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