Chris and I headed to Catalpa Corners Charity Horse Trials in Iowa City, IA last weekend. We both took Friday off work so we could leave super early to try to beat the heat. We didn't want Dezi to be in the trailer during the heat of the day. After preparing the trailer in some viscious heat, eating delicious BLT sandwiches, & watching some Olympics, I slept over at Chris's house and we were able to pull out of the driveway at about 5am Friday morning.
Little did we know, there would be a cold front when we passed from Missouri into Iowa. We even pulled out sweatshirts at one point during our journey! We arrived at Catalpa around noon, got Dezi all settled in (we lucked out and got one of 4 stalls with concrete, so I bought her extra bedding for comfort), and got the stall set up. We found our campsite and parked the trailer in the perfect spot, so I could work out of it all weekend easily. Oh the joys of showing up early at a show!
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When things had settled down a bit, we took Dezi out for our warm up. She was firey! I don't know if it was the weather change or the show environment, but she was full of herself, and I was OK with it. She's so much more fun to ride when she has energy as compared to when she's lazy. We made it a pretty quick ride and then headed back. Chris napped while I gave Dezi a bath and then we headed to the competitors party. They had some delicious pizzas and salad! And someone had donated a bunch of hard ciders, which were also delicious!
After dinner, Chris, our friend Cindy, and I headed out for our cross country walk. The course seemed pretty straightforward with several jumps that even looked more like beginner novice jumps than novice. I wasn't about to complain! The biggest questions would be a big table at the top of a hill, a half coffin with a ditch to a fairly skinny rail, the option into water (either a bank down or just a run in), the option of running through a covered bridge to a large table at jump 9, and a 4-stride bending line combination between 11 & 12. But overall, it was a pretty straightforward course, and definitely fair for the level. I walked the course once more on my own to collect my thoughts before Chris and I finished the evening watching some Olympic eventing dressage. I walked Dezi a few times before we headed to bed.
I woke up early on Saturday to feed Dezi and braid her before Chris and I went out to watch some of the prelim dressage. When it was time, I headed back to get ready. In the warmup, Dezi was still pretty spicy, but it was great. She was listening and I felt like I was riding well. When it was our turn, we took a couple laps around the outside of the ring and then headed in. Suddenly, the amount of space I had seemed really small and things were coming up quickly. And she wasn't listening at all. She felt completely different than in the warmup. And I'm sure it was me. It's amazing how mental horseback riding can be. I'm sure I was nervous and handsy and trying to micromanage her. Damn me. She knows her job. We've ridden dressage a million times. We know how to ride dressage. Well, given the test we rode, you might not be able to tell that. It was pretty tense. She wasn't listening. My geometry wasn't good. It was pretty much a disaster. We ended up with a fair 35.0. However, that put us in a tie for 2nd place going into XC. Somehow! Maybe everyone else in my division had just as shitty rides as I did.
We had about 2 hours before cross country. I put Dezi in her stall, put away all my dressage stuff, and Chris and I headed out to the XC course to watch a few of the training riders. The course was eating them alive! Most of the people we saw went through the water really well, but the double down banks were getting people. When it was time, I headed back to the barn to start getting ready. We headed out to the warmup and we were ready to go. Dezi warmed up really well. We jumped all of the stadium jumps and then the cross country warm up jumps well. Chris was going to head out onto the course and told me to jump one more jump, any jump I wanted, when they called for my 2 minute warning before I headed to the start box. We were given the 2 minute warning, jumped the novice XC warm up jump, and headed out. As we were walking to the start box, I heard the announcers call over the radio that there was a hold on course. I was having flashbacks to Mill Creek, when I was held at the startbox for about 20 minutes (I had spent the whole time walking and when I finally went out on course, it took us a couple jumps to get back into a rhythm- Chris had suggested that if it happens again, to go back to the warmup and do a little gallop and jump before I went out of the startbox). I had learned my lesson. I asked if I could go back to the warm up and then get a 2 minute warning again. I'm not sure how long the hold was, but we did eventually get a 2 minute warning. This time, I had her jump the training rolltop cross country jump before we headed to the startbox. This time without a hitch.
Cross country rode really well! My time markers were confusing me. I thought we were behind at the first minute. We were right on the second minute, and then suddenly, we were 20 minutes up on time. At the end of the course, I was slowing her down to a stadium pace as we were headed to the last couple jumps. Everything rode well, though. And we did a pretty good job of riding the plan. She chipped into the 5th jump (a coop in the woods), she took a bit of a look at the ditch (no biggie), I didn't have the balls to do the bank into the water, she beasted through the covered bridge and the big table after, and we took a different line to the bending line than we had planned, but it worked. And it was fun! We went double clear! Woop woop! Unfortunately, the person in first place had a lot of trouble and the person who was tied with me ended up falling off. We finished XC in first place in our division! I could hardly believe it! But the scores were very close. No rails in hand. Check out our GoPro here: https://youtu.be/F7hStqWtdR4
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the beginner novice & starter XC riders. I spent a lot of time walking with Dezi. Chris and I ate some delicious steak and jalapeno artichoke sandwiches and walked the stadium course. Then we watched the Olympics XC before we headed to bed. Nice and chill evening.
I slept in a little bit on Sunday (until about 6:30am). I fed & walked Dezi before Chris and I headed to stadium to watch the prelim riders and some of the training divisions. A lot of riders were having trouble with the owl jump, which was downhill and needed to be approached with a good square turn on the grass. When it was time, I headed back to the barn to put in Dezi's studs and get ready. Of course she hadn't laid down all weekend and decided that right before stadium would be the time. Of course. So I had to give her a good grooming to make her pretty before we headed to the ring. We probably got there a little too early, because we spent a lot of time walking before we were really ready to warm up. Dezi was jumping well. We were ready.
We headed into the ring and got going. The first jump rode well. The second jump rode well. And then she was on the wrong lead, so I brought her back down to the trot and picked up the correct lead to head to the 3rd jump (the owl jump). I rode my square turn well, but I didn't see the distance and instead of pushing her forward for the distance, I held her. I micromanaged her. She knocked the rail with her front end. Shit. So we're not in first anymore, but we were perfectly capable of finishing the round well. We jumped the next 6 jumps well. Coming to 9A, I had a bit of deja vu to the 3rd jump. It was a square right turn and again, I should have pushed her for the distance and instead held her and tried to micromanage my horse who knows her job. She's easy to ride. Point her at the jump and put leg on. I didn't put leg on. We knocked a rail, took 3 strides in the 2 stride line, and managed to leave the B element up. I pushed her to the last fence and we ended the round with 8 jump faults. I didn't trust my horse and tried to micromanage her over the fences. Note to self: don't do that anymore.
We ended up in 4th place. I literally handed my blue ribbon to someone else on a gold platter. I felt like I had let both Dezi and Chris down. I didn't ride to my full potential. After I was sad about my finish, I started to get mad at myself and confer with Chris to make a plan before AECs. I need to work on my mental game and remember that my horse knows her job and I do not need to micromanage her. I'm planning on riding a dressage test every week and doing a jump school every week between now and then. I'm going to let Chris ride Dezi and give me pointers on how to manage her left shoulder (which she likes to drop- chicken or egg?) and do some more lunging to try to get her to carry herself better. And I'm going to read (and hopefully finish) the book "Ride Big" and workout for 30 minutes (non-riding-related working out) every day. We're going to figure this out, and I'm going to make Chris and Dezi proud at AECs. We've got this!
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