Stable View Day 2 - The Jompies

The above conversation about sums up our stadium round. 

The course was nice and loopy with a couple related distances. Five to six was a five. Then there was a two stride oxer to vertical for 7AB. Then eight to nine was a six. We went in and got it done, essentially. I'm back to believing that we're capable, which as another friend said, is 99% of the battle. 

There was A LOT to look at in the ring. Lots of extra jumps. Metal bleachers on one side, the VIP stands on another. A few trucks thrown in by the sponsors for funsies. It was good to have that atmosphere and feel that he is still the same horse. 

We had a 3.5 hour break before XC, so pony pants got hosed and then put back on the trailer to munch hay. He also got half a tube of Pre-Fuel and another dose of outlast. I'd managed to find a slightly closer spot with more horses around us, so his comfort level was better than Saturday. I went and walked XC twice more, getting to watch modified riders gallop around as I was walking. There was lots of great riding and only a couple of hairy moments. 

Insert cookie PLZ 

EM warmed us up for stadium, but then was heading 10 hours north to PA, so hit the road after our round. Which meant we were on our own for XC warm up. They were running a tiny bit ahead so we walked, trotted, went forward and back canter to gallop, and then popped over the warm up fences. He felt great and we were in a good rhythm. Gallop forward, then lightly sit with shoulders up to bring the balance up, leg on but not chasing, and he was good to go, popping over everything out of stride. 

The course took essentially the same route as it had a few years ago when Ben and I ran novice here
There is a bit of downhill then uphill terrain from 4-7. Then between 10 and 11 is a long gallop uphill. Which puts you in the flat top field for 11-18.

1- Log and box - After watching 2* and modified riders leave the box, I took a slightly different approach to leaving the box than I have in the past. We trotted in as she hit 2-1-have a great ride. This was much smoother I think and he left the box GOING to the point that I went "oh crap, half halt a tiny bit" so I brought my shoulders up and he pinged on over the first fence. I think it was the best first jump we've had out XC

Number 2 was the hammock tables

Mine. I remembered JT saying it was spooky for people but rode fine for horses. I put his nose on the slightly left hand section and told him to go get it and be brave for me and he did. Jumped it perfectly out of stride. 

3 was slightly uphill, went fine

4- turn downhill to the left hand fence here. He got wiggly and rolling. EM had warned me to sit up and feel like I was shortening his stride to this. I didn't do quite enough of this and he wiggled at the base. 

After 4, he ROLLED downhill around the right hand turn, to the point where I was worried he might slip. I did half-halt pretty strongly when I felt that, which helped, but he needed a second. He rolled along pretty quickly and a little spooky past the woods on our right hand side. 

5- he definitely felt a little squirrely to this. Kind of in a new, unfamiliar way. But that's why we do this, right? It was like his hamster had jumped off the wheel as his feet quickened down the hill and now his brain was going the speed of the runaway hamster and he wasn't used to it. 

6- Friendly enough jump before heading up over the mound and to 7. 

7- Chevron type thing. I did half halt coming down the little hill, but again not quite enough. He's honest so he went, but it wasn't beautiful. 

8- Brush, shared with BN. He did get a little spooky at the shrubs to the right, but I tapped him with the crop on the left. It was probably the sketchiest jump on course for us, but he went. Then I finally got a bit more serious about half-halting until his ears came up. 

9- Friendly enough little jump. Aim towards the tree to the left behind it, get 9 done before you even think about 10. 

10- corner - I picked the point I was going to ride to and we rode to that. He felt great. Then he POWERED up the hill in a way that I didn't quite expect. Ben did the same, but I thought pony pants might have more feels about galloping up a hill. He didn't. EM did warn me to assess the horse I had after the hill once we got to the top field and make sure he wasn't too worn out. 

11- There was a lot to look at behind this. He felt plenty energetic, but wiggled a bit. 

12AB- half coffin. He was a star. Jumped great over both. 

13- Either a bending five or a direct four from the ditch. He JUMPED the ditch but we landed a bit left, so I woahed for the five to the left hand side here

14- Good boy again

15A- water. He actually went a little sideways and alllmost attempted to skirt the water - which funny enough you could go through the flags without actually entering water. We very nearly did that. 

15B- nice log box plenty far enough from the water

16- Step table, again a good boy 

17- Double brush, we practiced our steeple chase feel here a bit and it was fun 

18- Make sure to jump the novice side! 

I did screw up a bit and looked at my watch before 18 and saw 4 something so thought we might be quick. I slowed down for 18 and then was trying to sort out where the finish flags were after we went over 18. They were freaking totems that were huge, but the flags were kinda sorta hard to see AND they were different than they had been for the modified riders I had watched earlier. I slowed down before them, unintentionally, but to the point that the end timer stopped me and told me I could get willful delay penalties for slowing down that much. My penalty was being 3 seconds over time, which was enough to drop us from 5th to 8th in this big division. I had already planned on NOT staying to pick up a ribbon. The twine I kept my ribbons on in my trailer kept falling, so I relocated it and in the process dumped a bunch of ribbons. I realized that with a few exceptions I don't want to start accumulating ribbons again (years of showing schooling dressage shows through college led to quite a collection, of which I have none now and no regrets about that either). Also, see above about huge division. My times were roughly in the middle, so waiting until the division finished AND then through the 30 minute inquiry time was gonna be a no go when we had another 7 hour drive home. 

I was SO HAPPY with him after cross country. It was SUCH a FUN course and we felt really in sync over the whole thing. It was a great prep for Hagyard this month. I iced his legs, let him eat some more Outlast and then take a little mosey around before putting him back on the trailer for the drive home. It was smoother since we were leaving from west of Aiken (as opposed to the farm that is slightly east of Aiken). We spent a tiny bit of time on I-20 to start and then the rest of the time on empty, nicely paved, mostly straight Georgia back roads. The ag inspection station entering Florida was unoccupied. We arrived home at 9 and I dropped him straight in the pasture with his buddies. 

Napping initially

But then awake and digging a hole while I went to refill waters

I did load the poor kid up again the next morning to go get his feet done. I would NOT have blamed him if he said no thanks, but he walked straight up to me and then straight onto the trailer. Thanks buddy, you are the best. 

6 Hours of Sulking - Bouckaert Farms part 2

Hindsight being what it is... I have a half finished post called "Let me show you the ways" that was talking about how in our lesson the week before the show I managed to demo Butterball's and my sliding into the fence problem. The problem started way back in early spring after several ugly but clear rounds. I also shared on here how we slid into a warm up oxer at Notting Hill. So given that this sliding into fences refusal thing has occurred in 2 of our last 3 jump schools and then 3 of the last 5 if you go back to my post about jumping at home, it is hardly surprising that we demoed this at the far away, very expensive, kinda dream show. What was surprising was that I gracefully, slowly slid down his neck and over his ears. I don't even remember touching the ground although my coat and boots would indicate I did momentarily share the arena footing with my pony's feet and knees. So while I considered us "well-established" at the novice level, things change with horses and we were not on a particularly good run of stadium jumping at the time we headed to the show. 

The kind of ironic part is that this is a HUGE improvement on where we were in the spring. EM (our new event trainer) had me moving his barrel and bending him around my leg through the turns on the way to fences to keep him soft and springy. And that combined with the loads of gymnastic work that PW had us doing had him jumping GREAT. I cannot actually remember the last time I felt him roll over his shoulder over a fence. He is jumping really nicely almost all the time. Jumps 1 through 8 rode really well, with the caveat that on the way to 8, a stand alone vertical, I FELT HIM GET FLAT AND STIFF. Which you would *think* would be the cue to DO SOMETHING. But I didn't. The vertical was fine, but then I cut the turn to 9 and still didn't move his barrel or soften him. 9AB was an oxer, two strides to a vertical, which also gave me some false sense of security because our stoppping problem, thus far, has shown up at oxers. But he jumped the oxer kinda quiet then did a perfect 2.5 strides to the vertical and then slid to a stop onto his knees into the fence, sliding me over his nose since I was leaning at the vertical going "OMG YAY we're doing it! We're almost at the end of the course!!!". 

It was REALLY nice that EM was there to witness it. After kindly asking if I was okay, which was kinda funny given just how gently I fell, she said that it was a flat work problem, which I wholeheartedly agree with. I do think he has lost some confidence leaving the ground as well. It kinda feels like because he CAN jump so well (and he was bred to be careful) that if he has to flounder over something as he did during a couple of our spring shows, he would just as soon not. EM had pointed out in our lesson the week prior as well, that he should be asked to jump from less than ideal distances and learn how to be a bit quicker with his feet. To summarize, I need to FIX the canter when it is gross and he needs to be a bit quicker to sort things out to still leave the ground.

First, I sulked a lot. I REALLY wanted to run cross country (which I'll share pics of below), which definitely led to sulking like a two year old who got told NO they can't go play. But I sorted most of my feelings out by the time I arrived home that evening. For the drive home, getting around the beltway onto 75 south was a little hairy, it felt like every 1/4 mile the right hand lane was ending. I would manage to get over and then 10 cars would zip past me to pull directly in front of the truck and then slam on their brakes. I was so close to straddling both lanes to prevent such assholery, I wasn't particularly in a kind mood at the time. But after making it onto 75 south, it was relatively smooth sailing. Once the traffic and lane ending shenanigans sorted out, I chatted with two friends who were also on their drive home who helped both commiserate and bounce ideas around. One also offered to come back up for a weekend trip when Bouckaert is open for schooling, which did soften the sting of not getting to gallop across rolling hills with fun terrain questions and genuine stone walls. 

Also, can you really be mad about a weekend out of town with your best friend jumping (some) jumps and doing a nice dressage test? Especially since this is very fixable, and BB is sound and game. As Emma said recently, none of what we do is logical. While the disappointment is real, so is the gratefulness for getting to be out there doing this at all. 

By the time this posts, EM will have gotten on him for a training ride. And we have a plan, although I feel like I have said that before. But we have a plan that I believe in. I don't think this totally derails our fall plans, but they do require some restructuring. 

On to the cross country that wasn't... 

The pictures loaded out of order and I cannot be bothered to fix that because I didn't get to jump them. The course pics are also in the Cross Country App if you want to peruse better pics of the gorgeous courses there.