Midsouth PC HT Craziness

I encountered another first this weekend. It was the first time I have ever competed more than two horses at once and I can now say I have a newfound respect for anyone who competes more than two horses at one event. It was a crazy weekend and it ended up being educational for all involved. I had four students riding, competed my mare, and competed two friends green horses.

Friday there were only two dressage rides. Mira went first and since her behavior is about as mercurial as the famous Christian Grey she had a not so stellar test. We went from an amazing 33.5 at Indiana HT to a 44.3 at this show. While it put us in second to last, it was still a qualifying score and I am well aware she (and I) are capable of doing much better than that. Next went Elisa and her mare Marley, who have been riding with me for a little over a month and are showing steady improvement. They also achieved a qualifying score, but we all know Marley is a much better jumping bean than DQ, so all is well.

Saturday was the crazy day. There were 4 XC rides, 5 dressage rides, and 3 show jump rounds in all. My day was set to be wild. I made the mistake of drinking one of those 5-hr energy drinks in the morning before we got to the Horse Park and because of that little bottle of stimulant I was shaking like a kid who has had too much sugar and walked into an amusement park. Mira was foot perfect on cross-country and we were up on the clock until about fence 14 when I slowed her a bit, knowing we would be pretty good on time and still a little apprehensive to push because of our still mysterious metabolic holdups. Elisa and Marley got around their first prelim clean and looking excellent, much more controlled than in the past. Then we went into some dressage rides. Chelsea was a bit nervous, so Weber fed off of her. They had some hairy moments in dressage warm-up (Weber felt there needed to be some jumps out there), but went in and put in a pretty good dressage test. Following them were Kandace and my wonder horse Cameron at their first recognized event. As always Cameron put in a very steady test. That horse is so amazing. I was so blessed to have had him as long as I did. It was then my turn again on a green sale horse, Ted (Return to Sender) who walked all the way from Egypt (where the trailers were parked) to the dressage like a champ (even when some kid on a bicycle tried to mow us down). He was a little worried in warm-up but once in the dressage ring decided he was a big kid and actually put in a really steady test. Following Ted I ran (ok on a golf cart courtesy of my awesome older sister) out to cross country to warm-up Chelsea. She was again pretty nervous (having not competed since last summer) but worked very hard on keeping calm. She and Web had some sticky moments on cross country and ended up calling it a day about ¾ of the way around the course, not because of elimination, but so that she could teach Web the lesson of patience with his rider. I then ran back to dressage in time to see Catherine and her wonder pony put in a test worthy of admiration. (I am so proud of her and that pony, mostly because of the confidence he has given her) And again back out to cross country (can you say running like a chicken with its head cut off?) to help Kandace and Cameron get going. Cameron was his usual goofball self in the start box, shaking his head and demanding to start like someone lit a fire under his bum, but went out and showed Kandace just why I loved him so much. Then it was back to dressage for me to ride, Julie Congleton's awesome little mare, Lola. Julie had a crazy busy week judging at the Midsouth Pony Club Rally so when she asked me if I would ride Lola I was honored. Lola is a dressage machine, so showing off in the dressage ring was right up her alley. And then before the day was through Ted, Lola, and Ransom pony all had to show jump. Each went in the ring like old hands and jumped double clean. I was so proud of everyone Saturday, but went home and was in bed by 8pm.

                                                   photo courtesy of Perry Photographic :)

Sunday was the last of the early days. I was supposed to be the second horse in the show jump ring, but when another rider scratched I was up first. I was exhausted and Mira had on her wings, so we would have jumped clean if I had been allowed to sleep for 6 more hours. I quit riding at fence 9A on a very winding course so we had one rail, but at least I know it was my fault. As always Marley was perfect and jumped brilliantly for Elisa. We finished 9^th and 12^th respectively in a large Preliminary division. Cameron and Kandace jumped into 7^th place in their large Novice division. Then Ted ran cross country like he had been doing it for years, and Lola jumped around the same (putting Julie in tears because the “fiesta table” didn’t cause us any problems) and with the pony bringing up the rear and finishing in stellar fashion. Lola finished 6^thand Ted finished 8^th in their large BN division, and the pony finished a stellar 5^th in his division of over 25 rides!

All in all it was an incredible weekend for Shamrock Eventing although I was so exhausted Sunday I slept for almost 13 hours between Sunday afternoon and Monday. We look forward to Cobblestone HT coming up in July. Mira is well on the track to do the CCI 1 Star at the fall Midsouth HT, hopefully Ted will sell soon, and the rest of the crowd is excited about the upcoming shows. Oh! And not to forget, the pony will be competing at the Area championships at Cobblestone. Wish us all luck in training!

TTFN~
Mandy

Well it seems I haven't written in awhile. I feel I need to just clear the air. I should in all sensibility write about Indiana Horse Trials and how much of an interesting weekend it was, but I want to write about understanding the pain of entering an event (of any kind) and not actually getting to compete. There is nothing worse and sometimes people can be critical about you, your horse, your training (all kinds), the events you enter (on foot, wheels, or horse), the food you eat, and any other number of "getting there" techniques. In the end it either works or it doesn't, but when circumstances are beyond your control its just that much worse.

I have dealt with getting to an event and not getting to compete. it happened to me more than once with Cameron. The two worst were at Poplar at the CIC 2 star where I made a bad decision in that I chose to use a double bridle in dressage, against advice from my trainer and ended up having a disastrous unqualifying test. At the time Cameron had already been around the intermediate course there, so it wasn't worth wasting his legs just to jump around when my score put us far down on the leaderboard and it wasn't a qualifying score. Then there were the two times I entered Richland, the first time at Advanced, when I had a horrible trailer accident and didn't get to go. The second was at the CIC 3 star when I had entered and because Cam had jumped around Millbrook and came up lame afterwords we had to scratch. All of those times I lost large sums of money, caused untold stress and heartache to myself and my team, and managed to lick my wounds and keep on kicking.

As you all know I learned about the Tough Mudder event last fall when I saw some fellow eventers do on in Virginia. I was hooked. We all know I am somewhat of an adrenaline junky (skydiving and eventing just aren't enough) and am always looking for new more challenging activities. Along with a couple of friends I entered the Tough Mudder the was set for March 18th in Attica, Indiana. I was stoked. It was October 2011 so we had plenty of time to train for this grueling obstacle course event. Well, as we all know in late February the TMHQ sent an email that the safety officials felt March in Indiana was too cold, so they chose to move the event to June. We stayed with our Sunday time (June 17th) and while we were disappointed we figured the weather would be better and we had even more time to train.

Well we went this past weekend. We set out with a team of 6, "Asses from the Bluegrass" to do our first Tough Mudder. The trip to Indiana was uneventful. We had a good dinner and went to bed later than we should have because we were so excited. I was exhausted so when Olivia woke me at 12:30AM I was super confused. She said we had all just received an email stating that the Sunday TM was canceled. After about 15 minutes of serious contemplation (arguing) and internet research on our cell phones we found out because they had, had bad storms Saturday afternoon that they were canceling Sunday. Naturally we were all distraught and couldn't believe this was happening. We drove 5+ hours, got a hotel, ate dinner out, had t-shirts made, took time off work, and planned on having a kickass time at this thing the next morning and now because of some rain we were unable. AND unlike horse shows there was no phone number to call and no one to talk to, to ask if they could just start a little later. The next morning we drove up to the site and to our sad surprise there was not a bit of standing water near the start/finish.

                     This is just past the start/finish area...HUGE puddle (<--Insert sarcasm here)

 I understand there is a safety issue with getting emergency personnel to the back of the course, but like I said, if they had just started later...

        And this one is the monkey bars...its about 100 feet before the first picture..no mud in sight....

 The other difference is at least they gave us a free entry to another of their events. Sadly though I am not sure if I will be able to attend one this year due to conflicts on all of the other weekends. I think I will be on a mission to try to make the Missouri one work. It is fall break weekend after all.

So now I have a little inkling as to how it feels to be all of those people that wanted to run Badminton this year. My little adventure doesn't compare in the slightest to the money that those people spent (flying themselves and their horses to England, living expenses, etc) but I do understand the heartache. You prepare for these things and think there is no way weather can get in the way, but sadly because of all of the climate changes we have had, the weather ends up being the most deciding factor in many adrenaline fused activities. Personally, I say bring on the tough weather, it just makes it that much more of an achievement when you finish. That and the devastation that this weekend caused is extremely hard on a person as neurotic as I am :(

And yes it is called a Tough MUDDER....so naturally more rain would make it better right? Guess not....

signing off~
Mandy