Fair Hill CCI2*-S April 2025

May 2, 2025

Let's get the cool part out of the way: I can officially say that Sophie and I have completed our first 2* event together! I made Sophie into a 2* pony, and somehow I also technically am a 2* rider...simply because we finished and not by any other stretch of the imagination.

On paper that's awesome. I appreciate everyone who has supported that sentiment and continues to lift me up even when I'm being tough on myself for our less than stellar performance.

To start from the beginning, Sophie and I arrived at the lovely Fair Hill International some time on Thursday afternoon the week of the show. Drew and Wally joined us, and we have such a system now that it didn't take long to unload and set up shop as soon as we arrived. I caught up with a few friends, including Sara and Jan, and took Sophie for a little hand walk after her vet inspection.

Ring familiarization was not too long after we arrived, so I tacked up the spotted unicorn and followed signs from stabling all the way to the dressage rings. I got lost about 3 separate times because not many people had arrived at this point, and I had nobody to lean on for directions. I ended up asking someone driving along a path through the Saw Mill Field how to get to where I needed to be, and after about 30 minutes of searching, I finally found the infamous Fair Hill tunnel and then the dressage rings just beyond.

Sophie and I spent a solid 5 minutes staring at and then spinning around in front of the tunnel, but she was brave about it the remainder of the weekend.

There were two other riders participating in ring familiarization when I got there, so Sophie wasn't alone. She felt her normal amount of tense and tight, even after a long hack to get there, so I started with stretchy work and tried to get her to focus on me. There were these big flag poles at the top of the hill above the rings that were quite noisy with the wind, and I could tell Sophie had her ears on that and her eyes on the hustle and bustle of vehicles and poles being moved around above us at the show jump arena, so I started to put her to work quickly into our time down there.

I was able to run through my whole test plus some harder movements a few times during the ride and I left the arena feeling like she was prepared for the next day of dressage.

Boy was I wrong, but more on that later.

After getting her tucked into bed after our hack, Drew took Wally and the three of us drove over to the cross country start to have a first glance at my course. I had already taken a peak at the jumps on the Cross Country App, and I didn't' think anything looked particularly crazy.

As we left the start box, fence 1 did make my eyes widen a bit simply because it was really big for a first fence compared to what we've seen in the past. However its rampy nature made me feel a little more at ease.

Fences 2-4 were solid gallop tables, followed by a skinnier table combination at 5AB and then another big table at 6. Beyond that were some trakheners, skinny questions, water questions, a corner to corner exercise, and a full coffin. I definitely thought the challenge was real, but still nothing made my head spin.

And then came fence 15.

I still am kicking myself for not getting a better picture to really show case what I was seeing, but fence 15 was spooky as hell. Sophie's weakness is getting easily distracted and then losing confidence as a result, and this jump came from in between a tree line, up a hill, and had a ton of cement pillars and combined driving fencing behind it that I just had a gut feeling Sophie would find this jump to be a significant challenge. Time would tell.

The rest of the course included a few more tables, a full sunken road ABCD exercise, and then the finish. I was feeling fairly confident after seeing all of the fences, with the exception of 15.

Drew and I closed up shop at stabling and then made our way to get some fast food before calling it a day. Travel day is always long, but I was ready to get well rested for the upcoming morning of dressage.

Day 2 began with morning feed, stall picking, and figuring out the best way to get to the dressage rings for my test later in the afternoon. I opted to do the 20 minute hack as opposed to trailering over to the day trailer parking, as I thought the long walk might be good for Sophie to stretch and relax on our way up to the rings.

Jacqui met up with us mid-morning to help make Sophie look her best with braids and plaiting her tail. I donned my green shad and ran a towel over my boots and then climbed aboard to make my way down the hack path. I ended up walking most of the way with Dan Kreitl, who I am familiar with for his accolades but had never interacted with in person. He was so kind! We had a great conversation about Sophie and his rides for the weekend. I really appreciate the seasoned professionals who have been there, done that, but still take genuine interest in the little guys and their dreams.

After making our way through the tunnel, I met up with Jacqui, Drew and Wally at the warm up. We did our usual stretchy warm up work, and had to get ourselves pulled together fairly quick due to the show running so well on time. Sophie felt a bit tense, but nothing out of the ordinary. We finished our warm up with a few solid canter transitions, with Jacqui reminding me to not fight with her.

I left the warm up and we made our way around the ring and disaster struck almost immediately. It was quite windy, and Sophie suddenly became hyper aware of the dinging of the ropes on the flagpoles above the dressage rings, and the hustle and bustle of show jumping added to the chaos as well. Her eyes bugged and she craned her neck to the sky, and I went from work mode to 'we just need to do this' mode. She had some spinning right as they rang the bell, and we entered at A jigging away from the insanity on the hill. We did some half decent work at the trot early on, but after our halt transition about midway through the test, I had nothing left. I felt bad because Sophie felt truly terrified underneath me, and I was not able to do anything to console her in that moment. We had a semi-controlled hand gallop in place of our canter work, only held about half of one of our counter canter exercises, added a few haunches in where it wasn't required, and we never fully came to a halt at the end for a score of 1 as our final movement. It was, by far, the absolute worst dressage performance I have ever put forward. It made all of my previous tense tests look like a thing of beauty.

I still gave Sophie a pat after finishing to try to calm her down (to no avail) and I walked up to both judges to thank them and also apologize. They were both quite empathetic, and apologized right back to me. The silver lining was having one of the judges write 'clear potential' on the test. I appreciate that.

I shook my head at my ground crew on the way out, but Jacqui reminded me how these things happen, and we did what we could with what we had. At least I didn't get rung out! And I had no errors! A few other riders in my division called out to me to say how tough that dressage ring is, especially if the horse has never been there before. It felt really nice to see that people's gut reactions were that of sympathy and not of scorn.

I had some time to breathe and shake it off on our 20 minute hack back to the barns, and then I gave Sophie some time to be alone while I went with Jacqui to go walk cross country. We drove over to the day parking, and then on our walk to the start box, I ran into Sara who had just finished her first Advanced cross country!! She was so happy and I am so excited for what's next for her and her super horse, Caden. They finished their first advanced and took home a 4th place ribbon no less. I love the ability to compete, but I doubly love the ability to be present for friends in the sport who accomplish their goals - it is so amazing to be a part of that!

On our walk we got the privilege of watching the remainder of the advanced division do their cross country rides. It is helpful for me sometimes to watch these rounds so that I feel less intimidated by the jumps on my course. Although, truly, I was feeling confident about what was in front of me on xc. Jacqui gave me some good food for thought was we went around, and helped give me pointers on things to keep in mind as I rode the course. The big one was making sure to give Sophie the choice of how she wished to take on the first few fences to set the tone for the round.

We then attempted to walk show jumping, but the grounds crew up by the show jump ring didn't have confirmation on what the 2* course would look like, so we decided to push that aside till the morning.

We then gave Sophie a walk, dinner, and then Drew and I met Jacqui, her friend Emily, and Emily's husband, Seth, for sushi. Emily runs Traveler Equestrian and is a long time friend of Jacqui's. She had two of her own young horses contesting the prelim divisions over the weekend, so her and I shared thoughts on the course over dinner.

After eating a fabulous amount of sushi, Drew and I took a quick visit over to a local brewery that he had been eyeing on the drive down before calling it a night.

Day three was a big one. We got to the barn early-ish to let Sophie have a little hand walk around the barns before she was loaded onto the trailer and brought over to the day parking. If you've never been to Fair Hill to compete, stabling is so far away from everything else. The 20 minute hack worked for dressage, but we certainly didn't have time for that on jump day. The day parking is just on the other side of the tunnel from the dressage and jump rings, so that made the most sense for us for the day.

After trailering over to parking, I got out and met up with Jacqui to quickly walk show jumping. I noticed the flags had been taken down, which was nice but I also was sad they had to be up the day before!!!

Show jumping was on grass, which we've had plenty of times before but it had been a while. All of the lines walked a little forward and Jacqui again reminded me I had to come in and be comfortable with the bigger stepping stride from Sophie. The course itself was simple enough - a few bending lines, a 1 stride, and a triple. I was feeling fairly confident with what was presented in front of me.

We went back to stabling and I quickly threw tack on Sophie and put my black show coat on, as I had just enough time between the two jump phases to dress formally for the show jumping.

I hopped on and hacked Sophie through the tunnel and up to the SJ warm up. My division was not very big, so Jacqui was easily able to take ownership of one of the warm up jumps while Sophie and I had a trot and canter around. I popped over a few verticals and oxers as Jacqui set them, working on the ride-ability of my horse and making sure I didn't get in her way. She hopped over our final warm up fence super.

We walked over to the ring and it was just a short time before the rope was pulled aside and I was welcomed into the ring. The buzzer sounded as I was having a big canter down to the far end of the ring, so I turned and prepared for the first jump. In very classic Kailyn fashion, I overrode the crap out of the oxer at fence 1 and Sophie had a bit of a launcher and caught the front rail. I mentally kicked myself and we popped appropriately over the second fence. I then rode to NOTHING at the one stride at fence 3AB, and we promptly added 1.5 in between, taking the back rail of the oxer at A with us. I tried to shake off whatever brain-eating amoeba had latched itself to me as soon as I entered the ring and we managed to look more professional the next few jumps. I then decided to try the opposite approach for the triple and held Sophie to the very base of the in, and by sheer willpower we got through the combination with no rails down. I chipped in at the last vertical, which we also somehow kept up, and left the arena shaking my head and patting my pony. I am not sure if it was the fact that show jumping was on grass, the fact that the jumps were a teeny bit more impressive at the 2* level, or whatever else but I was disappointed in myself that I gave my super horse such a poor sj ride, especially since it's usually our most confident phase.

I was properly fussed, but I moved on as quickly as I could on the walk back to the trailer to get us ready for cross country. I shifted gears in my head as I swapped Sophie's cute Veredus open fronts for my favorite green Majyk Equipe boots, and took off my leather helmet to replace it with my skullcap.

Sophie was a bit itchy as I got on her again - she knew what was next.

My team and I walked over to the cross country warm up and we were a bit early, so I took time to walk around warm up and try to settle my pre-xc jitters. Once the first few riders in my division started to head out, Jacqui had me get a good gallop and pop over a few of the warm up fences. I rode the first one fine, and then the second one quite badly, so Jacqui had me do one more so I didn't leave the warm up on a poor note.

Once I was on deck, I walked down to the start box.

5...4...3...2...1 Have a Great Ride!

I had all the intentions in the world of galloping out of that start box, as Jacqui and I had discussed and planned for, but Sophie decided to screw around a little and we spent the majority of the time between the start box and fence 1 with our hind end in the air 🤦‍♀️ We bounced around enough that we ended up completely biffing fence 1, which I thought was one of the biggest fences on course, and upon landing I kicked on HARD.

Sophie's a funny creature. She's bold and madly confident in the show jumping, and she clearly enjoys and is bold enough about the cross country, but she sometimes moves a lot harder off the leg than she looks like she might - particularly going away from home. I have competitions where I never see this on course, but I sometimes see it a fair bit at others - and this was one of the latter moments. From fences 1-4, I had to really kick on hard between the jumps just to keep us moving forward at a reasonable pace for the level. I didn't have intentions of aiming for time, but I also didn't want to have a million time penalties if we didn't have to.

However, by fence 5AB, she started to be on a roll and we were able to settle into a groove. 5AB was a fairly large skinny-ish table to table exercise for the first combination, and Sophie nailed it in the five strides it was set up to be. From then on we tackled a few questions like maxed out tables, a trakhener to skinny question, a water question that included a drop and then a ride out up a mound over a skinny, a corner to corner exercise, and a full coffin. Sophie was feeling strong, in a good way, and I was having fun!

After smooth sailing over an open oxer at 14, I took a breath and settled the stride down a bit to set us up for what I thought was going to be the most challenging fence on course for us - that spooky roll top at 15. Sophie was peek-y as soon as we crossed the tree line and going down over the road and up a little hill, I lost all steam in the engine and we came to a quick stop in front of the fence. It wasn't her fault - I sighed and gave her an encouraging pat on the neck and turned around to plan my approach. She was spooking at the volunteer car near the jump, as well as the concrete pillars directly behind the jump - but she didn't care at all about the jump itself.

I gathered myself and turned and kicked her off of a turn towards the jump again, and rode to nothing and she popped right to the side of it. This time I got a little frustrated, turned around pony-club-kicked and flapped my elbows at her - I did NOT want our journey to end here!!! I was able to manufacture just enough steam that Sophie saw the green light and popped up and around it. I smiled and we continued on.

A sunken road question, a few more big tables and skinnies and we hopped over the final fence and through the flags. Sophie was briefly checked by a vet at the finish (mandatory for the FEI's to assess horse fitness) who gave us the thumbs up to go back to the trailers. Drew and Wally met us at the finish, and Jacqui found us soon after. I am so grateful to my team of people who lifted me up and congratulated me on finishing my first 2*, even though my gut reaction was to be a bit down on myself for not having our first run be all that perfect.

I got some really lovely texts from friends who reminded me that simply getting there is impressive and an accomplishment in and of itself, which I wholly appreciate. You know who you are ♥️

Jacqui held Sophie while Drew and I threw water on her and cooled her down. She didn't take much time to return to her resting state - gf is fit!

Jacqui imparted some more words of wisdom my way, and we made a plan for what we should do next. I am continually grateful for her support - I am so lucky to have a coach I believe in wholeheartedly by my side.

Drew and I took Sophie in the trailer back over to stabling. She settled into her ice boot routine while I loaded all unnecessary items into the tack room to clean up our area. Drew bestowed upon me the news that I did indeed finish in the top 7 in my division (7th place out of 7 🏆 ), and therefore would be able to pick up a ribbon!

After poulticing and wrapping those 4 precious legs, Drew and I drove back over to the day parking to grab my test, ribbon, and do some shopping at the vendor booth (shout out VTO Saddlery!). We then grabbed lunch at a great BBQ food truck they had on site, and took a minute to take in the great weather and views.

And at this point, it was barely 1pm!

After a bit of downtime, we went back to stabling to meet up with Merritt and her dad. Merritt was coming down from Millbrook to take on the novice division in the starter trials that Sunday, and I was staying the extra day to support her for that. It was great to see them and catch up, and once her superstar horse Juliet was tucked into the stall next to Sophie, we made our way to the Saw Mill field to walk her cross country course.

It was really cool that the starter trials courses were on that part of the property - it was the same area as a major portion of the 3* & 5* hosted at this site in the fall. The space was so open and just stunning. Merritt's course looked appropriately challenging but also incredibly fun. I was excited for her weekend!

After walking xc and sj, we went back to stabling to check on the spotted unicorn, and then Drew and I went our own way to bring Wally to the hotel and make dinner plans. We decided to go to a few local breweries for food and some drinks, and for Drew to continue to add to his brewery sticker collection. It was really nice to have the night to enjoy some time in an area we aren't usually in without the added pressure of showing the next day.

The next morning started fairly early, as I wanted to take Sophie for a short hack to stretch her legs before Merritt's dressage. When we arrived at stabling, Merritt was well into braiding, and I took Sophie out for a jog (she looked great!!!!) and then threw some tack on her to go for a walk. She felt good to go and even slightly full of it, as if she hadn't completed her first 2* with me the day before.

After our walk I put her back to bed, and we loaded up Juliet in Merritt's trailer to go to the day parking area for the rest of the event. Merritt's three phases were all close enough that it made sense to do everything over at day trailer parking.

They warmed up fantastically for dressage, and much like Sophie, Juliet did a fair bit of bouncing around (literally, all four feet bouncing together) before they entered the ring at A. However, unlike Sophie, as soon as Merritt started her test, Juliet immediately went into business and focus mode. They put down a lovely test to score in the high 20's heading into the jump phases. I know Merritt felt like they were walking on eggshells the whole test, but it is clear the two of them have been putting in solid flatwork at home because even when a bit tense, the accuracy was there and Juliet was still quite through the whole ride.

Merritt had one of the best show jump warm ups to date later that morning, with Juliet bringing zero sillies to the table and they went in to jump a double clear around the stadium.

Cross country was similar, with Merritt having a pop over a warm up fence, and then a smooth go around the novice course from the first to last fence. I am so proud of how far Merritt has come in such a short time with Juliet, and the future is bright! She ended up finishing to take home a pretty second place ribbon. I was so happy to watch and support her in having such a successful run at a brand new venue to the both of them. ❤️

Juliet was brought back to stabling following their clean finish, and Drew and I finished packing the trailer, loaded Sophie and said our goodbyes. It was nice to hit the road around 1pm, and we made it back to Apple Knoll just as the sun had set.

It's been two weeks now since this adventure, and I have had this whole post written for a while but I had been waiting for the professional pictures to come out before posting...but they still aren't out and I wanted to get this thing published!

Upon further reflection, my usual post-show sentiments continue to stay the same: I am grateful for my horse, my team, and everyone I am surrounded by in this sport. I have amazing professionals to look up to and get advice from, friends to share emotion with, and family who support me. Sophie and I did that - we finished a 2*!! And I can't wait to continue to be better for her so the next one is all this and more.

Thank you for reading.

K