Sponsored by the Knox-Lincoln County Farm Bureau

When: Thursday, March 24, 2011,  6:30 to 9:00 P.M.
Where: North Nobleboro Community Center
Upper East Pond Rd, Nobleboro, Maine

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Panel Discussion and Light Refreshments
Come listen and ask our experts!

Guest Speakers include:
Steve Akeley, Akeley Equine Dental Service
Paula Benner, DVM
Andrew Beals, Equine Nutrition
Korine Libby, Equine Trainer

FMI: June Phillips 207-633-2473 or wishingwellacres@gmail.com

Horses, Shows / Events

My very good friend, Amy Richardson, writes a family-based blog called Bliss Happens.  This weekend Amy and her daughter, Amanda, were my “guests” at the King Oak Horse Trials. This was their first EVER event and here is what she wrote about her experience. (This is taken from her blog Bliss Happens).

* * * * *

My friend Debbie is a mother mucker. you see, there is a whole lot of work that goes in to having a daughter who rides horses and competes in Equestrian Eventing.

She hauls trailors…

She carries hay, shavings, saddles, tack and other gear to and from the barn.   She mucks the stall (scoops the poop), cleans the tack, and assists Emily in preparing the horse for competition. 

Debbie walks the cross country course with Emily…all two miles of it!  While trying to remain calm about the fact that her teenager will be sitting on the back of a large animal who’s attempting to jump over these giant obstacles.

on the walk through, Amanda jumped almost half of the 28 jumps.  This was a “fairly easy” one.

Emily in the Dressage

I now have a deep appreciation for not only what Emily does, but what her mom does to support her.

Thankfully, after this weekend at the King Oak Horse Trials in Massachusetts, my own daughter is not begging for a pony!

* * * * *

It was so much fun – AND SO MUCH HELP – to have Amy along. And Amanda was FANTASTIC for her first time around such excitement. NEXT UP: GMHA … last show of the season.

HAVE A GREAT RIDE!

Friends, Horses, Shows / Events

After two successful dressage outings – both which also included an RF in the final stats – many of our horse friends were emailing us and sending us facebook messages that read like this:

“We’ll have to glue her to the saddle.”
“Let’s get a big ball go string and tie her up there.”
“Put velcro on your bottom.”
“Next time we’ll duct tape you to the saddle.”

There were more … but you get the idea.

So, after  GMHA August horse trials, my daughter signed up for Valinor Farm to run Prelim/Training as a schooling to get back into the groove and work out the kinks.

Off this mother mucker drove through summer traffic south on I-95 around Boston for a one day event – which included our overnight camping adventure. I did my usual tack-cleaning therapy session, complete with ipod tuned into Grateful Dead tunes so I could dance around the stall. Since there weren’t many people around, I didn’t feel funny grooving to the music as I applied the cleaner and conditioner.

We went with rider friend Tiffany Cunningham for a great Indian food dinner before hitting the hay (aka the tent) and awake to a beautiful morning. this was our view from the stabling area:

The view from stabling at Valinor Farm

Dressage went fine, with the exception of a canter on the wrong lead.

Show jumping was … well, different. The warm up, actually. Billy didn’t want to go over the warm up jumps and that never happens. But just before going into the ring, Emily kicked him on, he went over, and off to the show jumping ring he went – with no hitches at all.

Within 30 minutes she was out on cross country, where I strategically placed myself near the water for optimum viewing. Emily was number 3, so I didn’t have long to wait.

Rider 1 came through … STOP at the bank down into the water.

Rider 2 came through … STOP at the bank down into the water.

I heard Rider 3 on course, clear through jump 4. Soon after she came into view. Clear 5. Couldn’t see jump 6 or 7, but I saw her coming toward where I was standing – a log at the top of a steep hill. CLEAR over jump 8.

And then … horse briefly stops at the water and JUMP DOWN THE BANK – through the water, and out the other side.

No Duct Tape Necessary!

Emily and Billy continued to a successful AND COMPLETE finish. Confidence regained. Nuff said.

Next up – King Oak Farm on September 12, 2010. I hear they have a bounce there in the fall horse trials. Anyone know?

Horses, Shows / Events

Last weekend we traveled to Vermont (again) for the GMHA August Horse Trials. The weather was nothing short of PERFECT. It’s the first time in the last 2 seasons of going to GMHA that it wasn’t either POURING or WICKED HOT (that’s Maine talk for very hot).

If you’ve read these posts before, you know that dressage has always been the sticky point for my daughter – the eventer. Two weeks ago, at Fitch’s Corner, Emily and Bully for Billy had their first real dressage success with a score of 32.6. Excited and yet not ready to call it “success”, Emily attributed it to the test – Prelim Test C. GMHA required Prelim Test B, the test she’s had trouble with … until now. With a score of 33.9, she was sitting in first place after dressage. Perhaps this is a trend?

Stadium went well, but two rails dropped her into second. Still excited to be doing so well, she prepared for cross country day (held  last on Sunday at this show). This mother mucker, of course, went to volunteer as a jump judge. I was judging #3 and #20 for prelim and watched her as she went by, galloping toward and successfully over the coffin, and into the woods. With a 5:50 optimum time, I knew it would be a while before I saw her come out of the back field and within view.

The advantage of being a jump judge while my daughter is riding is that I can hear everything as she proceeds through the course. All clear through jump 15 – the last jump in the back field. Next was through the stream, up the hill, and over a pair of offset jumps (a bounce).

“Rider down at jump 16. Rider is up and walking home.”

It happened fast enough that I didn’t have to wonder and worry (while at the same time trying to keep my composure to watch others coming over jump #3 and #20). First walking toward me was her dad, shrugging and wondering what happened. Next was friend Lauren Leavitt, also wondering what happened. “She looked great going through the field.”. “He hit #6 with his front legs, perhaps he was lame.” SPECULATION. We waited and wondered.

Finally, my eventer came through. She was in tears – not hurt, but in tears.

“He was such a good boy” were the first words out of her mouth. “It was my fault – I was sitting too far froward as I came up the hill. He was such a good boy.” as she reached down and gave her 16h2 bay thoroughbred a big hug around the neck. I wanted to cry right along with her.

And so goes another horse trials. There’s always something to work on, but the journey is fun to watch.

Horses, Shows / Events

My daughter has struggled with dressage. It’s one of those things that, when at a show, we all hold our breath to see what her face and reaction is after the test … then we judge how long we need to “stay clear” before we can talk to her.

Before I go any further – if you are a mother mucker too, I ask you … does your rider do the same thing?

This was our first trip to Fitch’s Corner in Millbrook, NY. I can assure you, it won’t be our last. I knew before we left that it was probably one of the most beautiful events in Area 1 because I designed their website and had all the beautiful photos from Connecticut Photo to choose from. It was exiting to meet the Fitch’s Team I’d been emailing for a year. I especially enjoyed the fantastic competitor’s party that Fernanda & Friends put on for everyone. WELL DONE!

Back to dressage … even at training level, dressage was always Emily & Billy’s sticky part of the 3 phases. They can perform outside the ring, but when the nerves kick in, things get a little fast and usually leave her at the bottom of the pack and pushing her way back up to a ribbon during the jumping phases.

It was her first time performing the 2010 Prelim Dressage Test C – which she liked alot. Thanks to Babette Lena, who was there coaching other riders, she gave her a little boost in confidence just before entering the ring. Except for a wiggly halt at the salute, the test was FANTASTIC.

Smiles were on her face. Billy got big pats. Placement – SECOND after dressage.

Truly a “GREAT RIDE” on her part.

Fitch’s Corner HTs were held all in one day, so within a couple hours she was off to cross country. With her first fall in 2 years, she was quickly out of the game at jump 6. But knowing that she could have success in the dressage ring was accomplishment enough for both rider and Eventer Mom.

Next up – Young Rider Camp at GMHA and then the GMHA horse trials on August 13, 2010.

Horses, Shows / Events

Emily and Ryan walk back to the stables after a successful cross country run.

Being in the Preliminary/Training group has one advantage – you are up and at it early. And today I was glad for the early start. It was downright HOT today. It felt like a July day in New England – not the first weekend in May!

UNH chose to hold it’s jumping phases back-to-back, so my daughter went straight from show jumping to the XC start box. As every show mom does, I greeted her at the show jumping exit to help change the horses boot and the position on the bit and then RAN to the water complex to watch the only part of the UNH cross country course that you can see more than 2 jumps.

She looked FABULOUS. Clean XC jumping with a few time faults because she didn’t push him (being his first show in 2010).

A successful finish with a 6th place ribbon to open the show season.

WAY TO HAVE A NICE RIDE, EMILY!

Horses, Shows / Events

Unfortunately, due to an illness in the family, I was unable to take my daughter south to do a “warm up event” in preparation for the step up to Preliminary. So, to make sure horse and rider are ready, she made the decision to drop down to training for King Oak. However, this will put her in good shape to join many of her other eventing friends as they ALL make the step up at GMHA in June.

Stepping up with all her friends will make it just that much more exciting! BRING ON UNH in two weeks!!

Horses, Shows / Events

The end of the horse show season. It is always bittersweet for me. For the competitors of eventing, it has been season of traveling, working, meeting with friends, and enjoying the shared passion for horses. As the “show mom”& Mother Mucker for everyone at the barn, I find myself caught in between being happy that the many hours of travel, grooming, mucking, and expense are over and the feeling sad that it’s over.

During “show season”, we travel all over the East Coast. There is camaraderie, new friends, sharing, tears, excitement, all the things that come along with a passion for a sport like these athletes have. Moms of other young riders share their own stories of success and disappointments. It is a family of horse folks. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet people from all over the country in this sport – and I’m not even the rider!

When the season is over, I feel as if I’m leaving parts of me behind. Those friends I’ve become close to will seem so “far away” during the off months of fall/winter. Some will send their horses South to Florida for the colder months to work with high-level riders. Some, like us, give their horses time off to just be horses. As we face this time of year, I find myself wondering who will return to the circuit next year? Will they have the same horse? Will I see that adorable pony with the blue eye again?

I know, when January comes around and my daughter starts riding at an indoor arena to get back into shape for the season, those cold afternoons at the barn will seem to come all too quickly. But for now, I will enjoy the the fun we had during the season. And the friends I look forward to seeing again next season.

Until we meet again, horse friends:

HAVE A GREAT RIDE!

Horses, Shows / Events

It was the only cloudy day we’ve had here at the Virginia Horse Trials. But that’s was a good thing! Emily rode cross country today at 9:30 and the cloud cover kept it cooler for both horse and rider.

As Emily prepared herself and Bully for Billy for the final ride of horse trials, Susan and I (Debbie) packed up everything else in preparation for our long haul back to Maine. We had everything ready to go so when Emily finished up, we could get on the rode … and hopefully get home before midnight!

Emily’s ride was scheduled for 9:36 but she and Billy were ready early and they let them run … and run they did. Emily was pumped for this course and had walked it 2 times (and I’m sure many more in her head). And right from the start box, it was clear they were a team! The result: double clear on cross country! Way to go Emily!

Within an hour of cooling off Billy, we had the dogs in the car, the trunks packed, and the horses loaded for the long journey home. We said farewell to our friends and headed north …

Until the next show – HAVE A GREAT RIDE!

Shows / Events eventing, Shows / Events, VHT, Virginia horse trials

While Susan and Emily fed the horses and prepared for their events of the day, I (Debbie the show mom), went to volunteer once again. Today, for 2 hours, I was a timer and judge during the long format (roads and tracks / endurance) for the CCI*. As I sat there in my golf cart up on the ridge in the middle of the cross country course, I couldn’t help but notice how BEAUTIFUL this place is. The Virginia Horse Center is surrounded by mountains and is just spectacular!

After finishing up at 8:30 I headed off to reconnect with the riders of Great Bay Farm and help them prepare for their events … which happened one right after the other:

10:56 – Emily rode dressage
12:00 – Susan rode cross country
1:06 – Emily rode show jumping

A little bit of everything today!

Dressage for Emily didn’t go quite as good as she had hoped … partially because they inserted a rider from another division in front of her that was doing a different test and mentally made Emily worry she had studied the wrong test. Then, while in the ring, the judge blew the whistle to indicate that Enily had gone “off test”, but then realized she was in error and had Emily pick up the test in the middle and contiue. Despite the frustration, Emily kept her composure throughout the test, making her a champion despite the numbers.

From the dressage ring, Susan went directly to warm up for cross country. HOW EXCITING to share this first Intermediate Event with friends like Cindy Wood (who was also riding HER first CCI*).

Susan and Hershey were ABSOLUTELY STELLAR out there and it showed with a clear round (no jump penalties). Susan said Hershey listened to everything she asked and easily completed the course. She is proud to now say that she owns an INTERMEDIATE EVENT HORSE.

Tomorrow Emily rides cross country and is VERY EXCITED about the course that lays ahead. So tonight we’ll enjoy a toast to Susan and Hershey on the successful completion of their first Intermediate Horse Trial during a steak dinner with all our friends from around Area II, and tomorrow we’ll wish Emily a great ride before we head for home.

Shows / Events eventing, Shows / Events, VHT, Virginia horse trials