Flora Lea
Comment here on your past experiences with the Flora Lea Horse Trials. See the first post for a "how-to" of evaluations, and comment away.
posted by AKK @ 3:15 PM
2 comments
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2 Comments:
TRAINING
Terrain: 2
Jumps: 2
Time/distance: 3.5
Dressage:
There is one large sand ring that holds 2 (maybe 3?) dressage rings within. The warm up is usually pretty tight and there definetly isnt enough room to "go do your own thing" unless you have an early ride time. I found actually ENTERING the dressage rings difficult. There isnt a whole lot of room on the outside of the rings to trot around for your test, so you enter the ring and warmup there. Theny they ring the bell, you exit the ring (back into the conjested warmup) and re-enter. It can be a bit difficult. The arena footing is rather nice.
XC:
When I went (fall of 2004) the course was fairly easy, though I understand they are trying to fix that "image." They run XC between turnout fields so you weave all around the place. I remember the first fence not being very inviting. You kind of left the start box, crossed a dirt road then onto this older looking log pile. It was a very solid first fence. A good majority of the fences are permenet and have been there for a while, but some of their newer portables are nice. The older fences are a bit trappy as most of them were placed next to trees, in fence lines, etc. Lots of light/dark issues on this course. In general, though, most everything was below max height. Another some-what trappy fence was the ditch. I remember entering the woods and making a sharp left turn and BAM ditch right there. You jumped it exiting the woods, so again, dark/light issue. Next was the water. You re-enter the woods going up hill and the water jump is at the base of the other side of the hill. So you canter over this hill and then drop into the water. It was more of a creek/pond thing with a wooden bank on the side. Wouldnt reccomend it for a horse with water issues as it was a bit trappy back in the woods. The second half of the course again weaved in and out of the woods and incorperated more hills and such. The second half had some fenced shared with prelim.
Depending on how they run the course (sometimes they run it the other way ie- hilly part first, cross through water and up the bank) it can be tricky to make time. The hilly part of the course has a lot of weaving in and out and can be difficult to get a good gallop going. The other half is mostly flat and more long streches of land to open up on.
Stadium: Nice fences, well designed courses. The standards are a bit on the smaller side, so it tends to make the fences look larger, but not difficult.
Very nice volunteers, nice prizes, good event. If your horse doesnt have any specific problems (such as water/ditches) it is a fairly descent move-up course.
Terrain:3
jumps:2
distance:3
prelim.
I agree that this event is sort of crammed into a limited amount of space. The xc is not big, in fact even a bit small for a prelim. however, it is very difficult to get a rhythm and gallop. it is very hilly and twisty turny. the show jumping is also very tight and the terrain can make the combinations more difficult. I would be careful to assume this is an "easy prelim" and good to move up at only because of the terrain. I would say for all levels, they arent big courses, but be prepared for jumps off of turns, coming up and down some pretty steep inclines.
overall, its a good event, however due to its distance for me (almost 3 1/2 hours) I would likely not make the trip for this event. If it were more local for me I would.
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