Saga: A long story of heroic achievement; A long, involved story, account or series of incidents
A quick Google search reveals the definition of “saga”. Perhaps I should have named my blog something else. At this point I’m thinking “The Straight and Narrow Path of the Brown Dirt Cowboy” might have been a better choice.
I always knew that owning horses had its ups and downs, however looking back now I realize that Romeo spoiled me, a lot. We didn’t always win, but we always got to go and do. With him I was spoiled to the point that entering horse trials felt like a right and not a privilege.
After a really positive schooling at Flying Cross and some great schools at home, we loaded up and headed out to our prep for May Daze, the Flying Cross mini. After a slight detour due to the exit being closed, we made it to the farm with sufficient, if not plenty of time to warm up for dressage. We even managed to pull it together when I realized one ride out that my ring was riding Beginner Novice Test B and not Test A which is what I remembered. Thankfully, smart phones saved the day once again and we were on our way. We have focused on jumping quite a bit over the past month at home, however Cowboy’s dressage keeps on getting better. A few lessons ago we introduced shoulder in and it has made a world of difference both over fences and on the flat. Our canter transitions now actually look like canter transitions instead of a mad scramble. Without bragging too much, he put in one of those tests where after our ride I wanted to tell everyone “I trained this horse!!”. The best part was that it wasn't perfect, we can still do better. I’ve never been a great dressage rider but I think Cowboy makes me look good.
A little preface to the rest of the show (and this story) is to say that Cowboy has had a small (old) curb on his left hind leg since I bought him off the track. He has always had a slightly different step on that leg which has gotten more pronounced over the past few months. After two trips to the vet for x-rays and ultrasounds, we determined that he would need a small amount of time off at some point this summer. That being said, he was still schooling fantastically at home and even jumped some scary new fences on the track at the barn so I felt confident that he was feeling ok to do the mini trial and May Daze this month before we gave him some time off.
After walking the show jumping course, I was feeling really confident. The scariest part of the course was the jump poles that were stored on the edges of the arena. Since he didn’t pay a bit of attention to them last year when we showed, I wasn’t worried. The gate steward was kind enough to let us take a tour of the arena first to look around and then we were on our way. With one small problem, Cowboy didn’t want to go near the jumps. We had an issue with the first three fences, making it over on our second attempt each time. The steward was then very nice and allowed us to keep going. After a nice line at 4 and 5 and a decent jump at 6, we had another melt down at jump 7. We Were Not Going Near It. It Was Scary. We left the ring a bit dejectedly. However, the positive was that we got to keep going and Cowboy ended up doing it, so I feel like he learned something.
Cross country was more of the same. We had great jumps; he jumped up and down a bank VERY confidently and had no trouble with some of the bigger jumps on course. However there were quite a few fences where he was very reluctant to go near them. I won’t say he truly refused any of the fences except for the bench the second time we tried it, he just wasn’t sure about going near them. I have to admit, I was more than a little frustrated at this point since he had just schooled the exact same jumps two weeks ago with no problems. What I am proud of is that I didn’t lose my temper and he finished the course really confidently. Of course, we should have been eliminated twice over on course but the show organizers where very accommodating and allowed us to work out our issues.
After such a disaster jumping at the show, we (Leigh helped me with this one!) decided to pull him from May Daze and start his time off now. Since he was jumping so well last fall and earlier this year, we are really hoping that our current issues will be resolved when his leg is all patched up. While I’m scared to death that he doesn’t like jumping and won’t be brave enough to be an upper level event horse, it’s really unfair to him to judge him when he might not be feeling 100%. He is currently living it up on rest with Leigh taking amazing care of him; yes my trainer spoils me and my horse!
The great thing about Leigh’s barn is that she has plenty of horses I can ride. I’ve ridden one of her mares on and off over the past couple of years and she is my current project while Cowboy rests. She is extremely sensitive, especially on the flat but is a jumping machine who loves to GO. I was able to sub her in at May Daze going Novice and have plans to move her up over the next couple of months. She is for sale if anyone is looking but I’m hoping that she sticks around long enough to take me to my first Prelim in July or August. It’s hard to not be able to ride and show Cowboy like I had planned but I am trying to make the most of it and keep learning while he is recovering so that we will be an even better team when he is back to work!
Aside from Cowboy’s saga, we have had quite a month in Kentucky. First, we are lucky enough to be less than an hour away from the Kentucky Horse Park and Rolex Kentucky. Leigh, Braxton, Jeannine, Teri and I braved the cold drizzle for cross country day. Seeing the course and the rides makes me want to get there so badly! The next weekend we hosted Oaks and Derby in Louisville. For a girl who grew up liking Derby Day better than Christmas, I sure am lucky to get to go every year! It is still my favorite day of the year and this year didn’t disappoint. Oaks was fabulous and sunny and while Derby was a little (ok a lot) rainy, we had an amazing time. As usual, I was one horse away from hitting the trifecta, and had the winner boxed with the 3rd-9th place finishers for the exacta. In hindsight, I should have put Orb on top with the rest of the field. Even though I like to think I’m not old yet, I am old enough to be extremely excited to see such an amazing trainer who has been such a great contributor to the sport for so many years finally win. While I respect trainers like Baffart and Lukas, I think it speaks volumes to see a trainer come to the Derby only with horses who have a big shot!
