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| Photo of Kristin Schmolze and Ballylaffin Bracken on cross-country at Millbrook courtesy of Lee Lee Jones |
We had a great weekend at Millbrook, with RT finishing second in the novice and Rox ending up 6th overall in Advanced A.
After Bromont in the spring Rox came out of his first three-star perfectly – you’d never know he ran
a three-star! I did give him a little downtime, especially because I needed
some time for my ribs to heal, and then brought him back to run the advanced at Millbrook this weekend.
He keeps blowing me away; every day he
feels better and more mature. Every ride, I feel like he grows and matures in
such a positive way. After doing his first three-star I feel like I have a
different horse.The
only thing I’ve had to adjust over the summer is his conditioning because the ground is like
concrete since we haven’t had any rain.We've added sessions with an Aqua Pacer water treadmill, which I’ve
used it for other horses in the past, and I think it will be a good addition to
his fitness regimen without pounding his legs; we’ll try to keep that going
throughout the summer.
At Millbrook Rox did his best dressage test and finished on 29.4. He had a fabulous cross-country round with just some time, but I had planned on going slow anyway since it was his first cross-country run since Bromont.
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| Photo of Kristin Schmolze and Ballylaffin Bracken show jumping at Millbrook courtesy of Lee Lee Jones |
He jumped around the advanced show jumping very well and was really
jumping huge! We had one rail and a little bit of time. In the middle of
the course he nearly jumped me out of the saddle with such a huge jump - we were heading towards a combination and a little bit strung out, so I needed to get him collected again - but all went well after that. I am going to need to work on how to change my position so as to not be
jumped out of the saddle when Rox uses so much power over a fence - he's a
huge horse!
RT did a great dressage test and got a 29.5, then had a super double clear cross-country round. He also jumped extremely well in show jumping but unfortunately had one rail down which bumped him from the lead into second place. I'm so proud of him and excited for his very bright future!
Now I'm at the Horse Park of New Jersey, putting in long hours teaching at a Young Riders Camp along with Jennie Brannigan, Hannah Sue Burnett and Lynn Symansky. We're having a great time and everyone is learning a lot. I'll post an update soon!
-Kristin
