I Just Want to Go to Tryon! Goals…

Last year my husband and I headed up to the new Tryon International Equestrian Center to watch the dedication of the Grand Prix ring to George Morris and the grand prix that was that night, as well as to cheer on some barn mates who were showing in smaller classes that weekend. It was a gorgeous place already, but it’s pretty much unrecognizable now from the recent pictures I’ve seen. So when I found out that the AEC’s (American Eventing Championships) were going to be held there in 2016 and also either in 2017 and 2018, I changed my goals.

When I sat down and planned my fall 2015 show schedule, I planned a lot of schooling jumper shows with some CTs thrown in there, and ending with a CT at BN height. We’d start eventing next year, right? No rush. Well, then I made the mistake of Googling TIEC and read some forum posts and blog posts, complete with pictures. So here’s a new goal- I want to qualify for AEC’s next year. Sure, my horse has been on an xc course once and I haven’t evented in over 11 years, but so what? We can so do it. Starting now. Ok, starting in 8 days.

Well, I did this.

And my reasoning is this:

If P is going to be an eventer, better to find out now and at a venue we’ve been at previously (Hillcrest in March for our BN B test). It’s close and cheap, and I already know we can rock 2′ stadium.

Now here are my concerns.

Dressage: It’s intro C. We’ve competed higher dressage tests, so one would think this would be easy. I’m freaking out over the first halt at X.

BN and Novice don’t have a beginning halt, only at the end. P is “sticky”. Once he halts, he thinks he’s done.

Stadium: Nope, not even one slight concern. This may come back to bite me…

XC: As always, remembering the course. I chose maiden because it’s a full course, but there’s no water and no ditch. This will be his second time ever seeing an xc course, so I didn’t want to add those elements in and 2′ is so easy that I think it’s the best introduction. My other concern with xc is that he won’t want to leave the other horses. He’s a baby, after all, and likes the security of the herd.

So looks I’ll be spending the week hacking out alone and trotting from the halt.

So I dropped the entry form in the mail Wednesday night and it went out Thursday morning. Guess who gets a text from her trainer Thursday mid-morning, letting me know P has cut his leg and it’s swollen? Ah, horses.

Luckily it’s not too bad, but when I got there last night it was swollen from being stuck in his stall. He’s sound on it, and puts weight on it when standing, just doesn’t like you touching around the area (duh).

It could definitely have been much worse, just the timing is a little suspect. I mean, come on. I’m putting my faith in Vetericyn and since the vet is coming on Tuesday, I’ll have her look at it as well. But we have a lesson tonight, so hopefully we get some good work in.

So back to goals- eventing starts now. We’ve laid down some great dressage tests and nailed stadium. Time to put the final piece into place and see how we do.

The USEA qualifications for BN are as follows:

-Both horse and rider must be registered with USEA

-Qualification period is from July 2015-September 2016

-Two 1st-5th placings at any USEA BN Recognized events

-No xc penalties in qualifying scores

So after Hillcrest, I’m going to see where we’re at and if that was incredibly easy then we’ll head the next weekend to Running Start Horse Trials and enter in their Maiden, which is 2’3″ with optional water. And we’ll evaluate after that. If all goes my way (ha!) then we’ll hit one recognized event this year as well as an eventing clinic and some CTs, take most of December off, and then hit the ground running for qualifying scores early next year. Thank goodness I’m only 2 hours from Aiken.

So that’s the goal and the plan to get there. Now we’ll see if my horse cooperates!