Well this week got away from me and I’m sure you’ve all been waiting in suspense to hear whether I qualified for our Area Championships. Going into stadium, I had moved up to second. I was really feeling the pressure. I knew if we had a clear round, we had a good shot of winning. … More Otter Creek Summer HT: Stadium
Cross country day! A.K.A. The craziest day of my whole month of August. I not only rode cross country, but I then turned around and went to a wedding an hour away. Whew. But first, the fun stuff! Cross country was great! The course was big but not terrifying. The scariest part for me was … More Otter Creek Summer HT: Cross Country
Here we are again, folks! Yes, I did two horse trials in two weekends, and yes, they were both more than 4-and-a-half hours away, and yes, I am exhausted. No, I don’t regret a moment of it! This horse trials was great because it was set over three days instead of two (or one, like … More Otter Creek Summer HT: Dressage
The final day of the show started with a bang. Literally. There was a big lightning storm and a tree on the cross country course got hit. There were some loud boomers. But the show must go on, and thankfully it passed quickly. The stadium course was my favorite ever, by far. Purely because the jumps … More Catalpa Corner HT: Stadium
Cross country time! I was excited about the course, which looked fun but not too terribly challenging. And I was ready to channel my dressage frustration into giving Duke a good, positive ride. I had my helmet cam going, which is so fun to watch and relive. Sound on if you want to hear my … More Catalpa Corner HT: Cross Country
We had a really fun weekend at Catalpa Corner Horse Trials – a new venue for our crew! This was my move-up to Novice, and I was kind of worried about forgetting the Dressage test. We did Novice Test B. I went over it and over it in my mind, and finally decided the worst … More Catalpa Corner HT: Dressage
On the way to the horse trials last weekend, we hit some traffic on the highway. Which ended up working in our favor, because suddenly the trailer started moving around a lot behind the truck. Turned out there was a weird air bulge on a tire – and then it blew. We were going really … More The Flat Tire Episode
On the way to the show last weekend, a Macklemore song came on the radio. It really hits me hard every time I hear it – “Good Old Days.” I wish somebody would have told me babe Some day, these will be the good old days All the love you won’t forget And all these … More Gratitude
A.K.A. The good stuff! I had a moment before cross country to try and get to a more zen state of mind after the whirlwind of stadium. I literally closed my eyes and did some deep breathing while Duke wandered up toward the warmup. What a gem. We jumped a few solid warm up fences, felt … More Silverwood Summer HT: Cross Country
After dressage, we had a good chunk of time to walk cross country, clean tack, prep studs, and eat lunch. Or so I thought. Honestly it was like a black hole warped the space-time continuum or something because one moment I had like two hours to go and the next Trainer B was running down … More Silverwood Summer HT: Stadium
