Oklahoma Eventers

Articles

Emma Kate Fisher, Carlingford’s Forever, and Wexford’s Trumpet:  Florida Winter Circuit 2011

We originally planned to leave on Monday, January 10, but with the ICE and SNOW storms rapidly approaching we decided to leave Saturday afternoon after our farrier shod my horses.
With a trip being eight weeks long you are going to need another farrier to shoe your horses. Scary thought…right? Olaf has been shoeing Galway and Wexford ever since I bought them in 2005. Thankfully, we have been very fortunate in not experiencing any hoof problems with the farrier we use in Florida. Thank you God!

My mom and I were hauling my four horse head to head trailer full of tack, hay, horses, and everyday supplies for horses. My dad drove our  RV for us to live in for the next 8 weeks and was pulling a cargo trailer full of hay. Halfway to Texas our cargo trailer popped off the “Homie” (RV) in the middle of the Interstate during rush hour traffic, fortunately no one was involved. Thankfully, four big HUSKY cowboys came rolling down their driveway to help my dad. They got it back on the Homie before the highway patrolman came.  After a kind of stressful drive we finally arrived at Gold Chip Stables that Saturday afternoon with the snow following us. The horses were very happy to get to Mike’s. It’s their second home. LOL.  With snow on the ground and while it was sleeting, we had a very chilly jump school.  I believe the high for Tuesday was 20 degrees while Tulsa’s high temp was in the teens.  Burrr.  We were at Gold Chip for two weeks before driving onto Florida. Our plan was to stop and layover and school cross country at Holly Hill but they were getting more rain. So we decided to drive on through and save the horses for another day and not risk any injuries. Thankfully, we had been doing cross country schools at Mike’s so the horses were all tuned up and ready to go for Rocking Horse Winter 1 H.T. After a 22 hour drive Rocking Horse Stables never looked so GREAT We have been residing at Rocking Horse for the past four years every winter and love it.  It’s like our third home. (I never knew I would have so many homes.) The temperatures during the day were mid 60’s-70’s everyday with some cold spells of 40’s.  At night it would get a bit chillier.

The first event kicked off with a bang. Both horses were as ready as ever and so was I.  Galway was going Intermediate and Wexford at Preliminary. The cross country courses looked challenging and inviting for the first run of the season for everyone. The horses went great.

Florida Horse Park in Ocala was our second event. I went slower on Galway for the first event and Mike told me to go a little faster and go for time at Ocala. I went for time and made it!  For the intermediate cross country optimal time was 6 minutes and I came in exactly on 6 minutes.  How many times does THAT happen? Wexford ran awesome at prelim and was very quick on cross country but he’s a horse that’s very easy to make time on. Galway finished 5^th in IR and Wexford finished 7^th in the Prelim Horse division.

Our next event was the weekend immediately after at RHS. Rocking Horse Winter 2 offered an Advanced that weekend. It is only a one day so it’s fun to watch all the horses and professionals ride the course. Unfortunately this time I was riding when the Advanced was running so I didn’t get to watch as much as I would have liked to. But the horses ran amazing again and came in exactly on the optimum time! Galway finished 2^nd in the IR and Wexford finished 5^th in the Prelim Horse. The horses’ dressage kept improving by four points each show. Super happy with them!

On our off weekends, we would gallop in the mornings and the whole crew would go to Ocala and watch the HITS shows and Grand Prix jumping. That was an experience to watch. REALLY BIG JUMPS! Since Orlando was only an hour away some of us would run down to Universal Studios.  Monday was everyone’s day off and another word for Mondays became….LAUNDRY DAY! Yayy…not so much.  But we always come back with a funny story to tell about the Laundromats in Altoona, Florida.  Altoona was so small that if you would blink you would’ve just driven by it!

By March it was already in the 80’s and very warm for the weekend. We all were in tank tops and shorts when we weren’t riding. Rocking Horse 3 was our final event for the winter season and it was the first weekend in March. Dressage and Show Jumping for Galway went fantastic.  We were just finishing our round when it started pouring rain.  I was like great, but since Florida is all sand it makes for wonderful footing, but when it doesn’t rain for awhile it gets very deep. So we were all wishing  it would rain to make the footing for XC that much better. The whole time I was competing in Florida we never used studs for cross country, even for the Intermediate horses. AMAZING!! For Wexford’s Dressage and Show Jumping it was pouring rain and raining sideways.  Fortunately I’ve become so used to riding in the rain these days that it’s just another day. Wexford is a “mudder” so it made him jump even better. We had one of the few clear show jump rounds that day. The horses were at their best.  Galway finished 2^nd and Wexford finished 7^th.  Great way to end the season!

Rocking Horse is by far my favorite event. For every event they change the cross country course for each level so that it’s a different course each time you run.  The woman who owns RHS is very lovely to work with and to be around. She allows us to hack all over her 100 acres and we can school the cross country course whenever we want except the weekend of the event. It is maintained by the most respected and fun loving people you will ever meet.  And we have access to the 1,000 acres of trails in the nearby Ocala National Forest.

We left Rocking Horse on Sunday after the event and had already decided to layover in Alabama We are about an hour from our layover spot and wouldn’t you know it, we had a blow out on our truck tire.  We got it fixed and were back on the road again within 30 minutes and made it safely to the layover farm. The owner was a well known reiner and horse whisperer. I have got to say I love the south, for their accents and southern drawl.  Before we left the next day we triple checked the tires. We had to buy another tire for the truck so we would have a spare. Ten hours later we are in the Sweet state of OKLAHOMA. Home Sweet Home! The horses had a well deserved ten days off after we got home.

The Florida winter circuit was such an awesome learning experience for training and showing. 

Courtesy of Photographic Memory

OKE Scholarship Essay – or what I learned from JimWofford.

Thanks to OKE’s generosity I was able to attend the Jim Wofford clinic held at Woodland’s Equestrian Center March 2009.  Per his usual format, he lectured in both mornings.  If you keep up with his Practical Horseman column or have read his book (Training the Three-Day Event Horse and Rider) much of his discussion will be familiar.  During the morning sessions, he focuses on one or two points and which allows time for questions and answers. 

Saturday was gymnastic jumping.  He started with riders walking their horses through the gymnastic – those who read his Practical Horseman column know he includes walk work in his conditioning schedule.  One issue emphasized in the morning lecture and reinforced in the mounted session was where to look before jumping (the top rail of a vertical; the front rail of a square or slightly round oxer; the back rail of a triple bar; the middle rail of a hogsback. For more explanation and specifics for cross country fences see:  http://equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/eventing/jump_look_080508/).  Further, he wants riders to look at the fence until it disappears between their horse’s ears.  To illustrate he held his hand at about jump height, then walked toward a rider who told him when his hand disappeared.  Then he strided off the remaining distance to the horse, two strides.  Most of us were looking away from our fences too soon.  I’ve taken his advice, looking at my fence rather than past it and I find that it works well for my horse. 

No surprise that a two-time USOC developmental coach of the year adapted the exercises to individuals.  My horse behaved as if she were “reliable” (Jim’s words not mine) hence I was told to work on my position through the gymnastics.  Translation: he took away my left stirrup so I’d get my right heel down – so everyone remember to spend some time with your stirrups criss-crossed before the next Jim Wofford clinic because there is no telling what he’ll decide is “good” for you on a given day.

Sunday we worked cross country, rain and all.  We started with him checking our cross country position, trotting downhill holding a two point, then posting across the bottom, then holding our two-point as we galloped up the hill.  Again, anyone who reads his column knows that he is critical of many riders’ cross country positions.  One exercise he recommends to work on galloping position is to walk your horse while holding your two point position – harder than it sounds! 

As everyone got ready to work on the water jump, I rode over to Jim and explained that my horse had her own opinion on how to handle the bank down into the water.  Her preference is to avoid getting her feet wet which she figures can be accomplished by jumping off the bank and all the way across the water.  For those who missed the 2008 Jim Graham clinic, our water experience went something like, Jim G. “jump down the bank into the water”, Shadow gets around 80% of the way across, Jim G. “how’s your neck” Terrie “fine” Jim G. “do it again” Shadow figures if she tries harder she can get the other side.   Jim G. “how’s your neck” Terrie “fine” Jim G. “do it again” Terrie says things that cannot be posted to our website.  Shadow tries harder to get to the other side, Jim “how’s your neck” Terrie “fine” Jim G. “just walk her down.” David Adamo gives Terrie his discount code to Neddy’s website so she can purchase full seat breeches. 

Jim Wofford had ready advice.  He instructed me to drop my reins about two strides out from the bank, allowing the horse can look down.  He explained, she’s see the small dry spot near the bank and drop into it.  Voila, ok not exactly, more like, get to the bank, kick, let her look, kick some more and yes!! she dropped to the dry spot and trotted out through the water.  Repeat, success.  Correcting my approach to the water jump was our biggest fix for the weekend.

Did the clinic pay off for me? I believe so, the Gallery Farm Combined test was just a few weeks later and I used all of Jim’s advice, focused on looking at my fence and staying balanced in canter throughout the course.  It was easily our best cross country run up to that time (see photograph courtesy of Photographic Memories), we only added to our dressage score because we were under the speed fault time! Thanks Jim and OKE.

2009 OKE Scholarship Report

Last year, when I applied for the OKE scholarship, my goal was to improve my dressage scores.  I used my scholarship solely for dressage lessons.  I took lessons with Laurie Hedlund, Loren McDougall and a biomechanics clinic with Sherry Guess.

At the time I received the scholarship, I was actively searching for a new eventing horse.  I found my new mount, Cowboy Justice, at the end of January, 2009.  I never knew it would be so hard to learn how to ride a good dressage test on a new horse!  The lessons helped me learn what my horse needed and liked to perform at his best.

I really appreciated OKE awarding me the scholarship in 2009.  My ultimate goal was to make a 29.99 on a dressage test.  Although we didn’t quite reach that goal, we got close at Briar Fox Farm’s Fall Horse Trial with a 31.58.  Cowboy and I also qualified and competed at the AEC’s last year.

Thanks to OKE for the opportunity to improve my dressage tests and my horsemanship.  The scholarship was greatly needed and greatly appreciated.