Apple Knoll Schooling Trials with Denise Goyea!

So after the Groton House debacle I decided that I wanted to have a professional take Buck around a few beginner novice events this year. I felt that it would make me more confident that he'll jump stuff that is new to his eyes and that he can jump that big ;)

I employed Denise Goyea to do the task. Denise is the "other" trainer at Scarlet Hill and she has more experience taking green horses around, plus she's "pony size". Meredith looked a tad big on Buck when she rode him (she is tall and long legged!), so we all thought Denise would be a better fit overall.

Denise had ridden Buck about 7 times. She did take him out on Friday prior to the even to school cross country, but Mother Nature had other plans....in the form of a torrential downpour.

So I had entered him in Apple Knoll Schooling trials on August 2nd. I had done the schooling trials here back in April, plus I had done the one jumper show here, and TWO hunter paces last year. So it's kinda like our "home grounds", haha. I also felt that the course *should* be on the easier side, given the pre-elementary and elementary courses I had seen in April. AND the coursewalk on the Area 1 website looked simple, too.

Buck and Denise's times were respectable. 9:30am dressage time, 11:30am stadium and 12:38 cross country time. Not too bad, except we had to detour to get Meghan and Luna in Amherst. We ended up leaving the house at 6:15am. Eeek, early! We end up getting there early - Mapquest was wrong on the time! Oh well.

Denise and Buck put in a respectable dressage test. They earned 8s on both centerlines and one or two other movements. The rest of the test was 7s and 6s. They ended up scoring a 35.8 with a pretty strict judge. This put them in 4th place after dressage. Not too bad!

Stadium was a typical Apple Knoll course. Twisty, turny and a tad looky. I didn't think Buck would have an issue with anything in there....but I was wrong!!!! He actually needed to peek at the 4A fence....and whereas it was coming in to a combination, Denise opted to represent him to it, which added 4 penalty points. It was very funny because the only "looky" part to the fence was they had placed "Bloks" under the jump, which ironically enough, Buck had been jumping in schooling just on Friday! Eeeek. So anyways, 4 points added. Other than that bobble they both looked fantastic!

Cross country was a LOT more difficult that I expected it to be. It was also longer than I expected. I was really worried going in to cross country for both factors. Fences 1 & 2 are the exact same fences as shown on the virtual coursewalk. Fence 3 was the same, too, but they had painted it bright red - and it was a down hill approach coming in to the field from the woods. That was the first difficult question I thought they'd have. Fence 4 was a hanging log that was put in between two apple trees (ie: decapitation threat). Fence 5 was the 2nd scary fence on course - a big bright green rampy/table thing. It actually looked smaller from a distance but once you got up to it, it measured a SOLID 2'6" and it was wide! Fence 6 was another big fence - the Apple Knoll farmstand fence. On the virtual coursewalk it is fence #14 but they had painted it white with green backers on the steps....AND tilted it up to make it bigger. Eeek. Fence 7 was a hanging log with some brush sticking up. Then they went back in to the woods and looped to another field. Fence 8 was a natural colored rolltop. Fence 9 was a natural colored house set in the shadows of a treeline. Fence 10 was another hanging log. Then they went back in to the woods. Fence 11 was a TINY coop with an odd approach but I didn't think it would cause any problems. Fence 12 was a new colored table-ish fence with orange flowers underneath it. Fence 13 was a zigzag fence (fence 12 on the virtual coursewalk). Then they had to cross the dirt road through the woods again and back in to the starting field. The last fence was the Apple Knoll hanging log.

So, longer course. With some of the trickier fences up front. And guess what? THEY WENT CLEAN!!!!!! We watched fences 3, 4, 5, and 6....and then the last fence. It felt like they were out there FOREVER....and I was concerned that there were issues. When Denise came in she said he was pretty good. A little looky to the jump judges and spectators, and he gave the orange flowers a good look at fence #12....but other than that, he was good. Out of shape, but good!

Here is video of fences 4, 5 and 6. And here's the last fence.

The 3rd place horse had a stop at the looky orange flowers, which moved Buck up to 3rd place. Needless to say I was very proud :) It's funny because I never thought I'd have Buck to the point where he could do a beginner novice course within a year. When we picked him up on July 28, 2008, he had been ridden about 10 times. I didn't actually get him CANTERING until October 2008....and in April we were just jumping 18 inches. So it was a big FAST jump for him, and he picked it up pretty quickly. He's a smart pony, that's for darned sure :)

This Apple Knoll course was more like a USEA sanctioned event. And NOT a move up course, so I am told. The fact that they finished it, without faults, makes me very very happy. And more confident that Buck CAN and WILL jump things he's pointed at as long as he has enough engine! YAY BUCK! I'm not downplaying Denise's strength in riding at all. I am SURE that part of his confidence to jump strange things came from her. And I think I can do a pretty good job at faking confidence if needed :)

So what's next? I made the decision to have Denise ride him at King Oak in September - Buck's first USEA sanctioned event. And then I'll ride him at elementary again at Groton House Fall Classic. And then I'm going to enter him in the UNH horse trials for October. Just don't know if Denise or if I will ride him. I think I'll be okay to do beginner novice at that point, especially if Denise continues riding him....but we'll see :)