A Letter to Nathan

Nathan,

You know I'm not generally the super romantic type, but I feel in this case, there should be an exception. This time, last year, I remember the slightly awkward phone call with the question raised, "Well, what are we?" The best answer we could come up with was dating, even though I worked 25 hours a day 8 days a week and you were across the country, sometimes with little to no cell service. The first couple months were hard with the long distance, but I could tell right away that we had something special.

We moved in together and I quickly decided that we desperately needed further companionship (not saying that you weren't adequate), and shortly after, Lego joined our little family. We shared many smiles and laughs before, but adding her crazy little furriness to our lives just enhanced it further.

We've settled into our own quiet little routine, but while the butterflies may be nearly gone, I'm still grateful for everyday I get to spend with you.

When I said, "Let's go to a horseshow!" something you knew little to nothing about, you jumped so wholeheartedly into my equine world that, in addition to my mom of course, you have become an integral part of Tristan's and my show experience. When things go great you are there to revel in victory, and when things go poorly you are quick to offer condolences or a shoulder to cry on.

You are terribly supportive of my horse addiction, no matter how late I leave the barn every night, never asking me to change my routine so we can eat dinner at a more appropriate time.

Every single day we are together, you find a new way to say three things:

1. You're beautiful
2. I'm so lucky to be with you
3. I love you

You are a perfect gentleman, rarely letting me pay for food or open my own doors (even though I try to protest at times) and make me generally feel loved and appreciated every single day. I hope I make you feel even a fraction as great as you make me feel.

I don't know how I ever lived without you before, and I sure as hell don't want to try it again.

To many more loving years.

Inspiration in Defeat - A Recap of the 2013 Windridge Farm Horse Trials

Tristan and I had our first Preliminary level event this weekend. I'd like to report that "we came, we saw, we conquered," but that was hardly the case. I came into this show with incredibly low expectations. Not that I didn't think we were capable of doing well, just that I understand that at times like these it is very likely that the universe will conspire against you.

Day One

Firstly, I recommend not starting the show day off with nausea and puking. 

Dressage - All-in-all, we put in a tense but respectable dressage test. Our score wasn't turning any heads (a hefty 47.0) but the training and strength are there. Unfortunately, I underestimated how difficult a counter canter can be to hold when you have a tense horse in the show ring.

On the plus side, Tristan was moving like a true superstar in the warm-up. I finally have found a warm-up routine that produces a very powerful, yet still rideable mount. The feeling of an extended trot, truly through the back, when his toes flick with every stride, makes me grin from ear to ear like a fool. However, all of that homework changes when heading down the centerline in a spooky ring. We have yet to find balance between the truly straight, powerful dressage horse and the tense nervous show horse. The work continues.

Stadium - We warmed up with a forward, powerful medium canter in mind to accommodate for the wide oxers and big uphill strides. I knew we were prepared for the height and width, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terribly nervous.

We went in the ring, took a nice forward stride off to the first fence and jumped our first oxer. I wasn't terribly happy with our power away from the first jump so with a quick pop with my crop, I kicked him on to jump number two. Two jumped well even though my turn bowed way too far out, but then we ran under three.
 

Jump 3

Four went alright, but we got sticky again at five.

Jump 5

The combination at six jumped well, but Tristan was starting to lose confidence.

Jump 6-A

Jump 6-B

Seven gave us a horrible distance, with Tristan adding a stride I never saw coming.

Jump 7 - You can see we are in trouble here and the rail is already going down. Tristan put in a huge effort to try to get us out safely, but it was too late.

I knew to make the striding from seven to eight, I was going to have to land and GO, so I landed and asked Tristan to give me all he had. He tried, he really did, but at that last moment of "will it happen" before the triple bar at eight, Tristan told me it wasn't going to work. He stopped. I had a very quick, easy dismount over his shoulder, landing on my feet. We left the ring with me crying and Tristan wondering why we weren't finishing the course.

Nothing bruised but our pride.

Disappointment hit me in the face like a sack of bricks. I blame most of it on myself, but the rest I can chalk up to our collective inexperience at that level. We can jump the jumps, no problem, but when it comes down to the moment and you have to make a decision in a split second, those extra couple of inches count.

Disappointed, but not discouraged.

Do I feel now that we weren't yet ready to compete at that level? Absolutely not. This just wasn't our weekend.

I had a lot of people ask me if I'm going to add another show in this year to get a complete event before the season is over. Here's my thought process, Tristan has given me a wonderful five shows at training level, with four beautiful qualifiers, four ribbons, only one jump penalty in cross country and one rail in stadium. He's incredibly fit right now, ready to gallop and jump until I go blue in the face. Tristan's dressage has improved 100 fold, just in the last couple months. He has given me his everything, and now it's time for him to have a vacation. There will always be more shows next year.

Day Two

Cross Country - I decided to not even ask about running the course for experience. After the previous day, it is time to take a few steps back, go take some more lessons, go school, and then come back with a more confident mindset, ready to dominate. Even though it sucked for a bit, I decided to watch the rest of the competition tackle the course. I studied the prelim horses and riders going through tricky combinations and taking them beautifully in stride. I cheered my friends on with their horses, living vicariously through their individual victories. In the end, through support of my family and friends, we made a potentially depressing weekend, fun and exciting.

My trainer, Eric Dierks, and SC Casanova

Eric Dierks and SC Casanova

Eric Dierks and SC Casanova

Eric Dierks and SC Casanova

Eric Dierks and Manderley

Eric Dierks and Manderley

Eric Dierks and Manderley

Cheryl Ray and Intitricku

Cheryl Ray and Intitricku

Cheryl Ray and Intitricku

At the end of the day, it could have always been worse. Yes, it absolutely sucks to fall off in front of a crowd of people, knowing both you and your horse are capable of completing the event. We have to keep looking to the positives; Tristan was entirely unscathed, and I walked away without even a bruise to show for my efforts. This was simply not our weekend, and that's ok. Time to take a break.

You win some, you lose some.

*A special thanks to my boyfriend, Nathan Stancliff, for providing me with these incredible photos.*

The Next Step - A Recap of the TR&HC Horse Trials

Risk is inherent in my sport. Eventing is a dangerous mix of athleticism, skill and sheer bravery. It is with great thought and preparation that we should consider moving up the levels to achieve greater and greater feats. We risk bodily harm and even death of both rider and mount every time we leave the start box. Thus we owe it to ourselves and our horses to put great thought into wanting more challenge. Am I physically and mentally prepared? Is my horse physically and mentally prepared? Are we setting ourselves up for success or failure?

I've been told on multiple occasions that both myself and my horse have been ready to go Preliminary for several years now. However, I believe that up until this point in our partnership, we have not. There was always some tiny element missing from our recipe for success. One small edge that other competitors held over us. This season has done a lot to overcome my suspicions. We started this year with a win at Training level at the F.E.N.C.E. Horse Trials, had only one stop on cross country and only one rail this entire season, and finished our last show in 2nd place only 0.3 points behind the leader. The element we were missing was boredom.

This last show was the most relaxed showing experience I've had since my last run at Novice in 2012. I felt as if I had almost wasted my money competing at Training level instead of Prelim. I was hungry for the challenge and ready to show all my homework. Our dressage has improved hundreds of times over in the past year, we have become increasingly bold in cross country, and it's been awhile since any stadium jump has concerned us. In fact, once our cross country courses reaches a basic point-and-shoot mentality, it's time to find new challenge.

The Superpony is hungry for more and for the first time in several years, so am I.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A recap of our last show - Tryon Riding and Hunt Club Horse Trials

Dressage

As I said before, our dressage had improved immensely. We nevertheless have our homework cut out for us. Our overall consistency has greatly improved, but we are now lacking in the power department. This lowers our points for lengthened gaits. From recent lessons, we have ascertained that Tristan is perfectly capable of powering from his hind end, it is now up to me to figure out the best way to access that power without making him angry. With the hot Trakehner side and stubborn Connemara, sometimes it becomes almost impossible for Tristan to remain cool while I light the giant rocket in his rear.

I am most impressed by Tristan's overall frame and willingness while in the show ring. I think the days of explosions and bird-flipping are behind us. I can't help but smile now as I come down the centerline, confident knowing that we've done all our homework and have shown up at the event ready to perform.

Our score was 32.3 putting us in second place.

Stadium

The rain was threatening all through our warm up with mist falling throughout our ride. Luckily we missed all of the massive downpours that occurred later in the day. Even with wet conditions, Tristan warm up splendidly, keeping a very cool head in the warm up. We entered the ring with confidence to spare, even though where I had originally thought there would be two in-and-out complexes, there was now only one triple complex in their place. With no time to walk the course again, I simply told myself that we had done our homework and would adjust in the moment. My trainers, Eric and Trayce Dierks advised me to ride the course at a very bright medium canter as some of the earlier riders had issues due to lack of pace.

We had a beautifully bold round, finishing double clear, still in second place but now by only 0.3 points.

Cross Country

The warm up for cross country was definitely the most confident I have felt before leaving the start box. We knew our course back to front, it was the same one we had won on earlier this spring, the only difficulty was the time. Since I've been preparing for Preliminary all season, I had decided to just ride my Prelim gallop. I did some light trot work to warm up Tristan's muscles, light gallop to get the lungs going, and jumped about 5 jumps (only cross country obstacles, we find the stadium jumps in warm-up a waste of effort). Eric told us to simply put some extra RPMs to the base of the jumps, and after two jumps in that style, we were raring to go. Off to the start box we went.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Have a great ride, we'll leave the light on.



Tristan jumped like he could have done the course in his sleep. His gallop was tremendous, eating up the course stride by stride. I used my crop before the water to get his attention. He didn't need me to tell him he was going to get wet.

Fabulously up the bank, up the hill to an upright coop, a hidden ditch, big bench, and then our biggest issue, the big drop. A light wack and down the bank we went, me screaming "Good Boy!" All downhill from there.

The rest of the course went by in a blur. Jump by jump, Tristan ate the rest of the course for breakfast. He felt barely impressed by the obstacles at hand, clearing them like they were Beginner Novice height. We crossed the finish line with a double clear, well within the time. After hyperventilating for half a minute, I realized how easily we had just cleared the entire course. Besides a light overall sweat, Tristan recovered quickly on the walk back to the trailer.

We finished the show, still in second place, still behind the leader by 0.3 points. With a field that close, you can't help but be impressed by your competition. Congratulations to all.

Thus we completed our 4th and final qualifier for Preliminary. I now have no excuse to keep me from competing at the Windridge Fall Horse Trials in October. We are more than ready to move up. We have proved ourselves time and time again. Here's to hoping my stomach realizes this as well.

After such a great season already, no matter what happens next weekend at Prelim, I am unbelievably proud of Tristan. I am also proud of myself, for planning to conquer new challenges. By nature, I am an extremely cautious person and I don't take this next step lightly. It is time for us to see what we are made of.

This goes out to all the people that told me that my horse can't jump, I can't ride, and we'd never amount to much. Watch us go now!

Raising the Bar - Clinic with Ilse Schwarz

Eventers are notorious for hating or being terrible at dressage. Personally, I detest that stereotype, especially since I believe dressage is the most important of all three phases. Without dressage, stadium jumping would lack a great deal of finesse and cross country would be even more dangerous than it currently is. Thus I believe that it is every eventer's duty to practice and attempt to master dressage to the best of his or her ability.

Not all eventers share my love for dressage. It is truly a shame to see how many riders completely disregard the basis of all training in the effort of spending more of their time jumping. I was entirely disheartened to see that at the Dreamcrest Horse Trials this past weekend one rider had a penalty score of 90.0 at Training Level and another scored a 94.5. Honestly, if I went to a show and scored that poorly, it would be time to pack up and head home because I would have clearly missed a couple steps in preparing my horse for the event. I understand that accidents happen, horses will have bad or spooky days, but the amount of things that must go wrong to result in a score that poor is astronomical. Bettina Hoy took Lanfranco to Burghley this past weekend and retired during her dressage test due to his inability to cope with the atmosphere. That is an appropriate response; when something is so wrong that your mount becomes unsafe and unable to relax, it is time to call it a day. Continuing to compete with a mount and rider combination unable to execute the basic training requirements in the dressage test makes the pair a danger to themselves, their fellow competitors, and everyone else at the event. (Thank you, I will now step down from my soapbox.)

Tristan and I had the amazing opportunity to train again with the lovely Ilse Schwarz at Cross Creek Farm in Columbus, NC. Last time she gave me a large array of tips and tricks to combat Tristan's naughty pony side that loves to rear its ugly head during stressful situations (i.e. shows). I was very eager to show her how much Tristan and I have improved in the past 2 months using her techniques and excited to see what new things we could work on.

To take full advantage of the three day clinic, of which I only rode one day, auditing was my best friend. I watched most of the rides on Saturday, and greatly enjoyed taking in the training and conversations with each horse and rider pairing. Many different skill levels attended the clinic, ranging from seasoned Grand Prix mounts, young up and coming babies, green older horses, and green riders. This allowed for incredible listening pleasure as Ilse used her wide skill set to best address each pair.

Dressage is hard!

Here were a few of my favorite points:

1) The importance of tempo

Tempo can be maintained with the rhythm of posting. This is especially important with a horse that rushes forwards and will translate the flat rushing gait into a more powerful lilt at a slower tempo.

With the different types of trot (extensions to collections to passage) don't ever give up the tempo.

2) Ride the young horse like an underdeveloped FEI horse

When working with a young or green horse, just because you aren't putting them into an upper level frame doesn't mean that you need to sacrifice the necessary building blocks to get there eventually.

3) Remember how to ride

Just because you have an instructor telling you what to fix in your riding, don't sacrifice your own instincts and keep your brain engaged while listening. (Lord knows how easy it is to turn into a lesson robot and stop thinking for yourself.)

Here are some of my favorite photos from the first day of the clinic.

 

Last time, Ilse gave me tools to counter Tristan's ability to avoid working his body correctly. This time we focused on raising the bar and expecting more out of him through lateral work, his gaits, and his self-carriage. Tristan would like me to convey that this is very difficult for him and he would much rather jump 50 cross country fences than do a correct trot-canter transition in self-carriage. Ilse immediately identified Tristan's main problem area; multitasking. He would prefer to only do one of three things. 1) Have impulsion 2) Lateral movement 3) Roundness. Attempting two of those things at the same time, or god-forbid three, is nearly impossible. We spent most of the ride convincing him that he is more than capable of doing all three.

I was very excited at how much improvement I can feel since my last dressage lesson. Our counter-canter has become much more balanced, and his transitions are getting more through every day. We still have a lot of homework to practice before our next event, but the stepping stones along the way are very clearly defined.

My favorite moment in the lesson was when riding the counter-canter through the short side of the arena. Ilse said to me, "Ride him into your outside knee." I visualized that and immediately felt our balance improve. She told me that young horses do not recognize a "right" or "wrong" lead to canter on. Through training, we teach them the correct lead in relation to direction of travel. Once we introduce the counter-canter, we need to abolish the notion that the horse can only travel on the correct lead when traveling in a particular direction. The less we focus on "right" and "wrong," the less the horse will focus on it.

We have two weeks until our next show at Training level, and four weeks until our Preliminary debut. Our work is cut out for us, but I believe with steady practice and consistently raising the bar for ourselves, Tristan and I really have a shot and shining in our next competitions. Not only will we shine, we will do so safely and well within our abilities. 

Go, Super(dressage)pony!

The Best Medicine

"In riding a horse we borrow freedom."

~Helen Thompson

I found this to be literally true today. I am currently suffering from what seems to be a small sinus infection but ponies still need to be worked, fed and turned out. I took Tristan for a warm up walk on the trails before hitting the arena for a dressage schooling. My lovely pony and I had a lengthy argument last night over whether it was possible to do canter transitions directly after a leg yield and I was concerned today would be more of the same. However, either Tristan was still tired from fighting with me the previous evening or had picked up on my lack of energy, but he was a perfect gentleman for the whole workout!

Beyond Tristan going easy on me, I always find as long as I'm not too sick to get in the saddle, I will find my symptoms miraculously alleviated! I love that riding my horse will generate better results than all the drugs in the world. It's also amazing to think of how Tristan seems to take care of me when I'm not feeling well. Even as I cooled him out on a short trail ride, we encountered a herd of deer. Instead of spooking as he normally would, all he did today was watch them bound off into the trees.

I love riding, and I definitely love my horse.

Trot Sets

I've been aspiring to the "Long Format" version of eventing for the past several years. It goes back to the earlier format of eventing: Dressage, Roads and Tracks, Steeplechase, Roads and Tracks, Cross Country, and finally Stadium. This version weighs heavier on the horse's overall fitness to complete the entire event and takes finely tuned preparation to be completed safely. I was reading an article in Eventing Magazine from USEA last night on preparing for a long format. Reading how the rider started 9 weeks before the event with 20 minute trot sets, moving up and up to 40 or 50 minute trot sets, doing speed work at the gallop, and closely monitoring the horse's fitness level and recovery made me think, "Can Tristan even do that? Could I even prepare a 15 year old horse for that type of fitness? If I'm honestly thinking of moving up a level, I had better be sure my horse is truly fit before our next couple shows!"

Tristan gave me the answer to those questions today.

We've had a bit of rain in South Carolina lately. By lately, I mean since April. Our outdoor arena is only suitable for work about 20% of the time, and spends the rest as our facility's water feature/swimming pool. Thus, to keep showing, Tristan and I have been adaptive. If it's too wet to work in the arena, we have trails. If the trails are too wet, we have a couple fields (some flat, some with hills). If the fields are too wet, we have a blacktop road that is decent for walk and trot work with some minor rolling hills. Today was a field/hill-work day.

We started our work-out with a 10 minute walk set, up and down hills, to help limber up the old muscles; first on a long rein, then on a connection. Then we went on to a 10 minute trot set, up and down the hills. Tristan performed averagely; collecting for downhills, extending for uphills. Following that, we walked for another 5 minutes for recovery. Next we did a second 10 minute trot set.

Oh.

My.

God.

My horse has an extended trot to put Grand Prix Dressage horses to shame.

You hear runners talk about endorphins and adrenaline kicking in while they work out. The harder they work, the better they feel. Or, how when driving a manual car and you shift gears to suddenly open up to a new type of power. When I went to ask Tristan to extend uphill during out second trot set, he powered up those hills with an athleticism and determination that I didn't even know was there. By the time we finished the second 10 minute set, I had enough gas in the tank to go run a full cross country course a couple times. I ended the session with another 10 minutes of walk to allow all the lactic acid to dissipate in his muscles. Boy, oh boy, he was hot to trot!

Preparation begins now for the next two shows of the season. Look out TR&HC and Windridge; the Super Pony is coming into town!

Champagne Run Horse Trials

***This post is a report from the 2013 Champagne Run Horse Trials (July 12-14) at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, attended by Katharine, Moxie's Social Media Director, and her super pony, Tristan. The competed in Senior Training Rider A and finished with a penalty score of 54.8 and a 7th place ribbon.***

It's very important to keep a show horse fit between venues, however Mother Nature conspired against us the three weeks prior to Champagne Run. This led to some very creative workouts; walking and trotting on the blacktop roads around the barn, walking on trails as much as the mud allowed, and one evening even a quick spin around the gravel circle driveway during a 10 minute span between thunderstorms. We did have the opportunity to take a dressage lesson with the renowned dressage instructor and Aussie, Ilse Schwarz as she visited Cross Creek Farm in Columbus, NC, the weekend before the show. Ilse was absolutely wonderful, and really helped me manage my fine tuning and worked through Tristan's amazing array of tricks that he uses to avoid actually working the correct muscles. She got us working very well together, and my goal the last week of show prep was to maintain that feeling all the way to Lexington.

Ilse working her magic on Tristan becoming light in the bridle.

This show allowed for a more relaxed feel at the beginning; my dressage time wasn't until 1:46 pm on Friday with Stadium following at 4:20 pm. We arrived at the showgrounds Thursday evening with plenty of time to settle Tristan in and go for a nice relaxing hack around the dressage rings. We managed to get a wider stable aisle this show which was really nice. My mom came prepared with an awesome weekend set-up complete with; 12x12 tent, crock pot to cook lunches, and coolers full of water, Gatorade and chocolate milk!

Horse show moms (and boyfriends) are the best!

Friday started out as a very casual show morning, compared to waking up at 4:30 am to make sure everything is ready to go for an 8:00 am ride time. We arrived at the Park around 8:00 am to feed and take Tristan for a nice morning walk and hand graze. Next was braiding and last minute grooming to make sure he was spic and span. Then waiting. Lots of waiting for 1:45.

Getting our Kentucky Bluegrass fix!

Dressage time finally came and we headed to our warm up. Tristan wanted to be a little snarky with me when we got started, but thanks to Ilse's lesson, I had several tricks up my sleeve. Tristan wants to be heavy? Time for medium trot! Tristan wants to be against the bridle and fighting? Time to go sideways. We really had things together by about 10 minutes before our ride. Then he started getting hyper. Tristan is so fit, tiring him out in warm up is no longer an option. We headed in for our test a couple degrees hotter than I would like, fortunately for us judges find his gaits more appealing when he has a little extra gas in the tank. We ended up scoring fairly well with a 36.8. It would have been much better if not for our giraffe impression at the right-lead canter depart. (I'm thinking about petitioning the removal of that part of the test if anyone wants to join me!)

Not too shabby.

A quick two and a half hour break between phases was just enough to find out we were in 2nd Place in our division (wow!) and cleaning tack before warming up for Stadium. The course was beautiful and colorful in true Champagne Run style. We had a fairly good round, but gained one uncharacteristic rail in a one-stride combination. However, we still managed to hang onto our placing as we entered into the final phase.

Jumping beautifully at Fence #8

Cross Country day turned out to be pleasant and breezy with a slight threat of storms that managed to hold off for most of the day. The advantage of the slightly cooler weather was that it really revives the horses before they gallop off among the rolling hill of the Kentucky Horse Park. Our Training course was fairly difficult, even for someone comfortable at the level. The fences started up very small, and then suddenly became very large and wide with some tricky combinations including a rolltop to a drop, a ramped sunken road, and some maxed out wide ramps in a dark hollow. Tristan warmed up beautifully and had plenty of energy to spare as we headed to the start box!

A nice stair step at #15

The out of our half-coffin at #17

We jumped the entire course clear, using my new gallop-trot-crop-gallop method for difficult fences, but unfortunately wracked up 14 time faults because I was so busy having fun running around the course, I forgot to keep track of time! As a rider, I was slightly nervous about some of the jumps, but Tristan proved to me, yet again, that he has nerves of steel and lives to jump! For your viewing pleasure, my lovely boyfriend Nathan uploaded a helmet camera video compiled with RNS Videomedia's footage of the event to offer two viewpoints on YouTube!

Follow this link to watch the full helmet camera video!

We ended the show with a 54.8, a purple ribbon, sound horse, healthy rider, and 3 of 4 qualifying rounds towards moving up to Prelim! To top all that great news off, Eventing Nation, the top blog for all things eventing featured my video as their Monday video! All great things! Tristan is back to enjoying some vacation time following the show with about six weeks before our next events. I'm so glad to be able to spend this amazing time with my incredible pony, my dedicated show team (mom, boyfriend and dog are possibly the best cheering squad ever), amazing coaches, and of course the support of my family at Moxie!