Some times you need to let go and see what happens

To escape fear, you have to go through it not around it
         -Richie Norton (or in our case over it)

Pc : Two hearts one oxer photography

On Saturday a small group of Lodestar team members made it out to the Aspen Derby for some extra schooling. I signed Charlotte up for one dressage test, a beginner novice jump round and a novice jump round. The great thing about Aspen Derby is the mixture of stadium and cross country jumps. We even had the opportunity to school the up and down bank. The Donida spring fling schooling show was such a success I was ecstatic to school some Novice cross country jumps this time. 

Walking out into the ring for course walk I happen to stumble upon a slatted cross country table that got me feeling a bit nervous. Its funny that I can feel nervous about one jump in particular but completely confident going into a line that should cause some question. Charlotte loves a question, and strives when there is a challenge presenting its self. Our best fence was the two stride to a bending line. Her cute lead changes are coming along as well which helps the roll backs and jumps that come up quick after a turn.                                                                                      

           

Tacking Charlotte up for dressage, thinking about the jump rounds coming up I started to make myself more nervous. Stepping into the warm up ring for our dressage test, I had a spicy Clydesdale! She was on fire! Hot Clydesdale! 

Fun fact :  

#5. The Clydesdale used to be a popular war horse. 

When warfare involved using Calvary and horses as an advantage, this breed of horse was one of the most popular because of its weight and size. It also has a uniquely calm disposition, which meant that it could go into various situations without getting spooked. This is believed to be why it is still such a friendly and docile horse today, despite its massive size.

Lets go Novice!

Charlotte the Eventing Clydesdale has officially graduated to Novice level, at her very first outing of the season!

It's so exciting to realize that we have officially started the season! So far our #roadtorebecca2018 is going strong with a clinic, 1 schooling show under our belt and a second this Saturday! 

Last weekend we took the horses to a weekend schooling show at Donida Farms in Auburn, WA. Not only was this the first schooling show of the season but it is also our first Novice jump round along with our first Novice Dressage test! I could not be more happy with the outcome of the weekend.

Thankfully I packed up all my stuff and got the trailer loaded and ready with shavings, hay and grain before hand because come Friday morning I was racing against the clock to get my other home stuff done. Got myself packed and my dogs dropped off at Grandpa's house and was set for a great weekend. Arrived at the barn to help load the last few things, double check everything was good to go and load up the trailer! We had two trailers pulling out that morning, Melissa was taking her horse Bailey for there first Eventing debut together and I know how boring it is to drive alone. I knew Charlotte was in good hands with Jenny in her trailer so I hoped in the front seat with Melissa to keep her company! I also get pretty car sick so I am in need of the front seat! We departed on time to make it to Donida by about 2pm.

Normally we work out of the trailer but Donida is set up different, in which we have to park further away, so we unpacked EVERYTHING! Busy bees going back and forth to unload horses and organize the tack room we were using for the weekend. With everyone helping each other it didn't take long to get unpacked and organized so we could take the horses up for a little hack around the property. 

Charlotte was so spooky out on the property! It was a surprise to have such a high spirited horse when her temperament is normally so calm. She was spinning and running back words in certain parts of the arena. After we calmly were able to walk and trot most of the arena we settled down for the night. Set her up with some dinner and tucked her in for the night with good dreams for the show.

Saturday morning rise and shine pretty early for the day. One of my favorite things about the horses show is waking early to see Charlotte and feed her breakfast. Something about the calm morning mist and the horse's breath on the cold air is the perfect start to a good day. We take the horses for a walk around the property and find some grass to nibble on before checking in with the office. Charlotte is not normally a herd bound horses but lately she has been spending a lot of time with one our new team member's horse Cola. Cola had an early start to the day which left Charlotte without her, which then left her completely soaked in sweat when I came out to check on her. Learned a valuable lesson that they will be separated much more back at the barn.

I signed Charlotte up for a warm up beginner novice level jump round and our very first Novice jump and Dressage combined round, which unfortunately resulted in the beginner novice jump round then an hour later our dressage test than another tack change to our Novice jump round. But we stayed on track!! and got it done with flying colors! Our Beginner novice jump round was pretty slow and sluggish, I truly believe she doesn't love to jump that height any more but we ended up getting closest to optimum time in that division. Can you believe the Clydesdale was the closest??!! 

We have been working non stop on our dressage and today it paid off. Stepping into the dressage ring with a looky lou horse immediately started listening after a small half halt. We continued to dance around our circles and show off our transitions to trot down that center line and actually halt at X. Three main things Jenny and I have been drilling all winter ...... 1. compulsion and forward gaits 2. transitions -upward and downward and 3. our halt. I could not have been more proud of my mare than I was at that moment of seeing our dressage score of 30.9 !!! A well deserved pat on the back of the all the hard work....... now off for one last tack change for jumping.

I remember our first jump competition at the Aspen Derby.. A small schooling show like this one, I was a wreck of nerves. This time I was so excited and felt ready to give it my all we headed into the ring like fast and furious hitting the nos on a vehicle. As we cruised around the beautiful and inviting course we just skimmed one pole enough to make it come toppling down, costing us the 2nd place ribbon. With the added 4 penalty points we dropped down to 5th place. Not too shabby for our very first Novice outing of the season and that leaves us with so much room to improve! 

Saturday came and went with one more day to redeem myself and strive for a better score. 

Sunday morning followed the same routine but this time Charlotte was more calm and relaxed. She didn't mind leaving her new girlfriend Cola as much and didn't work herself up in a sweat when she left to attend her competitions. This was Cola's very first eventing debut and I'm pretty sure Charlotte was very proud! Cola gave us a run for our money ! and shows such a  bright future!

Charlotte had her fancy pants on for the dressage portion of the combined Novice training on Sunday. I could not stop smiling throughout my dressage test, I was so happy and proud. We pranced around showing off those feathers and all the hard work we have strived for to end at a halt on X. I believe it is important to walk your horse up to the edge of the ring and thank the judge. This time the judge told me how beautiful of a test that was and I kindly thanked her again and stated how hard we have been working. The judge commented that it shows and to keep up the great work. We will continue to strive to be the best that we can be! We ended our Dressage test that day with an even better personal best of 29.4 !!!!!! 

Bring on the second Novice jump round of the weekend! Flying through the course, it was more technically and seemed a bit higher than the previous day but Charlotte was jumping it with ease! In some cases she was even over jumping! Coming up to one of the last jumps I fell forward too early and she clipped the top rail sending it to the ground resulting in me costing us the 2nd place ribbon yet again! Learning to stay out of my horse's way and trust more is something I am working on as well. She is so much stronger and agile that she can do it without me and I need to "let go of the reins" just a bit haha. Again we left there with more room to improve and I cant wait to fill that void! 

Packing up Sunday and leaving with another pink ribbon, 4th place this time, I think about all the people that you meet. All the new friends you make and how important the bond between you can be. I had friends and family drive out to support us over the weekend and take part in the journey #roadtorebecca2018. It takes a village is what they always say, it definitely took a village to get the trailer packed up again to head back home. So thankful for the love an support we have on our team! Belle brought out her new horse to compete and I am so excited to start Novice training with them! We can move up through the shows together! Last year we had such a great friendship being in the same level, we are also on the same nervousness level haha. Last year we walked the cross country courses, I don't know how many times just to give ourselves something to do and stop thinking about the competition haha! This year will be even better!!!! Belle always stays behind to help other team members get there horses ready or clean up where she can, She is extraordinarily proactive and is always standing by to assist in anyway! I cant wait to get to Rebecca but I am so happy to have you on the Lodestar Team!

*If you made it down to the bottom of our weekend adventures, thank you so much and it is greatly appreciated! I learned my lesson about waiting until after the weekend is over to blog about it. I think this time I will start bringing my computer with me so I can blog after each day. Keep everyone informed more and I feel like this way I wont forget any fun or funny stories ... for example how belle and I named all the barn cats at Donida and snuggled them haha. *** have a great week everyone and don't forget to follow us on Instagram!! @eventing_clydesdale  

Hawley Bennett Clinic

Part of our success on the #roadtorebecca2018 will be attending clinics and schooling shows to prepare ourselves. Last weekend we attended the Hawley Bennett clinic at the beautiful Patterson Creek Equestrian Center in Redmond, WA. I have been waiting for this clinic since I first watched her teach in the fall.

I unfortunately did not plan my week well because I agreed to work the night before. But given my normal determination and pig headed attitude I powered through the night into the morning with one hour of sleep before heading off to the clinic. Thankfully we had pre packed everything and loaded the horses up for an educational afternoon!

Upon arriving, I was very nervous. I have only ever attended one other small jumping clinic on a different horse and lets just say it didn't turn out very well. Charlotte is definitely my rock in these types of situations, it's just her and I out there on the course. Of course I had my awesome support team of humans cheering us one! Sometimes you get the feeling of "what if they don't like my Clydesdale?" but this year I have learned it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, we are the best we can be and that's enough for me!

We got the pleasure of watching our amazing coach, Jenny and our personal cheerleader, Rosie - also our best friends, in the group before Charlotte and I. Hawley is so informative and takes her time to closely watch and help each horse and rider team. After the group was finished Jenny and I had to do a quick girth swap. I recently purchased a Prestige saddle from one of my best friends, Rosie but of course Charlotte loves the girth Jenny uses. Quick swap later ... we were warming up.

Charlotte's warm up is usually a lot shorter than the normal horse warm up at a show. We have to conserve enough energy for the course but still warm her muscles up enough to prepare her for the jumps. Since I was able to watch the group before us I knew that Hawley was working on canter strides in between two poles. which indicates warming up at the trot on our own mostly. After our canter exercise of shortening and lengthening strides, we started jumping!

Hawley was a hoot! She was easy to understand and had such great advice! And of course Hawley loved Charlotte! We drilled on straightness and a steady rhythm before and after the jumps. Hawley had me counting out loud to 4 over and over while jumping and as tiring as it was, it was a huge help! The jumps came up easier and I felt like we could concur anything. Thanks to the help of our really good friend Anna, by telling Hawley we were on our what to Rebecca, she approved! She encouraged us along the way, stating she will jump what ever you put in front of her as long as you keep a steady and straight rhythm.

I have to say I crashed when I got home. I was exhausted! We got home about 830 pm that's a long day for someone with only 1 hour of sleep but I would not have traded it for the world! Trying to get some sleep and then up and at em the next morning for day two!

Day two all the horses were a bit tired but Charlotte felt ready to go! All of our endurance and strength training is already paying off. She felt so good and its still so early in the season! Hawley had some extremely helpful exercise with bending lines and diagonal lines along with a super fun 2 stride to bounce to two stride! My brain was so full by the end of the weekend and you could tell Charlotte was doing her best and learning tons along the way! We were having so much fun and learning so much we stayed to watch all of our other friends and team mates in the clinic. Everyone in the Eventing world is such a large family, encouraging and cheering each other on! Of course by the time I left and got home I had about 4 hours to sleep before starting my work week again Monday morning 1am !! "Ill sleep when I'm dead, I'm having too much fun"

 I can not rave enough about how happy I am with the clinic and the way everything was put together and organized. I feel like I have so many more tools for my tool box going into the new show season and on the right track to #roadtorebecca2018

Feeling extremely prepared and confident for the upcoming schooling show next weekend and the derby on Saturday after that! Confidence will be a key factor in the success moving forward to Rebecca!

If you ever get the chance to ride with Hawley I would highly recommend taking it! She treated us like a normal horse and rider pair! She could tell that we would be able to keep up with the other "horses" in the group and I feel like we made an everlasting impression on her. 💪 Thank you so much Hawley for all the education and tips !

Don't forget to follow us on intagram!! @eventing_clydesdale we will be preparing for the combined schooling show coming up next weekend!

Can I get ice with this power house

You know that feeling when you have worked out multiple days in row? That sore muscle feeling of that extra rep or extra mile you ran? How about when your are so sore you can barely sit down? I don't know about you, but I love the feeling! The satisfaction of pushing myself to that full potential and doing 10 extra crunches. Pain when you laugh, that feeling of triumph and self improvement toward a better and healthier me.

Makes me wonder if horses feel the same?

This past weekend was brutal for me and extra brutal for Charlotte. She conquered it like a champ! Saturday we had a small group lesson with my favorite mother daughter duo, we practiced a few different combinations for our up coming clinic this weekend. Which will be my very first eventing clinic. The following day was a trip to the pipeline trails with Rosie and her talented mare Ripley, to work on strength training and endurance with the multiple hills. We found a stretch of the trail that had a gradual incline with 3 hills total. My body was tired from holding our 2point position. *mental note to jog myself up and down the hill for personal strength training* Monday rolls around and we have another jump lesson with Jenny, trying out of new Prestige saddle with a few different scenarios. I thought for certain Charlotte was going to be as exhausted as me! But she is the little engine that could! Kept on jumping and trying her heart out for us! Charlotte definitely seemed a bit more tired than normal but she was amazing and the new saddle fit helped me stay out of her way a lot more as well. But it makes me wonder if they feel the same fatigue after? That same "the pain is worse on the second day" feeling and if they feel as accomplished as we do with that?

I believe it is true..... with one day off Jenny rides Charlotte on Wednesday and sends me snaps of this little power house energizer bunny! I truly believe that the love to work and have a job. Horses love to please and you can tell after days of intense work outs and training Charlotte still does not have a bad attitude and is happy to please and give it her all. But it is so very important to keep up on equine maintenance, especially when it comes to these talented athletes.

Charlotte receives multiple forms of pampering including monthly body work. She will be receiving her first official chiropractic adjustment in two weeks as well. Along with all this much needed care and maintenance one of my favorite products are ICE HORSE. Not are they easy accessible, most of their products are easily portable and sold in so many different locations!

ICE HORSE offers a variety of products to help prevent injuries and also to help injuries recover wither that is with ice or heat. They carry a variety of wraps and boots for many different areas of the body. Including products for people and dogs!!! Of course, always consult your vet or doctor before making purchases or trying products but I would highly recommend them! The ICE HORSE community and staff have been so kind and knowledgeable with any questions or concerns I have had. Every time I talk with Liv I feel I learn something new! There website icehorse.net has all the products and all the information about them included. ICE HORSE also has an informative blog. ICE HORSE BLOG They discuss many different types of injures and prevention. Their non prescriptive, non invasive cold therapy products are proven effective ways for maintaining equine joint health and facilitating post injury rehab. They have also been selected to partner with the united states equestrian federation as the official cold therapy product!

Check them out on line or through Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/IceHorse/), facebook (https://www.facebook.com/IceHorseEquine) and twitter (https://twitter.com/icehorse_equine) !!! I highly recommend there blog!!