Kentucky Part Three: Endurance Day

In a single sentence, it was an absolute blast, and Butterball definitely stepped up to the plate. 

Butterball had a much more restful night in his new stall, evidenced by his demolition of all of his hay and most of the hay in the small hole net AND his tidy poop piles along the back wall of the stall. I switched out his regular sheet for his BoT sheet and took him out for a long graze in the morning.

Much to the protest of our screaming thighs, DH and I biked phase A/C, counting gates as we went. The post-steeplechase hack had served me well and we had no problems (other than biking up hills, so many hills). I then walked the XC course for the third and final time. 

I killed some time back at the trailer, but going so late in the day left me a lot of time to ponder all the ways things could go wrong. Eventually we made it close to go time. I tacked him up with our usual XC set up. He got studs in all four feet - hexagons up front and small rectangular and pokey things in the hind. Those are definitely the technical terms BTW. I set up DH with a bag with our full cheek bit in case I lost all stopping/turning ability after steeplechase; a bucket and sponge; his halter; extra studs; water with electrolytes for me (Ultima powder, I highly recommend it) and a few towels. We made plans for DH to be in the 10 minute box at 5:30. I was projected to come in at 5:42. 

I got to the start of phase A about fifteen minutes early. This was predictable given that we just had to mosey from the barn over there, about a five minute walk. I watched one rider trot off and then hopped off and let the pony graze while the next two left. There was some untouched clover there, and he was delighted. When the rider before us headed out, I put the martingale back on and popped up. His grazing intensity left me with the (false) impression he was going to be laid back on the trot/canter of phase A over to steeplechase. Nah. He was not. He launched sideways when something rattled in the shrubs at the first corner where we had to cross pavement. Then he opted for leaping into the canter instead of sticking to a pleasant forward trot. He also took huge offense to a few bugs and used those as an excuse to buck a good bit. We got to the 1k marker at 4:21 when it should have been taking us just 4 minutes to go each 1k. Alright fine, my arms were kinda tired from fighting anyways,  and I felt like he was probably using more energy bouncing than he would if I just let him go in a forward direction. So go we went. I did require that he kinda sorta slow down when asked, but otherwise tried to let him be to quiet his own mind. We walked through the first gate at the turn back inside the fence line over the asphalt, said hello to the volunteer, and then trotted off again. He trotted for a bit but then started with the shenanigans again when we made our next left turn which took us along the inside of the fence line near the starter/BN field and some upper level (2*? 3*?) fences. He found a large trakhener with a real log particularly offensive. But by the time we reached the 2k marker we had made up the time and were right on schedule. He settled a bit more as we finished up the trot up and down a short hill and then around the polo field. We came in to finish A about 2:15 early, which was fine. 

Once we arrived out there he acted totally settled and pleasant and walked on a loose rein in and out of the start box. I reset my watch to a new bike ride and hit start as they counted us down. The minute markers were kinda sorta off. I had done them on my watch during our steeplechase course walk and when we reached the end I had 0.08 extra miles compared to the wheeled length, which meant that each minute marker was probably a tiny bit short. The first minute was just after the second jump and the second minute was coming out of the left hand turn in the far corner of the course, between jump 3 & 4. 

Butterball took off pretty darn quick and jumped the first fence beautifully, but landed bucking the most dramatically he had the whole time. The bucks on the ride out had been kinda porpoisy soft bucks. The bucks after landing were a bit more dramatic. I yanked his head up and booted him forward and that finally seemed to get his attention. Or maybe it was the fact that we were GALLOPING and he realized that not only was he being allowed to go as fast as he wanted, now he was being urged to. He rounded the first corner and jumped the second fence beautifully again. I was kinda getting what she meant about not looking for a distance as much. We were a few seconds slow at the first marker, so I urged him forward again. He went up the hill past the scary looking wheel, but then shot sideways over something in the woods. I recovered it in time to guide him inside the ropes to aim to the third fence. Again, he just flew over it. I got a little greedy to the fourth, which was after a downhill slope and didn't try to rebalance. He got a tiny bit under this one and it wasn't as nice a jump. So I made a bit more of an effort for the final fence that followed a downhill and then right hand turn. We landed and hauled butt through to the finish line. My watch clocked us at an average of 469 mpm for the 3:04. This meant that we ended up with 5 seconds of time faults at 0.8 per second, for a total of 4 penalty points for B. 

Phase C started as B ended. I managed to tap the lap button on my watch to start timing for that. I wasn't quite sure what mix of walk and trot would land us at the perfect 160 mpm, so we walked up the hill to loop around the polo field and then picked up the trot again. After a quick sideways hop onto the polo field that you are ABSOLUTELY not supposed to ride on when something rustled in the bushes, we mostly managed a civilized trot. We crossed the 1k marker at 4 minutes, so 2:15 earlier than we needed to. I let him walk the next 2 minutes till we hit 6 minutes and then picked up the trot again. We did basically that for the entirety of C - hit the next 1K mark, walk after that until we should've been hitting it, then pick up the trot again. He did nearly dump me when we were back on the fence by the cross country field and a videographer stood up from their crouched position as we were about ten feet away. I remembered that I could dismount etc, so thought about gripping the reins if I could if I came off so I could just hop back on and carry on. We walked the last 4 minutes before picking up the trot again to trot into the 10 minute box as instructed, so that the vet could assess soundness on our way in. 

The 10 minute box was notably less complicated than it had sounded, mostly because of the excellent volunteers who were keeping track of what needed to be done and when. He got a TPR as he presented and then another one six minutes later. He also got jogged after the second TPR, kindly by Carol, so I didn't have to. DH sponged a bit, but it was low 70s and he was freshly clipped and really wasn't that hot. His temp was only 101.4 when he came in, so he didn't have much cooling off to do. I had planned on pulling his bridle to put on the halter so he could drink, but was told not to. Instead the halter went on over the bridle. I can see where the change could lead to loose horses. But as lit as he'd been for A and B, he was plenty relaxed in the box and was trying to eat from basically the time we arrived to the time we left. After the second TPR and jog, we pulled the halter and reattached his running martingale, I adjusted his hind boots, and we headed up to the start box. 

Cross country was an absolute blast. He came out of the box GOING and so focused. We'll course walk for now and share the pro pics later on (yes, I am dragging these recaps out forever and ever, or at least as long as the column in my excel budget spreadsheet that got dedicated to this whole trip).

1- polite little log, he pinged right on over

2- I wondered if the contrast would be spooky, but he didn't care 

3- table - as DH and I walked, I had wondered aloud that they had called this a championship level course after seeing 1 and 2. This table that was up a hill made me shut my mouth and not look too closely at the size. Butterball was fantastic though, no cares

4AB- Brush combo - the offending videographer was near the fence near these, so I prepared for trying to avoid him, but Butterball was again locked on and honest. He jumped the wall then did the direct five stride line as I had walked it out over the log 

5- Roll top - after our Stable View experience of being a bit excited downhill and after how game he was feeling from steeplechase, I made sure to REALLY half-halt and he came back beautifully 

6- Barn - Majestic has a similarly painted jump that is pretty spooky, so I rode this a bit defensively, but pony couldn't have cared less 

7- Fandango - I let him roll forward down the hill from 6 and then used the slight uphill to help with the half halt to the pretty vertical face - he was fantastic (I'm running out of ways to say how good he was)

8- Slightly skinny roll top - Also slightly downhill, and these course photos were taken right around the time I actually rode. The half-coffin is just past those bushes just behind the roll in the back ground, so you couldn't go careening off. I asked him to wait and get deep and he wrapped around the fence beautifully. 

9AB- half coffin - he gave the ditch a good long look, but there was never any doubt that he was going

10AB- Boathouse to water - I gave myself a LOT of coaching about this water given how glassy/reflective it looked when we walked. Now we know BB LOVES water, but I wasn't sure he would recognize this was water based on prior experiences of him getting a little sketchy at Three Lakes and Stable View. So I planned to ride him in a compact, bouncy, forward canter, give him a nice long approach to the boathouse, and if I felt his feet slow down, channel JT's "get busy" by kicking/tapping (but NOT pulling/shoving). But, it was unnecessary, mostly. He slowed to the trot to enter the water, but was still honest about going. We picked up the canter at the far edge of the water. 

11- Corner - This was after a long gallop up a hill and the right hand turn. I missed to this and he took the gappy spot and pinged right on over. Good boy, thank you. 

12AB- Two stride brush - this picture came from a mid-morning walk because on my evening walk there were a ton of people around. There was a long gallop from 11 then a left hand turn. He backed off a tiny bit as I lined these up, but I used leg and he gamely went forward.

This is where I was planning on turning after 12, but there were a ton of people (four, I think) and a dog (on a leash, following the rules) in this kind of enclosed area. I yelled heads up and they scattered, and Butterball went leaping sideways. Fortunately he went left, which is the way were were headed anyways, so we just readjusted. 

13- Open rails- we got a deep distance to this one, but no matter

14- Fiesta- a relatively long gallop stretch flat and then downhill from 13. I asked him to woah and wait and he did just that. 

15AB- Up bank to roll - This was a pretty long gallop from 14, so I let him flow forward. I didn't walk the strides from the bank to the roll top, but they were pretty close and I was a bit worried about flying off straight after an exuberant up bank, so we did a bouncy coffin canter the last five strides on the way in. In spite of being game and forward from steeplechase, he was really tuned in to my half-halts the whole course and was just responsive and pleasant. He pinged up the bank and took my aids for a nice left to jump the center of the roll in a lovely way. 

16- Cabin - good boy 

17- Steeplechase - I didn't look this one in the eye as we walked (and had 1000% swallowed my words about the first two fences being easy by this point), but as we galloped towards it, I considered picking, but kept that same flowing steeplechase feel and he just launched over it. The pro pic is one of my new faves. 

The water is the first big dip in speed, and I think the up bank is the second dip closest to the end 

After the finish we headed into another vet box, conveniently positioned right by the 10 minute box. The vet team got a TPR right as we came in with a plan to recheck in ten minutes. DH and I hadn't communicated that this time I would be back at the box only 6 minutes after I left him (rather than the 45-60 minutes between leaving for A and coming in to the vet box after C), so he was no where to be found. Several kind people asked if I needed help, but we were really fine. I pulled his saddle, breastplate, and boots, and let him eat grass. He seemed totally delighted to chow down and I felt fine as well. The vet staff actually sent me back to the barn without a second check because he had come in so well and seemed so fine already. Once DH turned up, we put his halter on and gathered up the tack I had dumped to walk back to the barn. He got hosed off and then put in his stall with a mush of alfalfa pellets. 

Side note, being in the Tractor Supply in Lexington to nab some extra shavings and pick up alfalfa pellets was like being a kid in a candy store. There was an entire aisle of dried alfalfa offerings - cubes, pellets, organic, T&A, O&A, etc etc. I think there are two brands of cubes in my local TS. 

We went and grabbed dinner for ourselves at a barbecue joint and then came back and let him mosey/graze for about an hour. By Friday he was pretty focused on eating when out and went straight towards the edge of the area most people walked to get the prime snacks. Smart pony. He got soupy dinner after that which he dug right in to. His legs were tight and I didn't palpate any soreness anywhere. I packed his hind feet with some magic cushion. Then we headed back to the campsite. We had grown some new neighbors for the weekend, which caused me to start grouching because there was weed smoke and children shouting as well as a big screen TV. But they either went to bed or I just couldn't hear anything over the fan because our night was very peaceful again.

Kentucky Part Two: Dressage, Glorious Moving Day, and Steeplechase Practice

The day started with a more relaxed Butterball. He had really chowed down on his hay overnight and had less of a mess in the stall. He also went right to business grazing on his morning hand walk/graze, but then they started PILE DRIVING and he kinda lost it as we headed back in to the stall. 

I calmed him down a bit by shoving treats into his mouth and then walked the XC course again. DH and I then headed out to a local park, McConnell springs park. It was a reasonable little 1 mile loop. After that we ate some lunch and then headed back to the horse park. 

I swung by the office around noon and asked about the construction noise. The show staff told me KHP hadn't told them the construction would be going on. I had assumed this was the case because otherwise, who in their right mind would put prey animals next to LARGE, MOVING, INSANELY LOUD MACHINERY FOR TWELVE HOURS EVERY DAY. I asked if there was any way I could change stalls. I am definitely overly stimulated by sounds, dogs barking at work is a sure way to increase my anxiety/frustration, but it was truly insane for all the humans and horses directly facing the massive construction site. The staff in the office said that the secretary was out, but to check back in a few hours. 

DH went to check back as I started to braid BB for the second time. He came back with great news - they had let us move to a barn much further away. He started to pack up our things as Butterball and I finished tacking up for dressage. He found the new stall and even moved almost all of the shavings from the original stall to the new one. The new stall was in a much older barn with smaller stalls without mats (Dever could supply some for a fee, which I would have done if I knew we were going to be there, but 6+ bags of shavings made me feel okay about the asphalt). But it was quiet. And the pony and I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. There also was a port-a-potty instead of the ACed bathroom at the end of the barn. And the wash racks were not covered and had a portable hot water service instead of built in hot/cold. But I really could not have cared less. It was so much better for both of us. 

Peacefully drinking some water 

Our dressage test... was. We did the things, sometimes in the right shape, sometimes not, sometimes with the proper bend, sometimes not. He was pretty hot and alert, and I hadn't given us enough warm up time to let him come down from that and really soften over his back. 

*all riding photos from Xpress Foto and their glorious $149 pre-order all images package. I <3 them almost as much as I loved doing the three day. Also extra love for them since Jeff (the co-owner) saved me from walking 2+ miles when I was taking myself back to the campground to grab the bicycle I should have tossed in the truck that morning. 

He's so damn cute no matter what tho

Not square, not focused 

Active for sure, soft? Nah 

Hrm. Attention is... elsewhere

Well, the front legs were square. Butterball's expression kinda sums up the test tho LOL

On the plus side, I had had the intrusive thought on Tuesday as we drove 12 hours and then Wednesday as we jogged that perhaps this would be the first time in my adult life that I got eliminated in dressage by jumping out of the arena. And we didn't do that. 

The "prepare more" comment had me laughing. Because the judge might've just meant for transitions etc, but also that could have applied to my inability to do accurate figures in the ring because I hadn't practiced. Oops. Together the scores averaged out to a 36.5. It wasn't terrible, but definitely wasn't our best, and put us in 30th out of 34. I commented to DH that at least there was no pressure then. 

I had signed up for steeplechase practice from 5-5:45 after our 4:10 dressage time. In my head this was enough time to change tack after dressage and then hack out to steeplechase on the track for A/C. I hadn't accounted for our sudden stall move or my difficulty finding the hacking trails. So I ended up with a somewhat frantic trot out to the steeplechase area. There were five us and the group had already started with a pace exercise when I arrived. Carol kindly assured me I wasn't late (I was), but that they had started early. 

Butterball and I were last to go with our late arrival and were a bit quick for the marked out 30 second (235 meter) mark. Then we moved on to jumping the first fence. I LOVED that they did this and it relieve a lot of my anxiety about phase B. Carol instructed us to ride it at XC pace (400 mpm) rather than steeplechase (470 mpm) and to be a bit defensive the first time. Butterball bucked on the way in but never had any doubts about leaving the ground. Then we repeated the exercise at the goal pace with just a light rebalancing over the fence. He did a bit more bucking, but got a lovely distance and left the ground nicely. We were then allowed to hack the rest of B. It was recommended to hack A/C on the way back as well. I grouped up with two riders from Wisconsin to hack the rest of B and then C. They were just lovely people and we easily chatted about horses and eventing in general. 

Butterball was plenty cooled off from our long hack back, so didn't even get hosed. He was nice and chill in the new quiet location and, as a bonus, he had acquired a lovely chestnut gelding as a neighbor. They sniffed noses through the bars and seemed quite content with the company. I later found out that the gelding was there not competing, just as an in between stop from his original home to a new home up in Illinois. Butterball got a nice hand graze and then a large pile of hay for the night. 

I had gotten us a hotel for the night, because Thursday night was the middle night of the five nights up there. It was nice to have hot, private showers, and we ate some tasty brisket take out from The Pig Pen restaurant before heading back to put on his sheet (low in the upper 40s) for the night. 

Kentucky Part One: Travel and First Jog

Part one of many of our Kentucky trip, hopefully also including some tidbits about the classic three day format along the way if anyone has one on their bucket list (which I would DEFINITELY recommend after experiencing it!)

The three day is run along the FEI rules, which means that there are in barn arrival exams. Which means that you can't arrive in the middle of the night. According to the omnibus you could arrive between 8 and 5 Tuesday or 8 and 11 Wednesday. I fretted about this for about a week before emailing the secretary about my what-if scenarios. She kindly told me that if you arrive after hours there are directions to the iso stall at the show office. And that arrival times were actually until 6 pm. But you do have to pay extra for the iso stall. Once I knew Butterball wouldn't have to stand on the trailer overnight if we arrived after 6 pm (which realistically I knew was the case, I just didn't know how they got around that), I could be a bit more reasonable about planning our departure time. I had the truck and trailer fully loaded Monday evening. I had also texted my husband that there was no way I was packing this much stuff again any time in the next several years. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of my Tetris game, but I was pretty proud. The truck bed held tarped hay and bags of shavings. The cab had the food and cooler and the trailer tack room had most other things including my new (to me) bike and Ms. GY's bike for my husband. 

We woke up at 3:15, were out the door by 4, and leaving Ms. GY's with a Butterball snagged directly from his field by 4:15. The drive itself wasn't as good as it might've been but also not as bad as it could've been. We did hit traffic in Atlanta, but never stopped moving completely. I only had to slam on the brakes once when someone cut directly in front of me. Some swearing commenced along with pondering if I should've just run the truck into their little sports car. We moved smoothly through Tennessee, along some pretty winding interstate that continued into southern Kentucky. 

We hit another slow down just outside of Lexington. That one was almost more torturous because we were SO CLOSE. Butterball also was declining to drink while traveling, so I was worrying about him as well. 

We arrived at 5:05 though and stood in a short line for our arrival exam. The arrival exam itself consisted of a microchip scan, TPR, and quick survey for any pre-existing lumps or bumps. While I waited with Butterball, DH set up the stall for him. We were in the newest barns with super bright lights, ACed bathrooms, and hot water at the wash racks. But we were also DIRECTLY facing a construction zone. As dusk fell, they were still dumping loads of dirt, shoving, and then rolling it. It was a lot. And continued to be a lot, starting at 6:15 every morning. 

My "we made it!" picture. But that is one wide eyed pony I'm holding

Poor pony was pretty darn up that night. He was spooking at things he wouldn't normally and was hesitant to go in his stall. Based on his pig experience at EM's, I think he feels trapped and would rather be in the open if he's nervous about something. He did eat his dinner, but ate by taking a mouthful, spinning in a circle, staring out of his stall, and then grabbing another mouthful. I walked him for a bit and once the construction quit for the evening he settled some. He took some good long drinks as well which made me feel better. We gave him a bunch of hay and then headed to find our spot for the night. 

I had reserved one night in the KHP campground so we knew we had somewhere to sleep after a very long day. The website stated there was primitive camping but it was first come first serve, so I wasn't sure how likely we were to be able to get a spot. After a false start of ignoring the written signs but looking at the KHP provided map and Google maps that made us think we could go from stabling directly to the campground, we headed back to the main road and turned in to the campground entrance. We found our reserved paved/electric spot easily once we were in the campground entrance. We also found a bunch of very wholesome families and kids. There were Halloween decorations on nearly every RV and there were kids hanging out, playing, and biking. We hopped on our own bikes and explored a bit and found the massive field from primitive camping. 

After we saw the beautiful, sparsely occupied field, we made the decision to go ahead and move there. I loved seeing all the kids playing, but didn't want to find out when their bedtimes were. I got things set up while DH broke out the camp stove and made enchiladas with the homemade tortillas and brisket plus some pre grated Cabot cheddar. It was the same meal I'd had at Stable View but made ten x better by being heated. Sleep that night was pretty great, the camping pad on top of mattress topper in the gooseneck method continued to be a winner for this whole trip. It was in the low 50s overnight and made for a perfectly cozy night in my sleeping bag. Butterball did get his sheet on for the night. 

Such a lovely spot! Cook station behind the trailer. 

View towards the field

The lovely black walnut tree that gave us nice shade

Wednesday morning we made our way back to the barn by about 630. Which is also when the construction was starting again. I stuffed some cookies into Butterball as he moved closer and closer to the machines. He again ate while doing circles. 

Watch with sound on at max volume for the effect...

Standing in his stall, looking out 

View from the stall door

Walking/hand grazing was definitely more walking and trotting than grazing, but that's okay. DH broke out some acupressure points that helped settle him some after we got back to the stall. 

Once we got him slightly settled, I re-examined the packet info. 

Wednesday was a busy day, to the point where I got kind of panicky about when I was going to ride. There was also the uncertainty of the jog - it started at 3 with the FEI divisions. During the "horse inspection tips", they said 30-60 seconds per horse for the jog, but that it would be announce in the barns when each division had started their jogs. The problem was that the construction noise meant the announcements basically were useless in our barn. 

I'll recap the seminars in a different post, but I attended most of them except the cross country course walk and caring for the three day horse. I missed the vet seminar accidentally by running off to dinner after steeplechase practice, but intentionally walked the cross country course on my own. 

We ended up squeezing in our ride between the steeplechase course walk and jogs. The ride was especially useful because I discovered that our dressage tests on Thursday would be in the standard NOT the small arena. This was in fact in the omnibus, so is all on me. I also discovered that in the 20 years since I showed first and second level dressage in high school, basically the last time I rode in a standard arena, I had COMPLETELY forgotten where 20 meter circles fit. Well done me. I looked at some diagrams that night, but, spoiler alert, still didn't have them right by the next day. I also walked him through the jog area because, as I had anticipated, he had feelings about the lovely flowers distributed around. It just took a minute for him to get used to them and realize it was fine, but would've been way less fun if I'd been trying to present to the ground jury while he had his minute. 

After our ride I did a quick bath, mostly focused on stockings and tail. One of the many perks of his fresh clip was the quick grooming. Then he got braided for the first of FOUR times over as many days. I have a band on my pulling comb about 8 teeth in from the end that marks the size I have been braiding. I said fuck it and used the whole comb as my gauge for this week. I also declined to use Quik Braid because he dislikes the spray bottle and I didn't want to leave his mane super crimpy. 

Not my best work, but he was moving and I was tapped out of patience to try to make them perfect by the constant banging from the construction

We headed over to the jog and got checked in. Then we milled about for a about ten minutes and then completed our first ever jog. He was accepted without hesitation. We headed back to the stall where I yanked braids out and then took him for another graze.

DH and I then headed out for the first walk of the XC course. It was good timing since it was almost 6 PM, the time that I ended up scheduled to run XC. That made for an accurate assessment of the shadows and lighting we would be facing as we took on the course. My course walk pics in that day recap are mostly from that walk. 

After our walk we said goodnight to Butterball and headed back to our cozy campsite for more quesadillas and a peaceful night.