Fox River Valley Pony Club Horse Trials 2007

Let's just say this was a good make up show for my last fall at Otter Creek!

I drove over there with my friends Sydney Turnquist and Nicole Zullo. Like I have stated many times, we love road trips! We had a blast driving over there and talking amongst ourselves. Our friend Meaghan Marinovich and her sister Charlee Marinovich were following us in their rig. We all arrived at the show and found our stalls, unloaded and all rode together. We had dressage and show jumping on Saturday and XC on Sunday.

I was running late for some reason Saturday morning getting ready so I only had about a 10 minute warm up, which seemed to pay off, I just really focused on letting her stretch into my hands and keeping her lengthened and trying to keep her from tensing up. After we all rode dressage we ran to the local tack store and looked around and then returned to walk the show jump course, which was on a large grass field. While during the course I saw a friend of mine, Peter Arndt and he asked me if I was happy with my first place dressage ride. I was just like "WHAT!?!" I wasn't sure if he looked at the score board right because I didn't check after my ride. He said I was in first place after dressage and I was ecstatic, we finished walking our courses and I went over to the score board to double check. Sure enough I put in a great dressage ride receiving a 29.6 securing us in first place. I was so happy!

Now we had to go warm up for show jumping. Hannah was nuts, strong and chomping on the bit. I really had to use all my energy to keep her contained. We put in a great show jump course and only dropped one rail bumping us into 2nd place by .2 or some small margin. I was ready to try my best XC and my goal was to not fall off and at least have 1 of 2 shows completed successfully for the year!

XC was the next morning and it was raining a little bit on and off which made the course a little slick as the footing was mostly dirt. The cross country course looked fun, very flat with only some small hills or man made hills. We flew around the course as carefully as we could regarding the footing and jumped clean while only gathering 3.6 time faults. I was very happy with our performance and patted Hannah and walked back to the barn to hose her off and make sure everyone else had great rides. Once we were all done we began cleaning up and getting ready to leave when they announced that scores were posted for the Preliminary divisions.

We all went to check out the scores. I moved back into first to win the Open Preliminary-A division! So many people had time due to the footing that I was able to move up! Not only did we win our division but we also won two trophies, one for having the lowest Open Preliminary score and the other being the lowest place Preliminary Young Rider. How cool! I took a few pictures with the trophies and our lovely new fleece cooler and we all headed back to pack up and leave. The whole MN group had a great weekend and we were all tired and ready for the long drive home. We packed up and headed home with smiles all around!

Winter '06-'07 & Otter Creek Spring HT '07

Winter again, which means COLD and SNOW! I was done with my shows for the year following Midsouth so Hannah had three solid weeks off, which was nice and relaxing for both of us and I could focus on Lennie and his training, since he was (and still is) with me. Winter was a great time to work on our dressage and I really wanted to get my dressage scores lower. Lena and Jenny Warner are a blast to ride with. Jenny comes out every weekend and we would ride together. Before the snow Mark, Lena and I would go on hours of trail rides, they showed me all over the forests where we could ride, not like I could remember for a second which path to turn on if I were alone!

Winter involved a lot of hard training. Lena was great. My favorite is when she would help me with my lateral movements while she was on her Grand Prix horse Ymer. She would ride right next to me so we were almost touching, it was and still is so much fun! My goal was to move up at Otter Creek Spring HT to Intermediate. I did the usual May Jonathon Holling clinic (www.hollingeventing.com) and we had a rough start but talking things over with the Warner's we decided to give Intermediate a try.

We received a 42.8 on our dressage test, not bad for our first Intermediate test. The cross country course looked big, but I was prepared and Hannah was fit. We were ready for XC!

We had great weather and an awesome warm up. Being the first course of the year Hannah was really strong and I was struggling to control her. We headed out on cross country and negotiated the first part of the course great. There were a few new fences and she flew over them. A lot of people were having trouble at the water but we dropped in and flew over the "Otter" fence with ease and headed up towards the last few fences on the course.
It was about the 4th to last fence on the course, just a smaller bench before a bending line to some bounce banks down where we had a problem. It was coming out of the woods down a hill and Hannah was too far on her forehand. We jumped the bench but she hit it hard with her front legs, she landed fine but I was catapulted over her shoulder and hit the ground HARD. It hurt and I got the wind knocked out of me, Hannah continued on to our next jump.

Hannah waiting patiently for me to get up.

Although my lovely horse figured out where to go for the next jump I lay gasping for air on the ground. The jump judge hurried over to me and asked if I was alright and of course I'm gulping air down and can barely respond. The EMT's were called over to check on me and made the decision that I should go in for x-rays to make sure I hadn't hurt my back or neck. This was my first (and hopefully only) experience of having a neck brace placed around my neck and being strapped, literally, to a back board. My mom, Sarah Bergstrom, ran over along with some close friends including Jenny Warner, I made her promise to me to take Hannah back to the barn and give her buckets of carrots because she was spectacular. It was a long boring ride to the hospital and my poor mother was almost in tears the whole way there as I was giggling and talking like normal, though she thought I was delirious. All turned out well and the doctors gave me the okay to hobble out of the hospital advising me to lay low for two weeks and take some extra strength Tylenol. The Tylenol was much needed the next day as I was so sore I could barely move! But leaving the hospital I insisted that my mom, step dad and step brother take me immediately back to the farm so that I can assure everyone that I was just fine! I enjoyed the competitor's party and some delicious food and pampered my amazing horse.

The next morning I enjoyed watching everyone do their show jumping rounds and enjoyed mingling with everyone. I was ready to stop being so sore and go to my next horse show!

CCI* 2006-My FIRST one star! well...almost!

A one star! What a thrill to even be qualified for one! I was so excited to go! Hagyard's Midsouth CCI* is at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, the same grounds that ROLEX CCI**** is held on. The coolest part was that this CCI* was a full format, old school, with roads and tracks and steeplechase!

What an absolutely gorgeous place! I drove with my friend Edee Lee and her mom Sue Slocum. We arrived on Tuesday and checked in. We then went and unloaded the horses, bedded their stalls and got them water and hay. After unloading all the gear we took the horses to the vets to do our "in barns". The vets went over all of our paperwork and we check out ok! I was so excited to go out and see the XC course and look at the steeplechase.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty warm and I was really glad that I had body clipped Hannah the week before. On Tuesday, Edee and I hacked around our phase A & C and checked out Phase B, the steeplechase from our horses backs. It was great to get out and ride around the track.

Wednesday was our first jog. I got ready for my first official jog! I wore khakis and a brown blazer with my brown cowboy boots. Hannah was sparkling, I braided her and put on her bridle. We walked down to the jog warm up and practiced jogging a few times. She felt great! We were called to jog and the announcer announced "Liz Lund and Lady Hannah B-ACCEPTED" Yes! We past our first test of the weekend!

First Jog on Weds.

Now it was time to focus on the next test, our dressage. I rode on Thursday morning so I had Friday to hack before XC on Sat. It started to pour on Weds afternoon and through the night. KY had already received a lot of rain so it definitely didn't help the footing. They decided to change the format slightly and eliminate phase B & C. We would only do the first phase A and of course, the cross country phase D. Since we didn't have the steeplechase to warm up for jumping we were given some warm up fences. Oh well, not to worry we still had to go dressage!

Thursday morning we arrived to the stable early and fed the horses. Once they were done eating we took them out for a walk. As soon as I took Hannah out of her stall to groom her and take her for a walk, I noticed her right hind looked like an elephant leg. Cellulitis. Argh...here is a type up from Wikipedia.com about Cellulitis in horses...

Cellulitis in horses

Horses may acquire cellulitis, usually secondary to wound (which can be extremely small and superficial) or to a deep-tissue infection, such as an abscess or infected bone, tendon sheath, or joint. Cellulitis from a superficial wound will usually create less lameness (grade 1-2 out of 5) than that caused by septic arthritis (grade 4-5 lameness). The horse will exhibit inflammatory edema, producing a hot, painful swelling. this swelling differs from stocking up in that the horse will not display symmetrical swelling in 2 or four legs, but only in one leg.

This swelling begins near the source of infection, but will eventually continue downward the leg. In some cases, the swelling will also travel upward. Treatment includes cleaning the wound and caring for it properly, the administration of NSAIDs, such as phenylbutazone, cold hosing, applying a sweat wrap or a poultice, and mild exercise. Veterinarians may also prescribe antibiotics. Recovery is usually quick and the prognosis is very good if the cellulitis is secondary to skin infection.

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So, now what to do. She was slightly stiff on it but not so much. I wrapped her leg immediately and got on her two hours prior to my dressage ride to walk, walk and walk some more. It definitely helped. I had a friend come down to take off her bandage and she warmed up sound and felt great. We received a 66.2 on our dressage test. Not too bad considering the circumstances! Now my goal was to keep her comfortable, get the swelling down and I was so happy that I had all day Friday to try and control this.Hannah all wrapped up before dressage!

Friday I took her out for a hack, still a little stiff but worked out of it.

Saturday morning, now is the time of truth! I took her out, there was a little swelling, but not as bad as the days before. I kept hind boots off of her because I didn't want to irritate the leg any more. I tacked her up and hand walked her for a long time before mounting. I got on about 10 minutes prior to my start time at Phase A. I walked down to the start box and with the count down trotted off onto Phase A with a sound horse. We trotted and trotted and trotted along phase A until we reached the finish and headed up to the warm up arena to jump a few fences. She felt great and we were ready to hit the course!

The course was amazing! Wonderfully decorated and boy was it LONG! The CCIs are known to be longer and more difficult. It was a little over 7 minutes, most courses run 4-5 minutes. We had been conditioning accordingly though. After our warm up we hit the course and flew around! It felt wonderful, it was a VERY tough course but I rode very well and Hannah responded perfectly. We were flying and it felt great! We jumped clean and only had 1.6 time penalties. It felt great! After crossing the finish line I dismounted and untacked and we had to get okayed by the vets to head back to the barn. Her TPR (temperature, pulse and respiration) were taken right after we came in and again 10 minutes later to make sure it came back to normal. We were given the okay to head back to the barn, but the vet's said she looked a little stiff behind and to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't "tye up", also known as Azoturia. I knew it was just from the Cellulitis though so now it was my main concern to prevent further swelling due to the stress from the XC.

She was iced and her leg was dried to keep it from being irritated. I did everything I could to try and keep the swelling down but it wouldn't. In the description above it says it clears up quickly, but when you're at a horse show it doesn't come quick enough. Sunday we had to get ready for our jog. I got up early Sunday and hacked her, she was a little stiff, and a little stiff is enough for the vets to notice in the jog. I walked and walked and walked her again until we had to head down to jog. I didn't have too good of a feeling about this as I could just tell she looked a little off. It was our turn to jog..."Liz Lund and Lady Hannah B-Please go to the Hold Box"...uh oh! This meant we would present our horse to a vet and if we choose, return to jog for a second time either to be accepted or rejected.

I presented her to a great vet from Hagyard's, he was absolutely wonderful! He recognized right away that it was Cellulitis and not anything really serious, but that she wouldn't jog sound enough to pass her jog and recommended we withdraw which I took his advice and withdrew. It was the right choice to make as if she wasn't using her leg fully then something terrible could happen.

I still enjoyed watching all the other stadium rides that day. Edee and I packed up the trailer and got ready for the long drive home.

It was a fun weekend and I was glad to be able to get through most of it, now my goal is to COMPLETE a CCI* before they completely eliminate the long format.

Otter Creek Fall HT 2006

Alright! I'm on my home turf now, trying to defend my spring win title! I have been boarding at Otter Creek for a little over two weeks now since school started at the beginning of September. Hannah feels at home, which may not be a good thing because she tends to "perform" more at shows!

45.9. Dressage score which definitely reflected our test. She was a little tense and it showed in all of our movements. We were ready for XC though! The course looked tougher than the spring, which it always is to wrap up our Area IV season.

I walked the XC course a few times and went over it in my head and which lines I was going to ride. I headed back to my dorm for some sleep only to wake up bright and early to return to the farm.

Prelim was the last division to go for the day so I had all day to hang out and watch other people ride. It was finally time for the Prelim division to start so I headed back to the stable to tack up. We went to warm up and she felt amazing! She was strong but controllable and we headed to the start box. Once out on course she was perfect! We jumped through all the combinations flawlessly and ended up with a double clean run XC.
I was prepared for show jumping Sunday morning. I warmed up and Hannah felt great. We headed to the show jump arena and waited our turn. The course was giving people a hard time and a lot of riders had rails. We entered and negotiated the course carefully only having one rail and one time fault. I was happy with our performance this weekend and we finished in 5th place. It felt like a great way to end our AREA IV season and we were qualified and ready to go to our first CCI*! Oh I was so excited!

Trott Brook Farm Horse Trials 2006

Time for show again! This time we were off to Trott Brook Farms, close to home in Anoka, MN, only about 45m. from the farm. I headed out with Hannah to the show on Friday, unloaded and hacked her around the show grounds. I walked my course and went over my dressage test a few times. I helped some other students walk their courses and we were ready to go!

Saturday morning I was up early braiding Hannah and many others. Then it was my time to get ready. I cleaned Hannah up, but some checkers on her flank and dolled myself up. Our warmup was great and I felt we would have a good dressage ride. Eh, not so much, at least not one of our bests we got a 42.1. Oh well, hopefully we can make up for the dressage score on XC. I walked her back to the stable and removed her dressage gear and got her ready for XC. Once we were both readied for XC we headed up to warm up.

Warm up was a little crazy and she was a little high strung. For many of you riders who compete know that at this point there isn't a whole lot you can do but stay calm yourself and offer your horse the best ride you can. There was one jump I was worried about, a large, upright corner off a bending line.

We were off to a great start and headed up to the middle feild where we jumped a cordwood to the corner. We jumped over the cordwood great and I pointed her towards the corner, but we had a runout and I gave her a quick smack on the flank with my whip and circled back around and jumped the corner. The rest of the course went f ine, but didn't feel great, one of those courses where you just "get around". We weren't getting great spots but we were getting the job done, there is always room for improvement! With the run out we added 5.6 time penalties. Oh well, we walked back to the barn and I hosed her off and wrapped her for the night.

That evening we ate dinner and enjoyed a raffle. Then I walked my show jumping course a few times and headed back to the trailer to sleep. Sunday morning I prepared Hannah for our ride. It was a little slippery as the show jump course is on grass, but we warmed up and headed into the ring. We had a great ride with only two rails and finished in 8th place.

Another great weekend with great people and a lot of learning involved!

Wayne DuPage HT 2006

Another fun filled trip to Lamplight EQ Center! I love riding at Lamplight, the atmosphere is so exhilarating and of course the road trips are a blast!

Our dressage wasn't as great this time earning a 43.75 but we got over it and prepared for a great XC ride. The XC course was pretty similar to the Maui course, but it ran backwards which was cool! We jumped around XC double clean which bumped us up into 2nd place! A lot of people had a hard time with the course so I was happy to have run clean.


The show jump course was in the large arena this time, unlike at Maui where we rode in the smaller arena. Hannah felt fresh on Sunday morning as we warmed up.

We entered the ring, saluted and began our course. The first three jumps were great, we got perfect spots to them. As we rounded the turn to the 4th jump, a very upright single vertical rail I focused on the jump and relaxed. At the last second we crashed into the jump almost as if she didn't see it. The whistle blew and we waited for them to re-set the jump, I picked up the canter and waited for the whistle, once the whistle blew we headed towards the jump and she jumped it just fine. After that our course was a little strung out and it cost us three rails and the wait cost us 8 time faults which pushed us back into 10th. Bummer! But yet again, a learning experience for both my horse and me! We weren't about to let that happen again!

Hidden Hollow '06

Hidden Hollow. A show that I had never been to and didn't know of anyone who had, but my friend Joe Mangas was going and offered me a ride. I was excited to go to a place I hadn't ever been. Joe and his parents picked me up on Friday and we were off to the show! It rained the whole way there and we arrived to a muddy mess where a tractor had to be pulling tucks and trailers out of the mud. We were smack dab in the middle of a corn field. It definitely didn't compare to Maui Jim but it was its own fun little show in its own right.

We trudged through the mud with our horses to find our stalls which didn't have stall doors so we had to purchase stall guards. We drug our trunks and gear across the field and organized our stalls. Well at least we had a roof above us so we could hang out while it rained. The rain let up a little later and Joe and I went for a ride. The footing was grass so it was getting muddy and slippery with all the riders riding on it but I put in a good school on Hannah and walked her back to her stall. We took care of the horses for the night and headed to the hotel.

After a good nights sleep listening to the rain on the roof we headed to the barn in the morning, it wasn't raining but the sky didn't look promising for good weather. I tacked Hannah up and got ready for my dressage ride. Although the footing was slippery we were able to put in a 36.3 dressage test, not bad! The show post-poned XC to go on Sunday following show jumping due to the footing. We didn't get anymore rain which was a good thing. Joe and I were off to walk the cross country courses. The course varied from really easy jumps to more tough ones. It looked like a great course with a few good questions, but the footing was a disaster, especially through the woods where the sun couldn't reach the ground to dry out the footing.

Sunday morning the footing had barely dried out but I got ready for show jumping. They told us to wear all of our XC gear for show jumping because we would go directly from show jumping to XC. This was the first time I had done show jumping before XC and Hannah was a little confused, she was really strong through the show jump course but we left all the rails up and were clean on time. I patted her and headed over to the start box for cross country. 3.2.1 and we were off to another Prelim XC course! It was a little slick on the course so I made sure to keep her slower especially through the woods and around turns. We jumped clean but racked up 8.4 time penalties, only one person ran clean on time that day! It was a fun course and we finished in third place!

So far so good, what a great season so far! I so far received blue & yellow ribbons, which ironically are my colors! Royal blue and yellow, so we try to keep it in the theme, preferably with the blue!

Maui Jim HT 2006

Maui Jim. What a fabulous show! Located at the gorgeous Lamplight Equestrian Facility and the Wayne Pratt Woods Preserve in St. Charles, IL, current home of the American Eventing Championships. Maui Jim also newly has added the CIC*** so it makes it a very exciting competition to ride in and to watch.

Well, IL isn't a bad drive for us Minnesotan's as we really enjoy our time we get to spend together on the drive there and back. We always find something to keep us entertained! We arrived on Thursday which gave us plenty of time to hack horses, un-pack and settle into our new surroundings. Hannah was great, as she always is when we are new places!

We were ready to put in a nice dressage test the following day after warmup. We received a 39.3, not our best but it put is in the top 10. I walked the XC course and it looked tough. Two water complexes, the first one with an A,B,C and D element! It looked tough but we could tackle it! I walked the course a few more times and went over it with my friend Meaghan Marinovich to make sure we got each line down exactly how we were going to ride them.

Saturday morning. Up early, fed the horses and began getting ready. Studs, boots, tack, and all my gear. The walk over to the cross country course takes about 10 minutes which gives a nice walk warm up over there. We got over to warm up and began warming up slowly and popped over a few fences. She felt great and we were ready to go when our number was called.

The countdown started, 3,2,1 and we were off! Hannah felt great, she felt exceptionally fit and powerful underneath me. We negotiated the first part of the course flawlessly and came to the first water. I sat up, 1/2 halted and brought her back to a shorter more powerful canter. We jumped the first log A, one stride to a log drop down into water, then we had to slightly leg yield to the left to another even larger log drop into water and then to an angled, skinny, wide chevron. It rode perfectly and we galloped on. Came around to the new water and jumped those obstacles with ease and continued over our last fences to gallop across the finish line under the optimum time. What a great course! It was tough and definitely required a lot of riding, but if rode correctly was amazing!

I slowed Hannah to a trot then walk across the finish line, loosened her girth and walked her back to the stable. I un-tacked, un-studded and hosed and linimented her. I took her out for a few walks the rest of the day to stretch her legs and eat some grass. I then returned to the show jump arenas and walked my course.

We were ready for the course, which was in the smaller of the two show jump rings. We came up to warm up and I could tell she was a little lethargic which meant I'd need to give her a perfect ride. We ended up have 3 rails and time but none-the-less it was a learning experience and a lot of fun! We ended up in 13th out of a field of 30, not bad! I was pleased with our performance this weekend and now knew what we needed to work on! Bring on another show!

Otter Creek Spring HT 2006

Here we go again, Prelim round number 2! I am ready to roll! Otter Creek is usually known as a harder course in Area IV, but I was prepared and knew just how to ride the fences I had problems with the weekend previous at Longview HT. Dressage was on Friday, I had a lot of horses to braid so I was there early braiding and braiding and braiding!

Finally it was my turn. Tough competition in this division, Becky Holder was in it! We warmed up on grass and the arena was sand so I was a little worried about that but Hannah felt good and she had a lengthened stride (she tends to get short) so I was ready. We entered the ring and I felt as if she was pogosticking around the sand...but no worries we put in a decent test receiving a 40 and putting us in the top 3!

No pressure right? HA! Time for cross country! The course was tough but very negotiable. We had a GREAT round and hit just about a perfect spot on every fence! (www.youtube.com/user/RiderL9) watch the course on youtube! We jumped everything and came in right on the optimum time! So cool, what a great feeling! This secured me into...first place! AH-now the pressure is really on, with tough competitors close on my heels I didn't have room for a rail tomorrow.

I took care of Hannah, hosed, wrapped, walked, fed did all the usual and tucked her in for the night. We had fun at the competitors party and I walked the show jumping course.

Time to ride! Intermediate was the first division to go so we were able to watch a few rides over the course. I warmed up and had a great warmup, she felt good, very refreshed and not tired at all. We entered the arena, saluted the judge, waited for the whistle then began our course. It rode really smooth and we jumped a double clean round! I was ecstatic when I left the arena! It was only our second prelim and we had won! It was such a great feeling!

Now I was really looking forward to see what challenges the rest of the show season would bring to us, and try to defend my win at the fall Otter Creek Horse Trials in '06!

2006 Longview-1st Prelim

2006, a new year, a new beginning. Just fresh out of FL for the winter I felt I was ready to move up to Prelim. Our first prelim was at Mill Creek Pony Club HT at Longview in Kansas City, MO. I drove down with my friends Sydney Turnquist, her parents, Liz & Rolf, and Nicole Zullo. We had a lovely ride down, reading, listening to music, dancing and the usual prank phone calls to our friends. After a great spring clinic with Jon Holling he gave me the "okay" to move up at Prelim. I was so excited and ready to rock!

We got the horses all settled in and helped all the others get settled in too. We had quite the crew from home there! We all went for a hack/dressage school and then settled the horses in for the night. We all had a picnic dinner and BBQ, walked courses and then all went back to the hotel for the night. We had an early morning and my dressage and XC rides were really close together, less than an hour.

Early morning as usual! I got up, got to the farm, fed Hannah, refilled her water and hay and took her for a quick walk to stretch her legs. I tied her up, braided and groomed her so she sparkled. I tacked up and headed to warmup. We had a nice warmup and she felt good, we received at 38.3 on our test! I was very happy with our ride. I walked her back to the barn, untacked, unbraided and re-tacked, studded and geared up. I was ready to attack this cross country course, I only had a few fences I was worried about, a large trakehner (I'm not a ditch person). None the less, we went to warm up and she felt great and we were getting great spots in warmup.

30 seconds....10,9,8,7,6,5 (click watch on),4,3,2,1 HAVE A NICE RIDE, and we were off galloping towards a very friendly first jump! The first part of our course rode great and we were on our way to the large trakehner. She must have felt my hesitation because we had a refusal, I circled her around and flew over it no problems, just goes to show how tuned into me she is! Rode through the next couple of combinations great and then we were coming up to the water. The water was a log, one stride down a bank, bending line to a log IN the water. We jumped in great but when we hit the water she just felt heavy and our impulsion just died and we had a stop at the C element, the log in the water. I trotted her over the log and continued on. Our next problem was at an upbank to a log drop down bank. We jumped up one stride to the log drop down but had a stop at the log drop down. Me not being a good competitor didn't know that I could repeat element A in a combination so I made a tiny little circle on the top of the bank to re-approach the log drop down and had another stop, the second time we made it and ran around our last few fences flawlessly. Of course we racked up the penalties but had an overall great run and we were ready to give it another go at our next show! We had a great show jump round with one stop and one rail, both my fault. Overall finished in 10th with a million penalties...but it was fun and that is what counts!

College & horses

NEVER GIVE UP!

The costs are endless, the time-not enough and yet you still pick yourself up and keep on truckin'. This is my life. Horses, college, friends, family....the list goes on!

I am a 20 year old college student at UW-Stout...I have been here and there but now I am going to try and stick it out, get a degree and while doing all that STILL compete my event horse and train for other people.

I took a year off, did the "horse thing" and enjoyed it. I started college in September of 2006. I was excited to get out and meet new "non horsey" people because yes, I DO try to have a life outside of horses!

I read a similar blog on USEA Blog site, by Leslie Threlkeld, it is so true-I recommend reading it! Everyone has the "dream" of the Olympics and being the youngest to do so. Bad news-we are all too late! So whats the hurry? Slow down, its not the destination you are after, its the journey, so sit back and enjoy it while you can!

So back to my college life::::

I was assigned a random roommate in North Hall on South Campus of school. It was really fun living with a random, I highly recommend anyone who is going to college to at least give the dorms a try and live with someone new! My roommate, Kendra and I will be best friends for life and I am really glad I took that jump to live with a random. College is a blast. It is a lot of work, yes stressful, but it is a lot of fun too.

I signed up for 13 credits for my first semester, I didn't want too large of a load while I got back into the "school mode". I took just the basic general classes, a math, an English, sociology, a art class, and speech.

I was lucky to have an amazing farm only 25 minutes from campus, Otter Creek Farm (www.ottercreekfarm.com) Not only are the people great, it is a great facility that hosts two events a year up to the CIC** level, so talk about a great place to train! The footing is amazing, the XC course a dream, there are hills and trails that I still get lost in! I also had a client send a horse with me, Relentless (aka Lennie) so that I could continue training rides on him and try and get him sold (which he is still with me if anyone is interested in a JUMPER!). So I was lucky to have 2 horses to ride at school. Fall was busy of course with shows going into October and school. After my last show, I settled down to riding 4 times a week. Cold winters limit riding days too, I don't ride if it is under 15 degrees, it is just too miserable!

I took my horses home with me for a month over winter break so I could continue riding them, that is another plus about college, most colleges give you a month for break or have a Win-Term or J-Term or something similar where you can choose to take a short class. 2nd Semester brought around new classes and new challenges.

Of course spring to us northerners is a sign of hope that summer will be returning and with that comes FITNESS. Trot sets started in March. Through the snow and up and down the hills, I think it works better. Have you ever tried running in snow? It's hard! Not only do I have to remember when my homework is due and tests are, now I have opening dates for shows and clinics!

Shows coming into the picture means more expenses. I picked up another part time job ontop of my training ride at Applebee's. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people!

It can all be done, with careful organization and planning!

As far as I go though, I am unsure of what I want to do. I have been playing around with different classes and even new things outside of college. I work at a Tack Store-giving me the business perspective of life, I am hoping to get a job this summer for Cargill as a Dog Food Nutritionist-giving me the science/health/nutrition part of life, I train horses-which is totally un-related to school but its where I would like to go in life, at least part time until I can afford to do it full time!

It is important to explore, even if you think you know what you might wanna do, you probably don't. Try new things, get your fingers dirty and dive in head first. You only live once, live it all while you can.

"Well ROUNDED"-Something my mom would tell me over and over "I want you to be well rounded"...I haven't really understood that until recent years. Horses are very important to me but like she said one needs to be well rounded. There is life outside of the horses too and it is just as enjoyable, just in a different way.

College is important, go to college, if you can't ride during college, you can after, but most likely if you are determined enough, you will find a way to do it.

So after a good year at Stout I returned home for the summer. I decided to stick around home until show season was over so I transferred from Stout to Augsburg College in Minneapolis and lived on a farm on the west side of the cities. It was great to be able to ride a lot since I was only taking two classes but I missed the social aspect of school and decided to return to Stout for 2nd semester, spring of 2008! I was glad I made the switch back and now I am here to stay! (hopefully, stay updated to follow my adventures!)

So here I am, typing on my blog instead of doing homework...well first I'm off to the barn to do a trot set and a few training rides, then I'll get to the books!

Hope you enjoyed reading about my life and my small words of inspiration for all you other horse crazy college students!

Florida '06

Ok I'm back for some more writing! Although CT was awesome I was ready to go south and get use to the warm weather! The Solomon's rented a barn for the FL "season". They also had a nice apartment attached to the barn that they lived in. My apartment was also very nice and just a short walk across the arena. We got the horses all situated and settled in and then I brought all my stuff the my apartment and got some sleep.

Work started as usual and I had to adjust to the new settings. FL was great. There were three full size arenas and a small sand track around one. Julie had her own private arena with great sand footing and of course large outdoor mirrors. Along the far side of the farm, about 15 feet from the arenas was a small canal which we would occasionally see alligators in. The alligators would come and sit right next to the arenas and bask in the sun. Not something we really enjoyed so we would go get the property owner to chase them away.

The farm had six stalls, one which we used for storage of feed and bedding. The floors all had rubber matts and the barn was very breathable and each stall had a fan. We had two small fields for turnout that the horses had to be watched closely in because if they would start to run around or dig they would ruin the grass due to the sandy ground. Pierre and Pam Goodrich also kept their horses and clients there. It was fun to watch them work their upper level dressage horses.

The town we lived in was called Loxahatchee and we lived in a gaited community called White Fences. From our farm there was a loop that I could ride around and do trot sets on which passed the show ground where some dressage shows were held.

I had been riding Julie's pony, Rolando a very fancy little guy. She was trying to get him sold so we took him over to another farm to get some hunter lessons and take some photos (above). He was a lot of fun.

Although I enjoyed Wellington very much, I couldn't do what I loved to do and that was event. I told Julie that I was going to begin to look for a job in which I could event and she totally understood. I made a few phone calls to contacts that Jon Holling (www.hollingeventing.com) had given me as he was full this winter with students and didn't have room for me. I found a few places to keep Hannah and live. I called Darren Chiacchia (www.eventrider.com) and he asked me to come north for an interview. It was right after Christmas and my mom and my two sisters came down for a week to visit me. My mom and I drove north to Ocala to meet Darren and see the farm. He said he was looking for some help on the farm and offered me a job in exchange for my living expenses and with a small weekly salary on top of that. I loved the farm and was excited for this opportunity to train with one of the best trainers in our sport.


Julie's husband Keith offered to trailer Hannah up north for me which was great as I had no means of transport for her. I packed my truck up, said my goodbyes and we caravaned north to Ocala on the last day of December, just in time for the New Year!

INDEPENDENCE FARM SOUTH
DARREN M. CHIACCHIA

I arrived at Darren's and Cristin Stoop, Darren's groom, greeted me and told me where to put Hannah and my stuff. I met my roommate, Missy Miller, and instantly got along great with her. I got all moved in, showered and went to the house where Darren had made everyone dinner. He is an absolutely amazing cook and funny guy who always has a good joke to tell. It was time to go out for the New Year. I drove a truckload of his students behind him to a few different places ending at Sarah Kozumplik's (now Dierks) farm. (www.overlookfarm-eventing.com) I got a chance to talk to a lot of great people and get different experiences from other working students.

Work didn't start promply the next day, Darren allowed us to do chores and then rest a little. But after that work was very hard. We got up and begun turning out the horses and then feeding them at 7am. Then stalls were cleaned and water buckets scrubbed and refilled. Once chores were all done we would get horses ready for Darren to ride. Cristin would have the list of horses that Darren would be working and what horses his students would be riding and what time lessons would be. It was very orderly. Once Darren was done riding his horses, we would ride a few of his horses and then our own. We would do occasional group lessons which were fun. Either I would ride Hannah or one of Darren's horses. It was hard work from 7am-5/6pm 7 days a week.

It was something I really enjoyed and offered me great experience. We got a chance to go and school XC at Longwood Farm South, winter home of the US Olympic 3 Day Equestrian Team and an absolute rider's paradise. 120 acres of lush grass, beautifal farms and a full XC course. It was a blast!

Towards the end of January we were off to our first show at the Florida Horse Park in Ocala. We loaded up all the gear and horses and drove the the park, about a 30 minute drive from the farm. We unloaded horses, bedded stalls, filled water buckets and moved all the gear out into the feed/tack stalls.

I hacked Hannah that evening around the park and did a short dressage school. We were ready for a FL show!

The next day was dressage, Darren warmed us up and she was feeling awesome! We put in a great test receiving a 33.5 and putting us into 4th place. We then did a XC course walk and the course looked very do-able and there are no hills at Ocala. I took Hannah for a long walk and grazed her before we fed and headed back to Independence Farm South to finish up farm chores.

The next morning I was to stay at Independence Farm South and help Carlos with morning turnout and chores. Once I got chores done I headed to the horse park and arrived at about 8:30 am. Only to discover that Hannah wasn't in her stall.

Cristin Stoop said that when she went to feed the horses around 6am that she was missing. After she fed the horses she notified the show office. When I got to the horse park, my friend Meaghan Marinovich notified me that Hannah was missing. Her dad, John Marinovich and her helped me look in all of the stalls at the horse park to see if someone had put her away. The show office made regular announcements notifying the park that she was missing and was last seen the night before. I was an absolute wreck and was in tears most of the morning. I called my mom and she caught a flight and was going to fly down. I then called the police station and issued a stolen horse file and the Marion County police sent police officers to the park on horse back to ride the perimeter and through the woods. A helicopter was also sent and flew over the area for a few hours looking for a loose horse. The day seemed to last forever and no progress was being made. I drove all around to houses and farms boarding the horse park and asked neighbors if they had seen a loose horse, made flyers and handed them out. I also filed her as missing the Stolen Horse International (www.netposse.com) which is a great program for recovering missing or stolen horses.

It was around 5:30pm when someone finally came to the horse park and notified the show office that they had found a bay mare and put her into their cow's pasture. I was so excited that she wasn't gone and instantly got in my friend Missy Miller's truck and hauled her trailer over 2 miles down the road to get her. My friend Andrina Calder came with me. We pulled up to the field and she was in the far corner, I yelled her name and whistled loudly. Her head shot up, she whinnied and came galloping across the field. She was so happy to get out of the cow field, as she hates cows, and be with someone she recognized. I will never know what happened when she went missing but all I could do was cry with joy that she was home safe. My mom arrived to the horse park shortly after we picked her up and we were both happy to have her back. Due to financial issues and family health problems I decided to head home to MN and pursue a college degree. Shortly after returning home my dad, Eric John Lund, died of a brain tumor 4/4/06. It was a hard time for me but I have such a great support system through my family, friends and the horse community. He will be missed and remembered forever. Although I had thoroughly enjoyed being in Florida it was a relief to be home despite the weather.

(check out story at http://www.netposse.com/stolenmissing/hannahFL06.htm)

I registered to go to UW-Stout in the fall of 2006 and was looking forward to a great summer!

Connecticut-'05

AH! Here we go! CT was a trip and a half! It was such a great experience for me. I finished throwing the last box in my truck, kissed my horse goodbye as she was leaving a day later then I was. Julie's house/farm was absolutely spectacular (as you can tell from the above pictures).

My mom drove out with me and stayed for a few days while I settled in and got into the flow of things. Work started promptly at 6 am, with lunch from noon-1:30 and work until the days tasks were done and the horses could be fed at 4pm, only to bed fed again at 830pm. 4 meals a day they were eating better than I was! It was a Tues-Sunday job with Mondays to do my own thing, like sleep and eat. It was hard work and a lot of work but very fun and I learned a lot of what to do and what not to do! Julie and her husband were great, they acquainted me with some of their friends and would take me out to their dinner parties, they treated me more like a friend then an employee. I appreciate everything that they had to offer.

Not only was there a nice barn, with cobblestone floor, large padded stalls with cameras but the rest of the farm was spectacular. A large outdoor arena with great footing and huge OUTDOOR mirrors, I hadn't seen such a thing! I thought it was great to have mirrors in an indoor and these people have them outside! It was absolutely gorgeous! There were trails that I could take the pony, Rolando and Hannah on next door and hills so I could keep Hannah in shape. There were several areas of turnout, the grass paddocks where the horses would be turned out individually with boots on and I would sit and watch them for an hour then bring them in. If it rained then they would get turned out in the wood chip paddocks and watched and brought in. Down below was a lovely round pen where Julie and I worked her young horse Milano and where I would sit on him on the longe line until he was ready for the outdoor arena. It was a breathtaking house and farm.

November rolled around and we began to put the finishing touches on preparing the farm to be closed down and for us to move out and down to Wellington, FL for the winter.

The horses, Davi, Cola, Milano, Rolando and Hannah were all ready to get down south for some warm weather. I had the horses all cleaned and body clipped and they were ready to warm up.
They had an tremendously amazing rig. A huge top-kick truck (like a mini-semi almost) and an air-ride Pegasus horse trailer which could be converted into just about anything from a box stall to a regular trailer slot. We finished loading all the gear the night before and we planned to leave at 5am the following day. We woke up to large heavy rain drops, but despite the weather I rolled out of bed and brought down my last suitcase and fed the horses. Once all the horses were ready we made sure everything else was loaded and then began loading the horses one by one. We finally got everyone in and settled and set down the road to make an overnight stop in North Carolina. We made it to North Caroline in the evening and were able to let the horses out for a few moments to stretch their legs and eat some grass. We headed to a hotel to get some sleep.

Again and early morning and a lot of driving. We could feel the weather change the further south we got. We had to pull blankets off the horses and turn up the AC in the trailer. Yes, AC in the horse trailer, royal animals! We made it down safely, taking a lot of breaks to refill hay nets, offer water and check on the horses. Milano was slightly dehydrated so we kept a close eye on him and had vets waiting at the farm in Wellington when we arrived.

That's all for now, read more later on the Florida part of my adventures!

Otter Creek Fall HT 2005

Our third horse show. This summer seemed to fly by! Yes I know, three shows for a season...not very exciting but we have to deal with what we have when we can and I was ready to move out and on to different things!

Otter Creek Farm. One of my favorite places on this earth! (www.ottercreekfarm.com) The place, the people, the horses, the atmosphere, absolutely amazing! It is where I currently board and train out of (Jan-May 2008).

We were entered in the Training-rider division. Our dressage wasn't the best we received a 43.5 and the cross country looked big and technical, which is what Otter Creek is known for in Area IV. We were prepared and ready to tackle any obstacle in our way. We jumped clean and only had 2.8 time faults. We had one rail in show jumped which settled us to a lovely green ribbon, 6th place. I thought we had a great weekend and yet again another wonderful learning experience.

September is nearing the end of Area IV's competition season and I was preparing to move out east to try something new for a little while before college.

We had a great show season, despite weather that delayed our start we still had many opportunities to learn a lot. We were able to riding in a combined test together and a few schooling shows. Overall my first and so far only training level season was a success, I hope to bring many more horses along through the levels as I did with Hannah.

Fall 2005

Well...I graduated high school in the Spring of 2005 so it was coming time to make a decision for the fall. I decided to take a year off and do something horse related. I had talked to a lot of people about possibly becoming a working student, that didn't look too promising because although I would have been able to work a lot of my expenses off I wouldn't be able to work off all of them and I couldn't afford to do many of the opportunities that were presented. I flew out to Connecticut and interviewed for a private dressage rider, Julie Solomon, to be her groom. She was amazing, her farm was amazing and her horses were spectacular. She put me through the ropes and had me grooming, tacking up horses, cooling out horses, watching the horses when they were turned out, cleaning tack, cleaning the barn, feeding and etc. Her trainer was also at the farm the weekend I went out for an interview so she had me ride her horses in some lessons. I was so excited that we got along so well and she offered me the job to begin at the end of September.

I had Hannah entered in Otter Creek Horse Trials mid-September so once I finished the horse show it was off to the east coast!

I talked to Liz Turnquist to see if I would be able to bring Hannah out to CT with me to further her training. She said for liability reasons I would have to purchase Hannah if I wanted to take her from the farm, which was completely understandable. Now I just had to figure out how to afford this animal, which by no means is a little thing. I had some money saved up from my riding jobs and other miscellaneous jobs but it wasn't enough. My mom's mom, Betty McGoon offered to help me pursue my dreams of owning my FIRST horse and taking her out east with me. I purchased Hannah on Sunday, September 11th of 2005.

2nd show-Trott Brook H.T. 2005

Well after having a great run at Wayne DuPage I just couldn't wait to get out again. We entered Trott Brook Horse Trials in Anoka, MN. An amazingly well organized show and right here at home! Well, we finally got rain and it wouldn't give up. The course was wet but not sloppy as long as we wouldn't have anymore rain.

I trailered Hannah to Trott Brook Friday and unpacked and tacked up and cleaned everything. I reviewed my dressage test and walked my cross country course. The course looked like a blast and I was psyched to get out there. We put in a not-so-lovely 44.5 dressage test, not our best but overall was steady. We were ready to get out on the cross country course.

I walked up to warm up and began a slow warm up and jumped a few jumps and was ready to go. I walked over to the start box and was given a 2 minutes warning when the show announcer announced the show was being "held" due to dangerous conditions of bad weather. It was to be at least 2 hours until the show started again, it was cold and damp and Hannah was already warmed up. I walked her back to her stall, took her saddle and bridle off and put her cooler on to keep her dry and warm. We just had to wait it out. Once the weather seemed to settle the course had changed slightly due to footing issues. All of our ditches were filled with water so I was a little interested to see how Hannah would react to that!

We got out on course and it was a blast. We were getting all of our spots and the course was flowing smoothly, we jumped clean and had .8 for time moving us up the placings. I gave Hannah lots of hugs, kisses and treats that night to pamper her for show jumping the following day.


Of course the day started bright and early when the fog was just lifting from the grassy fields. The show jump course was set and I walked it and carefully studied the lines I was going to follow. We had a great warm up and put in a double clean show jump round to finish in 3rd place! It was amazing and what a great second show ever!

First post...first horse...first show together!

Alright, so I am giving this blogging a try. It will be a good way for me to keep everyone updated and to keep record of all my events!

Well it is mid-semester of my spring semester at UW-Stout and I am on spring break visiting friends and family at home in Edina, MN. It sure has been a cold winter. It has finally begun to warm up and I was able to get Lady Hannah B (Hannah) out for some hills and trot work to prepare for our first competition in May, the Otter Creek Spring HT/CIC*/**. I will be running Hannah in the CIC*.

So let me tell you a little about my horse, Hannah. She is a dark bay with no white markings, 12 y/o mare, American Warmblood (3/4 TB, 1/4 Shire) and came from a small town called Bastrop, Texas. She was born and bred there by Kae Hansen of Kaesen Farms (www.kaesenfarms.com) Kae is one of my sponsors and her willingness to continue to support me and my dreams is much appreciated. I began riding Hannah in September of 2004, she was 9 years old. I began working for Liz Turnquist, her owner, that month. I began riding her as my main mount because I had no horse of my own at the time. I started working with her to help Liz get her sold. Liz's daughter Ayla Turnquist had Hannah out east at college with her for about a year. Hannah wasn't Ayla's ideal horse so she was sent home to the family farm. I will admit I did not fall in love with Hannah instantly. She is an amazing creature to look at but hadn't had much recent work when I started riding her due to some shoeing issues and just having too many other things to do! I worked with her all winter in the indoor and we began to click and once she was more fit she was more enjoyable to work with and a lot quicker to pick up on new things. I did an Eric Dierks eventing clinic in the spring of '05 and he really thought she was going to make a nice event horse (and was he right!) Everyone from then on complemented her and her quick progress she was making in her new career.

We had plans to make her first event ever, ours together, in the Novice division at Fox River Valley in Barrington, IL. Of course as usual the summer started off dry and stayed dry. When Fox River Valley rolled around it was just too much to drive the horses such a long distance for a one day show. Oh well, there will be other shows! We continued to train hard and Hannah progressed quickly and I entered her at Training level for her first event at Wayne DuPage HT in St. Charles, IL. I was so psyched, knowing that she was ready for training, even though I hadn't ever ridden at the training level before now, I knew that we were ready. It was a fun weekend full of great learning experiences.

We began the weekend with a long drive to IL, unloading, hacking and cleaning. We were ready to rock. We got a 36.00 in dressage which I was ecstatic about as she was figuring out what exactly I was asking her to do in this strange place. After a long walk she was ready for some rest before the XC day.

XC is my favorite phase, like most eventers, which is what holds us true to our sport. We had a great run XC, with one stop at a drop into water but I circled her right around and she dropped right in and we only had 2.4 time faults but our mistake moved us towards the end of the pack. It didn't matter though, all I wanted was to have fun and have a great learning experience for myself and Hannah.

Upon Sunday morning I was ready to put in a great ride, until warmup came around. Warmup was an absolute disaster. It seemed like everything was going wrong and I was really getting nervous. Hannah really did not like the small ring and horses whizzing past her. She was getting excited and my nervousness didn't help. I had only jumped 3 jumps and had one refusal. I left the warm up and went up to ride show jumping knowing that if I stayed in warmup things would only get worse and I could only hope for the best once she got into the arena. She entered the arena as if she knew everyone was watching and knew what she needed to do. We had a great show jumping round and even took the skinny option just for added experience, although we had a rail it was still a great show overall and I was so happy to see that Hannah was turning out to be a great event horse.