Photo via Maddie and Debbie Kanda

What a fun weekend! Otter Creek really upped their competitor party by adding karaoke this year. Of course, there was table dancing as well. Go partying.

It was fun to be entered in the Chronicle of the Horse Adult Team Challenge divisions. At check in we all received saddle pads, a bag of horse treats and the current issue of COTH. Team competition is always so much fun, and I enjoyed competing with my fellow teammates: Ingvill Ramberg, Lucy Lammer, and Catherine Amrich. 

On to the results. Liz Lund kept her lead in the Open Intermediate with two rails down to capture the win.

Whitney Mahloch won her first I/P leading from start to finish.

Isabel Holden won the Open Preliminary on Wild Delight by just under 30 points.

Ann Bower won the Preliminary ATC and Training ATC divisions on Rejuvenate and Prospero respectively by posting the only double clear show jumping rounds in those divisions.

Shannon Geitz won the Novice ATC, and Jeanne Brose won the Beginner Novice ATC on Florenzo and led her team to victory as well.

Tess Kelly won the Junior Beginner Novice on her dressage score.

I had a terrific show myself, but I wish someone would have told me that you aren’t supposed to go for the “Rail, Stop, and Time” trifecta in the show jumping phase. Who knew? As promised, a picture of me rocking the rainbow reins (above).

As always, a giant thank you to all the volunteers who came out to make this event possible. We couldn’t do it without you. More thank yous to Mark, Lena, and Jenny Warner for providing an amazing venue. Thank you to Betsy Jones for always running a smooth check in process. And thank you to Kathy Kerns for taking charge of the COTH ATC teams.

Otter Creek is hosting a dressage show this weekend, a hunter/jumper show Labor Day weekend, and their Fall Horse Trials on September 23-25. It’s the Area IV Championships, so get your entries in!

 We will have an Otter Creek XC video break later this week. Until then, Go eventing.  

Well hello!

Otter Creek cross country once again was amazing! If you haven’t been, or even if you have, plan for rain. Without fail it comes in the afternoon. 🙂 Mark Warner has his eye on the radar and knows his land so well, that the horses are always back in the barns before the storm, and back out as soon as it passes.

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the volunteers that stayed later and sat int he rain and sunshine to make out sport possible.

On to the XC notes:

Liz Lund took the lead in the intermediate with the fastest round adding just over 15 time penalties.

Whiteney Mahlock and Isabel Holden were the only double clear preliminary rides and they are stiting first in the IP and OP, respectively.

Jan Fisk withdrew from the Preliminary Adult Team challenge division due to ilness. EN wishes her a quick recovery. Lisa Borgia now leads the division with Ann Bower in a close second.

Brad Hall is leading the Training Adult Team Challenge division with Eva on a 30.5

Kendal Torrell and La Batt Blu are leading the BN Adult Team Challenge Division.

Full Otter Creek results.

There were special awards given out as part of the COTH ATC. (See team members here)

Wildwood Hooligans won the Oldest Combined Age award for the riders. We won’t name them . 🙂

Insanity in the Middle won for the oldest Oldest Combined Age of the Horses.

Peggy Gomez was awarded a whip for the slowest ATC xc time.

And, Nora Endzel won the Sportsman award for correcting her dressage score. (She went to the office to say her score wasn’t high enough, that they forgot to account for her error.) Now that’s good sportsmanship! 10,000 EN karma points for you, Nora. 

A huge thank you to Julie Wolfert and Bernard Moraw for letting me interview them about their xc rides. Julie was my first interview, and so sweet, as I am giving John a run for his money in the “Most Awkward” category.

Julie Wolfert:

Bernard Morauw:

Go eventing.

Well, hello there Eventing Nation!

You may have been wondering where I’ve been as of late. Coren gave it away, I was doing anything but preparing for my Pony Club B rating and learning how to shower. The thing about Coren is that you can tell her your secrets and she’ll keep them, but send her a text, and she’ll take it out of (con)text. Ha.

Back to the important stuff: Events this weekend!

Otter Creek Farm in Wheeler, Wisconsin is holding their second horse trial of the summer. Hence, Otter Creek Summer Horse Trials. 

Otter Creek Farm Summer HT boast the Chronicle of the Horse Adult Team Challenge for the Midwest. This is something that is applied for in order to host, so congratulations to Otter Creek because they certainly have the venue for it!

As always, a HUGE thank you to Lena Warner for putting up with all my interviews. 🙂

EN: What is exciting for you about having the ATC?
Lena: It’s a way to promote the Adult Riders. This show is all about Adult Riders with fun prizes and recognition for their achievements as riders.

EN: Tell me about the xc course. Did you change it specifically for ATC, or has it been something in the works for some time?
Lena:We had Jobn Williams here in June to reset courses for this show and the fall event. Lot’s of track changes and many new jumps. We usually build 10 – 15 new jumps per season.

EN: With HTs, the Midwest Jr Challenge, dressage shows, h/j shows, and clinics, are there any “free” weekends at Otter Creek, or are you booked for the summer?
Lena: Not really, we need the time in between to set up for each show. Our crew consist of the family including Betsy Jones, the show secretary, and our part time worker James.

EN: Do you get to take any time off, or is that what winter is for?
Lena: We did go to see Mark’s family this past Memorial Day weekend and tubing down the Red Cedar River for the 4th of July!

EN: What can competitors expect to be different or the same at this year’s Summer HT?
Lena: We hope to have the “Horse Mister” installed in time for the show. This was made by the Schweiss family (of Roebke’s Run HT) and I am sure everyone will enjoy it if the weather is hot! As usual we hope it will be a well run and fun show for everyone!

EN: When did you decide to pick up the additional date?
Lena: When we lost Maui Jim and Wayne DuPage did one day shows. 

Thank you again to Lena for your time, effort, and dedication to making Otter Creek so fantastic in every way. I’m going to be there in full force at Otter Creek this weekend. If you’re there, come say hello! I’ll be the stinky girl in the novice sporting rainbow reins. (And, you think I’m joking about the rainbow reins.)

Otter Creek website
Ride Times
COTH ATC Teams
 
Go eventing.

Pronouced “rup-keys”

Well hey there Eventing Nation!

I am in a good mood! I don’t know if it’s because I got to spend the weekend with the lovely Jill Gill, it’s summertime, I’m finally tan, it’s Coren’s and my Facebook anniversary (but since she didn’t call, it’s probably going to end in divorce soon), I get to start riding my horse again, or the buzz and excitement of the first Roebke’s Run Horse Trial!! I’m going with all of the above, but mostly RRHT.

Everything on the Schweiss Farm is completely gorgeous, and that’s an understatement.

I’ll start with a brief (that’s a lie) recap of my trip.

I drove the 2.5 hours from the farm where I ride to central MN for the horse trials. The whole way there it was sunny, but in the distance all I could see were storms. It’s been storming heavily, so much so that Mike Schweiss and company had to on two separate occasions clean up 20 trees and 40 trees, respectively, after tornadoes and 80 mph straight line winds knocked them over, not to mention all the other preparations to host an event. 

I get there and everything is soaked, soaked, soaked from the rain. The parking lot is soup, the grass is mud. The officials decided to change Saturdays events from dressage and xc to just dressage. Sunday would be show jumping followed by cross country.

It was god-awful muggy on Saturday, but the clouds made a perfect overcast until the dressage was over. Then the sun came out and dried out the footing on xc. While doing research for a different EN article (thank you to Fred and Kathy Hund for indulging me), Julie Schweiss bought us all margaritas and we chatted about the horse show. Julie is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and a great asset to eventing.

It is also important to point out that Mark, Lena, and Jenny Warner, along with Betsy Jones (from Otter Creek Farm) were out in full force all weekend. Mark was helping Mike Schweiss, Lena and Betsy were helping with anything and everything, and Jenny was helping on the xc and also riding in a BN division. It is so nice to see the Warners coming out to help a brand new event and lend their experience. It makes the eventing community here even stronger.

The competitor’s party was at 6pm Saturday. It felt a bit weird celebrating only having done dressage as everyone had the next day’s jumping phases on their mind. The competitor’s party was in their air-conditioned indoor arena with some of the best horse show food I’ve had. There were door prizes and good music and great people.

Sunday brought on the sunshine! With highs in the mid 90s and not a cloud in the sky, it was hot. Thank goodness for a great Midwestern breeze, the Horse Mister (latest in horse cooling technology), 11 wash racks (with great pressure!), and ice water provided by the Schweiss family.

The word back in the barns was that the courses were tough. Everything looked beefy. The optimum time for preliminary was 6:21. We haven’t had a course like this in Midwest that I can recall. You can count on Roebke’s Run being a giant course according to Brook Schweiss. She wanted a true test of the levels and that’s what she provided.

They ended up taking #9 off of the training course due to the footing. Consequently, when the preliminary riders went out, the training #9 was still flagged and prelim’s #9 had been flagged not to jump. So that was a nice surprise for the first few prelim riders. The startbox got word of the mistake and let the subsequent riders know.

Jill Gill won the preliminary on her lovely mare, Glorious Joy. Jill was the first in the dressage arena, and first on the xc course. That’s got to be a cool thing to say that you were the first rider to start the event and first to ride the xc course. Also, a shout out to Isabel Holden for finishing in second on her dressage score at her first prelim.

Ashley Keller, a lover of all things EN, had a great weekend ending 3rd in the training division. Brad Hall won the training division after stating that the course was too tough.

Sherri Westphal won a novice division on her big gray gelding. Megan Mcfarlund also won a novice division. The rider in front of her on xc would not stop to allow Megan to pass. Megan was calling to the rider to stop, and after they both finished, the rider said, “I heard you, but I didn’t feel like stopping.” This rider in question is a professional. There was also an incident like this at Fox River Valley where the rider was given dangerous riding penalties. Learn your rules and be respectful. It is far too dangerous to have horses chasing each other around the cross country course. If you’re having trouble, pull over, and allow the person behind you to pass. I know all about having trouble on xc. At Poplar one January, I accrued 40.40 time penalties and allowed the rider following me to pass. I was already having a bad go, but wasn’t about to interfere with someone else’s round. I’m off the soapbox now.

Janelle Johnson and Laura Holen each won their BN divisions. The ribbons were gorgeous, and there were prizes taken home as well.

Sue Goepfert was riding The Vicar, Mary Yeager’s (yes, Annie’s Mom) horse in the BN. She forgot a trot circle in her dressage test, but it was still good enough for second place. I ride Vicar Tuesdays and Thursdays to help Sue get him back in shape, and Sue and I call him a variety of nicknames like “Total Body Gym” and “Bowflex”. It’s not easy getting all that Irish together.

There was so much going on, and everyone was having a great time, I know I didn’t fit in all in here. It was truly fun to be part of their inaugural event. Thank you to the Schweiss family and all the volunteers, we enjoyed ourselves!

Update: Apologies for a few technical difficulties with the photos in this post Tuesday morning.  Hopefully they are sorted out now and if they still are not showing up well for you, please refresh your browser. 

Start here

Well, Eventing Nation, after giving myself a bit of heat stroke getting them, I’ve got all the xc pictures from Roebke’s Run this weekend in Fairfax, Minnesota. If for no other reason, come to Roebke’s Run October 7-9 for the xc course (duh). It’s AMAZING.  [Roebke’s Run Results]

The course was designed by John Williams, and exceptionally built by Mark Warner (Otter Creek Farm) and Eric Bull. The Schweiss’s spared no expense nor detail in creating the jumps. They have ripped apart their old jumps to create this course: there are very few jumps left that I schooled last summer with my horse. Take a look see to find out why you need to make this event part of your calendar. Bear in mind, this is their FIRST recognized horse trial.

                      NOVICE                                         BEGINNER NOVICE

         

Click here or the link below to check out the Training/Prelim courses after the “jump.” (more…)

Roebke’s Run HT is a brand new horse trial held in the Midwest this year. Their inaugural horse trial will be held at the beautiful Schweiss Stables in Hector, MN on July 16-17. Thank you to Julie Schwiess for helping me with this article!

Julie and Mike Schwiess are the owners fo Schwiess Stables, a 50 acre farm, so their girls could practice riding, and Mike and Julie could work outdoors. Julie works on her flowers and Mike on the farm, and it has become their hobby.

Julie started riding when she was younger on an unpredictable pony, and started her girls in lessons when they were six. She told each girl that if they could ride a pony, they could have a horse. And, they all have horses now, so I’ll let you do that math.   

Julie says she finds eventing “relaxing”, which she jokes is a dead give away that she herself doesn’t jump the horses. Her girls, Brook, Autumn, and Lark started eventing in 2006 at Otter Creek Horse Trials. Apparently, Autumn started the ball rolling for the family, when in fourth grade, she said she wanted jumping lessons.

Mike and Julie love being around horses, one thing led to the next, and now they are hosting a recognized horse trial. John Williams is the cross country course designer and went with a rural, farming theme.  Eric Bull and Mark Warner made jumps such as a John Deere tractor and corn cobs, as well as grain bins and riding through a “barn”. With John Williams designing, we can expect a course with some challenge, but rewarding as well, teaching both the rider and horse.  He starts the course out with ease and gradually adds more questions.  He wants riders to understand their level of jumping and what their horse is capable of jumping.  So, it seems to be a pretty fair course for each level.

When deciding to hold the recognized horse trials, Julie says she didn’t hesitate to hire the proper professionals to help, which has proved to be easier than expected. Her favorite part, she says, was purchasing additional land that needed to be cleared and cut. But, the view is amazing when the sun shines through.

The weather this year has been very unpredictable. They just had straight line winds that took 20 trees down on the xc course and two buildings.  They’ve got everything cleaned up and rebuilt, but they are really praying for nice weather that weekend, and you should too! 

Mike and Julie Schweiss manufacture bi-folding doors.  Julie works in the sales department while Mike manages the company. The Schweiss bi-fold and hydraulic doors are sold nationally and internationally through out the world.

The closing date has been extended through Sunday, July 10. Enter online at www.evententries.com.

Who is heading to the inaugural Robeke’s Run Horse Trial?

Schweiss Stables website

USEA omnibus page

Schweiss Bifold Doors

Here’s hoping for a bit less rain this year…

The Midwest Junior Challenge, formerly known as Pony Cup, is the only show (thus far, knock on wood) where I’ve fallen off in the warm up and gone on to show in pairs jumping. The weekend of July 22-24 will be fun-filled with a plethora of classes to choose from including games like egg & spoon, and even a stall decorating contest! See the prize list.  I’ve aged out now as the Midwest Junior Challenge is only open to the 21 and younger crowd, and I’m super upset about it because it’s one of the best shows out there! (Yes, I can hear the violins..) Year after year, Otter Creek finds a way to make their shows even better, and the Midwest Junior Challenge is no exception.

Otter Creek started Pony Cup as a way to provide junior riders with a top notch venue to show in a “real” dressage, hunter/jumper, or eventing show. There are very few shows catered solely to junior riders without dabbling in the Pony Club or 4-H aspect. Lena Warner of Otter Creek Farm wanted kids with the same interests to be able to go to a show and enjoy it without the added pressure of extra expense and adults competing against them.

This year, the name has changed from “Pony Cup” to “Midwest Junior Challenge”. They did this in an effort to draw a distinction between their schooling show and the USPC. Anyone and everyone (under 21) is encouraged to come show at the Junior Challenge. There is no affiliation with Pony Club or 4-H, and participants don’t need to be members of any organizations.

A new tradition added only a couple years ago, is that parents of children competing are eligible to show at the BN and N levels. Yes, the show is for the 21 and under set, but Lena knows how hard the parents work getting their kids there, that she wanted to open the Midwest Junior Challenge to them as well. So, if you’re 21 and under, or have a 21 and under that’s competing, you may compete this year!

The newest addition this year is the Best Sportsman Award. How does it work? Well, keep reading…

1)     1) Pick a group of 3-5 riders.

2)     2) Compete in dressage, hunter, jumper, or eventing classes.

3)     3) Points are accumulated per group. Each ribbon has a set number of points, and points are given in all classes offered.

4)      4) The Champion and Reserve Champion get prizes and bragging rights!

So, get out there Eventing Nation, and show those dressage and hunter/jumper princes and princesses that eventing gods and goddesses are the best! (I can see I’m going to be a Mom a la the Toddlers and Tiaras set..)

The Midwest Junior Challenge is a destination event for many of our junior riders in the area. They look forward to it all year, and their smiles at the end of the day are very rewarding. They camp out on grounds stuffing a dozen kids or so in the horse trailer or RV. Even if you can’t compete, Otter Creek knows how to put on a good show, and who doesn’t love cute kids and cuter ponies?!

Otter Creek Farm Website

Midwest Junior Challenge Prize List

Fox River Valley Pony Club Horse Trials is happening this weekend! I have been to Fox River Valley since 2005 as a competitor, groom, and coach. This year is by far the best yet. Barb McMorris, the organizer and mother of a good friend of mine chatted with me about the horse trials this year.

While chatting with Barb I learned many things about hosting, organizing, and how much hard work and team effort it truly is for an event of this caliber to take place. Sure, only in the last several years have they added Beginner Novice, and this is the first year they are hosting a CIC*, but it is still such a wonderful event, and those that have been come back year after year.

FRVPC HT is located in Barrington Hills, Illinois, just outside of Chicago and has been running for 41 years. It was the first recognized event in Area IV. Elizabeth Bramson physically built the cross country jumps the first year it ran, and still sponsors the event today. It is great horsepeople like Elizabeth that keep our sport running. Thank you! In 1976, FRVPC HT was used a selection horse trial for the USET and Jack LeGoff was involved. There is a deep, rich history here at Fox River Valley Horse Trial.

The FRV Pony Club is the reason this horse trial is running. The entire club comes out, and everybody involved is a volunteer. The Dads are driving the shuttles to and from parking, the Moms are checking everybody in, and the PCers are decorating jumps and making signs. In addition to the USEA recognized Horse Trial, the Pony Club also runs an eventing rally.

This year, the CIC* is new. Barb and the xc course designer were talking about possibilities for the course for new tracks, etc, and doing a CIC* was thrown around. After Maui Jim and Otter Creek decided not to hold FEI events, FRV took the opportunity to try something new. The biggest difference is the cost for the housing and transporting the additional FEI officials. FRV HT just needed a few additional jumps, and the track for the CIC*, but the parking, stabling, and area for jogs were already in place. There are currently just under 10 in the CIC*, but Barb is optimistic for making it a permanent addition to the horse trial.

As I mentioned before, the xc is on a forest preserve. In fact, the entire event in run on public property. The stabling area and rings are on the Barrington Hills Countryside Park District Riding Center. During a luncheon on xc day before the prelim, and this year the CIC* xc goes, sponsors and officials from the forest rpeserve and park district are treated to a celebrity course walk. This year, the celeb is Peter Gray, but others including Allison Springer and Jon Holling have hosted in the past. Barb finds these course walks extremely valuable to show sponsors and officials exactly what eventing is about, and they are very well received.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes to make any event run, but especially when it’s on two pieces of public property, and we commend all those who allow us to do what we love. Thank you! I’ll keep you updated as we go with pictures and videos. And, this is my first “real” post, be kind (and Coren, watch out). 🙂

FRVPC HT website

FRVPC HT Live Scores