Expanding on yesterday’s dressage recap, after dressage I was slightly meh about my test, but determined to still give a good go of the showjumping. I paid in advance for an extra round, with the expectation that he would be his normally spooky self in the show arena (which he was) and give him a more confidence building experience the second time round.
Since Jack started out being looky at the lakes puddles that dominated the facility that day, I purposely got his feet wet over and over again in the warmup ring- not hard to do when the “puddles” are almost 20′ wide. This gave me hope that I wouldn’t be swimming once we got into the arena proper, since there was literally no approach from 6B to fence 7 that avoided a splash zone.
After confidently navigating the water, we had a beautiful warmup, thanks to friend C channeling the trainer’s words from Tuesday’s lesson. I actually felt like my leg was under me, and for the most part that my shoulders were back, and Jack felt lovely and supple and relaxed. Where is that horse for dressage??
She helps me tack, warm up, and video- also her hair is fabulous!
But all that relaxation went away as predicted the moment we stepped into the competition ring. Just like all the previous times, he would basically ping off of all the fences while I tried to assure him these were fences of the non-horse-eating variety. Enter again lots of verbal praise to calm the big weenie.
Accurate representation of Jack on course
Beyond that, we had a decent go.
Except for this. Right here. On the last fence, and the last foot over- cost us a rail that moved us from a potential 3rd place to tied for 7th.
Oh well.
We sat around for 20 minutes and came back in for our schooling round, and I was shocked to find Jack more spooky on re-entry than before. I can only figure that he was tired at this point and backed off. So we really didn’t get to smooth anything out until after fence 4. You’ll see in the video that he comes back to a trot, and I think the adrenaline wore off and I actually was able to give him more of a decent ride than before.
Overall, I’m really happy with the big blondie. We got all our leads, and even though we got a couple wonky spots (including a deep one I asked him for- sorry buddy but waiting is a thing), in general it felt way smoother than our last time there in November.
I believe the plan is to shoot for Novice height at the next SJ outing at the end of January. We’ve also got a cross country schooling this weekend if the weather cooperates! All the things!!!
Red on the Right 
I think you guys still are looking great – you’ve come so far! And sounds like lots of fun things coming up in the next few weeks.
Thanks! We also may be getting a few inches of snow tomorrow, so we’ll see if all those fun plans end up happening! Boo snow!
Brrr stay warm!
grhh damn rail! So close! He looks great and you got him in and over everything both times so winning?? Hope the weather cooperates for cc schooling this weekend. i think he is gorgeous and jumps the moon when he wants to 🙂 And I love his dressage too. So if he disappears he MAY be in DE 🙂 Just warning you 🙂 LOL (Not that I would do as good as you with the wimpy part he would just look nice in my stall is all:) HA HA HA
LOL he does look good in a stall, I’ll admit that! But you had me laughing because you’re so right- he jumps the moon when he wants to. And right now despite his lookiness, 2’7″ does NOT impress the golden boy.
He’s looking great! Love his happy ears in that first picture. Bummer about the rail though.
Thanks! And yeah… damn rail.
Y’all looked great! There is just something so very intense about the atmosphere in that ring (and after surviving the warm up) at the Horse Park, that is so hard to explain in words. I have had to battle many personal demons in that ring the past 3 years. Did you see that Mari posted yesterday that she is going to have the Running Start HT in February?!?
Oh man- I know what you mean! And I saw that about Running Start! I’m just so tentative about actually competing there since her courses tend to be above what’s allowed for the level in terms of technicality. But I’m hoping to school there this weekend- so fingers crossed for no snow!
That Macaulay Culkin gif is the best thing I have ever seen.
Shame about the foot but yay for progress!
Great round mate. and one rail between third and seventh is painful!!
I remember i came second in dressage once by 0.2% it made me nuts for a while!
mel x
Great rounds and awesome that you feel improvement over the past couple months! Sounds like the decision to school an extra round was perfect for Jack.