Morven Park HT March 2025

April 6th 2025

What. A. Weekend!!!

I could not have asked more of Sophie for our first horse trial of the year and first time out since I broke my foot last August. Read on to hear all the details from the weekend!

Sophie and I started our drive down to Virginia last Thursday, pulling out of the driveway at AKF just before 5am. Both of us were happy to have company - I had Julia and Quinn in the car with me, and Sophie had Percy in the trailer. It was a long ride down, but my new trailer hauls so much more smoothly than my old one that it made the drive way easier.

We pulled into Loch Moy Farm in Maryland around 3ish that afternoon to have a little cross country school ahead of the weekend. Jacqui met us there and provided the exact support Sophie and I needed as we were popping around the upper schooling field. It has been great to have had a few virtual lessons with Jacqui to work on our quality flat work over the last few weeks, but it was so nice to have her guidance in person again. She pushed me as she always does to have the forward, confident ride across the country that Sophie really should be getting from me at this point in our career. Sophie didn't blink at anything I turned her towards, and even bailed me out of a few questionable positions I put her in. It was good to be able to knock the rust off before the big weekend.

We pulled out of Loch Moy feeling more prepared for the weekend than before, and Julia and I drove the additional 20 minutes over the border to Virginia to bring the horses to Morven. We were the first ones on the property which actually turned out to be really nice as we had the freedom to park the trailer right at the front of the barns and take our time unloading. Sophie and Percy settled in fairly easy, and we did a quick run over to Tractor Supply to pick up a few odds and ends we still needed for the weekend. Shout out to Julia for the idea of getting eye hooks to use for hanging the hay nets - way easier than trying to tie baling twine around the wood paneling in the stall!

We grabbed some local barbecue for dinner and then checked into our AirBnb for the night. We were exhausted and beyond ready to call it a day. Our Airbnb was this cute little apartment close to the Maryland border off of 15, and besides being up a randomly steep hill it was the cutest little space for us to have access to for the weekend. Everything was already off to a good start!

The next morning we slept in a bit and then made our way to Morven to take care of the ponies. We took them for a little hand walk after feeding them breakfast, and then we drove into town to get ourselves something to eat. Julia found a really good biscuit place I hadn't been to and it was one of the better places I can say I've eaten in town! And in classic Kailyn fashion, I was too casual about parking and we walked out to find a ticket on my dashboard. I forgot the rules for different roads in Leesburg center were more strict than others 😂

We then had some time on our hands, so I took us over to Bear Chase Brewery to catch some views in the beautiful weather Virginia was giving to us. Quinn got the chance to stretch his legs while we took some time to enjoy the sunshine. Bear Chase was one of Drew and I's favorite places to go when the weather was nice during our time living in VA, and it was my number one place to stop if we had time this weekend - and I'm so glad we did!

We then took a quick drive over to Wheatland Spring Farm brewery to grab a few more beers for Drew before we went back to Morven - Drew was having some fomo and I promised I'd bring back some beers from a few of his favorite places while I was down.

When we got back to the park, many other people had started arriving. Trailers were filling the lots and horses were being loaded into the barns. We tacked up our horses and worked our way down to the dressage warm up ring to have a ride. Jacqui met me down at the ring and we had a flat lesson to prepare for the weekend ahead. Sophie was actually a lot lazier than I had expected, but still was rideable and we got some good work done. Once again it was so good to have another ride in person with Jacqui. I was so happy to squeeze in two over this weekend!

After putting the horses back in their stalls, Jacqui, Julia, myself, and all the pups made our way down to the start box to walk my cross country course. I had previewed it already on the CrossCountryApp, so I was locked in on what we were about to see on the walk.

The first fence that had me a little bug-eyed was fence 2 - a maxed out table after a fair bit of gallop space between 1 and 2. The course continued on reasonably, and then the combination at 6AB was a skinny to a corner in a tight 4 strides on a bit of a right bend. Jacqui and I discussed what the best line would be depending on the ride in, and that helped me feel more confident. The walk continued on - there was a good angling question over two good sized roll tops, an ABC combination of a skinny, down bank, to a wedge, a coffin question, and a few good tables. Towards the final bit of the course, there was a water question that included a log on a mound heading down towards the water, and then a good slice out of the water over an angled roll top with brush on one side to make it a bit of a skinny question. Because I always need one thing to obsess over on course, this became my choice. Sophie and I had a similar question the last time we ran the prelim at Morven, and it went without a hitch, but for some reason my brain thought this was the question I needed to stress about.

The remainder of the course was a single corner, an open oxer, and then the iconic Morven frame jump to finish. Jacqui emphasized to me how I need to let Sophie do her job and ride the hard lines and to not over involve myself in decisions.

That night Julia and I decided to go out for a nicer dinner at Tuscarora Mill restaurant in town, which was really nice to do. It's not often that I go anywhere other than a fast food joint at an away show, so this was a welcomed change of pace. We had a delicious dinner and then I took Julia to a local bar, Nightshift, that Drew and I had loved going to when we lived in Leesburg. It was kind of amazing to have an evening on a horse show weekend where we could relax!

The next day was spent mostly at the park. We got there early to course walk again, and then I spent some time watching the intermediate cross country while I walked in order to feel more at ease about the jumps on my course. I took Sophie out on an easy hack around the property later on where we ran into our friends Sarah and Caden, who had just picked up their second place ribbon in the intermediate from the morning. It was nice to see Sarah and hear her exciting plans for the year. I will forever be in awe of what she does with her incredible horse - always making it look so easy!!

After chatting with Sarah, I met Julia over at the dressage warm up ring to have a short ride. Sophie felt good and relaxed, so I didn't ask her for much. Julia was putting in the work with Percy and he was looking really great.

Later that evening, we got dinner at an Italian restaurant I hadn't been to before, and had a classic very average Leesburg meal. Julia introduced me to the wonders of Pepto for my anxiety-induced nerves, which was massively helpful both Saturday night and Sunday morning. Both of us went to bed a little early that night with the big day ahead.

Sunday morning started early - I wanted to be in the tack by 7:50, so we cleaned and packed up the AirBnb first thing and then trucked it over to Morven to get the busy day started. I was inspired by Julia's beautiful mesh show jacket and opted to wear my new green mesh show coat over my black one, and Sophie looked stunning in her brand new white Ecogold dressage pad that was a gift from Drew from over the holidays.

I polished my boots, tightened the velcro on my gloves, and then hopped into the tack to head down to dressage.

Jacqui met me at the warm up and we got started right away. Sophie was much more behind the leg than I had anticipated, and I spent most of the warm up trying to get her in front of me without sending her into an upward spiral.

After about 10-15 mins of getting warmed up, we started making our way to Ring 2. As soon as I trotted around the ring past the judge's house, Sophie's usual tenseness and spookiness reared its head. Part of me was relieved because it allowed me to have a little more energy at my disposal, but her willingness to be really tense is sometimes a bit challenging to work through, especially during the 4 minutes of dressage testing. The bell rang and I made my way into the ring at A.

Overall the dressage was okay, and we left the ring on a 41.1. It was far from our worst performance, but I had hoped for a little better. The part I was most frustrated with was our shallow loop to the right - I had Sophie way unbalanced and ended up causing us to have an impromptu lead change halfway through. I had been practicing those all winter and I was frustrated I couldn't keep it together in the sandbox. However we shook it off on the way back to the barn and I shifted my headspace to what was next: the fun stuff!

I had about two hours in between dressage and stadium, so I started packing what I could in the trailer and changed out of my show coat and into my favorite jump phase sun shirt. I put Sophie's studs in, pulled out my cross country aftercare buckets and wraps, and laid out my skull cap and vests.

With the time I had, I was able to catch Julia's dressage test on Percy right before I had to tack for show jumping, and it was great to see them have a nice first ride out of the season. Julia's worked really hard on producing Percy and I am happy they got to come with us and experience the beauty of Morven!

After watching their dressage, I sped back to the barn and threw on Sophie's jump tack. I met Jacqui down at warm up and we spent some time chatting while we waited for a few horses ahead of me to head into the ring to give us some more space in the warm up. When there were about 5 horses out, I started to pick Sophie up and we had a pop over a smaller vertical, a bigger one, then a smaller oxer, and then a bigger one off of each direction. Sophie felt fantastic.

When it was our turn we galloped into the ring to the far side near the stone wall. The buzzer rang at the perfect time and I made my way to a big open oxer at fence one. Sophie nailed it.

Sophie felt like she was on fire. We blasted around the course with only a few moments where I asked Sophie to dig deep and pop over the fences to avoid rails. We managed to hop over the final oxer with no rails and time to spare. Sophie made a sizable prelim show jump course feel like it was a piece of cake for her - she reminded me yet again that she is the coolest little mare!!

I left the ring absolutely beaming. I received great praise from Jacqui and Julia, and I brought Sophie back up to the barns for a quick break before the final phase. She got a sponge on her chest, girth and flanks, and a cookie.

I had about thirty minutes before heading to xc warm up, so I gave Sophie some water, continued to pack a few things up, and then got myself dressed for cross country. I had spent the evening overthinking a few of my questions on course and I had a bit of pent-up anxiety that I was hopeful would turn into energy on course. I had been drinking water and gatorade all day to stay hydrated and I felt as ready as I could to take on the course.

Julia walked down to warm up with me and a line had already formed at the check in by the time we got there, so I had about 20 minutes to spare before it was my turn to go out. We spent time in the shade of the tree line and watched the first several riders head out. I was in a very competitive division, so it was inspiring to watch a bunch of long time pros take on the first handful of jumps.

When I was about two horses out, I took Sophie for a little gallop and hopped over a table and a skinny log in the warm up, and Sophie made it very clear that she was ready. Jacqui was able to meet us at the warm up soon after that and she came with me over to the start box.

5...4...3...2...1...have a great ride!

I pushed Sophie right out of the start and we popped over fence 1. Sophie let out a few kicks at the start but I continued on and let her go a little between the first two fences. On the approach to fence 2, a large frangible table, I made the decision to hold Sophie off of it and get in pretty deep. Sophie historically has preferred the hold ride over the push ride to the first few fences on cross country - I think it helps her get a little confidence if she feels a bunch of support in the saddle - and she was able to push her little body hard over the big table. It wasn't a pretty jump, but it was effective and we continued on. She took fence 3 right out of stride and then I had her add a stride in the first combination of skinnies, again to purposefully override to build confidence. From that point on, Sophie felt more bold and ready to go.

We galloped over a big table at 5 and then I balanced her back for a skinny to corner combination at 6AB that she read really well. A few more fences and some terrain and I got back to that feeling that Sophie would jump the moon as long as I was steering in that direction.

She continued to fill with confidence as we sailed around the rest of the course, including angle questions, a full coffin, a drop question, a few more bigger tables - she ate it all up.

Coming out of the tree line back into the main field, I slowed her down a bit to give her a moment to analyze the upcoming water complex. We popped over the log on a mound into the water and then I rode hard on the out and Sophie sliced over the roll top out like it was easy. I can't believe I lost sleep over that ride!!! She nailed it.

We popped over one more single corner, an open oxer, and then the picture frame jump to finish. I was smiling ear to ear over the last few jumps and through the finish. As much as I am now officially listed as a professional due to my teaching lessons, I channeled my inner ammy energy by loudly exclaiming how perfect and amazing my horse was as we ran through the flags 🤣 We were definitely a little slow from my micromanaging early on, but I feel confident that will get better with time.

Jacqui and Julia met me at the finish and Jacqui was over the moon for us. I am so endlessly grateful to her for her support and for pushing Sophie to get to this point. I am at a point where I feel confident that I have a prelim horse - hopefully at some point soon she will feel that she has a prelim rider! I was also so thrilled for Jacqui who had two seamless novice rounds on her two horses she had for the day. It was a great day all around!

Sophie got hosed, iced, and wrapped, and I continued loading up what I could into the trailer. I then got to watch Julia and Percy take on the Morven stadium ring and the cross country, both of which rode super for the team. Percy was clearly finding the novice cross country to be easy and seemed confused when the end of the course came up - he was ready for more! For those interested, Percy is for sale and you can contact Julia for information about him.

Julia and I did a great job efficiently packing and loading our items into the truck and trailer and were on the road just over an hour after Julia finished her jump rides. It was so great leaving the venue after both of us had great rides and a weekend full of good food, drinks and weather. I literally couldn't have asked for anything to have been different!!!

The drive home was long and slow, and after some traffic and 2 quick stops, we got home around 2:30am. I have spent the whole week trying to catch up on sleep around work and other obligations, but I am still so happy with how our first outing of the year went. Sophie was so phenomenal and is really proving to me that she not only understands the job but LOVES it! Our next outing is scheduled to be Fair Hill in a few short weeks - fingers crossed for what's next with the spotted unicorn 🤞

Thank you again to all who read through these blogs. I will hopefully have more frequent updates as we are now in competition season!

K