We last heard from Nina shortly after her she set up shop at Waresley Park Stud outside Cambridge, and now, having enjoyed three months of lovely English weather, the Olympics just a month and a day away, she’s set to tackle Barbury alongside most of the Olympic field this weekend. For more on Nina’s adventures, check out her website, Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for writing, Nina, and as always, thanks for reading.
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Nina and Butts Leon, morning gallop. Photo via Nina’s Twitter.
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From Nina:
After spending the better part of April waiting for the rain to stop, I am now in full competition mode. Barbury is just around the corner and suddenly the Olympics are coming up fast. It has been an incredible opportunity for me to compete in the UK and a tremendous learning experience. With Houghton Hall and Bramham three stars under my belt, I have added breadth and depth to my three-star experience and I feel more mentally prepared for Greenwich.
I arrived in England with a competition schedule that Kim and I felt was a good balance between training myself and my horses and keeping them as sound as possible. Because I still had points-chasing to do in order to secure my individual slot in February of 2012, my horses didn’t get the usual winter break after running their fall CCI3*s. I had to keep them in training for the Poplar CIC3* in February and potentially a CCI3* in either Italy or Ireland a few weeks later. Luckily, Butts Leon’s win at Poplar left us 99% sure that I would make the cut, and the horses got to go home to Virginia for a well deserved break for February and March.
We moved to the UK in early April so I would have an uninterrupted show schedule leading up to the Olympics and with the belief that the soft UK footing would be ideal for keeping the horses sound (irony anyone?). After nearly every event during the month of April was “abandoned,” I found myself scrambling (along with everyone else) to get into an event anywhere and praying that they wouldn’t cancel. I’ve been so impressed with the flexibility and helpfulness of all the organizers. They would wait until the last possible second to abandon an event, hoping that the rain would let up (giving us plenty of practice with packing and unpacking our lorry). They bent over backwards to accommodate us riders; postponing events to buy time for the ground to dry out, adding in extra competition dates, and taking on entire divisions from previously canceled competitions. I finally got my first run at Aston-Le-Walls (3 weeks behind schedule). A huge relief, as I was starting to feel rusty having not competed for a while. (Read my Aston Blog: http://ninaligon.com/wp/the-end-of-the-fire-drill-aston-le-walls/).
Next came Houghton CIC3*. From what I had heard, Houghton was considered a friendly, confidence-building course, but honestly, I have never seen so many corners, triple brushes, and skinnies packed into seven minutes. However, the course rode beautifully; it was challenging but fair. Houghton was my best run with Butts Leon so far and I was extremely pleased, as it was our first competition of the season. Two weeks after arriving in the UK, Butts cut his knee while out in the field. Though it was nothing major, I wanted to be sure that it had completely healed before jumping him cross-country, meaning he had to miss Aston-Le-Walls. I was nervous about going straight to a 3*, but in the end I felt we were really in sync on course.
Walking around the Bramham cross-country course 2 weeks later, I was feeling much more confident even though it was a huge track. Butts ran the CIC3*, and though I’d describe it as a “scrappy” round, I think it really strengthened our partnership. Having a stop at the first combination on course left me quite shaken, but I found that the more confidently and aggressively I rode, the more his confidence in me grew, and we were able to get home safe (sans two front shoes). I really depleted my stud collection that weekend, as Jazz King also lost a front shoe on cross-country. I had planned for Jazz to run the CIC as well, but due to the high number of entries, wasn’t able to get him in. I had to enter the CCI3* instead and ran only the first 6 minutes of the course. Given that Bramham is a big track and that Jazz hadn’t gone cross-country since the Intermediate at Aston-Le-Walls, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I left the start box. Once again, Jazz amazed me with just how easy he makes it all seem. (Read my Bramham Blog: http://ninaligon.com/wp/bramham-international/)
Even though both horses didn’t get the ideal lead up to their competitions, they jumped around difficult courses as if they’d had a full season under their belt. They don’t get rusty, I do.
So it is off to Barbury to get more experience. The Olympics aren’t far away!
