OTA, Stoneleigh-Burnham H.T. Theatre Royal (owned by Gayle Davis) one jump from home! Photo taken by David Frechette
Usually I am not a superstitious individual, though the last 48 hours leading up to Stoneleigh-Burnham Horse Trials almost convinced me otherwise. It occurred to me at one point that perhaps the event gods were telling me I should NOT compete at this event. They were nudging me and offering major warning signs, as if to back me off of something I so wanted to attend.
Day One. It all started Thursday early evening when Theatre Royal, aka “Vinnie” had a near shoeing emergency when he ripped his left hind dramatically and frantically away from the ever so patient and meticulous farrier, only to drive the clip into the sole of his hoof. What a bloody mess. We managed to clean the horse up and finally get a shoe on, although after sign #1, I was worried Vinnie would either be very sore, or abscess in the very near future. I was told to sleep on it and check the horse first thing in the morning before making any decisions regarding scratching from the event.
Day two (Friday before the event)… I check Vinnie and am pleased to find a happy and completely sound horse. Phew! I trot him in the ring to confirm his soundness. I proceed by taking him for an easy walk the day before the event.
Day three. As I am an overly prepared and slightly neurotic individual, I gave my boyfriend and myself ample time to leave in the morning in order to get to Greenfield with plenty of time to walk my course. I did not ride dressage until 12:15 and we left promptly at 8am, with a little under a two hour drive ahead of us. Not only were we in fantastic shape with our departure time, but I actually convinced he who rarely watches me ride to come and watch me compete, which was a feat in itself.
One hour into our drive…We are just about at the Bellows Falls exit when all of a sudden, our relatively new truck has ZERO power…Im talking twenty miles an hour on I91 South, four way flashers ON. Gas pedal is touching the floor and a slightly concerned look, followed by a couple expletives fall out of Rett’s mouth. Of course there’s barely any cell service which was also a delightful surprise. Sign #2 from the event gods that I should not compete at this event.
SBS’s NEW 2014 water complex…taken by David Frechette
We manage to barely make it off the exit and luckily there’s a Sunoco shortly after you get off the ramp. I had enough cell service juice to call my friend who was actually at the event and had a trailer. She came to the rescue within the hour.
At this point, I have about an hour until I am supposed to go in the ring. Heart pounding, adrenaline rushing. What about walking my course….AHHHHHH! We manage to swap all my crap and the horse in the middle of the gas station parking lot in record time. I leave my boyfriend who anxiously waits for his mom to bring a different truck. In the meantime, my friend, Vinnie and I are heading to the event with very little time to spare.
We finally arrived at Stoneleigh. Not only did I squeeze in a brief seven minute warm-up, but to my surprise, we won the dressage. I was over the moon and shocked by the series of events. I ended up RUNNING around the cross country course one and a half times and still had time to put studs in and get tacked up. We ended up winning the Open Training B division which was honestly just frosting on the cake.
This is the second time I have competed Mister Too Cool for School and I was pumped I didn’t forget my test and I that I confidently went clean around a course that I retired on the previous summer on my mare.
Cool dude!
It’s amazing how everything that could have gone wrong practically did go wrong, but it ended up all working out. I am beyond grateful and ecstatic about my borrowed ride for the summer and I am so incredibly appreciative for all those who support me and help me out when I need a hand.
The eventing community is like no other. We all struggle, and have misfortunes, but we are all there cheering each other on and lending a helping hand which makes this individual sport almost feel like a group or a team effort at times.
Lastly, I have to give a huge shout out to Stoneleigh-Burnham for putting on another spectacular event! Thank you, timers, announcers, judges, volunteers and scribes! To all those Area 1 members who haven’t been yet, put the September SBS event on your “must compete at” list for several reasons. One of which is their brand new and awesomely cool water complex! Thanks again for everyone who helped put on this event, and thank you everyone who helped get me to and from this event…you know who you are!!!
Also, courtesy of the amazing Horse Pesterer, here we are on xc!
