Sixteen-year-old Mikaela checks in again from her summer as a working student for Jan Byyny at Surefire Farm. Last week, Mikaela’s blog was all about preparing for the horse trial. Today, she tells us how it went. Congratulations, Mikaela, and thanks for writing. If you have something to share with EN, send it to [email protected]. Thanks for reading!
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The Surefire working student team
From Mikaela:
Putting on an event is hard work. I never fully realized how much work it really is until we put on Surefire Horse Trials. One of the main jobs was staining cross country fences. It is daunting when you see a big intermediate table and you have to stain the whole thing, but with seven people the job is much easier. Another big task was setting up the dressage arenas. At home I just wheel it out and set up some chain and stakes, but the amount of precision that goes into making sure everything is just right is amazing. The straightness and the exact measurements are crazy. It took us some time but by the third ring we were pros.
Some of the little jobs take time when you add them all together. From roping off all the parking and vendor areas, to putting out sponsor signs; individually, they don’t take much time but when put together, they add up. One job was cleaning out all the ditches and making them pretty for the ponies to jump. Some were really not too pretty. By the end, though, they all looked amazing… if I do say so myself. We were able to get everything done. The tents were in place, the show jumping was set and the cross country course was flagged and decorated.
Then on Friday night I witnessed the worst storm I have ever seen. Jennie Brannigan had just moved in with nine horses, we had just enough stalls and had just turned the night time ponies out. All of a sudden, the black clouds moved in and lightning struck the fields around us. We could tell it was going to be bad so we rushed out and tried to wrangle all the horses in and shut down the fort when it started to pour. It was not just any old downpour; more like a monsoon. McKenzie (our new working student) Kelty, Jan and I were all trapped in the barn as we watched the rain come down as that was all we could see. It lasted a good bit, and when the storm cleared we could see that every show jump was down and cross country flags were no longer upright. Thank goodness for our course builders because by the time the first horse ran the next day, everything looked perfect. The footing needed some rain anyway so it was not so hard which was a huge plus.
My weekend started on Sunday. We decided it would be good to get a confidence builder in to allow me to trust my horse and my riding. Text came out Sunday morning and was very rideable; on Saturday he was very “up” so it was a welcome relief that he had pizaz but was ready to work. I thought my test needed improvement as my accuracy was not as good as it could have been and my canter transitions were not my best, but it was a good, consistent test for us and I was pleased with how good he was. He did everything I asked and stayed focused the whole time. I came out smiling and Jan seemed pleased with it as well. I went back to the barn to finish putting studs in (I had already put outsides in for dressage) and I went to help at odd places around the event. I was glued to live scores. When I saw my score I nearly screamed! A 28.5! My best score ever and good enough for the lead after dressage. I had achieved my goal and I was thrilled.
Heading back to the barn, I became nervous about my next phases. I tried not to think about anything but what I needed to do for the jumping. Meghan warmed me up for show jumping and THANK YOU so much to her for helping me. She got my jumping off to a great start in warm up and I was able to ride him well in the ring. Text was super and it was one of the most fluid rounds I have ridden, apart for the little spook before the start flags. All the work I had done with him and all the help Meghan and Jan gave me really allowed me to ride him through the spook and finish with a double clear round!
One down, one to go. I quickly threw on my vests and his boots and we hacked out to cross-country. Jan warmed me up and really helped me ride him through his spookiness. It might not have been the prettiest cross-country round but he was really honest and jumped terrifically, which is what we wanted and the course got better and better as we went. I came over the last fence with a huge smile plastered across my face. Was my day perfect? No. Were there a number of things upon which I could improve? Yes. But we jumped around and that was the goal and he came home sound and happy which is by far the most important. Coming home with the blue was just the icing on the cake.
