MD HT I - All Done!

Fear the turtles! And many poor little Beginner Novice horses did. But not our Splish Splash super star, she flew over them and into the water she went. Next stop, novice! She has her game face in in the picture above. Don't let the halter fuzzies fool you. She is fierce!


The intense July sun wasn't the only thing that was hot this weekend, the Blue Clover Eventing Team was on a roll both days at the first MD HT at Loch Moy! We absolutely lucked out the first day, crack of dawn dressage times ended up getting us a great parking spot right in front of the secretary, and more importantly the food booth next to the secretary, and more importantly the smoothie people inside that food booth :) We had a really fun guest with us, one of my dear friends
Amanda who sadly lives across the whole country in AZ; but fun for us to get to entertain her for a day. She is the one responsible for my owning Gunsmoke, so I know many of you love her even though you have never met her! She got to see the Smokes in all of his glory, passed out under the truck and trailer for the entire day. Anyway, it was fun for her to get to be back at an event in Area II, especially one as nice as Loch Moy. I am continually impressed by the reinvestment that Carolyn and her crew put into the facility and it really has become a destination event for a lot of reasons. Sadly however they fill a void in the middle of July when it is blazing hot!

I brought a fleet of ponies all set to move up to the next level and I am happy to say I have a fleet of ponies all set to move up to the next level! Smarty put in yet another (yawn) boringly beautiful dressage test. As he gets stronger, the scores keep going up and up. Hooray! He had another fantastic moment in show jumping - please sense the sarcasm - he was having his best round yet and he went over the liverpool and snap he went into jumper mode. The triple was next and he wanted to make this ridiculous jump off type bid and while I didn't let that happen, it wasn't a distance I would pick on my own, either. He left all of the rails up and finished with a clean round inside the time. It was also the fastest he had been on cross country, double hooray. There were several tricky questions that made you feel like you were on an Int horse. He did both really, really well. I think this track set him up well for the CIC1* at Stuart, and who knows, hopefully an Int shortly hereafter?! He just needs to get a little stronger and then we can go even faster, even with our time faults this weekend we finished 3rd!
The newbie of the crew, Portman aka Lucky, also competed on Saturday and finished 4th in his US eventing debut! This little 4 year old should be a future star for Blue Clover Eventing once he learns that horse shows and horse races are two entirely different things. Horse racing, he was no good at, so he may as well give all that behavior the 'adios' and learn how to be a show horse :) His dressage got better and better especially once we got away from all of the pinto horses in warm up, which he really didn't care for at all and what were the odds that there would be like 10 in the novice warm-up?? On a serious note, he is a ridiculously good jumper, the right balance of forward and careful, and quite a natural athlete. Really works against you when he is leaping and spinning away from cantering horses in warm-up; but I was really thrilled to tool him around the cross country. Look for this guy at Olney and Millbrook.
I guess the star of the show for us was Splash, one of my favorites even though I'm not supposed to have favorites ha ha ha. She went late in the day on Sunday, stepped off of the trailer bright white, not a hair out of place, and bopped herself down to the dressage ring where we got compliment after compliment about how fancy she is. She just does everything with flair, puts in 110% and you know I love horses like that. She was winning handily after the dressage, and then put in a super show jumping round. She isn't a very big horse, probably sticks right at 15.2, and so I have really had to work on her making the horse distances in the jumping lines. She got them this weekend easy easy and what a huge difference that makes, letting our show jumping round now look like a hunter round over jumper jumps. I made the executive decision that we would do the ditch option at fence 6, I figured she would see them next time at novice so she better go ahead and see it this time around. She just flew right over it without thinking twice. I deem her ready for novice at Olney, hope to see you all there!

Small and Mighty!

The lercher was completely wiped out after a hectic yet successful weekend at Seneca Valley's Horse Trials. We had an action packed two days, Smarty and Trisha's horse Bailey competed on Saturday in the PH and TR respectively. Sunday we had a pretty fun group, 17.2h Freddie Mac competing in the NH, and then a fleet of BN horses and ponies! Marian's horse Tanner also competed in the ON on Saturday; but sadly Marian got kicked out of camp and was forced to park with the bumper pull trailers on the other side of the show grounds. She was closer to the Smoothie Lady, however, so perhaps that was a good call after all...
Things were exciting early with us trying to figure out how exactly we were going to get to Seneca with the US Open in town and road blocks everywhere along our normal route. Luckily golfers don't get up at the crazy hours that we do, well maybe they do but their fans don't so smooth sailing on the way to the competition. Smarty put in an excellent dressage, winning on a 24. He can actually canter now! Unfortunately, however, had a major hiccup in that canter at fence 3 in the show jumping. He cantered himself right into the middle of an oxer and that was really fun and if you want more fun look up the pictures from GRC and be as amazed as I was that I stayed on! Cross country he totally redeemed himself and it was probably his best round yet, quite rideable and there were lots of skinny questions. Trisha did an awesome job with Bailey, coming in 7th in her debut competition in Area II! Very proud of her, we turned her flatwork upside down in the two weeks that she has had Bailey here and it paid off immediately, was sitting 4th after the dressage. We will work on in and outs until her next competition at Loch Moy :) Seriously though, she busted her tail all weekend long and I am so thankful to have her on the team.
Good hustle by Trisha and Marian to turn us around Saturday evening, and thanks to Richard for the pizza and beer needed to do so! We were off again Sunday with two full trailers and man did all my youngsters show up to play! Marian finished 4th in her novice, a really great way to start Tanner's comeback after a nasty injury that had him sitting out for a year. He proved he's ready for Training and beyond and that's what he's going to get! Freddie Mac was back in action after some time off from eventing this winter, and he proved to the world that some time off was just what he needed as he won on a 27 or something fantastic like that. Now 7 years old, he grew more than a hand since we imported him last April and that poor boy just couldn't keep up with his legs or anything else for that matter. He was brilliant in all 3 phases and clocked around like he had competed the day before. Looking forward to moving him up to training soon. My 3 little ones were super stars, with Bijou setting a high standard as our first out and finished 5th. Splish Splash gets our most improved award and you can bet she's going up to novice and I expect her to continue her winning ways, she finished second .5 behind the leader! Bling got more attention than I think any horse I have ever sat on at a competition. We had a flock of people surrounding her at the trailers, and I got stopped walking from trailer parking to dressage at least 5 times by people asking me who I was riding. She didn't let her admirers down, winning on her dressage score. In fact, I didn't add a single jumping fault to my dressage scores on Sunday, that's something that I am very proud of and I know their owners are pleased with that as well. We work circles in the ring tirelessly so that one day we get a good dressage mark, and then you just don't add anything to it. It's that easy, right?! Hmm, we will see if we can pull it off next time, to Loch Moy and the Maryland Horse Trials I we go!

Welcome Trisha and Marian!

I am very excited to get to introduce you to the two new working student extraordinaires here at Blue Clover Eventing- Marian and Trisha! Both girls nailed their interviews, have great competitive goals, and so far have survived their trial periods lol. In all seriousness, however, we are already working together as a great team. Marian (first picture) just graduated from UVM and was looking to fulfill her goals of riding at preliminary on her very nice Argentinian horse, Tanner, purchased several years ago from Sinead and Rebecca. He's been a great college horse, going to and from school and at the same time that made serious competition difficult. At the end of the fall season Marian is hoping to go to grad school and so we are making the most of her time with us! She is bringing back her good old pony club skills and her laid back attitude is appreciated by the horses and I alike! We are extra impressed by her driving skills, she's a "Beltway Bandit" as we call them around here, choosing to stay at home and commute to the barn and her horse daily. I don't know how much coffee it takes her in the morning; but she's at the barn every day by 7 and I've seen that traffic first hand.....

Trisha is our other newbie that we have welcomed with open arms. She better not be leaving in November lol! Trisha is with us as Valerie's long term right hand and she has all the skills and experience to do the job well. Her super people skills have allowed her to fit right in to the program and she really already owns the job. In fact, I saw her sprinting out to Morris' field last week at the sight of the first fly so the big horse would agree that she's a keeper :) Trisha is new to Area II, she finally got smart and left freezing RI and is looking forward to winter this year - in Florida and Aiken! Her partner in crime is Bailey, her own 16.2h OTTB that we are moving up to prelim soon.

The girls have their work cut out for them next weekend, each riding her own horse and I'm riding 5....let's put those skills to the ultimate test! If you are at Seneca, come stop in and say hello and maybe bring us something to eat?! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Where Does the Time Go?!

I hope that I can speak for everyone when I say that a good time was had by all this past weekend while I judged the Combined Test at Hidden Hollow in Gladstone, NJ! I was very excited to judge my first competition as a licensed 'r' and I was fortunate enough to work with a great group of people (pictured above scribe and show manager Holly Payne and winner of First Level Test 2 and 3 Kathy Hall aboard Sullivan). The show was a great mix of people ready to move up to the next level, as well as those who were just starting out with competitions. I do hope that I helped all of them!
I got a little help myself....I coordinated my trip to judge with lessons from expert judge Marilyn Payne. I took Morris and Smarty, Morris had to dressage every day and Smarty got lucky his last day and was able to show jump and then play around over some of the new cross country fences at Marilyn's lovely Applewood Farm. It was a great tune up on my position and Marilyn was really on my case all 3 days, with both horses. I have enjoyed working on all of my exercises since I've returned, not sure if Morris and Smarty feel the same way?! Smarty was moving like a million bucks by the time that I left, and that is really saying something because he nailed the dressage at Fair Hill on Memorial Day, scoring a 25 in the Preliminary Horse division!! Morris had some beautiful canterwork and Marilyn helped us gain a couple of extra points here and there with some tips on the Advanced tests.

There was no rest for the weary, as the very next day we loaded up the mother ship and went cross country schooling at Waredaca. They had the courses open from the weekend and we took advantage of it all, I think I schooled from Beginner Novice thru Intermediate! Smarty was jumping brilliantly and I really appreciated getting to school a lot of skinnies, and more specifically a lot of downhill skinnies. Splash gets the gold star for the day, I really love that little horse and she does everything with 200% effort. The Freddie Mac is back and started up right where he left off, schooling a majority of the novice and training. We plan on schooling again next week at Rubicon and bringing the masses (so if you are reading this and need to sign up for a group get in touch with me now so we can get times coordinated!). Our next competition is Seneca Valley in 2 weeks, looking forward to 2 action packed days with 6 horses going whew I hope the weather breaks by then!

MCTA - Glad I Went!

What can I say, looks like a typical picture of Morris and Valerie. Valerie busy thinking, plotting, planning, studying. And Morris, staring at cross country, hoping that he gets to run and jump!

Run and jump we did for the past several days at the beautiful MCTA at Shawan Downs. Lucky for me, this event is only an hour away from the barn and the weather for the past several days has been pretty perfecto for eventing. I think this has been, by farm, my most positive experience at this horse trials. In fact, I haven't competed at MCTA for probably 2 or 3 years. I know last year I went to work on my judge's license and thought for a fleeting moment or two that maybe I would be willing to give it a try again. The weather is usually rainy, the footing wet and deep, and the courses notoriously more difficult than you think they should be. They offer schooling after the event, and previously charged an arm and a leg to attend. I must say that this year things were really on the up and up! All of the courses seemed to have better flow, even though the advanced still wiped out half the division and it more or less rode like the hardest course I have ever ridden. Coming off of an elimination thanks to the skinnies at the Fair Hill CIC3* (and yes I still have a very painful and broken right thumb) I wasn't the happiest of campers walking around the advanced. However, by the end of the weekend, and even after schooling a bunch of critters today, I give the whole experience two thumbs up.
The headliner, perhaps, for the weekend was an oldie but a goodie...Private Buck. He was an old prelim horse of mine that went on with his owner to do all sorts of unrecognized things like fox hunting, hunter pacing, and being a guest horse extraordinaire. We decided to go ahead and sell him and to do so wanted to get a current record. So after a week of eventing bootcamp, off to MCTA we went. I entered him in the ON, and after an early morning on Saturday (Morris started the day with an 8 o'clock dressage test) poor Private Buck didn't get to do his test until 2. He didn't get to jump until 5:30! But let me tell you, it was worth the wait. He was soooo happy getting to strut his stuff again. He really turned it on in the dressage arena and was sitting second on a 27.5. He show jumped like he had just been around a highly decorated arena yesterday, not even getting close to the rails. And then he bombed around cross country clean and easily within the time, ears pricked looking for his fence the whole way. We ended up moving into the lead with all of our double clears and taking the top spot by quite the margin of victory for novice. Way to go Buck!
Playtime had a little too much playtime this weekend. His dressage was good, unfortunately he wasn't capable of counter cantering down the hill in the corner of the dressage arena and broke to the trot. You know what that means, if you said more canter poles you were absolutely correct!! Show jumping was frustrating, actually. He jumped the first fence and landed kind of dead, distracted, uninterested in the fact that he was on course. It was a bit of a forward bending line and so I kicked him into gear; but Mr. Warmblood had a bit of a delayed response and we got to 2 unorganized, on a half stride, and he kinda stopped and ducked out all at the same time. Instantly following that was a huge leap and buck because he knew he was about to get a beating. Brat! He then proceeded to put in an absolutely perfect round, I think I barely had to touch a rein or add my leg for the rest of the course and he was sailing a foot over all of the fences. Cross country was a bit the same story. He needs to get a little better still about organizing before his fences so that we can find a nice forward move up stride. This is especially important when you are facing related distances with skinnies and chevrons, like the water jump. We had a cheap run out at the third element. Good news is, 2 months ago I probably would've had a cheap run out at the second element :) So we are making progress.
Speaking of progress, Morris made some serious progress this weekend. I ran him in the advanced and was hoping to prove our performance at Fair Hill was a fluke due to soggy boggy conditions. Morris finished the advanced in third place! By far our best finish yet, and more like his usual form we posted the fastest time on cross country. You have to have a real cross country horse to get around clean and fast and without terrifying spectators at MCTA and I feel like we delivered. Okay, so our bounce probably would've gotten a good gasp or two out of the crowd; but I promise that was probably it. We were straight up and over every skinny out there, and he was surprisingly game for the new intimidating bounce bank. The water was pretty action packed, and the world famous coffin rode much better now that it was at the end of the course and not feeling like such a steep effort in and out. If I could redo anything from the weekend with Morris, I would love another crack at show jumping. He was a little slow off the ground here and there and I should have thrown careful out the window a bit and gotten after him a little more. I know, even perfect Morris needs a little(big) tap(whack) every now and then lol.
Today I drove to Shawan Downs yet again to go cross country schooling. I took my fleet of beginner novice horses. Laugh all you want, they are the cutest, most athletic and fun things I have had in my barn in a long time! Every single one can win the dressage, and they jump and bounce and bop around in their little snaffles and they point their little toes and I cannot wait to compete them all at Seneca mid-June! Need to go schooling once or twice more, not going to lie, but you just wait......!

The Fork

Yep, that's it. That is officially, "The Fork." Little known fact of how one of the best events in the world came by its name. These are the things I learn when on a course walk with Karen. Okay, so there was a tip or two there about how to jump around the advanced track as well ha ha ha. Seriously, though, it is a pretty stellar view out at the far point where two rivers come together far beyond the cross country course. Lucky for me, Richard had recruited Jimmy earlier in the day to go on this adventure with us. Not only did we want Jimmy along for his expert opinion and nature know-how...he brought his own serious off-road vehicle to get around and from what we were told the rental golf carts weren't going to make it! The next time you see Jimmy, you'll have to ask about his up close and personal encounter with the spot, and how he and his faithful lab almost went swimming unwittingly......
And, might I mention, while all of this was going on there was this little horse show going on as well. And what a great weekend it was! You get the feeling from everyone at the Fork about how thrilled they are to host all of us, and we are so lucky that they feel that way. Although the schedule got a little out of control on Sunday (pulling into my barn at a solid 1:30 am with the entire barn coming home from Aiken was not my idea of a fun way to end the weekend) in general it really is a top notch competition. The footing on cross country was just unbelievable, my horses galloped silently both Saturday and Sunday and were full of run and jump the next day. Although quite challenging, the courses were so inviting and so well designed and constructed, it just made for such a positive experience. This was Smarty's first preliminary in the States, and Morris' second advanced. Quite proud of both of them. Dressage was the lowlight for both for entirely different reasons. Smarty decided in the ring that he knew way, way more than I did and he bought himself a trip to a dressage show at Morven Park this coming Saturday. Take that, Smarty Pants! Morris was really relaxed and settled in warm up, and then I made a mistake in my final warm up and put a little too much pressure on him. He tries so hard, he didn't go into the ring and relax. He went into the ring with his little brain spinning wondering what I was going to ask him to do next, and he was afraid he wasn't going to do it correctly. Poor Morris! I hope he forgives me. He, too, is going to the dressage show at Morven Park this coming Saturday and we are going to do a little psychological warfare.
As disappointed as I was after dressage, you can believe it was the complete opposite after cross country. The advanced pony was awesome! One hairy moment at the first water, after watching the CIC3* puke over the house at 7A, I figured I had a great plan. Smack went Morris' stifles, however, and I fell victim to a scrappy ride just like everybody else. I was proud of my recovery, however, and the massive table to itty bitty chevron at 8AB went super well. Morris was really jumping up and over his oxers this round, much more so than at Southern Pines. I think we both knew a little bit more what to expect this time! He was super at the Turtles, the sunken road. I road the ditch and brush like I was being chased by a pack of hyenas and that seemed to work well. The little rascal still barely slithered over the trakehner after the water. Rumor has it this is the last year for those god awful things, and I will be the first to throw a going away party! Very difficult to get up and running after all the S turns at the big water. I know, that's the point. Nonetheless, bon voyage. Morris absolutely swallowed up the ground galloping up the big hill, and was extra speedy on his way back down. The brush to the double corners went surprisingly well, Morris lives for that stuff. He spends his entire time on course just trying to find the next set of flags. He needs to talk to Smarty about that. Smarty was very honest about all the skinnies on a tough preliminary track, and he is such a ridiculously good jumper I think the only time I had to kick him was for my own good to the trakehner at 8. He just needs to keep developing his flatwork and adjustability so that he can fly like his older brother in between fences. Don't get me wrong, he would have no problem flying at the present moment. And then I would just fly by the next several fences lol.
Show jumping for Morris this weekend actually makes it onto the highlight reel as well. I learned a very valuable lesson I think about Morris. I punched out a rail pretty good over the giant airy yellow oxer in warm up (2 rails set at four foot whatever are always more intimidating than the lovely decorated ones out on course) and I usually would end on that note. However, I was still too many out and I had only jumped one "big" fence. So I went back to it. And Morris was actually a little rattled. I think this actually explains several of my round when Morris went in there after a rub or a rail as my last fence in warm up and got a little fired up once I picked up my canter in the competition arena. I had to jump it 4 or 5 more times until he was settled and moving up appropriately to the deep spot. As much as I hate to waste that many jumping efforts in warm up, I think that was a great lesson learned and I am going to remember that for many jumping warm-ups to come. He went in there and really listened well, I got him settled but yet kept him forward, and we ended up having just barely 1 rail. He jumped well and I feel like I was staying up out of his way long enough to let him finish his jump. Maybe, just maybe, I'm learning something......
Looking forward to settling back in at home and then off in 2 weeks to Fair Hill. Lots to talk about before then. I do, however, need to do 2 months worth of unpacking and laundry so that's all I got for now!

Ta Ta for Now!

Morris was so happy today! This photo captures his excitement about walking out to our jumping field. And because he had the stud girth on, he knew he was in for a real jump school. Sadly, it was our last time jumping down in Aiken for the 2011 season. We tried to end it on such a positive note, however! Smarty and Morris went to Gibbs yesterday to conquer any and all last minute combinations that we haven't done in the 2 months we've been south. They were both brilliant. Poor Smarty got double a workout, according to his clock it is the beginning of winter and apparently he thought it was going to be a doozie...my fancy Selle Francais looks more like a Shetland Pony at the moment! He was huffing and puffing galloping all around Gibbs. Honestly, I didn't feel too bad for him...good to wear that one out from time to time lol. He was great about the coffin set up on the bunker, it actually slowed him down for a second. And he has gotten so much better about the skinnies. I think he has done every skinny and downhill combination on the entire property! He had his first encounter with the duck as well. I think 3 out of his 4 legs cleared it on the first attempt, and by the end he was doing the duck to the corner in 6 or 7 strides, and vice versa. Thought we would have him all prepped for the geese at The Fork, and then I hear that the big water has turtles. Looked high and low and found no turtles at Gibbs. Drats!
Morris had a great time as well. After our little incident at Southern Pines II, I made sure that Morris saw every ditch on the property, ditch and walls, ditch and bank, ditch between the bank, ditch and skinnies, coffins, trakehners, ditch liverpool thing in front of hanging log. Hmm. I don't think I missed any. Sunken road, I guess that is like a giant ditch?! We will see if all this work pays off. you-know-what is going to be waiting for me after the first water at The Fork. I have a plan that involves a tap and a spur and a couple of bad words!
Today we finished an action packed week (and it's only Tuesday!) with a jump school at the farm. We had canter poles strewn across the entire derby field, that and skinnies. Skinny to canter poles, canter poles to skinny. Every now and then I buried him under a big oxer, and then he got to do more canter poles. I think, however, that he had a good time. Got to buck during a couple of flying changes and that always makes his day. I do love that cheeky little monkey! Morris was, of course, Mr. Professional as soon as he entered the jump field. We had a couple of specific exercises set up that made Mr. M do some serious thinking and it was good for him! I had stiff bounce set up out of planks, and he did come home with red paint on I think all 4 toes. Hope he remembers that! Also tried to recreate some of our show jumping from Southern Pines II, well it was a slightly different interpretation as I don't recall take off rails and V-rails at Southern Pines. But today, highly effective! I hope he remembers that as well come the weekend!
We are set to leave lovely Shag Hill Farm at 0900. Sounds so doable on paper. I did at least do laundry and pack this evening. Gunsmoke took note of the bags piled up by the door, and as I type he is at my feet making sure that he isn't forgotten. As much as we love Aiken, it's time to get this show on the road. Next stop, The Fork!