Huntington Farm horse trials
I was up earlier than the butt-crack of dawn to pack Clover up and haul over to S. Strafford, Vt. for Huntington. I got all my gear packed and Clover braided up the night before so we were able to just get up and go. Clover was very cooperative and didn't rub her braids out! We got there an hour and a half before my dressage ride time, so I was able to unpack and get dressed at a somewhat leisurely pace.
We tacked up and I rode over to the dressage warm up. To get there, you have to cross the street and wind your way around the farm complex, crossing a stream en route. This year the stream was wider and louder than last year at this time, so I trotted Clover through it as a prelude to the water obstacle on x-c. I wasn't happy with our dressage warm up or the test this time, I didn't have that more relaxed and slightly confident (for me) feeling I'd had for the last couple of tests I'd ridden. My body was tenser, legs locking and back arching, and it felt like I was making Clover behind the leg. Clover made it plain that she preferred to go back to the trailer area to graze and be in the company of other horses.
Our test was in the rubber and sand ring. It just didn't feel as forward and fluid as it could have been. As I walked away from the ring, I said to my trainer, “Well, that was a 40 test!” She didn't agree, she thought it looked fine, except my canter work was a little flat and the second half of the trot work was less forward. Later on, after x-c, I checked the scoreboard, and my jaw dropped. We were in 2nd with a score of 33.5. I was mystified.
We walked the x-c course after untacking Clover and putting her back on the rig to munch hay and stay cool. Optimum time was set at 5:26, at a pace of 350-400 meters per minute in the 1900 meter long course. It's the longest course I've ridden on Clover, most courses we'd ridden measured around 1500-1700 meters, and Huntington has some hilly terrain incorporated into the track. Midway through the walk, I could tell that my trainer was concerned about Clover's level of fitness, but I felt Clover would be ok. Privately, I was concerned with a couple of the more technical questions on course, and the height of some of the obstacles. I buried those thoughts and convinced myself that we'd be fine. I figured I'd set my stopwatch at 5:00 and try to come in as close to it as we could, and reminded me that letting Clover suck back before a jump was not an option!
We had a great warm up, though it was getting towards midday and getting warmer. There was a break on course, and they were running a little behind, so my trainer headed out on course to find a spot to watch. I saw Denny Emerson in warm-up, talking with some people. He was watching people coming out of the start box, so I figured I'd better make this a good one. Soon after, we were being counted down and we were on course.
The first three fences were straightforward, fence 1 was a small brush stuffed white fence sandwiched between the Prelim and Training fences some yards ahead of the start box. As we hung a turn to fence 2, bypassing the large Training (or was it Prelim?) table-coop, Clover tried to gravitate back to the warm up area, but I held her straight and tapped her over the second white gate/brush fence. Fence 3 was a right turn off of the main track—the same turn I'd overshot the year before and lost time backtracking to. We banked left past yet another massive Prelim fence and jumped the tire obstacle out of stride. In fact, we'd jumped everything so far right out of stride.
Until we got to fence 4, that is. After fence 3, there was a bit of a gallop through the woods, before making a blind right turn approach to the fourth fence. Clover was startled and started propping, but I got her straight to the fence and grabbed the jump strap and kicked her over. We landed and I made a sharp left turn to gallop into the field. Clover spooked a little at some of the other obstacles we passed, but I kept my leg on and hustled her to the 5th fence, a fairly large and wide obstacle that had started my private worrying spree during the course walk. Clover didn't give it a glance and we tore over it just fine.
We made a sweeping rollback turn to fence 6, the largest coop I think we ever jumped. We were getting to the more technical part of the course now. We galloped up hill and jumped the 7th fence, a poplar log jump that was divided by an upright log. We jumped the wider side last year at BN, but this year I needed to jump the narrower right hand side to get a good line to the next fence, a log and hay bale stack still heading uphill. I was supposed to stay well off of Clover's back for the hill obstacles, but I got into the back seat a bit after the poplar logs and was getting tired to boot. Clover made the effort just fine, and we made a u-turn to the left, back down to the trot and down hill to the 9th fence, a rail oxer drop leading back onto the main road. The buzz in warm up was that people were having trouble making the turn onto the track and avoiding a low hanging branch on a tree right across the track from the drop. I slipped my reins and made the drop, turning in mid-air and racing up the track with no incident. The tree didn't even come into my consciousness, but my trainer sitting with the fence judge next to the tree sure did!
We raced up the road and veered left to clear our 10th obstacle, a ditch that was more of a straightforward drop. Only the front of the ditch had been revetted, so I slipped the reins again and we jumped it wide to get a landing on the stone dust on the other side. I was wheezing by then, my lungs were burning because I think I had been holding my breath up to then! We headed onto another galloping stretch and I checked my watch—we were 2/3 done and I still had 2:02 on the watch. But did I slow down to make pace? HELL NO!
At the end of the lane, we banked left and dropped over another set of rails, and headed down the hill to the water obstacle, the 12th obstacle on the course. Clover looked hard at the water, and propped herself left, but I straightened her out, and once we got into the water, I was able to get her back into the canter again (no easy feat, water kills impulsion). Good thing, because two strides out of the water was a huge rolltop! That had been another question I was concerned about, especially so late in the course. But damn if I didn't have a tiger underneath me, and she just ate it up! We turned left again, and galloped out into the main field again, and raced to the 14th fence, a bright white fence. Clover looked at the brightness, but we got over and throught the finish flags, and I remembered to hit my stopwatch. I patted and praised Clover and told her what an excellent girl she was. I hopped off and started loosening up the girth and noseband of her bridle, and glanced at my watch. There were 29 seconds left on it.
I had come in too fast. Considering I had set the watch for 5 minutes, not 5:26 because I wanted to come in on time, not over time, :26 + :29 = WAY TOO FAST. I wound up with 4.8 speed penalties; we had done better than 400 meters per minute. Trust me, I am as amazed as you.
By the time we returned to the trailer area, Clover's breathing had returned to normal. I quickly stripped her tack off and gave her a liniment rinse and plenty of water to drink, and let her graze again for a while before putting her back on the rig, which was much cooler inside than standing out in the hot sun. Clover munched hay and I choked down half a burger and some sports drink.
I had walked stadium after walking cross country. Again, some of the fences looked big to me, and even my trainer commented on the size and width of a couple of them. I just mushed down those concerns and focused my worry on leaving rails up and getting the correct leads. Stadium was a bit of hurry up and wait, so we warmed up, and my trainer went to the scoring trailer to see if the x-c sheets were up and how much damage I'd done by going too fast. I was in the middle of my division, so I was able to see how the course was riding. And I was getting plenty nervous—more nervous than for dressage and x-c. Since when had stadium become such a phobia? I guess ever since I heard Jim Wofford say, “You can't win it in stadium, but you sure can lose it.”
Finally it was out turn to go in. I tried trotting in to salute the judge, but Clover spooked at the large equipment shed next to the course. “Green horse alert!” I laughed and saluted the judge. I wheeled Clover around and started to make my turn through the start flags, but Clover still had a couple of startled spooks in her! Once I got her straightened out, I chased her to the first fence and gave her a whack to get her thinking forward again. We had a rub over the first fence, but it stayed up and we were on course, Clover was all business again. I had been concerned about a couple of fences and lines on course: fence 3, a vertical slightly downhill on a hard right angle turn after the first two fences; a bending line composed of two fences mid way through the course; a bright red vertical that many horses had looked hard or stopped at; a one stride in and one, just like the one I had messed up at UNH last fall; and last but not least, the super-wide oxer that was the last fence on course. OK, so basically, the entire course worried me.
So much to worry about, and so little time to mess it up in! I breathed an inward sigh of relief when we made the turn and cleared the third fence with no problem. I didn't get the correct lead to the first part of the bending line combo, so I held the incorrect lead and had to overcorrect to clear the second part, but we left the rails up, and cleared that bright red vertical with hardly a glance from Clover. I did chip in to the first part of the in and out, so I stayed off Clover's back, closed my legs and stayed out of the way this time over the second part. All of the horses had been giving super efforts over the extra large and wide oxer at the end of the course, and Clover was no exception. She cleared it well, and we passed through the flags on time, with no rails down. We did it! It had been a bit awkward in spots, but I was pleased to find that I still had plenty of horse underneath me, and a lot less sucking back to fences from the last time we'd been there.
We got called back into the ring for pinning, and we came in a respectable 5th, though I was disappointed to have lost 2nd place, and the chance to qualify for the Novice championships in September. I was happy to have come back to Huntington a year later, and turn the jumping phases around so well to our advantage. Well, except for disregarding my watch and getting speed penalties. But I'm really more tickled by that than anything else. I'm on a draft cross, after all!
We tacked up and I rode over to the dressage warm up. To get there, you have to cross the street and wind your way around the farm complex, crossing a stream en route. This year the stream was wider and louder than last year at this time, so I trotted Clover through it as a prelude to the water obstacle on x-c. I wasn't happy with our dressage warm up or the test this time, I didn't have that more relaxed and slightly confident (for me) feeling I'd had for the last couple of tests I'd ridden. My body was tenser, legs locking and back arching, and it felt like I was making Clover behind the leg. Clover made it plain that she preferred to go back to the trailer area to graze and be in the company of other horses.
Our test was in the rubber and sand ring. It just didn't feel as forward and fluid as it could have been. As I walked away from the ring, I said to my trainer, “Well, that was a 40 test!” She didn't agree, she thought it looked fine, except my canter work was a little flat and the second half of the trot work was less forward. Later on, after x-c, I checked the scoreboard, and my jaw dropped. We were in 2nd with a score of 33.5. I was mystified.
We walked the x-c course after untacking Clover and putting her back on the rig to munch hay and stay cool. Optimum time was set at 5:26, at a pace of 350-400 meters per minute in the 1900 meter long course. It's the longest course I've ridden on Clover, most courses we'd ridden measured around 1500-1700 meters, and Huntington has some hilly terrain incorporated into the track. Midway through the walk, I could tell that my trainer was concerned about Clover's level of fitness, but I felt Clover would be ok. Privately, I was concerned with a couple of the more technical questions on course, and the height of some of the obstacles. I buried those thoughts and convinced myself that we'd be fine. I figured I'd set my stopwatch at 5:00 and try to come in as close to it as we could, and reminded me that letting Clover suck back before a jump was not an option!
We had a great warm up, though it was getting towards midday and getting warmer. There was a break on course, and they were running a little behind, so my trainer headed out on course to find a spot to watch. I saw Denny Emerson in warm-up, talking with some people. He was watching people coming out of the start box, so I figured I'd better make this a good one. Soon after, we were being counted down and we were on course.
The first three fences were straightforward, fence 1 was a small brush stuffed white fence sandwiched between the Prelim and Training fences some yards ahead of the start box. As we hung a turn to fence 2, bypassing the large Training (or was it Prelim?) table-coop, Clover tried to gravitate back to the warm up area, but I held her straight and tapped her over the second white gate/brush fence. Fence 3 was a right turn off of the main track—the same turn I'd overshot the year before and lost time backtracking to. We banked left past yet another massive Prelim fence and jumped the tire obstacle out of stride. In fact, we'd jumped everything so far right out of stride.
Until we got to fence 4, that is. After fence 3, there was a bit of a gallop through the woods, before making a blind right turn approach to the fourth fence. Clover was startled and started propping, but I got her straight to the fence and grabbed the jump strap and kicked her over. We landed and I made a sharp left turn to gallop into the field. Clover spooked a little at some of the other obstacles we passed, but I kept my leg on and hustled her to the 5th fence, a fairly large and wide obstacle that had started my private worrying spree during the course walk. Clover didn't give it a glance and we tore over it just fine.
We made a sweeping rollback turn to fence 6, the largest coop I think we ever jumped. We were getting to the more technical part of the course now. We galloped up hill and jumped the 7th fence, a poplar log jump that was divided by an upright log. We jumped the wider side last year at BN, but this year I needed to jump the narrower right hand side to get a good line to the next fence, a log and hay bale stack still heading uphill. I was supposed to stay well off of Clover's back for the hill obstacles, but I got into the back seat a bit after the poplar logs and was getting tired to boot. Clover made the effort just fine, and we made a u-turn to the left, back down to the trot and down hill to the 9th fence, a rail oxer drop leading back onto the main road. The buzz in warm up was that people were having trouble making the turn onto the track and avoiding a low hanging branch on a tree right across the track from the drop. I slipped my reins and made the drop, turning in mid-air and racing up the track with no incident. The tree didn't even come into my consciousness, but my trainer sitting with the fence judge next to the tree sure did!
We raced up the road and veered left to clear our 10th obstacle, a ditch that was more of a straightforward drop. Only the front of the ditch had been revetted, so I slipped the reins again and we jumped it wide to get a landing on the stone dust on the other side. I was wheezing by then, my lungs were burning because I think I had been holding my breath up to then! We headed onto another galloping stretch and I checked my watch—we were 2/3 done and I still had 2:02 on the watch. But did I slow down to make pace? HELL NO!
At the end of the lane, we banked left and dropped over another set of rails, and headed down the hill to the water obstacle, the 12th obstacle on the course. Clover looked hard at the water, and propped herself left, but I straightened her out, and once we got into the water, I was able to get her back into the canter again (no easy feat, water kills impulsion). Good thing, because two strides out of the water was a huge rolltop! That had been another question I was concerned about, especially so late in the course. But damn if I didn't have a tiger underneath me, and she just ate it up! We turned left again, and galloped out into the main field again, and raced to the 14th fence, a bright white fence. Clover looked at the brightness, but we got over and throught the finish flags, and I remembered to hit my stopwatch. I patted and praised Clover and told her what an excellent girl she was. I hopped off and started loosening up the girth and noseband of her bridle, and glanced at my watch. There were 29 seconds left on it.
I had come in too fast. Considering I had set the watch for 5 minutes, not 5:26 because I wanted to come in on time, not over time, :26 + :29 = WAY TOO FAST. I wound up with 4.8 speed penalties; we had done better than 400 meters per minute. Trust me, I am as amazed as you.
By the time we returned to the trailer area, Clover's breathing had returned to normal. I quickly stripped her tack off and gave her a liniment rinse and plenty of water to drink, and let her graze again for a while before putting her back on the rig, which was much cooler inside than standing out in the hot sun. Clover munched hay and I choked down half a burger and some sports drink.
I had walked stadium after walking cross country. Again, some of the fences looked big to me, and even my trainer commented on the size and width of a couple of them. I just mushed down those concerns and focused my worry on leaving rails up and getting the correct leads. Stadium was a bit of hurry up and wait, so we warmed up, and my trainer went to the scoring trailer to see if the x-c sheets were up and how much damage I'd done by going too fast. I was in the middle of my division, so I was able to see how the course was riding. And I was getting plenty nervous—more nervous than for dressage and x-c. Since when had stadium become such a phobia? I guess ever since I heard Jim Wofford say, “You can't win it in stadium, but you sure can lose it.”
Finally it was out turn to go in. I tried trotting in to salute the judge, but Clover spooked at the large equipment shed next to the course. “Green horse alert!” I laughed and saluted the judge. I wheeled Clover around and started to make my turn through the start flags, but Clover still had a couple of startled spooks in her! Once I got her straightened out, I chased her to the first fence and gave her a whack to get her thinking forward again. We had a rub over the first fence, but it stayed up and we were on course, Clover was all business again. I had been concerned about a couple of fences and lines on course: fence 3, a vertical slightly downhill on a hard right angle turn after the first two fences; a bending line composed of two fences mid way through the course; a bright red vertical that many horses had looked hard or stopped at; a one stride in and one, just like the one I had messed up at UNH last fall; and last but not least, the super-wide oxer that was the last fence on course. OK, so basically, the entire course worried me.
So much to worry about, and so little time to mess it up in! I breathed an inward sigh of relief when we made the turn and cleared the third fence with no problem. I didn't get the correct lead to the first part of the bending line combo, so I held the incorrect lead and had to overcorrect to clear the second part, but we left the rails up, and cleared that bright red vertical with hardly a glance from Clover. I did chip in to the first part of the in and out, so I stayed off Clover's back, closed my legs and stayed out of the way this time over the second part. All of the horses had been giving super efforts over the extra large and wide oxer at the end of the course, and Clover was no exception. She cleared it well, and we passed through the flags on time, with no rails down. We did it! It had been a bit awkward in spots, but I was pleased to find that I still had plenty of horse underneath me, and a lot less sucking back to fences from the last time we'd been there.
We got called back into the ring for pinning, and we came in a respectable 5th, though I was disappointed to have lost 2nd place, and the chance to qualify for the Novice championships in September. I was happy to have come back to Huntington a year later, and turn the jumping phases around so well to our advantage. Well, except for disregarding my watch and getting speed penalties. But I'm really more tickled by that than anything else. I'm on a draft cross, after all!
Comments
Post a Comment