Twenty years in the making...

Waaaaay back in high school, I decided eventing was the sport for me. The goal I set for myself was to ride at the Preliminary level. At the time I thought it was going to be something I would achieve with my first horse, Milo, maybe sometime when I was in college or in my early 20s. I never would have imagined at the time that it would take me 20 years before I would make it to Preliminary!

On Sunday, Oct 12th, at the Maryland Horse Trials, Leo and I fulfilled my dream. At our second attempt, we finished our first prelim horse trial together. A first for us both. Dressage score of 47.8, 2 rails in stadium and a clear xc round with 16.8 time faults. We were last of 23 after dressage and finished in 9th place.

The Scene
We stabled overnight at the show ground and while Leo is no stranger to stabling, he regressed to his 7 yr-old self at Maryland for some reason. When we got them bedded down and went to walk xc on Saturday, he was screaming non-stop in his stall. When I got back 2 hours later, he was still screaming. After I rode him, he went right back to screaming. He didn't quite down until before his jumping rounds the next day. I'm sure he was a favorite with everyone in stabling.

The Coursewalk
We walked the course with Sally and that was really eye-opening. At training level, I would do all my own course walks and just consult with Sally about certain fences or combinations that I had questions about. This was my first proper course walk with a pro of her stature. Here are some things that stood out for me as particularly interesting.

• When you're finding your line to a fence or between fences, remember that your horse rarely needs a long approach (When thinking about this, I thought about stadium. Our horses don't get a particularly long approach there so why would they need it on xc?)
• You especially don't want a long approach on a downhill where you constantly have to setup and then readjust because the grade is changing your horse's length of stride, balance and speed. Always look to eliminate as much grade in the approach to a fence as possible. 
• You don't have to hit every fence directly head-on; in fact, the lines Sally walked took a lot of the fences at a slight angle due to the best line across the grade or finding the most efficient line between fences to cut down on time.  
• Prelim fences really aren't big and you don't need much speed to get over them. (Yea Mindy, those spread fences shared with intermediate really aren't that big!) 

Dressage
We rode Prelim Test B which is in a standard size arena and includes a lot of letters I rarely see, but I actually quite like the test. I was actually quite pleased with Leo's test. I think it was one of his better ones this year - his lengthening was a good effort, the transitions were clear and accurate, the leg-yeilds are good. The dressage judge was tough. We got four 4s and a mix of 6s and 5s. As usual, Leo was marked as resistant to the bridle and contact which the judge said in her comments are "basics that deserve my attention." Jen and Becca regularly score in the low 30s and they both also received some tough marks. I was pleased though.

Stadium
The stadium course was in a ring which Sally thought would be easier for Leo than the course at Flora Lea was (which was on grass). In the ring, I don't have to contend with grade issues which Sally thought might have contributed to Leo's lack of confidence before. Luckily for me Sally was available to warm me up. Prelim warm-up is a surprisingly competitive environment where people claim warm-up fences, argue about what height the fence should be and before you know it the warm up oxer goes from 3'3" to 3'9". Sally said it will be important to always have someone in warm-up with me now to set fences so I am jumping the right type of fences in the right order.

The Stadium Course

Over the last!

My warm up did not start well. Leo refused the first fence. Sally basically yelled 3 simple instructions to me during the course of our warm-up. (1) More canter, (2) Opening inside rein to the fence, (3) outside leg through the turn. #1 was critical. She said the canter I am inclined to pursue in warm-up is under powered. Leo needs to be ridden in an aggressive, forward (not fast!) canter and I should be sitting in the saddle with a strong contact on the reins. I am never going to achieve softness in the bridle with this horse and that isn't what gives him confidence anyways.

They called me over to my round and Sally told me to just stop, take a moment, and breath. She said not to hurry. She asked me twice if I was ok. The only answer I could think of was "yes." I couldn't be anything but ok if I was going to make it around the course. But it felt good to vocalize the "yes" I am ok. I made a point of trotting strongly into the ring and went far away from the first jump. I made nearly a complete circle of the ring before I approached the first jump so I could be sure I got the canter I needed. The first line was a vertical, bending 7 strides to an oxer. We did it in 6 strides and had the oxer down. I didn't care. I was determined to make it around this round without a stop, I landed from the oxer and kicked Leo forward again. Next fence was a single vertical on the diagonal, then around to an outside line: oxer forward 5 strides to a vertical, one stride to an oxer. We ate up the 5 strides and it was short, the one stride was short and we had the oxer down at B. Then I had an option to jump a liverpool or take a longer approach to a plank jump on flat cups. I took the option to be safe and we jumped the plank a bending 5 strides to another vertical. Then it was the triple. I kept coming through the turn, got a great distance to the first fence and we easily jumped through the triple. Then around to the last oxer and we were done!

I can't even tell you what a relief it was to get through stadium. Sally said not to worry about the rails; I gave Leo exactly the ride he needed and he jumped great. Then it was on to XC!!!

Cross Country
Becca and Tyson were at the cross country start to cheer me off - that was a real treat! The first 3 fences were galloping fences. The third was a large eye-opening table but Leo didn't even blink at it. Fence 4AB was a generous oxer turning combination in the woods. Fence 5 was an airy hanging log with brush on top. Leo peaked a little at this one and I literally thought "there is no way I am having a stop at this stupid fence" and he went over fine. Fence 6 was my bogie fence. It was a large ramped table at the top of a steep hill. On take off you see the ground fall away from the fence and at the bottom was a raven with a foot bridge you have to gallop across. I anticipated that Leo would be looky here and he was. We got right to the base of the fence, a little under powered - though Sally said you didn't want much based on what was after the fence- but he literally just stepped right over the fence.

We galloped uncomfortably down this steep hill and across the bridge, then we galloped back up a hill, around a turn and down a hill to the coffin at 7ABC. Sally had said to take as much of the grade away as you could. We got a great jump in and he was smartly through the question. Then it was back up a hill to a skinny at 8, around to carved owl fence at 9, then it was a long gallop down to a double brush oxer at 10 which was shared with intermediate. This was the largest fence on course by far. Jen said she saw me at this fence and I caught a flyer. I honestly barely remember! Then it was over the ditch and brush at 11 and a skinny roll top at 12.

Double Brush Oxer at Fence 11

Question 13ABC was a rollback turn to the bank complex. It was a short uphill to a raised log, one stride to a bank down, 2 quiet strides to a large skinny log. No issues here - I actually thought in the middle of it that Leo was handling everything like a pro. Fence 14 was a large galloping table. Then 15AB was the water. It was a house before the water, through the water and a house skinny on the way out. It walked in 7 strides but we did 6. Fence 16 was a large upright gate. Fence 17 was a cute wagon table decorated for fall. Then fence 18AB was a skinny to skinny question: raised log skinny 5 strides slightly downhill and across the grade of a hill to a chevron brush skinny. I took the A at a slight angle and stayed high on the grade like Sally said. We got to the chevron in a really short 5 strides (more like 4 and a half) but Leo really likes jumping from that distance and he didn't even hesitate to jump the fence. I just had to hold the line.

Fences 19-22 were all various galloping fences on the way home and then we were done! We were about 35 seconds over the time allowed which resulted in 16.8 time faults but I couldn't be more pleased with Leo's effort. Leo was super confident and after looking at a couple of fences early was all business by Fence 7.

I was mentally exhausted by the end of the day and don't think I really appreciated the accomplishment until today. I was and still am super proud of myself for pulling through and not mentally quitting in stadium. My confidence would have been wrecked had I been eliminated again in stadium, but instead I stepped up to the plate and rode to my ability - rather than shitting the bed due to my self-doubt and anxiety about the situation. I hope I remember this moment.

That's me! #9, with friends in 5th and 10th! 

Now it's off to Virginia at the end of the month to finish of the year with another Prelim run. Then it looks like we're going to Aiken in the middle of February. The plan is to run Leo Training at Paradise and Prelim at Pine Top. The next major goal is to do the Virginia 1-star in October 2015! I'm also starting to let the idea of move-up to Intermediate in 2016 or beyond roll around in my head :)

Anything from here on out is icing on the cake for me.

Thank you, Leo, Sally, and Becca.  You have all left me immensely humbled and grateful yet again.

It rained the day before and it was slick through the woods.
Sally recommended studding bigger than we were naturally inclined to in order to ensure no slipping.
Top: Front Studs (small blocks inside, round studs, slight point outside)
Bottom: Hind Studs (large blocks on inside, rounded large studs outside)