GLEE Spring into Summer Show #2

 Peebs and I did our second show of the year last Sunday. It was the second show in the same series as the first one that we did. This time we did two equitation classes and two jumper rounds.

The show has a couple of $500 equitation challenge classes; a gymnastic class and a handy and dandy equitation class. Originally each class had a 2'6" and 3' section, but due to popular demand, they added a 2' section for this show. I didn't realize that till the morning of, and looked at the courses before deciding what to enter. The gymnastic class called for no stirrup work, and a trotting a fence without stirrups, so I decided to do the handy class instead. I have no shame pulling the weenie, flabby ammy card. 

There was a lot more space between 5 and 8 than 5 and the rail

Peebs was little more awake and distracted for the handy class than he normally is. Trainer and I talked about it, and decided to go for the inside turn from 1 to 2, as that turn also showed up in my jumper rounds and there wasn't a whole lot of space between the outside fence and the rail. I was to take fence 1 on a slight angle, as Trainer was afraid of me loosing the impulsion in squaring off the turn, and angling it would encourage Peebs to land on his left lead. I liked how I rode the turn, but I cut the turn to sharp to 2 and we ended up aimed at the inside standard. Peebs never felt like he locked onto the fence either, so I circled and re-approached. So much for winning a piece of the prize money. But the rest of the course rode well and I mainly wanted to use the class as a warm up for our medal round.

All I have are blurry screenshots, sorry

The medal round was at 2'3" and I don't think Peebs realized the fences had gone up a hole as he smacked the first fence pretty hard. It stayed in the cups, but since there were only 3 of us in the class and no one else hit poles, I knew we were going to be on the bottom. Peebs was more focused and with me for this round, but also strong and wanting to counter bend and motorcycle around the turns. He's earned himself some flat work boot camp, as well as halting straight after fences for a while. But overall I was happy with our two equitation rounds. None of the fences looked big or felt scary and I could see every distance and know when I needed to hold or move him up. 

We had about a two hour break before my jumper classes.  Peebs paced a bit at the trailer and tired himself out, which was a good thing. I tried to focus on bending and moving his shoulders around in our warm up, but the arena wasn't that big and trying to work around other people was tough. He was more rideable and I was ready for our 2'3" jumper rounds. 

I never really got Peebs in front of my leg for our first round, and we never fell into a rhythm. I know we pulled a rail, but can't remember at which fence. We placed third out of three again. My instructions for going into the second round were to gallop him across the arena to the first fence, then settle a bit on the approach and keep that pace the whole way around. Peebs was definitely tired by this point and I had to help him a bit more, but we found our distances and I was really, really happy with the round. 

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Till the second to last fence. It was the turn from jump 1 to 2 in the eq class above, now fences 8 and 9. I had dropped to the trot for a simple change coming up to fence 8 and Peebs thought we were done. He kept trying to drop his head and stick his front leg out. I was pulling his head up and kicking but he was determined to scratch his head while trotting. I realized there was no way we were making it over fence 8 and stopped him, where he immediately started rubbing his head on his leg. I had forgotten my crop at home so I couldn't whack him, but I booted him forward and circled back to 8. I did nail the inside turn from 8 to 9 so at least I redeemed myself there. 

I was pretty pissed at the time, but now I can look back and laugh. The day as a whole went really well, with just a few bobbles that can be fixed. I felt comfortable with the height, felt like the courses were within our capabilities and dare I say it, maybe ready to move up? Just next time I'll remember my crop in case Peebs decides he needs to itch again.

GLEE Spring into Summer Show #1

 This winter a new local show series started up. They had three shows that were unrated schooling shows, and weren't a part of our local show organization. But they decided to get their spring/summer series shows approved OHJA/USHJA Outreach and it seemed like a low key show, so I figured we'd give them a try. The spring series shows are just equitaion and jumpers, held on the same day.

When the flashbacks hit

 

The show was being held at the same barn I bought Peebs from. The trainer/owner who had him has since retired, and a new trainer/program is at the facility now. Since I bought him, a new outdoor arena was installed at the facility, and the old outdoor was now trailer parking. I was about 50/50 on how Peebs would be going back to his old home; either he'd be totally chill, or freaked out because he remembered the place. It ended up being a little of both, he definitely had some flashbacks and remembered where he was, but the new outdoor really confused him. He was pretty distracted at first, but settled in by the end of the day. 

I LOVE this swing-out saddle rack.

Our first class was a 2' medal class. We were the only entries. Unfortunately that didn't guarantee us the win. Peebs warmed up pretty well, but was very distracted and confused as we headed out to the outdoor arena. I'm not sure if that area was used for pasture before, or if it was just unused, but he took a good long look at things when we went in. He didn't seem to notice the first fence at all, and I ended up stopping him because I was convinced he would have just plowed through it. A swift kick as we circled go his attention and we continued on. I didn't look early enough for our turn to fence two (just off the center line) and thus our bending line to three was pretty crooked. It was also an oxer, which aren't supposed to be in this medal class. I psyched myself out over the crooked line and the oxer and circled again. The judge yelled out that I could keep schooling, but I admitted I was worried about the oxers. The show manager then realized the jump crew hadn't set the course correctly and had them take the oxers out. Once that was fixed we started the course again and made it all the way through. 

We then had a long break before our 2' jumper rounds. Peebs got to hang out eating at the trailer while I ate and played on my phone in my truck. When I got on for my jumper rounds Peebs felt much more relaxed and with me. We were both tired so I didn't do a whole lot of warm up. We had three jumper rounds, a timed first round, a power and speed round, and a jump off round. There was only one other person signed up for our division. The course was the same course as our medal round, just with jump offs for the two rounds. Our timed first round rode really well. We had enough pace, but Peebs wasn't running off his feet, I saw all my distances (whether or not they were good distances was another matter), and I was really happy with the round. We placed first. 

 

The other girl in our classes decided to scratch after the first round, so I went in for the power and speed planning on putting in another solid round and not worrying about the j/o. Unfortunately Peebs had other plans, and made it clear that he was tired. We broke to the trot in one of the turns and had to circle, then I lot his right shoulder on another approach and circled again. I tipped my hat to the judge, telling her that there was no reason to keep going. Peebs had been really good, but it was clear that he was done for the day. I had done what I wanted to do at this show, which was knock the rust off and get in rounds jumping away from home. The judge then gave me the best compliment ever, saying she respected the kindness and compassion I showed to my horse. The show manager, and her mom who was running the office, both also complimented me on how nice Peebs is, and what a good team we made. That right there is worth more than the ribbon we won. 

Overall, I'm happy with how the day went. I wish I hadn't psyched myself out over the oxers, but I didn't get too into my head over them and was able to go out and have good rounds. Both Peebs and I need to work on our fitness, and hopefully we'll head back to the second show in this series in early May ready to complete the jumper division!