Kingsbury Hill
I was a case of nerves for this horse trials, even though we were back in Senior Beginner Novice, but it turned out to be all good … mostly. Except for that rail in stadium, because Clover's been jumping flat, and I was a nervous wreck. But other than that, the day went much better than I expected.
For one, it was a resonably clear and temperate day. Anyone who's evented in inclement weather knows why I make such a big deal out of the weather. For another, I got my packet and saw that my division was in Ring 2, the big ring! Not The Pit! I actually had a chance of getting some impulsion going before entering at A.
Margaret, who was riding Matti in the Junior division, and I trotted around the x-c and stadium courses on foot with my trainer, and a second time by ourselves to familiarize ourselves with the obstacles and footing. Stadium had been changed since the July horse trials; it looked like a fun course. Cross country was the same, except for a new fence 1 on the BN course.
The only real glitch of the day happened when I got bagged by the dressage warmup steward for having spurs that were too long. Good thing I had my Prince of Wales spurs with me—Brit sprinted back to the trailer to get them for me, and I started warming up. I headed to the ring, and rode an ok test. Again, it wasn't our best, but definitely better than our worst. We got an 8 on our first centerline, and I got another 7 on position—not bad, especially since I was taking my leg away from Clover's side and whacking her with it when she ignored a quieter aid. A score of 38.5 put us into 7th.
I untacked Clover after dressage, and was getting my shit together for our stadium round in a couple of hours, when I heard the announcer thank the judges and scribes for the day. My ears pricked up, because I heard a familiar name when they announced the scribe for my ring—Sue!
Sue was my first hunt seat instructor, I had started riding with her when I was 15, a year after I had gotten Shawsheen, my first horse. She was tough, and we (my friend Karen and I) worked hard for our lessons, cleaning stalls and doing chores after school every day and on weekends. I left a couple of years later, at my mother's insistence, because my grades were dipping and I didn't have much time for my own horse. It wasn't under the best of circumstances, but bless Sue's heart, she claimed not to remember any unpleasantness and was happy to play catch up with me when I caught up with her after dressage. I can't believe she still has Sexy and Demon, the Chincoteague ponies—they are 30 years old and are doing quite well.
I got struck by an attack of nerves in stadium warmup. Clover was jumping flat, but leaving the rails up. I couldn't find the happy medium between not letting her stick her nose out and brace against the bit and shutting her down—I just have a hard time getting Clover's engine going. I had been warned that the 4th jump, a lavender and white vertical facing the crowd, was coming down for a lot of riders. I made a mental note to ride to it in as round a canter as possible.
Unfortunately, I forgot to tell myself that coming up to fence 3, the hand and footprinted panel, with a slight uphill approach. I let Clover take off long and flat to it, and we got the rail with Clover's front feet. I smartened up and rode the next two fences well, but had some trouble turning smoothly and approaching the stone wall to wishing well skinny—I got ahead of Clover over the stone wall, and then almost lost her to the skinny.
Somehow, we squeezed over them, and made the 3 stride in and out like I planned (short 3 stride vs. a long 2 stride for Clover). But again, I had turning trouble, and then had a brain fart about the last fence, so I overshot the turn as well. We hopped over the large panel and through the finish flags. I wasn't happy with the round, but we pulled it together enough to get over everything and leave the rest of the rails up. I consoled myself with the fact that I didn't pull the rail down that everyone else was having trouble with. With the 5 additional penalty points for the rail, we dropped down to 10th in the division.
Clover obviously is bored by jumping warmups, and I had a heck of a time getting her motivated enough to stay in the canter, let alone try and get a hand gallop going. But she was fine once we got out of the start box. The course was the same as it had been in July, save for the new first fence on course. Once Clover and I got over the first couple of fences, we flew over the entire course, jumping the two Novice fences on our route as well. Clover showed no sign of the sucking back that had been so problematic at Applehurst. It was clear that she remembered this course from July; we came in almost a minute faster than optimum. Good enough to move us up to 8th for a lovely (smirk) brown ribbon.
For one, it was a resonably clear and temperate day. Anyone who's evented in inclement weather knows why I make such a big deal out of the weather. For another, I got my packet and saw that my division was in Ring 2, the big ring! Not The Pit! I actually had a chance of getting some impulsion going before entering at A.
Margaret, who was riding Matti in the Junior division, and I trotted around the x-c and stadium courses on foot with my trainer, and a second time by ourselves to familiarize ourselves with the obstacles and footing. Stadium had been changed since the July horse trials; it looked like a fun course. Cross country was the same, except for a new fence 1 on the BN course.
The only real glitch of the day happened when I got bagged by the dressage warmup steward for having spurs that were too long. Good thing I had my Prince of Wales spurs with me—Brit sprinted back to the trailer to get them for me, and I started warming up. I headed to the ring, and rode an ok test. Again, it wasn't our best, but definitely better than our worst. We got an 8 on our first centerline, and I got another 7 on position—not bad, especially since I was taking my leg away from Clover's side and whacking her with it when she ignored a quieter aid. A score of 38.5 put us into 7th.
I untacked Clover after dressage, and was getting my shit together for our stadium round in a couple of hours, when I heard the announcer thank the judges and scribes for the day. My ears pricked up, because I heard a familiar name when they announced the scribe for my ring—Sue!
Sue was my first hunt seat instructor, I had started riding with her when I was 15, a year after I had gotten Shawsheen, my first horse. She was tough, and we (my friend Karen and I) worked hard for our lessons, cleaning stalls and doing chores after school every day and on weekends. I left a couple of years later, at my mother's insistence, because my grades were dipping and I didn't have much time for my own horse. It wasn't under the best of circumstances, but bless Sue's heart, she claimed not to remember any unpleasantness and was happy to play catch up with me when I caught up with her after dressage. I can't believe she still has Sexy and Demon, the Chincoteague ponies—they are 30 years old and are doing quite well.
I got struck by an attack of nerves in stadium warmup. Clover was jumping flat, but leaving the rails up. I couldn't find the happy medium between not letting her stick her nose out and brace against the bit and shutting her down—I just have a hard time getting Clover's engine going. I had been warned that the 4th jump, a lavender and white vertical facing the crowd, was coming down for a lot of riders. I made a mental note to ride to it in as round a canter as possible.
Unfortunately, I forgot to tell myself that coming up to fence 3, the hand and footprinted panel, with a slight uphill approach. I let Clover take off long and flat to it, and we got the rail with Clover's front feet. I smartened up and rode the next two fences well, but had some trouble turning smoothly and approaching the stone wall to wishing well skinny—I got ahead of Clover over the stone wall, and then almost lost her to the skinny.
Somehow, we squeezed over them, and made the 3 stride in and out like I planned (short 3 stride vs. a long 2 stride for Clover). But again, I had turning trouble, and then had a brain fart about the last fence, so I overshot the turn as well. We hopped over the large panel and through the finish flags. I wasn't happy with the round, but we pulled it together enough to get over everything and leave the rest of the rails up. I consoled myself with the fact that I didn't pull the rail down that everyone else was having trouble with. With the 5 additional penalty points for the rail, we dropped down to 10th in the division.
Clover obviously is bored by jumping warmups, and I had a heck of a time getting her motivated enough to stay in the canter, let alone try and get a hand gallop going. But she was fine once we got out of the start box. The course was the same as it had been in July, save for the new first fence on course. Once Clover and I got over the first couple of fences, we flew over the entire course, jumping the two Novice fences on our route as well. Clover showed no sign of the sucking back that had been so problematic at Applehurst. It was clear that she remembered this course from July; we came in almost a minute faster than optimum. Good enough to move us up to 8th for a lovely (smirk) brown ribbon.
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