Fork CIC 3*
So, we made the round trip venture there and back to North Carolina without any trouble from the truck, thanks to the service team at Ford of Ocala. They bumped us up on the “to do” list at the shop in order to get us in and out so we could travel, and I’m very grateful for that. Its always nice when people go out of their way to help others when they can!! And I’ll definitely go back to Ford of Ocala in the future (although, hopefully only for routine services!!) Ollie and I had a very successful weekend at the Fork CIC 3*, but myself and David both know that I still left alot out on the table at this competition. One one hand, its certainly nice to know that I can be competitive and finish in the top 10 of a strong 3 star field when I’m performing at less than my best, but on the other hand…. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to prove that I can be better technically and have even stronger finishes. After my last entry, Ollie and I put in a fairly solid test on Friday morning. I was very pleased with how he was handling himself, and I think that this was probably the least nervous I have ever been for FEI dressage!! David didn’t have to make fun of me in warmup to break the tension, and I didn’t get that horrible sensation of not being able to move my hips and/back in the first 10 minutes of warmup! Most importantly, my “happy feelings” about the situation helped Ollie to keep moving loosely and freely and I could really feel what was happening in his body. As a result, we managed to get a 53 on our test, which is 10 points lower than our score at this CIC last year. I’m definitely celebrating that achievement, but I’m still not satisfied with what I was able to show off in the ring. His quality of movement in the trot work was pretty much as good as its going to be, but I definitely let 2 points go in our first medium because I wasn’t able to get it started soon enough. The canter work was kind of blah, but his first change was great. I’m still kicking myself for letting him get a little low and heavy before the second change, because he was late changing behind and that got me a 4 from one of the judges. He does great, clean changes if I put him in the right position, and I really can’t afford to make mistakes like that! I’m looking forward to the opportunity to ride the Kentucky test in 2 weeks at the Florida Horse Park’s Advanced Combined Test division. Its a great chance to get all dressed up and ride the test in public for judges, and I’m glad I get to add that experience to all the practice we are doing at home….but enough about the dressage… Cross Country was AMAZING. I can say without a doubt that it was the best round I have ever had. After doing a bit of a Hi Ho Silver rocket launch out of the startbox (he’s figured out he’s an advanced horse) we went ahead and galloped the first 3 fences, and he felt excellent. I took my time preparing him for the number 4 fence, because it was a narrow fence positioned at the bottom of a hill. I changed his bit for this weekend and I was just trying to guage his reaction. He came back perfectly and jumped nice and straight, so I went ahead and kicked on! He was very straight and genuine through the skinny and corner questions throughout the course, and jumped into both waters calmly and confidently. Rebecca Howard made an observation in comparing my round this year to my round last year, and I totally agree with her that last year Ollie and I were kind of just making it up. I was getting him to fences and relying a bit too much on his athletecism to get us through. This year, I really feel like I rode all the exercises, made moves when I needed to make moves, and really helped make his job easier. I was ecstatic about our round. Sunday afternoon, was a bit of a different story from the cross country. He warmed up great, jumping super carefully and really very well. The course (designed by NC’s Mark Donovan) was tough, and everything was off a turn or on a related distance to something else. I am absolutely humbled by my horse’s ability to jump a clean round even when I add strides in some of the lines and am a little late making moves to fences. He was fantastic, and I have been taking some time to think about the decisions that I did or didn’t make in the ring that I need to fix. Karen O’Connor took the time last night at dinner to talk to me about my round, and even though she got after me for my mistakes, it was ultimately a very confidence boosting lecture from her about trusting my ability to go out there and do it. I really appreciated everything she said and I’m going to make the changes she suggested…. She better watch out at Rolex!! haha….. dont tell her I said that. so, 13 days until we load up and ship out…. its going to be busy! Stay tuned for reports on our progress. Thanks for reading