hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
I had the pictures uploaded and ready by the following Friday, then I wrote the text while at work. But I can't get to photobucket at work to get the links, then I kept falling asleep once I was home, then I waited until after the holiday weekend so people would be back on the forum...and now I'm coming up on two other shows so I'd better hurry up and post about this one before it's old news! :lol:
Man, what a weekend. Okay, first of all I never posted about Happ's 2005. I wrote out the whole story, loaded the pictures, completed the links, and then just never posted it! :boggle: So I'll have to draw out some comparisons in here instead of assuming you already know.
Each year Happ's starts with an initial vet check on Thursday. Last year I showed up completely unaware that "vet check" at Happ's meant more than the "stand in line anytime between x and y PM, get your horse's temperature taken and trot out for soundness" that it had always been in 4-H. My horse was ungroomed, unbraided, and in a barn halter and I was wearing (of all things) the genuine camo pants I'd bathed him in and a dirty sweatshirt. I got out of the truck (late, of course) and went to check in and was informed in no uncertain terms that the expectation was that we would be turned out flawlessly, braided and bridled and ready to present ourselves to the judge for the first time. Eeep! The judge, I might mention, was Hardy Zanke, only one of the biggest names in driving and a very punctual, impeccably dressed German gentleman. Oooohhh dear. All of my nicer clothes were packed in the RV which was not due to arrive until about 9PM that night. We bluffed our way through and pretended we knew what we were doing but his raised eyebrow said it all. Have I mentioned we had to say out loud that we were number one?
: Kody trotted the walk and cantered the trot, nearly bowling me over when we were supposed to turn right and then cantering all the way back to the start line nearly towing me off my feet. It was a royal mess and I was having a hard time holding on to my sense of humor because I felt so embarrassed.
So fast forward to this year. I asked for and got a fancy custom black and brass hunter bridle for Kody for Christmas and bought an eggbutt bit to go with it. We spent all fall and spring working on leading. And I tried so hard to get there on time this year! But somehow I still got there at 4:45 for a vet check that started at 4:30 and found out that apparently I was supposed to magically know that it was done in numerical order and the minis were the first numbers. Yep, you guessed it: missed my vet check. The office personnel were furious with me. However they were the only ones who cared as the people actually doing the vet check were very nice and simply fitted me in between larger horses. Kody wasn't bathed or braided but he was clean and brushed and bridled and I was in slacks, nice boots, a blouse, and the only hat I own. All my work in finding a headstall and getting it tailored to him was repaid when the judge specifically thanked me for presenting my horse in an open bridle. I have to admit I had another sneaky reason for using it and that is the complete personality transplant my horse undergoes the minute I put a bit in his mouth. As long as he thinks he's working, he's all cooperation! LOL. So this year I figure we had a 50% improvement- we walked 90% of the walk and trotted most of the trot, only cantering a little. And since I had a finger on that lovely outside rein I was able to turn him without finding my hip taken out from under me. Of course he then cantered all the way back to the start line but at least it was under control and the judge just grinned broadly and called "Thank you!" Obviously he was sound enough to compete.
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I got several nice comments on the bridle and on Kody himself, with one gentleman observing in an amused and admiring voice that I "had quite the little powerhouse there, didn't I." Kody is hard to miss at in-hand events, that's for sure! LOL. At least we make people smile and that's something, even if it is because we're misbehaving.
: Still, Kody tried hard and was clearly looking to please me so I was very proud of him. I had a neighbor take a picture after we got back to the trailer:
I found Amy and was introduced to Miss Ally before we attended the competitor briefing and social and then I walked the dressage test in the new 30x60 VSE ring. I was out there pacing out my circles trying to get them right until it was too dark to see, to the amusement of some of the other competitors.
VSE drivers walking the course
Then I spent the rest of the night cleaning my harness. Ah, the annual tradition of 12 hours spent in an RV choking on brass polish fumes and deep cleaning my harness because somehow I never found the time to do it during the rest of the year. Have I mentioned I'm a procrastinator? But it looked so much better after the deep cleaning than after the initial cursory effort! It was totally worth the lack of sleep.
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The next morning was dressage and the weather was crazy. You couldn't tell if it was going to rain or clear off, the wind was blowing fit to whip hats off heads, and every single horse was full of beans. My mom, bless her, helped out by getting the horse out of the barn while I brushed my teeth and by doing all the little things I wouldn't have had time to do. She lunged him just enough to loosen him up and then we hitched and went over for presentation. This was another big change from last year. In 2005 I was running late from the start, trying desperately to figure out what I needed and how to put my outfit together, forgot my safety check sheet, Kody had to be lunged for half an hour before even hitching and STILL reared and danced during the standing presentation and then we didn't have nearly enough time to warm up because of the whole running late thing. This year I remembered everything, knew what was expected and where to be and the one time he suddenly decided during presentation that rearing would be cool a single sharp "AAAHHTT!" was enough to bring him down. I was thinking we were doing so well as we headed out for the warmup field…and then everything went nuts.
I may never know exactly what it was that set him off, all I know is that one minute he was trotting out beautifully and picking up speed for a good working trot and the next minute his neck tensed, his back hollowed, his head turned to the side and I could see his eye rolling and we were taking off at a gallop. I've dealt with this a couple of times now and am finally learning to handle it without scaring either the horse or myself any further but it isn't easy. I used a calm, firm voice and said "Easy, Kody, easy. Steady up, easy…" and started steering him in large circles with firm half halts. I tried hard to keep my hands soft but I know I was still clutching his mouth as I fought the urge to try and physically pull him to a halt. I KNOW that doesn't work, but it's still the first thing you instinctively want to do! After the first moment or two he let me steer him but every few moments it's like terror overcame him and he'd suddenly leap skyward and forward. It wasn't like rearing; rearing involves crouching down on your hind legs and rocking back and up. This was a sudden and complete extension of the hind legs like he was trying to clear an invisible mountain in front of him. He wanted away from whatever was scary behind him and was trying his hardest to go over the restraint of the bit and do so. After the first several of these (which always alternated with a fresh bolt) I can honestly say I haven't been so scared in a very very long time. My heart was literally in my throat, I was shaking, and all I wanted was OFF that ride! I've often had occasion to wonder when this particular pony is going to run out of quarters but this is the first time I really felt like his brain had completely disconnected and that's probably what I found so frightening. He was terrified and couldn't seem to hear me trying to reach him, and the fact I couldn't reach him is what scared the heck out of me. There is nothing so scary as having a powerful horse of any size on the loose with no way to reconnect with their brain.
I did what I always do in those circumstances these days- I opened myself from the heart outwards and called to him with everything I had. Out loud I said "Kody, you're scaring me. I need you to come back to me. Come on, come back. You're scaring me." And then I hung on for dear life, tried to give the reins as he leapt so I wouldn't hurt his mouth and desperately steered us in circles while I prayed.
I don't know if it was my words, my hands, my voice, or just that he wore himself out but gradually the leaps diminished and turned into frantic forward motion. I could steer and we'd even stay at a trot, but you could tell if I put one restraining hand on him he was going to explode again. It took awhile but slowly he began to respond better and better to cues to turn and now and then I'd get a flash of reconnection as he'd suddenly stretch his topline down for a moment or bend for a moment or otherwise show that he was coming back to me. It was literally like watching a loose wire spark. Flash- Kody's there. Longer flash- brief look of sanity in his eyes. Flash- bent for three whole strides. And then he was there and back in my hands and with a tremendous sigh he stretched into a long frame and trotted out working the bit in his mouth. I kept him working for awhile and did some walk-trot transitions and long walks before I finally asked him to stop and stand and only then did I get out of the cart for a moment and stand and shake. And by then, of course, we'd used up our entire twenty or twenty five minutes of warmup and they were calling us on deck for our dressage go! My expectations for the morning had just gone from "have a fabulous go" to "survive going around the ring and come out intact." At least that one is a little easier to accomplish which was some consolation to me.
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As it happens he actually did very well. He seemed sort of repentent and very much willing to please as if to apologize for scaring me and somehow I knew (not thought or believed but really knew) that we were going to be fine for our test. And we were. Most of the problems we had were direct results of me being unable to release my fear and as a result clutching the reins and causing him to counterbend going down the rail. We sort of dived through the corner at C and wobbled down the rail, then surprisingly bent fairly well through the circle. That was my first hint that the problem on the rail was probably me, not him. By the second circle going the other way I was sure of it and managed to release the reins, at which point he said "Thank God," relaxed, and traveled perfectly straight for the rest of the test. I was so proud of him on his walks! We hit our mark fairly well for the downward transition at A and he was doing a very nice marching walk with good rhythm and impulsion all the way up the rail. When we turned to go across the diagonal and I asked for the free walk on a long rein I was practically crossing my fingers that he'd keep it together…and he was perfect! He not only stretched his topline as long as I'd let him, he lengthened his frame to match and kept his impulsion going so it was a nice long free walk all the way across. He slowed at one point and I asked him to step up and for once he knew exactly what I wanted him to do and instead of breaking into a trot he just hustled into a faster walk and pushed harder from the hind end. Of course our attempt to get back on the rail was unusually ugly, but I was tickled pink that he was trying so hard. It was like a little boy offering wilted wildflowers flowers to his mother after upsetting her.
: :lol: He was so clearly trying to make up for our warmup!
I had to choose between pictures or video of dressage and I chose video so I could see how we'd done. I promise I'll get stills off the video from both Happ's and Stoneybrook and post them eventually. Really!
: Here's a picture of one of my competitors though.
When scores were posted that afternoon I wasn't sure what to expect. I had told my mother that I figured we could be anywhere from first to last and I was just happy with the good double-score walks he'd given me. I waited patiently for my turn to look at the score sheet and the guy in front of me recognized me as he was turning away and said "Hey, congratulations. You're in first." I was like "Whaa?" But when I looked at the results there we were on the top of the list with a dressage score of 46.50, my lowest ever by seven points and thirteen points ahead of the second place driver. In Preliminary this wouldn't mean much as there's plenty of opportunity for others to gain points in the hazards and cones but in training level all you really have to do is not mess up and you'll keep your position. I was fairly quiet in my shock but Mom and I did exchange a quick high five and hug before we went back to the RV. That night was the course walk for marathon…
...and another exhibitor briefing…
And finally just before dark I was free to go walk all the hazards. Three of them were within easy reach but two were out in the boondocks and I gratefully accepted Bob Graham's offer to walk the course with me. He's trying to learn what hazards and marathon are all about so he can fine-tune his Hyperbike to compete in it and I appreciated having someone to bounce routes and ideas off of. We met up with photographer Wendy Ross out at Hazard 4 (the Gulch) and she joined us for the rest of the walk. Between the two of them it was certainly an entertaining outing! :bgrin I got back to find that my mother, who absolutely hates ATV's, had gotten so worried about the fact I wasn't back by dark that she'd gone out on one with the show secretary looking for me. :new_shocked: There was some discussion when she got back of implanting a microchip in her wayward daughter. :stupid:
Before we went to bed Mom and I each had a brief discussion with Kody about how it was really important that he take care of me on Saturday's marathon and that he act like a big boy and not buck, not freak out, and not be hot. It came out later that Bob had snagged Kody for a similar discussion the following morning and apparently between the three of us something sank in. Mom woke up feeling horribly nauseous so just like at Stoneybrook it was Bob and I getting Kody ready to go. He generously offered to go get the horse from the barn when I was running late and Kody not only didn't eat him alive but actually led well going back to the trailer. Upon hearing this I immediately wondered if he was sick.
: :lol: Even though my stomach was jumping with nerves caused by being late, Kody for once stood like a pleasant rock while I groomed (which he hates) and tacked (which he hates only slightly less). We had no time to lunge at all but when I climbed in the 'Bike and we headed for vet check he acted like he'd already been out and driving for an hour. I was so proud of him. It looked like rain so I'd put a cover on my velvet helmet and wore my water-proof pants.
It turned out the officials were running later than we were so everything was fine and we were the second one out on course. Section A was gorgeous, driving through a meadow full of purple-headed grasses and white and yellow wildflowers taller than Kody's head. There was one point where some very large-sounding dogs got extremely upset that we were trotting along their overgrown fenceline and barked and chased us invisibly which of course un-nerved a lot of the horses over the day. Kody kept his cool but wasn't happy about it and picked up a flying trot to get away. I coaxed him out of that after awhile but chose not to slow him down excessively as his traveling pace is quite pleasant, however I knew that at the end of the section we'd pay for it in order to make our time. Sure enough I spent the last two sides of the second field doing serpentines at a slow jog to kill precious seconds until we were safely over the minimum time.
Leaving the start gate
Coming in to the finish line at a slow trot
Again I was proud of Kody because he let me rate him with voice commands and never fought me at all. I said "Easy trot" and man, he was at a jog and wasn't going to move faster unless I asked him to. Good boy! We came in right on time and passed the vet check easily.
Section E began with two crossings of the famous creek. I figured out awhile ago that Kody's objection to trotting the creek is not the water but the rocks at the bottom of it so I wasn't surprised when he insisted on breaking to a walk and carefully slogging across. At least he WENT, and he has apparently learned that he is expected to trot up the other side because he did it on his own at both crossings. Good boy! Then it was on to Hazard 1, the Corral.
Training level horses skipped Hazard 2 (the Tunnel) and went straight to Hazard 3 (the Nuke Site). Then we got to do the fun one, the Gulch. This was a new hazard for Happ's and is where both the professional photographer and my personal photographer Bob :risa_suelos: had stationed themselves. Some of the professional pictures are very cute although you can see in the second one here where we had a boo-boo in Gate B and had to break to a walk and make a sudden change in our planned route. Note to self: always have alternate routes planned and practiced! Kody really did very well considering I'd never asked him to dash up and down narrow hillsides before.
Then it was on through the bad mud section (I discovered last year Kody is a mudder, he just plows right through) and through Ghost Town and back past the Gulch again to get to the final hazard, the Fir Forest. It was almost six kilometers into the marathon at this point and as you can see Kody was still going strong and had not a drop of sweat on him as he came out of the last hazard.
Too many pictures apparently, I'll continue in the next post.
This year I had done a better job on my pacing and while I had to push him to maintain a strong trot to the finish line we were well within time and came out of the entire marathon with no penalties. As a matter of fact he was still hot enough that someone had to come hold his head at the vet check as he kept wiggling and the sound of the buckles clinking was throwing off the volunteer taking his heart rate! LOL.
We walked back to the trailer with Bob and met my mother on the way, she was finally feeling better and was excited to hear how good Kody had been. We walked through Team Oregon's camp on the way back and they asked when we were going out; when told we were coming back they shook their heads and said you'd never know it to look at him. I pointed out he was doing a flat-footed walk and they said "Hey, you're right! He must be tired!" LOL They know him far too well now.
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We got him unhitched and staked out with some water and then I went off and watched the big horses run hazards for the rest of the day. I came back to the trailer and won a bet with myself as I found this:
"Huh? Mom?"
We got this great picture...
And then he laid out and I though he was being so innocent...
Until he tried to roll on my leg!
There was a fun exhibitor's dinner that night where we got some raffle stuff and enjoyed time with the other VSE driver's at a big table. Amy was still hurting from her kidney stone and was worried about Ally looking colicky again so I offered to check on her before I went to bed. I then ran the cones course by myself until dark, checked on Ally and Kody at around 11:30PM and went to bed.
Sunday morning was cones and I got a bit of a break since cones are run in reverse order of standing. This meant that instead of going second like I had the other two days I got to go last as the horse with the highest placing. For once in my life I was perfectly on time, made it through soundness check and did a lot of warming up.
Everything felt good and I was thinking this was the day I was finally going to have a clear round. I was far enough ahead that I could afford to knock four balls down but of course who wants to do that? The worst I've ever had was two and that only happened once, normally I knock one ball down as a matter of course. I did one last warmup pass in front of the crowd of parked VSE's and Kody decided to not only buck but fight the kick strap like he hasn't done since early spring. I didn't even think anything of it, just smacked him and half-halted and got him trotting on, but the audience was like "KODY! What a naughty pony, oh my." I was rather confused until I remembered not everyone's horses buck on a regular basis! LOL. I've gotten fairly blasé about it these days.
We saluted the judge and went through the ingate after the whistle had blown and I immediately knew we were in trouble. My beautiful forward boy was wobbling his way towards the first set of cones and wouldn't get up in the bridle no matter what I tried. I had the sinking realization that we were going to hit the first set of cones and not a moment later- thump. Argh! And of course then he realized we were going to do a cones course (as opposed to simply trotting away from the other horses) and picked up speed like a little rocket. We barely avoided the second set of cones, I oversteered horribly and hit the third set and then took myself in hand and got it together.
My hands are awful here, this is where I oversteered.
We sailed onward from there without fault until cone 18 which we just barely bumped, and made it in well under time. I was mortally embarrassed to have sent three balls flying but I held onto my lead by teeth and toenails to get the blue ribbon. Woohoo!
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I stopped and took some pictures of Amy and Ally, the best of which I will show here. I think they did a great job and with some seasoning Ally will be a real go-getter. Amy's outfit was awesome! She uses a pleasure cart from SPF and a harness from Mini Express with deep V breastcollar by the Carriage Barn.
Almost done....
I turned around to find Kody waiting patiently for me.
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Here are some miscellanious pictures from the event.
Mugging the neighbor who passed within range
Checking out the OTHER neighbor's dogs
Mugging Mom
And checking out the RV. He picked up the slippers and threw them around, tried to drag the welcome mat out the door, then chewed on the handle and ate all the grass under the second welcome mat outside.
Peekabo! "Look mom, I'm smaller than the RV hood!"
And finally, a picture of us with our second blue ribbon.
Yes, he's chewing on it. A moment after the camera shutter whirred he pulled it out of my hand, shook it up and down like a terrier, then dropped it in the dirt and deliberately stepped on it.
: I let him; I figured he'd earned it.
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Leia
Man, what a weekend. Okay, first of all I never posted about Happ's 2005. I wrote out the whole story, loaded the pictures, completed the links, and then just never posted it! :boggle: So I'll have to draw out some comparisons in here instead of assuming you already know.
Each year Happ's starts with an initial vet check on Thursday. Last year I showed up completely unaware that "vet check" at Happ's meant more than the "stand in line anytime between x and y PM, get your horse's temperature taken and trot out for soundness" that it had always been in 4-H. My horse was ungroomed, unbraided, and in a barn halter and I was wearing (of all things) the genuine camo pants I'd bathed him in and a dirty sweatshirt. I got out of the truck (late, of course) and went to check in and was informed in no uncertain terms that the expectation was that we would be turned out flawlessly, braided and bridled and ready to present ourselves to the judge for the first time. Eeep! The judge, I might mention, was Hardy Zanke, only one of the biggest names in driving and a very punctual, impeccably dressed German gentleman. Oooohhh dear. All of my nicer clothes were packed in the RV which was not due to arrive until about 9PM that night. We bluffed our way through and pretended we knew what we were doing but his raised eyebrow said it all. Have I mentioned we had to say out loud that we were number one?
So fast forward to this year. I asked for and got a fancy custom black and brass hunter bridle for Kody for Christmas and bought an eggbutt bit to go with it. We spent all fall and spring working on leading. And I tried so hard to get there on time this year! But somehow I still got there at 4:45 for a vet check that started at 4:30 and found out that apparently I was supposed to magically know that it was done in numerical order and the minis were the first numbers. Yep, you guessed it: missed my vet check. The office personnel were furious with me. However they were the only ones who cared as the people actually doing the vet check were very nice and simply fitted me in between larger horses. Kody wasn't bathed or braided but he was clean and brushed and bridled and I was in slacks, nice boots, a blouse, and the only hat I own. All my work in finding a headstall and getting it tailored to him was repaid when the judge specifically thanked me for presenting my horse in an open bridle. I have to admit I had another sneaky reason for using it and that is the complete personality transplant my horse undergoes the minute I put a bit in his mouth. As long as he thinks he's working, he's all cooperation! LOL. So this year I figure we had a 50% improvement- we walked 90% of the walk and trotted most of the trot, only cantering a little. And since I had a finger on that lovely outside rein I was able to turn him without finding my hip taken out from under me. Of course he then cantered all the way back to the start line but at least it was under control and the judge just grinned broadly and called "Thank you!" Obviously he was sound enough to compete.
I got several nice comments on the bridle and on Kody himself, with one gentleman observing in an amused and admiring voice that I "had quite the little powerhouse there, didn't I." Kody is hard to miss at in-hand events, that's for sure! LOL. At least we make people smile and that's something, even if it is because we're misbehaving.
I found Amy and was introduced to Miss Ally before we attended the competitor briefing and social and then I walked the dressage test in the new 30x60 VSE ring. I was out there pacing out my circles trying to get them right until it was too dark to see, to the amusement of some of the other competitors.
VSE drivers walking the course
Then I spent the rest of the night cleaning my harness. Ah, the annual tradition of 12 hours spent in an RV choking on brass polish fumes and deep cleaning my harness because somehow I never found the time to do it during the rest of the year. Have I mentioned I'm a procrastinator? But it looked so much better after the deep cleaning than after the initial cursory effort! It was totally worth the lack of sleep.
The next morning was dressage and the weather was crazy. You couldn't tell if it was going to rain or clear off, the wind was blowing fit to whip hats off heads, and every single horse was full of beans. My mom, bless her, helped out by getting the horse out of the barn while I brushed my teeth and by doing all the little things I wouldn't have had time to do. She lunged him just enough to loosen him up and then we hitched and went over for presentation. This was another big change from last year. In 2005 I was running late from the start, trying desperately to figure out what I needed and how to put my outfit together, forgot my safety check sheet, Kody had to be lunged for half an hour before even hitching and STILL reared and danced during the standing presentation and then we didn't have nearly enough time to warm up because of the whole running late thing. This year I remembered everything, knew what was expected and where to be and the one time he suddenly decided during presentation that rearing would be cool a single sharp "AAAHHTT!" was enough to bring him down. I was thinking we were doing so well as we headed out for the warmup field…and then everything went nuts.
I may never know exactly what it was that set him off, all I know is that one minute he was trotting out beautifully and picking up speed for a good working trot and the next minute his neck tensed, his back hollowed, his head turned to the side and I could see his eye rolling and we were taking off at a gallop. I've dealt with this a couple of times now and am finally learning to handle it without scaring either the horse or myself any further but it isn't easy. I used a calm, firm voice and said "Easy, Kody, easy. Steady up, easy…" and started steering him in large circles with firm half halts. I tried hard to keep my hands soft but I know I was still clutching his mouth as I fought the urge to try and physically pull him to a halt. I KNOW that doesn't work, but it's still the first thing you instinctively want to do! After the first moment or two he let me steer him but every few moments it's like terror overcame him and he'd suddenly leap skyward and forward. It wasn't like rearing; rearing involves crouching down on your hind legs and rocking back and up. This was a sudden and complete extension of the hind legs like he was trying to clear an invisible mountain in front of him. He wanted away from whatever was scary behind him and was trying his hardest to go over the restraint of the bit and do so. After the first several of these (which always alternated with a fresh bolt) I can honestly say I haven't been so scared in a very very long time. My heart was literally in my throat, I was shaking, and all I wanted was OFF that ride! I've often had occasion to wonder when this particular pony is going to run out of quarters but this is the first time I really felt like his brain had completely disconnected and that's probably what I found so frightening. He was terrified and couldn't seem to hear me trying to reach him, and the fact I couldn't reach him is what scared the heck out of me. There is nothing so scary as having a powerful horse of any size on the loose with no way to reconnect with their brain.
I did what I always do in those circumstances these days- I opened myself from the heart outwards and called to him with everything I had. Out loud I said "Kody, you're scaring me. I need you to come back to me. Come on, come back. You're scaring me." And then I hung on for dear life, tried to give the reins as he leapt so I wouldn't hurt his mouth and desperately steered us in circles while I prayed.
I don't know if it was my words, my hands, my voice, or just that he wore himself out but gradually the leaps diminished and turned into frantic forward motion. I could steer and we'd even stay at a trot, but you could tell if I put one restraining hand on him he was going to explode again. It took awhile but slowly he began to respond better and better to cues to turn and now and then I'd get a flash of reconnection as he'd suddenly stretch his topline down for a moment or bend for a moment or otherwise show that he was coming back to me. It was literally like watching a loose wire spark. Flash- Kody's there. Longer flash- brief look of sanity in his eyes. Flash- bent for three whole strides. And then he was there and back in my hands and with a tremendous sigh he stretched into a long frame and trotted out working the bit in his mouth. I kept him working for awhile and did some walk-trot transitions and long walks before I finally asked him to stop and stand and only then did I get out of the cart for a moment and stand and shake. And by then, of course, we'd used up our entire twenty or twenty five minutes of warmup and they were calling us on deck for our dressage go! My expectations for the morning had just gone from "have a fabulous go" to "survive going around the ring and come out intact." At least that one is a little easier to accomplish which was some consolation to me.
As it happens he actually did very well. He seemed sort of repentent and very much willing to please as if to apologize for scaring me and somehow I knew (not thought or believed but really knew) that we were going to be fine for our test. And we were. Most of the problems we had were direct results of me being unable to release my fear and as a result clutching the reins and causing him to counterbend going down the rail. We sort of dived through the corner at C and wobbled down the rail, then surprisingly bent fairly well through the circle. That was my first hint that the problem on the rail was probably me, not him. By the second circle going the other way I was sure of it and managed to release the reins, at which point he said "Thank God," relaxed, and traveled perfectly straight for the rest of the test. I was so proud of him on his walks! We hit our mark fairly well for the downward transition at A and he was doing a very nice marching walk with good rhythm and impulsion all the way up the rail. When we turned to go across the diagonal and I asked for the free walk on a long rein I was practically crossing my fingers that he'd keep it together…and he was perfect! He not only stretched his topline as long as I'd let him, he lengthened his frame to match and kept his impulsion going so it was a nice long free walk all the way across. He slowed at one point and I asked him to step up and for once he knew exactly what I wanted him to do and instead of breaking into a trot he just hustled into a faster walk and pushed harder from the hind end. Of course our attempt to get back on the rail was unusually ugly, but I was tickled pink that he was trying so hard. It was like a little boy offering wilted wildflowers flowers to his mother after upsetting her.
I had to choose between pictures or video of dressage and I chose video so I could see how we'd done. I promise I'll get stills off the video from both Happ's and Stoneybrook and post them eventually. Really!
When scores were posted that afternoon I wasn't sure what to expect. I had told my mother that I figured we could be anywhere from first to last and I was just happy with the good double-score walks he'd given me. I waited patiently for my turn to look at the score sheet and the guy in front of me recognized me as he was turning away and said "Hey, congratulations. You're in first." I was like "Whaa?" But when I looked at the results there we were on the top of the list with a dressage score of 46.50, my lowest ever by seven points and thirteen points ahead of the second place driver. In Preliminary this wouldn't mean much as there's plenty of opportunity for others to gain points in the hazards and cones but in training level all you really have to do is not mess up and you'll keep your position. I was fairly quiet in my shock but Mom and I did exchange a quick high five and hug before we went back to the RV. That night was the course walk for marathon…
...and another exhibitor briefing…
And finally just before dark I was free to go walk all the hazards. Three of them were within easy reach but two were out in the boondocks and I gratefully accepted Bob Graham's offer to walk the course with me. He's trying to learn what hazards and marathon are all about so he can fine-tune his Hyperbike to compete in it and I appreciated having someone to bounce routes and ideas off of. We met up with photographer Wendy Ross out at Hazard 4 (the Gulch) and she joined us for the rest of the walk. Between the two of them it was certainly an entertaining outing! :bgrin I got back to find that my mother, who absolutely hates ATV's, had gotten so worried about the fact I wasn't back by dark that she'd gone out on one with the show secretary looking for me. :new_shocked: There was some discussion when she got back of implanting a microchip in her wayward daughter. :stupid:
Before we went to bed Mom and I each had a brief discussion with Kody about how it was really important that he take care of me on Saturday's marathon and that he act like a big boy and not buck, not freak out, and not be hot. It came out later that Bob had snagged Kody for a similar discussion the following morning and apparently between the three of us something sank in. Mom woke up feeling horribly nauseous so just like at Stoneybrook it was Bob and I getting Kody ready to go. He generously offered to go get the horse from the barn when I was running late and Kody not only didn't eat him alive but actually led well going back to the trailer. Upon hearing this I immediately wondered if he was sick.
It turned out the officials were running later than we were so everything was fine and we were the second one out on course. Section A was gorgeous, driving through a meadow full of purple-headed grasses and white and yellow wildflowers taller than Kody's head. There was one point where some very large-sounding dogs got extremely upset that we were trotting along their overgrown fenceline and barked and chased us invisibly which of course un-nerved a lot of the horses over the day. Kody kept his cool but wasn't happy about it and picked up a flying trot to get away. I coaxed him out of that after awhile but chose not to slow him down excessively as his traveling pace is quite pleasant, however I knew that at the end of the section we'd pay for it in order to make our time. Sure enough I spent the last two sides of the second field doing serpentines at a slow jog to kill precious seconds until we were safely over the minimum time.
Leaving the start gate
Coming in to the finish line at a slow trot
Again I was proud of Kody because he let me rate him with voice commands and never fought me at all. I said "Easy trot" and man, he was at a jog and wasn't going to move faster unless I asked him to. Good boy! We came in right on time and passed the vet check easily.
Section E began with two crossings of the famous creek. I figured out awhile ago that Kody's objection to trotting the creek is not the water but the rocks at the bottom of it so I wasn't surprised when he insisted on breaking to a walk and carefully slogging across. At least he WENT, and he has apparently learned that he is expected to trot up the other side because he did it on his own at both crossings. Good boy! Then it was on to Hazard 1, the Corral.
Training level horses skipped Hazard 2 (the Tunnel) and went straight to Hazard 3 (the Nuke Site). Then we got to do the fun one, the Gulch. This was a new hazard for Happ's and is where both the professional photographer and my personal photographer Bob :risa_suelos: had stationed themselves. Some of the professional pictures are very cute although you can see in the second one here where we had a boo-boo in Gate B and had to break to a walk and make a sudden change in our planned route. Note to self: always have alternate routes planned and practiced! Kody really did very well considering I'd never asked him to dash up and down narrow hillsides before.
Then it was on through the bad mud section (I discovered last year Kody is a mudder, he just plows right through) and through Ghost Town and back past the Gulch again to get to the final hazard, the Fir Forest. It was almost six kilometers into the marathon at this point and as you can see Kody was still going strong and had not a drop of sweat on him as he came out of the last hazard.
Too many pictures apparently, I'll continue in the next post.
This year I had done a better job on my pacing and while I had to push him to maintain a strong trot to the finish line we were well within time and came out of the entire marathon with no penalties. As a matter of fact he was still hot enough that someone had to come hold his head at the vet check as he kept wiggling and the sound of the buckles clinking was throwing off the volunteer taking his heart rate! LOL.
We walked back to the trailer with Bob and met my mother on the way, she was finally feeling better and was excited to hear how good Kody had been. We walked through Team Oregon's camp on the way back and they asked when we were going out; when told we were coming back they shook their heads and said you'd never know it to look at him. I pointed out he was doing a flat-footed walk and they said "Hey, you're right! He must be tired!" LOL They know him far too well now.
We got him unhitched and staked out with some water and then I went off and watched the big horses run hazards for the rest of the day. I came back to the trailer and won a bet with myself as I found this:
"Huh? Mom?"
We got this great picture...
And then he laid out and I though he was being so innocent...
Until he tried to roll on my leg!
There was a fun exhibitor's dinner that night where we got some raffle stuff and enjoyed time with the other VSE driver's at a big table. Amy was still hurting from her kidney stone and was worried about Ally looking colicky again so I offered to check on her before I went to bed. I then ran the cones course by myself until dark, checked on Ally and Kody at around 11:30PM and went to bed.
Sunday morning was cones and I got a bit of a break since cones are run in reverse order of standing. This meant that instead of going second like I had the other two days I got to go last as the horse with the highest placing. For once in my life I was perfectly on time, made it through soundness check and did a lot of warming up.
Everything felt good and I was thinking this was the day I was finally going to have a clear round. I was far enough ahead that I could afford to knock four balls down but of course who wants to do that? The worst I've ever had was two and that only happened once, normally I knock one ball down as a matter of course. I did one last warmup pass in front of the crowd of parked VSE's and Kody decided to not only buck but fight the kick strap like he hasn't done since early spring. I didn't even think anything of it, just smacked him and half-halted and got him trotting on, but the audience was like "KODY! What a naughty pony, oh my." I was rather confused until I remembered not everyone's horses buck on a regular basis! LOL. I've gotten fairly blasé about it these days.
We saluted the judge and went through the ingate after the whistle had blown and I immediately knew we were in trouble. My beautiful forward boy was wobbling his way towards the first set of cones and wouldn't get up in the bridle no matter what I tried. I had the sinking realization that we were going to hit the first set of cones and not a moment later- thump. Argh! And of course then he realized we were going to do a cones course (as opposed to simply trotting away from the other horses) and picked up speed like a little rocket. We barely avoided the second set of cones, I oversteered horribly and hit the third set and then took myself in hand and got it together.
My hands are awful here, this is where I oversteered.
We sailed onward from there without fault until cone 18 which we just barely bumped, and made it in well under time. I was mortally embarrassed to have sent three balls flying but I held onto my lead by teeth and toenails to get the blue ribbon. Woohoo!
I stopped and took some pictures of Amy and Ally, the best of which I will show here. I think they did a great job and with some seasoning Ally will be a real go-getter. Amy's outfit was awesome! She uses a pleasure cart from SPF and a harness from Mini Express with deep V breastcollar by the Carriage Barn.
Almost done....
I turned around to find Kody waiting patiently for me.
Here are some miscellanious pictures from the event.
Mugging the neighbor who passed within range
Checking out the OTHER neighbor's dogs
Mugging Mom
And checking out the RV. He picked up the slippers and threw them around, tried to drag the welcome mat out the door, then chewed on the handle and ate all the grass under the second welcome mat outside.
Peekabo! "Look mom, I'm smaller than the RV hood!"
And finally, a picture of us with our second blue ribbon.
Yes, he's chewing on it. A moment after the camera shutter whirred he pulled it out of my hand, shook it up and down like a terrier, then dropped it in the dirt and deliberately stepped on it.
Leia
I just love all of the photos, Kody looks fabulous! YOu tell such a good story, girl, you need to start writing a book or at least some magazine articles!
