We introduced guest blogger Rebecca Howard a few weeks ago, and today she’s back to catch us up on her home event at The Fork. Rebecca and Riddle Master (“Rupert”) had a fantastic weekend, finishing in 2nd place on their dressage score in the CIC***. She was the highest placed of the Canadians, who had a super weekend overall– Hawley Bennett-Awad finished 6th with Gin N Juice, Jessica Phoenix was 9th on Exponential, and Diana Burnett rounded out the top 10 with Shigatzi. Check out Rebecca’s website, and The Fork’s website for much more. Thanks for writing this Rebecca and thank you for reading. Go Canada!
Rebecca and Riddle Master, photo by Samantha
The week after…
Well another Fork Horse Trials = done! And I think it all went quite well.
I could not be happier with Rupert, he was great all weekend. Our dressage focus paid out this week with our best score in a FEI test. We Canucks have been working with Canadian Team Dressage Rider Jacquie Brooks and been delighted with her approach. This spring in Florida Jacquie was up from Wellington every couple of weeks for some tag team coaching with DOC and In February I went and spent a few additional days in Wellington’s Dressage Land. The Fork HT was the first opportunity for Jacquie to coach us at competition. I had two great lessons Wednesday and Thursday followed by a Jacquie pre-competition warm up. It is always an experiment having someone else on the side lines during a final warm up. I usually have a plan of what I need/want to do, and David doesn’t tend to say too much unless it is seriously going sideways. Actually David shifts to more of a sign language, or “miming” the message he wants to get across… which works quite well for Rup and I…from the corner of our eyes. Although Jacquie is likely not familiar with “DOC code” or sign language – she has an extremely effective way about her. She did not try and dictate the ride, but certainly added some very constructive guidance. I think what is so good about her help is that she recognizes and respects what we already know as riders and she understands what other jobs our horses have do on Saturday and Sunday. So her way of teaching keeps the horses happy, moving better and building on the existing technical knowledge of the rider.
Cross country was just pure fun and he really did not put a foot wrong. Rupert feels much stronger in his body this year, giving me a softer feel jumping. Sunday he came out fresh and feeling good show jumping – to finish on his dressage score.
I am regularly asked what it is like competing at my home stable… difficult or home advantage? I think the answer is different for each horse but I am yet to find the home advantage, as our normally quiet home is completely different than the other 51 weeks of the year. Rupert has competed at the Fork Trials every year for the last 4 years and he feels basically the same in the arena and on course as he does competing elsewhere. The biggest difficulty was moving up to the competition stabling from his regular bedroom. That hack to and from the arenas???… was nothing short of “creative” (aka: terrorizing) until he understood the new routine.
As a rider however, it takes conscious effort to switch from organizer to competitor. It is a shift from making sure the arenas are set, the xc course is flagged and numbered correctly … to actually riding in those arenas and looking at those jumps in terms of how to ride them as opposed to placing flags on them!
I have to say we felt better prepared this year with our Horse Trial duties, purely due to the great crew we had on deck this year. Dana Cooke simply does not stop; the working students Jessica Meckes & Katie Shiplett – plus side kick Kaylin Medlin (the busiest 14 year old I know!) don’t stop until Dana stops (see earlier statement). We had Sinead’s super crew as work party, Dana’s mom – Marcia – on the grandmother’s sewing machine making SJ flags, and My Parents in their usual ultra productive mode… Thank you thank you!
And now you would barley know there were 400 horses, 5000 people and 10,000 dogs here only 3 days ago. The cleanup crew is as efficient as the put up party. The only thing that seems to be missing is a pink wooden pig…it’s particularly valuable …has a health condition (needs it’s medications) and does not travel well. ……so if anyone knows of its whereabouts…. Pennsylvania or otherwise?! Last, but not least, I want to give a thanks to my sponsors Arenus, Ecogold, EquineLite Mats, FITS, Five Star Tack, Haygain, Hit Air, Omega Alpha, RevitaVet, and Stack House Saddles.
