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!!

NOVICE DEBUT!!!

This weekend, Dezi and I made our novice debut at Heritage Park. Mid-America Eventing (Combined Training) Association had a schooling one-day HT and we decided to just go for it! Dezi and I had been jumping novice jumps easily at all the recent XC schoolings. We figured we might as well put the pieces together and see what we needed to improve upon for the upcoming season. Honestly, my goal was to finish the competition. I have been riding a lot, but with Dezi being a draft cross, I'm always concerned about her level of fitness and whether it will measure up to the plentiful thoroughbreds at these shows. 

My morning started early when my alarm went off at 5:30am. I was at Chris's house in Butler by about 6:45 and we were on the road by about 7:30. We got to the park with just enough time to tack up and have about a 20 minute warm-up before my 9:48 dressage time. That should be enough. It was going to be a hot day, so my usual hour warm-up was totally unnecessary. There was some confusion with ride times (probably partly my fault, because I was going by the most recently printed ride times and had Chris get my number without double checking). I almost went into the ring too early, but we worked it out and the judge seemed forgiving. 

Our dressage test was pretty good. My tempo felt really good, but I always struggle with keeping my reins short enough. And especially after transitions, for some reason. But I did feel like my bend was spot on and my upward transitions were pretty good. My downward transitions definitely could have been better. My stretchy trot was pretty much non-existant (pretty typical for us- definitely an area of improvement). And my halt was base wide. Chris said that she thought my test would score 32-34. But apparently I'm too critical of myself and she's too critical of me, because I ended up with a 26.4 starting us off in 1st place in our division. Woo hoo! This is the best dressage score I've ever scored with Dezi, and I think my second best ever (after a 25.0 on Coco one year at Catalpa). I could not have been more happy. Onto the jumping. 

Dezi got to have a quick rest break at the trailer while Chris and I walked a bit of the cross country course that I was confused about. She also talked me off the ledge about one table that terrified me a bit, reminding me that I jumped a similar sized jump the day before. We relaxed for a little while my boyfriend and some of our friends arrived. 

I took my time putting in Dezi's studs and tacking up. Then we headed down to the stadium jumping area. The jumps looked really big, but they were novice. I trust that the organizers and volunteers setting the jumps know heights better than I do. They probably have measuring sticks and stuff to ensure everything is the right height. All the jumps were totally doable, though. Mostly verticals with a couple gates. The first jump was the only thing we haven't jumped in a while with a brick wall box in front of it.

Dezi jumped well in the warmup. Chris purposefully put the jumps a bit high to give me confidence going into the ring. The girl who went in front of me had a stop at the first fence, so between that and my previous apprehension about the first fence, I knew I had to ride it aggressively. When it was my turn, I did my courtesy circle and headed to the first jump. Dezi felt like she was hesitating a bit, so I smacked her pretty hard with the whip so she knew we were doing this. It was time. We're making our novice debut and we're going to jump all the fences. And she did. She launched that first jump! And then she proceeded to jump every other jump on the course well. We added strides in a couple places when I should have pushed her forward, I let my reins get a bit long (sound familiar?), and we did knock a rail in a downhill combination where I didn't have her working from behind enough. It was totally my fault. However, at our first novice, I have no problem with one rail! One rail in stadium is totally fine! We did it! We finished the course, and as Kristina, the MAEA president reminded me, we were 2/3 of the way to our first novice completion! My whole ride is on YouTube here!

After we got my boyfriend and friends settled with a good spot to watch a few XC jumps, Chris and I headed up to the XC warm-up. We talked about the horse's center of gravity and how her power comes from her butt and her hind end, so I need to make sure that her power is as close to her center of gravity as possible. And I need to help her by keeping my center of gravity as close to hers as possible. No running her off her feet. She could run as fast as she wanted, as long as her butt was doing the work!

There were 2 riders ready to go when we got to the start box. I had to ask for some clarification on how to get to jump 3 (we had only walked the second half of the course and I wasn't sure where jump 3 was located- thanks, Kelly!). Then I did a mini trot/canter warm up and jumped 2 XC fences before it was my turn to head out. I wasn't going to worry about time, but out of curiosity, I would use my stopwatch to see what happens. 

We shot out of the startbox. Probably my fault, because I was wanting to start in attack mode. We were doing this. We were jumping a novice course. We could totally do this. We've got this. The first 3 jumps rode nicely, then we galloped down a slight hill to jump 4. She listened to my half halt like a champ and jumped the hammock at 4 like a pro. We totally belonged here. Jumps 5-7 were pretty straightforward. And then we had the water. She jumped the ramp before the water and cantered into the water like she owned the place. I could tell she was struggling with the depth of the water, but we had to keep as much momentum as possible for the house that was a couple strides out of the water. She jumped the cordwood at 9 well. She was weirdly lookey at the first jump of the half coffin at 10, but we got over it no problem and the ditch was nothing to her. The scary table at 12 rode amazingly well! She looked a bit at the frisbee golfers and forgot what we were doing for a second at jump 14. And thend she finished strong! The last 2 jumps on the course were not small jumps and she killed them! I love this freaking horse! She was perfect! Absolutely perfect. We absolutely belong here. You can watch our whole XC round here on YouTube!!

I headed back to the trailer to take care of her and get some water on her before I took her studs out and organized the trailer. My trailer. Oh yeah, that's news. I got a trailer! For now, I'm using Chris's truck to haul it, but maybe one day soon, I'll get my own truck. My friends and my boyfriend took off while Chris and I relaxed a bit with Dezi to make sure she was cooled down and happy before we headed home. We used all of the water in my tank (between sponging her down & giving her drinks) to make sure she was happy. 

When we checked scores, it turns out our rail only took us to 2nd!!! So exciting! I was absolutely ellated! I could not have been more happy. I couldn't stop smiling all night and for several days after. Novice, we have arrived. We made it. I could not have done it without Chris believing in me. And losing 50# has improved my riding and my confidence in ways that I never would have expected. 

Dezi and I are officially a NOVICE team!!!

First Show of 2020!

The first show of 2020 was hosted by the Property Shoppe at Phalen Equestrian Center in Bonner Springs. 

Initially, we had all planned to go. Chris would take her 2 horses (Quill and Gemma), Leah would take Scooter, and I would take Dezi. Slowly, they started dropping like flies until Dezi and I were the only ones left. 

When we had all planned to go, we were going to get stalls and stable overnight so that we could be ready to go at our ride times in the morning. Chris and I both had to work full days on Friday, so we didn't get to leave until later. It wasn't until we made it to Harrisonville that we realized that we could leave in the morning and still make it with plenty of time to spare and prepare. Even if we had continued on, by the time we got there, it would be too late for me to get a chance to school and Dezi would have to spend the night in an unfamiliar stall 40 minutes from my house. This way, she could sleep in her pasture with her buddies. Chris offered to load her in the morning and meet me at Sonic so I would be able to sleep in my own bed.

We got to Phalen around 9:30. Dezi and I did a walk about to check out the facilities and where she would be staying and I got her settled into her stall. There was plenty of time for us to watch some rides and check in before I had to worry about tacking up. 

Our first ride was dressage: BN Test B, which I had never ridden before. I had looked at it intermittently throughout the week and studied it a bit on Friday night, but I took the time directly before I tacked up to make sure I truly had it memorized. 

I got her tacked up and got on about an hour before my ride time only to find out that they were running ahead. We did a short warm-up. She was riding really well- listening to everything I was asking, using her body well, and really showing off in this totally unfamiliar environment. She's such a rockstar. 

We went into ride our test a bit early. Dezi did a good job. We had decent transitions, decent geometry, and only one little spook in the corner near the judge. We ended up with a fair 33.3 from a tough judge. It put us in 2nd place in our division. 

There was a bit of time between dressage and stadium, so I let Dezi chill out in her stall while I spent some time exploring, catching up with old friends I haven't seen since last show season, and helping set the jump course. There was a huge change in the course between starter and BN. As I was helping them set it up, it was obvious that the people doing the work had never ridden a jump course before, or not recently. The had us taking some obscene turns and impossible paths from one jump to the next. After I got a bit frustrated with the whole thing, I called Chris over to help and she worked it all out. The course was still a bit strange, but at least we got it to a point where it was rideable. 

I proceeded to tack Dezi and get her ready to jump. After another short warm-up, she was ready to go. No need to get her all hot and bothered for one jump course. 

She rocked it! We started out with a good pace but as the course progressed, we got slower and slower. I'm not sure if she gets tired or if I get tired... or maybe it's a combination and I'm just thinking too hard to be able to actually ride well. Either way, despite a less-than-perfect pace, we managed to leave all the jumps up! Double clear! Chris and I agreed that if I had ridden at that pace last year, we definitely would have had rails. Chris thought that all the dressage work over the winter had really helped her learn how to accurately use her back end. I also did a good job this round of sitting back, waiting for the jump, and letting her jump up to me instead of dropping forward over her shoulder like I used to do. 

Overall, it was a great first show of the season. We ended up with a pretty red ribbon to take home, and later I got a fancy reserve champion ribbon mailed to me!

And now, I'm sitting in my house getting ready for a Stay at Home initiative by Kansas City. I'm not sure what's going to happen with this show season. Coronavirus has already wreaked havoc on the 2020 Eventing season with every cross country schooling in March and April cancelled already. We haven't heard about the Mill Creek Recognized show in May, but given that we haven't been able to ride much recently and may not be able to school cross country at all prior to that show, I don't know if it would even be smart to enter. The maximum I would be able to do would be beginner novice, IF I can get to a cross country schoolng somewhere... maybe a private facility...? 

So there are currently a lot of unknowns. I don't know if I'll be able to show at all this year. I don't know if I'll have a job next week (healthcare is pretty volatile right now). I don't know if I'll be able to ride when it's not considered "essential" (except for my sanity). I'm just trying to stay calm, keep my mind and body as busy as possible, and avoid eating everything in sight in the process. *FINGERS CROSSED*

How to qualify for the American Eventing Championships

First there was Feather Creek Horse Trials in Oklahoma.

And Bridget joined us! The weather forecast looked dismal, but we were going to chance it and hope for the best! It was about a 7 hour drive (with bathroom breaks & gas stops) from Butler, MO to Norman, OK. Health certificates were obtained. Bridget's trailer was not-so-seemlessly unloaded and reloaded into Chris's trailer. And we were on our way. We got there Friday evening on September 20th. Bridget and I both had nice dressage warm-up rides. Bridget requested Mexican for dinner and it was delicious.

Saturday morning was rainy. It rained pretty hard and the show ended up with a 2 hour delay from original ride times. Bridget and I both had nice dressage tests. Then it was show jumping time. There wasn't much time between Bridget's ride and my ride, so I was going to go watch Bridget's ride with Dezi in-hand so she wouldn't need to stand tied in her stall. I was standing with Dezi in the warm-up area talking to Chris when she suddenly was staring into the distance. I turned around to see Bridget's horse rearing. Big. Like straight up. And the next thing I knew, she was on the ground. And she wasn't moving. Chris raced over to Bridget, someone caught Bridget's horse, and I immediately headed back to the barns to tie Dezi in her stall so I could help with Bridget's horse. By the time I got back to the warm-up field, Bridget's horse had been caught. I started walking back to the barns with her when I heard that they wanted the horse so Bridget could get back on. She had been cleared by the medic... though we're not sure how. Long story short, that was a very bad idea. For the next few hours, our conversation went something like this... Bridget would say, "Did she buck me off?" Someone would respond, "Yep!" To which Bridget would reply, "Bitch." Over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

So after all that excitement, I was expected to ride my stadium round... Cool. Thanks, Bridget.  They were taking riders as soon as they were ready in an effort to speed up the show before the incoming rain. And because they were going to try to run preliminary and training cross country that evening instead of on Sunday (because at that moment, the forecast for Sunday was 80% chance of rain & Norman was expected to get 9-11 inches of rain overnight). We had a quick warm-up and then headed in. AND WE JUMPED DOUBLE CLEAR!!! IT IS POSSIBLE!!! (More on that to come later) I was sitting in 2nd place overnight with a 32.0.

The rest of the evening consisted of cleaning up our area (including organizing Bridget's stuff as much as possible, seeing as she was pretty much jello at this point), watching some training/prelim cross country, and then a quick trip to the ER with Bridget. They ended up doing some imaging & blood testing and diagnosed her with a concussion. We were supposed to wake her up every 3-4 hours overnight and try to have her avoid screen time (harder than it seems). Dinner at Sonic because we were all tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep and wake Bridget up and then sleep again.

When we woke up on Sunday, the sky was foggy, but the weather forecast looked a lot more inviting. Only 10% chance of rain, and whatever rain had happened overnight was barely noticeable on the Oklahoma clay. They pushed the start of cross country to 11am, but decided to run it! Yay!

Cross country. Was. Awesome. There were some really tricky questions, like a tall white wall (for BN) with black mulch in front of it that looked kind of like a ditch followed by a three stride to an actual ditch. Dezi took it no problem. And then there was water. Our kabuki from Catalpa. Chris and I had planned exactly how to take it and when to begin trotting and Dezi went through it with only minimal hesitation. The second to last jump on the course was a big BN table that was bright pink! I was a bit concerned, but Dezi could care less. It was fantastic! We ended on our dressage score and went home with a 2nd place ribbon!

Then, two weeks later, there was Heritage Park Horse Trials.

Chris was riding in a dressage clinic that weekend all day on Friday and early Saturday. She dropped Dezi and me off at the horse park early Friday morning and we were on our own. We rode a practice dressage test on Friday afternoon and it was bad. Really bad. She wasn't with me and I didn't know what to do and I didn't have my Chris there to help me get through it. We ended up with a 37.5. Good thing that wasn't the real deal. I had to be quick feeding her and getting out of there, because Anthony and I had the Luke Combs concert at the Sprint Center! We had a blast, but it made for a short night of sleep.

It pretty much rained all day on Saturday, but there was nothing too crazy or overdramatic. Thanks, Mother Nature. We rode our dressage test in the rain. It was a good test. We had our Chris there to help iron out all the kinks in warm-up, and I actually had a brain during the test. We were sure it was going to be a good test, and then we saw the score. 36.8. It didn't make sense. Only .7 better than my horrible test the night before but so much better in reality. Unfortunately, we heard that there were a lot of inconsistencies in that judge's scoring. Some people had obvious errors and got good scores and others, like myself, thought they had good tests and got bad scores. We were sitting in 7th going into cross country.

The skies cleared and the weather was actually starting to look nice by the time we got to run cross country. The course ran beautifully. Dezi did every jump out of stride and could care less about anything. We almost had some trouble at the ramp in the middle of a clearing on the way to the water, not because of the jump itself, but because of the jump judges sitting right next to it. We trotted into the water, just in case, and then we went ahead and finished the course without issue. I crossed the finish line and felt like it had gone so quickly that I needed to go through the course in my head to make sure I had jumped everything. Double clear. We moved up to 3rd!

Sunday came around and I got to the show grounds early to walk Dezi and do chores so I could watch prelim, as usual. I ended up sitting around a lot of the day just waiting for our turn to ride. Dezi was good in warm-up... until we started jumping. For some reason, we couldn't leave the rails up and I was losing confidence. The more we jumped, the more I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and what I was doing obviously wrong. We kept at it with an emphasis on maintaining pace and I thought we had it all figured out as we went in for our ride. Oh man, was I wrong. I let her get wrong and strung out as the course went on, I didn't ask her to change leads when she needed to, I took a roll-back turn too short, and I pushed her forward to a long 2-stride when I should have asked for the add. It was bad. We knocked 3 rails and went from 3rd to 9th. Oops. But we did have a double clear cross country run, which will help with our AEC qualification.

And finally, we had Windermere Run Horse Trials at Longview Horse Park.

Again, we got dropped off at the park early on Friday morning so that Chris could make it to a funeral by noon. But it was alright, because I got a chance to walk cross country and watch some of the upper level riders do their dressage tests. Chris came back later and we had an okay warm-up. I could not figure out how to ride to the left. After several lectures about not over-bending and making sure that I reprimand her quickly for disobedience, it got better. After our ride, Chris and I walked cross country. We had a plan. Everything was fairly straightforward, but she helped me decide what routes to take and what to think about as I rode the course. After Chris went home, I finished chores, cleaned up a bit, blanketed the pony, and took her for a short walk before Anthony and I went out to play some pool.

I got to the park early on Saturday morning so I could feed and get chores done. I put in Dezi's braids and then had plenty of time to go watch prelim cross country before my dressage ride. It was a good ride. Warm-up was so much better than Friday night... I guess we both learned our lesson. The test was good. I felt like I thought throughout the whole thing and my walk didn't totally suck, like it sometimes does. We ended up with a 30.3, which put us in a tie for 2nd going into cross country!

Cross country rode well. The footing warm-up was really sticky and I just couldn't figure out our pace. The jumps were alright, but it felt like everything was difficult. I guess I was going to have to put some trust in my horse for this course. She started out really wiggly and leaning on my right rein until about jump 4 when we got into a rhythm and everything was fine. Jump 6 was the only jump where she showed any amount of hesitation. It was a new tall ramp. Jump 10 to 11 was cool because it was a bank up to a 5/6 stride to a bench with a novice bench and a starter jump very nearby. It was like she knew which one we were going to as soon as we got up the bank without me even having to direct her to it. The water rode well, at the trot of course. And then I had to take really wide turns and slow my pace going to the last 2 fences because we were going way too fast! With the slow down, we ended up going double clear! We moved up to 1st place. No pressure. Anthony left while I did chores and organized, and then he came back for the competitors party. When I got home after giving Dezi another walk and wrapping her, I couldn't stay awake as we watched the world series game on the couch and ended up calling it an early night.

Sunday started out with a bit of deja vu. I got to the horse park early to do chores and feed and walk her. Then I watched some prelim stadium and sat around for a while until it was my turn to ride. Warm-up went really well. I kept thinking about keeping her in a dressage-y canter as we approached fences and everything was riding well. I felt like I actually knew what I was doing. I was confident going into the ring. As the course went on, we started getting weird distances and I had to make choices to add or push for the long. Instead of taking control and telling her that I know more about this jumping thing than she does, I let her take the lead. Bad idea. We ended up getting a bad distance into a bending line that had her knocking the first and luckily leaving the second jump up and then we had a rail on the second fence of a 5-stride combination. I just didn't have the tempo and pace to get her through the course the way I needed to. I trusted her too much when I should have been in control. Those 2 rails took us from 1st to 4th, but we finished! And in the ribbons! I was pretty happy, honestly! And this third double clear XC round got us our third finish to qualify for AECs! Yay!

We have a lot of stadium homework to work on this winter, but I plan on getting stronger, fitter, and coming out even more prepared in 2020 than ever before! Time to get to work, Dezi!