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!