WindRidge HT Dressage- Beginner Novice Test B video

So I realized a day after I had already published my previous post with the Dressage and Stadium recap that I didn't include the video of the Dressage test. Unfortunately this was the only video I got all weekend because my husband sucks at using the video camera!

At the FENCE HT he was suppose to bring the camera and forgot. Ok, so strike 1 against him. Then he forgot it again on day 2 of FENCE HT. Strike 2. He did remember to grab the camera for WindRidge and videoed my dressage test. Redemption 1 for him. Then for stadium hit the record button AFTER I had already jumped my course and got a nice 2 second shot of the course. Strike 3 with 1 Redemption point averaging out to Strike 2 for the video camera. Sunday rolls around and it's XC day at Windridge. He takes the camera out and tries to film our neighbor jumping around XC and it is so bad that you can't help but be majorly sea sick watching the video- I am almost temped to upload it just because it is SO BAD. So because of crappy videoing skills he doesn't film my XC course. Strike 4 for bad videoing skills, Strike 5 for not filming my course. The show is over and I sit down to watch the videos and all I see is my Dressage test. I ask him about XC because I already knew about stadium, and he says "oh the camera isn't nice enough to video cross country- I tried to video Neighbor Becca and it wasn't very good so I didn't video you." STRIKE 6,7,8,9,10 because it had nothing to do with the video but the PERSON attempting to VIDEO the rides!!!!!!  I so badly wanted to say "Well how come my Mom used a camera from 1999-2003 and was able to successfully video my rides while using a camera MUCH OLDER than the one we have?!?!?!?!?!?!?" But I held my tongue and vowed to find someone else to video my rides because eventually I'd like to see how my horse goes!!!!!!

Oh a happy note- here is my Dressage test!!!

WindRidge HT- Dressage and Stadium Recap

FENCE HT- pc Liz Crawley Photography

The weekend of May 9-10 was WindRidge Horse Trials. I took Chimi for our 2nd outing this season and our 2nd Beginner Novice. Coming off of a successful show at FENCE a couple of weeks ago I was looking to improve our Dressage and have an equally successful Stadium and Cross Country ride.

Saturday morning rolls around and the Chiminator and I have pretty much all morning to braid and get ready. My Dressage time was at 2:06 and Stadium at 3:48. Since I was driving back and forth from home and to the show (a total of 45 minute drive one way) I wanted to get there in plenty of time for Chimi to settle in before Dressage. I left around 10:30 and when I got to the show grounds my neighbors and other fellow pony club friends were all parked around the perfect shade tree and a spot was open just for me! It seriously could not of been a more perfect spot for the day! After saying hello, checking in with the show grounds, and figuring out my course of action for the day I started to get ready for Dressage.

FENCE HT- pc Liz Crawley Photography

At WindRidge the warm up is conveniently located in the same space as the Dressage arena so you just walk through the dividing poles to get to the Dressage test area. Since Chimi's main issue at FENCE was the walk over to the covered from warm up and then dealing with new surroundings, I felt like this would be a better place for Chimi to behave in Dressage and thusly improve our dressage from FENCE. Warm up was great, I just put him through his paces and made sure he was listening, talked with my friend Jamie who was riding right before me all weekend, and then we watched her go before heading in to the ring.

One of the few decent moments in our Dressage test at FENCE- pc Liz Crawley

I made sure Chimi got a good look at the Dressage judge and scribe sitting peacefully in their hut and then trotted Chimi around the ring before they rang the bell. Overall our dressage test was much improved over FENCE where I felt like I was riding a ticking time bomb. This time I only felt like I was riding the nervous squirrel because I could feel him looking around. Overall our test was very positive and definitely looked better than it felt. We only had a few major bobbles like our first 20 meter circle when Chimi decided to do his best impression of a camel, our terrible trot transition from the right lead canter because Chimi wanted to canter forever, and the lack of a free walk. But those are all things that will improve with time. We ended up scoring a 30.5 (how???) and sat in 4th place going into stadium

FENCE HT- pc Liz Crawley

Stadium at WindRidge is a bit of a throw back to the "old days" where grass was king. Heck Badminton STILL uses a grass arena for Dressage and the final Show Jumping day! The flattest area big enough for a stadium course is in this "bowl" which creates a bit of a cross country feel with jumps that fall down. I really do like the stadium courses at WindRidge because it makes you ride smart and plan your ride. Rails are common, which truthfully is kinda nice at the lower levels because BN and Novice tend to be about how well you do in Dressage with little movement from XC and show jumping, so by adding a terrain element to a stadium course it does make for a decent enough shake up. From watching a couple of the Novice horses go jumps 3 and 4 seemed like the boogie fences that most of the rails that fell happened there. The approach to jump 3 was downhill to a very upright vertical and a dip backup to jumping uphill out over an oxer at 4. You really had to have your horse listening to you and had to keep them from getting to flat and heavy on their forehand to jump 3 and with the the dip back up to an oxer you had to keep the hind end engaged or they would pull the back rail of jump 4.

Last jump at FENCE- Chimi wanted to make sure he wasn't touching those rails! pc  Liz Crawley

Since Dressage hadn't been that long ago and the day was fairly hot (though thankfully there was a nice breeze!) I didn't have to do to much flat work to get Chimi ready for jumping. I ended up only jumping each jump twice and felt ready to jump around the course. Chimi was feeling strong but very confident and was looking towards each jump I pointed him at. They ended up taking any and everyone when you were ready so I found the guy with the clipboard and told him I was ready and he said great- you're 3rd in line. That was perfect because I could watch a few rounds to solidify the course in my head. 4 minutes later we were trotted into the arena and did sort of a serpentine-esk shape around the course so Chimi could see what we were about to jump. He felt great and we picked up our right lead canter to the first jump and Chimi sailed over the oxer. He continue to sail through my half halts on landing and instead of making the very reasonable turn before jump 10 Chimi gleefully cantered past 10 and I had to almost bring him to a walk just to get him to listen to me (this is probably the reason we ended up with 1 time fault) After sort of wrestling him back to me we found our way towards jump 2 and had a lovely left turn along the rail towards jump 3- he felt soft, responsive, and lovely until he saw the jump crew sitting in chairs in the shade and decided to have a meltdown. His head shot into the air as he leaped around like a yak and somehow I was able to somewhat steer him towards a straightish approach to jump 3 but he was so hollow in his back and was probably still looking at the jump crew now behind him that he pulled the top rail to the very vertical downhill jump- bugger. Somehow after landing from 3 Chimi sorted his brain out and we had a lovely powerful jump over 4 and ended up clean the rest of the course. I was really happy with the majority of the course and know that the rail we had was a total green rail and had nothing to do with the actual jump- just the mental capacity of the silly creature.

With our rail and time fault we slipped back to 5th place going into XC. If we had jumped clear we would of been in 2nd. Rails happen and I was so happy with how our day had gone that I didn't mind being in 5th- there is still XC to go before the show is over!!!


**** All pictures in this post are the professional pictures taken at FENCE since I got nada. Thanks to Liz Crawley Photography for being there!!!****

Pony Club Proud- why Pony Club is important and I am grateful to be a part of it

The First Rule of Pony Club is....

Quadrille at Dressage Rally-1996ish?

… never stop talking about Pony Club. Because once you’re in the Club, you’re in it for life — and you’re not alone.

That first sentence from the post on Eventing Nation couldn't be a more true statement if it tried. I was/am fortunate that my mom decided Pony Club was something important and when I was 7 she signed me up and I became a member of Cardinal II Pony Club. Soon I met friends through the club and even had my other horsie friends join so that we could all ride together. After a while Pony Club was more than a "club"- it was my social circle, it was my life. My best friends were in Pony Club, my goals were centered around reaching my next rating, and as I started to become more competitive and decided I wanted to compete my goals became qualifying for Nationals in 2000 and 2001, achieving my C-3 and H ratings, and helped focus my riding career on eventing where I compete through Training level until I graduated from high school and set off for college. 

Pony Club friends celebrating Jen's 13th birthday on a trail ride

"Not sure if you’re in the presence of an alum? Hang a water bucket in front of them 

with the snaps facing outward. If they start twitching, they’re in the Club."

This quote made me laugh out loud because it speaks the truth!!!! I will flip snaps around if I see them facing the wrong way on buckets. Why is this important you ask? Have you ever seen a horse catch an eye on the snap? No? I have and it's not pretty. (though it wasn't on the snap but the part where the handle connects to plastic and curls back- all my buckets have duct tape there if the rubber part has fallen off b/c of this) Every rule Pony Club has is for you and your horses safety. Back before Courtney King Dye, Silva Martin, and all the other high profile head trauma stories became big news in the horse world, Pony Club was there making it a rule that you had to ride with an ASTM SEI approved helmet. To this day I will not ride a horse without a helmet and the very few times that I have ridden without one I felt naked and exposed. Yes sometimes the rules seem over bearing and some seem pointless, but as a young impressionable child they set the standards very high and I did my best to adhere to them. Now as an adult I tend to skimp on some of them. I'll wear tennis shoes to the barn, have even worn flip flops if I wasn't going to be near a horse, I don't always clean my tack after I ride (though I try to- just depends on how sweaty my horse was) and I wear jeans over khaki pants if I'm going to shows and such, but beneath my "rule bending" I know the reason behind every rule Pony Club has and am grateful for who I am because of Pony Club. 

Cardinal II Pony Clubbers hanging out together

"The Pin Promise is also a tribute to the sense of camaraderie that Pony Clubbers experience, not just while they’re active members but for years, even decades, after they graduate."

Even if you did not have the opportunity to grow up in Pony Club, because lets face it, not all clubs are created equal and not all parents are aware of Pony Club's existence, and even some trainers do not allow their students to join because they don't truly understand Pony Club themselves or feel that they want to take their students different route (usually to really expensive shows so they can earn more $$$ as a trainer). If you are one of these riders that either started riding late in life, was in a situation where Pony Club was not an option, or whatever the reason- have no fear- Pony Club is for all and you can join as a Horsemaster to a local club or if you become friends with a Pony Clubber (graduate or current member) I know they will bring you in and make you an honorary Pony Clubber so you can become part of the community that is this amazing organization. 

I am Pony Club Proud and will wear my pin with pride. Thank you Pony Club for all the memories, friendship, and knowledge I have because of you. 

All of were members of Cardinal II except our trainer- but she is a graduate A from a different club :)