April 2009, Manny at Twin Rivers International Horse Trials

Sara writes: Last week was the event at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles CA. This is a beautiful event with wonderful courses. My dad and I had 5 horses between us, so we were planning for a busy week.

Twin Rivers is a 2 day drive for us. We overnight in Bishop, CA at a lovely fairgrounds. The horses all traveled well and the trip was uneventful.

The wind was howling when we arrived at the Ranch and we saw riders out hacking and they were wearing goggles to protect their eyes from the blowing sand. I was prepared for a fast trip to Walmart if the wind didn't subside. The wind did stop and the tempurature climbed into the 90s for the rest of the week. The horses didn't seem to notice the weather change and we all had some good schools before the show started.

Manny is very new to eventing and really even to being outside of an arena. I was looking forward to seeing how he would handle the atmosphere of a big event. I would say, for a newby, that he handled the dressage warmup well, almost too well, as one of the judge's remarks was "a little lazy at times". Overall the test was even and steady and focused. I was very pleased that he was so professional.

Show jumping was next for us. He got scared once in warm up when another horse nearly ran into us. I just jumped a couple of fences and then walked around until our turn. I made sure than Manny got a quick tour of the course after the bell, but before we crossed the start line. There were a few themed jumps that he had never seen before and I wanted him to take a look before he had to actually jump over them. He did pull one rail, but for the most part he held a good steady rhythm and was confident around the course.

Cross country was going to be the biggest test. He did not like the little kids bombing around warm on their little ponies. That really on edge. He started on course not really "on course" in his brain. It took a bit of encouragement on my part get him going. He learned as we went and got into a flow, until we got to the water, when he went into neutral and stood staring at his reflection in the water. I finally back him into the water and then he just stood there. He finally got going again and finished the course. He had a very good school and when all was said and done I think he felt like he had done something special.

We are home now for about a month. I have several schooling opportunities planned for him and an unrec. event derby. He will be a much more experience horse when he leaves the start box at our next event.