Thursday, September 9, 2010
1st day of dressage
This place is mad!!! Barns,horses,dogs,trailers,campers,tents RVs, sponsor tents, Vendors at every end of the property,mini bikes,golf carts, 4 wheelers and even a bar! Get the picture!! After wondering around the property for a few hours I think I finally have the lay of the land but this property is huge! Everything does seem to be going fairly smoothly. The one thing that maybe was not thought out was schooling for the horses competing tomorrow(pretty much all fit upper-level horses) was in the middle of a cross country field with training horses galloping around. I saw quite a few that would have rather been in there jumping gear than hanging on in there dressage tack. There were high performance lessons going on all day and some competitors you can visibly see the pressure mounting and some are very much putting on a calm front. All in all the bit of the top horses I saw looked good and they are certainly getting exposed to a big atmosphere here at the AECs. I walked around the advanced track and it looks quite nice. Actually the lower level courses looked quite challenging where the advanced looks like it will hopefully be a good confident run for horses carrying on to FEI destinations. I saw David O'Connor out on the aerator so again everyone doing their part to take care of the horses welfare. The advanced dressage tomorrow runs from 8am to 5pm with every top horse in the country taking there turn,should be quite exciting. Tate takes center stage at 3:06. He was happy to do a bit of work today but after the long trip we just had an easy ride. I'm excited to be able to spend the morning watching..much to be learned! I will try and keep thing updated through the day tomorrow and def. Catch up in the evening. SH x
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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The journey begins!
So we are on the road!! GPS says we will be arriving at midnight. I hear there have been line ups at the AEC's venue for up to an hour with trucks and trailers! At midnight hopefully there will be less of a crowd. Doug,Holly,Zeppo(my dog),Bacon(dougs dog) are all nice and cozy in the truck and with doug being the driver the most important thing to get our trip started was FOOD! So a slight detour to get bacon,egg and cheese bagels to add to our stash of food that Randy Clover ( Cindy and Randy own Rocket a lovely horse I have competed a bit this year) made we will most likely be a fair bit heavier when we arrive in GA. I kinda feel like making a sign and putting it in the window that says AEC's or bust! I'm not sure if because its a WEG year or such a huge display of Eventing die hards at one new fabulous venue but I have a really excited feeling in my stomach. This is gonna be a "Big Event" on so may levels. As a Professional Rider sometimes we get so busy running up and down the countryside eventing every weekend we forget that feeling we maybe had when we went to our first 3 day or where you couldn't sleep bc you were excited/nervous about the next day event. I am kinda getting that feeling now. I'm excited about competing my horse but I also feel like eventing as a whole is coming together to do some amazing things. The Professional Riders Organization is making huge strides in progressing our sport not only by bringing in money/sponsors, which brings in outside people, which in turn allows our sport to grow at every level. But PRO is also working on a lot of new ideas. PRO is making a point to have the upper level riders giving back by giving free course walks, organizing clinics, lecture demos that all will really help educate outside spectators and participants in our discipline that maybe don't have access to top professionals. We are having several meetings at AECs to further our progress in these areas as well as hopefully reaching out to some new amateurs and young riders to bring in new ideas. With this also being a final selection trial for USA and Canada for WEGs adds to the excitement! Just think that some kids in the BN and Novice divisions will hopefully be inspired by watching the greats this weekend. Those same kids in the future could be here filling the shoes of there idols. This weekend is also where the selectors will choose which developing riders will get grants to compete in Holland at Boekelo CCI *** in October. My goal this weekend is to get one of those grants. So all in all a very exciting weekend! Stay tuned !! Ps holly was just snoring in the back with the dogs but she has just popped up to look at baby(Madeline her horse) in the camera just in time to see her stealing all tates hay!!!
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
AECs
Tomorrow tate and I are heading to GA to compete at the American Eventing Championships. Word on the street is that there are around 700 entries which is incredible and makes the statement our sport is as strong as ever! Unfortunately unless you live in Atlanta most of us are in for a pretty long trek. Doug Payne, Holly Payne and I are car pooling for the 15 hour drive. A few good stories came from our last adventure together when we all went to Rolex together(those stories are for a whole other blog post!). Anyway I'm excited for the weekend and tate feels great. All the advanced competitors are riding 4 star test B which is pretty tough but it is the final trial for WEG selection so its gotta be a true test! I will keep blogging through the week so stay tuned! X
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