A Day In The Life of a Young Eventer

Shepherd

Sorry for not updating for this long, but it has been very hectic. After Kentucky I got Reno, and I then rode him and Peter and competed them both at Shepherd. They were both great, and I am so ready for what is to come. After Shepherd I then got Ben Cruise, an amazing ex-Advanced horse. He is great. I am currently to be entered at Twin on him Prelim, which is a scary though since he is so new to me, but I have faith. I am also taking Peter Prelim and Reno Training. I want to get one schooling in to boost my confidence, but we shall see…

Photoshopped by yours truly… I like it better now :)

I was just emailed these digital photos from NAJYRC, I hope you love them as much as I do :)

Today was my first day getting on Peter since the show, and it was quite an adventure.

I went on a hack down the dirt road across the Highway with my friend Moraya, and we walked for quite a while. The only issues I had involved llamas and lines on the road, but his reaction to the llamas was not nearly as spastic as Sweet Pea’s… I was excited to finally get back on him and I will start to up his work load as the week progresses, up until his vet appointment that he has for a recheck. Our goal is to get him prepared for Shepherd Ranch, where I will be riding him Preliminary and another horse (Fly By Knight) Novice.

On a side note, I am super excited for this new horse. he is a blast to ride, and though he lacks confidence in himself, he is a flashy and cute horse that is an intelligent quick learner… I am very ecstatic  for what the future will bring with him!

Until next time…

A truly inspiring and amazing story that has transformed the horse world for the better:

It is because of this woman that the horse world is changing into a place where protection is beginning to rise above vanity, a place where every member of our Area VI Eventing Team wore a helmet in Dressage… If only it hadn’t taken so long…

I’m now home, and the last few days have just been a time of relaxation… for Peter.

We took him out to jog, but besides that, he has only been walking. We figured, since the journey was long and stressful, he needs some time to recover… I have not gotten the same luxury. I came home to resume chores around the house and start a new project, of the equine sort. A friend of ours brought a lovely horse to the ranch that she wanted to be worked and sold. Currently, we have a bit of work to do, but there’s definitely some potential. He is cute and an excellent jumper, and 11, which is young for me. I am excited about this and I hope that he is liked, if not by me, then by other willing buyers. We are thinking that we could do a Novice at Shepherd in a few weeks but only time will tell, I have faith.

Back to my boy:

I will start back with Peter again in the near future (after he gets a check up, I assume) and I will absolutely keep you updated on my wonderful pony!

“Red Sun, Blue Winning Day”

The onlookers watching over Dressage…
Madison Loving and Mile High
Zach Brandt with Dayna Lynd Pugh
One of our amazing grooms and previous NAJYRC Gold Medalist, Kelly Loria, with Cavallino Cocktail
Piper Leddick with Dayna Lynd Pugh after her test!

Hello all!
For those of us who rode in Dayna’s car on the way to the Kentucky Horse Park, our morning started off with this wise and ambitious saying, stated by the Dayna herself. As she gazed up at the red sun, she spoke of the luck it would bring us today, and after the success that we saw, I would say it was wise indeed.
Today was the official start to the riding part of the competition for us CH-J* riders, and a successful one for all of us on the CH-J* team. We all rode fairly early in the morning and, with coats waived, the weather was not too hot. Since we couldn’t rock our shadbellys, we all got to sport some awesome Ariat polo shirts that were sponsored by the beautiful 3 Day Ranch and Southern California Equestrian Sports. The morning began with Piper Leddick on her horse Emmie Lou. She had a nice, consistent, and relaxed test, in which she got a qualifying 70.8. It was a great way to start off the morning and the rest of the day flowed just as smoothly. I rode next, on my horse NVR Peter the Great, and he looked quite flashy in his fluffy Fleeceworks dressage pad and his Professionals Choice boots. We scored a 63.5, which placed us in 20th, and I am very happy with how our test went. Following my ride was Zachary Brandt on his mare Cavallino Cocktail. His test was beautiful and scored an excellent 56.0, the highest of our team. Soon afterwards was Madison Loving on Mile High, who also had a very nice and smooth test. She scored a 57.3, just a point and a half away from our last rider, Kaitlin Veltkamp, who scored a 58.8. Our scores combined placed our team in 4th place with less than 10 points between us and the gold. After today’s close scores, we have all realized that any point over the next few days will make a drastic difference in the competition.Besides the dressage tests, today also proved to be a very smooth day in the barns. I would personally like to thank our grooms, who all woke up extra early to braid our wonderful horses. They helped around the barns and have proven to be good teachers when it comes to helping us learn how to manage the aisles. Since they woke up extremely early, they went back to sleep early, and my teammates and I showed that we can take the lessons that our grooms have taught us and we can step up and take care of business on our own. We worked quite well together and have been able to work as a cohesive team throughout the last few days, which I am extremely excited about and I cannot wait to continue to experience throughout the rest of the weekend!
Maddie Sexton
P.S. Tomorrow begins the eventful part, Cross Country, and after each walking the course three times, I know we are all excited and well prepared for it! 

The first thing that I would like to say is sorry; sorry for the wait on the updates, and sorry for making the mistake that I did.

I feel as though I have let all of you, my supporters, down. It was a long, difficult, and expensive journey, and its end was not what I was hoping it would be, but by no means am I ending this here.

So, here is what happened: Dressage day was difficult. 2 days before I had had a great lesson with Peter and felt confident in our performance, but the day before, I had a rough time. I got frustrated rather quickly and had to cut my lesson short because of it, and this really lowered my confidence in this stage. Considering this, my test was actually rather good. I got a 63.5, which is neither my worst or my best score in a CH-J* level event, so I am alright with that. I was in 20th place of 28 and my team was in 4th of 5. This may not sound all that hopeful, but the scores were all very close, so we had faith that we would move up.

When it came time for cross-country, I was nervous. My warmup ended up being one of my best and I was very excited for the course that was before me. When I left the box, I realized that I had more horse under me than I expected, especially considering that he was being treated for being slightly anemic. After the first three fences I got in the groove of the course, and continued to have a great ride, until fence 16. On the approach, I felt that Peter was a bit on the forehand, but I didn’t want to slow him up too soon, like I always do, so I waited to make a half halt. Unfortunately, I waited too long and let him go in too strong. We got in fairly deep to this large table and he hit his knees. I got pitched forward and did not cling on hard enough, and I fell to the ground. I jumped up immediately, with my Point 2 Air-Vest inflated, and I grabbed my horse. He was handed off to one of our wonderful grooms and was taken to be examined and cooled out and luckily we were both fine.

It was definitely beyond upsetting to have this happen, since it seemed like I had just disappointed everyone who supported me and I thought I had wasted this trip, but now I have come to terms with what has happened.

I made it there, and that’s awesome enough. I got to compete in NAJYRC and had a stupid accident because I lost my confidence and rode how I thought I should instead of how I knew I should. It happens. There’s always next time. I still got to stand on the podium and accept a silver medal for the Junior Olympics, and I am so proud of my team for what they have accomplished.

This journey was a roller-coaster for sure, but one I plan to hop on again. The last thing I would like to say is thank you, I wouldn’t have even made it as far as I did without your support, the support of our sponsors, the help of the grooms, the volunteer work of the Chef d’equipe, and the guidance of my parents, friends, and loyal coach. Thank you all and I hope to have your continued support as I keep eventing and move through the levels.

Thank you all so much and I will keep you updated as much as I can!

Dayna Lynd Pugh and Me after my Dressage ride, in which I scored a 63.5.

The last few days have not been amazingly eventful.

For the most part, we have all been riding in Dressage. I was coached by Dayna today and I was given a mission to choose a “ghost-rider” to picture doing the movements like we want to; I chose Allison Springer. In my lesson, my equitation made intense improvement. The methods we were using, including the ghostrider, worked very well. I recieved a very encouraging comment in which Dayna said I had improved an immense amount and I am a great student. After our rides we prepped for jogs. We washed, braided, cleaned, iced, and did whatever our horses needed. We dressed up in our jesuscamp-worthy dresses and all of us passed, including Scott K. in the CH-YR**. We then walked our CH-J* XC, it’s looking good, but there are a few good questions on the course.

The only downfall of today would have to be the fact that we all lost motivation to clean by the end, but all in all I would say that today was excellent.

P.S. I posted up a few recent photographs for you to enjoy!!!

Our AHMAYZING cart for the golf cart parade, reppin’ Area VI CALIFORNIA!!!!

Peter and me going out for a ride in our beautiful personalized pad, donated by Antares!

Last night, around 11 KY time, we finally arrived. 

So, everything’s been going well so far. I have ridden Peter once today, mostly walking with some trot and canter hack work. He was good, but I get the feeling that he’s gonna be a handful this weekend. We are currently on a lunch break and I may try to fit one more ride in today, but we shall see.

That’s all I’ve got right now, as far as updates go, so I’ll talk to you later!

So, yesterday I had a dressage lesson and my horse was… well… he got good.

It was a rocky start, very resistant and bracing, but he improved so much! By the end, he was attentive, soft, energetic, and uphill. I am hoping that this ride carries on to Kentucky and I am confident that it will. Then today we made the drive to El Sueno for the night for us to leave at 2 am… So EXCITED!!! Sarcasm. But I am excited for Kentucky, and I’ll be much more excited when the fact that I’m going actually kicks in.

Well, that’s it for now, and I’ll update you soon!