Round 3 is where things get exciting, photo via Rennett Stowe
Nine EN blogger candidates are moving onto the penultimate round of our EN blogger contest. Yesterday we published the successful round 2 posts from Leslie, Lacy, Chesna, and Elyse, and today we will publish the other 5 successful posts. The candidates don’t have any time to rest on their laurels because the deadline for the next round of submissions is looming early next week, when we will cut the field of contestants in half. It’s a survival game and everyone is going to have to step their game up if they want to move on to the final round. For the the next round we have asked everyone to write about their most embarrassing moment with horses. This will dovetail nicely with a series of posts ESJ is putting together for next week, so stay tuned. For now, here are the rest of the contestants’ round two entries, where they responded to a prompt about the most important development in eventing over the past 10 years. Without further ado, and again in no particular order:
Amy Goodusky:
Bio: I’m not an eventer; I just play one on EN! Actually, I am a Connecticut lawyer who rides and writes every day to make sure I don’t take life too seriously.
Entry: The most important development in eventing over the last ten years is the addition of the Beginner Novice division to recognized competitions. I am probably wrong about the dates, and this momentous development occurred more than ten years ago; but if certain politicians can get away with revisionist history (uh, wasn’t Paul Revere really the first eventer?) I can, too. Even if I am talking completely out of my riding helmet, (the words “riding helmet” replaced the phrase “a bodily cavity which shall remain unmentioned”) the creation of the division which one of my former trainers condescendingly refers to as “baby novice” is of tremendous value because, in my narcissistic and monomaniacal view, it opened the doors of competition to people like me.
This begs the question: who the %^^$$#% are you? Okay, you asked. I am a rider. I had one summer of Pony Club which hooked me on eventing forty years ago. Since then, lack of funds, time, skill, competent training and all of the attendant misfortunes of horse ownership, lessorship, rental, bailment, and borrowing kept me from getting to an actual event. I dreamed about it, though, and once I thought I was ready, I was confronted by one choice of division: Novice. This was daunting.
Consider this: two feet nine inches of solid fence looks to some of us, especially when it is hurtling toward us in the lurching fashion depicted by a helmet cam on a backyard horse of uncertain description, breeding and temperament, like five feet eleven inches. The idea of going over, say, fifteen of these fences in sequence was an effective deterrent from entering an event recognized by any legitimate organization, governing body or international cabal. Other similarly situated feeble but determined riders out there, I know, would rather spend a sunny Sunday cleaning their bathroom bowls than debut at Novice level, and thus devoted themselves to carrying the camera and the manure fork for those less severely affected.
Beginner novice made it possible for us to start somewhere. Two three is manageable. I could avoid vomiting green bile all over my nice new breeches. It is a gentle introduction to the rigors of combining three disciplines in one day, allowing riders to taste a thrill whilst dispensing with some of the agony. It gave me, as a friend says, “access to excess.” That excess whetted my appetite for more. It got me going and kept me there. This was the kind of riding I wanted to do in real life, wearing grown up clothes. The promulgation and promotion of the Beginner Novice division has wooed a few hunter jumper types and attracted others to the discipline who would otherwise have stayed home cleaning tack.
As a division, Beginner Novice assures the future of eventing in two ways. It’s the place for children to start, in a manner that any parent would cheerfully endorse. Those children will grow up to be the Boyd Martins and Sinead Halpins of their generation. More people will compete and be turned on by the sport. Then there’s the other end of the spectrum: older riders, who are finally at a point in their lives where owning a horse doesn’t mean having to eat generic macaroni and cheese to afford board and training. They are competing, too, and having a good time doing it. Their participation keeps eventing going every bit as effectively as the professional riders flying off to Burghley. The Beginner Novice Division is an invitation issued to riders of all stripes. It’s one I’m delighted to accept.
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Dana:
Bio: My name is Dana and I enjoy entering contests, eventing, humor and happy hour. Not necessarily in that order.
Entry: Frangible pins, long versus short format, elimination if you fall off….. important topics but I’d rather write about people. One who got me started in eventing and one who keeps me going.
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Jessica Keating:
Bio: My name is Jessica Keating – I’m a 28 year old living, working and riding in the DC metropolitan area. I am currently unsuccessfully competing Training, but have high hopes for a number vs. a letter score here in my immediate future.
Entry: The Internets: a Love Story
Ten years ago I was aimlessly riding my chestnut TB mare – or more accurately – riding on eggshells, trying not to get in her way and addressing multiple abscesses. I had no real concept of eventing, and certainly no firsthand experience of the culture and community that goes along with it. It is difficult for me to pinpoint a development that has been important in the last decade of eventing because I just don’t know – and if stalking the chronicle forums has taught me anything, it’s that if you don’t know…don’t pretend otherwise. Three years in, I am starting to get a feel for the rhythm and reason of eventing, and it is due – in large part – to the extensive online community that is available to me. I do not know what it was like before (in the olden days), but I imagine you had to buy the whinny widgets for your dressage tests, ask your trainer or friends how a particular event ran, talk to people on the phone and in general wander about hoping that information would filter its way to you organically. Not that those aren’t all wonderful things, but we just have so many additional options now. Options that might come in handy if you happen to forget an event closes until 15 minutes before the online entry expires and have to register online through your Smartphone. Not that I have ever done that. Hypotheticals.
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Right at this second I could post a thread on the Chronicle Forums and reach 91 people who are somehow connected to eventing and may have advice or experience that could help me. 91 people who have probably evented longer, stronger and tougher than me who can either point me in the right direction, or maybe help me avoid the potholes that they barreled into when they were starting out. I can visit the blogs and websites of other riders, enthusiasts, product providers and fans to supplement the information I obtain through: eavesdropping, gossiping, reading magazines and repeatedly tapping my forward to my horses in the hopes that osmosis will make me a better rider. On the United States Eventing website I can access an online omnibus showing me listed events in my area as well as links to register electronically. There are live scoring platforms – a double edged sword, when you want your results to be hidden, but a definite bonus when you are sitting outside an Italian restaurant in Poughkeepsie, NY waiting to see how your horse did at the event you had to miss. Many events are allowing you to register electronically (credit card, yes!), view your times and entry status online and overall aid in simplifying and streamlining a process, which I can imagine may have been laborious a decade ago. I can even direct my little web browser over to YouTube and watch a helmet cam video of a training rider at Waredaca last weekend and see the approach I SHOULD have taken to the half coffin. Also, why doesn’t that rider sound as tired as I felt? But I digress.
The availability of easy, online resources for eventing is something that I do understand, appreciate and support. Anything that allows me to wait until the last minute, do extensive research while sitting on my rear and facilitates my obsessive compulsion with online product reviews is worth writing about after all.
Disclaimer: Jessica Keating lives with a man who reconfigures routers for fun; internet pandering completely unsolicited.
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Becca Gershowitz:
Bio: Okay, the two sentences that I came up with to describe me: Little pony. Big pasture.
Entry: Eventing Exposed!
Eventing is definitely a sport that has gone through many changes over the years. It’s hard to pick what is the most important or what has had the biggest impact on our sport. Between safety measures, the transition from long to short format, and the increasing popularity of one-day horse trials among other things, our sport has transformed greatly from what it was a decade ago.
One of the things that strikes me the most is how accessible and exposed eventing has become due simply to technology, social media, and online access. For example, the entire show process has been streamlined! Well, not the actual showing itself, but the paperwork part at least! It really wasn’t that long ago that we were sent copies of the USEA Omnibus throughout the year and selected our shows from there. Now, it’s as easy as hopping on the computer or grabbing a smartphone to plan out the season. And once plans are made, you can enter and pay online- either through the USEA’s XEntry service or evententries.com for example! No paper, no stamps, no worrying if your entry was lost in the mail and will make it in on time- much more “green” and efficient now! While getting ready for the show, you can use your handy-dandy smartphone app to learn your dressage tests instead of having to refer to a book or print out a test. And, as the show gets closer, you can check the venue’s website to see the posted ride times- not only to plan your day with your mounts, but also to plan to watch other riders go throughout the day. So, if your favorite upper level rider is competing, you can plan your time to be able to watch their rounds and learn from the best! And, once your show day is over, you often find that the scores are posted online before they make it to the scoreboard on show grounds! And no more waiting for the next issue of USEA magazine to see how everyone has done in Florida or Aiken over the winter: it’s all online for your viewing pleasure. Ahh, nothing like a little instant gratification.
Even beyond the horse show aspect of it all, technology has allowed for greater rider exposure. What professional rider do you know that doesn’t have his or her own blog for us to pour over every time they post something new? YouTube gives us unlimited supply of videos- both traditional videos and the increasingly popular helmet-cams that we all love! Facebook allows us to have even more of a connection with our favorite riders, and Twitter lets us follow any updates they give in real-time. Posters, pictures and videos are great, but having more of a “relationship” with our favorite riders- being able to follow their regular activities, share in their victories or pitch in when things get rough . . . that accessibility really seems to bring eventers together and make for a more tight-knit group of riders. There are tons of different online magazines, blogs, and bulletin boards to keep up with all of the latest news, events and gossip about riders and competitions all over the world. We have live streams of major events as they’re happening and tons of archives to access at any time. So, even when we’re not in the saddle or at a show, we can be surrounded by eventing any time we want!
As awesome as the technology is, nothing beats the real thing, so get out there and Go Eventing!
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Karen McCollom:
Bio: I live in a constant state of suppressed road-rage , I think Eddie Izzard should be the Emperor of the World, and I am easily delighted by just about anything: beautiful countryside, rice pudding, my one-year-old grandson discovering his own nostrils at the dinner table . I color my hair but rarely brush it, pay little attention to what I’m wearing, much to the entertainment of friends and family, I read incessantly, am a little lazy, though somehow fairly fit, I hate to cook, I love dogs, all dogs, any dogs, but am fiercely addicted to horses in a demented sort of a way.
Entry: A couple of weeks ago, I was warming up my mare for her dressage at the UNH horse trials. As I dragged my gaze away from the back of her neck, I was suddenly struck by the quality of the horses around me. These were the usual motley crew of lower level horses : fancy young horses on the way up, old schoolmasters , steady draft crosses, or feisty little Morgans. What was striking was how well and correctly they were all working.
Years ago, if you happened to be the one who managed to keep your horse’s head down that day, you could win. Now, I noticed, with some worry, that everyone seemed to know what they were doing. The horses had rhythm, lightness and engagement. Where were the horses who stuck their noses out one end and their hocks out the other and propped around the ring? When did everyone learn to ride and train their horses so well?
Later, while walking my cross-country course, I was impressed again by the consistent rhythm and easy adjustability of these same horses as they galloped by. What has happened to the old scenes of horses fighting for their heads, racing along frighteningly on their forehands? What has been going on out here while I was apparently not paying attention?
On the drive home, I came to a startling conclusion: the trickle down effect of the short format. As one whose small moment of upper level international competition was strictly long format , including Rolex and the now gone but fabulous Checkmate in Canada, I will mourn the loss of the long format forever. However, my observations at UNH gave me food for thought.
When the long format died its long and convoluted death between 2000 and 2005, the new short format had only just begun its evolution. In the first few years, there were worries and squabbles; about fitness and warm up routines, about the possible demise of the thoroughbred sporthorse, about cross-country becoming an afterthought in the shadow of the more demanding dressage and showjumping phases. The courses were awkward – clusters of complicated technical combinations were connected by sprints like some sort of high speed treasure hunt. This new version of our sport was undergoing growing pains and an identity crisis.
Now, in 2011, the sport has aged out of this awkward phase and has become a more graceful and predictable beast. The courses are more fluid yet still testing, requiring the same speed, and boldness as the long format courses, but also tremendous maneuverability. Thoroughbred or part-bred, the horses must be superbly trained for these more complex tests. Whatever our opinions, the short format with its somewhat different requirements has created more technically proficient upper level riders.
Through observation and lessons, the lower level riders are exposed to this quality of riding. The expectations and goals of these lower level riders have been changed as a result. Improved dressage means more adjustability for jumping at all levels. Excellence is not only a possibility now at the lower levels, it is a requirement, whether the rider is happy staying forever at beginner novice or is on the way up through the levels.
By the end of my drive home from UNH, I found myself reluctantly deciding that the coming of age of the short format, rather than simply causing the feared “dumbing down” of eventing, has, among its many effects, actually improved the quality of our riding at all the levels and thus our sport. Now if I can only keep up.
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The only easy day was yesterday. Go eventing.
