Difficult Run HT This Weekend!

[LexInVA]

We haven't had a thread about this, which is VERY Un-COTH-like, so I've stepped up and started one. So, here now is your thread for discussion of this HT that is near and dear to my fellow Northern Virginers. :p

[hopashore1]

Will be there Sun for our first Training run!

I will say Steve has gone above and beyond the line of duty dealing with stabling and scheduling everybody so people who want to be there can do so!

[Dr. Doolittle]

Yes, as always, Steve is THA BOMB!

I will be there volunteering (JJing) all day Sat., and coaching eventmom's daughter on Sunday at her mare's Novice moveup. Mr. Dr. D will be volunteering on Sunday (JJing), and I am going to try to get over there on Friday evening to help the DRPC parents dress up the jumps! This is going to be one of the first times I haven't ridden in this (since my last horse died), so am just happy to be able to give back to the Pony Club...

Hope to see (or meet) some COTHers there! It looks like it won't be wicked hot, at least, but we could sure use some rain between now and then :sigh:

[LexInVA]

I'm hoping it will be a good time for all as it usually is. Certainly a more positive atmosphere leading into the event than we had last year with all that had happened.

[tarheelmd07]

I'll be there with Hopashore, also running training. Same old red horse, same old bright pink, same old ugly blue trailer :yes:

[Dr. Doolittle]

:D

Look forward to seeing you! (And you are hard to miss...;)

[LexInVA]

I hope there's gonna be chicken wings again. MMMMMMM. I love me some chicken wings. Let us hope the event isn't rained out as the forecast is projecting heavy rain this weekend. We should get some ground softening rain by Thursday if the forecast is any kind of accurate.

[piaffeprincess98]

I'll probably be there with GRC.

[eventmom]

Yep, my daughter will be there sunday at her first Novice! Coached by the great Dr D:)

[jpalisades]

I am bringing my BO's horse for his first novice on Sunday:D On lots of coffee. As Sat. I am pulling out of the farm at 4am to take five of my pony clubbers to their D dressage rally all day. Anyone who has rallied knows it is always going to be a long day:no:

My also be bringing my own horse!! He was cleared by the vet a couple of weeks ago to return to full work:winkgrin: After seven weeks of just hacking around due to how hard he was hit by Lyme Dis. and on high doses of meds. He is enjoying work again and I am itching to get him out and compete with him. so we my go novice as well.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

[Catalina]

I'm taking Mark Novice on Sunday and I sure hope it doesn't rain! I really don't want a repeat after riding two horses in the pouring rain at DRPC in the spring :sigh:.

[Dr. Doolittle]

I am bringing my BO's horse for his first novice on Sunday:D On lots of coffee. As Sat. I am pulling out of the farm at 4am to take five of my pony clubbers to their D dressage rally all day. Anyone who has rallied knows it is always going to be a long day:no:

My also be bringing my own horse!! He was cleared by the vet a couple of weeks ago to return to full work:winkgrin: After seven weeks of just hacking around due to how hard he was hit by Lyme Dis. and on high doses of meds. He is enjoying work again and I am itching to get him out and compete with him. so we my go novice as well.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

Looks like we will have a crew of Novice folks out there! My friend the lurker is taking her boy Novice too; I think it's only his second Novice, if I'm not mistaken. (He had never been in an indoor, so I suggested to her that since stadium is indoors again, she familiarize him with one *before* the HT! Since FP's indoor is closed all week due to construction, she took him over to Foxcroft's indoor instead. Which is, of course, not quite as "scary" for most horses :winkgrin:)


Lex, RAIN, you say?!? I just watched channel 9 news (with the red headed giantess, Kim Martucci :)), and her forecast was for scattered T-storms every afternoon this week, then more moderate temps (low-mid 80s) and dry over the weekend. Ideally, we would actually GET these hit or miss storms to soften up the ground, and then have cooler weather for the HT!

jpalisades: congrats on getting your horse back out there competing, and good luck to both you and your BM's horse! I hope to meet you (you will be the one with the coffee IV hanging out of your arm, right? ;))

[LexInVA]

The forecast I'm looking at from The Weather Channel says chances of rain for the rest of the week including today with heavy rain likely this weekend.

[jpalisades]

Dr.D Thanks and the coffee IV is not a bad idea:D Lucky enough I finally have my hubby comfortable driving the two horse trailer, so he has agreed to drive down if needed. I just had to promise not to try and get him to drive the six horse any time soon:lol:

If FFP is anywhere near as dry as it is here at home (central PA) then I hope it rains a little through the rest of the week. Sorry Steve I know setting up for a show in the rain just sucks (been there done that myself), but will make for some happier horsey hooves and legs come the weekend.

Steve emailed me back and there is still room to get my boy in. Guess he's going now..... :uhoh:... okay now I'm nervous. Just want to have a good time....just want to have a good time....just want to have a good time....

[Catalina]

The forecast I'm looking at from The Weather Channel says chances of rain for the rest of the week including today with heavy rain likely this weekend.

I like Dr D's forecast better, so I'm just going to ignore the above one ;).

[Dr. Doolittle]

I like Dr D's forecast better, so I'm just going to ignore the above one ;).

:lol:

jpalisades: I can bring some beer along to share (since your hubby is driving the rig ;)), and maybe that will help....Anyway, I'm sure you will have a GREAT time!

[mybelle]

I'll be there cheering on a friend in the Training division! I sure hope it's not going to rain - it was pouring at DRPC in May and it sucked!!!

[Ishi]

Ah come on, the May one was GREAT! Who doesn't love mud, slop, and so much rain you think you are swimming?! My mare won her division there, maybe she is a mudder :lol:

Saturday will be Calypso's big old Prelim move up. Fingers crossed he finds his Big Boy Panties and puts them on. I'm excited, I got him off the track (Charles Town) in 2007, and this is his 3rd year eventing, it's been neat bringing him along (I ususally have to sell them before they are solid at Training) and going to his first Prelim seems like a milestone for his career.

Can't wait to see the usual suspects and maybe meet some new ones! Good luck everyone!!!

[LexInVA]

There will be shenanigans!

[hopashore1]

Yes but, tarheelmd, that old red horse looked mighty good out there today :)

Here's to showers this week and clear skies this weekend...I don't need another reason to panic!

[tarheelmd07]

Yes but, tarheelmd, that old red horse looked mighty good out there today :)

Here's to showers this week and clear skies this weekend...I don't need another reason to panic!

Thanks - let's hope the old red horse brings his A-game again this weekend, since definitely brought it yesterday!

Here's hoping for good weather...but I am bringing Huey, which is pretty much an invitation for terrible weather :no: Poor guy spent the winter getting snowed on at jumper shows and has been rained on more often than not at HTs this year...and even brought freezing temps with him when we went down to aiken this winter...

did y'all closer to FPP get any of the rain last night?

[LexInVA]

We got a smidge of rain though I don't think it actually hit the park and it certainly wasn't enough to do anything.

[eventmom]

Times are up!

[Dr. Doolittle]

Looks like the possibility for some really nasty weather tomorrow afternoon, for those hauling in and/or walking the course :eek:, so prepare to batten down the hatches.

I'll be out there tomorrow midday with a student--along with the DRPC kids and parents--decorating the x-country jumps. (I hope we don't get a storm while we're doing this! And also that the winds don't blow everything away!)

We *desperately* need the rain, though, so bring it on :)

(Had a great lesson with "eventdaughter" this morning, and have positive expectations for her Novice moveup on Sunday :D)

[LexInVA]

We got some rain coming in right now. Had some storms last night but they were fairly off in the distance.

[Dr. Doolittle]

NOTHING until about half an hour ago (FPP was bone-dry when I was there this morning, helping with last minute jump decorating, etc.--they were aeorvating wherever they could), but NOW, wonderful rain coming down--with more in the forecast!! :D

I just hope the wind doesn't blow everything away! It's supposed to continue into tomorrow, which will make things a bit dicey for the Prelim folks (should be mostly over with by the time BN goes...)


Sunday should be perfect for you T and N riders!

[LexInVA]

Got some storm activity brewing here as we speak. Hopefully, it won't muck up any of the prep.

[steves]

Despite or should I say thanks to 1 1/2 inches of rain Fri night, everything went off quite well. It really softened the ground. We received some rain after the HT was over today but we don't think too much

Sat results are posted. Don't forget to refresh your screen when you go to the Times/Resutls page

[piaffeprincess98]

I'm glad the park didn't get too much, because man, I went through probably the worst rain I've ever driven through on the way back to Stafford County. I had to pull over a few times because I couldn't see in front of me, and I went through two spots where the water was probably 2 feet high in the road. I felt like I was driving through a river!

I'm headed back up there today though. I shot fence 2 for BN and Prelim yesterday and also the log coming out of the woods for prelim and the roll top fence 5 for BN.

[Ishi]

I was the second Prelim rider to go and the footing was fantastic. The only time we slipped was after the finish, when we had to pull up really short, I didn't realize we couldn't gallop stright out after the last fence and had to pull up in a hurry. My bad! I don't know how it was for anyone else, because I went so early, but I didn't even feel like we were tearing anything up. We had great footing.

Heard Dr D cheering after we jumped her fence, saw PP there too. I am happy to say, despite a huge SNAFU in stadium, my CharlesTown OTTB did his first (and completed it) Prelim yesterday! 3 years ago I did his first BN on him, I can't believe it's 3 years, it's seems like time has flown by and here he is, about to do Seneca's Prelim. He was perfect on XC, even when I slipped the reins too much at A of the bank and had to jump through the whole complex on the buckle. I think he had a blast out there too, and although it was easy for him to jump, mentally I could tell he was really thinking. It was awesome.

Oh and LOVED the additions to the Prelim course, thought the chevrons to the trakener was awesome, and beefed it up a little. Had a great time, and home before the rain. Great day!

[Dr. Doolittle]

Great job, Ishi, and you must be thrilled with your boy! :D You guys looked great coming past me, and I could hear you verbally encouraging him; his eyes looked a little big, but he just rolled on through with good confidence.

The footing was indeed fabulous for the P horses (and I had the same experience pulling up after the finish line there in May, when it was also raining--HRH didn't slip, but it was pretty difficult to "rein her in" in that short distance! :eek:)

Afterwards, when I was walking the Novice course with my student (in the rain), I noticed that there were some pretty mucky spots that had developed once the rain started up again--the ground was saturated, and it had no place to go! I hope the fact that it finally *stopped* last night (and the sun came out this morning) means that it will dry up a bit for the T and N horses! Fortunatly they don't start x-country until around 11:30 today.) Mr. Dr. D is out there as we speak, sitting in the the JJ orientation meeting.

I actually think dressage will be more of an issue (Ishi said her horse *literally* slipped on a cow pie during his test!), but I seem to remember them moving the rings yesterday afternoon, so perhaps there won't be a "mud track" to deal with for today's competitors.

I have to say that DRPC is probably the MOST efficiently run HT in the area: the supporters and members of the club, PC parents, and loyal volunteers (and of course the Steve S., who should really WEAR a big red "S" on his chest ;)) do a fantastic job in every capacity. As I sat out in the cow field, jump judging, I marveled at how quickly they picked up the score sheets (they had a nice young lady on a motorcycle, who cleverly managed NOT to be anywhere near a horse on course, yet got ALL the score sheets from the judges literally within a few minutes of a division finishing. And the TD, Kathy White, was checking in via radio on a regular basis, making sure everything continued like clockwork. No wonder they get their scores up so quickly!

Really a pleasure to be able to help them out. :yes:

I'm off to coach eventmom's daughter (whose mare is shod all around, but not drilled and tapped) at the mare's first Novice outing. I told her to be conservative in the slick spots when we walked the course yesterday, and I'm sure she will be--though her mare is definitely "forward thinking" :D Luckily--like most mare--she also has a good self preservation instinct. ;)

[tarheelmd07]

GRC already has photos up!
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=5106126

[LexInVA]

Whee!

[jpalisades]

THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED IN DRPC and those who helped this weekend! As always the event ran great. My horse ran his first novice this weekend and it was a great confidence builder for him.

Also any adult riders out there, congrats to a job well done. And to my team mates, NoGuts NoGlory.... Congrats on the first place:D

[Catalina]

Definately a HUGE thanks to all involved with DRHT. The scores were beyond lightning fast; I was amazed :eek:. I was the first Novice rider to go. I finished my test, went back to the trailer, untacked horsie, brushed him and chucked him on the trailer. I then went to the bathroom after which I decided to check the scores of some people I know. I was amazed to see that my dressage score was already posted :eek: :eek:. I had had the best test ever on Mark, but as my score showed, the judge didn't agree :no: and gave us a 41. A couple of totally my fault rails in stadium knocked us out of any chance of placing well. Oh well, I am happy with him and the progress we have made :).

I am also happy that my team, Bay's Anatomy, finished in 2nd (even with my lousy score :().

[Catalina]

despite a huge SNAFU in stadium

I saw your score. Congrats on the awesome dressage and XC, but what on earth happened in stadium :eek: :winkgrin:.

[Ishi]

LOL Catalina, I have my own theory, but D says that it was a little overwhelming to his 6 year old OTTB brain. Oh well we'll work on that. Guess I need to jump him in a few indoors this winter!!!

I did slip in a cow pattie in dressage and tried so hard not to laugh, all I could think about was, so this is what slicker then sh!t means :lol: that was awesome. He was a rock star on XC so really, for his first Prelim, not much more I could have asked of him. He went out last night, farting and bucking and I guess not really feeling any effects of Saturday, so that's good!