Rubicon Farm Horse Trials

This weekend Colleen and I went to a nice, local show, about fifteen minutes away. Colleen rode Connor in the Prelim on Saturday, and I rode Lady (my mom's paint mare) in the Beginner Novice today. I didn't compete Teco because he's basically just taking it easy for a couple weeks, after the strenuous CCI* at Virginia. 

Colleen, my mom, and Connor are making the trek up to Bromont in Canada tomorrow, for the CIC* there. It is her last chance to qualify for Young Riders for this year, so hopefully she will do well!

Colleen's competition yesterday was sort of a warm-up for Bromont. She only did dressage and stadium, because of the muddy footing on cross country from all the rain we had this past week. The two of them had a nice dressage test, with one little mishap in the canter - Connor was being lazy, and Colleen kicked him forward, causing him to give a little buck of irritation. The rest of the test was nice, however, and they were well placed after dressage.

Their showjumping didn't go very well; Connor was a little quick and inattentive to Colleen, so they had three rails. She did as well as she could with him, though!

I rode Lady today in her first event, and she was fabulous! She was very calm and quiet for the dressage, earning a 36.5, which we were very pleased with! Showjumping went well, too, as she quietly cantered over the course, jumping clean. 

Cross country was going to be the tough phase for us, though. Lady is not very experienced on cross country, particularly with water. Over the first few jumps, she seemed a little confused as to why she was jumping such strange little logs out in a field - but she settled in quickly and jumped very well around the course! We had two stops, though: one was my fault, because I really didn't set her up for the jump, and she didn't see it in time. The second was at the water - she balked, and I suppose she took a step or two back (if a horse stops forward motion at the water, then it is counted as a refusal). Nevertheless, I was very pleased to see that it only took a few seconds to prod her in, and she didn't throw a fuss or anything! By the end of the course she was taking all the jumps easily in stride.

All in all, it was a pretty successful weekend! I will update to let everyone know how Colleen goes at Bromont - wish her luck!

Virginia CCI*

We just returned home from a long, successful weekend down in Lexington! Teco and I placed 7th in the Junior/Young Rider division at Virginia, out of 12 competitors.

Friday was dressage day...I rode at 4:30 in the afternoon, and it was pretty hot. I was wearing my top hat and fancy shadbelly jacket for dressage (attire that you can wear only at a CCI) for the first time; unfortunately, my hat decided not to cooperate. It kept falling off during warm-up, making for a very disjointed preparation for my test. So, my concentration was broken a little bit, and I made two errors in my test. Teco was not at his best, but he still scored well - however, 4 or 5 points had to be added to our score due to our error. Therefore, we were in 11th after dressage, when we would have been in 3rd, without my errors. Our final penalty score was 62.9.

I was kicking myself, but all I really needed was a clean cross country on Saturday. It was a tough course, but I rode hard, and we had a clean round! We had 3.2 time penalties, which I was fine with, because I wanted to ride a little slow in order to get a clean round. Which we did! He recovered well, proving that he was well-conditioned for the hilly cross country course.

Teco was very sound on Sunday morning for the jog, passing the vet's inspection easily.  We were 7th going into showjumping that afternoon; we had one rail, but he was otherwise great, and he didn't seem very tired at all from the strenuous cross country the day before. 

We ended up in 7th! I am so happy that Teco and I seem to be really getting it together. We are now qualified for the Young Riders team, so we'll see if we make it! We'll be doing one or two more events before the Young Riders camp this summer, so I'll be sure to update then.

Til then -

 Christie

Maryland Short Course and other Bits and Pieces

A few weeks ago, I took Lady (my mom's horse, Hall of Mirrors, the paint mare) to Loch Moy Farm in Maryland. They held a "Short Course," which is similar to a regular event, but with a slightly modified cross country.

Lady and I were entered at Beginner Novice. She is an excellent jumper and has no problem with height in the showjumping ring; however, she is a little spooky out on cross country, which is why we were going Beginner Novice. Unfortunately, the cross country course was a little too tough for her - the water jumps were more of a Novice or Training difficulty, which she was very unprepared for. She has a tough time with going in water without a jump, much less having to jump a spooky log in! 

I am a little concerned about her loss of confidence on cross country. When we did an extra showjumping round set at Novice height, though, she jumped around beautifully! So, I am taking her Horse 1 (2'9'' to 3'3'') at Show Jumping Rally on the last weekend in May, as well as competing her at Beginner Novice at Rubicon Horse Trials in Lucketts the first weekend in June.

Now, on to Teco's updates!

Last weekend, we went down to Charlottesville for a Young Rider Training Camp with David and Lauren O'Brien, the Young Rider coaches. It went well!

His dressage improves daily, and at our last jumping lesson, we were perfectly in sync. Hopefully, all will go well at Virginia CCI* this weekend, and we will jump clean on cross country!

I'll update again when we return from Virginia. Wish us luck!

Christie

Difficult Run Horse Trials

Another show in the rain...how thrilling.

Even better, construction at Frying Pan Park forced the organizers (i.e. my mom, since the horse trials are organized by our club) to rearrange everything. So, dressage took place on grass (and on a downhill, which was very difficult) - needless to say, it wasn't our best test, but Teco still did well all things considered.

We jumped clean in the indoor arena; Teco was wonderful. Of course, the real issue was the cross country: we needed a clear round, with no refusals, to qualify for the Virginia CCI* (which we need to compete at to qualify for Young Riders).

As we stepped into the startbox, the rain started to drizzle down. But we charged on, and had a little issue at a somewhat sharp turn to a jump going into the woods - we came a little fast and I didn't set him up early enough for the turn, so we overshot a little bit and jumped the Training stone wall, rather than the Preliminary one. So we stopped, turned around, trotted out of the woods and cantered over the right one! But that was the only mishap; otherwise, Teco was a superstar!

So, next stop: Lexington, Virginia for the CCI*!

Christie

Loudoun Horse Trials

Last Saturday, we returned to Morven Park for the Loudoun Hunt Pony Club Horse Trials. It was a one-day horse trial, meaning all the phases were to take place in one day.

Poor Teco was still pretty fuzzy with his winter coat, and he was about to melt in the 85 degree weather! Fortunately we rode early in the morning, before the heat came in. He performed beautifully! It really does seem to be getting easier for him. We scored a 30.4, placing us in first! But what I was most happy about was that he held the counter-canter, which seemed much easier for him. Colleen had a little bit of an off day with Connor, and they received a 36, landing them in 5th after dressage.

Showjumping went really well for everyone, though! Colleen and I both went clean (though I had one time penalty) as did one of our friends, Molly Curtiss, who also trains with Paul and is going for the Young Riders team this summer as well.

I was a little anxious about cross country. At the Morven Horse Trials in March, we had two stops on cross country, as you may recall. Since the course was almost exactly the same, I didn't know what to expect. But I went out and rode hard, and we made it around smoothly until the third-to-last fence.

A few times during the course I had felt him considering dodging out on me, but I rode him very defensively and he seemed to realize that I really meant business. However, at the combination where he ran out at the B part last month, he ran out at the A jump. I had softened just a little too much right before he jumped, and he basically took advantage of that and leaped aside at the last possible moment.

While it was frustrating, it was my fault, and I certainly learned from it. And you can bet I won't make that mistake again! Colleen and Molly both went clean on cross country, and since the three people in front of them (including me) had stops, they moved up into first and second!

I have high hopes for Difficult Run this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes!

Til then -

Christie

Fair Hill International

Finally, a sunny weekend for a horse show!! Just the fact it wasn't raining made it a good weekend for me!

Thursday started out with Colleen's jog with Connor in front of a panel of veternarians, which went off without a hitch -- well, except for him being bitten by something right before the vets inspected him, which caused a little ruckus....

Dressage was the next day. It went pretty well for both of us; Colleen performed the new, harder test, receiving a 56, which is about in the middle. I had a really great test, which would have gotten an even better score than 35 if we had not received a 0 for his counter canter (which he broke out of, again...)

Cross country was surprisingly short - only about four and a half minutes, while most prelim courses run from 5-6 minutes. Colleen and Connor unfortunately had two run-outs at a corner, but otherwise had a great round! Teco attempted another one of his grabbing-the-bit-and-running things, only he foolishly attempted to run into the woods, so it didn't work out very well for him! Fortunately it was nowhere near a jump, so there were no penalties for a refusal - just a lot of time penalties for our very large circle.

Colleen and Connor jumped showjumping first on Sunday. Colleen rode Connor very well, so that he ended up only knocking one rail, unlike his usual two or three! I also had a rail, but it was due to a rather unbalanced turn. 

All in all, although the weekend was not successful in terms of ribbons, both Colleen and I learned a lot! There's always something new to learn about your horses and how to ride them.

Christie

In about an hour, we are leaving for the Fair Hill International Horse Trial in Maryland!

Colleen and Connor will be competing in the CIC*, which is the International Event. I will be competing in the ordinary Preliminary division, with Teco.

It's going to be a long weekend, but hopefully with better weather than our last couple shows!

I'll let everyone know the results on Sunday evening. Wish us luck!

Christie

P.S. - If anyone out there wants to know what on earth a CIC* is, let me know and I will explain it in my next post!

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted!

Well, we tried the new bit on Teco, an elevator - it's a special kind of bit that puts pressure on the horse's poll; it forces the horse to pay a little more attention to you without being sharper in the mouth. It worked pretty well in our jumping lesson on Saturday! We're going to Frying Pan Park tomorrow for a dressage Fix-A-Test clinic with Sara Belinski, and afterwards Paul is coming so we can school the water there. That will be the real test of the new bit.

Today, Lauren Marfurt and I rode around with our vet, Dr. Horne with Hoof and Paw Veterinary Service. It was a cold, windy day, with several snowflakes to be seen (much to our dismay!), but we really learned a lot. We are both preparing for our H-A, which is an upper-level Pony Club rating that focuses on horsemanship and horse knowledge. It's a huge test with a ton of information you have to know, so Lauren and I have been getting an early start on preparing. 

The first farm we arrived at this morning, we were greeted by an enormous, barking dog, followed by the barn owner dashing up the driveway waving her hands to STOP! Dr. Horne stopped the truck, just in time to see the horse we had come to vaccinate go flying past, followed by a little white donkey! The poor owner and Dr. Horne's assistant, Adrienne, chased that pony and donkey over hill and dale for about 45 minutes! 

When "Romeo" (or Runaway Romeo as we called him after that) was retrieved, we were finally able to vaccinate him and float his teeth. For those who don't know, "floating" is just filing down the horse's teeth - horse teeth grow constantly throughout their lives, and can sometimes get sharp, painful hooks because of the grinding action. So, horses need their teeth checked every 6-12 months to make sure the mouth and teeth are still in good shape! We practiced aging all the horses we visited by checking their teeth - because horses' teeth grow all through their lives, there is a wear pattern that you can use to determine their age. 

We just visited two more farms after that, giving more vaccinations and taking a few blood samples for Coggins tests (testing for a disease, known as EIA, equine infectious anemia). Dr. Horne is a National Examiner for the upper-level Pony Club ratings, so she knows the standards and the depth of knowledge needed for the H-A. She helped us review every horse's confirmation, and we discussed many of the parts of the H-A examination.

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention: I rode my Mom's horse, Lady, in a lesson yesterday, because I am taking her to our club's jumping clinics this week. I was amazed at how much progress my mother has made with her! With the frequent help of trainer Sara Belinski, of course. I have high hopes for the clinics with Lady this week!

Til next time - 

Christie

Morven Park Horse Trials

This weekend was our second Prelim, and our third show together. As much as I try to tell myself NOT to let my hopes get too high...well, you just can't really help it sometimes!

Saturday started dim and drizzly, with rain forecasted all day. (It did not escape our notice that every event we've been to so far this year has been RAINED ON.) Colleen and I were both in an ENORMOUS Junior Preliminary Division - 29 people!!! Why the division wasn't split is beyond me.

This event marks a huge accomplishment in Teco's training: he completed two counter-canters without breaking or changing his lead!! Because of his jumper past in which he was schooled flying changes 'til his brain was fried, he has been very quick to change his lead in the counter-canter. But Paul and I worked with him this week, and I have now figured out how to ride another one of my horse's unique quirks. Yay!

Teco was so, so slow in showjumping warm-up. I think his extreme, wild energy that he had at Pine Top back in February was just first-show excitement, because with each event he's been quieter and quieter. Plus with the sloppy footing this weekend, it was VERY difficult for me to kick him forward! We squeaked our way around the showjumping; it was a little ugly, but we made it clean. Ah, I guess I STILL haven't adjusted from Luka's constant forward energy....

Excited and nervous, I headed over to cross-country in the drizzling rain. The course started off nicely - it was a great course, with lots of galloping stretches. We were keeping up a great pace, jumping everything with ease (although he gave a hard look at the water; he jumped very crookedly in, but it was in!). A couple of the low road crossings were flooded, and Teco threw a fit at one near the end of the course, taking me by surprise. Everything kind of went downhill from there.

Near the warm-up area, Teco ran out, twice. He just grabbed the bit and swerved out, with me fighting him and kicking him so hard my legs cramped up. I was very disappointed with this...I knew he had a spook in him, but I didn't think he would just bully me. Another thing to learn, the hard way...

On a side note, my strange asthma problem has not been solved - I went to the doctor this week, who gave me Advair and an inhaler, which I took right before showjumping, but I still came off course with a constricted throat. Perhaps it's related to my stress at Teco's run-outs.

All in all, not such a great weekend for me. Colleen and Connor, on the other hand, were in first after dressage out of 29 competitors! They had a clean cross-country, though with time penalties, and a rail down in showjumping. She still ended up in 3rd, though, which was nice to see after all that riding in the rain!

We're probably going to try to go to Plantation over Easter weekend, to have a back-up event for qualifying for the Virginia CCI*. And on Tuesday I'm headed over to Morven to school over that cross-country course, so wish us luck!

Christie

Hope Returns

And here is the post that I mentioned in the last post! I found it! Woohoo! Read it!

Monday's flatwork session did not go very well for Teco and me. He was heavy on his forehand, a habit that has developed over the past week or so, and I really didn't know how to handle it. I had really hoped to school our coutner-canters, but that wasn't going to work. So after about a half an hour of frustration mounting on both sides, I resorted to my favorite exercise when all else seems to be going wrong: transitions!

That helped slightly, but it still was a little bit of a frustrating workout. At our lesson yesterday, I told Paul about that little problem, and he rode Teco for about fifteen minutes to try to get a feel of what I was talking about. Counterbending seemed to really help! We FINALLY had a chance to practice the counter-canter, and we had our best counter-canters... well, ever!

Hope has returned for this weekend. Teco and I are going to Morven Park Horse Trials for our second Preliminary together. We have all the pieces in the schooling -- his dressage improves daily as he grows stronger, and I think I have a pretty good handle on how to jump him after our past two shows together. What I am hoping for most of all this weekend is just a clean cross country and stadium! Although a nice steady dressage test would be good too. :]

I'll update after the show this weekend -
Christie

Breakthrough!!

I actually didn't plan on posting today, but I decided I just HAD to, because we had a great workout session this afternoon!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was going to try longing* Teco today. Now, I've been a little leery about longing him; he really doesn't respect me on the longe, and every time I've tried to longe him, it hasn't gone so well. As my instructor asked me once in a lesson where I was longing Teco - "Exactly who is longing WHOM?" 

So the first part of our longing session was pretty much like usual: him flying around, really not paying much attention to me at all. Then, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head: I recalled how my trainer Paul had longed him (and Teco was perfect for him, I might add) and I mimicked that.

LO AND BEHOLD, IT WORKED!!!!

Yeah, who would've thought, huh?

As soon as I held my ground, and started making HIM work around ME, he worked like an angel: quiet and forward, even promptly picking up his canters when I asked him!

Another hurdle cleared for our partnership this spring; I can't tell you how excited that makes me!! 

Well, till next time -

Christie

*In case you were wondering what "longing" is (no, not longing as in "I'm longing to go home"; it's pronounced LUNGE-ING), it is a form of work where the horse moves around the handler at the end of about a 60-foot rope. It is beneficial because it works the horse's balance and strength of his hindquarters without the hampering of a rider on his back.

Poor Teco had to work today!

We had a flat lesson with my trainer Paul today, and boy, Teco was tired! The fat horse needs to get in better shape!

We had really hoped to get some good work done on his counter-canters; because of his jumper training, Teco is a little flying-change-happy. At Southern Pines I last weekend, both his counter-canters in the test got a little messed up -- we need some practice. 

The run tired him out far more than I expected. When I got him three months ago, the only shape he was in was ROUND - in the belly, that is - and he really hadn't competed in a couple years. The conditioning seems to be coming a little slow to him, in particular, the whole galloping-and-jumping-big-fences part. He ran like a champ on cross-country at Southern Pines, which was our first Prelim, with plenty of energy. I definitely felt him tiring towards the end though, and three days later (Wednesday, today) he's still wiped out and stiff. He even had Monday off and an hour-long walk on Tuesday... I'll have to experiment with him and figure out what gets him happy again after a tough event. I think I'll try longing him, next time....

This weekend we're gonna practice some cross country, especially drops. Drops didn't go so well for us at Southern Pines - he took a HUGE leap into the water, and I lost my stirrup and we missed the jump out. So we're going to try to avoid doing that again.

Till next time -

Christie

About Little Bit Farm

We are a family-run farm in Leesburg, Virginia, focusing primarily on eventing and breeding eventers.

Parents Jeff and Myra own the farm, with daughters Christie and Colleen competing at the Preliminary level of Eventing. 

Myra is in charge of the breeding and in spare time trains and competes her Oldenburg mare, Hall of Mirrors, in dressage. She pretty much keeps the family and the horses afloat -- there's no way the farm could operate without her!

Christie gives riding lessons and is training the farm's first homebred, a two-year-old gelding named Fanfare. In October 2008, her parents bought her Teco, a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding, and she is training and competing him at Preliminary. While they are still getting used to the new partnership, they will certainly be a strong duo in the near future!

Colleen recently joined forces with her sister to teach another student. She competes her Irish Thoroughbred gelding Connor very successfully at Preliminary. As a young competitor, the minimum age requirements for the upper levels are frustrating, but that just is giving her all the more time to train to do well when she moves up to Intermediate!

Jeff is slowly learning the ins and outs of eventing and caring for horses. The horsewomen hope to eventually train him to muck stalls! However, he has always fully supported our equestrian endeavors, and we will always appreciate that.

How 'bout the horses? They're the IMPORTANT part!

Teco - Christie's horse, a 9 year old Holsteiner/Selle Francais Gelding. He was imported from Portugal a few years ago, and had competed Intermediate there. He is currently competing Prelim.

Connor II - Colleen's horse, a 14 year old Irish Thoroughbred Gelding. Together, they are now competing at Prelim, but Connor has competed up to Advance.

Fanfare - 2-year-old Oldenburg gelding. Our farm's first homebred; he's going to be an enormous horse, probably topping out at 17 hands at least!

Special Edition - the farm's broodmare, Spec is Belgian Warmblood mare with little experience other than breeding. She is currently pregnant with her fourth foal and our second homebred.

Hall of Mirrors - Lady is Myra's horse, a beautiful, flashy paint mare; she has been training her in dressage for the past three years, though she has been somewhat hindered by Lady's multiple injuries.

Swizzle - A sweet, spunky mare with an attitude, Swizzle (a.k.a. Fig) was Colleen's old pony, and is now happily caring for Christie and Colleen's two young students.

Luka - Christie's beloved first event horse. A lanky Thoroughbred gelding, he was really too much for Christie when she first got him, but they grew to have a close bond and in their partnership completed a long-format CCI* in October of 2007. He is currently being leased out to a Pony Club friend.

Check back frequently for news on what's going on here at the farm!

First OFFICIAL Post!

Hello all, welcome to the first official post of the Little Bit Farm Blog!

This blog will follow the events and activities of the horses and people (and various other pets!) at Little Bit Farm in Leesburg, Virginia. In particular, it will focus on my journey to qualify for and attend the North American Junior and Young Riders Championship in Lexington this summer. And, I suppose I'll mention my younger sister Colleen once in a while (she's trying out for the team too). 

I am aiming these posts mainly at family and friends, but I happily welcome anyone else who wants to know more about eventing, the Young Riders program, or really anything else to do with horses! 

Christie

Welcome!

This is the first post of the Little Bit Farm blog.
Woohoo!!

Toodles,
Christie