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