Not gonna lie, I think was maybe more nervous for the second Prelim than I was for the first. The first time I was just trying not to die – pure and simple, no further expectations. And then I didn’t die, thus it was awesome by default. But now we were back for another crack at it, with the goal of smoothing some things out and trying to make some improvements. There’s a lot more pressure in that. What if the first time was just luck? What if I came out and bungled it royally? Now I had to prove to myself that it wasn’t a fluke.

I was nervous a couple days before, but woke up on show day feeling pretty zen about it. And then dressage and stadium went well, and I was feeling a little more confident by the time cross country rolled around. I actually remembered to take pictures of the course this time, AND I had my helmet camera charged and ready to go! Miracles never cease.

Before we got there I was very concerned about the footing. We’ve had So Much Rain, and there were definitely spots on the course where there was still standing water and mud. Luckily most of the Prelim course runs through the higher ground, so while there were a couple of deep areas, none of it really effected the jumps themselves. The other levels had some course modifications because of the footing, but mine didn’t, so that part all worked out. The venue did a really good job of preserving the footing leading up to the show, and laying down sand in places where some extra grip was needed.

Since the footing looked pretty good, I decided to let Henry open up a little more than last time, carry a little more speed between the jumps, and see how he felt. Of course, I didn’t take into account that since the course was the same as what we did in December, Henry now knew exactly where he was going. He took off out of the box like his ass was on fire, just about leaving me suspended in midair like a cartoon character, and jumped the first fence like a rabbit. Not the start I had in mind.

I landed from 1 and really pushed him up in front of my leg again right away, so I could rebalance and settle into a better rhythm. It worked, and within a few strides we were rolling. Henry was feeling very cocky, knowing exactly where he was going, and pretty much just told me to strap in and hang on. I steered, and I rebalanced on the approaches, but I’m pretty sure Henry would have done the course with or without me. He wasn’t rude about it, so I was okay with that, and I was glad that he was feeling confident. He flew over the rolltop at 2, the wagon at 3 (will that ever stop looking big? Probably not.), the combo at 4AB, and the log ramp with the drop at 5. I took a tug on the way to 6 that I shouldn’t have, stuffing him into a tight spot there, but he’s honest, so he went.

We popped up and down the Irish bank, around to the chevron, and then to the trakehner. Things seemed to be going by so fast at this point, jump after jump after jump. I was trying hard not to micromanage him or shut him down between fences, so I pretty much just let him go along at the speed he felt most comfortable at. He was eager and full of run, so when we had long stretches, I just let him roll.

All the jumps at the water were good, and I let him open up a bit as we went back up the hill, hopping over the little bench out of stride. Then we steadied up quite a bit for the turn to the corner, galloped around the lake, and through a muddy spot that made me have to whoa a little more than I wanted with just a few strides before the boat table. The distance there was a little long, but he jumped the snot out of it for good measure.

Then down the hill combo, rolltop to bank to chevron, back into the front field for the last two fences. He tried to be a little too athletic and jump over a muddy spot, almost tripping over his own feet in the process (god, that would have been an embarrassing way to end the day), but recovered well and hopped over the train car, then we finished up over the big stone wall. And just like that – second Prelim, in the books!

We were quite a bit faster this time than last time, and once again Henry was barely even breathing hard at the finish. They had a timer malfunction, so didn’t log my official time, but from my helmet cam footage I think I was about 20 seconds over, which would have been 8 time faults. Due to the timer malfunction they put me as double clear. I’ll take it, but in my head we’ll go with 8. Which I’m still super happy with, because last time we had 19, and this course is so twisty I think it would be nearly impossible for me to average 520mpm without being scary/dangerous.

I made a couple of mistakes and had a couple of bleh fences, but overall I was happy with how confident Henry felt and with the fact that I let him jump out of a more open gallop. It was nice to make the mistakes and have him not even blink about them. It helps me a lot mentally to know that I don’t have to be perfect, he can handle it if I’m a little bit wrong. There was definite improvement though from the December show to this one, and it was a big confidence booster for both of us. The first time wasn’t just a fluke!

I still have to sit down and make some kind of plan for the next 6 months, but hopefully there will be more green numbers in the near future!

Whew, what a weekend! I am a bit deliriously tired, but we’re flying to Ocala on Tuesday so I needed to crank out the show recaps before I leave. Apologies in advance if this post is rambly, disjointed, or makes no sense. I have a bad case of post horse show brain.

Hillary and I left early Saturday morning, hauling all 3 horses together in her trailer. It’s really nice having a show buddy again, since Henry and I have been mostly on our own for the past couple years. However, I had kind of forgotten what a MORON he is about having friends at shows. He spent most of Saturday screaming and spinning in his stall, and it took 45 minutes of leg yields and figure 8’s to get him to actually take a deep breath and relax under saddle. Neither of these things make me happy with a mentally delicate, ulcer-prone horse. He’s so dumb, too, because he actually hates other horses, and when they come near him he just wants to murder them, yet god forbid they leave? I don’t understand Henny logic.

He settled down a little by Sunday morning (the screaming was more intermittent, at least) and I got on at 7:30 for my 8:00 dressage time, not feeling really sure of which animal I would be sitting on. The Henry I’ve had for the past 6 months has been pretty rideable and much improved in the connection. The Henry I had on Saturday afternoon was the tense nutbag Henry that I had like 3 years ago. That is not a time period that I particularly wanted to revisit, and definitely not on horse show morning. Luckily he decided to table the Vintage Henry thing from the day before, and came out on Sunday as a much more modern version of himself.

The test wasn’t quite as good as our last attempt in December, he was still just ever so slightly scattered to my aids. There were some moments of improvement, like my leg yields last time said I needed more bend so I’ve been working on that a lot, and this time our scores for those were each a point higher. I couldn’t quite keep his haunches under control in the second 10m half circle at canter, and he threw in a flying change there as we came back to the rail, earning us a solid 4. Whoops. She dinged him a little in the collectives too, because he was chomping his mouth a bit the whole time… that was his tension showing.

It wasn’t our best test, but it was respectable enough, and still good for a 33.3. And, to be honest, a year ago I would have been THRILLED with that test, so it shows how much the dressage has improved for us. He’s been holding himself together mentally so much better than he used to, it’s like a different horse, and I really love how the Prelim A test flows for him. All the trot work in the beginning helps his brain settle.

After dressage I only had an hour before stadium, so I went back up to the barn, let him pee and get some water, looked at my course one more time, and then tacked back up. I have become the queen of the short warm up for jumping phases so I walked into warmup at 8:49, cantered a couple laps, lengthened and shorted his stride a few times, made some square turns to lift his shoulders, jumped 3 fences, and still went up to the ring a few minutes before my 9am start.

My goals for stadium were:

1) Keep him in front of my leg. I’d rather make a mistake going too forward than make a mistake by pulling or getting stuck.

2) Ride the plan. There were some wonky turns in this course, and we made a pretty specific plan in our course walk on the best way to ride them, so I really wanted to keep my head in the game, focus, and execute the plan as best I could. Again, if I make a mistake then I make a mistake, oh well, but I didn’t want it to be because I panicked and lost focus.

3) Keep. My. Chin. Up. At. The. Base.

And, omg, it actually all came together.

We tapped a couple, and it wasn’t mistake-free, but I stuck to the plan and they all stayed in the cups for a double clear round! I got him a little bit deep to the big vertical at 2, but kept my chin up and he was able to get us over cleanly (that “chin up” trick is really kind of a miracle for this horse). Bless Henry’s little heart, he is not the most talented or athletic horse in the world but he’s got plenty of try. He stayed in front of my leg, I was able to keep his balance up and in front of me out of the turns, kept coming forward, and I actually had some whoa this time when I needed it. He was brilliant.

Trainer and Friends were screaming their fool heads off when we crossed the finish, and I too was pretty freaking excited to finally get a double clear round at this height. I wasn’t sure it was possible, to be honest. It’s a good feeling when all of those endless hours of work finally pay off.

It was also pretty nice to still be sitting on our 33.3 after stadium, and a part of me kind of just wanted to withdraw and go home, because I didn’t think we could top that. But of course that would be silly, because there was still cross country, and that’s the best part…

If you’ve owned baby horses, or green horses, or maybe a horse that turned out to be less than ideal for it’s intended purpose, and you’re anything like me, at some point you will find yourself looking at said horse and assessing just what it’s niche might be in life. Is it destined to be the lower level packer that takes kid after kid around their first Novice? Is it a possible 1*-2*-3* horse for a good amateur or young rider? Is it a big time talent, a possible 4*-5* horse for a pro? Or maybe it would it be better in the dressage ring, or happier as a hunter or a jumper? I’ve done this with pretty much all of my horses (sometimes more than once, we know how things can change), since I’ve definitely never gone out shopping for a “made” one with a very specific purpose in mind.

With Presto things are obviously a bit different. I’m not just assessing the horse in front of me, he was BRED for a specific purpose, and he’s being raised with that specific purpose in mind. He’s been mine since conception, and he was carefully planned. I do still constantly assess him, of course… are we on track for what I want him to be? Am I teaching him the things he needs now to make his (and my) job easier later? Does it look like he will fulfill that purpose? Until he’s under saddle, there’s only so much I’ll be able to tell.

I bred him to be an amateur-friendly eventer, something I can keep and raise and ride myself. One that isn’t tough in the head, can take a joke, has enough scope to get me out of trouble, has a knack for XC, a good work ethic, and perhaps is a bit more naturally inclined to the dressage work than my current mount (Henry you are the light of my life, but good lord you have been and continue to be A PIECE OF FREAKING WORK). Presto wasn’t meant to be a top upper level horse. I wanted something that could happily bop around Prelim, maybe Intermediate as an extreme reach goal, and be a fun horse for me to raise and enjoy.

Taking him to the Future Event Horse classes (and maybe later on the Young Event Horse classes, if that’s something that seems to be a good fit for him) is kind of interesting. On one hand, the whole purpose of the FEH and YEH programs is to look for horses that they feel like have legit upper level potential. Advanced horses, 4* horses, 5* horses. Mine is not that. He wasn’t intended to be that. So will it hurt my feelings if the judges don’t think that he’s going to be that horse? Of course not. I don’t think he is either. That was never my intention when I bred him.

I was having this conversation with someone a few weeks ago and they said “aw, but Presto is nice!”. I agree. I’m not saying he isn’t nice. I’m saying he’s not an elite horse, and I’m ok with that, because he wasn’t meant to be. A horse can still be really nice without being the next superstar.

I think it’s important, especially if you’re going to own and show babies, to still be able to evaluate your horses as objectively as possible, so you’re able to choose the path that’s most suitable for them. For me, Presto has been perfect so far. He’s smart, he’s quiet, he’s easy, he moves well enough but not SO well that I won’t be able to ride him, and – from what I’ve been able to see to this point – has good enough instincts at the jumps to suit what I intended him to be. I mean, I do cry a little at the string test that says he will be 17h, but other than that, he ticks all the boxes. Will he love the sport enough to really be an eventer? Time will tell. Right now I’m very pleased with him. But is he the type of horse that the Future and Young Horse classes are really meant for? Not really, no. He is destined for life as an amateur horse.

At this point, we do the FEH classes for exposure. He could get that elsewhere, sure, but I like the program and want to support it, so that’s my choice. He gets to go to events and get miles and see some atmosphere. For horses like him (NOT top upper level prospects) that’s exactly what those classes are meant to offer. I know that going in. If he does well, great, if he doesn’t… oh well. He gets to go stand in the ring, trot around a little, and learn to behave himself – that in itself is a win at this stage.

At this point I doubt that he will be the right type of horse for the YEH classes. Mostly because I think he’ll be a big dopey horse that is slow to develop and not necessarily quick to figure out his feet, and I have no intention of rushing him through that part. But also because those programs are meant for and designed for future upper level horses, and that’s not what mine is meant to be. If, when he’s 4, we find that the YEH class (basically BN) is a good fit for where he’s at in his life, we’ll do them to get some experience. If not, maybe we’ll do the 4yo FEH class (just a basic w/t/c) instead. Or neither, if neither option is right for him at that point. It doesn’t mean the programs are bad, or that the horse is bad, it just means that those classes aren’t HIS path. It’s my responsibility as his person to be able to recognize that. If I don’t see him for what he is and what he’s meant to be, and take that into consideration, I won’t be able to make the right decisions for him.

Horses with top tier talent are few and far between. They’re awesome and exciting and fun to watch, but are they suitable for most people? Probably not. Most of us need something far more average, less sharp, easier to stay with, and easier to own. Most horses are not upper level horses… and that’s ok. If they were, there wouldn’t be much left over for us mere mortals to ride. I don’t think it’s an insult to a horse to say that it isn’t the second coming of FischerRocana – not all of us need or want that horse. If the horse suits my needs and does his job perfectly, it’s better than a 5* horse to me.

Ah yes, the good ol’ fashioned “how to make eventing safer” debate. Depending on who you ask, there are all kinds of things to blame for safety issues. I’ve heard everything from the death of the long format, to the change over to the popularity of the warmblood, to the footing, to the course design, to the speed, to the technicality, to the level creep, to the fence construction, to the way riders are brought up and trained, to money, to pressure, and even tack choices. To be honest, I think there’s some truth to be found in almost all of them. It’s not a simple situation, and I don’t think there’s one answer. At the end of the day we’re still galloping horses at solid fences, and there’s still a lot that could go wrong.

First, though, I think it’s important to acknowledge that, statistically, eventing has gotten safer over the past 10-15 years. The fall rate has dropped, including that of rotational falls, since that data started being tracked. There’s no disputing that. We definitely do hear about mishaps more these days, in the age of social media. Everything that happens, at any event, anywhere, is common knowledge within hours. At the same time, I also think it’s true that here’s also more improvement to be made, and more we can be doing.

It’s always interesting to me to hear the perspective of top professionals on this issue. Some of them just kind of shrug and point to rider responsibility, but others have clearly given it a lot of thought and spent a lot of time formulating their opinion. A few days ago Horse & Hound posted an except from Eric Smiley‘s new book “Two Brains One Aim”, in which he talks about how he thinks that a trend toward bigger and harsher bitting setups have led to increased danger on the cross country phase. The full except can be found at the link above, and I highly recommend giving it a read, but I pulled a few quotes that jumped out at me.

I first noticed the desire to achieve greater control when the minimum weight restriction was removed from the eventing cross-country phase in 1998 (previously all horses had to carry 165lbs (75kg), made up with lead weight if necessary, for the cross-country phase). At the same time, courses started becoming more technical. These two changes brought control into focus as lighter riders were now riding big, “scopey” horses, and they needed better control to negotiate the more technical courses. The short fix was to find a bit that offered more control.

Asking a horse to gallop at Preliminary (US) or Novice (UK) cross-country speed of 520mpm before he is comfortable with a fast canter (350–400mpm) has every chance of triggering his natural response of “run.” The moment speed becomes a conditioned response to the rider shortening her stirrups and getting into an open space, the rider feels the need to control it. Now problems arise and the perception is that brakes are needed.

The range of bits and gadgets is endless. Some of the most popular are:

➤ The three-ring or bubble bit.
➤ The elevator.
➤ Rings and pulley reins in various forms.
➤ Curb chains — excessively tight.

Every one of these is a potential disaster waiting to happen! The bits I have listed above, and others like them, have an action that encourages hollowness in the horse’s way of going that is detrimental both on the flat and over fences.

 

But by using bits that encourage an incorrect way of going, we create many problems for ourselves and the horse:

➤ The jaw shows resistance.
➤ The head comes up.
➤ The neck goes hollow.
➤ The shoulders become blocked.
➤ The steering becomes delayed and unresponsive.
➤ The back becomes less “through.”
➤ The rider stops using her legs for fear of more speed.
➤ The horse’s hind legs are less engaged.
➤ The rider’s hands become the dominant aid.

Spend a day watching cross-country and you will see some unsightly pictures. Look more closely and there is also a trend: most of the ugly sights are control issues. Look more closely and you will see these control issues will also have a bit issue. Course designers cannot make the jumping phases of eventing higher or wider in their effort to separate competitors, so they have had to use their imagination to test the control of horse and rider.

To produce a suitable canter or gallop, the horse must allow himself to be balanced by accepting the rider’s leg aids. These aids should engage the hind end in a way that doesn’t produce speed, but encourages the horse to accept the contact and the resulting adjustment to speed in a round and rideable way. Failure to do this makes it difficult for the horse to see, assess, and take responsibility for his part in the jump.

Eric’s perspective is one that I haven’t heard many people mention, especially not this in-depth. I don’t necessarily think it’s always true across the board, but I’m sure any of us can sit here and think of many scenarios for which it certainly does apply. You definitely see some wacky bitting rigs on cross country (y’all know how I feel about ML’s choices) and many times, sooner or later, it does end up going the way that Eric says.

Of course… bad things happen in snaffles too. That’s an undeniable fact. I also think that not every horse can go in a snaffle, no matter how much we want them to. His perspective does get me thinking, though. I found myself going “he’s not wrong…” to a lot of what he’s saying. Examples of misusage of bits and equipment can be found across the board in all sports – most just don’t have as much inherent risk already at play as ours does.

It makes me take a closer look at what I’m doing, and the equipment I’m using. Yes, Henry goes cross country in a snaffle, and yes, we work on adjustability from seat and leg EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. But are we good enough at those things? No, probably not.

What are your thoughts on Eric’s perspective? Do you think that there’s an issue with bitting (or, really, a constant quest for ever more control over the horse) across disciplines? Do we cover up basic training issues with bigger bits? And does that eventually catch up with some of us later on down the road? Whether or not you agree with what Eric is saying, I hope you at least think it’s as interesting to ponder as I do, applied both to what you see from others and to what you see with yourself and your own horse.

Oh and totally by random happenstance, I noticed that Trafalgar Square has a 20% off sale today (use code LOVEHORSES), and they carry Eric’s book. I haven’t read it, I have no idea how it is, but I ordered a copy for myself this morning!

I have a lot of little things today that are kind of random but this week is full of exciting stuff, so bear with me here…

First, and most important, today is Henry’s 12th birthday! Time is flying, guys. How is he TWELVE already??? Sometimes I wish I could just stop the clock so he could stay this age forever. I love him so much, it’s borderline ridiculous.

Second – I have TWO giveaways running right now and both of them end tomorrow, so if you haven’t entered yet, today is the day! The first giveaway is based here, through the blog, for the US Event Horse Futurity. It’s super easy to enter and there’s a gift card and saddle pad up for grabs, check out the post if you haven’t seen it yet.

The other giveaway is through my Instagram and there’s a $100 Riding Warehouse gift card up for grabs! It’s worth a shot, free money is awesome.

Semi-related to the first giveaway – if you’re not following the US Event Horse Futurity on facebook, you’re really missing out. I am loving all the vlogs posted by the trainers so far, showing what they’ve been doing with their Futurity horses and what they’re working on. There are some awesome little training tidbits in there, and it’s really interesting (at least to me) to see how these different riders start their horses. Yesterday they posted the second of Doug Payne’s entries, Quberon (one of my early favorites), and showed what he’s been doing during his first couple months of training. Doug talks about how he starts his horses under saddle, when he introduces jumping for the first time, his thoughts on their first horse shows, etc. It’s so educational, I’m loving it. Can’t wait to see more of these from all the different riders!

 

Henry has a fancy new bit on the way! Riding Warehouse is carrying Neue Schule bits now, which is dangerous as hell, and after much deliberation I settled on giving the “Tranz Angled Lozenge Eggbutt Bit” a whirl. He’s been going in a KK Ultra for dressage for a few years now, so I’m interested to see how this one compares and see if he likes it. You never know with Henry, he’s a delicate flower. I’ve heard a lot of really good things about the Neue Schule brand though, so I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

And last but not least, I’ve finally found a couple of horse-related podcasts that I like! I’m a big podcast fan, but I’m also really picky, especially when it comes to content (or on the more shallow end of the spectrum – people’s voices). I want to learn something from a podcast, or at least feel like I’m really engaged in the subject matter. I haven’t found many that have kept me consistently coming back for more.

The first one I’ve really been enjoying is Major League Eventing. They interview bigger name event riders, which isn’t something that would typically grab me, but I like the conversational style and the questions they ask. It’s more interesting than I originally thought it would be, and I’ve listened to most of the episodes by now.

My favorite one is Big Talk for Breeders, which… I KNOWWWW, most people aren’t going to be interested in, but hear me out. An Irish showjumping breeder (which – the host has a very pleasing Irish accent, that makes it a winner already) interviews some of the most successful sporthorse breeders in the world. The first episode was a little rocky for me, but each episode after that has gotten better. The host asks really good questions, and I’m always so fascinated to hear all the different approaches when it comes to breeding. There aren’t many episodes yet, but I’m looking forward to more.

This weekend is our next Prelim HT (the weather is looking more and more cooperative – except its supposed to be 85 degrees on Friday, WTF?) and then next Tuesday, Michelle and I fly to Ocala for USEA’s YEH/FEH symposium. Not gonna lie, it’s possible that I’ve already plotted out a few tack shops to hit on the first day. For uh… ya know… research.

What are you guys up to this week? Any cool things you’re loving right now?