We're back from Midsouth!

[Shrapnel]

Gully's Pilot and I have returned from the Midsouth Horse Trials in Lexington, Kentucky.

Overall, it was a very successfull event for the both of us!

I was in Training Division 1 -- which consisted of about 20 starters. I had an aweful dressage ride -- mainly due to a girl's horse going crazy in the dressage warm up, and almost kicking my poor horse, which totally rattled him. It was very disappointing because he had been so good for me until he almost got kicked. :( I tried to get his focus back before the test began, but it wasn't happening. We ended up scoring a 44 which really disgusted me. Mainly because I KNEW we could score A LOT better - we got a 29 at Sporting Days in Aiken earlier this year, and a 34 at River Glen about 2 months ago. But, I guess we all can have bad days and I guess that was one of his in dressage.

But, oh my....the cross country!:D Hands down, I had the BEST cross country ride ever. I have been eager to move up to Prelim (we have been at Training for quite some time), but I hadn't been satisfied with my cross country speed.....until we came to Midsouth:). The course was excellent - not many combinations, and it really encouraged a lot of galloping. We jumped clean -- way inside the time. The course had flowed well, and the fences rode beautifully -- and I finally had the ride I had been waiting for! :D

The next day (today), we had the SJ. The course was very twisty and turny, but you had a decent amount of room inbetween each fence -- not a lot though. To many pulls on the reins from me, and not enough power over the "skinny" was the reason we pulled the 1st rail, and then an unorganized canter to the 2 stride line was our undoing at the 2nd obsticle in the 2 stride line. However, the rest of the course rode really well -- we finished w/ 8 jumping faults 0 time.

So, in the end we finished in 13th.

Even though it wasnt a competitive finish -- unlike my last outing 2 months ago -- I was REALLY pleased with my horse. He was SO good all weekend! To bad cross country ribbons aren't awarded - because my horse would have taken home the blue ;).

Now, we have got to work on our dressage more, and we need to fine tune our SJ. So, the move up to Prelim will have to wait for another event or 2 -- but no worries...we have PLENTY of time :yes:.

[McVillesMom]

Congrats on your good rides - I heard them announce "Shrapnel" on the PA today in stadium while I was warming up, and I wondered if that was you!

Like you, I had good rides but not the results to show for it ;) I made one mistake XC, and had a stop as a result - but my horse is light years better than he was a couple of years ago! I am *extremely* out of shape (that's what vet school will do to you!) but I didn't realize how bad it was until this weekend (the heat definitely made things worse). So it's time to hit the gym! :yes:

[flypony74]

Good job, Shrapnel!

My gelding and I ran BN this weekend, and since this was our first recognized in almost 2 years, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but my boy was a total rock star! We had a lot of fun and it was a really, really nice event. Even better that the rains held off for the most part!

He warmed up great for dressage, but I think I missed my mark on length of warmup (warmed up a tad too long), because when we got in the ring he had lost some of his luster, but still put in a respectable 38.5 to put us in 5th place.

Stadium was great! Loved the course, as it had some good turns, bending lines, and such, but was fair and straightforward. It flowed well and was a lot of fun. We had an unfortunate rail at 7, as my gelding is halfway through learning flying changes and he swapped leads behind on the turn, so we cross cantered the fence and pulled the rail. I really didn't care because he was forward and bold through the course, which is exactly what I wanted. Good boy! The rail dropped us to 6th, but like I said, no biggie.

We ran x-c this morning and wow, what a blast! The course was very thoughtfully designed with several inviting straightforward fences at first, and working up to the more max fences and a few appropriate technical questions. The galloping was great, as my horse was bold, forward, and confident, and we easily made the time (he tends to run a little slow, so this was great). We went double clear, and I came off course with a huge smile on my face. My horse was just certain that he was "the stuff." That's how it is supposed to be!

We ended up in 4th out of about 18 in our division, so I was absolutely more than pleased. I wasn't riding for a ribbon, just a good experience, but it was encouraging that we're back in the groove and are able to be competitive. What fun!

[IrishDeclan]

Congrats on having an awesome weekend!! Now we just need some pictures!!

[Auburn]

I agree that the BN x-country truly was a blast! The CD was listening, because it was an appropriate course for the Beginner Novice level. WhooHoo!

Tess had her best dressage test of the year with 29.5 penalty points, which put us in 1st. In SJ, we were the round that had two poles leap up out of their cups and then drop back into place. Can you say double clear, by the skin of our teeth? :eek: After x-country, which was also double clear, we won the Open BN Div. #4.

Since my goals were to improve my dressage score and to remember my x-country course, then the placing was just icing on top of the cake.

The Area VIII Adult Rider party on Saturday night was fun, too. Does anybody know who ended up winning the scramble?

[Fence2Fence]

I had a wonderful weekend too!

Because of our meltdown at Maydaze, I trailered over late Friday afternoon (after the prelim/training level dressage was done) and rode in the dressage warm up. People coming in and out of the warm up were a great 'schooling' opportunity to keep his attention focused on me.

As for the test, we need to be more forward and up in front/in the bridle more (in our former life, we were a western pleasure pair, I think), but no major glitches. Right before we turned back on the centerline to finish, I heard a bell ring. I thought it was my judge calling me off course! I halted, looked back at her and she raised her hands and shrugged. I immediately picked up my trot again and completed my turn/centerline/halt. I explained as I left the arena that I heard the bell and thought she was calling me off course. I thought surely she'd give me a penalty for my 'pause', but she was generous and didn't. I knew I wasn't off course and had mistaken the other arena/judge's bell! Oops!


The BN show jumping was a blast. The roll back was a lot of fun! I seem to be making a habit of missing my course walks, and again, had to watch a couple pairs go around to figure out the lines. I almost blew past fence three, and managed to correct my error without crossing my path. A double clear!

And cross country was just wonderful. We had a plenty of forward energy, he was looking for his fences, and had a great trip! We picked up just a small time penalty, and we maintained our third place position!

It was a beautiful weekend, and a lot of fun!

[Shrapnel]

Congrats McVillesMom, Auburn, flypony and fence2fence! :)

Hopefully pictures wil be up later today....

Photos were taken by V.W. Perry and someone else.

[McVillesMom]

i think Housman was the other one.

[Hey Mickey]

McVillesMom, I saw the end of your staduim round, I was riding my bike bye, and looked over and thought, oo nice horse, and then they said your name.. So I was going to come introduce myself, but then I didn't because I'm always way to distracted after a riding any course to really talk to anyone...

Anyways, We had a good weekend too!!! Were in Traning division 3.
We had our best dressage at a HT. For some reason, we never score well at a HT, like most people would have been embrassed to score what I did, but thats ok, but we do quite well at dressage shows. So who knows.
We were in the same division as my ex-coachs new horse (ridden by someone else to get miles) and we scored better than them. And that just made my weekend. (ex-coach and me are still friendly, and give each other sh*t al lthe time)

Since we're getting ready to move up to prelim in about a month, I was riding for the speed fault time. My horse will get really strong on cross country and try and take over, but the last couple of events, he hasn't. So courses have been super fun.
He spooked at the 1st water, (unflagged) and had to walk in a circle and then walk in, and then after the stone wall, going through that path, we got a little discombulated, went over that roll top, just fine, but going up that hill, we lost comunication, and I didn't ride to that table, so he didn't know thats what we were headed for and we had a little runout, Which was so dissapointing. But it wasn't his fault, just lack of communication.
The rest of the course went really well. and we still came in just under time. (after the runout I wasn't looking to make time)
And he was really stellar through the whore course, always looking for the next jump, he was really puilling to jump that prelim table after that bank.

We had really nice staduim round. Agian, he really likes to take control, but he didn't, he stayed listening and "on"
Well after that 1st blue combination, I forgot were we were suppossed to go next, and I started to do a loop back and then remembered to try and not cross our path, but I must have because they gave me 4 faults. I didn't think I did, but I'm not really worried about it.
We jumped clear.

We ended up in 10th place, we got our 1st ribbon at a rec. HT. if we hadn't had our little runout we would have ended up in 5th or 6th. ohwell.

This weekend was our decieding factor, about whether we should go ahead and try a prelim or no, and we are going to go ahead and try one out. He was really a star. Every outing he improves so much.

Does anyone know the websites for the photographers?

[Hannahsmom]

I had a great time too. I hadn't competed all last year and so took my old boy out and we had a blast. We were in Prelim div 2 and ended up doing our dressage in the rain shower. I think it only lasted for my ride. :lol: But we had tons of fun XC although I went a little slow as I'm a tad rusty and wanted to make sure my horse and I were both back in sync. He was super in stadium. I really like riding Richard Lamb stadium courses, they make you pay attention!

[RunForIt]

Congrats to ALL of you - sounds like every division was big time FUN! :cool:

[saje]

That was my first time at Midsouth, and it was a fun weekend, though 1 hour in between dressage & XC is not really enough for those of us that show alone.

Here's my weekend, crossposted from a journal I'm keeping :


Overall it went well, though I didn't get a qualifying placing. So probably no AECs for methis year, unless I get tlked into going to Champagne Run or Gemwood and nailing my dressage, finally.

But this weekend was interesting and as always, a learning experience. I learned to trust my intuition that braiding would be an added worry, and I'm glad I skipped it. At a venue as large and spead out as KHP one hour is not enough between phases when one is showing alone. I also learned that a horse may be brave and honest to the fences et turn into a complete twit about everything else out on course :rolleyes:

Arrived Fri afternoon post T-storm that didn't do much except ramp up the humidity. It wasn't all that hot, just suffocating. Had our usual walk around looksee and a decent school, but he was really twitchy and jumpy. Dressage was way down in the lower infield, and the barns on that side of the road were empty and quiet. For some reason it really unnerved him, and he kept doing mini-spooks at birds and rustling grass and shadows. Luckily he's the 'jump in place & look again' kind, not the 'spin bolt tell me later' kind. Still not fun to ride. He was marginally better at the rings where there were others schooling. Normally my arrival rides are more of a hack than a workout, but this weekend I made him pay attention and work a bit. We had a discussion or two, but got some good transitions and eventually some canter *without* the squealing & grunting commentary.

Saturday they scheduled me for dressage and XC, and fortunately they rearranged times to give me an hour between rides, rather than the 40 mins originally scheduled. Even so it was barely enough time to walk back from the rings, strip him, get us bothg a drink and a pee, hose the worst of the sweat off (K that is, though I could have used it too), retack him complete with boots, bells, and breastplate, change my spurs and get my gear on. The rain the night before had softened the ground enough that I didn't bother with studs (KHPs course doesn't usually need them anyway, not for Novice). I was really glad I had opted not to braid. And I did need the fuzzy handle, not for the jumps but for the spooks in between! But I'm getting ahead...

Dressage warmup started well, he was really focusing on me, though protesting a bit as usual at really coming under himself and not being allowed to plow onto his front end. I saw some friends when we took a walk break and chatted with them a bit as they handed me some water, then we went back to work. Except that in that 5 min of catching our breath something clicked over in his pea-brain and he was all looky and worried and spooky again, and wanting to GO, but long and flat. We had quite the set-to with me insisting that he quit gawking at stuff he'd seen (there was an old car show over at the visitor's center, lots of movement and color), quit trying to leap into transitions with a buck and a squeal, and in general get over himself and pay attention. I did manage it, mostly. The test itself felt a little herky-jerky as he tried to get flat and I kept reminding him to stay together. He'd either ignore me or take me way too literally and lose the forward, so it wasn't the smoothest ride ever. It was also the 1st time I've ridden Novice B in a long time - I forgot to check which test we were supposed to ride until the night before, and relearned it on the fly. Oops. But I was very pleased to see that this test had no mention of conecctiion issues or on the forehand, no comments about hollow or against the hand. The canter got 5s each way & comments about lacking energy, but that's been our focus lately - he wants to get flat and downhill in the canter so I've really been slowing it down and making each step count. Now we have to figure out how to stay up AND go forward :) But the rest of the test was good, lots of 7s and 6s, and an 8 for the final turn. Comments mostly having to do with him being stiff, and he was - he was anxious and PO'ed, though mostly still trying to be good. Final score a 36.3, the best yet at Novice :) And put us in 7th out of 23, I think.

Quick marched back to the barn and did our rapid change up for XC. Luckily our start and warmup was right behind where we were stabled, which saved a lot of time. Wandered around letting him look and absorb for a bit, and he seemed to have settled down. Had a canter around, the usual test of brakes and steering and accelerator, and jumped a few things. He was all business, so we walked around until our turn. He went boldly out of the box, usually he likes to trot a few strides and study what's ahead, but this time he wanted to canter on so I let him. He was kind of gazing around thogh so I tried to funnel his attention toward the first log with my legs, and tapped (and I do mean tapped, not wacked)his shoulder with the stick. S.O.B gave me a squeal and a kick out in reply as if to say "DON'T tell me what to do!" and then promptly hit the brakes as he saw the peat moss or dirt stuffed into a defect hole in the log I had been trying to get him to focus on :rolleyes: He didn't stop, just dug his toes in enough to pile my spine up under my helmet. He got goosed with the spur from that one and leapt it by a mile. So we headed towards the rolltop at #2 (with me chastising him for being a dork) which he barely peeked at, but jumped well. He lnaded, took a stride, and spooked again, this time squirting forward from some monster behind us (a truck with a guy working on a Training fence, *well* back from anything that should have been K's business). This time I really did yell at him, and pointed him in no uncertain terms at the #3, and pressed him at it. He jumped it reasonably well considering he was still looking behind him. He peeked at #4 a smallish house with a black roof, and I kicked him to a gallop up the hill and through the gap (near where Rolex's start usually is) to try and get his mind back on the business at hand. Crested the hill and shortened him to canter down to the "saddle rack" bench at 5, and then continued in a shortish canter to 6 which was in the outside hedge of the steeplechase track. He was still twitchy and looky in between fences, but tackled the fences themselve well. Jumped 6 and made a hard left down the track, hugging the hedge on the right, downhill to #7, also in the outside hedge, so we had to make a hard left to it. #7 was stacked straw bales, very bright and imposing and it got his attention. But a cluck and a squeeze and he jumped it well, then bear right & downhill again to the #8 ditch option which was also not a problem. He took a look on approach, but that was better than looking at the poor kid before us who'd been having trouble and had to pull over. First time I've ever passed someone! I let him stretch out up the hill to the double pass through (back across the track) and he cantered nicely through the narrow gaps. We were supposed to go thu the 2nd gap & turn left around a skinny Prelim table to face #9, just a nice simple 2 rail not-quite-oxer that we shared w/ BN. What we di was canter thru the gap, see the table and/or the jump judge behind it and ~~fly sideways to the right, with me yelling "You moron THIS is your fence!!" as I'm hauling on the left rein and digging my right spur in. He saw the little fence, essentially said 'ohthankgod' and popped it easily. Doofus.

After that he mellowed out, and took everything well. We had an awkward jump at 14 (the only one there seem to be pictures of :rolleyes) because he got a bug up his nose or something and sneezed the rein out of my hand, and had an almighty chip at it. BUT!!! He cantered willingly into the water without asking to trot, AND jumped out over the log that had no dry land in front of it! That is a big first! :D So XC was again double clear and I didn't fall off, and we moved up to 5th.

Stadium on Sun was a very fun course, but I rode badly. My back was really tired after Saturday's shenanigans, and it was an ugly ugly round. My sweet boy saved my ass by jumping whatever I pointed him at, including the horrific hash I made of the 5AB to 6 and then 7. Got in totally wrong to 5A, chipped it, and essentially threw the reins at him and kicked for B. We made the very hard right turn to 6 with me gathering reins and turning with my body, took 6 at an angle facing right when we needed to make a hard turn left to 7. We made all the turns, he rattled a pole on 7 really hard with a hind foot, and somehow we ended up clear. And I adore my unbelievably honest and handy horse. He did not have to pack me like that, and he did. If I had a trainer he or she would have disowned me after chewing my a new orifice.

We finished in 5th out of 20-something, on a dressage score of 36.3. I am very very pleased, despite K's lapse into dingbatdom. In his defense, we were surrounded by T-stormy weather, though we didn't really get anything. It was really windy, and I'd bet the barometer was doing all sorts of weird things. It was just very odd to have my normally blase guy so twitchy!

[123 Mother Caught a Flea]

Great post saje..esp love the shoving y our spine up into your helmet...oh I can so relate!

[Shrapnel]

Photos from the event are here:

www.vwperryphotos.com

[flypony74]

The Sunday page isn't working....is it just me?

I also checked http://www.housmanphoto.com/proofs.htm and it says they won't be posting proofs for Rally....does that mean no proofs for the whole event? They got a great pic of me on x-c that I think I want to buy, but would like to see it again before I decide (might get an enlargement). I can email to check but wanted to see if anyone knew before I bothered them.

[McVillesMom]

The Sunday link isn't working for me, either.

I was just looking through the Saturday Novice photos, trying to find ours. Did anyone else notice how BADLY most of the horses jumped that square table, or was it just me?

Chelsie, thanks :winkgrin: He was very good in stadium!

[Hey Mickey]

saje, I feel like you might have been stabled right next to us!!??
Who ever it was, commented on how she only had had an hour between rides, and how her horse was spooking at everything but the jumps. and she came back with a 5th place ribbon.

We had a chestnut arab/saddlebred in BN(right next to you, if you were the person next to us) and a funky bay TB(mine) in traning.

[saje]

Yep, probably! Keogh is the nosey chestnut with the sort of question mark blaze, and I've got very long hair (for the horseworld, anyway)and a ratty old trailer.

Nice to meet you guys and I hope your weekend ended well! :):cool:

Oh, and I emailed the photog earlier today about the Sunday pics, and she replied fast and said she knew, she was having to redo the file. It may take a while, she said...

[flypony74]

Hey Mickey, were you in BN division 3? Were you the person I talked to in stadium and x-c warmup? I was in the little fat grey with a mohawk, number 305. Whoever I talked to was on an Arab/Saddlebred that was really nice!

[saje]

Hee! Hey Flypony, I'm Rion's mother's friend :) Love your guy, by the way! :cool:

[flypony74]

Oh, hey saje, I didn't realize that was you. Ha ha, small world!

[Kcisawesome]

Hey Shrapnel! I was stabled right across from you!

I had a pretty good weekend, Dressage warmup was the best ever, but somehow we completeley lost it in the arena...and had a nasty 49%, Kc picked up on my being tense and lost her head....we were dead last in the prelim division after dressage

Cross Country was pretty awesome, there were a couple jumps that we had flyers at, but other than that Kc was jumping beautifully and it was a lot of fun. We were 30 secounds over optimum which was good because I was trying to go over optimum.

Then Stadium went really well too. I had 3 rails, 2 were because I didn't get her lined up striaght to the triple...But Nad said I rode the course really well..and it was cool cause over the last jump I SWEAR she jumped it two feet too high..Which was fun :D

so, I finished out of the ribbons, but twas a good weekend nonetheless And I have a dressage show lined up in July to try to figure out why my horse and I keep losing our heads in the ring...;)

[Hannahsmom]

Hey Mickey, were you in BN division 3? Were you the person I talked to in stadium and x-c warmup? I was in the little fat grey with a mohawk, number 305. Whoever I talked to was on an Arab/Saddlebred that was really nice!

I think I saw your horse! I was admiring the mohawk on a little 'fat' grey guy. I was trying to figure out the breed. I really liked the mane.

[Hey Mickey]

flypony74,
Actually that was my boss/trainer/friend riding him. He is a blast to ride!
I was the blonde girl with really white legs, that was always around. haha.

I loved your fat gray guy!!! He reminded me alot of my 1st pony, who died last summer, but what a cute chunk of a guy he is!!


saje, yup, that was us! Nice to meet you!!

[flypony74]

Yep, Stryder is pretty easy to spot with that mohawk...everyone always comes up to ask his breeding. He is a Percheron/TB, looks almost full Perchie, but is only 14.3hh, with size 4 shoes. A total freak of nature but he is fun.

From this weekend:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2927881590048526821WTzeVV
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2132618170048526821eajZSV
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2469538510048526821cunCZd

I'm glad everyone had such a good weekend. We really lucked out with the weather, and the event was well-run with great courses.

[Shrapnel]

Hey Shrapnel! I was stabled right across from you!

I had a pretty good weekend, Dressage warmup was the best ever, but somehow we completeley lost it in the arena...and had a nasty 49%, Kc picked up on my being tense and lost her head....we were dead last in the prelim division after dressage

Cross Country was pretty awesome, there were a couple jumps that we had flyers at, but other than that Kc was jumping beautifully and it was a lot of fun. We were 30 secounds over optimum which was good because I was trying to go over optimum.

Then Stadium went really well too. I had 3 rails, 2 were because I didn't get her lined up striaght to the triple...But Nad said I rode the course really well..and it was cool cause over the last jump I SWEAR she jumped it two feet too high..Which was fun :D

so, I finished out of the ribbons, but twas a good weekend nonetheless And I have a dressage show lined up in July to try to figure out why my horse and I keep losing our heads in the ring...;)

Oh cool!! :)

Glad everyone had a really fun weekend!! :cool: