Muddy Morven, Lovely Loch Moy

I don't know exactly how it goes from 40 and raining to 80 and sunny in just one week; but let me make it clear that I am not complaining! And I would love to know how I can place an order for this fabulous weather to stick around right thru Fair Hill this coming weekend! Oh I hope hope hope...

Quick recap of our past week starting with Morven Park. Poor Trisha, I would like to start with an apology to my groom....I left the dog at home knowing that he would be miserable. And there Trisha and I were, ready to stick it out for two days straight! We had 4 horses going and it was a fairly big competition for them all in a way. I was determined to have a good ride on Morris, aka get him in the ribbons, after my stupid mistake of jumping the wrong fence at Plantation and robbing him of his win. He so deserved that and I have yet to get over it! Luckily, he had more than a monkey on his back this time around and we finished 4th. He was a very, very good boy in awful conditions. We were the last to run cross country out of the entire preliminary division and we were basically taking out the flags on basically every fence to get him the best footing. Obviously I didn't have too many choices at some of the combinations; but he is so light and agile on his feet he never felt for a second like he was struggling. He is the fastest horse in the world, although today was not a day to prove that. He had some time faults that we credit to horsemanship and I have a happy and healthy pony ready to run another day! The pressure was on Smarty as this was his final run before Fair Hill and technically under USEF rules he had to have another qualifying score to get to the CCI**. A pretty huge accomplishment that he is there on the minimal qualifications and jumps just brilliantly. A collective sigh of relief I think from all of us when he get a qualifying score in the dressage, by next spring he will be in the Top 3 every competition and right now he just needs to get stronger. He tries so hard and I can't wait for him to start getting the top marks that I know he can get. Show jumping was just phenomenal as he was clearing the fences, out of deep footing and puddles, by at least a foot. He was quite proud of himself, I assure you lol. He came back on Sunday to cross country and although I took it slow, I rode all of the combinations forward and direct and he was right there to live it up. He even added his own degree of difficulty at the last very tough question on the course at the Quarry. He spooked at some beginner novice log that had been drug half way into the woods and on our approach to the very skinny skinny he was leaping and spinning in the other direction. Nice. I think I have him fit enough for Fair Hill......
The baby brigade made an appearance on Sunday in dismal conditions as well. They should consider themselves lucky that Richard and Gunsmoke were also in attendance to cheer them on. Don't tell them that they were actually there to watch the Advanced cross country.....Nonetheless they were pretty super. Lucky was the real star, putting in a great dressage test in a tough arena with a swamp for warm up and then added nothing to his dressage score to finish 3rd! He is such a super horse for the future. His new prospective owners were there watching and I think they really liked what they saw. Splash was perhaps the one with the most pressure, she has won EVERY event she has every attended other than one second place finish that tarnished her undefeated record! Splash was her usual winning after dressage and then disaster struck in show jumping. Apparently our little princess has never had to show jump in such conditions and she was so freaked out by the puddles at take off and landing! Poor little thing, so unfortunate that her show name is Splish Splash ha ha ha because she wanted to neither Splish nor Splash anywhere in that show jumping arena. I was ready for her out on cross country, where for whatever reason she wasn't phased one bit by the mud and cruised around double clear. That's horses for you.
And luckily Splash got another try not even a week later at Loch Moy, where the conditions couldn'tve been more perfect. She was great in the dressage, perhaps not as dazzling in her canter work as she could have been and that left us vulnerable. She was a jumping fool around both show jumping and cross country this time and finished in 2nd, just .9 behind the leader. Oh so close! She is off to the Novice Championships in Lexington, VA and I'm feeling pretty confident that we are gonna be in the money....Bijou Noir was our other novice horse at Loch Moy and she, too, finished on her dressage score. I think she had the unfortunate advantage of being the very first novice horse in the dressage because her test would be hard to improve and she was just a hair out of first point-wise. Placing wise, she ended up fourth. We still decided to love her and bring her home :)

Stay tuned for an action packed Fair Hill week, we are off on Tuesday and ready for an adventure!!!!

Clifton Jade Wins at Plantation!

Well, that's how it was supposed to read anyway. Sadly, Clifton Jade had the winning score at Plantation and then, when it was all said and done, got a big TE for Technically Eliminated, or, totally excellent as we told him. Morris didn't do a thing wrong to deserve the TE, it would be his rider (ahem) who completely messed up the CIC and CNC course and I had no idea I had done so. In fact, I was clean and fast and knew that we had won and was ready to fight when they told me I missed 16B. Morris deserved to win, he was just fantastic. Dressage was freezing, quite literally, it was 41 degrees and just surviving the warm-up was on everyone's mind as cold and tight horses were zinging and leaping all around the show grounds Friday morning. I did a pre-ride not to wear him out as much as I just wanted to literally warm us both up, and when I got on for the second time he was feeling really good. He stayed the same from warm up to around the ring, and then cruised on down the center line like he owned the place. I knew it was going to be a good day! Show jumping went well, I had a rail even though technically it was Morris' hoof that tapped it. Lots of horses were spooking at the in of the combination and even though Morris isn't spooky I didn't want to take any chances as I had seen numerous bad rides. Good news was, there was no spook. Bad news was I got his front legs right up to it and he just didn't have time to snap them cleanly out of the way. However, clean show jumping rounds were very few and far between. We went from winning the dressage to sitting second by barely a point. Cross country day on Saturday started out a little rough. I was walking the course while the riders in the early part of the division were out galloping around, and they were refusing and falling left and right! Not what you want to hear and see as you plan your last approaches and strategies. Morris was none too worried, that's for sure. It was dark and cold and blustery warming up on top of the hill and he was all business and had an excellent warm up in no time. Before I knew it we were flying out of the start box and covering ground like nobody's business. We made it through the coffin which had been - quite literally - a show stopper for most of the division. Morris was excellent, flew thru the bank, the water....and ultimately we flew right by stupid 16B and it cost us the blue! I really have no one to blame other than myself, that doesn't really make me feel any better. It did, however, motivate me to go walk Smarty's CIC** course twice more ha ha ha.
Smarty had a great weekend even if he didn't end up in the Top Ten (he was oh so close). This little Chubby pony was competing at Training Level this past February and now he's qualified for Fair Hill! The dressage is still tough for him, I thought it was one of the best starts we have had and he just got a little tired and I couldn't keep it all together by the end of the test. Had some really super moments, and even performing at less than half of what he is capable of, we were sitting 14th in a super competitive field after the dressage! The cross country course was tough. I had not been to Plantation in years, and the new layout with the arena (the footing is amazing) and the ability to see the entire cross country course from the ridge really makes it an impressive venue. I was a little disappointed in all of the twists and turns in the 2* track. It made some tough questions that much more intense and made you feel like you never had a moment to just let your horse swallow up the ground. That said, Smarty was brilliant. I thought that my round at Richland was like a hunter round at 550 mpm, and this didn't quite match that (I missed like none other to fence 15, the skinny ditch and brush I admit it!). All in all, however, he was a very, very good boy. Some of the biggest bravery questions he has ever faced were on the course, and he was so honest about the skinnies after the coffin (huge vertical log one stride ditch bounce ditch one angled stride skinny eek!). It was the fastest and most efficiently he has ever started a course and he ended with his ears pricked, looking for more fences! He is the only horse that I have ever had that went into the Vet Box and shortly after being assessed by vets was begging for cookies! He really is one of a kind and I really am so lucky to have a horse like that in my barn. Sunday he looked magnificent for the jog, thanks Trisha!, and he put in a lovely jumping round. Had not one but two really cheap rails. That was a really annoying way to end my weekend, knocked him out of a top ribbon. Next time. Well, next time will be Morven Park and maybe we should save it for Fair Hill? Sounds like a plan to me!

The Richland Report

I know, I know Richland was FOREVER ago or so it seems. But what can I say, time flies when you are having fun. Or, I've been really busy with the earthquake, hurricane, and now flooding and the havoc that it is wreaking in my little daily life! More details, in chronological order:

Richland Park is one of the best events of the year. The timing this year was incredible, how did they know that I would miss both an earthquake AND a hurricane while away competing? Thank you!! The organizers and volunteers are so insanely nice, (thank you Rick Dunkerton for working your scheduling magic), the courses and footing this year were great, the FREE competitors parties (yes, plural) and the fact that all of my favorite people and ponies were there just make it a destination event. I think that Richland should apply for the AECs, after all I think it is 12 hours from anywhere and they proved this weekend that they can run what seemed to be a thousand horses without a hitch. Job well done! And my horses and Trisha get a job well done as well! Morris was great in his advanced dressage test, it was that pesky test B and he was so much calmer and focused about his half pass and flying change routine. Someone is really growing up! Smarty won the warm up and then pretty much embarrassed and exhausted me in the arena if that is possible. Last I checked, however, the reinback does not call for flinging ones head into the air, and then staring eye to eye at the judge inside her box while we somehow leap backwards into the middle of the arena. All was forgiven, however, as soon as he started jumping. In only his second intermediate, he was clean and fast around a significant track, taking all of the direct routes, jumping everything with textbook form, and Chubbs even kicked it into a higher gear this time, finishing barely 10 seconds over the time. Yay! I'm afraid I can't say the same for Morris, he was his usual clean and fast self except for the fact that he took a great disliking to the combination involving the massive ditch and brush drop fence early on in the course. I think his confidence is still a little rattled in the ditch department from Stuart, as it took some serious convincing to get him to the other side. The rest of the course, however, he didn't let a single ditch get to him. There was a VERY tough line of skinny ditch and brushes, two strides apart, and Morris jumped through there beautifully. I took the option at the coffin having already had trouble early on in the course, looking back I think he would have been fine to go the direct route. Better safe than sorry, save it for next time! His show jumping was so much better than his last appearance at Richland. It is tricky out there on the hill and Marc's course really plays into the terrain. Morris fell victim to the downhill triple, getting the rail on "C" other than that it was a pleasant round. Smarty's past life as a show jumper came in handy, we jumped a smart fast round with just a single rail down early in the course...he apologized profusely afterwards and swore it would never happen again lol.
We were smart this year and made the drive home on Monday, Trisha did an incredible job all weekend keeping the horses, Gunsmoke, Richard and I all in line. And then it was a big week for her getting ready for Seneca Valley where she and Marian and a bunch of other students and young horses were set to compete. I declare it a successful trip, even if Saturday did take forever thanks to an over-hour-long rain delay for wicked downpours and lightning. It was well worth the wait, however, with Smarty putting in a lovely dressage test and double clear show jumping round in the pouring rain. (Did I mention that we went to Karen's and she kicked both of us into action, one doesn't go magically from last to first in one week at Intermediate lol?) Marian and Trisha each are officially preliminary riders!! and are looking forward to taking that experience with them to dominate the half-star at Waredaca in a few short weeks. Lucky was the best he has been since arriving in the USA in early June. His jumping is incredible and I can't wait until he is older and wiser and cruising around a 3* track. Splash continued her winning streak - yawn - this time with owner Sabrina Valente in the tack. Her sister Nikki was hot on her heels, finishing 3rd, and let me say how much these girls deserved the top spots, they rode like nobody's business!

And finally, here I get a chance to sit in front of my computer and type. Not much else to do, it has rained 10 inches in 2 days, or something close to that. I'm afraid gallop sets are taking place tomorrow in the indoor, at least we have the world's largest indoor :) Next stop for all of us, Plantation where we aim to get some horses qualified for Fair Hill. Fingers crossed!

A Wacky Waredaca

When it rains it pours, I don't know really where that saying comes from; but seems very appropriate for our weekend last weekend at Waredaca. Not that I am complaining about rain - it has been the first time that Morris and Smarty could gallop out on a hill in months - I'm just saying that torrential downpours and delaying ride times were not what we had in mind when we signed up for an August competition at Waredaca!
Saturday started bright and early with Playtime making his Intermediate debut. He was such a good boy! Dressage is tough for him, he just isn't strong enough or broke enough yet to pull off the collection and fancy maneuvers all while flicking his white toes simultaneously. He had some lovely moments, and the rein back was much better than anticipated. I did enjoy getting to ride him in the large dressage ring and I know he found it much easier as well. Not that his opinion much counts :) Show jumping was lovely, he was still a little touch and go after some of the lines and combinations; but again so much improved from the horse we had in February! He was great for the skinny at the last, although he got a little confused as to where the last fence was....after the liverpool you cantered more than half way around the ring towards the in/out gate where a very vertical set you up 6 strides out from the triple. I went to put him together for the vertical and Chubbs that he is figured he must be done, so he trotted! I quick kicked and spurred and pulled him together and he jumped the 4' vertical perfectly out of a stride and a half of canter. Only Smarty! Cross country was really a highlight. Really from fence 6 on I don't have a single complaint about how anything rode. There were plenty of skinnies for him to feast his eyes upon, and he recognized them all as jumps, and jumped them straight and in great form all on the first try! He is so brave, down a massive drop, bounce off a bank into the second water, two massive trakehners, and he didn't hesitate for a second. I am really looking forward to his future. Short term, Seneca Valley. Then Plantation. CIC? Horse Trials? Who knows!
Smarty got the best weather of the day, and from here on it was kinda chaotic. Lucky was in the Young Event Horse, warmed up the best yet for dressage and sadly as he started to go around the outside of the dressage arena, gigantic rain drops, people scurrying all around from show jumping, and although he was pretty good it paled in comparison to what I had in warmup just two minutes earlier. The confirmation section he again fell victim to Mother Nature; it just started absolutely pouring right before he went and a mis-announcement over the loud speaker brought probably 30 horses and people all trying to get into the indoor. I can't blame them, it was miserable outside! But poor Lucky couldn't figured out why these people were swarming him and he didn't put his best foot forward to trot on the triangle. The jumping phase felt like it took place hours and hours later although it was worth the wait. He was great! Drop, ditch, water, and getting to show off his gallop were among the highlights of Lucky's whole day.
Highlights of working student Marian Herbick's day would be her 25 in dressage that had her over 5 points in the lead!! in the training rider division. She deserves it, been working so hard on Tanner and his circles and it is really paying off. Now, we need to start working on applying these dressage skills at a minimum of 470 meters per minute, because her time faults on cross country cost her the lead! Oh how sad; but I think she is going to be plenty fired-up for her next run at Seneca, which will also be her first preliminary.
And speaking of fired up, that would pretty much summarize Trisha's attitude I think after her competition on Sunday. It was her first ever Preliminary, and just like Marian, Trisha has really taken her horse and her riding to a whole other level since joining the team in June. Her dressage had some good moments and the mistakes that were made are easy to fix and will come with time. That, or else feel better soon because the Advanced dressage tests don't ask for counter canter, only the prelim tests lol. The courses were looking great for her horse, Bailey, and she was well on track 5 jumps into show jumping. And then annoying disaster. It was going to be a little long or a little short and Trisha just leaned a little too far forward while Bailey was finishing making up his mind. He rapped a rail and took it with him and had to twist in a very awkward manner to miss it on the landing side. I thought Trisha saved it, we all did, and then two three four strides later she is getting farther and farther away sideways from Bailey's neck. And then with the "POP" of an inflatable vest we knew it was over and Baiely's preliminary cross country debut was going to have to wait. It did wait, until Tuesday. We went back to school and Trisha did the entire course start to finish and we celebrated as she galloped across the no longer there finish line! You will see this pair in action also at Seneca. I think, actually, you are going to see pretty much every Blue Clover Eventing horse in action at Seneca! Except for the headliner, Clifton Jade himself. We are headed out to Richland, MI this coming Wednesday to go run around some blue squares. Haven't run advanced since May and boy oh boy are we both looking forward to it! I promise good pictures and good stories! Until then....

Millbrook Wrap Up

I hope that I make a blanket statement for Blue Clover Eventing when I say that a good time was had by all last weekend at Millbrook. The Hudson Valley I think is one of the prettiest areas and this year we managed not to get the rig stuck on those bright green hills surrounding the stabling :) The weather was quite nice, the footing great for galloping, and we even had a little celebrating to get done as Richard's birthday fell on that Friday!
Our week started off with a little bit of excitement, after scratching Morris from the advanced I assumed that I would start on Friday. Surprise, when we got times, I had two dressage tests to do on Thursday! Kudos to Trisha and Marian for packing like lightning and not forgetting a single item. They continue to be great girls to have around and I know the ponies and Gunsmoke feel the same way. Although I am certainly much improved from my stupid fall at Stuart, I am still essentially useless around the barn, so they have been picking up my slack as well and I know I owe them!
It was Lucky's Big Top adventure...the baby's first time in tent stabling, no turn out, and 300 or so horses going every which direction. He was excellent! He stayed focused during warm up as well as during his actual performances. He didn't come home with a ribbon, although he felt like every bit of a big horse galloping around cross country. To say that the competition was tough is an understatement! Lucky and Smarty both fell victim to 4 faults, and with that they plummeted down the standings. Smarty's preliminary was extremely ridiculous....I was sitting 4th out of 30 or so on a 24, and 4 faults later I went down to 15th on a 29!!!!! Craziness I tell you. I am actually quite proud of Smarty and his 4 faults. I have been dreading Millbrook's world famous slide for oh say 3 maybe 4 weeks. Mind you, I've gone down it plenty of times; but never on Smarty. Much to my shock and relief he actually TROTTED! Like a sane, self-preserving animal! So when we got to the bottom I kept trotting, then slowly picked up a canter, then got him back up to cruising speed in time to take a lovely jump at the skinny 3 from home. It cost me about 10 seconds and I couldn't be happier!
Also getting some costly time faults were Morris and I, although again premeditated. He felt good in the dressage, although sneaking in a beautiful flying change in the Intermediate test doesn't get you bonus points, Morris. It kills you on your submission score lol. Anyway, he was feeling very good, and there were quite a few daunting things on the course. Everybody was talking about the water, and I of course was counting the number of ditches or ditch-type fences. Morris really was good, jumped great and had what must've been one of the best rides thru the water all day. Made it look like a gymnastic and was full of running at the end. Lots of fun to watch the video at the competitors party and I'm glad that I was a trip we were applauding :) I just never let him really get into flying between the fences, wanted to make sure that I had his brain and his undivided attention at each and every fence. Mission accomplished! He even showed up the next day for show jumping and really jumped up and around the combinations, something that we have really been working on and I'm glad that it paid off. You had to jump a big old triple bar and gallop down to the in and out in 4 strides; a year ago we would have gone bowling and this time at Millbrook there wasn't even a touch of paint on his toes!
What's next, you may ask? Well, what an excellent question. I am crossing my fingers and toes that I get at least Morris into Richland. It must be the first and only event in 3 years to fill before the closing date! We are waitlisted and that would be a terrible blow to my fall schedule. I will remain optimistic, however, aiming Morris for a trip to Michigan and the rest of the crew will be headed out to Seneca in a couple of weeks. Keep an eye out for the Waredaca results this coming weekend....Playtime is making his Intermediate debut and Trisha is going to give Preliminary a crack, it will be a first for both she and Bailey. Exciting stuff!

And the Wins Just Keep on Coming!

The photo above includes some of my favorite owners, students, and the most loyal Blue Clover Eventing supporters. Unfortunately, not a single one of them came to Olney Farm HT this past Sunday, and why they didn't want to spend the 100 degree Sunday outside with us in a field, I can't possible imagine :) In fact, not even our token Lercher went with us to the show! I knew it was going to be hot hot hot - and turns out so were our results! Speaking of the heat, I want to thank the entire crew at Olney, to volunteer is a thankless job and to volunteer on such a miserably hot and humid day, bravo. I also can't imagine what it was like setting up for the HT Thursday-Saturday where I think nearly every day broke a record for heat index in MD.
Luckily our times had us in and out, and Trisha did a great job of keeping everyone on track. We did have several visitors that lent a helping hand (and brought us an amazing peach cake - thank you!!) and it is always fun to share all the gory details with anyone that is willing to listen. Marian didn't have too many gory details, she won on her dressage score in the Training Rider division woop woop! I was quite proud of her as she can be very hard on herself and the past two weeks has made a choice to focus on positive instead of negative, and I say she did a great job and she got ribbons and loot to prove it! The courses at Olney are not the biggest and toughest for their respective levels; but they have a lot of tricky places here and there and Marian and Tanner rose to the occasion and won a nail-biting tie for first that came down to closest to optimum time on cross country.
Our other superstar of the day was my favorite little grey mare, Splish Splash. After a nearly perfect record at Beginner Novice (she was only second ONCE by .5) it really was time for her to make the move up to the big Novice. I thought we were sunk as soon as we started. She grinds on the bit just out of habit, she is a lovely mover and scores in the 20s and she just does it without even thinking. In the indoor at Olney, it was deafeningly silent and with no doors windows nothing I swear I couldn't even hear myself think over the crunch crunch crunch noise of her loose ring double jointed snaffle. If I were the judge I know I would have just fixated on it. But, the streak continues, she was winning after dressage on a 20-something and never looked back! She did look down, and tried to put her feet down, while half way over the log on the lump out on cross country. I had never seen this at novice, it was legitimate! and Splash had certainly never seen anything like it. From up on top of the mound you see the ramp into the water, and ironic as it is Splish Splash didn't care much for water when she first started her eventing career. I was one step ahead of her luckily and through all the flags we went on the first try. (Sabrina, if you are reading this, we will definitely have me school this again once or twice before you and Splash attempt this together lol.)
Lucky did the same thing in his novice division, although unfortunately his day was ruined as soon as he went into the indoor. Apparently Lucky has never seen a mirror and didn't know just how good looking he is, and couldn't get enough of himself anytime we attempted to go down a longside or into a corner. Sadly, Novice Test B calls for you to go both down the long side and into a corner lol. He jumped really really well and was very relaxed in warm up, so we considered that a success.
Next week we are off to Millbrook. There will be some good cross country schooling to be done here in the meantime. Smarty needs some skinnies, Morris needs a bunker-style ditch and a 4x4, and Marian and Trisha are both looking to move up to the big P. So they just need to jump anything and everything that they think looks big and scary!! Oh the fun we will have!!

CIC* Win for Playtime at Cosequin Stuart HT

I am not going to sit here and lecture; but in life you have two choices. You can focus on the positive or you can focus on the negative. I think I speak for my entire Blue Clover Eventing crew when I say that we had a great time at Stuart! Stuart is one of my favorite events of all time, and I was lucky enough to get interviewed by a TV station up there and tell them the same thing. It has the most supportive, cooperative, and accommodating volunteers and organizers out of any competition I think we attend. The venue is great, the cross country always challenging but in a good kind of way. I was happy to be back this year and you can count of me for 2012!
Playtime aka Smarty convincingly won the CIC* division and I am so thrilled for his owner Chris Ellis who is one of the most enthusiastic owners an eventer could ask for. We have had Smarty in the barn since February and this weekend was a personal best for the chubby little chestnut. He has all the talent in the world and all the ego and attitude that you would expect for a horse named Playtime and nicknamed Smarty. I guess he likes Stuart, however, because he was excellent. We got there on Thursday with quite the truckful, Morris Smarty Richard Jackson Trisha and I. Marian and Gunsmoke were I think quite possibly the only things left behind! We had jog-ups Thursday evening and both boys jogged great, and Trisha had them looking great. He got a little stiff and tense in the dressage; but still moves like a million bucks and is getting quite rideable in there and we were sitting 4th Friday night. The 1* cross country was really an intermediate with green squares! Smarty really rose to the occasion, it was the first time where I had a track to really gallop and get him to focus, have time to set up for the combinations....I think he is going to be quite a 3 day horse. He jumped really well, had a lot of fun galloping, and actually did come back on command! He finished cross country looking for his next fence, just a couple of seconds over the time and there were plenty of places where I could have saved seconds here and there. There was a lot of talk about footing, many people scratched, I chose to be a bit conservative. I had a good looking, good feeling horse Saturday night and he was the same way Sunday morning when it was time to jog. Thanks to Matt Flynn for prancing him down the pavement for me, he was accepted with no hesitations and on to the jumping we went. I was so sore from my fall on Morris (more to follow) that I didn't do too much in warm up. The warmblood in Smarty appreciated that as well and the next thing you knew we were in the ring. He was a little tired and tapped a couple of rails, taking two down actually; but I had them in hand and still won by over 9 points! How lucky is that! It was the smoothest, most consistent show jumping round we have had to date and as soon as he is a little stronger I am going to have quite the horse. I am really looking forward to his future!
Plenty of other things to recap from the weekend. Trisha did a super job grooming at her first FEI competition, there is really only one way to learn a lot of the rules and that is to get thrown right into them, and she was there with a smile on her face! She has been a super addition to the Blue Clover Eventing team and I hope to have her for a long, long time! A couple of other unsung heroes from the weekend would be Richard and Jackson. I got so beat up from falling on Morris that I was quite worthless from about noon on Saturday until now. They were able to do everything, including changing our flat trailer tire Sunday night on the side of 15 while tractor trailers were flying by eek! And now I guess I will quickly recap Morris' weekend. I was so looking forward to competing him again, he hasn't run since VA HT, and his dressage was really good! He stayed very relaxed and got 7s and 8s on his walk hooray! Cross country was going to be a great track, the 2* asked a lot of great questions and he came out of the start box with his ears pricked. His confidence in his new jumping form has really been growing and I was thrilled to be on him after having such a good go on Smarty. The first two combinations went well, and we galloped out to the back field, got a good jump at the corn feeder at 9 and set up for the coffin. Great stride, good line, felt like a good jump and instead of landing on the way to the ditch we were skidding sideways across the ground. Turns out, Morris made a mistake, I guess he is allowed from time to time; but there is really no good time for things like this. When you look at the pictures, his right front leg never left the ground. Perfect form with 3 out of 4 and unfortunately that just isn't going to work at a vertical set of airy rails on the lip of a hill one stride before a ditch! Luckily he was up and moving right away, more so than his rider. When you fall together like that the air vest doesn't blow up because you aren't far enough away from the horse and I am still some kind of sore. Nothing wrong with anything important just seriously sore everywhere. I am going to be just fine by tomorrow, have a truck load of babies heading to Olney HT this weekend, and it just makes for that much better of a story when describing Smarty's victory!