A Close Finish at Fair Hill!

Playtime at Fort Fair Hill

Eventing doesn't get much better or much closer than this weekend at Fair Hill International's CIC**. Playtime finished 2nd by less than a point! On the drive home I thought of all the places I could have, over 3 days of competition, scraped over one more point. Jeeze! Danny I think said it best, "It was just one more smooch baby" and yes puckering up next time you better believe! Smarty and I were entered as our last run before Jersey Fresh, and I am thrilled with how the weekend turned out for all of us. Well, not so thrilled unpacking and attempting to dry out the trailer and equipment; but that is another story.

Smarty was getting a little cocky about his dressaging and so I tried a new warm up strategy, quite pleased with how it worked and we will see if I can recreate at Jersey! I was a little worried with the scheduling, they had us dressage over on the International side and I feared that I may not survive hacking back thru cross country after my dressage test! So after unapcking and setting up the tent stabling Thursday afternoon, early Friday morning we repacked the trailer, loaded a confused Smarty and off to Gallaher Road we went. I was really pleased with my test, he stayed focused and with me throughout the entire thing. I was a little conservative I know; but happy that I was still winning with more in the tank! Just wishing now I had asked a little more.....

Cross country day was pleasantly not raining, super hard ground although the horses didn't seem to back off as much as I thought they were going to. The course was I think a fair 2*, lots of new improvements around the course, new fences, new designs at the water and I don't think Smarty had negotiated a mound like that into water so that was a good test. He answered them all with out even blinking yay! He is getting to be such an efficient jumper on cross country compared to a year ago when his pretty boy jumper toes were soaring over all the fences, yes on style points but bad on the clock. Now we brush thru brush and get a toe tap here and there and it is actually a good feeling knowing that we aren't wasting precious seconds (which this weekend were really precious!). It is such a great feeling to look back to the animal you had a year ago, and really feel that all of the blood sweat and tears are really making a difference! I dare say he's ready for blue flags across country!

He came off of the course great, was the best he has ever cooled out and Trisha survived the walk back down the horse path (you have to ask her about pulling out her New England attitude on some ambitious mountain bikers!) and back to stabling where ice and cookies were waiting for him! Sunday morning he was feeling great, or perhaps it was the fact that it was freezing and windy, because he floated up and down the jog strip, such a great feeling hearing "Accepted" before you even walk! He wanted everyone to notice how beautifully Trisha had turned him out! Smarts can really jump and he did a fantastic job negotiating the jumping track even in pouring down rain and temperatures over 40 degrees colder than when we left Aiken two weeks ago! I was taking every inside turn, did the 7 to the sailboat combination, and still had a time fault. At least I put a little pressure on Doug, who went in and did the same clean round with the same time fault! Incredible! The skinny at 6 was absolutely rolling in the cups; but alas, it was not my day and somehow it rolled itself back into the cup. Hope we were saving our good luck for Jersey!

Charleston!

Yes, you are reading the correct blog....this is Blue Clover Eventing and what you are looking at has absolutely nothing to do with our horses! Sadly, time is winding down here in Aiken, in fact at this time tomorrow I will be typing from Norwood, NC as we roll into town for The Fork. Over the weekend we sent home 5 horses and Kristen (sorry Kristen!) and that just leaves 4 horses, Trisha, and 1 lercher to keep me company! We have had a great last few days doing all things we love to do, cross country school at Gibbes, combined test at Sporting Days, ride in our Field of Dreams. We have also had time to fit in all of our last minute favorite things, TakoSushi and Hotel Aiken on a Wednesday nite; Playoffs and the karaoke professionals on Sunday, Palm Beach Tan he he he, we had a pitcher at Maria's just for old times sake...jeeze it is like we are really leaving!

But, on the final day here, I did something fun and completely random. Richard who usually times his visits around shows and all big things on the calendar mistakenly booked a ticket for Charleston instead of Columbia. Soooooooo, (conveniently?) after I rode everything this morning (including galloping Smarty and cross country schooling Felix!) I abandoned Trisha with the rest of the packing so that I could make the long drive to Charleston. To justify spending such time in the truck, Richard and I decided to take a fun spin around town. Well, not so fun in the dually! But a fun field trip nonetheless. One afternoon off after 2 months of non-stop Aiken, well I suppose it was time! And we had a great time! Charleston is a super cute town and I would love to spend more than 2 hours there. I look forward to going back in the future for some beaching, shopping, and of course I'm going to love going out in the city that invented Firefly!!

Now, back to reality, time to get serious. Wheels up early in the morning for The Fork. So sad, I know I speak for all of us when I say how much we are going to miss Hatchaway Bridge Farms and our Aiken family there. Until next year!

Southern Pines II

So the funny thing is, I had a working student this summer named Marian who was pretty terrified of a ditch-and-anything and it became kind of a joke around Blue Clover Eventing. For fun, we put Trisha in front of the ditch and wall on Friday's course walk and sent it to her. Well, it was a good thing Marian wasn't at Southern Pines this weekend!!! Luckily for me, Smarty thought this fence was fun, hell lucky for me he thought every fence was fun as we just stormed around the Intermediate cross country on Saturday at Southern Pines. I don't think I've ever praised a horse so much after crossing a finish line!!

It started like a normal competition, Bailey and Trisha in the Training and Smarty in the Intermediate. We got there in time on Thursday for a nice dressage session, Smarty thought he saw dead people there for a minute although a few circles on a longe line (God Bless Cat and Megan!) and we were golden. Bailey was primed and ready for an early Friday dressage, and did he make quite an impression on the judge! Marks of '9' and '8' on the first two movements of his dressage test, way to go! The training was a very competitive division, and we were hoping the time would be hard to make over a very fun cross country course. Unfortunately, not exactly the case, although I don't think he had a single bad fence. A momentary trip in the water just to make for some dramatic photos...we will take it! Smarty had a pretty super dressage, tough crowd as we were in 6th on a 26 jeeze. Kudos to dressage judge Lisa Cox, she judged Intermediate from 8 until after 530 and she stayed so positive! A lot of fun to get to ride in front of her and I wish I could say that about more judges! I do want to take the moment however to compliment all of the crew at Southern Pines, it is like they have professional volunteers there that just make all the difference in the atmosphere. I look forward to bringing the barn back again next year!

I say that hoping that a few changes get made to the cross country before next year lol. In all seriousness, however, I feel strongly that Southern Pines II always has a very big and difficult track for the Adv and Int and here it was again this year. I don't think horses were reading the bank correctly so early on, I am so so fortunate to be on the bravest and scopiest horse and he didn't bat an eye, I gave him a strong ride and he soared right over it and got short even to the roll top. I got more wiggles to the bank down at 7 than I thought I would. Smarty was just absolutely full of running and he thought the initial house to the bank down apparently was the only question there, cheeky little monkey, and he saw C as kind of an after thought. He was quite honest when I closed legs and reins and jumped thru the flags we did! I cruised thru the Pond Water where so many were not so fortunate; I think my horse's experience at Intermediate made quite a difference there as I pretty much balanced him halfway down the hill and just kept coming down to it and he was happy to oblige. My excitement came actually dodging trees trying to find my line to the skinny at 12 up on top of the hill afterwards! His stride is so big, you have to be careful what you wish for when you ride him strong like I did to the water, takes a few strides to recover ha! Then it was full on galloping to the double corners, and my fancy little show jumper it starting to be a scrappy cross country pony. He took out the flag on B much to my surprise and excitement, actually, as a year ago that would have been a run out! I liked the 4 and thought I needed to keep coming thru the turn, well I accomplished that and got him there a little tight sorry bud; but that's why the flags pop on and off right?! On to the big water where the goal was to find my line to the very tight angled line of houses, Smarty was all about it and just cracked through it like it was a training exercise. Whew. One last tricky combination to go and I have had some ugly rides there before, the palisade things out in the middle of the track. I was cocky, I was close to making the time, and I went the direct route in 3. And I got it! Smarts came right back, jumped, turned, and pretty much locked on and jumped all at the same time. Goooood poooooony :)

Not too much time to celebrate however as we had to run back over for Trisha's show jumping. I don't think poor Trisha had any nerves left after getting me thru the cross country ha ha ha every 3 seconds someone was falling off, retiring, or her phone was ringing full of more bad news about how the course was riding. Maybe that was the secret to her show jumping round, she rode great, executed her plan, and Bailey got through the combinations with room to spare yippee! I must admit she did a better job than I at executing show jumping plans this weekend. I had costly time penalties in the OI-A to drop to 4th :( Smarty was jumping quite well, in fact I don't recall even a rub during his round, however we had a major discussion over a lead change after the oxer at 7. In the midst of all of this, I kind of slowly see us going to the outside of the first fence to get to the planks at 8, and realize that is NOT where I needed to be oh no! Do I rip his face off for the inside turn and probably get a rail because I've thrown everything out of whack? Didn't seem like a good idea, so I casually boogied around the long way, continued to leave up all the rails (and he jumped like dynamite through the triple!) and knew as I crossed the finish line after a beautifully clean jumping round that I really screwed up. There will be lead change boot camp this week I guarantee you so we can finish in the Top Three at The Fork in two weeks :)

Brew's Been Busy!

Brew is so excited to tell you all about his first two weeks with us at Blue Clover Eventing! I am so happy to have this little guy in my program, and he has had an action packed two weeks leading up to his first competition at Pine Top this weekend. In fact, everyone has been leaping into action the past two weeks. We are happy to have Kristen here for the month helping out, I'm sure she was lonely at home without us and man oh man were we happy to see her upon her arrival! She and Delilah didn't waste any time, either, they were the big winners on Wednesday at the Derby at Sporting Days!!

Brew and Bailey got to be the big horses this weekend heading to Pine Top, and they came home like big horses with a 5th and 4th respectively. Great ribbons and great results and it doesn't just happen. Congrats to Brew and Trisha and Bailey for busting their tails every day! And speaking of tails, Trisha has Brew's fancy little white tail glittering, I think it scored us an extra 2 points on our dressage lol. Everyone that has met Brew for even a second recognizes how cute and special he is, and he had quite a few moments this weekend that confirmed these feelings. He is the most laid back little fellow on and off the trailer, makes it that much more fun when the ones you like are actually easy to work around. I am sure that will change once he gets to be an Intermediate horse, his list of demands will multiply exponentially. So for the time being, we will enjoy it! Bailey is another one with very few demands right now, and we really appreciate that. We also really appreciate his effort in show jumping to leave up the rails, especially in the combinations! It was by far the best round I have seen Trisha and Bailey jump together. Looking forward to watching them cruise around the track at Southern Pines. It will be the most atmosphere that they have had to compete in thus far, and I'm anticipating a great dressage score - and finishing on it!

These two weren't the only stars of the week however. As I mentioned previously, Delilah and Kristen won the Derby at Sporting Days. We also had Antolin showing there in the straight dressage, he broke into the 70s at Training Level and got some really flattering remarks from the judge. The last time I took him out, he got '9s' on gaits, so he really has something to be proud of! This week he makes the move up to First Level. I would really love to find him a great dressage home down here in Aiken. Getting nervous, can't believe how much time has gone by already.....we leave the first of April and that will be here before we know it. So sad! We have such an unbelievable set up at Hatchaway Bridge Farms, and Aiken is such a special place for me. The weather couldn't be nicer, everything is bright green and in full bloom. I keep trying to take pictures with my phone and it doesn't do the landscape justice. I know, adios BlackBerry and time for the iPhone, although I'm just not there yet.

Smarty would like to remind everyone that he is still the big horse in the barn. He's going to do some dressage-ing at Sporting Days as well on Wednesday to tune up for Southern Pines this weekend. Looking forward to the kick off of the PRO Tour for 2012 at Southern Pines II, always one of my favorite events of the year. Tomorrow I'm taking all of my guys to Gibbs, Smarty will be so happy I know. He hasn't been there yet this year and there are just so many fun things to do. The possibilities are endless at Gibbs and it will be good to wear him out! He needs to set a good example for the youngsters (Brew and Felix) and I hope he takes that job seriously. They are impressionable at their young age ha. I sent in the entry for the 2* at The Fork, so I do hope Smarty is on his 'A' game because I'm certainly showing up to win! I'm certain I'm sitting on the best mover and jumper in the field and I think he's getting strong enough and rideable enough now that we can make it all look easy. Confident; but touching wood right now lol. I guess we will have to wait and see, check live scoring and as always read Eventing Nation and I will be back with the report soon!

Playtime at Pine Top

What a difference a year makes! At this time last year I can't describe to you the time and effort it would've taken me to get Smarty to jump straight over this little fella pictured above. And now, fast forward to Pine Top this past weekend. Smarty had a super jump up the bounce bank (and let me tell you it was even more of an effort than I was anticipating to get up there!) landed waiting for instructions, and absolutely straight on galloped to the skinny and split the uprights we did!

All sorts of stellar moments just like this helped us end a great week in Aiken. We've had a little excitement...some barn drama could have landed us on "Real Working Students of Aiken, SC" this past week. Really looking forward to the 1st when back-ups from home arrive!! Trisha had a great week, somehow in between making all of my horses, the barn, oh yeah and me look fantastic, she and her very own Final Statement won the Training Derby at Paradise on Wednesday! She and "Bailey" looked great out there, should be all primed for victory next weekend when they compete at Sporting Days. I am proud to have both of them as part of the program, well Trisha is an integral part as I can't imagine being here without her! We snuck out this morning to the Track Kitchen to celebrate surviving last week. It can't be all work and no play ;)

But, as I mentioned at the start of this blog, the real highlight of the week was getting to ride Playtime at the Advanced Pine Top this weekend. As most of you know, sadly he is for sale, and I consider every ride on him to be a bonus at this point. We worked incredibly hard all winter with Linda on his dressage and I was sorry that the conditions this weekend didn't allow us to showcase our new and improved flatwork! The thunderstorms were severe and scattered, and so after hours of delay we finally got word to tack up and get into the ring before the next round started. I thought Smarty handled this pretty well; but at the end of the day a huge squall interrupted our test and although he kept it together, a few mistakes here and there plagued our score. I rode in front of Charlie Musco, a judge whom I think very highly of and in fact I wish more venues would use him! I hope next time I see him the weather is a little kinder on us all, it is no fun to ride or judge or volunteer in weather like that - thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting our sport.

Saturday was a brand new day, with a new time schedule that the organizers somehow got to work out perfectly! I was thankful to get to show jump before cross country, actually, so I guess all the wet and disgusting tack and equipment was totally worth it?! Show jumping was actually quite tricky, lots of roll backs, use of terrain, a spooky skinny oxer, and my ultimate nemesis, a Swedish oxer to end the course on a bending line. I fell victim to the course designer's evil plan, Smarty was a little flat and stiff by the end of the course and I wasn't able to keep him straight enough...onto the high side we drifted and down went the very last rail on an otherwise well jumped course. He was even easily inside the time, in hindsight I would have insisted on adding up, getting him bending and supple again. Smarty does NOT like to touch rails, he apologized and swore it wouldn't happen again :) I promised him the same thing!

The brisk temperatures and wind helped ensure that I had plenty left in the tank that afternoon for cross country. I took advantage of all of the cross country fences in warm up (they even had a ditch flagged - amazing!) and angled a skinny or two just to make sure. I was a little worried about the out of the 2nd water. It was basically the same angled brush question that caught Smarty off guard at Fair Hill, and I didn't want to end up making the same mistake twice. Smarty has such a giant step, I found myself debating the numbers on a few of the other options. But by the time I left the box I had quite the plan in my head. And luckily, I was able to execute said plan out there! Smarty was so adjustable, the right amount of listening but still game to run and jump. He is such a powerful jumper, he makes my job easy most of the time. I took it easy galloping around; but you can just feel him learning each time he heads out on course. Very, very cool. The hardest and saddest thing is that I only get to ride him around the course once! I need 10 Smarty's, please, because it is really hard to think that I have to wait 3 weeks until Southern Pines to get to go run around another 6 minutes worth of Intermediate cross country! If only I had a barn full....and I know I'm the only person out there saying that, right?!

First Event of 2012!

Tatanka was so excited to go to Paradise Farm Horse Trials this
past weekend! Smarty, although excited, was the recipient of a pep talk from Trisha before dressage as it appears he had put himself to sleep!
Luckily, both put in quite the performance as we got our 2012 recognized eventing season under way. We are so lucky to be based out of Hatchaway Bridge Farms, an unbelievable place just minutes from the Paradise venue. It made traveling and scheduling easy, and with two great horses, Trisha and I had quite an easy time if I dare say so! Smarty started things Friday morning with a super dressage test. Even though he scored a '9' on gaits, I felt like the judge was a bit hard on him and he was siting 5th after 30 horses went in the open preliminary division. Tatanka scored in the cute department and ended up tied for 4th in a very competitive beginner novice division. It was a real pleasure competing in the sun and warmth, which I think has eluded Paradise for the past several competitions!
Saturday was a fun day with Smarty going early out on the cross country. I had a new plan for him this year, running the prelim here at Paradise and then back again next weekend intermediate at Pine Top. I think I like it! The rolling hills, and the use of that terrain, made for a great first outing back for him. I love the new flow of the course and there were some very good questions. Early on some angled downhill houses, and he was taking it easy and listening good boy! The bounce bank to the skinny, and the new coffin made of single chevrons was certainly a tough preliminary question. The new sunken road complex rode great, and Smarty was so very smart there jumping quietly down the drop - I dare say he is starting to learn! I ended up well over the time although that was my plan, starting very easy and just cruising around the course, by the end he was up in full galloping mode taking everything beautifully out of stride and coming right back when he felt me just sit up and stretch open my shoulders as I have practiced a gazillion times in my lessons with Karen! Tatanka had a busy day on Saturday as well, shortly after show jumping a clear round he went home and pulled triple lesson duty as his owner was in town! Because of a yucky Sunday forecast, Tatanka and Nicholas went through their dressage test, jumped a show jumping course, and went out to the woods and had a cross country school all in several hours Saturday afternoon. And then Nicholas came back first thing Sunday morning to practice more dressage in the rain! If that is not the spirit of a future eventing superstar, I don't know what is!
Sunday we were very good with scheduling and luckily the weather wasn't nearly as awful as the worthless news people made it sound. The footing on cross country held up just fine for Tatanka's round, although I think the warm up really took a beating. It was a great confidence building beginner novice track with the exceptions of having to navigate around a bunch of preliminary jumps to get up and down the banks. That was the most wiggly part of my weekend! Luckily he didn't wiggle around anything out on course and he finished in 3rd place yay! Show jumping was clocking right along and I hopped on Smarty, jumped a few oxers, and into the arena we went. The footing in warm up there, too, was a bit trashed and I wasn't sure how he would jump in the heavy footing in the ring. I love him so, he was foot perfect! Smarty cruised around the jumping track effortlessly and jumped everything with his million dollar style. Hard to believe it was just a year ago that we started working together, he is a completely different animal now and he is just the highlight of my day. I get to go in and ride my plan and even when it doesn't quite work out he makes it look beautiful.
Many thanks to the owners of Paradise Farm for hosting so many horses and people! We look forward to going back on Wednesday with Trisha and Bailey for the jumping derby. And then it is off to the Advanced Pine Top at the end of the week. Get the party started!

We're Back!

I know, I know, it has been a really long time. Way too long, in fact. Since the last blog we have had a lot of great and a lot of really not great things happen. I apologize for not keeping everyone up to date; but I got a touch overwhelmed. Suffice is to say, we are going to pretend that I blogged just last week, and now here we are again!

We are so so happy to be back in Aiken!!! Trisha, Gunsmoke and I got all of the ponies settled in to our amazing facility in Hatchaway Bridge Farms. If I could own a place in Aiken, it would be here! It is like coming home again! And I know the horses feel the same way. Some had been here before, and I guess they told the others what to expect because they have all been on their best behavior! We got straight to work, lots of sales horses and the competitions always seem to start sooner than anticipated.

I was scheduled to be the President of the Ground Jury the first weekend at Sporting Days, and that was a lot of fun. What a great venue to have and such an enthusiastic and supportive group of volunteers - and I was surrounded by a crew of outstanding officials and organizers that made my job super easy. Thank you all! I also got the opportunity to judge the show jumping at Full Gallop and what a bunch of great jumping horses there were. I think that my own competition string has their work cut out for them to hang with this crowd! I think, however, that they are ready to meet my challenge. They have been schooling great, we had a stellar time at Gibbs last week, and we did the schooling show at Sporting Days to get everything fine tuned. Feeling confident that tomorrow (Paradise Farm Horse Trials) is going to be a great start to 2012!

When I get a moment, I hope to get more pictures uploaded to the Blue Clover Eventing page on Facebook, check them out. Photo credits to Richard Gamble, who captured this amazing shot of our barn on his phone! Imagine what it looks like in real life! Our new schooling field is incredible. If I have learned nothing else in the past few months, it is to keep finding something to be grateful for, and as I look around where I am right now, I can hardly keep track of them all!