Green Acres

August 18th was our second two phase in a row, this time at Green Acres in Madbury, NH. I got a good parking spot right near the dressage warm up arena and went to check in. I also wanted to check out the stadium course before I unloaded Otis, because it was in a field instead of an area, and I wanted to get a look at it. It was a nice course, and the jumps were spread out pretty well, so I felt better about it after seeing it.

After getting Otis unloaded and settled in wtih some hay and water, I started getting us ready for dressage. Otis was really good in the warm up arena, even with quite a few horses in there. He was very calm, soft, and responsive. He only had one little mishap when one of the horses on the cross country course ran through the water, he decided that was scary, and bolted forward and sideways breifly. I was able to get him calmed down and paying attention quite quickly, which made me happy. When it was our turn for dressage we made our way over to the arena to wait for the judges bell. Just as we were entering, another horse went through the water, which is right next to the dressage arena, so that got Otis kind of wound up, but we still got a nice center line and a good halt. He was really good for most of our test. He spooked once as we were ending our last trot circle, but that was pretty much it.

After a long break, I got Otis tacked up and ready to warm up for stadium. I could tell as soon as I got on him that he was not going to be as well behaved for this phase as he was for the dressage phase earlier. I trotted him around the warm up, which was FULL of kids riding and a couple of their instructors. Otis was very high strung, and was not being very good at all. Almost everytime a horse would go out on the cross country course he would jump sidways away from them, almost unseating me everytime, at one point he jump/buck/reared so bad that his head hit mine!! He was acting terrible. I just kept trotting him around and switching directions, trying to get him to relax and pay attention. When I finally decided to take him over one of the jumps, he jumped it so big that my helmet fell down over my eyes! The next few jumps were better, but he was still acting crazy. Of course it was our turn before I was ready, but I figured at that point he wasn't really going to get much better, and I was right. He was high strung through the whole course. I tried talking to him and petting him between jumps, but that didn't even help. He leaped over every jump much bigger than was necessary, but we made a clear round with no refusals and no knock-downs.

We eneded up with thrid place out of seven people, so that made me pretty happy. I was pretty bummed out with our stadium performance after Otis was so good the weekend before at Hilltop. I was also hoping that where the stadium was in a grass field it would be a sort of practice for cross country, I REALLY want to do cross country again. The way he acted did not boost my confidence in that at all :( This was going to be our last event for the year, but now I think I am going to try and fit another one in so we can hopefully get a good stadium round in again.

Hilltop Equestrian Center Two-Phase

On August 12 Otis and I went to Hilltop Equestrian Center for our third two phase of the season. We had our first experience with eventing here last June, so I was excited to come back.

It was pouring rain all the way to the show, so I was really hoping the rain would stop by the time I got there. Luckily, it slowed to a sprinkle just as we arrived, and pretty much held of entirely for the rest of the day.

After watching Liz and Dreamy complete lovely Cross Country and Stadium rounds I got changed and tacked Otis up for dressage. He was feeling a bit fresh at first, and was using all of the higher level horses that were competing in stadium as an excuse to get all wound up. I took him in to the warm up arena and did a lot of trot work and figure eights and a couple of canter circles. That seemed to help bring his attention to me, instead of him looking for excuses to act like a jerk. We were next for dressage so I walked him over to the dressage arena to wait our turn.

He was actually pretty good for our test, with a really nice, consistent trot, and our circles were even okay. He still likes to slow way down when we transition to the walk, but we are working on it at home, so hopefully that will improve soon. We ended up with a score that I was VERY happy with (don't have the sheet in front of me, so I will have to update that later), and tied for second place :)

Next was stadium, after a change of clothes for me, and a change of tack for Otis, we headed out to the warm up area. It was VERY full when I got there, kids cantering in every direction and jumping here and there, so I decided to just walk and trot the outside perimeter until it cleared out a bit. I was very happy with the way Otis handled all the chaos. It is mostly organized chaos, but he doesn't know that ;) Once the area cleared out a bit I decided to take him over a small cross rail, he had been jumping better at home, but still pops over them really hard when we jump away from home, but I was ready. Sure enough he jumped the small cross rail like it was the big oxer two jumps over! I grabbed his mane and kept my position the best I could so I wouldn't accidentally grab his mouth (which makes him jump even worse). The next time around was better, and he just kept getting better and better each time, so I was happy. 

Finally it was our turn to jump the stadium course, I always get really excited to jump a course, because I only have room for two jumps at home, so eight is super fun!! I went into the ring with a smile on my face, and a voice in my head reminding me to look up. We went over the first four jumps really well. The fifth jump had fake flowers under it, which Otis didn't like in June at Green Acres, so I was ready for him to try and refuse it. He hesitated a bit, almost stopped, then went over it. We went over the next three fences without issue. 

I was SO happy with his performance! It was our best stadium round yet, no crazy leaping, I didn't look down at every fence, it felt really good, and to top it all off we took home a second place ribbon (the girl I was tied with had a refusal in stadium).

                            

SMDA August Dressage Show

Sunday, August 5th was the fourth dressage show that Otis and I have attended this season at the Hollis Equestrian Center in Hollis, ME. My ride times were a little later than usual, so it was nice to not have to get up super early (I am NOT a morning person). I got there just in time to see my friend's Liz and Katie put in two very nice rides in Inro A, and they ended up winning First and Second place!

I got Otis and myself ready to warm up for Intro B. Otis was acting bratty, so I spent extra time walking him around the grounds before I took him into the warm up arena. I did a few trot circles and went back out to walk around to see if he would calm down at all. I didn't want to take up space in the warm up if we were just going to walk around.

When it was our turn for Intro B I went in and walked and trotted around, waiting for the judge's bell. Otis was feeling a bit fresh, but not too bad. Our test wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. He had a nice trot, but our circles were not that great. Otis was really tense, and not really paying attention, so our circles were more like squares :-/ He was pretty tense and resistent through the whole test, so I didn't have high hopes for scoring well. We ended up with a score of 63.4% and sixth place, which was better than I thought, and we got a ribbon ;-)

He wasn't much better in Intro C tense and distracted. His trot was still nice, but the canter transitions weren't so great. He even bucked a little on our second one. We got a score of 61.8% and a fourth place ribbon.

So Otis was not on his best behavior for this show, but he was still leaps and bounds ahead of where he was last year, or even at the beginning of this year, and I just need to keep reminding myself of that.



We still had fun, and we are always improving, and that's all that matters.

Dressage is #1!  (and Otis loves Reva)

Intro C - Nice trot :)

Not a bad Halt in Intro C

Photo credits go to Kate Flaherty Photography