Yee Haw!

After competing in five two phases since we started eventing in 2011, I finally felt ready to try another three phase horse trial. Our first horse trial in 2011 didn't go so well. Otis and I both got VERY nervous in the cross country phase and ended up getting eliminated due to too many refusals. Competing in the two phases and practicing at home, our confidence level has really gotten better.

The horse trial was August 18th at Hilltop Equestrian Center. This is the same place we did our first horse trial, and have competed in a two phase there as well. It is a really nice venue, and I always enjoy showing here.

I arrived at the show a couple of hours before my dressage time becasue I wanted to be able to walk the cross country course before they started the cross country rounds for the day. There were 14 jumps on the course, 7 of them were in the field, 5 of them were in the woods, and the last two were out in another field. There were a couple that looked a little scary. Fence 5 we had to come at from up a hill, so it looked bigger than it was, and fence 11 looked much higher than the 18" max of the pre-elemenary division, but I told myself we woud be fine. When I jumped the course though, I was surprised to see that they had taken the top log out of the fence and it was MUCH smaller than when I walked the course. I recorded the course on my new CourseWalk app so it can be seen here. The course itself was easy to remember, but it was nice to be able to look at pictures of the jumps in the order that I would be jumping them. I think this app would be even handier for the higher levels with more complicated courses.

Otis was very good for the dressage warm up and our test, so I was feeling pretty good about the day. Once we were done with dressage I changed my clothes and changed Otis' tack so we could get warmed up for cross country. While I was getting changed they announced that the dressage scores for my division were being posted, I resisted the urge to go look at them so that I could get ready in plenty of time for cross country and not have to hurry.

Otis was really good in the warm up for cross country. No crazy deer hoping over the jumps! He did look down at the practice log when we jumped it the first time, but went over it fine after that. I felt really confident and ready to go when it was our turn. We were counted down and off we went! Otis was a little nervous/excited as we headed down into the field, but he jumped fences one through four no problem. He tried to refuse fence five, which is the one I thought looked a bit scary, so I guess he agreed. It was a small enough fence, so I just kicked him over it. This worked him up a bit so he jumped fence six a bit bigger than he needed to. By the time we reached fence seven, he was okay and jumping great again. He got a bit worked up as we heaeded into the woods for the rest of the course, but we just cantered along like we would on the trails at home. He got a bit squrimy as we approached the fences in the woods, but I kept him between my legs and he sailed over them no problem! We finished the rest of the course no problem and we galloped through the finish cones up the hill to head back to the trailer. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I had goose bumps when we finished! I was so proud that we not only finished the course clean, but we did it well, and improved SO MUCH from the first time we tried cross country.

We had a couple of hours before our stadium phase, so I untacked Otis, hosed him down and let him have some hay and water. I walked up to look at the dressage scores and we were in the lead!

It was finally time to tack up for stadium and Otis was still feeling nice and relaxed when I got on. I jumped him over a few of the warm up jumps and he was still being awesome. I decided to give him a break and just walk around the grounds while I waited for it to be time to jump the course. Stadium was running a bit behind so we had to wait a lot longer than I had planned. When it got closer to our turn I jumped Otis over the warm up fences a few more times just to wake him up. He jumped the course great. We were both feeling sleepy from standing around in the sun so we could have done better, but we went clean with no refuslas and no knock downs. This meant that we kept our first place stanidng and got to take home a blue ribbon!

My main goal for the day was to be successful in cross country with no major mishaps. Not only did we accomplish that goal, but we went clean in both cross country and stadium, and received an excellent dressage score. Otis and I were both pooped by the time it was time to go home, but what a fun day! If I thought I was hooked on eventing before, I deinitely am now!

A sleepy Otis proudly displaying his ribbon!

Southern Maine Dressage Association August Show

What a beautiful day for a show! Sunday August 4th was the third Southern Maine Dressage Association show that Otis and I have attended this season. It was an absolutely gorgeous Summer day with sunshine and very little humidity.

After I had gotten Otis and I ready, I got on and started to walk around the grounds before we went into the warm up arena. Not a few steps past the trailer, and we run into our awesome instructor Judy! I was excited to see her since a flat tire ruined my plans to take a lesson with her the Friday before the show. She had trailered a horse in for somebody, and was going to be there long enough to see my Intro C test. I had a fleeting moment of feeling the extra pressure to do well for Judy, but that quickly went away. I thought it would be great to see all of our hard work put to use, and also give us some things to work on when we finally can make it back to her farm for a lesson.

Otis was great for Intro C. Our trot to walk transition wasn't the greatest partly because I didn't properly prepare him, and the other part is Otis is lazy and can't wait to walk, so he is very abrupt in is transitions. He has also started doing his "nose wag" thing again, which Judy said we could work on in our lessons. Overall he was very good, with great canter transions, and a very willing attitutde. We ended up placing first with a score of 68.75%!

We had almost two hours in between Intro C and Training 1 so I tied Otis back to the trailer and loosend his girth so he could have some hay and water.

I was hoping Otis would still be nice and calm after his long break, and when I got on him to warm up for Training 1, I was happy to find that he was. He was just as good for Training 1 as he was for Intro C. He got a bit strong in one of our transitions from canter down to trot, but his trot to walk transition was much better this time. We were the last to go in the Training 1 division before lunch break, so we didn't have to wait long to find out that we had won with a score of 67.71%.

We ended up improving on our scores in both tests as compared to the June show, and that is always my main goal, to improve my scores. Otis and I are really getting into a partnership at shows and it feels really good to have all of our hard work, sweat, and tears pay off! We only have two more shows in our calendar for this year, a horse trial in a couple of weeks, and the last SMDA of the season on September 15th. I am kind of sad about that... I may have to find more ;-)