I’m sure that anyone who is even remotely connected to USEA has seen the new rule change proposals on the docket. Anyone who has read this blog is probably not surprised that one in particular jumps out at me:

• Helmet and Body Protector Standards: Currently the USEF Rules for Eventing does not state a standard required for helmets, however it does recommend one for body protectors. With the new ASTM/SEI Standard released for helmets, the USEA BOG has recommended parallel wording for both pieces of protective equipment. While the wording is still being finalized, the rule would require all riders to wear a helmet and body protector meeting, at a minimum, the previous ASTM/SEI standard and strongly recommend the equipment meet the newest standard. In addition, body protectors meeting the BETA standards (the European equivalent) will be accepted.

I touched on the vest issue a while back, which was met with varying reactions, because I personally feel that the “standard” Tipperary vest that so many people wear is not adequate. That model vest is not ASTM/SEI or BETA approved, and to allow an un-approved vest to be worn on cross country seems more than a little silly to me when you consider that one of the biggest challenges in this sport is safety. We are lagging behind the rest of the world in that department. Once I did my research and upgraded to a BETA 3 vest, the difference was stark, obvious, and substantial. Comparing the two vests is like apples and oranges.

It should be no surprise to anyone that I whole-heartedly agree with and support this particular rule change proposal. I’m sure plenty of people would grumble about having to buy a new vest, but the priority of the sport has to be safety. I can’t imagine that anyone would be upset about the helmet standard… or at least I would hope not.

Although on the topic of helmets, Burghley was once again a disappointment, with only 26% of competitors choosing to don a helmet for dressage. And despite participation in Mind Your Melon promotions and sponsorship by a helmet company, Laine Ashker once again chose to wear a top hat – the only American to do so. Why in the world we still allow anyone to NOT wear an approved helmet for any phase of eventing is beyond me… hasn’t the safety of this sport been publicly scrutinized enough? It’s disappointing that people still continue to chose fashion over safety, and even more disappointing that you apparently have to make rules to force people to wear helmets.

Alas, rant over. Thoughts on the rule change proposal for vests?

It’s true that every once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut. The same thing is true with Bobby and good ideas.

After Corona, Bobby noticed that we were both qualified for Area V Championships at Novice. This year Area Championships are at Holly Hill in Louisiana, which is a venue neither of us have been to before. Surely you can see where this is going. Because when Bobby and Amanda get an idea, we tend to charge headlong into it with reckless abandon.

When Bobby first suggested Championships, I admit to thinking I’d rather go and enter the non-Championship Novice division instead. Usually it’s much easier pickins, being that everyone “good” is entered in Championships. Last year if you wanted to place in the CH division you had to finish with a score in the 20’s. Let me tell you what me and Henry WON’T do! Our dressage just isn’t there yet. But then I thought… my momma didn’t raise no coward. Sure, we’re very unlikely to place, but we will show up and we will give it our best shot. They’ll have to climb over me on their way to the top. Besides, how cool would it be for my pony to have gone to AEC at one level and Area Championships at another level all in his first year of eventing? He’s kind of a badass (not even a little biased).

So here we go on yet another adventure. The Novice course at HH looks pretty straightforward (pics from last fall’s regular Novice and the N Champs in 2012), nothing about it gives me pause for Henry. There are bank combinations and a trakehner and a wanna-be keyhole type thing, all of which he’s seen before in some capacity.

I feel especially ok with it too since Championships are at the end of October, and if all goes according to plan we will have run Novice at Greenwood a couple weeks prior. Greenwood is the ultimate Novice course in our area, IMO. They kind of have everything: related distances, a corner, a down bank to log bending line, a trakehner, water, jumps into and out of a crater, a baby ditch weldon’s wall, a big honkin ditch to kinda skinny brush line, and a giant-ass maxed out brush fence. The Omnibus listing describes it as “a variety of questions requiring horses and riders to be competent at that level”, which made me giggle endlessly in and of itself. If Henry can jump around Greenwood, he can jump around any Novice course anywhere… of that I’m certain. And I feel like he can 100% jump around Greenwood.

Sadly no one has posted a Greenwood N course walk on MyCourseWalk yet (I wish everyone in the world would get that app, it’s fantastic) so I had to nab screen caps from someone else’s helmet cam video:

  

Greenwood is going to be the “hardest” course Henry has ever seen to date, and I’m pretty excited about it. He’s up for the challenge. Especially since Greenwood comes a couple weeks after dropping back down to BN for AEC, which should be a fun easy confidence builder for him.

So now Henry’s fall season includes

National Championships

Greenwood (aka Novice Rolex)

Area V Championships

I already have my entries in for all three so I’m officially poor until November.

It’s been fun placing at every event we’ve been to this year, but I’m afraid that streak is about to come to an end my friends. And that’s okay, because

I needed a quick reprieve from real life, so I figured I’d pop in and remind everyone that Riding Warehouse is having a Labor Day Sale. 15% off pretty much everything! The discount automatically shows up in your cart.

Remember those peach TuffRider breeches? They’re already marked down, so the additional 15% off makes them $54. And the navy ‘H’ belt? $22. Buy em both and you get free shipping to boot. I DID load up on a few things I needed, but sadly couldn’t talk myself into justifying either of those just yet. Henry got a new navy and yellow Irish knit though, because he’s stylish AF.

The RW obsession is real.

We’re headed out this morning to make the 12 hour drive to my mom’s home town in Mississippi for her memorial service. Obviously, I am not looking forward to to this in any way shape or form for a multitude of reasons. This really makes it all feel final, and permanent… which it already IS, but after this, that’s really the end. I am not looking forward to all the emotions and feelings that are about to happen. I’m not good at them and I don’t like them. Hugs and pity and sympathy make me uncomfortable, but I’ll suck it up because it’s not about me, is it?

Before I go, I want to share the facebook post that my brother (featured above) wrote last week on my Mom’s birthday, because I feel like he makes some really good points that apply so much to everyone, but especially horse people:

I go through life kind of in the moment. So it took me being at the end of the story to fully understand the character of my Mother.

For the majority of my life I would’ve used words like eccentric, opinionated, caring, and generous. I’m not sure if it’s my maturity, or the conclusion of this last chapter, but I now recognize much more. While she was always caring and generous, she was also resolute, and an unwavering warrior in her battle with the cancer that ultimately stole her away. Growing up there were tough times, financially, for my parents. But aside from being taught to work for what I wanted and to appreciate what I had, I would’ve never known. I never had a need for anything; especially, and most importantly, my Mother’s love. It’s true I’m her favorite, albeit by a very slim margin. That could be for a lot of reasons: I look like her, I was the first born, when my Father was away with military commitments it was just she and I, or for nine years I was her only child. Or it could be that I required more work. I was mischievous, not afraid to cause trouble or find something to get into. Not in a problem with the law kind of way, but definitely not the honor role, exemplary child my sister was and continues to be. I was more of that project that required extra attention and Mom may have felt a bit more accomplished that I didn’t turn out a total wreck.

This is gonna suck.

Because every show is really a learning experience in disguise:

Our horses love Skittles and Pop-Tarts, so obviously they’re unicorns. Oh yeah, and rainbow Goldfish, they liked those too. But especially Pop-Tarts, of any flavor. I’m just gonna start bringing those to shows instead of buying fancy treats because Henry (and Halo and Rheta)  thought they were the best thing ever.

Bobby is a coward. The show provided water balloons on Saturday afternoon so that everyone could take out their aggression on each other have a fun reprieve in between dressage and stadium. Bobby and I of course are basically 12 years old, so we had to go get some. Bobby’s first one hit the brim of my hat and soaked me pretty well, then he kept running away and wouldn’t just take my retaliation like a man. He went and got another balloon and nailed me IN THE BACK with it as I was walking away. In the back! There’s no honor in that! Obviously Bobby is not a gentleman and knows nothing about honorable dueling. I finally got him, and certainly not the coward’s way like he did.

You can find amazing things at a Love’s truck stop late on a Saturday night. As I was walking around grabbing more Powerade and some Cosmic Cupcakes, I stumbled upon a bin of stick unicorns. They even had sound effects. They are so majestic, we each got one… you’ll be seeing these bad boys again at AEC. (Bobby got a horse because it looks like Halo – he’s going to make it into a unicorn – and Sherri got a purple one)

It IS possible for a horse and rider to get trapped together under a BN ramp. After XC as I was putting all my stuff away, I heard a lot of commotion in the warm-up and saw a lot of people running. I didn’t think much of it until I looked up again and saw people standing there with their hands over their mouths and heard someone say “I think I saw an arm move!”. I walked over and it turned out that a horse and his rider were somehow wedged into the back/under side of a little BN sized ramp. I have absolutely no idea how it happened, I can’t even fathom the physics, but they had to unstake the ramp and drag it off of them, which took several minutes. By some miracle both the horse and the rider got up and walked away unharmed. I have never seen anything like that in my entire life.

Our barn is kind of awesome. We’re a small privately owned barn full of working amateur riders, with no resident trainer, and all 3 of us that went to the show came back with a ribbon without embarrassing ourselves in the process. We’re self sufficient, we support each other, we can hold our own with any other barn, and we have a lot of fun while we’re doing it. Adult Team Championships, we’re comin’ for ya!