Thursday, October 21, 2010

Fair Hill CCI , end of season wrap up...



What a weekend! Joey finished 3rd in the 3star and George finished 12th in his very first 3star! Rox had a strong finish as well in the 2star, his final placing doesn't really show how well he performed this weekend though. To date it is the best that Rox has jumped on xc and in sj. He just keeps getting stronger and more educated as we go, but at Plantation and now FHI, he is truly showing me his potential, and a tremendous amount of maturity!

George really pulled through this weekend and took it all in stride. He can be a bit of a high stress horse, but handled himself beautifully and just ate up the xc! This is certainly the hardest xc course he has jumped and you would never have known it! I am very proud of his 3star debut!

Joey.....what can I say....I couldn't be happier! And neither could he! Joey just gets better with age! Not only did he put in a stellar weekend, but seems to be actually enjoying himself more now, not as stressed about competing. He jumped a beautiful SJ to clinch 3rd place and also won us the owner/rider champion ribbon!


There are quite a few people that I want to thank for all of their help getting us to FHI and for their support! It takes so much effort to make weekends like this happen, not only at the event, but also 'behind the scenes' , and for many months and years leading up to them. First off, I want to thank my team for making it possible to ride 3 horses at Fair Hill, it was busy, but went so smoothly with their help! My sponsors, Jaime and Five Star Tack, Gene and County Saddlery, Running 'S' Equine, and Horse First. Special thanks to Dr. Greg Staller for always being on top of my horses care, he puts in many hours helping us get to these competitions! Bob Pethick, of Bedminster Forge, the boys definitely couldn't do this without you, (and thank you for the last minute help! ;) ! Endless thank yous to Phillip for all of his help and knowledge. Betsy Steiner has also been a huge part of this success this year at FHI!

Looking ahead, we are still remaining quite busy here at KSEventing. The big boys get some down time now, but we have quite a few horses for sale this fall and some youngsters that are still competing. I am hoping to have all of the updates on our website this weekend. There are some big changes happening this fall in preparation for next season, and hopefully getting ready to make it across the pond again in the Spring!!

Thank you everyone for your support!

Kristin

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Update from Fair Hill

Here we are at the Fair Hill International three-day event. The dressage was good for all three horses - Rox was a little bit tired he was quite good and he scored pretty well, but I felt like he lost some points in the canter work. Maybe he was getting a little tired. But the work he's been doing is very good. For Rox and George, they're so improved in general but they're in the process of gaining strength in the dressage. Rox got a 54, which is fine, but I know he can score even better than that.

George had one of the most relaxed tests I've had with him; if anything he was behind my leg. He was moving beautifully and was the most relaxed and rideable he's been, but after watching the video again and again he was a little bit fussy so I plan to talk with Betsy about that - maybe he was also tired. Unfortunately he scored quite high but I was happy with him, especially since he never really lost his cool anywhere. This is a new side of him that we have to work on!

Joey was great, his trot work was lovely and his canter work was very good. He was a little tense on his right lead and before his changes but he was rideable and so good in the dressage. The lessons with Betsy have paid off tremendously - it's a good place to progress from.

Rox jumped the best he's ever jumped today. He's a big horse with a big stride and sometimes he doesn't like to put himself together, but he only made one mistake when he got a little exuberant into the sunken road, so he got close to the up bank and scrambled up, so I stopped and regrouped and took the alternate route, so we lost a little time but in all it was a good confidence builder before moving up next season.

The other two jumped around the 3* beautifully. This is George's first three-was and he was great, he was so confident and we never lost the rideability, I felt like he matured tremendously today; even with the crowds and roping, which he's never seen, he was a good boy.

Joey was such a lot of fun to ride cross-country: it feels like finally instead of pulling I can kind of kick him around. It's like riding a big pony out there! In the very beginning he got a little strong and I think I lost a little time there - we had a few time faults - but other than that he was pretty perfect and jumped great. We were looking for a good, confident practice round to prepare for next season, and that's what we had today. It was a good course and great footing. Joey is currently in fourth place in the three-star.

Here are the scores for the event.

So far they all look good - we'll give them a good rest tonight and hopefully they'll all feel good tomorrow!

-Kristin