The Nicest Warm Up

Day one of Area 3 champs was a success overall with some very good parts and some not as great parts. 

Remembered to snag a picture of him all braided this time

I am going for the green and brown theme with brown gloves and boots for me arriving from the UK in the next couple of weeks. But this commitment also meant that I didn't feel like putting on either the black bonnet with pink trim or navy bonnet with white trim. So I sorted out how to braid his forelock. Fortunately he's the best egg so I did it at the horse trailer at the show, and he stared straight ahead for five minutes. It didn't occur to me prior to trying to do it that every little movement was going to affect my braiding. 

Dressage warm up was BEAUTIFUL. He was soft, relaxed yet still prompt and energetic. Then we went into the ring. And one of the banners that lined the ring had doubled in size with a new real estate company ad. Which meant he was kinda sorta focused on that. But because warm up had been so beautiful I was kinda sorta not really riding. Also, the judge gave very few comments, in spite of not giving great scores... and I could hear every. single. one. Which I found pretty distracting, but that one is on me. So not our best work which sucked after such a fantastic warm up. However, dressage always feels so fixable to me, so I wasn't too upset by it. We sat in 5th of 6 with our 36.7. 

Cross country was basically the same path as Ocala Festival, with a few minor changes. We got to warm up earlier than I meant to and they were running a few minutes behind. So we took a long walk and chatted with someone who knew his breeder and had actually shown him in hand as a yearling! She said he was spicy then! After our walk and chat, we warmed up with some forward and back and then headed over to the box. I was planning on GLUING my eye on the jump and keeping him pleasantly forward. 

1- Bench, he jumped this great

2- log pile - I thought I was straight to this until about six strides out then realized I was taking it at a pretty steep angle. So we straightened up to it and he jumped it great. 

3- Cut out table, came up right out of stride and he popped on over

4- Wagon, he got a little looky at the T and up coffins and people around them as we went by, but something PW said in a lesson stuck with me - if you feel like you need to drive with your seat you should be kicking more, so I did, and what do you know, he jumped it like a champ from a slightly gappy spot

5- Brush roll

6- Cabin, he got looky again at the things behind the fence, people, other jumps, etc. But again, I kicked and he jumped it really well 

8- Brush roll after the numbered water crossing for 7 - he did pop chip this one. I just plain missed, it happens. 

9A- small log, not particularly related to the other piece of the half coffin, the ditch

9B- ditch, I didn't really ride this, so there was a stutter step before it 

10- Wedge, and by far our sketchiest fence, I wonder if it wasn't because last time we did the ditch and then turned left towards the corner AND home. So this was the opposite turn and away from home. But we wiggled our way over it. 

11- Log on mound, which we all thought might be spooky, but I kept my shoulders tall (eavesdropped on someone else's direction) and he was great 

12- Ditch and wall, great over this

13- Cut out cabin, definitely chipped this one, oops 

14- table, which rode fine

15A was the water crossing, which he opted to trot through. I wasn't super pro-active about getting him back in a canter for the wedge but he jumped it well anyways. 

16- Table, we cantered, we jumped it

17- Finish, he jumped this one beautifully, a very nice way to end

His old owner came to watch and got the WHOLE thing on video from the top of the mounds near one water complex, absolutely amazing! We finished with one second of time since we were basically loping around with a short trot break for the water. Easy to clean up for next time though! Overall I was so happy with how it went. Was it perfect? Absolutely not, but he recovered from the spooky parts and finished feeling confident and happy. And I was proactive about the ride and fixed things as they came up.