Rough Waters

Since my last post several events have happened, many of those leading me to the decision to put Stretch up for sale once and for all. The upper levels just aren't in the cards for him and it is in his best interest to pair him with a rider that accepts that and has other goals in mind. It hit me today when I loaded him in the trailer that I am about to say goodbye to one of my best friends of nearly six years. I realize that I have to look at this as a business decision and that it is best for him, but it is still difficult. Thus far two families are very interested and hope to look at him soon. I believe that he would be very happy in either situation.

On the other hand, I would like to welcome Dance Of War, aka Duelly, to the Up A Creek Eventing team! Duelly is a 9yo warmblood gelding out of a Seattle Slew mare by Der Radetzky. Needless to say, athletic might as well be his middle name! Duelly has joined the team on a two year free lease and I can now proudly say that I have my first "owner", the wonderful Ms. Linda Dany. It makes me feel so professional!!! Duelly came to me as a blank slate after only 30 days with Lee Johnson and a week with Dynah. We have been paired together for nearly three months now and have both improved by leaps and bounds! He is a completely different ride from what I am used to and nothing could be better for me at this stage in my career. When we first started together, Duelly had never seen more than trot rails and had to learn all about that darn stadium thing! I can thank grids for that one!! We have since completed two schooling shows with incredible results. Duelly's first outing was the Lily Pond CT in which we ran green as grass and finished on our dressage score of a 33.0 to land us in first place. Second on our list was the Gallery Farm CT where we ran in the starter division and finished on our dressage score of a 31.5 to finish in second. Duelly was quite the show stopper at Gallery and had the entire xc warm-up sitting on the sidelines watching him school! I am so proud of my new little grey pocket rocket! He is turning into such a super star and I cannot wait to see where the two of us go in the future!

The down side is that the future has been temporarily put on hold. About two weeks ago I was kicked in the knee while working with a three year old filly and have been down for the count since. Two sets of xrays and two weeks later we have determined that there are no broken bones and we are in the process of scheduling a CT scan to evaluate any possible tendon damage. Unfortunately, the only thing I have been riding is the couch! The fall plan was to aim Duelly for his first recognized event at Texas Rose HT the first weekend of November, but he needed the full two months prior of heavy schooling to be ready to run beginner novice. Scratch that plan. Now I am just hoping that I will be back in the saddle in time to run him in a schooling HT at Southern Hills in mid November and would like to attend at clinic at Feather Creek in either December or January. Only time will tell if these will be possibilities and hopefully we will have more results this week.

Today has been a particularly hard one and I have never missed being on the back of a horse this much. Im not sure why, but it seems as though every time my dreams are finally within grasp something terrible has to happen. Nevertheless, if there is one thing that eventing has taught me it is that things don't always go according to plan and that we must make the most of any situation. I will keep kicking! All this down time is at least giving me the opportunity to step back and evaluate some things in my life and really think about some decisions. Not yet sure what the future holds in that respect but expect to see great things from the little grey come spring because I can't stay down for long!

Been A Long Time Coming...

It seems like it has been forever since I have updated this thing and boy has a lot happened! I have since started riding with Dynah Korhummel at Feather Creek Farm and yes, I do realize that that is in Norman and yes, she is worth the two hour drive south! She has helped us so much in these last few months it is unbelievable! We decided to scratch MeadowCreek because his confidence just wasnt there and instead marked Texas Rose as the first outing on the calendar. Dressage became our first priority, working on self-carriage and obedience. Dynah also pointed out that Stretch is now too grown up for his boucher, but not yet grown up enough for a loose ring, so we are still trying to find that perfect bit. A slow twist snaffle is definitely his favorite, but that doesn't seem to be legal! Texas Rose went well, despite our two hour detour getting there. We only added 4 points to our dressage score of 37.5 due to a rail in stadium. Stretch was great on XC and even went in the water! We finished in 6th place. Thanks to RNS Video I was able to study my ride and make changes to our schooling and my position before Greenwood. It was a great training/learning tool! Luckily I was able to travel down to see Dynah and have a few lessons a few days before we left for Greenwood which helped immensely. We worked on loosening up his right jaw to improve his right lead canter and on slowing things down in my mind during stadium so that I am able to "ride every stride". Greenwood proved eventful but the lessons certainly payed off! Stretch schooled great on Friday and we were kind of on cloud nine going into dressage on Saturday, but things took an unexpected turn when I had to run back to the barn for a bit change with only five rides left before me. That left us with a limited warm-up in a bit that he had never worn before and he felt heavy, stiff, and like an equine bulldozer throughout the entire test. Just keep smiling and pretend your having fun! Luckily, I got the thumbs up from Dynah when exiting the arena and reassurance that it looked better than it felt. She was right because we ended up with a 40.5, but we couldn't help but wonder what would have been. We held onto our dressage score by going double clear in stadium with only one rough fence. I really made a concerted effort to ride every stride and it payed off! The course rode great and nothing fell down! The same holds true for cross-country and we finished on that score of 40.5 to finish in 2nd place out of 16 riders. The next outing is Feather Creek in two weeks and Im hoping for another great weekend and a strong finish!

The best part of riding at Feather Creek is that everyone is there with the same goal, to improve. I feel like my mom and I have been welcomed with open arms and fit right in with the rest of the barn family. Dynah has also been so kind as to help me with some other wonderful things going on in my life. Im not going to reveal too many details, as things are not yet set in stone, but she is helping me to recieve my C ratings in Pony Club, go for my level 1 instructor certification, and improve my riding resume. Stay tuned for more exciting details! My "pipe dreams" are certainly coming true and I couldn't ask for anything better right now. Until next time, keep kicking (and smiling)!

Why can't dressage have an easy button? Staples does.

Dressage is my kryptonite. Stretch and I can be a cross-country machine and have the finesse to jump a clear stadium round, but oftentimes, and especially now, dressage eludes us. Nine out of ten times we cannot get a proper transition. Trotting on the bit, good luck! Bending to the right, well, that is a thing of the past. This is not a comforting discovery when MeadowCreek is only three weeks away! If dressage basics are so far out of reach, how the heck are we supposed to make it through an entire test?! Every great once in a while the sky opens up and the Dressage Gods smile down on us as a glimmer of hope emerges. I realize that the perfect dressage pony I had a year ago is still in there... somewhere. But, alas, the consistency and fluidity quickly fades away and I am once again left riding the equine version of a llama.

I really figured that working at a dressage farm would help improve MY dressage, and to some extent it has. My position is better and I can get good, quality work out of every horse but my own. Sigh. Dressage remains an ellusive little creature that frequently escapes our grasp. However, it will not win. Stretch and I will conquer dressage, eventually. We were so close before he got injured last year and I keep trying to hang on to that little ray of sunshine. If nothing else, MeadowCreek will be a learning experience. Right?

Stretch arrived in Stillwater safe and sound early Wednesday morning. I was my first time to pull the new trailer and it was a peice of cake. The trailer pulled great and Stretch seemed to enjoy the ride. It took some coaxing to get him to load up but otherwise went well. He will definately be doing some extensive traveling before we "go show" to get him loading easier! He settled right in at the Farm and seems happy, although he is currently stuck out in the snow. I rode him Thursday after work and the ride went well. He did not regress as much as I was expecting during his extended vacation, but we do definately have some work to do before MeadowCreek!

I have not been on Stretch since that first ride, first due to rain and now snow making the arena sloppy and frozen. This leads me to my next topic. I have been reading Sally O'Connor's book, Practical Eventing, and she makes a great point about this very thing. She states that "an event horse must... perform no matter what" and that riders must "learn not to make excuses for lack of schooling." These are valid points and made me realize that myself, along with many others, tend to overprotect our horses which ultimately hurts them in the long run. Just because the arena is boggy or the grass is slick does not mean you cannot work, it just means you should proceed with caution. I really need to get better about this and vow to change it tomorrow. We have a competition to prepare for in just over a month, and he isn't going to get better just sitting in a pen because of the weather.

So far, I have made it through chapter 8, also referred to as section 1, of Sally's book. I feel like it is directed more towards riders with little to no experience in the eventing world, but she does bring attention to little details that rider's often forget. For instance, lunging is invaluable. It helps to teach a horse self-carriage and balance and can benefit any horse of any level. Also noted is the value of cavaletti work in the basis of jumping and improving flat work. I know a lot of riders that feel as though raised cavaletti work should not be done until the horse is very established in their training, but Sally's point is to use those exercises TO establish their training. This book is definately giving me some ideas and inspiration for my horses' training programs and I am excited to begin incorporating some of them.

The main point of this post is that, much like every other topic of this blog, things are not always going to work out as planned but that is not an excuse. Rain, shine, sleet, or snow "get out into every kind of weather and work."

Continued Reading...

After finishing Denny Emerson's book, which was fantastic by the way, I have a very strong desire to continue my learning curve via reading. By using the "Recommended Reading" list at the back of the book and a quick Amazon search, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of three more books. On the list is Sally O'Connor's "Practical Eventing," Jeanne Kane's "The Event Groom's Handbook," and Sally Swift's "Centered Riding." I am definately hoping that these books will impact my life and riding career as much as denny's, but at the very least I plan on walking away with a newfound knowledge or perspective.

As for Stretch, I am deligently working on getting him to Stillwater this weekend. Right now the weather seems to hold all of the cards. Although I am extremely grateful for the rain we recieved in the past twenty-four hours, it has caused my trailer to get stuck in the pasture. That's a problem! My fingers are crossed that we get enough sunshine to dry up the mud a little bit in the next couple of days. Hopefully there will be another post up her soon saying that he arrived safely! Until then, keep calm and carry on!

New Year. New Season. New goals...

I have successfully completed a few more chapters in Denny's book and continue to be inspired by the rider profiles and his advice. All of this has also made me start thinking about what I want to get accomplished this year with Stretch. This time I am definately taking into consideration his best interests and mine.

After talking with a good friend and judge, KC Campbell, I have decided that I am going to drop back down to beginner novice for a little while and work on some issues that really became evident with our move to novice. Stretch can easily jump height and has become very competitive in the dressage ring, but he still lacks alot of experience required to successfully and consistently jump clean around cross country. Thus, that brings me to some new and improved goals for 2012. I want to successfully complete a few more beginner novice horse trials, preferably winning some along the way, and want to earn a USEA medal with Stretch. If all goes well, I would like to move him back up to novice in the fall. That move will only be made if we can consistently go double clean xc, place well, and he tells me that he is ready to move up.

Looking back, Im not exactly sure what possesed me to make the move up a level. Especially considering that we had only done well in one horse trial, which we won. Both of us definately need to get some additional SHOW experience under our belts before we again try our hand at novice and ultimately the novice three-day at Heritage.

I have officially circled February 28th on the calendar. You might be wondering "What is so special about that day?!" and the answer is, other than my cow/calf exam, the closing date for the Meadowcreek Horse Trials. I am planning on moving Stretch back up to Stillwater next weekend, the first of February, and have full intentions of getting back to work! The idea is that I will be evaluating him for a few weeks and have an idea of whether I can have him ready or not by mid month. If he remains sound and willing, he will be entered into the Spring Social at Meadowcreek at the beginner novice level. Fingers crossed that on March 16th we will southbound and down to Kosse, TX!

"I wasn't a naturally gifted rider... But for some reason I always had this inner drive to succeed in the sport." -Mary King