Seneca Valley Horse Trials Novice

[pasodqueen]

Hey

How did it go for everyone? What was the cross country like? Any bogey fences to speak about? Seems like people had a rail or two in stadium. What a spectacular weekend!

[Classic Melody]

It rode quite well, although I didn't ride it as well as it rode :D It was a little twisty after the first few jumps, and the approach to the ditch, I thought, didn't give your horse much of a chance to see it coming. I had a stop there which is unusual for my guy who is not at all ditchy.

Probably the part that got the most riders (that I could hear over the PA) was the down bank, the second to last jump on course. My horse just had no gas left in the tank at that point and also has a downbank issue, so I got 2 stops and retired there. It was absolutely the largest drop I've ever encountered at novice. I would be really surprised if it measured less than 3' from the top of the dirt to the ground. Maybe the wood face was 3'.

Gorgeous day, though, and I think on one of my horse's better days we would have had a blast. He has some recurring stifle stuff that I think was acting up and causing his reluctance/spookiness.

[Clear Blue]

It was a beautiful day!

It was my girls second Novice event - and I thought both the Stadium and X-country were challenging.

The bank was big. My girl launched herself off of it like a flying squirrel:eek:.

I took pics of the whole sequence. On landing, the look on her face said "hmm need to rethink that a bit".

[piaffeprincess98]

I had a rail in stadium and thought the whole course was timed really tight. I had 8 time faults. XC was pretty simple. I know the up/down banks were on training in the spring, so I guess they were meant to be more challenging for novice in the fall.

[yellowbritches]

The whole day was the perfect "pipe opener" for our guy. He went clear in sj (the course was funky, I didn't like the roll backs that were kinda early on, but the BFG is a good show jumper and his dad loves show jumping), and had a fantastic xc go. It was straight forward and inviting, and he ate it up.

[gottagrey]

Do any of you know who the photographer was? I meant to stop over there and look but didn't have time. Thanks

[piaffeprincess98]

GRC was the photog. Pics were up last night. GRCphoto.com.

Here is my video if anyone wants to see the course- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz_Qh-KCGLs

[Janet]

It
It was absolutely the largest drop I've ever encountered at novice. I would be really surprised if it measured less than 3' from the top of the dirt to the ground. Maybe the wood face was 3'.

Remember that a Novice drop CAN BE up to 3'11", though you usually find that for a fence set on a downhill slope, not for a plain drop.

[Classic Melody]

Thank you Janet, I didn't realize they could be up to 3'11". Wow. So it wasn't just in my head! :lol:

I'm number 286 on GRC's photos. Considering it was not our best performance there are some pretty good photos. I might get one of us going over the white winner's circle fence. There are a couple decent stadium shots (please ignore the white oxer, my fault entirely, and also the stirrup-free one, that was post-buck), but the way the photos are composed is a little unfortunate ... crooked and vertical when they should be horizontal so you can see the fence. Oh well, definitely some keepers from XC.

[jpalisades]

I saw some really good rounds in staduim and cross country rode well.

For my horse and I it just was not our day:no: In dressage my horse tripped at X for the halt and he leaned through my hands making the halt not so pretty. But the test sheet said he stumbled at the turn onto the center line! Our score did not show it but my boy had some nice movements compared to tests in the past.

Show jumping, lets just say my horse was a little overly excited and did not settle well at all into the rollback-jump-turn-jump-rollback course. The course was hard and time was VERY tight.

Cross country my boy was strong and we had a communication problem at the 12A-B. He landed from 12A and went to run at 12B, I half halted him, he said "$@#$ you!" and tried to run and avoid my aids, by leaping in the air, so we had a run out! Reapproached the entire thing, heck at that point our score just plain out sucked so it was schooling at that point;). Jumped throught the second time wonderfully.

The banks were BIG, but rode very very well for us. Which was the highlight of our course as he has been fairly looky at banks smaller than these in the past.

I have to say dont remember SVPC beening this tough for novice, hence why I entered my horse there. I was very disappointed at how things went for us, but very happy to have gotten to completed it on him. This was my horses first event in almost a year:winkgrin: Our season ended in October last year, then winter was here so no events, then in the spring he was losing muscle and weight, tested and found out he had Lyme's. Hopefully he will settle in better and our communication will be working at Marlborough.

[yellowbritches]

I have ridden off that bank a couple of times on some pretty green novice horses. I think it was little mare's first novice ever, maybe 2nd or 3rd show ever! I remember doing the superman off of it with her...I swear to God we landed 20 feet out from it. :lol: It is big, but it rides nicely. I rather jump a green ass baby off that bank than jump down the "Leap into the Pits of Hell" on the training course in the woods on pretty much any training horse I know!

[Catalina]

The stadium was very hard, but after having two rails on both boys the last time they were out, I have been working hard to improve my riding in stadium and it paid off because both of them were double clean :D. Both of my guys were in the same division, so I had to hop off of one and immediately onto the other. Le pant, le pant. I am still exhausted!

XC was super fun and definitely had some maxed out stuff. Mark, who doesn't look at anything, peeked pretty good at the white coop and almost missed 12B (my right spur imbedded in his rib cage got him back on track). There was another horse that was having issues at 12A & B when we got there, so I think Mark was distracted. I had never jumped him off a bank before, so I just sat back and closed my leg as he launched into space. Wheeeeee! Connor just rocked around XC and didn't look at a thing :D.

The dressage judge hated Connor and gave us one of our worst scores, but Mark was fabulous and had his best test ever :D. Connor finished in 3rd and Mark was right behind him in 4th :).

ClassicMelody: Great seeing you again :D; I wish I could have hung out more, but my day was so insanely busy.

[Catalina]

piaffeprincess98: I'm pretty sure that we were in the XC warmup together; I wish I would have realized, I would have said hi. I was riding a big bay with a star (# 298) and was being followed by my friend, who was leading another big bay with a star.

[regeventer]

I don't see any competitors past # 252 on GRC's website - am I blind????

I thought the stadium was difficult - many rollbacks, fast time - I am amazed I made the time! Novice was fun, but I would say max!

[Catalina]

I don't see any competitors past # 252 on GRC's website - am I blind????

Last time I checked a little while ago, it only went up to 130ish; I must even more blind then you!

[regeventer]

Glad I'm not the only one!

Hey - in answer to your email - still not a great dressage test (we must be taking a couple steps backwards! :no:) but went clean stadium and only had time faults XC. So, since this has been my albatross, I came away delighted we finally finished all three phases at Seneca!!!

Unfortunately we lost a shoe XC - need to get my pony booted back up.

Congrats on your placings!!!

And yes, I too am feeling older and slightly out of shape - and your riding 2!!!

We will set something up for Coggins.

[PnkPanthr]

You know, I never realized how much living in flat southern NJ sucks, when you have to warm up on the side of a hill..LOL. It wasn't even a big hill, but enough to where my horse and I were like WHATT? haha we were there, number 309. Dressage was ok, nothing spectacular, but decent. My normal speed racer in stadium was SOO quiet and jumped around stadium like it was a hunter round. We ended up with one rail, and some time faults, but I was happy for the fact that my eyes weren't watering by the time I finished!:lol:

XC was a blast. He was absolutely phenomenal. Best XC I have had with him.
The banks and the water didnt phase him at all, and niether did the mass quantity of white XC fences. lol
And we all had great weather!:)

[Catalina]

So, since this has been my albatross, I came away delighted we finally finished all three phases at Seneca!!!

:D Awesome.

[piaffeprincess98]

piaffeprincess98: I'm pretty sure that we were in the XC warmup together; I wish I would have realized, I would have said hi. I was riding a big bay with a star (# 298) and was being followed by my friend, who was leading another big bay with a star.
I bet we were. I should have done a warmup cross rail before heading to the start box, because boy did we stuff that first fence. He just wants to toss his head and get control when we first start out.

I am number 300 for photos if anyone wants to see them. He has an ugly jumping style in photos over anything small. He doesn't like to touch things though. I think once we get to training, our photos will look better!

As far as the GRC site, I found that they were all up by Monday night from this link - http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=5194833. I searched on photoreflect's site and found it that way instead of trying to go to GRCphoto.com immediately.

I think my dressage judge in ring 3 was pretty brutally honest. I think with any other dressage judge, I would have scored mid-30s, but we got a 42.1. I was talking with my dressage trainer (also a judge) about the comments and she said the judge was "traditional" in the way she scored, which I think means "if in doubt, score lower"! Not that I think my test was good by any means. I keep telling myself he has only been competing for a little over year, but he will not give up his tenseness in dressage. My coach who helps us at events thinks he's just being naughty now and that I should "sit him down" a few times. He knows what comes after dressage and he feels like he can barely contain himself during our test.

Everyone keeps telling me "these are what the great upper level horses were like", so I have to be patient.

[PnkPanthr]

I bet we were. I should have done a warmup cross rail before heading to the start box, because boy did we stuff that first fence. He just wants to toss his head and get control when we first start out.

I am number 300 for photos if anyone wants to see them. He has an ugly jumping style in photos over anything small. He doesn't like to touch things though. I think once we get to training, our photos will look better!

As far as the GRC site, I found that they were all up by Monday night from this link - http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=5194833. I searched on photoreflect's site and found it that way instead of trying to go to GRCphoto.com immediately.

I think my dressage judge in ring 3 was pretty brutally honest. I think with any other dressage judge, I would have scored mid-30s, but we got a 42.1. I was talking with my dressage trainer (also a judge) about the comments and she said the judge was "traditional" in the way she scored, which I think means "if in doubt, score lower"! Not that I think my test was good by any means. I keep telling myself he has only been competing for a little over year, but he will not give up his tenseness in dressage. My coach who helps us at events thinks he's just being naughty now and that I should "sit him down" a few times. He knows what comes after dressage and he feels like he can barely contain himself during our test.

Everyone keeps telling me "these are what the great upper level horses were like", so I have to be patient.


After seeing your pictures, I realize I saw u in both SJ warmup and dressage warmup! I loved your horse:yes: . I was number 309 http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=0EBK00AN7O0002&po=2

[piaffeprincess98]

After seeing your pictures, I realize I saw u in both SJ warmup and dressage warmup! I loved your horse:yes: . I was number 309 http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=0EBK00AN7O0002&po=2

Oh, awesome! We need to have some sort of COTH symbol so we know who's who!

I love your use of the automatic release btw. Great photos.

[LexInVA]

I've got a COTH gangsign. It's phat.

[PnkPanthr]

Oh, awesome! We need to have some sort of COTH symbol so we know who's who!

I love your use of the automatic release btw. Great photos.

Thanks!! Trying to learn it was total hell! haha but so worth it.
I agree for the sign!

Lex- you sound like you would belong around me, and you should be proud to know, I almost lost my orange juice:lol: right dawg?

[LexInVA]

Wait until you see the "COTH Addict Support Group" T-shirts I'm designing. They are the shizzle.

[PnkPanthr]

Wait until you see the "COTH Addict Support Group" T-shirts I'm designing. They are the shizzle.

Be sure to let me know when you finish, Home Skillet. I think I need one:cool: