Spokane Sport horse Farms Horse Trials
~Novice Debut~
Our weekend recap ~ with pictures and video links
Thursday we packed up and left early .... I only had about a 4 hour nap before Jenny came to pick me up and then we headed off onto the road to Spokane. That feeling of excitement before the show, the adrenaline of the cross country course, and that amazing feeling of being prepared for the competition. I didn't have the ... "lets just get to the other side of the jump" feeling! I was ready! Charlotte and I were fully prepared and ready for the weekend. Unloading all the horses we set out for a short jump school in the arena, Jenny is always finding ways in continuing to make sure we are prepared.
Day 1 of Competition: Dressage
Our test was scheduled for 0912 in the morning which was enough time to walk Charlotte and make sure she ate her breakfast while braiding her mane. Charlotte has a super thick mane and normally takes me about 1 hour to braid, however I use yarn and they have the potential to stay in all weekend. I normally take them out after we show our dressage test because I don't think Charlotte loves them as much as I do! HAHA "hurts to be beautiful" We spent the day before cleaning and whitening her feathers...... but then after she was in her stall I discovered how dusty it was and I came back to BLACK feathers! I was mortified! ..... Clydesdale trick of the trade : Corn starch is your best friend! I used an entire box of corn starch on her feathers that morning! She was absolutely smashing!
Walking down to our arena I replayed all the movements in the test. We have practiced a hundred times, shown in small schooling shows with the same test and gone over it in my head the entire drive down. We were ready! Warming up Charlotte was SPICY ..... I felt like I was on a ball of energy. moving from warm up arena to outdoor warm up arena to the final arena I was struggling on containing that power. She was on fire! and any small correction I gave her amplified the result so we took a deep breath ...... slowed down..... stretched out ..... and "A" enter working trot down the centerline. I felt the test was not our best, however givin the horse Charlotte was, we worked as a team to hold it together. She was amazing! I could feel her floating underneath me. The last twenty meter circle we start cantering and all of a sudden ........... I forgot what to do next!! You will see in the youtube video, my small "glitch" at the end. We recovered smoothly to score a 31.1 placing us in 6th to start the weekend off strong! Dressage Test : Dressage in Spokane
Day 2 of competition: Cross Country
MY FAVORITE DAY!! even though our scheduled time was 0754 in the morning!!! I have to say the course looked a bit daunting, long, and challenging but I have so much confidence in the training Charlotte and I have been doing I was not worried! This was the first time I felt more excited than nervous to attack a cross country course. Spokane was everything I was warned about. The terrain was challenging along with all the fences feeling maxed out..... all in all this was the perfect start to our season. 17 jumps , 2 water hazards , multiple hills up and down .... my plan was to start out conserving her energy than toward the end, the last stretch of course I would let her go the pace she wanted. Jenny made a really good point "there is no reason to run the horses out on the first show of the season and risk breaking them, take it easy, take your time and don't worry about time too much". This course was the biggest confidence boost, just what we needed for the start to the season. We started the course strong but conservative on energy, I was a bit nervous of the jump leading up the hill but she took it in stride with out hesitation .... dropping down into the first water jumps we got a bit stuck and ended up trotting the jump out of the water. Back up the hill to the other half of the course, Charlotte wanted to gallop so I let her.... we came up just a bit short in the AB combination and Charlotte came to my rescue with her little wings attached to her feathers. Dropping down again to a fun bright jump pictured below and fun ditch! coming up over the last hill to the last couple jumps and the second water we flew through the finish flags with enough gas in the tank to start all over again. We did end up with 10 time penalties but no jump faults! I really made it a point to give Charlotte all the time she needed to see each jump and read the question throughout the course.
My training and conditioning program really paid off and I'm sure If I was a little less conservative in the beginning we would have been double clear but the risk was not worth her huge confidence boost! Charlotte felt on fire after that course and ready to concur the next! Our ten time faults dropped us down to 16th place but I didn't care, I was on cloud 9 with her performance and the always growing bond and partnership we continue to strengthen.
Our test was scheduled for 0912 in the morning which was enough time to walk Charlotte and make sure she ate her breakfast while braiding her mane. Charlotte has a super thick mane and normally takes me about 1 hour to braid, however I use yarn and they have the potential to stay in all weekend. I normally take them out after we show our dressage test because I don't think Charlotte loves them as much as I do! HAHA "hurts to be beautiful" We spent the day before cleaning and whitening her feathers...... but then after she was in her stall I discovered how dusty it was and I came back to BLACK feathers! I was mortified! ..... Clydesdale trick of the trade : Corn starch is your best friend! I used an entire box of corn starch on her feathers that morning! She was absolutely smashing!
Walking down to our arena I replayed all the movements in the test. We have practiced a hundred times, shown in small schooling shows with the same test and gone over it in my head the entire drive down. We were ready! Warming up Charlotte was SPICY ..... I felt like I was on a ball of energy. moving from warm up arena to outdoor warm up arena to the final arena I was struggling on containing that power. She was on fire! and any small correction I gave her amplified the result so we took a deep breath ...... slowed down..... stretched out ..... and "A" enter working trot down the centerline. I felt the test was not our best, however givin the horse Charlotte was, we worked as a team to hold it together. She was amazing! I could feel her floating underneath me. The last twenty meter circle we start cantering and all of a sudden ........... I forgot what to do next!! You will see in the youtube video, my small "glitch" at the end. We recovered smoothly to score a 31.1 placing us in 6th to start the weekend off strong! Dressage Test : Dressage in Spokane
Day 2 of competition: Cross Country
MY FAVORITE DAY!! even though our scheduled time was 0754 in the morning!!! I have to say the course looked a bit daunting, long, and challenging but I have so much confidence in the training Charlotte and I have been doing I was not worried! This was the first time I felt more excited than nervous to attack a cross country course. Spokane was everything I was warned about. The terrain was challenging along with all the fences feeling maxed out..... all in all this was the perfect start to our season. 17 jumps , 2 water hazards , multiple hills up and down .... my plan was to start out conserving her energy than toward the end, the last stretch of course I would let her go the pace she wanted. Jenny made a really good point "there is no reason to run the horses out on the first show of the season and risk breaking them, take it easy, take your time and don't worry about time too much". This course was the biggest confidence boost, just what we needed for the start to the season. We started the course strong but conservative on energy, I was a bit nervous of the jump leading up the hill but she took it in stride with out hesitation .... dropping down into the first water jumps we got a bit stuck and ended up trotting the jump out of the water. Back up the hill to the other half of the course, Charlotte wanted to gallop so I let her.... we came up just a bit short in the AB combination and Charlotte came to my rescue with her little wings attached to her feathers. Dropping down again to a fun bright jump pictured below and fun ditch! coming up over the last hill to the last couple jumps and the second water we flew through the finish flags with enough gas in the tank to start all over again. We did end up with 10 time penalties but no jump faults! I really made it a point to give Charlotte all the time she needed to see each jump and read the question throughout the course.
My training and conditioning program really paid off and I'm sure If I was a little less conservative in the beginning we would have been double clear but the risk was not worth her huge confidence boost! Charlotte felt on fire after that course and ready to concur the next! Our ten time faults dropped us down to 16th place but I didn't care, I was on cloud 9 with her performance and the always growing bond and partnership we continue to strengthen.
Day 3 of competition: Stadium Jumping
Last day .... Stadium is always a difficult day because there is no scheduled times. They start from the person in last place and go up from there. Spokane had one arena going at one time and they started from the top and made there way down the levels/divisions. So we had the opportunity to ride in the warm sun, however Spokane sport horse farms did an exceptional job with keeping everything flowing smoothly. The classes were going quickly and we were soon headed back down to the arena for our Novice Stadium jumping round. We were not in last place which gave us the advantage to watch a few rounds and learn from those riders. Many riders missed jump 8, so I was determined not to forget .... especially with my "oh shit" moment in the dressage ring! Our round was very well put together, we were calm and collected, took our time to make it out to the edge and give Charlotte enough time to see everything and set her up for success. We had a right hand turn to #7AB and Charlotte fell to the inside too much which cut our corner a bit, which in the end had us pull a rail on the B combination. I knew the minute she started tipping and my "not quick enough" reaction that she could not save me from that one. I am not upset or disappointed, I have a unique horse that gives me her whole heart and soul as long as I can set her up for success. She is very tidy and quick but sometimes she physically can not pull those huge hooves off the ground fast enough. And that is not fair to her. We still have so much to learn together and I can not wait until the next event ...... in two weeks!!! Here is the youtube video of our stadium round: Stadium round
Last day .... Stadium is always a difficult day because there is no scheduled times. They start from the person in last place and go up from there. Spokane had one arena going at one time and they started from the top and made there way down the levels/divisions. So we had the opportunity to ride in the warm sun, however Spokane sport horse farms did an exceptional job with keeping everything flowing smoothly. The classes were going quickly and we were soon headed back down to the arena for our Novice Stadium jumping round. We were not in last place which gave us the advantage to watch a few rounds and learn from those riders. Many riders missed jump 8, so I was determined not to forget .... especially with my "oh shit" moment in the dressage ring! Our round was very well put together, we were calm and collected, took our time to make it out to the edge and give Charlotte enough time to see everything and set her up for success. We had a right hand turn to #7AB and Charlotte fell to the inside too much which cut our corner a bit, which in the end had us pull a rail on the B combination. I knew the minute she started tipping and my "not quick enough" reaction that she could not save me from that one. I am not upset or disappointed, I have a unique horse that gives me her whole heart and soul as long as I can set her up for success. She is very tidy and quick but sometimes she physically can not pull those huge hooves off the ground fast enough. And that is not fair to her. We still have so much to learn together and I can not wait until the next event ...... in two weeks!!! Here is the youtube video of our stadium round: Stadium round
See you all there!!!
What an awesome outing!! Congratulations to you both!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am so proud of her
DeleteShe definitely was on fire in the dressage! She was like let's go! haha. And totally ready to go after XC too! Congrats! Can't wait to hear about the next event :)
ReplyDeleteOh this makes me happy! I love Clydesdales and eventing! The two together is even better! Hooray, show them what these big, beautiful animals can do! :) :)
ReplyDelete