FRC Schooling SJ Rounds for the Win!

This past weekend was a very pony filled weekend and more specifically with our local riding club FRC (Foothills Riding Club). For most of the people in the area it was the first show of the year and the weather could not of been better (or at least by the time I rode, sorry for the people that went early in the morning, that was cold!) It was a sunny, though breezy day on Saturday but there were smiles everywhere!

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Saturday was the Dressage and Combined Test show with $5 schooling rounds afterwards. I didn't get my act together in time to sign up for a dressage test but overall I was ok with that. I was more worried about jumping b/c the weather has been behaving terribly since Christmas and most of my jumping lessons have been canceled or turned into flat lessons. With event season looming ahead and me wanting to blast out of the starting gate at Novice this spring I knew I needed to jump at Novice height and make sure I wasn't going to die.

One of the many reasons I love FRC is the $5 schooling rounds. They have it set up from cross rails to usually training + and each level has a certain time slot to jump in. They go from the smallest division to the biggest so you have an opportunity to school the smaller course first and if you're feeling brave you can jump the next height up afterwards. The times were as follows:

18'' Cross Rails (Grasshopper height) Schooling Rounds 12:50-1:05
 2'-2'3'' Starter Schooling Rounds: 1:15-1:35
2'7'' BN Schooling Rounds: 1:50-2:15
2'11'' Novice Schooling Rounds: 2:25-2:50
3'3'' Training or Higher: 2:50-3:45 (must have own JUMP CREW/ GROUND PERSON) COURSE CLOSES 3:45 

 Going into the show Trainer and I decided the best course of action would be to do a BN round 1st and then jump around Novice. We'd meet there around 1:45, warmup and then head over to stadium.

Saturday arrives and I had planned to get there a bit early so I could check in and take my time tacking up so I got to FENCE a little before 1. I found the perfect parking spot right next to the warmup arena and as soon as I parked and looked over in the warmup I thought I saw a familiar Roaming Rider and her bay mare Gem heading over to the SJ arena from warmup. I had to check in first but I ran back as quickly as I could to watch Sara and Gem go. I missed the first round but was able to watch her last one. And no joke guys Sara has done such a good job with Gem and she is not the same horse as last year!!!! Gem would peak at various things but she jumped all the jumps on the first try! Way to go Sara!!!!! But even with Gem being such a good girl I have to say little Wyatt stole the show. After Sara finished her round Dusty and Wyatt came over to say hello and Wyatt so cutely asked who I was. After that he talked a mile a minute about everything and kept asking Sara if she won. It was just a schooling round so of course she won b/c she got over everything! Then Wyatt asked if I wanted to dig with him. How freaking adorable!!!!! If it was legal to steal children I would totally kidnap little Wyatt, he made me smile the whole time!!!

After hanging out a bit it was time to start tacking Chimi up and get ready to jump!!!! I met Trainer in the warmup and after warming up and popping over a couple jumps we were ready to go! I quickly memorized the course and it was our turn to jump! Aaaaaaannd it was kinda crappy. We got over all the jumps but I got really nervous right before the first jump and ended up stuffing him to the base of a lot of the jumps. It was not a smooth round. Chimi was a fire breathing dragon but I did not do my part to ride him correctly. When I got to the gate Trainer looks at me and says "that was terrible go do it again" so I turned Chimi around and headed back to the first jump and voila! Our second round was soooooo much better!!!! Amazing what happens when you actually ride instead of pulling at your horse's face!

Sara and family came over to say bye and Wyatt asked me "did you win?" Yes Wyatt, I did b/c I stayed on my horse! After they left I waited around for the Novice course and chatted with some other friends waiting around too.

Since we had been standing around a bit when I went into the SJ arena I circled Chimi around a bit and then decided he needed a warmup jump before we started the course. I pointed him at jump 6 which was just a green vertical and Chimi knocked it down. Sometimes I swear his brain needs a moment to wake up b/c after that he was like "Oh yeah! we're JUMPING!!!!!" and then proceeded to almost jump me out of the tack over the first jump. I somehow recovered and we made the roll back turn to jump 2 and Chimi was doing his typical not listening to my half halts cross cantering so we kinda got to a crappy spot but luckily he was balanced enough that we made it over. From there everything was fairly smooth sailing and I just had to keep him balanced and make sure he listened to my half halt if he didn't quite get the left lead (left lead changes are a work on progress) He tried to jump me out of the tack at one other jump but other wise he just bounced around the course and enjoyed every moment of it. I was pretty happy over all with how he did especially since we haven't jumped a course since the AEC's in August!

Next up Cross Country!!!!! But you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that recap :)