Kentucky Sights Sounds + XC!

If it feels like I've been posting a crap ton about spectating at upper level events lately.... Well. It's because I have haha. And to be perfectly honest, there's more coming in that vein soon too, since I promised my young teenage cousin I'd take her to the upcoming Jersey Fresh.

So, uh, brace yo'selves?

for some reason we always end up taking pictures with this same trakehner haha, possibly bc it's close to our tailgate?

But for real, tho, I LOVE going to these major events. Love it. There's so much to see and do, even aside from spectating the actual riding itself. Just being around so many other fans in this environment that's specifically designed to cater to our every whim and desire lol.

really tho, the entire day is best experienced as tactically as possible - get up close and personal with everything!

Which, uh, is I guess a way of saying - stay tuned bc my own shopping haul post is coming soon, once I get some better pictures LOL. But it's not just about the shopping, it's honestly about the people too.

I ran into so many people I know there - and we were with such a giant group (that included a fair amount of KY natives). Plus I somehow managed to get into conversations with all manner of folks who have maybe closer ties to some of these riders and horses. Including actual owners, students, employees, etc. Really cool to get to hear their perspectives too haha!

eeee omgosh bloggers yo!

And obviously, what even is a major international event without some blogger meetups!! I was sorry to not get to spend more time with all of these lovely ladies, tho running over to Jen's tailgate quickly to say hi after the horses finished running was totally worth it!

Jen unfortunately was not at the tailgate at that particular moment, tho I got to say hi again to her husband who I met with her at a NYE get together a couple years ago. Plus obvi all the other wonderful bloggers who were there: Megan K and Stephanie who I've had the pleasure of meeting before, plus both their SOs.

And then a whole host of ladies I feel like I've known forever through this community, tho we've never actually met previously: Aimee, Leah, Theresa, Renate, and Karen. Y'all ladies are awesome -- so glad you had so much fun and that our paths crossed at least briefly!

creative people where everywhere tho - like this photog who was inspired by rachael's reflective glasses

I know there were quite a few other bloggers out and about, and was sorry not to run into everyone. Next time, ladies!!!

spot the reflection!?!?

Anyway tho, I'm not sure how compelling exactly it is to see pictures of some sort of meeting or get together that you didn't go to lol, so lets move right on along to the GOOD STUFF ---- the epic badassery that is cross country, yes?

here's a closer look haha. pretty cool, huh?

I mean, I have *some* media from dressage.... but it was clear from day 1, it was always going to be clear, that this was no dressage show. Not even close.

I remember saying that exact thing as Ariel Grald cantered into the Rolex Stadium dressage ring to lay down a test that didn't necessarily score well or anything like that, but was perfectly sufficient to grant them entry to the next phase. And, go figure, after her polished jumping phases, she moved up 18 places to finish just outside the top 10.

also tho this jump was spectacular 

Anyway tho, the member of our party with the recent foot injury ended up being pretty darn mobile in her boot - so we actually got to hoof it all over the park at a pretty good clip lol.

so many major drops on landing!

It was a little tough in some respects, tho. The weather was unbeatable -- absolutely glorious crystal clear blue skies with good sun and temps hovering around the high 60s. Which naturally meant that especially all the local crowds were thronging for the day.

these horses are unstoppable

Hand in hand with this, tho, was what felt like actually a very small field of competitors. I think something like 42 horses were entered, tho only 41 entered in to dressage. Then maybe just 40 actually started XC? The dressage days were pretty weird too, the schedule I felt was not particularly spectator friendly.

nbd just a giant friggin table!

Realistically maybe it was not a lot of horses to spread over two days. I assume the organizers have contracts with all the vendors stipulating the number of active hours each day for competition to be happening. So what ended up happening was a lot of breaks. Lots and lots of breaks between dressage riders. Esp on Thursday. But some of the breaks were like 30min, and others were closer to 2hrs.

So we ended up basically only seeing like, ONE full test on Thursday and spent the rest of the time shopping. For cross country day, tho, this weird "too few horses // too much time" situation meant that they were trying to spread out horses by only sending them out every 5min instead of every 2-3min.

bounce bank out of water claimed a few victims 

Most of the combinations (with the exception of the farthest out hollow, where we started our day) were all pretty close to each other. So with so many spectators, packed into a fairly small area of the park, with horses only coming through every 5min (assuming nothing happened to stop them along the way...), it meant that space was pretty darn cramped haha.

gotta love those ducks (even tho i'm partial to Fair Hill's ducks personally...)

Esp at the major combinations like the Head of the Lake. Which like, obviously this area is #1 on most peoples' lists haha so I get it. I found a pretty effective hack for still getting right up to the rope no matter how crowded the scene: by kneeling everywhere lol.

Sure, some people were a little surprised / creeped out when I basically just dove in there like "Hey is it ok if I kneel right next to you? I promise I won't block your view!" but nobody said no, so whatevskis, right?

these mound jumps always produce epic shots!

Plus, kneeling everywhere gave many of my video clips a bit more of an epic feel, with a lot more sky in the frame and the horses looking like they were SOARING through the air!

obvi gotta represent the brits at least a little bit haha, even if i'm a little sour that they always come over and spank us lol

So obviously I hope you enjoy that video lol, bc I freakin loved making it. Overall tho we actually didn't see too much in the way of spills or trouble, tho there was plenty to be had throughout the day. Especially through the waters we saw a fair amount of iffy distances and hard fought jumps.

Oooh, and the Normandy Banks claimed quite a few victims through the direct route (including taking out the first two starters - Caroline Martin & Buck Davidson, both of whom ended up scratching their next rides) until riders wised up and went long there.

Boyd & Thomas were definitely fan favorites tho

More than anything else tho, we just got to see example after example of horses and riders really fighting for it. Really riding to a careful plan, but then improvising and just going for it when necessary. Honestly pretty exhilarating to watch haha!

epic compilation video here!

We had a young rider in our group (actually, Isabel's former leaser!) who was watching for the first time, and the thing she loved most about it all was seeing that even at this level, riders and horses still make mistakes. Still have those iffy moments. But that, when push comes to shove, these partnerships really pushed through and made it happen. Inspiring, yo lol.

In any case, more to come on the weekend later (like some show jumping media!! Tho you can find Boyd and Oliver's rounds already uploaded in my side bar or on my youtube channel). Especially the shopping part haha, bc I'm REALLY EXCITED about some of my new stuff lol.

For now tho, it's time to recover from that epic weekend hangover lol. Did any of you watch the live stream? See anything that blew your minds? That you loved? Or *didn't* love?