First Recognized USEA Show of 2020- Feather Creek

We were planning to go to the Feather Creek Horse Trials in June of this year, but there were lots of riots happening in Oklahoma and around the country during the time when we would have been traveling. I had just bought my new horse trailer and my horse is my unicorn. She is my once-in-a-lifetime partner. I would have been beside myself if we had traveled and something had happened to her. We made the tough choice to scratch from the show, but were allowed the option of entering their show in August instead. Originally, I was worried that I wouldnt be able to do both Feather Creek and AECs, but when AECs got cancelled, it only made sense to make our way to Oklahoma. 

There was initially some drama, because Anthony, my fiance, was planning on taking me to AECs but would not be available for the weekend of Feather Creek (he had a pool tournament). I asked Chris if she would join me, and she immediately asked the day off work. It was amazing of her!

Last week, to prep, I rode light dressage rides at home on Monday and Tuesday (I loaded the trailer with feed/hay and all my clothes & show supplies after our rides), and we had a short but productive jump school on Wednesday. Dezi and I both had Thursday off. I set my alarm for 4:30AM on Friday morning so I could leave home around 5 and make to the Chris's house by 6. We had the horses fed, the trailer loaded up, and were on the road by about 7:15AM. After quick stops at Walmart & the hospital in Butler, we were on the road. It was a mostly uneventful drive with only one incidence of Chris attempting to force my bladder to explode when she passed a rest stop after I asked her to stop on the Oklahoma Turnpike and the next restroom wasn't for 45 miles. FML. We made it, though. She dropped me off at the door of the oasis- it was the least she could do!

We arrived at Feather Creek around 1:30PM. We got Dezi's stall set after some difficulty with the fan (I thought I had an extension cord, but apparently I was incorrect- luckily, Dynah at Feather Creek was amazingly accommodating). We decided to wait around until it got a bit cooler to walk XC & do a warm-up ride. I walked XC by myself around 4PM. It was pretty straightforward. We showed at Feather Creek in September of 2019 and there were only 3 jumps that were different... the roll top at 5 changed to a super cute tiger trap but stayed in the exact same spot (a quick left turn from the bank up/mound), the gate and ditch combination at 9 became an option, and there was an added little house jump before the water. Oh and the big table at 15 was no longer hot pink and had been painted a more natural brown. When Chris walked it with me, I asked her which jump to do at the option and she suggested we just go ahead and do both. Dezi had jumped both the last time we were here and it would be good practice for our novice move-up. They were a bit of an awkward line, but not too bad. After we finished walking the course (we only walked about half of it together), we caught up with some friends for a while and then I headed back to the barn to get Dezi ready for our warm-up dressage ride. 

I tacked Dezi up at the trailer and she screamed the entire time. She was the most energetic she's been in a long time while I was riding her, too. But it was a good ride. It's interesting how when she's a little more up, we always have a better ride. We just rode around our dressage ring for Saturday. While I cleaned Dezi's stall and fed her, Chris prepared dinner. We had paninis on the George Foreman grill and asparagus. We hung out with the dogs before heading to bed around 9PM. Right after I had arts and crafts time to make my number for my XC pinny!! 

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 6AM- I got ready, fed Dezi, and watched the prelim riders do their dressage tests. Then I headed to the barn to do Dezi's braids, which took me much longer than I would like to admit (about an hour). I was finished with my braids (which turned out very pretty) around 9:15 with a dressage test of 10:38. I was planning to be on around 10AM. I took Dezi to the trailer to get tacked up and ready to go. When I first got on for dressage, Dezi was still all hopped up and screaming incessantly. After we went down to the warm up area near the stadium jumps, she calmed down a bit. We had a great warm-up. We were ready. We headed in for our dressage test and I was very happy. It wasn't perfect, but I was happy that I mostly kept my reins short enough, our geometry was good, our centerlines were ridden correctly, and we had a nice hault. She changed her lead directly before our second downward transition & all of my downward transitions were abrupt. I need to practice riding in a small dressage ring more often, because it felt like everything was coming up pretty quickly. You can watch the whole test here: https://youtu.be/deWFGR8isL0

We got back to the trailer around  11AM after our dressage ride & were supposed to be doing our stadium round at 11:50. I wanted to get a 20-30 minute warm-up, so I didn't have much time to untack, unbraid (which depressed me because I was very proud of these braids), and retack. I was so concerned about putting boots on her and changing the saddle that I didn't even consider putting in studs. It wasn't until we were walking down to the stadium warm-up and walked on a bit of concrete that I realized that I meant to put studs in for stadium! Too late now. We got down to the warm-up area and they hadn't even started the BN junior division yet. They were running late. We had lots of time to stand around. Our warm--up was pretty good. She was jumping everything I pointed her at and she left all the rails up. We did one more oxer as the rider before us was starting her round and we were ready. However, I went into the ring like I had no idea what I was doing. I was not keeping the impulsion. I was not keeping her round. I didn't have her forward enough. I think she chipped into about half of the fences. We didn't truly figure out how to ride stadium until the 2-stride combination at the end of the course. Miraculously, though, we managed to leave all the rails up! Here's our stadium ride in case you're interested: https://youtu.be/WSx1sVe9Iyo

I think we ended up going in for our stadium round around 12:10 or so and were back at the trailer to untack around 12:25. My first priority would be studs. I would not forget studs for XC. As I was getting back to the trailer, I heard someone say that they were running about 20 minutes behind for XC. Originally, I was supposed to ride XC at 1:05, but if they were running late, it would be a good time to capitalize and let Dezi chill in her stall for a bit. She typically only drinks water in a stall and we all know she loves her fan. She appreciated the break. I headed back to the trailer and made sure I was changed and ready to go with all my XC supplies ready to go. In the meantime, Chris and I checked scores. Dezi and I had gotten at 34.4 on our dressage test, which put us in 5th place, and everyone in our division went double clear in stadium, so we were still sitting in 5th place. I started tacking Dezi up around 1PM and we headed down to the XC warm-up. 

Horse shows are all about hurrying up and waiting, right? We got down to the XC warm-up and they hadn't even started beginner novice yet. Dezi and I just chilled out and walked up and down the fenceline in the shade until we were ready to head to the jump warm-up. It didn't seem like many of the BN juniors were having trouble with the course, except for one girl who had a refusal at the ditch causng her horse's bridle to go over his head as he stopped to graze. Dezi was jumping well. Nothing too exciting. When it was our turn, we jumped the biggest roll top that was available to jump and headed to the startbox. While we waited our turn, a little cutie and her gypsy vanner were walking back from the water complex- apparently her pony had 3 refusals at one of the jumps and one previously. We headed to the startbox, circled it a few times, I remembered to set my GoPro, and we were off. Honestly, the course was pretty unremarkable. She took every jump that I pointed her at with no drama. She was preferring her right lead over her left, which is weird for her, and there was quite a bit of cross-firing happening between the fences. I think I'm going to try to have the chiropractor look at her before our novice recognized debut at Heritage Park in October. I trotted her into the water, and I think she only minimally hesitated because of the red coloring. Otherwise, she jumped everything well. We were a bit too fast coming to the finish line, so I slowed her up between jump 15 and 16 as we headed toward the finish line. Check out our GoPro video from the XC course! Dezi was an absolute rockstar! I love her so much!! 

Shortly after I got Dezi back to the trailer, got her studs out, and let her have a drink of water, I was able to catch up with another ride in our division, our new friend Laura. She said that she and her horse had had a successful XC ride except for one refusal at the new tiger trap (with the tight left turn from the bank/mound). We talked a bit about how much it sucks when we let our horses down as riders, but agreed that it's cool that we can recognize that and use it as a learning experience. 

Chris and I headed to Walmart for some supplies that we needed, drip pan for our steaks we were planning to cook on the George Foreman, snack food, and some other miscellaneous items. We took the dogs with us and Chris was concerned about leaving them in the truck with it running, even if we could lock it, so I sat with them while she ran inside. I was messing with the radio and radio and playing games on my phone when I considered that I should check the scores to see if they had updated with XC results. When I first checked, it showed that I was sitting in 3rd place, but when I did a double-take, I realized that our new friend Laura was placed above us and her refusal hadn't been reflected. I updated it again and startbox showed that I was in FIRST! FIRST PLACE! I was freaking out! And I was alone. I only had the dogs to share my excitement, and they just didn't get it! I tried calling Chris, but she had left her phone in the truck. I stated incessantly texting screenshots of the division results to my fiance and friends. I was so freaking excited! When Chris got back to the truck and opened the driver's door, I said "Want to see something cool?" and handed her my phone. She freaked out! FIRST PLACE! We both just couldn't believe it! So exciting!!!

We headed back to the horse park. We were going to wait for my ribbon before we realized that the results had just been posted and everyone would have 30 minutes no object or clarify things before the results were final. We headed back to the trailer and got hooked up. Chris took a nap while I checked on Dezi, made sure she was comfortable, paid up my dues for camping, and the walked to the show office where I picked up my pretty blue ribbon! I was so stinking excited! I fed Dezi, gave her a linament bath, and then hung out a bit before I decided that I wanted take Dezi for a walk. It's kind of tradition to walk on the XC course after XC day. If we were going to walk on the XC course, I wanted to walk the novice course. I saved the course map to my phone and we headed out. Dezi trotted circles around me and dragged me around the course the whole time we were out there. I walked like I was doing a workout... in cowboy boots. It didn't help that the horse flies were absolutely terrible. It wasn't until about jump 16 out of 20 that I decided that I had probably made a huge mistake. It was an experience, though, and I honestly think Dezi could have jumped all those novice fences. She's so cool! 

When I got back to the camper, Chris was working on dinner. I plugged in my phone and we were just hanging out when all of a sudden, the electricity went out. The generator was still working, but there was no electricity to the camper. We were sure we had blown a fuse. Chris said that there was no way she could sleep without electricity in the trailer for the night. She likes it super cold when she sleeps! We had resolved that we were going to have to make the trek home that night. We'd eat our steaks, which were thankfully finished cooking when the electricity went out, and then I could put her in standing wraps for the ride home. We'd hopefully make it home around midnight. As I was getting Dezi's standing wraps on and cleaning out her stall, I heard Chris yelling that she had figured it out. We had electricity again! I'm not sure what she did, but I was happy we didn't have to leave. I'd rather sleep and then travel when we were both fresh instead of being exhausted while driving. We got to bed relatively early after watching a movie about police horses in Germany turned dressage horses. Thanks for that one, Chris. 

On Sunday morning, we woke up at about 6AM and got ready to head out. Dezi was loaded up and we were ready to go by about 7AM. On the way, we stopped at Braum's for breakfast & we made one stop at the oasis on the Oklahoma Turnpike and one at a McDonald's south of Nevada. I'm actually kind of impressed by our ability to make minimal stops. We were back at Chris's house around 1PM. I redid Dezi's forelock braid so that it was secured with rubber bands instead of tied in with string in case she did anything stupid in the pasture and I was pulling out of the driveway and headed home by 2PM. Anthony and I went out to a early dinner at Brewbaker's where we sat on the patio and talked about our weekends- they had gotten to the finals in their pool tournament. And we relaxed the rest of the weekend. 

Such a good weekend! I have an amazing horse who would literally jump the moon if I asked her (and try to leave it hanging). I have an amazing friend/trainer in Chris. She's a lifesaver in more ways than one. I wouldn't be able to do any of the fun things I do without her support. And I have found a sport where I feel like I truly belong. I love my eventing family! And in Kansas City, we're all a family! 

Lainey Ashker is a badass. Clinic with her whenever possible!

Two weekends ago, Dezi and I went to a clinic at Longview Horse Park with Lainey Ashker. Thank you, Jessica Ptak and Mill Creek Pony Club for organizing. I signed up for the clinic after our novice run at the Heritage Park schooling show. I was feeling pretty on top of the world and signed up for a novice class despite having completed only one un-recognized novice horse trial. We had schooled most of the novice jumps at Longview, though, so I was hoping it would be OK. 

Chris and I got ready relatively early on Saturday, August 8, 2020. We made the short trek to Longview with her camper and my tiny 2-horse trailer in tow- it looks so silly! We arrived in the late morning on Saturday with enough time to get Dezi settled in her stall and watch some of the group before me before I had to start getting ready. They were doing XC. It was supposed to be the beginner novice group. Lainey had them jumping primarily novice & training questions. I was secretly shitting my pants. I thought I had signed up for novice. If I signed up for novice and this was the BN group, I was screwed. I've never schooled the prelim questions at Longview! We'd just have to see what happened. 

While I was getting ready, I was talking to Jessica, one of the other members of my 4 person group, and she reminded me to let Lainey know that we had only competed at the BN level when we were introducing ourselves to her. Apparently, Lainey is known for pushing riders past their comfort zone. We got ready and proceeded down to the XC area. Dezi and I had a good warm up- we didn't jump anything, but we had good, forward gaits at the walk, trot, and canter. We were ready. I even practiced my introduction speech in front of Chris. I was sure to mention that we had only showed recognized shows at the BN level and schooled some novice questions during XC schoolings. She remindedter ling  me to mention my difficulties, so I talked a bit about making sure Dezi was forward and I didn't jump ahead of her. I mentioned that we typically have more trouble with stadium than XC. I take jumping more seriously when I'm a bit nervous. I need to work on keeping her at a consistent, forward pace on the approach to the fences. 

Our first course was the BN mulch ramp to the novice barn to the new novice table to the training house to the training chevron in the typcial warm-up area around to the novice cross country warm up jump and ended with the training level step jump. Jessica went first and killed it. Tough act to follow. So we went for it. Dezi was incredible. She jumped everything I pointed her at without question. It was so freaking cool. We came back to Lainey when we were finished and she had nothing but good things to say. She said that we looked incredible and that our pace was good, I rode well, and she complemented us in every way. She the proceeded to remind me not to peak too soon. Little did she know what she had coming for her when we got to stadium. 

Our second course involved the water. We took the training house the opposite direction into the water complex with the novice roll top out, across the field to the training level barrels and back to the novice roll top, through the water and out over the training roll top. Dezi did great. This time I remembered to start my go-pro, which my fiance was very happy about. Again, Lainey didn't have much to say in terms of correction except that I should have anticipated the line out of the water to the training roll top a little more quickly with a better line through the water. But overall, Dezi was being incredible!

Our third course was at the bank complex. We jumped the starter training log to the BN/N up bank to the novice bench, left turn around the corner to the ramp up the bank complex, off the bank to the novice hanging log, across the field to the novice white step at the top of the hill, around the outside of the filed to the training pheasant feeder followed by the training black roll top. We finished with the bank up, two stride, bank down, two stride hanging training log. On our first attempt, Dezi trotted at the top of the bank complex and got the 2 strides to the hanging log but Lainey wanted us to maintain the canter even on top of the bank complex, so we tried it a couple more times before we were both too tired to try again. We got some time to think about it before we finally mastered it. And no one got video of that attempt, unfortunately (except Bridget, who has no way to send it to me), so basically, there's no photo evidence. 

Our fourth and final course was at the ditch. We were supposed to take the ditch at a trot. If that went well, we were supposed to turn around and take the ditch at a canter followed by the BN house up the hill. If that went well, we were supposed to turn around and take the BN house down the hill to the ditch to the novice house going up the hill. Dezi and I did everything well on our first attempt. 

Day one with Lainey was a success. Dezi and I killed it. We had confidence for days. She had us jumping plenty of training level questions and it went well! I couldn't have been more happy! 

Dezi got a good hose down, a good walk around the property, and I left her to chill in her stall while I watched some of the other groups ride. Chris and I went to the dinner that the pony club put on and then headed back to take care of Dezi and call it a night. I went to bed early. Chris stayed in her camper at Longview. Overall, it was a good day. I was very happy!

On Sunday, our group was supposed to ride at 6:30AM. SO EARLY! I set my alarm for 4:30AM and headed to the horse park only to find it locked. I eventually got the combination and let myself into the park. I wanted to have time to put in some quick braids before stadium to show Lainey my respect for her. I fed Dezi and started braiding. Braiding the dark is soooo difficult! I should have done it the night before! Our braids were OK, but nothing too fancy. I forgot that the sun doesn't rise until about 6:30 and couldn't find my head lamp, so the braids happened completely in the dark. 

We were on and ready to go at 6:30. Jessica mentioned that Lainey had still been very complimentary towards me and Dezi on the ride back to the hotel last night, which made me feel readlly good. However, stadium has never been our strong suit. I had just been telling Anthony that this would be the day we needed. Lainey would help us today. Stadium day. This was where we were really going to learn all the things. I didn't expect that the first thing she would have us do was a grid- one stride to 2 stride to one stride to 2 stride. I also didn't expect that it would take us like 6 times and minimal tears shed by me and a dressage whip over every jump to actually figure it out. I was so frustrated with myself. I couldn'd figure out how to get her to move forward with impulsion while still keeping my posture up and back. I was dropping her to the fences, for absolutely no reason. To this day, I don't understand why I can do these things in the XC field and not in the stadium arena. It's a constant struggle. 

We finally got the grid figured out, when it took everyone else in our group about 2-3 times to get it correct. Oh well. Then we moved onto 3 big oxers with 3 strides between each. Dezi and I were able to master that more quickly for some reason. Maybe we had the impulsion and rhythm figured out after all our attempts at the grid. Then we had to do the oxers to a 4- loop serpentine exercise with canter poles and oxers at each centerline around to the original grid. It's amazing how once we got the grid the first time, we were able to get it every time. It just stinks that it took so long (and so much emotion on my part) to get there. We were even able to get all our correct leads during the serpentine exercise. A first for anyone in our group (oh yeah, we had moved from second in the group to last because I didn't want to slow anyone up). The lesson ended on a positive note, but we definitely have a lot of stadium exercises to work on. We have a lot of improvements to make. If only I could mentally figure out how to make a stadium jump look like a big XC jump in my mind... I'm willing to take suggestions if anyone has them!

We got our picture with Lainey and I got my selfie with her! I took care of Dezi while it was raining for some of the other groups. I got her loaded in the trailer and Chris took her home for me while I watched the rest of the classes and helped be jump crew. I feel like I learned a lot. And even with out mess ups, Lainey still commented on my social media posts about the weekend with Dezi and me being the #VIPoftheweekend. I'll take it. She mentioned prelim goals for Dezi and me. She said that we're a good pair and need to work on fitness (lol go figure #draftcrossproblems). But it was cool to have a clinician who doesn't know us watch us and tell me that she has high expectations. Hopefully we can live up to those expectations. 

I learned a ton. Lainey was incredible. She was encouraging yet challenging. She didn't make anything easy. Everyone had some sort of trouble, and she was great about capitalizing on the troubles and using them as learning moments. I went into the weekend shitting my pants scared about what she was going to ask us to do and finished with confidence coming out the butthole. Now, I look at cross country jumps and think "that's nothing bigger than what I jumped with Lainey." It was a huge confidence booster and yet I learned a lot. It wasn't easy. It was never easy, mentally or physically. But I figured it out. And that's what's most important. I walked away from the weekend feeling like I could accomplish anything I wanted if I work for it and put my mind to it. 

I would recommend that anyone I know ride with Lainey Ashker if given the chance. I got so much out of our lessons, and I plan on making her very proud of us next year when she comes to KC! 

Check out the compilation video I made here on YouTube!!