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!

Holley Sporting new AL Eventing Wear

Rocking Horse Spring Horse Trials

This past weekend I ran four horses at the Rocking Horse Spring Horse Trials -- Jet, Doc, Gavin, and Monte. On our first outing together since the CCI** at Fair Hill in October, Jet placed fourth in the open intermediate division. We had a strong weekend from start to finish. He scored a 38.4 in dressage putting him in eight place. On Saturday we were the first horse on cross country. Jet jumped one of his signature rounds. He was clever, tidy, and confident. Even though I felt we were moving at a good speed, we were ten seconds slow on the clock which added four faults. At the end of the day, however, only two horses made the time and our round was still one of the fastest ones. We moved up to fifth. On Sunday we show jumped. Show jumping is Jet's weakest phase right now and we have been working on it all winter. He can be a little too tight in his back which causes him to take rails behind. At Fair Hill in the fall we had three rails on Sunday and it cost us several places. This weekend Jet felt better overall, but he still had one rail down. Other riders had rails as well, though, so even with one rail down we moved up to fourth place. It felt great to be back in the irons with Jet. He felt so good, in fact, that I plan to move him up to advanced in a few weeks at The Fork.

Doc and my mom's horse Gavin both had solid weekends. I took Doc to the show for fun and to keep him in the game, even though he is now in semi-retirement. We competed in the preliminary division. He scored a 37 in dressage and jumped clean cross country and in stadium. If we hadn't had any time faults on cross country he would have finished third. I went out on cross country on Saturday, however, with the intention of taking it easy. Doc has a certain amount of mileage on him now and my main goal is to have fun with him. I don't want him to sustain another injury. With that in mind, I did not go terribly fast and we had time faults. In the end we finished in the middle of the pack. Doc's quirks need constant management, but it really is a great pleasure to still be able to compete this fantastic little horse.

Gavin ran in the novice horse division. He scored a 34.5 in dressage, was double clear on cross country and had one rail in stadium leaving him in 11th place in a very competitive division. His placing betrays what a good boy he was all weekend. He felt good both physically and mentally in all three phases and I was very pleased with him. We plan to move him up to training level at his next show.

Last but not least there was Monte. Jimmy Wofford has this saying, "Don't be a statistic." What he means is that at any event there will be a certain percentage of riders who have refusals on cross country and a certain percentage of riders who do not finish. If you are one of these riders you become "a statistic." This weekend Monte was my statistic. Cross country day was very windy. Monte was my last ride of the day. He spent the day on the trailer waiting as his stable mates one by one left him. I could tell when I got on him that his brain was not engaged. On the hack to cross country he stopped and spooked many times at the blowing tents and other wind demons. In the warm up he was very strong and he also tried to buck me off. I almost withdrew him right then and there, but I decided to go slowly and try to give him experience. We made it through a couple of spooky jump combinations, but our day ended at jump ten. It was a combination where you jump up onto a bank, take one stride, and then jump across a ditch to another bank. Monte has never seen anything like this. As he jumped up onto the bank his head was low and he looked right into the ditch. He didn't like what he saw! He stopped. I jumped him off the bank and represented and he stopped again. At that point I retired him. That bank is the type of exercise that, with Monte, will go one of two ways. I could make a big deal out of it and fight with him about jumping it, or I could school it with less pressure and let him figure out for himself that it is no big deal to hop across to the other bank. Especially with his brain where it was on Saturday, I chose option two. We will be back at Rocking Horse this week to master it! In the mean time, I have been reminded that as mature at Monte seems at times, he still needs a lot of mileage.

Until the next time!

Ashley

Horse Updates

Sheila Wickstrom and I took a trip this week to Rocking Horse to play at the fabulous facility. Sheila owns Karla, a.k.a. Farelka, pictured here. Karla is a seven-year-old Hanoverian mare by Feiner Stern out of Wakajama. She began her training in straight dressage in Wellington, but I have been working with her since November. This year we plan to take Karla to her mare inspection hosted by the American Hanoverian Society. She needs to show correct conformation, rideability, quality of gaits, and versatility on the flat as well as over jumps. To this end I have been introducing her to cross country jumping, which she seems to enjoy! Mares generally only get tested once in their life, and that is the score that they keep. The goal is to achieve a score over 7.0, which would rank Karla as an elite mare candidate. She would then become an elite mare, like her mother, when she produces her first papered Hanoverian foal.

Monte has continued to compete at the preliminary level this winter and is conditioning for the Ocala CCI* in April. Our achilles heel currently seems to be show jumping. Monte is seven this year and continues to develop. He still shows the young horse quality of inconsistency in his work. Some days he is fabulous and other days he struggles both mentally and physically. As he becomes stronger and more experienced, though, I have confidence that he will be solid in all three phases. He certainly has the talent to do it all!

After the Ocala CCI*, we will come north for Jet, who will compete in the Jersey Fresh CCI** in May. Jet is nine this year and almost ready to move up to advanced. He had a heroic finish at the Fair Hill CCI** last fall. In very difficult conditions, he finished 14th out of 73 starters. He is a very eager horse and an amazingly hard worker, but I would like for him to do one more CCI** to solidify his confidence at the intermediate level. He will need that confidence when he moves up to advanced. Jet is not the best mover or the biggest jumper, but he has amazing heart. Jet came off the track in 2006 and has been with me since 2007. I have had him through the whole process of his eventing career. It is very exciting for me as his trainer to see him prepping for advanced level. He is truly a special horse.

I have also been bringing along my mom's horse Gavin's Glory, another off the track thoroughbred. I rode and competed Gavin a little bit last winter, including placing third in his first horse trials at the beginner novice level. He then had the summer off in Florida while I went to Pennsylvania. This year Gavin placed second in his first outing at the beginner novice level. We then moved him up to novice where he has been steadily improving. I hope to finish his winter season at training level before heading back north to Pennsylvania.

Last but not least there is Doc. Doc is happily back in work, and even more happily not having to work too hard. We have done one preliminary competition already this winter and plan to do a second one next weekend. These are more or less a walk in the park for Doc. After the show next weekend I have somewhat evil plans of taking Doc to Pennsylvania in May and competing him in straight dressage shows. If he would ever get over his intense disdain for the white rectangle, he would be a lovely third and fourth level horse. Aly Cat helped me get my USDF Bronze Medal. I have a thought that Doc might start me on my way to the Silver Medal. Time will tell!

Until the next time!

Ashley

Some Pictures From Florida

Photo One: This week I am hosting a Level III/IV Instructors' Certification Program workshop at my parents' farm and the Florida Horse Park. This workshop is run through the USEA and focuses on teaching intermediate and advanced level riders. In this picture Karen O'Connor, our mentor for the week, is demonstrating the teaching of a dressage lesson at my parents' farm, which is across the street from our farm!

Photos Two and Three: We were subject to some pretty cold weather just after the holidays. My student Holley Russell arrived in Ocala on January 2nd from Pennsylvania and I teased her that she brought the cold air with her! At the Ocala I horse trials they were scraping ice off of the water jump and the temperatures during the day were only in the 30's. Brrr!

Photo Four: On New Year's Eve we attended a surprise 60th birthday party for Bruce Davidson. Here is a picture of his custom birthday cake with a picture of him jumping his favorite mare Jam over a ditch and brush.