Celebrating my 3 year anniversary of going over to the dark side...

This past weekend Surf and I went down to Lexington VA for the Virginia Horse Center's Starter Trials -- a fabulous schooling show put on by a beautiful facility. Seriously, for anyone who's never been to the VA horse center, it's gorgeous -- http://horsecenter.org/view.asp?id=home -- 600 acres, stabling for 1200 horses, 19 show rings (with 2 big indoor rings, several smaller indoor rings, and a 4,000 seat coliseum), 2 cross country courses, and a combined driving course. They have a xc schooling day saturday, then run a horse trial sunday, so you get a chance to school everything before the show.

Surfie and I drove down from Baltimore -- a 5 hour drive -- because a group of my eventing buddies from FenRidge were driving up from NC. They hadn't met Surf, and I've been missing my NC buddies, so it seemed like a fun way to spend Labor Day weekend :) On the way down, I was thinking about eventing...and how it feels like I've been doing this forever...but I realized that I went to my very first horse trial exactly 3 years ago on Labor Day weekend, with the same folks from FenRidge that I was driving down to spend the weekend with!

What chaos that first HT was -- I'd had big Quincey for a few days, there was an extra trailer spot, and I had NO CLUE about eventing other than what I'd seen on tv, watching Rolex and what I'd read on the internet -- and I promptly got eliminated at the first fence on XC :) This led to much reminiscing over the past few years and the realization that I have made some progress -- a good thing to think about on those days (of which there are many!) where I feel like I'm getting nowhere with this riding thing. I must remind myself that progres...especially in dressage...is S-L-O-W, and that I must remember to notice the small bits of progress -- the 10m circle where surf's shoulder doesn't fall in, sitting up and accepting a tight spot without crawling up surf's neck, jumping up banks out of water without freezing up, jumping my first real trakhaner...and not lose the beauty of an individual tree in the vast forest that is Eventing :) 3 years later, I have no regrets about going over to the Dark Side...I love getting ride times. I love dressage comments (though Dressage is a constant struggle for me...and my goal in life is to be mediocre at dressage...I don't want to be good, just ok...). I love how the skills you need for one phase are reinforced by your training for other phases. I love the technicality of stadium, and how it's so very different than either hunters or jumping on xc. I love color coordinating. I love the people I've met...and how friendly and open and helpful they are. I love the partnership that eventing demands of horse and rider, and the opportunity I've had to ride horses that are trained to think for themselves while at the same time protecting themselves and their riders. And...there's nothing...absolutely nothing...like the feelings you get from cross-country. The pre-start jitters as you circle the box...feeling your pulse quicken as they count you backwards from 10 seconds...the deep breath and focusing as you settle in to your irons, shorten up your reins, and whisper your last words of encouragement (for me, it's always the same thing..."ok big guy, take care of your monkey out there") to your horse as the starter gets to "3...2...1...have a nice ride!"...the relief after you clear the first fence, then the second, then the 3rd, until you get to a point where you're standing in your stirrups, hands pressed into the withers, galloping along and realize that this may be the closest you ever get to flying...the anticipation of your bugaboo fence (for me, produce stands or banks out of water) and the exhileration when you get over it...the nerves as you come to the last fence on course, knowing that it's what's between you and a clear round and a safe trip around...and the absolute exhileration of crossing through those finish flags.

(so have I convinced anyone else to come to the dark side?!?!?!?!)

With that attitude, we had a nice, if short, xc school (it was hot, and we were with a mixed group of horses in terms of their experience level, and Surf spent a good bit of time giving leads over small fences, through the water, etc) . Surf also settled into his stall well, which was good as this was our first big overnight trip away from home and the VA horse center is not the easiest place for horses to settle into. He warmed up like a champ for dressage, but was distracted in his test by the reiners warming up in the ring below us...leading to him being quite tense through his neck. However, he was forward and more obedient than our usual dressage outing, and we were in 4th after dressage with 36pp (64%). He was nicely in front of my leg in stadium, and I was able to stay more with him and remember to give in front of the fence with my hands and not lean at the fence when he got in tight once or twice...and was rewarded with a double clear round. Julia rode him for me while I was out of town 2 weeks ago and has been reminding me ever since that he jumps much much much better when you really leave his face alone -- he's funny that way, as he takes quite a bit of contact in dressage, but jumps like an A/O hunter when you don't touch his face rather than like a girraffe if you have much contact :P. Surf was a rockstar on XC...once I convinced him that the VTO tack store tent near the warmup was not going to eat him alive...and that the start box is OK (seriously, this horse has been eventing for 6-7 yrs and is scared silly of the start box...it's hard to explain to the starters, who often have to lead us into the box, that no he's not green...he's actually and ex-*/Int horse :P...). He clocked around XC and we only had one sticky jump where I had changed my mind about how I wanted to go to the next fence, and I gave him a little more leg than I should've and he attempted to jump me out of the tack...but hey, who needs stirrups anyways since these fences are only 2'11" :) He came in double clear and the fastest in our division...and we moved up to 3rd to bring home a pretty primary color ribbon :)

I don't have many photos on my work computer...so I'll add more in another post...but here's one that I think show's how much surf and I love eventing :)


Huey is doing well too...we've had several nice rides recently. He's trotting almost 15min now...when we hit 20min, we get to see our first cross-rail. He's starting to try to sneak into the canter now...which is what he did with the trot as we got to the point where we were about to introduce it into our work. The old man knows the rehab drill...he's been through this too many times before...and has come back once again. I think this horse loves his job...in a way that he didn't love being a racehorse, a babysitter, or a pasture pet. I don't know how to explain it...but if you could sit on him, even for just a few minutes, you'd know. Huey is an odd duck...when I first started riding him, Julia told me she didn't know if the partnership would work...but if Huey decided he liked me, and he could work with me, then I would have the gift of riding a horse that would jump the moon if I asked him to.

Right now, I don't want him to jump the moon...just an 18" cross-rail will do :)

I have big plans in the works for the boys next winter/spring...but I'm reluctant to put the "A plan" in writing in case things fall apart. Let's just say it involves 2 horses, my trailer, and a week down south where there are old friends, good instructors, and some late wintertime HTs. With 2 boys though, I'll need some help...anyone want to be my groom for a few days?