We last heard from Ainsley and JJ pre-pandemic. Since then, life has been a roller coaster, and not just for the obvious reasons. JJ came up lame and, following many vet visits, there’s finally a diagnosis. 

Well, JJ’s mystery lameness is no longer a mystery – we have a diagnosis! It’s not the best news, but it definitely isn’t terrible, and it certainly could be a lot worse, so I’m grateful that it is what it is and that I’m able to finally get him the help he needs. 🙂

We got an appointment for an MRI with Dr. Peroni at the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Hospital. While I waited for the day to arrive, I took a look back on where we started and made my peace with whatever the prognosis would be.

JJ has given me SO much over the years – teaching me about eventing, inspiring my Ride Heels Down business, giving me the opportunity to ride with greats like Buck Davidson and Lucinda Green, competing (and finishing 7th!) at the USEA American Eventing Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park, having an epic sunflower photo shoot, spending a month living the dream in Ocala… we’ve made so many amazing memories together and I simply can’t ask for anything more. So, whatever the diagnosis wound up being, I was content with what we had already accomplished.

While we might not have gotten to actually finish a Training 3-phase (because weather, because priorities, and because shoes) we did complete four Training CT events and schooled everything on cross country from coffins to combinations, ditches to drops into water, and even some Preliminary questions. I feel like we got there, we just didn’t have the opportunity to show it off publicly. So, yeah, I’d say it counts.

Anyway, in the week leading up to the MRI, I cleaned out my tack box. I knew we would either get good news and I would have all nice, clean stuff to start rehab with, or we would get bad news and I would have nice, clean stuff to sell or put in storage. Same with my tack – it all got cleaned and conditioned in preparation, and it was pretty cathartic…

JJ got a bath the day before we shipped out to UGA, because I wanted him nice and clean for the doctor. I also knew that, although putting a horse under general anesthesia is pretty safe, there’s always a small risk… so, I groomed and bathed him knowing it very well might be the last time. (Thankfully, it wasn’t. Don’t worry, he’s fine!)

So, “MRI Day” finally arrived and we left Beaumont Farm on Monday around 8am. It was an easy haul over to Athens, less than two hours, and we arrived ahead of schedule.

A nice lady came out to get JJ, since I was not going to be allowed in at all due to COVID-19. (Ugh, so stressful not being able to be with him throughout all this!) Her first words were “wow, he’s cute!” when she saw him, though, which made me smile.

JJ heading into the UGA veterinary hospital like a good little soldier. Photo by Ainsley Jacobs/Ride Heels Down.

She took him off to get settled and then came back to collect his hay and feed. I gave her a bit of info about JJ and his likes and dislikes, and joked about how they should talk to him and tell him what they want him to do because ‘he speaks English and understands a weirdly unusual amount of stuff’ at which point her jaw dropped and she got a shocked look on her face.

Turns out, she had tried to get him to go into his stall here and he wouldn’t… and then she said to him “It’s okay bud, go on in” AND HE IMMEDIATELY DID, like he was patiently waiting for her permission. I love my polite, smart little horse SO much. 🙂

Anyway, they called me not long after to get a bit more history on him and the new lady on the phone also commented on how cute he is. When we were discussing his feed, I said he could have as many cookies as he wanted. She laughed and said they had already actually given him a ton. Ah, my son’s a charmer!

Dr. Peroni performed the lameness evaluation workup that afternoon and was great about texting me videos and updates so I could stay informed. He called after to recap his findings, which included blocking the lameness to isolate where they suspected the injury was, and we discussed steps to proceed with the MRI the next day. He commented on how well behaved JJ was and how quickly he had settled, like he had “been there forever.”

JJ’s MRI was scheduled for Tuesday around 11:30am and I was told it would take about two hours. I anxiously sat in my hotel (I wanted to be nearby, just in case, so I booked a room for the duration of JJ’s stay instead of going home) and awaited the “all clear” regarding his coming out of anesthesia… when it was almost 5pm and I still hadn’t heard anything, I panicked and texted Dr. Peroni.

Thankfully, JJ had come out of anesthesia “perfectly” but they had been busy with surgery all day. What a relief! Dr. Peroni later mentioned that JJ had “started eating very soon” after waking up and I was like, yep, that’s my horse! Haha. (Anyone who knows JJ knows that he is an absolute COW when it comes to food and it’s literally his favorite thing in the world. I don’t think I’ve ever met a horse who loves food more than he does.)

So, now that you’ve read through all this I bet you’re wondering – what was the diagnosis?? I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, here’s all the info!

THE PROBLEM: The MRI revealed a very obvious 1.5″-2″ tear in the RIGHT front straight sesamoidean ligament. JJ was compensating for it which caused minor concussive laminitis in the right front toe as well as a “relatively insignificant” tiny deep flexor tendon tear on the LEFT front, all of which explained why he was lame in both front feet.

Let’s hope this straight sesamoidean ligament tear heals quicker than expected! Image courtesy University of Georgia.

THE PLAN: Dr. Peroni did an ultrasound the next morning along with PRP therapy, which we did for his collateral ligament injury a few years ago. He also recommended mild corrective shoeing to help reduce the strain on the ligament, as well as full turnout and light tack-walking. We’ll do another ultrasound in 30 days to assess JJ’s progress.

THE FUTURE: If JJ does well with recovery, Dr. Peroni guesstimates a four-to-six-month recovery with JJ being able to get back to his previous level of activity without any problems. Fingers crossed! He also said that his joints all look fantastic, which is reassuring considering the kid’s 17 now.

THE CAUSE: Dr. Peroni said that with this type of injury, it would have been an “obvious event” while riding and I can’t think of anything, so that means either a) JJ has hidden it from me for a while which is actually kind of typical for him or b) it was a pasture accident. Either way, it makes me feel just a tiny bit better knowing it wasn’t my fault…

MORE INFO: It’s not a flexor tendon or suspensory ligament issue, which is good! But, given that this has already been “healing” for four months and it’s still a 2″ tear, I can’t even imagine how bad it was when it first happened… UGH. Why is my horse so stoic?? :'(

I couldn’t wait to pick JJ up on Wednesday and give him all the cookies.

Remember that part about JJ speaking English?

Well, the same lady that took him on on Monday also brought him back to me today. She gave me a bag of his things (his shoes they had to take off, etc.) that had some leftover feed in it. I had packed exactly enough for his visit, no more and no less, so I was confused why there were any leftovers at all.

She said he hadn’t had breakfast (due to sedation for the ultrasound-guided PRP that morning) and I was like, well, then there should only be one bag left but there’s two…

She assumed they fed UGA’s grain for one meal by accident, and I joked that ‘OMG if he actually missed two meals, he must be so hungry!’ at which point JJ *immediately* made his food noise followed by his distressed noise in a very clear, “Feed me, I’m starving!” sentence. Uh… was he listening to us??

I’m happy to report that we had a safe trip home, and JJ enjoyed a quick hand graze before he rolled in his stall. I am SO incredibly grateful to the team at UGA for not only taking such great care of him, but for also giving us answers and hope. THANK YOU, Dr. Peroni and team!!

So… am I mad that the first vet wasted so much time (and money) chasing something it very clearly wasn’t? YES, absolutely yes. I even asked early on if it could be a soft tissue injury and they were so convinced that it was navicular (which we have now certified it ISN’T) that they said no. Maybe one day I’ll learn to actually listen to my own intuition…

Similarly, I DO feel guilty as hell though that it took so long to get answers and to get him relief. I wish I had pushed for the MRI earlier so we could have gotten started with treatment sooner, but I wanted to exhaust all of our other “less invasive” options first before having to put him under general anesthesia. Hindsight is 20/20, yeah, but at least now we’ve got a clear vision for the future, too.

For those wondering about the cost, because I *know* y’all are out there – yes, it was expensive but worth every penny. All in all, my UGA bill came in at $3,000+ for the MRI, PRP treatment, two night stay and associated costs. (Plus several thousand more in all the other vet stuff leading up to this visit, ugh.) I am counting my blessings here that I am able to afford it, though, thanks to my day job and a little gift from the Universe…

I knew these bills were going to be big, and I was worried about the expense. With freakishly perfect timing, I had two new clients come to me out of the blue for the month of June as they had gotten some pandemic Paycheck Protection Program money that they needed to spend in order to have their loans forgiven. They hired me to do marketing and web work just for a few weeks, and I am incredibly grateful for that little gift of unexpected extra cash that wound up being exactly what I needed to cover JJ’s bills. Thanks, Universe!

But, anyway… we’re officially sitting out the summer show season and I’m telling myself that’s actually a blessing in disguise, because the summers can be absolutely brutal here in Atlanta, and now I don’t have to school or show through that sweaty misery. And my horsey is gonna be okay, and that’s the most important thing ever. 🙂

LESSON LEARNED

Had a bad ride? Didn’t win your class? Just be grateful to be on your horse, to know that he/she isn’t hurting, and that your future together isn’t in question… because it could always be so much worse and every moment with him/her is still a blessing.

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing

Sometimes things do not go as planned, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something of value to be gained. In this week’s Lessons Learned, republished from our sister website Horse Nation, Ainsley Jacobs discusses just that.

This course looked like so much fun! Bummed I didn’t get to jump it. Photo by Ainsley Jacobs/Ride Heels Down.

I really do learn a lot from failure. We have been trying to get a Training 3-phase done for seven months now, and it just keeps not happening.

Back in April, the cross country course flooded and we had to do a CT instead. There was I had hoped to go to, but JJ wound up lame with a hot nail. After killin’ it at the American Eventing Championships, I was ready to try again with a show in September but a bad abscess meant I had to scratch a day or two before. This time we almost made it, but I’m starting to think the Universe just doesn’t want us to get a Training 3-phase done…

I was really intent on “getting it done” before the end of the year, so when I realized I could go to Poplar Place Farm‘s Harvest Classic Schooling Show, I was so happy to have one more chance!

Except that my awesome coach, Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm was going to be in Ocala that same weekend for a Horse Trials. I very hesitantly asked her if I ‘could go run my first Training 3-phase’ without her and she actually agreed, saying that she felt I was prepared and she was comfortable with it. Okay, cool – having a trainer would be ideal, but the fact that she believed in me enough to be able to do it on my own made me feel great.

JJ and I worked on fitness in the weeks leading up to this event. It was SO nice having a “gas pedal” again after finding out the reason he had been so lethargic lately was because he was anemic! The Red Cell supplement was working, JJ was happy again and I was ready.

And then it started raining in Atlanta the week before the event… And, Lauren realized she needed to be in Ocala earlier than expected to do her jog, which meant I wasn’t going to get my usual Tuesday jump lesson with her to prep. No big deal, JJ is a STAR in stadium so I figured I’d pop around a course myself to freshen up – but the rain meant that couldn’t happen.

So, the Friday before The Big Day, we headed down to Poplar not having jumped in two weeks, not having had a lesson in a week and a half and with no coach. The odds were against us, but I was committed to seeing it through. What could possibly go wrong? I figured either we would succeed or I would die trying – I never considered the fact I wouldn’t even get to try!

The rain hadn’t stopped all week, and Friday was no different. My awesome friend Beth arrived with her handsome OTTB, Andy, and we got the boys settled in since we had decided to do this event alone, together. I knew I needed to go walk my XC course so I could safely and accurately pilot JJ around (and check the footing) so Beth and I ventured out into the wet together.

My shoes were immediately soaked completely through, and it was so cold that my toes pretty much instantly went numb. It was brutal. The ground was slippery, the take offs/landings from most jumps were already torn up from people schooling earlier (but fortunately my Training questions were fairly unused since it was a small group running at that level) and overall it was really sketchy. I was thinking about skipping schooling altogether, but figured I could at least get on and let JJ look at things and see how he felt and make a decision based on him.

And, like the brave, badass eventers that we are, Beth and I tacked up and headed out – right as the rain picked up and got even worse. We decided to trot the course as a warm-up and check on the boys’ stability in the slop. Andy had big studs in, but JJ’s shoes aren’t tapped sooooo we went without ’em (note to self: studs!!).

They both trotted off eagerly, and I have to admit there was a point in the misery where we were trotting side-by-side and I actually thought about how much fun it was to be out there with my barn bestie. Having her alongside me actually made it enjoyable! 🙂

Anyway, we popped a little Beginner Novice fence to “test the waters” (literally, puddles were pooling everywhere!) and JJ was game. I did a very short warm-up simply because I wanted to get the schooling over with and go dry off, so we started hitting the Training questions midway through the course.

I wasn’t able to give JJ the bold, forward, confident ride I had wanted because the terrible footing dictated a more careful, conservative ride, but we DID manage to get through most of it fairly easily. There were two that he wasn’t sure of where he stopped and needed to check things out before going (willingly) over the second time, and that’s fine, considering how crappy the conditions were.

We jumped everything. We jumped the gigantic, maxed out #3 solid. We jumped the scary skinny bench into the woods. We jumped the substantial corner set slightly on the downhill. We jumped the upright solid on the crest of a hill that dropped off big time on the backside (and rode like a massive down bank) straight into a skinny chevron.

We jumped the bending line of big doghouses. We jumped the boat at the marina and rode the quick bending line that dropped into the water. We even jumped our first legitimate Trakehner, even though it was super inviting and not at all scary looking. We did it all – not pretty, but functional – until we came to the log box on top of the big hill.

We ran up and JJ just slowly came to a stop, despite me kicking and cropping. We tried again, same response. Third time, I rode confidently and defensively and used every trick I could think of – he still stopped. Ironically, each time, he immediately put his nose on the box to show me “I’m not scared, I just can’t do it.”

I wasn’t sure what was up, but figured maybe he had enough of the footing and didn’t feel it was safe. And, based on how well he communicates, I figured there was a reason – I just wasn’t sure what it was. I tried him at a slightly smaller jump with a better approach – he still wouldn’t jump.

Four refusals in a row. I didn’t like the idea of putting so many stops on my horse, but didn’t want to fight about it. I figured I needed to cut my losses before one of us got hurt. So, we started heading back. There was a Tadpole jump in the XC warm up – he still said no. He made an executive decision, and we were DONE. The small crossrail and vertical in stadium warmup (with better footing) he cleared easily, though. Weird. But, at least we had finally gotten over something and I decided that was good enough to end on.

Back in the barns, we both got dried off, cleaned up, got somewhat warm, and I checked that JJ still had both shoes on. I told him he was a good boy and that I was proud of him for jumping everything he did in the horrific conditions and that we would work on #13 another day. All in all, we had completed 21 of the 22 jumping efforts on the Training cross country course – without a coach, in slick disgusting slop and without studs – and for that I was grateful.

I also made the decision to drop down from a Training 3-phase to just a Training CT because I was glad we made it through schooling unscathed and didn’t want to push our luck since it was supposed to rain all night and I didn’t expect the footing to get any better.

My husband had generously come along to this event to suffer with me (and to be the “responsible adult” in case I wound up getting hurt since I was technically alone) and we grabbed dinner before checking in to our AirBNB for the night. I had booked a room in an absolutely beautiful historic home from 1903 and it was like stepping back in time.

The hosts, Polly and John, were so welcoming and I was really grateful to have a dry, warm place to crash for the night. If you need a place to stay while showing at Poplar, book their home – you won’t be disappointed!

Saturday morning, the rain had finally stopped and the forecast showed sunshine a perfect riding temperatures in the high 50*s for the day. Yes!! Wanting to get started, I pulled JJ out of his stall and jogged him up the barn aisle just to make sure he was okay after schooling.

He wasn’t.

There was definitely a slight “something wrong” on the right front. It was very subtle, but it was there. I ran into my friend Sarah MacKusick Mills of Iron Star Equestrian who had come up from Florida for the event, too, and she validated my suspicions.

I immediately marched to the show office and scratched.

I also immediately started going down the shame spiral of shitty horse-moming. Did I make the wrong decision to school last night? Was JJ hurt because of something I did? I felt AWFUL and took him on a walk to eat some grass to apologize.

He really didn’t seem very lame, though, and was happy to trot all around… an hour or so later, I pulled his Back on Track Quick Wraps off (which he had been in all night) and OH. MY. GOD.

He wasn’t lame – IT WAS JUST A LOOSE SHOE!!

I really wish I had noticed the night before, when I still would have had time to get a farrier out, but hey – I am just so glad it was something simple, and really incredibly proud of how well JJ performed in some of the worst footing conditions I’ve ever seen. It was absolutely atrocious, and even without studs he still gave me some very good efforts.

I didn’t catch it when I checked his shoes earlier because the BoT wraps were hiding his heel, but his right front had come slightly unset. By then it was too late to call a farrier to come to the venue so it was definitely game over for us for the weekend, but I was SO relieved that he wasn’t actually hurt!

Y tho? 🙁 Photo by Ainsley Jacobs/Ride Heels Down.

I definitely feel better knowing our weekend ended because of a shoe and not something serious, and learned my lesson not only to check ’em after XC but to make sure they’re still set correctly! 😉

Even though we didn’t get to run the Training 3-phase this year like I wanted, we basically ran the entire Training XC course by ourselves (except jump #13, which I now know was JJ telling me “hey dumbass, my shoe is screwed up and I am not jumping”) in the worst conditions I’ve ever seen, and we both survived safely. That’s a win as far as I’m concerned!

LESSON LEARNED

It’s not enough to check that your horse actually has shoes after XC (like I learned back in January) – you’ve got to check that they’re still set correctly, too! Also, don’t assume lame is lame. Lame could just be a twisted shoe. 🙂

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing

Taking a clinic with a world champion eventer is a great opportunity to learn and develop as a rider. It also provides the chance to ask a question that’s been burning for over a decade.

When I was in college (about 15 years ago), my friends and I loved playing the Lucinda Green’s Equestrian Challenge eventing video game. During the cross country portion, she yells something that sounds like “Betsy!” and we’ve always wondered what she was actually saying. So, when I heard that Lucinda Green MBE was coming to Atlanta for a clinic, I immediately signed up – yes, I wanted to ride with her but mostly I just wanted to get an answer to our question. 😉

The one and only, Lucinda Green MBE! Photo by Dr. Holly Breaux.

I signed up for the Training group even though I wasn’t feeling confident about our ability to succeed there, but my wonderful coach, Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm, assured me we would be fine – especially since Novice is a bit easy for us now. I had planned to spend the month before the clinic preparing, but, uh, that didn’t happen.

JJ got a week off after the AECs, we did one easy Training CT and then he pulled a shoe and stepped on the clip in our jumping lesson the following Tuesday… so, we never got that last clear jump round that we needed (*sad trombone*) and he got two more weeks off to recover from the inevitable abscess that followed. Poor kid. 🙁

He got another week (so, basically four in a row) while I was gone for a work trip and then we did the best we could to get in some last-minute fitness before the clinic.

Friday afternoon, JJ and I headed on down to the lovely Ashland Farm property where the clinic was being hosted. We unloaded, promptly met a wonderful couple – Kay and Michael – who were both riding as well (Kay in my Training group and Michael in BN) and got ready to have some fun!

Day One was stadium jumping work out in the field so Lucinda could get an idea of how we also handled the terrain. She focused a lot on footwork and communication, tons of tricky slices and bending lines and other challenging courses, and I’m pleased as punch to report that JJ excelled! He’s always great with his feet and is super handy thanks to his stock horse breeding.

At one point, Lucinda even called him a “brilliant little horse” and I have to say, she’s right!

We only had two “oops” moments: the first was a pilot error on my part where I just totally missed the line to a big log and he was surprised at the last second so he (rightfully) stopped and the other involved us smashing a jump pole in half. The latter was a part of an exercise where we jumped in to the center of two jump poles set in a chevron shape, resting on a center cavaletti riser block.

We had tried something similar a few years back and JJ literally bellyflopped/faceplanted and we went down hard (my chiropractor later told me I had likely fractured my hip in that accident) so I had some lingering nerves going into this, of course, but after basically a deja vu of what happened the last time (minus the falling-on-his-face part, thank God) which resulted in the pole getting broken, JJ was perfect through it the next few times.

After snapping a jump pole in half, we found redemption! Photo by Dr. Holly Breaux.

Anyway. I had arranged to stay at a nearby AirBNB that night so I didn’t have to drive 1.5 hours home. JJ had his own AirBNB over at Montclair Stables, where Kay and Michael also board their horses. When they realized I was “alone,” they very generously invited me to out to dinner which was a ton of fun, and then followed me to my AirBNB to make sure I was not going to get murdered to death.

Spoiler alert: I did not die. 🙂

I wound up not getting much sleep that night since there were dogs barking (OMGSTFU) but was excited to get on with Day Two of the clinic – cross country!! Our group wasn’t scheduled to go until 3pm, so after I fed JJ and took him on a walk at Montclair, I went over to Ashland to watch the Beginner Novice group go and to have lunch.

After, I headed back to Montclair, picked JJ’s stall, got him and all of his “luggage” loaded back up and we drove the ten minutes back to Ashland. When I got on, I knew he was tired and I was lagging, too… but I guess that helped because neither of us had any nerves!

The cross country portion of the clinic was a total blast. Lucinda had us continuing on the previous day’s concepts. We started walk-jumping a log (which JJ apparently found incredibly challenging and basically refused to do, ugh) and then worked on relaxing up/down banks.

Next, she gave us a few courses to run and he conquered every question effortlessly, including a jump set on the top of a little crest (so, jumping downhill) with a sharp right turn to a preliminary corner. He was perfect, and later when we came through the coffin, I heard Lucinda through my headset make a comment about “that is the only horse to do a proper coffin canter!”

Yay, JJ!! ♥ In reality, my desire for self-preservation is what helps us get that right. Haha.

Overall, it was a fabulous clinic and an absolutely amazing opportunity to ride for Lucinda Green MBE.

Full disclosure: I am an uneducated American and assumed that meant something like “Master of British Eventing” or whatever but I Googled it because I was curious and – turns out – it’s actually an incredibly prestigious title of honor bestowed upon a British citizen that means “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.” WOW, impressive!!

Lucinda was a great instructor, firm yet kind, and it was obvious she wanted to give us all opportunities to succeed.

Finally, we finished up at the water complex. Other than a small 6″ step down which doesn’t really count, we had never dropped in to water before. Like, ever. I don’t know how we’ve gotten this far in our eventing without having to do it, but the idea of it made me want to hurl.

I don’t particularly like down banks, and I don’t really want to experience getting dumped in the water, so… yeah. But, I told myself to “suck it up, buttercup” and we gave it a go and guess what? JJ did it like he had been dropping into water his whole life! I was SO proud of him!! It was a lot easier than I expected.

Okay okay, it’s small, but it’s our first legitimate drop into water! Photo courtesy Marble Hill Farm.

Somehow, I had made it through two days without remembering to ask “the question” so, as we wrapped up at the end of the clinic and she asked if anyone had questions, I jumped at the chance. I prefaced it by saying it was something very weird, pulled out my phone, played a video recording of the “Betsy!” sound clip and asked…

Her response to my 15-year-long mystery? “I simply have no idea. It was most likely an error in the recording studio.” Other riders gathered around, intrigued, and no one else could figure it out either. It was the most perfectly imperfect answer and I haven’t stopped laughing since!

To wrap up an amazing two days of eventing inspiration, on the walk back to our trailers, my friends Beth, Anna Rose and Eileen (who had all come to audit), were having a “picnic” and so JJ and I stopped in for snacks. He enjoyed a glass of rosé, some cheese and crackers, hummus, popcorn and a donut for his hard work and as a thank you for not embarrassing mom. 😉

Oh, and that whole “me not feeling like we were ready to be in the Training group” thing? Yeah, we freakin’ CRUSHED it! Credit goes to JJ and to Lauren for preparing us so well. Thanks, team.

LESSON LEARNED

Some mysteries are best left unsolved.

Seventh in Beginner Novice Amateur, and 2nd in the Adult Team Challenge – wow! Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing.

After a week at the Kentucky Horse Park in my Ride Heels Down vendor booth and hanging out with JJ, it was time for the real reason we came – competing in the USEA American Eventing Championships!

We had qualified by accident (read the story behind that here) at Beginner Novice, and after we scored a 34 on our last Training dressage test, I figured we might have a decent chance at finishing well.

Friday morning I got up extra early, headed to the horse park and threw JJ his breakfast. I had bathed him the night before and – magically – he managed to stay clean so no last-minute scrubbing was needed. I tacked him up, cut the tags off a brand new, special outfit that I had been saving just for the occasion, got dressed and got on to walk down to dressage warm-up.

JJ felt connected, had good energy and was actually somewhat listening! Coach Lauren was there for me with some great advice and helped make the most of the prep time. Soon, our number was called and we trotted right in to the main arena for our turn to be judged.

Overall, the test was good. JJ was damn steady in the bridle and soft through all the bending portions. He did take one canter step in a corner where we were supposed to be trotting, but that’s just him being super balanced and doing his typical “I want to help!” thing. I quickly brought him back down, and we got through the rest without a bobble.

When we left the arena, I wasn’t sure what to think but my coach was standing there with a HUGE smile on her face and said it was one of the best tests we had ever ridden. I was glad I had made her proud, and felt like I had ridden as best I could.

Usually I don’t like to know my score until the very end of an event, so even though Lauren said we were fab, I didn’t want to check… a few friends sent “congrats!” texts and messages which I strategically avoided, but one popped up on my phone and I saw that we had gotten a 33.5 – ack!

I had no clue where we were in the overall standings relative to the rest of the 34-horse class, but gotta say I was a bit disappointed that we scored almost exactly the same as our last Training test, despite being two levels lower. Oh well… I did my best to just “suck it up, buttercup” and moved on to the next phase of fun – cross country!

I had heard a bunch of people talking about how they had gotten lost on their XC courses, so I tried extra hard to make sure I knew where I was going. I did a course walk with Lauren and everything seemed straightforward. Since we’re used to jumping Training at this point, I knew JJ was going to rock it as long as I did my job up there.

I woke up on Saturday feeling okay. I had studied the course map and gone over it a thousand times in my head, but was still worried about getting lost. I fed, groomed, tacked up and tried (unsuccessfully) to convince myself I wasn’t nervous. Eventually, I got on and headed down to XC for my 9:54 am ride time.

Warm up went really well, and we left the start box with JJ super eager to get going. He was a little pissed that jump one was teeny tiny, and he got a light crop tap on the shoulder to warn him against any silliness, but he went easily through the first eight without any trouble at all. I had no choice about the jumps – he was taking me and we were GOING!

Meanwhile, my fear came true – I did a crap job at being the GPS. I got mixed up coming in to the first water and almost missed it completely, but finally saw it at the last second and was able to correct and get through without any issues. (Guess I shoulda walked the course a second time!)

As we were coming into the last section of the course, I checked my watch to see where we were on time. I realized – horrified – that it had not started counting down like it was supposed to. JJ had been running lightly and easily, but I know even his relaxed XC pace can still be quick, so I did a fast guesstimation and decided to hit the remaining jumps at a more collected canter type pace.

I was so relieved to hear the announcer confirm we were safe and had gone double clear as we crossed the finish line, even without my watch working!

The Head of the Lake! I was having fun but JJ wanted more of a challenge. Photo courtesy Xpress Foto.

We even got to splash through the famous Head of the Lake like it was a kiddie pool, which was such a super fun experience! I tried really hard to smile for the photos, but it’s tough to mouth-breathe *and* smile. I only managed to remember to smile here because I heard my friends Carol Tresan and her daughter Devon (who gifted me a gorgeous pink bling brow band for dressage!) cheer me on as we went through. Thanks, ladies!

I guess the navigation fail and watch mishap were just the Universe’s way of giving me *something* to stress about, since the jumps themselves didn’t worry me at all. Because it’s not cross country without at least a little anxiety, right? 😉

Knowing we had earned the right to jump stadium on Sunday in the harrowed Rolex Arena, I got up extra early to make sure I had time to braid. I still had no clue where we were in the standings, but Lauren estimated when my ride time would be and I realized that, with the reverse order of go, it meant we weren’t sucking. The pressure was on!

Going in to warm-up, I was still oblivious of our place. Lauren was in charge of managing my time and I’m so grateful that she did a perfect job of warming us up. When we moved to the second warm-up arena right before we headed into the ring, I saw my number on the board and realized we were 12th. Wow!

Finally, it was go time. We trotted in to the massive arena and JJ was like “WHAT IS ALL OF THIS?!” I was like, “It’s stadium jumping, that’s all.” Then he passed a sunflower jump and was like “OHMYGOD NO,” and I was like, “You better get over it quick, because you’re going to have to literally get over it in about a minute.”

Nice and tidy with those knees, he did his job flawlessly. Photo courtesy Xpress Foto.

Waiting on the final results was actually a huge relief. We had finished, and I had survived without falling off. I never wish a rail on anyone, but it was really exciting as my friend Brooke Webb from The Vista kept me updated on the placings as we moved up, Up, UP!

The course and jumps weren’t a challenge for us, but the atmosphere added difficulty. It wasn’t pretty, and it was actually a lot tougher than I expected with so many things to look at, but I am so proud to say that JJ put his little game face on and, despite all the distractions, we finished double clear!

Ultimately, JJ and I finished 7th of 34 entries in the Beginner Novice Amateur division, ending on our dressage score which sure felt like a win to me! We got an absolutely gorgeous purple ribbon for our efforts, enjoyed a quick photo session and did a victory gallop with the rest of our group. FUN!!

I had signed up to ride in the Adult Team Challenge, too, because why the heck not? Later that day after the results were in, I was amazed to see my Area III group, the Belles On The Bit, had finished 2nd out of 14! JJ had left earlier with Lauren (no point in them waiting around) so I hustled back down to the Rolex Arena for the ATC awards presentation and got an awesome neck ribbon (my first) and a great goodie bag… and then I did the victory gallop *on foot* with the rest of my team and their horses.

I was absolutely EXHAUSTED by the time it was all over, but it had been 100% worth it to be able to take home a Top Ten finish at my first AEC. Vending and competing was tough, but thanks to my trainer, Lauren, my team and to my husband, Erik, who made sure JJ got lots of hand-walking and grazing time, it was manageable. Lauren’s coaching was critical to our success, and I am so grateful to her for helping us be able to finish as well as we did.

Throughout the week, so many great people stopped by my booth and I made a bunch of awesome new friends. I really enjoy meeting and cheering on the other riders, and I’m thankful to everyone who came by to support me as well. And, of course, the biggest thank you goes to the United States Eventing Association and all its sponsors for a truly memorable event!

(For those interested, we had been 16th after dressage, 12th after cross country, and 7th after stadium – a move up of nine places!)

LESSON LEARNED

If you have the chance to go to the AEC, do it!! It doesn’t matter what level you’re at – just getting there in itself is a huge accomplishment. Also, don’t do the victory gallop on foot. I’m still out of breath!

RESULTS

Date: August 26-September 1, 2019
Location: Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY
Division: Beginner Novice Amateur Championship 3-Phase
Type: USEA Recognized Event, American Eventing Championships
Final Score: 33.50
Result: 7th + 2nd in the Adult Team Challenge!

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing

In this week’s Lessons Learned, Ainsley Jacobs reminisces on the importance of sharing when it comes to showing horses. Where would most of us be without it?

I think I’ll keep him. 🙂 Photo by Abigail Goodwin.

After learning that we had qualified for the American Eventing Championships, I wanted to get one last cross country schooling session in before JJ and I left for Kentucky, so we hopped on down to Chattahoochee Hills to do that and pop around a Training CT as well.

A work trip the weekend before the show meant I didn’t sit on JJ for an entire week. He let me know he had plenty of energy to spare in our first ride back, a jump lesson on Tuesday, and again during our flat lesson on Thursday. That ride, though, wasn’t what I had hoped.

To be honest, the Thursday lesson was shit. There’s some crap going on in my personal life and my mind just wasn’t there, which is weird because, usually, everything else disappears when I’m at the barn. This time, though, it followed me around the arena. My coach reminded me of all the little things I knew I should be doing but just wasn’t capable of comprehending at the moment. She was patient with my sudden regression of riding ability, and I appreciated it. And JJ did a great job participating despite my lack of being involved. My heart just wasn’t in it.

Friday I hauled down to Chatt, got JJ settled in, and tacked up for what was supposed to be a “light cross country school” to prep for the AECs. We wound up schooling a good portion of the Training course instead. All of which was fun and not at all scary, and did a ton of ditches and down banks (our weak points) and even the most trakehner-y faux-trakehner we’ve ever done. It was exactly what we both needed to get a boost of confidence.

That evening, I crashed at my barn bestie Beth’s house since she has a wonderful farm only five minutes away from Chatt. Her awesome husband, Josh, cooked us dinner and we relaxed and caught up since we don’t get to see each other nearly as often as I’d like. I promise I was a responsible adult and only had one drink and even went to bed early, but I woke up the next morning with a horse show hangover before the show even got started… hah!

I was exhausted and surprisingly sore from cross country schooling. So, after throwing JJ his breakfast and getting set up for the day’s fun, I enjoyed my favorite non-riding part of an event and took a nap. My fabulous coach Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm called about an hour later and asked me to come walk the stadium course again (it had changed slightly since we walked it the day before), but I bailed and went to eat lunch instead, then took another nap. #priorities

FINALLY, it was time to get ready for my 2:41pm dressage ride. JJ had enjoyed a good nap, too, so I woke up him and tacked up. We walked on down to warm-up and got started. He’s been great about trot lengthenings lately, but kept breaking into a canter in warm-up. Oh well, no biggie. Everything else felt solid, so in we went.

For the first half of our Training Test A, I was being chased by a bee right next to my ear and I was more focused on not dying rather than riding. The rest of the test went fairly well, and I purposely chose to keep our free walk and our trot/canter lengthenings conservative so he didn’t break gait. I felt like it was a mediocre test, but was pleased with how steady JJ was in the bridle overall. And I was pleased the bee did not kill me. 🙂

(I didn’t find out until the end of the day, but we had scored a 34.1! I didn’t care at first, but then I realized not only is that a better-than-average score for us, it’s actually a REALLY good score for us especially considering we were riding Training and not Novice!)

After more downtime, JJ and I headed down for our 4:38pm stadium ride. Unlike our last Training CT where I felt outclassed in warm-up, this time I felt confident and totally at ease. JJ was practically laughing at the warm up fences, and after a bit of a delay, we headed in right around 5:00pm. (Did I mention how effing hot it was? Because, holy crap, 5pm in GEORGIA in AUGUST is NOT FUN.)

It was a pretty twisty course, but that’s where JJ excels with his great cornering and automatic lead changes. Coach Lauren had reminded me to ride forward to the 5AB one-stride combo, so I did and it was textbook perfect. So, when we came to the 9AB one-stride combo, I guess my brain wrongly assumed it would be as good without any real effort… BIG shout out to JJ here for saving my ass and carrying us through safely and cleanly even though he had to add a chip. The GPS (as I call myself) glitched and I was grateful he had his autopilot mode engaged. 😉

Other than my “derp” moment, JJ was foot perfect the entire course and nailed every distance. We had a few lucky rubs but only took one rail at the end with a very slight hind-end tap, and I came out of the arena smiling and laughing because he had made it so much FUN. I still can’t believe that Training is so easy now after I used to cry in Beginner Novice warm-up.

I can only hope that everyone, one day, gets to enjoy a horse like JJ who makes jumping such a real joy.

We wound up finishing third, and I had an absolute blast. I was SO proud of JJ and how well he did, despite the heat.

Throughout the event, I noticed a theme… sharing.

Thanks to Lori & Jon Goodwin for sharing their time.
When I first arrived, my box fan wasn’t working. I thought it was the outlet, but it turned out the fan had died. And, with it being August and all, I really didn’t want to compete without one for JJ… but my River Birch family generously stepped up and made sure JJ got what he needed by making a Walmart run to get me a new fan.

Thanks to Abigail Goodwin sharing her equipment.
I forgot to pack my dressage pad after washing it last time, and Abby rescued me. I returned the favor my loaning her a sun shirt and a cross country watch. 🙂

Thanks to Beth Clymer for sharing her home and hosting a horsey slumber party.
Getting to spend the night hanging out with one of my closest friends was a real treat, and saved me a ton on not having to get a hotel. Plus, the dinner her husband cooked us was a nice surprise!

Thanks to Ansley Benfield for sharing her friendship, and her muscle.
I met Ansley at the 2018 Area III Championships when JJ tried to join her and her horse, Dawson, on XC and we’ve been friends ever since. She didn’t have her team to stable with this time out, so she was an honorary Team River Birch member for the weekend AND she helped me load my trailer in a hustle once the day was done and there was a storm moving in.

Thanks to Lauren Turner for sharing her excellent coaching and support, as always.
Because I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her.

And, of course, thanks to JJ for sharing his heart with me. ♥
He’s pretty dang perfect.

Here’s video of our super fun stadium round:

LESSON LEARNED

Share. Share your gear, share your snacks, share your horse, but most importantly, share your kindness.

RESULTS

Date: August 3, 2019
Location: Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, GA
Division: Training CT
Type: GDCTA Recognized Event
Final Score: 34.1 + 4 = 38.1
Result: 3rd

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing

“We’re average, but at least we’re consistently average.” In this week’s Lessons Learned, Ainsley Jacobs discusses feeling average as she continues to compete on JJ in eventing.

Decent dressage, but still needs work. Photo by Eric Nalbone.

I just got home from the USEA Area III Championships at Poplar Place Farm and it was definitely a weekend of ups and downs. Metaphorically, that is. I didn’t actually fall off this time. 😉

A month ago, I went to Poplar to run the May Horse Trials at Novice to “prep” for this event and had a really disheartening finish. I was hoping for redemption this time out, but it was – unfortunately – a bit of the same.

I hauled in on Thursday, had a quick flat school in the evening with coach Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm and went to bed feeling optimistic.

Friday’s dressage ride time was scheduled for 11:22am, and I was grateful because it had been brutally hot all week and I was roasting. We kept warm-up short, which JJ seems to prefer, and I trotted on in to knock out our Novice Test B.

JJ was pretty relaxed, too, and spent a lot of time doing this. 🙂 Photo by Ainsley Jacobs.

I’m happy to report that the test felt nice. Not fabulous, not awful, just nice. He said “okay, sure” to everything, didn’t fuss, fight or toss his head at all (which is a huge improvement for us), and only tried to show off his signature “trot when we should be walking” move once. I was pleased overall and thought it would be an improvement from our usual mid-30s score.

That evening, Poplar’s owner Launa Des Portes treated us to free pizza and beer, which I thoroughly appreciated, then Team River Birch had a relaxing cookout (yay second dinner!) at the camper. After, I headed back to my hotel to shower and get appropriately nervous about cross country.

After JJ stopped at the down bank at our last event, and an epic trail riding accident last weekend (long story short: we were out with friends, tried to cross the Etowah river and one horse literally cannonballed in, practically landing on top of JJ, who bolted and wound up withers-deep in the water and had to swim upstream against the current to get us out. I was SO glad I had my Western saddle to hang on to, but the other rider wasn’t as lucky and wound up with a badly broken leg. The horses, miraculously, were fine.) I wasn’t sure if JJ would even go into the water… and we had two water crossings to navigate on our course.

I told myself not to dwell on the past, and hope that JJ wouldn’t either, and chose to give him the best, most confident ride that I could. We headed out of the start box, tackled the first beefy jump on our course, and immediately had a disagreement about which way to go.

It seems JJ remembers Poplar’s old course, which had been the same for years, so when I asked him to turn left through the woods, he told me I was an idiot. I finally convinced him to do a NASCAR impression, we turned left, popped the second jump and then… more discussions about navigation. So, we basically serpentine-d into jump three, and had to have a brief pause to “reset the GPS” and remind him who was in charge of steering. Hint: not him.

Jumps 4A-B were an up bank out of the water and a fence a few strides after. I felt him lighten in the bridle for a split second as he hesitated going in, but I closed my leg and told him it was safe, and he listened. I felt his confidence kick back in a stride or two into the water, and it was smooth sailing (pun intended) after that.

Every other jump, including the small corner, was great. He was bold over the ditch through the coffin and actually let me steer for the rest of the course. Unfortunately, the “conversations” early on cost us, even though we galloped quite a bit, and we were a few seconds over optimum time… so 4.40 penalties got tacked on to our dressage score on an otherwise clear (and totally awesome, easy peasy) XC run.

With “the hard parts” and my fears about JJ’s lingering water issues out of the way, it was time to focus on enjoying the competitor party – and stadium jumping. The course was really twisty, but somewhat similar to what we had run last time… the same stone wall that JJ stopped at last time, too, was also on course as jump #1. It was “do or die” time.

Sunday rolled and I had a feeling we were well out of the ribbons due to dressage and the cross country time, so I just wanted to get stadium over with. After a less-than-ideal warm up, we headed over to watch a few rounds go before it was our turn. The course was tough and people were taking rails left and right. JJ felt ready, though, and I wanted to go out on a high note.

JJ had opinions that the fences should be bigger. Photo by Eric Nalbone.

Coming in to the first jump, JJ got two light crop smacks on the shoulder to remind him not to think about ducking out – and he didn’t! He was totally perfect over the scary stone wall, effortlessly cruised around the rest of the course and didn’t take down a single rail. We had done it – we finished out the event strong with a double clear round.

…Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to move us up to a ribbon placing. Ultimately, we finished 11th overall as we had scored a dismal 34.60 in dressage. There were 16 in my Senior Novice Rider Championship division, and only five in the Novice Horse Championship class… looking back, I sure wish I had registered for that instead. Because maybe then we would be going to the AECs. 🙁

Regardless, I was so proud of JJ and so pleased with his performances all weekend! He really was wonderful, and I’m always happy to finish with him safe and sound. He doesn’t know he didn’t win… and as far as I’m concerned, he’s the best horse out there.

On my side, though, the honest truth is I’ve been eventing now for five years, and even though I haven’t won a 3-phase yet, I still go into every single event genuinely hoping that “maybe today will be the day, maybe this will finally be *my* event” …and it never is. I keep thinking it’s possible, and my friends all tell me I “don’t suck,” but the reality of looking at the results tells me otherwise.

I’m starting to think I shouldn’t bother with the recognized shows anymore. It’s a LOT of money to consistently wind up mid-pack or last and that takes a lot of the joy out of it for me. I might just stick to schooling shows – they’re cheaper, I can just have fun and there’s no pressure of [not] qualifying for AECs to get me down. I think I’m going to take off July and August from showing (because Atlanta summers are HELL), regroup and then see what happens… this sport is fun, and I want to actually enjoy being average without being disappointed, too.

IRONIC TWIST-OF-FATE UPDATE: The Tuesday after the event, at which point I had already given up on qualifying for the AECs (at Novice), my friend and fellow River Birch Farm teammate Abigail Goodwin informed me that I DID in fact qualify… at Beginner Novice. Wait, what?! It seems I had gotten the placing requirements for BN settled last summer (finished third at the 2018 Area III Championships and also scored a 2nd – which was upgraded to 1st due to my amateur status – at a Horse Trials a month later) but never completed the “three clear XC rounds” requirement since the 2018 AEC was in Colorado and I knew I wasn’t going so I didn’t care. But, unbeknownst to me, those XC rounds didn’t all have to actually be at BN… so when I went clear at our first USEA Novice Horse Trials this year, I actually completed the requirements for my BN qualification and I’ve been AEC-bound since January without ever knowing! HA!! And I never would have even bothered to check if not for Abby, so all the credit goes to her. 🙂

LESSON LEARNED

We’re average, but at least we’re consistently average. And hey – someone’s got to be at the bottom of the bunch so that someone else can be at the top, right? Maybe this is just my place in life… to enable others to succeed. *shrug*

RESULTS

Date: May 31-June 2, 2019
Location: Poplar Place Farm in Hamilton, GA
Division: Novice 3-Phase Championship
Type: USEA Recognized Event
Final Score: 39.00
Result: 11th

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing

In this week’s Lessons Learned, Ainsley Jacobs takes a look at what she learned from competing in less-than-desirable weather and footing conditions.

Although it was originally supposed to be our first Training 3-Phase, I’m happy to say that our second Training CT is in the books!

The week before, coach Lauren Turner got the flu (poor girl!) and was laid up in bed during our usual Tuesday lesson. Thinking back to the last time I suffered the same fate, I didn’t know if she was going to make it to our event that weekend (and wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t), so I mentally prepared to have to run my first Training 3-phase on my own. Not that I wanted to, but the fact that I didn’t immediately start crying and talk about scratching shows how much stronger my mental game has gotten.

Fortunately, Lauren recovered quickly and was able to give me and JJ a good flat lesson on Thursday. After, I packed my gear and trailer and headed home to enjoy a nice dinner with a good friend who had come in from out of town.

That night, one of the worst storms in recent years rolled through the area, complete with torrential rain, insane lightning and a few tornadoes. I, however, was blissfully unaware due to the fact that I had enjoyed a massive milkshake at dinner and – wanting to prevent any sugar-induced sleeplessness – had wisely arranged a meeting with my good friend Ambien. 😉

Friday morning I woke up well rested (storm? what storm? LOL) and headed over to Beaumont Farm to hitch up. It was still raining, and I was really glad I had packed everything (including hay) the night before so I didn’t get too soaked. My lesson buddy, show partner in crime and fellow business woman extraordinaire, Mary Campbell of Mare Goods, met me there and together we got our kids loaded.

The drive to Chatt Hills wasn’t bad, I just went slow to account for the conditions, and we arrived on time. However, as we pulled in, I noticed the teeny tiny little creek that usually doesn’t even register on my radar had overflowed and had completely flooded the road to enter the facility. I thought briefly about “just going for it” but didn’t want to risk being one of those idiots who got washed away and wound up on the news – especially with the horses in the back.

Almost immediately, though, my knight in shining Kubota appeared, and one of the facility’s workers assured me that I could take a small bypass – even though it was also flooded. He had smartly marked the road with stakes so we could stay on the path, and had measured the water at only about 12″ – we should be able to clear it. So, I powered on and forded the river with my trusty Ford. We didn’t float away (or die of dysentery), so that was a plus.

The river had flooded a large portion of the XC field, so schooling wound up being cancelled. Bummer.

With the day a wash out, I settled JJ in and froze my ass off – the forecast had originally shown temps in the 70s, but it wound up being in the 50s (with 40s predicted for the overnight) and I was woefully under-dressed. And wet. And miserable.

To make life better, our River Birch Farm team had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. ‘Cause cheese dip is the remedy for everything.

During dinner, Lauren gave me a “course walk talk” and ran through every jump with me and how to ride it… because the plan, at that moment, was to still run XC. That meant I would be doing my first Training 3-phase without having schooled it first, like a recognized. Oh lawdy. Cue me wanting to throw up.

(I gotta mention: my husband, Erik, was planning on coming on Saturday to watch, but when he heard how wet and cold I was, he drove down late Friday night to come to my rescue with a bunch of dry, warm clothes so I wouldn’t have to wait on him the next morning… #herohusband)

So. The Chatt Hills team had hoped the river would recede by Saturday morning, but when we woke up, it was STILL RAINING and the flooding had actually gotten worse. They made the call to cancel XC completely and run all the 3-phase divisions as CTs instead. I was partly relieved and partly disappointed, surprisingly – I really wanted to try that Training XC course!

Anyway, with my 3-phase hopes and dreams (temporarily) on hold, we got ready for dressage. A friend of mine from the racecar world/my day job, Joe Charles, and his totally awesome daughter, Danielle, came out to brave the weather to watch. Danielle rides hunters and is curious about this eventing stuff, so it was really fun to have her there and get to show her a bit of what we do. 🙂

JJ and I headed down to the sandbox and it was, to put it mildly, not our best work (I feel like I say that a lot?). He was totally jazzed from the unexpected cold snap and the wind, and I just tired to manage it as best as I could. We had some really nice moments in our test, including a fairly decent left lead canter lengthening, and some really giraffe-y moments, including going back to a collected canter after said lengthening. G, halt, salute, celebrate that it’s over.

We had about an hour to kill between phases, so JJ snuggled in his stall and I did the same in my car. Finally, it was time to go down to jump so we could be done and go home and get dry!

The warm-up arena for stadium jumping quickly devolved into a combination shit-show thanks to the wind and the wet, and pretend hunter arena as we were all hollering “on your inside!” “taking the outside!” so we wouldn’t kill each other as we passed. It was somewhat comical. One girl had her hands full managing a clearly freaked out young horse (seriously, she did an awesome job) who was bucking, kicking out, rear-spinning, and generally actin’ a fool. At one point he tried to get JJ involved and my saintly little horse was just, like, ‘meh, that’s too much effort’ and trotted by without flicking an ear. Love him.

As we were going around, I’ll admit there was a moment where I felt really intimidated. Here were all these fancy, purpose-bred, purpose-built eventing machines with their long legs and fabulous physiques… and my compact little stock horse. I felt outclassed, like we were pretending and had no right to be there.

I’ve been working a lot lately on the mental portion of my riding, and recognized that negativity as soon as the thought popped into my head. I quickly told myself to STFU, and reminded myself that we had worked just as hard as everyone else and YES, we actually DID deserve to be there. Instead of being intimidated by them, I chose to (hopefully) believe they thought it was cool that we – the underdogs – were there, too.

After an okay-ish warmup, we parked by the in gate and waited to be called by the lovely Aly Rattazzi who was managing the chaos. The cold began to set in again, and I realized that my car accident broken foot was completely numb. Uh oh.

There was a stone wall at jump #4 that went straight towards some scary, flappy flags that a lot of horses were stopping at, so when we went in to wait for the bell, I made sure to show it to JJ – and he didn’t care one bit. We started our course and he felt really great, despite the slippery, wet footing sucking away some of his energy.

As we approached #4, he seemed okay but I gave him a crop tap on the left shoulder just in case, since he usually ducks left… but the little bugger ducked out to the right instead!! I stayed on, thankfully, and circled back to it only to have JJ go over flawlessly, like he had seen it a thousand times. Whatevs.

Despite not being able to feel a thing in my left foot, we made it through. We finished up the course with no other issues, ending with one rail, the one refusal, and some time for having to make the circle. People even said our round looked good – although I’m not sure if they were being serious or just being nice. 😉

Overall, I was really proud of JJ. I know he is starting to max out at Training, and he really tried so hard. Despite the cold, the wind, the rain, and the less than ideal footing, he gave me a great effort and that’s all I can ask for.

LESSON LEARNED

We have worked hard for it, and we absolutely deserve to be here. Also, PACK ALL THE THINGS.

RESULTS

Date: April 20, 2019
Location: Chattahoochee Hills Eventing in Fairburn, GA
Division: Training CT
Type: GDCTA Recognized Event
Final Score: 46.60
Result: 7th

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

With another event coming up soon, it was time for Ainsley Jacobs and her horse JJ to hit the practice field to work on some trouble spots: down banks and ditches. What did Ainsley learn?

Practicing the double down banks. Photo by Carol Lane Tresan.

We’ve got another event coming up this weekend (yay!) so today coach Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm took JJ and I out for a quick freshening up.

We started out on Wise Horses Farm‘s gorgeous race track since I definitely need help with my gallop position. I had never really been taught a correct gallop position, just kinda did whatever felt right while we were on XC – and it wasn’t all that great. So, Lauren went over the basics with me and I let JJ have a little run while I worked things out.

Turns out, I had been doing it wrong. Lauren instructed me to put weight in the outsides of my stirrups, hold a bit with my knee and focus on tightening my inner thigh – lightbulb moment!! It hurt a bit (since I’m not used to using those muscles in that way) but I felt a lot more stable.

Oddly enough, though, when I told JJ it was okay to run, he responded “meh” and didn’t really move out under me. I had really wanted to go flat out since we had an amazing racing surface to be safe on, but instead we had a nice little hand gallop that felt somewhat uninspired. Oh well. I guess if there aren’t jumps around, it’s not worth his time.

Galloping: we were doing it wrong. Photo by Carol Lane Tresan.

After about fifteen minutes on the track, we headed into the “infield” where a brand new cross country course had been built. Lauren wanted to touch on our trouble spots (down banks and ditches) to make sure we went into this weekend feeling confident.

…We started over some Training questions… seriously. That was the warm-up! And my little horsie said “yay, let’s go!” without any hesitation. Who is he!? I’m so proud of the partner he’s become!

Next we moved over to the banks, and Lauren had us go up and down. She reminded me to keep my eyes up and look out ahead, and suddenly the down bank (which is our absolute weakest part of XC) felt much less awful! Amazing how that works, huh? This whole “Eyes Up” thing is a game changer. Anyway, she then had us do a two-stride double up bank to a hanging log, circle back around and come down the double – and it was easy! I loved it! Dare I say I actually want more down banks now? Eep.

Finally, we headed to the ditch area and did a small coffin a couple times before heading to the water. We splashed through, popped a couple jumps, and finished up with a little drop in. I kept my eyes up (like Lauren said) and JJ went right on in like he had been doing it his whole life. I really need to start trusting him more.

By this point, JJ’s blood was up and he was ready to RUN (oh, NOW he’s ready to gallop…) but I wanted to keep things light, since he’s getting older (nearly 16 now) and we have an event coming up I figured it was best not to push things. Instead, we (reluctantly) cooled out and called it a day.

LESSON LEARNED

My “Heels Down, Eyes Up” and “Trust Your Horse” t-shirts exist for a reason – riding is a lot easier when you actually follow that advice! Haha.

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing

I was SO proud of JJ for how he stepped up to every question! Photo by Danielle Ayan | eye-on-images.com.

Coach Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm arranged for us to have a private clinic with legendary international event rider Buck Davidson while we’re here hanging out in Florida and JJ and I were lucky enough to be able to attend!

Yesterday afternoon, we trailered over to Buck’s beautiful barn and got going with our warmup. He started us off in his jump arena and we worked over poles to focus first on straightness. It was an interesting exercise to get back to basics and expose all of our weaknesses, and I liked how Buck paid attention to doing things right rather than rushing into anything.

Soon we progressed to actual jumps, and JJ and I volunteered to go first. He was, of course, absolutely wonderful and did everything I asked and made me so proud. Surprisingly, I had no nerves whatsoever riding for Buck, probably because I was too busy having so much fun! (I learned last year that there’s no point in being perfect in a clinic, so maybe that was it, too.)

Later, we moved into the cross country field to tackle some solid obstacles. Buck told us that, with the exception of three or four questions, everything was set at Training height or higher and, incredibly, about 85% of the stuff actually seemed like stuff we could do.

He gave us a few small courses to run, and JJ was wonderful. He put us over a brush jump that was larger than I was comfortable with and I definitely didn’t ride it straight enough or confidently enough so JJ stopped, but he gave me plenty of warning so I stayed on, came back around, and popped it easily the second time.

We also tackled our very first corner (and JJ was a BOSS!) and a few other “scary” fences that were crazy stupid fun – we had a blast!!

I’m super grateful for the opportunities we’re enjoying the privilege of being a part of this week, and highly recommend to anyone considering coming to Ocala to absolutely make it happen!

LESSON LEARNED

The hunters are right! Don’t let your horse think the last jump means he’s done – finish every round with a proper closing circle to help prevent him from quitting early when it counts.

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

It’s not a picture of the coffin, but this chevron is still damn cute with the matching pink flowers. Photo by Xpress Foto.

Earlier this year, my coach Lauren Turner of River Birch Farm offered to put together a field trip to Florida for her team. I had so much fun wintering in Ocala last year that I said yes, of course!

We hauled down to our ten-day temporary home at Wise Horses Farm (owned by Olympian Ronald Zabala-Goetschel) on Thursday, got the horses settled in to the absolutely gorgeous facility, and got some rest.

Friday morning, JJ and I had a flat lesson with Lauren and got a much-needed tune up. JJ also got a much-needed bath, as he was so filthy that he had leaves stuck to his sides after rolling in the pasture – seriously.

Saturday morning we loaded up and drove the 1.5 miles to the Florida Horse Park. (Have I mentioned how insanely perfect this location is?!) Lauren suggested we try a new strategy for JJ’s dressage warm up where we keep it super short, and I’m pleased to say that it paid off. He was much more cooperative during than usual, appropriately relaxed, and I left the arena feeling like we had put in a really good test.

After, we came back to the trailer, I tied JJ in front of his hay bag, and went off to watch Lauren run her Training cross country. When we came back later, he was still there and looked half asleep, but one of my teammates, Carol Lane Tresan, told me he had gone on a pretty epic adventure.

It was really windy, and apparently one of the trailer’s tack room doors flew open and scared the crap out of him but he stayed put… until a saddle pad flew out a few seconds later and went right up between his hind legs under his belly. Can’t blame him, but he absolutely lost it and snapped his safety tie and took off galloping around the ship-in area! I am SO grateful that Carol was there keeping an eye on our horses, because she was able to catch him and keep him safe. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU CAROL!!

Anyway, a few hours later and no worse for the wear, JJ and I made our way down to stadium. The course was surprisingly simple with no filler and no flags (so grateful for that, especially with the wind!) and JJ went well in warm-up.

I know sometimes he takes a rail in stadium (which is weird, because he generally doesn’t at home) so I tried to “keep him sharp” by making him take a rail in warmup instead… and he wouldn’t! So, I felt good and went in when called.

The first seven jumps were darn-near perfect, and I was super pleased. There was a final line of an oxer to a two-stride oxer and vertical combination, and coming around the corner into the line I tried to hug the rail and get him as straight as possible but somehow still knocked the rail on number eight. Le sigh. We got through the next two clean, though, so it was only four faults.

He really loves those gallop fences! Photo by Xpress Foto.

Having walked cross country the day before, I knew it was time to focus on that next task at hand. The course was, without question, the biggest and beefiest Novice course I had ever seen and I was feeling realllly apprehensive about it.

The jumps were large, there were two water crossings that weren’t even flagged, there was a full coffin (which included a “scary” jump that JJ stopped at when we schooled here last January), there was an up bank to the biggest down bank we’ve ever jumped only two strides later, followed by a second down bank with a quick left turn to a maxed out roll top plus brush, and even a chevron. I wasn’t sure we could do it, but I remembered the compliment Jeanie Clarke gave me last year when she told me we had no business being in Beginner Novice. She was right, and I used that as a confidence booster.

So, Sunday morning I awoke and prepped for day two. While JJ was munching breakfast, I dug around in my car and found a set of new stirrup grip pads I had bought but hadn’t put on my saddle yet. I have been losing my stirrups a lot lately, and just figured it was because I was riding like crap, but finding the grips prompted me to check my jump saddle stirrups… yep, they were worn almost completely smooth! So, I slapped those new babies on right away.

The weather was dismal and drizzly, and that sure didn’t help my nerves… but I trusted my coach, I trusted JJ, and I tried to trust myself. The moment I swung my leg up to head down to cross country, I realized the new stirrup grips had made a huge difference and I felt so much more secure! I’m happy to say I left the start box ready to tackle the tough course.

I (almost) can’t believe I’m saying this, but the course actually wound up being fairly easy AND fun! JJ was super and said “yep, let’s go!” to everything. He didn’t even try to stop for a drink in either of the waters. There was only the idea of a question about the jump out of the coffin which I expected and quickly quelled, and one little peek at the first down bank but he went off without hesitating. Everything else was basically perfection, and I may have actually smiled once or twice.

Coming into the second to last jump, JJ tried to slow down and I told him ‘no, we’ve got to keep going’ to which he responded “mom, seriously, we need a breather here.” I legged him forward, not wanting to stop until we were done, and we rocked the next two. As we crossed the finish, I glanced at my watch and hit stop on the timer… to see we had 32 seconds left until optimum, which was the exact amount I had calculated we needed less than to not incur speed faults! I had forgotten to look earlier – oops!

I thought it was so funny that we had gone cleanly (and easily) around our hardest Novice course to date only to screw it up with a speeding ticket, but was exceptionally thrilled to see that when the final results came in that we were actually double clear!! The speed faults time was 4:19, and that’s exactly what we did the course in! Clearly, JJ knew best when he told me we had to slow down. He’s a smart cookie, that kid.

Ultimately, we finished sixth out of 14 and I am so So SO happy with my handy horsie! We had scored 33.30 in dressage plus four for the stadium rail, but even without it we would have only finished fourth — which wouldn’t have been an AEC qualifying score anyway so that rail down wound up being totally irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Next, we’ll spend five fabulous days at Wise Horses Farm flatting in their beautiful covered area, jump schooling the spacious course with the pristine footing, galloping the massive race track, training on the incredible cross country course, and working hills over all the amazing acreage before another event at Rocking Horse. This place is paradise, perfected.

LESSON LEARNED

Keep your stirrup grips fresh and you’ll actually be able to keep your stirrups. Who would’ve thought?

Ainsley Jacobs is an adult amateur based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She started riding huntseat equitation when she was eight, and has tried practically every discipline since then. In 2014, Ainsley discovered eventing and it changed her life! She purchased her first horse, JJ Spot, in February 2016 and chronicles their successes (and struggles) of learning to overcome literal and figurative obstacles in her blog at www.RideHeelsDown.com.

Photo by Erik Jacobs/P.TEN Marketing.