Unbelievable

I just realized that it's only been a year since Smellie ran his first event after the colic surgery. I missed the one year mark of his surgery. It seems so long ago now.

I remember that day so vividly. Betsy and I went to the farm and Smellie looked fine. He was out in the paddock with Warren. Head down. Grazing away. Within 15 minutes I couldn't keep him on his feet. I don't know why we had the client's trailer hooked up, but we did. I rode in the back with Elliot while Betsy drove. I had to hit him with the dressage whip to keep him up. We got to the vet school which was thankfully only 5 minutes down the road. I could hear Betsy arguing with the intercom about opening the gate. I assume they were asking for a gate pass, but all I heard was Betsy say 'I have a very sick horse in the back. I don't have time for this. Either you open the gate, or I'm ramming it.' Off we rolled. When we got him off the trailer, they did a bunch of tests. They couldn't keep him comfortable even with some pretty serious sedation every 15 minutes. I don't really know what happened, but I was in the trailer's living quarters and I remember Betsy walking in and saying 'I told them to cut him'. I'm glad she was there. I was a total wreck.

He spent four hours on the table. Betsy and I watched the entire time. At that point I had cried as much as I could and it all seemed so surreal anyway. I remember poor Dr. Mochal up to her elbows in Elliot for hours. I remember her looking for something as she was closing him up. We joked at the time that she was worried she might have have lost a tool inside Smellie. Turns out she was, but she didn't. He wouldn't be here without Dr. Cate Mochal and her team. I cannot thank them enough.

After six months of recovering, we did the novice at Poplar Place in June 2012. Smellie was so naughty! He was wound for sound in the dressage and scored a forty something. Worse even, he ran backwards from the show jumps from way out. Like WAY out. We racked up 12 time faults in the show jumping despite not having any jump penalties. When he did get there, he was running away with me and ran past the distances and jumped poorly.

It's a little less than 15 months later and Elliot is running Intermediate successfully. He scores mid 30s to low 40s in the dressage. He's jumping the snot out of the fences and well. He's qualified for the CCI2 at Fairhill in the fall, and he is just so much fun! I cannot believe it.

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Mostly I Just Admire Elliot

I don't always order photos from the events, though I definitely enjoy looking at the pictures over and over and over. And then one more time for good measure. I like to scrutinize my position and see how I can improve, but mostly I like to admire Elliot. I'm still so blown away with him every day.

Brant Gamma was the photographer at Millbrook. She took some fabulous pictures! I couldn't help but get these two. Smellie makes it look pretty easy.

Yes. I am still crazy horse obsessed. Guess some girls just don't grown out of that stage. I'm okay with it.

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On Top of the World

There is a song by Imagine Dragons called 'On top of the World' that pretty much describes my outlook at the moment. The refrain goes like this:

...
I'm on top of the world, 'ay
'Waiting for this for a while now,
Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay
Been holding it in for awhile, 'ay
Take it with me if I can,
Been dreaming of this since a child
I'm on top of the world
...
We've been up in MA for exactly a month today, and it has been quite a trip. Poor Betsy fell off and broke her tail bone day three of our trip so I know she has been feeling a little low and frustrated, but Smellie and I have made great progress in this short time!

We have had a chance to work with Stephie Baer and Bobby Costello. We've done some great galloping on the terrain up here. We've had some good competition, ran around some super courses, and generally got more education and confidence. These are all the things you hope to get from a training session!

Millbrook was the culmination of it all, and Smellie was a star! I'm happy to say we are not officially qualified for the CCI2 at Fair Hill! This was the ultimate goal. We came, we saw, we conquered!

Dressage went well. Elliot was very rideable. The lateral work and counter canters are getting much stronger. I, in what seems to be becoming a habit, forgot the last movement in the test thus incurring an error. Even still, we finished with an even 40. It would have been nice to have another intermediate test in the 30s (I think I calculated it being a 39.something without the error), but serves me right for being kind of casual about learning the test. Need more practice in the large arena. Must set on up at home!

Cross country was glorious. I'm very glad we got the chance to run around another big course, especially on with a lot of terrain. We don't have many hills down south so it's good education to play up here. The intermediate course was actually causing significant trouble. The water in particular caught out a number of combinations. It was a brush log/drop in, six strides to a narrow/low beaver, two strides to a big brushed out chevron. If you didn't jump in pretty much lined up the chevron and pushing for the out, it was easy to glance off and there wasn't really a good way to get back at it, nor was there an option. I was lucky Elliot is as honest as he is because I jumped in a little too settled and he had to reach for the chevron to make it work.


The course had some other good questions too: a big, right pointed corner turning to a log, a proper coffin, and a serious slide that made me stomach drop every time I came to the edge of it on foot. The pictures do not do it justice. Think Man From Snowy River.

Elliot ran around like it was a pony trials. I still feel like we're new to the level, but I he's actually pretty educated now with four intermediates and a CIC2 under his belt.

Show jump, which is often my difficult phase, was great! I had a super warm up, and went into the ring with a lot of confidence. I had two rails because I was a little slow with rebalancing at the end of the course, but I am still extremely happy. Elliot jumped the snot out of everything, and I rode instead of just leaving it up to chance!

Bobby Costello came up to me after my round and said that Elliot was spectacular and if I can just chill out in there I would never had a rail. He's right. Elliot didn't have any rails. They were all mine. Still, I'm flattered. Bobby didn't have to say that and he certainly wasn't handing out compliments to some of the other riders he watched.

I cannot believe the month has gone by so quickly. I'm sad to be heading back to Mississippi, though it will be nice to be home and see everyone we've been missing down there. And of course there won't be much time for being sad. The next couple months are going to be full of preparing for AECs and Fair Hills. Bring it on!

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Thank you Stephie

For those of you who really know Stephie Baer, you know that she is kind, generous, a tremendously hard worker, and a phenomenal horse woman, rider, and teacher. I have been very lucky to work closely with Stephie for many years. I'm not sure she has any idea what an impact she has had on me both in the riding and my life, and I'm also not sure I can ever thank her enough for all that she has done for me.

The past few weeks has been no different.

Stephie is a busy lady. Before we even came up she was working her butt off, but she still made teaching me and Elliot a priority. If you ask her, she will tell you that she did not do as much as she would have liked and that she wasn't much help at all. Those of you who know Stephie can probably picture her response in a typical self deprecating, Stephie manner; you will also know not to listen to her.

It has been Smellie and Jessie boot camp. Stephie has worked hard on the details of my flat work. We're getting more bend through the shoulder-in and haunches-in, more suppleness and balance through the counter canter, more push through the lengthens, and in general more bounce per ounce! You cannot fix it all in one month, but I have much better insight into how Elliot should be going and how to get him there.

As I've mentioned, show jumping is a difficult phase for me. It is not because my horse isn't careful or I do not have feel or I don't know how to ride (though sometimes you may here me say that in a low moment). It is a mental block. I panic so to speak.

Stephie has been very patient with me. She made me jump some big courses (even in the pouring rain) and stuck with me despite some minor melt downs. It goes beyond drilling the riding part. She understands my own brain and helps me work through the mental portion as well.

I can say with great confidence, her hard work paid off!

At Millbrook, I found myself half halting and re-balancing with my leg and seat and then riding up to the base of the jumps to Elliot can show everyone how spectacular he really is. I felt good about going into the show jump ring for the first time in a long time. I was on fire, and despite two rails, due to a minor relapse into passenger status, I had a beautiful, well ridden round (good enough even for Bobby Costello to even come over an compliment me).

Just like the flat, it's not something that can get fixed in a month. Perhaps if I stayed for another six we could get every wrinkle ironed out or at least worked on. However, I have to head back south again. Life doesn't stop just because I finally feel like I'm making progress, but I feel rejuvenated. I'm out of the rut that sometimes happens when you work in your own small world for too long. I have a plan and a better understanding of what I should be striving to feel.

I guess this is all to say thank you Stephie Baer. Everyone in Area I should take advantage of having Stephie in their back yard. She is truly on of the greats of this sport (despite what she has may say about it). I don't know where I'd be without her!

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