The Song Remains The Same

It seems that rather than alternating jumping lessons with dressage, we're now doing "dressage week" followed by  "jumping week". This actually makes more sense in that we can focus on concepts a little better and really reinforce things in my head (and Bridget's!)

 Ms Bridget was a little disappointed not to be jumping, but showed up to work anyways. Good pony! We worked on a lot of the same concepts as on Monday, neck rope included. In addition to our leg yields and transitions, we added in some shoulder in on the quarter line at trot, then expanded that concept into canter. Midge was a star, and by thinking shoulder in on the circle I think for the first time we were truly straight in the canter on our 20m circles. Of course we added in some spirals,( because what could possibly go wrong?! )and luck was on my side, pony has the concept and we did our first 10m canter circle ever. It wouldn't have scored great on a test, but the fact she tried and totally has the idea of sitting behind and lifting her shoulders over totally made my day. Go Midget! 

As we walked around on a loose rein after our ride, it also became apparent pony now totally steers off my seat. That's been such a long time coming , it's been sort of there for a while but hasn't been an immediate response thing until this week. I wonder if the neck rope thing has somehow helped her to really make the connection.

Some of my homework this week is self imposed: being very conscious of riding FORWARD into a steady contact - even when I think Bridget is forward and pushing from behind there is another gear in there I should be asking for. 

As for "actual" homework: lots of shoulder in on the quarter line focusing on having pony straight in her neck, but bent slightly through her body.  Bendy pony is very bendy, so straightness is our forever homework. For Monday: practice cantering our jumps on a super straight line of my choosing, insist on a good rhythm, pony working from behind. When I think the canter is pretty slow and powerful, it actually needs to be slower and bigger. We're sort of speed demons these days!

As a quick aside, I've had a few people lately (NOT bloggers, of course) make comments like "Well of course you're having good rides/progressing... you take two lessons a week...I wish I had that kind of money/time...it must be nice to be you" or "Wow, you have horses, must be nice to afford that lifestyle!" Which would be fine if I DID somehow how some huge bank account and no day job and a miraculous amount of talent. Envy me all you like then! :) But since I don't live that lifestyle, I'm annoyed. Please, could you notice how hard I work every.single.day instead of assuming I am magically blessed somehow? I normally respond: "Technically, I don't have the time OR money! I love it, so I make a lot of sacrifices and work very hard to afford and budget time for it." But really in my head I'm thinking "Wake up! Don't assume others are somehow luckier or wealthier than you! If you REALLY want it, get to work, make it happen! Stop making excuses!" But since that would violate several of my self imposed barn etiquette rules I stick with answer option A and keep my head down and keep on working. 

Dressage Lesson and Helpful Tricks

I know you're probably sick of hearing about how happy I am with the coaching at the current barn, but I can't help talking about how great it is! I did a quick google just now so I could sum up EC's background a little, and now I'm feeling thoroughly intimidated. Long story short, her relevant credentials would be a blog post in itself. The lady is way overqualified to be teaching me! Thank goodness she's friendly :)

 I am learning so much and feel like my riding has improved more in the past few months than in my entire life before that. (Changing my riding that much is a serious accomplishment in itself and probably should go somewhere near the top of her list of accolades ;) )

In all seriousness,  I've had good coaches and not so good coaches in the past, but I've never found that happy place where the instructor is super experienced/knowledgeable AND able to communicate that knowledge well AND able to adapt the teaching style to the student's needs/goals. 

OK, I'll stop gushing now. Promise. On to a lesson recap...

But first, a pic from last spring to break the text

As the tile of the post would indicate, tonight was dressage lesson night. EC was inspired from a recent clinic and had a trick waiting for us in the form of a rope tied in a loop.

I know, your mind is blown, right? Right now you're so grateful you read this blog...so much insight, so many great tips! OK, ok,  I'll explain - it really is a helpful tool :)

The idea is simple enough. I'm sure we've all had to do the riding crop under the thumbs thing to remind you to keep your hands level and together at some point in our education. Same idea, adjust your reins to the appropriate length, pick up rope goes around pony's neck, but hold it like the curb rein on a double. The idea is to keep some tension on the underside of the neck rope. It works kind of like the whip under the thumbs, with the added bonus of making it impossible for you to pull back on the reins. Also, you still get a little independent motion of your hands, so it's a little closer to 'real life' riding. Then, focus on going forward into the contact, forward into the down transitions, NO pulling back on your reins, ever! Use your seat to slow the pony :) For me, it was also a great reminder to keep my hands up and in front of me. I saw it in action and actually begged her to teach me with it in our lesson. I knew it would help in the canter when my inside hand gets all weird.

I did a google search for neck ropes and came up with a ton of weird and wonderful things... this pic is closest to what we're talking about although the reins here look like they're being held in a way that would make life difficult. Via pinterest

And, it worked. The left lead canter was actually pretty good, and that's our really tough side. In general, Midge felt super fussy in the contact at first, but since for once I knew it wasn't me, I didn't get weird about it and just kept pushing her forward. When she was soft and forward, the instructions were to the same as a normal ride - imagine you're pushing a shopping cart ie: hands up and forward a little. And voila, by mid ride I had a soft, amazing, fancy pony! I also felt like my position gradually got more solid - I wasn't as inclined to hunch my shoulders forward since the whole idea of keeping a light tension on the neck rope sort of forces you into keeping your shoulders back and seat in the saddle/core strong.

We played a little with really collecting (like almost trotting in place collected, so amazing), then extending the trot, also the whole straightness thing which will be our nemesis forever. We can go straight in a straight line or we can bend like a banana and drift all over the place. Straight on a circle? So difficult. EC took pity on me and had us do about a million leg yields...2 to 3 steps over - then straight and forward. Repeat, alternating direction/bend. So helpful and much more friendly than entire circles. Most amazing moment? Leg yield through that super slow, collected trot to a canter transition. It created a transition well beyond Bridget's norm and would rank up there as one of the best I've ridden EVER. So cool.

SuperPony!

So, we had a great ride. I wouldn't pin that all on the neck rope. The Midge was being extra responsive to my seat and legs and still had some forward thinking due to our recent jump schools. I could see the neck rope thing not being as helpful if she was greener or in a mood, ie when exaggerated aids might be necessary. As a remedial tool I'd still highly recommend if you've got busy/'disobedient' hands and/or a fussy in the contact pony, or maybe just need a reminder to make those transitions off your seat. For someone like me on a green pony, it was a super cool way to really feel how things should be as far as my aids and position and having pony properly on the bit. Worth a try - especially for the price point of FREE - everyone must have a rope or some baling twine or a spare set of reins somewhere in the barn!

Virtual Travels Weeks 9&10

In virtual travel news, Midge and I journeyed for 11 hours, or about 142 km/88 mi* in the past two weeks. That's slightly less than our norm, and short of our new fitness regime goals,  but I really, really, needed the 4 day vacation I took with the ever awesome G last weekend!

Our virtual miles have now taken us through Seattle, through to the Federal Way, WA area. I was tempted to detour to Vashon Island, since I hear it is very horse friendly, but I think for now we'll keep on heading south down the West Coast.

Perhaps as the miles add up, one day soon we will both be slightly less puffy (and fluffy!) :)

Check out our travel website/mapping app here.



*Midge also got ridden by WS while I took a time out, so she's still on task and probably put in 30-40 k or so without me. She's badass like that.

Weekend With The Ponies

I am so motivated right now! I've been putting in productive rides every day. I don't know exactly what the catalyst has been in the past few months (great coaching, inspirational barn mates, fun pony to ride...lots of happy things to choose from) to change my outlook but I'm as enthusiastic now as I was when I was a kid. (That's obsessively crazy enthusiastic, for the record)

Pouring rain, all weekend long. Story of my life lately :)

I've been having good rides lately. I don't have any new exercises or real breakthroughs to share . I think it's just been a matter of putting in the time and being patient, trusting that what we're doing will pay dividends. Consistency, discipline, boring stuff like that. Midge's canter is really coming along, and as a result, jumping feels much more fluid and easy. Dressage wise, she's getting more and more adjustable, and has a really solid grasp of where I'm asking her to put her body. She's starting to be confident and relax and look for the contact again, so I'm hopeful the giraffe pony is once again slowly leaving us. Her work ethic is also much improved lately, perhaps because I've been popping her over the odd jump as a reward. Nice round, light canter? Here's a jump for you! Heavy, steamroller canter? So sorry, no jump this time. Amazing how her canter has improved so quickly this week lol.

Seriously need to hire a pro photographer. These pics won't work for a sale ad!

Go Ginger go!

In Ginger news, she's doing so well it seems a shame to sell her somewhere new. She's jumping tiny courses with her riders and looking good in her flatwork too. She's super brave to the jumps, even more so than Bridget! She's thriving with the busy schedule and honestly, IMO, still the better prospect of the two of them. She's attending the eventing camp with a next month, and I'm excited about that - I think she's going to love cross country! Honestly, it's getting harder and harder to not want to hop on her for a weekly lesson and/or make some big long term goals.  Therefore, I need to take some new pics and video and renew her ads. Dreams are great, but the reality is I absolutely cannot keep and ride two ponies, and I've been down this road before. Much as I adore Ginger, the Midge is more suited to my present needs...

Right?

 ;)

The Fitness Plan

As mentioned, Midge and I are both in need of a better fitness regime. We're already pretty active, but let's face it, we're both naturally more of the strong sturdy build. If three day eventing involved pushing things around a complicated pattern, then walking for a day or two, then carrying/throwing heavy objects on the last day, we'd win tomorrow. Also, we could smash things. We're both quite talented at that. It's unfortunate, but being graceful and running and jumping all the things does not come easily to either of us.

Since walking around smashing stuff is not a recognized equestrian sport (and we both not so secretly aspire to be graceful and agile and jump all the things) we need to get a little more serious and have a plan. 

Random images of the ponies to break the text again today...

Currently, I ride 4-5 times a week. Two lessons which are guaranteed to be a workout, but the other three days are pretty unstructured...we might jump a bit, we might do flatwork, we might hack out. For myself, I walk/hike about 3-4 hours a week. Again, sometimes that means mountains, sometimes it's walking to the store. 

Here's the new plan: 

Monday:

AM: T - Run 30min

PM: Dressage lesson 1 hour, warm up 15 min. Total 1:15.

Tues: 

AM: T - Barn chores 1 hour

         Bridget - lunge w/ side reins 20 min

Lunch: T - Walk 45 min

PM: T - Run 30 min

Wed:

AM: T - Barn chores 1 hour

PM: Jumping lesson 45 min, warm up 30 min on trail (hills!) Total 1:15.

Thursday:

AM: T - run 30 min

Lunch: T - walk 45 min

PM: Hack Bridget 1.5 hrs ( 30 min W/T/Canter warm up in arena, 1 hour walk/trot mostly steep rocky roads)

Friday:

Depends. If travelling home, need to ride Bridget in the AM before work. Arena ride, mix jumping and flat, lots of canter intervals. If not, I run in the AM and it's Bridget's day off.

Sat: 

Either myself or trainer/working student ride Bridget out on trails, 1 hour. Canter work in arena, .5 hour. Total 1.5 hours.

T also goes hiking, about 1.5 hours.

Sunday:

Jumping if I'm not away, if I am this is Bridget's day off.

T goes hiking, about 1.5 hours. 

I know this schedule is vague on the details, but I'm super limited by working full time, daylight hours, and existing commitments. I'm out the door at 6:30 on weekdays, and don't get home until 7:30-8:00. There's not a lot of time left in my days for things like the gym or trailering the pony to a XC field for gallop sets.

Because Bridget is still green, I can't have a definitive plan and say things like "5 min intervals of trot then 3 of canter x 5" because the canter transition might suck and then we hop on that bus for 30 minutes and turn ourselves into sweaty messes struggling for that instead.

The big change for me is adding running back in 3x a week in addition to the current 4 hours of walking/hiking. Also, forcing myself to be consistent and not skip days! Thank you, earlier sunrises and longer spring days!

The big change for Bridget is bumping up the rides to 6x a week, and also being more structured about how we plan and approach them. Currently, I average about 5.5 hours/week of saddle time. Our new schedule bumps that up to just over 7. Also, again thanks to the longer days, we can fit in some hills out in the neighbourhood as a warmup some weeknights. We're going to introduce gallop intervals in the arena and be mindful about keeping the cardio a priority. 

Also, no more gorging on hay, and grain has been cut back (Bridget). No more weekend dinners out (unless they are healthy) or triple mochas in the morning (T).

No Quarter

Last night's lesson took place in the middle of a giant storm. 80km/hr (50mph for our American friends) wind gusts and torrential rain blowing sideways - it felt like we were in a high pressure car wash. My barnmates and trainer are super tough. Nobody cancelled their lessons, even though just getting to the barn was a slightly hazardous affair - flooded roads and downed trees everywhere. At least we are nearing the end of storm season so the weaker trees that were going to block the roads and knock out power have mostly fallen already or at least been trimmed back by the hydro crews.

Midget was not overly pleased to be pulled from her dinner to go out in such weather, but honestly, neither was I :)

Our lesson was a rehash of Mondays lesson - lots of smallish (2'3" - 2'6") jumps set up all over the arena and instructions given to find a nice canter, establish a rhythm, and ride the line I choose at the pace I choose.

More randoms from last weekend

This proved a lot trickier than Monday's ride. Midge was backed off and felt tired, so finding the balance of pushing her along without it turning into her dragging me proved elusive. We could gallop along on the forehand, or I could take my leg off and we could lose all energy and grind to a slow halt. As a newbie to jumping, I find having to push her along hard to ride and prefer the days when she's forward and taking me to the jumps. Also, the random objects blowing across the arena kept me a little too distracted - after Ginger it's hard to believe plastic chairs and pool noodles blowing across our line aren't going to cause some sort of excitement- so I frequently forgot to look at where we actually needed to be and ended up with awkward wiggly lines to our fences.

bigger jumps than this, same bad riding :)

To give the pony her due, she jumps anything you point her at (including that random pool noodle that blew/floated in our way) so what could have been an awful lesson was just sort if a "meh" one - a few crappy distances and a bit of an inconsistent pace through the courses. 

It's easy to get discouraged in the moment, but seriously, we barely had a canter at all a few months ago , and now we are cantering entire courses - the adjustability will become more consistent as she gets stronger and I get a better feel for the canter I need in our jumping lessons. Still, I am impatient and want to be a better rider right this instant!

On the super plus side, we have ZERO excuses not to put in a decent ride under any weather events - if we could jump a course today, we're good for anything!

62

Bridget warmed up last night feeling a little sluggish - surprising considering she'd just had 3 days off. Not so surprising when EC mentioned the grate accidentally got left off the slow feeder the night prior and piggy pony ate 62 pounds of hay (an entire bale) overnight.

Photos from a recent neighborhood tour - loving the longer days that allow for daylight rides after work!

When I mentioned my disappointment with our recent show weekend, EC replied "You'd better not be disappointed in Bridget! She did awesome!" (She's a huge Bridget fan, in case you hadn't guessed) For the record, I was actually sad about my riding, so EC got right to work 'fixing' me. She's awesome about trying to keep things fun for us, but sometimes I feel like she goes a little too easy on me - her approach is generally as long as I'm riding safely and pony is being ridden fairly, pretty much anything goes. Since I want to be better than that, last night was all about reminders to keep my heels down and my hands up in front of me. Also, getting the pony truly in front of my leg and uphill/light in the contact, which makes it less likely I'm going to cheat and hunch my shoulders/bury my hands. So cool that Midge has come along far enough we can start picking on my bad habits while she just does her job :)

Acreages with ocean views, maybe I will win the lottery one day and move here.

Our actual lesson involved figure eights over some small verticals and oxers. Lots of nice long approaches, and a focus on keeping a consistent rhythm in the canter, and riding nice straight lines. Midge was super and figured out right away what lead she needed, changing over the fence. A treat because we were really able to find a nice rhythm and get things flowing very nicely entirely in canter, rather than spending our corners doing simple changes through trot. Her canter felt the best it's ever been, I so wish we could find a way to get that energy in our dressage tests!

Bridget felt very out of shape and was puffing quite easily. I'm thinking  it was  the warmer weather and the 60+ pounds of hay consumed rather than a return of her COPD symptoms, but we'll keep a close eye on her.

I sat down a few days ago and made up a proper fitness plan for the pony and I, so here's hoping we'll both be thinner and fitter this spring!

Show Planning

Planning for a show season is new to me and I'm finding it super difficult. Normally, my options are quite limited and I just attend whatever is on offer locally. Last year I think that included a couple of shows in the fall, a cowboy trail challenge thing, and a few clinics in the winter/spring. Not overly exciting, and easy enough to just sign up the week before and attend if it worked for me.

My new barn however, has a mind boggling amount of things on offer - someone from the barn is going somewhere pretty much every weekend from now until September.The options are essentially unlimited, but with most of the events on offer being a minimum of an overnight trip away,  future planning is kind of necessary. Also, lots of $$$$ and time off work would be helpful!

Video stills from the weekend since my phone does not want to share entire videos with my laptop

The pony is still quite green and we're not guaranteed she'll show up to work, and her rider is also unreliable at best. With that in mind, spending big $ on travel and entry fees becomes a little worrisome. I know with horses anything can happen no matter how well prepared you are, but really, I'd like the odds of paying for a weekend on the struggle bus to be a little lower than they are at present :)

So, with all that in mind, here's our tentative schedule for the year:

*March 19: Southlands Dressage, Vancouver BC
*March 20: MREC 2 Phase Event, Maple Ridge, BC
April 14-17: HTBC Spring Clinic, Johvale, BC
May 7: SCEC Hunter/Jumper Day, (my super not so secret home, BC)
May 13-15: Southlands Dressage Show, Vancouver BC
May 28: SCEC Dressage % Day
*June 11-12: Aspen Farms HT, Yelm WA
June 18: SCEC Clear Rounds Day
*June 30 - July 3: Topline Horse Trails, Salmon Arm BC
July 16-17: MREC Horse Trails, Maple Ridge, BC
July 19-25: Rebecca Farms, Kalispell, MT (NOT planning on riding, just attending with barn & cheering on our girls going 1*)
Aug 12-14: Campbell Valley HT, Langley, BC
Sept 17: SCEC Hunter/Jumper Day
Sept 24: SCEC Dressage % Day
October 1-2: MREC Horse Trials, Maple Ridge, BC

* = Maybe going, might switch out for something else. I'm not committing until closer to the day/we know where we're at training and riding wise.

As you can see, I've got quite a few local (SCEC) shows on the agenda. They're really cheap to attend, well run, and the competition level is pretty high. What's not to like? Oh wait, missing out on some of the destination type shows, that's what :) But let's be honest, neither myself or my pony is a superstar in the making, so for now we are all about keeping things affordable and fun! This season will be all about getting as many cheap miles as possible at Starter and Pre-Entry, (2'3" and 2'6" divisions for our American friends :) and putting in some respectable dressage tests at first level.
My original plan was to try to attend one 'away' show per month, and then as many local shows as possible. I think I've got as close to that as I feasibly can. I'm pretty excited.

If you see us out and about, come say hi! We're friendly, I promise :)

A reminder of what we look like! With my lack of media over the past few months, you're excused for forgetting :)

Working hard

I got pictures, and they're of the very disappointing sort. But, HEY, I FINALLY GOT RIDING PICTURES! ;) I think it's something to do with my crappy riding  the lighting in our ring, but very few of our recent pictures or video are even remotely blog worthy.

Dark and shadowy, but hey, it's something :)

I'm currently on a nice mini vacation from work. Originally we had planned to be somewhere warm and sunny, but life got in the way, so here I am up the coast in our little house hiding from the wind and rain. At least there are beaches and an ocean nearby? Maybe a margarita might help.

Since I am extremely motivated right now on the horse front, I caught the later ferry home in order to fit in a ride first. I missed my jumping lesson this week, and as mentioned in my last post one of my current goals is to get the canter more balanced. There are moments when it is really nice, so I'm crossing fingers hard we're almost there. The easiest way for me to keep Midge's canter motivated outside of a lesson is to pop her over the odd jump. This also attempts to help me sit quietly and keep those disobedient heels down.

Figure eights today, over the x, then around and over the little oxer to our right, then across the diagonal to the same set up on the other end of the arena. I can feel EC shouting at me to carry my hands in front of my body.

Terrible pic, but the only one timed where we are actually jumping something.

All the canters. Again, not a great picture/moment in time, but you can see we don't need an entire area to turn anymore and the motorbike turns are more upright these days. Softness is coming too, there were some dressage worthy moments sprinkled in to the mix. I might even have some video coming!

Not the best ride, not the worst. I'm stuck in a bit of a rut and feel like it's been a while since things have felt really good. It may be time for a trainer ride!

Lesson Recap - Reevaluating Things

Will the good or evil pony show up for our lesson?

Monday night's lesson was a no go; I was simply too tired after the weekend and suspected Midge might be glad of a day off too. We rescheduled, opting for a quick hack on Tuesday, followed by a lesson on Wednesday.

Although our test comments over the weekend were generally good, there were of course some things consistently mentioned for us me to work on.  Obviously, the pony was looky, I was nervous, and there were comments re: getting Bridget rounder and softer through the back. Those I accept, but aren't something I'm overly concerned with as we have lovely work at home and I think it's just a matter of us getting confidence via more show miles. The following two points are the ones I'd really like to work hard on improving this season:

- Stop nagging the poor pony. (No, the comments didn't actually say that, but reading between the lines re: pony having great forward energy and rider needing to just sit and use seat and core more to contain it, I think that's what was being said in the kindest possible way) Tough in the moment, as Bridget wanted to rush, then suck back behind the leg/wiggle/look at everything, but in general still a fair assessment. This is the first 'push' ride I've ever owned and it still feels weird. No excuses though, I want to be as quiet as possible up there regardless of what horse I'm sitting on!

- Canter is unbalanced/hurried. This one is self explanatory and a work in progress.

With those in mind, we tackled our dressage lesson. My lesson mate was working on counter canter loops, which was actually quite complimentary to what we're working on with Bridget: control over the shoulders and hindquarters through transitions. We started with a shoulder in on the circle, then moved out around the arena. Next, we added in some haunches in, then started alternating moving the shoulders and haunches while keeping the  pony's neck straight and her body on the proper, consistent angle. Tricky, when you're switching between bends. In relation to my above goals, I really concentrated on letting the pony carry me, and trusting her to hold the position and tempo on her own.

Finally, we carried the above exercise into the canter. Bridget is starting to learn how to carry herself and is finally getting strong enough to move her shoulders and haunches around in the canter. Pretty exciting stuff!

If nothing else, I am winning at growing luxurious pony tails. I had no idea it was so long until I saw this pic - time to bang it like a proper british pony.

At some point in the past few months, my riding goals have gone from just wanting to be effective/safe and have a fun hobby, to wanting to actually be good at this. I have some long term goals that have been floating around in my head for years now, and I currently have zero excuses for not pursuing them. EC is on board with that plan, so expect a lot of rider/horse management boot camp type posts in the near future - we're about to start addressing some of my terrible riding habits and push my comfort zone in a big way. I'm also going to ride some horses other than the pony. After this many years, you can expect these changes will be painful.  I have no idea if any of my goals will come to fruition, but that's not the point. The point is that I don't want to look back on life and have any regrets or what ifs. Here goes nothing....;)

MREC 2 Phase Event

We pulled into the Maple Ridge Equi Sports Center later on Saturday night. First impressions, the facility was a little older, but well cared for. The haul in stabling got an A+ from me and the pony. A nice cosy wooden shedrow box stall out of the rain and giant heap of shavings nearby to make the pony comfortable for the night. Once we finished moving in, I was please to discover there was a on site pub and had a drink and a huge yummy dinner. I have no idea why more horse places don't have pubs on site, you'd think it'd be a win/win.

This stall is pony approved

My dressage test was the first one of the day the following morning. The logistics of that were a little awkward. The weather was once again absolutely horrible, so daylight was a long time coming. If there were any lit arenas to warm up in, I didn't see them. Also, I needed to pick up my numbers and sign waivers at the show office which didn't open til 45min before my ride time. So, things were a little rushed and frantic and I didn't get on the pony until about 15 minutes before my ride time.

Midge felt tired, and again a bit distracted. Our test was on the far corner of the grounds, and at that time of the morning, we were alone over there. The rain was torrential, and the wind kept blowing the letters over. I guess the bonus to that being the judge couldn't tell Midge ran out of gas a little before the letters a couple of times. Our test overall felt better than the day before, but we had a serious problem both canters (wrong lead corrected in the transition on one, then tired pony who broke to trot halfway through our circle on the second). Score was an eventing dressage 53 (62 again in 'real' dressage %) placing us 5/8.

We had to wait around a bit for the jumping. Again, both of us were soaked through, cold and miserable - while the people and the facility were awesome the weather just sucked! As I sat there, I mentally thanked Kate for her awesome blog post about the cost of improvement. Thank you Kate for helping me to stay motivated! Bloggers are the best!

Slightly damp jump course

The jumping was awesome - they had regular stadium jumps, but had also brought in some xc jumps too! Such a cool idea. Sadly, the starter (2'3") level didn't have any cross country jumps included in the course, so it was strictly stadium rounds for me.

And, on to the jumping. This is when it became really obvious Midge was DONE. She was a good girl and jumped everything, but we mostly trotted everything and I'm sure it looked all kinds of awkward. I think a part of it was just her being careful/cautious/unsure with new jumps in a new venue, but the largest part was just that the poor pony had zero gas left in the tank. We ended up with 4.5 time penalties, even though I'm fairly certain I have never used so much leg in my life. Our final score had 4 additional jump faults, which I am sure was a mistake, so theoretically we should have stayed in 5th rather than the 7th we got. Not worried about it at all though.  I've got to say the people at the venue were amazing - even though we didn't know anyone, I'm pretty sure Midge got the biggest round of applause of the day :)

Although I was pumped about the xc jumps, I opted out of the 2'6" round because it would have been completely unfair to the pony. I took her back to the barn and tucked her in with a full hay net with apples hidden inside. We still had a long day ahead as my barn mates and coach still had to ride, not to mention the 3 hour or so trip home.

Extra pony pic from Sat, before the rain drenched us

From a competitive standpoint, I'm admittedly a little disappointed in our results through the weekend. I didn't think I was an overly competitive person, but I guess I sort of am :) When I got home and checked the scores, though, I noticed that everyone but two of us were using the starter division as a warmup for higher divisions, so maybe I don't need to feel bad about how green we looked compared to everyone else!  From an 'our first away shows' standpoint I'm beyond pleased. We both showed up and did our jobs, now it's just a matter of fine tuning and being a little more confident out there.

Take aways:

-I need to work on Midge's fitness.
-I need to chill out and not stress. We've got this.
-More work needed in the canter. We're 100% improved, but it's still our weakest point by far.
-The pony is 150% honest to anything I point her at jump wise.
-Why do I not own a waterproof coat?
-Camping in Feb is cold no matter what part of the country you're in.
-I don't need to worry so much about courses and dressage tests, I remembered all three without issues.
-I had a previously undiscovered talent for calling dressage tests.
-Large-ish shows are not nearly as confusing/intimidating as I thought they might be.
-My barn mates and coach are awesome - so supportive and helpful, and talked me off the ledge multiple times throughout the weekend.
-I wouldn't say this was a fun weekend, or that I'm hooked on the whole showing thing, but I'm intrigued. There is potential for fun :)
-I wouldn't trade my pony for event he most talented eventers in our barn. She was easy to deal with, she did her job with minimal drama and most importantly, she's the cutest.


Next big outing: Possibly a return to this same show series mid March, barring that, definitely a 4 day eventing clinic in mid April. I'm SO excited for the clinic.