Hannah Burnett has been a close friend of EN from its inception, and graciously agreed once again to be a guest blogger this spring. Hannah’s rise to being one of the country’s best young professionals started from a young age and relatively small means. Hannah had a great partnership with her first ‘big time’ horse, Keep The Faith, spanning from the Young Rider ranks all the way to a trip around Rolex Kentucky in 2007. Currently, Hannah’s top horse is St. Barths, together they’ve won the 2009 Fair Hill CCI** and the 2010 Fair Hill CCI***, and they have big plans for the upcoming year. Thanks to Hannah for writing once again; be sure to check back for later installments of this pair’s exciting adventures!
‘Communication is key’
From Hannah:
The last few weeks have been mostly busy and slightly nerve-racking. Nike (St Barths) and William (Harbour Pilot) did the Intermediate combined test at Rocking Horse. I had mediocre tests on both but was encouraged that they were scoring pretty well considering how much improvement can be made. I had two good show jumping rounds and although my ponies were mad at me for not letting them run cross-country, Nike and William were proud of themselves after the weekend.
We packed up for our first away show last week and traveled to Thomson, GA for my first experience at Pine Top. Nike and William did the OI and I had a new ride in the OP named Galactic. Nike was much more settled in the dressage arena and put in a decent test apart from a few movements. I rode him a bit low in the frame for practice so he didn’t have a super low score. William is the best practice in the show ring I’ve ever had because I can ride him as aggressively as I do at home.
All three were good in the show jumping and cross-country. I found myself quite rusty with the cross-country pace at the Intermediate level…I’m a bit out of practice since this is the first time I’ve run above Novice in a while. Nothing frustrates me more than not seeing a forward galloping stride and making my horses’ job more difficult by slowing down and speeding up the whole way around. My eye got better by the 3 round but I will be practicing at home before Red Hills to be in more of a rhythm to the bigger fences.
I’m really feeling the pressure of the CIC at Red Hills and getting closer to my big goal for the season. Nike gets the brunt of this since he’s so sensitive so I’ve been trying to stay “supervised” while riding all my horses, just to make sure I’m keeping my cool and not putting to much pressure on them. I struggle to see and implement the day by day steps to create the test or jumping round that I want in 6 weeks. I want it perfect. I want it now! Thankfully I have great instructors and friends to keep me in check and reel me back in when I get too intense.
Until next time,
HSB
