AEC

Michelle Donlick & Avalo Farm

Natural Eventing & Performance

American Eventing Championships
Chicago, Illinois

Babe and Michelle 11th Place
Preliminary Horse Division
September 2009

AEC here we come! We left Wagener with a very full load, Kelly generously packing us all in and driving her rig, Me with horses Babe in the Preliminary Div. and Cindee Novice Horse Div Nicola (Kelly's working student) with Hocus Pocus AKA "Maggie in the Novice Amatuer Div. and Ashley Wilson (one of Avalo's students as my groom). Oh! And we can't forget Scout the infamous Jack Russell -Kelly's girl and Biscuit, Nicola's hound both taking up most of the back seat!

After a long drive to Chicago we arrived safe and sound. We stayed en route at a friend's racing stable in KY and slept in the trailer. The horses had stalls that they felt quite claustrophobic in and we were glad they didn't stay too long. It was all cemented from ground up and they could not see each other at all. Maggie is so athletic she was able to stand on her hind legs and put her nose just over the top of the blocks to see Babe in the next stall!

The grounds at AEC were immaculately groomed and buzzing with excitement. Vendors with too much great tack and supplies were everywhere. The horses unloaded and settled in like pros and Nicola and I got our packets while Ashley and Kelly got the horses set up. I rode Babe and Cindee to loosen them up and prepare Babe for his test the next day. Nicola, Kelly's working student, took maggie out for a ride as well. After all this we were tired, Kelly and Nicola stayed in Kelly's delightful LQ and Ashley and I were commuting back and forth with the use of Kelly's truck. It was beautiful weather the whole time. We perused the vendors, bought a few thins on sale,
looked at pics and videos or ourselves, had a few great meals and visited with new and old friends. Fia came to visit and watch for 2 days and was thrilled to see Babe's progress over the past 2 years as well as my dressage seat improving (yeah - it's about time - thanks Linda Parelli and Karen O' Connor!) I met Fia at one of the Fluidity courses I took two years ago while at the ISC in FL and we have been friends ever since.

Babe practicing Dressage the night before competition

Dressage: Babe had Dressage early this day and was ready to go. He was calm, motivated and attentive. He was 2nd last to go out of 38 and he went in confident and ready to knock everyone's socks off! And, he did!!Babe's halts were square, he was packaged together superbly and very accurate and bursting with contained energy. He had nice lengthen trots, lovely ha;f 10m circle back to a counter canter both directions after a powerful lengthen canter both directions.We had a the best test he had ever had with a score of 30.4 and ended up tied for 4th with Olympian Leslie law and only .4 behind famous eventer Phillip Dutton! Lori Reed announced the scores to us via the internet before the show grounds even notified us!! We walked the XC course that afternoon with Phillip Dutton advising opitons and strategies for preparation for the next days challenging cross country ride.

Cross Country: There were three skinnies with each getting narrower. The first skinny was after a water complex. We planned to show jump canter two angled steeplechase type fences at a two stride, continue on to a 90* right hand turn to the water complex A drop over a rolltop into the water, out onto dry ground again and over another rolltop with six strides to the first skinny, the widest of all three. Babe handled the steeplechase fences coming from a nice gallop back to a good SJ speed, a bit sketchy over the 2nd angle fence but confidently onto the water and over the first rolltop drop, slick footing
around the turn and we had to sit back. Over the 2nd rolltop and a bit close to the skinny but no problem! Over a coop, trakhener and another coop
to an awesome ride up a bank -bounce-half roll-top drop and Babe
had amazing form through it all, pushing so powerfully
and athletically with his hind legs into the bounce.

Next was a very coffin combo - a large dark brown barrel jump, one stride to the ditch, and then one stride to a narrower skinny. Babe was extremely bold, but I really kept my focus forward and hands a little wider. A few jumps in between top the next water complex, a left hand turn to a two stride combo of two rather large white roll tops, the second dropping into the water and 5 strides to a corner right through the water! This we had never done before, and I think I walked the striding through here a lot so I could plan a successful route.It went amazingly well with Babe once again bold, forward and confident. ending up the course on a sharp left turn this time and a beautiful lead change from right to left was a upright ramp and four strides to the skinniest skinny and it was perfect!

After a few more jumps to the finish line, we had a cold drink (water) loosened the girth and headed back to the stable. We ended up having 5.2 time seconds over time causing us to drop to 11th place going into stadium. We have been working on increasing our speed with confidence (and accuracy of time strategy on my part). It was a slick wet morning and I held back as I thought appropriate, and having seen the video afterwards saw where I could have kept more pace to the fence which would have helped Babe have less hang-time over top and after the fence to get going. Given Babe's
performance on this course I was more than happy with the results!
It was the most technical course presented to date and
he remained confident, trusting, and bold.

Stadium Jumping: We finished up with a beautiful stadium round with getting a bit too close to the first fence. We had a nice balanced tight left hand roll-back to a line which I thank to Karen for helping me work on outside rein and Parelli for my great focus. The last line was a set of 3 which I presented a bad approach by rushing ending with a chip in. He compensated and saved us both ending with a clear round. Our final score was 35.60 - an 11th place out of 38 riders. Without the time faults we would have moved up to 2nd place! Always something to work on...We had a victory gallop and were thrilled with the whole event! The next 3 years of the AEC will be in GA at Chatahoochie Hills and we are already looking forward to it - and hopefully with it being much closer we will more horses running as well as Avalo's Team and Student's cheering us on in person!!

             Ashley, Babe and Me

Nicola, Me, Babe, Fia and Kelly Nicola and I in Parelli wear!

Maggie and Nicola had a lovely dressage test with a great score of 35.3. Their cross country was bold and confident moving them up in the rankings. Maggie is a natural athlete, a very powerful and scopey jumper. Her stadium was fabulous with the only error being that Nicola temporarily forgot her course and had extra time faults added on to her great score causing them not drop out of the placings. Maggie had a shakey background of being a very difficult horsenality to work with and with Kelly's expertice as a
Parelli Instructor and experience as a competitor as well has helped
Maggie and Nicola be so succesful together and as individuals.
They would have moved into 11th or 12th without the extra time faults.

Maggie and Nicola

Cindee had an average dressage test, a wonderful cross country and a fabulous stadium. Some days are on and some are not! However, Cindee is now in NY at Serenity Hill Farm where she will be ridden by
Mary Dougherty in a continued eventing career!