Apple Knoll Farm horse trials
Emma and Clover had a great first outing together at Apple Knoll, in one of the Beginner Novice divisions. It was Emma's first USEA horse trials, and Clover's first time with a rider other than me. I was really impressed with the facility, though I didn't get to see much of the cross country course, the rest of it was very nice. I'm considering using it as a possible move up to Training with Clover next year.
Em and Clover's warm up started out with Clover testing Emma a bit on accepting the contact, but by the end of the warm up, Clover was going nicely into the bridle. They put in a quiet and consistent test, though the canter circle to the left was a bit small, and Clover stumbled towards the end of the test. We all thought it deserved better than a 41! Still, it put them into 8th (I think) in their division of 17. Mrs. Briggs, my old instructor from the Instructor Certification program at UNH was the judge, and I don't think she likes the way Clover goes. I rode for her at the first Kingsbury last year, and we got a score in the mid-40's, though that was more deserved on our part: Clover was behind my leg for that test. But enough about me, already …
I was impressed with Emma's composure throughout the day, if she was nervous about competing, she didn't let on. She looked as cool as the proverbial cucumber. The stadium warm up was in the indoor, and it got crazy in there at times. From what I could see, Clover was good and looked to be warming up well. The stadium course was a real going forward course, and if you didn't ride like you meant it, there were places to chip in and take rails. It was in a large riding ring, and though there wasn't variable terrain to contend with, there were tight turns. We'd seen some lumber flying and horses refusing. Em and Clover went and put in a fairly respectable round. Mid-way through the course, Clover sucked back before some of the fences, but still jumped carefully enough to leave the rails up and not get time penalties. Towards the end of the course, it looked like they found their rhythm again, and they moved up to 5th in their division.
Jess and I took Clover back to the trailer to put her studs in, drink, munch hay and rest a little before cross-country, while Emma walked the x-c course with our trainer. We got Clover tacked up, and when they came back, we asked them how the course looked. “Pretty challenging in places, and there are some big jumps out there!” was the reply. We all hiked down to warm up, and we heard that there had been a lot of stops, eliminations and even some rider falls in the BN division before Emma's. And there were several holds on course that put them behind schedule. Emma maintained her composure and kept Clover walking around quietly.
They had a really good warm up from what I could tell, and Emma was really riding heads up and making good turns at speed. Finally the time came for them to hit the start box, and they were off! The first fence was a really bright log with the farm name across the front. A lot of the BN horses had stops there, and Clover herself really sucked back, but Emma squeezed her over. They trotted the next several fences, and I saw them hesitate slightly before going over the ditch-swale and disappeared from sight. We ran over to the other part of the course that we could see, and saw them come out of the woods into the field behind the warm up area. They had hit their stride, and we watched them head to one of the bigger fences on course. They cleared it well, and we heard Emma say, “You're ok!” to Clover as they made the turn back into the woods to the end of the course. We grinned and figured it was more like Emma was telling herself that she was ok, more than to Clover.
They came over the finish and we whooped and cheered! They had gone clean, and completed their first horse trials together. I was so proud of both of them, it was great for me to see Clover take someone else out and do a good job—though she could have been a little more braver for Em! But I know that will come as Em gets more confidence and rides stronger in competitions. They did have some time faults on x-c, but a total score of 45 secured 3rd place for them. Clover is well on her way to being a packer, and Emma is very well on her way to being a good event rider. Congrats Em! Good job!
Em and Clover are off to the USEA Young Rider camp at Stoneleigh-Burnham at the end of this week, 4 days of riding with the Advanced level riders David and Lauren O'Brien. I'm jealous, but I guess it would be strange for a 35 year old to riding with the under-21's, don't you think?
Em and Clover's warm up started out with Clover testing Emma a bit on accepting the contact, but by the end of the warm up, Clover was going nicely into the bridle. They put in a quiet and consistent test, though the canter circle to the left was a bit small, and Clover stumbled towards the end of the test. We all thought it deserved better than a 41! Still, it put them into 8th (I think) in their division of 17. Mrs. Briggs, my old instructor from the Instructor Certification program at UNH was the judge, and I don't think she likes the way Clover goes. I rode for her at the first Kingsbury last year, and we got a score in the mid-40's, though that was more deserved on our part: Clover was behind my leg for that test. But enough about me, already …
I was impressed with Emma's composure throughout the day, if she was nervous about competing, she didn't let on. She looked as cool as the proverbial cucumber. The stadium warm up was in the indoor, and it got crazy in there at times. From what I could see, Clover was good and looked to be warming up well. The stadium course was a real going forward course, and if you didn't ride like you meant it, there were places to chip in and take rails. It was in a large riding ring, and though there wasn't variable terrain to contend with, there were tight turns. We'd seen some lumber flying and horses refusing. Em and Clover went and put in a fairly respectable round. Mid-way through the course, Clover sucked back before some of the fences, but still jumped carefully enough to leave the rails up and not get time penalties. Towards the end of the course, it looked like they found their rhythm again, and they moved up to 5th in their division.
Jess and I took Clover back to the trailer to put her studs in, drink, munch hay and rest a little before cross-country, while Emma walked the x-c course with our trainer. We got Clover tacked up, and when they came back, we asked them how the course looked. “Pretty challenging in places, and there are some big jumps out there!” was the reply. We all hiked down to warm up, and we heard that there had been a lot of stops, eliminations and even some rider falls in the BN division before Emma's. And there were several holds on course that put them behind schedule. Emma maintained her composure and kept Clover walking around quietly.
They had a really good warm up from what I could tell, and Emma was really riding heads up and making good turns at speed. Finally the time came for them to hit the start box, and they were off! The first fence was a really bright log with the farm name across the front. A lot of the BN horses had stops there, and Clover herself really sucked back, but Emma squeezed her over. They trotted the next several fences, and I saw them hesitate slightly before going over the ditch-swale and disappeared from sight. We ran over to the other part of the course that we could see, and saw them come out of the woods into the field behind the warm up area. They had hit their stride, and we watched them head to one of the bigger fences on course. They cleared it well, and we heard Emma say, “You're ok!” to Clover as they made the turn back into the woods to the end of the course. We grinned and figured it was more like Emma was telling herself that she was ok, more than to Clover.
They came over the finish and we whooped and cheered! They had gone clean, and completed their first horse trials together. I was so proud of both of them, it was great for me to see Clover take someone else out and do a good job—though she could have been a little more braver for Em! But I know that will come as Em gets more confidence and rides stronger in competitions. They did have some time faults on x-c, but a total score of 45 secured 3rd place for them. Clover is well on her way to being a packer, and Emma is very well on her way to being a good event rider. Congrats Em! Good job!
Em and Clover are off to the USEA Young Rider camp at Stoneleigh-Burnham at the end of this week, 4 days of riding with the Advanced level riders David and Lauren O'Brien. I'm jealous, but I guess it would be strange for a 35 year old to riding with the under-21's, don't you think?
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