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Old Tavern

9/29/2022

Fall blew in on the 21st and I think with the weather the horses are ready for some action—they’re all a bit fuzzy and feral!

We took the whole Surefire Event Team to Old Tavern last weekend and it was super fun. I did Cash, or Collection Box, for first time since July and he was foot-perfect. It’s amazing how much more broke and strong he’s become. He was second after dressage and stayed that way. He’s such a beautiful horse to ride.

Thanks, once again, to Janet Gallay for all the great photos!

Cash (Collection Box)

Storm continues to impress me. We’re getting ready for the 3-long at Maryland, so this was our last run. There were some good things in dressage, and some bad, so that’s still a work in progress. He had one down show jumping going into the triple and I think I could have balanced him a little more beforehand. He was super cross-country, fun and very smart!

Sara continues to impress as well, and improve with her Cooley Chromatic. I didn’t see her dressage, which she said wasn’t accurate enough and could have been more connected, maybe partially due to her doing two competitions in a large arena and then being back in a small, and her score was affected. She had two down in show jumping, one hers and one his, but overall a lot of great things and this is the first time she was able to add speed to cross-country and still have great rhythm, so that was super fun. Sara finished 6th.

Marlene, my right hand, did her first competition of the year in the Novice with her horse Manchester (Manny). She had the best connection she’s had yet in the dressage, a beautiful round in show jumping, and finished cross-country on her dressage score.

Marlene and Manny (Manchester)

The highlight of the weekend was Inmidair (JR) and Maddie Wood-Lewis, who’s been leasing him until we find a horse for her. (If anyone has a good 2-star horse for sale, let me know. Just remember, Maddie’s been riding JR and loves that feel, just not the budget for a horse like him, LOL!) I think her dressage could have been a little better if she’d allowed more time to warm up, as JR was definitely having a party in his pants going down center line. Maybe he thought he was at Kentucky again, who knows? Jumping he was foot perfect, and JR told me we’d made his year. He doesn’t know it but he’ll be out again at Morven Park and I can’t wait until then.

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Competition Report

9/13/2022

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Time is flying like always—I can’t believe it’s September! Things have been going along well, and I was lucky to do the 3-star short at Great Meadow with Beautiful Storm and Sara (Schulman) was able to do the Preliminary with her horse as well. My sister, Kristen, came out for five days which was super fun because she hadn’t seen me compete since the World Games in 2006. She also hadn’t ridden for 36 years and Kaylin Dines was nice enough to let her ride Volcan. It was super fun to be with her and she looked like she hadn’t missed a day. If you know me at all, of course we’re going to do more than walk, trot and canter, and of course, Kristen was in her tennies!

At Great Meadow, Sara started out with her dressage on Thursday and had a seamless and beautiful test. She put all the things we’ve been working on together and tied for third after the first phase. Her horse, Cooley Chromatic, will soon be the winner. I did my dressage Friday. Storm is a funny horse—he’d had a bit of a busy week and was a little back sore, which made it hard for him to stay connected or through and steady in the contact. Whoopsie! I was lucky that Sally Spinard came to help and keep me to a dull roar when he felt so disconnected. It’s disheartening when you warm up and don’t feel your horse is the best he can be, but that is the sport. The nice thing about Storm is that he handled the atmosphere like a champ.

Sara Schulman and Cooley Chromatic above, Beautiful Storm in the showjumping below.

Sara did her showjumping and cross country and had one down though she rode in a beautiful rhythm. On cross-country he was the most rideable he’s been and was so fun to watch. David O’Connor, who loves Sara’s horse, asked if she’d give him to him to ride. Storm was great in the show jumping, even though I had two down behind, I thought the first was his fault as he has a bit of a funny style if he’s a little deep. The second was my fault—I was a little too strong coming into the combination, a five-stride vertical to vertical one—and ran out of room. I allowed him to be a little open and never adjusted enough. I have to remember how big his stride is! The triple was my favorite part of the course. Storm jumped in and I felt meter-40 scope, most Thoroughbreds don’t have that and he made me smile. Sara ended up sixth 6th. She didn’t make the time on cross-country but stayed in rhythm. My cross-country was Sunday. I liked the course, and felt they did a good job with the footing. My plan was to not worry about time, I wasn’t going to win, Storm just needed the experience. It turned out I was just one second over! Our worst fence was #5 because I rode a distance, not the rhythm, and Storm was a bit surprised by the terrain change at the log but ate up the rest of course. I could have gone twice as fast, it was easy to make the time, and I felt going uphill after 9 ABC, he could have hit a whole other gear. I could have easily gone 20 seconds faster. I would have loved to be more competitive but so proud of my horse!

Next, Sara and I went to Five Points Horse Trials. I wanted to go there so Storm could see a different course and I’d forgotten how nice that event is! We had a great weekend. Sara started us out with her dressage and I didn’t get to see it but she thought it was on par with Great Meadow’s test, other than the buck in the medium counter! The judge didn’t agree with that but because we were so close in times, I didn’t get to see or help her.
Storm was much better than at Great Meadow and his dressage is going in the right direction for now! We got a lot of rain in the afternoon but all we had to do was walk our courses and prepare for the next day. The show jumping course was designed by Mark Donovan and it was awesome. Both of our horses had great rounds, though again, I didn’t get to help Sarah because of our close times. Luckily, Sara was able to help me and Storm was the best he has been yet! I think I also had the best cross-country round I’ve had with him, although I did have a little drift to the right at the second corner, more than I should’ve. Not that it mattered as I had the pin at the gate at 14. I’m not sure what happened because I felt I’d done a good job of preparing and was in a good balance, and he didn’t even hit it that hard. Sara had a great cross-country and I did get to watch that. She’s started to work on being able to keep the same balance and go for time! The courses were big but rode well.

The only bummer of the weekend was our beautiful dog, Ella Mae, was hit by a car on Sunday and we had to bury her. Tom, Teddy, and I are heartbroken and gutted.

Next up is Old Tavern, and then hopefully the three-long at Maryland for Storm. My young horse, Cash, has been great—he’ll do Old Tavern and Morven to finish up the year. Sara is trying to get ready to do the 2-long at Virginia, and with any luck we’ll see JR at Old Tavern and Morven with Maddie Wood-Lewis.

Back at it—Inmidair (JR) and Maddie getting ready to compete.

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