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2016 Surefire Horse Trials—Entries Have Opened!

5/15/2016

Entries for the 13th annual Surefire Horse Trials, sponsored by Airowear Equestrian, have opened! Once again, Jan Byyny, Tom Finnen, Christy Stauffer, Mary Coldren and crew are offering five levels of eventing competition, from Beginner Novice through Intermediate, as well as YEH 4- and 5-year-old classes. Tremaine Cooper is the course designer, with Trav and Graham Schick and Josh Sylce signed on to build.

$10,000 in prize money will be awarded to the Intermediate division, and the return of the Wine and Beer Garden, Tailgating on cross-country and an impressive Trade Fair make the Surefire Horse Trials a great weekend in the country for competitors, spectators, families and friends.

Jan is donating a portion of this year’s proceeds to the Stroke Comeback Center, a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers ongoing programs and support to families living with aphasia as a result of stroke or brain trauma.

From Jan: “I learned about the Stroke Comeback Center from my neurologist after I suffered a stroke as the result of a fall at Pine Top. The Center teaches people how to talk again, and offers patients a sense of community after a stroke or head trauma. They work with people like me, and also many veterans and children. Because insurance coverage for therapy typically runs out before a patient is finished the program, the non-profit Center relies on donations to help cover costs, keeping their program affordable for those who need it.”

For more information about the Stroke Comeback Center, go to http://www.strokecomebackcenter.org.

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Plan B

5/13/2016

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I just drove back from Jersey and unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. My mare Urrem, who’s probably one of the most sound horses I’ve ever had, was spun at the 2* jog. She was suffering from a little dew poisoning from all the wet ground, so I had started her on antibiotics Sunday. In hindsight, I probably should have been more aggressive, because by Wednesday morning it looked really angry, to the point that she was intermittently off about a grade and a half in her right front. Hindsight always 20/20, isn’t it? By the time I got home, with a stronger antibiotic in her, it was a lot better and she was quickly sound and looking great.

Of course I’m gutted, but its better that it’s not a serious injury and we’ll just move to plan B, which is the CIC 2* at Virginia and then travel up to Bromont. I was quite excited about Jersey so I took all the horses to a dressage show the Sunday before and practiced the 2* test twice on Rem. We got a 45 the first time and a 42.4 the second. She was super fun to ride and hopefully we’ll be able to repeat or even improve on that at our next competition. I rode the young horses in First Level test 1 and they were all good, with Elvis winning the class.

We’re busy at Surefire and hoping the ground dries up so we can get mowing. Trav, Josh and Graham are coming on Monday to work on the course for our horse trials. Never a dull moment!

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Lessons from Rolex

5/4/2016

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Fair Hill winners Urrem and Duke of Diamond

I’ve just came back from Rolex. Even though I won two divisions—the 1* and 2*—at Fair Hill the weekend before, after watching Michael Jung and Lauren Kieffer in the jumping phases, I’m inspired to be a whole lot better than I am right now. To be honest, I don’t find this intimidating, I find it exciting. I’m not taking anything away from my Fair Hill weekend, but I’m going to celebrate that day and move on. The reality is, I was not good enough. I was sloppy on Urrem in the dressage; she’s good enough to do a low forties test right now and I just gave away points. I was messy—dropped my rein out of the halt, didn’t hold my angles in the shoulder-in, and my half passes were marginal at best. I do feel that the canter work was better than it’s been, that we were in sync, and I like it when that happens. There’s a lot of room for improvement, which is exciting, but it has to be second nature to me to ride every step of the test.

Rem’s show jumping at Fair Hill was nice, though I feel like she has to be a bit softer across the jump. I also thought she was good cross country, but I need to be a lot more accurate, holding my lines and creating the balance while still going forward.

Janie Mussleman's Dyson (Duke of Diamond) was great in the dressage, and I was actually quite pleased with the way I rode the test. I was a little disappointed in the show jumping, though, because I knew the line where I had the rail was quite tight, and I needed to do a better job to keep him together. Even though I had the rail in hand, you still want to jump clean. The thing I was most pleased with was his cross-country, because I felt like we were really on the same page and it was just flat-out fun.

Every year, if I’m not competing, I go to Rolex to spectate or coach, and I got to do both this year. I like to make sure I stay current, and watch and learn so I can come home and practice what I've seen and work at adopting new ideas. I have better pictures in my head of how to try and be smoother, be more accurate, calmer—all the things you see when you watch someone like Michael Jung. I was also fortunate enough to warm up Maya for the cross-country, talk to her about the course and just be there as a quiet supporter.

I told Maya and Dawn (Cody’s owner) in my ring in August of 2014 that I was pretty sure they had an Olympic horse. Watching her improved dressage, even since Carolina, as far as the overall quality and softness in the work, was great. Her composure was, as always, remarkable. And if she didn’t have the mistakes in the rein back and halt and two of the changes, she would have been close to being in the 30s. I thought the second half of her cross-country in particular was amazing, and her show jumping was the most consistent and best I’ve seen him jump yet. I’m so proud of Maya, Cody and her team. It’s a pleasure to have coached her and had her work for me six years ago, and off and on for the last couple years.

All in all, I thought the Americans did a great job at Rolex, and I would say Lauren Kieffer stood out as an absolute pleasure to watch ride; I could not be more happy for her and her team.

So for the next week I’m going to be practicing my inner Michael and Lauren as I get ready for the CCI2* at Jersey with Rem. I’m not sure if she’s quite fit enough, but Jersey will only add to her fitness and the overall plan for the next couple years.

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