Kingsbury Hill
I was up at 4 am, out to braid Clover and clean her wound, getting smaller by the day and thankfully healing from the inside out. Stumbled around, managed to get her rubbed out mane into some semblance of braids, and packed her up for the trip to Francestown. My dressage test was scheduled for 7:42 am. Ouch.
We arrived, unloaded and unpacked, and I picked up my packet, only to find out that I'd be riding my test in “the Pit” and not on the nice upper arena. The Pit doesn't have any area to ride around the arena to warm up prior to entering your test; you are allowed to walk around inside the ring once, exit, then enter and perform your test. Add to that the fact that Mrs. Briggs, the head of UNH's 4 yr equine program, whom I took the Instructors' certification course from 5 years back, and whom I am a bit intimidated riding for because I know she is a tough judge, was the judge for my division in the Pit, AND add to that my concern about Clover being recovered enough from the kick and the abscess AND having had mediocre schools all week, made for a nervous, behind the leg test on our part.
The two lead off riders in my division had scratched, so I defaulted to the first rider in the division. Having just barely warmed up at all 3 paces, I was called by the steward for my test. I knew that I didn't have to go in until my scheduled time, but was eager to get it over with. This test wasn't going to be as smooth as our test at Huntington. Anyways, not having the ability to trot around and get some forward motion going before entering the ring at A, combined with my nerves and relapse into squeezing the heck out of Clover with my seat and legs in a misguided attempt to get her more forward, made for a test full of 5's and 6's, and a score of 44. I thought that Mrs. Briggs had gone pretty easy on me, and gave me a 6 for the rider aids collective score. I was expecting a 5 for that, and at least one score of 4 in the test.
44 put me into 8th, behind four other riders tied for 4th with a score of 43. So it seemed I could be considered in 5th place of sorts. Hm. But not really.
I found out that my stadium time wasn't scheduled until 1:30 pm, though in the Omnibus it was originally scheduled for 11 am. The organizers were running the Training and Novice divisions more tightly than the Beginner Novice divisions. In truth, I didn't mind, I liked having time to unwind between phases, untack and water Clover, walk the stadium and x-c courses, and put studs in. Not to mention wander around and socialize.
Our stadium warm up was ok, I was able to get more forward energy out of Clover, and she did seem like she was in better spirits than during dressage. We hopped over each warm up fence once, and headed into stadium.
Fence 1—green and white vertical, with flower pots hanging in the standards. No problems getting to that, sit up and close leg. I actually rode the last strides to the fence, instead of dropping her 2 strides out and trying to squeeze her over.
Fence 2—change of direction to a blue and white oxer. Clover wasn't distracted riding by the crowd enroute to #2.
Fence 3—shallow bending 4 stride line to a white panel painted with bright primary colored hand and feet prints and splatters. Several horses, including Melinda's Bart, took exception to the fence and had refusals. I was wary of that, and managed to give Clover a weak tap with the bat and rode her over with only a little look on her part.
Fence 4—Change of direction to a yellow and white ascending oxer with a flowerbox ground line. The change of direction occured near the in-gate, and Clover tried to veer off in that direction. We wound up taking a long spot from the slight uphill line to the oxer—something I had wanted to avoid, but we got over with nary a hesitation.
Fence 5 a,b—lavendar and white two stride combination. We had a slight waver coming into a, but I tapped with the bat and put leg on, and we navigated through it just fine. I had paced it as a forward two stride, so our pace seemed to be just right.
Fence 6—another change of direction to a pseudo-stone wall with a white rail suspended over it. No prob.
Fence 7—6 stride to a wishing well natural, not quite a skinny, but skinnier than the other fences on course. Again, no problems.
Fences 8 and 9—another change of direction, by the in-gate again, to the last two fences on course, a 3 stride combination. Again I underestimated the magnetic power of the in gate, and we overshot our line to the combination quite a bit. I managed to keep us on course, and tapped Clover again over the (8) red, white and blue poles and blue barrels to (9) red, white and oxer.
We got over the last fence and through the finish flags, and I thought, “whew, that's over,” and: “hey we made it clean!” I trotted out of stadium to make way for the next rider, and showered Clover with pats. I heard the announcer say that we were clean with no jump or time faults, and I heaved a sigh of relief. No, really. I did. We had moved up to 4th, for real. Someone had been eliminated in dressage, and several people were eliminated in stadium.
I had a couple of hours before x-c, so I walked the course a second time, running in between fences to make it quick and to keep myself loose. Of course, running in tall boots is not usually a good idea. But I wouldn't suffer for that until the next day.
By the time Melinda was supposed to go x-c, they were running 15 minutes or so behind. They shortened the break between divisions, and hustled me out to the start box. I had decided this time to go ahead and trot to fences that worried me, to see if that would give me better control over potential run outs.
I asked for a count down from 10, hit my watch, and headed out at a strong trot. Fence 1 was a rails with pine boughs situated a few hundred feet right in line with the start box. We trotted strongly over it, and picked up the canter to …
Fence 2—bending line to the left to railroad ties with wings. I sat up, half-halting, trying to bring Clover back to a trot because she wavered a bit, but wound up staying in the canter, as the sitting up and half-halting seemed to organize us a bit and get over the fence well.
Fence 3—change of direction, u-turn to a telephone pole stack. It was higher to the left, and shorter to the right, but I rode it right in the middle to minimize any potential of run outs. We went over it just fine.
Fence 4—down slope approach to hanging tires. I sat up and kept Clover balanced enough to keep her off her forehand, but used the slope to keep us forward to this looky fence. Clover looked, but I widened my hands and kept my leg on.
Fence 5—another change of direction u-turn to a very brand new shiny pine rolltop. The Beginner Novice side was flagged to the left, the right side was flagged for Novice, so there was no jumping in the middle of this fence. I was concerned that this would be a potential run out, as there was nothing to the left side to funnel us in. I prepared to bring Clover down to the trot, but stayed in the canter, as she went to it and over with no hesitation.
We had a bit of a gallop out of the field into the woods. Clover tried to veer to the right, back to the main event activity, but I convinced her that we still had more x-c to ride.
Fence 6—hard left turn to hay bales with railroad ties on top and barrels as wings. This fence I did bring Clover down to the trot for, to make the turn, to keep her focused as there was a big-assed bulldozer directly across from the fence, and to make the adjustment from the field to the woods. We took it, then continued on for a bit more of a gallop through the woods into the next field.
Fence 7—a coop in the field. We made another left turn into the second field, and I trotted Clover briefly to correct her lead. We cantered on over the coop, with no problem.
Fence 8—We poured on the speed through the field, so much that I really had to sit up and half halt six strides out from the next fence, a set of rails bordered by stone wall, leading back into the woods. She looked briefly, but went over smoothly.
Our next fence was actually Novice fence 12—a log oxer. BN riders had the option of going around, but I jumped it since Clover was going so well. We sailed over it.
Fence 9—we had a bit of an uphill gallop to a log bordered by haybales set on the up slope. I got off her back to make it easier to gallop up hill, but she was so forward I could have been water skiing off of her tail and she would have galloped on.
Fence 10—at the top of the hill in the woods, we had to make a hard right turn toward fence 10, called the Tuning Fork. The track made an S-curve though the woods on the approach, so a lot of sitting up, half-halting and steering was necessary to make this fence ride well.
The next fence was yet another Novice fence, 13 I think. It was a wide hay bale table framed by old birch logs. Again, BN riders could go around, but we cleared it right out of stride.
Fence 11—the bank! After landing the optional Novice fence, I reorganized and made a left turn up a small hill over the bank up. We rode our planned line to the left, and galloped up to …
Fence 12—last fence! Again, a small hay bale framed by logs. We cleared it and rode through the finish line. I think we either came in one second fast or right on time, I spoke to someone about how good Clover was, and belatedly remembered to turn off my watch as it was counting up again—3 seconds over. Anyways, we were clean, and apparently had no time penalties, as out round put us in 2nd place for the day. Wow! I knew I had held on to 4th place, but had no idea a clean x-c would bring us all the way to 2nd … you could have knocked me over with a feather.
We untacked and hosed off Clover, and I walked her out. Her breathing returned to normal very quickly, I was surprised at how fast she recovered, despite 2 weeks of rest and light riding before the event. I brought her back to the trailer and gave her a liniment wash, and tons of treats.
I couldn't believe what a different horse I had between dressage and the jumping phases. Clover ate up x-c like she'd been doing it all along—hardly a look or waver. I think jumping the Novice fences in the track rather than going around them made up time for the fences we had trotted.
We arrived, unloaded and unpacked, and I picked up my packet, only to find out that I'd be riding my test in “the Pit” and not on the nice upper arena. The Pit doesn't have any area to ride around the arena to warm up prior to entering your test; you are allowed to walk around inside the ring once, exit, then enter and perform your test. Add to that the fact that Mrs. Briggs, the head of UNH's 4 yr equine program, whom I took the Instructors' certification course from 5 years back, and whom I am a bit intimidated riding for because I know she is a tough judge, was the judge for my division in the Pit, AND add to that my concern about Clover being recovered enough from the kick and the abscess AND having had mediocre schools all week, made for a nervous, behind the leg test on our part.
The two lead off riders in my division had scratched, so I defaulted to the first rider in the division. Having just barely warmed up at all 3 paces, I was called by the steward for my test. I knew that I didn't have to go in until my scheduled time, but was eager to get it over with. This test wasn't going to be as smooth as our test at Huntington. Anyways, not having the ability to trot around and get some forward motion going before entering the ring at A, combined with my nerves and relapse into squeezing the heck out of Clover with my seat and legs in a misguided attempt to get her more forward, made for a test full of 5's and 6's, and a score of 44. I thought that Mrs. Briggs had gone pretty easy on me, and gave me a 6 for the rider aids collective score. I was expecting a 5 for that, and at least one score of 4 in the test.
44 put me into 8th, behind four other riders tied for 4th with a score of 43. So it seemed I could be considered in 5th place of sorts. Hm. But not really.
I found out that my stadium time wasn't scheduled until 1:30 pm, though in the Omnibus it was originally scheduled for 11 am. The organizers were running the Training and Novice divisions more tightly than the Beginner Novice divisions. In truth, I didn't mind, I liked having time to unwind between phases, untack and water Clover, walk the stadium and x-c courses, and put studs in. Not to mention wander around and socialize.
Our stadium warm up was ok, I was able to get more forward energy out of Clover, and she did seem like she was in better spirits than during dressage. We hopped over each warm up fence once, and headed into stadium.
Fence 1—green and white vertical, with flower pots hanging in the standards. No problems getting to that, sit up and close leg. I actually rode the last strides to the fence, instead of dropping her 2 strides out and trying to squeeze her over.
Fence 2—change of direction to a blue and white oxer. Clover wasn't distracted riding by the crowd enroute to #2.
Fence 3—shallow bending 4 stride line to a white panel painted with bright primary colored hand and feet prints and splatters. Several horses, including Melinda's Bart, took exception to the fence and had refusals. I was wary of that, and managed to give Clover a weak tap with the bat and rode her over with only a little look on her part.
Fence 4—Change of direction to a yellow and white ascending oxer with a flowerbox ground line. The change of direction occured near the in-gate, and Clover tried to veer off in that direction. We wound up taking a long spot from the slight uphill line to the oxer—something I had wanted to avoid, but we got over with nary a hesitation.
Fence 5 a,b—lavendar and white two stride combination. We had a slight waver coming into a, but I tapped with the bat and put leg on, and we navigated through it just fine. I had paced it as a forward two stride, so our pace seemed to be just right.
Fence 6—another change of direction to a pseudo-stone wall with a white rail suspended over it. No prob.
Fence 7—6 stride to a wishing well natural, not quite a skinny, but skinnier than the other fences on course. Again, no problems.
Fences 8 and 9—another change of direction, by the in-gate again, to the last two fences on course, a 3 stride combination. Again I underestimated the magnetic power of the in gate, and we overshot our line to the combination quite a bit. I managed to keep us on course, and tapped Clover again over the (8) red, white and blue poles and blue barrels to (9) red, white and oxer.
We got over the last fence and through the finish flags, and I thought, “whew, that's over,” and: “hey we made it clean!” I trotted out of stadium to make way for the next rider, and showered Clover with pats. I heard the announcer say that we were clean with no jump or time faults, and I heaved a sigh of relief. No, really. I did. We had moved up to 4th, for real. Someone had been eliminated in dressage, and several people were eliminated in stadium.
I had a couple of hours before x-c, so I walked the course a second time, running in between fences to make it quick and to keep myself loose. Of course, running in tall boots is not usually a good idea. But I wouldn't suffer for that until the next day.
By the time Melinda was supposed to go x-c, they were running 15 minutes or so behind. They shortened the break between divisions, and hustled me out to the start box. I had decided this time to go ahead and trot to fences that worried me, to see if that would give me better control over potential run outs.
I asked for a count down from 10, hit my watch, and headed out at a strong trot. Fence 1 was a rails with pine boughs situated a few hundred feet right in line with the start box. We trotted strongly over it, and picked up the canter to …
Fence 2—bending line to the left to railroad ties with wings. I sat up, half-halting, trying to bring Clover back to a trot because she wavered a bit, but wound up staying in the canter, as the sitting up and half-halting seemed to organize us a bit and get over the fence well.
Fence 3—change of direction, u-turn to a telephone pole stack. It was higher to the left, and shorter to the right, but I rode it right in the middle to minimize any potential of run outs. We went over it just fine.
Fence 4—down slope approach to hanging tires. I sat up and kept Clover balanced enough to keep her off her forehand, but used the slope to keep us forward to this looky fence. Clover looked, but I widened my hands and kept my leg on.
Fence 5—another change of direction u-turn to a very brand new shiny pine rolltop. The Beginner Novice side was flagged to the left, the right side was flagged for Novice, so there was no jumping in the middle of this fence. I was concerned that this would be a potential run out, as there was nothing to the left side to funnel us in. I prepared to bring Clover down to the trot, but stayed in the canter, as she went to it and over with no hesitation.
We had a bit of a gallop out of the field into the woods. Clover tried to veer to the right, back to the main event activity, but I convinced her that we still had more x-c to ride.
Fence 6—hard left turn to hay bales with railroad ties on top and barrels as wings. This fence I did bring Clover down to the trot for, to make the turn, to keep her focused as there was a big-assed bulldozer directly across from the fence, and to make the adjustment from the field to the woods. We took it, then continued on for a bit more of a gallop through the woods into the next field.
Fence 7—a coop in the field. We made another left turn into the second field, and I trotted Clover briefly to correct her lead. We cantered on over the coop, with no problem.
Fence 8—We poured on the speed through the field, so much that I really had to sit up and half halt six strides out from the next fence, a set of rails bordered by stone wall, leading back into the woods. She looked briefly, but went over smoothly.
Our next fence was actually Novice fence 12—a log oxer. BN riders had the option of going around, but I jumped it since Clover was going so well. We sailed over it.
Fence 9—we had a bit of an uphill gallop to a log bordered by haybales set on the up slope. I got off her back to make it easier to gallop up hill, but she was so forward I could have been water skiing off of her tail and she would have galloped on.
Fence 10—at the top of the hill in the woods, we had to make a hard right turn toward fence 10, called the Tuning Fork. The track made an S-curve though the woods on the approach, so a lot of sitting up, half-halting and steering was necessary to make this fence ride well.
The next fence was yet another Novice fence, 13 I think. It was a wide hay bale table framed by old birch logs. Again, BN riders could go around, but we cleared it right out of stride.
Fence 11—the bank! After landing the optional Novice fence, I reorganized and made a left turn up a small hill over the bank up. We rode our planned line to the left, and galloped up to …
Fence 12—last fence! Again, a small hay bale framed by logs. We cleared it and rode through the finish line. I think we either came in one second fast or right on time, I spoke to someone about how good Clover was, and belatedly remembered to turn off my watch as it was counting up again—3 seconds over. Anyways, we were clean, and apparently had no time penalties, as out round put us in 2nd place for the day. Wow! I knew I had held on to 4th place, but had no idea a clean x-c would bring us all the way to 2nd … you could have knocked me over with a feather.
We untacked and hosed off Clover, and I walked her out. Her breathing returned to normal very quickly, I was surprised at how fast she recovered, despite 2 weeks of rest and light riding before the event. I brought her back to the trailer and gave her a liniment wash, and tons of treats.
I couldn't believe what a different horse I had between dressage and the jumping phases. Clover ate up x-c like she'd been doing it all along—hardly a look or waver. I think jumping the Novice fences in the track rather than going around them made up time for the fences we had trotted.
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