The Courage to Change

It has been several weeks since I last updated, and I can already state with confidence that it is likely to be several more before I update again. The reason for this is simply that with Dante (temporarily) not in my life other than through text photos and phone calls, I don't really have much to blog about. 

That doesn't mean nothing has changed. I've recently moved to Middleburg, and I mean I am right in town! For the first time in my life, I can walk to shops and cafes. There are four tack shops here! I've currently resisted entering any of them due to lack of funds, but I have stopped in the biggest Dover store I've ever seen, which is conveniently on my way to work. It's a bit easier to not buy things when there's no serious riding to be seen in my near future, and my pony isn't within arm's reach. In any case, I've been busy attempting to sort out my house, find my bearings, and of course watching the Olympics. Conveniently, I start my new career on August 1st, which I didn't plan at all for with the Olympic Eventing in mind, but it works out perfectly. 

Our drive to VA was relatively smooth, barring a few tense minutes in the West Virginia mountains where the trailer was pushing my truck down a few steep grades. Anyone know an alternate route through WV from VA to KY, preferably including an interstate highway? We did stop over in KY, to see S and Dante. I haven't seen S since I ran the 2009 LF CCI* at Midsouth, so it was great fun to have a couple of days to reunite. I'm hoping to entice her out to VA to attend a few horse shows, cross your fingers! She's taking awesome care of Dante, who is fatter than I have ever seen him. The only way to entice him to lift his head from the lush bluegrass was with a carrot. He's not FAT-fat yet, as I've never been able to get him to gain much weight, but definitely looks like a rounder hunter. He gets to go out all night with his friend Fig, an older gelding who apparently bosses Dante around. Dante apparently doesn't really care what Fig tries, just eats nonstop.

(Dante grazes in his Kentucky field as the sun goes down.)

His shoes were also pulled about four days prior to my seeing him. The first day I was there, he was definitely a bit tentative when he walked. We stayed two full days after that and each day he got better. On the morning of the fourth day, you could barely tell he had been sore walking barefoot, although every now and then, he'd stop paying attention and stub his toe on something. Silly pony.

(Dante's bare feet!)

As of then, there wasn't much change in the shape of his hoof, but it had been less than a week so I wouldn't have expected anything yet. Hopefully, we'll see some seriously change within six weeks.

Leaving the Nest

Sometimes, you must change your environment in order to grow as a person.

The past two months have been a huge whirlwind of change for me. I have traveled (both by car and plane) over much of the country for my final senior design project, for job interviews, for horse shows, for weddings. I've graduated from college (for the second time!), landed a job, moved temporarily to San Antonio, and purchased a new (to me) truck. In the next month, I look forward to a final vacation, a cross country drive with a pit stop in KY to visit my horse and watch 'my kids' tackle NAJYRC cross country and show jumping, moving into a place around Middleburg (exact address still pending), and starting my new career.

Change is exhilarating and I can't help but feel like my life as an adult is finally beginning after having been in a holding pattern for the past four years.

However, while moving involves meeting new people and having new experiences, it also involves a lot of good-byes.

I'm exceptionally terrible at saying good-bye. I'm that person who gives an awkward hug and mumbles something about seeing you later. Except of course, everyone knows there is no later.

Some of the hardest good-byes I had to give this time were to the wonderful people at Gold Chip, which has been like a second home for me. I have seen so many kids and young riders go through Gold Chip, but the current group of riders is really something special. There's a camaraderie that I am going to greatly miss. Even our trainer is like a second dad to us all, to the point where I actually almost called my own father 'Mike' the other day. Dante has lived at this barn for more than four years, which is by far the longest he has ever lived in one place, and my trainer has brought us from Novice to Advanced. It will be hard to adjust to a trainer who doesn't know every nuance of our partnership like Mike does.

And yet, as much as I love my barn, I really, really hate Texas summers. I hate Texas summers the way many people hate northern winters. If I have my way, I will never again visit Texas between May and September. I loathe the overbearing, choking heat, and generally huddle inside in the A/C all day, every day. Repeatedly I get told that NoVa still gets hot, but usually the person telling me this has never experienced Texas in mid-summer. I cannot wait to escape this oppressive weather.

Luckily, I landed the job in D.C. and I'm lucky enough to be planning a move to Middleburg, VA. I've purchased a used Dodge Ram 2500 (dubbed Casey Jones) so I can finally look forward to hauling my own horse. (I may have been the only Advanced level eventer with neither a truck nor a trailer.) The commute is going to be a bitch, but with no family and no pets to deal with at home, this is the time of my life to make these kind of sacrifices in order to ride and compete.

Dante is currently on vacation at Graystone Stables in Georgetown, KY. Graystone is owned and run by S, my former college roommate who is the most meticulous horseperson I've ever known. I'm very lucky to be able to trust her with my boy while I put my new life in order. Dante is also being seen by her in-house vet, Dr. Newton of Rood and Riddle, who I absolutely already love. His shoes will be pulled shortly, and hopefully we can create a large change in the shape of his hoof.

(Dante hams it up at Graystone.)

In the meantime, I am both excited and melancholy by turns. Saying good-bye is not an easy thing.

If You Can't Stand the Heat

Well, summer is here and it's officially time to get out of Texas!

Kind of.

About a billion things have happened in my life since I updated after Greenwood. The biggest thing is that I have graduated and accepted a job in Alexandria, VA near D.C. that will start August 1st. So what does this mean for my riding?

Well first of all, hooray for moving into the heart of Area II. I won't be forced to take a week off for every horse show as I do in Area V, what with all the horse shows in that area. However, I get zero vacation time my first year, so riding is going to go on hiatus for at least six months while I get my bearings.

Normally, this would bum me out. I'm so close to qualifying for the Big Game (which shall not be named and heretofore will always be referred to as the Big Game). Dante and I are so in sync on cross country that I'm in danger of becoming too cocky (my coach keeps my head from swelling too large to fit through doorways though). I think we're about to have a mental breakthrough for both of us for dressage. Area II would also give us a chance to refine our show jumping.

However, Dante has been competing quite steadily since he was five. It's time for a break. It's time for him to have his shoes pulled and allow his poor contracted heels to relax. It's time for him to roll around in the KY bluegrass all day, every day (or night, whichever). It's time for him to be a fat, roly-poly horse.

Dante demonstrates his love for the KY bluegrass as a five year old.

Before that happens, we have one more challenge.

Remember how I said it's time to get out of the oven kitchen Texas? In two days time we will be headed up to Colorado to make our next attempt at a QR in the CCI**. Third time's a charm right? Hard ground thwarted us at Jersey, and pneumonia defeated us at Galway, but here's to hoping our upcoming trip is issue-free. We've got good karma at the CO Horse Park, having run our first successful Training there in 2008 and our first CCI* in 2009, finishing 3rd on our dressage score. I've got a good feeling going, and that's always a confidence builder.

And it won't be as hot in Colorado!

(Seriously, hate the heat with a passion, as does Dante.)

After CO, Dante will get to go live with my old college roommate at Graystone Stable in Georgetown, KY. He'll have his shoes pulled and hopefully will finally defeat his age old foe, thrush. He'll see the farriers at the podiatry center of Rood and Riddle and be subject to the phenomenal eye of Dr. Chris Newton. Hopefully he'll come to VA in mid-winter, after spending some time swimming at Kesmarc to put condition on him before going back to work.

That's the plan anyways.

Unfortunately I'll be headed to San Antonio for a month to stay with my parents to save some money for a month, regroup, recover, and then head to VA the end of July. That means I have to stay in the oven for a month longer, but better me than Dante.

So here's to persistence (and cooler weather)!

Bigger, Faster, Stronger

It's that time of year again; Dante and I have embarked on CCI** fitness sets!

The thing about fitness sets is that they're very boring here in Texas. We have flat, flat, and more flat land.   Since our show is in Colorado, it is on the side of a mountain. Also, the altitude plays in and becomes a factor. So, Dante needs to be very, very fit.

Officially we are now galloping every five days, something I have never really done before. It has always been a schedule of every seven days, to work in with school and work. However, now I have a few weeks break after graduating, so I am taking advantage of that to gallop every five days as recommended by most top riders. We are also doing trot sets as well.

Our schedule reads trot sets, flat, jump, gallop, day off. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Tomorrow we will embark to the track for the first time this season. Although the Texas weather has actually provided us with a bit of rain and moderate temperatures this spring, the ground has migrated to being just hard enough to leave me feeling uncomfortable about galloping on it, particularly for the long sets that I have to do.

To ramp up Dante's fitness, we have gradually increased our sets from 3 x 5 to 3 x 7 sets. Only in the month of May did I start galloping every five days, and we will do one more 3 x 7 sets and two 3 x 8 sets before Colorado. The trot sets have ramped up from 2 x 15 to 2 x 25 and will up to 2 x 30.

Man, trot sets are boring. Pandora Radio helps.

In any case, the hope is that we will arrive in Colorado fit to fight.

Choke

Something I have been working on for a very long time, particularly in dressage, is my mental game. I used to get extremely worked up before dressage, because I just knew it was going to go badly. As a result, it usually did.

Shockingly, this past weekend at Greenwood, my mental game finally came through for dressage. We entered the ring calm and collected after having a wonderful warm up. Our trot work was really lovely, and even the walk was decent. Unfortunately, he then lost his mind a bit in the canter, swapping across the first diagonal and refusing to pick up the correct lead, then swapping on the final canter down center line, then refusing to trot to the final halt. It was relatively atrocious. I can sum that test up with the statement that it was both the best and worst test I have ever done. Still, I was so thrilled with his trot work, that I forgave him for his canter work. He's still playing with his lead changes like they are a new toy. Now I am trying to take that toy away from him, so he forgets about it a little. It's going well at home and in warmup, but apparently not so much in the actual test. We'll work on that. In the end, we were tied for first shockingly, but on our usual low 40s score. I'm positive we would have broken into the 30s if he hadn't melted down in the canter, so hopefully we can pull that together before Colorado.

Cross country, as usual, he was amazing. We were forward and bold to all of the fences, and very much in sync. At first, he was quite on the muscle, and I found myself with rather long distances to the first four fences, as if he were attempting to make the fences larger. He soon settled, and we went along to a comfortable pace.  I wasn't planning on trying for time, so I was pleasantly surprised when our leisurely gallop (at least it felt rather leisurely to me, I never once pushed him) turned out to be the fastest of the division, putting us into first by almost 10 points.

So going into show jumping, I was feeling rather good about have two rails in hand. Unfortunately, my mental game failed me, and I sucked. Again. Just like at Poplar. We had two rails relatively early when I got him a touch deep to a couple of verticals, and then I just bombed going into the triple combination. Almost fell off while Dante climbed through all three fences. It was just all kinds of bad. Then I missed badly going to the final fence as well, so I ended up with six rails. Not exactly a confidence building ride, having two of these awful, non-qualifying rounds before my two star....

My game plan is very much to work on my mental game. Mike is going to set up some jumps in the field for me, so I can feel the difference of jumping in a large space, rather than his very small arena. I thought about attending a schooling jumper show, but unfortunately the only jumper shows around here in the month of May are 'A' rated, and would cost me $300 or more to even get there. I'm not sure I'm ready to shell out that much for a couple of schooling rounds. I've also got a couple of sports psychology books, and I'm going to do some digging in those.

Once again, back to square one.

Mixed Bag

Sometimes, you get a mixed bag of results. This weekend was like that.

We made the trek out to Poplar Place last weekend in Georgia to run their Advanced. I knew it would be a tough second Advanced, and I was right. Walking the course on Thursday definitely made my eyes pop out a bit, especially for the modified Weldon's, which was a skinny brush set on an angle with a ditch. Poplar takes their brush fence seriously, with the lowest side of the brush cut at about four and a half feet. The tall side on the left must have been up to about six and a half feet, as you can see in the following photo.

(I'm 5'3'', for reference.)

There were some combinations that I knew would be tough. The first combination was a hanging log, a sharp turn left five strides to a huge left handed corner, and then a sharp turn right five strides to a skinny house. I was a bit nervous about the Weldon's. The cannon combo came up the hill, jump two cannons on a left-handed angle with one stride in between, then downhill with three LONG strides to a left handed corner. It was set perpendicular to a prelim combination that also ended with a corner. (Remember that, it's important later.) We also had a hanging log, one stride to a bank with a huge drop on a steep downhill, to a ditch, then one stride to a wedge. Next up was the infamous Indian Burial Mound, which had been modified to be a true Irish Bank, one stride to a log on top. The final combination that concerned me was a big/long bounce into the main water. There were a few other combinations on course, but these were the ones that looked tough to me.

So basically, most of the course looked tough to me.

I was really excited to get to it, but first we had to get through dressage. I tried yet another warmup technique this time, going for a long trot and canter set in the am of my dressage test, hoping to wear him out. Then I got on about ten minutes before my ride. It didn't really work. Dante started off with trot work that was a bit duller than that of Rocking Horse. He built steam throughout the test, until our final canter work was barely controllable, which was an improvement over Rocking Horse when our canter work at the end was UNcontrollable. So we're back to square one again. The good news is that it doesn't seem to be the environment or the ring that affects him, but rather performing the actual test that works him up. I think that perhaps by running through test after test after test (starting with Novice), I might actually get him used to that and prevent the mental build.

We'll see.

In any case, my trot work didn't score as well, but my canter work scored better, and I ended up with a 43.1, one point improvement over Rocking Horse. We won't have another stab at the Advanced test for a while, but I'm satisfied with the result.

Next up, cross country! It had rained quite a bit on Friday, but since the ground before was so hard, the footing ended up being absolutely perfect. We put in big studs to make sure we didn't slip, but the turf was spongy and non-concussive. We set off across the country and Dante jumped the first four fences great, especially number four, a big hanging table that was probably the largest fence on course. We came to number five, the first corner combination, which had been causing lots of problems already. I really concentrated on turning to the corner before thinking about the final element, and Dante jumped through great. We continued on, jumping the bounce bank in the woods with no problem, before coming to the Weldon's. 

At the Weldon's, Dante decided in the very last stride that the right side of the fence was scary and it would be better to jump the left side instead. The six and a half foot side. Oh yes, there was a large shrub on the landing side on the left too. I have a memory of going up, and up, and up. Dante did brush at least some of it, but he must have cleared at least five and a half feet. Considering that the largest I have ever jumped was four and a half feet, I was a bit in shock. In mid-air, he saw that the shrub interfered with our first stride after landing. His front feet struck the ground, and he twisted hard to the right to avoid the shrub. I grabbed mane and barely stayed atop as he navigated around the shrub and continued gamely on. I love my horse.

(I hate him a little too, though. Seriously, horse?)

For the record, I did end up trekking back out to that fence later to see if I could find his hoof prints, and sure enough, there they were; two deep solid circles (from his pads) at least two feet to the left of everyone else's tracks, and solidly placed in front of the shrub. 

In any case, we continued on. Unfortunately, we ran into trouble at the cannons. Dante jumped the cannons extremely straight, but immediately after sighted the Prelim corner to the right and headed for it. I corrected his path, but it was too late. There was no way, with the hard wiggle, to make the three long strides to our corner. We got there on three and a half and Dante simply couldn't jump. Circling around, Dante jumped it like a champ on the next approach, but the damage was done. Leslie Law later told my trainer that he thought the two corner combinations were extremely difficult, so that made me feel better at least. I know for sure that Dante could have done the combination on the first try, so in the future, I will make note of other fences he might lock onto instead of our own, and ride accordingly. A photo of the combination in question can be found here.

Next up was the bank/ditch combo, which Dante jumped well. Then we tackled the Indian Burial Mound, which he jumped extremely well. The final bounce into the water, we rode perfectly, although we ended a touch off the canoe on the out and Dante clobbered it a little. I was extremely proud of his bravery jumping into the water. It has taken four years, but he finally has zero hesitation upon entering water. Go Dante!

Dante was a little tired from the hills by the end, but recovered quickly and well. He was back to his annoying self within thirty minutes. The next morning he practically bounced out of his stall, and he felt extremely up during warm up. I knew that as long as I met the fences well, he would jump clear. 

Unfortunately, I did not even remotely hold up my end of the bargain. 

I missed badly at the first fence and that ended up setting the tone for the rest of the course. I rarely get to ride in such a large arena, and I had a bit too much pace. Last year, I never had enough pace, and I've gone a bit the other direction. I also think that Dante is well trained enough now that he is too responsive to the bit, and I'm afraid subconsciously to take a hold and put him between my leg and hand because he'll drop back too much. Instead, I had all leg going out the front and none coming into my hand. Not Dante's fault at all, completely mine. In any case, my round was pretty embarrassing. I missed badly to four jumps, causing him to basically punch through them in varying degrees. I missed a little to a final fence, getting him a bit too deep to a vertical, and he wasn't inclined to help me out anymore, so I had a fifth rail.

So, a mixed bag of results at Poplar. I am extremely proud of him for the way he handled the XC course. We're going to go home and work on accuracy (for the Weldon's), and listening (to make sure he locks onto the right jump). I foresee jumping lots of upright barrels in our future. For show jumping, we'll play with some different bits and jumping out in the field. I have no plans to do a CIC3* until next year, so the fact that we didn't get a QR this weekend is really ok. Right now, I have every intention of simply gaining experience at the Advanced level, and we accomplished that this weekend. 

The Best Laid Plans

I have now been back in Texas for two weeks, and I think that it is safe to say that I have officially missed winter this year. It has been in the 60s and 70s the entire time I have been back, and I haven't worn more than a hoodie to keep warm. Most days I even shed the long sleeve shirts. The wildflowers are beginning to pop out on the roadside, and the trees are beginning to bloom.

(A tree in the park where I run daily.)

The emergence of flowers usually signals the end of winter for Texas. Sometimes the flowers don't come out until April; that's when we know it might snow in March. But this winter was quite mild even before we left for Florida. In Florida, it was almost hot, and I had to buy some emergency tank-tops before I roasted. Then I come back and it's spring. (I love winter and snow, so completely missing any semblance of winter is throwing me for a loop.)

However, it's truly lovely to go and ride every day. Dante is feeling extremely good. In fact, so good that he feel the urge to spook at every leaf and squirrel. I finally gave in and cut his feed a little, which seems to have calmed him a bit. He's still getting plenty of beet pulp, so he should be able to maintain his weight.

The show schedule keeps changing. Southern Pines is out of the picture, and Poplar is back in. I'll be running Advanced there. As a result, I didn't want to trailer twice to the east coast in three weeks; therefore, the Fork was out as well. Then it seemed my barn had several headed to Ocala CCI** (which we've never gone to), so I started to plan for that. However, that seems to be a non-starter now. 

I had planned to be done by mid-April, as I have to make a four day trip to West Grove, PA for my senior design project the weekend of Rolex, I have a bridal shower to attend the weekend of Holly Hill, and a four day long wedding/my birthday in Austin the weekend of Feather Creek/Chatt Hills in May. I'll be quite busy. I'm also moving back to SA to live with my parents for a few months starting in June before moving up to NJ to start my new career. Now, somewhere in there, I have a feeling I'll be trying to fit in Greenwood and the CO Horse Park CCI**, which is in early June. I think it'll work okay, but I need to talk to Mike and my parents before I get the okay for that.

My life is getting ready for some big changes. This season, almost every show has been up in the air....I think I'm getting some good practice at dealing with uncertainty!