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November 1, 2024 A few weeks ago, I entered a contest on instagram to win a tailgating space at the Maryland 5 Star for cross country day. I enter contests on Instagram a lot (shamelessly), so I often will enter them not really ever thinking I might win - but with sheer luck I won this one! I was so excited about this win for many reasons, but mostly because after having such a great time last year, Drew and I discussed how maybe one day we could do the tailgating thing in the future instead of just the general admission passes. We had no expectation that we would be doing that this year at all! We also got a few extra passes as a part of winning the tailgating experience, so I invited a few friends to make the experience even more enjoyable. We were so excited to take the truck, Wally, and some great snacks and drinks on the road to go watch some high level cross country action! We drove down after work on the Friday night and made it to Maryland just before midnight - about an hour later than planned due to some crazy highway closures in New Jersey. We were then up fairly early the next morning in order to get to our tailgating spot on time. We met up with my friend Julia, who also drove down the night before, and drove about 20 minutes to Fair Hill. We ended up having a great spot for tailgating that was about halfway between the vendor village and the furthest part of cross country, and right in front of the sunken road complex. Julia, Drew and I set up our space and started digging in to the drinks and snacks. What was really funny is we happened to be parked between several clearly well-seasoned tailgating groups who had full on set ups and tons of decorations for their spaces. Our spot looked like a hole in comparison - complete with a table we needed to duck tape together upon removing from the truck because it had broken at some point during the journey down 🤣 We made do, and got set up with our chairs and Wally with his x-pen. My first order of business was wandering over to the vendor village to take a peek at what shops would be on display. I made a mental note of the booths I wanted to make a second run through later in the day, and we then made our way back to the tailgating to get ready for the 3* cross country action. As previously mentioned, our spot was located right near the sunken road exercise, which provided us with fun viewing all day in both levels. The first few horses from the 3* all had different takes on their path through the sunken road, and it didn't take long for me to get that deep feeling of admiration you find when watching those at the top of the sport. It takes so much to get there, and I find it very inspiring. I was so excited to run into Jacqui during the early part of the day. I had sent some tickets to her, and it was great to see her and catch up on all that has happened on both of our ends the last few months. I already have big plans for the spring, so we discussed that and started getting excited about what's next for me and Sophie, as well as her and her string of horses. We continued watching the 3* from our spot, and I had us wait until my friend Sara Schulman came by before moving on to watch a different part of the course. To get those who might not know caught up, Sara was who I worked with for a few months at Jan's. She competes her horse Cooley Chromatic 'Caden' at the 3* level of eventing with aspirations of reaching the top of the sport. I've heard that the Maryland 3*-L is one of, if not the, hardest 3*-L tracks in the country, but Sara and Caden made it look smooth sailing. They are amazing and Sara is a huge inspiration to adult amateurs everywhere that you can still be 'an adult ammy' and make it to the top amongst the big wigs. This article on Eventing Nation is such a great read about their journey! Once Sara and Caden had zoomed by, we went to go walk the rest of the course and catch the remainder of the 3* action at different spots. We popped by the second water that had the new waterfall jump to be used in the 5*, the roller coaster question, the insane ditch and wall skinnies, and even trudged all the way up to the infamous crab water question. By the time we got up to that part of the course, we were sweating and about ready to turn around. We watched the few remaining 3* riders take on their rides at the crab water, and then we turned and made our way back to the tailgate. When we got back, we ran into our friends Elaine, Terrence and Azula. It was so nice having Elaine be local to us in VA, and we've missed them!! I was so happy to get a few minutes to catch up with her while we were there. For those that paid attention to the 5*, you might have heard or seen that of the 20 something riders who entered, only 8 completed cross country. We were fortunate having our tailgating spot be so early on the course as that allowed us to actually get to see most of the 5* riders come through. Of all the riders, it was really special to get the opportunity to see Tamie and Mai Baum tackle some tough questions on a 5* course one last time - even though she retired later on course, it was still special to see them come by our spot. Once the 5* action concluded for the day, we packed up our tailgating spot and made our way back over to the vendor village for some shopping and socializing. Wally also did some socializing, and met up with a mini-me. Way too cute!!! Patrick Ennis of Devoucoux New England, and a client & friend of AKF, invited Julia and Drew & I to come and spend some time at their booth in the vendor village after the competition had wrapped up for the day, so we spent some time there having drinks and snacks. What was super fortunate during that time was that Sara happened to walk by with her family so we got a chance to catch up in person. We were keeping all of our fingers crossed for her heading into day 3 of competition - she was in 2nd place in the 3* overnight! Drew and I ended the night eating at Cane's, and then we hit the road early the next morning to get back to MA. We had such a great time, and I am grateful to both The Cross Country App and The Maryland Five Star for hosting the tailgate giveaway! Extra shout out to Bonnie with the Cross Country App for checking in with us during the day and giving us some hats. -- Back at home, Sophie and I have been working really hard to get back to a normal schedule. I looked back at my calendar and realized that Sophie has not been in a regular weekly program since early July!! After the Maryland International, Sophie's been flexing between time off for vacation, time off for rehab, a little prep for Town Hill, time off due to my injury, and being ridden by others a few days per week, up until about three weeks ago. And her and I haven't had regular jump rides together for about two months now - so we have a fair bit of time to make up for. I am so grateful that Julia was able to help keep Soph's fitness at a good level while I was out, and now that the spotted unicorn and I are back together, I am trying to work her in some capacity 5-6 days per week. At the moment that is looking like one solid jump school day, one lunge day in the Pessoa, one day of light trot / canter sets, and 2 -3 days of flat work. I have been struggling in our first few jump schools back with Sophie being overly eager to take over and jump with or without me, so I have just started taking lessons with Adrienne to have support on the ground as I work through this. I am pretty confident that once Sophie feels settled in our regular routine, she will find the jumping to be a little less exciting, as it will hopefully feel less like a rare occasion. We had our best jump school back so far today with Adrienne, and I only had a few jumps that really felt like I had no say. I am grateful that my horse is always so keen to jump, but I am looking forward to when it feels more like a partnership again and less like a battle of strength! I also really think the loss of muscle tone in my right leg has not helped with this either, as that's Sophie's heavier and tighter side, and so I am having to work that side of my body 10x more to get through to her while I am still working on strength building. But we are getting there! And it's nice to know we have the whole winter to keep getting at it before we start our spring show season. I am excited to continue to get stronger and work with Sophie to get us back to feeling normal. Alongside riding consistently again, I am also SO thrilled to share that I am officially back to teaching lessons! Adrienne has been kind enough to add me to her string of incredible instructors, and she has so many wonderful school horses and ponies at her farm that have already proven they are worth their weight in gold in my first few lessons back. I am very much so looking forward to the winter season of spending time at the barn with my horse and with students! Thanks for reading this update and continuing to support the blog. Hopefully only up from here! K

October 8th, 2024 I will readily admit that being forcibly out of the saddle has been tough on my brain. When I broke my finger, I could still find ways to ride, as I had full use of my left hand and enough use of my right hand to make casual hacking work just fine. I also was going through a pretty rough depressive episode, so my head was not in its usual space regardless. This time feels so much different. Sophie and I came off of such a high moving back to MA, having finished our stint in Virginia taking home 4th in the 1* at Maryland. I was over the moon about getting out to Town Hill and gearing up for big fall plans, and having it all come to a sudden halt because of my own mistakes has been a tough pill to swallow. I would obviously much rather myself be hurt than Sophie, but knowing that my injury was likely quite avoidable has given me a severe level of FOMO watching my peers near and far continue having success in their fall seasons. I am a super supporter from the ground, and I love watching my friends and peers ride, but I also love riding alongside them. In an attempt to not spiral, I have found other ways to enjoy the things I love about this sport that don't require me to be in the tack. First, I recently took the MA instructor license exam, so I soon will be able to go back to teaching lessons. I am eager to advertise and start building a schedule, but even just having the certification under my belt will be a relief. (As a side note, the level of knowledge the state of MA requires for a riding instructor's license is offensive at best. I have had a pretty staunchly negative experience going through this process with Mass so far, and if you've also had a hard time with it please let me know! Would love to commiserate 😂 ) I also was privileged enough to have been asked to coach a student I had taught in the past at Coursebrook Farm HT last weekend. Merritt and her stunning horse, Juliet, had a fabulous outing finishing on their dressage score of 30 to take home the win! Merritt has been working hard back at her home base barn, all while starting at a new school, and I am so proud of the efforts she put into her rides that day. Especially after Juliet gave her plenty to work with in the warm up ring! I have always loved teaching lessons, but there is something special about coaching at shows that I really, really enjoy. I think it is wonderful to watch your students experience both positive and negative outcomes that help continue to motivate them to do better and work harder for the next one. I am not Merritt's every day trainer, but I have taught her a bunch in the past and have watched her grow so much as a rider that it was truly a pleasure to watch her efforts culminate in a well deserved win to finish her season. Way to go, Merritt! Then this past weekend I excitedly signed up to volunteer at the Apple Knoll fall horse trials. It was an easy decision for me to sign up, as it's my home base and I'd likely be there anyway, but I also get so much energy being in the show environments. I still don't think I'm fully past the general excitement I have about being back in Area 1 surrounded by familiar faces, but I also know how important volunteers are to this sport. I have made it a goal of mine to try to get out and volunteer a little more when I can because the sport needs it - especially Area 1!! I signed up online to help run the show jump warm up, which was mostly due to me still being in a boot and hiking out to cross country would be hard, but also being in warm up allowed me to see and chat with a bunch of people. I enjoyed watching the variations of horses and riders from training all the way to starter, and I am grateful that the day ran smoothly and safely for everyone. I was pretty isolated in the show jump warm up, but I heard great reviews from everyone all day about the way things were running. It was such a gorgeous fall day and everyone was in great spirits. A huge shout out to everyone who helped organize such a beautiful event, I am grateful I got to be a part of it in some way. Aside from the last two fun horse show-filled weekends, I have also been thoroughly enjoying watching Sophie get along with Julia. I know I mentioned this in the last blog, but it truly has been one of the best parts of my day. I had Julia give Sophie a little jump school at the barn after the show Saturday, and I put the jumps up a little bigger than I had the last time they jumped around. Sophie was a little rocket (and definitely brought out some of her feral energy) and I think both horse and rider had a blast playing around over bigger fences. I had a smile on my face the whole time watching from the ground! I am also happy to add that as of last night, I am officially back in the saddle . I might've had a sneaky bareback hack here and there over the last few weeks still in the boot, but the doctor checked everything today and confirmed that I can now be boot-free. He did suggest I stay off of riding for two more weeks, so I am sticking to flatwork and minimal posting trot as a compromise 🙃 As I've said before, I am being smart about how much I push it, and I know and trust Sophie so well that I feel comfortable getting back into the swing of things with her like this. Last night I had a little flat ride just to test the waters, and I felt good, and so did my horse. I will be heading over today to give her another good flat ride and maybe start the clipping process if I can find the motivation! Happy to be able to be back in the saddle, and as always looking forward to what's next. We will see! :) K

August 29, 2024 It's times like these that I get so excited to have a place to write all of my thoughts at free will, because WOW this weekend was full of things to talk about!! If you follow my social media, or if you were at the event, then you are well aware of what went down. For those tuning in for the first time by reading the blog, the TL;DR is that I fell off on cross country and subsequently broke my right foot. Sophie is completely fine, and I am no worse for wear besides being down a foot. Photo by Connecticut Photo The weekend was set up to be pretty busy for me, as I was driving to Connecticut on Saturday morning to drop Sophie at our old home base of N&C Equestrian so that I could head over to a friend's house for a surprise birthday party. I took Sophie for a brief hack early on Saturday morning to run through my dressage test one last time and then loaded her on the trailer. I hit a ton of traffic on 95 (shocking) and it took me an hour longer than anticipated to get to N&C that day. Upon arrival, I threw Sophie in a stall and got myself dressed in normal people clothes to go see my friends. We had an amazing time, and I got back to the barn around 8ish. I had to braid for the show, but luckily I have become quite proficient at that task so I was able to get Sophie's braids done in less than a half hour. I took a little extra time catching up with some of the barn kids who were also still show prepping at that hour (shout out to Lila and Sophia 🥰 ) and then I was in bed a little after 9. A huge thank you is owed to Charlotte for providing a space in her lovely home for me to sleepover, as well as a space for Sophie to sleepover before Town Hill. It made the drive in the morning over an hour shorter than it would have been had we been coming from Mass! I got up at 4am on Sunday morning, got into my show clothes, loaded Sophie, and hit the road. I had to stop for gas, ice, and a snack, and then I was on my way to the top left corner of CT. My ETA kept climbing as I drove up there that morning, as getting to Town Hill is essentially no highways and lots of mountain climbing. I also had to make one bathroom stop which unfortunately added to my arrival time, but I still got to the venue around 6:45am. I hoofed it over to get my packet and then ran over to the cross country start to get one walk in before I had to be on for dressage. This was my first time going anywhere without a designated groom or second pair of hands, so I had to plan my time accordingly. I was able to walk all of the cross country, and I thought the course looked fair for prelim with a few tougher challenges. I'll go over those in detail in a little bit. After solidifying a plan for cross country, I ran back to the trailer to get ready for dressage. I am lucky that a few of the amazing girls at N&C were willing to help hold my phone for Jacqui to FaceTime in for my warm up, and Sophia ended up taking that role that morning. Not only did she act as a phone holder, she also fully tacked up Sophie for me for dressage entirely on her own accord. I was running late, so I was extra grateful for her help. Sophie was brushed, tacked, and looked her very best thanks to Sophia's generous efforts! ♥️ Once I was on, we walked over to warm up and Sophia found a good spot to hold up Jacqui as I started my warm up. Jacqui gave her usual helpful pointers and guided Sophie and I in the right direction virtually. Her efforts paid off, and Sophie and I scored a 34.2 - which is one of our lower scores to date! I was happy with our test overall minus our left lead canter. Sophie was a bit tight and tense, and I struggled to find her shoulders going left. I usually have a harder time to the right with her, so that switched things up for me a bit. However most of our trot work and our lateral work felt super! I thanked the girls for their help and brought Sophie back over to the trailer. I didn't have a ton of time between dressage and the jump phases, so I quickly studded and booted her and then ran over to walk show jumping. Town Hill was putting in every effort to make the footing phenomenal, including continual watering of the show jump ring all morning. It paid off - I don't think I noticed any dust until much later in the day. I walked through the stadium course once and thought it looked great. It was fairly technical, with three fences that crossed centerline, but that kind of ride I find really works for Sophie. The more turns, the more careful we tend to be. I made my way back to the trailer and ended up catching up with another few friends from my previous barn, riding student Mina and her mom Stephanie! Mina leased Sophie for quite some time, even before I started riding her, so I am very grateful for their continued support of me and Sophie as a team. They hung out with me as I tacked Sophie for the jump phases, and Mina brought her camera to practice taking pictures at the event. I have noted in this blog post which pictures she took - she is super talented! Check out her instagram at amk.photography. Photo by AMK.PHOTOGRAPHY Once it was about 20ish minutes from the start of show jumping, Sophie and I made our way over to the ring. The prelim division was small, so there were only a few horses to navigate the warm up with. I also feel very spoiled at this stage because prelim warm up is so much less chaotic than anything below!! I was able to take Sophie over each of the warm up jumps one time, cross rail followed by vertical followed by oxer, and she felt great. Once I was one horse away from entering the ring, I popped over the oxer one last time and then we left warm up to go wait our turn. We made our way into the ring, the whistle blew, and I could feel the dragon begin to unleash. Sophie cracks me up- she went from literally falling over at the trailer from her sleep deprivation issue to becoming this fiery beast as soon as we entered the stadium ring. The course rode so well, and Sophie popped over the fences like it was easy. The new beval bit really worked for this phase. In the moments I wanted to pull, I didn't have nearly as much immediate impact like I do with the gag, so I was (in a way) forced to stay out of her way a little. I really think that is what helped us jump double clear. Jacqui had been emphasizing to me how important it is to let Sophie go a little in the stadium because she is a small horse, so she needs a little more power than I feel comfortable with in order to make the strides and jump clear. I took that to heart during this round and it paid off! I left the stadium ring feeling pleased with our round, but definitely a little tired. It had been a busy weekend already at that point and I could feel it catching up to me. I also made the mistake of not drinking enough fluids that morning, nor had I eaten anything to that point. I also did not think to ask anyone near me to carry my water for me to have in between phases and I majorly regret that. It was starting to hit me how challenging it was to not have a second pair of hands following me around at all times. Photo by AMK.PHOTOGRAPHY I waited until it was one minute from my time out of the start box before popping Sophie over one of the fences in the cross country warm up. We landed and Sophie went to take off and it took a lot of my core and leg strength to keep her contained. I had a lot less communication with her in the beval bit. I was immediately feeling regretful over not swapping back to the gag for cross country, but I had nobody to help me at that point and the decision had already been made. 5...4...3...2...1 Have a great ride! We blasted out of the start and straight to fence 1, which was a raised log. I tested my half halt and discovered quickly it wasn't really there. We had an odd take off but landed at a good gallop. I tried to find the half halt again before fence 2 and I was able to dig deep for it but it still wasn't great. Photo by AMK.PHOTOGRAPHY We flew over 2 and 3, and approached 4 which was a pretty good size ditch and wall. I don't think Sophie or I have seen a ton of ditch and walls so far in our cross country experience, but I did feel that having this as fence 4 was pretty hard. It was early on so we didn't have a perfect pace and as a result both of us had a teeny peek at it as we got closer. Sophie is fairly brave when we are moving, so with a little extra push from me she took the chance at jumping it. We landed on the other side and galloped into the back field for fences 5 and 6 which were both big tables. After sailing over 6 I really shoved myself into the tack to bring Sophie back to me for the coffin complex at 7ABC. Together we got balanced enough to float through the coffin like it was easy, and I was so happy with how Sophie found the C element on the out. We continued on at a good clip and approached a big log in the tree line at 8. I didn't have enough power to balance Sophie back the way I normally would have wanted and, as a result, we kind of scrambled over 8. It rattled me a bit because it didn't feel super safe - I was unhappy with the lack of strength I had to set up a jump that should have been straightforward and ended up being messy. My brain was a bit muddled so we ended up also feeling a little sticky over a table at 9 as a result. I kicked on after landing from 9 and then started asking for Sophie to balance well before 10AB which was a step up to a corner. She went right up the step and then I realized I was too focused on the canter getting to the combination that I never put my eye on the line to the corner. I found a line that worked okay and kicked, and the good girl clambered over the corner just inside the flags. We were close - my left knee grazed the white flag as we passed over. It was at this moment that I considered pulling up. I was feeling weak and like I couldn't access Sophie the way I usually can, and I didn't want anything dangerous to happen. We continued galloping into the next side field and I mustered up what I could to give a big table at 11 the right ride and then a downhill brush combination in 3 strides done at 12AB. Both obstacles rode really well, and Sophie was jumping phenomenally. That gave me enough of a good feeling to keep on keeping on. We exited the side field and galloped uphill over another large table at 13, and then I again started asking waaaay ahead of time for Sophie to come back to me before the water complex. The water exercise seemed fair for the level, but was definitely challenging. It was a drop into water, 5 strides through the water, then out over two very wide skinny offset houses in a forward 2 strides. I had trouble walking this exercise that morning. In order for the offset houses to line up well, you really needed to land in the water and almost go left to then go right to get the houses. And you only had 5 strides to do so through the water. I got Sophie balanced well for the drop into water, and I made sure to jump the leftmost side of the down bank. Once we were in the water, I picked a line (not a great one) and rode straight out towards the offset houses. As a result, we leapt over the first one, and I had nothing left to get to the second one. Sophie rightly so decided it wouldn't be an option, and we picked up 20. I circled around left and still found an angle over the house at the C element and she hopped right over it no problem on the second approach. I was frustrated, and my bad riding was really starting to show. Stupidly, I continued on. Following the water was a long down hill gallop to a big red wagon. I had nothing left in the tank to start balancing Sophie as far ahead of time as I needed to, and we went careening down the hill towards the fence. I gave one last effort to find our half halt and balance, but I didn't have it. That's when Sophie took over and decided there was no way for us to get over that jump safely at the pace we had, and she dipped hard left around the table. She went left, and I went right. Photo by AMK.PHOTOGRAPHY If you can believe it, this was the first time I have fallen off of Sophie . I think my foot stayed in my stirrup slightly longer than I had anticipated during the fall, and just as it got loose my air vest also popped and I tumbled to the ground. I landed on my right foot awkwardly and then the rest of me rolled to the right. Sophie continued on until our friend Julia grabbed her and took her off of the field. The scene was a lot more dramatic than I ever would have wanted, but I was both in shock and trying to catch my breath as my air vest squeezed the life out of me. This was also my first experience with the air vest going off, and I think mine is just a fraction too big for me, which didn't help with the feeling of suffocation. I was trying to roll around but I couldn't get myself in a position to get up. I was so embarrassed!! One lovely bystander rushed over to me and asked if I was okay and what she could do. I managed to ask for the air vest to be unclipped (in a dramatic, breathy way like 'air vest...please...get off...') and I had instant relief as soon as those buckles were released. The EMT was by my side in an instant and helped me get up. I immediately had pain in my right foot. I couldn't stand on it at all. They had me remove my boot and sock and there was already noticeable swelling over the middle of my foot. I could not put any weight on it. They suggested I get X-rays as soon as possible. I did not want to cause more of a scene and ask for an ambulance, plus my brain was moving in 1000 directions trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do with Sophie, my rig, and myself that I needed a minute to process. I declined ambulance services and instead had a volunteer bring me in a golf cart back to my trailer. This gave me a minute to breathe and figure out next steps. Once I got back to my trailer, I started to realize just how lucky I am. Not only was Sophie fully cooled out and untacked, thanks to Julia and so many of our friends at Apple Knoll, but I was immediately bombarded by amazing AKF barn moms Hessie and Addie ready to give me pain meds and figure out how to get me to an urgent care. They worked to find the nearest urgent care and luckily there was an ER only 10 minutes down the road. The amazing Addie took me over to the ER and got me set up in a wheelchair, rolling me into the lobby. She sat and waited with me, and it only took about 10 minutes to get seen. Addie rolled me to my designated room and sat with me as they took X-rays of my foot from a few angles. Just a few minutes of waiting and they came back with the news that my second metatarsal was broken at the base. On the images it just looked like a bone chip to me, but the doctors didn't seem too optimistic based on the location of the break. I guess the base of the first and second metatarsals are the connecting location for nearly all ligaments in the foot - so not a great spot for a break. Addie advocated for me to get something to eat and drink, and also made sure that I was given a CD with my images to take with me to an orthopedist later in the week. I am so glad she did that - it has proven to be very helpful to have access to those! Addie also asked the nurses to wrap a plastic bag around the temporary splint they gave me in order to not get the splint filthy back at the show. As much as I would have wanted my mom there with me, Addie was the best fill-in mom I could have asked for!!! Once I was checked out, I crutched my way to the parking lot and Addie pulled the car around to bring us back to the venue. I arrived back at Town Hill to a horse that had been fully iced (thank you Julia!!) and fully wrapped (thank you Fiona!!) and was ready to hang out on the trailer. Our friend Gwen from AKF loaded her right onto the trailer and Sophie stood quietly as I sat down to take a minute to connect with my family. My family was all very far away, but it ended up being okay because I had two amazing barn families present at the show - everyone from both Apple Knoll and N&C jumped in to help me and Sophie get through the blip in our day. I love both sets of people endlessly and I am not sure that thank you will ever be enough for what everyone did for me on Sunday. I spent the rest of the day crutching around the venue to spend time catching up with a ton of Area 1 friends. I specifically wanted to do Town Hill for how beautiful the venue is, to support Area 1, and to reunite with all my friends I hadn't seen in over a year since being in Virginia. I wasn't about to let my broken foot get in the way of getting time to see everyone! I spent time on the sidelines seeing so many old friends and then cheering on the later in the day riders from all over. I got to watch most of the BN show jumping, and it felt truly like I was home being surrounded by all the wonderful people who came to Town Hill. After some time catching up with friends, Gwen was ready to help me head out. She took the wheel of my rig and I took the passenger seat as we made our way back to AKF. It was about three hours on the road, but we made it back to the barn just after sunset. Drew met us as we got there, and both Drew and Gwen took care of Sophie and my trailer as I did my best to stay off the foot and not feel too bad about directing them. I am learning with this injury that I have to get over my issues with asking for help - there are a bunch of things that I just cannot do especially since I am not supposed to weight bear at all right now. As if I didn't think the community at Apple Knoll was amazing enough by this point, a few people put me in contact with Alicia McKersie, a long time friend of Adrienne's, who happens to be an ortho PA! She immediately got me in contact with a few top orthopedic surgeons in the area, and I was set up with an appointment by Tuesday and surgery scheduled for Friday. As much as I wish I didn't have to do a surgery for the third time in less than a year, I am hopeful that surgery means the recovery process will be very correct. I will keep those interested up to date with how this recovery goes - and I am hoping this is my last injury (and certainly my last surgery!!!) for QUITE some time 🤣 So Town Hill was a massive learning opportunity for me. I likely will never again travel completely solo to a show - having a second set of hands is so necessary especially when there is always a risk of getting hurt. I am not invincible, unfortunately. I absolutely need to do more serious prep for our next outing. I have been very fortunate that Sophie maintains a good level of fitness, but I do not! Prelim is hard (all things with horses are hard, to be fair!) and I need to be more rigorous with my own preparation for things like this. I was too casual about the bit change way too close to the day of competition. I need to keep my own physical fitness up so that I can properly ride and manage my horse, who might be little but is very strong! Especially when she is prelim fit. I said this on my instagram, but I did not deserve to cross through those finish flags on Sunday. Sophie absolutely did, but not me. I am inspired and determined to be better next time for myself and definitely for my horse. Sophie deserves the best ride possible as she often gives it her all. If anything, I continue to fall more and more in love with my incredible mare even when things like this happen because it shows me more about her true character! She has so much heart and try, and she also has some sense of self preservation and won't do something dangerous. I cannot wait to get back in the saddle and get back out there with my spotted unicorn. 🦄 I am headed into surgery tomorrow, and I will let you all know how it goes. In the meantime Sophie will get a little unplanned vacation and lots of cookies 🥰 Photo by AMK.PHOTOGRAPHY Thank you again to everyone who offered a hand and made Sunday manageable for me despite having broken my foot. I owe a lot of people a lot of things! One thing is for sure: barn families are so important. And beyond that, I think horse friends are some of the most important kinds of friends. I am feeling so humbled to know just how lucky I am to have so many of each!! And thank you to everyone who has reached out to check in on me. I appreciate each and every one of you! Here's hoping I get back in the tack in no time 🤞 K

August 19, 2024 It has been just over one month since Sophie and I moved back to Mass, and a fair bit has happened that I wanted to update interested readers about. First I wanted to just shout out the amazing staff and clients at Apple Knoll Farm in Millis, MA. Sophie and I are still technically newbies, but it already feels like home. I have the privilege of already knowing barn manager Adri extremely well (my first riding instructor over 20 years ago!!!!), but everyone else has also been so incredibly kind and welcoming - I am so grateful!! Sophie and I are already making good riding and hacking buddies. - Before Sophie and I left Virginia, Jacqui and I had discussed with the amazing team of vets at Piedmont Equine about looking a little deeper into Sophie's fetlocks. For as long as I've known her, she's gotten her fetlocks done every spring, and the vets wanted to take a closer look to see if there might be a better solution for her long term as an upper level performance horse. They came to see Sophie following our go at Maryland and, after a few radiographs, they discovered some expected arthritis and also some calcification around her fetlock joints. I was not surprised in the slightest. As the vet explained to me, this is a very common problem a lot of jumping horses will run into, and hers is far from the worst they've ever seen, which helped squelch my anxiety. They were relieved that it was bone related and not soft tissue related. The solution suggestions ranged from surgery, to Osphos, to specialized injections - all which caused my vision to be blurred by dollar signs. I told them I needed time to think about the best approach for me and Sophie as a team. Soph was going on a planned vacation anyway, so I was not in a rush for an immediate solution. Following our move north, the also wonderful team of vets at Northbridge Equine came out to see her to follow up on what the vets in Virginia had seen. They had a look at the radiographs from Virginia, and their gut reaction was actually the same as the team in Virginia - with the favored solution at both practices being Arthramid injections . I guess that it is a commonly used injection for this type of problem, and both teams of vets have seen marked improvements on other horses with similar cases. Since two highly respected teams of vets had the same reaction, I decided to go forth with that plan against my bank account's wishes. Sophie received the Arthramid in her front fetlocks several weeks ago now, and has since been on a steady back to work plan to gear up for Town Hill at the end of the month. She has been given the green light after being checked post-injections, and I am happy to say that she is feeling great. On top of that, the vets also suggested some changes to her shoes, and the amazing farrier Dave Clancy has put in the work on that! Sophie has lifts in her front shoes, like wedges, with a slightly thicker one on her left front to offset how much flatter that foot had gotten compared to her right front. After one cycle of these shoes we are already seeing a huge difference in the shape and angulation of her feet!! I am so thrilled. At some point I will make a separate mini post on her feet, because I think it has been interesting to watch how they can change so drastically with different shoes. Message me if that's something you'd like to see!! I try to take progress pics when I can. _ Now that we are back to our regularly scheduled program, we have been carefully getting back to work in order to prep for Town Hill. At first Soph was a bit cracked out getting back into the swing of things. I get it: she went from being super fit for the last 1* we did, to moving barns again, to immediate vacation. It is a lot of change at once, especially for a horse that has a fair bit of anxiety and holds fitness stupid well. Most of our flat rides have included lots of downward transitions and lateral work to keep her mind busy. She has been finding all of the things to spook at in every ring at Apple Knoll so keeping the mind working is key with this mare! I think she has finally started to settle a bit now that we have gotten back to some jumping, and our first jump ride back was the most relaxed she had felt in a minute, shockingly enough. She continues to make it clear that jumping is her favorite. I've also been trying to squeeze in hacks with our new friends at the farm when the time allows - she is also slowly starting to enjoy those more as well. Apple Knoll has acres and acres of trails that allow for us to find new paths every time we venture out, which has been so amazing to have access to! _ In getting back to work, there has been one thing in particular I have been trying really hard to work on. I am going to be fully transparent here - Sophie and I have been struggling for the last several months when it comes to the bit I choose to use for jumping. Right now, I have her in a gag for both of the jumping phases. She has been in a gag for as long as I've known her, and I will swap back and forth between the loop and the snaffle depending on how things are going. With her level of fitness increasing drastically over the last year, I nearly always jump with it on the loop when at shows. For those of you who have not ridden Sophie or have not really seen her go, she is INCREDIBLY hard in the mouth and wicked strong at the jumps, particularly in the show jumping. She is naturally a bit more backed off on cross country, but we still use the loop on the gag there currently as well. I am a firm believer that a strong bit in good hands is better than a soft bit in bad hands, but I also would really like to be able to do everything in a snaffle. However, it is not a move that I can make right now for the sake of safe and proper riding with this horse at this time. Unfortunately I think she has been in the gag for so long that it has further desensitized her in many ways. Jacqui provided me the solution of double reins, which I would do in a heartbeat - but with all the damn finger issues, I struggle greatly with using the double reins in my right hand. That is a priority for me to work on over the winter months in order to get that skill back. My next quick answer was a bit converter. I put it on her for the first time the other day for trot and gallop sets, and it felt quite dull. I adjusted the way the holes sat so that it was one hole tighter on the loop and one looser on the snaffle, and that is how I jumped her in a clinic with Jerry Schurink the other day. She was still wicked strong, and several times got flat as she got further away from me causing us to take rails we normally would not. Jerry had some great food for thought, but he absolutely did not see the best of us during that ride, which was frustrating. Yesterday I went up to the new Greenhawk tack shop (where SmartPak in Natick used to be) and I grabbed one of those Beval bits that have become all the rage lately, and I think that will be my next attempt at a solution in between now and when I become better equipped to handle the double reins. I took her out for a trot set the other day and I was pleased with how she felt and the level of receptiveness she had towards me in it. As with literally everything in the horse world, it's a learning curve! My desperation to move away from this current gag set up is simple: it is factually too strong for us. One incorrect pump of those 'e brakes' and she loses all impulsion from her hind end. With our continuation up the levels, it's going to become more of a hinderance than a help as I need her to be able to carry some serious impulsion over bigger strides to get over prelim+ sized fences with any success rate. We've been able to make it work so far, because I have a fairly good feel of when I need to use it more versus less, but I do not want this to be my long term solution. With her natural inverted way of going, plus hard mouth, plus eagerness to jump the sticks, it has become the current easiest solution to simply get any method of communication her way, but I want to be better and I want to do better by Sophie. TLDR: Sophie has a very hard mouth, and naturally goes in a very inverted way. In order for her to jump well, I need her to lift her back and really use her hind end in a powerful way and not have her just run on her forehand (hence why I sometimes wear bigger spurs - they are not for forward motion, they are all for getting those tight shoulders and back up!!). The gag gets a quicker reaction from me to her, but it puts pressure on her lips that lifts her head in a way that increases her likeliness of getting inverted and hollowing her back. I am looking forward to getting her back out at Town Hill and giving it a good go! It's one of my favorite Area 1 events, and I can't wait to see so many of our friends there. Following Town Hill, Sophie will get another mini break as we prep to head back to Morven in October. I kept the September schedule open, and I will only plan on something that month if for some reason Town Hill goes horribly wrong (here's hoping that is not the case!!). Sophie has had a very busy year, and I want her to feel her absolute best going back down to VA for one more show before the end of the season. I will be back with another blog update after Town Hill, and hopefully it's a good one :) Thanks for checking back in to the blog! I appreciate all the continued support ♥️ K

July 16, 2024 Well I don't think I could have asked for a better way to complete our year living in Virginia. Sophie and I took on the 1*-S at the Maryland International Horse Trials at the beautiful Loch Moy Farm last weekend. She was just spectacular in every single phase, and I could visibly feel the positive results from how hard I've been working with Jacqui at home. In the weeks leading up to this, I had been spending several days riding with Jacqui in the mornings. She has such a cool string of horses to learn from, and I am certain that getting that experience has already made a huge difference in my ride on Sophie. I mentioned this in my previous post, but most of Jacqui's horses don't let me get away with my poor habits, such as hanging on the inside rein, and I could feel myself take a breath and let go of that tension multiple times with Sophie during both my dressage warm up and actual test. I am so, so thankful that Jacqui not only trusts me to ride her horses, but also is so willing to work with me and help me to continue learning and getting better as a rider. My show weekend started on Friday, and my dressage ride time was scheduled at nearly the hottest portion of the day - it was going to be about 93 degrees as I was to head down centerline. In preparation for how hot it would be, I gave Sophie a bath right before loading her on the trailer in order to help cool her down some during the 25 minute drive. Drew met me at the trailer up by the in barns, and after a quick temperature check and informal jog, Sophie and I were permitted to go to the day trailer parking. Jacqui met us after we parked and we made our way over to the start box to get one cross country walk in before I got ready for dressage. I figured I'd have more energy to walk cross country before I rode. The course was a slightly similar track to what I had done at the schooling show here in March, but with much more impressive fences and more use of the terrain. Compared to the 1*-L at VHC, this one looked a lot more technical. There were a few steeper hills, a tricky sunken road exercise and they also made use of the main arenas with some derby-style fences. It was a course that looked both challenging and super fun! Loch Moy also had done their due diligence with aerating and watering the ground so that it was safe for horses to run on. The atmosphere was also quite impressive in general, as they were hosting Youth Rider Champs and also running up through the 4*-S level. Jacqui and I made a plan for cross country, and then we made our way back to the trailer. One pit stop for a snow cone and then Jacqui got her tools out to get Sophie braided and looking her best. Sophie looked so stunning for our dressage at VHC that I wanted Jacqui to work her magic again for this one. She did Sophie's mane, tail, and even added some fun quarter marks again. I also dressed to impress, because there was no way I was not wearing my gorgeous green shad even though the weather was atrocious. They had waived jackets but I figure I am not sure how often I will get to wear the shadbelly, so I will take every chance I can get! We made our way over to the dressage warm up, and I started getting Sophie moving off of my legs. I took a bunch of deep breaths before really asking for a lot, and tried to recreate the feeling I got with so many of Jacqui's horses over the last few weeks. They all really moved well off of full use of my leg from ankle to groin. I sunk into the saddle and thought about really lifting Sophie's shoulders with my knees and thighs and to allow with my hand and push her forward from my calf. Right on cue Sophie came up and under me and was moving beautifully. Jacqui continued to guide me through our warm up, and it was the most relaxed and steady amount of communication Sophie and I have ever had getting ready for the sandbox. I was feeling really good about heading to the ring. We only spent about 10-12 minutes in the warm up due to both the insane temperatures and how amazing Sophie was feeling. We made our way up to the upper rings and I started getting warmed up outside of my designated dressage ring. Sophie had a spooky moment as we passed the side of the ring closest to the VIP tent that they had set up for the show weekend, but we got organized by the time we entered at A. The first half of the test felt so fluid and focused. I continued the mindset of using my knees and thighs to lift Sophie's shoulders up to me and allow her to stretch her neck forward into a supportive contact. I was feeling great about everything until we had our trot to canter transition to the right that was supposed to happen going towards the VIP tent that we had spooked at earlier. For a few brief movements we reverted back to arguing with each other, but then I took a breath and softened once we finished the right lead canter movements. I was able to bring her back to me just enough to complete the test without fighting. It was not our most consistent test, but the highlights were HIGH. I couldn't stop smiling after saluting to the judges - I felt like I finally unlocked something in Sophie I had been trying to find for ages! Jacqui was just as delighted as I was. It is so amazing to feel the difference in what I am able to get out of riding Sophie just after this short time drilling the flatwork with Jacqui. Regardless of the score, I was thrilled. Unsurprisingly, I finished the day of dressage sitting in last place. It was a super competitive division, and I can honestly say I gave it my best efforts. And for my record with Sophie, a 38 is nothing to sneeze at. I was confident going into the next day of jumping. The organizers were so on it with the weather all weekend, and they ended up moving all jump phase times to a bit earlier on Saturday in order for everyone to be finished with all jumping before the heat got as bad as it was supposed to be. I had show jumping scheduled for around 12:45, followed by cross country with about 30 minutes in between. Drew and I got there about an hour ahead of time in order for me to get my tack organized and check out the show jump course. Jacqui met me there and we walked it as it was being dragged and made a plan of attack. Jacqui's ultimate goal for me is to be able to take the work we've been doing on the flat and apply it around my show jump course effectively. I had a tough but important jump school with her a few days prior where we practiced using my corners more efficiently and to stop interfering with Sophie directly in front of fences. Jacqui helped get Sophie ready and looking her best, including adding some fun quarter marks again, and we made our way to warm up. I normally love formal show jumping, but it was so hot that I opted to not don my show coat this time. Unlike the shadbelly for dressage, I do believe I will wear my regular show coat again at some point (lol). Sophie and I popped over a few fences in warm up just like we had practiced at home. Jacqui guided me and it only took about four fences for us to feel prepared to head down to the main arena. They shuttled me in when it was go time. I trotted in and then paused to salute to the judge, then I picked up my canter and set Sophie across the arena to have a good look at everything while waiting for the buzzer. I did one circle and then noticed that they were still fixing a fence that had been knocked down by the previous rider and it was taking some time. I brought Sophie back to a trot in order to not keep her running excessively in the heat, and it took another few seconds, but then the buzzer finally went off and we began our course. I came in a bit tight to fence one and then took a gradual, slow turn to fence two. After that we found a good rhythm. Sophie was jumping wonderfully. I worked on getting the canter I wanted in each corner, and then tried to lay off of her as we approached each fence. The only place during the course where I did not do my best planning in the corner was to fences 8 and 9, which was a skinny plank followed by 6 strides to a wide oxer. I pulled too much to the skinny on the in, and then asked for just a little too much to the out and Sophie's canter got flat and clipped the front rail of the oxer as a result. I got it together for fence 10 though, and she popped over the last one well. Overall I was quite pleased with our go, as it was massive improvement from VHC. On the way out of the ring, one of the volunteers complimented my ride in one of the corners which felt really nice. It is very rewarding when your efforts get noticed by someone who does not usually see you ride! We went back to the trailer and I hopped off to give Sophie a break for the 20 or so minutes we had before venturing over to cross country. I sucked down some more Gatorade, and we got a bit of water on Sophie to cool her down some. One last check of the studs, a minute to breathe, and then I was back on and heading towards cross country warm up. The warm up was pretty crowded with the Young Riders getting there well ahead of their times, which was really great to see. Myself and the other 'oldies' got in brief warm ups before heading out on course. I popped Sophie over one fence, had a little gallop, and called it a day for warming up. She knew the task at hand. I had a plan in mind to pull up on course if at any point Sophie felt even a hair less than her usual self out on cross country. The heat was tough and the ground, while clearly well maintained, was still fairly solid. With that thought in mind, I didn't really plan to focus too much on time. 5...4...3...2...1...Have a great ride! We blasted out of the start box and popped over fences 1 and 2 with ease. Fence 3 was an open oxer up in the wooded side field and I had a tough time remembering my line to it with so many trees in the way. I found the line about 5 strides out and luckily Sophie also saw it and locked on. The first combination at 4A and B rode in either a forward 3 or a tighter 4, which we ended up having. We rolled back to fences 5 and 6, and then galloped back into the main field towards the first water question at 7, which was a solid boat fence into water. It's the first time Sophie's had a really solid fence into water, and it caused the water to not be visible until we were right on top of it. I kept my leg on and with one encouraging tap she pushed off those limber hind legs and into the water. 8ABC was a tricky sunken road ask, and I slowed Sophie down a few strides away to allow her to calculate it smartly and she did great footwork through that exercise. I was so pleased! We rolled downhill to 9, up a big hill and around to 10, down the hill again to 11, and up a gradual incline to a corner at 12. Sophie doesn't think terrain is hard 💪 13A and B was the second water question, which she navigated with ease through the water, up a bank and two strides to a big roll top. We turned and galloped over a table at 14, then up a mound over a skinny at 15, and then again down a hill to a table at 16. We then had a few fences placed in the sand rings, which was a really cool experience. We galloped into the arena and over a roll top at 17, and then down a hill into another arena over a bank exercise at 18A and B. Sophie is quite naturally nimble and careful, but also has developed good faith in me, so with my leg providing confidence, she navigated the questions so well. As we headed to the last two jumps, I asked for a little more to see if she was still feeling good, and to my surprise she was! She swished her tail and blasted over 19 and galloped on over 20 and through the flags with plenty of gas still left in the tank. I was blown away! My amazing team of Jacqui and Drew grabbed her as soon as I passed through the flags and I hopped off. I checked my watch and realized we were maybe just a few seconds at most over time - which was again shocking to me. I was only keeping a half eye on the time and was focused more on how she felt, and man, did she feel incredible. We made our way up to the vet box and were greeted by tons of amazing vets and volunteers who were helping to check on horses and sponge them off. We ripped off Sophie's tack and got as much water on her as quickly as possible. I held her while Jacqui and Drew did the grunt work, and my horse that just finished a challenging cross country course in blistering conditions was still finding energy to spook at anything and everything under the tent. It was at that moment I really didn't question her fitness 😂 After some time cooling down in the vet box, we grabbed all of my things and walked back to the trailer. Sophie danced sideways the whole way back, finding everything to spook at and call to. I am still laughing at how full of beans she was given the circumstances. We took our time to continue to water and ice her back at the trailer. Jacqui and Drew helped me get her comfortable and I started to pack my things as we waited for final results. At this point I had thought that I had started to move up in the standings, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that there was a chance I could secure a ribbon. After a short time waiting, we found that the culmination of our efforts resulted in Sophie and I taking home a beautiful 4th place ribbon. Cross country did not pan out well for several competitors, and many were also taking it quite slow due to the heat. I had a feeling we might move up a place or two based on our jump phases, but not all the way from bottom of the barrel at 16 up to 4! Not only did we receive a lovely white ribbon, but we also got a commemorative wine glass, a sponge bucket, some treats, Maryland Horse Trials magnets, a hoof pick, and some prize money! It felt like I won the Olympics coming home with that many goodies. Shout out to Maryland Horse Trials for such amazing prizes for competitors - even the 4th placed ones! I can honestly say that I could not have done nearly as well as I did without Jacqui's guidance. I had an absolutely breakthrough feeling in dressage, and our jump phases were some of the best riding I've had and felt. I truly feel so prepared for the future with this horse now. I cannot wait for what's next! For now, Sophie is enjoying a holiday for the rest of July as we settle into our new home after a very busy spring. I will at some point recount the entire year in Virginia in a post, but for those that do not know, we just moved back to Massachusetts. Life is a bit chaotic right now, so bare with the sparse updates at the moment! Thanks for reading ~ K

June 21, 2024 As the time here in VA is winding down, I am soaking up every ounce of what I can with the team over at Chapel View Farm. School's out for summer, and we move July 10th, so I have some free time until then. As any good barn rat of any age knows, free time = barn time. Last weekend I made myself a part of the cheering squad for CVF at Seneca HT, and I have started joining Jacqui in the mornings during the week to ride with her as well as to watch her ride in order to continue learning. I am at a place in my riding career where I am confident that I can sit on most horses thrown my way and not die, but my ability to ride a horse in a way that allows them to use their bodies correctly and build good muscle will continue to need to be fine tuned. For a long time I have been allowed to ride backwards (from hand to leg) and Sophie lets me get away with that far too often. Over the last several months of training with both Jan and Jacqui, I have been slowly moving towards riding a horse from leg to hand instead (which like...DUH, we all know this, but it is so much easier said than done). Jacqui has done one hell of a job of helping me with that even after just a few days of riding with her in the mornings this past week!! In riding these horses that Jacqui has been carefully training, as well as having her guidance as I work with them, I have learned very quickly that I am obsessed with holding the inside rein at all times. It's one of those habits that I know is wrong, but it is damn hard to shake. Sophie will let me hold that inside rein all day. We will fight about it constantly, and I often will get her to be crooked and forcibly put together in a way that might look the part enough, but she is never really moving through. Jacqui is teaching me that it is so much more about moving the shoulders up and that my hand needs to, essentially, go away. It's a concept that many people have explained to me in varying ways, and I understand and would say the same thing to any student I would teach, but talking theory is easier than putting it into practice. However, the way that Jacqui has been explaining it to me has really started to stick, and I think I am slowly getting there. It also has made a MASSIVE difference to ride horses that are less tolerant of my mistakes. I rode one horse of hers that immediately braced against me in the canter and started to run away with me because I wanted to just grip onto the inside rein to hold the bend. Jacqui told me to soften and let go of the inside rein and continue supporting the outside shoulder with my leg and, like magic, the horse softened instantly and started to collect as soon as I allowed with that rein. Who knew that would work 😝 Another one of her horses, and a particularly fancy one at that, took full offense to me putting my leg on to ask for the canter while also clenching my inside rein as opposed to me simply shifting my inside hip bone upwards to allow for the canter to come up to me. Jacqui gave me the directions and, on the second attempt, once I had the horse straight and supported the outside of him while also keeping the bend with my inside leg, I allowed with my elbow and lifted my hip and ~voilà~ we were cantering. Both horses provided me with physical feedback that was so immediate. It is so rewarding to ride other horses and feel successful as a result, even if the success is simply picking up the canter nicely because I asked correctly and avoided falling into bad habits. Sure, I can get on Sophie and give a walk, trot, canter show and I can roughly make a 20 meter circle in just about any part of the ring...but can I do it while using only my inside leg to hold the bend whilst also using my outside aids to keep her shoulder straight and encourage her to push forward into the bridle? Easier. Said. Than. Done!!! Especially on a horse like her that is content in keeping her shoulders down and her neck inverted. It feels good to have homework! The other day I was able to get a few steps of trot where she actually felt straight from nose to tail because I was able to find that feeling of holding her outside shoulder with my outside aids and not obsess with bending her neck to the inside. Just this morning I had a very productive flat ride where I focused on lifting her shoulders from my calf all the way up through my abs, and I could physically feel a difference in her suppleness as I engaged my thighs and core more effectively. It was kind of amazing. Getting this feeling with Sophie consistently will take time and patience, and a lot of discipline on my part, but I am so excited to have been able to get a better feel for what she should be going like by riding these other horses. I've said this before, but for anyone who wants to continue to learn but maybe can't take the time or money to do consistent lessons, simply watching others ride can be so helpful. I am also fortunate that Jacqui is incredibly willing to share everything she's thinking and feeling as she rides her horses with me in the audience. I am even more fortunate that she trusts me enough to sit on all of her horses. The next few weeks will likely consist of more watching and learning, as well as more riding. I feel lucky to be in this situation and I look forward to soaking up the knowledge while I can, and hopefully will take more skills with me to Sophie and I's next home. We have one more show before the move, and I will keep those interested posted :) If you've gotten this far, I just want to share my thanks to you! It means so much to me that there are people who take interest in what I have to say and the experiences that I am having. My time spent with horses will shift slightly once I move and start my new job, but I hope to keep having experiences that are shareable and interesting. I appreciate your support ♥️ I am also hoping to build out this website more and eventually maybe even flesh out a logo and start putting it on things - we shall see. Thanks for reading! K

June 10, 2024 Sophie and I took on the Middleburg horse trials this past weekend over at the Great Meadow Foundation. We got lucky with some amazing weather, and it was so fun to get to be back at this beautiful location again. Drew and Wally came with me on Friday night to walk the course, and I felt pretty good about everything I saw. Sophie and I were taking on prelim again, and most of the questions felt super fair for the level. Nothing was going to make me lose sleep like some of the combinations we had at Morven a while back! We had a full coffin for the first time in a while, but Sophie is smart with ditches and those kinds of questions simply become all about steering and keeping my line. The water complex was similar to what we had at VHC the other week, with a solid hanging log right into the water and then a skinny (in this case, a corner) a few strides out of the water. I finished the walk feeling confident that Sophie and I were ready for it. We were one of the first out that day, and Great Meadow is about an hour from the barn, so my day started at about 5am, which is a lot earlier than I have been needing to get started these days. We've been so spoiled being so close to everything! We arrived with about 45 mins to spare before I had to get on for dressage, so I grabbed my packet and took my time unloading the trailer. Sophie was in good spirits, and Drew arrived shortly thereafter to help get things organized. I am so lucky to have him around, especially on days like this where Jacqui couldn't make it due to competing at a different show herself that day, and I also didn't have a groom lined up. Drew becomes the best jack of all trades when needed! I got Sophie tacked and we made our way over to dressage. They were having the dressage on grass this time, and it was right up against a busy road so there was a lot to look at. Sophie felt a teeny bit tense in the warm up, so I tried to gain focus by doing a lot of lateral work and little transitions. She settled slightly, but I could tell she was on edge. As soon as we entered the ring at A, we went back to our old roots. The war was evident, and Sophie felt a little like a bomb that was ready to explode. As we have unfortunately done in the past, as soon as she tenses, I get tighter, she gets more wound up, and we don't perform well. In retrospect I think we could have warmed up a bit longer which might have helped to ease tension, but I also need to keep becoming okay with allowing with the inside rein even when I feel like I can't. We had some respectable transitions and stretch work, but the rest of the test was mostly just us fighting. I saluted and patted her, disappointed that we couldn't pull out the kind of ride we managed to have at VHC a few weeks ago. There will always be things for us to work on in this phase! I watched Sharon White enter the ring after me on her stunning horse feeling pretty down about our performance, and wouldn't you know it but Sophie and I got pulled AGAIN for another random drug test by USEF!! They are so nice about it all, and I am happy to participate and do as I am supposed to, but not having time to process my poor performance in the sandbox really got to me. I remind myself that they are just doing their jobs, and I appreciate what they do, but in that moment I had really wanted about 5 minutes to myself to reflect on my dressage test. I am so grateful Drew was there to chat nicely with that lovely USEF worker while I was a bit cranky 😅 After Sophie was finished with being tested, I took out her braids and set her up with hay and water next to the trailer. Drew stayed behind to keep an eye on her while I made my way over to walk the show jumping course. Great Meadow is pretty spread out, but luckily they had amazing volunteers with golf carts that were used to shuttle riders and spectators back and forth between the main arena and trailering. I was carted over to the stadium ring and took that minute to check my score and a few scores for friends competing at both Bromont and Apple Knoll - it was a busy weekend for eventing! The show jump course was fairly challenging, with a few places where you had to make tight turns inside of jumps if you wanted to make the time. I am not usually worried about time with Sophie (we were the fastest ride at VHC in the stadium by far - so much so that they even made a comment about it over the loud speakers 🤦‍♀️ ) but I was keeping in mind that I would be needing to make these tighter turns without losing too much pace. After walking stadium I made my way back to the trailer and started getting myself and Sophie dressed for the jumping phases. There was not much time in between dressage and the rest of the day, so I was grateful I was able to walk the cross country the night before! Sophie was doing her typical routine of falling asleep at the trailer before the jump phases, and continued to snooze as I studded and tacked her. Of course as soon as my butt hit the saddle she woke right up and knew it was show time. Drew walked with us over to the show jumping arena to find his space to be my videographer. I checked in at warm up and took a few minutes to walk around and let Sophie see the sights. I was the fifth horse to go, and I never spend too much time with her warming up over fences. I also didn't have anyone to set jumps for me, so I patiently waited until some other trainers started setting fences for their riders before I made a move. I was able to pop over a few jumps and Sophie felt fantastic. I watched a couple of riders before me go in the ring to make note of the routes they took and how it looked. I was pleased to see that the plan I had made while walking seemed to be everyone else's plan as well. When it was our turn, I walked Sophie through the in gate and took a little tour around the far side of the ring to let her see some more of the atmosphere. She was on fire! We came in slightly tight to the first fence, and then she kicked out way hard for the lead change on our turn to fence two. The show jumping beast had come out to play. I tried really hard to just maintain the canter and focus on my lines, and Sophie jumped the best she has yet through the first half of the course. The turn to fence 7 was fairly tight, and it was followed by 5 strides to a one stride combination, and unfortunately I started trying to ride the line to the one stride before we got over fence 5. My poor piloting cost us our only rail, but then Sophie came back and still jumped her heart out to finish the rest of the course beautifully. I was so disappointed that I cost us a rail because she absolutely deserved a clear round - I will be better for her next time! Drew met us with some water before we walked to the cross country warm up and I beamed about how well our little pony jumped in that ring. Everyone in cross country warm up seemed pretty relaxed as I made my way there. It was a few minutes before the first rider was to be sent out, so Sophie and I joined the crowd and just hung out by the fence line. I watched the first few riders head out on course, and then popped over one warm up fence once the rider ahead of me made their way to the start box. A few minutes passed and then the spotted unicorn and I walked over to the start, ready to go. 5...4...3...2...1 Have a great ride! Sophie and I powered out of the start box and had a great ride over the first three fences. 4AB was our first combination, and the in rode perfectly and the out rode a little long, but Sophie was feeling very confident. 6ABC was the coffin, and Sophie was super careful with her feet through it. The C element was a slightly angled skinny, and I wanted to ride it forward but Sophie was more comfortable getting tight and adding in one more stride than I had anticipated, but we will made it over no problem. I kicked her on after we landed because I really want to avoid having those tight rides, and she let out a nice big kick, essentially telling me to 'f off' 🤣 I was laughing at her enthusiasm, and the amazing crew with Erin Gilmore photos caught the moment perfectly! As we headed out into the back field, Sophie was a little apprehensive about some stumps and our pace suffered a bit. I tried to make up time as we turned back towards home at the far end of the property, and kept the forward motion over the trakehner at 11 and a combination of angled houses to a skinny corner at 12ABC. We galloped back towards the main field and had great rides over a few big tables, and then approached the water. She leapt in so confidently over the log into the water, and I could feel her searching for the flags at the corner out of the water. She felt SO bold! We hopped over the let up fence at 16 and I somehow lost my stirrup, so we again lost a little bit of pace as I worked to get it back before the angled tables at 17AB. As a result of the slowed pace, we ended up putting 3 strides in that combination where there should have been 2. Sophie had a bit of expected spooking at the volunteer cars sitting under the tree line near our fence at 18, so we had a bit of a deep ride to that, but then we had an excellent forward ride over our last fence at 19. I was grinning ear to ear as we crossed through the flags. This was officially our first clear over fences at the prelim level, and I am so happy we made that happen. This horse deserves that clear ride! It has been fun to look back on our cross country rides from even just a year ago and compare it to now. Sophie is so much more bold, confident, and into the game. Cross country has always been fun with her, but now it's feeling both fun AND super doable - we are now getting to a place where the rides are getting to feel quite straight forward. Drew met us at the finish and hung out while I cooled Sophie down. He even helped sponge her down, he sweat scraped her off, and put up the butt bar when I got her on the trailer. He gets the groom's award from me for the day!!! Our dressage put us well out of the ribbons in a pretty competitive division, but only adding one rail and some anticipated time to our score was a huge win for us. I continue to be in awe of what this horse can do, and I hope to be able to take her to wherever she wants to go. We have another big outing next month, and then we will make the trek to our new (but technically old) home in Mass one month from today 💚 K

May 28th, 2024 Sophie and I are officially an FEI horse and rider combination. I literally cannot believe I can type those words. This past weekend was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had with horses. I had big goals of getting Sophie and I to a 1* by the end of our stint in Virginia, and I am so proud to say that we did it. To get everyone acquainted with the language, the FEI, or Federation Equestre Internationale, is an organization that governs a lot of equestrian sport at the international level. Most events in the United States are national events, meaning they are overseen by USEA and USEF. There are also a good chunk of events in the US that have internationally recognized levels, which involves all three organizations, and the corresponding levels are designated by the star rating, going from 1* - 5*. Most eventing fans are familiar with the 5* events, with both Kentucky and Maryland being the United States competitions that run up to that level. There are also a good number of events that host up through the 4* level, some of the more well known ones are Carolina International, Rebecca Farm, and Tryon. For the most part, the FEI levels have national equivalents, but I would say they are the maxed out versions of their national equivalents. 1* is near equivalent to maxed out modified, 2* for prelim, 3* with intermediate, and 4* to advanced. And then 5* is just for the really crazy people 🤣 They also can be hosted as short or long format, which is designated, for example, like 4*-S or 4*-L. Long formats are typically held over 3 days, with show jumping on the final day, and two formal jogs. They also typically have a much longer cross country track than the short format. Short formats can be held over three days, but many are held over two days and have cross country on the second day. Virginia Horse Center was hosting a massive event with national levels starter through Advanced-Intermediate, and FEI levels 1* - 3*, with both the short and long options for the 2*. For me, the 1* was being offered only in the long format, but for the 1*, or intro CCI level, they also refer to it as 'unified' - as the cross country would not be any longer than a short format, but the schedule would follow the long format. Because it was being held as a long format, I referred to it as 'my Kentucky' all weekend. I would arrive on Thursday and would participate in a formal jog. Then I would be assigned my dressage time for Friday, cross country Saturday, and then show jumping Sunday after a second formal jog. The show jumping would also be held in reverse order of go. This was going to be a huge event for us!! Now for the pros that do these all the time, it's all second nature and not a big deal. I actually wasn't surprised to see that the entry list for the 1* was fairly small, as I think most professionals shoot to start at the 2* level and go from there - it is quite an expensive endeavor. But for me this was my Kentucky, and I was excited about every single part of it. Leading up to the event, I was reading and rereading the FEI rule book over and over again. I know that there are tons of riders who do this stuff all the time, but I wanted to be extra cautious that I was crossing all my t's and dotting all my i's. What was most important to me was being on time to everything! Drew and I got up early on Thursday to grab Sophie and head down to Lexington. We had the truck packed with gatorade, snacks, all of my clothes, and a corgi. It was about a three hour trek, and when we got there I was feverishly keeping my eye out for signs indicating where the FEI stabling would be located and where to go for it. I was anxious for so many reasons on this trip, but mostly because this was a whole new atmosphere for me. There was a sign as soon as I pulled in directing me to the vet tent for in-barn inspections. I pulled my trailer around and met with a few of the vets that would be there all weekend, and they were so incredibly nice. They asked for Sophie's passport and told me to unload her from the trailer so that I could take her temperature in front of them. I had my thermometer and vaseline ready to go. They commended me on keeping up with my pre-event twice daily temperature checks, and then took her pulse and her respiration rate. After clearing me they released us to head over to our stabling area. Sophie was opinionated about getting back on the trailer, so Drew took our little unicorn and walked her over to her designated stall while I drove the trailer around to it. Virginia horse center is massive. They have hundreds of permanent stalls on their grounds, and we had been assigned a stall in a barn close to the show jumping rings, which was convenient. It was also on the perimeter of the barn, so we were able to see a bunch of the action right from Sophie's stall. In our downtime it was fun to see all the different horses go by. Since the event was running all the way from starter to 3*, there were a lot of fun horses to watch! I set Sophie's stall and Drew helped me unload the trailer. We set up the x-pen for Wally and then Drew planted himself by the stall to keep an eye on our animals while also working remotely. He really won the best horse show husband award this weekend. I went and checked in at the show office to grab my number, and then took another glance at the schedule. I had an FEI rider meeting at 12, followed by the first jog at 3. I took some time to get my tack organized, and then made my way to the coliseum for the meeting. The meeting was fairly quick, and they just gave us some information about the schedule for the weekend and the plans for the vet boxes after cross country. Everyone was all smiles and clearly looking forward to the weekend ahead. It was clear from day one that the organizers of this event were passionate about putting it together at VHC and wanted it to be the best possible event for everyone involved. They talked about how several riders were doing their first FEI that weekend, which made me feel so much better. They also made sure that we were all members of a What's App group chat that organizer Joanie Morris had put together in order to keep everything super streamlined. That was hugely helpful all weekend long! After the meeting I made my way back to Sophie's stall and began the braiding process. It was not too long after that when Kiera showed up and started helping to make Sophie beautiful for our upcoming inspection. Thank god Kiera knows how to braid a forelock - otherwise it would've been a sad little bump on her head instead of the beauty that Kiera was able to put together. So grateful! Once Sophie looked her best, I went to change into nice clothes and even threw some mascara on for fun, not that the eyes would be on me! I was so happy that the 2*-L jog was first, so I was able to watch a ton of riders go before I pulled Sophie up for her inspection. It was so fun to see the riders and horses all fancied up for this moment. Some people really had the outfits down. If I do this again I need to step up my game! Sophie and I had been practicing our jog at home so that I would hopefully not have to drag her into the trot - she is naturally quite lazy and stubborn on the ground. We do a lot of ground work at home, so I was hopeful it would pay off. Luckily the atmosphere also had her a little up, so she was ready to trot off. I pulled her up to present her to the ground jury when it was my turn, and then we had our trot up and back. We were accepted!! The weekend had officially started. We returned to our stall after the jog, took out her braids, and threw my dressage tack on her to have a hack before the day was over. FEI riders had the opportunity for ring familiarization, which was also new to me. Basically I was allowed to hack around the ring in which I would be performing my dressage test the next day instead of just having to use the other non-competition warm up rings for hacking around. When I first walked up there my ring was pretty packed, so I warmed Sophie up in another one of the 5+ rings we had the option of using for hacking. She started well, and was focused on me and feeling soft even with the big atmosphere. Once I noticed the crowd dwindle in my designated dressage ring, I walked her over there and went in to have a ride around. It was a little intimidating. Tons of pros were also using the space, and I was making it my goal to never get in anyone's way. I learned quickly that I had to ride a bit on the offense if I wanted to get any significant practice done. I was able to work through a few of the more challenging movements in my test before Sophie started to unravel, and I made the decision to call it a day before it got worse. We went back to stabling and Sophie got a good groom and her dinner. When things were organized for the evening, Drew, Wally and I went up to have a walk around cross country. I originally thought that the 1* numbers were orange squares with blue numbers, and it wasn't until the next day that I learned it was actually the blue squares with orange numbers 🤦‍♀️ But luckily enough both the 1* and the modified rode nearly the same tracks, so it wasn't much of a change from what we originally walked. Drew, Kiera and I grabbed some fast food for dinner, and then stopped back at stabling to do night check. Sophie was settled and ready to spend the night eating her hay in front of her new fan that Kiera grabbed for us on her way down. _ We got to the barn the next morning to feed Sophie, refill hay, give fresh water, pick her stall, and take her for a little walk in-hand. She was awake and looking great for official day 1. Jacqui came around 10am, and her and I went to walk cross country during the spare time we had in the earlier part of the day. She helped give me pointers and reminders of what to focus on as we made our way around the course. I am so happy we signed up for that prelim at Morven last month, as it made the cross country here look very approachable. Right after our walk is when I realized I had mixed up which numbers were for the 1* and which ones were for the modified. Luckily it only changed about 4 jumps for me, and it was still on essentially the same track, so I made a mental note to re-walk cross country one more time on Saturday morning just to make sure my head was on straight. Jacqui and I then popped over to show jumping and walked the course that was set for I think the 3*. We weren't sure how similar the course would be to the one that I would be riding, so we figured it was worth looking at while we had the time. The course I ended up having to do on Sunday was similar in some places, so I am glad Jacqui and I walked through the ring while she was there. Jacqui and I returned to Sophie's stall and she began the process of braiding. Jacqui had offered to braid Sophie and I took her up on it, as she's a pro at making the horses look fantastic. She did Sophie's mane, forelock, and tail, and then she and Kiera even added some quarter marks. I will say that this is the best I have ever seen Sophie turned out. I was obsessed!!! I got myself dressed in my whites, my beautiful green shadbelly, and my lovely new stock tie and Jacqui made sure I stayed away from Sophie until I got on in order to stay clean! My mom, dad, and the dalmatians (Echo and Bowie) came around this time to support me for the weekend. They made the drive all the way from Cape Cod. It has been years since both of my parents have been able to come watch me at a show, and I was so excited for that! Jacqui and Kiera got Sophie tacked and took her out for me to get on. We headed to the warm up ring with about 20 mins to use. There were plenty of rings I could have used for my initial warm up, but at our rider meeting they informed us that we had to check in at the final warm up ring before going to our competition ring. This particular warm up ring was located in the ring next to where I would be performing my test, fortunately. The final warm up also had a full dressage ring set up in it, which was incredibly useful. I practiced a few of the movements I had found more challenging when working through this test at home, and Jacqui coached me as I went. Sophie was feeling good and strong. Once it was my time to head up, I gave Jacqui my whip (as I am not allowed to have it in the show ring per FEI rules), and checked in with the steward at the gate. I took a few laps until the bell rang, and then we entered at A. This test was by far the most complicated test I've ever ridden at a show. It was in the large arena, and it had movements and turns at letters I am not used to. I had practiced it at home a bunch both on my own and with Jacqui, so I felt prepared, but it was still a test where I really had to be extra on it every step of the way. I came out of the ring happy. It didn't feel perfect, but it felt solid for us. Fortunately, the judges agreed, and I ended the day on a 34.6 which is my best dressage score at an event with Sophie to-date! The judge at C had given me a score of 36.09, and the judge at B decided on a 33.7. It is really interesting to read through both judge's comments on the same test. One commented that we were a 'well suited pair' 😊 The funniest part of the day was listening to the announcer by the dressage rings as I was going into my test. None other than Will Coleman on the stunning Diabolo were finishing their test in the ring next to the one I was going to be entering. The announcer was providing a few stats for each rider during their tests, and they had a lot of commentary about Will and Diabolo's recent 4* win at Kentucky and all of the other accolades that pair already has. The announcer then shifted to introduce me, noting that I "had a 4th at Morven this spring, and an 8th place at Huntington 2 years ago" - I've had more interesting placements since then, so I am not sure why that of all things was the one to pull, but it was so funny hearing them talk about someone like Will and then someone like me - I'm just out here trying my best!! 🤣 Jacqui had to head out to make it for afternoon lessons once we made it back to the barns, but I am so thankful that she was able to be there for me that day. She's been really helping me with the flatwork and it was nice to have her there to help warm us up, as well as make Sophie look just stunning. Once Sophie was settled in her stall and her braids were taken out, we let her be while the rest of my squad got dinner. My parents had been to VHC a few years ago for my sister, Brenna, when she was competing at IDA nationals, and my dad was dying to get back over to the Devil's Backbone brewery near the park. Drew, Kiera, myself and my parents dropped the dogs at the hotel and made our way over to the brewery. It was burger night, and all of us were happy to have some good food, drinks, and to be out of the heat. Sophie had a brief night check, including a little walk around the stabling area. Cross country day was nearly upon us. _ Day 2 was a bit of a long one. My initial start box time was 2:49, but then that was pushed back by 30 mins due to heavy fog in the morning impacting the early rides. The day started just like the previous, with us getting Sophie's stall freshened up and me taking her for another walk. I can't lie: I was outwardly pretty anxious. I usually am able to keep it together fairly well at shows, but I so badly wanted to finish well this weekend, so I was putting a lot of pressure on myself ahead of cross country. We all wandered up to the fields once Sophie was settled for the morning and once again walked the course. Now that I was confident of which numbers were mine, I wanted to triple check that I was prepared for each question. Kiera, Drew and Wally went back to Sophie before me, and I popped across the street to watch some of the 2*L cross country. VHC is so vast that there are two areas where they can have complete cross country courses. They ran starter through the 1* on the VHC side, and then prelim through the 3* on the 'Oak Hill' side which was across the road. Both sides had tons of terrain and spaces for a good gallop. It was just amazing! I watched a few of the 2* riders come home, all with smiles on their faces. That helped motivate me for my ride later in the afternoon. We spent a fair bit of time just hanging out with Sophie before it was go-time. My parents joined us a little bit before I started tacking, and I took a few moments to be quiet and go over my course in my head a bunch. I had a solid plan and I felt ready. Around 2:45 myself and my crew made our way up to the warm up. Drew and my mom stationed themselves near the middle of the course, and Kiera and my Dad saw me off from the start box and planned to meet me at the finish. I liked that even the warm up was on a bit of a hill, so we had the ability to practice on the terrain before heading out on course. I gave Sophie one good gallop up the hill, and popped her over a few jumps in each direction. She felt great. I never spend too much time in the warm up for either of the jumping phases because she knows her job. When the rider before me left the start box, I made my way over with a few more good luck wishes from my team. The woman at the start box was so kind and had such nice things to say about Sophie's petite stature. I think our little conversation helped me take a breath. 5...4...3...2...1 have a great ride! Sophie blasted out of the start box and over fences one and two. We saw different distances to fence three, but she climbed over it like the catty mare she is. 4AB and 5 rode on well, and then she had a bit of a spook going in between a line of trees to 6A and B. She popped over those and then we galloped up and over an open oxer at 7. We climbed up the hill in the back field to 8 and Sophie had a really good spook at some stumps on the ground and some spectators she wasn't expecting to see out on course. We regained our focus and hopped over the trakehner at 9, a table at 10, and then went right on stride to the combination at the top of the hill at 11A and B. We soared over 12 and I let her have her head and balance down the hill to 13. I made a major adjustment to 14A, which was a roll top followed by a sharp right hand turn to a down bank. Sophie took a good look down it (as did I, oops), but then stepped right off and moved up to the C element. That was the only combination I was even slightly hesitant about, but it was almost an identical yet slightly less technical version of what we had experienced at Morven the month prior, so I was confident that she would get it done - and she did! She popped over the log in the water at 15, had a good gallop over 16, and then absolutely ate up the water complex at 17A and B. Over 18 and 19 and we blasted through the finish flags. I thought we came in right on time, but between the spooking on course and a few sticky rides by me, we added 2 seconds to our time. I was still thrilled, though. She was a super star and made the course feel easy. I could tell that she was not as impressed with this course as she was with our last one at Morven - she wasn't putting in as much effort over most of the fences. She's truly becoming such a wonderful cross country horse. The vets performed a shortened version of the vet box, and only checked to make sure that Sophie did not look too tired and had no marks or welts from spurs or a crop. They cleared us and my team hustled to get her untacked so we could throw some water on her. Kiera did an awesome job of having her aftercare buckets filled and ready, and we got Sophie cooled down fairly quickly. I walked back on foot and my wonderful team brought back all of our tack and my gear back down to stabling. It was nice to spend the walk with just me and my girl reflecting on what a fun cross country ride we had. Sophie got to spend time in her favorite Drew Boots, and stood quietly while I did our after care routine. Once she was wrapped and served her dinner, my team and I went over to downtown Lexington to Heliotrope brewing. Drew and my dad love a good brewery, and all of us love pizza. They had incredible sourdough pizza on the menu, and we enjoyed great food and drinks while sharing fun stories. I was in such a better state for socialization now that cross country had passed - and with flying colors no less! We did night check and then returned to the hotel for the night. One more day to go. _ Sunday morning had an early start, as the final inspection was at 8am and I needed time to get Sophie turned out well. My whole team came to watch us get our trot on. Kiera once again put a perfect forelock braid on Sophie, I braided her mane, and we made her shine with a good groom. I put on one of my old teacher outfits, mostly because it was a shade of green, but also because I wanted to put on something slightly more formal for this jog than the first one. We pulled Sophie out of her stall when the time came, Kiera painted her toes, and I took her for a few practice trot steps as we waited our turn to present. As we waited in the 1* jog line, I got to briefly catch up with Tim Bourke who had a horse in the division. He's another Sophie fan, and he commended us for our first run at an FEI. It felt nice to be seen like that! The steward that checked me in right before it was my time asked if my horse was the cool mare with the white splotches on her neck. She smiled as she walked to see Sophie's spotty side when I answered her with a 'yes!'. We are all well aware that I love my horse, but it feels special to see other people admire her just the same. There was a mild tension in the air that morning, as a handful of horses from both the 2*-L and the 1* were held. I knew Sophie was fine from how she felt, looked, and moved during a few practice trots, but you still never know what the ground jury might see. I presented her with a smile. They moved us along to the trot up, and Sophie moved with grace. Hearing "accepted" over the speakers filled me with immense joy!! We took several family and team photos and then brought Sophie to her stall. My show jumping did not start until 12:25, so we had a few hours to kill. My parents went back to the hotel to get the dalmatians and to check out, and Drew, Kiera and I started cleaning up around our stabling area as much as we could. The venue was so packed with cars that there was no way for me to pull my trailer around early to start packing without being ridiculously in the way of everyone else. We grabbed breakfast from the food trucks and I spent time simply sitting with and enjoying the company of my horse. It's not often that I get the chance to do that at shows, and it felt really wonderful to share her space. She made it clear she'd had a long weekend - a few of her classic narcoleptic episodes creeped up on us as we sat with her. I told her she'd have a good amount of time off after this crazy weekend! Around 11am they had the course for the 2*-L set in the jump ring for walking, and it was essentially the same course for the 1*, so Drew came with me and we walked it together. It was a less technical course than what I had jumped at my last few events, and I was feeling confident that Sophie and I would have a good time in the ring. By noon Sophie was tacked, I was dressed back in my riding clothes, and my team was ready to support me for the show jumping phase. Kiera put my hind boots on for me after they were checked out, and once again another steward asked me about Sophie's markings and complimented her stature. As much as Sophie might have been falling asleep all morning, she perked up as soon as her feet hit the footing in the warmup ring. Her ears pricked forward and I felt her body come to life underneath me as we started trotting to warm up. Kiera came in to help set some jumps for me, and Sophie threw great shapes over the warm up fences. Just like for cross country warm up, I don't spend too much time over the fences as she knows her job and I want to save as many fresh jumps as I can for the big ring. We exited the warm up ring before it got too busy and walked over to the covered arena next to the show jumping ring. I watched the two riders ahead of me have good rides, and I walked up to the ring when it was our time. I walked into the ring, had a little trot, and then tried to halt for a salute to the judge but it was more of a wiggling sideways walk as Sophie knew what time it was. The buzzer rang and we shifted into a canter and had a look around the backside of the ring. Sophie made it clear to me she was focused on the jumps and wasn't looking at the crowd next to the ring. I let her have a big canter up the long side of the ring and then asked for her to come back to me in the turn to jump one. She had a great pop over the first fence and an even better feel over the second. She left a little long to the first oxer on the far long side, and then popped easily over a triple of one strides. We turned to our next exercise which was three related jumps on the diagonal, each about 6 strides from the other. Sophie had a little bit of a funny take on the first one and we took our first rail, but then I asked her to get a little closer to the second and third jumps on the line and she was careful with her feet. We approached the outside line confidently and she jumped a two stride combination with ease, and then the last line was either a tight six or a little bit of a long five, and I allowed her for the longer five. In hindsight, I probably should have kept her for the tighter six stride ride to make her be a little more careful, as the longer five ride caused us our second rail. Overall she felt fantastic, and I was still so happy with how the ride went. I gave her huge pats and lots of 'good girl' remarks as we exited the ring. The stewards checked her over after we left the ring and gave us the all clear, and we stayed by the ring to see how the remainder of our class went. Everyone from my division was having great rides in the show jumping, it was really fun to watch! After the last rider went, we quickly determined that I had finished in 7th place. I had tied for 6th with my score, but the rider I had tied with had a better cross country time, which is the first tie breaker. As much as it would have been poetic to come home with the green ribbon, I was so excited to have had such a great finish, and I was really looking forward to coming home with a pretty purple neck ribbon to commemorate our time at our first FEI event. And then the only disappointment from the whole weekend happened. On the omnibus for the event, it read that they would ribbon places 1-8, and then the top 10 from each division would be invited back for the awards ceremony. I had been thinking all week about how fun it would be to not only earn a ribbon, but be able to be a part of a little awards ceremony afterwards! As they brought out the ribbons, I noticed the last one they had was for 6th place. I walked over to a steward to ask if they were in fact only placing through 6th, and she immediately began apologizing to me after realizing I was the 7th placed rider. She said that there was a mistake when ordering awards for the event, and they never updated the information, so they had some other little prizes for 7th and 8th placed riders in the show office. I can't lie - I was disappointed to not have a ribbon to take home from this. It's far from the end of the world, but there is something special about those silly 5 cent ribbons!!! We made our way back to stabling with my team, and we added a USEF employee to our squad as Sophie was chosen for random drug testing. I've been chosen for random drug testing in the past, so I know the drill. The vet came over and grabbed a few blood samples, and the USEF staff member grabbed a urine sample from Sophie. After the testing people left, I finished taking care of Sophie and set her up to be iced. While she was icing, I walked over to the show office to check out, grab my passport, and I also got my little 7th place awards which consisted of a bag of horse treats, a VHC sticker, and a $10 Dover gift card. I do appreciate the thought they had to put something together for us lower placed riders, and she said that they wouldn't make that mistake in the future. I guess Sophie and I might have to go back again then! 😁 My parents packed up for their drive home, and Kiera and Drew helped me get all of my things loaded into the trailer. Kiera stripped the stall while I got the trailer set for Sophie for the ride home. It didn't take long to pack it all up and head out. Once we were leaving, it felt like the weekend was a blur. So much happened, and I am so, so beyond grateful for the amazing team consisting of Kiera, my parents, and Drew. I could not have done this weekend without them. I think one of my favorite parts of the weekend was making a few new friends. Our stabling next-door-neighbor, Caitlin Reamy (cmr_eventing on instagram), was competing in the 2*-L and also was so kind answering all my silly questions. It was nice to have someone near me who was seasoned at both competing in and grooming at FEI's so that I felt a little less lost. She and her super horse El Patrone looked amazing all weekend! Near us in stabling and also in the 1* was Lauren Harris (laurenharris.eventing on instagram) and her awesome horse SH Just for Laughs, aka Wilson. Kiera helped braid Wilson's forelock for the Sunday jog, and Lauren and I commiserated over all things horse related all weekend. I can't wait to see what's next for that team! During our time at VHC this weekend, I also connected with Mady Hsue of TidBits Media (mlh.eventing and tidbits.media on instagram). She captured some of the most amazing footage I've ever seen of Sophie from our cross country run and our Sunday morning jog. Her work is just phenomenal, and if you ever have the opportunity to work with her I cannot recommend her enough!!! And not only was she running around filming tons of riders all weekend, but she herself was also competing with her super cool mare, ISO Cambria, and had a fantastic run in the modified. I will say our first FEI outing was a thrilling success. I couldn't have asked for more from Sophie, and I love all of my people that were supporting me both near and far. All of the texts, messages, and calls I received from people who were following my scores online meant the absolute world to me. Thank you, thank you to everyone that continues to support team Sophie!! Here's to what's next. I certainly can't wait 😁 K

May 20, 2024 I have a lot of drafts containing personal thoughts, feelings, and commentaries on many things horse related, but nothing is quite yet ready to be published. I figured it might be nice to simply give a brief update on the last few weeks instead! I have been wildly busy recently between the school year coming to a close, being a part of one of my best friend's weddings (which was this past weekend and it was AMAZING, so much love for Jess & Joey!!), and preparing for our upcoming move back north. As a result, I have not had much time to work on polishing some of my draft posts, and I don't want to rush my thoughts just to get something out. That's not the point of this whole blog thing, anyway 😁 After our super fun run at Morven at the end of April, I gave Sophie a few rest days before bringing her back out for a wonderful clinic with Ernest Dillon. As much as I consider show jumping to be our strongest phase, there is infinite room for improvement, and clearly our go at Morven told me that we needed some fine tuning. I explained to Ernest on our first ride with him that Sophie is a fantastic jumper, but I struggle with allowing us to go on a bigger step, which I know is imperative once the jumps continue to go up. He had us practice around a fairly technical course and was both encouraging and clear about the changes I needed to make as we went around. Jacqui was riding one of her super mares with me, and both of us made the mistake of adding a stride to our first line of jumps. Both of us were comfortable coming in with a conservative canter - and after being told off about it once by Ernest, we both fixed it right away! I was so pleased with how Sophie went after that lesson that I added in another ride with Ernest the next morning. Once again he had us go around a technical course at a solid height and we practiced riding the more open canter throughout the course, as well as practicing making subtle yet firm changes as needed without begging or continued pulling. Sophie felt amazing. So thankful that I got to ride those two times with Ernest, and thank you to Jacqui for hosting! After the clinic I gave Sophie a few more easy days before needing to get back to it with our prep for Virginia. I started noticing that Sophie was feeling slightly stiff on her left front. After trial and error of giving her some time and then starting back up, Jacqui and I agreed we should have the vet check her out just in case something was really up before we made our way to Lexington. I was both pleased and disappointed that the vet agreed with what I was seeing, but then he asked if she'd ever had her ankles injected. I noted that she had her fetlocks done often in the past, but it's been at least a year and then some since the last shots. Her front fetlocks were injected, and after some time off for that, she felt better than ever getting back under saddle. As a side note, I think it is important to always advocate for your horse, which Jacqui emphasized as we were making these plans with the vet. I think that everyone who has been around horses long enough will develop opinions on what works best for each horse, but nobody knows your horse better than you. I was hesitant to not get them done last fall, and I am sad for Sophie that I hadn't gotten her fetlocks done when I had originally thought to do so, but I am so happy to have had Jacqui's quick support to get the vet out and that it was a relatively easy issue to fix! To step briefly away from Sophie, I also had the amazing chance to see off my old pal Winslow as he was brought to the beautiful retirement facility at Caveland Farm just under an hour away from where we are in Virginia. It was great to reconnect with Charlotte and some of my Connecticut friends, as well as see Winslow and some other memorable faces. It filled my heart to see such a deserving horse get the chance to live out the rest of his days on the grass with friends. I bought him a bag of cookies, which he ate in its entirety in just under two minutes. I already have plans to see him one more time before we move north ♥️ Back to the spotted unicorn: Sophie came out swinging this past weekend after I returned from the wedding. I took her to Woodstock just over the border in Maryland for some fitness work and to make sure our gallop felt good. Jacqui had a few students there schooling, and it was nice to see some of the other riders and their super horses have a go around some cross country - I don't often get to see a lot of the other riders at the barn due to conflicting schedules. The jumps at Woodstock aren't massive, but Jacqui had me ride some of them in a way that made it super technical. We had one mistake with me doing too much to set Sophie up for a sharp angle to a roll top, but on the second try it was flawless. Jacqui told me it's good to get the mistake done out there, and reminded me that I need to ride all of the cross country like we've already been going for several minutes. Reflecting back on the mistake, I literally could feel Sophie latch on to the line to that sharp angle, but I still felt like I had to be the one to set up to the final step, and Sophie basically told me I made it too hard for her to do her job. Hopefully I'll make her life easier in the competition setting. As always, I need to ride better and continue to try to do less so Sophie can do more!! Someone remind me of this on cross country morning this weekend 😆 Now we are getting organized for the big weekend ahead. I am already a bit anxious, but Sophie is feeling and looking great, and I know she is more than capable. I keep reminding myself that it's technically not a move up, it's just a new atmosphere. After the weekend I will have a very lengthy post to share about the process of getting there and how the whole weekend went, but I can share a bit now about the specifics of what we are doing to get organized. I have read and reread the entirety of the FEI eventing rules, and I have made a note of the major differences between competing as an FEI combination, especially long format, versus a national event. In the middle of writing this I received a text from one of the awesome girls at the barn with Sophie's temperature, which I promptly entered into the FEI horse app. Temperature recordings are required twice per day the three days leading up to arrival at an FEI event, and during the entire duration at the event. I have gone through the FEI tack app to make sure that everything I normally use is FEI legal, and I am happy to inform that it is. I still find it funny that the noise cancelling ear bonnets are acceptable, but I think I will still nix mine in favor of having her full cute face shown with a hopefully not totally atrocious forelock braid done by me (Bella I so terribly miss having you around for that). I have discovered that even at the 1* level I am not allowed to carry my dressage whip in or around the competition arena, so I have made a mental note to just leave it in the trailer. I don't often feel the need for it anyway, but I am glad I read that beforehand. I also am aware that my show jumping boots will need to be viewed by the stewards as they go on and come off of Sophie's legs for that phase, and could also be weighed. I did not have a groom lined up for this weekend due to conflicting schedules and distance from everyone, so I had given Drew a practice lesson on how to do it. I forget that the proper way to put on boots is not just common knowledge, and I also warned my mom (as my wonderful parents are coming to see the action!) that she might also have to help. But I am now able to breathe the biggest sigh of relief as the amazing Kiera will be joining us for the weekend, so I will not have to worry about my lovely spectators panicking about going near Sophie's legs 😜 In these last few days leading up to our departure, I will have one more flat lesson with Jacqui, probably a short show jump school, and I will definitely do some serious tack cleaning. I might also throw in a few minutes to perfect a forelock braid. We will see! I also have the fun task of picking my outfits for the two formal jogs I will have to participate in, as they are running the 1* in the long format. I am really excited for that, as it will give me the full experience at a level that feels attainable for an FEI first-timer. This is my Kentucky!! I will try to keep my socials up to date, but I will most certainly put together a detailed blog about the experience once it finishes. Keeping my fingers crossed that the experience is both successful and also so fun!! K

May 7, 2024 I recently had a phenomenal conversation with my very good friend Eliza about having this incomparable feeling of emotions we have had with our respective mares. She spent several years successfully riding and competing this incredible thoroughbred mare, Layla, that is my previous trainer Charlotte's long time ride. She and I talked about that feeling we've gotten when we are with these horses, both on the ground and in the saddle, and I would associate them with the term heart horse. Eliza similarly described her relationship with Layla as soulmates, which is something I have been feeling recently with one very special horse in my life. Like many people who get involved with horses, I do consider a 'heart horse' to be a thing. I think it can look many different ways for many different people, and I do not think that it has to be restricted to only one horse over a person's lifetime. In my mind, the term 'heart horse' is used to describe a horse that touches your soul. I know it sounds so freaking cheesy to read that (it feels even more cheesy to type it out). I think many horses have the capability of doing that, which is why I don't think it is a term that should be restricted to only one horse during your life time. However, I don't think that every single horse you come across will draw the same emotions that a true heart horse will. When I was younger, I would have easily said Cliffy was my heart horse. I had experiences with having favorite horses before him, but he was my first horse, our family's only horse, and the horse I had some of my most formative riding experiences on. He was safe, sane, naughty in funny ways, and overall just a great little horse. He loved people, loved his annual holiday molasses treats, loved cribbing, loved being groomed, and I would even go so far as to say he loved when my sister and I would cruise around on him for bareback rides as he inched closer to full retirement. I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with him as I would have liked in his last years, as I lived states away from him, but every time I would visit I would feel grounded by him - like a piece of me that was missing when I was away would be put back again. I still was riding and doing a lot of horse things down in CT, but he was something special and I will always hold him in my heart. Before Cliffy, I was particularly enamored with one of my barn's lesson horses: Stella. Stella was my very first 'favorite' horse. Riders of all ages often end up falling in love with one horse over the rest in schooling programs - it is a common feeling shared amongst lesson riders. When I was teaching lessons, it was always one of my favorite things to ask, because there was often one or two horses that had huge fan clubs, but it was heart warming to hear the 'quirky' or 'more challenging' horses come through as an underdog choice for favorite lesson horse. Stella was my favorite until Cliffy came along. She was a petite, grey Welsh mare with interesting dark speckles down the right side of her neck and a black spot on her nose. She was known as the spooky lesson horse, and myself and my barn mates definitely have memories of falling off of her as she jumped sideways at the ghosts that made their home in the 'scary corner' of the ring, but I loved her regardless. I would describe my feeling as being obsession with her, and not really a true 'heart horse' relationship. I was so young that I don't think I had the ability to have those deeper emotions with her at that time regardless. I even had favorite horses during my career as a member of IHSA at Fairfield. Our lesson program was a bit chaotic over the four years, as we jumped between several different host barns. During one of those years, I fell quickly in love with this one particular mare, Scarlett. She was this lovely bay mare that had very clearly been there and done that in the three rings in her life time. I was always delighted at the few times I would pull her for lessons, and I enjoyed the ride on her so much that I saved my pennies to go to a show with her outside of IHSA. She carried my butt around a local schooling hunter show in the 2', and we ended up bringing home the tricolor ribbon that day. I didn't ride her often, but I still definitely picked her as my favorite choice for lessons while we were stationed at the barn where she resided. She was definitely not close to a heart horse, but I did love the short time I spent riding her. Favorite horse feelings followed me through my time at N&C in Connecticut. Charlotte and Alicia had an array of fabulous school horses, and I was afforded the opportunity to ride and work with so many of them, but one in particular caught my heart from the start: Winslow. Winslow is this adorable, mostly black, paint quarter horse standing at around 15hh on a good day with a nearly bald face and one blue eye. He is a looker. He has face markings such that when you look at him, it's hard not to make stupid noises and talk at him like he's a baby because he is just so darn cute without trying - and he's in his late 20's!! I started loving him after riding a few of the more challenging and technical horses in the program, and then stepping into the saddle on him felt like a breeze. He's a kick ride, but incredibly reliable, and super talented on the flat. He also holds a bit of an athlete in his round belly - he popped me over several 3'+ jumps even when we were cantering as slow as a turtle and I was providing him with questionable distances. He took me to my first two events back out since I was a kid, and at both he carried me around like a true seasoned professional. I loved him even more as I started teaching lessons with him. He was so saintly for really tiny children, and knew when to bring the spice out for the slightly more knowledgeable kids and small adults. I had many lessons where we would turn a corner and he'd let out a cheeky buck or two and toss an unsuspecting rider to the ground, but never hard enough to cause damage. Just hard enough to knock their balance and teach them a lesson on sitting up! Favorites continued when I was provided the opportunity to lease this beautiful, big, bay Hanoverian gelding, London. I had ridden him a few times here and there as a part of the lesson program, but with my skills increasing and my eagerness to compete returning, leasing became the best path for me to pursue. I would say that I liked London at first, but I wasn't head over heels. He was a grumpy man on the ground, and had a knack for stepping on unsuspecting toes on purpose. He was so talented and athletic, but lazy as all get out and made you work for every step. After riding him for a few months, I grew quite fond of him. I could physically feel the improvement in my riding, and his disinterest in being a team player made our successful rides feel that much more so as a result. I ended up leasing him for two years, and by the end I truly loved him. He took me farther in my eventing career than I had ever gotten in the past at the time, and again every success on him felt so rewarding. He made me into a strong, determined event rider. He is a good, good boy that continues to teach riders how to be stronger and better from youngsters to experienced adults in N&C's lesson program. I will eventually develop a blog post dedicated entirely to this incredible horse at some point. Tying back into my thoughts about heart horses, I would not consider Winslow or London to be heart horses for me. I had incredible experiences on them, and I love them both to death, but now having had a recent feeling of a horse touching my soul, I can't say that I had relationships with either of those good boys that got to that point. I will forever hold a special place in my heart for them, I get filled with joy whenever I get the chance to go and visit them, and I love that they continue to have people that love them like I did - and still do!! Enter Sophie. If you were to ask me right now who my heart horse is, 'Sophie' would escape my lips without a second thought. I have loved many horses in my equestrian career so far, but the feeling I have when I ride that mare is something completely different from anything I have ever experienced. Now I have to add a lot of context here before I circle back to the subject of this blog post in order to capture the experiences we have had as a duo that have led me to this deep emotional feeling I have with this horse. I started loving Sophie the very first day I started seriously riding her. I had hacked her a few one off times in the several years that she had been present at N&C, but I had never jumped her or taken her cross country schooling until the summer of 2021 when I moved my lease from London to her. I still remember my first show jumping lesson so vividly. I had so much FUN. She was previously a jumper, and with her there was a feeling I hadn't had with several of my past horses - that feeling of a horse taking you to the jumps. All my previous favorite horses had been true kick rides. Kick to the jumps, kick away from the jumps, kick around the turn - Sophie was still a real leg-on ride, and for sure a bit of a kick ride on the flat, but she was just as eager to get over the jumps as I was, particularly in show jumping. Our first cross country schooling ride was a bit sticky, however. She liked the jumping, but she was definitely showing her green-ness. We had several run outs, stops, close calls - but I could still feel her trying. She made it clear she was uncertain in several places, but she would still often give an effort. Our second xc schooling outing was still a bit sticky, but better. We had a few stops, but I was starting to figure out the ride. Our first event was great. We ran around Town Hill Farm in 2021, a super fun Area 1 event. She took me through the novice show jumping with ease, and we both hopped around the novice cross country feeling pretty solid in our new partnership. It was the first cross country ride I had been through in a long time where it felt like the horse beneath me was trying to stay with me every step of the way. We spent the first year together moving from the novice to the training level, and then working to become really solid at the training level of eventing. Charlotte is known for her super technical show jumping practice courses, and we schooled all sorts of things from crazy hard angling exercises, to single barrel jumps, to lines of skinny fences and corners - we did it all. And each ride I could feel both Sophie and I learning each other and working together to make it over each jump as a team. I am tearing up as I am writing this next part about how well we know each other and then also our recent outing at the prelim level once again. At this point I can confidently say that Sophie and I know each other quite well. I have had the ride on her for close to three years, and we have literally been all over the east coast together now. I am always prepared for her to feel tense as we enter the sandbox, and we continue to work on suppleness and strength at home to build confidence in that ring when we are away. I know that she will be smart and confident about her choices in the show jumping and will ask me for the tight distances to upright verticals while asking us to leave out of stride to the oxers. I also know that she knows her striding better than I do and I need to do less to allow her to do more in places where I worry it might be sticky. I know that she wants to do the job in the cross country, she is really liking it, and she trusts me that we can get over the jumps that I set her up for. I have taught Sophie that I will always be there for her on the other side of each fence. I never want to sound like I am full of myself, but I am quite confident in my ability to keep my leg on, and Sophie has told me that she needs and likes that kind of support. Obviously I think most horses need and require that support, but I first really learned that skill with always having to ask London to keep going, and I have really fine tuned that skill while riding Sophie. I will add that it is never 100% perfect, but I try my hardest to make it as close to that as possible. I think Sophie's willingness to try came to as head as we went schooling at Loch Moy before I went to Carolina a few weeks ago. Jacqui gave us an exercise that included a down bank and then a few strides to a skinny chevron on an indirect line. Sophie is growing in her confidence down drops, but often hits them with what I call the 'shuffle and slide' ride. She'll lower her body as we get close to the drop down, and scoot off with her shoulder usually going left. The exercise that Jacqui organized for us would require me to hold my eye on the skinny chevron and start riding it before we even made it off the bank. It was a focus exercise for me more than anything. On our first attempt, Sophie did a real shuffle and I spent too much time thinking about how we could perfectly line up to the base of the chevron. I ended up not seeing a distance and pulled Sophie back too much for her to be able to take off, and she almost made the effort to just try to leap over it but ended up falling to her knees at the base of it. My heart broke for her because she was ready to be there for me and I left her hanging. We then turned around and attempted the ride again, and I stayed tall, supported with my leg and seat, didn't make a last minute decision and I let the jump come to us. It rode perfectly. And Sophie threw a great shape over it as a bonus. But that moment put me in check to remember that Sophie has gained a lot of trust in me and confidence as a result of us having several good rides together, and I needed to trust her more to be the team player she is. She always shows up. I wrote details about our ride at Morven recently in my recap post, but I am going to repeat myself here because I think it is so important to describing that 'heart horse' feeling I get with her. In the show jumping, I made a bad decision into a one stride combination, and Sophie bailed us out by making a massive effort to get us out and ended up breaking a rail as a result. But she is such a part of this team that she put in the work to make up for my mistake in that moment. I know that this horse knows her striding, and I need to do less, but I did too much and she still helped us get out of trouble. And then out on cross country, because she still isn't as confident there as she is in the show jump ring, she didn't feel that she could bail us out like she had previously when I set us up for a very poor ride to a skinny early on. That was information I needed to feel, and then we headed over a massive trakehner where she and I started really clicking. The rest of the ride was so good it was almost emotional for me. We had challenging questions where I could feel our mutual trust in each other come to life as we navigated them. We even had a down bank to a corner that included a classic Sophie shuffle and slide, but I picked and held a line to the corner and she gave a massive effort to ride it out of stride. I had my leg on, but I definitely could have been stronger in my upper body as we landed and yet she continued on. In places where I could feel her hesitate, like as we approached the sunken road, I simply supported with additional leg pushing her to my hand, and tried to relax my body to let her know it was going to be okay and I'd be there on the other side. And then in places where I was either a bit too bold or a bit too tight, she could see the jump and knew what the task at hand was and put in her own good effort to bring us through. Like when we were winding down towards the end of the course and galloping down the last big hill towards a large table, I didn't steady in the spot where I should have and she smartly backed off slightly in the last stride to it in order to allow us both to land in a more balanced position on the other side. I think that on a fundamental level horses spend their time thinking about their food and about their safety, and I definitely would not say that Sophie loves me, but I do absolutely believe that this horse trusts me and is just as much of a team player, if not more so sometimes, than I am. When we are on the ground together, she'll follow me to places I know she's not comfortable going - like in the trailer alone or walking close to a field of cows - because she has learned that it'll be alright on the other side if we are in it together. The same goes for when we are out on cross country: I can feel the tenseness in her body when she is unsure of a jump, but she still will put in the effort because I am there to support her and I haven't put her in a bad situation on the other side. She comes up to me from turnout, sometimes even at a gallop, because she has associated me with positive things, be it cookies or a good groom or a solid ride. And on my end, I know she won't try anything dirty when we are jumping. She won't slide to a stop or duck out of a jump on purpose - if those things happen, there is always a good reason for it, often a mistake on my end. I know that she will try, even if it means putting in more effort than she needs to, to make things happen if she feels enough of my support. I also know that she won't try so hard in a way that would put us in imminent danger. I know that she'll tell me when she needs more from me or when I am doing too much. Much like how one might feel about a family member, I feel a sense of peace when I am with her. If I had the option to take the reins of any horse in the world right now or Sophie's, I would choose Sophie's every time. I am at a place where we feel like two puzzle pieces that were fortunate enough to be placed next to each other and happened to work together perfectly. And that feeling of running through the beautiful fields tackling obstacles confidently as a team is a feeling like no other. When I think too much about how much she means to me, I can almost get emotional!! I would describe the feeling as akin to how anyone might feel towards a family pet - you love them to no end and even just the way they might look at you for one instance can make your entire week. And you would do absolutely anything for them. To summarize, this is essentially a love letter to Sophie, my current heart horse. Not only have we traveled up through prelim together, a long time goal of mine, but she continues to teach me about what a true partnership with a horse feels like, which I believe is essential to the sport of eventing. I would wager a bet that most upper level riders feel some sort of connection with the horses they ride at the elite levels, because I think horse and rider need to understand each other inside and out to get to that point. And I know for a fact that us amateurs can (and do!) develop these feelings with our horses at the lower levels, too. I would love to hear about your heart horse(s). Feel free to comment or message me with your stories! K Bonus pic: Me squeezing the life out of Eliza after she finished her first prelim with Layla ❤️

April 29, 2024 And just like that, Sophie and I made a solid return to the green numbers 💚. Words cannot describe the amount of love I have for this little horse, but I will do my best to at least recap the amazing time we had over at Morven Park for this event hosted by Loudoun Hunt Pony Club. Jacqui and I made this plan a few months ago when I was filling her in on my goals for the season. I wanted to do the training at Loch Moy schooling trials as our first outing, followed by training at Morven to see where we were really at to start the season. If that went smoothly, I would continue on down to North Carolina to move back up to modified. If that went well, Jacqui suggested that we should have a go at prelim at this event. I originally planned that after Carolina, I would have aimed for another modified - likely would have been Waredaca in May - but Sophie gave such a confident ride down there that I was feeling good about the plan to jump back up to prelim at this event. Jacqui also really believed we could do it and helped school us appropriately, which helped me feel more confident about the choice. I was so excited to be showing at Morven again. It is just amazing to wake up on a show morning at 6:30am and still be able to get to the barn, bathe and braid Sophie, load the trailer, and get to the stunning venue with just a 10 minute drive. Once again I had quite the amazing crew there to help and support me. Jacqui had a dressage show as well that day, but she organized both her times and another rider she was coaching's times so that they would be going in the afternoon which would allow her to still come help me in the morning over at Morven. So grateful to have had her guidance to walk me through the morning! The morning started with dressage around 8:40, so I pulled up to Morven about 45 minutes ahead of my test to tack and get on to warm up. The trailer parking area was a lot less packed than the show here a few weeks prior, but I still had 18 people in my division - and there were three prelim divisions running - so the warmup was fairly crowded! Sophie and I found a space to work on being forward but soft and stretchy with Jacqui's words of wisdom, and it didn't take long for my number to be called to head over to the ring. The show at Carolina a few weeks ago chose to use Modified test C, which requires the big dressage ring, whereas this event chose to use Prelim test A, which is in the small dressage ring. Boy, did it feel small!! By the time I started my first lengthen trot across the diagonal, I was already realizing I had to work really hard to make it not so obvious that I was trying to wrangle Sophie back in before we reached the other side of the ring. The test rode fairly well for us, and I felt huge leaps of improvement from the last time we jumped to the prelim level, which was about two years ago - and it was this exact same test. I have really been trying to improve my geometry to get us some points to push us along as we continue to work on suppleness in general. Our first shallow loop was so fluid, in my opinion - and the judge gave us a 7 for it, which again is huge for us! I had a harder time maintaining the softness in our second loop, and I made a costly mistake of transitioning down to the trot too early later on in the test, but overall I was quite happy with our final score of 37.6. The judge also left a note that she thought Sophie was a 'lovely, capable horse' - I think so too ♥️ After dressage, I left the best horse husband ever, Drew, to keep an eye on Sophie while Jacqui, my good friend Elaine, her adorable puppy Azula and I made our way over to walk show jumping and cross country. (Drew made mention of the fact that he had heroically tied Sophie back to the trailer after the original knot came loose - shout out to him for saving the day 😜 ) We walked the show jumping first before making our way to the field. The show jump course looked relatively straight forward, and had a few combinations that were set slightly long - which I will talk about in detail in a bit because that became important as we rode the course. Drew and I had walked cross country on Friday night when the course opened and I was incredibly impressed (in the nervous way). I know that the jump from training to prelim is a big one, hence why the modified level exists, but even the modified at Carolina didn't totally blow my mind. This course, however, was a lot. Sophie and I have been fortunate to have schooled some crazy challenging things successfully in the past with Charlotte, and we've had great schooling prep with Jacqui, so none of these combinations were brand new experiences for us. However, putting it all together on a course is a different question. I found the first of two trakehners on course to be quite massive, to which I reminded myself that Sophie has not once ever questioned a trakehner and that it is a rider-scary fence. Jacqui confirmed that thought as we were walking. Then I found the water exercise to be tricky: one house jump towards the first of two parts of the water, which was placed a few strides out to give us an extra step or two to see the water, and then over a small mound and directly into the second part of the water over a raised log. This was then followed by a few strides to then angle over this very large half roll top that had brush on it to force the ride to be more like a corner. A similar exercise a few jumps after in the course contained another large roll top set as a horizon fence at the top of a hill, then a few strides down to a drop, which has been something that Sophie has found a bit challenging in the past, and then just a few strides to a brush corner that I found to be quite large. Taking the fact that it was all set downhill into mind, that exercise was going to come up quick, but was set in a way that forward riding was going to be imperative. Jacqui reminded me at both combinations during our Sunday walk to focus on one line, keep riding forward and to not get in Sophie's way. The last tricky exercise on course was a combination of skinny fences after a good uphill gallop towards the end of the course. The first was a skinny raised log on top of a mound, and the second was about six forward strides slightly downhill to a really skinny log. Jacqui again reminded me that micromanaging would not help here, and to let the hill and the mound do the work to adjust the canter instead of pulling. Jacqui and I have spent a lot of time talking about how, even through the training level, Sophie is catty and bold enough that she can climb over fences with tighter distances. But, with the move up to prelim, forward riding is needed to make the larger fences happen correctly and safely. I needed to not be pulling so much and trust that Sophie could make it happen. I think I've mentioned this in previous posts, but Jacqui has been trying to impress upon me that even though Sophie might have still been green-ish to cross country at the start of our partnership, she's been doing it enough now that I need to start treating her like she is an upper level horse. I need to get out of her way and let her make some of the decisions and only involve myself as needed. I completely agree, but obviously it is a lot harder to put into action than it is to talk about!! We finished our cross country walk with these thoughts at the forefront of my mind. After a teeny bit of downtime, I got Sophie tacked for the jumping phases and we made our way down to the show jumping warm up. I still think that the Morven show jump arena is the most beautiful ring I've ever jumped around, so I was excited to do it again. We had a much better warm up than the last time there, and I felt confident heading into the ring. I got a canter I was happy with, and Sophie sailed over the first fence beautifully, but a light tap cost us a rail. Jacqui had said to me that three inches can make a real difference to the horses, so I was not surprised at the first rail, but then Sophie seemed to get the idea and hopped over fence 2 easily. I rounded a corner to set up for our first combination which was a long one stride at fence 3A and B. Now, remember when I said the distances were set relatively long and that forward rides were imperative at this level? That came to really bite me in the ass at our first combination. I held Sophie too much, as I often did at the training level show jumping, and she smartly climbed over the vertical in. But then we were stuck. I made it so she had about one and a half strides to figure out and then get over a large oxer, and I totally left it up to her. I knew I had already screwed with her enough on the in of the combination that I didn't want to make an additional bad mistake on the out. Sophie put a scramble-y extra half stride in and popped way in the air with a massive effort over the oxer out, which rocked me enough that I caught her in the mouth and she came down with a hind leg directly on the back rail of the oxer. A loud crack indicated to me that we had broken the rail, but Sophie felt fine underneath me and we continued on through a bending line to fence 4. The rest of the course jumped phenomenally, and felt like one of our better rounds to date! Jacqui and I checked Sophie over after we left the ring and she didn't have so much as a scratch. As much as it is embarrassing to have broken a rail, and turned a lot of heads as a result, I am glad my horse was fine, and I think it woke me up big time the rest of the course. Live and learn! (Also the volunteers and members of LHPC already had another matching rail ready and waiting on the sidelines to put back in place of the one I had ruined. Sorry to all for the damage!!!!) We made our way over to the cross country warm up, shaking off what had happened early on in show jumping. My plan for the xc was to just focus on each jump as it came to us, and to not focus so much on making time. The questions on cross country were hard enough that I wanted to focus on making sure we could work through it all. We had a few minutes to catch our breath as the riders ahead of us went out for their rides. When it was almost our time to head out, I had a good gallop around the ring and popped over one of the bigger warm up fences. Sophie was feeling more than ready - fresh, even! She had two good kick outs as I was trying to pull her up to a walk on our way to the start box. I think the cheeky girl was pumped for the galloping. As per usual, Sophie was a bit spooked by the ghosts of the start box, otherwise known as the lovely volunteers and their car, so Jacqui led us in to the box to get us off on the right foot (thanks for that, Jacqui 😂 ). 3...2...1...have a great ride! As much as I was not too worried about trying for time, I still wanted us to have a proper prelim pace wherever possible. Sophie easily galloped over fence one and two, and fence three is where I started to get in the way and held her a little too tight to the base. It was an open oxer that she just grazed but still was able to climb over. We then rounded a corner to fence 4, a semi skinny barn, which I continued to hold too much too, but Sophie made it over. I unfortunately was distracted by that ride that I then chose the incorrect pathway around the trees to get to the next set of fences, which was our first combination. 5A was a similar house to 4, but then it was about five strides down hill to 5B which was a skinny roll top. Sophie was having enough of my bad riding, and was really strong over 5A which I had set up a terrible ride to since I chose the wrong line. I had trouble getting her up and seeing 5B, and Sophie told me off by smartly running by it. I quickly circled left and got her straight to it and she popped over it no problem. That 20 did wonders to my brain, because I very swiftly changed what I was doing to better the ride for my incredible horse. Fence 6 was the massive trakehner I had been worried about, but it is supposed to be a gallop fence, so I kept riding forward and just supported with my leg and seat and Sophie hopped right up over it. That filled me with some additional confidence. We then had a little bit of time to line up to 7A and B, which was a line of skinnies. Sophie took off from the correct distance to the first, which was a little long for me, but then I listed to her plan and rode forward in four strides to the chevron out and it felt smooth like butter. 8 was a good gallop fence and then 9ABC was the harder water complex. Sophie saw the water from far away, ears pricked, and popped over the first fence, and I then let the ride into the water steady the canter. I lined up for the B element and added a little extra leg and she dove into the second water. I put my eye and her ears onto the roll top out, and she angled over it confidently and easily like a true upper level horse out of a forward stride. A big 'good girl' shout and we moved on to a smaller beam fence at 10 that we scrambled over because I was a little distracted by our incredible ride through the water. We had a little wiggle through over the bridge into the back field, and then we had a good long gallop to a big table at 11 which rode right out of stride. I then started taking deep breaths and steadied our pace to turn to the drop brush combination at 12ABC. Sophie easily hopped over the roll top at A, and then I tried to not pull too hard and just used a lot of 'whoaaaa Sophie whooooaaaa' and heavy seat to slow her to see the drop at B. She saw it and did a little shuffle and scoot off of it, and then I rebalanced and put us on a good line to the corner at C. I rode forward, like I had the last few combinations, and Sophie jumped over the corner like a real champion. I almost cried tears of joy!!!! Another massive 'good girl' shout from me, and incredibly supportive shouts from Elaine who was stationed at that fence, and we powered on. I learned from my lack of focus and our bobble over fence 10 and treated the let up fence at 13 with a little more respect and Sophie hopped over it easily. I then sat up and let Sophie catch herself on a downhill ride to a sunken road exercise that was similar to our last ride here. We had a mim rail fence in, down and out through the sunken road, and then I again allowed us to keep that forward momentum up over the two angled roll tops that rode right on in the forward one stride. At this point I had a smile just absolutely plastered on my face. Sophie went right up and over our second trakehner at 15, and we began our gallop into the last field towards home. We rounded a tree line to a table at 16, and then galloped uphill to that last skinny combination. I let the hill get us to a good pace to tackle the skinnies, and Sophie did some great footwork over the first one, and I just simply guided Sophie on a good line and she locked onto and hopped over the really skinny log out. We galloped downhill to our second to last fence, a big table, and I let her figure out the striding. She backed off a teeny bit and then threw a good shape over the top, and then we turned towards home and popped right through the keyhole at the last fence. The good girl shouts were quite audible to anyone in the area, and I let her have a bit of a canter and a trot to come down from that epic run. This little mare still had some gas in the tank after all of that too, and it was closing in on 80 degrees and sunny no less!! I learned so much from our jumping rides. Sophie really is something special. Not only is she athletic and full of scope, but she wants to be out there. She enjoys it as much as I do, and yesterday we really felt like a true team. In our first year or two of events together, it has been a lot about building her confidence and showing her that cross country is fun and doable. In the last year, it has turned more into getting stronger as a team and forming a relationship founded in trust to get through the bigger questions. I think that really came to light at this event. In the show jumping, I made a big mistake and I trusted Sophie to make a good decision to save us. She jumped it and tried so hard for us, but even if she had bailed at the oxer I would have praised her. I think she jumped it because we have, more often than not, felt quite strong in the show jump ring, and I have always been there for her supporting each step, even if I am too much at times. I think she knew I would still be there no matter how we got to the other side of that oxer, so she was confident enough to try. The rest of our ride in that ring was seamless and we just felt so in-sync. Out on cross country, Sophie was the most focused she has ever felt. Even though we had a few sticky jumps early on, she communicated to me that I needed to trust her and let up a little. When I did, she rode on like a seasoned event horse. I only had to make minor inputs as needed through the rest of a tricky course. She trusted me enough to be there to support her, and I trusted her to make good calls, which we both did for each other. I can't properly describe how incredible the ride felt as we rode the course from fence 6 on - the partnership we are developing is one of the greatest feelings I have ever experienced. My amazing team was right there with me at the end of the course, and all of them were just as elated as I was from that round. Throwing it back to one of my other blog posts, our round might not have looked great on paper, but man were there so many huge wins for us from this event. Our second prelim, a better dressage test than the last event, a beautiful show jump after I fixed my riding mistakes, and similarly a freaking phenomenal cross country ride after I fixed my riding mistakes. Sophie was fit for it, she did not find anything taxing or hard, and I learned so much about how I need to be riding at this level for us to continue to find success. It was also sunny, I didn't forget to pack my favorite sun shirt for the jumping phases, and I had amazing people by my side all day. I also think that simply riding around at Morven Park is a reason to smile in and of itself - just a beautiful place. So grateful for Drew, who was of course there as my ever-present support system, and my lovely friend Elaine, who made the trip over from DC to come and hang with horses for the day with her adorable little Azula in tow. And of course I am thankful for Jacqui's continued support during our time down here. I also know that I had several long distance score stalkers that made time to check my results alongside the excitement happening at Kentucky over the weekend - very appreciative for that!! I am so grateful for such wonderful family and friends in my life. Now Sophie will get a well-deserved few days off, and then we have a show jumping clinic scheduled for this Friday to help us prep for fun things happening at the end of May 🤫 Can't wait for what's next!! K

April 15th, 2024 Aaand we have our first modified since 2022 behind us now! Sophie and I had an absolute blast down at the stunning Carolina Horse Park this past weekend. This trip doubled as a visit to see our good friend Kristen who resides in Southern Pines and so graciously provided housing for me and grooming services for the spotted unicorn all weekend long. You are the BEST, Kristen!!! I also snuck in a visit to her beloved Finn while we were there, which was the cherry on top :) We arrived Friday afternoon, and it took me a few hours to get us all set up and settled in. The permanent stabling on the property is great. I tried to put together my area in a way that was neat and organized, but definitely didn't mind that we did not have direct neighbors on either side of us, as that allowed me to take up a little bit more space. Shavings were spread, hay nets and water buckets were filled, the trailer was unloaded and picked out, and the stall card was filled in. I grabbed my dressage tack and took Sophie on a brief hack out to the dressage warm up rings after our stall was set up. She was a little bit suspicious of the painted ponies on the property, but nothing else seemed to impress her too much. She felt fantastic. After our ride and a brief bath, Kristen met up with us. I threw Sophie her dinner and then let her have some alone time while Kristen and I course walked. The ground at the horse park is so incredibly well maintained, and it is clear that every single piece of this property is cared for. The jumps were beautifully painted and decorated, and I was feeling confident in our choice to move back up to modified after seeing the course. It had some challenging but fair questions for the level. I got to experience some true North Carolina weather during our walk too - when we started, the sun and blue sky were shining through the clouds, and about two thirds of the way through our walk, the skies opened up and severe thunderstorms overtook the park. Kristen and I hid out under a convenient tent with some other course walkers with our same unfortunate planning. You can see in the pictures below the weather difference! Once the storm passed, we headed back to stabling and I took a few minutes to braid Sophie's mane and get her looking her very best for the next day. At this point it was close to sunset, so I refilled hay and water and gave her one last cookie before Kristen and I left for the evening. I wanted to give a brief shout out to Kristen for being an amazing friend and hanging out with me all weekend, but also for putting together the nicest gift basket ever which was thoughtfully created by The Local Mixer. I mean just look at how cute this is!! The next morning started with Sophie getting her breakfast at 7am, and I spent some time rehearsing my test and getting everything organized for the day ahead. Sophie kept all of her braids in overnight and just needed a quick freshening up before getting tacked. My test was scheduled for 9am on the dot, so I headed over to warm up a little after 8:30. The warm up area is quite spacious, and they have small dividers that cut halfway down the middle of the warm up ring to essentially create two usable rings. It felt like there was plenty of space even with a bunch of horses warming up at the same time. Sophie felt super solid in the warm up, and was really moving forward into my hands and feeling fluid in changes of direction and in lateral work. I know Sophie well enough to know that it all could change the moment we step out of warm up, but I was hoping for the best. Fortunately, I also try to prepare for the worst when it comes to the flatwork. As soon as we started making our way around Ring 2, where our test was to be performed, Sophie put her eyes, ears, brain, and everything else onto the driveway behind the trees that lined the ring. Trucks and trailers were entering and leaving, but the line of trees blocked most of the viewing of that and so all we were left with was the sound. I usually put Sophie in a 'sound proof' bonnet, but I am not sure how effective it is 😆 . I tried to remain heavy in the saddle and very workman-like to try to get her to follow suit, but she is a strong little horse. Our centerline was lovely and straight, our first lengthen trot was conservative but fine, but then it started to fall apart during our first leg yield when Sophie and I began to go to war. She was super tense and tight, and I was getting firmer and firmer with my aids to try to combat her pushiness and the rest of the test kind of stayed like that. She got away from me quite a bit in both lengthen canters, and in looking back on it I know she needed a hell of a lot more support from my outside aids that I was not providing in those movements. She ended up being so wound up towards the end that our final attempt at a lengthen trot was powerful, but not a true lengthen. I was still pretty impressed with the look of it, though! Definition of 'has talent, needs direction (from rider)' 🤣 . We saluted and left the ring on a score of 41.2 and slid humbly into last place. We had about three hours between leaving the sandbox and heading to the start box, so Kristen and I went to walk some of cross country one more time. There were a few lines to jumps that I wanted to solidify my plans for - and obsessing over this shot Kristen took that highlights my favorite KMA white competition breeches 🥰 We had so much time that I actually was able to find it in me to eat some lunch before jumping. It's a rarity to find me eating at a show until I'm done for the day, but there was so much time and the food truck on site was too good to pass up. If you've been to Carolina Horse Park, you've probably eaten at 'Roasted and Toasted' - SO. GOOD!!!! Following lunch, we packed up all of my dressage tack and took out everything for cross country. The footing was great even with the bit of rain that had fallen the night before, so I opted for smaller studs. Sophie stood quietly while she was studded and tacked, and it wasn't long before we started our walk over to cross country warm up. I was a bit early, so I took a few minutes to just walk around the warm up and watch a few riders before me head out on course. The whole park is just so stunning, so there was a lot to look at and appreciate while I waited. I didn't spend a ton of time warming up, as Sophie and I had a great schooling a few days before our trip and I knew she was ready. We jumped a small log, a larger table, and then angled over a mid-size house in the same way we would be angling fences 6A and B on our course. We were definitely ready! On our way over to the start, I saw a woman holding a very handsome corgi. I considered that a sign of good luck :) 3...2..1 Have a good ride! I started with a steady canter over fence one, and then picked it up a bit over fences 2 and 3, of which were good gallop fences. Fence 4 was a wedge that Sophie saw one more step than I did to it, but she padded off the ground and hopped over it smartly. After a gallop table at fence 5, we headed into the woods, down a hill and abruptly came to the angled houses at 6A and B. Sophie is catty and smart about jumping fences at any angle, but she was wholly distracted by the volunteer's car that was near the jumps. A little bit of 'Sophie do we see it?!' and an abundance of leg and Sophie saw the jump almost as we were on top of it and she clambered over it and put in 4 punchy strides between the jumps where there should have been 3. I kicked on and we tackled the corner at 7 with ease. We hopped up a bank at 8 and were presented with the first water complex, which Sophie pushed through confidently. We turned back into the woods and I slowed our roll quite a bit to a sunken road exercise and a trakehner. The stickiness at the first set of fences in the woods early on provided me the information that Sophie was finding the environment impressive, so I didn't want to risk rushing and causing a run out due to not seeing a jump ahead of time. It worked out in our favor, and Sophie completed all the jumps in the woods properly. We even had a half coffin with probably the most impressive ditch I've seen in a minute, but Sophie didn't think so and popped over it like it was a ground pole. The second water complex offered a bit more to look at than the first, so I once again slowed our roll way down to make sure she stayed on task. She ended up hauling me over the jump into the water, and rode the wedge out of the water like a proper event horse. I didn't do a great job of picking a line out of the woods (there are SO many trees), so we had a wiggly line into our last field but she still locked on to our last two jumps like a pro. We crossed through the flags with a lot of 'good girl' and 'you're the best horse ever' exclamations leaving my mouth. A spectator passed us as we came to a walk and asked if we had fun, to which I said 'Always. Everything with this horse is fun. I could be watching this horse stand in her field and I'd be having fun!' 🤣 The good girl received a bunch of her favorite cookies and got a good hose down. Once again she proved that her fitness level was up there - she had barely broken a sweat! I gave her a few minutes to just hang out in her stall and drink and eat while I started cleaning up my cross country tack. Then she got her icing time in our favorite Drew Boots while Kristen and I shared videos and pictures from our round. The course was challenging enough that the standings were shuffled quite a bit after cross country. I was not even remotely surprised to see the 10 time penalties added to our score. The time for modified is more challenging than training, this time was clearly a bit tight as only one rider managed to finish within the optimum time, and I purposefully kept us slow at a few combinations to risk time instead of risking a run out. It worked out in our favor, and I think if we came to this venue again we'd be ready to really push it. Between now and our next outing, we will work a little on pacing (and continue working on our flatwork, as always!). Before we left the park for the day, Kristen and I took a trip over to the vendors that were set up for the weekend. While we were discussing my ride, a lovely volunteer overheard us and asked if I was the rider on the spotted horse. She told me that while she was fence judging the modified rounds, the radios were full of volunteers discussing how 'number 236's horse has a ton of sweat on their neck, we might have to say something'. They were keeping concerned eyes on us until someone realized that the 'sweat' was actually just the markings on her neck 🤣. We laughed and I expressed how glad I was to not have been accidentally pulled up for that!!! Our day ended around 2pm, so Sophie got the afternoon to just relax and be left alone while Kristen and I did normal people things like go out to dinner. The Southern Pines area is so nice, and it was a gorgeous weekend to be down there. Sophie got her dinner at night check, and we looked forward to jumping the colorful sticks the next day. Sunday was another gorgeous day at the park, and after taking Sophie on a little hand walk around stabling, we spent the morning loading what we could back into the trailer for the trip home. Sophie fell in love with the boy stalled behind her that weekend, so she spent the morning obsessing over every move he made. My jump round was scheduled for 10:20ish, so I made my way to warm up around 10. Show jumping has historically been Sophie's strongest phase, so I never spend too much time in the warm up. Kristen so kindly helped set fences for me, and we popped over a few verticals and oxers to get us feeling ready for the ring. We actually had two uncharacteristic stops in the warm up, but to no surprise they were first from me riding like a maniac, and then second from Sophie telling me she wasn't confident in what I was doing after the first one. The third and fourth pops over that jump were effortless and as if the stops didn't happen - but you know what they say, a bad warm up often leads to a successful show, and that held true for us that day. We were one of only two combinations to finish show jumping with a double clear! I could tell that Sophie felt a bit tired from the weekend and all the travel, as she wasn't pulling me towards the fences as strong as she usually does, but she picked up all four of those long legs with ease over the picturesque Carolina Horse Park course. We put in a very methodical, evenly paced round. It was a huge improvement from the chaotic round we had at Morven a few weeks ago. A very nice volunteer complimented our ride on our way out of the ring ❤️ Our jumping efforts moved us from dead last all the way up to 5th at the end of the weekend!! Like I've said before, finishing on a number alone is huge, and bringing home a ribbon is a massive added bonus. I am so happy Sophie got rewarded for her work. At some point we will get the flatwork to a place where we can start in a better position, but I am just thrilled with the results from this weekend. A very impressive venue didn't rattle us too much, and Sophie was clearly prepared for the move back up. Huge thank you to Jacqui for helping us with some proper schooling to prep for this! I am grateful for every ride behind those ears, and I am once again looking forward to what's next. Another MER in the books 🙌 And once again a huge shout out to Kristen for being an amazing photographer, videographer, groom, and friend ♥️ K