2009 ARCHIVES

2009 Year-end Awards

Surefire Eventing was well represented on the year-end Overall Leaderboard with Jan finishing 2nd in Lady Rider and 6th overall, and Waterfront 4th in Advanced Horse of the Year standings.

Fairhill

Just when I was feeling really good about my Morven weekend, and was looking forward to two major upcoming competitions, the Fairhill CCI3-star with Inmidair and the CCI4-star at Pau with Waterfront, the carpet was pulled right out from under my feet.

Fairhill, as most people know, was plagued with tons and tons of rain, though the organizers did a very good job managing the awful conditions and making the most of the competition. With some great help from Silva Martin, J.R. had a 49 in the dressage. His scores will be even better than that once he actually gets broke! Unfortunately, I had two run-outs on cross-country, pretty much due to the fact that J.R. is still quite green at the level. I made the decision to go ahead and run cross-country for a couple reasons. First, the Fairhill three-star course has been used for a very long time, so I was confident the footing would be solid after years and years of added gravel and maintenance, and that the base in front of all the jumps would be very good. Secondly, I went quite early in the day, so I knew the footing would be less deep and torn up than later on. Another factor for me was my thinking that, as long as conditions are safe, which I felt they were, you never know when you ll get to a major competition like the World Games or Olympics, and have to ride in less than ideal conditions, so I opted to run.

On Sunday, J.R. show jumped in his usual brilliant style and put in a clear round. As soon as I finished, my boyfriend, Tom, immediately whisked Lizzie and myself off to catch a plane to France that night. Luckily, we had Nikki Smith to take care of J.R. for me, and she took him home and made sure he was safe and sound all week.

Pau

Unfortunately, Waterfront contracted shipping fever on his travels to Pau. Lizzie and I were very grateful to have Allison Springer and her groom, Sarah Fitch, taking care of Waterfront until we got there; I don t think he would have fared so well or made it to the competition without their help. On Monday, when we arrived in Pau, I felt like I was in another world from the long trip. I got to walk Waterfront and could tell he d been feeling a little down. It seemed like from the get-go, Allison and I were plagued with things not going well. Allison s horse was not quite right, which, on top of Waterfront being under the weather, resulted in all our stress levels being quite high.

Both the horses passed the first jog, although we almost missed it entirely the organizers changed the time without notifying us. I had to do a little gallop and jump on Wednesday to make sure Waterfront was fit to do the competition, and it seemed as though he fared quite well. On Thursday, the first day I did some proper flat work, it was raining, and Waterfront didn t feel much like playing. I thought maybe he was just tired from the day before. Mark Phillips helped me and we did the best we could that day in preparation for my test on Friday. With all of that, Friday s test actually scored quite well. Waterfront s canter work was very good, though his trot work left a bit to be desired and it felt as though he really didn t like the footing in ring.

I though the cross-country course was quite a good track for my horse, but Saturday came and went with only disappointment, with two run-outs, both to the left. I ended up having an uncharacteristic three rails in the show jumping, too, and wonder if the long travel, the hard footing and other factors conspired for a less than ideal outcome. As with Fairhill and the awful weather, sometimes things just don t go the way you want them to. At least I know that my horse can indeed do a four-star again, which is good to know after two years off.

Experience is something you gain right after you need it, and in hindsight perhaps I should have done some things differently to have a better result at Pau. The venue is beautiful but a very long way to travel. Had I known the toll the trip would take on Waterfront, I would have sent him over to England a week earlier, to give him time to recuperate before making the 18-hour lorry drive, on little winding roads, to France. I would also split the drive from England to France into two days. As it was, there was no real let down for the horses, and the long trip obviously affected my horse.

In spite of my less than ideal performance at Pau, I would like to add that I m very grateful to Natalie Pollard s uncle for supplying us with a Lorry and drivers for the overland portion of the trip. I m also incredibly grateful to USEF for the grants, help and support they provided. Without the help of the Foundation and the High Performance group, it would be virtually impossible to compete at the level I do.

So now I once again have to buckle down and figure out how to get the best performance I can from Waterfront at Kentucky. In this sport I think its always good to realize what went right, what went wrong and what you can improve. And then, rather than dwell on what went wrong, I ll keep educating my horses and myself, so that we re all better for the next competition. I look forward to the winter months; November and December will be a little quiet with some skiing with Tom and my family. I look forward to the new year and working on the finer points of my riding, making sure the details are right and remembering I ve got lots of exciting horses in my barn!

Morven Report, and on to Fairhill and Pau

I had mixed feelings about Morven, my first event back since breaking my foot in August. I was excited to be competing again, but was also feeling nervous and rusty. Waterfront started off with very nice dressage test, pleasant and almost boring. He ended up second after the dressage. J.R. was anything but boring! He was wild and naughty and put in a pretty terrible test, but with that over with, I turned my focus to what looked to be good show jump and cross-country tests. I show jumped first with Waterfront. Luckily, Henri Prudent came over to hold my hand and make sure I was suitably warmed up and ready. I think I might have terrified him because I was so worried about Waterfront after his stop in show jumping at Plantation, that I couldn't find a rhythm at all. I felt like I rode him the worst I ever had in my life, but he left all the jumps up in spite of me, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief because I knew it couldn't get much worse than that. Waterfront didn't put a foot wrong cross-country and was absolutely amazing. I had a huge smile on my face coming out of the start, and even though I was a little conservative in the beginning of the course, he was awesome. J.R was beautiful in the show jumping. Henri reminded me to make sure I don't shove him away from me when he spooks, as he did at the liverpool. I need to use my legs not my arms! And other than the liverpool, J.R. had a beautiful round. He was quite green cross-country, but that's to be expected from him at this level. Still, though, I was quite pleased with him.

My young horses, Why Not and Walstraed, have been competing as well. Both did the Training at Morven and their first Preliminaries at Maryland. I had been lucky that when I first got hurt, Scott Keach offered to help me with my horses. In fact, he insisted, and started jumping the horses once a week. Lizzie and I decided that it was best that Scotty also compete Wyatt and Jack since my foot really wasn't (and still isn't) ready for a lot of torque. They were both great in the Training at Morven, and went double clean in the show jumping and cross-country. At Maryland, Wyatt won his dressage and was double clean jumping with just some time cross-country. Jack was fifth after dressage and double clean with time cross-country as well. Jack is the greener of the two, as Wyatt has had more chances to compete and more miles. Both horses were definitely ready for the step up to Preliminary. I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances to ride them next year, and am lucky to have someone as good as Scotty to ride them for me. They're now done for the season.

I am on the final leg of my competition year. First up is Fair Hill. I'm in the truck on my way to Pennsylvania for the 3-star with J.R. Meanwhile, Waterfront is with Allison Springer's groom and horse Destination Known at the vet port at JFK, getting ready to fly to France for the 4-star at Pau. Lizzie and I are really excited to be off on our big adventure, though I'm sad I won't be joined by my parents or Tom for the whole experience. I know that they, as well as all the rest of my friends and supporters, will be there in spirit. And I know that Lizzie will be the best support I could possibly think of having anyway. Stay tuned!

Plantation Horse Trials

I had a new and unusual (for me) role this weekend at Plantation- owner of the winning horse! Phillip rode both J.R. and Waterfront in the CIC3* and of course, Lizzie was their groom. The event went very well for both horses. J.R. was fabulous in his first 3*. He was quite exuberant in the show jumping, though, and tried to jump Phillip off at the first fence, but put in a clean round for the win. Waterfront, on the other hand, unfortunately had what was ruled a stop at the  B element of the triple, though he was clean otherwise.

The most amazing thing to me about having Phillip ride my horses was that they looked so great cross country. It was definitely an honor to have him take over the ride while my broken foot heals. I'd also like to say that I think the organizers of the event did such a great job. Plantation is becoming a premier event, and the improvements from last year to this were impressive. Having PRO involved, including Phillip and Buck on organizing committee, all made a difference. They did a really good job.

I'm very excited about my horses, and am hoping to be back in the tack at Morven, though I'm still going one day at a time.

One Day at a Time

Since I've broken my foot and have been hobbling around, I'm taking things one day at a time. I know everything will work out- I'm getting some more use of my foot, so that's improving. Unfortunately, though, I got some more bad news- Syd hurt a hind leg and will be out the rest of the this fall and probably early spring, too. Sometimes it seems like these things happen all at once, so taking it one day at a time is all I can handle.

I am absolutely crushed and devastated to have such bad luck when things were going so well. I feel like the carpet has been pulled out from beneath my feet and that's been a little hard to overcome. But, life goes on. Phillip was very kind to compete Waterfront and J.R. for me at Richland. In preparation for the event, he did some test-driving of my ponies. I was also lucky enough to have Mark ride both horses, which was pretty incredible. Mark is a very strong and yet empathetic rider; he was impressive to watch.

Lizzie, Anisa and Kendyl headed to Richland with Phillip and the weekend went pretty well. I love the Tracey sisters- they were fantastic help, and of course the whole Surefire show wouldn't run without Lizzie Williams. Waterfront ended up second in the Advanced, although Phillip was very displeased with his dressage test because he forgot a halt, and also felt he never had the horse connected. Although Phillip said Waterfront's very hard to ride in the jumping phases, he loves the horse all the same. There's not a lot I can do to change him at this point- he is what he is, and I love him, too. I think J.R. was a pleasant surprise for Phillip in the dressage; although the horse is quite green, he thinks there's a lot of ability (I already knew that). Despite J.R. being very green in the jumping phases, too (I already knew that as well), Phillip was quite pleased.

I'm not sure what the plan is for me, it depends on how my foot heals. It was certainly difficult to know all the American riders had left for Burghley. I want to qualify J.R. for Fairhill- maybe Phillip will be back in the irons. I also hope to go to Pau with Waterfront and I would think that my first competition back, if not Plantation, would be Morven. Meanwhile, I've started to ride again, without stirrups, and I've also started to swim- try treading water for an hour, it's exhausting! I'll be doing all my physical therapy, practicing dressage without stirrups, and exercising as much as possible to try and stay fit. I'm also very lucky to have Anisa, Kendyl, Nikki, Miquel, Lizzie and Tom all looking after me. One day at a time.

Change in Plans

A lot has happened since my last update- some good, some not so good. They say the best-laid plans often go awry. I rode Syd and Waterfront in the team training sessions at Karen and David O'Connor's High Acre Farm in the Plains, Virginia. Karen and David were nice enough to host us at their great facility, but after having been gone for five days at the Young Riders Championships, my horses and I were a little rusty, and the first day was all about knocking the rust off.

I started with Syd. Mark suggested a great new approach to my warm-up plan with him, to try and get him loose behind. I had been warming up in half-pass at the canter, but he had me try leg yielding in almost a medium canter, which immensely improved Syd's elasticity with his hind legs without causing him to become too defensive, which my main issue with this horse. After that, we moved on to working transitions into my connection, and then got down to movements. This made a real improvement in Syd, and proved to be a very, very easy way to connect him. It was fun to see how much my horse improved, and it certainly carried through to the next day.

With Waterfront, we worked on the same connection- which always seems to be one half halt away! The better the connection, the better the ride. Mark got a little bit off on a tangent working on Waterfront's half pass, trying to get him more connected on the left rein, which marred the end of his first day a bit. I discussed this with Mark the next morning, and Waterfront and I were off to some of our best work yet.

I could feel with both horses how great they're going, and so also felt that the end goal, Burghley, really was in reach, which made me even more excited about going. We had a mandatory gallop the next day, and both horses were fantastic. Afterwards, Waterfront trotted up really well and I got the good news- I was awarded a grant to compete at Burghley.

Next, I was scheduled to teach a clinic for a couple days at the O'Donahue's out in Illinois. I got home on Saturday night after a great clinic. Sunday morning, feeling exhausted and a bit sick, I rode a couple horses, taught about ten lessons, and got in the truck at about four in the afternoon with five horses to haul up to Buck Davidson's, where I was to meet Oded Shimoni, who helps me with dressage. This was the start of my big adventure- two days with Oded, then to Phillip's to jump, where my students would meet up with me so I could help them jump, and then on to Millbrook for my final competition before Burghley.

Things did not go as planned. Half an hour down the road from Surefire, Buck called to tell me that Oded's plane had been cancelled, and being the dressage king that he is, Oded was unwilling to get up as early as he would need to catch the plane Buck had found for him the next day. So, we turned around and headed home. In some ways I was relieved because I hadn't been home in a while. I called Silva Martin to see if I could ride with her instead of Oded, and texted Phillip to re-arrange my lessons with him. The new plan was to jump with Phillip, which I hadn't done in more than six months, on Tuesday, and ride with Silva on Wednesday.

I spent Monday at Surefire riding all my horses. It was nice to be home doing my own thing and catch up on what was happening at the farm. Tuesday, I taught a couple lessons and then left for Phillip's. I jumped Waterfront, Syd and JR (Inmidair), who were all fantastic. It was so much fun, and Phillip was completely surprised at how great JR looked, as he hadn't seen him in a while. Next, I hopped on Wyatt (Why Not) and started jumping him. I jumped two jumps and cantered through a turn, when suddenly one of Phillip's workers stood up at the side of ring, spooking Wyatt. He leapt to the inside of ring so quickly he never even had a chance to get his feet underneath himself, and he wiped out, landing on top of me. I immediately started yelling and cursing at Phillip, knowing I have broken something or smashed my foot. After a trip to the emergency room that night, and a visit the next day to Phillip's orthopaedist, I found I had six bones broken in my foot, and am now sporting a screw to hold everything together- maybe that's to replace the one loose in my head right now!

The realization that Burghley is out is tough- I'm fighting depression and trying to make new plans. I'm hoping to be able to go to Pau in France at the end of October, and who knows, maybe Chips will decide we should take Syd there to join Waterfront. Of course, my staff has been a little bit at odd ends with this turn of events, too. The people that work with me and devote their energy to Surefire are equally devoted to my plans; it takes a whole team to make everything work. So, not only am I suffering from my own set back, but my whole team is suffering from the loss of what they were going to get to do. I feel very badly for my entire team and my horses- hopefully there will be more to look forward to this fall. At the moment, I'm just trying to bury my head in the sand. I'm lucky to have the staff that I do, who so competently look after my horses and me. They'll make sure that everything gets taken care of until I'm back in action.

Maui Jim

I just got back from the Maui Jim Horse Trials, held at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Illinois. Not having done any cross-country since Seneca, I was a bit nervous and feeling rusty. I took four horses: Syd, Waterfront and Inmidair (J.R.) in the Advanced (J.R.'s first), and Why Not in the Training.

We were really lucky with the weather, which was somewhat cool for the time of year. They had also had lots of rain, including Friday during dressage, so the footing was good, even a little wet. The biggest thing I have to say is that I had a fantastic weekend! My horses were so great, even J.R. handled the Advanced like he had been doing it every day of his life. All my horses were great in all three phases, and four clean show jumping rounds always make you feel good! Even though Syd finished behind Waterfront in the dressage, he has improved tremendously, and he was the most workmanlike of all my horses. I won the blue in the Open Training with Why Not, but the others certainly finished respectively- second, third and fifth in the Advanced. I can't tell you how lucky I am to have such great horses and great staff. Lizzie Williams and Anisa Tracy went with me to Maui, and back home Kendal Tracy, Nikki Smith, Tyler Frey and Miguel kept everything going.

I'm looking forward to our next event, which will be Millbrook at the beginning of August.

Surefire Horse Trials

Another year, another Surefire horse trials- I think the best to date. We have such an amazing crew to put everything together, from main organizer Christy Stauffer, to Secretary Mary Coldren, to the entire Surefire staff (who worked their butts off), to close friends and family. I'm incredibly fortunate to have everyone pitch in and work as hard as they do.

We added a new bank to the Surefire water this year, and due to all the rain, we got lucky with entries and good footing. Tom Finnen worked countless hours on the water jump again this year, and we are lucky to have his support and help. I thought Todd Richardson and Tremaine Cooper did an amazing job with the courses, and as always, announcer Brian O'Connor ran the show.

Although I felt this was Surefire's best year, I think there are some things we can still improve. We plan on making next year's stadium area a little larger, and changing the start of the Intermediate cross-country in order to have one or two more galloping jumps, so that riders can get their horses into a good rhythm. It's always great to have professionals like Phillip and Buck ride at your event. Because I don't compete at my event, I don't have a rider's perspective, so their comments about what works and what we need to improve are always very helpful.

I competed at Seneca Horse Trials before our event- it seems like a blur right now. Their event had been hampered by excessive rain, and therefore they cancelled their upper-level divisions. They were smart to have done so, judging from the quite deep footing in the show jumping. They also removed part of the cross-country because of wetness in the woods. I took both Why Not (Wyatt) and Wallstraed (Jack), and although I had a rail with Jack, I felt both horses were the best to date that they've been. Wyatt finished second, and Jack was fourth.

Jersey Fresh

I was so proud of both my horses at Jersey Fresh. J.R. (Inmidair), my young horse, was as good as can be expected at this point in the dressage. He’s a lovely mover, but I have no connection, and this weakness shows up in his canter work. Silva Martin is helping me to develop better connection, but we’re not quite there yet. Cross-country was good, considering the conditions. The Jersey Fresh crew did amazing job with footing in spite of 100% humidity and sticky going. J.R. was the fourth horse out. He was very tired at the end, but jumped well, only adding a step at the bounce water and last water but never losing his focus.

J.R. answered every question, which thrilled me to no end. I did have 5.6 time, but there was no going faster! I conserved him all the way to the end. At the riders meeting we were cautioned to take care of our horses because of the conditions. It wasn’t competition to win on time; the goal was to have a good round.

Sunday, J.R. jumped phenomenally. He was very spooky in ring and so pretty inconsistent over the first three jumps, but he didn’t want to touch a rail. The course was pretty straightforward and the time was a little bit more generous (than the three-star) because the officials didn’t really know how the horses had handled the day before—would they be tired? Every one of the top five, except for Becky, jumped clean, so they came out well. I have to say that I was really thrilled for Emily Beshear to win—it was long overdue as she’s one of our best riders.

Waterfront was second—again! My spring plans with him had changed from Rolex to Jersey, but what a great time for everything to come together! He was just incredible. This was the fourth CCI*** I’ve done with him and the fourth time I’ve been second—Foxhall in 2005, Jersey Fresh and Fair Hill in 2006, and now Jersey Fresh in 2009. I doubt there’s another horse in the country with a record like that!

I could not have been more thrilled with Waterfront in all three phases; it’s the best he’s ever gone. I think sometimes we get upset and frustrated with our horses when they get hurt and have time off, but Waterfront has come back so much stronger than he was, so all that time has helped him. I was reading that Lucinda Frederick’s mare, Headley Britannia, had a long time off with an injury, then more time when Lucinda’s daughter was born—and look how well she’s doing!

I’ve had a funny season with Waterfront—I’ve felt a little like I’ve had to scrap around a bit because he’s been so cheeky this spring. Jimmy Wofford came to Surefire and helped me school right before Jersey Fresh. I was upset because I had had a run out with Syd at Rolex; I just can’t allow that to happen at my level. I was concerned that I was losing my focus, and wanted him to help me sharpen up. We worked on very basic stuff, and I had a really good lesson with Jimmy. I worked at keeping my eye on the jump until I actually jumped it. He suggested that when I walked my courses at Jersey Fresh, I pick one spot on every jump to focus on, including every element of the combinations, and to make sure I looked at those spots until I jumped them. It was a very good exercise for my focus, and I walked Jersey Fresh with a notebook in my hand, writing down my spots for each fence.

Waterfront was very good and well connected in dressage, though it was a little hard in the indoor as the change from outdoors warm-up to indoors test disconnected him somewhat from the good warm-up we had had.

I had a hard time getting to start cross-country. I got on and went to the warm-up and was put on hold. The hold got longer and longer, and we knew Phillip had fallen with Bailey Wick. I was worried that Phillip was hurt, and it was very hard to wait around in the warm-up and not know how he was. I’ve been a student of his for a long time, I’ve traveled with him, he’s my friend and mentor and I look up to him. To me, he was invincible. But I know that if you’re in any sport long enough, if you event long enough, then you’re going to fall. Mark Phillips came down to the warm-up and spoke to each of us individually. He told us that Phillip had seen a long distance, that he was fine but his horse was not. It was such a relief to hear that Phillip was okay, but so awful that Bailey Wick wasn’t. I feel very sad for all those connected with his loss.

Once things started up again, Waterfront napped at the start box and it took Lizzie and me about 15 seconds after I was signaled to start to get him in the box! He was uncharacteristically wild the first six jumps, and a bit out of rhythm. But after that he was brilliant, so on his game.

Actually, Waterfront was on all weekend, as if he just knew to be good. When we put the bridle on for the jog on Wednesday, and walked him out of barn, he started trotting right away—he was ready to go! He wasn’t uncontrollable, he just absolutely knew what was happening and was brimming with excitement. In the show jumping, he jumped great, covering the distances better than he normally does, and I was thrilled with how he came out of the competition.

I’ve been really lucky, and have had one of the nicest Springs, with five of the nicest horses I’ve ever ridden. I’m celebrating while it’s happening, because doesn’t happen often. I’m going to enjoy it while I can! I made the USEF Eventing High Performance A list with Waterfront and the B list with Syd, and I’ve requested a grant to go to Burghley with Waterfront. I’m hoping that, because I’m not taking Syd to Europe, I’ll get some grant money for dressage training with him this fall, and plan on taking Syd back to Fairhill in October. I’m looking forward to having Inmidair start his advanced career this summer, and with any luck I’ll have him at Fairhill as well.

I got home from Jersey Fresh and the next weekend went to the Fairhill Horse Trials with my young horses, Why Not and Wallstraed. They both won their dressage, and Why Not won his division and Wallstraed was third. It was really fun to be out on them again.

For the next couple months it’s back to the basics. I’m continuing to ride with Katie Prudent, who is torturing me by making me ride without stirrups to improve the security of my position. I’m not twenty anymore and I can really feel it! But I’m all about going back to the basics, and after watching me go at Kentucky, Katie felt that, though I was balanced, I had to become much stronger in my position, with a more secure base, in order to help Syd jump. I tend to move my body to compensate if I become unbalanced, and I also tend to open up in the air, which really brings out problems with Syd because he’s so big in the air. I can’t make jumping harder for him, I’ve got to help him. I do love having something to work on!

Everyone at Surefire is busy with young horses getting ready to compete, and we’re all working to get ready for our event at the end of June—we hope we’ll be seeing you.

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Rolex!

Having had time to reflect on Rolex as I’m sitting in my truck in the pouring rain hauling two nice horses up to the New Jersey Horse Park for the Jersey Fresh event, I realize how lucky we got with the weather at Kentucky! This is the fifth straight day of rain and I’ve been dreaming of an indoor, but maybe in some way, all this rain is making us tougher.

Before Kentucky (and this would be true with any horse), all riders have a lot of thoughts running through their head. For a first-time horse like Syd, you wonder if they’re a four-star horse, because until you actually do it, you just don’t know. There are a lot of really nice Advanced horses and three-star horses who just don’t have it in them to do a four-star. The other question a rider has is whether their horse is fit enough. I can confidently say I know the answer to both questions—yes, Syd Kent is a four-star horse—yippee! And yes, my horse was plenty fit!

I’m really proud of my horse—he was just great at Kentucky. He handled the dressage atmosphere really well. I knew he wasn’t ready to produce his best test yet, but I was really happy with the test we did produce. As far as the cross-country went, he was absolutely brilliant. He was a little green to the first three fences—it felt like we did a complete serpentine through the first water, the Duck Pond—but as he went around he got much more confident and completely stepped up to the challenge. His performance was marred by my rider error for 20 penalties at the Normandy Bank. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if I could do it over again, I think I would come in half as fast and I would make sure his eye was on the narrow.

Syd came out of cross—country quite well, and Saturday night and Sunday morning we really had no worries…until I actually did present him for the jog. Don’t think we hadn’t gone over him with a fine-tooth comb—we had found some soreness in his left front heel. We put Equithane in his foot right before the jog, and unfortunately, I think that got quite hard, and coupled with the un-level surface, put pressure on the sore heel. Luckily, we got through the jog upon re-inspection. Out great farrier, Sean Crocker, took out the Equithane before show jumping, and everything returned to normal.

Syd show jumped brilliantly. He was almost too careful in the beginning, and knocked the first jump, but we finished very well with a clean round.

I was very lucky to have Syd’s owner, Chips Chester, there to watch, as well as my parents, Dick and Jo. We were also joined by Katie and Henri Prudent, which was a huge thrill and honor. Katie wanted to come and help so that she could find out what our horses are like on Sunday. She walked the cross-country several times, with Phillip and me, and with me alone, and walked the show jumping, taking notes of everything. On Sunday, she gave me a fantastic summary of her observations. She noted everything from the horse’s feet to how Syd, and I, handled the pressure and how I rode. It was pretty amazing to get her opinion of our performance, and she came away with a much better perspective of what our event horses have to do. One big take-away from Rolex is that Katie’s going to help me work on my position in the air, because Syd has such a big jump I need to maximize my effectiveness to help him more.

Katie wants to help the U.S. Eventers in show jumping. Her husband, Henri, actually competed in the European Championships in Eventing for France in the 1980s, so he has a fantastic perspective. He and Katie knew all the people helping the French rider, Nicolas Touzaint, at Kentucky, and shared their perspective with us. Katie and Henri were very competitive, but also very supportive, and it was just an incredibly kind gesture on their part, what they did for me at Rolex.

I can’t thank my assistant and groom, Lizzie Williams, enough for everything. Both Lizzie and I are looking forward to a great weekend at Jersey Fresh—please pray for the rain to stop!

Photos by Dory Tuohey.

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Southern Pines II

Southern Pines was a very fun competition. I finally got to run Waterfront in all three phases, and he was exuberant in all of them and definitely excited to be competing! I had one rail with him in stadium to finish seventh. Syd was his best yet and I was very pleased with him. He had a good cross-country and show-jump and ended up third. Inmidair was ninth in OIB, but the real success was the two babies, Wallstraed and Why Not—they jumped into the water and were their most grown-up yet. Wallstraed was second in OTA and Why Not was third in OTC.

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Morven Park

It was so nice to be home again in Virginia! We took the babies to Morven. Both Wallstraed and Why Not won their dressage, show-jumped clean, went right into the water on cross-country and were overall much more mature. Wallstraed was second in OTB and Why Not finished first in OTA.

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The Fork

The Fork was a good competition for me, but not for the usual reasons. Sometimes not doing well is the best thing that can happen to you, because it lets you know what you need to work on. Syd was not very good in the dressage. His trot work was decent, but his canter work was not. I felt it was really me and not my horse—I didn't own it. What a good reminder for Kentucky! I was disappointed with my well-deserved score of 61. I received a 64 and a 53 from the judges. Brian Ross had given me the worse score, commenting that my horse was not engaged or connected. (He also noted that Syd was croup high, but that's a little hard to hide when it's their confirmation.) Syd was great cross-country, although I was a little in his face in the beginning of the course. He had an uncharacteristic rail at the fourth fence in show jumping when he got a little flat and lazy and hit it behind. He got better and more relaxed as we went along, though never quite achieved his normal, exuberant self. Still, he moved from 41st after dressage to 18th after cross-country to 10th after show jumping.

Waterfront was the champion of the weekend. He was quite hot but very good, although in dressage he did perform a 180 right before the extended canter. He was good cross-country, though seemed a bit surprised at the size of the jumps as he had hardly run this spring. He handled it quite well with just some time, and had one rail in show jumping while trying his guts out to finish fourth.

Inmidair was fantastic at the Fork and for the first time had a good dressage. He's a very good mover, and I feel he's going to be unbeatable once he's more broke. We could have run faster cross-country, but he was terrified of the Loons in the water! He broke to the walk, and I just kept riding, at least got the trot, and he made it over the jump, snorting at the Loons—he's such a good little kid! We had six time faults cross-country but show jumped clean and ended up third. I need a seat belt to jump him as he's very erratic and never jumps two jumps the same way.

Both Syd and Waterfront practiced their dressage at the VADA-NoVa dressage show at Morven a few weeks ago. Waterfront won his 3rd level test the first day and the FEI test his second day. Syd was third in the FEI test. It was a great practice before Kentucky and good experience to ride them through the test so that I know what I need to do in the ring.

Syd is headed to Kentucky this week, and Waterfront will be doing the three-star and Inmidair the two-star at Jersey Fresh in May.

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Team Training Session

I was lucky to get to ride Syd Kent with Mark Phillips twice, on March 4th and 5th, during the Team training sessions. It was especially helpful as Mark had ridden Syd while I was away on my Dad’s 70th birthday trip. The first day was very good, and Mark had some helpful suggestions for my flatwork. At the end of the session, he told me that he thought my horse is very elegant, but needs more suspension and strength, which will take time. It was really good to hear that Mark though Syd has the potential, but sometimes it’s hard to have the patience to build one brick at a time when you want the house now!

After watching the tape of the first day, I had some questions for Mark on day two. Syd was crooked through the left rein, and I wanted to work on riding him better to both reins. As we worked on this, Syd got more and more behind my leg, started to get grouchy and came above the bit. We went back to the walk and worked on his half-pass, then picked up the trot in the half-pass, and things got better and better. I ended the session feeling not great about what had happened, but later realized it had actually been quite productive, as I have been able to put to use what we had been able to work through.

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Jumping Branch and Sporting Days

We took the three babies—Why Not (Wyatt), Wallstraed (Jack) and Secret Strength (Benny)—to Jumping Branch. I dropped Wyatt back down to Novice, which worked out well because he finished on his dressage score. He was very good in the water and ran right through, and was quite relaxed in both jumping phases. We call Wyatt Build-a-Bear in the barn, because he’s a work in process, still wearing Pampers and not yet ready for his big-boy pants! He finished in 4th in Novice B, and it was nice to have a relaxing weekend on him. Jack was great in dressage—his best yet. He’s very elegant, but has a bit of a short neck, and even though he’s starting to reach, he still doesn’t use his body very much. I had a stop at the water with him in the cross-country, but he show jumped clean. Little Benny finished the event in 2nd on his dressage score. He definitely felt like an ex-racehorse in the cross-country warm-up, but once we got going he got more and more relaxed and jumped around fine.

At Sporting Days, Benny won the dressage, but he got ADD in the warm-up and forgot how to jump. His brain just gets so busy he loses track what he’s supposed to be doing! At least he was good and very relaxed in the dressage. Wyatt and Jack were both brilliant in the dressage and show jumping, but I had two stops with Wyatt and one with Jack at the water, which was a log in, on the cross-country.

After Sporting Days, Lizzie and I took Jack, Wyatt, Waterfront and Syd schooling at the Gibbes Farm. I jumped Jack and Wyatt cold-turkey into the water—they get everything else. Why Not’s head just isn’t there yet. He’s actually the braver of the two young horses, but his brain is very green. He’ll do things like run off with me, while Jack is more internally nervous. Wyatt jumped a bunch of little fences just fine, but when I approached a log on a little hill, which led down the hill to the water, he stopped four strides out. He didn’t seem to understand the edge of the water, so once I got him in, I went back and forth until he was comfortable. Then I took him to the big water and he went right in.

Jack went straight into the water, but he was very nervous. He made a huge jump over the log into the water! When I tried the bank into the water, he launched himself about seven times—he just couldn’t figure out where to put his feet. I began to wonder if I was riding aggressively enough to the water on my green horses, or that maybe I wasn’t reacting fast enough when I ran into problems with them. The young horses needed this school, and so did I!

I jumped both Syd and Waterfront around a bunch of the same Novice fences I’d just jumped on Wyatt and Jack. Then, I jumped Syd over the big log into the water. He was quite slow behind, so I did it again using my stick and he was better, though conservative and cautious. Then I jumped the bounce on the ground a couple times, to sharpen him up, then tried the bounce with the big drop into the water, and I could feel Syd leave his hind legs. I tried the bounce into water again, and he scraped all the hair off his left stifle and landed three-legged! I couldn’t end with that, so once I was sure he hadn’t hurt himself (other than lose a lot of hair!) I did the bounce on the ground again, and then the bounce into the water, and he was better. Combinations can be tricky with a careful jumper like Syd.

Waterfront hadn’t really done much cross-country this season, because the Intermediate was cancelled at Pine Top. I jumped him over the Weldon’s Wall, the bank complex and the coffin. I did the Novice log into the water, then the huge roll top into the water, then the bounce into the water. Waterfront did everything really well.

I’m taking all five of my horses to Southern Pines II— Syd Kent will run Advanced, Waterfront and Inmidair will go Intermediate, and Why Not and Wallstraed will do Training. I also have more Team Training sessions coming up in Southern Pines on Wednesday and Thursday.

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March Update: Sporting Days, Full Gallop, Pine Top Winter II and Pinetop Advanced

Lizzie and I had just two horses at Sporting Days—Secret Strength (Benny), owned by Laura and Ed Pennington, and Lizzie’s pony Smartie Blue. It was really fun because Laura and Ed came down to watch Benny go—the first time they’d seen him compete since getting him a year ago. Benny handled the competition well and had a nice dressage, a somewhat spooky show jump, and probably one of the nicest cross-country rides to finish 4th in Beginner Novice A. Lizzie and Smartie Blue did their first event in a long time and finished second in Novice D. It was nice to have a relaxing Sunday at an event.

Next came Full Gallop, which was, thank goodness, a lot warmer than the last Full Gallop! Jack (Wallstraed), Wyatt (Why Not) and Benny (Secret Strength) all ran. I moved Benny to Novice, and he thought the show jumping was terrifying and had one rail. I wasn’t sure whether to run him cross-country, but after warming him up, I decided to give it a shot. He started out quite nervous, but really settled by the end. It’s amazing how big a Novice course can look when you’re moving up the levels! Benny ended up fifth in his Novice division. Jack did his first Novice and was nervous in the warm-up, but a pleasure to ride and fourth in Novice C. Wyatt continued his winning streak, though he was incredibly green cross-country, and finished first in Training A.

Two days later we were back at Pine Top. Jack and Wyatt did their first Training—Jack was great but Wyatt was extremely green, so I might go back a level with him. Needless to say, I felt like I was at the Training Olympics, with three waters, a corner, and other tough questions. It was a difficult Training track and hard to make the time. The third fence was a bank to a narrow log—a lot for a green horse!

Waterfront was supposed to make his debut at Pine Top, but because of a muscle pull he only did dressage. Believe me, he showed up and was frisky but well-behaved. In my six years of owning him, he’s definitely learned to trot and canter for the first time ever—finally! J.R. (Inmidair) did his first Intermediate, and though dressage is going to be way behind for a while, he will get it. He was double clear in show jumping and slow cross-country (on purpose), and I love him.

It was a pleasure to have Syd out. Some of his dressage is showing improvement, some still needs work. Collecting him is incredibly hard because he doesn’t want to stay quick with his hind feet. It’s the same to the jumps, but jumping is so much easier I don’t worry. Syd was double clear in show jumping, and even though I didn’t run for time, he was quite quick cross-country, and even jumped without me at one fence!

After Pine Top II, I spent a week in Hawaii with my family to celebrate my Dad’s 70th birthday, and only had four days when I got back to get Syd and Waterfront together before Pinetop Advanced. I decided to drop Waterfront down to Intermediate because I hadn’t been able to run him cross-country yet, but in spite of a good dressage and show jump, he still didn’t get to go cross-country because his division was cancelled due to rain. I plan to run him in the Advanced at Southern Pines. Something is telling me not to run him too much before Kentucky—he knows his job.

J.R. (Inmidair) had a terrible dressage, but I’m not concerned—he’s a work in progress and it’s going to take time. He show jumped clean in spite of heavy rain, but also fell victim to a cancelled cross-country.

Syd was great at Pine Top, with real improvement in dressage. He still needs to be quicker behind, but with Philip (Dutton) and Mark’s (Phillips) help riding him while I was on vacation, he’s definitely improved in his connection and he’s becoming better behind. Sometimes it’s good to have someone who doesn’t have a relationship with your horse ride him, so they can be the tough guys.

Syd was beautiful in show jumping, as always, despite sideways rain, and after much deliberation, I decided to run him cross-country, which other than an exciting moment at the second water, was great. Syd won his division of Advanced, and I was so happy that his owner, Chips Chester, had come all the way from D.C. to see him run. Chips was absolutely drenched, and was so worried about us out on course because of the conditions, but he got to see his horse go. He didn’t find out until later that Syd had won, but Chips gets all the bragging rights to his great horse.

Next up are Jumping Branch and Sporting Days for the young horses, then on to Southern Pines. I’ll also ride with Mark Phillips in the team training sessions March 4th and 5th in Aiken.

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Winter Update

Since competing at Fairhill last fall, I’ve been working on getting up to speed for the 2009 season, and reflecting on last year. I also spent some time during the holidays getting completely away from horses, spending some time skiing and enjoying my family. Sometimes the further away you get from horses, the easier it is to reflect on what’s happened. I also think doing something else is extremely important for my brain and muscles. Training harder is not always training better.

I think my biggest reflection for the year is the importance of the basics, that I don’t sacrifice my training for competing. I used the month of January to work on correct positioning, correct training skills and better riding. Not that I didn’t know to do this and generally practice it, but it’s always good to remind myself to be sure and correctly produce my horses. It’s easy to get away from this during the competition season and just try and make things work.

One way that I work on correctness is to teach clinics, which I’ve been doing a lot lately. I remind students to keep their position and not change it to make the horses better. I also spent six days in Wellington riding with Silva Martin and Katie Prudent to work on the finer points of our trade. I sent JR (Inmidair) and Syd (Kent) to Silva at the beginning of January, and then brought Waterfront and Wyatt (Why Not) down a little later. My mother came with me, which was helpful as always, and a lot of fun. It’s always nice to have her involved and so great to have her with me in Florida.

Sometimes this sport is frustrating, especially when doing specialized training in dressage and show jumping, when I feel, as an eventer, like a jack of all trades, master of none! It was so great to watch Silva ride her big-time horses and work with her trainer, Oded Shimoni. Watching her compete was truly inspiring. Even though it’s a little bit apples to oranges, I realized how lower-level eventing dressage is, and it made me want to be part of their world to make my dressage better.

Riding with Katie Prudent is always inspiring. Like Silva, she says it like it is and is fantastic at horse and rider training. She has a depth of knowledge that most people in the event world haven’t even started to tap into. So of course, now I’m feeling like I’m primed and ready for the event season to kick off in order to achieve my goal of being the best event rider I can be this season!

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Aiken

Like everyone else, I’m feeling the economy. I’ve had to tighten up my business to be as productive as possible. I feel I still need to be in Aiken in the winter, though, to start the season. We’re back at the New Bridge Polo Club again this year. Nikki Smith and her horse Suzi Q have rejoined us, and Nikki’s plan is to do a two-star. Elizabeth Williams, my right hand, left hand and brains, is working on selling her Connamara pony and is of course taking care of my horses and me. Miquel Herrera is the glue that keeps us all together. Maggie Sharp and her six horses are also with us this year. She has four competing now, and two new ones that we got in England last fall. So, we’re all busy and working hard!

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Pinetop Winter I Horse Trials and Full Gallop

I rode Why Not, owned by Chips Chester, at Pinetop. I dropped him back down to Novice for a refresher, and my hard work over January must be paying off as we got a 23 in dressage, were double clear for the cross-country and show jump, and won the event. Laura Pennington’s Secret Strength, a little off-the-track thoroughbred at his first real event, was third in his division of Open Beginner Novice, though one of the judge’s comments on the dressage test was, “I don’t think this horse is into dressage yet!”

The following Wednesday we competed at Full Gallop. Inmidair was entered in the Preliminary and was great—we were second after the dressage on a 29.3, had one rail in the show jump, and took it slow across frozen ground cross-country, resulting in 19.6 time and a sixth place finish. I was really thrilled with him, though we could have had a better show jump round. My plan is to move him up to Intermediate at Pine Top II, and hopefully run him in the two-star at Jersey Fresh in the spring.

Waterfront was back in action for the first time in almost two years in the Intermediate at Full Gallop. He was second after the dressage, and tried hard in the show jump—in spite of his rider! We just weren’t on the same page. We had a couple rails—or more correctly—took down the one whole jump. Needless to say, pulling back doesn’t work, and I had to circle because I almost fell off, so had time, too. Waterfront and I need to practice some more! I chose not to run cross-country on him, not because of the show jumping, but because the ground was frozen hard and I didn’t want to hurt him. His first full run will be at Pine Top II in the Intermediate.

Syd Kent also did a combined test at Full Gallop. Some parts of his dressage were good, but others weren’t, so there’s definitely still room for improvement. Syd was amazing in the show jump and I feel really good about how he’s going. I’d never planned on running him cross-country either, and just used Full Gallop for practice.

My longer-term plans for Waterfront and Syd Kent are still a little bit up in the air, I’m hopeful that Waterfriont, and maybe Syd, will get to go to Kentucky. I don’t know yet if Syd needs another three-star under his belt—stay tuned!

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