Journal

Los Angeles International Airport, 
Oct 8, 2010

Just a quick note to mark the beginning of a voyage.  I’m sitting at LAX, killing most of the morning, waiting for our flight to Holland.  I left Carmel Valley at 1:00 this morning…well almost 1:00.  I did have a bit of a false start when I shredded a trailer tire before I ever left the driveway.  When Bea said “call if you need anything” I don’t think she had a tire changing pajama party in mind.  She’ll think twice before she offers next time!  Spare tire on, we set off for a 9:00am arrival at the airport for Finian’s USDA inspection.  After that we loaded and weighed all the gear (yikes), for which you pay by the kilo.  A couple hundred dollars just for hay and grain, that’s when you know the horse has it better than the human!  Now we’re just waiting. 

We load Finn at 2:00 and then I go through normal security and boarding and will join up with him on the plane.  I’m told I get a seat at the very back, right next to a door that goes straight to him.  Secret trap door into the mysterious innards of a Boeing 747?  It’s all new to me but I’ll try to take some photos. 

More news soon …..

California,
Aug 3, 2010  

Shame on me for not posting this sooner, but with the theory that later is better than never, I’ve finally gotten the time to tell you about Sunday at Rebecca Farm. 

Both Finn and McCool seemed to be in fine form when I arrived at the barn early Sunday morning (whew!) but even without having to go into crisis mode, I had a lot to do getting ready for an 8:00am jog.  Two horses to braid, eight legs to shampoo poultice off of, one white tail to quicksilver and then guard like the crown jewels for the subsequent hour and a half, two horses to ride out to get them loosened up, one shampoo and poultice covered barn slave to transform into a well turned out rider presenting two beautifully prepped horses…!   Turns out somewhere between the late night to bed and the sun’s not up yet morning, I left my “well turned out rider” garb hanging in the hotel!  That was a very unwelcome realization when I had exactly T-0 hours to be walking over to the jog area.  I managed to get dressed with a bit of this, a bit of that, and in a very fateful way, my friend, stylist extraordinaire, and lifesaver Susan Cummings had shipped me a gorgeous jacket and some equally gorgeous jewelry that I had with me at the event.  Thrown together as it was, I don’t think we did too bad.  Most importantly, both horses trotted up very well and passed without trouble.

   
On to the next thing.  The 2*’s show jumped first and since McCool was standing in 1st, I was last to go in the ring.  I knew I had 2 rails in hand to keep the lead and then I saw the 2nd placed rider have 3 rails to give me slightly more room.  McCool gave me the best ride I’ve ever had with him, and I think probably the best he’s ever jumped, ever.  I had one rail at a very difficult oxer and otherwise it was perfect.  I think I could had done a better job there and maybe kept it up but Mark Phillips was extremely pleased with the round and said the rail was just unlucky.  In any case, he won with a commanding lead having only used one of the rails we had in hand.  We did the awards ceremony and I jumped off McCool and straight onto Finian.  I had a 5 minute warm up while they were setting the 3* course, jumped off of him so that I could walk it, got back on to jump a few warm up fences, and went in the ring.  He was also jumping fantastically and being more rideable than sometimes.  I had a less than perfect round however which was topped off by going right past the 10th fence and therefore getting eliminated.  It was a jump that was not on the 2* course and got added only to the 3*.  I finished up the round and people looked grim as I exited the ring.  When they told me I’d missed a jump I looked around the ring and had no idea which one.  It was so not on my radar, they had to point it out to me before I had any clue what they were talking about.  It was disappointing to let my horse and everyone down with such a foolish mistake but the lesson learned is that no matter what chaos I have going on, I still have to get my head focused before going into the ring.  I sort of feel like the difference between 19th and Elimination is not as bad as the fact that my horse was trying hard and I didn’t give him the ride he deserved.  It sort of topped off the weekend that wasn’t meant to be for Finian, but hopefully we took home some good lessons and I can keep chipping away at that perfection I’m seeking.

 
On the plus side, the team vetted Finn that evening, so they aren’t too disappointed in me, and they were happy with what they saw.  Both horses came through the event and traveled home well.  McCool’s getting some long awaited and much deserved down time for the next few weeks while Finian is already back to work.  I am doing differed maintenance to my life and maybe completing a few tasks that have been hanging over me for months.   If you’re waiting on a call back or an email from January, you should be getting it sometime soon.

Kalispell, MT 
Jul 24, 2010

For the sake of my exhaustion and the early morning I have ahead of me, this will be brief.  McCool was excellent today with a very honest, relaxed, and speedy round. He jumped one of few double clears to hold his lead and even gain a little room between second place.  Finian had a pretty good round for the most part but unfortunately threw a shoe very early in the course and had to run the whole thing barefoot…ouch!  He jumped clear all the way to the sunken road, where I let him drift a little on the way out.  As far as I could tell, he jumped square at the flag, leaving the judgment of whether he had jumped clear or had a run out very difficult to make.  I yelled to the jump judge to see how they had judged it and they answered “what?!”.  I circled back to ask again because if I had a run out and kept going on the course I would have been eliminated, and conversely, if I had jumped it clear but jumped it again, I would also have been eliminated so I really needed to know what they had judged.  This time they answered “I don’t know”.  I circled back again and tried again to get an answer out of them.  I can’t remember how many times I had to circle before they said “no”, at which point I jumped the alternate and got on my way.  Finian jumped the last difficult combination well and finished up fine.  I believe I would have had minimal, if any, time penalties without all the confusion and I still don’t know if it really was or wasn’t a run out.  In any case I am kicking myself for not riding the whole combination better and I am very frustrated with the 38 total penalties between time and jumping.  I was sent to protest the time penalties and the officials apologized profusely for the situation but told me there was nothing they could do about it.  I have spent most of the evening icing poor Finian’s foot which surprisingly is not all that sore yet.  Got to love good feet and good footing!  He’s lying in a disappointing position with all the penalties, but it sure would be nice to redeem ourselves with a good show jumping round tomorrow.  McCool on the other hand will hopefully give it all he’s got because a lots riding on a good round for him.

Off to bed now, finally, and up again way too soon tomorrow.

Kalispell, MT
Jul 23, 2010 
 
Today was dressage day for me with both Finian and McCool, and though the week so far has been anything but going to plan, we managed to make it through our tests with minimal collateral damage.

Since Monday I’ve been working to get the horses settled in, rested up, and ready to compete.  Unfortunately, that is not the program they’ve been on.  Finian has been outdoing himself with high strung, ultra naughty, antics and not showing much intent to come back down to earth.  I’ve been riding two or three times a day, with at least one of them being a gallop, and we’ve been spending more time spinning, bucking, and bolting than we’ve spent going the direction I requested.  McCool is far too gentlemanly to pull any of Finian’s tricks, but he’s been just as high and tense and hardly dressage ring ready.  He too has been going out two times a day to try to take the edge off and it didn’t seem to be making a dent in either of them.  I on the other hand, feel like I’ve expended the last twitch of every last muscle fiber in my body from trying to outdo them, and could use about a week just to get rid of this rag doll feeling.  In any case, I guess the horses traveled well and are feeling fit which is always a good start to an event.

When McCool came out to warm up he was completely wired by the fact that the lower levels were running cross country at the same time and right outside the arena we were trying to warm up in.  It didn’t start off well, and it definitely didn’t get any better.  Somehow, when we went in the competition arena with every bit as much tension and nervousness as in warm up, we managed a very good, mistake free, test.  I wasn’t able to push for any of the brilliance I know he can have, but on this day, I believe a correct and accurate test was a huge accomplishment.  He was good enough for 1st with a 49.6 which I’m thrilled with, since moments earlier I would have said forget it!

Finian put on his work hat today (Finally!!!!) and came out beautifully both this morning and again when I came out to warm up.  He was certainly not lazy or super relaxed, but he was there to do his job in his usual brilliant fashion.  I went into the competition ring very happy with him and he didn’t let me down.  His trot work I thought was his best yet with more strength and movement than I’ve ever gotten and his canter was very good except for two bobbles.  He ended up in 4th behind Karen O’Connor, Mara Dean, and Phillip Dutton with a 49.2.  He is very well placed in an impressive field of horses and riders that make up some of the best in America presently.  I really can’t complain since just yesterday I couldn’t get from point A to B without at least two explosive detours.

The cross country courses are challenging but look do-able and there is lots of nice room to gallop along.  I’m hoping to get the horses to settle in early and be rideable.  In Finian’s case, that was our undoing last year so I have a clear feeling of how I want to right our wrongs this time out.  McCool should be well up to the task if I can get him to settle in to his job early enough in the course.  We’re all hoping the predictions of 90* humidity holds off as it has yesterday and today, especially with the 3* horses going around 12:00. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but for today at least, a week’s worth of work has seemed to pay off.

More news tomorrow…

Kalispell, MT 
Jul 19, 2010

After a fairly uneventful two days of driving and a short layover in Kennewick, WA, we’ve arrived in Kalispell, MT for the event at Rebecca Farms.  The horses all traveled well and, short of a blown tire on one of the other trailer’s, we didn’t have any trouble.  Even the tire wasn’t much of a hardship; the girls hooked themselves some cute boys to change it and we were back on the road in 20 minutes.  I need to start working on my “helpless girl on the side of the road” look.  One of these days I think it will come in handy!

My little bit of excitement was less than two hours out from arriving when a baby black bear went lumbering across the road in front of me with not the slightest care in the world.  When I say in front of me, I mean “screeching tires, horses plastered against the front of the trailer, white knuckles on the steering wheel” in front of me.  The little fellow had the consideration to at least turn his head a little to look at me and ponder what my problem was.  He really was cute, though he wouldn’t have been near as cute if he had been half a second slower.

Everyone’s thoroughly exhausted and looking forward to catching up on some sleep.  All the horses get to go out hacking today and will do a little work tomorrow.  Competition starts up on Thursday.  Hopefully there will not be anything exciting between now and then. 

California  
May 24, 2010

I’m sure by now that everyone has seen the final results from Jersey Fresh, but since people keep asking for the commentary, here goes…..  With our dressage all done on Thursday, Friday was a day for mental fortitude, with very little to do all day and obscene amounts of time to sit and think.  If you could ever spend half a minute in my head you’d know that second guessing is my specialty.   You can only walk the course so many times before even that becomes over-analyzed, over-strategized, and generally, over-done.  I resigned myself to do a lot of hand grazing, a lot of sitting around talking, and when all else failed, a little nap in the barn.

Saturday started off a bit the same way since I didn’t ride until 1:30.  After another walk around the course, a bit of solitary time to “think” my way around the course, and a big lunch, and I was ready to give it a go.  Finn came out feeling good and opinionated as always which gave me a bit of work to do in the warm up and when we set out on course.  The first 10 fences were basically simple galloping fences.  That didn’t really help my cause since he was running down to them with little regard for my suggestions of how to do it.  As we went along, the course became more demanding and technical and Finn got down to business and became more rideable.  Our only hiccup came at about the halfway mark where there was a two stride combination of corners on a fairly difficult line.  I arrived at the first corner poorly and opted to go the long route rather than risk a run out.  Still a bit out of sync with each other, I got him to the alternative corner poorly as well.  At both jumps he ballooned himself up and over them like he hadn’t a care in the world, straight and honest, and no question where he was planning to go.  I’m still angry with myself over the ride I gave him there, but I can find a little bit of comfort in the way Finn took them on even without my help.  Following that we had a long pull from the very bottom of the course all the way to the highest point, a good two minutes uphill with some more big galloping type fences along the way.  I let Finn pick his pace and to my utter delight, half way up he took a big breath and kicked into another whole gear.  He was running stronger at the top than he had been after the double corners at the bottom.  From there we had a run all the way back down that hill, and a few more technical combinations put in the way.  We finished up with 4.8 time penalties for taking the long route at the corners, but otherwise clear, and still leaving us plenty of margin for going into show jumping.  Finn seemed thoroughly spent at the finish and I started to wonder if I would be needing all of that margin on Sunday, but couldn’t dwell on that thought because I had plenty to do looking after him that afternoon. 

Sunday morning it became evident that my concerns were misguided because he was fresher and acting-out more than he had been all weekend.  At the jog he wanted to bolt off, and in the show jumping warm up he was leaping around when all I wanted was to walk.  Other than his expressive show of health and soundness, his warm up was near perfect, and I was feeling somewhat “cool” riding into the ring with 4 rails in hand.  We had a major show of amateurism when we spend the entire 6 strides between fence one to two brawling and arguing, with his mouth open, tongue out, yanking his head left and right, all of which resulted in a really ugly jump at #2.  From there I kicked myself into shape a bit and got my point across to him a bit more effectively as well.  The remainder of the course rode really well and though he had one rail at a big square oxer, I was happy with the go.  We finished up with more than 12 points of a lead, and Finn continued to carry on with the bucking and acting out all the way through the victory gallop and back to the barn.  I found it hard to scold him for feeling so well and proud of himself, and considering what a feat he had pulled off, I think he was entitled to a little bit of conceited celebration. 

The drive home was relatively easy and uneventful, and Finn seems to be well rested up and feeling good.  I can’t say the same about me, but then again, rested up isn’t really something I would know anything about!  We’re off to Woodside Horse Trials next weekend with the other horses, and after that, I don’t yet know.

Allentown, NJ 
May 6, 2010

After a few days of blissfully unscheduled, uncommitted, free time, including a showing in the Andrew’s Bridge Hunt “Puppy Show” (not at all what one would think and, the horror, we have pictures image 1, image 2 ) and a little jump lesson with Phillip Dutton on Tuesday, I packed up my things and moved over to the New Jersey Horse Park yesterday.  My Parents arrived last night and it is such a treat to have them with me at an event, and I’m not just saying that because I found myself two grooms.  Every time I looked into the barn today they were scuddering around like little worker bees, cleaning, organizing, or polishing something.  While I’m sure they were mighty board most of the day, they did a fine job of pretending they were enjoying it, and I certainly enjoyed the help.  This morning we Jogged-out and then I didn’t do dressage until 4:00 which left me plenty of time for my prerequisite stress-out.  When 4:00 did finally roll around, Finian had a very steady, accurate, good test.  It was a touch short of the brilliance that he’s capable of, but it was still plenty good enough for a 36.8, well ahead of second place with a 53.6.  When we’d finished giving Finn his well earned hugs and kisses, I had a quick jog around the cross country course.  It looks very open and gallopy, with a few difficult combinations and a lot of bold single fences.  Tomorrow I’ll take Finn out for an easy jump school and walk around the cross country many more times.  With nothing else to do, I’ll try to keep my mind from wandering too far from home, and make sure that things are all set and ready for Saturday.

Coatesville, PA 
Apr 30, 2010

It’s been a long few months since I wrote in January.  To be honest, I sat down at my computer and starting typing at least 4 times, but never could bring myself to click send.  I have been finding it hard to shake off the storm clouds (literally and figuratively) and I’ve been sounding way too “dark and twisty” a la Meredith Grey (ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy).  I’m starting to understand why they picked Seattle to stage that show, because this winter, the rain has had an incredible ability to drown out any levity I could muster.  It was getting to the point that suiting up like a north-sea fisherman was standard garb to walk out the door, and after what seemed like weeks of trotting the driveway because there was nowhere else to ride, I have to admit, my enthusiasm was waning.  You all know I’m not one to spread the doom and gloom around, so what resulted from each of my previous attempts to write, was an unfortunate union of Pollyanna and Eeyore.  I kept trying to make lemonade out of all my lemons, but it always had a funny aftertaste.  I can finally say things are good without it feeling like a lie!  So here goes  –  My winter;  The good, bad, and ugly!

An excerpt from my March draft-
At the risk of whining about my life and all the things that are going wrong in it… now wait a minute, that’s exactly what I want to do.  Let me just indulge myself for a moment and then I’ll get a grip, move on, and look at all the good around me.  I consider myself a pretty optimistic person, and it’s not too often that I regard myself as unlucky.  In fact, I’ve had a lifetime of luck and good fortune come my way, but it is beginning to seem like my next load of jolly good anything is currently bobbing away somewhere in the Atlantic, caught in the equatorial doldrums. 
I had my lovely horse Kelso go wrong at the first event of the year, Galway Downs, and to add insult to injury, he had put in a beautiful dressage test and was leading the division.  I returned home to find McCool, a 2* horse that I get the pleasure of working with, swollen up with hives, rashes, and all other forms of skin conditions exacerbated by the unusually wet year we are having.  While I’ve managed to clear it up for the most part, his coat has been ravaged and he’s looking more like a leper than the strikingly beautiful guy he really is.  Perfect timing for his first outing of the year at Twin Rivers last weekend!  In preparation for the event, I choked down the fact that it was time to buy new breaks for my trailer, and took it in last week.  En route, my transmission went out in my truck, making a set of new breaks seem real cheap!!!  Now, to really make this sound like a country song, my mom called amidst it all to say the family dog was really sick and had to be put down.  Somebody said these things come in three’s, but I’m thinking they forgot the detail about multiples of three’s!

Since then things have definitely turned around, or at least I’ve been able to refocus my perspective.  Kelso’s initial tendon scan didn’t turn up any lesions and his second scan confirmed that everything looks perfectly fine.  It’s frustrating to miss a couple months of competing him, but I will take the conservative route any day when offered the prospect of a 6-9 month lay-up.  He’s very happy to be returning to full work and should be back out at an event before too long.  All the rain has also made the grass come in so I guess it was worth suffering through.
I had a great show at Three Day Ranch with McCool winning the Preliminary and Regan doing his first Intermediate.  It was not my original plan to move him up so soon in the season, but with a strange turn of circumstances, Wednesday night of the event I told him to put on his big boy shoes and he brilliantly obliged.  McCool reaffirmed his cool-ness by scoring three 9’s and a 10 in his dressage along with a healthy serving of 8’s and then followed that up by jumping well the next two days.  It was great to finally get to know him cross-country since we got rained out at Twin Rivers. 

The most exciting news by far was last month at Galway Downs.  Finian led the CIC3* from start to finish with a very commanding lead.  He was absolutely spectacular in all three phases, but I was most pleased with his cross country.  He was so honest and mature all the way around, and it was a real feeling of accomplishment to gallop past the place where last year I had pulled him up on course.  McCool was second after a very good dressage test and moved into first after a clean show jumping.  With both horses leading in their respective divisions, Friday night was a little surreal.  Unfortunately McCool’s winning weekend came to an end Saturday afternoon, when he had a run out early on course, and two more later on.  It was of course disappointing, but considering I had only gone cross country with him once before and that a preliminary horse trials, it’s easy to see how our depth of communication was lacking.  He’s a horse that wants know you inside and out before he’s comfortable performing for you, so I was able to look at Galway as a step in that process.  A very public and well documented step!

Following Galway, I took Regan in the CCI1* and McCool in the CCI2* at Twin Rivers.  McCool took an early lead with our best dressage test yet and Regan had the best test of his life to stand second.  Regan moved into first after cross country having had a casual canter around, and McCool moved down to fourth after a silly little bobble, but having been fantastic otherwise.  He was a different horse than I had had at Galway, and I can only guess what he’ll be like with a little more time.  Both horses finished fit and sound enough for another go around.  Sunday both horses trotted up sound and show jumped great as well.  McCool jumped an easy clear round, but with all the horses in front of him jumping clear as well, he stayed in 4th.  Regan jumped the best round of his life but had one silly rail right at the end.  With all the placings being very tight, he disappointingly slid all the way down to fourth.  Both are having some well deserved easy time now while Finian and I tackle the CCI3* at Jersey Fresh.

We left Monday to trek across the country and arrived safe and sound Thursday evening.  We are once again fortunate enough to be staying with Bea Cassou in Coatesville, Pennsylvania and spent today settling in, resting up, and catching up on everything that’s happened since our last visit for Fair Hill last October.  It’s great to see everyone again and pick up where we left off.  I feel like this is my second home and I’m so thankful to be here.

We’ll have lots of news in the coming week with competition starting Wednesday.  ’till then, have some lemonade.

California
Jan 15, 2010 

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and though we haven’t been eventing over the last couple of months, I have been as busy as ever.  It seems I never miss a chance to fill a spare moment of time with something to do.  Regardless of how many horses are on vacation, there’s a never ending list of other horses to fill that time with, and inevitably, I am picking my way through the pitch dark on my last horse of the day, trying to find our way back to the barn.  Amid my daily crunch to get everyone ridden before the sun set, we got the exciting news that I won the USEA Young Rider of the Year award again.  It took me a bit by surprise since I had withdrawn Finian from so many events during the year, thus not getting any points, but the events we did finish carried a heavy enough point load, it was enough to top the leaderboard.  It was even more exciting because it was my last year as a Young Rider, and a third time winning the award seemed like a nice way to go out on top.  It also meant I forced myself to take two days off and go to the USEA Annual Meeting in Virginia to receive the award.  It was a great chance to spend time with some of my sponsors, Dr Van Noy from APF and Sharon Gladski from Mountain Horse, and to generally just lay low without the temptation of something else to fill my time.  I even read a book cover to cover, something I’d forgotten could be so enjoyable.  I came home with a nice loot of prizes and products, and having spent quality time making new contacts.

Back home, and a bit re-energized about the upcoming season, I couldn’t help but feel behind the ball with getting the horses back to work after their time off.  I had an itch to get going right then and there, and couldn’t help but picture myself as Lewis Carroll’s rabbit exclaiming “I’m Late! I’m Late!”. That feeling didn’t last for long though, because as soon as January rolled around, I found plenty of ways to jump in full bore and fill up the time I didn’t yet have.  It’s been every day, every weekend, a schooling show, clinic, or x-country school, and with all the horses going better than ever, I’m feeling much more at ease with the calendar.  I’m excited for the upcoming training session with Mark Phillips in two weeks, as well as our first event of the year at Galway Downs at the end of the month.  In the mean time, I’ve got more x-country schooling and a combined test at Twin Rivers, as well as a barn full of horses to body clip, pull manes, and otherwise make look a little less feral.  Sooner or later I’m going to master time travel, of course with my exemplary ability, I’d still manage to overbook myself. Oh well, no time to get myself into trouble, or anything else for that matter.  I’m pretty sure diversity in life is overrated!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and that the new year brings great things to all.

California
Oct 27, 2009 

We are safely home and finally able to write the conclusion to our Fair Hill 2009 story.

Saturday’s weather at Fair Hill could not have been less cooperative and the light showers that were meant to clear out Friday night were in fact torrential rain that dumped buckets all night and all morning.  Just driving to the event in the morning was precarious.  Meanwhile, in stabling, many of the horses found the circus tent style roof insufficient and had bath tubs for stalls, standing up to their ankles in water. (Don’t forget it was about 30 degrees overnight!) I was fortunate in that Finian was not one of those unlucky horses, but the constant dripping of ice cold water from the many leaks in the tent was still plenty enough to send a chill down your spine. All of this, unpleasant as it was, was nothing compared to the challenges of running an event on the water laden ground on cross country. 

The officials took an extra hour deciding what they could do. They debated canceling the event, weighing the risks of running, and racking their brains for ways to make the footing as safe as possible.  Ultimately they chose to run over a modified course where most of the technical fences had been removed and the speed had been reduced.  They were mindful that anything with a narrow face would have 150 horses jumping from the exact same spot, while a 16′ face would allow riders later in the day to pick a different place for take off and landing, and hopefully still have some turf to jump from.  With the choice to go ahead with the event, about half of the riders withdrew, particularly those whose horses had previous injuries.  This was my overwhelming instinct as well, but I was advised to give it a try and learn a thing or two about riding in the mud with the idea that I could always pull up if I didn’t like how it was going.  Since I went so late in the day, there was plenty of time for me mull over the situation, and plenty of horses to watch go.  Indeed, the first 10 horses went out and clipped around the now very straightforward course easily, but as each horse ran, the turf churned up to slop and the horses found less and less to push off of.  They began looking more tired from the exertion, and what was a very simplified course by modern standards, became a herculean effort within just a few horses.  While the crews tried to keep gravel at the base of the jumps, there was nothing they could do about all the galloping lanes and it was left to the riders to pick their way around the course, looking for the best path to slog through.

When I brought Finian out to jump I was impressed with how well he handled the mud, and while each jump was effectively 6″-8″ taller than it appeared because of the footing giving way, it didn’t feel like a slick mud, and he seemed to be jumping out of it wonderfully.  That gave me the confidence to set out on course with conviction and an attitude of “lets see what we can do”.  That’s not to say I wasn’t nervous.  He was pretty quiet out of the box, and settled in to a workmanlike rhythm very well.  He seemed to be very focused and rideable at the first few tables and through the sunken road at 5, so I was a little disappointed that he ran out at the 6th fence, a corner going downhill through the forest.  I think his attention was a bit too much on the forest and the crowd of people, and evidence that he is still green about those situations.  I felt like I gave him a good shot at it, so blame it more on a lack of training than on the particular ride I gave.  As I galloped on I had strike one in my mind for deciding if and when to pull him up, looking for the slightest indication that he was not right, or loosing his confidence.  He went on to power up the long hill the event is famous for, and to jump through the few technical questions on the course beautifully.  Even though he pulled a shoe at the top of the course, he was still powering along three quarters of the way around, when we had another right handed corner down a hill, off of a bend.  At this point he gave it a bit more of a legitimate effort than the first corner, but he was slipping and sliding down the hill, missing a shoe, and ended up putting his feet on the jump and sliding on past somehow.  For me, that was reason enough to call it a day and leave with what was left of his confidence intact.  He jumped the alternate corner very willingly and I pulled him up.

In the strange way that results often don’t reflect the reality, everyone, Mark Phillips and myself included, were very pleased with the ride.  Finian was galloping better than ever, and though I didn’t go quite to the finish, he was still full of running with only a little bit to go.  Many factors that are much harder to influence, such as rideability and frame of mind were greatly improved from the past, and as Mark said casually, “corners are easy to train”. So that’s our homework for the winter.  I feel like all the little pieces are falling into place, one by one, and oh so slowly, but none the less successfully.

On a very sad note, a good friend of mine had a heart breaking weekend when her phenomenal young horse severed a tendon.  He underwent surgery to try to repair it, and has had subsequent surgeries since.  She is also on the Developing Rider list and her horse is the same age as Finian, making the whole situation hit home even harder.  I can only imagine the devastation of such an abrupt end to such a promising career, and it is a fear never far from my mind.  These situations make me that much more grateful to have a healthy, sound horse on the trailer home, and serve as my reminders to ere on the side of caution, pull up when it seems like the right choice, and to take my time with Finian.  It is disappointing to end his season having not finished what we started, but given the opportunity, I’d do it the same again… with maybe a little less driving across the country.