April 1, 2024
What. A. Day!!!
For those of you that don't know, Morven Park is an absolutely class venue in Leesburg, Virginia that hosts all sorts of both equestrian and non-equestrian related events throughout the year. They hold the international horse trials in the fall, and I had the pleasure of attending those last year as a groom for Jan.
I decided that I wanted to compete at this venue myself after seeing it on the ground, so I signed Sophie and I up for their spring horse trials, which was our planned first rated outing of the season.
Our go at Loch Moy last weekend made me feel confident that we would be able to take on Morven, especially after putting on a good show despite the horrible weather that day.
Sophie and I spent the week before Morven getting some good flatwork in, one jumping day in that was superb, and one day on the pessoa (which I have come to really love for her). I woke up Saturday morning feeling ready to rock it.
The weather was just perfect for a horse trial. It was nearing the 40's as I was loading up the trailer in the morning, but by mid-day it was well into the 60's. Not only was the weather perfect, but I also had quite the crew coming to support me at this show. Drew was of course to be in attendance with the ever-important Walcott, I had a coworker coming with her young horse-loving kids, Jacqui was coming to help me maintain sanity in the warm up rings, and my dear friend, and Sophie's former momma, Kiera, was also coming for the show. I continue to feel so, so grateful to have the support that I do - both near and far!!
I think the best thing about Morven for me is the location. It is literally right between our current apartment and the barn - and the drive to the barn from our home is only about 15 mins, if that gives you any idea of how close it all is!! I barely had time to listen to all my hype up songs on the ride over.
We arrived about 45 mins before I had to get on to warm up for dressage, so I grabbed my packet and set up all of my tack and varying items around the truck and trailer for ease of access. My incredible support squad started to arrive, and after lots of great catch-up convos and some introductions, we unloaded the spotted unicorn to start getting organized for the first phase.
The space used for dressage at Morven is massive. They had a large dressage arena, two small dressage arenas, and a warm up, all in the same location with excellent footing. Jacqui coached me in the warm up, and I think maybe one day I will stop using my outside rein to pat my horse when she does what I ask for (oops).
We entered at A confidently. I think we felt a lot better overall than we did at Loch Moy. Not every movement was great, but I think that as a whole Sophie felt a lot more relaxed. The big comments from this judge had to do with balance and evenness of contact, all which I am working on, and are hopefully things we can only continue to improve on. She also commented on how Sophie was a very capable horse - always nice to hear that! We left the arena on a loose rein and with a score of 36.4 in hand.
We had a fair bit of time between dressage and the jumping phases, so Jacqui and I went to walk cross country together. I had walked the course the night before, so I already had an eye on things I might need to think about, but it was very helpful to hear Jacqui's perspective as well as walk it a second time. We also got a chance to walk the show jumping course, as well as watch a few of the intermediate riders run through it. I got to see Jan's winning show jumping performance with Storm - so awesome!!
By the time we got back to the trailer, the amazing Kiera had taken out Sophie's braids and gotten her fully studded. I am so grateful for her help that day!! We got her tacked and looking beautiful before we headed over to the show jumping warm up for the second half of our day.
The stadium arena at Morven is impressive. They have a massive hill on one side with 'Morven Park' painted into the grass where several spectators were sat, a large American flag flying on one of the fence lines, stabling and trailers behind another fence line, and brightly colored jumps with huge standards. There is a lot to look at.
I didn't warm up that well. I was too busy micromanaging every facet of Sophie's pace instead of working with her. Jacqui was amazingly patient with me, even when I was being completely scatterbrained. We took out one rail in the warm up, and that might have been a part of what led us to a double clear round in the ring. When we got into the show ring, the buzzer rang almost immediately, so I took a brief canter around the far side to set us up for the first fence. The early part of our course rode well, but once we hit the first combination, a one stride, I took over. The rest of the course was a bit flat, but the good girl picked all four feet up regardless and put us through the finish line clear. I didn't do much to make our round double clear, so I give Sophie all the credit for that one. I tried to shake off whatever demons were holding onto me under my skull cap and we made our way over to the cross country warm up.
There was a bit of a back up at the start, so we spent about 15 mins just hanging out down at the warm up for xc. I got a chance to chat with my crew, and go over the course plan one more time with Jacqui. There weren't any jumps on the course that impressed me significantly, but I kept reminding myself that every single issue that Sophie and I have ever had on cross country has been entirely related to focus and nothing to do with the jumps themselves. So for that reason, I was not going to take any jump for granted.
Once it was close to our time to start, I popped over one warm up fence, and then walked over to the box.
3...2...1..have a good ride!
We cantered off and popped over fence one. I then stood up and let her out for fences 2, 3, and 4 - getting a comment from the announcer about how 'strong' we looked on our way out early on in the course (meaning a bit ahead of the assumed pace 🤣 ). I got a bit micromanage-y at jumps 5 and 6, simply because they were close to the show jumping arena, so I wanted to make sure her eyes were on the fences and not up there. Fences 7, 8, and 9 all happened right out of stride, and then the water complex at 10A and B gave us a bit of a bobble but she cleared it nonetheless. I think the water caught her off guard, but I asked her to slow way the heck down at 10A to give her a chance to see that the water was coming up and I think that helped her take it in, but it did slow our pace. We galloped into the back field and tackled jumps 11 through 13 with ease. 14 and 15 were set up like a bit of a sunken road through the tree line, and Sophie was having a good look at the volunteer's vehicles that were nearby on our way down to it, so I slowed our pace big time and kept my leg on to get us straight through that complex. Anybody nearby these fences likely heard me audibly saying things like 'do you see it, Soph? Are we looking? Do we have it?' as we approached them.
The final three fences on course again were right out of stride, and we galloped through the flags under time. Two double clear jump rounds allowed us to finish on our dressage score, and I couldn't have been more proud of the effort this amazing little horse put in that day.
My crew was waiting for me at the finish, and we all went back to the trailer with huge smiles on our faces. Team Sophie is the best team around!! I am so grateful to have so many people that love her like I do. She really is the most amazing horse I've ever had the pleasure of sitting on.
Drew, Kiera, Wally, Sophie and I hung out at the trailer while Sophie soaked in her Drew Boots and was fed multiple cookies for her efforts. After some waiting time, we eventually refreshed EventEntries to see that we had finished in 4th place for the day. I always say that it feels good to finish on a number in eventing, and it's just a bonus when you finish within the ribbons!
Sophie clearly did not find the course very challenging, and as long as I can keep my manager-like ways under control and allow Sophie to do her thing, I am feeling confident for our move up back to modified later in April. I am excited to see where this season takes us, and I keep pinching myself as I watch videos from this weekend seeing that it is me who has the pleasure of riding this perfect spotted unicorn. A huge thank you to KMA Equestrian and The Drew Boot for supporting us, and stay tuned for a product spotlight on The Drew Boot coming soon!
Massive thank you's are owed to Jacqui for being an incredible coach, Kiera for coming up to support us with her photography skills, grooming capabilities, and general good company, and to Drew for always being there. And of course for being Wally's tour guide so that he could hang with us, too. I couldn't do any of this without all of the people who support us, both near and far!
K
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