A Hard Day's Night

These last two weeks I have been busy, busy, busy. School is wrapping up, with only 3 weeks and then finals week. This means all the professors are cramming in their finals tests, panicking over the amount of material they have yet to cover, assigning homework like it's candy, and trying to wrap up final projects that are due. Most of my teachers are pretty cool, but I have one professor who is slowly morphing into Cruella deVille as we get closer to the end of the semester.

Needless to say, she has gotten under my skin.

So these days, instead of spending my free time out at the barn, watching lessons, bathing Dante, and organizing show stuff, I am confined to my house, studying and doing homework.

I did all the normal things last week with Dante, jump lesson on Tues and Sat, trot sets on Thursday, and dressage on Wed and Fri. Wednesday he was very heavy and low, but I think a major part of that was because of my 'realization' about my hands, which turned out to be a bit wrong. It turned out to be wrong because while Dante was definitely very steady, he was also incredibly heavy, down hill, and behind the vertical. Oops. We spent Thursday trot sets practicing uphill trot and presented a much improved frame to Mike on Friday, which carried over into today.

(Zurich and Dante hang out on the Game Readys while Maisie stands in ice boots.)

Sunday morning we went to the track (after a bit of fail on my part including a late evening text, a bit of drinking about an hour from my house, a friend's couch, and an unknown, completely unreliable alarm on my cell phone) and Dante felt great. Mike rode Maisie, and we galloped together, which is great. When Dante gallops against a TB who is also competitive, then we tend to get into a battle of wills. But Maisie is pretty laid back and has no problem running slightly behind. Both horses galloped quite well, and I'm feeling confident about Dante's fitness.

On another note, here's the XC video from Poplar. I'm really proud of how Dante rode the course. Upon watching the video, I wonder if maybe I shouldn't have gone for five strides instead of six, but since it was so downhill, I don't mind that we patted the ground first. And he's also obviously a little wiggly through the huts on an angle, but we've practiced that since, so hopefully he gets it now.

14-Maggie Deatrick-Divine Comedy-CIC2-XC-26Mar11 from CatchRide LLC on Vimeo.

Progress Report

Since Poplar, Dante and I have been getting back in the groove. The first week, we didn't jump, just did trot sets, flat work, and then galloped on Sunday.

This week, we were back to our full schedule. Dante jumped and did a 1 x 25 trot set on Tuesday and did dressage on Wednesday, both of which were okay. Then, Thursday we did a 2 x 25 trot set, which was extremely boring, but we worked on some lateral work during the trot sets, and went up and down the tiny hill in the field.

Friday we jumped again, and Dante was quite wonderful. He's come a long way from the horse who was a bit of a nutball in show jumping. It used to be very difficult to have a calm, thinking horse between the jumps in the ring. Dante liked to rush to and away the jumps, canter in a teacup instead of half halting, and generally all I could do was guide his path and try and get out of his way over the fence. Luckily, he jumped clear, even while doing this, at prelim. In 2010, he matured a bit, and I was able to ride him between the fences. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that, so I had a lot of rails trying to be calm when I actually needed more pace. This year, I've been trying to learn to actually ride my now ride-able horse. It's been a big adjustment for me, like going from a motorbike to a Porsche. Cross country he's the same horse, but show jumping he has improved leaps and bounds, so now it's my turn to improve for him.

So on Friday, we really worked on my pace coming out of a turn, and that I should balance up just as we came out of the turn, then be able to send him a little to the jump, instead of continuously trying to balance him all the way up to the jump. I seemed to be getting it by the end, and then we went into the field and did a 1 x 25 trot set. Again, I worked on some lateral work. I think it helps Dante a lot when trying to understand exactly where I want his body during lateral movements to use a jump saddle and his jump bit. I concentrated on shoulder in left and half pass each direction, both of which improved quite a bit.

On Saturday, I decided to begin a new philosophy in regards to dressage. I was watching videos from the Fork, and Jessica Phoenix's video on Exploring caught my eye. (Or Exponential? One of them.) I saw that the horse, while very nice, didn't have super spectacular movement, rather like Dante. However, Jessica Phoenix was extremely steady with her hands and the horse seemed to be very steady in his frame as a result. I decided that I would set my hands and my body and remain steady, using my legs ONLY to communicate to Dante that I wanted him to remain steady in his frame.

Well, it worked extremely well. Occasionally my hands wandered slightly, but for the most part they remained much steadier than before. And surprise, surprise, so did Dante! He was super through and steady, we did lots of trot and canter work, doing transitions both within the gaits and between the gaits. And then we started some lateral work, and it was significantly better. Shoulder in left was much more obedient, shoulder in right had more angle, both haunches in had more angle and were more relaxed as well. So after that, I decided to try some half pass. I began at the canter, and started with half pass to the right. Dante was a bit squiggly with this one, trying to lead with his haunches at first, then straightening out too much when I tried to correct it. We came around and tried it again, and it was a lot better. There is definitely a lot more lateral motion than when I last tried it last summer.

Next, we tried half pass canter to the left, and it was very nice! Positioning of the shoulders slightly ahead of the haunches, bend to the left, and plenty of lateral jump. It felt really, really good. We then did half pass at the trot both directions, and they both felt excellent. I was very proud of Dante, and was even tempted to attempt some lead changes, but decided to hold off until after Jersey Fresh. Dante knows how to do changes very well, and I always do them in warm up for jumping. I've gotten him to the point that he will not change until I ask for the change, and so we'll counter canter around the short end before I ask, so he doesn't think it's every time we change rein. He's quite good at them, but I don't want him to think he's allowed to do them under the dressage saddle yet.

(The truck and trailer hooked up to go to the track.)

This morning, Mike and I headed off to the track, Mike riding Maisie for Heather. Maisie is quite a bit larger (Irish Sporthorse, I think), and has a huge stride at the trot and at the canter. During our trot sets, Dante had to work quite hard to keep up with Maisie's huge trot. At the gallop though, he was pretty insistent that he needed to be at least a head in front of Maisie, and even though Maisie had a huge stride, Dante never tired of 'racing' her. He finished up his gallop sets fighting for rein to go faster and faster, and cooled out quite quickly. I was very pleased with him.

On a feeding note, I've changed his diet because he still seems too under weight. Dante is now getting 1 flake of alfalfa/day, 1 lb of Amplify weight gain supplement am + pm, and 6 qts of beet pulp soaked am + pm. Hopefully, we can bring up his weight before Jersey.

So hopefully, we can translate awesome Dante/Maggie over to the horse shows, particularly in the dressage and show jumping. Fingers crossed, t-minus 2 weeks until Holly Hill!

Poplar Dressage Recap

So here's the dressage video from Poplar.

14-Maggie Deatrick-Divine Comedy-CIC2-DR-25Mar11 from CatchRide LLC on Vimeo.

And here's the judge recaps, the first is from C and the second is from M.



The scores were pretty similar between the two judges. Dante was very tense, which isn't super obvious in the video, but meant I couldn't get him to bend very well to the left, and lateral work was almost nonexistent. The canter work especially I felt as if I was sitting on a firecracker, and in fact on the last medium canter, Dante grabbed the bit and ran. In the video, on the last long side towards the camera, he pricks his ears at about B, and that's when he grabbed the bit. I had to haul on his mouth to get him back. Not our best test, for sure. Our canter-walk-canter's were nonexistent, which is disappointing because they have gotten so much better at home. I slipped back into old habits of contorting my body and shoving my legs forward while my hands drop into my lap. Awesome.

I am working hard to get into shape so I can adequately perform dressage again, needless to say.

Demystifying the Vet Box

The other day, the Chronicle Forums had a thread started about the lack of knowledge about the ten minute box on the part of the CIC* riders at Poplar. Now, I know Gold Chip's CIC* rider had a good couple of kids to help out in the box, and all of those with us were educated in how to handle the box. However, we also had a lone Training rider accompanying all the upper level riders at Poplar, and her mom walked with Dante and I back to the barn after the box. She said something very interesting to me on the way back.

What she said was, "We love being here with all the upper levels because you all know exactly what to do and when to do it."

That gave me pause a bit, and I realized that something that had become routine for me was something that two years ago I was desperately seeking information about, reading books, and watching Youtube videos on.

So without further adieu, here's what you need in the 10 minute box, and what to do with it.

Equipment needed:

2 Buckets: These will be used to hold ice water. It's generally best if you have buckets with your colors. For instance, I have black buckets with blue electric tape on them. This makes them more easily identifiable as my buckets.

2 Sponges/2 Sweatscrapers: Two is best, because then you can have one person on each side of the horse sponging water on and scraping it off. My scrapers and sponges are also blue.

Halter with Number: I prefer to have an old halter (I actually use my everyday halter) with his showname on the name plate to help officials identify the horse. Also, the number must be present, again to help the officials/vet. While you can use an old bridle tag that you've flipped over and written the number on the back, I prefer to put blue electric tape around the cheekpiece and write his number with a Sharpie on it. The halter will get wet in the vet box, and wet bridle tag numbers are never fun.

Lead Shank with Chain: No matter how well behaved your horse is on a normal basis, after cross country he/she is pumped full of adrenaline and probably not inclined to stand still. Having a chain is essential for most horses. Better to have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. Even if you think your horse is worse with a chain over his nose, you can always just use the chain as a regular shank. You likely won't be the one holding your own horse (more on that later), so have some consideration for your helpers and give them the option to use a chain if the horse is being a bit bull-headed.

Sturdy Laundry Bag: This one is purely optional, but very handy. You'll find that most of the time in the vet box, the tack comes off and goes EVERYWHERE. It will be surprising how many of pieces of tack your horse wears and then you realize that you will have to carry it all back to the stables. I stick all of my tack except my saddle into the laundry bag as it comes off the horse. Boots with tape, bridle covered in sweat, saddle pad, girth, safety vest, gloves, helmet, everything. My laundry bag is a sturdy black one that has backpack straps on it, so it's easy to carry. Plus you can put all your buckets, scrapers, sponges, and halter into the bag to carry it down to the vet box. There, done!

Now you pretty much have everything you need. Optionally you can bring scissors to cut tape off XC boots, but the one time I did that, my helper accidentally cut through two straps on one of my boots. Now I just rip off the tape or just leave the boots on until I get back to the barn.


Before the event, you should be aware of your horse's typical exertion temperature, heart and respiration rate because it's good practice to measure these after gallops in the month leading up to the event. Also, by using a thermometer, you get your horse used to it so that in the vet box, he/she isn't throwing a fit over having a thermometer in their you-know-where.

Now, when you first enter the vet box after crossing the finish line, the vets and their assistants will come up and take your horse's temperature, heart, and respiration rate. They are usually pretty high, especially when it's hot or humid. The vet will tell you them, write them down and hand the paper to one of their assistants. Try and make a note of these, so you can get a feeling for how normal they are compared to your horse's normal exertion rates.

Your primary helper should come up with the halter and get the bridle off and the halter on. You and another helper should get the tack off as quickly as you can, except for the cross country boots. Although the boots trap heat on the legs, there are a couple of reasons to leave them on for the moment. 1) Some horses may kick out, still pumped up on adrenaline. Not only is it dangerous for a person to be near kicking legs, the boots will also protect their legs from their own kicking. Dante does this, and he's not a kicker, but when he's pumped up, it's not safe down there at first. 2) It's more important to quickly get water on the horse and begin cooling off the main portion of his body than taking extra time to pull off the boots.

If you have three helpers, one should hold the horse's head while the other two sponge ice water on and immediately scrape it off. Do not leave the water on! Scraping is the most important part of this process. While the water is initially cool, the horse's high temperature immediately heats it up. If it is not scraped off, it actually traps the heat at the skin. Therefore, by scraping the water off, you are literally removing the heat.

Make sure to get the horse's head if you can, and under the tail. These areas have thinner skin than most, and help cool the horse down.

After an initial sponge off, the helper holding the horse should then walk the horse in a large circle. The other two helpers should go refresh the ice water in the buckets. You should make sure to be removing your outer layers (vest, helmet, gloves) while the horse is being taken care of. If you don't have three helpers and are helping cool the horse down, use the horse's walking time to remove those items. Drink some water as well, most shows provide water bottles to the riders in the box.

Sometimes you will not really be permitted to help your horse until you take care of yourself (unofficially anyways). For instance, when I did the CCI* at Colorado, I was very out of breath at the finish due to a combination of a throat infection and the altitude. The FEI doctor made me sit down on a golf cart and drink a bottle of water while removing my vest, helmet, etc. I kept wanting to get up and help with my horse, but he wouldn't let me. Similarly, at Poplar, I was trying to get my bucket of water filled with ice water and the FEI doctor followed me while entreating me to drink some water, shed some layers. I felt fine, but he actually started to unbuckle my helmet and unzip my vest while I was trying to fill my bucket! So I finally stopped and promised to look after myself while others took care of my horse.

The point is, make sure you, the rider, are taking care of yourself as well.

Anyways, once the horse walks in a big circle, again sponge and scrape both sides. At this point, if the horse calm enough, you can take off his boots, which will help to further cool him down. Repeat the sponge, scrape, and walk routine.

After ten minutes, the vet assistants will come back to take your horse's stats again. If your horse has cooled down enough, you will be released to go back to the barn. Don't forget all your stuff! If your horse is not yet cool enough, continue the routine, making sure the assistants come check your horse's stats periodically.

If you ride with a trainer who has a group of FEI students, check with them before cross country to see if they have a particular routine or setup. Often, trainers with multiple FEI students will have a bucket station for their stables, help from other students not riding in the FEI divisions, and might bring all of your stuff back.

For instance, at Poplar, Mike brought buckets and sponges down for the Gold Chip horses. Jacob Fletcher (Area V YR who was running Intermediate at Poplar) and Elizabeth Crowder (Area V YR/FEI Groom Extraordinaire) crewed vet box. The Area V horses all came in at least 30 minutes apart, starting with Ellen Doughty's Obie, then Dante, then Heather's Maisie, then Alexa's Mitch in the one star. I brought Dante down, but left all of my tack and Mike brought all of the tack back on his golf cart later. So stables often work as a team to get all of their horses through vet box.

Rocking Horse 3 Show Jumping and Cross Country

Here are the videos for the jumping phases of Rocking Horse 3. They were posted quite a while ago actually, but it was while I was Poplar, where I was doing my best to keep you updated daily. In any case, here's show jumping.

51-Maggie Deatrick-Divine Comedy-SJ from CatchRide on Vimeo.

I obviously missed a few times to large oxers and Dante saved my butt. The worst was the blue oxer bending to the in and out. The seven fit just fine, but there was no possible way Dante could have gotten the one without the very forward six. I stand by my statement before that I think Rocking Horse's course designer should have not made the in and out distance quite so do-or-die, as I saw many, many horses who did not make the one stride. It's unfortunate when a course designer punishes the horse for mistakes the rider made.

Here's cross country.

51-Maggie Deatrick-Divine Comedy-XC from CatchRide on Vimeo.

One of my best cross country rounds for sure. Not much I feel that could be better about that except that I still need to pick up my shoulders more.

Poplar Place: The Heart of a Thoroughbred

Somehow, I found myself driving to Poplar at 5:15 am on Sunday. For those who know me, early mornings aren't my thing. Really early mornings very much aren't my thing. But I managed to drag myself out of bed and to the barn.

Unfortunately, Dante was extremely stiff and probably a bit muscle sore after his exertions the previous day. We jogged him up to see what he felt like, and he was definitely a bit funny behind...not as if he was lame, just as if he was stiff. We checked his legs and they were tight and cool, so I hopped on and spend about 30 minutes in the dark trotting and cantering to limber him up.

The time for the jog rolled around just after the sun came up. Dante was much looser, although not 100%. I think the hardness and the hills really got to him, and I know in the future I will hold him back instead of letting him roll.

We jogged up, and got held. The vet in the hold checked his legs and also found nothing wrong with him, which was unsurprising to Mike and I. Then I jogged him again for the stewards and we were passed on re-inspection. That was one of the more nerve wracking moments of my life, let me tell you!

I tried to get the equine masseuse out to give Dante a massage before show jumping, but when I talked to her, she said she wasn't coming to Poplar, because she thought that because it was the last day of the show, no one would want a massage! That seemed very strange to me, as I would think the day after cross country would by far be the most popular for massage. So poor Dante had to settle for handwalking and grazing.

I walked the course and thought it looked quite fun. The first line was a related distance, which I always hate because Dante isn't quite capable of the big stride yet. However, it was a very long related distance, either a long seven or short eight. So Mike, Heather, and I decided that instead of being set on a distance and trying to make that distance happen no matter what, I would simply ride to my eye and not count strides in that line. Everything else looked quite doable, and I honestly didn't think the jumps were particularly big.

During warm-up, I could tell Dante was tired and stiff. Very tired and stiff. I'm definitely going to try and handle things differently in the future for three days, particularly if the ground is hard, or there are lots of hills (even the Kentucky Horse Park isn't as hilly as Poplar!). However, he was jumping well, including a very large oxer at the end that I am convinced was Advanced height, as the jumps in the ring looked small after jumping it! I was also seeing my spot well.

In the ring, I knew I needed to give him an accurate ride to give him a chance. And I'm proud of my riding for the most part. I rode the first line to my eye and got a good stride to both the first and second jumps. Unfortunately, Dante tapped the second fence and it fell. Then he tapped the third fence, but it didn't fall. Then the fifth, and so on and so forth. We jumped by braille around the entire course, but other than the second fence, none of the rails fell. My poor tired boy was jumping his heart out, let me tell you, but he just didn't have the energy.

Then, coming to the last fence, which was right by the in-gate, I did something stupid. I had watched the rider before me run down to it, lean for her spot, and miss by a mile, punching through the rail. Since I sometimes have the bad habit of doing just that, I swore I wouldn't. And what did I do? I ran down to it, leaned for my spot, missed by a mile, and Dante had to punch through the top rail. Poor boy. So he had a rail and I had a rail. Luckily, everyone around us all had 2 rails so I ended up not changing position.

So, we ended in our first two star in 9th out of 33 starters. I'll take it. I would have liked to ribbon (they ribboned through 8th), but I still think finishing in the top third in a division filled with professionals and their future superstars is pretty damn amazing.

My flight wasn't until 8 pm, so I hung around and watched the Intermediate jump after the rain hold, and saw the CIC* as well. Congrats to Alexa Ehlers for her QR in the CIC* on In Any Event!

(The Intermediate show jumps after a torrential rain storm. In about 30 minutes the sun came out and you never would have known it had rained at all.)

Dante and I are home now. I jogged him yesterday afternoon and he looked a lot better. He'll have today off for sure, and maybe a nice walk hack tomorrow, depending on how he's feeling. He's definitely still a little stiff, but I know the last time I over-worked out, I was stiff and sore in places for nearly a week, so I don't expect him to be 100% yet. This week will be light hacks, some trot work, a little bit of dressage near the end of the week, and hopefully a gallop on Sunday if the ground is fine and he's feeling good again. We have four weeks from Poplar until Holly Hill, so there's no rush for him to be instantly put back into strenuous work.

Poplar Place: Kick It Up

Sorry for the delay in posts, but it's been a long couple of nights.

Cross country day dawned cloudy and overcast, with a constant threat of rain from 9 am until 7 pm. Of course, in the end it didn't rain until after 5, so we spent the day with lots of humidity.

I spent the morning walking the course one more time, and watching some of the Advanced ride. At first, I parked myself near the Indian Burial Mound that caused so many problems last year, wondering how many were going to take the new option. Well, only one of the first few even made it that far, as many combinations (including Buck and Reggie) were caught up at the waterfall bank in the middle of the second water. Luckily, they took it off the course after the first few falls, but it felt very reminiscent of the problems the Indian Burial Mound caused last year. I continued to walk my course, stopping to watch the Advanced pairs through their combinations and got to see some amazing jumpers. I also saw some problems, concluding with a chestnut who wanted nothing to do with the bounces at the first water, but was happy to jump an Intermediate fence backwards after depositing his rider on the ground. The rider quickly got up and was okay, at least.

Unfortunately, as most people heard, there was a lovely mare, Dekorum II, who had to be euthanized after taking a bad step on the Advanced course. My heart goes out to her owner and rider and all others connected to her. After that, I knew that no matter what happened on the course that day, I would consider it a success to have my horse happy in his stall at the end of the day.

Dante warmed up well, although I felt a bit squished in warm up with several pairs trying to jump at the same time, and no galloping room. One thing I dislike about Poplar is the relatively long distance between the warm up and start box. Dante, normally pretty collected before start, jigged the whole way over, and jigged the entire time as we circled the start box. Then he bucked and charged when the starter said go, which actually is his normal m.o. He loves cross country.


We came up to the first fence, a big log, and he jumped well. I knew it was going to be a great round, at that point, but I wasn't about to take anything for granted. We galloped up the hill to the second jump, where he spooked slightly at the windmill before focusing on the jump.


Then, there was a large hill going down , then a sharp run up to a panda jump, which was amazingly adorable, with tiny panda cubs on the backside of it. I let Dante roll a bit down the hill without checking his speed, knowing he was going to need the pace to get up the hill to the panda. Sure enough, he balanced himself up quite nicely and we hit the panda at a nice stride.



Next we turned (carefully!) to the moss covered trakehner, which Dante had no problem. That was the first jump we've ever jumped that had a blue flag on it, and I am slightly psyched that we have now jumped an Advanced trakehner! The fact that it's also a two star trakehner is fine, but not nearly as neat.


Then up the hill to a skinny that I jumped slightly on the angle, in order to create a straighter line to the first combination, which was probably the combination I was most worried about.

The first combination was a small ramp that you jumped slightly on a left to right angle, with two straight strides to a right handed corner that was filled with lots of brush. The trick to it was that a large cedar type tree that edged out into your line. I have a bit of phobia of trees ever since I was twelve and I was knocked off a pony by a tree branch, breaking my arm. So yeah, trees aren't my thing.


As we came up to it, I could feel Dante questioning me slightly, asking if I was sure. I told him yes, and he said, okay, I got it, but I still felt like he was confused by the brush corner. I think that the tree kind of blended in with the brush corner, which made it hard for him to define the jump, and then the tall brush over the corner made Dante confused as to what type of jump it was. I'm pretty sure the confusion was only evident to me, as he jumped without wavering.


Next we tackled the ditch and rails, which always frightens me more than Dante. It was a pretty big ditch, and although it wasn't as large as Greenwood's Weldon's Wall, it had no brush so it seemed more imposing to me. However, again, Dante jumped it like a champ.




Then we rode what I called the coffin for brevity. Actually, it was a ditch jumped at an angle, one stride to a wedge, then uphill for a REALLY long three or a holding four to another wedge. Dante jumped the ditch not quite at as much angle as I want, but close enough that we had no problem to the first wedge, and then I just gave a small half halt up the hill for the four to the wedge. It worked perfectly, and then we were on to the civil war camp.


I jumped the civil war camp fence, which was just a cabin covered by a white sheet to look like a tent. We then swung around to the sunken road, which wasn't as difficult as the sunken road at Holly Hill. Log, one stride down, one stride on the bottom, up, one stride to another long. Again, my horse made it look easy.


Next we galloped across the field to the biggest table on course. I always worry about these, especially that I won't find my spot. But I need to stop worrying, because Dante easily has enough scope, and for some reason I just get the perfect spot to these big tables. Dante flew over it, with no problem.


Then across the road (where I definitely cut my path in a bit tight on accident before crossing) to a simple skinny rolltop.


Up next to where the crowds gathered at the first water complex. The two star jumped a large fishing pole at the top of the hill, then balanced for six strides to a canoe drop into the water, three strides across the complex to a bank up, and two strides uphill to a wedge. I'm always nervous how Dante is going to handle water, ever since he was young and had water problems, but as usual he handled it with his usual courage. Such a good boy!




Then through the woods, to a small table that doubled as a sandbox, complete with plastic buckets.


Up to the top of the hill, we did the gnome village, which was two narrow huts set at a sharp angle with two strides between. I thought Dante was be awesome at this, but he actually was greenest at this combination, wiggling before the first jump and then wiggling between them. He jumped them because I asked him to, but seemed confused as to why they weren't jumped straight. He's usually very good at sharp angles, but I think he's used to only doing angles for stadium type fences. I believe the narrowness of the fences and also the width (not verticals) confused him, so I'm going to get Mike to move his narrow rolltops into an angled line so we can practice this at home.


Then the palisade in the woods (sorry, I forgot to take a picture but it was small and boring and was harder on my one-star course last year). A fast gallop through the woods up the big hill, and then over a tall but not wide table.


Finally we came to the second water, the last combination on course. First, a hanging log, then downhill six strides to a corner jumped into the water. Dante was good here too, although slightly looky at the water, but that water is very looky so I'm not surprised.




Then to the final fence, a tiny palisade, then up to the finish.


The ground was hard and it was warm, so I pretty much ignored my watch and let Dante pick his pace around the course. Apparently Dante's chosen pace is fast, because we ended up being the only pair to make time which I was pretty proud of. He was definitely tired at the finish, not being used to hills at all, but recovered in 10 minutes when his temperature was down to 98.5 F. If he had ever given me any indication of being tired, I would have made him slow down, but he never gave me any indication that he was so tired, jumping well to the last fence. I think I need to be aware of that, and may need to plan to go slow at certain times to give him a breather, because he will never indicate to me that he's tired. Silly thoroughbreds and their big hearts.

So I jumped from 24th to 9th, but the biggest prize was having my horse looking ridiculously proud of himself for the rest of the day. :-)


Then we iced and walked and iced and walked and braided. I came to walk him at 11 pm at night and he was sacked out flat, so I let him be. I did get to have dinner in Columbus with an old college friend from UK, which was awesome. A pretty good day, in the end.