Eventing: We're Doing It

Eventing is hard.

Surya and I have evented twice now. We went Starter Rider at the Fairhill Horse Trials on May 5^th, and then Beginner Novice Rider at the recognized Flora Lea Horse Trials on May 26^th. The week after the first, Surya was exhausted. This week, Surya is excitable and liable to canter at the application of leg instead of pin her ears.

My horsemanship, Surya’s abilities, and our combined knowledge have grown so exponentially fast in the past four weeks that my head is still spinning.

Here is what happened:

Fairhill

At Fairhill, Surya and I entered the grounds with our heads high and our backs tight. She behaved like an angel. Despite my assumption that I would not be at all nervous (see previous post re my propensity toward feeling no anxiety), I behaved like a spooky horse encountering crowds for the first time. We entered the dressage arena and the judge rang the bell in Surya’s face as we passed the judging booth. However, we performed the geometry of the entire test despite the fact that Surya hated the judging booth. I regarded this as a great triumph. We did not score well in the judge’s book, but we did in mine. (* Judge’s Comments: He is very strong. Do you use the same bit for cross-country? Well… be careful and trot your jumps. In the future, I would try a gag. Thanks a LOT! Way to give confidence to the green-as-grass event rider!)

Our jump lesson two days before the event was… eventful. We tried a running martingale on Surya, who hated it and flipped her shit when she hit it over jumps. Though we removed the martingale, she spent the rest of the jump lesson launching herself in the air. I did not do a good job staying in the saddle and spent each jump airborne, then slammed back into the irons on the backside. So, warming up for stadium, I will admit to a little teeny bit of nervousness. Just a smidge. Most of it was related to fear of going through the start flags at the wrong time. Happily, we trotted and cantered our stadium test clear. Surya was unafraid.

Cross country started with a flyer over the first log and then Surya romping for a good twenty yards. That was fun and I laughed. Then we took off for a while. Unfortunately, she ran out of the fourth jump. We trotted the fifth, but she stopped. She tried to stop at the sixth, but I had enough and made her jump it. We trotted again through jump eleven, and then cantered home. Overall, a successful first trip… but I had no braking power and my arms burned from trying to stop her.

We did it! We completed an event! We are official!

Intervening Time

The week after Surya had a day of rest, then a dressage lesson, then more rest. She was very nappy all week and picked back up her head-tilting habit (instead of bending her neck she just tilts her head). The week after that I was out of town for work, and my trainer and ARF rode her. Then, jumping boot camp.

We jumped Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Also, we tried new bits. First, a single-joint Wonderbit. Then, a French-link Wonderbit. I could slow her down with both, but she lost her mind a little if I touched the bit in the air. I am not a good enough rider to only touch the bit exactly when I want to. So that was out. Then we tried a full-cheek Waterford, and she loved it and I loved it. She plays with it more than the Baucher, and listens to speed control.

I also looked at pictures from Fairhill and realized that I need to work on my ‘going up’ jump position. Instead of folding/squatting and reaching forward with my arms, I stood up in the saddle. To practice and try to remedy this, I went to the gym, took 3 pound weights, visualized cantering to a jump, and “folded” 50 times. I think I’ve improved my jump position. At least, I’m getting better at releasing. Surya is forgiving of the Waterford, but she still doesn’t like me to touch it over the jump.

Flora Lea

Maybe not the best idea to do a recognized event so soon? Whatever. We had the best dressage test we have ever done in a dressage ring. Surya finally sucked it up, put her head down, and got to work! That being said, our score was still not good. But who cares. We now have something to work with!

Stadium was a problem. The very first jump had brush stuck all through it, which Surya had never seen before. I got her over it, but I had to stuff her over the rest of the jumps as well. Then, she ran out of the second vertical in a two-stride. Twice. Oh well.

Cross-country had a lot of scary stuff on the jumps as well. The second jump was brush, and she ran out. She came to a halt in front of a log with mulch before leaping it from a standstill. I brought her to a trot in front of the water, which she took as license to trot sideways before finally going in, completely unafraid. Then, a few more jumps and we cantered up a hill to another brush jump, and she ran out. We circled and she launched herself over it. Not really sure how I stayed on that, but I think all the squatting helped since I just folded over her neck and pushed on my irons to stay with the motion. And that is how we got eliminated.

Weirdly, I really don’t mind. We went very fast on cross-country and jumped complicated things and it was fun! AND we had a great dressage test!

The Next Day

We went BACK to Flora Lea with our other trainer and schooled the jumps. Surya tried to run out a couple of times, but we addressed the problem and I think I am more prepared to point her at a jump and make sure she goes over it. Plus, we jumped novice jumps, and now Beginner Novice looks small.

The Day After That

Dressage lesson. I thought Surya would be exhausted from the show and subsequent two-hour cross-country schooling, but she came out wanting to canter, and we had an awesome lesson.

Right Now

Surya is resting today. Jump lesson tomorrow, rest on Friday, dressage on Saturday, and then our third event at the New Jersey Horse Park on Sunday!

I am excited for Sunday. I don’t really have more to say about this. I can’t even say we have improved significantly each event. I mean, that’s true, but we have learned so exponentially that each event seems worlds apart. My head is reeling. Surya is up. I am psyched.

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Appropriately, our colors are black and green. Bright, bright lime green. We are the Green Team.



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