Eventing derby part 1 Dressage

So it was an unrecognized event but in the few short months that I have been riding again and Steady has been off the track I'd say this is huge!  So I entered the eventing derby which consisted of a dressage test and a stadium/xc course combined.  Really if you could see how I have tried to pull this together and "look" like I wasn't a complete idiot you would laugh.  I have asked about a million question spent hours watching video after video to try to figure out what it was I was supposed to be doing.  What I found out was I to do the 2007 USDF dressage test B.  So I set out to try to first figure out what a dressage arena was and then to memorize the test.  Ha and then to actually make it happen on my horse.  Thankfully it is a W/T test so all pressure to perform at a canter was off.  We are just not there yet.  Trot to canter transitions are well a mess.  I think I may have actually done the entire test correctly once before I went in.

First I must mention that a Mom and daughter pair that I had met once before so generously offered to come out (1 1/2 hour drive) to be our (mine and my friend Susans) groom/trainer/right arm.  They were such a blessing.  I have been trying to figure out a way to properly repay them.  I cannot imagine pulling it off without them.  So Daughter Jessica took me in to warm up and helped me work on my center line.  Something no one had ever told me the correct way to do this so I was so grateful.  So about 5 min. till go time we went out and worked a bit outside the show ring.  So the judges yells "next rider"  I hesitated.  I don't know if it was nerves or what but I didn't go.  I wasn't positive it was me.  Jessica says you can go in do a lap around the ring once she rings the bell you have 30 seconds to start.  Still I was not moving.  Then the judge frantically rings the bell and yells "you missed your chance to ride around the arena you need to start". 

Oh no!!!  Not a good start to my first dressage test ever.  Two months ago I couldn't have told you the first thing about dressage and now I am trying to do it on a race horse!  So I am frazzled and I enter.  All that work on the center line, out the window.  Nerves had taken over.  We went up all cadywompussed his head looking in another direction at our halt.  During my salute I had a moment of clarity and thought, Amy this is it put your head the game.  So then it became me and my wonderful OTTB doing our thing.  We nailed the pattern which I am impressed with by itself.  The trot felt good though he was super relaxed and enjoying himself a little too much because he was making me work to get him moving and that is not like him.  Then at the walk it all kinda fell apart.  Then trot to the right and back to center line, which went much better this time. 

Judges comments:  "Beautiful trotwork" oh that felt good.  "the walk left much to be desired"  Now that bugs me.  She was right it didn't go well but his walk is naturally beautiful, long and covers great ground.  I just felt like he was distracted.  "though you will still get good scores because of the level".  "Is he green".  Hahaha um yeah and so am I.  About as green as they come.  She was impressed with him and his progess since being off the track only 7 months.  Oh that feels so good because I know that we did that together.  We had lessons here and there but WE did all the work.  She also said sometimes he tucks his nose instead of move into the bit and we will definitely be working on that. 


Drum roll please.........our score for the first half of the derby is.......... 34.0!!!  I will have to admit, and this will prove how little I know about all of this, I was disappointed.  What a low number.  I have read dressage scores and people are happy when they get a 67 and I only got a 34 :(.  Then my friend explained that 34 is equivelent to 66.  That again is another reason why I think dressage is harder than learning a new language.  Why so confusing :).  Apparently in a dressage test it would be a 66%  In eventing it is reversed to a 34%.  Who knows all I know is that everyone was impressed with that score..lol.

I was the only one in the eventing derby so I was in first place but there were others doing a combined test for the green as grass level and I believe I would have gotten first or second out of 6.    I have no pictures of my dressage test.  My Dad (a professional photographer) showed up right after I finished untacking.  So I do have some great pictures of my cross country round so come back and see how it ended.

Sneak peek! Steady Smiler's first event.

I am too tired to post about it now, but soon.  Here is a sneak peak.  Warming up before cross country.

I can't get enough of this story.

I have officially been sucked in.  Alydar's story is so moving.  Not to mention the rivalry between him and Affirmed.  In the race for the Triple Crown which Affirmed won and the last horse to win the Triple Crown Alydar gave him a run for his money every time.  And Alydar became the only horse in history to come in second in all three triple crown races. Alydar came in second with a total combined distance for all three races was less than 2 lengths!  The Jockey's themselves have some pretty amazing storys too.  Now tell me it wouldn't make for a fantastic movie.

Here they are the first of the three races the Kentucky Derby.





Second is the Preakness.








Last is the Belmont. It is a nail biter.

This is awesome!

I started to research Steady Smiler's pedigree and I didn't have to search very far before I found some amazing information.  I personally don't know a great deal in the history of horse racing.  I have been around it my whole life.  My Dad's dream was to breed a Kentucky Derby winner.  Unfortunately that never worked out for him after years of breeding but that is the way the business works.  Not only did he breed but he also has a bit of an addiction to the track.  So I was at the track from a very young age.  I really think that is why as an adult I absolutely LOVE the thoroughbred breed.  I mean I love horses in general but in my mind there is not a breed more beautiful and stalwart then the thoroughbred. 

So this is what I found.
                                                           -Alydar
                                 -Relpetion          
                                                          -Full Tigress
     Steady Smiler-         
                          
                                                         -Steady Growth
                            -Song and a Smile
                                                         -Starstruck Jenny
                        

Look at the top at his sire's sire in layman terms Grandpa.  Do you recognize that name?  Alydar!!!  All I had to do was text my Dad the name and he immediatly rattled off Alydar's story.  There are horses that change the history of racing.  You may be more familiar with one that is a bit more recent.  You know a little filly named Zenyetta??  She is one of those.  Well Alydar is too.  His story is one of the greatest out there and you can read it here .  I will not recap because the biography elxpains it all.  All except for on piece information that was left out that my Dad informed me of.  At the end you read how he died prematurely in a terrible accident.  What they didn't say is that the barn manager at the time was sent to prison for breaking Alydar's leg for insurance money.  It is a sad ending to such an amazing story but amazing it is!!

Not to take away from Secretariat but the next race horse block buster needs to be the story of Alydar and Affiirmed!!!

Feeling out of place.

It is funny the younger I  was I used to think that the older I got the less I would start to feel out of place.  I think that it is easy to look at someone and think that they have it all together.  But the older I get the more I realize no one has it all together some just tend to hide it better than others.  The older you get the better you get and "looking" like you have it all together but inside we all struggle.  I think if we aren't struggling than we are not bettering ourselves.  To be comfortable is to be stagnate.  I am the type of person that  tries not hide my struggles and it is on purpose.  I feel to not be honest to the people around me about who I am then I am not being honest with myself.  I don't want my children to have the same misconception I did about others having it all together.  I think that can tend to breed insecurities.  I value the ability to be translusent, for others to see me for who I am not who they think I am.
 But there are somethings in the blogger world that bother me about all of this.  I think it is hard to portray a 100% realistic view of ones life when you only post tid bits here and there of your life.  Especially if you don't want to appear to be a negative person you have to be very careful not to always post when you are struggling.  But sometimes words come easier in the midst of a struggle.  So translucencey is hard to be in the social networking world of the internet.

Ok I am not sure where that rant came from because it was not the point of the post.  The whole point was that for some reason I feel out of place in the horsey blog world.  Silly probably but still I thought I would mention it because I would love to hear feed back about it.  There are some pretty fantastic horse blogs out there and I have to say there are a select few I am addicted to reading and cannot wait until their next post.  Out of all of the ones I love to read only one of them is in the same part of the country as me.  So I think that may have alot to do with this thing that I am wondering about.  The one thing though that I see to be so very common.  Actually I think ALL of the blogs I love do this.  BOARD!  It is facinating to me that every one of these blogs board their horse/horses.  I have nothing against it I just am very very curious about it.  I want to know why people board.  I am assuming that there are a hundred different reasons for every one hundred people but I am thinking some of the reasons have to be similar.

I don't board, I never have.  Simply because of cost.  It is more costly for me to board a horse than to keep one at home.  I also love to be able to go out any time of day and just groom, talk to, love on, ride or just look out the window and gaze at them.  Those are the reasons I love to have my horses at home.  Not that there are not down sides to having them here  but I dwell on the positives and try not to think about the negative.  But I can see benefits of boarding.  Like stall cleaning, up keep, repair, barn cleaning, up keep, and repair.  Being able to go out of town because they are fed and cared for in your absence, or the commitment of being the ONLY one feeding/watering.  Pasture care and up keep. Trainer on premisis for lessons and such.  Not having to travel for lessons.  Those are some benefits that I can see but like I said I have not boarded so I really have no idea.  Are those some or any of the reasons?  I also thought maybe it is just different parts of the country it is harder to afford land than it would be to pay board. 

So my questions are do you board because that is what you would rather do or do you board because that is what you have to do?  What are your reasons for choosing to board?  What would be the benefit be of not boarding?  What are the benefits you enjoy because you board?

This kind of feels like an interview but really it is just pure curiosity on my part.  I am intrigued.

A page in history.

I have been thinking back on the days that my facination and love for all things equine began.  My parents owned horses before I was born.  They had two Arabians.  Unfortunately they did not ever do much with them and they got them young.  They were taught a couple things but really not much.  When I got to be about 5 that is when I would start begging for my Dad to take me out on the horses.  My sisters had taken lessons at a near by hunter/jumper barn but quickly lost interest.  At about 8 is when my parents decided to let me start lessons.  Of course the interest was never lost and I continued at the at barn until I was 15.

I started with one lesson a week and after about a year I started coming to the barn on a daily basis.  The school bus would drop me off there and my parents would pick me up in the evening.  I started to learn how to jump on two different school horses.  I can remember them like it was yesterday.  Bigenough he was a sweet chestnut horse.  The perfect school horse.  Then there was Pappy,  he too was a perfect school horse and great to learn on.  The only problem with him is that he was half Clydesdale!!!  So he was huge.  He also had the traditional Clyesdale mane that stood straight up.  So they shaved it.  As a beginner I often depended on that mane to help get my but out of the saddle and to keep my balance but not on Pappy.

Then my trainer Mr. Egan.  He was and old pro.  He was old then though I was 8 and not the best judge in age he sure did look old.  He was probably in his mid-late 60's.  He was one tough cookie.  He told you how it was and wasn't affraid to yell.  As a young girl you would think that wouldn't be the best method but I was a tough cookie myself being the youngest of 4.  I could hold my own.  The thing is though he was balanced enough that it worked.  He wasn't affraid to tear you to peices when it came to riding and the horses but he loved on me equally as much.  I have nothing but love in my heart toward him to this day (though he has passed on).

So one day in particular stands out in my mind.  He was giving me a lesson on pappy and we were schooling over a crossrail in the indoor arena.  I remember vividly the whole event and can picture in my mind the entire thing.  I came around the corner toward the jump and when I went to grab for the mane because I started to loose my balance, I WASN"T THERE!!!  So I proceeded to slide  slowly down the saddle, bouncing along and holding on for dear life.  Remember I am 8 and Pappy well he was huge!!!  I did not want to fall off.  I remember hearing Mr. Egan shouting at me at the top of his lungs, "young lady you better not fall off that horse, I did not tell you, you could get off that horse.!!!"  Then me shouting back "But he has no mane".  That did not seem a good enough excuse to him.  He continued "I did not tell you to get off that horse".  It was helpless though I could not hold on and hit the ground.  I cannot remember if I hurt anything but I definitely didn't hurt anything bad enough to not get put right back up on Pappy and forced to get our butts over that crossrail.  I remember being affraid and I remember trying to make excuses, number one being that he didn't have a mane, but to no avail.  Mr. Egan didn't take no for an answer and we did get over that jump mane or no mane.

I am forever grateful for the education and guts that Mr. Egan instilled in me. 

A snowy ride

I spent the day in the kitchen with a good friend cooking all day.  Once a month I get together with a friend to cook 15 or so meals to have over the course of the month.  It is going on two years that I have relied on this for our family dinners.  It is a life saver of a busy family.  Anyways at the beginning I am always energetic and ready to tackle the task at hand.  Halfway through the day you start to feel a bit worn down.  By the time you finish the last meal you turn into a grumpy monster.  Then we were to entertain that evening for friends and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and not return to the light of day for a good 12 hours.

I desparately wanted to capture the magic of the moment on camera but disappointingly cell phone cameras and a horse that really could have cared less to stand still just didn't capture the moment.  It is hard to see but really the snow is coming down.

Steady flipping his head in protest of standing still.  Oh I could eat this horse up he is so stinking cute.

I was tired and it was coooold outside but I knew a ride would be the best thing to get me out of my funk.  So that is what I did.  I was cold but as soon as we started moving I started to warm up.  We were working on our dressage test for the show this weekend.  About ten minutes into it little tiny balls of ice started to fall from the sky.  Steady did not appreciate them falling into his ears.  he kept shaking his head.  It was very cute.  Then it turned into big fluffy flakes of snow.  The white contrasts on Steady's dark red/brown mane and neck is such a beautiful sight.  It really came down, making the sky a white sea around us.  It was glorious!  The first snow of the year is magical to begin with and to be blessed enough to experience it this year on horseback is an amazing feeling.

It was hard to believe when I said to my family and friends how amazing it was.  They thought I was joking.  All they could think was how cold it was out there.  I didn't even notice the cold as we were going over a jump and the snow was flying in my face.  They just didn't get it.   I was one of those kids who would ride in the dead of winter.  Growing up in Michigan it made for some fun in the snow.  The the stable I rode everyday in the indoor arena but at home on my unpredicatble little pain in the butt Arab we would take weekly rides through the winter wonderland.  Sometimes bareback galloping through feet of snow and making our own path in life.  I remember those days as the best in my childhood and now as a resposible, grown up, wife, mother I am beyond blessed to still be experiencing the world on horseback.