Stacy has been very busy lately. Two weeks ago she did not come ride me at all! She said that she went somewhere called Texas for a conference. Just as I have a job, she apparently has a job too. It is a very lazy job, however, because it does not involve any running or jumping. She just sits there at a screen and sometimes talks to people who are sitting in a room with her.
Anyway, I didn't mind less riding at first, because I was pretty tired after my T3D. But now that the weather has gotten cooler, I am ready to go again! I really liked the T3D. Stacy let me go as fast as I wanted to on the steeplechase and she did not interfere with me too much when we had a jump. After that I had a nice break but I wasn't really tired, so I was thrilled when I got to go again and jump a regular cross country course. When I got back to my stall and rested, I had plenty of energy but my hind legs felt really sore. I would have done the showjumping the next day anyway but Stacy talked to some vets and she decided to just take me home instead and let me rest. She said we can do another T3D next year, and I am really looking forward to it.
At least I have been able to jump a few times recently. I have been very excited to jump and I am very good at it. On other days I have had to do a little bit of dressage or trot and canter around the track a few times. It is not hard work but that little bit of exercise makes me feel good. Some horses really like to have 100% time off-- no riding at all. However, that would make me very bored and if I don't get work I exercise myself in my pasture and sometimes get a little bit agitated when I am being led in or out of the barn. I don't mean to but I can't help it sometimes. It is just better for everyone when Stacy rides me.
We are also trying out new saddles. Stacy needs a new saddle because she found out that hers is too small.
I would like to help out all of my fans so I am starting an "Ask Taco" column on this blog. You can send in questions about anything and I will give you the answers. I am extremely intelligent and I can answer anything you ask me. You can ask horse questions or also fashion or history or etiquette or home decor questions or questions on any other topic. Send them to Stacy at cookiepony at gmail dot com, or post them in the Comments section on this blog post.
Thanks for your patience, Team Taco fans. Here is the promised entry on what happened at the actual competition!
As you might recall, I left you in a little bit of suspense about whether or not I would stay on for hacking R&T and getting over to the steeplechase school. I must admit that it was this question that worried me the most going in. I imagined that Taco might get so excited about the other horses running around that he would jump in the air and chuck me on the ground. Hey, I had to put my anxiety somewhere, right? But on the other hand, I had to have some way of getting over to the very far end of the Kentucky Horse Park to meet Dorothy Crowell.
At first I had decided to hack over by myself, but then Kerry and Chase, some P3D competitors from Georgia, were heading out at about the same time we were. So we decided to hack together. And it turned out to be great! After we had been out a few minutes Kerry thought that we should trot, and we did. Chase is a little horse with a big stride, and Taco stayed pretty busy keeping up! He was fresh but it was nothing I couldn't handle, and I arrived at the steeplechase school with a sense of triumph.
Taco scoping out the steeplechase field upon our arrival
The school itself had been a source of anxiety too. To add to my trepidation, one of the riders in the previous group fell off just when I got there. But I knew that if I just held on, I could ride as fast as Taco could run. I asked Dorothy to encourage me to go faster should I need to, since I thought I might probably err on the side of going too slow. And I was off! First we did a 260-meter marked stretch, which we were supposed to do in 30 seconds. We then proceeded immediately to a triple bar showjumping fence. Taco and I did both quite respectably. Yeah!! Next, we got to practice accelerating from a standstill and jumping the first steeplechase fence on the actual course. Here is what happened:
To quote Dorothy, woo hoo!
Then I did hack back to the barn, back along Phase A, all by myself. As I was trotting along under the blue sky, amidst the fall foliage, through the park that only recently had held 700 of the top horses in the world, and on the back of the horse that I feel is the best one in the world, I thought about how unbelievably lucky I was.
The next morning was our dressage test. Hoo boy, was it cold! My numb fingers re-braided Taco (a slightly better job this time) and we tacked up and hacked over to the dressage complex. Amy helped me warm up, making sure that I got the engine going at a hot enough temperature. My dad and my stepmom Jennifer arrived while I warmed up, and then I headed down center line! It was a respectable test. My connecting half-halts were not as effective as they needed to be during the canter lengthenings and he tossed his head at the end of each one. He broke from the canter in the corner after the right-lead lengthening. My trot lengthenings were adequate but suffered from a similar inconsistency in the connection. But he was forward and very obedient, and I was very pleased with him. We scored a 36.4, which was good enough for 7th out of 34 starters.
That afternoon, I went over Phases A-D thoroughly. Amy walked me around Phase D (the regular cross-country phase) and we made a good plan. Out of concern for the hardness of the ground, I decided to "ride" Roads and Tracks on the bike. It took me a minute to figure out the route, but I eventually got my gates and kilometer markers figured out. On the advice of my friend Jennifer Joyce, who is an old hand at this classic-format stuff, I got a second armband and put my little Phase A-C time chart into it. I wrote my Phase D markers underneath it on my arm with a sharpie, and then took off the extra armband in the ten-minute box. It worked a charm!
The next morning I woke up with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. This was it! The day I have been preparing for for three years! I was worried that I would screw up, but also excited and feeling like I was about to embark on a fun adventure. And that is exactly what it was.
My whole Team Taco crew had met the night before and come up with a game plan for the day. It consisted of Amy, Carol, Lauren, Dad, and Jennifer. Although I only needed one person to send me off onto Phase A, and one person to be in the assistance area after Phase B, the whole crew was at each place, cheering me on and excited for me. Lauren walked me out to the Phase A start, where the others met us. And then I was off, making Taco trot as fast as he could! He is not the world's fastest trotter, and he was spooking at all of the gate judge's cars, so we were slow meeting our first kilometer marker. No matter, we put in a little canter along the way and it was easy to make the time. He also perked up a good bit as we trotted alongside the steeplechase course and a horse raced by!
Then it was steeplechase/ Phase B. Oh, my. I have never gone that fast on the back of a horse in my life. But I was determined to make the time, and I did, with some to spare, even. Once we got up to speed, I felt like everything went very still up on Taco's back, and we sort of skimmed along the ground. He was very careful at each fence, setting himself up just as everyone said he would. Wheeee! What an exhilarating experience! Lauren handed me a water bottle for a quick drink and then we were off on Phase C.
Phase C was supposed to contain some walking but Taco was really not too into that. Dorothy had said that it was OK to trot if this happened, as long as the horses were not rudely running away with us. Taco trotted along very happily and politely, so I let him.
In the ten-minute box.
My team was fabulous in the box! Beth joined us, so that we had plenty of calm people to put cold water on and scrape it off. Taco's vitals came right down and he jogged well. Amy and I went over the course one last time. before I knew it, we were off on Phase D again! It was a great round. Taco was forward and confident, and so was I. He was also very, very rideable. We made time easily and I went through the finish with a big smile on my face! It really is true that doing Phases A, B and C before D make the last phase even more fun.
With the help of my expert sponging-and-scraping team, Taco's temperature, pulse and respiration came down so fast that Dr. Duncan Peters asked me whether Taco had even worked that day. We were released to the barns very quickly and I set about taking care of his legs. We had moved up one spot and ended the day in sixth place!
Later that afternoon, Dr. Peters had generously agreed to do an optional jog for T3D and P3D competitors. I pulled Taco out and jogged him along our shedrow. Uh oh. He was a little uneven. But he jogged better the second time, so I thought he might be stiff from standing in his stall for a while. I went over to Dr. Peters to get his expert opinion.
Waiting for our turn to see the vet
Dr. Peters suggested icing his hocks and light, gentle exercise. Because it was a national competition, Taco was also allowed to have a gram of bute that evening and then 12 hours later. The next morning, I iced again, and then showed him to Dr. Peters again, who was cautiously optimistic that continued gentle movement would loosen Taco up. Since my efforts seemed to be helping, and Taco felt fine during a light ride, I decided to present him at the jog. However, the ground jury sent us to the holding area, where the treating veterinarian palpated his hind end and found it to be quite sore. The hard ground of the day before had, it appeared, taken a considerable toll on his hock joints and he was also quite muscle sore as a result. At that point, I made the difficult decision to withdraw him from the competition. Even if more exercise has been able to loosen him up enough to satisfy the ground jury, I hated to jump him when his hock joints and hindquarter muscles were making him uncomfortable.
So we drove home. I cannot say how very proud I am of my horse and my team, and so very grateful that I had this opportunity to participate in this wonderful event! I got much more confident riding Taco in the open, more confident at speed, and more confident on cross country. I learned how to prepare for a jog, and how to take care of Taco better afterward. And I learned more about how to keep him sound and comfortable for our next T3D. We have an improved game plan for keeping his joints and muscles happier through the training and competition season next year. Indiana Eventing Association T3D is in June 2011, and I plan to be there!
Well, we did it! Or, sort of. We made it to the T3D at Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge and Three Day Event, and through the all-important Endurance Day, but I withdrew Taco at the final jog. It was a letdown not to finish, but there will be other three day events. I am thrilled with my horse and I had a truly fantastic team of folks helping me all weekend.
In the lead-up to the event, I had some great help from Amy. She got me confident over showjumps again (forward, forward, forward!) and gave me some really great comments on my dressage test. She also rode Taco when I had to go to California for a couple of days for work. Talk about trying to pack it all into my schedule—what was I thinking?
Anyway, when we pulled out Wednesday morning I felt that I was as ready as I would ever be. Taco, of course, was born ready, so I had not worries on that score. His recovery times on his last gallop had been ridiculously short. He had also been checked out by Dr. Tony, who found that Taco was dragging one toe a little after a flexion test. We decided to treat that hock with Surpass and to try Equithrive, which contains resveratrol and hyaluronic acid. By the time we left, he was feeling and looking good.
We had a smooth drive to Lexington and went through the first in-barn exam smoothly. I had to hurry to get Taco settled and bathed before a lecture by Dorothy Crowell, the main clinician for the T3D, and Dr. Duncan Peters, who was the veterinary delegate. They spoke on care before and after Endurance Day. Much of what I heard was familiar, but I took careful notes and heard several helpful things. After the lecture, I let Taco graze on the lovely green WEG track for a while, and then tucked him in for the night. As I moved around the Kentucky Horse Park, I kept thinking that the competition I had been working toward for the last three years had actually arrived. My task at this point was, I thought, to put all of my preparation to the best use possible.
The next day was completely packed with activity. It started with the mandatory briefing for the T3D, P3D, and CCI* riders, continued with Dorothy's lecture on timing A, B, and C and a steeplechase walk, then the jog, and finally a steeplechase school. I woke up pretty nervous, thinking about doing all of these things and managing to braid and clean up Taco, too. But my strategy was to make a good plan and then just to concentrate on whatever task was before me. This turned out to be a helpful strategy all weekend. Whenever I found myself getting jitters, I asked myself, "what do I need to concentrate on now, at this very moment?"
The briefing and lecture left little time for braiding and primping for the jog, but just before the jog my number one groom and sports psychologist, Carol, showed up. She had brought the shoes and jewelry that I planned to wear for the jog, and she also did her magic on the buckles and clincher browband of Taco's bridle. She has become an expert metal polisher, poor thing! There was a scary moment when I realized that the hoof polish I planned to use had comfrey in it, which is not USEF-legal (although external use is probably fine). So off I went to find some hoof dressing. I arrived back at the stall some minutes later (the vendor had been very talkative) with pine tar. Big mistake! It was cold and went on like molasses, and then proceeded to pick up every speck of dust his hooves encountered.
So it was a hurried pair that made our way to the jog lane—but once there, it was wonderful! I stood Taco up for Dr. Peters and the ground jury, and then we jogged down the lane (the same one used by world-class horses at Rolex and the World Equestrian Games!). Taco floated along beside me and I felt like a million bucks. We were accepted easily and went back to the stall. On the way back, we met poor Carol, whom I had delegated to find a dressage whip for the jog. She had rummaged through the trailer and come up with both a long jumping bat and my Wonder Whip, but by the time she found me again I had already jogged! Note to self: jogs always go faster than you think they will!
Handsome Face
Jogging
Will Stacy stay on during the hack to the steeplechase school? Stay tuned for the next episode!
This weekend was the annual Middle Tennessee Pony Club Horse Trials. The short version of our weekend is that we won the dressage and then I fell off in stadium. I am unhurt except for my pride.
The longer version: I had an amazing weekend at the World Equestrian Games eventing competition a week ago, got totally behind on sleep and grading, put in a long week of teaching, writing, and meetings while I tried to get caught up on the sleep and grading, squeezed in some rides, and peeled myself out of bed yesterday morning to go braid.
Despite my preoccupations, Taco went quite well last week. Amy had ridden him while I was at the WEG, and I came back to a newly tuned-up Taco. When I had a lesson on Thursday, she showed me how to do the suppling work that she had done and then we had a productive jump school. So I felt well-prepared coming into the show.
I should have known I was in trouble when I woke up and was not excited about the day. This is very unusual for me on the morning of a competition. I am usually nervous on show mornings, but I have a spring in my step and a sense of purpose. Not so yesterday. I kept catching myself thinking negative thoughts.
I got to Brownland Farm, which is where the dressage and stadium are held, in plenty of time and made my way over to the warmup area. Taco felt a little "stuck." I felt overheated and ineffectual. But Amy talked me through it and by the end of my warmup we were looking credible. I made a few mistakes in the test (breaking in a lengthening, walking at C instead of H, doing my signature flub of a canter transition), but we scored a respectable 31.8, which put us in first place.
Taco looking handsome during the canter lengthening (Palmer Photo)
I walked the showjumping course one more time and then tacked up, all the while lacking concentration and focus. Longtime Team Taco member Elizabeth expressed concern over my mental state, and started pushing the Powerade and encouraging me to think more positively. I drank the Powerade and tried to get my head in the game. In warmup, I was on my own because Amy's dressage time was at the same time as my showjumping, but she had given me instructions. I tried to work on Taco's adjustability, get him in front of my leg, and ride in a powerful rhythm to the jumps. However, I did not get the job done. I let myself get distracted by a dispute between two trainers and never established that forward ride that I would need for the showjumping course.
The result was an underpowered ride all the way around until the third to last, which was the final element of the triple combination. As I jumped in I thought that I would be OK-- I knew that it was a one-stride to a two-stride, and I started to count my way through. Unfortunately, because Taco was underpowered coming in, he landed close to the second element, took two strides, and was still too far away from the final element to jump safely. Rather than take off from that distance, he wisely chose to stop. The thing about Taco is that he (almost) never stops, and the very few times that he has stopped have been when he has felt that he absolutely cannot jump safely. Anyway, I fell off the side of his neck and landed on my feet, holding the reins. I left the arena in a cloud of embarrassment. What is that saying that Jimmy Wofford likes? Experience is what you get a moment after you need it. I immediately realized that I had not given Taco the ride that he needed that day.
After some soul-searching, I decided not to ask the Ground Jury for permission to ride XC the next day. I was obviously not 100 percent, and I did not want to risk my horse's and my safety over solid obstacles. So I loaded Taco on the trailer and took him back to the farm, where he gratefully ate his dinner and went out to his field. I went home and got into bed until nine this morning.
I just hate that I let my horse down in this way, and we have now missed our final gallop, but there are some positive lessons to take from this:
1. I can't do everything that I want to all at once. I need to have appropriate amounts of sleep and rest in order to be at my best in competition.
2. It is imperative that I ride forward in showjumping (and in all phases). If this requires recruiting a ground person for my warmup who is willing to yell at me until I move my @$$, so be it.
3. We missed a gallop, but Taco is incredibly fit already and the ground was hard this weekend. Not running XC reduces wear and tear on him in advance of the T3D.
4. If I'm going to screw up, I might as well do so at a local horse trials than the T3D. Now I have gotten *that* out of the way. I will be on my toes more at the T3D.
5. Taco is an extremely safe horse. Not only is he a lovely jumper, and extremely honest, but he will also decline to jump should I get us into a problem spot. I am so lucky.
I went out to the barn and clipped him today, then hacked him around the fields. Carol came with me and did some bike riding with the dogs. It was a lovely, restful afternoon. I was happy to be with my wonderful horse and my wonderful family.
It is the calm before the storm of my trip to the WEG, MTPC, and the T3D, all of which are happening in the space of the next four weeks. Oh, and I will be making a quick work-related trip to CA in there, too.
In the meantime we are continuing our horse and human workouts. And we got some wonderful news today: Dorothy Crowell is going to be the main clinician at the T3D! The event secretary sent out an email today to tell us the rough schedule for the briefings and inspections.
We also got a pleasant surprise in the mail: Taco's and my Training level USEA Silver Medal. I am going to wear it on my jacket lapel.
In very sad news, Team Taco friend Hilda Donahue lost her wonderful partner Extravagance at the Poplar Place CIC*** today. They were a lovely pair and I am heartbroken to hear this. Rest in Peace, Extravagance.
Since the AECs, we've continued to prepare for the T3D. Taco's fitness is great, but mine needs work, so I have been doing some additional workouts at the gym. I've also started a Rider Fitness Accountability Thread on the COTH BB to keep me motivated.
It's been summer-like for the past couple of weeks but we've gotten in some trot sets and a little gallop (more for me than for Taco). We had a jump lesson last weekend that reminded me of the importance of committing to a rhythm (not a distance) on the approach to each fence. Here are some video clips, taken by our friend Elizabeth:
There are 34 entries in the T3D at Midsouth! Wow! I am so happy for the T3D program and it will be a great group of people there, I am sure.
I also got some AEC pictures from the professional photographer Mark Walter Lehner of Hoofclix.com. They are gorgeous-- his team does a great job! Here are a few of my favorites. And you might have noticed that I have posted a new picture under the title of the blog, too.
This weekend was the American Eventing Championships, or AECs. Or, as it might be appropriately called, the American Eventing Clinic-- for it was an extremely positive educational experience for me! We finished in the middle of the pack (22nd out of 50+ horses), but on top of the world in terms of developing our partnership and confidence together.
We had expert, encouraging help from the peerless Hilda Donahue. When I initially realized that Amy could not come to coach me, I did despair somewhat, but then I was lucky enough to arrange coaching with Hilda. I had met her while she was volunteering at Pine Top Advanced HT during the infamous rainy 2009 event-- yes, she was volunteering at an event where she was riding! In the rain! Then I had heard great things about her from my friend Seema, and when I asked Seema whether Hilda might be a good coach for the AECs, I got an enthusiastically affirmative response. Hilda fortunately agreed to coach me, and we had a wonderful phone conversation the week before the event in which I told her all about Taco and me.
The week before we left, Amy worked with me on both our jumping and dressage. In both disciplines, we concentrated on me riding every moment, and responding to what was going on underneath me instead of relying on a formula of what I thought I "should" be doing. I decided to set riding in the moment throughout all three phases as a goal for this event. We also worked on angling a three-stride line, a practice session that I was very glad to have done come cross-country day! All in all, Amy did a fabulous job of preparing us, both last week and throughout our partnership. Hilda was very complimentary of my preparation.
When we arrived at Chattahoochee Hills I was instantly blown away by the magnitude of the event. I believe almost 700 horses started! The trailer parking alone was a ginormous area.
The trailer parking was surrounded by the circle of road dubbed "I-285" by some participants.
We were fortunate enough to be stabled in the rear of the property, in one of the lovely permanent barns. This is the nicest show stabling I have ever seen. Each stall had rubber mats, and was slightly deeper than it was wide so that the horses could retreat to the back of the stall to get some peace and quiet.
The beautiful barns in our section (ours was the one to the left).
Taco just after arrival.
Dressage went very well. Hilda had me practice each movement of the test in turn, and emphasized correct bend and energy. We practiced lengthenings with well-timed half-halts, and the turn in the center of the 15 meter figure-8. Then it was was showtime! Taco pumped up a little bit when we entered the arena, and he put in a lovely, fluid test. I could have changed the bend in the figure-8 better, and done a better job preparing for my left canter depart, and kept the energy in the transition from free to working walk better, but all in all it was nice. The judges agreed, and my two scores came to a 28.2, putting us in 2nd place out of those 50+ horses.
Hilda discussing our performance after the test.
Cross Country (click here for photos of the jumps and a course map) was more technical than anything I have seen to date. But when I walked it I thought that Taco and I were ready for it!
The ski jump bank down to the angled cabins. Lots of people decided to circle here, but I correctly thought that we could handle the straight route!
Hilda had really emphasized correct line and balance when we walked the course together. She always looks back from each fence to the one before it to check the line that she plans to ride. This helped me tremendously. In the warmup, she had us do a variety of rides to the fences-- off of turns and angles, and also working on getting him out in front of my leg. I was nervous leaving the start box, but I knew that we had done everything possible to set ourselves up for success. Taco came out ready to do his job, as usual. He jumped clear around over everything, including the combinations at the water (a rolltop on a mound, down a bank that looked huge to me, and out over a very tall skinny brush), the ski jump to angled cabins (thanks for the angle practice, Amy!), and the coffin. He was very careful and patted the ground a few times in front of the drops, so I just tried to support him with my leg and let him do what he needed to do.
I rode at a pace that felt comfortable to me, which turned out to be over 20 seconds slow. I wanted to make sure I jumped around safely, the ground was hard (remember we have a little thing called a three day event coming up!), and my riding at speed is definitely still a work in progress. I thought we were going pretty fast, but on the video it looks like we are just loping around!
Our time penalties dropped us down to 20th place, so we had little pressure going into showjumping. Still, I wanted to ride a good round here. Taco was definitely a little stiff after XC and standing up in a stall for several nights, so with Carol's help I got him out and walking as much as possible and our Aunt Lynda brought us plenty of ice to soothe his feet and ankles. He felt good in the warmup and Hilda once again gave us exactly what we needed to get ready for our round: some jumps off of a shorter turn to give me the feeling of revving T's hocks up underneath him. The course was maxed out (the concession to making the first fence a little softer was to not max out the oxer's width!) and very gallopy, with several long approaches. Then we went in, and Taco just jumped out of his skin. I felt like we could have jumped anything-- he was so elastic and responsive. We had one rail after I rode a less than stellar turn, but I really felt that I pushed through to a new level of eliciting Taco's best jumping. Big pats for him! I told Hilda when I came out of the ring that I felt like the event had been a very productive clinic for me.
We drove home in the heat, as I relived my favorite moments of the weekend. While each phase had room for improvement (watch out for us next year, folks!) I was tickled that we had put in three very solid phases that built confidence in each one. I loved spending time with Taco in this way, and seeing friends, and getting to know Hilda and her lovely fiance (thank you so much for the taco dinner!!), and having the devoted help of Carol (she is getting really good at picking stalls, poor thing). Thank you to the USEA and the AECs organizers and volunteers, and to Carol, and Hilda, and Seema for the lovely, unexpected gift, and Lynda for the golf cart rides and ice and water, and Dad for my fancy new helmet, and Mom for the camera with which the above pictures were taken! Thank you Team Taco!! We could not have done it without you!
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