EiRide
Jul. 27, 2009, 02:18 PM
Whelp, I toddled off to Burgundy Hollow HT for volunteering on Sunday. My first job was jump judging the final Novice XC fence, and my second job was gate keeping and warm up stewarding the stadium jumping.
The cross country seemed to be ride well--a good galloping sort of course which invites the horses to go forward. The BN had an option at the water and could to the pass through or do a coop instead, which I thought was a nice opportunity. The Novice horses I watched had a good gallop for the finish; a few looked a little tired, especially those whose riders were sitting between the fences. One or two stops at a table and one other fence in my field, but most people had a good go and looked good out there.
Stadium is in a bit of the back field on the other side of a tree line from dressage and the main parking/XC field (we are talking HUGE fields here, not a little pasture land--my whole place would fit on the top of her one field's hill). There is a little roll to the terrain and the course asked for turning and balancing to the fences while adjusting to the hill; It reminds me a bit of the way Jane used to use the hill on the stadium field at Pleasant Hollow. The riders who were making motorcycle turns had rails, the ones who used the turns to balance and bend did not.
Since the entry was a bit low, perhaps due to splitting riders with Plantation the day before, Michelle broke the divisions into pretty small bites so that if you finished, you should be coming home with a ribbon; she also had buckets and some sort of little sponsor gifts for riders, also.
Michelle is talking about building a mini-starter course in one corner of her big field, like the lowest levels that go at Olde Hope's schooling HT, for next year. She also did some fence staining and building for the HT's, and will continue to add on to the XC courses she has in place. One thing she is still tinkering with is the space for stadium; I think for her next schooling horse trial she is going to experiment with having it slightly further down from the tree line and widened to use more of the main field.
It's been very interesting watching the evolution of a new event venue; Burgundy Hollow is close to my place, and I can go school there easily. Michelle did driving training with my mare last summer, so I was there for a good bit of the jump building and course planning for the initial design. I think this event is going to continue to improve and become more and more interesting while remaining inviting--I know that is Michelle's goal.
Jane Cory is giving a clinic there this weekend--if anyone would like to come school, have a clinic, and get a look-see at a new venue, this might be a good chance to do so!
Info:
http://www.burgundyhollow.com/Clinics.html
The cross country seemed to be ride well--a good galloping sort of course which invites the horses to go forward. The BN had an option at the water and could to the pass through or do a coop instead, which I thought was a nice opportunity. The Novice horses I watched had a good gallop for the finish; a few looked a little tired, especially those whose riders were sitting between the fences. One or two stops at a table and one other fence in my field, but most people had a good go and looked good out there.
Stadium is in a bit of the back field on the other side of a tree line from dressage and the main parking/XC field (we are talking HUGE fields here, not a little pasture land--my whole place would fit on the top of her one field's hill). There is a little roll to the terrain and the course asked for turning and balancing to the fences while adjusting to the hill; It reminds me a bit of the way Jane used to use the hill on the stadium field at Pleasant Hollow. The riders who were making motorcycle turns had rails, the ones who used the turns to balance and bend did not.
Since the entry was a bit low, perhaps due to splitting riders with Plantation the day before, Michelle broke the divisions into pretty small bites so that if you finished, you should be coming home with a ribbon; she also had buckets and some sort of little sponsor gifts for riders, also.
Michelle is talking about building a mini-starter course in one corner of her big field, like the lowest levels that go at Olde Hope's schooling HT, for next year. She also did some fence staining and building for the HT's, and will continue to add on to the XC courses she has in place. One thing she is still tinkering with is the space for stadium; I think for her next schooling horse trial she is going to experiment with having it slightly further down from the tree line and widened to use more of the main field.
It's been very interesting watching the evolution of a new event venue; Burgundy Hollow is close to my place, and I can go school there easily. Michelle did driving training with my mare last summer, so I was there for a good bit of the jump building and course planning for the initial design. I think this event is going to continue to improve and become more and more interesting while remaining inviting--I know that is Michelle's goal.
Jane Cory is giving a clinic there this weekend--if anyone would like to come school, have a clinic, and get a look-see at a new venue, this might be a good chance to do so!
Info:
http://www.burgundyhollow.com/Clinics.html