Lindsay + Oslo at NAJYRC 2010

Freestyle Test

2010-08-05T15:13:00.001-06:00

Here is the Freestyle for you all to see!

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-05T12:37:00.001-06:00

Oslo and I arrived safely last night, August 4th. We are both glad to be home and it was especially nice to sleep in our own beds!

Thank you so much to everyone again who made our trip possible. It was a great experience and I learned so much! I also met so many new people and expanded on relationships with past friends.

Once again, I will be making a slideshow presentation with pictures and information regarding our trip. I will likely be making presentations to the Alberta Dressage Associations, but if anyone else is interested in seeing all the pictures and hearing more about the trip, I am more than willing to make additional presentations.

Also, I received an email from a person, Jeff, who met us on our trip down to Kentucky. His daugther Maddux got a chance to pet Oslo and he asked if we had gotten any pictures. Therefore, I am posting a picture of Maddux with Oslo since it was definitely a moment to remember from the trip!

Maddux and Oslo!

Thanks everyone so much for all your encouragement and contributions!

Homeward Bound!

2010-08-02T21:36:00.002-06:00

We left the Kentucky Horse park last night (Sunday) just after closing ceremonies around 6:30 pm. We only travelled for just over three hours to Indianapolis to get the horses warmed up for the trip back and get Oslo into a pen for the night. As soon as Oslo saw his pen last night he went straight to the dirt and rolled until his heart was content. He then proceed to jump straight up in the air after getting up from his most amazing roll, and took off bucking across the pen! It was nice to see him so happy and free again.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I had the wonderful priviledge of meeting Willy Arts before I rode my Freestyle. I was even more lucky to have dinner with him and a bunch of other Canadians Saturday night after the freestyles. He told me that I have a pretty darn nice horse and I couldn't agree with him more! And for those of you who don't know who Willy Arts is, he is one of, or perhaps, THE best Warmblood breeder in North America. He is also a fan of Contangos!!! It was very exciting to meet him!

At closing ceremonies we got to hear how the rest of the Canadians faired in the different disciplines. Perhaps the most proud moment for us Canadians was when they presented the Individual medals to the reining competitors - Bronze, Silver, and Gold went to ALL CANADIANS!!! Go reiners! It was pretty exciting to see that all three flags being raised were red and white. We also won show jumping Junior Individual Gold medal and Jaimie Holland won Gold in the Freestyle. Megan Lane won Bronze, and Esmee Ingham also won Bronze.

We have stopped for the night now on the west side of Minneapolis and will proceed back to good old Canada tomorrow!!! Yippee! We are all very excited to get away from the classic "y'all" talk of the Americans and the humidity! The humidity really adds a different element to the heat and makes everything sticky! We will then stop in southern Saskatchewan for the night and make the final leg of the trip home on Wednesday.

Here are a few more pictures from the trip:

The view of the stadium from the south - where we had to walk by to get to the warm-up ring

The stadium

Santana and I warming up in our "team practice time" in the ring on Tuesday before the competition started. Tom Dvorak is the coach standing at the gate and my mother and Albrecht are in the background. Our time in the ring was at 2:00pm, so mom spent most of her time in the judges tent so she didn't "melt"!

Oslo and I with "Walt" from Lube-X on our saddle pad on our warm-up day

Once we get home we will also post my Freestyle up on the blog so everyone can view it.

Goodnight for now!

Freestyle Day

2010-08-01T17:11:00.000-06:00

Saturday evening at 6:36 pm I rode my Young Rider Freestyle. Oslo was the most calm he had ever been on the walk over to the warm-up ring and as nothing changed as we rode down to the show ring. This was the first day that Oslo felt completely rideable and listening to me since we have arrived. Consequently, we had an amazing freestyle and ended up with a score of 69.600%! I was soooooo happy with Oslo. Since we were the fifth ride in, we retained the lead until the last 5 riders went. Unfortunately, the last five riders were the top five riders from the Individual test (where I should have been, but I am not even going to start that again!) and in the end we finished in Fifth place. I am still uuber happy with that and I am still very thrilled with how Oslo felt. Both him and I were feeling very comfortable and confident in that show ring and we had a very great ride! The awards ceremony was a different story and I am not sure if Oslo was just not happy with his pink ribbon or what, but it was a bit caotic!

I also want to tahnk everyone who came up to me afterwards and commented on how good our freestyle was. We had a bunch of comments on how great our music was and that we had the best choreography and timing of everyone. So thank you guys! Comments such as those make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! And for you that were not there, we have it on video - I just hope the quality is ok since papa was saying he starting shaking half way through because he got so nervous since it was going so well! Aww, I love you papa!

I have to go now since the computer is running out of battery..... I will post another soon though!

July 30th - Young Rider Day Off

2010-07-30T08:43:00.000-06:00

I had a fairly good sleep last night until I woke up early this morning riding that extended canter in my mind over and over and over again. I do feel better today though, and I thought that yes, I have shown a ton and should not have made that mistake, but also, I have shown a ton and should know that things are never perfect in the dressage ring and things happen! Therefore, I know I will not be able to forget that error, but as much as I can I am directing all my attention to our Freestyle on Sat. I have already been listening to our music a number of times this morning, and am feeling excited to ride it saturday night!

The Juniors are riding their Individual test today. I wish the B.C. girls the best of luck and feel more medals coming on for them!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days. I really wish I could post all of them, but the lack of proper internet connection at the campground limits the uploading capability.

Oslo displaying his Fifth place team ribbon!

Erika, Santana, myself and our Chef D'Equipe, Leslie Steele at the Opening Ceremonies

Our once around before the Team test

The weather this morning was cool this morning and I was wearing a sweater for the first time since we have arrived! Once again though it has started to warm up and should be somewhere in the 30 degree Celsius range again today. We have only had a couple of thunderstorms during the middle of the days, but no one has had the luxury of riding in the rain yet! The best time to ride here is either first thing in the morning, late at night, or while it is raining! The humidity is also a killer here. Even when the sun is not beating down on you, the humidity causes you to be constantly sweating. We have all gotten used to it though, and we don't feel the need to have showers anymore! Just kidding, a nice long shower is a neccessity at the end of the day, but you just need to be prepared to be sweating immediately again after you get out of the shower! With the combination of the humidity and heat, you can't win.

Oslo has really seemed to relax and might even appreciate his stall now that he realizes it is far too hot outside in the afternoon. It does make me sad though to see his dissapointed face everyone time I take hime to the puny grazing area within the FEI Secure Stabiling area. I made sure to take him out as many times at the beginning, once they had just put up the fence, so he could eat the clover. Unfortunately, now the clover is pretty much all eaten (I am pretty sure Oslo got most of it since lots of the horses here don't seem to get grazing time very often or for very long), and Oslo just walks straight to the other side of the fence to hope that one of these times the fence is down and he can reach the luscious clover on the other side. =( The good news is that he now enjoys returning to his stall to chow down on his yummy hay. We have been a bit worried about him getting dehydrated since he hasn't been drinking a lot, but we had the vet check him out and he is not showing any signs of clinicial dehydration. We are constantly monitoring him though and may need to get fluids pumped into him at some point before we ride tomorrow. Esmee's horse had 30 litres of water put into him yesterday since he was being lathargic and the FEI vet suspected he was dehydrated. The FEI vet will not administer fluids unless the horse is displaying dehydration symptons due to the risk associated with the administration from the catheter being in the horse's neck for about 2-4 hours (the time it takes to put 30 litres in a horse).

We are off to cheer on the Juniors and maybe catch come reining as well!

I hope all is well at home with everyone!

Hindsight is 20/20

2010-07-29T17:06:00.000-06:00

Well, for any of you who know me well, and realize how much pressure I put on myself and how competitive I am, will understand how hard this post is going to be for me to write.

I finished in 12th place today, so starting off with the good news: I will be riding the Freestyle on Saturday evening. Now, the bad news: I should have been in the top five. =( I made a gigantic rider error and tried to correct a change at the end of my canter extension instead of just continuing on with the canter even though he changed early. Ahhhh, it still drives me crazy to think about it again!! My score was 65.158% . BUT, I need to try and stay positive and will set our goals high on the Freestyle!

Other good news: Jaimie Holland won Bronze and Megan Lane won Silver. Both are from Ontario.

Tomorrow is our day off so I will try and upload some more photos and write a better post once I have relaxed and thought about things a bit more!

Team Test Day

2010-07-28T19:41:00.001-06:00

Team East/West Young Riders: 5th place (pretty pink ribbon)
Team B.C. Juniors: Gold Medal!!!!!!! Congrats Sylvie, Esmee, and Monica!
Team Ontario Young Riders: Silver
Team Ontario Juniors: 4th place

Today was the day of the Team test and I rode at 1:04pm, the 31st rider in out of 36. It was super hot so we only had about a twenty minute warm-up and as soon as we got back to the barn the saddle came flying off and my great papa alternated between walking and cold hosing Oslo down. Oslo felt great in the warm-up but unfortunately got a bit tense when we started our once around the show ring. He got a bit away from me and consequently our first centre line included extra canter out of the halt. I felt he was not completely on my half halt so I rode the first medium trot very conservative. But, everything came together a bit more in the lateral work and Oslo's hottness added some extra cadence in the trot half passes (still only got 7s on them, which surprised a lot of people, but we will try for even better tomorrow!). The rest of the test was quite good and even his walk was very good for him. As Albrecht said, "that was the best walk I have ever seen him do!" So it was a relief to still have a walk even with the tense we had in the ring. Thank you Oslo! We did have one minor bobble in our three tempis. The first change Oslo took over a bit and for some reason changed behind slightly early. Totally caught me off guard and I couldn't answer Albrecht when he asked "what happened in the threes?" My best coach ever/mother though suggested he just got a bit away from my seat and behind my leg, causing the late change. The extra tension just makes the ride a bit more tricky, especially to keep him supple and in front of the leg. On the other hand, the extra hottness made for some awesome stuff and our final score was a 66.100% putting us in SIXTH place overall!

Santana had a pretty good ride this morning and ended with a score around 63%. Erika had the trouble of dealing with a tired horse and unfortunately only ended up with about a 61%, but she is planning for a ten minute warm-up tomorrow to try and conserve her mare's energy!

All the juniors from B.C. had terrific rides, definitively earning them the Gold Medal. Awesome job girls! It looks as if Esmee and Monica are both in the running for individual medals as well.

Tomorrow morning the Young Riders ride the Individual test, starting at 7:00 am. I am the tenth rider from the end, making my riding time 11:26 am. They go in reverse order of the placings in the team test, except that they group everyone in groups of five and then draw those randomly. So since I was sixth, I was put in the second last group of five and then I was drawn to be the first rider of that five, making me the tenth last rider to go. Hopefully it will not be as hot then, but I have a feeling it will still be a little too warm.

It has been a long, hot day so I am going to bed for some much needed sleep. The young riders website is very fast at uploading scores, so if you are interested, check them out tomorrow morning at http://www.youngriders.org/.

Thats all for now and I hope to be able to report back tomorrow with some good news about the individual test!

The day of the Jog......

2010-07-27T18:42:00.000-06:00

Firstly I need to apologize for not posting something for a couple of days. Things have been really busy here and any free time I have I try to take Oslo for a walk and some grazing before the security fences go up.

So, today was eventful and unfortunately there were some tears involved. Our team member from Quebec, Anne Mylaine, and her horse Marzipan, did not pass the jog. She had the chance to re-jog tomorrow morning, but after the vet looked at her horse they found some swelling on a tendon in the front leg. Therefore, she will not be re-jogging or competing and our across Canada team is down to three members. This means that our team will not have a score that can be dropped when tabulating the total team scores. This is so unfortunate in every way and we feel very sorry for Anne and hope that Marzipan can make a full recovery and she can compete in the next two years of her eligibility.

All Canadian team members did have the red hair buns on for the jog, sponsored by the Dressage Boutique, and they looked great! The plan was to get pictures of the team after the jog, but the weather didn't cooperate and we barely missed doing the jog in the pooring rain. The jog was actually bumped up to avoid the huge thunderstorm looming in the distance. We had to stand in the rain for a bit but fortunately we missed the pouring rain. We have decided it is either really hot and humid or pouring rain from a thunderstorm here!

The Easterners arrived yesterday, Monday, so Erika and I met Santana, the other girl on our team. She is from Nova Scotia and is a good addition to our team!

We got to ride in the stadium today where we will be riding our tests. It is an electric atmosphere and just the ten minute walk from the barns over there gets Oslo wound up. At first he was super hot, very tense, and wouldn't walk. Eventually he settled a little though and let me supple him, increasing the relaxation. He does seem more calm this year overall and also more focused on me. Therefore, at this point I think as long as I stay calm and keep his attention (and nothing crazy happens while we are in the ring!) we should be able to lay down a fairly good test. Unfortunately though, I can never completely know what is going to set Oslo off and can still lose his attention at times. Therefore, I am not as confident as I could be, but I also know that our partnership is stronger than ever and that if I ride well, his hottness will be an advantage for us. Fingers crossed!!

Ride times for tomorrow morning will be posted this evening and I have been placed as the anchor rider for the team! I am very excited about this privilege, but also wondering if this will make me a bit more nervous tomorrow.

All the security fence has been put up around the barns now and we all need photo idea to get into the barns. After hours we also have to sign in and out. This is quite sucky for Oslo and I since we cannot hand walk outside the fence without a special time being arranged with our chef d'equipe and a steward. This means that Oslo's time in a stall is kept at a maximum unfortunately. I will be hand walking him between the barns a ton though and hopefully they will have a nice grazing area available for when we can get times to go outside.

The dressage schedule is Young Riders and Juniors compete in the team test tomorrow morning starting at 7:30am. Thursday morning starting at 7:00am the Young Riders compete in the Individual and the Juniors ride the Individual at 7:00am on Friday. The Freestyle is on Saturday for both groups and only the top 15 riders from the Individual test get to compete in the Freestyle.

That is all for now, and live results can be found at youngriders.org! I will try and post the results at some point tomorrow as well and let you in on the inside scoop of how all the tests went!

Good night!

The stadium where we ride our tests

Oslo and I on Sunday when we rode with Albrecht

Kentucky Day 2 - July 24

2010-07-24T20:28:00.000-06:00

Oslo spent last night outside in his paddock beside the largest horse in the world! The horse, we call him "Tiny", stands a whopping 19 3/4 hh!!!! He is taller than dad and his head is almost as large as Oslo! He is a nice quiet buddy for Oslo during the cooler evenings.

It was 35 degrees Celsius here again today so Oslo spent the afternoon getting more used to his stall since it was too hot to be outside in the afternoon. He is beginning to settle down more and we had a nice long walk today past the water fountains and right near the stadium where we will likely be competing. I also had a good ride on him this morning on the amazing "Otto" footing - this is supposed to be some of the best footing in the world for riding arenas, dressage and jumping. Oslo was a bit nervous and tight at first, but we went really slow and did only stretching. We will see how is tomorrow but we are likely going to give him the day off and just take him for a long trail ride around the park. Monday we will have a full ride and have Albrecht Heidemann help us out. He will be here for the duration of the show and help warm us up on the competition days. He is coaching a couple of the other girls as well.

It has been really nice to get to know the girls from B.C. more and Megan Lane from Ontario. Megan's horse is out of the same stallion as Oslo, Contango, so we both find that exciting!

None horsey related items of interest: Lientje has learned to ride in the basket on mom's bike. She looks absolutely adorable in the front just sticking her head out!
The campground at the park is insane and the people go crazy decorating there RVs, gigantic motorhomes, and trailers with patio lanterns, streamers, flashing lights, and signs. Camping like this is fairly new to us and most of these "campers" have re-written the definition of camping! It has been fun though to be camping with some of the other girls on the team and we often have "campfire parties"! Yes, we are that cool!

Back to horsey stuff! The rest of the Canadians are supposed to be arriving tomorrow evening or first thing Monday morning. More and more horses keep arriving on a daily basis from across the North America. Yesterday we learned that there is a least one Mexican dressage competitor this year! Last year there were only Mexican Jumpers. The two young riders I met while in California are also here with their horses. It also took them four days to get here.

It is already pitch black here and I don't think it is healthy to be staring at my bright computer screen for too much longer, so I am saying goodnight and heading to bed!

Arrival at the Kentucky Horse Park - July 23

2010-07-23T20:49:00.002-06:00

We finally arrived today at the park! It is very, very hot and humid. Today was a super short travel day since it only took us just over three hours to get from Indianapolis to the park, which is just outside of Lexington. As Janine said "we travelled through 3 states in 10 minutes today". We left Indiana to quickly jog around Cincinnati in Ohio, and then into Kentucky. Some of the biggest highways we have ever driven on are on the detour around Cincinnati! Luckily, these highways were flowing smoothly this year and not parking lots like they were last year. So much traffic though. It really is incredible to see 12 - 16 lanes of traffic filled with cars going 75 miles an hour!

Our quick trip through the state of Ohio took us over the gigantic Ohio river and this spectacular bridge!

We were met by Monica Houwelling (B.C. Junior), Erika Urff (Our team!), Megan Lane (Ontario Junior) and Esmee Ingram (B.C. Junior). They have already done a good job of decorating most of the stalls in Canadian paraphanalia! I will make sure to take pictures of this once the decorating is complete!

We are staying in the living quarters of our horse trailer at the Kentucky Horse Park. It is a short (but not short enough!) bike ride to the stables from our trailer and the camp ground is really nice. Monica and her mother are also camping and we spent the evening with the rest of the westerners at their campsite.

Some of the classic white fences at the Horse Park

I will be riding Olso first thing tomorrow morning since it is supposed to be 35 degrees Celcius tomorrow again. I hope to be on around 7 o'clock, 5 o'clock at home! Tomorrow will only be a stretchy ride and lots of hacking to help get him used to the facility. He has already been very looky and a bit nervous due to all the stuff going on here. He is in his paddock for the night though and he seems to be settled in there. He isn't a fan of the stall right now, but I am hoping he will appreciate it tomorrow afternoon!

I better be off to bed now if I even have a chance of being up early enough tomorrow!
More pictures and comments to come tomorrow. Good night for now =)

Travel Day 3 - July 22

2010-07-23T20:31:00.001-06:00

This was our last long day of travelling. First we hit a monsoon once we got to Wisconsin. It poured rain with high winds for about 200 miles. It made the driving a bit trecherous and slow, but once we hit Illinois things cleared and it became quite hot again. Illinois also introduced us to our first toll road. Almost all the roads in Illinois are toll roads, which makes for really nice roads to drive on! But, when you aren't on a toll road, it is similar to driving on the roads in Saskatchewan! Not nice at all.

We stopped just outside of Indianapolis for the night at our favourite Horse Motel - Cuttin' Up Stables. Mom and I are always fascinated by the amount of fire flys there! It was very humid and hot though. Tango got particularly sweaty in his stall overnight. Oslo was lucky enough to have a pen outside for the night so he stayed much cooler, but he did have to sleep with some bugs. We made sure he was equiped with his fly sheet though, and the bugs were not nearly as bad as they were at home. Although, in the morning we discovered some horse flys that had to have been on steroids. Insanely huge!

Oslo's fatty playmate (pawing/hoofing me in the head!)

We slept in the next morning since we had lost another hour on the road and are now on Kentucky time (2 hours ahead). Plus, we only had just over three hours to the Kentucky Horse Park the next day.

Travel Day 2 - July 21

2010-07-21T20:51:00.000-06:00

We crossed over into North Dakota, USA first thing this morning. The crossing went quickly and Customs and Border Protection staff were very nice. Unfortunately, they did confiscate Lientje for a short while, but she was eventually returned! The ladies at the office just thought she was too cute to let through!

The horses travelled fairly well again today, but it started to get quite hot once we passed into Minnesota. Therefore, by the time we stopped for the night outside of Minneapolis, both horses were sweaty and a little anxious to get out of the warm trailers. Oslo is enjoying the night outside tonight though, and Tango is in a stall covered with vet wrap! Janine and Sylvie had to vet wrap a few sides and edges of the stall to prevent Tango from hurting himself on some of the sharper edges.

At one of the rest stops in Minnesota we took Oslo out of the trailer and let him graze in the "pet exercise area". A woman walked by with her dog and said "your pet is so much larger than my pet!" =) Yes, yes indeed he is. Oslo also received some attention from two young city girls (wearing horsey shirts) at the rest stop. They were in total awe of his size and prescense!

The only eventful item today was that mother got us lost due to her eligible writing (or her eyes!). We were supposed to turn on "Nader" Street, not "Nelson" Street. We eventually stopped and were able to decipher the words. The detour only cost us a short 15, or 20 minutes. Definitely have had worse!

We have heard of some news that two girls' horses travelling from B.C. have been stranded ten hours from Kentucky with a commercial hauler. Truck problems. No word on what exactly the problem is, but hopefully they get things worked out and back on the road soon.

That is all for now. Sorry I don't have any pictures from today. I promise though that there will be lots to come once we get to the Horse Park!

Good night!

Travel Day 1 - July 20th

2010-07-20T20:11:00.004-06:00

A rest stop in Roleau, Sask. Note the beautiful Saskatchewan sky!

Lientje at the same rest stop in Roleau, Sask.

We were off first thing this morning at six o'clock as planned. The day went smoothly and the only thing that occurred was that Oslo scraped his forehead on something in the trailer. It is not serious though, just a flesh wound that has left a bare spot on his forehead.

Our trip took us through Medicine Hat accross to the Trans Canada highway into Saskatchewan. On the Trans Canada highway just east of the Saskatchewan border the highway was washed out going west from all the rain they have had in the past few weeks. Luckily, the highway was only two lanes for a few kilometers and it didn't pose a problem. We have stopped for the night at a barn just north of Estevan called Tica Horses and Stables. It is a really nice place and Oslo and Tango are enjoying their large stalls. Both horses seem to be travelling well (knock on wood) and are happy to be resting for the night.

I think that is all for today! Fairly uneventful day, which is how we like travel days to be. Time for dinner now - mom is cooking!! She actually does a good job while we are camping for those of you wondering!

Tomorrow morning on the road again at six o'clock and we cross the border into North Dakota. We will lose an hour due to the time change. The plan is to reach Minneapolis and stay there for the night.

Twas The Night Before The Departure To Kentucky

2010-07-19T22:15:00.000-06:00

Eight hours and counting! The goal is to be on the road by six o'clock tomorrow morning. Sylvie Fraser and her coach Janine Little arrived this afternoon to join our convoy for the trip down to Kentucky. Sylvie is a Junior and will be part of the Western Canadian Junior Team. The horse she will be riding at the Championships is Tango. We will be driving separate truck and trailers due to Tango being a bit difficult to haul with other horses and to give everyone more space to store hay and shavings.

All members of the convoy include mom, papa, Lientje (the newest member of the family - mini dachshund puppy), Sylvie, Janine, and Oswald (Janine's taco bell dog. Not to be confused with Oslo!).

We plan to travel down to the Trans Canada highway and make our way over to Estevan, Saskatchewan. Estevan will be our first lay over and then Wednesday morning we will cross the border into North Dakota. Next stop Minneapolis, onward to Indianapolis (aren't the Americans original with their city names?!?!) for the third night. On the fourth day, Friday, July 23rd we hope to arrive in Lexington, Kentucky late afternoon.

I am very excited and will likely not sleep much tonight. That is alright though, the important ones that need sleep tonight are papa and Janine, the drivers, and the special guys, Oslo and Tango. This is a long road trip, but we stop approximately every four hours to let the horses rest and for papa to grab some cheezies. We stop at rest stops or big truck stops along the highways. We will often take Oslo out of the trailer for a while to eat some grass and stretch his legs if the rest stop is far enough from the highway. It is important to keep Oslo healthy and relaxed as much as possible. We also have Oslo on ulcer medicine this time for the duration of the trip to help prevent him from developing any uclers due to the stress of hauling and competition.

Before I leave to finish packing I want to specially thank all my sponsors, family, and friends for being so encouraging and helping me along on my journey. Oslo and I could have never made this far without you guys!!! We will do our best to make everyone back home proud! Here is a short note that some of my best friends wrote for me. I hope it brings as much inspiration to everyone back home as it did to me!

"Only as high as I reach can I grow.
Only as far as I seek can I go.
Only as deep as I look can I see.
Only as much as I dream can I be."

KENTUCKY HERE WE COME! =)

2010 Canadian NAJYRC Teams Announced

2010-07-07T22:01:00.000-06:00

Oslo and I once again have been given the opportunity to attend the North American Young Rider Dressage Championships in Lexington, Kentucky!

As of July 5th, Oslo and I have been placed on a East/West Young Rider Team! It is super exciting to be part of a team this year and it will be a great experience to be on a team with members from all across Canada. Our team members are Erika Urff from B.C., Anne-Mylaine Messier from Quebec, and Santana Rooyakers from Nova Scotia (she rides and trains in Ontario though with Tom Dvorak). There is one other Young Rider team and it is composed of all Ontario riders.

Our departure date is set for July 20th and the actual competition starts on July 28th.

Packing and stressing will fill the next couple of weeks, but I hope to keep everyone updated on our trip down and post pictures when possible.

Young Rider Freestyle and Junior Individual - Saturday, July 25th 2009

2009-07-26T07:57:00.004-06:00

This morning the Juniors ride their individual test. Sylvie had some very good moments to her test and she rode amazingly, but unfortunately Magic had some issues with his changes today and they ended with just over 60%. That didn`t put them in the top 15 though, so she will not be riding her freestyle :( Awesome riding though Sylvie!!!
Everything got backed up by an hour this morning due to a huge thunderstorm first thing in the morning. It was pouring rain along with thundering and lightning. Consequently, my ride time changed to 3:09. I was the second rider to go, after Annie-Pier and right before Jaimie Holland. Three Canadians right in a row!!!
Oslo was super hot today. The ring was spooky and the wind was blowing like crazy - all the trees had blowen over around the ring and the judges tents were in jeopardy! I was very impressed with Olso though, he maintained his composure in the ring and was mostly rideable. We had great trot work and an amazing left pirouette!!! We also got all of our changes, even though we had to put our three tempis in the corner since Oslo and I were having commmunication issues across the diagonal. We got them all in and clean at the end of the day though! That means all of our lines of changes were clean this week!!! =)
Once again we felt the judges scores were a bit weird, but overall I finished ninth. TOP 10!!!!!!!! I am SUPER happy with Olso, especially considering how crazy he was when we first got here. We actually suspect that he was dealing with an ulcer which can cause drastic temperment changes in a horse. So, I cannot be more grateful for Oslo letting me ride him in all three of our tests even with the change in frame, heat, and spooky atmosphere!
We are headed home tomorrow after the Junior Freestyles and closing cermonies. I know that both Oslo and I are very excited to return home after such an amazing experience! See you all soon =)

Individual Young Rider Test - Friday, July 24th 2009

2009-07-26T07:47:00.004-06:00

Today was the Individual test for the Young Riders. The order of go was determined by the reverse results of the team test so I was 18th to go. Oslo was much more relaxed today and he was very close to normal!!! Albrecht got me to ride him really high in the ring today in order to make sure his pole stays up. It was quite difficult and actually scary in the warm-up: "We are going to try something new today" Albrecht said at the beginning of warm-up! Wasn't quite sure if today was the day to be trying new things, but miswell go for it!
Our test was very good and I was super happy with Oslo. He was way more rideable today and we didn't have any major errors like in the Team test. Unfortunately, we ended up with only a slightly higher score though. So I was definitely frustrated and dissapointed with my score, but overall I was happy with Oslo and our performance. A number of people also commented on how they thought I should have gotten a better score and maybe even be in the top 10. I greatly appreciated this and it was nice to be acknowledged, especially after we felt a little robbed. At the end of the day Oslo and I ended up 14th, so it was all good since that meant we got to ride our freestyle!!! Woohoo!!!
The Juniors ride their individual test tomorrow morning and then the Young riders start the freestyles at 2:30 in the afternoon! It could be smokin' hot! Our ride time is at 2:39 - the hottest part of the day. It will be a short warm-up tomorrow!

Junior Team Test - Thursday, July 23rd 2009

2009-07-23T15:14:00.007-06:00

Today the Juniors rode their Team test. We were lucky with the weather today and that it wasn't raining! It was cloudy and overcast for most of the morning also making it not too hot for the riders. It is good it wasn't as hot as it has been since the combination with the heat can be brutal for riding. Sylvie and Magic had a very good test - nice and flowing and error free! Unfortunately the judges did not reward them (possible suspicions of the judges being racist to Magic for his Friesenness) and she ended up with a 60.5% and in 19th place. A number of people made the comment that she should have been scored much higher, including Albrecht saying she "was robbed" - sometimes this sport is so frustrating because it is a judged event. Overall, the Canada West team, consisting of Monica from B.C., Devon from B.C., Sylvie, and Arianna from Manitoba, received fifth place and the team from Ontario won the gold medal! Megan Lane actually won the class and Maura placed third. It looks like Canada has a very strong chance of medaling individually for the Juniors! Go Canada!!!
Tomorrow I ride at 10:36 am - Young Rider Individual Test. Oslo seems to be a bit more calm in his stall today, but he still gets very looky and energetic when you take him on walks. We don't walk him outside the barn area without a chain on now, because he just gets to freaked out and excited, making him impossible to lead. I just wish he had a bit more self confidence! You can do it Oslo!

NAJYRC Results at www.youngriders.org

2009-07-22T20:32:00.000-06:00

Team Test/PSG - Wednesday, July 22nd

2009-07-22T20:17:00.004-06:00

The 15 minute walk over to the warm-up ring from the barn was less eventful than we anticipated. We kept his attention for the duration, even past his favourite pond. The warm-up itself was a bit sketchy and he was not being very rideable. His nerves were getting to him again and I am sure mine were not helping either. Usually I don't get very nervous for shows, but since he had been acting so strange lately I was definitely feeling worried. Once we got in the 10 minute ring (a ring you get all to yourself 10 minutes before you ride) he started to concentrate and trust me a little bit more. Also, by that time my amazing coaches, mommy and Albrecht, had me more relaxed and loose. The combination allowed for us to obtain a 63.474% putting us in 13th place out of 30 riders. In our test we had two major errors, a change of lead in our left pirouette and a break to canter at the beginning of our one trot extension, along with a lot of tension. Overall, considering our mistakes, tension, and the pouring rain during our test, I was happy with our score and RELIEVED that he didn't explode! I still didn't have quite enough leg on in certain parts of the test, hence the mistakes, but I know for a fact that it is a lot easier to say "keep your leg on" on a hot and nervous horse than it actually is!
The Canada East Young Rider Team came fourth overall with Jaimie Holland scoring the highest of the Canadians with a 65.3%.
Tomorrow Oslo will have the day off and we will cheer on our Canadian Junior riders - GO SYLVIE and MAGIC!!! Hopefully Oslo continues to get used to his surroundings. The Horse Park is such a beautiful facility, it is just unfortunate there is so much stuff going on - construction (preparing for WEG next year, golf carts zipping around everywhere, nearby Interstate, horses runnning around in paddocks etc.). Oslo is just not used to this busy environment, but we are working on it.

The Jog - Tuesday, July 21st

2009-07-22T20:07:00.002-06:00

The Canadian riders rode first thing this morning at 8:00 am in the competition ring. I was super nervous for this because yesterday he had been unrideable. He was definitely more calm today but was still definitely "on the edge". He still prefers jogging to walking right now and at any moment he feels like he could explode. Often he is distracted by the large pond near the stadium and horses in fields in the distance. But, all in all he was way better today and I am feeling a little bit better but still very nervous about having to put a test together.
At 4:00 pm was the jog. All the Canadians went down together and Oslo and I were the second last of all the riders to jog. That meant standing around (or in Oslo's case, running and jogging around) for about half an hour till our turn. By the time it was our turn to jog, Oslo was in a lather from spinning in circles under the blazing hot sun. He seemed terrified of the interstate in the distance and some other mystery things. We proceeded to the jog and Oslo would not stand for the vet inspection before hand, nor stop looking out towards the highway. Next came the actual jog part and instead of jogging Oslo decided running would be better and instead of going in a straight line he decided to head towards me running us both out of the fenced area. Somehow the vets were able to see him trot well enough to pass him, but overall the experience was not a great one!
So once again, I am not very faithful about how things will go tomorrow. I ride at 10:52 am - 20th out of 30 riders.

Moving to the Kentucky Horse Park - Monday, July 20th

2009-07-22T19:59:00.002-06:00

Sylvie rode Magic early in the afternoon while I bathed Oslo before the 15 minute trip over to the park. We were moving the horses over today since we could walk around in the competition rings in the afternoon and the jog is tomorrow. Since we first arrived in Kentucky Oslo has been super calm and relaxed. Today things changed. He arrived at the horse park a different horse and was mentally very unstable. The plan was to hack him to the competition ring and walk him around a bit since today was supposed to be his day off, but Oslo was one big ball of nerves. He would not walk anywhere and was super hot in the ring - leaping, taking off outside the ring, and stopping and staring off into the nearby pond. Eventually we gave up and I jumped off and attempted to walk him back to his stall. He was so terrified of all his surroundings he was shaking once he got back to the stall. At this point we would never be able to make it through a test - hence my feeling of uneasiness now. I guess we will have to wait and see what the morning brings. All we can do at this point is hope he settles down.

Lexington - Saturday, July 18th

2009-07-18T20:27:00.003-06:00

This morning we took a tour of the Kentucky Horse Park on our bikes. It is so huge. Currently there is a Breyer event going on (yes, Breyer is those plastic horses!!) so there are tons of people and not getting hit on our bikes was a challenge! We toured all the rings, including the amazing footing from New York, and the stabling. It really is an amazing place and is kind of similar to Spruce Meadows. Not quite as large but you get a similar feeling.

Around eleven we went to the barn and Oslo and I had a great workout. It hasn't been that warm, low 20s, but the humidity got to both of us and at the end of the ride we were both fairly sweaty!!

The afternoon was filled with a quick shopping trip and lunch. Afterwards we got to watch the polo! Such an awesome game to watch in person. We learned so much about the rules with the help of Chelsea's blackberry. There are 6 Chukkas in a game, each 7 minutes long. Chukkas are like periods. At the end of each Chukkas they must switch ponies just because of the fitness demand of the game. And when they switch ponies, they just jump from one horse to another, no actual getting off and then getting onto the other. Also, there are four players on the field from each team at once and two refs who also ride ponies. It is a very physical sport with checking and hooking allowed! The ponies are usually a cross between quarter horses and thoroughbreds and the best ones usually come from Argentina. Oh, and at half time, the spectators all take to the field and fill in the divets made by the ponies ripping around! It was neat to see hundreds of people all stomping in the divets on the field!

Tomorrow I will ride Oslo again and then we will likely tour around Lexington for a while. In addition, the Ontario horses are supposed to be arriving tomorrow at the park so we will go greet them. Magic and Oslo don't move to the park until Monday though - they are enjoying there large field too much!

Lexington, KENTUCKY!

2009-07-17T20:42:00.002-06:00

Finally we have arrived! We were stuck in traffic for about an hour on the interstate, so it took us a little longer than expected, but the horses are in a huge field with Kentucky blue grass now and they are lovin' it!!! Both Oslo and Magic were running up and down the hills for a good half hour! Frolicking like no tomorrow!!! =)
It was fairly warm here today as well. We did have a bunch of rain when we were sitting in traffic, but once we hit Lexington it was warm and humid, around 30 degrees.
Once we got the horses settled at the beautiful stable (pictures to come) we got ourselves settled into the Kentucky Horse Park campground where we will be staying for a few nights until the actually show starts. It is absolutely beautiful here!!!
After dinner we went back to the barn and I had my first ride on Oslo since the trip. He felt amazingly good and wasn't even that stiff. He was pretty hot though (temperment wise) and definitely eager to go! Eventually he settled into the work and we had a very good stretchy ride. Tomorrow we will have a real workout in the morning and then try and catch some polo at the Kentucky Horse Park in the afternoon!

Travel Day 3 - Shirley, Indiana

2009-07-17T20:35:00.002-06:00

We successfully navigated the through Minneapolis this morning but had an extremely long day of driving to our destination on the east side of Indianapolis. We also had to travel around Indianapolis since we were coming from the west, but instead we decided to go through (and by decided I actually mean by accident!). It was neat though because we got to pass the big race track where they run the Indy 500!!! In addition, we passed through some "sketchy" areas of town, definitely on the wrong side of the tracks. Several houses were boarded up and people with their kids were riding in the boxes of their pick-up trucks! Anyways, eventually we made it to Cuttin-up Stables, our stop for the night, around 10:00 eastern time. It was a really long day, and the horses were very eager to get off the trailer. One more day of travel but it should be a short one - only about 3 hours to Lexington, Kentucky!

Travel Day 2 - Rogers, Minnesota

2009-07-17T20:30:00.002-06:00

We crossed the Saskatchewan border into North Dakota first thing this morning. The horses, my parents, and I all crossed with no issues. Chelsea, Janine, and Sylvie were a different story though. Since Sylvie is a minor and is not travelling with any of her family (Chelsea being the owner of the horse and Janine being her coach) the officers at the border were sure that she was being kidnapped! Each one was questioned individually and their car was searched. Once only apples and Janine's stash of bananas (not supposed to take fruit across the border) were found, they were all clear to go! This delay made for a slightly longer day though and we didn't get into Rogers, Minnesota until after 8:00 central time. The horses travelled well though and we only have one more long day!

Travel Day 1 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan

2009-07-14T21:43:00.002-06:00

We left first thing this morning and drove for about 12 hours. Both horses seem to be travelling well and they are now having a party at the Weyburn Agricultural Grounds where they have a nice large field to themselves. Magic was in a very playful mood and Oslo eventually joined him in some frolicking!
Unexpectedly, it has been quite cold and the horses are turned out with a cooler and their stable sheets since neither of us brought real blankets, thinking cold weather would NOT be an issue!

We will be crossing the border first thing tomorrow morning - hopefully we don't have too much of a delay.

We're back!

2009-07-08T10:31:00.006-06:00

Lindsay & Oslo will compete at the 2009 North American Young Riders Championships in Lexington, Kentucky.

We will depart Bluffton, AB on Tuesday July 14th and a Junior rider from B.C. will also be traveling with us - Sylvie Fraser riding Magic. It will be nice for Oslo to have a buddy in the trailer for the 3500 km trip down to Lexington, Kentucky!

Oslo and Lindsay will be going as individuals representing Canada at the Championships. There were only 6 Canadian Young riders who qualified, four of them being from Ontario, causing Equine Canada to have to make an Ontario team, leaving Lindsay and Olso, along with Annie-Pier from Quebec as individuals. It will still be an amazing experience though and representing Canada is always an honour!

Show updates and wrap-up

2007-08-07T10:35:00.001-06:00

Saturday morning was the Junior Individual test. We rode late in the morning when both Oslo and I thought it was way too hot. Oslo became very tired and unfortunately, I had to really hold him up through the test. Oslo kept his brain and gave a good effort allowing us to get all our right-to-left changes clean, which is our difficult change. Overall, we ended with a score of 65.2%. All the scores were so close in the top-15, with no scores over 70%. With our score of 65 we moved into 10th place which was a bit of a disappointment for us, but it meant that we got to ride our Freestyle on Sunday. Also, the judge Joan McCartney had me in the bronze medal position which made me smile after a hard day.

Saturday night was the top-15 Young Rider Freestyle. They were amazing to watch, and with one rider to go, Canada was sitting first, second and third. The anxiety of the Canadian crowd was huge. After the final ride, we waited for the scores to come up on the board and finally it came up 0.1% lower than Julie Watchorn, which was our Canadian in third! Canada had swept the Freestyle with Alex Duncan taking Gold, Leah Wilson taking Silver, and Julie winning Bronze.

Sunday morning I rode at 10:30 am and again it seemed way too hot, so we had only 15 minutes of warm-up. Oslo was getting tired of the whole showing situation, making him super-hot, or as mom likes to say, “a freak”. We knew though, that if we had too much warm-up, he would be even worse, so we took the chance of having a really short warm-up. We managed to hold everything together, but consequently had to ride a bit conservative. Overall, the test was fairly good, but since Oslo was not on my seat, we had one late change – and it’s usually his good one. At the end, we received a score of 68.3%, which was 0.6% from Bronze, putting us in 6th place overall. Everyone loved our music, with the stingy judges giving us no less than a 7 on music and Gary Rockwell even giving us an 8!

The closing ceremonies were amazing and a very memorable moment. Our Junior Team got to stand on the podium and received our Gold Medal along with a beautiful cooler. We even got to sing our Canadian anthem. It was totally spectacular.

Canada also did very well in eventing and show jumping, receiving Team Bronze in eventing, Team Silver in show jumping, Individual Gold in eventing and Individual Silver in show jumping. Therefore, I think it’s time the North American show came to Canada!

We’re on our way home now and Oslo is very excited to get back into his field.

Canadian Junior Team Wins GOLD!!!!

2007-08-02T19:00:00.001-06:00

With all 4 members of the Canadian Junior team finishing in the top eight individually, we will be bringing home the gold medals!!! We ended up with a team score of 204 and Region 2 from the United States got silver with a score of 201. Jade had the top score with a 69% for the squad. Jamie beat her pesonal best by 4% receiving a 67% and Sara had a flawless, perfect ride getting a 66.9%. Oslo and I did not have such a great ride because of a couple of errors in the rein back, and one late flying change. Also we unfortunately rode second in the morning at 8:08 in the morning (I was first up for team Canada) and Oslo was slightly distracted by the event riders riding up and down the hill beside the arena. COnsequently, Oslo was inattentive in the counter canter, causing us to change in the canter. We recovered quickly, but of course we still received a 4. In the middle of the test, Albrecht ran over and started yelling at the eventers and Tom Dvorak snapped on the steward afterwards - they ropped off that area immediately afterwards! We still received a score of 66.75% and our trot work was very good, so we were happy. Also, Canada was sitting individually 1st, 2nd, and 3rd until many of the anchor riders rode!!! The Americans didn't know what to think!!

The Young Rider teams also did very well. The Coast to Coast Canadian team ended up missing the bronze by 0.04 of a %. Also, the Ontario team got fifth. Everyone had very good rides as well.

2007-08-01T10:54:00.000-06:00

Successful Jog

2007-07-31T20:09:00.000-06:00

The entire Canadian team successful passed the jog. We also got to ride in the competition ring today. There was scheduled times for all the teams to ride in the ring. Therefore, there was four of us in the ring at once for a total of 20 minutes.

The order of go was picked for the Canadian teams by our chef d'equip, placing me first to go for the Junior team!!! Then the order of of go for the different teams was chosen by the ground jury by drawing the teams out of a hat. As a result, Canada was drawn second, placing me second to ride the Junior team test at 8:08 in the morning on Thursday morning. Jamie rides second, Sara rides third and Jade rides last for the team. There is a total of 35 Junior riders.

Tomorrow the Young riders start riding at 8:00 in the morning, but our first Canadian goes at 8:45. There is 45 Young riders in total. I am very excited to watch the Young Riders, and we also plan to watch some of the Canadian jumpers as well.

It has been getting quite hot here, around 90 degrees farenheit, and it is expected to get hotter!

Arriving at the Lexington Horse Centre

2007-07-30T20:27:00.001-06:00

After a couple more down time days at Fancy Hill Farm, Oslo and I have arrived at the Lexington Horse Centre about 15 minutes from Fancy Hill farm. After being in a turnout for the last few days, Oslo had shell shock when he was restricted to his concrete stall (everyone on the team has been calling it the horse penitentiary). After a workout in the large indoor arena and a long walk, Oslo has begun to settle in, but is still a bit of a nervous wreck at times. Hopefully he will continue to relax.

Lexington Horse Centre is HUGE. It has about 10 huge barns and then over 15 competition rings. The only thing that is not very nice is the fact that it is all pavement, hardly any grazing:(

I have met all the Young Riders now and the last member of the Junior team - Jamie (Tom Dvorak's student). We have decorated our alleyway with everything you can possibley think of that is covered with maple leafs or the word Canada. We have balloons, flags on the cars, golf carts, and stalls, towels, beach balls, and even water toys!! Decorating was a riot! Gillian Southerland has also arrived (she coaches the Young Rider Danielle McKinnon). We met Gillian in Ottawa last year and I totally love her. She is so much fun, down to earth, and encouraging. She is an amazing rider herself, missing the Pan Am Games do to an unfortunate circumstance. Hopefully though we will see her on the Canadian team at the next Olympics!

Tomorrow is the opening ceremonies and the dreaded jog. No matter how sound you think your horse is, your heart is still in throat as you approach the vet for the jog. Hopefully all will go well for the Canadian team. We also have specific jackets and scatfs we have to wear for the jog so we all look like a team. Oslo and I are the 4th ones to jog for the Juniors, with the other three of our team members going before.

We all have bright green wrist bands that we have to wear to get into the barns, and only 2 people from each team are allowed to be in the barn between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am (when the barns are technically closed). Today we also got a bunch of clothing and promotion items from the Canadian team sponsors, such as a cooler for Oslo, a young rider jacket, shirt, hats, etc. Dad thought we should have gotten a few tanks of diesel instead!!

Getting Oriented

2007-07-26T20:51:00.000-06:00

After having a rest in his field, Oslo and I rode later in the afternoon in the outdoor arena which consisted of orangy/redish sand. We did light stretching and then went on a trail ride through the rolling hills (around the cross country course) with Alex and Elektra. The scenery is amazing!

The weather has been easy on us so far, with temperatures being cooler than normal for this time of year. Yesterday and early this morning it was cloudy and not too warm. Later on in the afternoon it started to get warmer though with the temperature rising to 86 degrees Farenheit. The humidity is also crazy here, making it seem way more hot than it really is. Last year though the temperature was in the 100s though, so I am not going to complain too much.

We also met Leah Wilson, her mother, and the owner of the horse Leah rides - West Side Lady. Leah is on the Canadian Young Rider team. They were completely amazed that Oslo lives entirely outside all year round (and doesn't come in at night) in a 5 acre field. I can see why they were amazed though, since West Side Lady hasn't been turned out for 4 years. 4 YEARS!!!! At one point they asked mom "how do you find Oslo in such a big pasture?" We had to respond by laughing!

Everyone has been super friendly and we look forward to meeting some more of the Canadian team tomorrow.

Finally we've arrived!!

2007-07-25T21:17:00.000-06:00

After 4 very long days and miles of construction we have all arrived safely. Every night we stopped at a farm where Oslo could stretch his legs every night. We drove through some beautiful country and some not so beautiful. The highlights of the drive where definitely stopping at Dog River (from the show Corner Gas) in Sask., driving through Wisconsin, and passing over the Blue Ridge Mountains between West Virignia and Virginia. Negatives were driving through Chicago(with the combination of about 10 toll booths and construction, is was a riot), accidentally driving through Charleston (Dad got to practice his shifting) and then finally getting on the right road in West Virginia to only get stopped because of an accident and having to turn around. Oslo travelled fairly well though and is enjoying his huge pasture at Fancy Hill Farm. Oslo will enjoy one day of rest and then we will start riding on Friday when the rest of the Canadian team is expected to arrive from Ontario.

We have met Sara Regehr (and Danika) from Vernon, B.C., one of the other members of the Canadian Junior team. Also, we met Alex Duncan (and Elektra), a Young Rider, and her mother, Christina, filled us in with all the information about the show and some important gossip (you know how the dressage world is!)!!!!

2007-07-12T12:58:00.000-06:00

We qualified!

2007-07-12T12:33:00.001-06:00

Lindsay & Oslo qualified for the 2007 North American Young Rider Championships, to be held in Lexington, Virgina, July 31 - August 5.

We will be leaving Bluffton on Sunday, July 22, with reserved overnight stays for Oslo in Estevan, SK (where we will cross the border the following day), Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and arriving at Fancy Hill Farm the evening of July 25. Oslo will rest and acclimatize at Fancy Hill Farm for 4 days before we move to Virginia Horse Centre, just outside of Lexington.

We'll keep you all posted along the way!