Washington International Horse Show 2012

Mike and I went to the Washington International Horse Show on Friday night. It is such a neat show, the largest of its kind taking place in a major city. It's right in downtown DC in the Verizon Center (where the Capitals and Wizards play). Friday night had two competitions, the first being a speed competition (where your score is your jumping course time, plus 4 seconds for every pole knocked down). The second was the puissance wall, where competitors try to top each other jumping the highest. The actual jump is a fake brick wall made of lightweight boxes (that knock down very easily if the horse bumps into them). It got to 7 feet tall until there was one rider left who had not knocked it down. Plus I got to see some of my idols ride, Beezie Madden and Laura Kraut, both members of previous US Olympic delegations. It was also my first time seeing Reed Kessler in person, who this past summer became the youngest US rider to make the Olympic team.



Beezie Madden


Reed Kessler


Winner of the speed class Lauren Hough riding Oh La La


Before the puissance competition, the Washington Nationals' presidents mascots were on hand to do a "mini puissance" jump-off---and Teddy won!


The wall takes a victim...










The winner of the puissance at 7 feet, Olivier Philippaerts riding Chicago








The rest of my photos are here.

Dressage at Devon 2012

Last Friday I went to a horse show, Dressage At Devon. It is a nearly week-long extravaganza of international level dressage, breed competitions, and equestrian-related shopping. On the Friday that I went, I watched the Prix St. Georges and Grand Prix competitions, which are some of the highest levels of dressage. Most of the Canadian Olympic team was competiting, and they cleaned up. It was really great to see that level of riding in person.

The weather was supposed to be rainy, but it turned out to be fine most of the day. I was able to buy two new dressage whips, including one with a blue/purple striped handle (so I'll know if someone jacks it from me at the barn), and a handpainted mug with a horsehead on it. There was a lot of other stuff I wanted to take home, but that would've meant spending a few hundred dollars. The riding breeches and vest that caught my fancy would've been over a hundred on their own. So I was good and resisted.

The cool thing about the Devon showgrounds is that there have been horse shows at Devon since 1896. It's great that such a piece of history is still going strong today.

A Friesian in the Prix St. Georges


Same Friesian practicing shoulder-in--look at that bend!




Check out this moment of suspension during a canter pass


Extended trot


Sign with a picture of the showgrounds in 1914


They had this funny "ladies hat competition" as well. I think it was basically an excuse for some people to put stuff on their heads. Which I'm totally okay with.


David Marcus, the winner of the Grand Prix


Exhibition by Guy McLean, who does crazy acrobatic tricks with four horses at once


The rest of my photos are here.

Adventures in Breyer Stablemates Sets

So, I may or may not "conga" this particular draft horse stablemate mold (the G4 vaulting horse). When you collect multiples of one model horse mold, it's called a conga line.



I saw recently that Breyer had released a new "Mystery Foal" set with the G4 vaulting horse in it. So when I found some sets at my favorite tack shop (Dover Saddlery), I had to get one. You can see the little cardboard door on the left in the box, which is supposed to open to reveal the mystery-colored foal.



Breyer wasn't the smartest in designing their box, though, because as soon as you open the outer packaging, you can see the foal without opening the cardboard door. Doh! Glad I'm not a ten year old girl who didn't want the surprise ruined.



Well, even though I'd already seen the foal, I still wanted to open the door part of the packaging.



Hello little foal!



The whole family together.



And now just the vaulting horse, which was the reason I bought the set in the first place.



Together now with my full conga!

Mr. Leroy

This week was pretty draining, due to work stuff flying around. I was all ready this morning to have a relaxing riding lesson (I ride every Saturday), but when I get to the barn, I see that I've got to ride Leroy. Leroy is a sweetie, but he's also got some gaited blood in him. This means that he has the wierdest shuffle-trot as his default speed, and that he's pretty unbalanced on turns and tight circles. He's usually a workout. And today, of all days, we were working on turn on the haunches and 15 meter circles. But you know what? We did it. I had some pretty sketchy turns (especially going to the left), and my first couple of circles were more like eggs/ovals, but I kept him moving forward and he started bending for me. It was the smoothest ride I've had on him for months. And he did a beautiful free walk for me.

Olympics Parade of Nations

Whoa...did I just see Rodrigo Pessoa carrying the flag for Brazil? That's right, a competitor in equestrian show jumping is the flag bearer for a delegation the size of Brazil! Awesome! He is a gold medalist, but somehow I'd think it would have been a soccer player.

Excitement!

I've been collecting Breyer model horses since the mid-1990s. Not super seriously, but every now and then, when I'd see a model I liked, I'd scoop it up. But lately, I've rediscovered my love of the pony molds. Shetlands, Haflingers, Hackneys, you name it. And then when recently flipping through a back issue of a model horse magazine from 1996/7, I remembered one of my favorite Breyer pony molds ever: the Cantering Welsh Pony. There is just something about the movement to this mold that I find really appealing.

The CWP was sculpted by Chris Hess, the artist who made most of the vintage Breyer molds, and was first released in the early 1970s. Since then the mold has been redone in a variety of colors over the years. It's not a very rare mold. Like not rare at all. But somehow I had always just missed getting one.

That ended today! I am pleased to present to you #866 Plain Pixie, my own red roan CWP! This particular color was available from 1992-1993.

Horse Show

I didn't get a chance to post pictures earlier, what with traveling, but the weekend before last I participated in a dressage schooling show. It was my first time showing at Training Level, which was a huge learning experience for me. I was pretty worried about not even completing the test, but it actually turned out to be fine. I got a 65 (anything above a 60 is usually considered competent), when I was expecting more in the area of a 55 score.

Waiting to enter the ring


Sunny looks nearly asleep in most of the pictures we took


The rest of my pictures are here.