narp!

5:54. AM. November 19th, 2011. 28 degrees.

These settings would normally, when combined, create a very unhappy Marina. Yet when you divide them by the fact that it was for a Holly Hudspeth clinic, suddenly I am able to be quite enthusiastic about the whole deal. Well maybe just about the clinic.

7 o'clock sharp Apollo and I were out there cracking through the frozen surface of footing, okay so Apollo was cracking, I was sitting there feeling bad enough for him to give him extra walking time but not bad enough to get off and help.

The lesson with Holly went really well, Apollo has been having problems actually going straight. Which I guess is kinda important, especially since we're moving up to intermediate in the spring (yayyy) which has fancy movements like shoulder and haunches in.  Anyway, so we worked a lot on a tight circle getting him to stretch deeply into each bend and stepping through both sides equally, then leg yielding out while maintaining the contact.

We then worked on canter-walk transitions, stressing on the contact. By the end of it I'd say we looked pretty good.

After getting some much needed Starbucks, and a quick nap on back of our truck Apollo and I headed down for a show jumping lesson.

Holly had us working on just staying really consistent in the canter so that the distances would come without much adjusting, but if I had to adjust it would be easy. 

Basically more of what we've been working on all year. We are getting better but I'm gonna go ahead and make a prediction that I'm gonna be working on this for a really long time. It's one of those things you don't escape. 

I would have ridden Sunday morning too, and I should have a fun seafood boil to recall but unfortunately I got what felt like the flu Saturday afternoon and couldn't ride.

Apollo is staying in NC until december for training and I get to experience some time as a NARP (non-athletic regular person) it's what some of my varsity friends call themselves when their season is over for the year.

So a- NARPing i will go until winter break

I work out!

Last show of the year, so it's gotta be good.
Let's take a quick look back at my first show this year:
It was the starter trials at the VHC.
It snowed.
Do you see where I'm gonna be going with this?
Started the year in the snow at VHC, and finished in the same way. What can I say, I like patterns.
Now that I live in Lexington and the walk to my car takes longer than my drive to the horse center (yeah, it really stinks at 630am when it's snowing) I have found that this is become my favorite show of the year, even MORE so. I get to sleep in my own bed, and...yeah i really just like the whole "my own bed" part.
So the show stuff started for me on Thursday. Headed out to the center to buy some shavings and throw them in my stall. As I was walking down one of the aisles I spot an adorable Chestnut. Let the squealing and screaming like a little girl begin.

I love me some Freddie

You're probably asking yourself who this chestnut could be, well if you remember back, (or just read my old posts) you might remember a 4 year old gelding I fell in love with in North Carolina. That's right, it was FREDDIE!!!!! I love that boy so much and I'm really not even sure why. But after realizing it was Freddie and squealing my lungs out expressing my excitement I realized that Holly's newest working student Kelly was standing there wondering what the heck she should do in this situation (sorry Kelly!). Explained really fast then went running to go find my favorite people. Saw Holly riding Stewie while Maxine held Hailey (aka cutest baby ever), more squealing, this time more controlled and at a lower octave.
Eventually got out to Oak Hill to walk my course. There's another back story I should tell you:
four years ago when I first competed at VHC I was running BN and decided that I was going to one day get to a level high enough, that I could compete on the other side of the road. It's been my short/long time goal ever since (yes i also dream of rolex and olympics but baby steps here!)
So I'm standing at the top of the hill in the brisk fall air realizing that I did it. I'm here.
Getting back to the show now,
Dressage warm up warm up was really good, he was moving really fluidly. Came back and got the news that because of the impending snow I, OP and PCH were going to be running cross country that afternoon. So much for going to calc class.
Dressage warm up was good until 10 mins before I go in, it starts to sprinkle. Not enough for anyone else to be bothered but my wimp sensitive horse noticed and was not going to not react.
We actually got through the dressage test fairly well, and it would have been awesome if he hadn't been twitching throughout it, but c'est la vie.
Now on to the fun parts. Preparation for a show involves listening to music while braiding for dressage and getting one stuck in my head so I have a rhythm for the day. This weekend was no different. So before cross country I listened to "I'm sexy and I know it (I work out)" by LMFAO on repeat. Well pumping up for cross country also involves dancing around. So I'm sorry people down the aisle from me that were subjected to my crazy dancing, but let's face it: i'm sexy and I know it ;)
Cross country warm up was fun with a big narrow table like ones I had on course included so that got my confidence up.
Walking around the start box Apollo starts jogging, he knows this is gonna be an exciting course. We take off, and of course right as I'm going over the first fence I hear that the rider in front of me has had a refusal at 6. Crap. Quickly shake that out of my mind and focus on what's in front of me.
Apollo was amazing the entire course. He ran when I let him and came up when I asked. By jump 8 I realized that he didn't need as much preparation time as I thought and I could save some time by preparing a stride or two later. And he did so perfectly. We get to the last combination, a coffin, and coming off the last fence of it I check my watch, 25 seconds left. So we book it. I fly up the hill over the last fence with 3 seconds to spare. God I love my ex-racehorse.

That would be me checking my watch as I'm over a fence. Yay multi-tasking

It was probably the best cross country ride I have ever had.
He got Saturday off because it just didn't seem fair to tack him up just to walk around in the slushy snow.
Saturday afternoon is when the pressure hit me. I finally looked at the scoreboard (I was over by Wiley to watch my friend and teammate Jennifer Friberg do dressage and show jumping, and she was AWESOME).

Jennifer before dressage, while I give Jasper a pep talk

I check the scoreboard and I'm in fourth, with Sharon White leading the class, and I'm one pole away from 3rd and 2nd, and 2 poles and some time away from first. If I go double clear. Let the hyperventilating begin.
Sunday morning while eating breakfast I watched the intermediate show jump. Let me just say that it wasn't the easiest course and a lot of rails were pulled. More panic.
Braid, tack up, attempt to tie stock tie, fail, run a pin through it any way and hope no one notices.
I trot on into the warm up because it's so cold. Take maybe 4 or 5 jumps with Apollo feeling super and then hear them calling that they NEED someone from OP to go.
Heck, why not. It's not like he's going to get any cleaner over theses fences.
Trot straight into the coliseum pick up my canter and go. And let me tell you, we went.
I was so determined to go double clear that I think Apollo picked up on it and he understood that he was not to even THINK about touching any of those poles. We had an amazing double clear round, and I don't think I have ever been prouder of him.
So how did we do? let's just say we were TWO cool for fourth. That's right: 2ND BABY!!!

Happy Dance

BTW I attribute all of my success this past weekend to Sarah Berhalter and her amazing sugary baked goods.

They Keep On Coming!

The past two weekends contained two very fun and very different competitions, let the comparisons begin:

Morven Park Horse Trials

-it was cold from the minute we pulled in

-it starts to rain the minute I reach the warm up ring, and doesn't stop...ever

-dressage was in the grass with rain coming in sideways

-Apollo tried his best despite the incredibly inconvenient rain

-show jumping was cold, and wet and cold

-SJ course was rather challenging, definitely not a sit-back-and-enjoy type of cours

-I realized my fingers were completely numb and I had no feeling in them somewhere between jump 7 and 8

-Apollo saved my butt when aforementioned fingers would not work

-cross country was wet, and cold and muddy and long

-cross country was felt long, but was really fun (maybe it's just because I thrive on challenges)

-Apollo was a beast and made me remember why I bought him

D: 40.00

SJ: 4

XC: 13.60

Total: 57.60--->5th place

Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy

-slightly chilly on saturday morning but I'm sweating by 2pm

-absolutely sunny and warm all weekend

-dressage is on the dragged, watered, all-weather footing dressage pad

-Apollo, while not perfect, showed how much we've improved since the beginning of the season

-show jumping had a fun new warm up ring above the competition ring

-SJ rode really well and smoothly despite the tight turns that looked otherwise

-Apollo demonstrated his fun new trick of touching a pole enough that it makes a sound but not enought to make it drop resulting in a flash freak out from his rider

-cross country had amazing footing for the weather that area has had lately

-cross country felt very easy, especially after last weekend and was a good confidence boost for Virginia

-Apollo showed great improvements by actually listening to me when I asked him to rebalance for fences

-Apollo reminds me again why I bought him

D: 38.6
SJ: 0
XC: 0
Total: 38.6--->3rd place

So both weekends were very much worth it, very different, but very much worth it

When It Rains, We Event

yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking, but come on this year it feels like an event just isn't the same without some mud.
This past week was started a great cross country lesson with Gammon. Apollo showed her a taste of HIS preferred version of galloping and we told him OUR version. The next day he had a touch of gas colic but it passed quickly. So on wednesday we had a great dressage test lesson working on all those, uh, less than perfect moments I tend to have in my dressage tests.
Then thursday was awesome. I jumped Apollo by myself, and wow was he good. He was soft and supple (yes those adjectives are usually attributed toward flatwork but guess what? flatwork and jumping are connected! who would have thought?!) and was in fine form. The best part of the ride was the fact that I wasn't being evaluated by a trainer, judged by competition or trying to impress some onlooker (don't lie. You know you do it too). I was just jumping for me and Apollo. And it felt amazing. So next time you're having a tough time learning some movement, or finding strides, just go ride and remember why you do this.

Any way getting past my strangely deep moment, we got up to Morven at 6ish, and I immediately went to walk cross country before it got too dark. I have to say, in the 2 month break I took from competitions (for me this year, 2 months is a really long time) I'd forgotten the size of prelim cross country jumps and was a little backed off just walking around. I'm not gonna lie, the course looked hard. I started looking at it as "now if I manage to live through this combination, I should probably get my rhythm back by this point". Not the best thought to be having.
Saturday, after waking up at the God awful time of 4:45 we get out to the barn (and no I do not have multiple personality disorder, my mom came up to drive and groom for me) and I start braiding immediately. I walked the stadium course, which also seemed big and hard (the big part may have been completely due to the fact that it was set up for advanced). Then I finally got tacked up and hopped on (and maybe the hopping part was after a venti chai latte from Starbucks). After a quick good luck wish from Karen I started to warm up. And this is when it started to rain.
The thing about Apollo is he is a great horse: great work ethic, very sweet on the ground, fantastic jumper. The bad thing is that he's got a really sensitive nose. I'm talking any kind of rain, bug or dust makes him toss his head. So poor guy is trying so hard to keep his cool but having to tilt his head to keep rain out of his nose as much as possible. That combined with the dressage ring being on the side of a grassy hill (literally the side of. The ground was sloping downward) he did the best he could and we got a 40. Not our best but not our worst. I'm bummed more because he has been going SO well lately that I really wanted to show it off.
But some things ya really just gotta shake off. Including the rain that had by this point soaked me completely through.
Show jumping was fun. There's really nothing like being soaked through all of the clothing you're wearing, being freezing cold and trying to jump. But Apollo was awesome. We did pull one rail at the first fence but for the conditions we were in I really can't blame him/me at all.
Now cross country. While the footing was absolutely perfect on friday evening, by 10 on sat I could tell it was going to be a bit deeper than expected. So we got to pull out the bullets that I haven't had to use since the April Plantation (still get chills thinking about that weekend).
The course actually rode a lot better than I expected. Apollo kept telling me at every obstacle "c'mon mom, I can do this, you can do this, so just relax and let me run!". As a result of the footing I decided to balance up before each fence more than I usually would so we ended with a couple time penalties, but then as I checked the scores I realized that not a single prelim rider made time. Made me feel better.
The best part of the course was definitely #13. It was through the gorge type area in the back where it was a jump over a raised long, a few strides down then out over an up bank down the hill a few strides to a narrow. The whole thing is a shoot made out of these huge rocks and you just can't help but feel epic as you go through.
We finished in 5th and I'm taking anything that went less then perfect, fixing it and getting ready for Maryland this weekend!
(oh yeah and did I mention that it was pouring down rain from 7:30 till we left at 12?)

What's that? oh, right. Rust.

So. I had my first jumping lesson with Gammon this past Tuesday. Guess what I realized. We hadn't jumped in 5 weeks. Not good. The last time we jumped was at Fair Hill actually. I guess if you count:
 2 weeks spent in dressage bootcamp
+  1 week when he broke my jump bridle the week he came back so that day we didn't jump,  then Irene hit so I was at the horse center (aka, no jumps available to me)
+ 1 week while I was running around like crazy trying to get myself packed for college
+ 1 week when i was first at college and it was raining like crazy so i couldn't pull any jumps out.
___
5 weeks
So there I was, Tuesday afternoon cantering around a ring looking for distances and spots and MAN was i rusty. I'm talking not thinking about balance or rhythm or maintaining a good canter AT ALL. Not really the best intro to a new instructor but what was I to do about it.
Apollo was good as always though, although we did have to have some conversations about getting too excited about the jumps and popping 3-4 feet in the air when it's a 2'6" vertical.
Friday I took him out to the fields to work on his conditioning a bit and to give him a break from the sandbox. I think he's forgotten what real hills were like though because by the time we reached the top of the galloping hill he was definitely panting a bit. And that wasn't even one of the Hills of Death. That'll be next week's surprise.

Far side of the hay field looking toward the top of 

the galloping hill and House Mt.

Walking is fun...

not. Unfortunately, with me being a freshman at college the parking lot is not close. Not at all. So to get to my car to get to the barn I have to walk down 8 flights of stairs, walk a 1/4 of a mile, walk down 3 flights of stairs, walk a 1/4 of a mile across a bridge, then walk up 4 flights of stairs then walk another 1/4 of a mile to my car. Then after riding I have to do all that in reverse to get back. This usually makes me feel justified in eating as much chocolate as I want.

View from the bridge on my walk

Any way, getting back to the horse; I was only able to ride twice before I got to ride with Lynn Symansky! As I have found out, Lynn went to W&L:

"After graduating high school, Lynn was certain she wanted horses to remain in her life, but also valued the importance of an education. She went to Washington & Lee University, one of the country’s best liberal arts universities, and graduated Cum Laude in 2005 with a Bachelors of Science in Business. While at school, she managed to find time to compete her long time partner, “No It Tissant” at the advanced level all four years while also bringing along another young project. She successfully balanced school and her competitive career, and in 2003 was named to the High Performance Winter Training list for the United States Equestrian Team (USET). She and “No It Tissant” attended training sessions with Captain Mark Phillips, Sandy Phillips, and George Morris. That summer, the pair was named to the short list for the 2003 Pan American Games CCI***, and rode as an individual alternate where they finished 10th with a double clear cross country round."

The lesson would have been fantastic had the pollen not been intense and mosquitos all over the place, causing Apollo to be incredibly uncomfortable and he was throwing his head violently whenever we did anything other than walk or slowly trot. 

So hopefully the next time Lynn swings by we'll be able to really show her what we can do, but until then Apollo will be doing lots of moving forward and I will be doing a lot of walking and stair climbing,

Here's to muscular calves!!

There is no Irene in Lexington

As many people in the world know, there was a hurricane this past weekend (and if you didn't know then I'd like to welcome you to the internet, because surely this must be your first time). Since I live almost directly on the ocean, my mom and thought it would be a grand idea to run away to the mountains.
After loading up all three horses we booked it right on out of Virginia Beach. Unfortunately so did the rest of the city and we all met up for what was essentially a tailgating party on I-264. We then commenced the tour of Tidewater so that Apollo could see all of the area before he left...or we had to go all the way around to find a way out, same difference.

This was just the out skirting clouds of the Thunderstorm

Finally, 5 hours and a nasty state-wide thunderstorm later we had made it to Richmond (normally a 2 hour trip btw) then 2 more hours and we were finally pulling into the Virginia Horse Center, where we were greeted by the strangest stall decor I have ever seen.

(The mulch and the curtains were all so that their trophy boxes had a nice backdrop)

Turns out the North American Arabian World Championships (yeah I know, doesn't make sense to me either) was happening at the same time. Besides the fact that this group rented out the entire horse park when they were only using 25% of it is beyond me, but the folks at the Horse Center were as hospitable as ever. They let us come in at 10:30, security came around and turned the lights on, in the morning they watered and dragged both the lower ring and the indoor ring so that we and the rest of the evacuees had a place to ride and were very helpful all 4 times we went over to buy more bedding and hay because we are very bad at math.
The next day I had a very nice ride with the ever fantastic Rachel Lawson (if you don't know her yet, you will very soon because she is an amazing rider) then on Sunday we moved Apollo over to Sunrise Stables where he will be living while I go do this "college" thing.

Apollo and I doing flatwork at Sunrise Stables

Overall the weekend was lovely, weather was cool (highest was around 83 degrees) with nice breezes blowing through.

My mom's dog Typhoon grazing with the horses (literally grazing...he's species confused)

Oh yeah, and that whole hurricane thing? I think we got 27 whole drops of rain and a partially overcast sky. Simply unbearable.

Dressage Boot Camp-Check!

As I mentioned before, after Fair Hill Apollo would be spending the next two weeks in dressage boot camp with Holly while I ran home, did some college shopping, spent time with Cordoba my other horse and spent a week in the Keys.
We flew home on Saturday, drove back down to NC on Sunday, had a lesson with Holly at 7:30 am on Monday then Apollo had his feet done and we drove back up getting home around 7ish.
In my lesson with Holly she started out riding him to show me how she's been warming up, what to watch for when he's trying to evade actually working, etc. Basically I was watching this long legged bay gelding go around the ring thinking, okay this horse is amazing but now when is she going to bring MY horse out??
Well as i should have guessed, Holly is amazing. Apollo was immediately moving straight, through, and supple-y at all 3 gaits. A small head toss here and there assured me that it was in fact my horse.
When it was my turn to get on all I could think was that I hadn't ridden in a week, okay just don't mess him up!!
Well i can't say it was my best riding ever but Apollo was behaving incredibly. I wasn't doing anything, I was just thinking what I wanted to do and he would do it.
I also got my new favorite jacket that i may never take off even if it is in the 90's and humid:
HCH jacket with sponsors on one sleeve and my name on the other!
After an incredibly tactful proposition to Holly by the HCH working students back in the beginning of July she ordered these for us and they just came in after Fair Hill. We are all incredibly excited about them and I can guarantee you that I will be wearing my jacket with my Stew Crew shirt and my HCH hat at Virginia HT! (and probably before then too).
I don't have any shows planned until VAHT but that can change very quickly as soon as i figure out my school schedule. Apollo is now at Calypso Run Farm in VB where he is finally going to get to jump and gallop (and do some more dressage but shhh don't let him know that!) until we pack him and most of my stuff into the trailer for college!
Oh and btw, did anyone else feel that 5.8 earthquake that rattled the whole eastern seaboard from New York to North Carolina or was that just me?

Finished???

A year ago before heading to Susan Harris' stable in Louisville, KY to work for a month I started searching the internet for barns near colleges knowing that the inevitable would happen: I would have to apply for college eventually. When this happened I wanted to have a list of places that first off had barns nearby. This immediately ruled out city schools. In my online adventures I came across Equiventure, a barn set 15 mins away from Duke University (score!!!!). And who was based out of Equiventure but the fabulous Holly Hudspeth herself (double score!!!). I immediately emailed Holly asking if she wanted a working student next summer (because while summer '10 was full, summer '11 was looking widee open).
I later talked to Boyd Martin's working student coordinator, Lillian Heard about working for Boyd in the time that Holly would be lazy-ing around giving birth to a child and what not.
So by the time this spring came around I already had my days from May to August filled with working student fun. Every time I saw anything referencing Holly, Boyd, summer, working students, horses etc I immediately thought about what I would be doing and would get excited all over again. This resulted in me getting randomly energized throughout the spring and telling the most unhorsey people ever about all the details of my summer.
Well as shown through my blog this summer, I did it! It is now August, I've been home for 4 days now and am slowly realizing that my super exciting and educational summer is essentially over. Sure I've got a few more weeks of buying stuff for college and lounging around to do, but I'm not working anymore. And boy let me tell you, that is a very, very, VERY strange thought.
In a quick recap:
-Working for Holly again was amazing
-Apollo and I made some huge progress on the flat over fences
-Apollo is still in NC until the 21st going through some intense dressage bootcamp with Holly
-Apollo was unbelievable in warm up and I just wasn't able to get the same feeling once we went into the ring. But I had so much fun just doing dressage and not fighting him through the test that I didn't even mind our 42
-picking up the final trot a huge bug landed on Apollo's neck and he tried so hard to ignore the bloodsucker hanging from his neck (huge progress, just take my word for it)
-We placed 4th in JYOP at Fair Hill HT (so we have now placed 4th-7th in prelim, yay!!!)
-Maxine and Ned Divine also placed 4th in JOT
-Allie and Notable Grace did very well after dressage and show jumping but had a silly stop xc which cost them a ribbon in JOT
All in all I have had an amazing summer so far, and can't wait till we go back to get Apollo to see how much he will have improved since Fair Hill!

He's a real boy!

Pinocchio has been on my mind a lot today. But not for any of the obvious reasons unless you've read the title of this post. In which case it is probably very obvious.
After the day off and the hack day that Apollo was allowed after Maryland II we went into dressage boot camp.
A recurring  theme in Apollo's dressage work has been that he is too strong in the left rein with hardly any contact in the right creating (or maybe it's resulting from) a crooked horse. Well the problem with that is that you can't push impulsion through a crooked horse. It just doesn't work (oh and impulsion is the desire to move forward for those of you that don't know). If you happen to be either A) a pony clubber or B) a dressage queen then you know you pretty much can't do diddly-squat unless your horse is straight and forward.
Well a magical thing happened, and her name is Holly Hudspeth. Since she's been back riding for a full half of a week now I thought it was time that she put her fear aside, cowboy-ed up and attempted to ride my horse (Holly and world, if for some reason you are reading this, I am 100% joking. All I had to do was mention her getting on Apollo and she jumped at the chance to fix my lovely thoroughbred with her magic but is too modest to say so)
After watching her work her voodoo on my unsuspecting pony I got to get on the next day and see how much voodoo juice was left in the poor sucker. And let me tell you, there was plenty. So much so that all my bad habits could do were attempt to dent the straightness Holly had instilled in Apollo. Suddenly I went from kicking a brick and air around the ring to actually riding a dressage horse. There was like, an actual neck there!
And so is the story of how a cross country machine learned the subtle art of dressage and they all lived happily ever after.
Just kidding about the happily ever after, I can guarantee that we are going to have some more arguments in the future. But right I'm just happy that Apollo is my very own Pinocchio, a real [dressage] boy at last!!

This Is How We Do It

After a fantastic week back in NC (which included falling off Freddie, Holly's four year old TB, incurring a painfully scratched elbow on my part) Allie, Maxine and I headed up to the Maryland HT II at Loch Moy  competing in Training, Novice and Prelim respectively. Allie and I charged ahead on Friday afternoon to set up our stalls in the surprisingly wonderful stabling. Then we each headed out to do our own course walks to get an idea of the course and specifically where we would need to walk with Holly to get some necessary pointers.
We then tacked up to do a school mostly working on getting basics established (bend, connection, etc) so that the following days would go well. The next morning Maxine and I schooled a bit when Allie did her pre-warm up ride, and while walking back to stabling Maxine and I met what turned out to be our lucky charm, Patrick the CWD guy.
I spent the rest of the day grooming for Allie and running into friends while Maxine took on her nanny job full force while watching Hailey. Allie finished 6th in her division ending on her dressage score of 39.1
Next day was an early one. I rode Apollo at 6 am to get any jitters out so that he could focus on me in our actual warm up. He wasn't in my right hand, an ongoing issue that we're working on, so the ride involved a lot of dramatic bending and moving of his haunches to get him straight. We were still working on that in our warm up but it was a lot better.
Our dressage test was one of my better ones. Although he did get tight in some of the transitions, overall it was a large improvement from what he has been doing.
2 double clear jumping rounds later Apollo and I ended on our dressage score of 39.6 putting me in 5th out of about 25. So now i've gotten a 5th, 6th and 7th at prelim!
Our little girl Maxine also had a fantastic day ending on her dressage of 39.1 (which all of us, except her, were convinced she and Ned Divine could do) earning her 2nd place at her first show with Ned!
With all 3 of us ribboning (and strangely ending with the same dressage score even though we had different judges at different levels) I think it was a fantastic weekend for the Holly Hudspeth Working Students.
P.S. With my pink ribbon and light green dressage test looked like baby HCH colors, then with Allie's green and Maxine's red ribbons we were just representing HCH all over the place!!

Rollercoastering

While I returned home late on friday night, I never really consider it "being home" until I have seen more that just my pets and my bed. So when I actually came home (aka went out to the barn the next morning to make sure my boys hadn't died from any field injuries or side effects from excessive rolling [Apollo!]) I was greeted by a lovely surprise from my to-be groom/awesome friend who rides Cory when Apollo and I are galavanting around the east coast, Emily Lehman. Emily is not only a young rider with incredible determination and natural talent but also an unbelievable artist in her free time (when she's not jumping 3'7" stuff on foot). She took the time to make me a picture of me (I assume it's me) jumping Apollo with MER Eventing painted around it. (excuse the bad photo of it. It is being framed right now so all I have is a cell phone pic of it) (did I mention that she's only 15?)

Why she thought it necessary to give me a present I have no idea (I'm hoping that she just got bored, and not that she has bad news like she's moving out of the state or something) but I thoroughly appreciate it. Especially since I just "created"/ named MER Eventing this year and the novelty of being at a level where I feel I have earned the ability to name my eventing career hasn't worn off yet and this is the first concrete proof of that.

The low of this post (hence the rollercoaster title) is that I just saw the news that Boyd's father passed away this weekend after getting hit by a truck while cycling last weekend. To know that while I was working for Boyd, Windurra was just starting to return to normal. After a successful weekend for Boyd at Surefire, he had to receive such terrible news seems just plain unfair. I do have faith however that Boyd will rise up from this tragedy stronger and more determined than ever. 

If there are two things I learned while in PA, they are to always remain calm and clear headed, and that no circumstances are unrecoverable.

So RIP Ross Martin, you sounded like nothing less than an incredible person

Home again, Home again...

After a week spent in Lexington, VA (which after going there 4-6 times a year for the past 4 years feels like home anyway) I'm finally home, but only for six days, so just enough time to turn 18 and remember that there's life outside of the barns.
OCET camp was it's usual amazing self. It was my 4th time doing the camp so you'd think that I'd have the basics covered and would be amazing in all aspects. Well unfortunately that is not true at all. As one of my fellow campers put it in the last moments of the last day, going to the camp is such a humbling experience.
Sure I know the Rider Responsibilities backwards and forwards and could recite the four aids while doing backflips out of an airplane, but that's about it as far as mastering goes. I've done the same flatwork and show jumping exercises four times now and they still manage to bring out my faults and weak areas.
 It doesn't matter how many ribbons you've won or how many FEI competitions you've been to, cantering between two poles on the ground set on a 20 meter circle and being asked to be straight to each pole and get the same number of strides each time is going to make you feel like you've just come off the lead line.
Of course then the instructors do the amazing thing of taking a simple exercise like cantering between two poles, and before you know it you're doing up bank-bounce-3' vertical-bounce-down bank-one stride-3' 3" vertical with complete ease even when the last vertical is set at an angle to the bank (that exercise wouldn't be seen on any course lower than a 2* at lowest).
The hardest part comes after, remembering everything you've been taught, and trying hard not to screw up the progress you've made with your horse.

Quite the experience

So it's been awhile, but when I would end up working till 7 o'clock at night for several nights in a row, at that point nothing seemed as relevant or important as getting food and crawling into bed. Life as a Boyd Martin working student was pretty consistently busy but some personal highlights were that I learned how to properly think and process while jumping, got over my ditch glitch that I developed after Plantation (more about that later) and I finally got my horse trotting round and forward enough to meet Boyd's approval.
About Surefire (I enjoy talking about this event because it was one of the best days ever):
Before:
-woke up at 1:59 am to be at the barn at 2:25 to leave by 3:00 (but I'm a morning so I was fine!)
-drove 3 1/2 hours following two big trailers through three toll booths and God knows what part of Maryland
-ended up having 2 grande caramel frapps and bread for breakfast
-walked the cross country course 1.5 times (half to meter out the first 4 min. marks and one full time with Boyd to actually look at what I would be jumping)
Dressage:
-got out 45 min. before my test to warm up (15 min walking then 30 min working on moving forward)
-1,000,000 gnats decided my horse was the perfect horse to bother and resulted in a very tense and up Apollo
- test was okay, except for me doing everything I could to hold him together and him losing his counter-canter right before the trot transition (go figure)
Show Jumping:
-never walked the course, already a bad start
-because we found out that Apollo has an particle irritation in his right eye in the hour before show jumping (luckily one of Boyd's owners is a vet and did a quick flush and gave him some ointment to sooth it) I got over there just in time for Boyd to talk me through the course before he had to run off to meet his prelim mount for a cross country round
-jumped fantastically in warmup and I finished over the bigger oxer so he would be set up well for the first jump (an oxer)
-the first three jumped fine but I didn't realize how tight the turn from 3 to 4 was and got a weird spot then he chipped in at the skinny and pulled the top rail. We jumped everything else well and finished in the time
Cross Country:
-after a quick "here throw on your vest" "slap some back boots and bell boots on him" we headed over to warm up
-one of the warm up fences was almost exactly like one on course so I popped him over that then took the oxer at an angle and felt ready to go, which was good because the steward said I was to go next
-passed Boyd walking to the start box and he gave me a quick shot of confidence and determination
-started the course out forward after he added a stride before the first one (of as Boyd said I started out "flying out of hell but managed to pull it together by the end")
-lost my rein as I was going over 6 (lovely photo of that), jumped 8 &9 (before water and in water) exactly like Boyd said and it rode perfectly
-now see, at Plantation just 2 weeks before we'd had a stop at the ditch part of the coffin, (totally my fault. i didn't properly school him at all before the event) my confidence was shaken about ditches (even though we went back and schooled it) and there were three ditches on course, so i was pretty nervous about it which is unusual for me
-came to the first ditch: trakaner which he flew over just fine. so i started thinking this may not be so bad. after 2 confidence building fences we were coming up the hill to the ditch and wall. spurred him before more for my nerves than his and he never gave it a second thought
-quick 7 strides through the brush jumps
-now we came up to the down hill to the coffin. the first jump was rather down hill to the ditch so i had been really tense about it remembering Plantation. but I just did everything Boyd had said to do and whatta yah know? it worked! after that i relaxed and really just enjoyed the last four fences knowing i was absolutely within the time.
-double clear cross country had me floating on air. YES! i got over my ditch glitch and had a fantastic ride! who cares about placings?! I went in there and got the job done in style!
After:
-was in 17th after dressage and finished in 7th overall in a class of 24 at my 3rd event. I was so happy I couldn't even contain myself!
-after loading all my stuff back into my poor car we threw Apollo onto my trailer, said good byes and headed onto a new chapter of life

At this point anyone who's reading this is probably thinking "she finished in 7th? she didn't even ribbon! why would she think that was such a good day?". well I'm glad you asked. I discovered something, its not about the destination, its about the journey. who cares how i finished? the degree to which i can deal with Apollo's  twitches is getting better at every show, i got over my ditch problem and i did fairly well on a really tough sj course. also i was at the event with a good trainer who gave me good advice and cared about how prepared i was at each phase and with people that i enjoyed the company of. it seemed like everywhere i went there was someone I knew to say hello to, wish good luck or coming by to cheer me on. It was probably the first show that I felt that I am really a part of this community, not just an outsider intruding.
Now Pennsylvania is done with (but i will be back one day!) i suddenly realized that it's O'Connor time!
I am now sitting in our hotel room after being welcomed back to my fourth O'Connor Eventing Camp by some great introductions, an amazing dinner and a really fun game of softball.
All i've really been able to be thinking is, "wow. i really love life right now" and i know that there are terrible things happening in the world right now. but right now, I'm just making the most of what life has to offer and enjoying every moment of it.

Comparisons

I've been here for 6 full days now and while that may not seem like a lot to some people, for me it seems like months. Which is completely a good thing (by the way). But since I've been here I've noticed a few things that I enjoy comparing. For example, Holly's favorite choice of swear words to Boyd's (not going to clarify here, you'll just have to find out for yourselves).
Another example is Stewie's hand grazing patterns to Otis'. Yes, that's right. I have no life. OR you can look at it as, I have spent 45 minute intervals hand grazing these boys and get very bored, very quickly. (In case you care, Stewie will graze anywhere as long as it is the opposite direction from where you tell him to be, while Otis firmly believes it is his duty to weed the edges of the driveway.)
My favorite is the way Boyd's barn looks and runs, compared to the way Silva's is. While I have not spent a large amount of time over at Silva's barn, the reputation and stories are enough.
1. At Silva's, everything has a place and it is never on the floor. At Boyd's, things have places but the floor's alternative uses are respected and exercised.
2. At Silva's, every horse has a regular stall that they are in at designated times. At Boyd's, every horse has a stall, but they often times visit other stalls, cause who said change is a bad thing?
and 3. At Silva's, the fly sheets are either on the horse or hung in the wash rack neatly. At Boyd's the fly sheets are on the horse or folded in some way so that they are on the stall door, or the other horse's stall door, or sometimes the middle of the field.
(Both barns are completely professionally run, just take different roads to the same place)
(Also all assumptions about the barns are just an onlooker's opinion and not to be taken seriously...please)
My final comparison is saddles. This is a personal one for I get to make the big decision: Devoucoux or not. As a graduation present I was given X amount of dollars toward a cross country saddle of my choice (I have to pay whatever the X does not cover). So should I go for the Devoucoux or maybe a different saddle. The alternative I have been considering is the new saddle by Wise Equestrian. I've seen the saddle in person (aka the demo ones are right below me) and they really are as cool as they seem: more airflow, better contact with the horse, and cheaper too. But, on the other hand Devoucoux has a reputation for reliably good saddles, great response to horse dimension changes plus the saddle soap just plain smells amazing!
Seeing as I've never put either saddle on my horse, or truly ridden in either saddle (okay so I've hacked a few horses in Devoucoux s, wasn't really enough to form a decision about it.) I can't really make a decision about it. Who knows maybe one of these days as I'm working for Boyd, I'll get to try out one of the saddles. Until then I'm still up in the air until something changes my mind!
Will post when I'm able to do that!!

First Exhausting Day

Where to begin...
Well I guess i could mention my moving in day yesterday, but there's really nothing to mention. Living in the third floor of the Annex with a lovely view from my stairs of Phillip's desk/office.
Today started out at 3 a.m. when i woke up due to activity outside (I think that's what it was) and never really got back to sleep (not the greatest thing). Ended up going out to the barn about 20 min early because i simply had nothing else to do. When the others started showing up the day began very quickly: bring in horses, muck stalls (staw?? what??), sweep aisle, look busy...wait what? By the time Boyd showed up we had finished our morning chores and were just waiting for further instruction as to how the day was going to go.
Talked to Boyd a little about Apollo and decided to do a bit of flat first thing. We then headed down to the indoor and agreed that a full on lesson may not be the best thing to do the day before a show. After a few amazing tips (Apollo got lil 'cited bout life) Apollo was going nice a forward into a stretching, rounded contact. Back up to the barn where after about 10 mins of down time the action started back up (and never really stopped).
After clearing out two stalls (there's a camp coming in on sunday), I pulled out the tack that was salvaged from the fire. While it had already been hosed down, there was still a lot of soot on it. After an ingenious idea from Boyd, and a trip to the store for me, I put the bits (which were just plain black) into a bucket of cola ("hey it takes off battery acid doesn't it?"). Surprisingly it works!
Hacking horses around for Boyd before and after he rode 'em, jump crew, braiding horses for the show, and a myriad of other tasks and then before I knew it, it was 4:30 and i was holding a horse while we soaked his feet in ice. After that i grabbed a quick sandwich and an orange and scurried on over to Plantation to do some course walks with Boyd.
Sidenote: may i just say that it is incredibly strange to me to be able to run over to an event after working to walk a course. We usually have to drive up the night before if I want any hope of walking before the event.
Lovely show jumping and cross country course walks left me feeling prepared and ready for tomorrow... and also with a list.
Things I learned on my first day:
-Straw is quite different from other bedding
-Sweeping skills are mandatory
-Always be prepared to jump on a horse to hack it
-Ground poles are important
-If you figure eight, and wrap your noseband then your bridle is fireproof
-Cola can remove burn tarnish from metal
-When pushing on a 17.1 horse, you will most likely lose
-Jumping a corner so that a tree is in your path is not advisable
-Course walk stories never end well ("and this is the ditch I nearly broke my neck at. Couldn't walk for 2 months!")
-There is such a thing as too much angle
-Some times a jump is just a jump, so stop thinking about it
-"Chances make champions" (when presented with a corner in the middle of a corral, we had advice to "just jump the fence line, then you'll definitely win" regardless of the fact that the fence line was never intended to be jumped)
So while my first day now has me begging for sleep, it was at the same time pretty darn good.

Gypsy Summer

I started this season by moving my main competition horse to a new stable which allows me to pay by the day or week when i need to, which is coming in handy this summer. Then after competing every single weekend for 7 weeks straight I left for North Carolina. I went for 2 weeks to Equiventure Farm in Rougemont, North Carolina to work for Holly Hudspeth the last weeks of May. Of course taking the weekend I was there off to run up to Lexington for the Virginia Horse Trials. I moved up to Prelim there (6th baby!) which was why I was competing so much in the spring, so as to  qualify for said move up.
I am now home for a week and a half (my silly High School graduation was yesterday--Yay I'm a graduate!) before I jaunt on up to Pennsylvania for 2 1/2 weeks to work for Boyd Martin.
So now the point of this was not to flaunt it in anyone who may be reading this (and caring)'s face but rather to have a place to record my Gypsy summer. While it is a tad late to start recording this, I figure there is no time like the present.
First I have to give a shout out to my awesome roommate, Maxine, who is Holly's semi-permanent working student/present head groom. She is let me stay with her for the 2 weeks, and she's letting me stay with her again in July when I head back there (oops, i didn't mention that yet did I...well now I have!).
I'll have more to say later, and eventually I'll probably end up writing about my spring show season and my first round at Holly's, but right now I have to run to give a lesson to Emily (second shout out, sorry but they're fun) who will hopefully be riding my other horse for me while I am running around the East Coast like ants at a picnic.