Running in the RED!

Photo by HoofClix
Wow 23 blog followers... the pressure is on to keep these posts up-to-date. I want to let everyone know that this weekend the website will be updated. I apologize for the delay, horses and school have taken precedence!

On to Sporting Days...
North Carolina is being hit by a never-ending series of snow storms. The weekend of Sporting Days was no exception. The predicted storm was so severe that I decided to go down to Aiken for the full weekend, instead of making the trip and competition in one day (oh darn, another day in Aiken). Deacon was a bit full of himself Sunday morning, whether it was the chilly morning weather, or lack of riding since Wednesday's full gallop (the ring in NC is frozen) I will never know. But boy was he naughty! However, in true Deacon style he collected himself around the ring and put in a MARVELOUS test. He was soft, supple, and very ride-able, which made the new test much easier! Show Jumping was quite big and was a long, twisty course - not the best thing for a baby horse's first prelim! Deacon, once again, proved me wrong and jumped a splendid round. His jumping style was a little flat, something I believe is attributed to running him Wednesday-Sunday. I am very much against running horses this frequently, but the scheduling really left me with no choice! I needed a solid training followed by a soft prelim...and Sporting Days is the only one around! (usually people use the spring as a warm-up, and then move up to the level they competed at the prior fall). Deacon's clear show jumping round led right into his clean xc round! I was very excited about this round - not because we could use it as a qualifying round for a spring *, but because his confidence level grew after each fence and he really is understanding the preliminary questions!

With Deacon's wonderful performance he finished in 2nd place! in his 3rd prelim! Wow! The great performances the past week from my two horses has landed me in the 22nd spot on the USEA Top 50 rider leaderboard! This is a fabulous accomplishment, especially considering I only have two horses (which i started myself), and am a full time student in school, and have been battling this crazy winter weather! I am so proud of my boys, and look forward towards a great 2010!

Beginning with a BANG!

Hello everyone! I hope that this post finds everyone warm and well! Thankfully the boys and I managed to miss the historical 3+ feet of snow that hit the Mid-Atlantic this past week.. though North Carolina did see its fair share of nasty weather!

DGE spent this winter tine-tuning everything. We took advantage of the beautiful indoor at An Otherwise Perfect Farm in Upperco, MD and really worked on finessing the new USEF dressage tests, building insane amounts of grids, and of course the endless/tedious trot sets around and around the indoor. While I was only able to squeeze in a couple of lessons with Colleen right before I left for NC, it was very helpful for pushing our work even further towards the edge. Colleen and I were also able to fine tune DGE's competition plans for this year - highlights of which include Jersey Fresh CCI**, Virginia CCI*, Fair Hill CCI**, Advanced at Millbrook, and taking the entire team down to the AECs. I am incredibly excited to see how the year pans out...

I decided to start the year a bit earlier this season, beginning with the Wednesday event at Full Gallop. It is customary for most riders to enter their horses a level lower than they normally compete - this gives the horses a chance to re-acclimate to the competition environment and to shed all the winter cobwebs! Since the boys had an early winter vacation, I felt that they were ready to go back full force. My instincts were enforced with two perfect jump schools with Holly Hudspeth the Thursday before our first event. The horses were jumping great, looked happy, and were incredibly fit for the end of January. Willy was to begin the season running at Intermediate, while Deacon would begin at Training...though would run his first preliminary the following weekend.

The boys and I shipped down to Aiken around 1 pm Tuesday morning, arriving just in time for me to run over to Full Gallop and walk the intermediate course. After a late night of bathing/braiding/cleaning tack/organizing the trailer/spoiling the ponies, everyone was tucked in for the chilly night. Thankfully, Wednesday promised to be in the 60s and sunny... a welcome change to the dismal, dreary weather we have seen all winter.

Willy's dressage was first. I have not decided on my feelings towards the new tests, they will definitely take some getting used to! I am excited to perform in the large area, for it eliminates the claustrophobic feeling that can be associated with medium canters down the long sides (in a small arena). Despite two small errors, Willy performed a very nice test...and was rewarded by a high - but competitive score from Brian Ross. His comments were very spot-on, rewarding our obedient and work-man-like test, but suggesting that the envelope should be pushed more. This was an exciting change for Willy - He is finally relaxing in the ring, and I look forward towards really pushing ourselves in the area... hopefully our explosive moments are a thing of the past. Deacon's dressage was quite similar to that of his brother. Very correct, and obedient - although the judge challenged us for more. He received a 35 and was in 10th, although fractions of points separated the top 10 places.

Show Jumping was scheduled before XC, which is both a blessing and a curse. Show Jumping before the XC gives the horse's a little more spunk and jump over the fences, which hopefully translates to a clean round. On the other hand - the horses are very excited and somewhat more difficult to ride b/c they know what comes next! But DGE proved that we were ready for the game! Willy really WOW-ed the crowd with his ridiculously athletic jumping style... I swear this horse is allergic to paint! He jumped a brilliant course to finish in 2nd. While Deacon performed his "bad-boy act" once again near the in-gate, once he got on course he jumped better than ever! He did not touch a rail and really rounded his back over every fence! I am very excited for this horse as he is developing into a real athlete!

I was very excited to get back out on the cross-country, although I did not have an opportunity to school before the event... anyone on the East Coast could tell you why! Willy went out of the box like the true champion he is, and was a star from start to finish. He was a little over-zealous the entire day, and cross country was no exception. It always takes him several events before he realizes that jumping his mother out of the tack over every fence really isn't necessary. While I did not push Willy for time, he was eager through the finish flags - a tribute to our new trot-based conditioning program. Deacon was the real superstar of cross country. I was expecting at least a little rustiness on his part, as he is still new to the game, but I was quickly proven wrong! Deacon was bold and brilliant, finishing with a double clear round!

The end result was Willy finishing in 2nd, and Deacon in 5th. Not too bad for our first time out! We look forward to Sporting Days, where Deacon will be competing at the preliminary level. Willy's next outing will be the big Pine Top, competing at Intermediate.

Goodbye 2009

I apologize yet again to all our followers about the delay in posting about Defying Gravity Eventing's wonderful end to the 2009 season.

2009 has been a year of incredible highs and lows...but as we all know, this is the way with horses! The year started out perfectly, in hindsight probably too perfectly. Willy qualified for the NAYRC** team with a flawless performance at both Poplar CIC** and Fair Hill CIC**, and Deacon was one of the top 10 USEA training level horses. Not too shabby for a Young Rider, who is also enrolled full-time at Wake Forest University, and working on the side!

The summer brought a near career ending injury for Willy, puncturing his knee at a local HT. Despite our best efforts, it was in Willy's interest to put our dreams of representing the U.S. again at Young Riders behind us. With wonderful help from our two vets, IRAP injections, and the aqua-tred facility at Normar Farm... Willy made a slow but stead recovery. After completing our rehab program, Willy felt better than ever.

Returning to North Carolina, I had two very fit, restless horses ready to make their mark on the eventing scene. We started off with both horses competing at Training level at Five Points Horse Trials... and to my surprise Willy and Deacon went into show jumping in 1st and 2nd place. An unlucky rail dropped Deacon to 4th... but a clear but exuberant round from Willy allowed him to lead the victory gallop! Next the boys were off to Paradise Farm where Deacon placed 3rd in the T/P division, and Willy was 7th in a very competitive preliminary division. Tryon was another big event for the boys, Willy repeated his win of the I/P division, and Deacon gave the prelim a good go! Both boys had disappointing dressage tests, but stellar show jumping rounds. Unfortunately with the incredibly difficult preliminary questions, Deacon was a little too overfaced and I pulled him up at the 2nd to last fence. Regardless he learned much at Tryon, and really showed how he has grownup in his last event at Virginia.

Halloween weekend was spent at Virginia Horse Center. Willy competed in his first intermediate post-accident, and what a performance indeed! We went into the dressage ring with a purpose, and came out in first place! Willy never looked back posting a clean and fast cross country, and a fabulous show jumping round. Brian O'Connor - the announcer at Virginia - said over the PA system "you show those bay TBs and Warmbloods who owns THIS arena." During Willy's victory gallop "I Believe I can Fly" was playing over the PA system... it was a moment which I will forever cherish. To have come this far and accomplish this much with Willy, despite all the odds against us, is a miracle. Willy has added so much to my life, he is such a blessing to be around...even in his grumpy pony moods.

Deacon was not to be outdone by his older brother. He was 7th out of all the starters in the preliminary division after dressage. The cross country was incredibly challenging, but Deacon showed his courage and jumped all the jumps and answered all of the technical questions right away! Since it was his second attempt at prelim, i did not ask him for a big gallop - instead we settled into a comfortable pace. Even with our time penalties, Deacon moved up to 6th place after XC. Another unfortunate rail at the last combination in show jumping dropped him to 7th place... but despite the groans from the crowd, i couldn't have been happier!

With Willy winning 3/4 of his event's after his injury, and Deacon completing his first preliminary horse trial the boys had some well-deserved let-down time. I will post another update soon as to our winter 'boot camp'!

Happy Holidays!
Courtney

Student Success!

Luckily I have many positive things to report since my last entry....

Student Christine Lonsdale performed beautifully at the East Coast Pony Club Championships in the Beginner Novice division. Christine and her adorable pony Magic had a respectable dressage test, and finished the event on their dressage score! I've only been working with Christine for the month prior to championships, and it was incredibly rewarding to hear all of her hard work (both on jumping, conditioning, and on the flat) pay off. I have high aspirations for this pair, I can't wait to see just how far they will be able to go... both horse and rider have so much untapped potential. Hopefully I can get them to do some recognized novice and training events in 2010.

The clinic in Ithaca, NY was absolutely lovely. A friend of mine, Brittnie Chidsey organized the clinic as part of her pony club's summer camp (Red Jacket PC). I had actually met Brittnie last year when we were on the winning team for Show Jumping at the 2008 USPC Champs, and we have stayed in contact ever since (for further information about Champs, see the Chronicle of the Horse article which highlight's Willy's 5 perfect rounds). The days were long, but all of the students were wonderful, and everyone learned something that weekend - I know that I saw a HUGE improvement in everyone. The club was incredibly generous, even taking me out on my first tubing adventure... something I loved doing, but I'm not sure if I could ever do again. I'll stick to jumping 4' solid fences.

I also had the pleasure of teaching for my own club, Green Spring Hounds, all summer. We have such a phenomenal group of both kids, ponies, and parents that Tuesday morning lessons were very much anticipated. As a young instructor, it was incredibly rewarding to see the progress made by each and every student week to week, from the walk-trot-ers to the "big kids" doing double bounce gymnastics.

At the end of the summer, I was able to help long time friend Tammie Monaco with her adorable new pony. Though he has a bit of a lazy streak, with quite a few ground poles and some interesting jump designs, he really started looking like a top notch hunter pony! Can't wait to hear how he is doing!

Throughout the summer I captured the ride on Betsy Hochstein's beautiful young Hanovarian mare, Callie, who has remarkable potential. She is a top-notch mare, and though green, shows much promise for great things. It was incredibly unfortunate that I had to give up the ride to come back down to North Carolina, but Callie is in great hands and I look forward to hearing lots of success stories!

Sweet Summertime

Hope that this posting is finding everyone well! Though we haven't competed since May, somehow the team has still been quite busy. I've chosen to spend this summer primarily training and working on the finer details - hopefully this will pay off for the fall season! Let me recap..

Willy has been doing lots of trail riding, trotting, and dressage work, and we are awaiting the results of the 2nd IRAP injection, hoping that this is the golden ticket for getting him back up to the top levels. Until then, Willy's having a summer vacation - which he is not altogether happy about. He LOVES jumping, and he doesn't understand why - all of a sudden - he isn't allowed to do what he loves. Until then, I am trying to take him to the river once a week and let him paw/roll/swim - which he thinks is the greatest thing a pony can do b/c it gets his rider soaking wet (if nothing else, all that pawing in the water is a great way to open up his shoulders). But I can confidently say that his dressage is improving, and that he is finally beginning to use his back, and have "horse strides" as opposed to "pony strides". Hopefully he can continue this progress into the competition arena, whenever we get the "clear"

This summer Deacon has truly matured into a top-notch athlete... his flat work and jumping have improved tremendously. I am quite confident that he will be a force to be recon with at the Training 3-day this November, but in October I hope to compete him in two preliminary level horse trials. His flat work is really quite solid for the preliminary level, and with a few more schooling opportunities I believe he will be able to move up easily. I'm quite excited to see how far this horse will go! On a side note - I've discovered that not much fazes Deacon - every single time I take him out hacking or trotting we come across a HUGE black snake (I'm convinced that it is some mutated form of an anaconda) and - despite my shrieks of terror - he doesn't care... simply continues on his way. How often do you find that in any horse, let alone a young one! (Willy and I are more than willing to run away in the opposite direction)

I've been kept quite busy preparing for my pony club ratings, teaching, and training horses. In fact, I have just been flown up to Genoa, NY to teach a two day clinic ending Wednesday! I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by, but I am very excited for the upcoming fall season and my final year at Wake Forest.
Our first competition back will be Five Points at the Carolina Horse Park where Deacon will be competing at Training and *hopefully* Willy will be coming back at preliminary. Stay tuned for more updates!

We never said it was easy...

The past week has been very hard for me. Let me see if I can get everyone up to date....

After the nightmare at Waredaca, we were on edge with Willy's recovery. I was incredible careful... making sure he received the aqua-therapy, 'Ok' from the vet every other day, new supplements, etc, etc and was ecstatic to receive the 'go-ahead' that I could continue intense training in preparation for the upcoming NAYRC ** championship in Kentucky. With the 10 day set-back, we were cutting it close (fitness wise) for the competition, but Willy was rearing (literally) to go and showed every sign of being up to the challenge.

I competed in the NAYRCs in 2006, and thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie of the area teams and competing against peers instead of well-seasoned veterans. For the past three years I have been chomping on the bit to compete again in this competition, though age restrictions and minor problems (aka COLLEGE!) kept holding us back. This year, my last year as a young rider, I was determined to qualify and compete to the best of my ability in the 2009 Young Rider Championships. Though it does not happen very often in the horse world, competitions this spring went to plan - the pony did not have a single XC jump penalty, pulled only 1 rail all spring, and was steadily improving in the dressage arena - he's only slightly convinced that dressage is all evil now :) . So for May-June we were scheduled to do smaller events, just to keep tuned up. So far, so good. Then Waredaca happened. And everything changed...

A setback, but a "full recovery" was the verdict from New Bolton... so it was crunch time for fitness, still not too much of a panic - just another twist to our story. However, after our first gallop post-accident the pony's knee filled. After a frantic call to the vet, the question became not 'When can I leave for training camp' but "Will Willy be able to jump again?". Willy has been my partner for 10 years. 10 years that I look back on with the fondest of memories (despite all the times when I couldn't get Willy past 'x' in the dressage because the judge's car doors were open!). He is a pony of a lifetime. And I consider myself blessed to have trained him.

After ultrasounds, sweat wraps, and cold hosing we had two options. A) Inject everything we had in the knee and take our chances ( of developing additional adhesions of the tendon to the tendon sheath) at the competition or B) Give the tendon/tendon sheath time to heal, inject, and slowly bring him back. While Young Riders meant the world to me, as the climax of our eventing career - this was not a question for me. I do not take chances with my horses, they come first and foremost to me... so now I play the waiting game. We are going to inject his knee with IRAP which we hope will prevent any further adhesions, and then slowly bring him back into work... seeing just how much work he will be able to do now. If all goes according to plan - vets are assuring me that he should make a full recovery by this fall, and we are very tentatively looking forward towards the Ocala CCI**/Training Level 3-day.

--> Try telling the pony that he is not fully recovered now.... (he is most disgusted by my attempts of walking him around the property)

Deacon has had to step up to #1 horse for the finale of the spring season. Unfortunately Seneca was a bit of a disappointment. I thought I was quite smart to leave him out the night before competing - hoping to take the edge off of him - but to my dismay, I was riding the grumpiest of horses! Someone desperately needed a nap! After an under-par dressage (he was til top 5 though!), I was popped out of the tack at the last show jumping fence.

I wanted to quickly redeem ourselves, so off Deacon and I went to the Maryland Region eventing rally at Difficult Run. He had a lovely dressage of 28, which put him far in the lead, clean show jumping, and clean cross country. Unfortunately a small child (spectator) was standing in front of a cross country fence - so I circled to avoid a collision and incurred time penalties. No harm done, I was incredibly pleased with his performance and manners the entire weekend! Then it was off to Surefire, where Deacon put in an obedient dressage, lovely show jumping, and flawless XC to finish in 6th.... in a division filled with past and present Olympians! Not bad for baby Deacon!

As things die down now for Defying Gravity Eventing (no events are scheduled for July) I can start studying for my HA and A pony club ratings (YIKES are they really only 3 weeks away!), enjoying the weather, teaching, and get several young horses going.

Bumps in the Road

Every road has its bumps.

This past weekend at Waredaca the boys were super! Willy is steadily improving in the dressage department- this time putting in some lovely canter work earning a score of 39! Hopefully scores in the 30s at the upper levels will become the norm, it's something I can definitely get used to! His jumping, like always, is impeccable. I recently began taking lessons with Gayle Molander, who is fine tuning Willy's amazing ability, making sure that he is even more careful and precise. Cross country was quite effortless as well. In an effort to be careful (we've got to keep a sound, healthy horse for Young Riders) I took it rather slow and was very deliberate to each and every fence - which paid off with a clear round (though we added some time faults). Willy finished in 14th place (though he was 8th after show jumping..and would have been 4th if not for the time faults!), in a division filled with top-dollar horses and riders. Not too shabby!

Deacon was not to be outdone by his brother! Though keeping his attention in warm-ups seems to be the hardest part for this youngster - especially when cross country is close by! He put in an excellent dressage test despite the icky footing and scored a 30.0. I was even more pleased with his performance over fences! Deacon is just beginning to understand how to use his whole body over fences.... and man can he jump! For the first time Deacon was quite bold towards all his fences, never missing a single beat.... finishing in 2nd!!!! It was a very tough, large division filled with former Olympians and baby Deacon is proving to be quite the competitor.

Now for the difficult news.

Willy came off xc with a very small scrape right above his knee. We have no idea how he received such a scrape (though we have our own theories), but were very careful to clean it off and even had the on-site vet throw in a couple of stitches. Everything was fine until Willy stepped off the trailer at home, he was incredibly lame on the leg (right front). After we unpacked we took Willy out of his stall 30 minutes later to check him over again and reevaluate the situation. Willy was practically falling over, and was not able to put any weight on his leg. Fortunately our vet came out immediately and it was determined that something had punctured the joint. Willy was immediately on his way to New Bolton where he stayed for exactly a week. Thanks to our early diagnosis, Willy appears to be making a full recovery... and has only 10 more days of stall rest/hand walking. After the 10 days, if Willy is sound, he can start aqua-therapy and dressage training. Because Young Riders is at the end of July, we will be cutting it very close for getting Willy back up to his peak fitness level... but the dream is still alive.