On the Mend...

Well there are positives and negatives about not blogging for hmm, two months? The positives - life has been so crazy and DGE has a bunch of new horses and students in full swing. The bad news - I haven't kept anyone updated and really haven't gotten a good night's sleep in weeks! Today is my first day off in I have no idea how long, and I had the guilty pleasure of sleeping in until 7:30am and to blog, all before I have to ride the boys and clean the house/trailer in preparation for this weekend's competition at Seneca with the big boys.

So here goes nothing... you will have to excuse the typos and grammar errors

After spending a longer than anticipated time in Aiken, SC (with skyrocketing hay prices and two very hungry ponies) my pockets were feeling a bit on the light side, so the plan was to take March and absorb all I had learned lessoning and competing in the south, then a quick run in April then Jersey Fresh ** and Virginia *. But that was the problem... I planned. And as anyone that works with horses will tell you, you can NEVER plan with horses. So as lessons were picking up in March and April, I decided to enter Plantation Field for a positive run on what is typing great footing on an "old-school" gallop type course. But these plans came to an abrupt halt when, while schooling a student's horse, I jammed by hand and broke the bone between my wrist and pinkie finger. Essentially the horse lunged forward and took off around the arena, and in the initial lunge my weight was thrown forward onto my hand and snap! A clean break on my left hand. As most riders would do, I stayed on and finished the ride... and of course the horse was absolutely perfect thereafter. I felt a shooting pain in my hand and really wasn't able to move my pinkie ... so off to the hospital I went. Fun times. Six weeks in a cast from my fingers to about half way up my forearm. With this injury I promised myself I would be good. I would take the time off and allow the bone to fully heal... lord knows I don't need another part of my body to tell me when it is going to rain. The big boys were sent off to Sally Cousins so that they could stay in shape and run around Plantation. Big THANK YOU Sally! The boys stayed up in PA for about two weeks, and then competed at Plantation. Deacon was the first horse of the day and put in a very solid dressage test, followed up with a picture perfect show jumping round. After his round, Deacon was in first place in the open preliminary! Not too bad! The weather started to deteriorate rapidly as the day went on, though luckily Willy went into the ring shortly thereafter. Willy kept it relatively together in the dressage and then put forth another clear show jumping round to finish in 5th! Yay boys!

Another great development in the DGE team was selling of Barrett Warner's little filly Havannah to Grave Fulton at Full Moon Farm. I am really sad to see Havannah go because she is such a talented little girl, but if anyone will utilize her talents while having an absolute blast with the mare, its Grace. Grace, take care of my little girl! (I know you will!) I look forward to seeing them out and about at events!

New developments for DGE students (If I miss anyone, please let me know and I will add you in): New student Kelsey placed 3rd in the Open Training at Rubicon, Hayley Mullen qualified for USPC national championships in show jumping with her new mount Holly AND earned 4th place in equitation, student Rebecca Toms qualified for USPC national championships in eventing at the novice level with the second best score of the weekend (and Rebecca completed her first novice event at MCTA), Christa Shive placed 3rd at her first event out this year at BN, Lauren Drenning placed 2nd at MCTA at novice, Eliza had a very positive first competition at Full Moon, the Jacksons are enjoying the horses I paired them with (found while working at Colleen Rutledge's farm) and are heading towards Loudoun Hunt PC camp next week, Ellie, Taylor, and Rachel also had great rounds at show jumping for a very positive weekend. Student Janet Dyer had a great first competition at Petticoat's dressage show earning her first two ribbons ever! My mom and student Janice Sendak earned two blue ribbons in her Intro tests A and B at the same competition. All of my other students continue to progress and are looking great going into the summer months!

So now things are back in full swing. I competed at MCTA with the boys - Deacon had a fabulous go around preliminary and Willy placed 5th in Intermediate. Not too bad with a broken hand! Next we are headed to Seneca for a nice refresher course this Saturday! I also started serving at the Greene Turtle in Hunt Valley, so my schedule is very tight! I will try to give more updates shortly, but it is time for me to head to the barn!

Until then!
Courtney

Aiken - the ultimate time warp

(No I can't stick my behind in the air any higher!)

Thirty days literally flew by in the blink of an eye. I can't believe that I am once again back in my house, blogging with my dog passed out next to me... with the heat on. Here goes my recount of the wonderful experience that was Aiken...

The hardest part about packing for Aiken was de-stinkbuging the trailer. Being the clever person that I am, I thought that keeping everything in closed containers in the trailer would eliminate the wretched creature’s ability to infest all of my saddle pads, wraps, blankets, boots, etc. I was very wrong. It seems that stinkbugs are sneakier than I thought, and somehow I found hundreds of stinkbug carcasses all over/in/around my trailer and dressing room. And when I say carcass, I mean that most of them were dead or hibernating, but there were definitely some of the hardier variety that tried to avoid my soapy water bucket of death. And in typical Courtney fashion, I started this entire process the day before our scheduled Aiken departure. So there were no breaks, no running away from the horrid smell these little suckers gave off when I picked them up. Instead my task was to go through every inch of the trailer and find these little creatures...this includes unwrapping ALL of my wraps, standing bandages, polos (they manage to get under each individual layer of the wrap), opening all the folding chairs (pretty sure that I found a nest of stinkbugs), looking in the pockets of my show jackets, inside the armpit of my shadbelly, and searching through each inch of blankets and towels I had foolishly left hanging up in the trailer. If I had a dime for every stinkbug I found, I'm pretty sure I would have been more than fine for gas money — at least for the way down to Aiken. But enough with the stinkbugs, I am sure that there will be another blog post about them when they come into full force during the warmer months...by the billions. Gross.

On to Aiken... after making my "Aiken list" and checking it twice, I was pretty sure I had everything I could possibly need for our short stay. Everything from extra shoes, extra feed buckets, duct tape, and hairnets. Our trip down was pretty uneventful except that it was long and thank god for XM radio because that is the only way that I was able to stay alert and entertained all by my lonesome.

I was fortunate enough to stay at the beautiful facility, Jumping Branch Farm. JBF has a full XC course from tadpole to preliminary, dressage rings, show jumping courses, lots of areas to hack, a racing track, and the best thing... a sand road! It was great because I could use the track for gallops, and the long, hilly Fox Pond Road for long trot sets. Our first order of business (after unpacking) was to get Deacon ready for his debut at Full Gallop Farm. This involved a full body clip, show clip, mane pulling, tail trimming, tack scrubbing — the whole nine yards. I somehow managed to pull this out in the POURING rain ... but no complaining from me because it was a warm pouring rain! Deacon's dressage was a bit lacking, we had two minor blowups — one when he was certain that I was having a blonde moment because we canter NOW. Oh well we cannot always be perfect. Friend and instructor Richard Lamb was running the show jumping, so after watching about 20 rounds, and having a beautiful warm-up, Richard called for us to enter the ring. Boy did Deacon feel fabulous! We hit every spot beautifully until I did a wonderful little rollback and promptly forgot that number 9 typically comes between 8 and 10. Fortunately I noticed this mistake before I jumped into the triple, but not before I was given a technical stop (for crossing my tracks) and time penalties. Oh well, this month is for dusting off cobwebs, right? Hopefully I will not have to do that again. Because of the downpour the day before cross-country was incredibly sloppy, and it became very clear very fast that I did not have the right size studs in. Deacon really showed his true colors by saving our behinds at several fences (it seemed that every combination was downhill). Unfortunately we have a blip early on and literally slid into the fourth fence, so I came back and represented... a disappointing day on paper but it was incredibly helpful to get back into the swing of things.

Things really did not let up as Sporting Days was just four days later, where Deacon was running his first preliminary level horse trials. Our dressage scored better by eight or so points and one unlucky rail in show jumping. Deacon's entire schedule was centered on using Sporting Days as a move-up because it is one of the few events on the East coast that is generally very forgiving and you typically don't see anything too out of the ordinary. I guess it has been a while since I have had a preliminary horse because I was really taken aback by how difficult the "easy Area III" event was: you had to gallop past warm-up between fences two and three, fence 7 was a really tough downhill ABC ditch combination, a chevron, ABCD water combination, and a corner. Deacon started off great, it felt that with each fence he was getting more confident! Then we got to fence 7 the ditch combination. His jump over the maxed out table at A was a bit hairy, he scrambled over the B ditch, and just got too underneath the C element ... and just like that 20 points. But boy did this horse jump everything else like a champion! By the time we got to the corner (the third to last fence) he was on cruise control. I know that I still have a lot of work left to do with this horse, but we are definitely on the right track!

So after a chaotic first week of prepping Deacon for his first events, getting Willy ridden, unpacking the horses, unpacking me, then frantically searching for other living arrangements for myself — the Aiken adventure began in complete disarray. But after Sporting Days and finding a new home thanks to Colleen and Richard this began to settle into a rhythm. At this point the Aiken learning curve began. I found out the best places to eat, grocery shop, rent movies, where to steal the best internet, and most importantly which laundry mat was horse friendly. I also began taking lessons from Sally Cousins to get in a solid jumping school on each horse, and Richard Lamb to do a bit of flatwork and gymnastics. It was incredibly fortunate that my coach while I was living in North Carolina, Holly Hudspeth, was also staying at JBF with several students (Holly is out of commission since she is very much pregnant!) So I had the opportunity to take a fabulous dressage lesson with her on Willy.

After a very busy week of taking lessons, XC schooling, and fitness work, both horses were headed to Pine Top II Horse Trials. Willy was more than eager to get off the farm (he sulked every time Deacon got on the trailer without him), and Deacon needed to post a clean cross-country. The weekend started off very early with Willy's dressage, and HOLY COW did he warm up fabulously. I actually had people come over to me and congratulate me on how great he looked on the flat. Our wonderful supple and quiet way of going evaporated as soon as Willy took a step down centerline. But this time I could not really blame him — the rings were frozen! The footing was nothing better than concrete, and Willy was not happy about it. He immediately became short and choppy, and was not at all inclined to move forward and give me medium gaits. His dressage score showed exactly that — good but not great. Satisfactory but nothing special. Rats! We have been working so hard and go figure nothing to show for it! Isn't that always the way with horses? Willy's show jumping round was absolutely spectacular; he almost seemed bored over the tough course. He was fabulous on cross-country as well, until we had a bit of a cheeky moment coming out of the water over a corner. I saw the distance from about five strides out, and tilted my shoulders forward like a champ. DING DING DING that is the perfect way to ask the pony to stop. So after our "blonde moment" runout, I represented and off we went to finish the course in fine form. So well in fact that we still ended up in 8th place!

Deacon's day started out very much like Willy's - not very fun. He was a bit excited (I think he is finally figuring out what his job is all about), and then was none too happy when he had to perform in a frozen arena. The show jumping at Pine Top is always difficult — the course is built in a small grassy area on the side of a hill, so terrain is always a factor. For Deacon's inexperience at this level I was really thrilled he handled the course as well as he did ... a rookie mistake at the maxed out downhill oxer, and two rails in the uphill triple (I will take some blame for those...I set him up a bit too much for the first element). But Deacon really earned his keep on the cross-country course...posting a clean round! And not only was his round clean, it was beautiful and really fun to ride! It turns out that Deacon is the easiest horse to ride cross-country because he does everything for you! All you have to do is keep your leg on and he does the rest, half-halts included! It really is fabulous.

So not a great start out for team DGE. Back to the drawing board - this sport is so humbling! Just when I thought I did all of my homework, spent my dwindling dollars on top-notch lessons, and made sure my horses were in top form... the stars just do not align. Not to get discouraged... just time to up our game

Our next outing was Paradise Farm. Paradise is a tricky event, not only because it spans over three days but also because the dressage rings are quite deep, the cross country is very challenging, and the show jumping (when on the grass hill) has taken victims left and right. After a week of hacking, dressage schooling, and lesson with Sally Cousins, Deacon was ready to go. His dressage test was definitely improved, but he was a bit fussy at times, although our dress was very much impressed with our leg yields. Earning eights! Cross-country looked TOUGH! The course started out with some seriously BIG fences, but designed to allow horses to establish a good pace. The first question on course was an ABC ditch combination. The ditch was followed closely by a downhill rolltop to corner combination, then a skinny to a HUGE drop, followed by a bounce bank to skinny telephone. These intense questions were followed by the water combination and then finally a very tight two stride offset combination. Boy, Deacon better have his "big boy pants" on for this course, because the questions really never let up - no time for green-bean moments. Thankfully all of my hard work and preparation finally paid off! Deacon had a foot perfect cross-country run. He was a bit fresh in warm-up and it took me the entire twenty minutes to really get him focusing on my aids (and not on the horses galloping around the course). But the moment he stepped into the box, he was all business. He exploded out of the box into a forward gallop, attacked the gallop fences and immediately set into a rhythm. The ditch combination was a bit of a squeak (Mental note - LEG after the 'A' element of ditch combinations, Courtney!) but after a little encouragement from my battle weapon, Deacon took the hint and stayed in front of my leg. The only other bobble on course was the massive drop, which was midway around the course. Deacon was really confident by this point, so my feeble attempts at half-halts were largely disregarded. He jumped boldly in over the skinny, and was great to the drop until he realized just how big it was! Our forward momentum over the "A" element kept us going down the drop, even though Deacon thought about backpedaling at the last minute... muhahaha. Deacon finished cross-country in fine form...clean and fast. The next day, I noticed some redness on the back of Deacon's pasterns. I tacked him up and started our show jumping warm-up, but he didn't feel 100% sounds so I decided to scratch. As I have said before... when my horses do not feel absolutely perfect, they do not run!

So I came back to Jumping Branch thrilled that my horse performed so beautifully, but worried as to what was making Deacon uncomfortable. On Monday I noticed that Willy's legs were just like Deacon's! Warm and swollen from their pastern to about half way up their cannon! YIKES! After a frantic call into the vet, it appears that both of my horses have very sensitive skin, so sensitive that the constant exposure to sand caused this high level of irritation, go figure! The vet's solution - SMZs and tube socks! Both horses had to be turned out and ridden in tube socks to avoid extended exposure to the sand. And if you are wondering, men's size 6-12 works just fine for horses with small/medium-sized cannons, just remember to cut off the toe!

After just two days, both boys were back to normal and we got the vet's ok to continue onward to the big Pine Top. But before our Pine Top adventure, we were scheduled to take lessons with the great Kim Severson- Olympic silver medalist, multiple Rolex winner, her list of accomplishments would make this blog post more ridiculously long. I begged and pleaded enlisted Kim’s help particularly for the pony’s dressage work, which has also been a “work in progress”, but I thought she could also provide some insight into pushing Deacon’s flatwork to the next level. I had no idea what I was in for. I was a bit nervous right off the back because well it is KIM SEVERSON and Willy especially is not known for his fabulous flatwork. After two hours of almost non-stop work, the boys and I were exhausted. But I came away from the lessons with a large bag of tools and higher expectations for my flatwork. After just one lesson on each horse I felt like I was on the brink of a huge breakthrough, so I made the decision to stay for three days following the big Pine Top to continue taking lessons with Kim. But I am getting ahead of myself…

And here we are to the climax of my Aiken journey, Pine Top. The weekend itself was already somewhat of a letdown because Willy and I weren’t contesting our first advanced event, but rather another refresher intermediate outing. Of course my times were ridiculously close together and with no help it was going to be a challenging weekend! Willy warmed up beautifully and continued to be soft and relaxed through his trot work. Things were looking pretty good until I asked for the medium canter. The key there is “asked”, one does not “ask” the pony for medium canter but rather allows it to happen. Wrong button Courtney. So Willy dropped his back and went GALLOPING across the arena (in the double bridle no less), it was everything I could do to finish the test in some sense of control. The good news was that our trot work scored consistent 6’s and 7’s that is the makings of a solid test for Willy…the canter work, not so much (ironic because we normally score well at the canter). Deacon warmed up well, luckily Kim was in the warm-up so she helped me get him back on track, I was ready to go into the ring when the steward asked me to wait because they were changing the ring next to mine a small ring (rather than a standard). After an additional 10 minutes I was allowed to trot around my arena, and began my test. Solid movements earning 8’s. Awesome. Then as I was leg yielding over the judge to ask for my canter depart, THE GOLF CART used for hauling the extra letters and chains from the ring next to me went in-between my ring and the judge’s car…literally inches away from us. ARG! Our test from that point on was distracted and well, not very good.

Show jumping was big and technical, which is to be expected from Pine Top. Willy was the last intermediate horse to jump, and boy did he feel great! He jumped fabulously and just had one unlucky rail in the triple combination. Deacon was up next and oh lord I was not sure what to expect. Boy did he surprise me. He jumped beautifully! I had been really working on his show jumping with Sally Cousins, riding him a bit slower and rounder to give him more time to pick up his toes! I was so very happy with both of my boys, but the cross-country was going to be very difficult for both horses. But both boys came through for me posting double clear cross-country rounds. Willy moved up to 9th place and Deacon moved up to 8th. Not a bad weekend to end on for my boys!

Our last week in Aiken was filled with more lessons with Kim Severson, and I hope to team up with Kim again shortly after she returns from running at the Fork. The boys are enjoying a mini vacation, and will be back in action soon gearing up for runs at Plantation Field in mid-April. Until then!

A Winter Rut

It is that time of year. The time of year when you see just how many layers of Under Armour you can ride in. The time of year when you pick apart every piece of your riding, trying to improve and fill in the holes. The time of year when I am ever so thankful to have an indoor.

This is my first winter as a professional, and it is a tough one. Already the interest in lessons has died down tremendously - the foxhunters are out hunting, my young kids are busy with school, and my adults busy with work! It is difficult to get all of the extra horses ridden as well because the ground is frozen! It is definitely a struggle to make ends meet right now, and it is only December! This is a tough business, and as Dhruva told me "life with horses is not easy. If it was, then everyone would do it." So true. It is a fabulous job - and I am very much blessed to be doing it, but not having a consistent paycheck is sure stressful! To offset expenses I am applying to jobs, both part and full time. Hopefully this will help cover the horse's expenses at least for the winter.

I have been taking the extra time in the morning (when I am waiting for the ground to thaw) and starting on the P90X program. It is incredibly important for my fitness to match that of my horses. I have been ridiculously sore for the past couple of days so I will keep you posted on my progress!

Willy and Deacon and I went to Scott Hassler's for dressage lessons today. They were fabulous! Deacon showed some very mature work, and I was really able to free-up his hind-end. Willy worked in the double bridle, and started to go over the Advanced test. The tough parts for us appear to be the extensions and flying changes. Surprisingly Scott was quite pleased with the progress I have made in my half-passes both at the trot and canter. I had the opportunity to ride in Scott's new ring...oh boy! It was absolutely beautiful! I will have to take some pictures next time I venture up there!

I have also been organizing lessons with Sally Cousins at AOPF. Oh boy were they fun! Deacon was PERFECT, Willy was so enthusiastic, Havannah was a super star in her first stadium jumping school, and a client's horse Ella was fabulous as well. I post another update shortly. I have three really great sale horses right now!

The End of Event Season

Hello everyone!

After the fabulous weekend that was Waredaca, I decided to run the horses at one last outing before retiring for the winter to jumper and dressage shows. I have not had the pleasure of competing at Rubicon for several years (4+), because normally November means things at Wake Forest were in full swing. However what I remember of Rubicon: dressage arenas (yay), a crazy difficult show jumping, and a really great XC track. My memory served me fairly well, because that was exactly what we got.

I entered the event late, so Zoe was the only horse to get in right off the bat. Her dressage has been getting consistent, which is a huge accomplishment for her. Because her flat work needed so much attention, I have not really gotten to address a great deal of her jumping problems. We had one jump school, gridwork, in-between Waredaca and Rubicon and it was not pretty. We had several "discussions" about how to properly jump, aka not launch ourselves over the fences. The problem with Zoe is that she is so athletic and intelligent, that once she goes through an exercise once or figures out a course, she becomes bored and unimpressed. While it would be great to raise the fences to training height, she does not use her hind-end well enough to warrant bigger fences. The problem with jumping green, talented horses too big is that they really don't comprehend how to use their body - and god forbid you get into a situation where you really need the horse to pull through for you (such as getting too close to a solid xc fence, or combination), they have to idea what to do and crash through the fence. So Zoe's jumping is in a bit of a catch-22 now, and unfortunately it showed at Rubicon. Her dressage, again, steadily improved. The ring was running a bit late - information I did not realize - so I was on her quite a bit longer than I would have liked. But Zoe held it together pretty well, and put in a steady test earning - another 36. While I would have liked better from her, the competition in that ring was ridiculous. Many of the novice horses I saw were steady in first level frames...i thought this was NOVICE! It just goes to show you how competitive our area is, and how imperative the dressage phase is these days. The show jumping was ridiculous. Rails were flying everywhere. It was really tough for the younger, inexperienced horses to deal with the hills that were in the middle of the course. In typical Zoe fashion, she started off quite alert and picking up her toes. When we got to fence four (a vertical set right at the edge of the downhill slope), she fumbled over that, then the next fence she didn't quite regain her balance in time. Two more rails came down after that - albeit these were not "green" mistakes, they were symptoms of her being completely unimpressed by the fences. That is one thing we need to work on - giving Zoe a conscience. She was completely unphased on her lackluster performance. After that dismal show jumping, I decided it would be a great learning experience if we went cross country in open fronts. A good wack on a solid fence is a great tool for the green-beans. As per usual, Zoe's cross country was spectacular. We had several not-so-pretty fences, where she deemed my half-halts not necessary. Her performance through the water was nothing less than spectacular. She had one of the best rides through there I had seem all day! After cooling out the little princess, it was time to run back home to see my best friend from elementary/middle school get married! The busy weekend was only getting started...

Thankfully, I received a phone call from the secretary on Friday that there was a spot for Deacon in the training horse division! I really wanted to get Deacon in for a second run since completing his treatment to show that he really is back to being his wonderful self. The bad news...dressage ride at 7:54 am, two hours away. Ick. After my alarm went off at 2:30 am for the second day in a row, I was so relieved this was the last event of the year. Imagine sleeping until 6 on weekends. How lovely! So Deacon warmed up great, a little testy (he does not approve of early mornings) but nevertheless he was steady and consistent as per usual. He went in the ring and put forth a really nice effort - a little rusty, but a good effort. He was 5th after dressage with a 34! Not too shabby! After the fiasco in show jumping the day before I was quite worried. Since Deacon is for sale there are always people watching, or looking at his record so it becomes essential that he put in solid performances. We went into the ring and he gave me a FABULOUS round. So much so that I thought we had done it - the only clean round of the division. But I just didn't get enough of a half-halt in on the last combination and he pulled the top rail of the last fence! Darn-it! Oh well, I couldn't have been happier with my horse, he really gave me everything and managed the terrain quite well! It is so nice to have him back and game for anything! Cross country was really challenging. The course started out nicely with two gallop fences, but it was difficult to get into a rhymn because right off the back you had a sharp right turn, and two fences within 8 strides. Deacon was a bit sticky to those, but with a little smack of encouragement, took off down the hill into the woods after fence 2. Fence three was a skinny right out of the woods that Deacon took in stride, much straighter than the first two. Then came what I thought was the hardest question on course. A sharp right turn to a skinny, open bottomed roll-top type fence, two strides down a large drop, sharp turn right up the hill. I saw my distance 5 strides out, sat up, leg on, and smack of encouragement -- over and down we went. Perfectly done by my baby horse! The rest of the course was beautiful, with the exception of a little bobble at the ditch...it is called steering Courtney!! He finished the event clean and fast, in a tie for 3rd. Because I didn't know I was tied, i lost the tie and was deemed a 4th place finisher. Regardless, I am so happy that I have my horse back! I wish the season was just getting started for him, he is ready to move back up to prelim tomorrow!

Once again the competition showed me just were my horses are progressing, and where their weaknesses still remain. I can't be disappointed because both horses really gave me their all on XC, which gave me a great big smile for the long drive home. It was really great to get Zoe competitive at this level, because her flatwork and perspective on life have come so far! She still has ways to go, but in three short months, anyone can see the dramatic progress she has made. Just look at the difference in her hind-end!

Deacon was the most fun I have had on XC in a while. I was able to forget the pressures of having to have a clear round, and just enjoyed the experience with my horse, a horse I produced from his first competition. Having him be such an eager-beaver on XC and so honest in show jumping really emphasize to me how much this horse must have been hurting this past year. It was such a blow to my riding that I was not able to get Deacon around a course for so long, I was beginning to think there was some huge gap in my riding style. But the horse I had this past weekend showed me just what a great job I did bringing him along, correctly and slowly. There is a part of me that hopes he will not find a new home, so I can take him to a one-star this spring.

Anyway, Deacon and Zoe will be joining Willy in a semi-vacation for the week, then back to work. We will be at the Green Spring Hounds jumper show at Shawan Downs or some extra show jumping practice. Willy is coming back into work this week as well, because I was able to schedule a dressage lesson with Scott Hassler for Nov. 24th - and we have to start learning how to do changes on demand for the Advanced tests! I think Willy will be much happier to have a job again, maybe he will even let me catch him!

Until next post!
Courtney

Raise Your Glass!

As the eventing season comes to a close and things are slowing down, I have precious moments of downtime where I can reflect on the past year. What I accomplished, and where I came up short. This year was a turning point for me, both riding wise and in my life out of the saddle.

My initial goals this year were to complete a CCI** and successfully complete some advanced level horse trials with Willy, while campaigning Deacon at the preliminary/CCI* level. Unfortunately with injuries and minor setbacks I was only able to achieve some of these tremendous feats, but I am still overflowing with pride for my boys.

Willy became a very competitive intermediate horse. Since I am no longer able to compete in young rider divisions, we really had to step up our game to be competitive in the open divisions against the country's best riders and horses. With the help of new trainers Scott Hassler (Hassler Dressage) and Colleen Rutledge we have produced scored consistently in the mid 30s. Another positive - intermediate doesn't look so big anymore! Even on a pony! Willy and I have consistently had very smooth cross country and show jumping rounds, and we are ready for more. While Fair Hill was a bust for the goal of completing a CCI**, we did cross the finish line on cross country day. And our mistakes were mine - which can be fixed! I let the words "Fair Hill" intimidate me along with the mental setback of hearing of my old coach Sharon White falling right as I entered warmup. Hearing of a horrible fall for a veteran rider such as Sharon, made me question my own qualifications. Thankfully it looks like Sharon is recovering well.

While Fair Hill did not end as I would have liked, I have to focus on the perfect weekend that was Plantation CIC** where Willy placed 5th! He had his best dressage score to date in an FEI competition, 58.4, jumped clean and fast cross country, and clean in show jumping on Sunday. It was quite a surreal weekend, I had several long-time friends come and watch Willy and I on cross country day which made the experience all that more enjoyable. So as Willy goes into his month of trail riding and hacking (until Thanksgiving) I am still in disbelief on how far this little pony has come. We had numerous top placings at Intermediate, a top 5 finish at an FEI competition, a 6-page article in Chronicle of the Horse, winning the 2009 USEF McKenna trophy, achieving my HA rating, and overcoming yet another injury.


The hopes for Willy over the winter are to continue working on his flatwork with Scott, getting him ready for his Advanced level debut at the Pine Top Advanced HT in February! We haven't solidified plans for which FEI events we will run, at this point it is one day at a time. We will also continue to take lessons with Jimmy Wofford, and hoping to add the likes of Kim Severson and Sally Cousins in that mix as well.

Poor Deacon. While I thought our problems would be solved with corrective shoeing, it turns out that Deacon tested off the charts positive for lymes! Poor thing! We finally began treating him in September, and just recently he competed in the Waredaca Horse Trials at Training Level and WON! We got to the event with very little warmup time - just enough to canter to warmup and trot around the dressage ring twice - and in we went! He gave me a workmanlike test, if not a WOW test - it was consistent, not fancy like he should be. Regardless he was 5th after dressage (can't complain there) in the open training division, and gave me a fabulous XC run. Sadly we were held for 35 minutes inbetween fences 5AB (the swale) and 6 (the drop). He was such a good boy, i just dropped my reins and kept walking him in a circle, and after our mini-break, he came right back to work over a very tough course! It was really really great to have my old horse back, I haven't had a XC run like that on Deacon since March! I don't think he will be able to get into Rubicon, so I think he will end on Waredaca and continue training through the winter (since he had so much time off during the summer). If he does not sell this winter, it is back up to prelim when the Aiken circuit comes around! And plans are to run a CIC* then a CCI*.

My horse in training, Zoe, has come such a long way in just two short months. She is one of the most difficult horses I have ever ridden, but she is also one of the most talented. She like to curl and brace her neck in a seahorse frame, instead of reaching down to the contact. With each day she is getting more and more consistent in her flatwork...but boy has it been a trying couple of months! Her jumping form is quite good, although she really did not understand how to use her hindend properly, and was just relying on her athletic ability to coast over fences. By making her slow things down to a trot, she has learned the invaluable lesson of rocking back and pushing at the base of fences. She will still have an awkward jump every now and again, but on the whole she really is coming around. But the best thing about this horse is taking her XC. She is fabulous and quite fearless, almost to a fault. She is ready for training level xc, but her flatwork and show jumping need to be solidifed so she will end the season at novice at Rubicon...but coming off of a 3rd place finish at Waredaca! Not too shabby! Her dressage scores have become consistently in the low to mid 30s! We are making progress!

Well it is getting on 10:30, and I haven't gotten on any horses yet...so more news will be coming soon!

Courtney

Back in the Saddle

Hey everyone! I hope you are managing to stay hydrated, it has been really hot and humid there.

I have been really fortunate to not be doing the summer circuit of events - not my favorite thing to do. Regardless of how much the organizer/crew works, footing is hard, the heat is brutal, and the humidity makes you want to take a dip into the water jump. I only entered one event this summer, and retired in the middle of show jumping. It just wasn't my day, and Deacon wasn't feeling too hot either. I think our new competition plan with Deacon is to leave him in the night before, lunge in the morning before shipping, then go to the event. I kept him out the night before, and I think it took too much of an edge off. While I like my horses quiet and respectful, event horses need that "sumthin sumthin" extra. Especially for horses like Deacon, who already like the slower, scenic route, that little extra piece can make you or break you. I am excited to see if I finally have this horse figured out!

I don't want to talk too soon, but it seems like the root of all my problems was in my horses' feet. Their shoes were put on too forward, toes too long, and poor Deacon actually only had the shoe touching his tippy toes and heel. No wonder the poor thing didn't want to jump! We got his feet done right before Maryland Horse Trials II, and since then he has been an absolute star, no more bucking, no more stopping. The big test will be XC schooling at Maryland this Saturday, and Olney on Sunday. His flat work has been absolutely fabulous as well, so I'm steering him full throttle toward the Training Three Day. Willy's tendonitis also stemmed from his poor shoeing - his feet were actually crooked, being shaved down tremendously on the inside, throwing his entire support system off. After his new pedicure, Willy has been a champ. It goes take him a while to get back into the swing of things, but he is finally (mentally) coming around (and doesn't always think in terms of SPEED).

Both horses jumped gymnastics today, and I was really pleased about their progress. Willy is working on his muscle/fitness. Plans are to start him out again at Loudoun at Intermediate, then head to the AECs. Deacon jumped better than ever. I have been really concentrating on allowing him to make some decisions. My problem has always been that I am a complete control freak - I LOVE to get the perfect spot every time. I have been establishing the correct balanced, forward canter - and allowing the horse to figure out footwork.

So all is well on that front, now exciting news! NEW HORSE! A friend of mine is doing a semester in DC, and will be dropping off her horse this Sunday for me to train and compete through the fall. I've had my eyes on this horse for a year now, having first seen her when I taught a clinic up in Ithaca, NY. Her name is Zoe (aka Cover Girl), and her daddy is the famous Windfall. She is quite uptight on the flat, but has tremendous jumping ability. Her owner has done a wonderful job getting her though novice, now it is my job to get her to take the next step up.

Until this weekend!
Courtney

Almost

I believe I win the worst blogger award. After forgetting my password, it has been a long time since I have kept all of you updated on the happenings at DGEventing! I apologize in advance, this seems to be one of the most scattered blogs to date...

First off - the students
DGE students have done wonderfully over the past several months since I have returned home. The teaching/training portion of DGE has been in full swing since I moved back to Baltimore County. I had the privilege of teaching at the LHPC summer camp at Morvan Park (which was an absolute blast), the GSHPC camp (so much fun!), and next week I will be returning to Ithaca, NY to teach a two day clinic for Red jacket PC. Teaching clinics is really fun, but nothing beats having my students come over - there are about 20 students (adults, kids, and teenagers) who are taking regular lessons. In my next post I can give you more specifics as to their accomplishments!

Now to DGE Horse Happenings
Cody - Cody is progressing wonderfully after he re-injured his elbow. My mom has been taking regular lessons with me on him, and boy do they look great! It has been a long road for these two, but they really have formed a solid partnership. We have begun to jump him over little fences, and he seems to be holding up just fine! We are hoping to take him to some schooling shows in late August, and start back into competition mode this fall!
I have also been teaching a lot off of Cody, as he is such an accomplished veteran that he helps both beginners and advanced riders. He knows exactly when a 6 year old is on him, or when I throw the bigger kids on him (when we need to work on their position!). He is such a special pony!

Willy - After brining Willy back from Jersey, I noticed a slight swelling peak up behind both knees. An ultrasound showed that while all ligaments/tendons are fine, he has developed some tendonitis. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done for this except time off. Willy has had the past month off, and we are carefully brining him back to work. He is an incredibly fit pony with very strong opinions, and has been left on his own for a month - you can imagine what we are dealing with!

Deacon - Oh Deacon. We finally got his hip/back pain taken care of, but now we have to deal with the mental repercussions. I've dropped him down to training level to help boost his confidence - but I haven't quite gotten all of the pieces back together. I've taken him to several farms schooling, and he has been wonderful - but it does not seem to translate to the competition arena. Hopefully we can figure out exactly which button to push in the next couple of weeks!

- ok - so that was the recap of what everyone has been doing. Now to get my 2cents (for what it is worth).

This year has been a year of "almost". I "almost" finished Jersey Fresh. I "almost" took Deacon to a one star. I "almost" took Willy advanced. I "almost" made honors at Wake Forest (.01 away). I'm at a crossroads in my life, and these "almost" moments make it that much more uncertain. Right now I am sitting in the boarding station on my roller coaster ride. Do I risk everything, living penniless to follow my passion and pursue a career teaching/training/competing horses? Do I keep horses as a side hobby and follow a "real job"? If so what on earth should I do? Improve my arabic and work for the government? Follow journalism? Steer towards a law degree?

I've spent the past two months thinking about my next move, and still - nothing. Hopefully by the next post I will have at least some direction.

As for the horses, we are aiming Deacon at the Training Level 3-day at Waredaca this fall and Willy at the CCI** Fair Hill International in October. (oh, i hope they are not on the same weekend - reminder to check on that!). Pending Willy's prognosis, a trip down to Georgia for the AECs may be in order. Deacon is qualified for prelim, but I'm not sure he is ready for that challenging of a course. Until next time!

- Courtney