It's the day before the Apple Knoll Event and I am on my way to Mystic Valley Hunt Club. I usually have a cross county lesson the day before to get ready for the show. The skies are blue, and as I drive I am hoping for perfect weather tomorrow: no rain, no heat waves, no snow - and I'm hoping for a good lesson.
My lesson with Sally Hinkle is good, and now I'm trying to keep all of her tips in my head. I bring Bremereton back to the stable for a bath after the lesson, then begin to clean my tack and organize everything that I will take to the event. I know I better hurry because I must get up really, really early to be back at the stable by 3:00AM! We'll load the horses at four o'clock for the 2-1/2 hour drive to Apple Knoll, which is in Millis, Massachusetts.
Back At home, I want to get to sleep immediately, but of course I am nervous
about the show and worried that my alarm won't go off! But it does, and the next
thing I know its 1 o'clock AM and I sleepily dress and drive to the barn at
Mystic Valley. We turn on the
stable lights and the horses wake and immediately want food! When I get
Bremerton out of his stall he is a bit nervous, and I imagine he's
wondering why I'm getting him out so early. We load him into the trailer with
Rachel's horse, Sweet William, and the trip to Apple Knoll begins. When we arrive I meet with all the other riders to walk the course with Ann Bowie, our event trainer. There are 10 to 12 fences through the fields and woods. Ann gives us tips as we walk the course: where to approach the fence; what gait to be in; whether to trot or canter between that stone wall and the hay bales. I must walk the course a few times to memorize it because when I'm riding it I don't want to have to worry about which way to turn at the stone wall - I'll have other things on my mind - Are we going too slow? Too fast? Is Bremerton well controlled or freaked out?
We leave the cross country course just in time to dress for dressage. Usually I am so nervous about that log jump that I don't concentrate on my dressage test. Every rider has a different fence that they're especially concerned about.
My dressage test goes well, and then I'm off to walk the stadium course. It's usually about 8 to 10 fences in a ring, and you are not judged on form, only whether you clear all the fences in the allocated amount of time. Now it is time to dress and get Bremy ready. Usually a lot of friends come to the show to help you and your horse get ready, which is great because you have a million things going on in your mind about showing, and all the other stuff you have to do that day.
After the dressage test you know what you did good and bad, which Ann confirms. Then it's back to the trailer to change for cross country. While I'm waiting for my next class, I like to see if my dressage score is posted. Some riders don't want to see their scores until after all three phases, but I like to know where I stand as I go along through the day.
After hopefully a clean cross country round you change once again for the stadium phase. Then you wait for everyone's results to see if you get a ribbon. That's one reason it makes it exciting, because even if you missed a jump, someone else could have missed two, so you will get a better ribbon. As they say, "It isn't over till its over," which is usually about 5 o'clock PM. By that point you've been at it about 15 hours. Then it's a long but exciting trailer ride back to the barn with everyone talking about their and their horses performance that day.
Upon return, we unpack and take care of the horses, and tell everyone at the barn about the show. On the drive home I feel like I could sleep at the wheel! But overall, it is always a good event, and now I start to get excited about next weekends show.