Welcome Lucy!

Liz Lund Eventing would like to welcome it's newest member! Rhine Maiden (aka Lucy) has made the transition from dressage horse to aspiring event horse! She is a 2003 Hanoverian Mare by Rohdiamant and out of Desert Sun. She has successfully shown through 3rd level dressage and is trained through PSG. Liz purchased her from dressage trainer's Alison Sader Larson & Ken Larson. She just recently began her jumping career and has found to love it. When spring rolls around she will be ready to hit the turf and test out the waters to see if cross country will be her thing! Liz hopes the best for this little talented mare and has her eye on her for awhile!

Stay tuned for updates on Lucy as she progresses in her jumper training.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Everyone! Done longing horses for the day, time to get ready to eat lots of food and be thankful!

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for so many things! Most of all my parents, they have stuck with me through the good and the bad. I don't know what I would do without my mom. I would like to thank John Bergstrom, my step-dad, for putting up with this one crazy stepdaughter's lifestyle! My dad, who is missed everyday and my sisters, step-sister & step-brother, grandmas & grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc etc...my whole family!

My friends. They never give up on me, even though they probably know I will be in bed because I've worked horses and taught lessons for 10 hours and will probably be up early tomorrow ready to do the same thing!

My horses. Well technically I only own Lady Hannah B, but I am thankful for all the horses I have ridden, currently train and will train in the future. They are who I am.

My horsey-friends & clients. Always there being supportive and helping out, whether it is doing chores at the farm, taking lessons, educational sleepovers, grooming at horse shows, attending schooling shows and events, representing Liz Lund Eventing with their logo wear, or just being there.

The list is never ending...I have had a lot of great opportunities in my life so far and can only hope they will continue to expand. Thanks for everything everyone!

Enjoy your Turkey Day!

Liz Lund Eventing Schooling Show Results 11/20/2010

Lead Line
1st Place - Elise Brann riding Blizzy

Ground Poles
1st Place - Gabi Geraci riding Taco
2nd Place - Aubrey Rossi riding Roo
3rd Place - Elise Brann riding Blizzy
4th Place - KT Harrington riding Phayra

Cross Rails
1st Place - KT Harrington riding Phayra
2nd Place - Mia Geraci riding Blue
3rd Place - Gabi Geraci riding Taco
4th Place - Emily Miller riding Dilli
5th Place - Hannah Gordon riding Riesling

18''-21''
1st Place - KT Harrington riding Phayra
2nd Place - Erin Owen riding Clacny
3rd Place - Mia Geraci riding Blue
4th Place - Gabi Geraci riding Taco
5th Place - Emily Miller riding Dilli
6th Place - Skye Lundahl riding Blizzy
*Other riders - Kati Rossi riding Roo; Hannah Gordon riding Riesling

2'-2'3''
1st Place - Ellen Emrich riding Tango
2nd Place - Erin Owen riding Clancy
3rd Place - Sara Fogelberg riding Joey
4th Place - Janelle Johnson riding Aristotle
5th Place - Emily Miller riding Dilli
6th Place - Olive Youngquist riding Magic
*Other riders - Mia Geraci riding Blue; Hannah Gordon riding Rielsing; Morgan Samuelson riding Sammy


2'6''-2'9''
1st Place - Ellen Emrich riding Tango
2nd Place - Laura Sarff riding Emmy So Easy
3rd Place - Sara Fogelberg riding Joey
4th Place - Morgan Samuelson riding Ricky
5th Place - Janelle Johnson riding Aristotle
*Other riders - Savannah Ruhs riding Grady; Alex Lundahl riding Eclipse; Erin Owen riding Clancy

3'-3'3''
1st Place - Laura Sarff riding Emmy So Easy
2nd Place - Janelle Johnson riding Aristotle
3rd Place - Terri Zenz riding Tango

3'3''-3'6''
1st Place - Terri Zenz riding Tango

Gamblers Choice
1st Place - Laura Sarff riding Emmy So Easy - 51 Points
2nd Place - Ellen Emrich riding Tango - 43 Points
3rd Place - Savannah Ruhs riding Grady - 35 Points
4th Place - Alex Lundahl riding Eclipse - 22 Points

Switch Ride Group A
1st Place - Alex Lundahl riding Grady
2nd Place - Mia Geraci riding Blizzy
3rd Place - Skye Lundahl riding Blue

Switch Ride Group B
1st Place - Savannah Ruhs riding Eclipse
2nd Place - Morgan Samuelson riding Tango
3rd Place - Sara Fogelberg riding Lady Hannah B
4th Place - Terri Zenz riding Joey
5th Place - Ellen Emrich riding Sammy

4 Bar
1st Place - Connie Duff riding Emmy So Easy
2nd Place - Savannah Ruhs riding Grady
3rd Place - Morgan Samuelson riding Ricky
4th Place - Savannah Ruhs riding Eclipse

Chicken (no stirrups)
1st Place - Terri Zenz riding Tango (4ft)
2nd Place - Morgan Samuelson riding Ricky (3'9'')

Congrats to everyone today! Thanks for making today so fun and successful! Stay tuned for more information about the next Liz Lund Eventing Schooling Show tentatively aiming for January 2011!

Time to train...

We had our first snowfall this weekend...well we got around 8 inches of snow! I woke up Saturday morning really early to head out to the farm to load up Hannah and bring her to a nearby farm for the Anne Kursinski clinic. I didn't actually expect the weather men to be right but when I woke up there was already a few inches on the ground!

It took my normal 30m drive a whole hour to get to the farm. Maria was finishing chores and we loaded up Hannah and headed on our way slowly pulling through the unplowed roads in four wheel drive. The clinic was hosted at Kim and Andy Barone's farm in Watertown, MN - Raven Ridge Farm. It is a beautiful and WARM facility, a great place for the clinic.

Anne warmed us up on the flat first. She really emphasized carrying your hands in front of you and stretching long and deep into you heel. She also wanted me to carry myself slightly forward of the vertical, rather than sitting like a "dressage rider". New concept for me but I was more than willing to try it. She wanted to demonstrate her position so she got on Hannah and showed everyone how solid her position was and how we should work on getting ours to match hers. She really liked Hannah and thought she was very athletic.

We then warmed up over a small cross rail. We trotted to the fence, being sure ahead of time we were in two point all the way up to the fence, another new idea for me, but it helped me to stay lighter on Hannah's back. We then had to drop our stirrups on landing and halt straight. A very good exercise for balance and straightness. Here is a video.

Another exercise we did was to canter an oxer, left hand turn to a forward three stride oxer to oxer and halt at the end in a straight line. Here is a video.

One great thing she had us do to all of our fences was to count up to eight with the rhythm of the horse's stride. Another exercise we did was to jump an oxer four strides to the butterfly vertical, turn left over the arch bridge back to the oxer and then FIVE strides to the butterfly vertical. This helped us work on our eye and adjustability of our horse. Here is a video.

We also worked on a bounce line with three fences in a row. The next day we incorporated more bending and related lines and continued to work on being light.

We also held our reins like driving reins and worked on automatic releases keeping our hands wide and off the horses neck working on our own balance.

It was a good clinic, although things were very different then what I was used to, it is good to be open minded and I am really interested in learning different styles and techniques of riding to become better overall.

Another clinic I attended was one of Daniel Stewart's 'Psycho Clinics' taught by Dori Johnson. It was a great challenge and a lot of fun to ride with my students. The first exercise was called steps. There were 8 cross rails set up right next to each other in a zig zag formation number 1-8 on one side. The rules were that you couldn't cross your path or go to the outsides of fences 1 and 8. We were sent off cantering and Dori would tell us a number to jump...that was easy...then we were sent off cantering and Dori would tell us two numbers...the first number was the number of fences we had to jump and the second was the number that the fences had to add up to. For example, 2-6. So you would go and jump fence 4 and then fence 2, or any combination that adds up to 6 in two fences. Then she gave us three numbers, 7-3-21. The first number was the number fence we had to jump, the second number was the remaining jumps we had left, and the third number was the total of all the fences. So if we started with fence 7, we had two fences left to get 14. Then she would shout 6 evens or odds at us in any order and we had to jump those fences. Then she added three evens or odds at the end of the three numbers and that totally threw me for a loop! It was a lot of fun and the purpose of the clinic was the mentally stress the riders and see how their riding changed. It was a lot of fun!

The next exercise we did was called the box. This was a color and names exercise...more my thing but still challenging! There were two fences on each side of the square, about two strides across the center. You can jump all sorts of combinations. The fences we had were Blue, White, Canada, Teal, Ugly, Purple, Jungle and Green. We had to remember which fences were which and as we were cantering around she would tell us what jumps to jump, gradually adding more and more until we got to 8, Marianne Kelley even attempted 10! I could do 6 really well, but 8 was too much for me. The goal was to figure out an easier way to remember the course. Rather than remembering each individual fence, we would remember lines. Then when we got to 8 different fences, we would remember 4 different lines. It was a great concept to making course memorization easier.

Overall these clinics have been a blast! I am starting up dressage lessons again with Alison Sader Larson and look forward to continuing to work on our fourth level movements. I will also be taking a jumper lesson here and there from some local jumper trainers.

I am proud to announce I am hosing my FIRST ever Liz Lund Eventing (jumper) Schooling Show on November 20th and Trophy Hill Farm! It should be a blast, we have close to 20 different riders and over 45 rounds so far throughout the day! Classes range from lead line to different height classes, to fun classes like 'four-bar' and gamblers choice! Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Stay warm if you aren't headed south for the winter!

Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable - OCF Fall Recap

Otter Creek Fall Horse Trials was a success. I had Lady Hannah B running in the Open Intermediate and Juliette in the Open Preliminary. I had a lot to overcome as I headed into the weekend.

After having the last couple horse shows not go well, I was more nervous. Having prepared with lessons and the Ralph Hill clinic the weekend before, I knew that both myself and my horses were more then capable to conquer the upcoming challenges. One of the most helpful things I have learned going out and doing things that I am worried about, is understanding that the feeling of being uncomfortable, isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is just something you have to get comfortable with and know how to handle your reactions. "It’s not the situation but how you respond to it that makes the difference; it is within your control."

A book that I enjoy reading when I feel more nervous then normal is "Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence" by Gary Mack with David Casstevens. It is all the inspiration and encouragement I need to put myself in a better mental state. Although the book does not relate directly to eventing, the stories and quotes from the world of professional athletics can easily relate. Just like in horse back riding, you need to be able to control your thoughts heading out on your horse, whether it is into the dressage ring, the start box or the show jumping stadium. My favorite quote from the book is "You have to learn how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable."

We all know how much preparation and work goes into getting ready for one weekend. Weeks of hard work, gallop sets, dressage lessons, jump schooling, hacks and more. If you don't put in the work before hand, you can't expect to get out on the field and perform your best, and it isn't fair to your horse to not prepare them adequately for the game. "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

The book also talks about goal setting.
SMART Goal Setting:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Time-bound
I had some very specific goals for Otter Creek. It wasn't to go out and win, it was to go out and perform my best. I had to overcome my latest fears of the potential to do bad. Because of my last falls, I had a lot of "what ifs" on my mind and I needed to clear my head of everything and go out there and do what I knew I could do, and that was put in a clean jumping round on the cross country. How did I know I could do it? Because I trust in my abilities to not over face myself, or put myself in a position that I am not ready for, and I knew I was ready because I have done it before. I had to push myself to take any self doubt out of my head, and replace it with confidence and self assurance that I was very capable of reaching my goals. "I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated." - Emmitt Smith.

I arrived early Thursday morning after a 2 hour drive in the pouring rain. I unloaded the horses and set up their stalls and organized the tack and feed stalls. I had special permission to walk my courses so I went over them with Kati Bodin and we came up with a game plan for each question. I then returned to the barn, soaking wet...literally all the way through and put on jacket number two. I tacked up Hannah B and headed out in the downpour for a dressage lesson from Alison Sader Larson. Hannah was great, as one dressage judge once wrote on my test "Good Mudder." I returned to the stable to put on jacket number three and wait for more students to arrive so we could work, again in the rain.

After the rest of my students arrived, we did lessons and then I rode Juliette. We settled the horses in for the night and hoped the weather would change overnight. Friday held early morning rides. Students Abby Turnacliff, Ashley Reut and Kelsie Holbrook performed in the Jr. Training Division dressage putting in good tests. Abby and Ashley competing for the 2nd time and training level and Kelsie moving up for the 1st time. I rode Hannah in the competitive Open Intermediate division and scored a respective 38.8 to put me in 4th place. Maria Filsinger and Pete put in a lovely dressage test to take the lead on a 34.8. Juliette put in a great test earning a 41.7 for a three way tie for 9th place. Morgan Samuelson & Ricky, Savannah Ruhs & Curb Appeal, Jen Johnson & Loose Cannon, Janelle Johnson & Royal Cootitan, Jessie Longe & Phoebe, and Kelsey Longe & Dance By Me all were riding at the Novice level and had good tests for the day. We were all looking forward to the cross country!

The weather report proved wrong, and we had sunshine on Saturday. We were all thrilled with the new forecast and although it was cold, the sun began to warm everyone up. Training was first to go for the day, so I warmed up Abby, Ashley & Kelsie and sent them out on course. Abby had an unfortunate fall at the fourth to last fence when Ziggy chipped in but didn't get his legs out of the way in time and the momentum sent Abby over his shoulder. Prior to her unexpected dismount she had a great round! Ashley & Rory had a wonderful round with one unfortunate stop at the ditch and wall but only added 5.6 time faults to their score to put them into 9th place. Kelsie had a wonderful first cross country experience at training level with a clear round putting her in 7th place.

Next was the Novice riders. I sent out Morgan, Savannah, Jen, Janelle, Jessie and Kelsey out on course. Unfortunately Savannah had a unplanned dismount into the second water complex, and Jessie at a dock fence out in the field. Although both riders were disappointed, they pushed on and helped the rest of the team out. Morgan, as expected, came in a little too fast on the speedy pony Ricky, adding 4.8 speed faults to their score, but Morgan now understands how important it is to maintain a steady pace and not run too fast (but nonetheless she was definitely having fun!) Janelle jumped a clean round to move up to 1st place and Jen also put in a lovely clean round moving her from 14th to 8th place. Kelsey also jumped a clear round moving them up to 6th place.

Next up was the Intermediate division. My first test of the day was to navigate Hannah clean around the Intermediate course. I had cleared my mind of any doubt or "what ifs" I had and put in my head visualizations of how my ride would go, positive thoughts only! After a great warm up we headed to the start box where Hannah jumped up and down in anticipation to get out on course. We galloped out of the start box and towards fence 1. We jumped clean and clear and headed out towards the upcoming questions on course. Our first question was fence 3, to 4A/B. We had to jump a vertical brush fence bending left hand turn to a triple brush skinny set at the top of a hill on a forward four stride to an even skinner triple brush skinny. Hannah navigated the question and galloped on to fence 5, a skinny cabin. We jumped the cabin and headed towards the water where we had a fence down into the water to another one on the mound back into the water. We headed to the picnic table to set up for the sunken road and jumped the bounce in, down the bank two strides across up the bank to another bounce out and ran on to a large table to a skinny cabin and down the hill to the second water complex. We had a large log drop in to a corner out. Next up was the weldon's wall, Hannah is so honest, I put her in right up to the ground line and she jumped on over. We headed towards another table in the woods to the down bounce banks on a bending line to a corner. We head to a vertical ramp on the tree line to the campfire vertical in the woods. We gallop up the large hill to a roll top and slowly slide down the backside to a triple brush skinny. Onwards we gallop to another picnic table and around the dressage ring to the coffin question, a ramp set on an angle one stride to a large ditch and two strides to a large brush vertical out on a bending line. After completing our last question we jumped the bench, the ramp and the final bear vertical and crossed the finish line. I was so happy that I was able to put myself in the right frame of mind to get through the course. Although we came in slow adding 23.2 time faults to our score, I came and did what I had set out to do, jump a clean cross country round. I was more then happy and my clean round had moved me up to 3rd place.

Next up was the Preliminary division, Maria & Pete were first to set out. Maria came up with a plan to ensure no eliminations at the water, which have been an ongoing issue of Pete's even before we purchased him. Maria put in a lovely round with only one refusal at the second water, a very good round only adding a few time faults to their score. I was very happy with her performance, we still don't know why Pete won't go into some waters and why he will go into others without even looking, but Maria has done a great job of working on building his confidence and getting him solid at the Preliminary level. Over everything else he is a machine, jumping everything out of a stride and not blinking an eye at anything else. We will keep working on him so look out for the two next season!

Then it was Juliette's turn to run around the course. Galloping up to the massive 3'7'' fences, that can be brushed up to 4'3'' with heights across the top up to 4'7'' and at the base 6'11'' with drops up to 5'3'' in height can be quite intimidating on a pony that is only 13.3 hands. But I couldn't ask for a better Preliminary Pony! She has so much power in the little body of hers that these preliminary questions are easy for her! She galloped out of the start box towards our first ramped roll top and flew over it, jumped up over the bike rack and over the large roll top towards a large ramped brush fence. Galloping on to fence 5 a skinny table and then a large roll top before the water. After galloping into the water we jumped the Otter and ran out of the water complex towards the large picnic table at the top of the hill shared with Intermediate before the sunken road. We jumped a coop one stride down the bank onto the road across to another vertical coop. We galloped on up the hill to a large table and then over some cabins back down the hill towards the second water complex. We had to drop into the water and gallop across to a vertical ramp out of the water. We then crossed the field to the large bridge question to the double bounce banks up and into the woods to a corner. Our of the woods to another vertical ramp on the tree line and to the camp site to jump two tents on an angle. We put in a lovely two stride and galloped up the large hill over a roll top at the top, slide down the hill to drop down a log drop and gallop out of the woods to another large picnic table (even bigger than the first and also shared with Intermediate) around the our coffin complex which was a roll top in, two strides to the ditch and one stride out over another roll top. We completed the course jumping the bench, the ramp and the vertical log and galloped across the finish line. I was so proud of Juliette, putting in a great round and adding 18.8 time faults, coming in faster then most of the larger horses in the division! We moved up from our 9th place tie to 4th place.

Overall the Liz Lund Eventing Team had a very successful day! I would like to thank everyone who helped get my horses ready and take care of them after my rides! The competitors party on Saturday night was a blast as usual, dancing on the picnic table, chatting with friends and fellow competitors around the bonfire and just hanging out reflecting on the days events and prepare for tomorrow's challenges in the show jumping ring.

Show jumping started at 8am when there was still frost on the ground. I warmed Hannah up and headed down to the ring to watch. Rails were flying left and right as we had to jump over a "pink course" sponsored by Jumps 4 Joy...which proved to be a challenge for just about everyone. Although I had 3 rails on Hannah I maintained my 3rd place position, which isn't common, so that right there tells your how many issues everyone had with the course! Overall I was very pleased with our performance over the weekend. A great way to end the season. I am looking forward to working this winter to improve even more for next seasons challenges.

There were 156 competitors at the horse show, and there were 1060 jumping faults throughout the day on Sunday, majority of them being rails and some of them being stops. I did the math for Poplar Place September Horse Trials, the same weekend, which had 206 riders and only 648 jumping faults throughout the day, which I also assume some were stops but most were rails. Obviously something was going on with our Jump 4 Joy jumps! I looked for reviews online but couldn't find anything. So far my experience with the Jump 4 Joy jumps has not been positive. The horses, even if they are jumping well are punished for doing their job. Despite this being said, we put in the best rides we could throughout the day.

Lady Hannah B finished in 3rd in the Open Intermediate division. Juliette 4th in the Open Preliminary with Maria Filsinger & Pete in 7th. Kelsie Holbrook & Tess finished 6th in the Jr. Training and Ashley Reut & Rory finished in 9th. Jen Johnson & Loose Cannon took 7th in their Novice division, with Morgan Samuelson & Ricky in Jr. Novice, with Janelle Johnson & Royal Cootitan finishing just outside the ribbons in 9th place at their first Novice event and Kelsey Longe & Dance By Me taking home the 2nd place spot in the division. Everyone had a lot of fun, it is always great when we all can get together and support one another over the weekend.

I would like to thank everyone for making the 2010 show season a successful one! I have come out of the season a better rider and teacher! I look forward to working hard this winter towards improving for the 2011 show season! Look out because Liz Lund Eventing is going to hit it hard this winter!

On another note, I will be staying in Minnesota this winter and am available for training and teaching either at my farm, Trophy Hill Farm or am willing to travel. I hope everyone continues to take lessons and set new goals for next year!

I will try and continue blogging throughout our training this winter. Stay tuned for updates on schooling shows and clinics this fall! Kick on and get over it!



Mind Gym Quotes-

“it takes years of hard work to become an overnight success”

"Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. It’s our goal in life to find it and keep it lit"

"Create your own mind gym visualizing yourself overcoming mistakes and doing things well"

"Focus on the task – do not let negative thoughts intrude"

Derby Days!

We finally had some beautiful weather! I think I actually got some color back on my face! It felt good to be outside all day in the sun with a great group of people. Jean & Walter Kunz hosted a Derby at their farm, Steepleview Farm in Delano, MN. It was run great, thanks to everyone who helped out!

I had a lot of students riding, some of them it was their first show! Skye Lundahl, Mia & Gabi Geraci, and Olivia Shirley headed out and each did two rounds on the Starter course. They all learned a lot and had a lot of fun riding, watching and helping everyone out. Next was Alex Lundahl on a new pony, Savannah Ruhs, and Emily Shirley riding at Beginner Novice. They both had a blast figuring out their mounts! Janelle Johnson, Jen Johnson and Savannah Ruhs navigated the Novice course, figuring out the challenges of a higher level and navigating the course beautifully. Kelsie Holbrook, Jen Johnson, Maria Filsinger and myself competed in the Training division. We all had a blast and it seems the pony is back on her game after a slight bit change and some more schooling, she came in first place!

Tomorrow we head off to the Schweiss' farm in Hector, MN to go cross country schooling in preparation for Otter Creek. We are all looking forward to our "hometown" show in a few weeks! Liz Lund Eventing will have good representation! Stay tuned and kick on!

Pushing Forward

To say the least I feel stuck in a rut. The last 3 shows have not gone quite according to plan. Yesterday at South Farm was not an ideal day at a show. The rain was pouring down in sheets as it was maybe 50 degrees. It was cold and wet and miserable to say the least. Juliette's dressage was pretty good for her! She was relaxed but kept trying to leave the ring and head back towards stabling... She definitely did not want to be out in the rain and wind! We got a 38.7 - anything under a 40 is pretty good for the little pony!

Maria's horse Pete was pretty stiff and flipped in his counter canter, the judge was very unforgiving and gave her a 40. We headed back to our stalls to try and dry off and get ready for the XC. It was raining hard while we warmed up, you could hardly see and it blowing like crazy. Juliette was jumping fine, but once again kept trying to head back towards the stabling. She just didn't feel on and like she wanted to be out there, not a good feeling heading towards the start box! As we headed out, she felt under confident, backing off at the first few fences, I retired her after fence 5, knowing that what I had underneath me could become dangerous as the course progressed. I would rather be safe and sound to try again when she is more on her game.

Unfortunately, Pete would not go in the water. He stopped at our A element, a cabin followed by a one stride down a bank. He jumped on the second presentation but stopped and backed up, went forward and backed up again down the banks causing the jump judges to excuse them from the course. We decided it would be best for us to head on the road as soon as possible, so we packed up, stripped the stalls and headed out on the road. We stayed again at Vicky & Jordynn Sahagian's in Barrington, IL.

After sleeping in until 8am this morning, we ate breakfast and then headed to the Barrington Riding Center to do some XC schooling. The weather was great, cool and sunny. The horses felt refreshed and happy to be out. We jumped a few fences, and the pony felt "normal" again which was comforting. Peter went right into the water as well as a creek we found to walk the horses through. All in all, it ended with a great school as we prepare for the next Preliminary at Otter Creek Fall Horse Trials.

Though the team took a hit again this weekend, we will keep pushing forward and working hard to achieve our long and short term goals.

This weekend holds the Eventing Derby at Walter & Jean Kunz's farm in Delano, MN. A lot of first time riders will be doing their first show! It will be a blast! Sunday we head off to Hector, MN to the Schweiss Farm to go cross country schooling in preparation for Otter Creek.

Stay tuned...chin up, heels down & keep kickin!

On the Go

We finally made it to Ohio...only two temporary breakdowns yesterday and a minor stall today, just to have the repair men tell us they don't know what is wrong with the truck...oh well, the truck chugged on and we arrived, after 15 hours of driving at South Farm. A huge thanks to Vicky & Jordynn Sahagian for letting us lay over at theirlovely farm in Barrington, IL!

We unloaded the horses, our stuff and checked in. We walked our course as the sun went down, checked on the horses again and drove over 45 minutes to our hotel...this driving thing is getting a little old! It will be nice to have a couple week break (well break meaning not driving back across the country again until October!) after this one before Otter Creek!

Juliette's dressage has been improving immensely and I hope our hard work will be reflected in our dressage test tomorrow, although after two days of driving, I hope the horses have fully recovered by morning. The XC course looks great, starts out with some nice galloping fences that gradually get larger and then puts us into the water for our first challenging combination. We have a fence, one stride drop into the water, bending line across to a bank out and a few strides to another fence. The coffin looks decent and is set in the woods, a one stride to a ditch and a one stride out. The two corners on the course are single fences, but of significant size (especially on a 13.3 hand pony!) and there is a large, but inviting weldon's wall on the track as well. We have a good bank question up the bounce banks to a steep hill on the other side down to a large log.

Overall the track looks nice and will be a good test for both Juliette & Maria's horse, Peter. Stay tuned tomorrow for updates on how dressage and XC turns out!

Emotional Commitment

4:49am...Finally I am in my comfortable bed, looking at my very full inbox and already planning ahead work for the week before heading off to Ohio.

I had a lot of time to think about the future plans on the long drive home and as I was pondering I took a look at my horoscope just for fun and found it very intriguing...this is what it states:

"If the state of the world, or recent disappointments, or ongoing challenges are causing you to have a rather gloomy view of life right now, you need to find a way to restore your faith in your beautiful destiny. It's easy to get caught up in problems when they seem to keep knocking you down. But you have a purpose in life, and very soon you will have the chance to take on a very important mission - one that involves your reason for being. So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and find the inspiration and motivation that will take you where you need to go."

Quite fitting in light of the past few weeks most recent events! I am very thankful for how things happened because they could have been worse, both Hannah B & myself made it home safely and in one piece, although slightly sore! I am already looking forward to seeing all my students this week, catching up on work, bills & emails, prepare for our next event this upcoming weekend and continue to try and plan for a season south this winter!

Not only is this sport my job, it is my passion, and something that I want to share with anyone who feels the same. This sport means a lot to me, I love my horses and my students, I am emotionally committed to what I do. I enjoy helping horses and people learn as they progress through the different stages this grueling sport requires. There are many ups and downs (literally) but we all have to pick ourselves up, dust off and move on! I look forward to the many challenges that will present themselves as I further embark down the road of trying to make it as an upper level event trainer in the state of Minnesota.

I would like to thank everyone for the kind words and motivation to keep on kickin!

Now it is time to catch up on sleep!

try, try and try again...

Here I am yet again writting a blog that I wish could be written differently, but I suppose this is how lessons are learned. Hannah was nice and fresh this AM and ready to go. Our warmup was splendid and we came nice and forward out of the box and over fence 1. We had a nice smooth turn to #2 abig oxer and a lovely fence 3 out of the woods. We were a little sticky coming to #4 the weldons wall but that was due to off striding coming in so she had to quickly add another step and drifted slightly to the left. We jumped in well to the water at 5 and had a smooth turn to jump out over 5b the cabin. I set her up for fence 6, another big weldons wall which she jumped well but drifted left again on take off, a new problem as of today, she normally drifts to the right. We jumped well up over 7a a big brush to 7b a bank bounce to 7c a rolltop. We galloped on towards the second water and jumped the corn cob in well, popped over the brush on the island back down into the water on a steady 5 strides to the angled brush fence out. Galloped smoothly over #10 the turkey feeder and headed onto the sunken road which rode in a nice two to a two. We galloped down to the wagon which jumped well and onto our next cabin put in a short 5 to the brush then up the hill to the next cabin. We jumped 16 a cabin to set up for the coffin lovely and I brought her back to jump the verticle rail down to the ditch. I broght her back slightly too much so she had an awkward jump in and yet again drifted left. Popped the ditch and I really had to steer to 17c the skinny out which she was very honest adding a 3 and jumping out over the c element. We galloped onwards towards the corners 18 and 19. Jumped slightly up and down over the first corber and I sat up and pressed her for the four strides to the second corner which was a mistake. I should have either sat up and half halted for the 5 strides or circled out to represent as they were numbered seperate. Well anyway she went to add the 5 which wasn't there bc I pressed her up in the middle and she just ran into the fence, luckily she saved herself from flipping over the fence sideways but I got launced off of her left side into the ground with a loud pop as my airvest pin pulled out and quickly exploded around me. Hannah galloped off and pulled up not too far away as I scrambled to get my pinny off so I could loosen my vest and breath again. Laurie from xpress foto quickly ran over to assist and a golf cart was there immediately to bring me to my horse. We only had 5 fences left, a table, open oxer, another table, a rolltop to the final table, nice forward galloping fences that she would have easily done.

All in all you can speculate all you want about what could have been done differently but now I know what to need to work on. If you know Hannah she is high headed and can get very up and down in her canter. I need to think quicker while I am out on course. She schools so well at home but I need to know what to do instantly when I feel something go wrong. It would also help if I had an event trainer to work with on a regular basis at home but we just don't have any resources in MN. I hope to go and work with someone on more of a regular basis this winter in either Aiken, SC or Ocala, FL.

Overall I feel we are both very capable of the level we just have to start filling in the holes with some more skillful riding and knowledge. Unfortunately we don't get ton continue on this weekend but I am already starting to mentally prepare to take the pony preliminary next weekend at South Farm in Ohio. Hopefully I can learn from our previous fall at Wayne DuPage and you know, maybe stay in the tack at one of these upcoming horse shows. Hopefully spirits and confidence begin to pick up as the day goes on. You can't dwell on mistakes made for too long, take what you can and move on a better, more educated rider and go out there and try and try again! Stay tuned for updates at South Farm this following weekend! Thanks for all of the support!

Bring It!

As I sit outside my friends stall while she braids I figured I would have time to report on my dressage ride and go through my course. The smell of fresh shavings and hay wofts down the aisle. The weather is beautiful, not too hot yet and quite chilly at night.

Hannah is settled in and seems to have rested well last night. We arrived at the show around midnight and poor Hannah hardly had a good nights sleep before it was time to check in with the vets, braid and go in the dressage ring by 1133am. To say the least I had a very tired horse. She was well behaved in the warmup and tried to put in a good test. She jigged slightly in her walk but all in all she was a good girl, just tired so we did our best. The judges both scored very similar to one another both giving us a 58.52 for a total of 62.2 to put us in 22nd. Slightly better score then at Otter Creek CIC2* earlier this spring. Someday I hope to be able to get myself to my shows so that I can come with plenty of time for Hannah to recover from her haul, but I am very happy to just have gotten here.

I was able to get out on the cross country yesterday and check out our course. Not having done a show with Hannah since May makes the jumps seem large but overall the course looks like it will ride well. I need to go out and walk all my distances again and make a final game plan as well as have my coach, Philippa Humphreys, check it out. We start out of the box with a ramp down to an oxer, through the woods up a vertical log to a weldons wall. Next we head to the water and drop down a raised log drop bending line to a cabin. Number 6 is rather large, it is a weldons wall type fence but instead of a ditch there is a down bank in which they built up a large verticle brush fence to be jumped as one with a large landing downhill. Then we head on to a brush fence bending line up a bank bounce to a rolltop. We gallop on up the hill to the wnext water. We jump a corn cob round log across the water to a brush type fence on a mound in the middle of the water. And then a bending line to a skinny brush fence. After the water we gallop on to a turkey feeder and around to the sunken road. We jump a bench down the slight hill to go up the bank to another bench. Next we head to a large table to be followed by a skinnier brush fence in line with a larger brush fence followed by another skinny brush fence. Then we gallop on to our coffin with a skinny brush down to the ditch on to another skinny brush. Next we have two large corners set 4 strides apart onto a large flower table. As we head home we jump an open oxer to a skinny (but wide) table to a roll top and then our final large table shared with both Advanced and the CIC3*! This will be a good, challenging course for the both of us and we are ready for it! We are going to have to bring it!

The Big Time...

Here it comes! The big time! I am about to head off to Richland Park Horse Trials to compete against the best. I will be running Hannah in the CIC2* against riders like Bruce Davidson, Mara Dean, Eric Dierks, Leslie Law, Phillip Dutton (on 2 horses!), Becky Holder and many other very accomplished riders. So now I am mentally preparing for the next days upcoming events. Most importantly is keeping Hannah happy, healthy and sound. We embark on our adventure tomorrow and arrive late at the horse show. My goals consist of putting in a steady dressage test, as long as I am happy with it I won't let my score bother me. A clean jumping round on the cross country, I will be very happy if we make it in with under 15 time penalties, but most importantly I just want to jump clean and take it easy. Both Hannah & I are very green at this level so I am more looking for a good experience then a blue ribbon...or with this competition any colored ribbon! I look to jump double clean in show jumping, I will have to ride very smart in all three divisions and make sure to stay in the center of Hannah and out of her way.

I look forward to trying to keep everyone posted, I will not have internet access as I am kickin it old school and sleeping in a tent, but I will have my phone! I would love calls of encouragement so please feel free to give me a call anytime! Now it is time to focus on a steady, consistent dressage test!

The Long Road Ahead...

Despite a long day, long drive & late arrival, I am here typing up my blog!

The ups and downs of eventing are never ending, but very humbling and they are the reason that I enjoy this sport so much!

So the good or the bad first?...well not really bad so we might as well start there.

I headed off to Wayne DuPage Horse Trials this weekend with Juliette to run her second preliminary horse trial. We left on Saturday, arrived in the evening, settled in and schooled the flat and walked the XC course. Surprisingly the XC course was a lot more demanding then I had expected. Pony put in her best dressage test yet, although only scoring a 40 point something she felt amazing, counter cantered both directions and walked the entire walking section! She was jumping great in show jumping but the rails were flying for the whole division! We had a lot of challenging Preliminary questions on the XC. Bending lines, skinny after skinny! Our first water complex was at the "old water" and we had to drop in over a rolltop drop to the water, across to a cabin and a bending left hand turn to a right hand corner - pony jumped it fabulously! Our next big question was up a bank, one stride off a bank, one stride off another bank, and a few strides on a bending line to a triple brush skinny - once again the pony jumped it like a seasoned pro! She has no idea how big she really is! She flew over the large tables, jumped the barrels bending line to another corner very well, took what is normally the Intermediate drop into the Maui Jim water great, landed took two the three steps and unfortunately stumbled across some bad footing. After sticking with her a few strides trying to right myself off of her neck, I hit the water while the pony scrambled to not trample me just grazing one of her hooves across my face...nose is slightly sore and I think my shoulder may have popped out, yet once again so at least I know that will be fine! All in all we had only a few more fences, she did all of the demanding questions on the course perfectly but we had to walk away with a Mandatory Retirement because you are no longer allowed to fall anywhere on the course according to the new rules. She really proved herself to being a Preliminary horse, its just hard when a 13.3 hand pony loses her balance, there really isn't anything to hold on to! I'm sure I will be sore this week, but it all comes with the long road ahead!

Now on to the GREAT news!

Students Maria Filsinger, Abby Turnacliff, Marianne Kelly doing their C3 eventing ratings & Katy Turnacliff doing her C3 & B dressage rating, all headed off to Riverfalls, WI. On Friday, the eventing group did formals and flatwork including switch rides and all passed with flying colors! Saturday morning they started out with longing, once again all passing that section and then began gridwork followed by course work and switch rides. All 3 passed the gridwork. Unfortunately Marianne's horse was being rather difficult and they didn't pass her when the course work began. Maria & Abby finished up the day with successfully passing their C3s and Marianne experience one of the lows of horses, but now knows what needs to be worked on at her next attempt, because eventers (especially eventers!) never give up!

Katy Turnacliff passed her C3 dressage on Saturday afternoon and did her B on Sunday. She used Hannah B as a her switch ride and had a great test, also passing her B rating!

Congrats to all the Pony Clubbers!

Then Maria put Pete in the trailer, headed East on 94 towards Illinois to attend the Wayne DuPage Horse Trials...in which I plotted last minute after she told me she passed. Originally we were going to go to Dunnabeck Horse Trials later in September but we are unable to attend due to a Ralph Hill clinic the same weekend. About 2 hours into the trip they had truck problems, were delayed 2 hours and didn't get to the show grounds until 11:30 that night! Pete was happy to be somewhere, it was nice and cool at night and he settled in well. Maria put a nice dressage test in the next morning, yet like everyone else had a few rails in the show jumping but they had yet to face their true test, the cross country.

Pete's history of having water issues was either going to prove to be fixed or yet show its ugly face...having two difficult water questions was really going to put Maria's riding and Pete's confidence to the test! Maria rode beautifully and due to my unfortunate departure between fences I was able to watch her skillful riding through the 2nd water complex. She tactfully brought Pete to the trot to present him to the water, he sort of shy-ed and slowed down but jogged down the huge 5 foot drop like it was a small step, across the water and out the bank one stride over the coop. I was absolutely thrilled to be able to see Maria handle the situation the way she did, I couldn't have been happier for her! She was all smiles (minus her one sad face of sympathy for the pony's mandatory retirement) when she returned to the barn! We were going over her course as we walked up to check scores once the horses were taken care of and as I was looking at the scoreboard and chatting with another rider who had an unfortunate departure about our mandatory retirements I didn't even check yet to see what she had scored. She stood by my side quietly waiting for us to finish our discussion. I turned to the scoreboard and was absolutely thrilled to see she had won the division! I didn't understand why she wasn't jumping up and down spastically because as soon as I saw the results that is exactly what I did!

I am so proud of my students over the weekend, they all handled their outcomes very maturely, learning from new mistakes made and quietly enjoying "their moment".

I am looking forward to running Hannah in the Richland Park CIC2* next week (wow that time flew by!) and the following weekend the wonder pony and I will make another attempt at the preliminary level at South Farm HT in Ohio. We have a jam packed fall season and I am looking forward to it immensely!

Stay tuned for updates on Pony Club camp this week, Becky Holder's Jr. Developing Rider Program to be held at Trophy Hill, cross country schooling at Otter Creek and more exciting adventures!

Preparing...

There is nothing like seeing something you want and knowing that it is out of reach...

Horses can be so frustrating at times. Currently I am in the search of a individual that would like to help me out with my goals. I don't have the financial backing to purchase another horse and am hoping to find someone who would enjoy helping me achieve my goals of getting a young horse for the future.

Anyway, unexpected things can also happen. The owner of Juliette, the wonder pony, just informed me today that we will be heading off to the Chicago area on Saturday (yes, in like less then 3 days) to attend the Wayne DuPage one day. Good thing this weekend was open! As I am sure you have heard me state before, making plans with horses is no easy task. My goals with Juliette are to get four solid Preliminary runs under her belt (so far has 1) and tackling the CCI1* course at Midsouth 3Day in Kentucky in the middle of October. Of course this is no easy feat considering I am riding a 13.3 hand pony...although I will be the first to admit my level of confidence in her is quickly rising to equalling my confidence in my own 16.3 hand 2* mare.

It is great to finally have another horse (well a pony) at the upper levels. We are hoping to continue to progress in the dressage as that is not her strong suite and keep tackling the jumping obstacles as they are thrown at us. Stay tuned for our progress throughout the weekend.

As far as Ms. Hannah B goes, we are headed off on the 22nd to Michigan to stay at Philippa Humphrey's farm in Rockford for a few days and then heading down to Richland Park HT. We will be doing the CIC2* and my goal is to finish in the top third of our division. I have had great runs at Richland Park previously and hope to continue to. Last year we had 1 run out at a corner due to pilot error (of course!) but none the less had a great, successful, educational weekend. I will continue to update my blog as often as I can, feel free to give me a shout if it is not often enough! eventrider@lizlund.com

Stay tuned for posts on shows, sale horses, students and more!

Catalpa Corner Charity Horse Trials

Early Friday morning we all headed down to Iowa City to attend Catalpa Corner Charity Horse Trials owned by Susan Brigham and Jim McNutt. LLEventing had a large crew in tow, Liz was riding Juliette, owned by Katy Bloomquist Holub, at her first preliminary event. Keep in mind Juliette is the 13.3 hand grey wonder pony! Maria Filsinger & Pete doing their first preliminary as well, Abby Turnacliff & Ziggy Who moving up to the training level, Kelsie Holbrook & Tess moving up to the Novice level, Jen Johnson & Loose Cannon at their first show back since Jen's baby Sam, Morgan Samuelson & Ricky at their first show together competed at the beginner novice level, and Janelle Johnson & Royal Cootitan at their last beginner novice before they plan to move up to novice. As you can see we had quite the crew!

Liz Lund Eventing polo shirts came in, so we were all able to represent in style. We had a lot of comments on how great we looked and how much of a team we were.

As soon as we arrived the work began, unloading, filling water buckets, organizing trunks, cleaning tack, riding horses and teaching lessons. Friday afternoon involved everyone taking a dressage lesson and then doing course walks...to say the least I was a little tired after walking BN, N, T & P courses one after the other. We had some light rain on and off throughout Friday and it rained on into the night. We all headed off to eat dinner and get some sleep for a bright and early morning.

Arriving at the farm at 5:45am on Saturday I had to bathe and braid Juliette for her early dressage ride. She put in a great warm up on the grass and the studs I had chosen were of the appropriate size for the grass footing dampened from the previous night's rain and the morning's dew. As we began our final rounds around the outside of the dressage arena before we heard the bell, she became a little tense and tight, I did my best to keep her pushing into the bridle. We entered the ring and she put in a decent test, she flipped once in her counter canter which was immediately corrected, and rewarded for later, but over all had a steady test. The judge seemed to like the pony and complimented me for my soft giving hands even though the pony was tentative to accept the contact. We were generously rewarded a 37, to be 5th out of a competitive group of 20. I was pleased with Juliette's performance and we headed back to the stable to switch tack and put some larger studs in for some higher speeds and slicker footing.

We had a lovely warm up for the cross country. Everyone always is surprised when she enters the arena, you can almost see in their express "You are taking that pony at this level?!". She jumped well and was easy to adjust. We headed over to the start box and off we went. She had a great pace considering she has to take probably twice as many steps as the other horses in the division. She was great to everything, jumped strong into the water but I was able to hold to our bending line to the skinny. She handled everything like a champ and I am looking forward to stepping it up at a more challenging preliminary. She recovered nicely after the course adding only 7.6 time faults to her dressage score to secure her 5th place into show jumping.

The next morning she was anything but tired, she was bathed again (of course she loves her poop pillows) in the morning and then hand walked. As I tacked her up she was pawing at her stall ready to go! Again she had a lovely warm up, and jumped a double clear round in the show jumping which proved to be a tough course for a lot of horses and riders having rails come down and time on the clock. She finished 4th in her first preliminary, a very successful show!

I couldn't have asked my students to have performed any better. Almost all of them were moving up a level! Maria had a lovely XC round on Pete, he jumped into the water with out even questioning it, Maria rode it lovely preparing him for the drop in with a large trot circle. She had a double clean show jumping round and finished in 2nd place at her first preliminary! Abby Turnacliff & her horse Ziggy Who made the move up to training level and jumped clean around the cross country with only one rail down in show jumping to finish in 5th place. Jen Johnson and her horse Loose Cannon were back at it after delivering a beautiful baby boy and finished 4th in their novice division. Kelsie Holbrook & Tess made their move up to the Novice level to jump double clean finishing on their dressage score in 3rd place. Morgan Samuelson and her new mount Ricky, owned by Cindy Piper, competed at their first horse trials together at the Beginner Novice level and finished 2nd on their dressage score. Janelle Johnson and & Royal Cootitan (Ty) completed their final beginner novice, before preparing to move up to the Novice level, in style winning the division as well as the Madison Brigham Memorial Low Point Jr. award.

Congrats to everyone! Looking forward to our next adventure!

Stay tuned as Maria & Liz head off to South Farm HT in Ohio to compete Pete & Juliette at their second preliminary horse trials!

Midsummer Update

Alpine Farm hosted a hunter/jumper show in which we attended on June 25th. I brought Juliette, the 13.3 hand sale pony and showed her in the Level 2s & 3s. She jumped around very well. Student, Kelsie Holbrook and her horse Tess competed in the 0s, 1s and 2s and gained a lot more experience in the jumper ring.

The following weekend we headed off to Parkside Dressage show, also at Alpine Farm. Both myself on Hannah and Maria on Pete went to compete. Maria had a very successful weekend, winning all 5 of her classes at 1st and 2nd level with scores in the mid to high sixties. Hannah performed our first 4th level test, we had an amazing warmup with wonderful lateral movement and lovely changes but when we entered the ring she became a little tense. None the less I was very happy with her performance in the test as well as her 3 other 3rd level tests.

Attending our local jumper and dressage shows is a great way to get more ring time to help prepare for upcoming events.

Maria headed off to Chicago for Young Rider Camp with Pete and learned a lot of valuable information from her riding lessons to unmounted lessons.

The Liz Lund Eventing team has been working hard as we are preparing to head of to Catalpa Corner Charity Horse Trials July 30th-August 1st. Stay tuned for a horse show update!

The Upset

This is the story I was working on for my creative writing class - enjoy!


The Upset

I never imagined that I would end up lying in this hospital bed with my dreams and future crashing down around me. I don’t remember the impact or anything leading up to it, all I do know is that I should not be here.

“3…2…1...have a nice ride.”

With those words echoing in my ears, we thunder out of the start box. Within seconds, Watkins is powering toward our first fence. This is what I live for, the sudden rush of adrenaline and the power of a 1200 pound animal beneath me. Each stride gets longer and freer as we head down a galloping lane, his hooves beating in perfect time with my heart.

As I come back to consciousness the rhythmic galloping fades into a slow, steady, high pitched beep coming from the heart monitor. At least I am awake enough to know the consistent sound means that I am somewhat living although I feel as if I have been run over by a high speed train. With blurry eyes I try and gain my focus to look around the room but my eyelids grow heavy as I sink back into unconsciousness.

We are nearing a difficult part of the course, where combinations and meandering lines take the place of nice, galloping fences. Watkins has found his rhythm, each stride powerful and purposeful as we head toward the next fence. I see it growing larger between his ears as we approach, and before I know it we are safely on the other side. People cheer as we head through the water complex, droplets scattering and reflecting the light like a million tears. I check my watch – it’s time to speed things up.

I burst into reality and try to reach up to wipe the sweat streaming off of my forehead only to realize I cannot move my arms. A white alien walks into the room and introduces himself as Dr. Finkley. As far as I can tell his straining hospital gown is at least two sizes too small, but his short round stature seems warm and comforting.

“Glad to see you awake Ms. Carlson, we have been waiting for you to come around. Your mother is waiting outside, shall I bring her in?”

I blink trying to comprehend what the doctor is talking about and stutter,
“sure”.

In a second my curly haired, rambunctious mother runs through the door. She hurries to my side and reaches for my hand but quickly retreats unsure as to where to put her hands. I don’t even want to see myself from her reaction. Before I know it she has tears dripping down her face even though she is smiling ear to ear. Still no one has said anything as I give her a confused and scared look.

She begins to open her mouth to speak as I blurt out the words,
“Where is Watkins? What happened? Is he okay?”

The smell of the sterile environment and latex gloves wafts into my nostrils as I blink cautiously and try to steady the spinning room. The white walls, white lab coats and white equipment blur together as I fade back in time.

We near the end of our course and I can tell Watkins is laboring. Each breath comes with a little more effort than the last, and his neck is frothy with sweat. Even still, I push on, knowing that too many time faults will drop us out of the lead.

“This is what we’ve prepared for,” I whisper into his ears as we gallop along, “I know you can do this.”

Quickly I come around as my mother’s words become a reality.

“You had a bad fall at the last fence, honey; it was awful; he tried so hard…”

Before she finished I cut her off,
“Well where is he? Is he going to be alright? It was my fault; I shouldn’t have asked him for more than he could have given.”
As I speak I begin to taste the salt from my own tears streaming down my face.

“Yes honey, he is alright, he is at home resting, and has missed you for the last week.”

“A WEEK?!” I shriek in disgust. “What happened, when can I see him?”

It’s the approach to the final fence, and my watch, large and luminous, is ticking down the remaining seconds far too fast. I push Watkins for everything he has, asking him for the long spot to the big table jump. He hesitates, and then takes an awkward half-step before launching off the ground with every ounce of effort he possesses. Even from take-off, I know it will not be enough. The fence looms too large in my view, and within a few seconds the world is turned upside down. I feel a sharp pain sting throughout my body as I see Watkins coming down on top of me, a second before everything goes black.

“It was just a bad distance, neither of you saw your spot and he gave it all he had and you stuck with him until you couldn’t hold on any longer,” explained my mother.
I now remember bursts of consciousness that come with my shortness of breath and the numb sensation tingling through my body.

“It seems Leigh Carlson has had a bad fall at fence 25. Please hold the horses out on the course as we make way for the ambulance to come through,” the announcer booms over the loud speaker.

I see the flashing lights and scattering of people. As I blink in slow motion paramedics are asking questions but I can’t make my mouth form any answers. I try to look around for Watkins but cannot find him anywhere. I can tell people are touching me and moving me around, strapping restraints on me, sticking needles into my arms, a breathing device is secured around my face but still everything is moving so slowly.

“I saw the whole thing and watched in horror as there was nothing I could do about it. I was scared to death and rushed over to you. You were hardly conscious and struggling to breathe. Your limbs were mangled in ways that they shouldn’t have been able to bend. The paramedics secured you to a back board with breathing support and rushed you into the hospital,” my mother sighs and mumbles off into silence as Dr. Finkley takes over explaining what had happened.

“You had emergency surgery to repair a punctured lung, but thankfully that was the only internal damage you had. I’m sure you are pretty sore, you broke four ribs, one which caused the lung damage, multiple breaks in your pelvis, a bad concussion and broke the right side of your clavicle as well as your left humerus.”

My jaw dropped as the injuries were listed off and all I could think about was how this would ruin my plans to make it on the North American Young Rider Team in my last year I was eligible to ride as a Young Rider. Instantly my mind switched to how thankful I was that I would be able to walk into the barn and see my Watkins once again.

“Thankfully nothing more serious happened and Watkins is safe and sound at home,” my instantly cheerful mother piped in.
I smiled at her in agreement as I thought about the next time I would be able to see and ride Watkins again.

As I climb up the podium to accept my medal, tears come to my eyes as I think that only six months ago I was lying in a hospital bed watching my dreams and future crash down around me. Not only am I thankful to be alive but I am able to ride again and realize that my dreams have come true. I made it to the North American Young Rider Championships and though I did not win the individual gold, I know that I will be back on top again.

I looked into the bleachers and see my mother with tears in her eyes. As we make eye contact we both know how lucky I am to be standing here. Our team accepts our award and we mount our horses for a victory gallop. I am thankful for the opportunity to be back atop Watkins again.
I close my eyes and wrap my arms around his muscular neck.

In an instant my eyes snap open to the bright lights of the hospital room and I realize my perfect reality is just a dream. It will be a long, tough road to recovery, but I know that thundering hooves, flaring nostrils and the smell of leather will be my whole world again someday. This is what I love and this is what I will do.

Looking Ahead

Hi again!

It has been far too long since my last post - but late is better than never!!

I am sitting outside the trailer right now at Carriage House Farm having just finished my ride on Juliette (the wonder pony) in the Ralph Hill clinic. I thought it would be a perfect time to blog!

Well lets see what I have done since last time...I rode in the Jimmy Wofford clinic the weekend before my CIC2* at Otter Creek. I really enjoyed the ring work we did on Saturday and the different exercises Wofford set up. They really made you think about each step along the way. One interesting one I thought he set up was a vertical - perfect 3 strides to an oxer - perfect three strides to another vertical. It rode long from the vertical to oxer and short from oxer to vertical even tho mathematically it should have been perfect. It was a good exercise. The cross country day was pretty easy going and we just did a few small exercises - Hannah performed very well.

Then we were off to Otter Creek Spring and to our first CIC2*. With everything in line thanks to a lot of friends and family we arrived at Otter Creek on Thursday afternoon. Things were a little hectic at first as I had three dressage lessons back to back on all three of the horses I was competing but after that I was able to settle in, get everything organized, do my in barn and teach my own students later in the day. Friday I was up early for dressage. Hannah warmed up pretty well, she wasn't as soft and just stayed a little tense throughout her test but we scored a 64.2 to put us in 2nd place. The cross country looked challenging but very do-able. The three CIC2* riders all huddled in the barn as we waited for the go-ahead to get on our horses and start warming up. There were storms and we had a little over an hour delay then we all mounted and walked up to the warm up. Each rider ran clean on the XC, but we all racked up time because of the footing. We added 27.6 time faults to our score but kept our 2nd place position and the placings tightened up even more. Show jumping proved to be tough as I watched the first rider drop three rails. Hannah had a great warm up and didn't feel tired at all the from the cross country. She headed to the ring and knew what she was there to do. She jumped double clean - the only double clean at the 2* and Intermediate level! She was fabulous and we finished in 2nd place - couldn't have asked for anything more.

Juliette - also known as the wonder pony - was fabulous as well. She put in a lovely dressage test scoring a 40.5 to put her in 11th place out of 15 riders. No worries - she always makes up the placings on the cross country & in show jumping. She ran a lovely course - plenty of air time over the training level fences and of course no notice to the fact that she is just a 14.1 hand pony! She jumped a fabulous show jumping round and due to rider error she had a rail on the last fence. She moved up from 11th after dressage to finish in 4th place! What a good pony!

Just Truffle - a young horse owned by Ginny Buell was my third ride for the weekend. She was green and showed a little tension previous to mounting on Thursday so we decided to longe her a little before the lesson and before dressage on Friday. The longing helped her relax and she was able to focus on her test. She put in a steady test - a little behind the vertical at times but scored a 36.2. On XC she was a little green but jumped each fence and only added 4 time faults to her score. Show jumping she lost her head a little - each fence was fine but in between the fences was quite scary! She got around the course but definitely needs more ring experience! I wish Ginny the best of luck with her future shows!

Maria had a great weekend on Pete in the Jr. Training - to make up for the stop at Spring Bay early in the year she jumped a clean cross country round and Pete didn't even look twice at the water! She lost her mind a little in the show jumping ring and forgot where she was going, but thanks to her mega lead she was able to have two rails and still take first place!

Kelsie Holbrook rode Tess is the Jr. Beginner Novice and had a wonderful show. For never scoring under a mid to high 40 the 26.7 looked pretty good. She jumped double clean on the XC and a double clean show jumping round the finish in first place on her dressage score.

It was a great weekend for Liz Lund Eventing!!

Next we headed off to Carriage House Combined test to bump the horses up a notch. Unfortunately Pete, Maria's horse had some skin issues on his legs and wasn't able to attend (she is in Kansas now attending Queeny Park - her first show on Pete without me - good luck to her!) Juliette stepped it up quite a bit for her best dressage score to date! Not only was it her best score but it was her first time at the Preliminary level. She jumped amazingly throughout the show jumping course with once again (will I ever learn?!) having a rail at the last fence again! She jumped through the large course very well & finished in 4th place.

Hannah performed a lovely test at her first Advanced. She had lovely changes in the warm up but grew anticipatory in the test but scored a respectable 37.8. She jumped a double clean round in the show jump ring just in time to clear out before a storm hit...even though the storm only lasted about 10 minutes it was nice to be done before the bad weather.

Students Kristine and Janelle had a great show also. This was one of Kristine's first shows and she rode fabulously and finished successfully! Her daughter Janelle rode a lovely test and finished in the Beginner Novice in 2nd place. It was a great day again for Liz Lund Eventing!

The Ralph Hill clinic today went very well! Juliette jumped very well today we jumped a X from the trot (6 pony strides) to an oxer was one exercise. Then we trotted into a 3 bounce line. Then we had 3 - 10 foot canter poles to an oxer with a pole on the landing side. A tight turn to a 21 foot one stride vertical to vertical. They were all great exercises and the pony was great!

On Hannah we did something slightly different just to sharpen her up. We started with the X to the oxer exercise and the bounce exercise then just worked on jumping to oxer with a placement rail on take off from really tight turns. It really got her thinking and she was jumping very well.

Right now I am also working on finishing up one online class - creative writing - which when I am done I will post my story on here! Then I start two more online classes on Monday...eeek! Then one more late this summer and two in the fall and I should be done with school!! I can't wait!

So far I am off to an A rated Hunter/Jumper show the 23rd-27th of May at Alpine on Juliette to do some jumper classes with her and see if anyone in the jumper world is interested in her as a jumper pony. Sue Goepfert jokingly said she would find 2800 people to donate $10 so we could start a Pony Syndicate so I could keep the ride on Juliette! Wouldn't that be fun!

Following the H/J show I am taking Hannah to a dressage show at Alpine on July 3/4 to do some 3rd and 4th level tests to get some ring time. Then we are off to Montana to run the Open Intermediate at Rebecca Farm. I have heard wonderful things about the place!

After that I plan on doing the CIC2* at Richland Park HT in MI during August & then the Open Intermediate at Otter Creek in the fall. Following Otter Creek I will be aiming for a CCI2* at Fair or Chatahoochie in October...we shall decide as the time gets closer! I will try and keep in touch more often but with school and a busy teaching and training schedule who knows when I will be back next!

Preparing for Otter Creek Spring CIC2*

The winter season in Florida has paid off. Hannah is in great shape and we are ready to go to our first CIC2* at Otter Creek Spring Horse Trials in less than 2 weeks.

Last weekend I rode Hannah in the Ralph Hill clinic. Saturday was at Trophy Hill and Sunday was cross country at Carriage House. On Saturday we did a great exercise that worked on rhythm and keeping a steady pace, a balance and the correct leads. Hannah was jumping great, we ended the day in the water. On Sunday we warmed up like we would at a horse show over a x, vertical and oxer. Hannah was cracking over the large oxer and we headed to our start box and practiced leaving the box, getting in a rhythm and jumping a few fences. We then schooled banks, ditches and water. We schooled some tough bending lines and Hannah was right on for each one.

I also rode Juliette, the 14.1 hand grey pony owned by Katy Bloomquist Holub in preparation for her first outing of the year, training level at Otter Creek. She was also a rockstar over the weekend.

Today I rode Hannah & Juliette in dressage lessons with my dressage trainer Alison Sader Larson. I had two great rides, although the more Hannah gets fit the harder she is to ride in the dressage, but hopefully it will come together at the horse show.

I am planning on riding Hannah with Jimmy Wofford this weekend at Pine Meadow Farm in Delano, MN as a final preparation for the CIC2*. I will keep you posted after the weekend!

There is nothing quite as pleasant as coming home again...

Its feels so good to be home! As hard as it is to be an International level event rider from the state of Minnesota-I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's where I grew up, where my family and friends are, as well as my loyal students and clients!

The drive home went by quickly-and moving back in was easier than expected-I suppose you get used to moving when you do it a lot!

I moved out of my apartment at school in Menomonie and into an apartment with friend and local dressage trainer, Sarah Travis. It is great to have a girl as a roommate and new friend!

Work began quickly, lessons started to add up and I am now working on finishing up details to leasing my own farm! I just began working out of North Brook Eventing Center (formerly North Brook Farm) with Jan Fisk and Alison Sader Larson and really look forward to getting a good event training center started.

I hope to bring in a few more training horses and students into my barn, and plan to take things as they come!

A lot more to come, I am coaching Maria Filsinger and her horse Pete in KY this weekend at their first event of the season. I can't wait to watch my students progress throughout this 2010 show season!

Stay tuned, til next time! Kick on!

Ice in your veins...

"You have to have ice in your veins".
Don't always take the first spot that you see.
Be patient.
Rhythm. Balance. Suppleness. Bada bum.

These are just a few things that have been running through my head lately. My favorite quote is the ice in your veins. Translation-there is a strong decision to be made-must be made with a meditated outcome in order to avoid having regret to your reactions in which could make the situation worse.

Stick to your gut-don't let "flight" instincts take over. Riding is a series of decision making. Small corrections and adjustments made to both horse and rider in order to complete the required task.

Coming back to Rocking Horse after my fall at the previous one-required me to have ice in my veins. I had to come back and prove that I had learned from my previous mistakes. My goals were set and I was ready to conquer the weekend.

Like all of the other FL horse shows there was at least one rainy day...as we loaded up Friday AM in the rain, I began to grow more nervous for the show jumping phase which was to be help in the afternoon.

As I warmed up for dressage, taking careful note to the footing, I over heard the announcer say that show jumping has been moved to Sunday. I was completely relieved in which helped me relax for my dressage test. Hannah put in a great performance. We scored a 32.8 which put us in 2nd for the day. I was very happy with Hannah-the judge stated that I had a "good mudder". That is the quarter shire in her pulling through!

I walked my cross country and was really excited, the course looked challenging with lots of good lines and questions. It would be a true test of the work we had done over the winter.

I can definitely say Hannah wasn't backed off at anything, the nice thing last year when I had just moved her up to Intermediate was that she backed herself off from the fences, she didn't seem to this time around! I definitely will need more bit for the future, my half halts were ineffective and I had a hard time getting her back before fences. She jumped everything fabulously and we came in with only 3.2 time faults! The time faults moved us back to 3rd, but I was just happy with the clean round!

After preparing at HITS previously in the week I felt ready for show jumping. Although the ring at Rocking Horse was much smaller than the large jumper rings at Post Time, I felt prepared. We headed into the ring after a short warmup and jumped a nice round with only one rail. After negotiating the tough show jumping course that proved to cause issues for many, we ended a very successful weekend of accomplishing our goal-to complete our first Intermediate horse trial of 2010. Not only did we accomplish our goal but we ended up winning the division. It was a fabulous way to end the Florida season.

Stay tuned for more recent updates! Kick on!

Rocking Horse III 2010

Well no body said this job would be easy! This weekend was not what we had hoped for as far as results go, but this is a sport and definitely a chosen lifestyle that you can either handle or you can't. I had an unfortunate fall in show jumping on Friday but instead of walking away with a negative attitude I look at it as a learning experience and a chance to improve at the next show.

I am lucky to say that I really do feel it was a fluke and that it is very fixable, where it could have easily been something worse. I am thankful for what it was but just disappointed as the cross country looked as if it would have been a great experience for both Hannah and me.

Hannah was jumping really well around the first half of the show jumping course and as we came off of a one stride 6A/B we landed and I took a half halt to set her up for 7, which was on a slight bending left turn set on an off stride, a holding 7 or a moving 6 and no body seemed to have a good ride to it throughout the entire event. As I half halted between 6B and 7 Hannah threw her weight slightly to the right and I straightened her to the fence and she didn't even seem to see it as we were upon it too quickly and when she set her front legs down, in which I thought was in an effort to jump, it was really in her realization that she was at a fence and she stopped and I popped off. I thanked the judge and met the EMTs at the in-gate so they could be sure that I was alright. As soon as I was checked out I jumped a few warm up fences, patted Hannah and walked back to the trailer with a quick ending to a weekend that should have been quite successful.

We will head off to HITS before Rocking Horse Spring and jump around a Level 4 just to make sure it was a fluke. We have plenty of time between now and our next event to make sure that we are well prepared!

This is definitely a sport of ups and downs. I heard a quote that fits it well;

"The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dreams, and how you handle disappointments along the way."

I feel this quote holds true because we are in a sport that unfortunately comes with a lot of disappointment. On a positive not it also comes with a lot of success, and the disappointments make the success that much more enjoyable.

I will keep updates on HITS and how the training is coming along!!

Enjoy what you have because at any given time it could be taken away.

Until next time! I hope to be able to share many of my upcoming experiences with everyone along the way! Keep on ridin'!

Florida 2010 Update #2!

Finally the sun is beginning to warm us up down here...It was 25 degrees this morning, I didn't come here for cold weather...oh well, at least we have sunshine and good horse life down here! I am so grateful for being down here and having the chance to be able to compete during the winter season and get a head start on the 2010 competitions.

Things have been great down here. Autumn's horse, Alpek had a successful surgery to remove the tumor in his nostril, he is healing up well and the tumor was benign and he will come back to work as soon as his face heals. She recently purchased a new horse, The Real Deal, who is an Irish boy and is a ton of fun! She has successfully competed him at two training level events now, taking 3rd place at Rocking Horse II this week. She is doing her first preliminary on him this weekend at Rocking Horse III. Lark is moving her horse Pelaar up to Novice at the weekend and Philly will be riding Rockstar (Rich N' Famous), Proximo and Oliver (Prince Charming). Another busy weekend ahead of us, the work never seems to end but we are all having a great time!

I have met some nice people at the tack store, Winning Edge, owned by Ed McNamara and really enjoy working there a few times a week. Our days of full of work, showing, chores, riding and cleaning!

I am taking Hannah to Rocking Horse III this weekend and we are competing in the Intermediate Rider division. She has been really good on the flat this week, I have been working her in her double and she is really coming into the contact well and not throwing her head and front legs in the air....so I am hoping for a quality test tomorrow. I had a jump school on her last night with Philly and we worked on jumping down the hill with bending lines to skinnies and making sure that on the landing stride she is on the half halt and waiting for ME to tell her where to go rather then just landing and galloping on like she thinks she knows what is next...we had some issues with that last fall at Wayne DuPage. Now that I have her listening a lot better I hope to jump clean at our first Intermediate of the season.

Mr. Max has been doing well and enjoying the Florida weather. He did his first jumper show at HITS week I and did great! I have a few interested people in him so I am hoping to get him sold before I head back north, in less than a month now!

I will keep updates through the weekend!

2010-Florida!

Florida...where I plan on spending every winter for a very very long time! Things have been great down here. I first drove down with my dressage trainer, Alison Sader Larson, to Palm Beach Gardens and stayed with her for a little while, helped her get settled and the horses settled. I returned home for the Holidays and headed out on the road again to Palm Beach Gardens to spend a week with Alison until the horses arrived. I headed north to Ocala on Saturday the 16th to meet my horses and my event trainer from Michigan, Philippa Humphreys as well as another family from Minnesota, the Schweiss'. Autumn & Lark Schweiss are living down in FL with Philippa and me, then the family, dad-Mike, mom-Julie, and sister-Brook come down on weekends for horse shows.

The first week we made sure to have the horses all settled in and did a lot of road work and hacking. Then we got to work. I have Hannah down here, as well as a sale horse, Maximum Eclipse, aka Max. I have met some cool people down here. I began immediately looking for work right away and found a job at the tack store, The Winning Edge. I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the shop. Each day I get up around 7am, feed the horses, clean stalls and begin the day!

I am currently enrolled in 3 classes through UW-Stout that are offered online, so I have to stay on top of my schoolwork. The days here are long and filled so by night we are all ready for bed nice and early!

Max is a really great horse. He would be perfect for a young teenager looking to get some show experience. He would do amazing as a jumper or a lower level event horse. Perfect horse for a pony clubber looking to move through the ratings. In the summer of 2009 he was the horse Annie Jones rode to achieve her B USPC rating.

I have completed my first show of the season, Rocking Horse I. We competed in the I/P division. Hannah was great, her dressage was nice and steady, I thought she deserved a better score than a 39, but in comparison to the rest of the class we were placed right in the middle at 6th place. Following dressage we had show jumping, the track was proving to be difficult for a lot of the horses. Even the 4 star horses who were just coming back to for the 2010 show season were having rails and time faults. We had one rail and added on a few time faults but even with that it moved us up two places to 4th place. The cross country track was really friendly for a first show. Lots of galloping fences and not too technical. I felt very comfortable going out. Hannah felt as if she was right back in the middle of show season and knew exactly what her job was. We jumped clean and came home inside the time moving us up to finish in 3rd place.

It was a great first show! The next show is going to be Rocking Horse III the third weekend in February and we will be doing Intermediate in preparation for the CIC2* at Otter Creek in May. I look forward to seeing everyone at the horse shows! Stay tuned!