In the process of jumping around the cross-country Saturday Orion bruised his right stifle. Though there was only a minor abrasion on the stifle itself, there was enough bruising to make him quite sore Sunday morning. As a result I withdrew him from the competition. He is now back in Aiken and I look forward to preparing him for Kentucky in the 2008 season.

What a beautiful day for riding across the countryside! And what a beautiful course to ride over. The bit of rain that we got Friday night made the going near perfect and Orion and I had a great time jumping around what turned out to be quite a demanding track. Perhaps even more demanding than any of us thought! One of the hallmarks of a good course is that the problems are spread out evenly around the course, and that was the case today. It seemed wherever I went to watch in the later part of the day stops were part of the scenery. For Orion’s part, he reminded me once again that while I sometimes think this stuff is hard, he doesn’t. He ate it up and was ready for more. What fun!

Today was a quiet day for me and Orion. We had a nice ride this morning and he is looking forward to cross country tomorrow. I spent most of the day walking and wondering what the weather has in store. Will have more to report tomorrow.

The word that comes to mind today is “not.” As in, “Not the dressage test I wanted!” And the responsibility for that lies completely with me. I didn’t execute as well as I needed to in the ring itself, which is especially disappointing because I had everything I needed in the warm up ring to score in the low 50’s. The trot work was good, but the canter work was tense and the score reflects that. Which leads me to think about why.

I was not happy with my test or the score that it earned. But watching the video, I was able to appreciate the things that did go well. The test that Orion and I did at Jersey Fresh was accurate and relaxed, but it lacked something. Specifically, it lacked the quality of gaits that is necessary to be in the top few at this level. And so I’ve worked very hard with Mara Dean’s help to make the walk, trot and canter better. Not just better, but really, really good. And that shows in the video. But what also is apparent is that the quality of the gaits is not confirmed, and as a result the entire test suffers. There is no doubt in my mind that we are on the right track and in another six months I like to think we will be able to combine the improved movement with relaxation, accuracy, and better riding on my part. I tell students all the time that the hardest thing to do is change what we’ve always done. But doing so is essential to making improvements in our riding and our horse’s way of going. And I like to think that I practice what I preach. And so even as Orion and I go through the process of making things better, this is what we can offer today — moments of very good, punctuated by moments of not so very good.

There is some solace. Having walked around the cross-country again today, I think everyone is certain that this will not be a dressage show.

Hard. That’s my first impression of Fair Hill this year. Not just the cross-country course, not just the footing, but the overall competition in general. The cross-country is running a bit backwards this year, which is to say that the end is now the begining and the begining now the end. The middle part of the course remains the same. This should make the first couple minutes ride better than they did in the past, but it also means there is quite a bit of work to do late in the course, including a set of double corners and two very significant waters. At the moment the ground is quite hard and the entire venue dry and brown. It seems more like summer than fall, and we are all hoping for rain. And the depth and quality of the entries is seriously impressive. Seventy-some horses will start, 7 of them being ridden by Karen and Phillip. Everywhere I look I see more beautiful horses and great riders, all of them looking ready to compete.

For my part, Orion jogged up great today. I schooled him twice and was pleased both times, though the second time he started to notice the atmosphere and action all around. I’ll ride him once first thing in the morning and then get on for his test just before 10:00. The test itself is set for 10:26, a very early draw — we’re number 9. I would have preferred a later go, but it will be nice to have Friday to concentrate on the x-c and there won’t be any extra waiting around on Saturday!

The AEC’s are behind us, Morven’s this weekend, and then Fair Hill. It happens so fast! Orion had a cut in his mouth prior to the AEC’s that prevented us from having the performance I had hoped for. I had to ride him in a hackamore up until dressage day and our lack of preparation showed. As I often tell students, we’re only as good as our preparation. And mine wasn’t very good! None the less, even with our B game Orion performed well. I just wasn’t able produce the dressage test or jumping speeds I had hoped for. My hat is certainly off to the organizers of the AEC; they provided riders with a fantastic venue, especially the show rings. With that said, the cross-country courses that I walked were a long way from championship calibre. I felt that the novice and training level courses were less demanding than the majority of horse trials that we see in Areas 1, 2 and 3. As for the advanced track, I would characterize it as a 3-star water complex dropped into the middle of what is other wise a Prelim/Intermediate course. I’m sure Rich Temple, the designer, is still trying to get things right, but having a Derek DiGrazia or Mike Etherington Smith designed advanced would go a long way towards encouraging more advanced entries.

On a different note my long time friend Julie Gomena has been kind enough to put me up while I’m in Middleburg this week. Julie won Kentucky with a great horse named Treaty in the early 1990’s. She has since turned to training race horses and I expect it’s just a matter of time before she has similar success. She’s letting me get on some of her race horses this week, which takes me back to the days when I made a check as an exercise rider. Too often we look only to the horse show world as a model for eventing, which it certainly is, but racing also offers a great background. As horsemen we should all look around to what other sports have to offer. In my opinion it’s the broad experiences that add up to a successful life with horses. For me it’s nice to reconnect with that side of horse sports. And getting to gallop up Paris Mountain this morning in the fog was especially fun!