Morvan this weekend!

[gchildean]

Any news on how its going? We have a bunch of our YRs there and I was just wondering about the weather etc..

[LexInVA]

This weather is awful. Not suitable for having an HT.

[Elliot]

I was there today in the prelim. It was sloppy, but still a great day. Things were moving along very quickly! I got on my horse around 9 am for dressage and was done with everything by 11:30. No results though when I left :(

I would rather have been dry, but without Morven's arenas and excellent turf, it would have been a lot worse!

[3dazey]

Wow. Amazing that the show went on. The footing must be super.

We had word that Poplar (GA) was "dark" today...no xc, moved to tomorrow right after sj. With the amount of rain that has fallen, it would think it might be a toss-up whether they can actually run xc at all.

[snickerdoodle]

I jump judged today.

footing held up great. course seemed to ride well. know one fell off on xc. no call for ambulance or vet.

it was a great day to hold an event.

looking forward to tomorrow

[technopony]

I was at the show jumping today. There were lots of puddles but the footing held up well. Most of the rounds were nice and only 2 people fell off (I think). I heard that most went slow on XC but there didn't seem to be any problems.

[EventingDiva]

Any updates on placing for the prelim divisions today? I wish every safe, fun rides.

[Dr. Doolittle]

I competed there today; walked both the T and P courses yesterday, and the N course (with a student) today. Their turf is great--and the dressage and stadium rings are on bluestone, so though they were QUITE "puddly", there were really no traction issues...(Rode fine for me, and for most others...)

I warmed up my "I'm phobic when it comes to other horses in my proximity" mare in a grass field that was adjacent to the dressage warmup ring--the footing was fine on the grass, and there was no slipping (it had absorbed a *goodly* amount of moisture, and the grass is very good there...) OTOH, my mare is barefoot, and really NEVER slips--but then again, I never run her on slick greasy footing that has been chopped up to the point where it becomes hazardous; I will opt to scratch in that case--mostly because the takeoffs and landings become slick and hazardous--NOT because I can't gallop the course, since my horse is a freaking 4WD vehicle. (The problem is that since we are in a "red clay area" :rolleyes:, there will always be these footing issues when we get an excessive amount of rain; the footing can simply not absorb the rain in many places, thereby becomes slick, and a potential problem. On the takeoffs and landing, the studs chop the footing to bits, and then you had better get that forward, balanced canter and that good spot--AND have big mud bullets--otherwise, God help you!)

I talked to someone today who had run the Prelim course (GREAT course, BTW, and I can't wait to run it next month at Loudoun at Morven! :D), and they said it rode fine, but that pretty much everyone got time faults...

I screwed up my mid back a couple days ago (it's been in spasm, and I can barely turn my head from side to side--though I have been doing my level best to throw the kitchen sink at it so that I can ride and be functional), so I'm thinking that between my infirmity, *and* the unnecessary confidence-buster of slipping on takeoff and landings in slop for my mare, that I am going to scratch tomorrow, and just make it a CT.

And the hubby is saying NO F%$#@ING WAY, you are running x-country tomorrow, you crazy woman!!!

:sigh: DAMN that practical man!

Anyway, the icing on the cake is that they are saying we will get another HALF INCH overnight into tomorrow morning (even Morven's great turf will have its work cut out for it to absorb that, after no "moisture respite" over the past 3 days), and possibly T STORMS tomorrow morning! :eek:

I've signed up to do the Jimmy Wofford clinic there on Tuesday (their schooling day), and I hope to hell the footing has time to recover!

Hubby and I had "the talk" today about putting shoes on my coming 11 year old mare's VIRGIN perfect feet that have never been shod...Just so that studs would be an option in these cases. You can't control the weather, and I always opt to be safe and am generally conservative--but since this is my last year competing (at Prelim), I need to be able to compete under all reasonable conditions...

Anyway, I will be out at Morven tomorrow cheering others on (am presently sitting on a heating pad and drinking wine and taking muscle relaxants ;)), and am hoping against hope that we don't get as much rain as they are forecasting...

[Sonic Boom]

I'm scheduled to go tomorrow morning in the BN, sure am hoping that this rain is NOT as much as they forcast! I'd be awfully bummed...this is my first HT!

However, despite the weather, from all I heard today from barnmates who competed, it really wasn't too slippery and all the horses handled it quite well!

Good luck all!

[Lori B]

Hope the footing is safe and folks have safe fun rides.

[LisaB]

Yup, one of them was me that fell in stadium. I didn't listen to my pony when he said he didn't like the footing. Which is fine, he just didn't want to leave the ground and our dr score pretty much sums it up. I decided to chance it and try to get him over his thought that he couldn't jump in the mucky (but still perfectly fine) arena. Well, he won and is still upset with me. But we're headed back there for Loudon.

[LexInVA]

The weather is certainly getting nicer now as we approach the afternoon but it was not very good this morning. Hopefully nobody got hurt in those early XC runs.

[LisaB]

I was actually thinking that most of the x-c course was really good and I would have preferred to do that first after my debacle of a dressage test. That old turf footing can't be beat! And I really loved the course too :( It was so old school that we would have had a total blast.

[Putter]

Are the cross country courses usually the same (or similiar) for the Morven and Louden PC events?

[retreadeventer]

Oh Lisa are you and Winston OK? How did it happen? Was it on a turn?

[LisaB]

Yeah turn :D, yeah, that's it, it was on a turn:D
Nah, never got in front of my leg. He was telling me from dressage on that he didn't like the footing and didn't want to be there. He's usually like a dog, excited and wagging his tail about it all. So, I should have listened to him. We had a gameplan at warm up with trainer and went in. Got over fence 1 fine but he wanted to come in short and pop over broken line to fence 2 and nice big oxer and I told him otherwise. I kept pushing to keep his feet moving. And he wanted none of it. He popped left and I landed right. Voila! Lesson learned: Listen to horsie.

[blaster]

Does Morven usually get results up fast? I haven't been able to find any to-date ones... maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. (?)


http://www.morvenpark.org/calendars/horse_trial/Results.htm

[piaffeprincess98]

Well I had a pretty good weekend. My dressage on my training horse just went awful. He scored a 41 which is like, 10 points higher than usual. I think we had a "strictly dressage" judge, so she was honest, but a little tougher than we're used to. I never really got him in the warmup as far as pushing into my hand and using his back, so it showed in the ring. He was being a little inconsistent with his head carriage and not paying attention. Basically, we know better, but it was just an off day.

SJ was good. He was jumping nicely and only had one rail, due to me holding a little too long to the base. XC today was awesome. He was really on and I really made some changes to my position that paid off in the water jump. The bank up to the roll top was also really great. It sure was muddy, but he went well. Ended up like 13th in the OT division. I really do wish they would offer an amateur division. I cannot be competitive with the top 5 or 6 in the 20's.

My BN OTTB was good too. Dressage was not that great. We had the 8:20 ride time and he really needs a lot of time to look around and chill out. He wanted to be good in the warmup and we had glimmers of good work, but in the ring he was just plain tense. Same judge, so we got a 40.

SJ was awesome. He really just went right in and attacked. There was one fence on the turn to 6 that I flubbed, but he kept going. He even did a lead change! He doesn't know them yet, but he did it around a turn. I was thrilled.

XC had like a 30 minute delay and he was wired. He lathered up quite a bit and was just anxious. I was just trying to make him walk. He almost took out some bystanders in the warmup when I tried to go talk to the steward briefly. When it was finally our turn, there were about 6 people waiting to go around both start boxes (bad idea) and when we had 10 seconds to go, he started backing up and freaking out. Again, almost took out some pedestrians and other horses. It took about 30 seconds to get him in the box and then we were off. He really did everything well. He didn't care about the ditch and he did come back to a trot at the water, but was still going. We ended up 6th in OBN-A. I was very pleased with both.

I'm going to try to upload my videos to YouTube later tonight, so I will post the link later. Also, when GRC gets pics up, I'd love to see everyones!

[Classic Melody]

We had a good day! My first recognized horse trials in, oh gosh, a long time. Went BN just to see if I remembered the buttons. :lol:

Our dressage was not great, and I knew that, but we scored a 48.4. Ouch! All the scores in my division were pretty rough, with some in the 50s. Wonder if we had the same judge, piaffeprincess?

Sunny jumped great in stadium. I liked the course a lot and thought it was friendly even with the first jump going away from the ingate. Now I know I go slow, but we ended up with 5 time faults! What! I have ridden in plenty of novice horse trials and never had a time fault in stadium. Guess I need to ramp it up a little.

The xc warmup was a mess - a big backup of horses and the ground was a disaster. So I just walked and tried to keep Sunny's attention until we were able to go. The course rode great and was a lot of fun. The ground held up remarkably well. My goal was no time faults, and we did it!

I finished 6th overall, which was a pleasant surprise given our dressage score. Funnily enough it was my worst finishing score ever, and my best placement.

A great day overall and I'm pleased and ready to novice next time around!

[LexInVA]

Ahhh...good stuff indeed.

[LisaB]

:dead: Worst score to date! Thanks for posting it so I just HAD to go look :D

[Classic Melody]

I should clarify, it was our worst dressage score ever. :lol: Funny how things work out.

[piaffeprincess98]

I was in Ring 1 both days. Where were you CM?

[mythical84]

Ok, before I go collapse into bed, I wanted to post. First, I forgot how exhausting this all was! This was mine and Harry's first event since September 2007. Yup, you read that right! After spending a good chunk of time sorting out different shoeing issues, then trying to sell him as a hunter, then giving up and deciding to turn him back into an eventer, we had a "re-debut" today at novice.

Dressage is what it is. I spent a year in the hunter ring, and it's done me no favors. Combine that with my deep-rooted dressageringitis, and you end up with a 45.8 for 19th. I guess it's back to dressage boot camp I go! Poor Harry, he could probably be winning with someone who wasn't such a dork.

On we go to stadium. I left him in a snaffle trusting that he'd be a good boy, but not entirely believing it. He was jumping the snot out of the warmup fences, and was so good in the arena. Strong but listening, and double clean (this is a big accomplishment as we used to pull rails at novice).

Then onto XC. We switched to our trusty happy mouth pelham for this. :lol: Warm-up was disgusting. I tried jumping a crossrail to the oxer and Harry just couldn't pick himself out of the mud, so my groom/best friend just said to give up before I made him mad, that my horse is a rockstar to just go XC. So that's what we did, and he was a rockstar. All the silliness from 1 1/2 years ago has vanished. Instead I have a kind, rideable, horse. He only blew me off once going down to the coffin, but got it together after. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am. There were tears in my eyes walking back to the trailer. Dorky, I know, but I just couldn't help it. I love my horse and I love this sport.

[flyingchange]

We had a good time doing novice. First time galloping and jumping in and out of such serious mud but she was a trooper. Kept reminding myself beforehand that the Brits deal with this kind of footing every weekend, so stop being a weenie!

We had a great round even with a run out at the in and out logs, which was entirely due to me checking out and not putting her on her line - funny how that happens on the EASIEST jump on course! Oh well, at least we didn't just gallop by them and forget them (which also tends to happen with the EASIEST jumps on course!) Reapproached and jumped through fine. There were some stiff jumps there for novice, but they were positioned very well and they all jumped great. I liked the SJ course too. Really flowed.

What could I have done better on XC? Not gone so fast. I don't know what came over me. I was just so excited to be out on XC and galloping.

I love Morven. The ultimate setting for horse trials!

LisaB - we've all been there. Hate it when it happens. See you at Loudoun!!. :)

[flyingchange]

Oh, also, THANK YOU to Dr. D and Morgan for helping me out today!!! You guys made my day much more enjoyable than it would have otherwise been!

And Dr D - oh, BEHAVE! LOL. Your (wicked) sense of humor is a welcome thing.

[flyingchange]

I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am. There were tears in my eyes walking back to the trailer. Dorky, I know, but I just couldn't help it. I love my horse and I love this sport.


That's what it's all about. I understand completely. Congratulations and you go girl! :yes:

[Dr. Doolittle]

You are MOST welcome :lol:, yeah, I am very different "in person", and BTW Great Job today, woman! :D

I am too tired (and have too much wine in me; tonight I have been dealing with a "barn crisis" and talking to students and fellow boarders since I got home--thanks to Ishi for the heads up in this regard!), so will post my report tomorrow, after I've had a good night's sleep (on a heating pad, with pain killers on board)...

The highlight of my weekend is that I got to meet and talk to Julia Wendell, and had the priviledge of her personally signing my book; gawd, what a fantastic experience. (I really, again, can NOT recommend her book more highly, to ANY eventer...) This sport is so humbling, yet so inspirational--and brings its participants close together; a poignant and intimate club--and only those in it are able to understand.)

More to follow, when I am sober and well rested ;)

[asterix]

ack, I'm so jealous of you guys!! I was flying home from vacation all weekend and have just enough time to put myself together for the JW clinic on Tu - hopefully that will still be a go with the footing??
Dr D, are you still planning on it with your back??

mythical, THAT is why we love this sport!

fc, so glad to hear you had a great first outing; I think this year will be one for you to really rediscover your love of the sport...

[Dr. Doolittle]

ack, I'm so jealous of you guys!! I was flying home from vacation all weekend and have just enough time to put myself together for the JW clinic on Tu - hopefully that will still be a go with the footing??
Dr D, are you still planning on it with your back??

mythical, THAT is why we love this sport!

fc, so glad to hear you had a great first outing; I think this year will be one for you to really rediscover your love of the sport...

asterix, well welcome back from "paradise" :D

(And FWIW, we are jealous of YOU!)

The footing at Morven was pretty chopped up, moreso in warmup (an inch and a half of rain over 2-3 days), but the good news is that (despite a few passing T-Storms in the late afternoon), the weather has been generally dry and breezy since earlier today--and the forecast for tomorrow is SUNNY and breezy! :D So I'm thinking that this will *really* help in terms of drying out the footing for Tuesday. The turf there is fantastic, and if it gets a break over the next 48 hours, we should be good to go (and this is from someone who will be clinicing with JW with a barefoot horse, gulp!)


Thanks for asking about my back; it's definitely better today (will go to the chiro tomorrow), and hubby got me some Thermacare at the store, so I will be sleeping on those (plus wine, and ibuprofen, which always help ;))

And I know that I SAID that I wouldn't be posting again tonight, but just wanted to check in and say hi--and welcome back...:)

[asterix]

Thanks! (it was paradise, but it still took me three days to relax and figure nothing would go wrong with all the animals :lol::lol:)

The forecast does look perfect for drying things up, and you are COMMANDED to rest your back 100% so I can see you on Tu smiling happily after a great school!!!

[Lcsd114]

We were there spectating today and it was a blast. We watched some stadium jumping and some dressage (don't ask which divisions, I have no idea) but I'm all about the Cross Country, so spent most of the day there.
The horses and riders were, on the whole, fabulous. The only incidents I saw were a few run outs (the ditch and the bench jump were obviously spooky to some!) and one fall on the flat right before the water - horse and rider were fine. Oh, and the rider who was out of control and nearly ran over a spectator, she was stopped at fence 13 for dangerous riding!:eek:
BTW, my husband is a photographer and has some shots up at Smugmug.
More coming in the next day or so. If anyone wants prints PM me!

http://genuinefamilyphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/7754745_5MS2U/1/501435759_ws5K9

[jubilee.eventing]

I ran my guy novice today and the footing although wet was without a doubt still rideable... I had my best ride to date and ended up winning my division on my dressage score. Craughs was great.... dressage felt pretty good other than the free walk and one of our canter circles. He is really starting to become much lighter and much more through his back. We scored a 32... which somehow was good enough to be in first? He jumped great for both sj and xc. He was really listening and jumped better than ever. We jumped clear in both so i was really happy as all I really wanted to do was complete it lol

[Sonic Boom]

I went BN today, and though the weather was gross, was as excited as could be...my first event! Since my horse Slim has been laid up with ugly Lyme/bruised this/bruised that, he's back to work but would never have been ready so a friend offered her horse. He's never evented and never done dressage in the least (hunter/jumper), but is a steady sort.

Dressage was predictably uh...notsostellar*cough*. A bummer because by far my most confident phase as a rider, but not today! I am one of those 50-something scores CM speaks of!! :eek: Could never get my pal Clifford in front of my leg, and though he was lovely in warm-up, this is just not something he knows a lot about, though I have schooled as much as I could with him the past couple of weeks. We had a fair few bicker-fests in the actual ring, and scores obviously reflect. Should have sorted that out better prior to today, but it is what it is! Too bad, because in warm-up he was lovely and relaxed and trying his darndest to be through despite a body that goes on for ten miles and before the past 3 weeks next to no schooling in this stuff! I thought he gave it the old college try and was a very good boy despite my mistakes.

SJ totally my weakest and truth be told...this is only one of a very small handful of courses I have jumped since I was a child. Clifford was great, bailed me out of an ugly distance or two, and went around very nicely despite my inexperience. Learning, I'll get there (i think? I hope? ;) )!

XC just didn't happen though. :( We got down to warmup and I didn't plan to do a thing but walk about having heard from friends that it was nasty down there. But it was a good 20 minutes before we were sent to the start box and poor Cliff had had ENOUGH. Washed out, running backwards, no amount of coaxing (or insistence) helped him want to go forward. We had an almost-incident with a PortAPotty and some kind souls helped me into the start box, he ran sideways and was totally gone. I withdrew. :( Maybe on my own horse, who has a lot more experience (if a NAUGHTY boy! :lol:), maybe if I was more experienced, but not today. There will be another, and I was glad for the experience, if SO bummed not to ride that XC course!! it looks like SUCH fun!

Great to see friends and catch up with people before I left today! Been a while since I've gotten to a HT and seen friends go, and never from the back of a horse. What a nice venue, I hope to go next year but hope for better weather! :) And special thanks to the super nice trailer-neighbor who helped me tie my stock as I have NO idea how, LOL!! :lol:

[piaffeprincess98]

XC just didn't happen though. :( We got down to warmup and I didn't plan to do a thing but walk about having heard from friends that it was nasty down there. But it was a good 20 minutes before we were sent to the start box and poor Cliff had had ENOUGH. Washed out, running backwards, no amount of coaxing (or insistence) helped him want to go forward. We had an almost-incident with a PortAPotty and some kind souls helped me into the start box, he ran sideways and was totally gone. I withdrew. :( Maybe on my own horse, who has a lot more experience (if a NAUGHTY boy! :lol:), maybe if I was more experienced, but not today. There will be another, and I was glad for the experience, if SO bummed not to ride that XC course!! it looks like SUCH fun!

See, I had the same problem at the start box. I just think it was too chaotic with both boxes running next to each other. What green horse would want to leave a group of horses like that? My guy had a small meltdown and shot backwards and almost took out some people. Luckily I was able to get him in the box and going forward though after about 30 seconds. I just think that having 10 horses milling about the start boxes wasn't a good idea.

But, I do appreciate the help from the volunteers in XC warmup. I was able to be squeezed in with both my horses since I was trying to get my BN guy done to get back to my training horse.

[tarheelmd07]

We had a fun weekend in spite of the weather -- though it seems that I just can win in terms of weather for HTs this year. Freezing at Full gallop, pouring down rain at SPHT-1, and mud this weekend :lol:

I took the old man out at novice - we're still feeling out how he's going to do post-suspensory injury, so we're taking things easy. He was a good sport about the sloppy dressage ring, but dressage is not either of our strong points...and moving into the Open division makes us even less competitive :yes: However, he was quite obedient and had a better-than-usual test...though we were a bit dissappointed in the score. The old man warmed up beautifully for stadium (good, as I wanted to jump him as little as possible in the mud) and was double clear with a very smooth round. Even at 21, he's still learning to get more jump in his canter rather than running and flattening out at jumps. Cross-country was a blast...we didn't run until 4pm and the chopped-up footing was a lot of work for the old man (we pretty much bailed on attempting to jump anything in warmup)...and he flew around xc like it was nothing. He got a little excited about the brush jump...and put on the afterburners heading to it, as I think he was having flashbacks to his days doing steeplechase in the long format :) We managed to get back in the trailer just as the thunderstorms started...mental note, having a horse standing in ice when it starts storming is NOT fun.

We also got to meet Dr. Doolittle in person...and were thrilled that we were able to facilitate her meeting up with Julia Wendell :D

[Classic Melody]

I was in Ring 1 both days. Where were you CM?

Ring 3. Must have been teamwork from the dressage judges then. :)

Sonic, I left you a voicemail yesterday - I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk more! Too bad about xc, but hey, now you've set a baseline and you can come back and rock it next time.

The xc warmup was really an adventure. I took one look at the packs of horses and elbow-deep footing and thought, no way. I just tried to keep my horse in the quietest part of the ring until we were finally able to go. I think that's all you can do in a situation like that. And keep telling myself that once I'm on course there's no other horses and the footing will be fine. :D And it was!

[Invested1]

I jump judged today.

I JJ'd yesterday; got there at 6:45am (an hour + drive from my house) and left shortly before 5pm.

I have to say that it was really, really disheartening that other than the organizers, my friend and I only had 2 people even acknowledge our presence--and neither of them were competitors!!

Folks, especially those of you who never JJ, really, just a smile or a hi or a "thank you" as you walk the course helps makes it worth it.
That was really disappointing. :no:

[Catalina]

Congratulations on your 6th CM :D! I look forward to meeting you and Sunny at Redland.

Invested1: Personally, I always try to at least make eye contact and smile at the jump judges. I will also say something (like "great weather" or "you got a great spot to sit", etc) if I am close enough and they are not otherwise occupied.

[sch1star]

Congrats to all and so jealous of you up here in Area I - where I just took off the YakTrax this morning and a corner of the ring is still frozen :cry: !

How's this for dorky. I sometimes have to stop saying "thank you for volunteering" on coursewalks because I get all choked up!

I don't know why...maybe it's nerves?...or maybe it's because volunteering and grooming are how I got my start in this sport and fell in love to begin with. :D

[flyingchange]

that sucks Invested. some people act too big for their breeches.

Events have a funny way of bringing out peoples' class, or lack thereof!

A coping method I've read about is to imagine the rude people as funny objects. Like giant Mr and Mrs. Potatoe Heads walking around the course. That sometimes helps me to deal.

Otherwise you can always sneak a sixpack OC and cheer to them when they walk by you.

[Kairoshorses]

Congrats to all and so jealous of you up here in Area I - where I just took off the YakTrax this morning and a corner of the ring is still frozen :cry: !

How's this for dorky. I sometimes have to stop saying "thank you for volunteering" on coursewalks because I get all choked up!

I don't know why...maybe it's nerves?...or maybe it's because volunteering and grooming are how I got my start in this sport and fell in love to begin with. :D

Ditto on everything you said. I still try to JJ after my ride (N...for now!). But I did it for 7 years before I had a horse....so I really appreciate them!

[Sonic Boom]

Ring 3. Must have been teamwork from the dressage judges then. :)

Sonic, I left you a voicemail yesterday - I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk more! Too bad about xc, but hey, now you've set a baseline and you can come back and rock it next time.

The xc warmup was really an adventure. I took one look at the packs of horses and elbow-deep footing and thought, no way. I just tried to keep my horse in the quietest part of the ring until we were finally able to go. I think that's all you can do in a situation like that. And keep telling myself that once I'm on course there's no other horses and the footing will be fine. :D And it was!

JUST got it, too! My phone was totally wonky there...all of a sudden this morning I had 6 VMs piled up!! Weird. Thanks for calling and I am sorry too that we didn't get to talk/hang out! Things got a little weird/crazy after withdrawing. You're totally right though, baseline is a big help and I think will have a ton of fun next out. It's funny how you can spectate and groom at a ton of events, but the perspective is totally different with what happens when when you're actually on a horse! ;)

GREAT job to you and Sunny, you must be very pleased with a good outing after a long break!

[FrittSkritt]

JJ'ed the bank bounce on Saturday... looked like everyone was taking it slow because of the weather. (Although I notice there's a girl in the JYOP who moved from 21st to 1st because she only had 4.8 time faults... :eek:) Some great rides and some not-so-great rides on saintly horses. Watched a rider come in so slow that there was no possible way her horse could have made it over the second fence, horse was smart and decided to save his own hide from getting stuck.

Wanted to go to the schooling on Tues, but I don't have a ride... :( Sucks, because I really liked the fences on that course, and it's the only day during the year that you can school them!

[LexInVA]

I'm glad everyone made it out safe and snug. Hopefully the weather for the schooling day will be nice. I'm seriously looking forward to warmer weather so I can get out and enjoy things instead of huddling inside like some sort of bear.

[366474]

Was GRC the photographer and were they the only photographer there?
Thanks!!!

[baylady7]

Invested- sorry folks were not that communicative. I was a steward in dressage yesterday and lots of folks came up and said thank you (more so than say thanks to me when I work dressage only shows). I also think especially in this economy if folks realize that w/o volunteers each event would cost them bigger bucks in entry fees, they become even more appreciative of those who take their day (and a weekend day at that) to volunteer. As a fellow volunteer, please know you are appreciated.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

I JJ'd yesterday; got there at 6:45am (an hour + drive from my house) and left shortly before 5pm.

I have to say that it was really, really disheartening that other than the organizers, my friend and I only had 2 people even acknowledge our presence--and neither of them were competitors!!

Folks, especially those of you who never JJ, really, just a smile or a hi or a "thank you" as you walk the course helps makes it worth it.
That was really disappointing. :no:


Oh that is a bummer. I walked my courses long before there were JJ's out. But THANK YOU for sitting out all day in that ohh so pleasant spring weather.

[366474]

I was a competitor this weekend but will be a volunteer again later this spring. Thank you volunteers! I think volunteering helps you appreciate volunteers even more.

[Invested1]

Thank you volunteers! I think volunteering helps you appreciate volunteers even more.

Couldn't agree more; in fact, that was kind of why I posted my little whine, thinking that maybe a lot/most of the competitors on Sunday don't JJ and therefore don't realize how far a "hey, how are ya?" goes....

It's a small thing but really a big thing..... :yes:

[LexInVA]

Couldn't agree more; in fact, that was kind of why I posted my little whine, thinking that maybe a lot/most of the competitors on Sunday don't JJ and therefore don't realize how far a "hey, how are ya?" goes....

It's a small thing but really a big thing..... :yes:

So if I said "Hey Blair, how are ya doing?" you'd actually give me a response other than "Go **** yourself Lex!"??? :lol:

[Invested1]

So if I said "Hey Blair, how are ya doing?" you'd actually give me a response other than "Go **** yourself Lex!"??? :lol:

Can't make any promises.....
:lol:

[LexInVA]

Can't make any promises.....
:lol:

One of these days, I'll get you to be nice to me without giving you alcohol first. Just you wait and see! :D

[mythical84]

Does anyone know when photos will be posted?

[Jagged]

There are some of them posted now... http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4634768 It says its N and BN, but I'm pretty sure its N and T up so far.

[piaffeprincess98]

Well it looks like I moved up to 9th on my training horse. I guess i read the results wrong. Here are the videos I uploaded from this weekend-

Sam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Si-v2ZDz-0
Oh So - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qN0aBEjdLs

My photos are up. I am number 123, with both horses actually which was interesting. I thought each horse needed a separate number. They got a shot of my ugly fence in BN. Don't judge me too harshly!

[LexInVA]

Looks like there are some mixups with the photos. I see clearly different riders/horses in galleries of other riders wearing the same number.

[piaffeprincess98]

Looks like there are some mixups with the photos. I see clearly different riders/horses in galleries of other riders wearing the same number.

Yeah, but that was the show's decision. I guess I meant that the show assigned me the same number on purpose. On Sat., one person had number 1 for example, and on Sun. a different person had that number. I just so happened to get the same number for both horses. I actually had two different pinnies and bridle numbers that were 123. That will make it difficult for GRC to sort since they do it by number. Each number will probably have two different riders in it.

[LexInVA]

Yeah that could be a problem. Better put up a notification so people know what they are looking at. At least you're :cool: enough to keep the number.

[tangledweb]

Looks like there are some mixups with the photos. I see clearly different riders/horses in galleries of other riders wearing the same number.

Yeah, I feel a little sorry for the photographers, but I felt more sorry for the XC warm up stewards. They were having a very tough time keeping things straight when there were two people in different levels waiting to start at about the same time. I'm guessing next show they will have a bigger set of numbers.