There are so many things floating around in my head after our weekend at Heritage, but the most important is that we had a great time and ended the weekend sound and happy. Our final score kind of stunk (my worst score ever at a recognized event), but it was still a weekend I feel very good about. We improved in several areas and took baby steps forward instead of leaps back, but let’s begin at the beginning.
We survived the trip to Heritage Horse Park, nestled in the hustle and bustle of Olathe, KS. No flat tires for me to struggle with on my own alongside five lanes of traffic. *Big sigh of Relief* Nutmeg was quite pleased with the location. There were hedge apples everywhere. All weekend long our walks consisted of dodging from one hedge apple to the next. She was less pleased with her stall accommodations, but behaved herself well enough. I quite enjoyed our front row stall with a great view and pleasant shade. We were right across the drive from the secretary and just down the drive from the water and the manure pile. It’s the little things in life.
We had a brief, but pleasant hack Friday afternoon before I headed out to scout out the cross country course. I’m always amazed at how much bigger the jumps look when you’re walking around on foot. The first fence struck me as quite the question. It was beautiful, but with a big bush on either side and white stone underneath, it was, in my opinion an opposing first fence. I wasn’t the least bit worried, because I was riding the wonder horse Nutmeg, a.k.a. – Braveheart or I don’t care what stuff looks like. From there the course seemed to be a straight forward, pleasant ride. They were still completing the new water complex and the hoses were trickling water in from several points. I was slightly concerned that some horses would find the transition from the new black dirt to the new white gravel a bit disconcerting, but again, I wasn’t worried. Nutmeg really doesn’t care what’s under her feet. Back at the barn, Nutmeg slept through the braiding process and then it was off to bed for me.
My dear husband managed to arrive Saturday morning just in time to be the “Stud Man.” He truly is my right hand at events and while I used to do everything myself quite happily, I cringed at the thought of trying to get through an event without his help. Our dressage warm-up began well, but when we switched locations I got a bit tense and we lost our focus. In true Nutmeg style, we marched right by the blue pop-up tent for the dressage judges. The tree line, however, proved to be slightly disconcerting. We put in a mediocre test. I didn’t ride my figures precisely and everything was just a bit sloppy. The upside was our canter work really has improved. It’s still not great, but I didn’t feel I was riding a gal-lumping runaway elephant. We also had a nearly square halt at the end, much improved from our stop, spraddle and swing sideways from earlier in the year.Cross Country came quicker than I’m used to, but thankfully before it got terribly hot. Warm-up was straight forward and we left the start-box in fine form. Then the horse eating bushy tombstone monster fence loomed up into Nutmeg’s sight line. The conversation went something like this. (Yes, I talk to my horses and pretend they talk back).
Nutmeg: La-la-la. Gullump, gullump. La-la-la-what the heck is that!?! That cannot be the jump you’re pointing me at.
Me: Yes, that’s the jump.
Nutmeg (in her best valley girl impression): Oh no it isn’t. That…is a monster.
Me: So, you’re going to be scared, huh. (at this point I probably should have started using my stick)
Nutmeg: Yep. Nutmeg does not like that. No go!
Me: Shucks. You stinker. *Kur-pop* (the whip smacking her). Yeah, that’s never happened before, but it will again if you don’t jump. Now go.
Nutmeg: BUT I DON’T WANT TO!
Me: To bad. *pop*
And over we went, although not with many style points. Nutmeg wasn’t too thrilled with the coop around the corner either, but I was ready for battle by then and over we went. Number three also got her attention and she got one last encouraging smack. Then we were in our rhythm and ready to go. I was very pleased with the way she handled the terrain (not a strong suit) and rebalanced. She was brilliantly honest down the bank and over the following jump. I had slipped my reins down the bank and hadn’t quite re-gathered them, but over she went. Shortly there-after I realized our earlier refusal had put us behind time by quite a bit so we picked up the pace. It was a good question for her. We were headed down a gradual hill with a combination at the bottom. Time to test that newly found rebalancing skill. It wasn’t poster perfect, but better than I had feared and we jumped through in the prescribed two strides. Then she pulled another new stunt. She shied at an old jump in the tall grass. Thankfully years of fox hunting on an Arab has given me a pretty sticky seat, so it wasn’t the end of the world.
On to the water. She was a little looky over the first roll-top, but I was zeroed in on the water. She was zeroed-in, but it wasn’t on the water. We got to the spot where black met white and began an entertaining crab walk around the edge and into the decorative grass. Apparently that made things all better and in we went. Nutmeg actually really likes the water so I took a moment to praise her and let her enjoy herself. About then I realized I was now way behind time, so recess was over and on we went. We picked the pace up just a touch over the next two jumps. Then two jumps from home my watch started beeping. We were late. At that point it really didn’t matter much since we had added at least 20 and possibly 40 points to our not so hot dressage score, but it was a great excuse to try another experiment, jumping with a bit more pace. And so we did. We kicked it up a notch for the second from home, rebalanced for the final stone wall, then let ‘er rip. Nutmeg is the first horse I’ve evented that “let ‘er rip” means leg-on as opposed to just loosening the death grip a bit. I honestly wasn’t sure what I’d get, but was pleasantly surprised. I always knew she could cover ground, but boy that was fun! We were uphill and powerful and the best part was even though we were headed straight for the barns, when it was time to slow down, she happily obliged. So we didn’t have a foot perfect trip, but we both returned to the barn happy and confident.
After a relaxing afternoon picnic and some further hedge apple chasing, we left Nutmeg behind her fan and set off to explorer the stadium course for tomorrow. Stadium is on the grass on a decent side hill, so I was slightly concerned about our ability to negotiate the course well. Looking at the course did nothing to ease my concerns. It was very twisty with some serious balance and turning questions. I was not anticipating a pretty outcome.
Sunday morning they changed the course a bit, making the most difficult questions much more do-able. If I had been sitting in 1st place on my old horse, I would have been ticked, but with a fresh perspective and a less maneuverable animal I was jumping up and down with glee. Nutmeg was feeling a bit tired which translates to less than cooperative, but in we went. We picked up our canter and she turned off her listening. I was once again gullumping around on the back of a non-responsive elephant. Sure we were going to die if I did not regain some form of control, I started growling at her, which actually worked. We put things back together and actually finished with some nice jumps. Growling aside, it was a much better course with better rhythm and distances than at Longview.
We’ve got a lot of work to do, but then even if you end up on top at the end of the weekend, you’ve still got work to do. It’s always onward and forward, an endless journey toward perfection, or at least toward the next challenge. I could have done a lot of things differently, but I’m glad I made the choices I did. We had a great time and learned some valuable lessons. Now if I could only solve the mystery of the suddenly spooky horse. Maybe there’s something in the hedge apples after-all…
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