Fall's finally here!

In lieu of "studying" for my highly-anticipated bio test tomorrow, I'm back to the blog to ramble about pony things. Oopsie really is up here in VT with me THANK GOD and I'm actually attempting to balance him and school work! Not so successfully in terms of school at the moment, for some reason I picked my busiest semester thus far to introduce my horse into the mix, but it's happening one way or another. The barn we're at is just fantastic, they take care of Oops really well, which is great because it gives me lots of anxiety not being able to be there with him and doing all the chores all day every day.  We've even made show buddies! A girl at the barn has three horses of her own, all around the same level as Oops, and we even made a weekend of GMHA together. It's been great, because while the barn tends to veer towards the H/J side with some dressagers thrown into the mix, the two of us are kind of the only current eventers. And any eventer can tell you how nice it is knowing there's going to be another person to trailer to xc schoolings with or to condition together- so Sam's been that person for me! She's also an incredible, strong rider, with more energy and patience than anyone I know. I'm pretty sure she has a constantly charging battery plugged into her somehow.

Anywho, in addition to running Oops in the Training at GMHA, I was fortunate enough to be able to take my dads' horse Carson (Deacon Blues) in his first* recognized event! He even came in 3rd in open BN! It's his kind of first because technically the weekend before, he and my dad competed in BN at King Oak, but had an unfortunate spill during stadium and didn't make it to xc. So I guess it's his first completed recognized event. He was absolutely a joy to ride; ears perked the whole time, just loping around cross country, not batting an eyelash at a single fence. Dressage was decent, not my best effort due to forgetting where the canter movements came into play, so I didn't ride him in that as best as he could have, but I was happy with it nontheless. He's an 8 y/o solid APHA who we believe was started at a small H/J barn, then did a few solid years at a dressage barn until this May when we introduced him to the world of eventing. BN was a breeze for him, which means he's going to have a full year ahead of him next year if I have anything to do with it!

Oops also had a successful learning weekend; we didn't place very well (as is per usual) which never upsets me, I'm just so mad at myself for the totally preventable run out we had on xc. I had the invaluable help from Miss Ashley Adams, who I literally can't thank enough for imparting her wisdom to me. Having her take apart the course walks and break them down stride by stride opened my eyes to how I approach each phase of the show. It was like she had completely different lenses to look through. She showed me how to ride tighter and more efficiently in stadium, which produced one of our better rounds to date, and some of the subtler intricacies of the xc fences that gave me a new perspective. Besides my stupid mistake, we had a great round, and Oops was thankfully in better condition than I gave him credit for. He was also producing some fantastic jumps in warmup, to the point where I was getting tossed out of the saddle, something that admittedly doesn't happen a whole lot with us.

Our next and probably final effort this fall will most likely be Hitching Post schooling event mid October, and then Oops will return home from Thanksgiving through mid-January for a break. If all goes as planned, we should be heading down to FL for a couple weeks in March to get a good training session in and prep ourselves for the season, which I cannot wait for.

I predicted having Oops here this fall would (embarrassingly) mean I'd make it out to the barn every day or so just to ride and keep him in work, not really enough to motivate myself or make huge improvements. Basically, I expected school to take over and for my riding to take a back seat once again. A little surprisingly this has been anything but the case, and it's making me want to spend more time riding and less on school. Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance (sometimes) of graduating, but it makes me so antsy and anxious seeing everyone else having long seasons and getting to be with the horses all the time. I don't know if I'm going to end up changing my major, or if I'm going to become a total hermit that just does HW and rides all the time or what, but either way I know I'm going to have to make some major sacrifices soon to some aspect of my life. This, if you know me at all, is something I absolutely abhor, as I'm not good at making decisions because it means I have to not include something.

Apologies for the insane rambling on this completely unexpected post, but now I've very successfully avoided memorizing my fair share of nucleotide structures and pyrimidines. I leave you with a few snapshots of my weekend at GMHA and the ponies!

CP

 Oops looking out over one of our incredible conditioning fields

 Oops and Carson, who was too shy for the picture, at GMHA

 We got to jump a squirrel! Just like Rolex! (right?)

Dad and Carson swiftly maneuvering the course at Coyote Springs Farm jumper show

So I'm a little behind here

Whoops! It's OFFICIALLY one year after I left LFF, right after probably my most successful/fun event at Fair Hill in '11.

I cannot believe I didn't even do some sort of wrap-up to summarize my year, but I'm guessing that's because trying to condense all of what I've learned, the lifetime friendships I've made, and the experience as a whole overwhelms me tremendously, so instead of not doing it justice I left it altogether. Well we all know that's the wrong answer. These people deserve more than that!

As far as the riding details are concerned, I don't remember the day-to-day happenings, but I can safely say that Oops was one different horse when he got back up to NH. He didn't quite get the same attention or pampering as he did down in WV, and he had a little adjusting to do getting back up north. I did too though, because all I could do was micro-manage our barns' newly appointed (by myself) riding log ("The Book" if you've ever experienced one), make sure all the stall walls were heavily bedded, the front of the stalls (inside and outside) was excessively swept, and all tack immediately cleaned after use, among the other larger, important things. This was fine for the first few weeks, but it's a LOT harder to try to keep up with the way you think the barn needs to be kept when you're  the only one doing it... which is probably why everyone has to work so well as a team in order for a crazy-busy barn to run smoothly!

We didn't make it to prelim at the end of our time; Oops had more lameness issues than he's ever had before, which put a halt to our training at times, and I was beyond running out of money.  Which was ok in the end, because we had a fantastic run at Fair Hill that I still reminisce about to this day. Dressage FELT better than most of our other tests, stadium was a learning experience, but cross country was almost transcendental. It's hard for me to put into words, especially if you're not a rider yourself, as to just how absolutely incredible it is to have a perfect cross country round.  Oops was a little machine and once we navigated the 2nd or 3rd fence, where I had to somewhat insist he wanted to jump what he believed to be a rather scary looking ramp, there was no looking back! He FLEW around the course, all of what I had been trying to internalize while walking it and striding in between the combinations and where to turn for which angle, all went right out the window when Oops got into xc mode, which I haven't felt in a while. He basically said 'don't worry, I've got it mom' and he really did. I didn't even know what optimum time was because let's face it, he's a 15 hand QH competing against the top horse/rider combinations in the world. Somehow though, after we floated back to the barn and where I think I almost fainted from pure elation, we found out he was one of the few horses who actually came in under optimum! Talk about a bonus. I was so proud of my little Oopsie- he got more treats than grain that day.

We left from Fair Hill and now Oops and I are back up north. I'm back in school (yay and nay) in Vermont, and Oops is a somewhat accessible three and a half hours drive away back in NH. I've been going back much more than expected this semester, especially since we built the indoor, and riding on the weekends to keep him going. Thankfully my wonderful dad has made it his job to keep Oops conditioned through the walk/trot while I cannot. I get home in exactly 13 days from today and I couldn't be more excited to get show season going officially! I have big plans for us this summer, as well as for the barn. I can't promise anything yet, but one of my best friends and the most incredible horse woman might be coming up this summer to teach a clinic out of the barn...

But back to what really matters: the people I got to work with and learn from every day while I was living down in WV. Sharon, of course, still inspires me (although I'm sure she has no idea) every day, as I keep close tabs on my people down south! She taught me so much more than just how to be a better rider; she's an incredible mentor, friend, and sometimes even the mother-figure I needed down there. She always believed in me and Oops, and I can't believe I got to be lucky enough to literally live and work in her presence for almost a year.  My support system down at LFF- between all of us working students, trainers, assistant trainers, grooms, Felipe (the man, the myth and the legend), they're too special to put into simple words. It was such an unspoken partnership, scary almost how close we got, to the point where we really knew what the other was thinking/doing/needed us to do for the other before it was vocalized. I will never forget every way each of them inspired me and changed me, each making me a little bit better of a person and horseman than I was when I got there.

So, a year later, what can I say? I want to go back. I need to be working with horses and make that if not my entire life, a significant part of it. They do say once the riding bug bites, you never fully recover...

Until next time mi amigos.