Whoop Whoop?!?

"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." 
-C.S. Lewis


So simple, but so true.  This weekend I've had a lot of experiences in which I have learned a lot about eventing, myself, and my horse.  First of all, the competition down here is so much more serious than I've ever had to deal with.  At this show (and I'm sure the ones to follow) the horses are fancier, the riders are better, and the game is more technical.  Every competitor down here, including myself, came down here to do their best and show their stuff.  Showing up in my area you get a whole different crowd which can make the show sometimes easier.  All that aside, I'm still glad I came down here.  If I can show down here and do decent, I will be more than ready for my competition up north.  


My final results left me in 10/16 riders for my division.  Normally I would be rather upset with myself for this, but considering most of the people I was competing against have shown at Advanced, I'm happy for myself and my little novice level horse.  If I wanted to play the "well if game" I would be blaming myself for messing up in dressage and stadium moving our placing lower than it would have been....but I won't because I'm seriously trying to get that out of my system.  


All in all, I'm rather pleased for our first outing and I've gained a lot of knowledge and tools that I will be carrying over to my next show most definitely. 


Day off tomorrow for the horse and me.  I'm sure she will be happy relaxing in the sun :) 

Whomp Whomp...

Lessons learned:

1. Get over it.  You're never going to be on your game 100% of the time.  You're never going to have 100% of the tools you had the day before. You're never going to be perfect at everything.  And when all is said and done, you need to get over it and move on because tomorrow is another day, and tomorrow is another shot at improving.
2. It will never help when you're your own worst enemy.  Beating yourself over every thing that you "should have done but didn't" won't do anything but bring you down.  
3. Don't compare yourself to others. It's so easy to do the "well if" scenario when it comes to riding.  "Well if my parents bought be a $50,000 horse I could do that level too" or "If I started riding and showing when I was 5 I could be that great too".  We are all brought up in different situations and some of us benefit more than others.  It's life. How we deal with what we are dealt is more important and more productive in the end.
4. Learning to deal with "not winning" is much harder than it seems.  It's so much easier to be a good winner than it is to be a good "loser" (I use that term lightly).  Looking back today on past events I can't remember one time that I was satisfied with anything other than 1st place.  I know that's wrong and taboo to say, but it's true.  Even on days where I really had amazing rides but didn't win, or was off of first by a few points, I've always beaten myself up over it.  I'm a perfectionist for sure, but I'm learning now that I can't be.  It takes a huge emotional toll when I sweat things that I can't fix and it's something that I've really learned today about myself that I need to definitely address.
5. I love my horse.  No matter what, good or bad, I still wouldn't trade her for anything.  She is by far the toughest, most difficult, and most frustrating (at times) horse I've had to deal with but she's mine, and I'd rather deal with her than any other out there.

All this being said, and after looking back on it, today really wasn't that bad of a day.  I messed up a movement in my dressage test because I wasn't concentrating and got a 2 pt error which dropped us lower than I would have liked after dressage, however not terrible.  Then in stadium we pulled a rail going into a combination even though she was flawless during warmup because I let her drift to the left. So as hard as it is for me to say it...."oh well".  

Tomorrow is cross country and another day.  I'll update later with our final results.

Florida > Jersey

Choosing to spend the month in Florida was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. Period.  I haven't even been here a week and I've already learned so much and had some great experiences.  On Thursday I got a chance to watch Sinead ride 2 of her horses with David O'Connor as well as meet Karen O'Connor while she was teaching one of her lessons.  I got to see and hear a lot of what they were saying to not only Sinead, but to other really nice riders as well and it was really interesting to see how technical things get as the horse and rider team get better and how it ends up being the matter of really inches to make the horse perform 100% better. 

After watching Sinead's lesson, Rori and I had our first cross country school of the season.  Rori was a bit full of herself but bold and more than willing to jump whatever we put in front of her.  We got to do some Trakehners which she was great about as well as schooling some water options which again, she didn't bat an eye at.  What I'm really learning with her now is how to use less of my hands and more of my body which is definitely tough to switch over to, but the result is already positive.  I'm gaining a few more tools which are really helping with more technical situations as well as just being able to leave her a lone for a longer period of time.  

Today, we all got up early and Sinead rode in the Level 5 Jumpers at HITS with 2 of her horses in training (and placed 5th / 32 with one of them).  Even that is a really good experience because these riders come from all over the country (and Canada) to ride down here so there are so many different styles, techniques, and so forth that are really interesting to analyze.  Later on in the afternoon Rori and I had our stadium schooling before the show tomorrow and she was FABULOUS.  I rode her in a plain loose ring snaffle (which I've NEVER been able to jump her in) and she gave me one of the best rides.  By improving myself I'm able to use less "tools" to make the horse go right which is really a great sense of accomplishment.  

So tomorrow we're off to Rocking Horse to compete at Novice level.  We'll be doing dressage and stadium tomorrow and then cross country on Sunday. Can't wait! More updates later.

We made it...

We got out of New Jersey just in time! While they're getting inches of snow and negative degree weather, I'm in sunny, warm, and beautiful Florida :) The trip down was actually pretty good.  Very little sleep, and gas station food, but still good.  A special thanks to my parents for trucking it down here with me and Rori so we could do it in one day.  Rori has settled in really nicely and we are getting ready for our first show of the season this Saturday.  We're going out at Novice for the first 2 shows down here and then....*dun dun dun*...I entered us in our first training for the end of February! I'm sorta nervous but we will see how we feel when we get closer to the date since I have almost a month till we show at that level. 

Whelp...see ya later....

Florida bound!

Here we go....

It's almost here!

So Florida is just 5 days away and I can't wait! I've never been able to go to Florida since all previous winters I've been in school, so this is so exciting.  Also, I got my brand new Voltaire Design jumping saddle today, which is custom fit to Rori.  I'm so happy it came before we left since it didn't look like it would be in on time originally.

I feel like I have so much to do before I go there but I just don't know where to start.  I'm still working up until the day before we leave, which I know is going to be hectic but getting in a little more cash before we go will be nice.

I've signed up for our first 2 shows down there, both at novice level.  There is one more to sign up for and I'm tentative about moving up to training just yet.  I'm not worried about the height since I know we can both do that, but the combinations in cross country are going to be tough and I don't want to enter in anything that will make us look foolish.  *Sigh*. We'll see.  I think with a solid month of schooling and training with Sinead I should feel a lot more comfortable about going Training come spring time :) No need to rush anything.

Time to get some more things in order...Sunday is quickly approaching!

Show time!

So I have come up with a tentative show schedule for this season for me and the beast. This does not include all of the kids that I have promised to take to shows this summer...oh geeze.  So far this is what we have for everyone:

• January 28-30th: Rocking Horse Winter 1 (Novice: 10th/16)
• February 11-13th: Ocala Horse Properties (Novice: 1st/13)
• February 18-20th: Rocking Horse Winter 2 (Training: 3rd/12)
• March 20th: Bit O' Woods Dressage / CR (*Katie)
• March 26th & 27th: OnCourse Schooling 
• April 2: Saddlebrook Ridge Dressage / CT (*Katie)
• April 10th: Oxbow Stables
• April 16th - 17th: Plantation Field Horse Trials
• April 24th: West Milford Equestrian Center 
• May 7-8th: King Oak Horse Trials (Bring Katie and Mia)
• May 14th: Dad's 60th Birthday Party
• May 15th: Windy Hollow Hunt Dressage Show (*Katie)
• May 20th-22nd: Virginia Horse Trials
• June 4th: Dressage Rally at the Horse Park
• June 5th: Starter Horse Trials at the Horse Park
• June 11th: Plantation Field Horse Trials
• June 12th: Windy Hollow Hunt Dressage Show
• June 12th: Oncourse Jumper 
• June 18th: Sussex County 
• June 19th: Bucks County Horse Trials *(Bring Katie and Mia)
• June 22nd: Sussex County 
• June 25-26th: Sussex County 
• June 26th: Oxbow Stables
• July 2nd: Janice and Joe's Wedding
• July 14-17th: Stuart Horse Trials 
• July 22nd: Windy Hollow Hunt Dressage
• July 22nd: Smoke Rise 
• July 23-24: Fitch's Corner Area 1 Championships (Bring Katie and Mia if qualify**)
• July 30-31: Mike and Madi's Wedding
• August 6-8: Millbrook Horse Trials
• August 9-12th: Sussex A Show
• August 13-14th: Waredaca Farm Horse Trials
• August 16th: West Milford Equestrian Center 
• August 21st: Oxbow Stables
• August 28th:  OnCourse Schooling Jumper 
• August 29th: Smoke Rise 
• September 7th-11th: American Eventing Championships (*Bring Katie and Mia if qualify**)
• September 17th: Sussex County 
• September 24th-25th: Flora Lea Horse Trials *(Bring Katie and Mia)
• October 1-2nd: OnCourse Schooling 
• October 2: Burgundy Hollow Mix and Match Schooling Trials
• October 8th: Radnor Hunt Horse Trials
• October 16th: Oxbow Stables
• October 29-30th: ESDCTA at the Horse Park *(Bring Katie and Mia)
• November 5th: Bucks County Schooling Trials
• November 12th: West Milford Equestrian Center 
• November 13th: Oxbow Stables/Clover Valley/ Bit O' Woods

Obviously this is all subject to change but at least it's a start!

Whelp...

We leave for Florida in a little over 2 weeks and I decided since I will have a lot of free time on my hands.  So I said, "hey, why don't cha blog Sarah?", so I am.

First blog? Check.