Bienvenue au Canada! I took my mare Valonia to Napierville this weekend, an event up in Canada. We left on a Friday and returned on a Sunday. I traveled with my two buddies, Susan Berrill and Daryl Kinney, and we certainly had an adventure that will never be forgotten.
I had absolutely zero expectations in every regard. I wasn’t sure how my mare was going to handle overnighting somewhere other than the comfort of her own field and stall. I wasn’t sure what the cross country course was going to be like. I heard that show jumping for every division was going to be three to four inches higher than a normal show jumping round in the U.S. I wasn’t sure about any of it. I was ecstatic about competing out of the country for the first time in my life, but other than that, I was an open book.
We arrived late Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, they had just been hit with a tremendous amount of rain that nearly washed the event away. They didn’t cancel the event, but rather they worked really hard to keep the cross country course from completely washing away. Everyone at the farm welcomed us with opened arms and made sure we were happy and had everything we needed, even though they needed about 25 dump truck loads more of hard pack. The hospitality at this event was extraordinary, and I felt very comfortable there.
We got our horses settled in their stalls and went out immediately to walk our courses. This is where my eyes got big and my imagination started running all over the place. From the stables to cross country, you walked about 10 minutes down an extremely long and straight narrow dirt road — perfect for a pre-hack to cross country warm up, although not great for an evening stroll because the mosquitoes might actually eat you alive!
We all started in the start box but veered off quickly because I was going training, Sue prelim and Daryl intermediate. The footing was extremely challenging in several locations, none of which was anyone’s fault at all — this was all Mother Nature, unfortunately. The footing at the base of each fence and right after were decent, but the rivers and water crossings were rushing like mad. There were several questions on my course that would have been difficult even in normal footing, but with the slippery grass and the muddy footing, this was certainly going to be a challenge. We all had the same reaction. These cross country courses were going to be tough — this was unanimous!
I have to mention the water jumps because they were truly something to see. The water jump was more of a large frog pond, which was totally fine and very cool looking, but the amount of water that filled the pond was almost comical in a weird way. I don’t think I saw one rider walk their line through the water complex because they would have been completely drenched up to their knees. When I saw this water jump two thoughts came to mind: 1) If I even make it this far that will be an accomplishment in itself, and 2) all the horses that DO jump into this pond — whether they are going BN or intermediate — they are true event horses, and that will impress me.
Well, my buddy Daryl managed to not sink and swam her way through this course on the amazing intermediate Thoroughbred gelding Union Station (owned by Denny Emerson), aka “Onion.” The pair went clean and finished 2nd overall. My pal Sue and her tough cookie of a mare, Absoroka (by Aberjack), better known as “Phoebe,” also swam through their course and were the only ones that completed their prelim division.
I unfortunately ended up retiring less than half way around cross country for several reasons. I have to admit, I was very nervous about the footing and the difficulty of my course in general. So far, this was the hardest course that Valonia and I would tackle as a team. I sat on my tack trunk Saturday morning going over again and again in my head the pros and cons of doing this course. Pros: I came here to compete. I paid all this money and I want to go cross country. The footing is much better today than it was yesterday. I don’t want to give up. I have huge studs. Cons: I can’t afford to lose a shoe today for specific reasons. I don’t want to lose confidence. I really don’t want my horse to lose confidence. I don’t want to scare my horse.
I sat there thinking and trying to figure out whether or not I should jump. I talked to several people and knew it was ultimately up to me. I had about an hour before cross country and I started studding my horse. I tacked up and walked the long road out to mosquitoe-ville. The warm up was pretty bad in terms of footing (not that this was anyone’s fault), but I didn’t do very much in terms of warm up. Valonia jumped out of her skin over the warm up jumps and I felt pretty confident going into the start box. My plan was if things start going downhill, whether it be footing, or stopping or run outs … I would just retire.
The timer was so nice and told me to smile before I left the box … that’s the rule, he said! So, I smiled and looked up and let Valonia go. The first part of the course had decent footing. The first four jumps went really well. We got to a long gallop stretch in the woods and Valonia felt great. Then I got to number five, which was a big corner only a few strides off a turn with big white bags sitting on the wide part of the jump. Unfortunately, she ran out there. I regrouped and tried again. She jumped the second time. Shortly after I had a large roll top, two strides down a hill to a huge trakehner with a river flowing underneath. No surprise here — she ran out. I regrouped and she jumped it fabulously the second time. Now the footing started getting worse than I had thought. We jumped a few more jumps and then came out of a muddy turn, were supposed to jump a chevron, down a steep hill three strides to a huge ditch with a water gushing through, then up a steep hill, four strides to a brush. She stopped at the in and that’s when I knew we weren’t going to make it around, nor was I even going to try at this point. I retired.
We all learn something from every event we go to, whether we win, fall off, retire or come in dead last — we always learn something, don’t you think? I learned that I need to stay close to home for a little while and get my horse more comfortable just with competing. I wouldn’t have known this unless I did it. I didn’t need to spend that much money to go around a course or halfway around a course that was too challenging for my semi-green horse in less than ideal footing. It made total sense that Sue and Daryl would go to an event like Napierville, because both the riders and horses had serious competitions already under their belts, and I had very few. Overall Napierville was an amazing event put on by a really great group of hardworking and dedicated individuals. The organizer, the secretary, the volunteers, the competitors and the farm owners could not have been more welcoming and more gracious, and I would absolutely recommend this event to anyone who wanted to go tackle a fun and challenging course! (P.S. Sorry about no Napierville pictures. We all rode within 30 minutes of each other.)
