Getting Recognized: Part 2

The maps are behind a plastic board to weather protect them, so excuse the blurriness

Stadium looked pretty straight forward. AT said it was easy to get bogged down in the corners a bit, so to keep coming forward. The outside line was a 6, the bending line of 5-6 was an 8-10. 

Goggles warmed up really pretty civilized. We were the first to go post break. They were dragging the warm up until 7 minutes before my scheduled ride time but that was actually just fine. We trotted the cross rail a few times then did a small oxer off both canter leads. He was being super pleasant so in we went. 

Overall I was very, very pleased by the round. He was rideable and responsive. One to two rode well but then he wanted to drag down a bit in the canter after two so I made him trot three. I didn't really get him going in that line so it was a slightly short seven strides, but I'm not too fussed about that. 

#1, good boy! Sorry for the incredibly blurry video stills. I'm waiting on pro pics hopefully. 

#3

The bending line from five to six rode really nicely too. He landed on the left lead so I brought him back to trot and kept him there since the tulip standards at seven can be spooky. He didn't think they were at all spooky though. We kept landing on the wrong lead so we trotted the last three fences. NBD, he needs to trot things, picking the canter back up will come soon enough. 

I couldn't be any happier with that round. He was so civilized and game, and I felt like I did my part and rode positively and (mostly) didn't jump up his neck. 

We had an hour before XC, so he got the girth loosened and bridle off then got sponged off and got a drink. I got back on about 15 minutes before our ride time. They only had one warm up XC jump available for starter. I wished they'd left the BN house as well because it's always a nice feel to jump something bigger before starting. Oh well though. 

We'll do a photo tour of XC: 

He trotted nicely out of the box and was pretty game for 1. There was a little wiggle, but positive riding fixed it. 

No problem to #2

Ditto for #3 this cute rolltop

It was a bit downhill to this, so we came back to the trot because balancing while cantering downhill is hard when you're a giant baby horse.

#5 was an option- the tiny right hand ditch or the coop off to the left. He's done these ditches a bunch, so we chose that option. I backed him down to a trot and over he went! 

Good boy over this one too

There was a little wiggle here, but we trotted it and he was steady enough when I pushed him forward

We cantered this out of stride

And this as well

#10 was an option, through the water or to the left and over a somewhat spooky log

They had put new sand around the water and while he's been better and better each time we school, I still wasn't sure he'd go in on the first try

So we opted for this log. But he got overwhelmed by the amount of stuff around the water and was barely focused on the log. A pro would've whacked him 20 strides earlier and told him to quit sight seeing and do his job. But I'm an adult ammy. So I kicked him and kinda begged him to do his job, but he petered to a stop a few strides before the jump. I kept him square to it, wacked him once since he was miles behind my leg. Then we circled and popped over it with a big jump, but no problem. 

No problem over this one

This is spooky and while he has jumped it before, he still thought carefully about it as we approached. But this time he responded when I closed my leg and popped over it to finish the course!! 

Overall I'm super happy with both of us. He was a good honest egg the whole time and while we did get a 20, I'm mostly proud of my riding. I mostly succeeded in hands to the jump, shoulders up, and kicking him straight instead of pulling him straight. I felt him gain confidence as we were out there by ourselves. I think he had a good time, which is exactly what I'm hoping to develop! 

Between a few time faults, our 20, and our objectively abysmal dressage score, we stayed in 10th, but I'm still very very happy with this as our first outing. I'm hoping to get him out again in June at the POP show before taking July off of showing since it's so bloody hot.