Rubicon Horse Trials and a Birthday!

Wanda and I had a good weekend, with it being my birthday weekend and all :)

Friday I went out with some friends in Georgetown, and had an absolute blast.

Saturday I helped at the Rubicon Horse Trials most of the day, and was able to walk my course afterwards. It was ridiculously hot and when I got home I pretty much collapsed! Of course I had to get up and bathe/braid, so I couldn't take TOO much of a 'power nap' :)

Sunday Wanda and I competed training level at the Rubicon Horse Trials in Leesburg, VA. Everything went pretty well, and the main thought I came away with was that she and I need to work on our conditioning. We were both exhausted during cross country, which led to 19 time penalties. After a dressage score of 35% and a double clear show jumping round, we ended in 9th out of 20 competitors. Not too shabby for our 2nd training!

Helmet Cam Video of our ride at Rubicon

Monday was my 24th birthday, and naturally I had to work (yuck!) but met up with a few friends in Clarendon afterwards. I think everyone had a pretty good time (maybe too good of a time!) and I would say it was a successful birthday! My phone was blowing up all day from the Facebook birthday wishes, so I'll thank everyone for that.

24th Birthday Friends!

Tragedy at True Prospect Farm

Monday morning there was a barn fire at True Prospect Farm in West Grove, PA, where I spent 5 months living and working for PD. The barn that burned down was owned by Phillip but rented by Boyd Martin. Reports say it was an electrical fire, and it took the barn and the house attached with it. Luckily no humans were killed, though several of my friends and co-workers ran in to save horses and had to be treated at the hospital for minor burns and smoke inhalation. 6 horses perished in the fire: Boyd's rides Call Me Ollie, Charla, Phantom Pursuit, Cagney Herself, and Summer Breeze, and my friend Lillian's horse Ariel. Lillian, Caitlin, and Ryan were able to save 5 horses from the barn, who were immediately transported to New Bolton for treatment. Updates through EventingNation.com have been hopeful, and one of the horses has even been released back home.

I want to take a minute to send my condolences to those affected by this horrible event. I know what it's like to lose a horse, but I have never been subjected to such a horrifying experience as losing a horse in this manner. My heart breaks thinking of Boyd calling the owners to inform them of the untimely deaths of these talented horses. I truly respect Lillian, Caitlin, and Ryan for rushing in the blazing barn to heroically save the horses they could. It is hard to imagine what that could possibly be like and what I would do in that same situation. I am sad for them losing everything they had (their house burnt as well) but glad they escaped with their lives.

My family and I are praying for everyone affected, and hope to never experience something like this again. If you want to help, there are hundreds of ways to do so.

Boyd's Fire Relief Fund through SCES

True Prospect Farm Fire Recovery Fund


Denny Emerson is donating 50% of his book to the recovery

Doug Payne & Jimmy Wofford are donating 50% of their June book sales to the recovery

Ecogold is donating 50% of saddle pad sales to Boyd

You can make tax-deductible donations to the American Horse Trials Foundation (write the name of the recipient on a note with the check):
The American Horse Trials Foundation
221 Grove Cove Road
Centreville, MD 21617
Phone: (443) 262-9555
Email: ahtf@att.net

You can read more about the tragedy at www.eventingnation.com
or on Boyd's blog

Tribute to a Best Friend

My dear friend and companion, Dublin, was humanely euthanized this morning. It hurts a lot, mostly because I loved him. He helped me through my awkward years as a teenager, as the one soul who would listen to me rant and rave about my day, scream, or cry, and all he wanted in return was a carrot. This horse was the smartest horse I've ever seen. He could open gates in a second, push you over logs, step on your feet mid-walk, and learn tricks! This horse knew how to kiss, bow, nod "yes", and could stretch in any direction you could possibly think of.

Riding Dublin was a roller coaster. If he felt like it, you would have the best ride of your entire life. I got a 19% on a dressage test once. 19%! Unheard of. He and I cleaned up at training level and first level, and performed Pas De Deux's with Kim DeLisi (now in vet school!) and Revelation. He was absolutely unbeatable as a dressage horse. Of course, I got a bit overzealous and decided to start eventing him, which is when I really learned how to pick up the pieces and move on. He didn't want to jump. He wasn't an eventer, he wasn't going to jump some stupid log in a field, and that was that. I fell off THREE times in one jump lesson in the indoor arena at Frying Pan Park one time. Mike Mendell tells me I have an 'electric butt' now, and I completely blame that on Mr. Dubs :) He taught me to ride aggressive, whether it got me anywhere or not!



Mom took him foxhunting one time, and that was a disaster. All I remember, was him grabbing mouth fulls of corn stalks from the side of the path. I took him on Junior day twice, and he seemed to enjoy being with a Whip more than with the field. He did everything!



He had this one thing, where he would walk to the end of the lead rope and then would just walk off with you. It was really frustrating, but became absolutely hilarious. He did it one time with me at Phillip Dutton's up north. I remember it because I was pretty much the laughing stock of the barn that day. Mom drops Dublin off, he's this super fat and shaggy little horse which everyone made fun of to start with. I go to tack him up, and when I turn him around in the wash stall he bolts with me, smashing me in to doors to where I HAD to let go. He goes galloping in to the indoor arena, where OF COURSE all the horses in the entire barn that should not have been in there during this were! Connaught, Cambalda, one of Boyd's recovery horses, and a horse being handwalked by Shannon. Thanks, Dublin! They will never let me live that one down :) He also did it with my mom when she took him back. She was at Piedmont Equine, and he walked off with her, so Joe looked at her and said, "I'm a bit stronger than you, let me take him", went to turn him in and off they went! He never went far, and if there was a puddle anywhere nearby he REALLY didn't go far. Just a cocky little devil :)

He also had this awkward parrot nose and a big goofy bump on his forehead. He had a habit of reaching out and grabbing whatever was in the aisle if his door was open (arms, blankets, fly spray, dogs, etc) and once he grabbed the back end of Elliott as I was turning him around. Elliott kicked him so hard in the head there was blood running out his nose. He stood there and looked at me like, "oh, shit."

In 2010 we had his pasterns x-ray'd and everything was fine, which gave us the okay to start him back to light work again. Exactly a year later, the cartilage between his pasterns had completely disintegrated, leaving the bone rubbing against bone. He was in a lot of pain, and we retired him from working and turned him out in a field. Joe helped us with trying to figure out any solutions for managing his pain, and things went okay for a bit, but then started to progressively worsen. He would limp as a 5 trotting around, but would canter and flip his head and looked generally happy, so we managed him as best we could and didn't want to think about euthanizing him. The other day he must have rolled and took down a fence board, and was all sorts of wiggly in his back end. I think he must have fractured a hip or a leg or something. He was a great horse and an even better friend, and I'll be counting on seeing him again someday.

"The love of horses knows not its own depth til the hour of separation."

RIP Irish Crossing "Dublin"
April 1990 - May 2011



UPDATE 5/26 - I wanted to thank everyone for the condolences. Our family is doing well knowing we did what was best for him, and having everyone's support through this tough time has been incredibly helpful for the healing process. Dublin was a great horse and although he will surely be missed by everyone who knew him, I'm positive he is much happier where he is now in horsey heaven. I just hope I get to join him there someday :)

Our First Training!

I decided to go ahead and move Wanda up to Training at the Difficult Run Pony Club Spring Horse Trials this past weekend. The course is tighter than most and doesn't have a whole lot of gallop room, so I figured it would be a good course to show her the bigger fences without exhausting her with tons of space. I also love it there because I am still a Difficult Run Pony Club member (until 25!) and I have a huge support team there no matter how we do.

The dressage went great, and I was thrilled at her consistency. The Training A test introduces a few new movements, such as 15 meter circles, stretch-down circles, medium trot, and medium canter. I was a bit concerned about the transition from medium canter back to canter, but she was a superstar about it. We even got a 9 on one of our 15 meter trot circles! We ended with a 30.9% which tied us for 1st in the dressage.

I was a little disappointed with our showjumping, because I thought it rode quite well for the two of us. We had been having consistent time penalties at Novice in the showjumping, so I was pushing a bit more to make the Training time. Unfortunately, the push caused her to become a bit flat and three rails were the casualty. I wasn't horribly upset, because three consecutive horses before me were eliminated. I was just glad there were no behavioral issues!

The cross country was an absolute BLAST. I asked her for a bit more of a gallop and tried to let her figure things out for the most part. Still being pro-active, I kept PD in my head who says, "set them up and let the jump back them off". Of course, PD is the xc guru! Wanda didn't look at ANYTHING, even the crazy irish bank, which consisted of a brush fence, 3 strides to a ditch & bank up, down a hill, up a hill, and off the bank on the other side! I just kept my leg on, and she was perfect! We made it clear with no jump or time penalties. Happy mother's day to me!

Overall the 3 rails are what knocked us down, but we still ended 5th. Next up: Fair Hill Training!

Helmet Camera of DRPC Training XC. Warning: It's a bit shaky...

Virginia Gold Cup

Spent the day Saturday at the Virginia Gold Cup in the Plains, VA. It was gorgeous weather until about 1pm, then it got a bit chilly! We had a fabulous time in our big hats watching the horses at the steeplechase.

CDCTA Horse Trials

Two weeks ago I brought Wanda home from Aiken, SC, and was fortunate enough to be able to bring her back to a nearby barn where I could pay board for great care as well as having access to a riding arena with lights. Although not my dream choice (I would just LOVE my parents to put in a riding arena... :) ) it has been the best choice for the situation that I'm in with work downtown.

This past weekend was Wanda and my first event together for the season. Last year we had a lot of run-out problems during the final 3/4 events of the year, so I had to come out with a very pro-active mindset about how I was going to approach these issues.

The dressage was in some muddy grass footing, so I went ahead and put in studs for the dressage portion, and left them in for the entire event (all riding was on grass). I'm thankful that I did, because Wanda's hind legs slipped out from under her standing at the trailer before I put them in, and I can't imagine what it would have been like running without them! We scored a 31.3%, which wasn't too shabby for our first test. We were tied for 1st after the dressage.

ShowJumping went really smooth, and I was thrilled at how rideable she was. There was a two stride combination, and we jumped in in the proper stride, but she's so big that we had a very short two strides and bumped the back fence. Luckily it was just a tap and didn't fall :) So we came away with no jump penalties but 4 time penalties, dropping us to 5th place.

The cross country was the part I was most worried about since we had been having so much trouble with it. Luckily I was super prepared mentally, so I was able to avert the one time she tried to test me. It ran perfect and we came out double clear.

All in all it was a great event for us. It didn't hurt ending in 5th place out of 15 :) Definitely a good step in thinking about moving up soon!




Next up: Redland Hunt Pony Club Horse Trials - Novice - 4/24/11

Wanda's 2 Months in Aiken

This past weekend a friend and I made the 10 hour + trip from Fairfax, VA on Friday after work to Aiken, SC (with an overnight pit stop in Florence, SC), and returned on Sunday.

I had originally taken Wanda to Aiken for a few reasons, with the greatest being the fact I have no arena at home and the ground was making it increasingly difficult to ride. Not to mention the fact I had just gotten a new job downtown, and the hour and a half commute to work made it near impossible to get home in time for riding daylight. Wanda and I had been having stops cross-country last year, so I decided it was best to send her to work with Ryan Wood, Jennie Brannigan, and Phillip Dutton, a pretty great threesome of tough event riders. If anyone was going to straighten my mare out, it was going to be them!

I entered Wanda in the Paradise Horse Trials on February 20th with Jennie as the rider (Phillip was unable to take the reins at the time), and she had a chance to compete her at Novice for the first event of Wanda's season. Unfortunately they had a stop xcountry, but Jennie did a great job on the correction and they had a steady finish. I spoke with her after the ride, and we talked about the fact that it is purely a mareish behavioral issue, since Wanda decides to shy left more than 3 strides from the fence. Mares! Jennie assured me she had Wanda's number, and worked with her over fences for a while afterward.

Jennie Brannigan and Wonderbaar, Novice at Paradise Horse Trials 2/20/11


Unfortunately, Wanda became sick with some kind of horsey flu, so she was out about 2 weeks. In that time, Jennie had a horse land on her while schooling and snapped her collarbone, so Ryan took over riding completely.

When Wanda was better, Phillip took her Novice at Pine Top to see if he couldn't work out the kinks. He said she went pretty straight and forward, and they ended 4th. I talked with him for a while and we talked about what I needed to work on with her attitude and how to make her an easier ride xcountry. I've entered her in CDCTA, so hopefully I will be able to try out the new 'shoes' to see how she goes :)

Phillip Dutton on Wonderbaar, Pine Top HT 3/20/11


Saturday I had a great jump lesson with Jennie (she's such a trooper with her broken collarbone!) and Wanda felt fantastic. I'm really looking forward to this competition season. Let's see how it goes!!