Classic Eventing Nation

The View from California Presented by World Equestrian Brands

By on Sep 27, 2013 4:30 pm -

EN loves photos shot between the ears! If you happen to be out for a hack, are riding in some obscure place or just take some cool photos aboard your mount, send them to [email protected] with a quick blurb about the photo’s story. This week’s View comes to us from EN’s frequent West Coast correspondent Bill Olson.

From Bill:

This is Hawley Bennett-Awad on Livingstone — better known as Hank — at Copper Meadows several weeks ago. The last time Hawley had this view was at Rolex in 2009 where they ran a clear cross-country trip. Hank ran in the Novice division with Hawley’s student, Sue Spencer, at Copper Meadows. Go Hank!

Photos from Otter Creek HT by Kasey Mueller

By on Sep 27, 2013 3:30 pm -

Whitney Maloch and Military Mind. Photo by Kasey Mueller.

Amateur photographer Kasey Mueller was on site at Otter Creek HT last weekend in Minnesota and snapped a few shots in the Intermediate division.  Congrats to Whitney Maloch and Military Mind who won their first Intermediate, and to Erin Nielsen and Garden Valley Gold who finished second.  While I’ve never been to Otter Creek, I’ve heard many wonderful things about this event– a must for any Area IV calendar. [Results]

 

Whitney Maloch and Military Mind. Photo by Kasey Mueller.

Erin Nielsen and Garden Valley Gold. Photo by Kasey Mueller.

EN’s Got Talent: Dom Schramm and Mellow Johnny

By on Sep 27, 2013 2:00 pm -

Mellow Johnny. Photo by Grace Darnell.

This week’s featured horse on EN’s Got Talent is a bit of a celebrity in that he headlined an EN meme post of George Morris that went viral last month. Thousands of Facebook likes later, Dom and Jimmie Schramm of Evention fame — Season 2 just launched! — contacted me about featuring the very same horse in this series. Meet Mellow Johnny, a 7-year-old buckskin Thoroughbred/Paint gelding Dom is currently campaigning at Training level. The Schramms acquired the horse after former owner Chrissy Allison, who used to ride with Jimmie in Dallas, began battling some health issues, and Jimmie convinced Dom to consider the then coming 4-year-old as an eventing prospect.

“He’d mainly just done some basic dressage at that point, and he hadn’t spent much time outside of an indoor arena,” Dom said. “When I finally took him outside, he was spooking at grass, cars, his own shadows — essentially everything. But I thought he was a really precious horse, and Jimmie and Chrissy kept pushing me to ride him. I popped him over his first couple of fences, and we ended up deciding to take him.” Dom immediately started working on desensitizing “Tex,” and he soon realized the spooking was almost a game for the horse. “He gets in this mode where he’s almost looking for something to spook at,” Dom said. “He has that bit of cheek on him.”

Dom and Tex at the George Morris clinic. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Dom saw Tex’s cheeky personality firsthand at the horse’s first show at Poplar Place in March of last year, where they contested a Novice event together. “I took him around in warmup and he was being his usual fancy self, and I almost got a little bit cocky riding this nice horse around,” Dom said. “I was going around the arena before the test and a little crowd had gathered to watch him go. As I went past the judge, she rang the bell and he saw something imaginary and started leaping and bucking and striking. I used all of those 45 seconds to try to settle him, and he still ended up passaging down the center line. I was basically just trying to survive at that point.”

Despite breaking during the free walk and picking up the wrong lead due to being so tense, Tex still scored a 25.7 on that first dressage test. “I think the judge was so smitten with him,” Dom said. “Ever since then, I’ve not taken his warmup for granted at shows. He’s a lot better now and knows his job.” Since then, Tex — who is by the Thoroughbred stallion Noble Houston (Houston X Vague Game, by Vaguely Noble) and out of a registered palomino Paint mare — has won four of his eight events in his career and finish second in two. “He’s the first horse I’ve had the opportunity to produce since I moved from Australia, and it’s great to have a horse with such natural talent because you’re in no rush and can give them a successful start in the sport.”

Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll learn all about Tex’s 15 minutes of fame when George Morris decided to ride the horse during a USEF High Performance Jumping Clinic at Boyd Martin’s Windurra Farm last month. “It’s always a bit of a treat to see a rider like George on your horse,” Dom said. “He jumped him around, which actually looked a bit sticky at first. Once George got the hang of him, he jumped really well. George said he’s a very cute horse and a quality horse. He explained that Tex has two moments in his jump because he’s so careful. Until you get the hang of riding both moments, it’s hard to get your timing perfect.”

Evention Launches Second Season, New Website

By on Sep 27, 2013 1:00 pm -

I don’t know about you guys, but my favorite new equestrian media source is definitely Evention, created and filmed by our fellow eventers Dom and Jimmie Schramm. If you’ve somehow been living under a rock and missed what Evention is all about, you should take a look at their new website. In short, however, the show delivers bi-weekly how-to videos on everything you could possibly want to know about riding in general, and eventing in specific. It includes videos such as “How To Change A Horse Trailer Tire” or “Three Common Annoying Young Horse Habits” or even “How To See The Perfect Distance.” If you go back and look at all the episodes from Season 1, you can barely find a subject they haven’t covered! It’s like an all encompassing educational book on the internet in video form. Without further ado, I give you: Season Two!

[Evention TV Website]

 

 

Catching Up with Hawley Bennett-Awad

By on Sep 27, 2013 11:23 am -

Hawley and Ginny during dressage on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Liz Hall.

I stopped by Hawley’s stalls yesterday after watching her typically beautiful dressage test. Hawley was nice enough to introduce me to Ginny and talk with me for a few minutes about her test and her thoughts on the cross country course today. Many thanks to Hawley for taking the time to talk with me, and best of luck today and tomorow!

You can catch Hawley’s dressage test video as well:

Cherie Chauvin: The Mums of Marlborough Horse Trials

By on Sep 27, 2013 11:00 am -

Cherie Chauvin sent us a blog about Marlborough Horse Trials last year, and we’re pleased to bring you another report from the event from Cherie. This year, she writes from the perspective of co-organizer and cross-country chair. Thanks so much to Cherie for writing; Marlborough sounds like a wonderful event! Thank you for reading, and be sure to thank a volunteer at your next horse trial. If you have an event report to share, send it to [email protected].

Show Jumping ring steward Jen Amber holds a pot of mums for Intro Event competitor Kathleen Coyle’s horse, Rock N' Bid, who went on to jump a clear round. Photo credit to GRC Photo. Permission for use granted to MHT.

From Cherie:

Last weekend, amidst the thrill of Plantation and the anticipation of the AECs, Marlborough Horse Trials hosted their 22nd annual event in Upper Marlboro, Md., on the beautiful grounds of the Rosaryville State Park. Upon moving to Maryland a few years ago, Marlborough quickly became one of my favorite events, and when I think about why, all I see are mums. Yellow mums and purple mums, and even red and orange mums. Mums everywhere — at dressage at A; mingled in with the pretty painted poles; and stuffed under, beside and on top of cross-country jumps all over the place. Marlborough Horse Trials has mums!

Marlborough is a hidden Maryland gem of an event. But perhaps I’m biased; as a rider, I’ve ridden around novice, training and prelim, always bringing home a ribbon and awesome prizes. And now, for the second year, I’ve been involved on the organizing side of the event. As a friend said to me this past weekend, “I have a whole new appreciation.” As cross-country chair — and now as this year’s co-organizer — I will never again look at a properly placed cross-country jump flag without awe and admiration. Apparently flags do not appear at their respective jumps on their own. I know — shocking. This year, we flagged five courses in about four hours with almost 20 volunteers — a huge improvement on our stats last year.  And I’d like to know why Buffy the Vampire Slayer never seemed to get a splinter in her hands. We could use her for flagging next year!

This year, Marlborough ran as a one-day event — running almost 150 horses through Beginner Novice to Preliminary on Sept. 21 — and running an Intro event the next day, followed by an afternoon of cross-country schooling. We are so fortunate to have the vision of Roger Haller behind our cross-country course, and I think Roger really had fun this year running the course over some new routes and playing with the addition of several new fences. Another amazing revelation being on the organizing side of the event is learning that Roger has a detailed plan for each level’s course all the way through 2018. That’s long-term vision! And who will make this vision a reality? None other than course builder extraordinaire Tyson Rementer. Marlborough Horse Trials is one lucky event.

Skylar Voss riding MTF Cooley Caliber, winner of Open Novice. Photo credit to GRC Photo. Permission for use granted to MHT.

Perhaps one of the neatest things about our event is that it runs on a state park, and this comes with certain special attributes. This year, our early morning dressage riders were joined by a large group of military service members out for a Saturday morning PT session in the park. Our sport has its origins in the military, so I choose to look at this as bringing us just a little bit closer to our heritage. We also have the flow of unsuspecting bikers, hikers and others who think they are heading to the park to enjoy a beautiful fall day only to stumble upon 100 horses prancing and jumping and running. Can you imagine their surprise? And what a great thing for our sport — snag the unsuspecting public and make them new fans of eventing.

To top off this year’s event, we hosted a Jim Wofford clinic over the competition course on Wednesday, Sept. 25. With 16 riders and five full courses to play with, Jim found himself in an eventing playground. We cannot thank him enough for spending such a beautiful day with us, and we hope to make this sort of schooling opportunity a permanent feature of Marlborough Horse Trials if the future. We wish to extend a huge thank you to all the riders, grooms, family, friend, and support teams who contributed to the success of each of our riders this weekend. We love hosting you all and look forward to 22 more years.

Congratulations to the 2013 Marlborough Horse Trials division winners:

  • Open Preliminary A — Katie Domino/Rush W
  • Open Preliminary B — Lisa Mendell/Hokus Pokus
  • Open Training — Courtney Olmstead/Young Lad
  • Training Horse — Rosa W Lehnig/PL Irish Thunder
  • Training Rider — Amy Boccia/Whisper Lea
  • Novice Rider A — Suzy Gehris/Taking a Taxi
  • Novice Rider B — Sherry Stephenson/Pygmalion Prince
  • Open Novice — Skyeler Voss/MTF Cooley Caliber
  • Beginner Novice Rider A — Wendy Wentorf-Owens/Landrada
  • Beginner Novice Rider B — Kelsey Ann Quinn/Private Benjamin
  • Open Beginner Novice — Michelle Warro/Ave Ravina
  • Intro Rider — Michaline West/Double Exposure
  • Open Intro — Myra McMichael/He’s My Beau

And last but not least, I want to extend a huge thank you for the tremendous efforts of the Marlborough Horse Trials board, officials and army of volunteers.  Thank you for making this event possible for more than 20 years.

Mallory Stiver: Arriving at the AECs

By on Sep 27, 2013 9:45 am -

A few weeks ago, we sent out “The Bat Call” requesting guest bloggers from the AECs– and Mallory Stiver was one of the first to answer.  Mallory is competing at the AECs for the first time this year, at novice level.  After qualifying with a second-place finish at the Area IV Championships, Mallory was heartbroken to learn her horse was starting to develop degenerative joint disease.  The AECs will be their last event together, before he retires from jumping.  Thanks to Mallory for writing, and thank you for reading.  [AECs Live Scores]

 

 

From Mallory:

 

Hey Eventing Nation! My name is Mallory Stiver and I am going to be sharing a bit about my experience at this year’s AEC’s! I will be competing my horse, Up In Flames, in the Novice Junior division. It is our last event together before he retires and my first AEC, so I’m feeling very excited and lucky to be here. Let me start out by saying that Texas Rose is a perfect venue to hold an event like the AECs– the show grounds are pristine, there is an abundance of large arenas, the stalls are some of the nicest I’ve seen, and the people are friendly and helpful. The turnout was not as big as expected, but everyone here is excited and soaking it all in, and I feel like more people will come the next two years. I know that I am definitely going to be back.

We left Kansas before sunrise Wednesday morning and made an uneventful ten hour drive, arriving at Texas Rose at 3 pm sharp. Since I don’t show until Friday, I lightly lunged and took care of my horse, set up my stall, and we came back to the hotel to clean tack and eat dinner. It was an easy day- but much needed to get settled in.

Thursday morning, my sister, my friend and I woke early to feed and watch upper level dressage. It is so exciting to be at the same event as so many talented riders. We have definitely done our fair amount of star stalking for the weekend, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. We also watched my coach, Julie Wolfert, ride her dressage test in the Intermediate. She set the bar high for the rest of the team here, scoring a 29.4 to place 6th so far in a highly competitive division. I got the time to ride my horse around the venue a bit and enjoy the warm Texas weather. We spent some time preparing for our dressage test tomorrow and I am feeling confident going to sleep. Also, we watched the annual dog show, which was cuteness overload. My sister and I entered our dogs into the costume contest, but neither of them placed. However, my dog, Lilly, got a third place ribbon for the smallest dog contest. I guess the judges weren’t feeling her shark costume. Oh well! She still thinks she won.

I’m sure Friday will certainly be a change in pace for a much more energetic day. I’m hoping to get to watch some upper level cross country and try not to fret over my dressage test. If I’m not found doing either of those things, I’m most likely hanging out my mom’s vendor booth right next to the food vendors, or filming one of the nine riders from our team riding! It’s safe to say it will be a pretty busy day. Good luck and safe rides to everyone showing this weekend, and go Julie Wolfert Eventing!

The Season Called Reflection

By on Sep 27, 2013 8:30 am -

The Beast at the July Stoneleigh-Burnham H.T (photo credit to thehorsepesterer)

Top ten reasons why I love autumn in Vermont: 1) It’s absolutely breathtaking. When you ride through certain trails, you literally feel like you are taking a tour through a crayon box. 2) Apples galore. 3) Pumpkin pies and spices. 3) Its acceptable, and possibly even encouraged to pack on the pounds, because freezing temperatures are right around the corner! 4) Lots of trail riding. 5) Chai Lattes. 6) Cow herding. 7) Bye bye bugs. 8) Fit and feisty horses (which works in my favor). 9) Family hikes and homemade molasses cookies made by the one and only favorite mother of mine. 10) Finally, time to look back and reflect on the competition season. The up’s, the downs’ and the looking ahead!

Even though Denny refers to me as the GOV, ie Grumpy Old Vermonter, which is becoming more of a reality and less of a joke as the years pass, I really am in awe of where I am right now. I live in one of the most spectacular places in the country, even though I am a bit biased. Autumn in New England is a post card to many, and reality for me.

The one and only THF!

Back to why I am in awe. I tend to focus on the negative and I would definitely consider myself to be a realist/pessimist, hence the reason why Denny refers to me as a grumpy old Vermonter! Even though Valonia was desperately challenging on the flat, and was semi-inconsistent on xc in 2013, and Skybreaker seemed to want nothing to do with ditches, and was extremely unsteady in dressage, I think I have accomplished a great deal when I calculate all the positives.

To my surprise and despite having extremely challenging lessons at home, Valonia managed to be 2nd or 3rd after dressage in seven out of my eight events that I took her to. Valonia used to buck, kick out, and take down rings in dressage in her early years, and now she is becoming a serious contender. Also, her jumping has grown leaps and bounds. It used to feel like I was trying to operate a front-end loader, and now she is, dare I say, effortless? She still has many “mare-ish” tricks up her sleeves, but I am confident in our future together.

Skybreaker went from being 10th after several dizzying dressage tests, to consistently being at the top after dressage. He also went from slamming on the brakes at giant holes in the ground to learning that ditches aren’t that scary. He has become the fittest he has ever been. He won his first 10 mile judged trail ride. For anyone familiar with this big dude, you will not be surprised to hear he tends to be a SLOW MOVING and SLOW THINKING horse. Turning him into a quicker moving and quicker thinking horse has been quite the process, but is starting to pay off. This horse won every jumper show I took him to and he is the only horse I have ever ridden that casually and effortlessly lopes over 4’6”.

It’s so important to look back at the summer and reflect. Think about all you and your horse accomplished. Don’t fixate on one or two bad outings where you came home crying, or you retired at fence 4 on xc. Focus on the positive and give yourself and your horse a pat on the back. Gauging progress can be tricky, especially when you are examining the improvements over a seemingly short period of time. It’s easier to say my horse has come so far in the last 4 years. Instead of saying, wow, look at what we accomplished the last 6 months. You are certainly not alone when you think you made very little progress in one summer. But you have. You have to dissect the summer and look at where you were and look at where you are now. Are we perfectly content and satisfied at the end of the summer? Not necessarily, especially for all of us perfectionists, but we have to acknowledge the “good” and then we can move forward and start getting pumped for our 2014 competition season!

Friday News & Notes from FLAIR Nasal Strips

By on Sep 27, 2013 12:01 am -

Katherine Groesbeck and Oz the Tin Man Lead the Advanced AEC after dressage. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Good morning and happy Friday! It’s nice and hot down here in Texas, and I have the sunburn to prove it! AEC action kicks off first thing this morning once again, with Beginner Novice and Novice riders contesting dressage and Training through Advanced setting out across country. If you didn’t catch my course preview from yesterday, check it out. The course promises to be a big factor in the final leaderboards this weekend, and I look forward to an action packed day at the Texas Rose Horse Park.

AEC Links:

[AEC Homepage] [Schedule] [Live Scores]

Events This Weekend:

Jump Start H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Times]

University of New Hampshire [Website] [Entry Status/Times]

The Middleburg H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]

Flora Lea Fall H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]

Your Friday News:

Have you entered the awesome FLAIR contest yet? You can win $250 by winning back to back horse trials between now and October 31. Be sure to use FLAIR strips for both your cross country and stadium rounds (take photos so we can see you rocking them!), and FLAIR will give you $250 in bragging rights! [Eventers Win Big With FLAIR]

Are you at the AECs? If so, check out EN’s Twitter contest. We are looking for your best EN inspired photos from the weekend – the more creative, the better! Just tweet your photo to @EventingNation using the hashtag #insanityinthemiddle. [EN’s AEC Twitter Contest]

Boyd and Silva Martin are competing at Devon Dressage this weekend. Silva rode Boyd’s 4-star mount, Trading Aces to a fourth place finish in a fourth level class while Boyd collected his own ribbons in a 5 year old dressage suitability class aboard Dhouble Scoop. The Martins are using this show as a ramp up for Trading Aces’ upcoming run at Boekelo. [Boyd and Silva at Devon]

A British man accused of punching a police horse has been told to expect jail time. Upset over a football match that did not turn out the way he wanted it to, the unruly fan took his feelings out on Bud, a shire-cross police horse. [Do the Crime, Do the Time]

The deadline to apply for Thoroughbred Incentive Program sponsorship is September 30. TIP is a great program that supports retrained racehorses, and horse shows are invited to apply for TIP awards at their events. [TIP Sponsorship]

Best of the Blogs:

Kat Drake blogs about gender roles in eventing.

Meg Kep and leaps of faith.

Your Friday Video Break:

A throwback to last year’s AECs, here is Michael Pollard and Hanni contesting the Advanced show jumping.

Michael Pollard and Shoensgreen Hanni Lead the AEC Intermediate Dressage

By on Sep 26, 2013 9:49 pm -

Michael Pollard and Hanni lead the Intermediate dressage. Photo from the Pollard Eventing FB.

Many apologies to Michael Pollard, as I was arguing with the Wi-Fi while he was doing his test with Hanni so I missed it. However, the numbers say it all as Hanni leads the Intermediate division on a score of 26.8. I interrupted the lunch of spoke with Michael briefly this afternoon and he told me that Hanni is among the most reliable in the dressage, and her score proves this to be true. Michael also had another ride in the Intermediate, Cheyenne Blue, who he said is still a work in progress as he works to get her to relax more. Coming out of the arena after their test, he said that this ride was a huge improvement. Cheyenne Blue is a wonderful mover and quite athletic. It should be a pleasure to watch this mare grow with Michael.

EN guest blogger Julie Wolfert put in a wonderful test on her own Buenos Aires, which puts them into sixth place on a 29.4. I did not have a chance to catch up with Julie today as she quickly transitioned from competitor to coach, but I hope to speak with her later this weekend.

Frankie Theriot and Uphoria. Photo by Sally Spickard.

My Intermediate shout of the day goes to Frankie Theriot and Uphoria, who threw down a beautiful test to sit behind Michael and Hanni on a 27.6. Frankie and her connections all seemed thrilled with her ride today. These two have had a heck of a year at Intermediate this year, it’s exciting to think about Frankie moving this mare up to Advanced at some point.

You can find the full Intermediate standings after dressage here.