Working Student Diaries, part 17

From Jenny:

Hello Eventing Nation!

      Well it’s busy a crazy few weeks here at CEO, and I am finally finding some time to sit down and write about them! Two weeks ago we welcomed our first foal of the year, a perfectly stunning chestnut colt with four white stockings and a star/stripe. He is by Contucci and out of a big and beautiful warmblood mare of Megan’s. The day he was born was an excellent day filled with wonderful jump schools, the addition of an exciting new young horse, the addition of some new clients (that just happen to be from UConn!!), eating like kings, and all day we were joking it was because we started the day off right with bacon for breakfast (I’m actually a vegetarian so I just watched Andrea and Megan enjoy their bacon while I ate my Lucky Charms). Therefore, when our little colt was born at 9:30 that night and completed the perfect day, it was unanimous that the baby should be called Bacon! A show name has yet to be determined, but our little redhead has already lived up to his barn name, as he is quite the piggy and LOVES eating!

      While Andrea held down the fort at home, Megan and I took a few horses and clients up to Greater Dayton HT in Ohio. The whole weekend was a great experience, with the best people. We were lucky to be put in the permanent stabling and have a whole aisle for just Team CEO, so it was a very fun time! I was impressed with how laid back and relaxed Molson was, from hacking on Friday when we first got there, until the end on Sunday. He really seemed to mature throughout the weekend, and is beginning to understand his full job. He was the most supple he has ever been at a show for dressage, and put in a stellar test to receive a 34. We then had an amazing stadium warm up, even with a loose horse galloping at us at one fence! The stadium ring at Dayton is between a large judge’s stand and the tent stabling, so unfortunately my silly spooky horse lost all concentration once in the ring. I can’t blame him for he did try his best, and we had a good round with one rail, only because I completely messed up the turn to jump 3 and didn’t give him enough time to pick up his feet. I was somewhat disappointed in myself because it was a silly mistake that I shouldn’t have made, and I really wanted to prove ourselves after the silly stop in SJ at Spring Bay, but that is life! Sunday was XC and yet another learning experience for both Molson and I. The first jump was the most awkward jump I have ever experienced on Molson, as he decided to leave a whole two strides early and send me hailing a cab in the back seat. I definitely did not plan to get that much airtime over the tiny first log, but after that I was on a mission to WIN my battles with him and not let him take fliers just because the jumps were so small. This has been an ongoing battle between us, as I like to ‘compromise’ with my mounts, when really I need to be the boss, especially if I want to move up the levels. So, after establishing a pecking order after the first fence, the rest of the course ran pretty smoothly. We ended coming in with more than plenty of enough time to spare. Unfortunately, we were 8 seconds too fast to win the tie for 2^nd, but were happy to end the weekend in third! Overall I was very proud of my boy, especially for how enthusiastic he was to jump everything on the course, never backing off or wiggling.

      Next up was May Daze, which I have been looking forward to for months now not only because it is at the KHP, but because my family came to visit and watch for the weekend! I’m not sure if Molson could sense the excitement in me the whole weekend because I finally got to see my family for the first time since Christmas, but he sure was excited the entire weekend as well–and let everyone in the park know it! I was a little weary about how dressage would go since the rings were held in what normally are the show jumping rings, which Molson tends to get pretty hyped up in. However, he was completely relaxed and lovely in warm up. Then came show time, and while we trotted around the ring waiting for the bell, Molson decided that screaming his big heart out for the whole world to hear was what we were there to do. He also found the rocks that held down the corners of the rings to be quite terrifying, and as we spooked (almost) into the judge’s car (before the test started), the judge poked her little head out and said “Dear, the rodeo is across the road.” Trying to just laugh off his silliness, I look up and sure enough there are a bunch of cowboys warming up their rodeo mounts in the rings across the road. I knew right then it was going to be an interesting test to say the least. Despite what happened before the bell rang, when we entered the ring Molson put in a good test. Now that does not mean he wasn’t screaming the ENTIRE time we were in the arena, but at least while he was exercising his vocal cords, he was also completely on the bit and as attentive as one can be while belting out notes that I didn’t even knew existed at the top of his lungs. All joking aside, I was very embarrassed by Molson’s rather loud performance, but the judge seemed to have sympathized and still gave us a 31. Next we did XC, and since the last weekend I had gone too fast and ended up costing us the tie for second, I figured I would demand Molson’s respect for my half halts and practice taking it slower and coming in closer to optimum time. With that attitude, I had the best XC ride to date, winning every single battle for every take off spot before every fence. However, I made yet another silly mistake when I looked down at my watch and seemed to think I was still too early to be close to optimum time, so I circled to eat up some time. Unfortunately, math was not my best subject in school, and I miscalculated, getting a bunch of time penalties! Never did I think we would get time penalties at novice, especially since I am usually worried about speed faults! After feeling quite stupid about circling when I shouldn’t have, I went into stadium on a mission to go double clear. We sorted out our control issues in warm up, and ended up having a great double clear round! Overall I was thrilled with Moo. We had a huge breakthrough with who exactly was driving the ship (who knew it was supposed to be me all this time!?), and if it weren’t for my silly lapse of judgment to circle in XC, we would have come in second! After the event, the courses were open to school, so Megan had us go around the training course as if it were a competition, so that we could practice before our training debut at Midsouth. That was the most fun I have ever had with Molson, and it made me so excited for the move up! He jumped the entire course so easily and we never argued. The bigger the jumps, the happier he is and the more he respects them and me. He did both waters flawlessly, never thought twice about doing the skinny angled brushes anything but perfectly, and eagerly jumped through the coffin. The weekend ended a perfect one, and I was so happy to be able to have my family there for support.

      Now it is back to the real world, as we attempt to continue our daily schedules in the sweltering heat. Is it bad that I’m already wishing it were winter again?

Until next time!

xo, Jenny