United States Eventing Association

The Spirit of Adventure: Peaks and Valleys at Three Day Ranch

Last week when I was describing my progress with Kiki, I found myself talking in terms of peaks and valleys. Well, this past weekend at Three Day Ranch, even more than I ever could have imagined, I experienced peaks and valleys in both the literal and figurative sense. Not only did I spend what seemed to be my entire weekend walking up and down hills (let's remember: the central valley, where I’m currently living, is a flat place!), but it was also a weekend full of unexpected emotional highs and lows.

Coming into the weekend, I felt like I had a list of achievable goals for each horse. For Ringo, I knew I would probably ride a little green as it would be our first Intermediate together, but I wanted to keep him calmer in the dressage, forward and light in the show jumping, and as good as I know we can be on cross-country. I thought he was feeling pretty darn good, and though I was obviously nervous, I felt tentatively ready. For Kiki, I wanted to live. Seriously, my goals were pretty darn low given her behavior in the last few days before the show, where it wasn't clear I was going to be able to enter a jumping area without having her go into fits.

(Right: Kiki at her first show in California! Left: Kiki exceeded all expectations.)

Well, horses certainly like to keep you on their toes! With the help of my super-groomsman Papa extraordinaire, who came all the way out from Massachusetts to be with me for the week (the serious upside of being a school teacher: spring break as a grown up!), we got both horses down with very little fuss and went straight to work on settling them in and making them feel good. Ringo, who is a seasoned competitor and generally a very good traveler, immediately took serious objection to the Three Day Ranch well water, and didn't drink nearly as well as I'd hoped when we got off the trailer, or for the rest of the weekend for that matter. Given, however, the fact that when we drew his first bucket of water it came out green, and even after letting it run the water was white with particulate matter and, I kid you not, SMOKING, I guess don't totally blame him for being a bit fastidious.

Kiki on the other hand, who hasn't spent a second in a stall since January and has never been at a strange facility for more than a single night in her entire life, got off the trailer like she owned the place and remained cool, calm, and collected for the entire weekend. She ate and drank like a champ, showing off, and generally having a high old time at what she must have thought was a great big horsey party thrown in her honor. Ringo could learn a thing or two from her.

After Ringo's naughtiness at Twin Rivers, I had learned to try a new warm-up technique for him for the dressage that involved going for multiple shorter rides before my time instead of trying to do one long warm-up. I was delighted when it paid off! He was so relaxed and well behaved! I've always either gotten tense myself or ridden horses who naturally tense up in the ring, so I think it was the first time in my competitive career that I got to ride the same horse in the arena as I had out in warm-up. Awesome!! All the points we lost were errors of my riding and not of Ringo's performance; he was absolutely perfect. I still need to work on finessing my aids for the medium gaits, especially at shows where he is much more sensitive than at home, as I caused him to break in both his medium trots - bad Kate! But I thought I redeemed myself ever so slightly by riding a very tactful free walk (not Ringo's particular strength, as he is far too clever and a bit anticipatory), for which I was absolutely blown away when I received a 9 - my first ever at a sanctioned event!

Unfortunately, after the high of Ringo's dressage, there turned out ultimately to be a long way to fall. We did a schooling jump round that afternoon, and in retrospect I am kicking myself because I should have known that something was up and that he and I both weren't feeling quite right before I entered the arena. Maybe he was feeling dehydrated from not having drunk as well as I'd hoped; maybe he and I were both a bit rattled from out last jump school, which hadn't gone exactly according to plan; maybe I was tired and not giving him the ride he deserved; maybe he was feeling a bit creaky and sore from what has been a long winter of jumping and hard work. Probably it was a combination of all these factors and more that I haven't even begun to realize yet. Unfortunately, I put my equine partner's physical and mental well-being at risk by not recognizing these signals in time, and when we got into the ring he stopped very uncharacteristically and then shut down more and more until I finally had the decency to pull him up. I was, and still am, very, very disappointed with myself, not only as a rider, but as a horseman. After the round, I chose to scratch Ringo from the remainder of the competition, with the focus centered on his wellness and confidence when we got home; all other material goals are completely unimportant until those tasks are achieved.

So, it was with a definite note of soberness that I turned to my rides on Kiki on Saturday afternoon. Combine that with my worries from earlier in the week, and I was definitely a bit nervous! I needn't have gone through the trouble, though, as Kiki stepped up to the plate and performed beyond my wildest expectations. She was calm and relaxed every time I got on her, both when the ring was completely over-brimming with horses and when she was all alone except for the tractor dragging the arena.

She got a little tense in her dressage test, especially in her transitions, but it was overall better than I had expected; she didn't score too well but I was still very pleased. Then, she blew everyone out of the water by putting down the most relaxed show jumping round she's done with me so far, at dusk and in very chilly and spooky conditions no less! She did have one seriously green moment where we both kind of blanked out and went, "I have no idea what's going on!" that resulted in a rail, but what made me really proud was how beautifully she recovered and moved on from her mistake, jumping the rest of the round better than she'd started. Good girl!!

The next morning we went cross-country at quite literally the crack of dawn, the sun just having peeped over the hills as we headed over to the start box. Kiki was the best she'd been all weekend, though I had to seriously slap myself on the wrist for my riding at one point. We were cantering around on a long rein, me basically flopping around and thinking about how good she was being, when Kiki spotted a loose horse coming at her before I did and went from canter to rein back in one stride. If I had been at all prepared for this behavior (which, on a 5 year old, I most certainly should have been!), it would have been a non-event, but given my seriously complacent position I instead was surprised and a bit amused to find myself on the ground! I was totally unhurt and hopped right back on to make sure Kiki wasn't rattled by her rider's extremely erratic behavior; fortunately, she just rolled her eyes a bit and then carried on being every cent as perfect as she had been before I popped off (though I made sure to ride a bit better, just in case!). Then, we were out on course, and Kiki proved once and for all why she's supposed to be an event horse; she's such a natural at this phase! I don't know how scopey over fences or flashy on the flat she's ever going to be, but if those qualities can in any way approach her cross-country attitude and brain, then she'll be well on her way. It was an amazing feeling to share such mutual pleasure with this young mare for being out on course.

So, as I had predicted, Three Day Ranch was an event of peaks and valleys, though none of them came in the places I was expecting. That, I suppose, is what makes a life with horses so endlessly fascinating. In the meantime, I'll be trying, in the best riding advice I've ever heard, "to keep the highs from getting too high and the lows from getting too low" as I move forward to Galway in two weeks. Onward!

Photos by Tom Erickson