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!

Our first BN... Kinda

I know, I know. The title is a little bit of DejaVu... well there's a reason. You'll understand soon.

It took me a week to actually write this blog, because I was NOT on a horsey high after this weekend. Again, you'll understand soon.

We spent Thursday night (8/1/19) prepping the trailer and making sure I had loaded everything to head to Catalpa Corners in Iowa on Friday. I ended up not being able to ride, because I spent the evening running around and getting everything finished and ready. Chris, Harold, Leah, & I went to family dinner at the Chinese buffet in Butler before finishing prepping & heading to bed relatively early. The plan was to be on the road by about 6am on Friday.

Chris woke up at 4:22 am on Friday 8/2/19 to begin calling the horses up so we could feed them before we left. She started calling them at 4:30. Leah and I woke up at 5:15 and were up at the barn around 5:20 and Chris had still not had any success getting the horses to come up to the fence. Leah and I decided to head out into the pasture and see if we could find them. We eventually found them after walking around the whole pasture. Dezi came up with us, but the rest of the horses weren't having it at all. They knew the trailer was hooked up and did not want to get anywhere near the fence. Unfortumately, Harold would have to feed them.

The trailer clock read 6:03 when we pulled out of the driveway. Until I realized that we didn't pack a cooler or bring Dezi's ice boots for after cross country. We turned the trailer around, grabbed the things we had forgotten and were on the road again around 6:18. We made several stops on the way to Iowa City, including one stop at the truck wash where Dezi had to get out and graze in the minimal grass they had. She was only mildly confused & upset, more so because of the loud squeaking train that was passing nearby than being by herself. I got to drive the truck/trailer for the first time when the traffic was lighter. I was able to take the truck/trailer from north Missouri, through Des Moines, and into Iowa a significant amount, until we were about an hour from the horse park when I let Chris take over again. We arrived at the horse park around 2pm after all our stops along the way.

We set up the stall and let Dezi get acclimated to the show environment a bit. They had new permanent stalls that were all open, which was interesting. Dezi could see all the horses around her despite coming alone from home.

We walked the cross country course first. Everything looked pretty straightforward. This was Dezi's first time at Catalpa, but I had been here before and the XC course looked similar to those in years past. We stopped and talked about the water a bit. Dezi had cantered into the water at Heritage Park last weekend on her first attempt, so I thought that Chris and I were in agreement that I would canter into the water and then probably trot through the water to the next fence. More to come on that later...

I walked the course once more on my own before tacking Dezi up for our practice dressage ride. I had forgotten my schooling breeches (all I had were the breeches I was planning on using for the show), so I stopped at the tack shop to pick some up before our ride. I had a beautiful dressage schooling. I walked for a while until Chris and Leah could join me. We did some Canadian serpentines at the trot, worked on our trot to halt transitions, worked a bit on our medium walk to free walk to medium walk, and cantered before Chris told me that she looked great and I should just walk her out.

I cleaned some tack, made sure Dezi would be comfortable for the evening, and we headed out. We stopped at the hotel to check in before we went to our usual restaurant, the sports bar of the Power Plant restaurant (because the fancy part of the restaurant is much too fancy for us). Leah hung out in the pool for a bit while I called my boyfriend Anthony to check in before we headed to bed.

We got to the horse park around 7am on Saturday morning. Chris and Leah headed down to dressage to spectate for a bit while I fed and braided Dezi to prepare for our dressage ride at 11:15. The plan was to be mounted and headed to the dressage rings around 10:40. I finished braiding around 9:00am (no judgement at how long it takes me to braid, please). I opted to watch the preliminary cross country (which was close to the stall) instead of trying to make the trek to meet Leah & Chris at dressage. They ended up coming down to cross country to watch a bit with me before I had to head back to the stall to get ready to ride.

Chris & Leah met me at the dressage rings. I had gotten on too early. Surprise, surprise. I walked for a long time. I started my warm up, trotted a bit and then cantered before Chris said I was ready. No need to wear her out for dressage when she was riding well.

Our test was fine. Our trot and canter work felt really nice. And then I had to walk. Why do I always have so much trouble with the walk? I can go medium walk to free walk to medium walk to free walk forever at home with no problem at all, but for some reason, when I'm at a show, I manage to screw it all up. Our medium walk was fine. I got about half way across the free walk diagonal before I realized that Dezi was not reaching forward and down, only forward. I fixed it, but I didn't know if it was soon enough. And then my second medium walk was horrible. She was haunches in literally the whole time and I just couldn't fix it. Out trot transition was too late, because I needed to get her hind end under her before I could get a good transition. I was super disappointed. Chris said it was my nicest dressage test yet, but I still felt like I should have done better with the walk. Turns out, it was actually OK. I was sitting in a tie for 2nd with a 30.5. Consistent. That was the same score I had after dressage at Mill Creek, too.

Now time for cross country. I let Dezi take a bit of a nap before we needed to get ready for cross country. I planned on having a 30 minute warm up so that I wouldn't wear her out too much. Before this show (and with the previous horses I've owned), I was always used to getting on an hour before our ride times. But knowing that Dezi's fitness would likely be our biggest issue, Chris and I decided that we wouldn't need to warm up quite as long.

We did our 2 laps of walk, 2 laps of trot, and 1 lap of canter in each direction before we started jumping. Dezi took all of the jumps, no problem. As we were getting ready to go to the start box, I looked at the small water pond they had in the warm up and assumed that if Chris wanted me to take that, she would have suggested it. The water would be fine. It was fine at Heritage Park and the environment is similar with the water at the top of a hill.

We started out on course and Dezi was riding like a dream. If I didn't get the perfect distance, she was making up for my mistakes. She was a real rockstar. We were down on the time, though. I wasn't quite at the places I wanted to be for my minute markers. We headed up the hill to the water and I pushed her forward to canter instead of letting her trot. At the base of the water, she put on the brakes and I was too far forward in the saddle to be able to save it. I landed on the ground. My air vest went off, but Dezi just stood there with me. Stunned.

As I walked off the course, Melissa's mother (a woman I know well enough from competing against and riding with her daughter) was walking toward me with purpose. She gave me the biggest hug. And in that moment, that hug was exactly what I needed. A mom hug. And then I saw Chris, who just laughed at me and said "You didn't ride the plan." Well, I guess I didn't fully understand the plan. I thought I had understood the plan to be to attempt to canter into the water when apparently her plan was to trot the whole entry. Now I know to make sure to clarify those things.

Either way, It was my fault. I was thinking about the time. I was thinking about being in a tie. I was thinking about how well she had cantered into the water last weekend. I was thinking about all the wrong things when I should have been thinking about giving my horse a good ride at her first BN cross country. I cried that afternoon. Not because I was eliminated, but because I felt like I had let my horse down. She deserved better than the ride I gave her.

Luckily, when I went up to the show office to pick up my dressage test, there was a sign that eliminated riders would be able to school XC on Saturday evening after the cross country competition had been completed instead of having to wait until stadium was finished on Sunday, as usual. That's amazing! However, there was also a sign that there would be no courtesy rides allowed on Sunday for eliminated riders. Well, at least I could school XC on Saturday after it was all fresh in our minds instead of having to wait. Plus, the beauty of being eliminated was that we wouldn't need to wait until BN show jumping (almost the end of the day) on Sunday before we could start heading hom e.

So we headed out to cross country after the starter division was finished (only kind of with our tail between our legs... or maybe that was just me). We did our usual warm up. 2 laps walk, 2 laps trot, and 1 lap canter in each direction in the XC warm up area. And we headed straight for the water complex. I trotted her in and she was perfect. Lesson learned. At the trot, she didn't hesitate. She didn't stop. There was no drama. There was no PTSD. There was absolutely no issue. This horse is perfect. So then we tried again. We trotted in and cantered through. No problem. Then we cantered in and cantered through and finished the course. She didn't look at any of the other jumps and we had a total blast! Now if only I had been able to give her that ride on the first attempt. She was absolutely perfect. I just wish I could have been the rider she needed me to be earlier in the day.

We hosed Dezi down, got her comfortable with some linament, loaded most of my stuff into the trailer, and fed her before we headed out to get some dinner for ourselves. We stopped by the hotel first to get cleaned up. Never have I ever gone to the hotel, taken a whole shower, & actually blow dried my hair on the Saturday of an event. Why not look nice? I wouldn't be riding on Sunday. After that, we went to dinner at HuHot. It's tradition! Then we headed back to the horse park so I could walk her and put on her standing wraps for overnight.

No need to be early on Sunday. We got there just in time to watch some of the stadium competition. I fed Dezi, got her wraps off, and walked her up to the show jumping area. We stood around for a couple of hours and I got breakfast at the food truck before we decided it was time to leave. We watched all of prelim and some of training. The trailer was pretty much packed up, so all we had left to do was load Dezi. She was a champ. Loaded on the side of the main road. And we were off.

We didn't stop as much as we did on the way down. We left the horse park at about 10 am and were back in Butler around 5pm. I was home, and my boyfriend and I were grilling by about 8pm.

It wasn't the weekend I expected. Not at all. I honestly thought we would be walking home with a ribbon. I never would have expected to end on a letter instead of a number. But I also learned a valuable lesson. I learned to always put my horse first. I learned that she should always be my main priority. I learned that I should always put her needs ahead of those of the competition and my competitive spirit. I learned that a green horse who is not confirmed in understanding water should not be cantered into water. I learned that if I don't understand a plan during a XC walk to ask my trainer. These are all things I should have understood before this competition, but there will always be reminders. There will always be bad day. I am paying my dues. Hopefully our next show will be better. And hopefully I can give my horse the ride she deserves.

So we still have yet to complete a BN recognized horse trial. Feather Creek, we're coming for you!

Our First BN... Kinda

So this weekend was our first recognized beginner novice horse trial.

Let me just preface this story by reminding everyone that it has been raining for the last 2 weeks, if not more, straight. I mean every. Stinking. Day. Everyday. It's been horrible. Since our horses live on pasture and we have outdoor riding areas, we have had minimal ride time. We have done what we can with hauling to an indoor to make it work, but it has been quite a chore. Well, things were looking up! Mill Creek was this weekend, and all week, even until Thursday night, there was only 20% chance of rain predicted for Saturday and 10% Sunday. The organizers of the event even changed the schedule of the event so that we would have dressage in the arenas on Saturday and then stadium in the arena & cross country on Sunday to allow the XC course time to dry out a bit more before horses needed to run on it. Unfortunately, Friday morning, it all changed. Suddenly Saturday and Sunday both changed to 80%. Whoopee!
I took Friday off work and spent my morning at the boot repairman's shop. I had dropped off my boots 2 weeks prior to get a gusset added to the boot so that my left leg (DVT leg... Eff you, still, DVT) would fit into my boot. He thought he had finished it about a week ago, but when I went to pick it up, I could fit my entire forearm AND my left leg into the boot... not right. Pretty sure that's not right. So on Friday morning, I went and sat in his shop for about an hour until it was completely finished and perfect, and it was pretty darn close to perfect. Then I had to pack up my car and pick up Leah from school so we could organize the horse trailer and catch, bathe, & load our horses.


We got to Longview Horse Park around 5pm on Friday evening. We unloaded the horses, set up the stalls, and made sure that we had everything we needed to get in a quick warm-up ride. Then Leah and I went down to get our packets, but loe and behold, they had run out of Purina treats! Darn it all!

I only had to make about 3 trips back to the horse trailer to get things that I had forgotten for riding, but I eventually got there. Dezi and I had an amazing warm up! We had one incident in the crazy warm up ring where we nearly had a head on collision with another horse/rider combo, but everyone ended up unscathed, even if a bit annoyed. Sorry, whoever you are, for messing that up. But Dezi was listening, she was on the bit, and we had great rhythm during the majority of the warm up.  I was very happy with her. We fed the horses, walked the cross country course (which was pretty muddy in parts, but the jumps themselves looked do-able), and took off for the evening.

After the horse show, I had to run over to the pool hall to play in a pool tournament our Wednesday night team had qualified for a couple of weeks ago. It's a good group of people. We ended up winning! I am a handicap level 2 and I had to play someone who is a 3. I did it! I was really happy., but it was a double-edged sword because that meant I would have to play a match on Saturday afternoon at 3pm (in the middle of the horse show day). Hopefully the good vibes would continue to Saturday.


After about 4 hours of sleep, I got up super early to get to the horse park so I could braid Dezi and another horse of a friend. I didn't have a whole lot of time to chill out until it was time to get on for warm up. Dezi had a really nice warm up again. It was fairly easy to find our rhythm and we were doing really good transitions where she was on her haunches and listening to me. I kept checking the stands to see if Anthony had made it, but I guess we had stayed out too late on Friday night and he needed his beauty rest. We went into dressage and I felt really good about it. Our test was really good. I was thinking the whole time, I prepared for my transitions, my geometry was good, I showed good bend, and my rhythm was consistent. We did have a bobble in our right lead canter transition where I went forward too much and she ended up having to run into the canter instead of doing a good transition on her back end. Chris predicted that we would have a score around 34-35. Fair enough. I took Dezi back to the stall, and as soon as she was taken care of and relaxing, I started incessantly checking scores online.
As Leah was warming up for her dressage, we got news that they would be cancelling cross country and making the show into a combined test because of the wet & muddy conditions of the ground. I was bummed because not running cross country would make it more difficult to qualify for AECs, but I wholly understood. I'm doing this for fun, so if something bad happens on a wet XC course to me or my horse and I can't ride tomorrow, there's no point in doing any of this. I also got news that I was sitting in 1st place in my BN-Horse division on a 31.8 dressage score. Leah had a nice test, too, also with a bobble when she picked up the right lead canter. Unfortunately, her bobble caused her to be late in her transition. But she did get an 8.5 on her halt!


I spent the next few hours cleaning tack to get the dirt & mud of the arena off my saddle, girty, and everything else. It took forever! After we relaxed for a bit, I left the caring for Dezi to Leah and her mom, Karla, before I left to go play another match in pool. I got to the pool hall pretty early and ended up playing in the second match. I played against another lady whose handicap was 3 and beat her very quickly. She didn't even win a game. After I won, I told the team to text me as many updates as possible and went home to feed & let the dogs out, take care of the horses, & watch some of the upper levels do their stadium courses. After we walked the horses around the property for a while, I left to go back to the pool hall.

This was the last match of the tournament. If we won this round, we'd qualify for the world tournament at the end of May. And if we won that, we'd be able to represent Kansas City in Las Vegas in August. Baby steps. They played me in the third match when we were up 4-1 against the other team. I had to play someone who's handicap was 5, so I had to win 2 games before she on 5. If she swept me, the worst that could happen was that we would be tied 4-4. If I could win one game, we would be winning 5-3. and if I won both, it would be 6-1 or 6-2 depending on how many games she had won. Anyways, I lost the first game and started to get a bit down on myself. I won the next game and was on top of the world! Then she won a couple more games. And then it happened. I won my second game! Our team was up 6-1. My boyfriend, Anthony, needed to win one game in order to qualify us for the next tournament. And he did! Everyone was sitting around and I couldn't figure out if we were waiting on bar tabs or what. Apparently, we made money for winning this tournament! I'll take it!! Too bad it meant another night of minimal sleep.

I got to the horse park around 6:30 on Sunday morning. It was lightly raining, but nothing too terrible. We are eventers, after all. Leah and I cleaned our horses stalls and walked the grounds to get them out a bit. Then we went down to watch some of the Novice riders do their stadium rounds. I was a little enthralled and late to start getting ready for my own stadium round, but it worked out. By the time I got on, I had plenty of time to hack around the show grounds for a few minutes before doing some walk/trot/canter in the field outside our stalls. Dezi was being really good and listening to me well. We walked down to the arena as they were in the middle of the division before us. We would be the second pair to go in our division. Our warm up was good. We did knock one rail in warm up because I got her too close to the base of the fence and was over her shoulder. I could do better in the actual test.


 We went in for our round. The first jump was nice. The second jump was an oxer, so I obviously rode it correctly because it seemed a bit big. And then I got her too close to the base of the third jump and got over her shoulder. She knocked the rail. I was determined to make that our only rail and proceeded to ride the rest of the course really well. Everything else was clean and clear. That rail took us to third place! Oops! Fortunately for me, one of the girls who would have been placed higher than me had a few rails, so we ended up in second! I couldn't be more happy! If we had jumped clean, we would have been the Adult Rider low score for BN, but it is what it is. We're still learning. It'll get easier the more I get to know her. This is just the beginning for us, and to end it in 2nd place is pretty dang good. I couldn't be more proud of her! I know we didn't run cross country, but we got through the 2 harder phases in second place! How cool! And I got to lead the victory gallop because so many of the horses in our division went back to the barns when it started raining... so that was pretty fun!



 Unfortunately, Leah had a fall in stadium, so she was eliminated. The tone of the rest of the day was a bit somber because of it. We packed up, waited out a bit more rain, and then headed out. Chris offered to unload Dezi so I didn't need to drive the 100+ mile round trip to/from her barn. I appreciated the offer and took her up on it.

Anthony and I spent the rest of the day lounging and watching movies. Between second at our first recognized BN, a win in the pool tournament, and even finding some time to relax, I'd call that a pretty perfect weekend.

Unfortunately, because we didn't get to do cross country, we won't have enough cross country rides to be able to qualify for AECs in 2019. We'll have to change that so it becomes a goal to qualify for the 2020 AEC. I think we can do it. It would give us a lot more time to prepare and become confident at the beginner novice level before we got to the big stage. Our new goal will be to go double clear in our next stadium round. Luckily, we'll have a chance to do just that at RIO next weekend!

Beginner Novice Here We Come!

Mid-America Combined Training Association had a cross country schooling this weekend. We went. It was an amazing day.

We started it off with Chris taking a dressage lesson with Jana Waggoner. She and Gemma did very well. She looked great! And honestly, it was kind of nice to hear Chris take direction and get feedback that sounded very similar to what she tells me and Leah every time we take a dressage lesson with her.

Then we headed to Heritage Park. It was a beautiful day! 75 degrees, but the wind made it feel almost cold. The park was rocking when we arrived. So many people! We found a spot at the back and started getting ready. It took Leah a little while, because she was doing studs for her first time. Unfortunately, with studs, there isn't a great way to help.

Everyone gets a little nervous before cross country. Or I do. I always have. As I was walking and trotting Dezi while Leah put in her studs, I couldn't stop thinking about how this horse has never given me a reason not to trust her on cross country. After Leah was finished with her studs, we were able to get going. We went to the start box area where they had warm up jumps, but the smallest XC warm-up jump was a starter table. We were kind of hoping for something easier for starters. We headed down onto the course and found a little roll top. Dezi jumped it well several times. I just had to be careful not to get up over her shoulder, but after I got my position secured, we were fine. Then we jumped a painted chevron coup to a starter jump to the BN roll top. Dezi did great. We tried the nearby novice roll top. No problem. We proceeded around the course jumping every BN jump we could find... tables, ramps, hanging logs.

Dezi does not like cantering through the water. She doesn't stop, she would just much rather walk or trot through it. It took a couple of tries to get her to canter through so we could take a house on the opposite side of the water. Jumped the cordwood and the mushroom ditch to the roll top. Then we did the ramp to the half roll top. And then Chris said, "Why don't you try that jump? She can do it!" She was talking about the novice log jump between the bushes, always my bogey jump. I figured Chris wouldn't send me to it if she didn't think we could do it, so I sat up and put my big girl panties on. Dezi never hesitated. It was magical. She helps me fly. We finished the day with a big BN table (that always looked closer to novice height to me).

Talk about an ego booster. After such a successful day jumping BN cross country, I think we're definitely ready for beginner novice at Mill Creek in 2 weeks. She's just perfect. And I really think she enjoys it. And the new saddle seems to be really working for us. I love this horse so much. Dezi is amazing, and I couldn't be happier that she's in my life. We're going to have so much fun together!

Catch up! XC Schooling, New Saddle, & RIO Show!

It's been a very busy March/April, and I haven't been as good about keeping up with my blog as I was with Dieter. I will try to get better.

On March 23rd, we got a chance to go to Longview for some cross country schooling! We warmed up over some starter fences and the proceeded to jump all BN jumps. Dezi did amazing! She didn't hesitate at anything and jumped well over everything I pointed her at. If anything, she had a good amount of hang time over the fences and hesitated before the gallop off, but a little encouragement fixed that pretty easily. The only problem we had was at the dreaded black mulch jump, and it was totally my fault. There was a group of people walking past the jump and instead of waiting for them to pass, I just kept cantering toward the jump and yelling at them to get out of the way. I should have circled and approached the jump correctly, but instead, I just kept going and she jumped the side (definitely wouldn't have been between the flags had they been there). She got it perfectly on the second attempt. And then I got a good talking to about how I need to make sure I do what's best for my green horse, especially making sure she has good confidence & appropriate approaches to the fences. The rest of the day was fabulous. Dezi doesn't hesitate at the water, but she would much rather trot through it than canter, so it usually takes us a couple tries to canter through the water. She did fine, though. We jumped all the BN jumps we could find! I was so proud of her. I wore my GoPro, but totally forgot to start it... whoops! I'll try to remember next time.

After our XC school, we started having some trouble picking up the right lead canter. The vet came out shortly after, and when he was doing chiropractic work on Dezi, he mentioned that her jumping saddle might be bothering her (he checked both). So the search was on for a new jumping saddle. I perused facebook, eBay, and every other website I could find to try to find a good fit. For some reason, I kept coming back to the Bates Advanta. When I was talking to Chris about it one day, she mentioned that CM is a Bates dealer and that they might have one that I could try out. I headed over there one weekend and sat in one and just absolutely fell in love. What I loved most about the saddle was that it is adjustable in every way possible, the gullet can be changed, the padding in the seat can be adjusted, and even the knee/back blocks can be adjusted to the rider. I made the commitment to buy it. And I stopped looking at saddles everywhere else so I wouldn't second guess myself when I would see something comparable.

On April 13th, we went to get the saddle fitted. There was another Longview XC schooling that day, and Chris also had a saddle fitting in the afternoon for her new Hulsebos saddle. Leah was out of town. Chris and I had discussed the possibility of going to get my saddle fitted around 9am, then going to Longview to XC school, and then going to Willow Creek for her saddle fitting appointment by 2:15pm. The saddle fitting appointment was interesting. He had me sit in the saddle on the rack first to make sure it fit me in every way, adjusting the knee blocks and the back blocks appropriately. Then we went out to Dezi. He put the saddle on her without making any adjustments. He had all his tools and was ready to change the gullet or adjust the panels. But when he put it on her back, it looked absolutely perfect. It was centered and straight. The only thing that was different was that it sat a good amount farther back than I was used to, but he assured me that the girth was still only touching her sternum and that it would be more ergonomic sitting behind her gigantic shoulder instead of on top of it. It would give her more freedom of movement. So then I got to ride in it! He attached the saddle to Dezi (without any pad, which I thought was kind of strange... and I don't think I've ever ridden in a saddle like that), I bridled her, and we started our ride in the unfamiliar outdoor arena. She was good. We had trouble with our right lead canter (story of my life lately...), but she eventually got it and we didn't have any more problems. Then, as we were cantering around, Chris said "Go jump that little vertical." I looked around the ring for a vertical and found one, but it was fairly large, probably 2'6" easy. I figured if Chris told me to take it, we probably would be able to no problem. And we did. No problem at all. I was impressed. And that saddle felt like I was sitting in a tub of butter. So comfortable! I bought some matching stirrup leathers and some leather cleaner and wrote a very large check. Sitting in the truck, I considered the consequences of potentially having trouble on cross country and how fair it was to a horse to ride XC in a brand new saddle. I also considered that we had 3 horses in the trailer and I think they would have charged me for every horse in the trailer to enter the property whether we were riding or not, seeing as there is no way for them to know who's riding and who isn't. We decided against it. Instead, we ran to Home Depot to get pain for Chris's jumps and Applebee's for salads for lunch. Chris and I had a good conversation about my weight and goals for the year. We decided that we would get a good base at BN and start thinking about showing novice in August or so. And I told her my weight loss goal. We decided that I won't think about competing or jumping novice jumps until I have lost about 40 pounds. I can do it. I know I can. We headed to Willow Creek and were able to get Chris into her saddle fitting appointment a little early. While she was doing that, I rode in my new saddle. Dezi picked up the right lead canter a little easier this time, only a couple tries before we got it. We hacked around the grass and just had fun in the new saddle. So far, it seems fantastic.

Then this weekend we went to RIO Equestrian Center for the first Twin Pony Productions show of the year (the March dressage/CT schooling show got rained out). Dezi and I would try our hand at our first BN CT. I took Friday off work so we could bathe and get the trailer and horses ready for the weekend. We left Chris's house around 1pm and got to the show grounds around 2. We let the horses get settled in their stalls and then rode. Leah wanted to have a jump school since we haven't had much chance to jump this winter. Dezi was a dream, as usual. And it was easier to pick up her right lead! Maybe she's realizing that the saddle isn't hurting her anymore! She jumped everything I pointed her at, but I was having trouble with our rhythm. I don't know why (Chris thinks it's after the Buck Davidson clinic, but I'm not so sure) but I've been rushing to fences lately. Maybe I think that if I leg her forward to the fence, she can't refuse. I don't know. She jumped all the warm up fences, a good sized oxer, & a bending line to a 5-stride combination no problem. Our kiddo, Leah, had a bit of trouble (she fell off at the oxer) but she ended up on a good note and we finished the evening with a fun trail ride exploring the property at RIO. 

That night, I met my boyfriend and some friends at the dirt track to eat a walking taco and watch some races. It was an exciting night with 28 sprint cars (my favorite)!

Saturday morning, I woke up early to get to the show around 7:30am. Leah and I switched BN times so that she would have more time between her classes to get ready. Leah rode her BN dressage test first. Then we went to get ready for jumping. I called Anthony from the warm-up ring to see if he would make it (he had told me he set his alarm for 9am and the time was about 10:30, so it was possible...), but he was still in bed, so we just went with it. It ended up being a much longer wait than anticipated for the jumps to get changed to BN height, which foiled my plan to jump and then have enough time for a dressage warm-up. We did our jumping round and it went OK. We had some trouble at the oxer, but I think it went alright considering it was our first true BN round. I (again) had a lot of trouble regulating our rhythm. She was going too fast and as the course progressed, it felt like she was getting faster and faster. And instead of sitting back and making her slow down, I went with it (stupid, I know... hindsight is 20/20). Chris wasn't very happy with me. I'll work on it. I was stressed getting to my dressage test, but I kept reminding myself that the arenas were running a bit late. I had even told Anthony that the show was running a bit late and he would probably make it in time if he got there at 11:30 (my original ride time was 11:26). Little did I know, but there was a break that allowed the rings to get back on time. So not only did I have only a few minutes (2 riders) to warm up, but my boyfriend would likely not make it to watch. The test was alright. Nothing exciting, except that for the first time in my life, I messed up the test. The walk is supposed to be at the end of the test, but I managed to add it in the middle. +2 for me. We ended up with a 37.75. Chris was a little off when she guessed I would get a 38! ;P

We had a short break until our dressage Training Test 3. My goal was to remember the test. I got on with enough time to watch a bit of Leah's test before I warmed up. Dezi was riding pretty nicely in the warm up area. Then we went into the test. It was alright. She was very haunches in during my canters (but she picked up both leads correctly, no problem, though) and on her forehand during the down transitions and I rushed through the whole test. We ended up with a 65.86%. We watched a couple more people ride and then it was time to go home. We stopped at Sonic in Pleasant Hill. Chris and Leah agreed to help unload Dezi so I wouldn't have to drive the hour to the barn and the hour home. They're the best ever. I really appreciate them.

Then today, we did Easter Dinner as a family. Everyone brought something and we had a delicious feast! Horses got the day off.

I'll get better at blogging. I promise! I need to try to stay more up-to-date!