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.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
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!!
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!!
Friday, June 10, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, June 6, 2011
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.
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.
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