Fun at Maui Jim :)

Just a quick report on the 1st Annual Maui Jim Eventing Derby that took place last weekend at Lamplight. I have nothing but good things to say about it! Everything was extremely well run, organized and put on. The courses were just lovely, and included 4 solid XC type fences that were adjustable by level. The courses also included a "berm", where you jumped a fence going out of the arena and went up a small hill to another fence, then back into the main arena. I had a nice school on Thursday evening in and around the dressage arenas, so that was great practice for us!

Friday morning we got to school in the actual arena with Cathy, and Rox jumped everything quite well. The XC fences were set at Training height and she jumped them very enthusiastically, but never backed off. Cathy commented that she really likes the new bit and I felt like I could soften the rein a lot more and just let her jump without micromanaging.

Our ride-a-test went well, the bugs were really eating her alive so I don't feel like she was as focused as she could have been. For some reason she was stiff on the RH and didn't want to step under in the canter, so I lost her haunches on the downward. Other than that, I thought it was a good steady test but not as sharp as it could have been. Judge Cindy DePorter's comments were that Rox and I are a good match for each other and we seem to get along well. She encouraged me to post the trot instead of sit to cover more ground and send her more forward (just like our last test's comments...). She also said that we had great connection compared to a lot of Novice rides she sees, and to work on getting her to relax her back and step forward with swing. She gave us a 35.0, which included mostly 6's and 7's with 2 5's and 2 8's. I was not happy to see the 5's because we have managed to avoid those so far...

Our actual jump round on Friday felt like a million bucks! I was just thrilled with how Rox jumped; she was really taking me to the fences in a rhythm and just attacking them! I have never felt her looking for the next fence and staying quiet at the same time like she was for that round. Cathy's only comment was to stay a bit taller after the fences to slow her down instead of staying bent over. We ended up having our first clear round together, although we picked up 3 time penalties (1 per second) since the course was wheeled a bit tighter than we expected and we spent a little too much time in the turns getting organized.

The dressage test on Saturday went OK, although Rox felt a bit dull and cranky in the warmup. I think she was tired from being ridden 3 times the day before...I didn't warm up with Cathy but as we were walking to the ring she commented that Rox looked really nice. I posted the trot for the test per Cindy's suggestion, and felt like I could get her more in front of my leg although not as much as I would have liked. Rox definitely lit up more once we were in the ring and felt a little touchy so I didn't push as much as I would have liked to for fear of her having a temper tantrum. I was not happy with her free walk because I couldn't get her to stretch down as much as she usually will, it was just kind of dull. The left canter went well but I felt like I had to push quite a bit, which made me worried for what the right would be like. I was correct, because the right was a little resistant and she almost threw in a buck towards the end of the circle, I had to open my outside rein and carefully push her to the rail for the downward. She lost her haunches again, so I knew we'd get another 5 for that. She ended the test well with a nice turn up centerline and an almost square halt. I didn't know what to make of the test afterward since she was crankier than I've felt her in the past. Cindy appreciated the changes we made, giving us a 33.5, good for 2nd behind Jenna Brown on a 20 something. We just ended up with the one 5, but three 8's this time and gaits and rider scores changed to 7's, which I was thrilled with.

The 2nd jump course on Sunday was somewhat longer than the first, and this time when we walked it we made sure to notice where to save time in corners, etc. We did not have a rail in hand to stay in 2nd, so I knew we would have to be really careful. Rox warmed up really "on" and felt great. She felt pretty good in the ring, but not as good as the first round. We had an awkward distance to the 1st one and I was sure it would come down but somehow she got her legs out of the way. Everything else rode pretty well besides getting a little quick to the one stride and having an awkward jump into the bending line 3 stride. Every fence was set off a turn, except for the grey stone wall vertical which we did not jump on Friday. It had a long straight approach and was the 2nd to last fence on the course. She was just a little disorganized from the bending line before it and I didn't bring her canter back enough so she jumped it flat and brought the rail down. We didn't have any time penalties this time, but I was pretty disappointed about the rail since it was mostly my mistake for not thinking about the straight approach more and doing something about it. Live and learn! We ended up in 3rd place overall, which was good for $50 and a nice show saddle pad.

Plans from here are to do the August derby (goals: 2 clean rounds, staying taller with my body, and getting better than 33.5 in dressage) and then Novice at Silverwood the first weekend of September (goals: sub 30 dressage, clean and organized XC, clean SJ).

Lots to work on :)

better late than never!

Time has gotten away from me and I have not updated this blog to include our 2 most recent shows! Roxy and I completed her first Novice at FRVPC HT the third weekend of June. It was very hot and humid, making conditions less than ideal, but we managed to get through it. I thought she put in a nice steady test, but judge Cheryl Holekamp begged to differ, giving us a 36.1 which put us in a 3 way tie for 9th. The division was pretty large, but there were lots of fancy big moving warmbloods scoring in the 20's. The main comments on the test were to move more forward to cover more ground in the trot. We got all 6's and 7's, but many more 6's than the last test...I was not entirely pleased because I felt like it was a nice test.

Walking XC for the first time, I was surprised at the size of the first 4 fences as they were quite substantial and had tricky approaches for a Novice horse. Compared to the courses Rox has done in the past, it was definitely a bit harder than anything she had ever seen. The first fence was a max ramp going into the woods away from warmup, #2 was a max brush fence off a tight left hand turn going further into the woods, and #3 was a pretty vertical coop off another tight left hand turn. She jumped them all much better than I expected after being a big hot and naughty in the warmup. She jumped #4 well, a table with a downhill landing and then proceeded to take off down the hill to 5, the barrels that we jumped at the mini. She was going a bit quick by now and I wanted her to be in an organized canter because she tends to run past the distance and jump awkwardly. That happened here, and then we had to turn off the path out into the open by the water jump to #6. She was definitely looking around and not sure where we were heading as we turned to approach 6, a big ramped red barn jump. Her eye was on the big tent and spectators at the water jump after the fence, so she propped hard on the approach and I reacted too late to get her going again. We circled back and jumped it fine, making a circle afterward to get organized before going to the water. I was disappointed because I didn't think she would look and prop so hard so I didn't take enough time to prepare her. She jumped the rest of the course well, but felt un-rateable and disorganized in the pelham, like she was fighting it. We had some time penalties from the stop and circle, but I was happy that she jumped the first part of the course since it was a little outside our comfort zone. I was not happy that she was fighting and pulling on me during the entire course and I could not rate her at all...

The SJ walked nicely, it wasn't huge and I liked the flow for the most part. The one stride walked long, so Cathy advised marching down to it with authority, which we did and she jumped through it well. We lost a bit of focus on the line after it, a vertical to oxer heading towards the gate, and had the front rail on the oxer. She jumped the vertical quietly but landed strong and I didn't make a decision soon enough to balance her canter so she just tapped the rail. Otherwise I was very happy with how rideable she felt, especially compared to how she was at the mini in SJ.

Goals for the next HT are to ride a bigger trot in the dressage, have a good plan for XC if there are places that could back her off (spectators, etc), and react more quickly in the SJ to help her balance the canter.