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In Loving Memory...
~ Gogo Fatale ~


6/2/01 - 10/11/11
~ Forever the Marest of Them All ~
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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Groton House Farm H.T. 6/28/09: Day 3, Stadium




THREE-PEAT!!!!!!!!!!

WE DID IT. WE DID IT! OH MY GOD. I can't even believe this happened. WE WON GROTON HOUSE.

This weekend was just one big awesome time. Not only did Shannon come out yesterday to see XC, but today Daun and her SO came out to watch and cheer me on and bring me delicious eggs. HOW AWESOME IS THAT. Thanks Daun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything went smooth and nearly flawless today. The weather wasn't particularly cooperative - cool and misty all day long - but it wasn't rain and it wasn't freezing. The wise comment on that: "well, better than hot and muggy!" Agreed. Gogo was still sparkly clean this morning when I took off her sleazies, and I regroomed and rebraided her. I didn't ever actually take pictures of the course - oops - but I walked it in the crappy weather and found that it was set up to ride smoothly. The first two fences were simple verticals that rode at a forward five strides, with a left turn to an oxer. The oxer rode to a black and white plank, then to an offset oxer off to the right. A hard right turn led to a triple bar covered in super gay rainbow stripes, then a tight left turn to a funky vertical decked in oars and docklines and other boat-y stuff, then another forward ride to a big oxer. The last two on course were a combination, a two-stride which had a trick: a very wide oxer as the first fence, then two strides to a vertical instead of the other way around. Once we were all dressed and ready to go, I went up to the warmup going hey, we've got time to mosey! So mosey we did, and did a little trot, a little canter. We trotted two crossrails just to get started. And then suddenly, Daun is flagging me down going, they're calling for you!! Wait, what? I haven't even cantered a fence yet! How are they running so fast? Oh well, here goes nothing!

And she was great. I overrode parts of the course but overall it was pretty smooth. We took a longer approach to the final combination than I expected, seeing as we landed further out from the number eight oxer than anticipated (and she had touched the rail) and I wasn't worried about time, but I did hustle her on a little and didn't get her quite back at the oxer going into the combination. She FLEW over that final fence! Wood allergy, anyone? The woman I had been tied with had a rail and dropped I think to seventh, and the rider who had been in first also dropped a rail at fence 5. That moved me up into first place.

FIRST. WE TOOK FIRST. AT GROTON HOUSE.



I am completely exhausted but I will have more pictures and video later on. I have to work tomorrow (and alllll week), but at least Gogo will get a rest. Tomorrow she'll have off with some nice handwalking and grazing as well as the longest turnout we can manage without her freaking out, and she'll have a very light walk hack of probably around a half hour on Tuesday. Wednesday, it's back to work for us, seeing as the Area I Novice Championships are just two weeks away. Maybe it'll stop raining so we can actually GALLOP sometime this century.

LIFE IS DAMN GOOD, AND I HAVE THE BEST SUPERMARE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET.

22 comments:

manymisadventures said...

WOOOHOO! It is SO awesome to see you guys doing so well. You two are GOING places, and when you're riding at Rolex and all famous I'll be bragging that I read your blog back when you moved up to Novice.

Gogo is doing so wonderfully. What a superstar.

Clover Ledge Farm said...

I agree with MMA - I tell my friends here in NE that hey, that rider doing so well right now....well I read her blog! Congrats and NICE WORK!

Now Thats A Trot! said...

OMG HOW DARE YOU USE "GAY" LIKE THAT WHERE IS YOUR PRIDE ANDREA?!?!

lol, sorry, I had to say it, considering your post from the other day. xD

Congrats!

Albigears said...

Sweeeeet! What a great story- I love that you beat the pros. I agree with MMA too- you two are going places. Well actually you've BEEN places in my book (as I live vicariously through you). This blog has given me inspiration as I work with my young eventing hopeful!

Shannon said...

Congratulations!!
I am also thrilled to see your blue crop. Mine is pink and I call it the magic wand. LOL One of my friends says he doesn't want to be seen with me when I carry it, so I told him to walk two paces behind.

A said...

WOOOO! I'm so excited you won lol, congratulations!!
And I totally agree with Albigears, you've given me so much inspiration to work with my horse and get him into eventing.

Beth said...

What a perfectly awesome weekend! So happy for you!

JW.BW said...

Totally AMAZING!!! Congrats!!!! I am sooo happy for you!!!

Anonymous said...

You and your mare are Amazing!

Daun said...

I am so honored to see your ride yesterday. The pictures and video simply do not do you justice. Your riding is excellent, your mare is sublime and your round made all the pros look like ammys. You, my friend, are the real deal and I am so very proud of you.

Jana said...

Wow! Good for you!!! Very, very impressive! :)

Java's Mom said...

Yay, that's awesome!! I think others would agree, all of your blog readers and supporters knew you could do it! Congratulations!

Jennifer said...

Congrats! Can't wait for pics and/or videos.

Anonymous said...

I KNEW it! After reading your dressage post, I thought to myself, "You know, I bet she wins this." So glad to see I was right!

*Sharon* said...

Yes!
Mare Power!

Congrats to you and Gogo, we all knew you could do it.

Did anyone comment on her bare feet?

Sarah T said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

Cathryn said...

congratulations!!!

Nicku B said...

Ahhh-mazing! Congrats! Glad I am at Novice in Area VI far away from you and your super mare ;)

Funder said...

GRATZ!

That may be my favorite picture of you two. Not for the blue ribbon (even though that's really awesome!) - just for the look on Gogo's face, the sparkle bat, that big grin on your face - perfect!

Andrea said...

THANK YOU ALL YOU'RE ALL AWESOME!!!!

And yes, I did have a couple of people asking about her feet... you know, the ones that go "wow that round was great what studs do you use?" Well... none! Nobody seems to believe me til I show them her feet, and they all seem sure that we're going to slip and fall somewhere. And when we DON'T slip and fall - and don't slip at ALL - THEN they start to go, hmmm MY horse slipped and he had studs all around, maybe there's something to this barefoot nonsense.

Meghan said...

It's really encouraging to read about your successes with GoGo after how messed up she was, because my mare is not exactly simple or easy, and may have had some rough handling in the past (she was part of a rental string for a while). Her training has a lot of holes, and sometimes I get overwhelmed because there's so much I have to work on with her, and so many ways I can make mistakes. I also don't have access to an instructor very often, and I have a hard time trusting myself to do a good job without someone telling me what to do, even though many of the instructors I've worked with have said good things about my riding. Would you consider posting about how you deal with the mental aspect of riding and training? Since you seem so mentally tough, you could probably teach a lot of insecure people a lesson.

The Equus Ink said...

CONGRATS!!!! What an exciting accomplishment for you both - a great team on fiah :D