 4. Fence 5 had several people standing near it, and he flicked an ear back at me like “Mom?” but as soon as I put my leg on he went right ahead and paid them no mind. The big oxer at 6 was easy, then we wound our way out of the woods, down the hill and into the field for 7. He got a little forward down the hill but I let him roll until I needed to make the turn to 7, told him to pay attention, and he came right back with no problem. Fence 8 was the little Trakehner, which he didn’t even blink at. With every “Good boy” I gave him, he flicked an ear back at me like “I know, I’m amazing aren’t I?!?“.
Then we came out into the big field and made our sharp right hand turn down the hill to the water. He saw it and hesitated ever so slightly, so I sat deep and put my leg on him and he just bounded forward, no further questions asked. He took a little bit of a leap into the water but cantered through and out over the rolltop like a pro.
He got a little too excited with himself on the long uphill gallop to the steeplechase… this was our only icky fence on course. He saw the flyer but I told him to wait (no flyers allowed) and add one more. He did it, but in a very derpy uncoordinated unicorn leap type of way. Evidence:
How he can jump so derpy and still be so tidy with his knees is beyond me, but he gets points for waiting when I told him to. After the steeplechase fence was the big long hill, which he seemed to take great joy in galloping up.
“I iz THOROUGHBRED!!!”
We hopped the log at 12, then I pointed him toward the first of the down banks. My plan was to ride it aggressively, with the “over or through” mentality, and circle after 13 before taking the up bank at 14. You can do this legally without incurring penalties as long as it’s clear you weren’t presenting your horse to the fence before you circled. So I called twice that I was circling afterward, pointed him at the down bank, tapped him on the shoulder with the whip, and wouldn’t you know it – that boy never even so much as thought about hesitating. He was like “Oh look a bank – WHEEE!” and I was like “Well what the hell…”. So much for it being a problem. It was quite the expressive leap off the bank but I’ll take it. We circled around some trees, tried to avoid running over the jump judge, then hopped up the bank at 14. Then it was back down the hill…
To the hanging log at 15, and 3 strides to the next down bank. I gave him a little growl just in case but again he showed zero hesitation and leapt right off. With gusto. Lots of gusto.
After that it was a pretty straight shot to The Decapitator at 17 (thankfully I didn’t decapitate myself on the low hanging branches, and I’m sorry Greenwood for calling your fence that). I slowed down just a titch headed to the last since we were slightly ahead of time, and to do a rideability check I rode him to the close quiet distance, and he politely cantered the flamingo fence like no big deal. We crossed the finish line 6 seconds under optimum time, giving us a double clear XC.
To say I’m proud of him doesn’t even come close to expressing it. You would never have known that it was only his third time out and that he’d never been to this facility before. He did absolutely everything I asked, he did it with joy, he loved every second of it, and he remained totally rideable the whole time. It felt EASY. I totally could have ridden 13 to 14 straight through. This BN course that was pretty hard and technical and had me feeling like we were in way over our heads rode like a walk in the park. I think he would have jumped around Novice if I’d asked him to, and what a great feeling that is, to be sitting on a confident horse. That feeling is exactly why we do this.
Even better – we moved up to 6th after XC. Sadly we were only one point away from that AEC qualifying placing we needed (darn that cheap rail in stadium!) but I don’t even care. I’ve never “lost” and felt so much like a winner at the same time.
Henry really outdid himself this time. I knew going into Greenwood that I was asking a lot of him. He stepped up to the plate in a big way, and I’m so thankful for it. The Best Boy: pro status.
The format for the lower levels at Greenwood meant that we did dressage and stadium on Saturday and XC on Sunday. Since I was in BN Senior (note to self: start entering Horse instead of Senior) my ride times were quite late – dressage was at 2:33 and stadium was at 4:31. That resulted in a very long morning of boredom.
Henry got to walk around and make a new friend with one of the tack shop trailers
Then he stood out behind the barn and grazed while my friend Amy and I enjoyed the sunshine and nice breeze. Granted, he seemed to be more interested in giving me a tongue bath than in grazing. It was a strange experience, he wouldn’t stop licking me, covered just about every inch of bare skin, and I might be a little traumatized.
Then he got braided
Then he took a nap (thanks buddy)
And then finally – FINALLY – it was time to get on for dressage. Since this was only our 3rd horse trial, I’m still learning the best way to prepare him and warm him up. Based on our experience at Pine Hill a few weeks ago where he got pretty tense in the warm-up and had a bit of a meltdown mid test, I changed my entire approach. This time I got on an hour ahead of time, walked for a while, trotted a little, cantered ONCE, and then spent the rest of the time walking and trotting, doing the same exercises that we do at home, and lots of halts and free walk. I didn’t ask him for brilliance, I just asked him for obedience and tried to keep him relaxed. I opted to go without spurs, which I normally wear for dressage work. I knew I would be giving some points away with this approach but I want him to learn that dressage is no big deal and to just relax, so I chose the good experience over trying to get every possible point and risking a brain overload. I didn’t have a trainer with me to validate that decision, but it’s what I knew was the right thing for Henry so I went with it.
He was a little flat and on the forehand and not really pushing much from behind, but he was super chill so I left it at that. When we were on deck they let us into the inner warm-up area to prepare to go into the ring. Again I just walked, halted, did some trot leg yields, and patted him and told him he was The Best Boy.
Then they rang the bell and in we went
We didn’t have much brilliance, and our canters were heavy and leaning on the inside shoulder (I missed my spurs at those moments) but he was very calm and obedient and happy. I was thrilled with him. The score didn’t reflect it (we got a 37) but this test was miles better than the one a few weeks ago at Pine Hill that got a 31. Funnily enough our best score from this judge was a 7 for our halt, which is usually one of our lowest scores. Everything else was a 6 or 6.5, which I’m ok with because at least it was consistent! This judge was harsh, but she was harsh to everyone so it was fair.After dressage we were in a 3-way tie for 6th, and only 2 points separated the second through ninth place horses.
After many cookies, a quick bath, and a graze, it was time to get ready for stadium. I just hopped on and did a quick 10 minutes of trot and canter, hopped two fences, and let him chill by the gate. He went in and marched right around without a single peek, and honestly he was super. The traffic on the road that I was a little concerned about the day before when I walked the course didn’t bother him at all. Sadly, we had a really cheap rail at the last fence. He just barely ticked it with a hind foot (I should have done a better job of keeping the power in the canter going up the hill) and it toppled out of the cup. I find it so much harder to ride these little fences well than it is to ride the bigger ones.
That rail dropped us to 9th, which was both a big bummer and a bit of a relief. On one hand it meant my chances of getting a top 5 placing (which I need one more to qualify for AEC’s) were slim to none. On the other hand, it meant that the pressure was off for XC, and if we had a problem with the banks I could just use it as a schooling opportunity.
I ended the day with mixed feelings about our situation but a whole lot of pride for my pony. So far he’d done everything I asked of him and done it like a pro, no questions asked. You just can’t be disappointed with that, no matter what place you’re in.
After getting almost no sleep on Friday night (I don’t sleep at horse shows) I was not particularly bright eyed and bushy tailed on Saturday morning. We fed the boys, did one more course walk of XC and stadium with Trainer Karen, braided, and slowly got ready. Henry actually felt pretty good when I got on for dressage but started getting more tense as we warmed up. There was a lot of traffic and he kept eyeing the jumps like “YAAASSS”. No buddy, not yet. Boring stuff first.
The video starts a bit late so the first few movements are missing, but basically the first half was decent and then it came off the rails a bit in all the work to the right. He was good when we went in but kind of just tight, and after we walked he was convinced we were supposed to canter canter canter NOW. He was a good boy, he just got a little anxious and tense. For his second event I can’t complain. I was happy with how the first half of the test went, and we FINALLY got better than 5 on the free walk, so we just have to make the second half match the first and I need to do a better job of helping him through the tension. The judge was super forgiving and way too nice, I was expecting a 38-40ish score but we got a 31.6. I’ll take the charity! The two 8’s (first centerline and first medium walk) and all the 7’s in the beginning helped a lot. I thought the remark of “Lovely when not tense” summed it up pretty well. She was equally forgiving to everyone, so our score put us right at mid pack in 5th, which was fair. I need a top 5 placing with no xc penalties for an AEC qualifier, so now the pressure was on to add nothing to that score.
After dressage I was admittedly relieved, mostly because I really thought I’d blown it and was happy when scores were posted and I still had a chance. Stadium is our easiest phase since we come from jumper land, so I was just focused on remembering the course and not making any dumb mistakes. I don’t think anyone got video of it, but the course rode well and he was great, despite the sloppy and deep footing. It really sucked you down in the corners and stole your momentum. After stadium we didn’t move up any, since the only people who had trouble were already below us in the standings. Still in 5th, so we couldn’t afford a single penalty on XC. It was do or die time.
Although it kept threatening to rain all day, we got really lucky and just had a short rain shower. Reports from those who ran XC before me were that there were still some very slippery and wet spots so take it easy and ride defensively. Henry came out of the start box hunting for a jump and momentarily locked on the Prelim rolltop. Uh, nope… ours is the tiny little log over there Hens. He landed from that and we had a good little stretch to 2. Right before 2 there was a dip that had standing water and deep mud, so I had to whoa and get in the back seat a bit but he saw it and managed himself just fine.
No problems with the tiny coop, then around the very muddy bend past the pond (thought he might spook or slip there so I kept my butt in the tack but he went right through with no problem) and hopped over 3. Fence 4 was a little log on top of a big mound. My plan was to trot this and then trot down since the footing on the other side was very uneven, but as soon as we landed I saw a pretty muddy trench of death so I made the decision to walk down instead. Yup, hello everyone, we’ll just be over here walking down this hill on XC. I figured better safe than sorry.
After that we picked back up and he happily popped over the white brush fence at 5 and around the bend through the mud to a log at 6. By this point I had figured out that the best track through the mud was right up the middle… it was a little deeper but sandier and tackier than the shallow black mud at the edges. He was quite surprised by the jump judge at 6, who was sitting back in the bushes around a blind turn, so he leapt slightly right but never took his ears off the jump. I laughed and told him he was ok, and we cantered down the hill, back up, over the log at 7 and the trakehner at 8. This was the halfway point and when I looked at my watch I saw we were 8 seconds behind time. I had to pick it up a little. I let him canter forward a bit down the next stretch since he seemed to be having no problem handling the mud, then packaged him back up to prepare for all the jumps around the water.
I stayed in the back seat over the brush, through the water and around to the log, just in case, but he chugged right on through no problem. Next was the only jump I’d really been worried about – the Coal Train. Again into the back seat, just in case, but he was like “It’s just a train car with rocks in it mom, I dunno why you’re on my butt” and over he went.
I knew the rest would be no problem so I opened him up, got off his back, and let him canter forward up the hill to make up some time. We hopped over the bench on a slight angle to save some ground, back into the woods around a tight short approach to a box, then I let him open up again and gallop the stretch to the last. We came in 5 seconds under OT and he positively STRUTTED back to the barn. That boy thinks he’s hot stuff. No one tell him it was only BN.
Dis muh bunny face WHEEEE
Overall we finished 4th, on our dressage score. One AEC qualifying placing is in the bag! Mission accomplished, now we’ve got one more to go. I think this event was really good for Henry’s confidence on XC and it helped highlight what we need to work on more for dressage. At his first event last November he came out of the start box feeling a little bit “deer in the headlights” but this time he was all business from the word go. He was really locking in on the fences and looking for what was next, but still listening well and being very rideable. In the warmup he liked standing and watching all the horses out on the course, intently focused on what was going on. He seems engaged and interested and eager. All the jumping parts were easy. Next stop, Greenwood in 3 weeks.
Many eternal thanks to Brandy for all her help and support this weekend!
breedrideevent.com 