Green Acres 3 phase
Dawn and her crew did a great job running their inaugural 3 phase. I entered the pre-Novice (same as BN) division as a tune-up for Kingsbury. Good thing I did.
Clover was a good girl and kept her sheet on and herself reasonably clean, considering I'd turned her back out for the night after bathing and braiding her. But her braids were half rubbed out. I spent several minutes fixing them up with gel and rubber bands securing the loose hairs in place. Not pretty, but good enough at a distance. I'm lucky I have a dark horse—that is, until she turns grey.
Ha ha ha; I opened my packet and discovered that I was #1—first ride of the day. Everyone else kept ribbing me that I was the reason they all had to get up early to get there. A quick warm up, some reminders to relax my seat (I was riding the pommel apparently), and down to the sand / grass ring (slightly overgrown, that is). Our test was ok, after watching the video, it looked a lot better than it rode. Clover was behind the leg at times, and came above the bridle in some transitions, most notably, the canter.
Let's see—we almost had a late transition for the first canter; Clover ignored my first request and I thumped her solidly with my outside leg and she picked it up just before A. We had an early transition to walk before A, and another late transition to trot after C. Martha Varney was judging, she took a few moments with each competitor and gave everyone some impressions and advice. She was very complimentary and encouraging. Also, generous with the scores. What I felt was a lackluster test earned us 35.5, and 2nd place after dressage.
Things I need to work on: canter transitions, 20 meter circles (esp. canter!), stretch at free walk and trot circle, accuracy in general (transitions on the letter!) More preparation in general.
I was the first competitor on course for x-c, I was able to walk it twice before riding it—and I did NOT get lost this time! Dawn's crew had put together a great course, going from the mid field to the back field, back into the mid field, to the front field and finishing up in the mid field again. There were 13 or 14 efforts, some related distances, some questions of moderate technical difficulty. None of the jumping phases were timed, so I stepped Clover into the start box and was counted down from 10.
Fence 1 – small log, bang a right to 2, birch/pine log combo. Clover was a bit hesitant, but stayed forward. Then a bit of a gallop to 3, big log stack, one of the larger efforts on the course. But to get to it, you had to ride by several piles of sand, logs and old furniture (!) Clover sucked back to look at them, so I whacked her with the bat and stuffed her over the log.
There was a gradual ride down a slope to the next fence. The going was a bit trappy in the hummocky grass, so I trotted it and picked up the canter again at the bend before 4, the maroon coop. It was smallish and narrow, and Clover started to suck back and shift around, almost stopping. I really had to cram her over it, and cantered away, around a u turn heading back up to the main field.
Fence 5—hay bales—just a row of single hay bales. For some reason, Clover and several other horses had hard looks at them, unremarkable as they were. We hopped over and on to 6, the Awesome Logs. This was another max height fence, and it was situated around a bend, going slightly uphill. We came around the bend—I rode it in such a way that Clover would see it as soon as possible, BUT, it also put us too far to the left. Clover started propping again, and was ducking out to the left—I didn't have time to straighten her out to get her over it, so I bailed and re-presented her to it. I think it was at that point I started yelling at her at the top of my lungs, too.
We came back into the midfield, and had to bang a right around the tree line to fences 7,8,9, suspended log fences set at 5 and 8 strides apart from each other. I'd schooled them before last summer, and we'd had trouble getting over them then. We almost ran out to the left again (ok, so what does that tell me?), but I crammed her over the first two, and she figured it out by #9.
#10 was a wide log stack—probably one of the widest spreads we've done yet. I yelled her over, and we turned left to head between the riding rings to get to #11, a brush fence next to the big riding ring. I saw several people standing in the area, so I started yelling “Heads up! Coming through!” like an idiot, and buzzed thorough to the brush. #12 was the large flower barrels under a hanging log, to get there I had to ride across the hill in front of the barn and hang a slight rollback left to jump them. We've schooled it before, in the other direction, and had run outs there, but Clover had finally hit her stride and we just ate it up.
I had walked my course on the car path right next to the dressage ring. That was the way it had looked on the course map, but people in the know rode back between the rings to the midfield and the last few fences. As fate had it, Clover and I barrelled by the dressage ring as another stablemate and her horse were doing their first test. I was marginally aware that they were there, but I later found out that she was distracted and got an error of course—oops, sorry …
I made a u turn back to #13, a tire fence, and on to #14, the big log, which we jumped convincingly and through the finish. I was glad that We finished strong, but kicked myself for another run out—20 more points, once again. My trainer said that the next time I have that problem, to go back to the trot to maintain control. Oh, yea. I'm happy that I'm actually starting to think while I ride, instead of just gallop and point at fences and hope the horse goes over.
I also later heard that Min was just coming up the hill with her rig at the same time I was going to #12—I remember seeing her mother near the fence, and saying “Hi!” as I rode by. She had made as if to get out of my way, but I told her she was fine where she was … not bad, having a conversation while riding a course! My trainer was yelling at Min to hurry up and drive up the hill, but the fence judge was telling her to stay put—either way, I don't remember even seeing the rig, just her mom.
The run out dropped me down from 2nd to 6th. We had quite a bit of time before stadium, so I walked the course again and ate lunch. I pulled me and Clover together and started to warm up—over the vertical a couple of times. Whoa—my hat blew off when I landed the second time. I FORGOT my helmet—I was warming up in my Bruins cap. I hopped off and asked Min to bring me my helmet. Whoops.
Warmed up a bit more, then headed out to the stadium. The course rode wonderfully, nine brightly painted fences, small and narrow—narrower than standard stadium jumps. The course was placed in the bowl of the front field. Clover jumped nearly everything out of stride, I didn't get ahead, and I managed to use my bat to encourage Clover to go over #4, a looky fence with bright blue barrels under it. She had another look at the first fence of the red, white and blue in and out—but we went through it and I even counted strides (“land, one, two, and … “), over the 4 stride to #7, around and down the hill to #8—I half halted coming down the hill so Clover wouldn't jump it flat, and up to #9, a bright maroon panel with a yellow and white pole over it. It was great! I got a lot of compliments on the round, it went smoothly. Maybe Clover has gotten it again!
We maintained 6th place (out of 8, oh well) ... Overall, I was pleased with the day, but am still disappointed about the run out on x-c. We have the Peter Atkins clinic the week after next, hopefully we'll work out the bugs then.
Clover was a good girl and kept her sheet on and herself reasonably clean, considering I'd turned her back out for the night after bathing and braiding her. But her braids were half rubbed out. I spent several minutes fixing them up with gel and rubber bands securing the loose hairs in place. Not pretty, but good enough at a distance. I'm lucky I have a dark horse—that is, until she turns grey.
Ha ha ha; I opened my packet and discovered that I was #1—first ride of the day. Everyone else kept ribbing me that I was the reason they all had to get up early to get there. A quick warm up, some reminders to relax my seat (I was riding the pommel apparently), and down to the sand / grass ring (slightly overgrown, that is). Our test was ok, after watching the video, it looked a lot better than it rode. Clover was behind the leg at times, and came above the bridle in some transitions, most notably, the canter.
Let's see—we almost had a late transition for the first canter; Clover ignored my first request and I thumped her solidly with my outside leg and she picked it up just before A. We had an early transition to walk before A, and another late transition to trot after C. Martha Varney was judging, she took a few moments with each competitor and gave everyone some impressions and advice. She was very complimentary and encouraging. Also, generous with the scores. What I felt was a lackluster test earned us 35.5, and 2nd place after dressage.
Things I need to work on: canter transitions, 20 meter circles (esp. canter!), stretch at free walk and trot circle, accuracy in general (transitions on the letter!) More preparation in general.
I was the first competitor on course for x-c, I was able to walk it twice before riding it—and I did NOT get lost this time! Dawn's crew had put together a great course, going from the mid field to the back field, back into the mid field, to the front field and finishing up in the mid field again. There were 13 or 14 efforts, some related distances, some questions of moderate technical difficulty. None of the jumping phases were timed, so I stepped Clover into the start box and was counted down from 10.
Fence 1 – small log, bang a right to 2, birch/pine log combo. Clover was a bit hesitant, but stayed forward. Then a bit of a gallop to 3, big log stack, one of the larger efforts on the course. But to get to it, you had to ride by several piles of sand, logs and old furniture (!) Clover sucked back to look at them, so I whacked her with the bat and stuffed her over the log.
There was a gradual ride down a slope to the next fence. The going was a bit trappy in the hummocky grass, so I trotted it and picked up the canter again at the bend before 4, the maroon coop. It was smallish and narrow, and Clover started to suck back and shift around, almost stopping. I really had to cram her over it, and cantered away, around a u turn heading back up to the main field.
Fence 5—hay bales—just a row of single hay bales. For some reason, Clover and several other horses had hard looks at them, unremarkable as they were. We hopped over and on to 6, the Awesome Logs. This was another max height fence, and it was situated around a bend, going slightly uphill. We came around the bend—I rode it in such a way that Clover would see it as soon as possible, BUT, it also put us too far to the left. Clover started propping again, and was ducking out to the left—I didn't have time to straighten her out to get her over it, so I bailed and re-presented her to it. I think it was at that point I started yelling at her at the top of my lungs, too.
We came back into the midfield, and had to bang a right around the tree line to fences 7,8,9, suspended log fences set at 5 and 8 strides apart from each other. I'd schooled them before last summer, and we'd had trouble getting over them then. We almost ran out to the left again (ok, so what does that tell me?), but I crammed her over the first two, and she figured it out by #9.
#10 was a wide log stack—probably one of the widest spreads we've done yet. I yelled her over, and we turned left to head between the riding rings to get to #11, a brush fence next to the big riding ring. I saw several people standing in the area, so I started yelling “Heads up! Coming through!” like an idiot, and buzzed thorough to the brush. #12 was the large flower barrels under a hanging log, to get there I had to ride across the hill in front of the barn and hang a slight rollback left to jump them. We've schooled it before, in the other direction, and had run outs there, but Clover had finally hit her stride and we just ate it up.
I had walked my course on the car path right next to the dressage ring. That was the way it had looked on the course map, but people in the know rode back between the rings to the midfield and the last few fences. As fate had it, Clover and I barrelled by the dressage ring as another stablemate and her horse were doing their first test. I was marginally aware that they were there, but I later found out that she was distracted and got an error of course—oops, sorry …
I made a u turn back to #13, a tire fence, and on to #14, the big log, which we jumped convincingly and through the finish. I was glad that We finished strong, but kicked myself for another run out—20 more points, once again. My trainer said that the next time I have that problem, to go back to the trot to maintain control. Oh, yea. I'm happy that I'm actually starting to think while I ride, instead of just gallop and point at fences and hope the horse goes over.
I also later heard that Min was just coming up the hill with her rig at the same time I was going to #12—I remember seeing her mother near the fence, and saying “Hi!” as I rode by. She had made as if to get out of my way, but I told her she was fine where she was … not bad, having a conversation while riding a course! My trainer was yelling at Min to hurry up and drive up the hill, but the fence judge was telling her to stay put—either way, I don't remember even seeing the rig, just her mom.
The run out dropped me down from 2nd to 6th. We had quite a bit of time before stadium, so I walked the course again and ate lunch. I pulled me and Clover together and started to warm up—over the vertical a couple of times. Whoa—my hat blew off when I landed the second time. I FORGOT my helmet—I was warming up in my Bruins cap. I hopped off and asked Min to bring me my helmet. Whoops.
Warmed up a bit more, then headed out to the stadium. The course rode wonderfully, nine brightly painted fences, small and narrow—narrower than standard stadium jumps. The course was placed in the bowl of the front field. Clover jumped nearly everything out of stride, I didn't get ahead, and I managed to use my bat to encourage Clover to go over #4, a looky fence with bright blue barrels under it. She had another look at the first fence of the red, white and blue in and out—but we went through it and I even counted strides (“land, one, two, and … “), over the 4 stride to #7, around and down the hill to #8—I half halted coming down the hill so Clover wouldn't jump it flat, and up to #9, a bright maroon panel with a yellow and white pole over it. It was great! I got a lot of compliments on the round, it went smoothly. Maybe Clover has gotten it again!
We maintained 6th place (out of 8, oh well) ... Overall, I was pleased with the day, but am still disappointed about the run out on x-c. We have the Peter Atkins clinic the week after next, hopefully we'll work out the bugs then.
Comments
Post a Comment