Road to the NAJYRC

As I sit down to write this blog, I am back at my house in Oklahoma and Jacob is back at his house in Arkansas.  Sorry it took us a bit to give you a final blog, but internet access in Kentucky was a little sketchy, and quite frankly, since coming home, I've been a bit tired and haven't felt like writing a blog.

Highlights of Area V's weekend after dressage.

Saturday morning started very early as Jacob was the first 2 star rider of the day at 8 am.  After getting Falcon all ready to go and sending Jacob towards the warm up at 7:30 am, I headed down to the vet box with our barn manager, Stephen, to get all our buckets of ice and water set up.  Jacob left the start box promptly at 8, after telling me in warm-up that he and Falcon were "in the groove"! (Just ask David O'Connor what he thinks of Jacob saying "in the groove")  Jacob had a terrific run, with his water jump looking the best I've ever seen him go, as he and Falcon neatly popped over the big log bounce and took a perfect 4 strides to the skinny turtle in the water.  Now Jacob has never been super fast since he moved up to intermediate, and direct quote from Coach Mike after his round was thus "Wow!  I didn't know you could go that fast!!!"  Jacob's last part of the course was faster than his beginning, due to the fact that Falcon was so fit he had plenty of gas left at the end of an almost 9 minute course!  Falcon cooled out better than all of Area V's horses in 10 minutes, and looked a lot better than most of the 2 star horses we left behind in the vet box.  He ended up being 10 seconds over the time, but that proved to be quite competitive as only 1 person in the 2 star made the time.  He ended up being in 9th after xc.

Our two teammates from Area 9, Brittany and Anisa had good runs as well, but both of them had alot of time.  Karen had a super run, with only 12 seconds over, also the fastest she has gone at intermediate to date!  She ended up being 4th after xc.  At the end of the day, Areas 5 and 9 would retain the lead with over a 12 point lead heading into show jumping.  Unfortunately,  Anisa's horse Tigger, appeared to have bowed a tendon, and we knew he would not be presented at the final jog.  Therefore, we were 3rd going into SJ.

Update on our 1 star team...All three of them had clean and fast rounds on XC to
move up 2 spots to 5th as a team.  Rowdie also moved into 4th individually.

So Saturday afternoon we all spent a lot of time in the barn icing and giving fluids to all the Area V horses.  They all looked super after xc, but we wanted to give them any help we could.  We all went to the competitors party Saturday night, and Jacob and I were the first ones on the dance floor, and then the rest of Area V joined up shortly thereafter!  Once again, eventers are ALWAYS the first ones to start the party, and the last ones to leave. 

The Sunday morning trot up went very well for Area V.  All our horses looked super and passed upon the first inspection.  We then spent the rest of the morning getting ready for SJ in the main stadium.

Our one star riders went first and as a whole the course was very tough!  I didn't get to watch many rounds because I was getting Falcon ready to sj, but I believe there was only 1 or 2 clean rounds out of 30!  Rowdie had two rails and ended up 5th individually! Not bad for a 14 year old and her young horse that was just going novice a year and a half ago!  Tripp also had a lovely round with only 2 rails, which he was quite pleased with.  Alexa completed the sj, which has been a bit of a struggle in the past, so we were proud of her for finishing a tough round!

Up next was the 2 star...Brittany went first for our team and had a lovely clean round with 1 time fault.  A great way to start our team, eh?  Jacob went in next and had the best sj round of his life, with just a single rail where he didn't quite half halt early enough and they got there a bit close.  Other than that, Falcon was jumping fabulously and Jacob saved their butts going into the big triple combination at the end of the course.  Karen, who ended up lying in 3rd going into SJ, had 6 rails as she gave Figaro a very good ride, but he was just a bit lazy and didn't feel like getting his legs quite high enough over the fences.  The team ended up 3rd and Jacob ended up 5th individually!  The slogan 5 for 5 seemed to appear as Jacob and Rowdie, the 2 youngest individuals for their respective divisions, both placed 5th!  What nice pink ribbons they were sporting around the barn later that afternoon.

Brittany, Karen and Jacob in the team victory gallop


The awards ceremony was quite fun, as the grooms and riders for the top 3 teams got to go into the main stadium while they were presented their medals.  After feeding Falcon lots of carrots back at the barn, the Area V riders received reining lessons from the Canadians!  You'll have to ask Jacob what he thought of that!

Well, there's a bit of a wrap up of the 2010 NAJYRC experience!  Jacob and I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging and hopefully will be back next year.  Until then, stay safe and sound and maybe we'll see you at the AECs!!! Just look for the "polka dotted pony" as young rider coordinator Diane Pitts always says.  If you see the pony and a boy with lots of hair flying around, you'll know Jacob is somewhere under that hair. And if you see a girl with a Area V young rider hat, Maui Jim sunglasses (which Jacob is quite jealous of me winning a few years ago), and a groom bag overflowing with essential supplies, you'll know I'm around there somewhere too.

  Young riders is over and it was an amazing experience! I miss it already. I lost access to a computer during the last two days of competition so I’m sorry I could not blog. Dressage was a definite disappointment because I just didn’t get the job done. I have been struggling with the dressage phase for a little while now but I am determined to turn the scores around.

 

 Saturday was great day of cross-country. Hershel felt great on course he completed each effort brilliantly, I’m so proud of him! The course was great a big thanks to David O’Conner it rode really well. We came in double clear, which made me feel a whole lot better about my dressage test.

 

Then we went to stadium jumping. I’m also very pleased with my stadium round. I don’t think I have every seen so many rails in one division. The placing really switched up. Hershel and I were the first to go from our team and we got two rails but I’m so pleased with him. It was such a great experience to even ride in that arena. 

 

NAJRYC was a great experience I hope to be back next year thank you all our sponsors, to Dianne Pitts for all her work, thank you to Mike Huber for coaching the team and to every one who has supported me.   

 

     Chance and I danced the night away yesterday, and we came away with another silver medal, this time in the Junior Freestyle Competion!  We rode our freestyle to music from the Harry Potter movies.  It was a long process getting it ready as I choreographed the routine and also picked out the music myself.  I had made a new freestyle just for this competition, so I was glad that it paid off! Tonight I will be presented with my medal at the closing ceremonies, I can't wait!

Chance and I getting ready for our performance.

     We scored a 72.950% from the panel of five judges, and I was just ecstatic!  I could not be happier with Chance.  He has been super this whole trip and I really feel like we've both morphed into better versions of ourselves.  I'm so excited to see what we can do in New Jersey at Nationals August 13th through the 15th! 

Dancing the night away!

     During our last day in Kentucky, my mom and I went on a tour of some thoroughbred farms with Young Rider Maddi Birch and her mom and friend Ally.  It was so cool and I'm glad I finally got to see a little bit of Kentucky outside of the Horse Park!  Hopefully we'll be back next year when I try out for the Young Rider team with Chance to see some more Kentucky beauty!


We even got to see some horses on the track!
     I can't believe how fast these past nine days have flown by, so I'm glad that I have Nationals after this to drag things out a little bit longer.  I'll never forget this trip, I've hade such an awesome time with my teammates, the other competitors, my horse, and all of the other great people and horses here!  I really want to thank everyone who has made this journey possible, including my parents, all of my supporters at home, my trainer Teri Patton, all of the organizers and volunters dedicated to putting on this wonderful competition, and all of the sponsors of the NAJYRC.  Thank you!!!


We have to say good bye to the gorgeous Kentucky mornings.


Chance and I sure had a great time.
~Cat~

    

Hey everyone!  So this week has been super crazy!  Tuesday was busy as Jacob hacked in the morning and had a light dressage lesson in the afternoon.  The grooms and I were busy polishing brass, cleaning tack, and making sure the barn looked spotless.  Our barn manager, Stephen Rogers, arrived late Monday night, and was very happy with our organizational skills on the feed room and tack room.

Wednesday was absolutely crazy!  Jacob rode for an hour of dressage at 8 am, then had a rider briefing and then another dressage lesson at noon.  In the meantime, I was braiding and bathing Falcon to make sure he looked gorgeous for the jog.  I must say, Area V looked fantastic! The horses looked wonderful, as all the grooms worked really hard and they all had super quarter marks, courtesy of Stephen. (the classic area 5 V) After the jog the 2 star grooms worked to get all the dressage tack spotless for the lovely 7:30 am dressage start.
 
Area V with horses, riders, and grooms




Rowdie and Boxer aka "No Money Down"



Alexa Ehlers and Crystal Clear


Tripp Edwards and Clifton Inspiration



Karen Shull and Fernhill Figaro aka "Fig"


Jacob and Falcon

So Jacob's 2 star team is a scramble team of Anisa Tracy and Brittany Lunney from Area 9, and Karen Shull, our good friend from Area V.  Jacob was appointed our lead out rider, and got to be first of the day at 7:30 am!!! I woke up at 4:30 to go feed his horse and start getting him ready and he was warming up by 6:45.  Jacob had the best test of his life, but since he had to go first of the day, he had a bit of a rough go with the score and he received a 60.9.  Mike was extremely pleased with the test, and it was definitely a big improvement!  Brittany went next and had a decent test with her horse, but he definitely prefers cross country to the dressage.  Anisa went next, and was fabulous, scoring a 45.4 and ending up in the lead by over 6 points.  Karen went last and had a very nice steady test to receive a 52.4 and is in 4th!  Area V is currently in first place as a team and is hoping to hold that lead after cross country starts at 8 am with Jacob being first on course.

The 1 star dressage for Area V steadily improved throughout the day.  Tripp was our lead out rider and had a bit of a rough go, as Hershel is ready for cross country.  Alexa had a very fluid test, and received a 56.9.  Rowdie went last and had the best test of her life with Boxer to receive a 48.5 and is currently tied for 3rd!!!

All 5 riders had a jump school this afternoon and it went very well, working on some of the types of questions they will see tomorrow.  They finished their final course walks this evening, and I am ready to pass out, so I can feed Falcon between 5:30 and 6.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have a super cross country report for you all!

~Elizabeth

          Well, we did it!  All of our hard work has paid off.   Chance was incredible and he tried his little heart out for me.  I rode that test as hard as I could and our teamwork was rewared with the individual silver medal out of 36 horse and rider combinations!  Even more exciting for me was our score of 70.368%, our highest ever in this test!  It was definitely our best ride to date and my head is still spinning with excitement!

Standing on the podium with gold medalist Jamie Pestana and bronze medalist Stephanie Bedford.


So proud of Chance!
     This morning I was ready to ride, and I thought if we gave it our all we would have a shot at doing well.  But, we all had a completely different panel of judges than the ones that scored the team test and gave me a 66% for our decent but more conservative ride which placed us fifth. So, it was pretty much anyone's game today.  I was actually really happy with the way I handled my nerves and excitement and I kept my focus until my final salute to the judges.  It was amazing!

Chance and I went for it!



Chance and I with the silver medal!

     When I finally looked up on the score board and saw a 70%, I started tearing up because Chance and I have done so much to get ready for this and he was such a star.  I  could never have asked for more.  Tomorrow we have the freestyle competition and I go at 3:50 p.m.  Of course I want to do well but this has already been such an awesome trip that I just want to go and have fun dancing with my boy!  I really love our new music and choreography so I am pumped and ready to go already!  I'll keep you all updated, wish us luck, it's worked so far!!!

Our scores!!!


Love my boy!
~Cat~

Hey everybody we passed the trot up and we got our junior patches which I must say I am very excited to get! I will get to wear that at all the shows I go to until I am no longer a junior. Today I had a dressage lesson on Hershel and he was good I feel ready to ride tomorrow. We walked our cross country course for the one star, It looks like a lot of fun!  I will have more to say tomorrow sorry this was a short post, but I ride at 8:46 am so you can see how I did when the scores are posted.. keep your fingers crossed!

--Tripp Edwards

     Well, Chance and I had a great day!  He was super and I couldn't of wished for more.  We had great trot work in our test and, even though he got a little tired in the canter from the humidity we were still able to get a 66% and fifth place out of 36 riders!  Even thought this score only counted for the team I was still happy to be off to a great start.  The other Region 5 Junior Dressage Team horses were great, too. Jordan Farr and Phoenix and Aylin Corapcioglu and Ruhman both but in nice, solid tests and were able to get 62%'s.  The Region 6 rider who was combined with our team, Sadie Lahey, also had a nice ride and got a 61.9%.  Overall our team got 7th place.


Chance and I warming up.

     Also, our combined Region 5/6 Young Rider team did AWESOME!!!  They won the gold medal after some great rides.  We're all so proud of them, I think this might even be the first time Region 5 has won a Young Rider Team gold medal.  We're all excited to see them rock the individual test. 

The amazing Young Rider team.

It's been so fun being here with the team.  We've become great friends and, since dressage is usually such an individual sport, it's fun to have the support of your team mates. We had the opening ceremonies today and it was so cool to see how many young equestrians are here for all of the different disciplines.  It's been such an amazing experience so far and I'm so thankful to my parents, supporters, and everyone who has made this possible for me.  I love you all!!!

The teams at the opening ceremonies.

     I am so pumped for the indivudual test on Friday!  I will have tomorrow to train with Teri and clean up some of our mistakes from today, and then it'll be show time again! As long as Chance behaves himself as well as he did today I'll be happy.  We've been trying our best and all of our hard work is paying off!  I'm going to go settle in for the night, but look for an update on Friday to see how we did!

All of our training is coming in handy!


Chance and I got all wet in the rain during the vet inspection yesterday!

~Cat~

  Hi everybody sorry I haven’t blogged in awhile. This has been a crazy week! Monday morning we left Midland to go to Mike Huber’s beautiful Gold Chip Stables in Bartonville, Texas.   A big thanks to Mike for hosting the team at his barn this past week. We started out with a stadium jumping lesson on Tuesday morning and then turned in our Passports and paperwork to Mike so he could make sure everything looked in order. We did dressage on Wednesday and it was okay but Mike put Herschel in a new bit, which I think was a good move because our dressage lesson on Friday went much better. 

 

On Thursday we had a cross country lesson and Herschel was terrific.   We jumped all different types of cross country jumps that we might see on our course in Kentucky.   Saturday morning we got up early and hauled the horses to Normandy Farms to gallop on their racetrack. Normandy Farms is one of the Area V Young Riders sponsors, so thanks to them for all their support. 

 

I went over to Alexa Ehler’s house on Wednesday and we were talking about the grooms arriving the next day. Everybody except me knew his or her grooms very well. Alexa found my groom for me, her name is Brindley House and that is all I knew about her. So the Ehlers were telling me about Brindley. It felt a little bit like I was about to go on a blind date…but she has turned out to be a great groom. 

 

Sunday we had a lazy day around the barn. We pulled out at 9 pm and drove all night, arriving in Kentucky around 1 pm. Mike has an awesome rig with a semi/RV with a bathroom, kitchen and two couches and a dining table. It was a great way to make the long drive. Harley, the half blind dachshund, rode shotgun and Sooner stretched out on one of the couches. I ended up on the floor and slept almost the entire way, avoiding Jacob’s calculus lesson, although I did teach him the 50 States (which was just sung to us by our barn manager, Stephen). 

 

After our first night in the Kentucky Horse Park, we went for a hack and then had the In-Barn inspections. We each had a dressage lesson with Mike this afternoon in the dressage complex and then practiced our trot out with Dr. Chris, our vet. Tomorrow we will have our first horse inspection and walk the cross country course.   

 

     After a busy Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, Chance and I got a lot accomplished.  We had our first lesson with Teri today in the main stadium and he was super!  He didn't look at a thing and was so well behaved.  I am so pumped for tomorrow and I just can't wait to ride the team test!  All of the other horses on the Region 5 Dressage Teams were great, too, so I think we have good chances of winning some team medals. 
     Chance and I also had the vet inspection today where the check to make sure the horses are in good shape and fit to compete.  It was pretty uneventfull, luckily, and once again Chance behaved himself.  The judges passed him on the first try, though it did start raining on us and Chance thought he had to keep turning around and itching his rain soaked skin.
     I ride last out of all our Juniors and Young Riders, so the pressures on me!  Actually I don't feel  nervous tomorrow, just excited and ready to ride.  We've worked so hard for this and I think it's going to be a blast, no matter what happens.  Well, I'm off to bed now because I want to get a good nights sleep for tomorrow, but look for another update on how the  team test went.  Wish us luck!!!

~Cat~
 
P.S. Of course I forgot my camera at the barn and can't post pictures tonight, but don't worry, I'll make up for it tomorrow with extra pics!

Sorry we haven't posted in a while.  We have been super busy with the rest of Area V young riders camp, trying to pack for Kentucky,and our trip finally began at 9 pm Sunday night.

Since I arrived down at Gold Chip Stables for the camp, I have watched the team have dressage lessons and their last gallops on Saturday morning.  I met with all the grooms Friday morning and we organized the storage area for all the Area 5 YRs stuff. After going through countless boxes of equipment and deciding what we wanted, the 4 grooms and I bonded through a very long team halter cleaning and brass polishing!  We then loaded all the equipment in Mike's big trailer so that all we needed to do Saturday and Sunday was load tack and tack trunks.

Karen and Jacob on their last gallop... Jacob was constantly falling behind and Mike was getting a little annoyed.  Apparently Jacob likes eating Karen's dust!


We had a great send-off dinner party at the Ehler's house Friday night with all the riders and grooms and some of the riders' parents.  We also managed to have fun while at the training camp by going out to dinner Saturday and Sunday nights, and going to watch "The Sorceror's Apprentice" Sunday afternoon.  (Very cheesy at the end but a good story line)  We then loaded the horses up Sunday night about 9 pm and the 4 kids left in Texas rode in the human RV compartment of Mike's big rig while Mike drove the horses.  The four of us in the RV included myself, Jacob, Tripp, and Karen's groom, Elizabeth Baker.  (Alexa and Rowdie had already left earlier Sunday morning, and Karen will be arriving in Kentucky Tuesday pm after she finishes some college classes.)  The four of us had a super time watching movies and sleeping and goofing off, while poor Mike had to stay awake driving for the 16 hour drive.  The best part of the drive was when we had stopped at a gas station to fill up and Jacob and I were watering the horses and Tripp was standing in the doorway and Jacob accidentally dumped an entire bucket of water on Tripp's shoes!  Oops...

So we arrived at the horse park at noon today, and worked until 6 to get everything unloaded and set up in an organized fashion.  Stephen Rogers, the barn manager, had called and left me strict instructions of how he wanted to feed and tack rooms organized, so we spent a long time getting all the banners and flags and stall drapes set up properly. (He is arriving late tonight so he was unable to be there for all our set up excitement all afternoon, hence I was in charge.)  I must say, the tack room looks pretty darn good, especially to fit bridles, saddles, and tack trunks for all 5 of our riders in one stall, and the stall drapes with Area V on them dress up the stall a lot!  All the grooms are getting ready to go do our last check on the horses before we go to bed.  Luckily, Diane Pitts, our young rider coordinator, arranged for all the riders and grooms to stay in camper trailers in the KY horse park campgrounds, therefore, we are only a golf cart ride away from the barns.  The grooms are feeding at 7 so we definitely need to get some rest.

Until next time,
Elizabeth