Mom has decided to start riding again.

My mom has decided that now that she is retired from Pony Club she is going to take up riding again. Before this month, I don't even remember the last time she was on a horse. She tells me that sixty-something muscles are not the same as thirty-something muscles. Here we are yesterday at her farm. I was doing a dressage ride on her horse Gavin who is doing his first training level this weekend and she was riding another one of her horses, Canny.

Rolex buzz is in the air. . .

We are doing one more show at the Ocala Horse Park this weekend before heading up to Pennsylvania at the end of April. My mom's horse Gavin is doing his first training level. He is pictured here. I also signed Jet up for the advanced combined test thinking it would be a great opportunity to get him in the dressage and show jumping rings, since he seems to be an ace at cross country.

As my student Holley Russell would say, "the joke was on me" yesterday morning when I decided to pull out the dressage test for Jet to practice. The horse park hosts this combined test as a final prep for any Ocala horses that are going to Rolex next weekend. When I sat down at breakfast to bring the test up on my computer I realized for the first time that we had to ride one of the four star eventing tests! This is a lot to ask of a horse who is still learning his changes and who only moved up to advanced two weeks ago! The test includes half pass at the trot and canter, shoulder in on center line, a rein back, a walk pirouette, counter canter, and four flying changes. I quickly made an emergency phone call to my neighbors (and dressage aficionados) Bill and Susan Woods to see if I could come over and run through the test in their dressage ring. They happily obliged, so with the test in hand I headed over there to practice.

Today, Jet came out relaxed and focused. He put in a very respectable test except for his changes. He did one change clean, meaning that the hind and front legs switched leads at the same time, two that were late behind, and one he missed all together and I had to do a simple change. All of the other work in the test he did admirably. Our score was a 62.7, and we placed 12th in the division out of 18, including beating a few horses going to that sacred Kentucky place next weekend. I have to say my little redhead really put a smile on my face today. He didn't get a bit flustered about the awkward changes, and I know he won a few good points at other places in the test for his accuracy and consistency. Once those changes become automatic we are going to be on a roll.

I have to smile at the irony in all of this. Even last spring I felt that Jet would never be a competitive horse in dressage because he doesn't have a lovely flowing gait, any natural suspension to speak of, and is in fact a very short mover in his trot. He is, however, very obedient and always shows up to work. I am making note here of how I misjudged him. We have worked very hard since last winter on his dressage, and last fall at Fair Hill he definitely moved to a new level where I had a personal best CCI** dressage score on him. Today, with his score of 62.7, he beat my dressage score from one year ago on Doc in this same combined test by six points. Doc has all the movement and suspension in the world, but he has a very hard time keeping his mind calm during a dressage test. Even though I would still like to knock another ten points off of our test, Jet, it appears, is the better competitor.

I am reminded of something I read in an article last year after Lucinda Fredericks won Rolex on Headley Britannia. Marilyn Payne, a leading international judge, wrote that you wouldn't recognize Headley Britannia in the dressage ring after seeing her jog up in hand. Apparently when the mare trots in hand she looks something like a short strided pony. In the dressage ring last year at Rolex, however, she put in one of the top placing tests, which I witnessed, and it was beautiful. In another article Lucinda was quoted as saying that she is very lucky because her mare wants to win as much as she does. These, I believe, are my new words to live by.

Saturday Update at The Fork

Jet jumped clean around his first advanced cross country! He was absolutely wonderful. There were two moments where I wasn't 100% right on my distance, and he just stepped up to the plate and took care of things like a pro. He was a little tired this afternoon, but very pleased with himself. He kept looking at me and asking me to scratch his face, which he loves. He is currently in 17th place out of 41 starters in a tough division.

Monte too was a good boy. We had one rail down in stadium, but other than that he jumped well. He does cross country tomorrow. I am back at the hotel with Brian and it is time to hit the hay.

The Fork Wrap Up

It was a wonderful weekend to be at a horse show! The weather was sunny and clear from Wednesday all the way through the weekend in Norwood, NC. Yesterday Jet wrapped up his first advanced competition with the show jumping phase. The course rode well, but the cups were shallow and rails were coming down for many riders. Jet tipped a few jumps with his toes and had three rails down. I was pleased with his round, though. His show jumping abilities are still developing. He made a good effort throughout the round and was confident. At the end of the day we finished 21st out of 41 competitors in our division.

Monte ran cross country yesterday in the preliminary division. The first part of the course rode beautifully and Monte was having fun, but our day came to an abrupt end at jump number eight, a deep trakehner. This type of jump consists of a log elevated over a ditch. Monte has jumped trakehners before, but nothing with a ditch as deep as the one at The Fork. The deeper ditch creates an optical illusion that makes the jump look a lot more imposing, and Monte virtually slid to a stop in front of it! He didn't want anything to do with it, so we walked home from there. Back to the drawing board with him!

The Fork 2010

We are here in Norwood, NC for a beautiful weekend at The Fork Stables. The competition has both an advanced class and a CIC*** class, which makes it the last prep run for many riders before Rolex CCI**** in three weeks. I have Jet and Monte here. Jet is moving up to advanced this weekend. Monte is running preliminary. Jet's division is large and very strong, and it really is a pleasure to see so many beautiful horse and rider combinations. Yesterday we did our dressage test and scored a 40.7. Jet is not confirmed yet in his flying changes, and there are four in the test. He did all four, though they were somewhat exuberant. I was pleased with his test for his first attempt. He was rideable and as he gets stronger in his half pass and flying changes his scores will improve. We are looking forward to cross country day on Saturday! Monte does dressage today. He was a little nervous when we arrived on Wednesday. I realized that although he has traveled up and down the coast to Florida a few times, he has never been to an overnight show. We settled him in and yesterday he was fine, but by late afternoon the nerves had caught up to him. You see him here finally relaxing in his stall. He was snoring when I took this picture. Jet also took a snooze after his ride yesterday. More later!