So to prove to myself we could do this (and why couldn't we after schooling all the BN size cross country jumps last weekend with ease?) we set out for the show. My goals were: 1) braid her, 2) successfully make it through the courses, 3) feel good about approaching and jumping 2'6" fences, 4) not break the bank doing it!
1) Braiding, check! Not fantastic, but I got through it in under an hour! Her mane is SO thick that the regular 20-22 braids ended up being WAY to thick! They looked all wrong, and yet I looked at them admiringly all day! Sticking straight up off her neck, they some how gave her a draft horse look that I thought was just adorable. As hunter braids they were atrocious. I was trying to go for the dressage button braids look, but failed there too.
I also was trying to just do it with two rubber bands per braid, but one shake knocked half them out, and two more rubber bands were needed to fix them. I think I'll go back to the yarn hunter/braid method I grew up with, especially with the thickness I think that will add the structure needed to keep them straight, especially if I want to braid the night before!2) Jump courses, well, sort of a check. We started with two Hunter Hack courses to warm up, one walk-trot only, the other a regular canter version. We breezed through those, but had a chip before the first fence when cantering. This is typical of Lola warming up, and it was kind of nice to get it out of the way! Then came the jumping classes... the course was ridiculous! It was the same course for all four classes- Low Hunter, Mid Hunter, Equitation over Fences, and Jumpers (with a jump off course as well). This worked fine for me, I hate memorizing different courses. It also gave me a shot at perfecting the course by doing it several times. This wouldn't have been necessary if it had been a standard hunter course, you know: line along the long side, line down the diagonal... any variation of that creates wide sweeping corners and straight and inviting lines. The course created for the show was certainly not a hunter course, it was either a very challenging equitation/jumper course or simply a terrible designed course! I will not be the judge of that. I found it extremely challenging, which is good, because I can bet the jumper course next weekend will be easier! Here's the course:
You tell me how to jump that!!! There is ONE nice turn! The rest are almost roll-backs! You can see in the video that the first time coming from jump 4 to 5 I completely missed it, and even after circling didn't get a straight approach. Yikes! So I was glad to get to try it again. This is what I sort of was trying for. My squiggly lines drawn in Paint are probably straighter and more correct than my ride was!
We just fully jumped #4 at a diagonal, which she was totally game for, Lola kept landing on the left lead, so we would just trot the sharp turn and pick up the canter before the fence which worked fine. The other turns though we just couldn't get tight enough and we ended up coming at most of the jumps at an angle, coming into a line without being straight wasn't ideal. So we had three tries to sort out the course, and we certainly improved each time. We've got pictures and videos to go through, so I'll post those soon.
3) Jump 2'6" courses, FAIL! This had been an all day, "neighborhood" kind of show. The kind where the horses are ridden in almost every class available in the 46 class schedule, and you are almost guaranteed to see someone fall off. I never saw anyone come off, but there were several moments that made you cringe. The courses were meant to be: 18 inch cross rails for Hunter Hack, 2' for low hunters, 2'6" for Mid-hunters and Eq, and up to 3' for jumpers. When it came time to move the fences up, the judge opted to leave them at 2', saying that the horses were tired. I'm a chicken, and the turns were hard, so I really was a tiny bit relieved. But the thing was almost all the riders either left the arena crying/refused to go in for the course (because they shouldn't be jumping courses yet based on the nerve-wracking Hunter Hack performance) or scratched (because their horses were being "naughty" but probably just exhausted). So there were three of us jumping courses. Lola and a big grey had only come for these classes and hadn't been riding at all. But the third was a dear patient gelding who HAD been ridden in classes all day, and I was told had only been jumping for 5 weeks. So I was relieved for the pair that the jumps stayed low. So I didn't get that extra six inches of scary. It probably won't matter. It's more of a mental thing, because I know that she's capable, and we've done it before, just not in a show.
4) Not breaking the bank, check, but with a sacrifice. The classes were a whopping $4.95, so at the end of the day I'd paid less than $30. I also won four out of six classes which meant I went home with a feed scoop, a plastic "horse shaver" thingy, a mane/tail comb, and a shedding block. All very useful things! The problem was that because it was a cheap and low key show, they were running THREE HOURS BEHIND!!!! They published that jumping wouldn't start until after 1pm. I showed up at noon to be sure to be ready in case they did start then. They were already behind, and estimated a 3pm start. I don't think we got to jumping until 4:30. Lola didn't mind! She got to hand graze for about three hours, so long that she stopped eating to watch the show!
My husband (groom) and parents (camera crew) were a bit bored with the whole deal, they put on a brave face! At least after we found some shade.
And I was left thinking that it would have been a whole lot easier to braid and dress in show gear for a lesson if I wanted video of us at a show! But that wasn't the point, the point was to overcome my show nerves, and I did. But boy what a waste of a day! All that waiting when I have so much to do!
Bonus lesson learned: I am pitifully out of shape. Since I was sick and had to have the trainer ride her for the last jumping lesson, I really have only jumped twice since getting back from the honeymoon. Both times we were just schooling. Mainly we jumped one fence, talked, jumped it again, talked, jumped three in a row, then talked. Having to hold us together while cantering 8 fences was like a sprint! I still am not back in full health from the cold, so that is partially to blame, but I realized I haven't worked out since the beginning of August. A solid month without cardio can take the breath out of you! I was puffing after each course. The last class was jumpers. I hadn't planned to do it because of the height, but since they weren't going to raise the fences, and there were only three of us anyway, I was talked into it. I was SO ready to be done. If I had been thinking I would have taken off the wool hunt coat and collar, and rolled up the long sleeves on my show shirt, but I wasn't. There had been a nice breeze, and it certainly had cooled down, but it still had been in the mid-nineties with very un-California like humidity. I'm clearly making excuses for a reason! I cantered up to the first fence feeling strong, and then just stopped riding. Being the fourth time I'd done the course I guess I just decided I'd be a passenger! She chipped, and I didn't support, so she took down the rail. Completely my fault. It was a terrible ride! My first thought was, oh fine, I quit. Then I realized that I couldn't quit on that note I need to ride forward!!! So we took the next line right in stride, with a brilliant 5 stride in between. And then I thought, what is the point? I decided not to finish. The course just got harder from there, we had done a great job of it the last time through, and I didn't think I could give her the ride she deserved this time. Why ruin the good feeling of our last ride with a weak attempt to better it? So I decided not to finish. It wasn't until I got back into a tank top that I realized I would have done better if I had cooled off before jumping that last course. The other girls were riding in polo shirts. I just couldn't bring myself to ride in a polo after spending all that time braiding! I could have let that slide for the jumpers class though. So more fitness for me, and I hope to give stronger ride next time for my lovely mare.
All in all, we had a positive experience. We really hit a few fences perfect! It felt marvelous. I am holding on to that mental image, reliving the feeling so that I have it stored away for mental preparation next week. I was impressed with her willingness despite our crocked approaches and challenging turns. She was wonderful for the flat portion of Hunter Hack too! I'm feeling good about next week!
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