Florida is done and dusted. I’m so thankful for the whole experience every year, from my family that I live with—Barton and Susan Merle-Smith—because they make the whole living/workout/life advice/friendship experience so enjoyable for me over the winter. I’m also thankful for Barbara Riddleberger and Claudia Sarnoff for having my horses at their great facility, which also gives me the opportunity to help Claudia with her horses and get Claudia’s help. Their farm is such a beautiful place to be, I feel beyond lucky.
As far as the horses go, I was able to do two Novices with Tate, which were super fun, Ocala and Majestic Oaks back-to-back. He learned a lot and has come home to Virginia a better horse. Tate now seems to understand he has a job; the physical part is easy for him with his build and athleticism, but it wasn't always easy mentally. He’s matured so much in such a nice way.
Storm went to Bouckaert Equestrian Horse Trials, where his dressage was fine and he did nothing wrong, but he just wasn’t connected. Cross-country was a bit of a muddle, and though the organizers did a great job preparing the ground, Storm lost a shoe at the second fence. He was great to jump around without the shoe and with the footing holding enough that it didn’t give me the feeling I wanted, but sometimes that’s how it goes. My horse answered all the questions, though, even if it wasn’t the type of ride or the flow I wanted in a cross-country course.
The show jumping was great, however. I asked Mike Huber to help Shaena set jumps for me, so that she didn’t feel pressured in her first FEI warm-up where unlike national horse trials, you get a jump assigned to you. Mike is such a great friend and really good eyes on the ground, and helped me warm up. I had two rails, which normally I have because I don’t get Storm’s balance done soon enough to be able to give him enough of his head and neck to finish with his hind legs.
Sometimes, when you have a problem and different eyes watching you, you get different suggestions for how to fix it. In my case, Lynn and Phillip had the same idea—to use a hackamore on Storm. Claudia loaned me one to play with and I did some local jumper shows to practice. I decided to use it in a competition environment when I got home to Virginia because I was planning to run Storm at Morven in the Intermediate.
We got all the horses home by the weekend of Morven and I was lucky enough that Tom Finnen, my other half, agreed to groom for me because I only had an hour for all three phases. I rode Storm at home, put him on the trailer to Morven, did my dressage and he was the best he’s been. Jacquie Brooks had come over to the farm before Morven to help give me a feeling that I was looking for in my everyday work: feeling Storm’s hind legs and his back up. This was super helpful and my trot work was the best I’ve ever had. The canter work was fine, just not quite the same connection but the right idea for now.
As far as the horses go, I was able to do two Novices with Tate, which were super fun, Ocala and Majestic Oaks back-to-back. He learned a lot and has come home to Virginia a better horse. Tate now seems to understand he has a job; the physical part is easy for him with his build and athleticism, but it wasn't always easy mentally. He’s matured so much in such a nice way.
Storm went to Bouckaert Equestrian Horse Trials, where his dressage was fine and he did nothing wrong, but he just wasn’t connected. Cross-country was a bit of a muddle, and though the organizers did a great job preparing the ground, Storm lost a shoe at the second fence. He was great to jump around without the shoe and with the footing holding enough that it didn’t give me the feeling I wanted, but sometimes that’s how it goes. My horse answered all the questions, though, even if it wasn’t the type of ride or the flow I wanted in a cross-country course.
The show jumping was great, however. I asked Mike Huber to help Shaena set jumps for me, so that she didn’t feel pressured in her first FEI warm-up where unlike national horse trials, you get a jump assigned to you. Mike is such a great friend and really good eyes on the ground, and helped me warm up. I had two rails, which normally I have because I don’t get Storm’s balance done soon enough to be able to give him enough of his head and neck to finish with his hind legs.
Sometimes, when you have a problem and different eyes watching you, you get different suggestions for how to fix it. In my case, Lynn and Phillip had the same idea—to use a hackamore on Storm. Claudia loaned me one to play with and I did some local jumper shows to practice. I decided to use it in a competition environment when I got home to Virginia because I was planning to run Storm at Morven in the Intermediate.
We got all the horses home by the weekend of Morven and I was lucky enough that Tom Finnen, my other half, agreed to groom for me because I only had an hour for all three phases. I rode Storm at home, put him on the trailer to Morven, did my dressage and he was the best he’s been. Jacquie Brooks had come over to the farm before Morven to help give me a feeling that I was looking for in my everyday work: feeling Storm’s hind legs and his back up. This was super helpful and my trot work was the best I’ve ever had. The canter work was fine, just not quite the same connection but the right idea for now.
 Photos by Janet Gallay |  |  |
Show jumping was great; I ran into Lisa Apted and she came and set jumps for me. The hackamore is certainly the right idea, Storm didn’t want to touch a jump, thought I didn’t have the precision I typically do. (Not that I am always as precise as I need to be anyway, but less than normal.) I think it will be a work in progress as it always is.
Cross-country was the best ride I’ve ever had on Storm. I had a great course talk with designer Jeff Kibbe, who said that Boyd had called him and about bringing two of his 5-star horses. Boyd wanted good questions without them being too hard. The Intermediate course didn’t disappoint and it was great for me to be able to practice things that are often uncomfortable for me—a long 4 instead of adding to 5, or 5 rather than 6—and I was able to trust the process all the way around the course. Storm answered all the questions and gave me confidence in that ride. I did the time easily and ended up winning and also won TIP award. I did not win the dressage but added nothing to my score.
Winning was icing on the cake as I really felt like I had done my due diligence with all my winter work. It’s nice when things actually go according to plan. April is always a busy month, catching up with things at home, which mostly Tom does because I travel so much teaching clinics, competing and spectating and being a selector at Kentucky. Paris is on the horizon, stay tuned for more.
Winning was icing on the cake as I really felt like I had done my due diligence with all my winter work. It’s nice when things actually go according to plan. April is always a busy month, catching up with things at home, which mostly Tom does because I travel so much teaching clinics, competing and spectating and being a selector at Kentucky. Paris is on the horizon, stay tuned for more.
RSS Feed