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| January 26, 2012 I went to my first competition of 2012 on Wednesday. The combined test was supposed to be on Sunday but we had quite bad thunderstorms and it was postponed (We had so many cancellations to the schedule last fall I hope this trend won't continue). We took the upper level guys. I was scheduled to ride 8 but with the date change only competed 7. Because of Sue's program she ended up just going for a field trip to hack around the grounds. The good news: all 7 show jumped clear! However after the dressage I wanted to shoot myself! Their silly behavior is of course why I took them but...,... The show jumping was more for me but they needed the time in the dressage ring. I also found myself not being as accurate as I normally try to be. I have a good bit of work yet to do before my first event. The youngsters go to the Sandy Hills Derby on Saturday. They would have benefited from the combined test but I didn't think I could ride any more and we didn't have room on the trailers. On a positive note I wasn't too tired having ridden that many. Things at the farm are in good shape . Our neighbors had helped mow and weed before we got here and I am so grateful! I have 3 of the babies living in the big field. They know each other well and no one has back shoes. (I prefer individual turn out so there is not much running and that no one gets injured being kicked). Walle has always been low man on the totem pole and he has finally found a horse he can boss around. He is making ferocious faces at Colin who hardly moves over however it is good to see him assert himself. I look forward to more students coming down this weekend! ~ More Later Sally |
January 29th
Sandy Hills Derby
On Saturday I took the 6 youngsters to the derby at Sandy Hills Farm. A derby is a course with a mix of show jumping
and cross country fences. It is a favorite schooling place of mine and I was not surprised to see such good courses. I
took the young guys so they would have an outing before their first event at Sporting Days. They were all well
behaved. I did the lowest division with a new baby named Rock Party. He was really brave and very well behaved.
Walle went flying around his course ( ok maybe not flying but certainly a brisk canter) and yes the earth did shake!
Eva was impressive in her jumping, and the rideability got better as we went. Charlie jumped around well with less
encouragement than normal and Charm and Oliver were very workmanlike. So all in all a good day!
We had a bunch of horses ship in to the farm that same afternoon and it will be great to get those horses going this
week!
Sandy Hills Derby
On Saturday I took the 6 youngsters to the derby at Sandy Hills Farm. A derby is a course with a mix of show jumping
and cross country fences. It is a favorite schooling place of mine and I was not surprised to see such good courses. I
took the young guys so they would have an outing before their first event at Sporting Days. They were all well
behaved. I did the lowest division with a new baby named Rock Party. He was really brave and very well behaved.
Walle went flying around his course ( ok maybe not flying but certainly a brisk canter) and yes the earth did shake!
Eva was impressive in her jumping, and the rideability got better as we went. Charlie jumped around well with less
encouragement than normal and Charm and Oliver were very workmanlike. So all in all a good day!
We had a bunch of horses ship in to the farm that same afternoon and it will be great to get those horses going this
week!
| February, 3rd Full Gallop Horse Trails We did the first event of the season at Full Gallop on Wednesday. It is very confusing to event during the middle of the week and I am constantly forgetting what day it is! We were fairly organized and didn't forget anything major, which was a good thing since we forgot so much at the our first combined test. I rode Joule, Rocky (Sylvester Z), and Robbie in the Intermediate. I had three quiet and mistake free dressage tests. The scoring was ridiculous. I was getting quite worked up about it then I saw Will Faudree's score. He had a beautiful ride on a relaxed and impressive mover. He was given a 36. I would have given him a 26 and wonder about the knowledge of the dressage judge. Mark Donovan did the show jumping course and he, as usual, did a great job. His courses are well thought out and ask great questions. All three of mine jumped clear even if Rocky was a bit perky. The ground was very hard so I didn't press any of them too much. Rocky went fast enough to win. The layout of Full Gallop can make setting a flowing Intermediate course tricky but this one rode well. I felt fit enough and sharp enough to be pretty happy with how I rode. I have some things I want to continue to improve but was happy with this as a start. I ride the babies this Saturday at Sporting Days and expect to have to work much harder! More later. ~Sally |
| February 5 Sporting Days Horse Trials Well we survived the babies first event of the season.... we didn't have an auspicious start when we got to the event and discovered that there were no dressage saddles. I borrowed a saddle from Courtney Cooper for my first ride while Tracey drove back to the farm to get them. After I took several deep breaths I got on Oliver who did a good job. He and Charm were doing their first Prelim. Charm was a bit unsettled and didn't get a good score but both of them jumped double clear and reasonably quickly to finish 2nd and 6th. I was not surprised they went so well they have been training well and are good brave jumpers. It is always nice though when you move up and it goes so well. Eva was doing her first training. She is an amazing athlete but can be hard of hearing at times. She did a mistake free dressage test but it was tense. She has been tense on the flat in her training so that was not a surprise. At Sporting Days the hardest phase is the show jumping and she ran out at the second element of a combination. She got in trouble and then jumped well through the combination but had the next two down before she settled again. What she did well though, was impressive! Some of the questions on the cross country she had never seen before but she answered them quite confidently. She can be a little fussy to ride (ok very fussy) so when the TD (who was Sally Ike) met me at the finish I was a little concerned. She said " wow that horse can jump!" It took a while for that to sink in since I was just so relieved not to be getting into trouble. Charlie was the only horse I didn't move up a level. He needs a little more time and I hope to move him up at Jumping Branch. He was my last ride and they added a minute to my time. I had left by then, but so many mistakes happen in scoring it is well worth checking them in the 30 minute window you have before they become final. Walle did his first Novice. He was well behaved and quiet all day. Walle really likes dressage! His test was right after lunch and all the volunteer lunches must have had apples in them because when he begged from the bit checker he got an apple core and when I went to check in with the steward he got another. The dressage judge was out of her car stretching when he came by and I think he was a bit disappointed not to get a third! He tried hard in the show jumping (even though he thought the jumps came up way too fast) and was really fantastic on the cross country. When we got back to the farm though, Walle practically needed to be carried to his field! I was so proud of how well all of them went! Their scores did not necessarily reflect how hard they tried. I hope to continue this upward trend! I have two events this week as the rest of the guys make their 2012 debut! More later! ~Sally |
February 9, 2012
The Second Full Gallop
I have now done three events in one week. It seemed like such a good idea when I signed everyone up.... I could barely
get the laundry done before we were going again. Having said that there is no other way I would rather spend my day. I
just wish the packing and clean up went faster!
The Full Gallop Intermediate divisions have not been well attended. I had three entered and there ended up only being 4
total in the division. Lara Anderson, who runs the event, said they started with 15 scratched down to 9 and then 5
dropped down to prelim in the few days prior to the event.
The course was more twisty than the prior week but the jumps were still good. I had three pretty good dressage tests.
GM had 2 breaks in an otherwise good ride to place behind Troy and Joule. Troy struggled with the footing in the show
jumping so I didn't run him cross country. Joule and GM jumped well and went quickly cross country to finish 1st and
2nd. GM hasn't gone this well since July of last year so I hope we are on the right track. We were completely done by
10:20.
Sue and Wes go to Pine Top on Friday which has been moved to a one day event. More Later Sally
The Second Full Gallop
I have now done three events in one week. It seemed like such a good idea when I signed everyone up.... I could barely
get the laundry done before we were going again. Having said that there is no other way I would rather spend my day. I
just wish the packing and clean up went faster!
The Full Gallop Intermediate divisions have not been well attended. I had three entered and there ended up only being 4
total in the division. Lara Anderson, who runs the event, said they started with 15 scratched down to 9 and then 5
dropped down to prelim in the few days prior to the event.
The course was more twisty than the prior week but the jumps were still good. I had three pretty good dressage tests.
GM had 2 breaks in an otherwise good ride to place behind Troy and Joule. Troy struggled with the footing in the show
jumping so I didn't run him cross country. Joule and GM jumped well and went quickly cross country to finish 1st and
2nd. GM hasn't gone this well since July of last year so I hope we are on the right track. We were completely done by
10:20.
Sue and Wes go to Pine Top on Friday which has been moved to a one day event. More Later Sally
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| February 12, 2012 Pine Top Horse Trials The Pine Top Horse Trials was moved to a one day horse trial on Friday the 10th. Pine Top is only an hour from my place but we get so spoiled down here with everything being so close it was nice not to have to drive back and forth. I don't run a lot of horses at Pine Top because they have a $50 per horse grounds fee, so I only take the horses that I really feel need to go. It is a quality event with good courses. The cross country is long but it is open with great galloping jumps. We took the new trailer which is a good bit smaller than my old one and I was happy we remembered everything! It is tricky moving equipment back and forth. We are still figuring out how best to work out of it. We tried tying Wes to the side and He was having none of that! Sue however loves being tied (who knew!) and stood like a rock for a good bit of time. Since she can be tough to even lead around, I was surprised. Go figure. Wes was good for him in the dressage. He is not competitive in the dressage against that company but he tried hard. Sue was not good! I have to remember she missed the combined test that all the others did, she can be silly there....no excuses! It just wasn't good enough and we have quite a lot of work to do before she goes back there in two weeks. Both horses show jumped clean and well and were excellent cross country. I did not push them, but just let them canter around since the ground was so hard. They cooled out well and spent Saturday snoozing in their paddocks. More later ~Sally |
Pine Top/ Jumping Branch schedule
When I wrote this I decided I would wait and think about it overnight before I put it "out" there. I was told by someone who
was taking a lesson on Wednesday that Pine Top had changed its schedule from Advanced going all on Friday, to
Advanced dressage and cross country on Friday then the show jumping was moved to Saturday.
I am riding a bunch at another horse trial Saturday (Jumping Branch). A few of my own horses, some client's horses and
Nat is entered. I also have many students going from our barn who might need help. There is no way for me to do both.
Several of the horses I'm riding and some of the students I'm helping have been aiming for this horse trial since coming
down here. I emailed and asked the organizers to consider running at least one division of Advanced show jumping
Friday but they say they can't.
At 39 I left my cushy office job for the chance to do what I really loved to do. I have not regretted it for one minute. However
it was clear to me I needed to center my business around teaching so as I aged I was not dependant on how many
horses I could ride in a day or at an event. I am so grateful to my students and clients who have made my dream come
true. I am aware though, that when I ride horses that I own at an event that is a day "off" for me (ok I may be tired but I am
no closer to paying the mortgage). I own both Sue and Wes.
When events change the schedules we are often unable to make adjustments to our lives. It might be babysitters, job
commitments, travel arrangements, stabling and hotel costs, etc. I even think it is possible that with Pine Top changing
the schedule, some riders are scrambling to find rides for horses to the event on Saturday because they might have
counted on being able to leave a certain number at home. I try to go to as many one day horse trials as I can so that
leaves a weekend day for me to teach. When the events run over several days the lost income from teaching adds up the
total cost of the event. I have always admired riders who are able to juggle jobs, children, riding, families etc. I have a
hard enough time getting the horses, dogs and myself organized.
Ok done whining..... I have decided to ride at Pine Top on Friday and not go back to show jump on Saturday. Moving on. I
am riding some horses for Julia Wendell this weekend at Paradise. More Later Sally
When I wrote this I decided I would wait and think about it overnight before I put it "out" there. I was told by someone who
was taking a lesson on Wednesday that Pine Top had changed its schedule from Advanced going all on Friday, to
Advanced dressage and cross country on Friday then the show jumping was moved to Saturday.
I am riding a bunch at another horse trial Saturday (Jumping Branch). A few of my own horses, some client's horses and
Nat is entered. I also have many students going from our barn who might need help. There is no way for me to do both.
Several of the horses I'm riding and some of the students I'm helping have been aiming for this horse trial since coming
down here. I emailed and asked the organizers to consider running at least one division of Advanced show jumping
Friday but they say they can't.
At 39 I left my cushy office job for the chance to do what I really loved to do. I have not regretted it for one minute. However
it was clear to me I needed to center my business around teaching so as I aged I was not dependant on how many
horses I could ride in a day or at an event. I am so grateful to my students and clients who have made my dream come
true. I am aware though, that when I ride horses that I own at an event that is a day "off" for me (ok I may be tired but I am
no closer to paying the mortgage). I own both Sue and Wes.
When events change the schedules we are often unable to make adjustments to our lives. It might be babysitters, job
commitments, travel arrangements, stabling and hotel costs, etc. I even think it is possible that with Pine Top changing
the schedule, some riders are scrambling to find rides for horses to the event on Saturday because they might have
counted on being able to leave a certain number at home. I try to go to as many one day horse trials as I can so that
leaves a weekend day for me to teach. When the events run over several days the lost income from teaching adds up the
total cost of the event. I have always admired riders who are able to juggle jobs, children, riding, families etc. I have a
hard enough time getting the horses, dogs and myself organized.
Ok done whining..... I have decided to ride at Pine Top on Friday and not go back to show jump on Saturday. Moving on. I
am riding some horses for Julia Wendell this weekend at Paradise. More Later Sally