What Does It Take?

After a few jumper shows and some weekly dressage boot camps Apollo and I headed off to Fair Hill this past weekend. Sadly neither Eliza or Holly could come because the morning that we were supposed to leave a few horses decided to break their pasture fences and got pretty torn up.
After being there a while Will Coleman pulled in and had a block of stalls directly behind me. The last time I saw Will (in person) was at Bromont when he was one of several riders just shooting for Europe and hoping to end up in London. Thinking about this it then occurred to me that Will, along with Tiana and Boyd were now Olympians. Regardless of how well they did, placed or what troubles may have happened during those 4 days, a selection committee picked them based on previous performance and sent them on with big hopes. They went and tried their hardest and can now add "Olympics 2012" to their resume. That is an accomplishment in its own.
So why do some people upon discussion of these athletes and team then feel the need to add "well yeah but they didn't medal..."? Why is there a constant degradation of athletes that put their all into their sport just because they aren't always the absolute best in the world? There can only be one "best" and while that individual is amazing in their own right, that doesn't mean that everyone below them is dreadful or unworthy.
You may see this at local horse trials, someone finishes the event coming in 7th or dead last even and that numerical placing is all they can think about. What about that amazing canter transition you got in the dressage ring? Or the awesome show jumping course when you horse got every spot and just toed a rail or two and it fell? While it's necessary to be realistic and go home to improve on the parts that didn't go so well, it's just as important to realize what was good. The horse doesn't know the difference between 7th and 27th, so why should you focus on it so much.
So circling back to my initial thought (sorry, i know its kinda rambley but stay with me) i think its time that we give people more respect for their efforts. Will Coleman, Tiana Coudray and Boyd Martin are Olympians now, and while they are bling-less for the moment it doesn't mean they deserve any less respect, but instead should be given time to learn from mistakes, work on problem areas and come back in the future because Karen and Phillip weren't perfect at every single event before they got their medals and yet they are now regarded as eventing gods, and rightfully so.

when i'm given internet access...

...i do weird things like friend the men's olympic gymnastics team, to stalk them  to show my american support and google myself. I happened upon this video of myself from this winter from my first intermediate that i had no idea existed. oh the things you can find on the internet.

Max Corcoran is a super hero

Motivation to do anything once I get home is hard. Most days even making dinner is the result of sitting in the kitchen staring at food for 15min while I convince myself that the effort is worth it. So starting an entry is incredibly difficult. I am finally starting my post today because I ran out of internet usage before the month was up, called verizon to discover this and got lectured by the lady that watching videos uses up a lot of data so I am now using up as much data as possible in retaliation against her. So I hope you are reading this random verizon lady.

Any way, so I’ve been a busy bee since I last posted. Recap:

-didn’t go to jersey because I tore my ACL

-did the CIC2* at Virginia and had two refusals xc because I was silly and didn’t prepare for the event properly

-came to the O’Connors

-did some intense jump lessons with Karen and even got one with Marilyn

-went to Bromont for the CCI1*

-sucky dressage but was one of 8 people to finish on my dressage score so my jumping pony is back in the game!

-Pablo (also known as Apollo or Illusion of You if you want to be fancy) is now enjoying 1 week of vacation in his luxuriously huge stall and field in the Plains

-Monday we will be traveling to North Carolina to spend a month working on training and developing our dressage and jumping with Holly Hudspeth so come fall we can be kicking butts and taking names

And I don’t know how much you keep up with eventing news but the canadian and british team lists came out and the american (‘MERICA, YEAH!) short list came out and Karen along with other people are going to England! (yaaaayyy, happy dance for Cave!)

1st random tangent)
Title explanation:
On our way to Canada we blew a trailer tire about 40 min from the border. Luckily Max was in front of us. 10 seconds after we pulled over Max was hauling a very heavy tire changing kit that David gave them over to our rig. From the time we called her to the time she got back in her truck was only 20 min. Also Max was grooming 3 horses this weekend and every single one of them looked absolutely perfect. Mandiba and Mr. Medicott even placed first in their divisions and R.F. Amber Eyes was 5th in the 2*. So kudos to Super Max and her lucky sunglasses and good luck to her and Karen in jolly ole England!

2nd random tangent)

I left the start box around 2:53pm ish for my 7 min course. This post was written at 3:30pm and if John had hurried he would have made it back to the media tent from the back coffin complex in about 8-15min. This means that this gentleman landed on the course just after I finished. crazy. 

3rd random tangent)

I got a new dressage/sj coat, pre tied stock tie and custom fly bonnet (early b-day present from my dad) while I was at Bromont from the awesome Blueberry Hill tack shop. The jacket is amazing: super light, if it gets wet it just has to be hung to dry, plus it has sparkly threads woven into the fabric so it shines all over! And the fly bonnet is in my colors (also BH’s colors) of blue and black and has two rows of crystals! Apollo definitely felt like a star when we wore it in the show jumping ring!! And BH has a website so you can order from anywhere and they'll ship stuff too you!

I Wanna Be Just Like You

So the big competition didn't go quite the way I had planned. Dressage warm-up, Apollo was looking beautiful, he was going exactly the way I wanted him to. But unfortunately we could hold onto the energy in the ring, probably due to too long of a warm up, got a 72, which was a bummer but still in the IQR range. Cross country looked fair enough (hehe, fair enough course at fair hill, hehe, ok I'll stop). But there was a big bank up, one stride to a long, then 2 or 3 strides down the steep side to a wedge. Normally Apollo wouldn't have and issue with any of those components so I tried not to over think it.
In warm up Apollo seemed really fired up and ready to go. He was jumping a little bit big but I thought once I got him on course he would settle into his own. We head out on course and his head is immediately up in the air. I was a little concerned because I thought we'd gotten over that but I didn't think it was anything that would cause problems. He went over the first 8 jumps pretty well, he seemed to be listening to me except he wasn't being as sensitive as he was before. As we come up to 9, the bank combination I tried to set him up but he pulled up too much so I had to kick him on in the last few strides. Made it up the bank, over the log, but then he wouldn't listen to me coming down, was too much on the forehand and just plain rain past the wedge despite my efforts. I immediately pulled him around, got as far away from the wedge as I could and re-approached it but he was not having it at all and jumped to the side again, I lost my balance and just rolled of his side. Luckily and unluckily I was right in front of the vet box and spectators. Apollo was fine but my pride was definitely bruised. The rest of the day and the ride home all I could do was try to analyze what happened that caused my normally totally honest horse to run past a jump he's done before.
Here is what I came up with:
1)He was too on the forehand coming down the hill.
      -BUT he's jumped bigger in worse positions
2)because I switched bits for SJ and had only practiced jumping in the new bit, and conditioning in the xc bit he wasn't used to it
     -BUT the bit I was using was the same one he has been in for a year now. plus its stronger than the new bit so he should have respected it more
3) because he hadn't gone xc in awhile he was unsure of himself
    -BUT i jump school not only in a ring but also over jumps that are set up in a field on the side of a hill
4) fake grass is Apollo's mortal enemy and he wasn't ready for a battle that day
    -BUT its fake grass...we've won the battle with it before

There's a very good chance it was all of the above or something else entirely. Nothing appears to be physically wrong so at least we can count that out.
Hopefully after a xc school and some chicken soup for the soul we'll have a better run at the cic2* at jersey.

oh and the title is in reference to the fact that when Apollo's back left leg needed to be injected I sprained my left ankle at the same time. Then after Fair Hill he got a scrap on his front right knee then that week I fell playing football and hurt my right knee. Then he got a scrap on his neck under his chin and I burned myself with a curling iron. Obviously I want to be just like Apollo. We are THAT close.

Been Where the Wild Thing Are

Real quick summary:
-competed at Rocking Horse 2, had a rough show jumping landing us in 8th place (ehh but yay)
-spent a week training with Karen in Ocala, learned so incredibly much (yayy)
-competed at Pine Top, after 3 attempted warm ups in the rain had an okay test but was fast and clean landing me in 6th (ehh then yayy)
-Apollo started acting really funny before and at Full Gallop, so i put in a circle in sj eliminating me but gave him a better round (horses are more important than scores)
-Came back and took him to Southern Pines Equine where the amazing Dr. Tom injected his hocks
-Apollo is actually moving underneath himself now (yay!)
-Switched Apollo to a nave bit (basically just plastic, very soft and flexible) for show jumping and dressage after the french link bits kept giving him cuts in the corners of his mouth (sad)
-Apollo now reaches into the bridle (yay!)

Now we're gearing up for Fair Hill in less than 2 weeks where we're gonna do the CIC2* and then seeing how that goes either do the CCI2* at Jersey in May or the CIC2*.
I'll actually keep everything up-to-date during/after Fair Hill, cause I know you all missed me terribly.

Arrivederci!

What do you mean it's 2012???

Intermediate. The big I. Red numbers and big fences.

I can officially call myself an intermediate rider now... AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!
I competed and finished my first intermediate horse trials at the Rocking Horse HT this past weekend and am still floating on air about it all. To think that 2 years ago I didn't have Apollo, I had never competed above Novice at any event and had only done 2, MAYBE 3 recognized horse trials.
Then in April I bought Apollo, by June we had finished our first HT at novice with a 3rd place ribbon. By August I moved up to training, In May of 2011 I moved up to Preliminary and in October I took home a 2nd place ribbon in Open Prelim. And now in January I've made it to intermediate level. It's all going so fast, and had it been any horse other than Apollo then I never would have moved up so quickly and I certainly would not say that others should move at this pace.
Almost every trainer I have ever ridden Apollo in front of asks to see his dressage first. And they are never impressed. Most of the time I hear a lot about how his dressage is not at the level that I claim I am competing at and they start forming doubts about my judgement. And then they see him jump.
All of a sudden I start hearing repeated comments about how our jumping is way beyond our dressage ability. And all I can do is smile.
I have never thought, claimed, suggested that Apollo cleans up in the dressage ring. Because he doesn't. He does try his hardest however and really that's all I can ask of him. Because at the end of the day I'd rather have a 4 in dressage then a fall on cross country.
Basically my horse is 14 this year, and he's not getting younger. So I'm moving up rather quickly because he is the most honest jumper I have ever ridden and I would rather move up to the more dangerous level quickly on a horse I know will save me if needed and also learn how to jump confidently around an intermediate course on him while he still has the ability to then be concerned about how well we can ride a pattern in the ring.
And I have also received the best instruction in the world in the past 2 years from Susan Harris, Holly Hudspeth, Boyd Martin and of course the O'Connor's. That didn't hurt one bit.

okay this post is way more serious than I intended it to be...here is something to lighten this back up

John Wall, Bernie and Cat-daddy walk into a bar...

Fantas-aweso-amaz-fabu-unforgett…

No single word can express my past two weeks in Ocala. Even though I already recapped last week, I’ll start from the beginning again.

Arrive in the sunny, beautifully colorful Ocala to barns filled with friends, new eager faces and lots of horses with potential bursting out the yin-yang. Run through a week with the best instruction you can imagine, going both ways too. Not only did the campers learn a ton from Karen and David, but they also learned a lot from the campers. If you don’t believe me just ask Karen and David to Cat-Daddy or Bernie it out at the next competitors party-- you will be impressed.

The next week was kicked off with 8 of us left over from the camp spending two hilarious hours at the bowling alley discovering all the different ways we can almost get kicked out of a bowling alley. Not that we were destructive, at least not purposefully. I’m sure those gutter bumpers will make a full comeback.

that would be miss rowdie adams on the right who is not touching the ground while swinging a bowling ball

Over the week I had two lessons with Karen, one flat and one dressage. (yes I’m beginning to notice just how many 2’s are in this post). The flat lesson was mostly about getting him stretching into the contact and really moving forward, something I’ve been working on for almost two years now and we finally have progress! In the jumping lesson she had me focus on really getting the right canter and not accepting any antics with his head.

Finally the show came around:

Something you should be briefed on first is that the zippers on tall boots completely and totally hate me. I don’t know what I did to deserve such detest but there it is. Before FL my schooling boot zippers finally gave out. No big deal, I got some winter boots and it’s kinda cold. Well one of those zippers went after cross country on the penultimate day (ooo fancy word with more than two syllables! Maybe college is making me smarter). Well that was unfortunate but I still have my dress boots, we’ll pull through. As I’m about to go to my jump lesson with Karen I pull those boots on and the tab of the zipper breaks. I vet wrap it onto my leg and we take it up to be fixed. Long story (I know this has already been a terribly long tangent but bare with me) the zipper breaks again, we get it fixed, then we realize that it’s Friday and maybe I should go buy a new pair of boots, just in case. The zipper breaks AGAIN right before dressage. Throw on the new boots and ride on over to warm up. By the time I get there my feet are losing circulation because the boots haven’t been broken in and are still too tight. Well after jumping off, unzipping then jumping back on I trot on into the ring, barely any warm up, not able to feel my toesies.

And yet somehow I got my lowest dressage score at prelim ever!

For show jumping I electrical taped my broken boot onto my leg, worked great.

David came over just as I went into the ring and I knew that if after 6 camps and 2 private lessons with Karen, if I screwed up then I would never hear the end of it. So I worked really hard on getting to “that spot”, you know the one, the Goldie Locks of spots, not too long, not too short. Except for a rush at the triple bar everything went really well with 0 poles, but a few time.

Cross country was fun. Apollo is really becoming very adjustable out on course and cleared every fence like it was baby green. With a double clear xc we finished in 4^th, and I am so very proud of him.

Our next event is Rocking Horse, and while I’m superstitious about saying this I’m also really excited to say that we’re entered in Intermediate there.

So until next time just remember:

When in doubt, Bernie it out!!

http://youtu.be/8OgPma_6bd0

Ooooo-cala where the wind comes drifting through the palms....

I'm in a bit of a singing mood right, hence the title. Time for a quick recap:

8 people on the bull-SUCCESS

After 2 1/2 weeks of not riding at all (trust me, I was going insane) I came home and threw myself into riding for the next week and a half by riding not only my new and improved Apollo, fresh from dressage bootcamp part 2, but also my other horse Cordoba who needed a bit of a bootcamp himself. Let's just say that I never realized how much the sitting trot can hurt when you don't do it for a while.
The day after Christmas my mom and I packed the truck and trailer and headed out on our 2 day trip down to Ocala in the land of Glory-da. When we pulled into the O'Connor's I immediately felt like I'd come back home. With the gorgeous rolling green fields contrasting with the blue skies with palm trees being rustled by a soft breeze Meredyth South truly looks like an eventer's dream.
The week of camp went by unbelievably quickly with most of us being repeats to the camp and knowing the lectures like the back's of our hands  being familiar with the lessons we were able to get into more advanced lessons much faster.
I'll only make one reference to the first night dance party where we scared David with our Bernie-ing abilities or the Wednesday night karaoke dinner. Hey, what happens at O'Connor Eventing Camp stays at O'Connor Eventing Camp...unless photographic evidence gets posted on Eventing Nation of course.
(http://eventingnation.com/home/2010/07/good-times-at-camp-ocet.html)
The camp is really my favorite week of the year. It's just about 100 hours of good people, great times, and amazing instruction.

how to get 8 people off a bull very quickly

I now get to look forward to one more week of enjoying the Florida sunshine before I head back up to the Virginia mountains for another semester of college after starting my 2012 season at Ocala I HT at prelim this coming weekend. Knowing the people that I'll be hanging out with this week, it will certainly not be a boring week. But I guess it's just another day in the life.