6/19/08

Sorry for the delay in an update but this has been an interesting month, full of ups and downs. It started off well with Flyer, Irish, Josie, and Indy competing at Waredaca. Despite the thunder storms causing a few delays, Flyer and Irish both put in good performances in Training. This was Irish's first full event. He had one rail down in stadium and made light work of cross country, while Flyer jumped clear in stadium and cross country. Due to the footing they both had time on cross country, but I was pleased with how they went. Flyer has really improved over the past year and Irish is a lot of fun!

Josie and Indy both went Novice. Indy once again had a good go. Josie was more settled than at the Short Course. She had a great dressage and followed that up by jumping clear in stadium and xc to finish 5th!! I'm excited about her career. I'm not sure how much she will do this year. Depends on what the bank account will allow!

Irish

A few days later I was working on breaking in a two year old when he spun around and kicked - double barreled and caught me right in the hand. How I wish this client would put a round pen in at his farm! More than likely my hand did break, all the signs point towards it, but I found a way to wrap it up so I could keep riding. I was a little worried about going to Rubicon that weekend, but I jumped Irish and all was ok, so off we went! Needless to say I wasn't riding up to normal and it really showed in Dressage as we were last! Haven't had that happen before! Irish was a trooper in stadium and xc. He is still very new to all of this and I wasn't able to help him out much. He had a green stop at the water where I just wasn't able to get him packaged. Otherwise he was great! Rubicon is a big course and he handled it well for his second Training combined with my one hand steering!

The following weekend I took both Flyer and Irish to Seneca to run in Training. My hand was feeling better. Irish scored a 33, 9 points better than at Waredaca. Flyer was right behind him with a 34. Unfortunately a storm rolled in and the remainder of Training was canceled. That was a disappointment; with the high price of diesel I wasn't happy to travel that distance to just do Dressage! But Mother Nature is something we can't control.

For the really down of the month - Phyllis's barn was struck by lightening and burned down. Fortunately, they were able to get all of the horses out - no one was hurt, including the barn cats! They are picking up the pieces and starting to move forward. It is great to see how the eventing community is coming together to help out. A barn fire is everyone's worst nightmare, to see the damage in person is very scary and sad. I'm so thankful all that was lost can be replaced. If you are able to donate any equipment or can help with the barn fund contact Phyllis to see what you can do!

Flyer

Hopefully the rest of the month will be more normal! I go back out at Surefire with Polar, Irish, and Flyer. My hand is getting better every day and hopefully I should be totally back to normal by then!

Katie

5/20/08

This month has been light competition wise. MCTA was held over the first weekend of May, and Polar and I went Advanced there. He tried really hard in dressage and was the most relaxed he has been this year. I thought he felt good, but I was still shocked to see our score - a 25!! I was speechless for a while. It was his personal best. He went on to show jump clear, but unfortunately he didn't get fired up for cross country. By the third fence I was thinking, hmmm... something just doesn't feel right. After an uncharacteristic runout at a ditch and then tapping the table I decided to call it a day. It was disappointing but better to come off sound and sane and try again another day. We've been having fun this month since then, he feels back to his normal enthusiastic self. We'll be ready to put all three phases together when we start back this summer!

The other two boys had a good event. Indy (In Reality) went Novice. He thought it was too hot and became a bit lazy for Dressage scoring a 32. He went on to once again jump double clear both stadium and cross country and finished third. I need to get him out schooling so he can move up! High Flyer went Training, his dressage is really improving and he scored a 31. His stadium is improving as well - he jumped great only tapping out the last jump. He still moved up two places with the rail! He was an easy ride around cross country jumping clear to finish third as well.

Josie

Arthur

Last weekend (17/18) was a bunch of firsts - I took three horses out to their first competitions! Saturday was the Maryland Short Course. I had Kim Pribble's lovely eight year old Irish Sport Horse, Irish Moon Dance, aka Irish, as well as my Manor Queen, aka Josie, both doing Novice. Irish was great, he put in a nice Dressage test. Getting that big body to bend in a small sand box was a bit hard at times, but we managed and scored a 32. The jumping was way too easy for him. By the second fence I was wishing we had a bigger jump in front of us! His clear jumping moved us up to claim the win!! He is a really cool horse and I have the ride through at least the end of June. He'll go to a few Trainings and hopefully move up to Prelim at Surefire.

Irish

Josie was great as well - after she realized she wasn't back at the track she settled down and went to work! She also went well in Dressage to score a 31. I wasn't sure how jumping would go. She is still really green and has only gone Cross Country twice, once last fall and once last week! There was a big bank out of water - I hadn't jumped her up a bank that big and never jumped her over one out of water! I wanted to trot the first fence, because I was thinking that she is green and I wanted to give her a little more time to see what was going on. She was not happy with that decision - ok, we are cantering all the jumps! She went around with ease and was super with the bank! She finished in second place. I'm excited to see what her future will bring!

Sunday I took Arthur to Sandstone for a combined test. He performed much better than expected. He cantered a 20 meter circle and stayed in the ring! Stadium was bigger than I thought it would be. I don't think I've even schooled him that big, at least not a full course! He was green but really willing. There were a few tight turns that I didn't fully make and had to angle a few jumps. He didn't care and jumped really well coming away with third!

Indy, Flyer, and Arthur are all for sale. All three are nice young horses who are ready to make someone a great partner!

I have this weekend off from competing. I might actually try to take the weekend off. I say try as I've been attempting to take a weekend off since March! June will be a busy competition month. Then I start hauling all over the East Coast with Polar. Wish there were Advanced events in the area!

Katie

4/21/08

Wow, time does fly when you are having fun! It's about time I get around to writing an update - I have a lot to report!

At the beginning of the month Melissa and I headed down to NC again for The Fork Horse Trials. I was a bit stressed heading into the event as this was Polar and my move up to Advanced! I had a great panic on Wednesday when I figured out at 4 p.m. that I was due to do dressage on Thursday instead of Friday!! Fortunately my time was late enough that it didn't cause a huge problem, I just had to leave earlier than I thought I'd have to - not a great way to start out! I wasn't the only one who didn't know that they were holding some of the Advanced dressage on Thursday. I over head another rider who'd had to leave at midnight in order to make her ride time.

After we drove down and unpacked it started to rain, and rain it did. At one point I tipped my head down and water poured off of my top hat. Despite all the nasty weather, Polar put in a decent test. He did get into his neighing routine again, mostly because he didn't have any time to get settled in because of our late start. We had some really good moments though, and I was pleased with him.

The rain kept up through the night and into Friday and Saturday. They made the decision to switch stadium and cross country day. The footing in stadium was wonderful and held up well. Polar jumped great and put in one of the few clear jumping rounds with only a second over time.

Going into Sunday morning we still weren't sure what was going to happen with cross country. Melissa and I watched some of the Prelim and the CIC3*-W go. The footing seemed to be pretty good. So I suited Polar up with the biggest studs I have ever used and off we went. Polar was amazing and jumped his very best - better than I have ever felt him. He was so confident and ridable! Going into the 3rd water he jumped in big and I decided we needed to circle, so we incurred a technical refusal. But, Polar thinks he was clear and that is what matters!

I was thrilled with Polar's overall performance - and we are now an Advanced pair!!! It was so much fun and I can't wait for the rest of the year! I still remember breaking him and the first time I sat on his back. He has come a long way and has really grown up over the past year - I'm so proud of him!

Also, thanks Emily Daily for letting me use the great photos!

The most popular person at The Fork - especially on Sunday - was Phil, who operated the tractor. Due to the rain and the clay soil, the stable area was a mess. He had to pull every single rig out of the place. He was very helpful and stayed in good spirits. The whole crew at The Fork was great. It was a nice event and they did a great job with whatever the weather threw at them. I hope to make it back next year!

The following weekend I took High Flyer and In Reality to a schooling event at Elysian Hills for their first outing of the year. They both put in good performances, even though the footing was disappointing for all three phases. In dressage, I had to worry about keeping them on their feet instead of showing them to their best ability. But it was a good day for them; Flyer finished third in Training, and once again Indy finished on his dressage score. I don't know where he placed as I left before Novice was finished. They are both fun horses. They are offered for sale, but in the mean time I'll keep playing with them!

Last weekend I took Polar up to Fair Hill for the CIC2*. He was tense again for dressage, it's really tough to keep him relaxed. The ground for cross country was actually on the hard side so as I was there for a qualifying score, and not to be competitive, I didn't push for time. Polar jumped a nice clear round. He show jumped beautifully on Sunday to put in on the of few double clear rounds, which moved us up to 8th. Phew, that qualifier is out of the way! We will go back at Advanced the next time out.

The event season is well under way now. Three are going with several more due to make their debut in May or June. I have a really nice group of horses in the barn. This year should be a fun one!

Katie

3/31/08

My event season is officially underway! My good friend Melissa Hunsberger, her mare Expedience, Polar and I went down to North Carolina for the Southern Pines Horse Trials. We were so ready for warm weather and we got it! It was a beautiful weekend with sunny skies and temps the 70's! I even started to get a bit of a tan... of course it is already starting to fade.

Polar was better in dressage than I thought he would be. In years past he has gotten a bit distracted and neighs a lot the first time out. He didn't seem to think about it this time out - nice that he is growing up! I still need to work on his relaxation, but it's getting there. We placed 7th, only 5 points behind first. Most of the places ahead of us were held by three/four star combinations, so i was glad to see we can hold our own!

Cross country was great fun - we remembered how to run and jump! Polar felt very confident and was happy to be back at it. As it was his first time out, we had tons of time penalties - after making sure he was switched on, I just let him cruise around the course. Also didn't help that we took two "scenic tours" due to his early season spookiness, but that too is getting better. Of course in true Polar fashion, he spooked as we passed a jump pushed to the side right on the other side of the finish line and I momentarily thought we were going to go through the ropes! Somehow, to Polar, jumps turn into horse eating monsters when we have to go past them instead of over them - sometimes it amazes me that he actually jumps at all!

The rails were falling in all divisions for stadium. Unfortunately the same was true for our round. Polar had three easy rails - he barely touched the things. Overall he jumped really well and I was happy with how the weekend went. Polar is really growing up and everything is coming together. Melissa and Expedience had a good weekend as well, placing 6th in the Advanced.

The four of us are heading back to NC this weekend for The Fork. We are already ready for another vacation and warmer weather! I'm really excited and can't wait to get back down there. Only three days to go - check back to see how it goes!