Carrie Meehan and Blue Devil: Chapter 5

I put up the Eventing Nation bat signal to our writers last night, which essentially means I’ll be traveling and need some posts for the site tomorrow. Carrie Meehan, our guest blogger targeting the Bromont CCI*, was kind enough to answer the call. In this post Carrie talks about her ride at VHT and looks forward to Bromont. Thanks for writing this Carrie and thank you for reading.

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From Carrie:

So this will most likely be my last post before I write about my adventures at Bromont in two weeks (ahh!!).  Duke is feeling better than he’s ever felt, though I should hope so with all the riding I’ve been doing!  We’ve done 2 horse trials since my last post, and both ended very successfully.  Our dressage hasn’t been up to par lately, so these next two weeks we’re going to crack down on our flat work so we can be more prepared to have a great test at Bromont.

      Duke and I seem to be keeping a pretty rigorous training schedule, doing no less than an hour ½ of riding every day which includes at least 45 minutes to an hour of walking/trotting out in the hills.  Some days Duke protests more than others to the long work, but it’s something we have to take seriously because he’s such a big horse, and it takes a lot to get him fit.  A lot of the work we do every day is for building up his strength, because when he’s strong things come so much more easily and he doesn’t make me work so hard!  Jeff, being the wonderful vet he is, has been keeping close tabs on Duke making sure he’s as comfortable as he can be leading up to our last two events, and even more so now that we’re two weeks away from Canada!

      I have felt such a positive change in our partnership over the last few months. The preliminary cross-country courses that used to make me feel a bit queasy, now ride like we’re running around a training level course.  Though I suppose that’s how it should feel heading into a CCI*!  I’ve gained so much more confidence in my riding, and I’m feeling totally ready to take on this next challenge.  Show jumping has always been my weakest link, but the last two events at Fair Hill and Virginia felt so awesome and spot on which gives me a ton of confidence going into the bigger show jumping at Bromont.  Our stadium round at Virginia H.T this past weekend was hands down our best one to date: everything felt smooth and Duke was as relaxed and happy as he could be.

      Emily says these next two weeks are crucial in coming to the event with a fit and happy horse.  We are planning it just right so the last week we are ‘winding down’ a bit so Duke stays fresh for the event.  This works out well for me as well because then I can focus more on making sure I have everything ready to go.  Not to mention, giving me time to make last minute checks that I’ve filled out and turned in every one of the many, many forms needed to compete in this event. And of course, I’m making the highly anticipated trip to the mall in the next week to pick out my first jog outfits!  I’m not really the shopping type, but all of my friends seem to be more excited than I am to come along and help me choose something awesome.  I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed with everything that needs to get done before we leave in 10 days, but hey, it will all work out and it’s going to be over and gone before I know it.  So, until next time, keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and that we have a safe and successful event!

      Thanks guys,

      Carrie and Duke

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