Last weekend (the 31st). I took Warren to a cross country clinic out in Hood River, Oregon. That is out east a spell, towards the Cascade Mountains in a beautiful place called the Gorge. It is scenic area where the Columbia River charged through the cascades carving out the gorge in it's path.

The clinic was hosted by a generous North West Horse Trials Association member who opened her beautiful farm to us members in this amazing area. The clinic was arranged for the folks of the NWHTA and was a series of dressage and jumping sessions. Since my dressage was going so well, I opted for a session in jumping with Jean Moyer. Warren and I were put in an interesting group of "BN riders" We started the basics of the session with going over the important elements of cross country emphasis on balance and rhythm. Then we spent a big chunk of time schooling the water complex. After a brief encouragement, Warren went right in, leading the other two in the group, the Perch mare was not real excited about getting her feet wet so we spent a lot of time convincing her the water was okay (Warren stood in the water and stared at her, splashed, and stood on the opposite bank trying to convince her it was okay. Inch by inch, she finally made her way in) By that point, Warren was a water pro, he could trot and canter through with no problems. So we did some more course work, riding tall to the base of fences (I tend to want to want to jump for Warren) and learning to keep my leg on! Over all it was a great outing and a beautiful fun place to ride. At one point when I was riding the course, I had to take Warren away from the group, around the outside of the pond, between the barn and pond and windmill and then through the water. Warren was not super thrilled with the windmill, it was a little mesmerizing, but he coped and carried on with a big forward trot. He seemed quite proud of himself to be charging through the water too! After we did a mini course we also schooled the bank both up and down. The jumping down is pretty scary, it feels like you are reaching the edge of the world but Warren took it all in stride.    

The clinic was a fun way to meet some more NWHTA folks and get the event season kicked off. It was a great refresher course and really helped us get focused for the year.

 Well I was griping about the cold wet weather we have been having and I got my gripes answered last weekend with a few days of HOT 90 degree weather!  And it was just in time for our the Fort Vancouver Chapter of the Oregon Dressage Society's big all weekend Dressage Schooling and League shows.

I entered both the Saturday Schooling Show and the Sunday League Show for Training Tests 3 and 4.

Marcia and I loaded up Friday to haul 12 miles down the road to the Clark County fair grounds. Her 1/2 Lipizzaner 1/2 Arab is no little guy but Warren always dwarfs any horse on the trailer next to him.

It was hot Friday, the local weather was saying by late afternoon Vancouver was hitting 97. That is outrageous for this time of year in the Northwest! Anyway, we were mostly concerned for the horses; the plan was to haul them over Friday night and overnight them at the fairgrounds Friday night and Saturday night.  But there is not much air flow in the barns and the huge indoor arena we were going to school in that night is like a giant oven in the heat.

We took our time getting over there. After work, I gave Warren a bath, the first one in many, many months, MAN he was dirty!!!  With a refreshingly cool coat and clean leg wraps on, we headed over to the fair grounds with hopes that if we dragged our feet long enough it may cool off enough to be somewhat decent in the arena to school Friday night.

I wasn't too worried about Warren getting in the arena and being spooky, he was just in that arena last month for Jump 4 Joy. He had seen it and been just fine with it's big, open, echoy, pigeon cooing atmosphere. The common talk in the Clark County horse world is if your horse can perform well in the fairgrounds arena, he can do just fine anywhere- apparently it is a horse devouring cavern of a place in the minds of many Clark County horse residents.

So we arrive Friday late afternoon to the grounds get signed in at the office, meet some of Marcia's friends and get our ponies all settled and decide we are going to go ahead and ride even though it hasn't gotten as cooled off as we had hopped. I promised Warren it would be a short ride if he cooperated and that he would get a good hose down afterward. I was actually surprised how forward and energetic he felt for being so warm. I guess it was the bath. We were able to ride on the dressage court after it was set up. I think Warren remembered the last time he was in that arena! He came marching in looking around for fences and then when he saw nothing challenging except a low white fence, he kinda lost the flare in his get up. It was pretty humorous. So we just cruised around the arena looking around being forward and bending in the corners for a little while and called it a night. I get the sense that Warren was a little disappointed and board with the flat work. I did have to remind him twice when cutting across the middle in warm-up that there is NO part of the dressage test stating "exit arena at E by jumping over fence" Silly horse. It wasn't that naughty "I am trying to runaway" fooy that many of you who know him in his younger years used to do. It was more a "I am focused on what is in front of me, and I see something to jump and that must be what you want" sort of attitude, he actually realized that I was asking for a bend at the last minuet and did not really jump, but he sure did get forward like he wanted to jump!

Saturday morning came pretty quick and there were promises from the weather folks for another hot day on the burner. The boys slept pretty well Friday night bet were ready for some activity Saturday morning. I took Warren for a walk and a graze. My fist test was not until almost noon so we had some time to hang out. I was thankful it wasn't as cold as last time I was there! I really enjoyed soaking up some of the summery warmth!!

So my goal for the weekend was to conquer nerves. I tend to have lovely schools and then freeze up in front of judges. I always get anxious. If I could make a test over 60% I would be pretty happy too. But that is details. Mostly just to overcome the nerves. So the great thing about riding a dressage test is that you can have your test called at any level which means I don't have to worry so much about memorizing my test, just remembering to give Warren some direction. By almost noon we are ready to enter the arena for our Training Test 3 and it is 96 degrees. Warren is feeling pretty darn good despite the heat. In we go and it all goes pretty well. I have gotten into the bad habit of micro managing Warren a bit. I am still trying to find that line between riding him and leaving him alone. If I don't ask much of him, he falls on his face and gest heavy, if I ask too much he wiggles all over the arena. So I worked on those aspects in the arena and tried to have a calm relaxed ride. I felt pretty good about it, the canter circles were a little sloppy and he got heavier than I would have liked in the trot circles but over all a consistent steady test that landed us a with a 59.8. Oh so close to that 60. The Training 4 test was a little bit worse, it was later and the day and I think he was not too thrilled to be under saddle in the hot oven of an arena again. His forwardness was still good though but again he got heavy in the corners when riding our test. We rounded out the day with a 2^nd and 4^th place ribbon, not quite reaching the 60% goal we were striving for but I was defiantly feeling more confident about the riding in front of judges thing.

Sunday rolled around and it was a few degrees cooler and Warren greeted me with a happy rumble after breakfast so I took that as a good sign. After casual morning, we started our warm up and I was surprised that Warren wasn't feeling the slightest bit tired. I thought for sure that after a hot busy day and sleeping 2 nights in a strange place he would be starting to feel the stress, but he wasn't showing it in his performance.   

I felt way more relaxed about the two tests I rode on Sunday and it showed. I got the 60% I was looking for in Training 3 and still some work to do in regard to bending and moving the hind end more in Training 4, but really, not to bad for a big huge draft horse up again a bunch of Warmbloods.  Overall a great weekend we had!   Next weekend we are changing gears and going to a Clinic in Hood River to work on some x-country and stadium jumping, I know Warren will be thrilled to get his jump on.

On a side note - after the hot weather last weeked, I got all inspired and put my tomatoes in the ground thinking it was going to be nice and warm. Yeah, we haven't gotten above 57 degrees all week and its been rainy wet! Ugh! Lets get the summer here!! It is time for all those x-country courses to start drying out!!  Warren and I are ready!

Warren thinks so. He started the process of getting rid of his winter wool back in January. Unfortunately the weather in South West Washington seems disinclined to acknowledge that the animals living here are indicating that is indeed time for spring and warmer weather. I must admit we have had a few days, even consecutive ones, that were warm and sunshiny, but the ratio of those days to cold wet ick that is called winter at this point is very miniscule. 

Ya see, spring in the northwest is truly spring, the flowers come out, the birds make themselves known and it warms up. The rainy cold days change to rainy warmer days then sunny cold days then warm sunny days of summer. That's the way it goes around here and it usually starts turning in late March or early April. Well April was pretty darn wet cold and we even had sleet and snow in the late days of the moth! It is now May and it has been all grey and cold all this week.

The weather has not stopped Warren and I from riding and preparing for the event season (thank goodness for covered arenas and fleece lined riding pants!) We still find breaks in the wet to get over to Battle Ground Lake to do conditioning work and of course we school dressage regularly.  But I am ready for spring, darn it! It is time!

Warren was AWESOME at the jumper show Saturday!!!! (nevermind the cold miserable weather we had to stand around in to get there)

This was a show put on by the local pony club - and schooling to boot- so that means lots of little ones with little horses.. but that's okay, they came later in the day. The morning was mostly adults and exp. riders; 3' to 3'9" classes; super fun to watch. Though I started to panic cause my first glance at the course my thoughts were "holy crap, Warren can't make those TIGHT roll back turns and then set up to jump again that fast!! eeeeek!!!" we had signed up for 2'3" and a 2'6" class.... heights are easy, its the turns I was really worried about!

So I set out to memorize my courses and just plan on having a clean round, time didn't matter to us any more besides,  it is a schooling show; we are there to school and learn, right?
well... it turns out my classes did not come till WAY after lunch the 2' to 2'3" 13 yrs and under classes were HUGE! they took awhile so there was LOTS of standing around. I am really thankful for the big huge roomy you can see out trailer we have. Warren was pleased as can be standing on the trailer eating hay and watching everyone pass by.

So 2:30 rolls around and its time to start thinking about warming up (did I mention it was a REALLY long day?!) We had a super light warm up (wanted to conserve his energy; ya know) and then went in for our 2'3" class.

Well Warren must have been watching the other jumpers and decided he was a jumper too. HOLY COW! The whistle blew and he was off at a strong pace; looking for the fences, everything I pointed him to, he was there and ready. He made the corners with no problem; in fact I had a hard time finding the course and keeping up with him! I did not do to well finding my next fence. So due to my lack of preparedness, I did not set him up to welland commit to the #3 blue oxer and so he ran out, we got 4 faults but circled back and did the rest of the course very clean, no problem.

And I still had TONS of horse left. he was just getting warmed up!

So back in warmup I practiced taking tight corner, doing roll backs and  LOOKING for the next fence, and riding AFTER the jump; what a difference! Warren was just perfect. So in we went for 2'6" and then it started hailing. It was so incredibly loud on the indoor's metal roof; I somehow managed to hear the whistle and then we were off  to our first fence! After that the noise was silenced for us; we were focused on the course! We had an amazing ride, tight turns, funny angles and all, he never broke stride and kept a beautiful pace! I am so proud of him; we rode the course clean and 61 seconds, (optimum time was 57). I was cheering him on and apparently so was the crowd; we had quite the following at that point.

we even brought ourselves home a blue ribbon. I must say I was thrilled. The ribbon I  could care less about, it is the learning experience we had; Warren is in way better shape than I expected and he really ENJOYS jumping and I don't have to baby him so much; he is perfectly capable of making the turns and moving out at this level. I need to get better at LOOKING for the next fence and staying with him and continue to ride after I have cleared one - we aren't done jumping till we get across the finish line!

We have a pretty busy spring coming up. My goal this year was to get more involved in the horse community. And I have jumped in with both feet! I am a member of the Oregon Dressage Society (ODS), a member of North West Horse Trials Association (NWHTA) and soon to be a member of the Clark County Executive Horse Council (CCEHC). Phew. and it is only March.... Not only am an  active member of these organizations, I have also singed up for some local events learend about by being involved with these groups. A local pony club group is putting on a jumping competition this weekend that Warren and I will be doing a few courses in. The following week is an Event Derby in Mt. Rainer. After I get back from my wedding at the end of April, we have planned to go to a couple of Dressage shows and then the summer should be getting underway and x-country courses drying up so then it is off to more schooling 3 phase events. YIPPEE!

So to be able to get to all these fun places, the transporter which I call the horse trailer must be in good mechanical and somewhat presentable status. Allow e to elaborate on the presentable status; The northwest stays wet for 7 months of the year and doesn't get too cold; so lots of things like to grow here. And grow they do. Moss on trees, moss on roads and moss on trailers. Oh yes. The trailer has slowly been making the transition from white to gray to green the past year or so. I decided in celebration of St. Patty, I'd take off the green. Between rain and hail; I scrubbed all afternoon and low and behold there was a white trailer under all that grime! My dearest fiance took care of the mechanical aspects for me and now we are ready to get our competition season underway!