Updated Bucket List

 Last week USHJA announced the dates for inaugural Adult Hunter Finals.  Big shout out to former blogger L.Williams for being on the committee that got this done!!  I shared a post on FB about how qualifying and competing at finals is now a bucket list item, and it got me thinking of my long neglected bucket list I have on the blog. So, let's update my bucket list; updates in bold. 

gratuitous pony pic to break up the wall of text 

• Show 3'6", hunters or jumpers
• Nope, I'd be happy to get to 3' now. No need to go any higher
• Qualify and compete in a medal finals
• Qualified and competed in the 2013 LOH Hunter Medal Finals, placed 6th.
• Qualified and competed in the 2024 OHJA Foundation Medal Finals, placed 6th.
• Show at Thermal and/or TBird, and if I win the lottery, Spruce Meadows and WEF
• If I can't show at Spruce or WEF I'll take watching there
• Traveled to Spruce Meadows in September 2022
• Ride in a Hunter Derby
• Have done a few 2' derbies at schooling shows 2023-204. Updating this to have my trainer show Cinder in a National Derby, and if I have the nerve do one myself.
• Jump the open water
• No thank you
• Clinic with as many top riders/trainers as I can
• Watched the George Morris clinic at Whip N'Spur Dec 2015, 2016, 2017
• Audited an Anne Kursinski clinic Dec 2022 
• Breed and raise/train a baby
• I didn't breed her, but obviously have raised and trained Cinder
• International horse shopping trip!  My cousin's husband's sister has her own barn in Belgium and starts and shows babies.  She's told me anytime I want to go ride with her or go shopping to just let her know.
• Still want to go horse shopping in Europe. 
• Have my own one ton pick up w/ living quarters trailer.
• Meh, I'm kinda on the fence about this. I do like my current two horse and LQ trailers are pretty damn big and expensive. I'm also at the age where I really like sleeping in hotels for horse shows as opposed to staying in the trailer.
• Win a cooler
• Done 2023. Won the MDTE 2'Hunter Series Champion
• Show at Adult Hunter Finals
• Would also check off showing at Thermal on the bucket list

Bucket List: Spruce Meadows

 If you follow me on IG/FB you probably already saw, but a week and a half ago, my parents and I went to Calgary and Spruce Meadows. I've always wanted to go to Spruce, and my parents love to travel and thankfully indulge me when I want to combine travel with horse shows. We got tickets for Saturday and Sunday at the Masters, watching the BMO Nations Cups on Saturday and the $3,000,000 CN International Grand Prix on Sunday. 

Spruce Meadows flags were everywhere

 

We spent the first couple days in Calgary exploring, and heading up to Banff. Downtown Calgary is really nice and we found some great Vietnamese food, as well as an awesome steak house. Banff and Lake Louise are absolutely stunning and totally worth the day trip to go see. 

Lake Louise

From where we were staying in downtown, it was about a half hour drive to Spruce Meadows. We didn't want to bother with renting a car, driving, and parking, so we took the light rail from downtown to the end of the line, where there was a free shuttle but that took about 5 minutes to drive to SM. 10/10 would recommend; we beat the horrible traffic leaving as the bus got priority over cars, the light rail was clean, easy to use, and only took a half hour. The only problem was Sunday the last shuttle bus was at 5, but the GP didn't finish till 5. We ended up missing the final jump off to be able to make the shuttle. 

 Obviously we were only able to see the spectator parts of the grounds, not the stabling/warm up areas, but the grounds were lovely. Definitely the nicest venue I've ever been to. They had a bunch of food vendors, shopping, and a lot of clean bathrooms. We did a little shopping on Saturday; I ended up with a hoodie and stickers. When we got to our seats, I noticed there were a lot of people walking the Nations Cup course, and most of them looked like regular people not riders or trainers. After overhearing someone else, we realized they had the International Ring open for everyone to walk so my mom and I headed out to walk the course. I'm still in shock that anyone could step out into the International Ring and walk a Nations Cup course. I can't remember any of the major US Grand Prixs that I've been to where they allowed that. 

I was unfortunately ill-prepared and didn't know the course, so I kinda stumbled around trying to figure things out, and then we ran out of time. But it was awesome to see those big fences up close and to walk some of the lines. The open water looks huge standing next to it. I also failed at taking pics, mostly just being too in awe of being on the course. 

Hey look, the jump is a tall as I am

They didn't open the course up on Sunday, so no walking the GP course. But we were sitting close to the clocktower where riders enter/exit and a lot of riders/trainers/groms/owners were coming and going and I was able to hear a bit of what they were saying about the course. And watching some of the trainers and grooms while their riders were on course was almost better than watching the riders. There was a Belgium coach that almost fell over the railing while watching his rider. I was able to see Martin Fuchs, Jenn Gates, the Philippartes brothers, and Steve Guerdat up close. And those were just the riders I recognized. 

Captured the moment McLain had a rail on the double liverpools

 

It was an incredible experience and I'm so thanful for my parents for making it possible. I know I won't ever go to Spruce as a rider/owner, but hopefully I can make it back as a spectator again.

Hard Work Pays Off

Things, for the most part, have been going really, really well.  If you follow me on IG or FB you've seen our last show results, but if not: Peebs is a boss.  We went and did a two day USHJA Outreach show and came home with champion in our hunter division, reserve champion in our equitation division, and I won the USHJA Outreach Bronze medal, my first medal class win. I just got a ribbon for the win, not an actual medal which I'm slightly pissed about.  My inner 12yr old wants that medal!

We did win a saddle pad for being champion

After our last show in April, Peebs and I had a little down time that involved me going to see my parents, and him getting his teeth done.  When we went back to work we focused mainly on flat work; really getting him in front of my leg and unlocking his neck. He tends to hold tension in his neck, and won't bend.  To really get him loose and bendy, I have to think about flexing his neck and making it soft. I also focused on not holding on for dear life with my inside hand.  We did some small cross rails and ground poles, not really putting anything together but only picking up jumps/poles when he felt connected and forward.  It was very clear when he wasn't, as I couldn't see a distance or what I did see was crappy. When he was on my aids everything just flowed so well.

Our first real jumping lesson back from the April show was awesome.  We did a little course and I was actually able to work on things like holding him out in the bending line, and waiting with impulsion to a short distance.  It was like a switch had been flipped and all of a sudden we could go do the thing. Even when I saw a bad spot, or didn't see anything, I could sit up and add leg and not worry that he'd stop or we'd crash. For me, that's huge.  It's been a very long time since I've felt like that. I even asked my trainer to put the jumps up!

The show photographer didn't get any pics of me, so no riding media from the show

The show last weekend was a culmination of everything we've been working on.  I had a plan for our warm-up, the jumps looked tiny (they were 2' which I know is tiny but I guess I underestimated how high we've been schooling lately) and, most importantly, I felt confident and relaxed.  Which I wasn't expecting, as I was by myself.  My trainer was out of town so I was flying solo at the show.  So to come home with a champion, a reserve, and a medal win was way beyond my expectations.  My only real expectation was to have nice, flowing rounds and to try and remember what we've been working on at home.  That's not to say we were completely flawless.  I still saw a couple super long distances that Peeb's rightly decided not to take. I cut a corner in our first eq round and Peebs decided he was really tired in our second eq round and trotted coming out of the turn to the diagonal line. We also cantered when we were supposed to be trotting in the under saddle. But I consider these to fairly minor issues, and nothing that we can't work on. 

My original show plan for the year was to skip this show series July show and do their August one, but the horse show bug bit me hard and I decided to do one of the days in July.  They're doing series champion awards this year, and while I don't normally consider myself a point chaser, I'm currently the leader for our hunter division and I want those points! I've never been a contender for a champ or reserve year end award and I really, really want to go for it. I can financially swing it, my confidence in my horse and my riding is at an all time high, and my horse is awesome. Why not go for it?

Crossing One Off

I crossed off one of my goals on my equine bucket list today, my first triple bar!

 Just something about a triple bar makes me feel like a real jumper, even though it wasn't big and I probably won't ever show over one.  Buddy was great, warmed up really well and we just popped over a few fences. We went for a walk in the field to cool down and the top of the grass was hitting my boots.  Connie was out mowing what will be the grass jump field.  It's approximately 120x200 and hopefully I can move jumps out there in the next few days.