Rocking Horse II
We did the prelminary and Keegan was great. I took pictures of all but the first fence if you are interested in seeing the Rocking Horse II Preliminary xc course. I also got the CD of pictures of Keegan at Rocking Horse II where he was a complete rock star as usual.
Rocking Horse III
My breathing had not been behaving well that week, so we did the training. Keegan finished on his dressage score, which put us in 14th place out of 26 in the competitive open division.
Keebler
Continues to do amazingly with Jordan. Cyndi sent a great picture of them schooling at Longwood and half a blog about their P/T outing at Pine Top
From Cyndi - For those of
you who have been keeping up with the Spotted Menace, aka Keebler, here is your latest update.
The plan was
for Keebler and Jordan to compete at the Rocking Horse Winter 1 horse trials in
the P/T division for their 4th qualifying score at Training (4th Sporting Days
2014, 3rd Rocking Horse 2014, 1st Poplar
2014) before moving up. They had a good
winter break, finishing 2nd at the FL Horse Park P/T schooling show in
Dec, then having a great time at the
Leslie Law clinic at Rocking Horse on Jan 17.
Unfortunately,
a hot nail and abscess resulted in the big E in dressage in January. No use
regurgitating that debacle, except to
mention that there is nothing more irritating than a farrier who doesn't
respond to phone calls/emails/texts.
Anyhow, I
wanted Jordan to do one more P/T before the planned move up, and Pine Top was
offering one at their Feb show. After
the initial whining about not being able to find a Florida show, I realized that this in fact was a good thing, because the courses would
be tough; what better way to check that all of their skills were up to par?
Jordan had
the good sense to research which dressage test would be used at Pine Top, and a
good thing that she did this early. Pine
Top would be using Prelim test B, which is ridden in the Large Ring and
includes a lovely halt-rein back right at C.
Two dressage lessons at Rocking Horse in a large
ring (thank you Scott and Billie for transport!) were held. Oh happy day, you've never ridden a test in
a large ring, but here you are, and oh, there are new letters to learn, the
geography of your circles are now 1/3 of the ring, and there is a halt! in the beginning of the
test. Enjoy!
The Sunday
before Pine Top, Jordan was practicing at home.
The ground was wet and Keebler slipped on a turn...and had his first stop ever at a fence w/Jordan. They regrouped and jumped, but she reported
that he was not his usual confident self.
So off to Rocking Horse we went on Monday, and they confidently jumped
around the Prelim show jumping course left over from the obscenely large event held the previous weekend. Long lines to verticals continue to be their
challenge. Hike an oxer up to max height and width = no problem. A simple long side to a vertical? Still their nemesis.
So at tooearlydarkthirty Friday morning we
ventured off: Billie (who provided
wonderful coffee and pastries), supergroom Emily, Jordan, Keebler, and Ana
(Cindy Deporter's horse who was traveling from Steph Butts/new name care back
to Cindy). Travel was uneventful -unless you count the fact that as the sun
rose higher in the sky, the temps went steadily downward. Oh, and let's forget
the weird KFC in GA that did not have any grilled food, but provided me with a
smashed chicken" sandwich, complete
with bacon and spicy weird mayonnaise that even I could not eat.
Arrived at
Pine Top in early afternoon, passed the delightful Ana off to Cindy D., and set Keebler up in his stall. Said hello to Leslie and Lesley Grant Law
(who was on her way to coming in 2nd in the 2**), walked XC (first impression: BIG and gallopy, a perfect
last Training before the move up to Prelim),
watched some show jumping, and sent Jordan and Keebler out for a
hack (Jordan's remark after - "I
hope he settles; he is BOUNCY!"). The
girls had their first experience in "why we carry water", as the
water was turned off due to the freezingarsecold
temps. Keebler was fed and
blanketed, and we went off in search of
hotel and dinner. Returned from dinner
to put a third blankie on Mr Wimpy
Keebler, as he was cold and cranky.
Cyndi hasn't had a chance to finish the report, but the upshot was a 5th place finish and feeling ready for their preliminary debut next weekend at Rocking Horse Spring.
Running
I had a lovely visit with Jen and Andy in Sarasota in conjunction with running the Manasota Track Club 25k trail race on February 21st and a lovely weekend with Henry in Washington DC for our anniversary which included running the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon on ultimate pi day in the cold and rain. The dinner wine was most excellent and like our marriage was sweet and rich and better for the years
Other Events
I volunteered at Red Hills and this weekend am following, not one but two FEI + national events as both Poplar and the Carolinas are running.
Meanwhile, Kat took Astro to his first event at home at Copper Meadows where he was a good boy given that he didn't fully approve of the invasion at his home farm.
Meanwhile, Kat took Astro to his first event at home at Copper Meadows where he was a good boy given that he didn't fully approve of the invasion at his home farm.
Keegan is home (thanks to Bonnie) and I'm looking forward to riding him (as soon as it stops snowing - this is a very poor start to spring
My next goal
I have many runs planned, although I need to get an echo and see where things are as the breathing isn't great. Meanwhile, tomorrow starts my personal challenge, 100 days of cardio and core. My goal is to do at least 20 minutes of cardio (running, swimming, elliptical, hiking, walking) and 20 minutes of core like training (barre, yoga, pilates, ab work) every day for 100 days. Follow my Facebook for the hashtag #100daysC&C
