Hilltop 3 phase
Well, that knocked me down a few. Clover was in heat, and as soon as she left the warm up, Mico turned into a stallion. He was totally on the muscle. He bellowed and and called for Clover. I lost his attention, though I thought I pulled it together pretty well for the test--I had more mindful moments, and managed to relax my seat and legs, if not my upper body, and even got the canters on each lead, as well as a fairly accurate circle. I tried to ride a diplomatic test, and thought I should have done a little better than a 50 ... but then again, I suppose in the scheme of things it was fair.
We walked the cross country course twice, and I felt confident that we'd repeat our success from the Green Acres course. We had a couple of super warm up fences--I was careful not to jump him flat--and came out of the start box well. And that was about the end of it. It took me five tries to get over the first fence, a faux sort of trakhener/oversized saddle stand looking thing filled with bright sawdust. After the third time, I asked the fence judge if we could just continue. A sharp right turn, down a slight, shaded hill to a log and hay bale jump, through some trappy muddy grass to a revetted faux ditch. Mico took a long look, but hopped over it. A short gallop through the field to the fourth fence, a light blue chicken coop painted with bright neon stripes and spots. Mico stopped short, so I represented him and we popped over it.
Into the woods, more bellowing, a stop or two at just about every fence, out into the field, a stop at a bright, white coop, ok over railroad ties, a stop at the wishing well, a stop at the red picket, and finally, I gave up at the massive red table after the second attempt. I declined to take the courtesy stadium round, I was done trying to get Mico's attention whenever he was more than 20 feet away from Clover. I figured I'd cut my losses, and enjoy the rest of the day. Dan and Katrina had packed the truck and their new trailer full of bbq gear--even a grill!
I was frustrated, and embarrassed, but I managed to keep my cool and avoid another Applehurst type on-course meltdown. It was tough, but I rode what I could and let the rest go, which is pretty good for me.
Clover and Katrina had a great day, coming in third after a three way tie for first after cross country, and after clean stadium rounds they had to go to the collective marks on the dressage tests to break the tie. One point separated first through third place. I wonder if I can convince her to take my spot at the first Kingsbury? I wonder if we'll have the kinks hammered out for the second one in August?
We walked the cross country course twice, and I felt confident that we'd repeat our success from the Green Acres course. We had a couple of super warm up fences--I was careful not to jump him flat--and came out of the start box well. And that was about the end of it. It took me five tries to get over the first fence, a faux sort of trakhener/oversized saddle stand looking thing filled with bright sawdust. After the third time, I asked the fence judge if we could just continue. A sharp right turn, down a slight, shaded hill to a log and hay bale jump, through some trappy muddy grass to a revetted faux ditch. Mico took a long look, but hopped over it. A short gallop through the field to the fourth fence, a light blue chicken coop painted with bright neon stripes and spots. Mico stopped short, so I represented him and we popped over it.
Into the woods, more bellowing, a stop or two at just about every fence, out into the field, a stop at a bright, white coop, ok over railroad ties, a stop at the wishing well, a stop at the red picket, and finally, I gave up at the massive red table after the second attempt. I declined to take the courtesy stadium round, I was done trying to get Mico's attention whenever he was more than 20 feet away from Clover. I figured I'd cut my losses, and enjoy the rest of the day. Dan and Katrina had packed the truck and their new trailer full of bbq gear--even a grill!
I was frustrated, and embarrassed, but I managed to keep my cool and avoid another Applehurst type on-course meltdown. It was tough, but I rode what I could and let the rest go, which is pretty good for me.
Clover and Katrina had a great day, coming in third after a three way tie for first after cross country, and after clean stadium rounds they had to go to the collective marks on the dressage tests to break the tie. One point separated first through third place. I wonder if I can convince her to take my spot at the first Kingsbury? I wonder if we'll have the kinks hammered out for the second one in August?
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