Ready for Rolex!

It?s funny how at the beginning of the year Rolex seems so far away? and then I?m always so surprised how quickly April has arrived! I have had an incredible final two weeks leading up to Rolex. The Fork was such a great weekend for me in that it made me really think about what I needed to do in those two weeks prior to Kentucky.
#1: I had to physically get well! I was in so much pain from my fall at Southern Pines and riding terribly because of it, I was also exhausted. Every other day I went to either my massage therapist, Courtenay Rucker — who is “The Bomb”, or to Dr Joseph Skinner, a chiropractor and kineseologist that Courtenay highly recommended ? who also has turned out to be “The Bomb”. Between seeing the two of them, resting, rehabbing and a lot o? ice I met my goal of feeling perfect by the Monday of Rolex? yay!
#2: Dressage Tune Up: As mentioned before I had a great weekend at Morven Park Dressage Show where I got to ride the new FEI 4* test twice and work closely with my dressage trainer, JJ Tate ? happens to also be ?The Bomb?! I begged her to come to Rolex, and with some amazing help and support from Lynn at Stonegate Equestrian in Wisconsin (where JJ was meant to be clinicing on Friday and Saturday) we were able to change her flights around so she could be with me all day Wed and Thursday?. Excellent!!!
#3 Show Jump Tune Up: I got to work with Katie Prudent three days in the week prior to Kentucky. On Thursday I took Arthur and Burger over to her farm in Middleburg for lessons. As usual, the lessons were amazing ? very challenging and positive. On Friday Katie and her husband, Henri, drove to the HITS Culpepper show just for me to do one or two Jumper classes. How we warm Arthur up and how I ride him (both warm up and in the ring ? which are different rides) would be instrumental in having a good day on Sunday in Kentucky. I am endlessly amazed by Katie?s horsemanship and competitive expertise ? she knows how to get the very best out of horses and riders and is so incredibly intuitive to both of their needs. We only did one class as Arthur was so good we called it a day. The plan was to do a very short gymnastic school on Sunday before leaving for Kentucky to help make him think about show jumping more. We planned to do this same short school at Kentucky on Sunday right after the jog. I can?t say I have ever had such an organized plan for how we would approach the show jumping at Rolex ? I was really excited, thrilled with my horse and confident in my ability to give him the ride he would need. Fortunately for me, Katie and Henri would be in Kentucky all week. By the way, yes, they too are both ?The Bomb?!!!!