Virginia Horse Trials Recap

The Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia

The Virginia Horse Center is immense and the views are gorgeous. Years ago, I had a brief layover here on my way to Aiken but I have never competed here and this was my first time really exploring the facility. The complex consists of 8 barns which can stable 1,200 horses. Insane! There are multiple indoor arenas, but it's the coliseum - which seats 4,000 spectators - that everyone talks about. It is both impressive and intimidating. It was a big event to end the year with.

Needless to say, this is definitely the biggest atmosphere show Leo and I have attended. It's something about the sheer scope of this facility. Becca rode Spy in the CCI* so we were there from Wednesday through Sunday. It was a long time to be there with not a whole lot to do. Leo never really settled in and was off his grain for the entire trip. He spent the first 2 days screaming and then eventually tired. Or maybe it was all the Chill Ultra I was feeding him...I dunno.

When I originally enter the event, I asked around and it seemed like my division would most likely jump outside, not in the coliseum. But on Wednesday when we got our programs, we discovered all the prelim divisions would jump in the coliseum. So from Wednesday until Sunday, I had 4 full days to stress about riding my most challenging phase in the biggest, most intimidating indoor I have ever ridden in. Fun! Luckily, we were allowed to acclimate the horses to the coliseum by hand walking or riding them under saddle at a walk around the ring. We were not allowed to anything more than that. I took Leo in every chance I could get so he could get used to the speakers and all the visual noise.

Waiting to compete
On Thursday, Becca and I walked the 1-star course and then my prelim course. They were completely separated on the property. My course was a good next test for Leo and I. The course was very twisty with a lot of rollback turns and a lot of terrain, but the questions were fair and they seemed to build on each other.

• The first 4 fences were galloping fences. 
• 5AB was a fence, 2 strides to a large down bank. 
• There was an odd rollback turn to fence 7AB, a bounce bank. This was one of 2 bogie fences in my mind - just because I had never jumped anything like this before. Leo had to jump up a bank and immediately bounce off the bank over a log. 
• Fence 9 to 10 was the first serious question in my mind. Fence 9 was at the top of an incline. On landing, you were going down a steep hill and simultaneously making a right turn to a left-corner. The whole question really invited a run out at the corner.  
• Fence 12 was a right-corner off the left lead
• Fence 13AB was a short rollback turn to an angled oxer combination. 
• Fences 14-16 were galloping questions, 16 had a roller coaster approach through the woods
• Fence 17 was a largish log into the water 
• Fence 18ABC was the coffin: an oxer, 2 strides to a ditch, 2 strides to a skinny chevron. 
• Fence 19, 20, 21 were galloping fences, including a trakehner

On Friday, I walked the course again with Sally and her other students. Sally wanted us all to ride for the time. Exactly how do you ride for the time? Here's what Sally had to say...

• Land from the fence and get right back into your gallop
• Don't setup for the fence too far out 
• Try not to take more than 2 half halts before the fence - every half-halt gets less and less effective and takes longer
• Use the terrain to help eliminate the use of a half-halt
• Don't waste time in the turns - take efficient lines between fences 
• Keep galloping!

For the bounce bank, Sally said not to be surprised if our horses shuffled off because the distance was long. Then for the downhill approach to the first corner, she instructed us to ride towards group of trees so that 'approach' into the trees would slow the horses coming down the hill and then square the turn to the corner. She also reminded us that corners are just skinny oxers. No big deal, right?

Also on Friday, the 2-star & intermediate divisions jumped in the coliseum and we made a point of watching. Unfortunately, it was a disaster. There were only 2 rides with clear rounds - 16 or 20 faults was not uncommon. The distances were riding really short and the jump cups were strategically shallow. It only served to induce more stress since stadium is a challenging phase for both Becca and I. Leo is not confident in stadium and Spy is confident but isn't very careful about the rails. 

Being up in the mountains, the weather was cold. The night before cross country they were calling for snow, but we lucked out and only got rain. It turned out to really help improve the footing. But it was seriously cold - low 40s on Saturday which I wasn't fully prepared for. I spent most of the day shivering which maybe helped reduce the nerves :)

Sally's stud selection

Cross Country Day
Leo's dressage test was terrible! But I didn't have much time to think about it as I only had an hour between dressage and xc. Sally came right from the 2-star course to help me warm up. In warm-up, we weren't getting the best jumps but Sally didn't seem too concerned. Then it was off to the start box. We got a good gallop going and jumped the first fence right out of stride and I knew everything was going to be ok. Leo was awesome everywhere. I saw a long spot into the A at 5, but Leo easily adjusted his stride, added, and still made the 2 strides work. Leo powered up the bounce bank so strongly, he had no trouble bouncing right off over the log. We didn't get a perfect distance to the left corner but it worked out. And he was seriously perfect everywhere else. I noticed at about the half-way point that we were a little under the clock so I tried to gallop more during the second half of the course. We ended up being just 7 seconds over the optimum time which resulted in 2.8 time penalties. Not bad for our second prelim!!

Sally was super excited for us at the finish - she said it was so easy for him. He is just so confident on the cross country course! She wasn't going to be there for stadium, so she gave me some specific warm-up instructions. I needed to jump more warm fences that normal because it takes me longer to develop the right canter and start to see my distances. I should only jump in the covered arena outside the coliseum; not in the small warmup ring in the coliseum. (The ring crew funnels riders through from the outdoor warmup area, to the indoor warm-up area and then into the coliseum for your final jumping round.)

Becca went clear on cross country in the CCI* with just a little time, so Saturday was a great day for us! But eventually, we went back to stressing about jumping in the coliseum.

The Coliseum
I was thankful to see they replaced the triple from the intermediate division with a double combination for the prelim and 1-star divisions. But the course was still riding tough. I don't know why I kept going back to watch! ugh! I must like the extra stress.

Becca helped me warm up but it was still not our best. There were no refusals but I really struggled to get the right canter and the right distances. I can't say I was all that confident before going into the ring, but I made a point of remembering our previous round at Maryland. I mentally adjusted myself and rode positively into the arena when they opened the gate for me. I trotted around between some jumps and the bell rang. I didn't rush and made a big circle so I could develop my canter. I even hit Leo behind my leg to get a quicker response. First 2 fences just set the rhythm for the course. Fence 3 was 6 bending strides to an oxer-vertical one stride in-and-out. I was riding really forward but we got a deep distance to 3 (which Sally said not to panic about those spots as long as I have the canter to back it up). When I landed, I sent Leo forward again and we ate up the distance and got short again to the combination but he made a big effort and cleared the fences. Then it was around to a triple bar, 5 short strides to a plank on flat cups. Leo jumped huge over the triple bar and I couldn't get him back to the vertical. That was our first fence down. Then we circled around the edge of the ring to an oxer, we got another deep spot and then made the bending approach to the second double (a oxer 2 strides to a vertical 4 bending strides to an oxer). I got into too close to the A and we had the front rail of the oxer down, then we had a cheap rail on the back rail of the final oxer in that related line. We cleared the last 2 fences and finished! We had 3 rails but that was actually a good round in that coliseum and especially for the two of us. It was an awesome end to the year!

As soon as we got home, Leo started eating again. Whew! I gave him the whole week off following the competition and only just started riding him again today. Part of me wishes I had more competitions to attend but my pocket book is happy for the winter reprieve from showing!

Inside the coliseum

Jumping off the bounce bank