Weekend Fun at the WEG Test Event Combined Driving Edition

This past weekend was a much enjoyed pony filled, spring weather, couple of days! It started out with my horsie friend EG coming into town on Friday after work and ended with a hunter pace with fellow blogger Sara and her Trainer (who is also my friend). But first off SATURDAY's adventures!!!!!

The first pony on course

In all the lead up to WEG in September, TIEC has to have various test events for each discipline, hopefully to iron out any and all kinks (b/c there are a fair amount!) This weekend was the test event for Dressage, Para-Dressage, and Combined Driving. I did not venture over to TIEC proper to watch the Dressage or the conclusion of the Combined Driving b/c Sunday was RVPC's hunter pace and I was working the HP and riding in it! But for Saturday we went over to the White Oak side of TIEC for the Marathon part of Combined Driving.

go little guy go!!!

OMG Combined Driving is so cool!!!!!! The test event had more than the 4 in hand driving (which is what is shown at WEG) so we got to see Single Ponies, Pony Pair, Single Horse, Horse Pairs, and the Team Driving (4 in hand). First up on Saturday was the single ponies and they were so cute!!!! Especially the little round halflinger!!! I don't remember what the other ponies were but they were some sort of cross with Dutch Driving Horses (I think).

The Gangsta' Ponies

Then came the Pony Pairs! There was only 1 pair entered and it happened to be a pair of buckskin pinto SHETLAND PONIES. They are the smallest driving ponies in the world? Or at least the smallest in the US and these little dudes were sassy and adorable!!!! They did not look like fat hairy beasts but instead like sleek, elegant, little critters that flipped their toes and pranced around like little sassy beauty queens. They even have a nickname and are called The Gangsta' Ponies and are very well known in the driving world (I mean seriously, how could you miss these tiny little shetland ponies?) I'm a bit bummed that my pictures of them didn't quite come out b/c I was having a bit of trouble figuring out a good setting for my camera. (I need some lessons on how to work my camera better. I do not pretend to be good at using it)

I would not want to sit this horse's trot!

After the ponies navigated the marathon part of the course, the single horses came next. A lot of the singles and the only horse pair ended up scratching so we had a long break between the final single horse and the Team. EG and I had ventured over to the 1st hazard on course and it ended up being one of the coolest spots to hang out. We got to stand on top of the bridge and look down as the horses crossed back and forth underneath us! There was also an official standing at the top that was so kind and helpful and explained the sport to all us standing there not having a clue what was going on. It's a lot to type out and explain but the general gist of it is The driver has a certain amount of time to complete the entire course, like optimum time on XC BUT at each of the hazards (there were 7 total at this event) you want to be the fastest. They have timers set up for when you start and when you finish and you have to go through a set pattern that is marked with A,B,C,D,E "flags" and you have to keep Red on the Right just like in eventing. If I understood correctly you can pick which direction you turn to them so if you have a better left turn you can turn left to some of them or right. But I don't think this works out for all of the hazards? Either way the fastest time through the hazard is the best and you incur penalty points for going to slow, knocking the ball off a cup, moving any of the obstacles, losing a person on your carriage, and not going through the flags in the correct order.

Finally it was time for the Team event and this was probably the most fascinating to watch. Honestly the skill level required to do this was completely mesmerizing and I'm in total awe of these horses, drivers, navigators, and grooms.

She's 70!!!!

The first driver of the Teams was this lady that is 70 years old and breeds her own horses. They are a cross between Russian Arabians and German Riding Ponies. She had a lovely team of all grays and I do not envy her having to keep all of them so clean!!!! Especially b/c there is a 5th horse back at the barn that is an extra in case one goes lame!!! Can you imagine keeping 5 gray horses clean??????? I can barely keep my 1 bay from looking like a mud ball!

coming to the finish of Obstacle 2

Either way she was first to the 1st hazard and it was pretty darn impressive. She messed up twice but was able to navigate her horses around and get them out of 2 pretty serious fixes. The first mess up was coming around a turn and her horses split the cement barrel thing. One of the horses bascailyl turned around in the harness and she was able to back the team up and the horse that was turned around fixed itself and off they went! Then towards the end of the 1st hazard she hooked her left wheel on the corner of D and basically spun the entire wooden triangle around and knocked it out of place. She calmly re-righted herself from the driver's seat and finished the hazard. Even though that wasn't ideal I was so impressed with how the horses just did their thing and listened to her to get out of the situation!!!!! Chimi would of freaked out a long time ago!!! HAHAAHAHA. (I don't think driving is in his future) They ended up having to get a tractor to come out to the 1st hazard and completely fix the obstacle she had moved and the team behind her ended up having an 11 minute hold.

Because of the hold we got to watch the next two teams come through pretty quickly b/c only the team of Friesians had been stopped. It was really funny b/c there were some older ladies standing on the bridge with us oohing and ahhing over these damn friesians. I hate friesians all b/c of one named G that was one of the NC State Dressage team's horses one year. I know Britt LOVED him but I thought he was an ass (even though he was kinda cool to ride. But I still thought he was an moron) So thanks G for being such a dumbass that I hate all of your kind now. HA. Anyways this one lady I thought was going to fall down in a fit of passion b/c she couldn't stop professing her love for the team of hairy black beasts coming our way. I did politely say "You know the breed is kinda stupid right?" and she laughed and said "I don't care, they are just so beautiful. It'd be like having a good looking man to look at all the time even if he's dumb as a box of rocks" I started laughing and thought touché!!!

Groom running after the carriage... Groom getting a hand back on the carriage...

After that we headed back towards Hazard 5 and 6 and watched the teams navigate through those obstacles. At the water one of the grooms (I think thats the correct term for the person on the back? I googled it so don't quote me!) fell off the back of the carriage and had to run through the water and jump on. There's definitely a reason everyone wears helmets and safety vests during the marathon phase!!!!

Finally the last driver of the day came through and we headed back. Overall it was such a cool experience and if I can score tickets to the driving at WEG I'm definitely going!!!! I highly recommend going to a driving competition if there is one in your area b/c it's quite fascinating and the amount of effort that goes into this event is insane!!!!! But honestly how many people can compete at the top of the level at 70 in their selected event of choice? I know there was a dressage person from Japan I think that was 70 at one of the Olympics but not many out there!

Well that was… Eventful

This past weekend was the FENCE HT and I had entered Chimi Novice. It was supposed to be the start of the season and it ended up being… well, eventful.

Saturday started out so promising. I braided Chimi in record time, I only left my house 10 minutes late to pick up Finn and T, and on my way to FENCE I saw a white squirrel! Surely this meant today was going to be great?? Right?

hello little white squirrel!!!

As soon as we got there and I jumped out of my truck I heard the announcer say "Prelim show jumping will start at 1 today." Umm that was weird, SJ was supposed to be tomorrow? Then I ran into my friend AT who said "Have you heard the news? It's been turned into a 1 day due to really bad weather tomorrow" UMMM WHAAAATTTT??? Do I have my stuff for show jumping? Yes except for my open fronts, but whatevs. They were allowing us to jump in XC attire for SJ so I figured it'd work out somehow.

I don't have lots of media so here's jumps from XC! This was for Training and Prelim but how fun is this?

Then it was time for bit check. I hopped on Chimi and we headed over to the tent where the bit checkers were hanging out. I told the lady to be careful but she wasn't careful enough and freaked Chimi out with her more aggressive bit checking style. However she did redeem herself and he allowed her to check the bit on the 2nd attempt. No sooner had they given us the green sticker and we turned around to walk the 10 steps to the warmup ring when suddenly I felt Chimi go straight up into the air and land bucking. I was pitched forward and landed on his neck and immediately wrapped my arms around him and held on. He stopped shortly after and just calmly stood there. Everyone was like omg you stayed on?! Good job! I laughed and said I wasn't going to give my trainer her bottle of wine for falling off today! Trainer saw the whole thing and jokingly said "I'm insulted that you wouldn't do that for me!" (her rule is if you fall off in her lesson or at a show you have to buy her a bottle of Australian Red. I've given her plenty of bottles in the past 5 years!)

T and P's picture frame jump

Warm up was kinda terrible but that was to be expected. Chimi didn't try and buck but he was overly spooky. He doesn't like the horses coming straight at him so I'm constantly looking at the flow of traffic and trying my best to go with the flow instead of against it. But this time he was also spooking at the white board the warmup stewards were using to keep track of everyone. I shrugged it off and just did my best to keep Chimi well enough together and survive the test.

When it was time for our dressage test he went in and mostly behaved. We're usually pretty darn decent on our first centerlines but this time when we made the turn left he spooked hard at something by C. I think it was a puddle? Honestly have no idea. The whole test he felt tense but obedient and we ended up with a respectable 33.3 which I thought was very fair. Trainer said the test looked good and we obviously lost points that we normally don't lose them at a couple of spots in the test (like when he jigged in the free walk). I forgot to pick up my test at the end of the day with all the craziness of the 1 day going on so I'm a bit sad I don't know how we did at each movement. Oh well.

Chimi looking so innocent and adorable being tacked up for XC

Finally it was time for XC! I was pretty excited b/c the course looked easy enough but had some tricky moments that I knew I had to ride well for. Trainer warned me about jump 1 so I knew I had to come out of the start box and ride him to the jump.

The fist jump on course.

The XC course at FENCE is across the road from the main show grounds and it's a fairly easy hack up the road. They always have policemen hanging out to make sure that any driver coming by slows down so that the riders won't have any trouble getting to XC. Chimi's made this trek many times so I wasn't to worried. As we were heading up the road two riders were coming back. The first one was riding her horse back and Chimi didn't care about them. However the 2nd rider was leading her horse back and suddenly I felt Chimi spin around and take off back to the trailer. I quickly stopped him and turned him around and the rider on the ground was very polite. We easily passed them on the 2nd attempt but it was just kind of weird.

Course walking at sunset is always the best for pictures

We checked in at XC warmup and I saw that there wasn't to many riders there yet. Thankfully we were one of the first riders to head out on the Novice course b/c cross country warm up can be really scary for Chimi with so many horses galloping around. We had a terrible warmup but that's pretty normal for Chimi so after getting ourselves mostly together I felt like we were ready to go.

I watched the first couple of riders head out of the start box and they didn't seem to have any trouble with the first jump.  Now it was our turn and was as ready as we could be.

Why am I looking at Chimi's front feet?

10, 9, 8....3, 2, 1, and we were off! I thought about trotting the first jump but Chimi charged forward out of the start box so I rolled with it. I sat down closed me leg and really rode him towards the first jump and then the next thing I know Chimi slams on the brakes at the last second and I'm slammed out of the tack and onto the ground. It all happened so fast I hadn't a snowball's chance in hell of staying on Chimi. Honestly I really don't think many people could stay on Chimi when he decides to stop b/c it truly comes out of nowhere and he's suddenly not under you anymore.  I had the ground and I'm thinking WHAT THE FUCK CHIMI YOU BASTARD GOD DAMN YOU WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM??!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?! My head was not a good place to be at that moment.

Why am I looking at Chimi's BACK feet?????

Luckily Chimi is not a horse  that leaves the scene of the crime and tends to stand around waiting for you to get back up. In the fall I must of slid off the front of him and taken the bridle with me b/c when I stood up I saw that it was just laying there at his feet while he was grazing on some delicious grass. The jump judge jumped up and quietly walked towards us so not to spook Chimi but I had already gotten there, picked up the bridle, and had the reins around his neck. Some other trainers came over to help and make sure I was ok because it was AT THE FIRST JUMP ON COURSE. I had just fallen off and hadn't gotten to jump a single jump on course.

WHAT THE HELL CHIMI

I did my best to quickly get off the course so the next rider could go but had to wait around for the TD and EMT to check me out. I was fine, nothing more than a few bruises and didn't even hit my head in the fall. Thankfully the TD is a friend and she brought Trainer down with her in the golf cart and after being asked a few questions by the EMT, Trainer asked the most important question of all "What type of wine do you owe me?" I laughed and said "Australian Red!" Trainer said "Good! The important part of her brain is still working!"

helmet cam action of the fall

I got the clear to go back and be depressed about not getting to do SJ (though at that point I don't think I wanted to ride anymore, something was most definitely off about my horse. Not a lameness but a brainless?) This time I was that rider on the ground leading my pony. It felt like the walk of shame.

On the way back Chimi just had to have 1 more incident of course. As I was leading him down the side of the road there was a car in each lane. Of course it just happened that all 3 of us were at the same exact spot at the same exact time so the car approaching us was right next to us and Chimi leaped straight up in the air. Chimi at least has very good ground manners and never came close to touching me but it's still scary to wonder if this giant 1200lb beast is going to knock you into the road. I was so done at that point. Where the hell did my perfectly quirky but normal Chimi go?

After getting back to the trailer Chimi turned back into the perfect gentleman that he is. I stuck him on the trailer so I could eat lunch and he happily ate his hay and snoozed away. I watched some of the stadium rounds and cheered on friends. It really was a perfect day for a show and even though it didn't go the way I hoped I still had a great time. If there's one thing you can count on with horses it's that nothing goes the way you expect. I'll figure out what's going on with the Burrito but for now we'll take a couple days off and then reasses the next step!

Easter Treat Hunt from DIY Horse Ownership

So I was feeling a bit festive and decided to partake in Olivia's Easter Treat Hunt with the ponies. It was ummm.... mildly successful? 1.5 out of 3 horses actually found the treats and ate them without to much bribing!

2 different sized muffin pans make for different sized cookies!

First off the cookies!!! Part of the deal is the treats had to be homemade and I was excited to try this out. I hadn't made cookies since college (the equestrian club made horse treats one night, I thought they were supposed to be sold somewhere but not really sure how that turned out)

Yeah college!!! Go Equestrian Team!!! I'm the one of the middle squatting down by the black bucket filled with treat mix. Pic credit to Lauren from SMTT

Armed with Olivia's cookie recipe I was ready to conquer the kitchen! But there's a tiny snafu...my husband. We have a firm fast rule in the house in that I'm not allowed in his kitchen and he's not allowed in my barn, It makes for a very happy marriage otherwise....well lets just say I don't like him trying to help in the barn and he doesn't like me trying to help in the kitchen, so we stay away from those areas. It works until I want to make something!!!! But luckily said Husband is a pretty nice guy and I sent him the recipe to show him what I was planning to do. I had to run some errands and when I came back he had made the treats for me!!!! Don't give him to much credit, he just thought it'd be easier to cook them himself than clean up after me or listen to me constantly asking "where's this! Where's that? WTF does this do?" So yes, he made horse cookies for the Easter Hunt :)

Chimi wasn't sure what to think about his bunny ears and flowers

Now armed with cookies and bunny ears I found at CVS it was time to dress the ponies up and go on a hunt! I brought Chimi in and decided he would wear the ears first. Ummmm lets just say he was not amused. But being a good sport he kept them on. I moved some jumps around in my front pasture to the location of the "ring" (barn came with a grass ring but it floods anytime it rains so we just incorporated it into part of the front field. Grass is mostly Bermuda and is still a bit spotty b/c it's not hot enough yet for that type of grass so don't judge to harshly from the pictures!!!) I used the jumps to  "hide" the cookies and off we went!!! 

via GIPHY

I had Chimi's halter on so I could lead him around the area b/c knowing my luck he'd take off up the hill and I'd be left with uneaten cookies. I sort of lead him to the cookie area and let him try and find them so it was still a "hunt". First egg we went looking for was on the jump standard and Chimi actually found the cookie! He knocked the cookie off the standard and then proceed to sniff it on the ground before actually eating it. After he finished cooking number 1 we headed over to the white barrel for cookie number 2! Aaaannnd that was a big fail. By this point he was done with the cookies and just wanted to eat grass. He did nose the cookie so I know he found it but it was not in his "flavor" at that moment. He walked off and started nibbling the grass shoots that are starting to come up. 

I sort of gave up on Chimi and just let him wander away to much on the grass and went over to the gate where Marley and Arrow were patiently waiting b/c they wanted to go out on the front field too! I put our a few more treats,  put some flowers in their hair, and let them just walk out to the front field and see if they'd find any of the cookies. 

via GIPHY

I had high hopes for Arrow because he seemed to like the cookies the most when I tested them out on them earlier but he could of cared less about hunting for treats. But it ended up being Marley who was the super star and found 3 of the 4 treats I put out there! But after 2 of the treats she decided she didn't like them anymore and wandered off to eat grass. I did end up throwing the treats right in front of Arrow's nose and that was the only way I could get him to attempt to find any cookies. He just wanted to enjoy his afternoon and not worry about entertaining me...what a silly old man he can be :)

Arrow looking quite adorable with his flower accessory!

So over all it was a semi successful day with the treat hunting! I think my ponies would rather I feed them treats directly from my hand instead of making them search for them but overall they were good ponies and amused me for an afternoon!

Chimi Goes to the Vet and I Hear a Story From His Past

I mentioned briefly in my last post how on Monday for our lesson Chimi came up lame on his right hind. I was hoping it was the start of an abscess and that it would blow out and life would go on. Unfortunately not. Chimi never got worse and was pretty sound tracking to the left and on a straight line but was lame when I'd lunge him to the right. Damnit.

I'm innocent!!!

My farrier was coming out Wednesday to trim Chimi so I asked him if he'd hoof test him and see if he found anything (still trying to cling to hope that it was an abnormal abscess) Chimi's legs were normal as always and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't find any swelling or heat (other than his normal wind puffs on his hind legs, but they're really not that bad as far as wind puffs go)

via GIPHY

One of the first "spring" days had the ponies feeling frisky

Meanwhile Chimi's still galloping around the field, bucking and carrying on so I don't think he hurt to much. What a dorkus. :)

WEEEEEEEEEEE

Anyways Wednesday rolls around and Farrier comes to look at Chimi and he hoof tested fine on every foot except his right front. Interesting. So I decided it was time to call the vet and see what's up. They could schedule me in for an appointment at 9:30am on Thurs and wrote down "mystery lameness" as the reason for the appointment. It was a terrible night as I kept thinking about what could possibly be wrong with my horse and how many thousands of dollars I'd be willing to put into making Chimi better. Of course when you start to panic you only think about worse case scenarios!

via GIPHY

Thursday morning rolls around and off we go to the vet clinic. Chimi's a pretty chill guy and once we got there he hung out in a stall until Dr H could come and see him. Once Dr. H was free he came over and had a vet tech hold him so he could run his hands over Chimi and figure out things from there. As he's feeling Chimi's legs he comments "He has really mellowed out hasn't he? I remember him standing up on his back legs when they were trying to load him in the trailer after his colic surgery. That's when he stretched his surgical incision and caused that (pointing to his hernia)" I was like wait what? This is a story I've never heard!!!!! I knew he'd had colic surgery before I bought him and had a hernia as a result of the surgery (plus a hernia repair surgery and it still came through that) but I didn't know the exact story behind it. I laughed and told Dr H this and he was like "oh yeah, he was not a calm horse back then, he didn't even like being touched" and then he proceeded to compliment how good Chimi looked and he seemed pretty happy with the overall picture and knowing Chimi's history.  Which made me happy b/c I've worked really hard to keep Chimi in one piece and do right by him.

Must gallop to my friends who are 20 feet away!!!

It was a pretty busy day for Dr H b/c he was bouncing back and forth between Chimi and another horse there for "mystery lameness" plus there was a horse just chilling out in the day stalls probably waiting for a vet to be free to look at him, and all the horses that are currently waiting for/healing from various surgeries and whatever else would make them be overnight guests at the clinic. Plus there's a HJ show at TIEC and a lot of the vets were having to go over there for various reasons. Yep, spring show season is in the air!!!

 Anyways, back to Chimi. They ended up blocking his front right to see if it'd help his right hind lameness improve and luckily it did! I decided to go ahead and get X-rays of his front feet b/c it's something my farrier and I have talked about b/c we are constantly having a debate about "Shoes or No Shoes" for Chimi. Currently he's barefoot and has been for 4+ years. I've been hesitant to put shoes on him b/c 1) he's been fine and 2) he's barefoot b/c I couldn't keep shoes on him when I first got him. OMG it was almost a joke how long Chimi would keep his shoes on before ripping them off somewhere in the pasture. It came back that Chimi's soles are on the thinner side (Farrier has always said that, damn him for being so smart hahaha) and his angles in his front right aren't correct. His left front is great but his right front grows weird and it's been a constant battle for Farrier to try and get it correct. The X-rays also allow Farrier to see how much hoof he can take off his toe (b/c he needs less toe on that right front) without getting to close to important structures inside. Dr H recommended putting shoes on his front or getting boots of some kind for Chimi and seeing if that helps make him more comfortable. So sadly my amazing barefoot horse and cheap farrier bill will no longer be.

Bad long toe!!! Farrier has been working on fixing you but you choose to grow like a dish!!! None of the other hooves do this!!! Only you bad long toe!!!!!

As far as Chimi's right hind lameness (he was still a little off there, but much improved after blocking the right front) Dr H recommended putting him on a series of Adequan and seeing if that helps. He wanted to start more conservatively before going to injections b/c Chimi really wasn't that bad on the flexions. Yes he was a bit positive but considering he's 15 this year (next month!) the Adequan could be all that he needs. I did jokingly say "I don't want to do injections b/c he's to damn athletic and I don't know if I could stay on him if he was feeling that good!!!" Dr H laughed and said "Oh yes, that is a memory I will never forget of him standing straight up on his legs and basically walking around! He is a really athletic horse!"

Case in point- one of the MANY photos I have of Chimi over jumping

After paying and saying goodbye I loaded Chimi up and back home we went. As soon as I turned Chimi out he took off galloping up the hill to eat some grass and I laughed and shook my head. Damn horse might be lame but he's not sore enough to not enjoy himself. I really do love my quirky horse :)

Let's Try That Again... FENCE Novice CT 3/24

This past Saturday was another FRC schooling show at FENCE and since I haven't ridden a dressage test since last August I figured I should get my act together and send in an entry!!!! After doing the schooling rounds at the last FRC show I felt a lot better about jumping Chimi around Novice and signed up for the Combined Test

Love that face!

There were supposed to be 5 in our division but 1 person scratched, probably b/c the weather wasn't looking to good with rain in the forecast. My ride time was set for 8:07 am which meant an early morning wakeup call at 5:30 (I am soooo not a morning person) where I quickly fed the ponies, tossed Chimi on the trailer, hoped for the best, and off we went!!!

Even though I did not enjoy the early morning wake up call I really enjoyed the small number of horses in the warmup! Chimi does not like horses approaching him straight on so warmups are usually spent trying to dodge horses instead of getting all the pieces together. At FENCE there are 2 warmup rings and they had 1 set up for the jumping later on. All the other horses at the show that early in the am were in the warmup ring w/o the jumps and I took one look at a young little app screaming it's head off and flailing about that I checked out and headed over to the jumping warmup. It was perfect b/c we had the entire ring to ourselves. Can every warmup be like this? No? Damn. 

Finally it was time to head across the bridge to the dressage ring and attempt our first try at the new Novice A. Overall I was pretty happy with our test. Chimi was a bit peaky at things going on around the ring so we had little to no bend in a few spots but he was pretty consistent. Chimi memorizes dressage tests so I can't practice them at home so it was really nice being able to get through a test where I wasn't constantly battling Chimi going "we trot HERE! we canter HERE!" b/c in his memorization he's not the most accurate horse. We did have a small moment where we were circling at E and Chimi said "oh oh oh we canter NOW!" but we still had 1/2  a circle before the canter and I was able to get him back and since he was confused he didn't do it the other direction WINNING!

So basically Chimi can trot fancy but we need to work on walk and canter, but I'll take this!!!!!

After our test we had an hour and a halfish before stadium so I had enough time to walk the course and say hello to some friends before having to tack up and head back over to warmup. Chimi felt great in warmup so we only jumped a couple of jumps before heading over to the course.

The course was fairly straight forward but had a few tight turns to keep you on your toes. 4-5 was a loop back and then 5-6 was a loop to the long side, but from 8-9 you had a decent left roll back but at least you had enough time to reorganize if you totally botched the turn. The rider in front of me pulled the rail at jump 2 b/c it came fairly quick after the turn from the rail. I saw this and knew I needed to keep the energy going otherwise we'd make it ugly too!

Feel free to fast forward to 48 secs for the Oh Shit moment

Our round started out fairly nice, Chimi was in control and I felt like I was doing my part as his rider. But starting at jump 4 things started to unravel. Chimi started getting bolder through the course and instead of riding him like I should I started pulling and not staying supportive with my leg. So after we made it over jump 5 I really stopped riding and managed to "stuff the Burrito" into the 2 stride combination and Chimi being the amazing horse that he is somehow got us out of it! He put 3 strides into the 2 stride but didn't touch a rail (somehow). If you watch the video you can hear me shout "oh SHIT" and fall on his neck over 6A. Thankfully we had a long time before jump 7 and at this point Chimi was like "hold on bad rider! I've got this since you don't!" and almost jumped me out of the tack over jump 7. Somehow we managed to get over the last 2 jumps and I gave Chimi lots of praise for saving my ass.

Round 2

After everyone that was competing in the Novice CT went I headed back into the ring to do a schooling round. I really like that they do this b/c I really needed to go back and try to fix my shitting riding in the last round! The 2nd one was much better, except for the turn from 4-5 where Chimi flung his head straight up in the air (probably b/c I was lifting my hands and pulling and dropped my leg) but again b/c he's amazing we made it over jump 5 and had a lovely ride through the 2 stride and finished up quite nicely over the rest of the course.

After untacking I loaded Chimi on the trailer and took him home. I didn't have a lot of time before I needed to be back to the show b/c I was volunteering in the afternoon. (well at 11:15) B/c of this I didn't have a chance to look at the scores until I returned. When I got back I went up to check in at the office and find my dressage test. And what would you know, attached to my test was a BLUE RIBBON!!!! Somehow we had pranced our way fancily enough around the dressage arena to score a 28 and b/c Chimi is amazing despite my bad riding he left all the rails up in SJ and we ended the day on the 28!!! I was pretty darn excited b/c not only did we get a pretty ribbon, we also got a FRC mug, a FRC tote bag, and $10 to the Farmhouse (our local tack store) Kind of a nice little swag bag that I wasn't expecting!

The mug's cartoon might be my favorite ever :)

We still have plenty of improvements that need to happen before our next outing, and next time the competition will be a lot tougher and we won't have a warmup ring to ourselves, sadly. So forward and onward b/c FENCE HT is coming up and there will be people there that get low 20's on their dressage test that very possibly will be in our division!!!!! YIKES!!!! Oh and a small fact that my horse was LAME yesterday morning for our jump lesson!!!! Grrrrrrr..... I'm pretty sure it's just an abscess b/c there's no heat or swelling in his leg and the non stop wet weather is just asking for an abscess. So  fingers crossed it blows out in the next day or so b/c "Ain't Nobody Got Time for That"

XC Schooling at FENCE

After surviving 3 rounds of show jumping the day before it was time for XC!!! Trainer had a group of  6 meeting up that ranged from barely getting over starter sized fences to me running Novice (in theory) so it was a very diversified group. But the good thing about FENCE is the small jumps are next to the big jumps so each person can do what they need to do without having to move to a different location.

We started warming and practicing our "squish point". Trainer has coined that term for the spot where you say yes we are jumping that (aka where you would half halt, sit up, etc before the jump) Chimi was feeling quite dull and nonchalant so I'm not sure if he was a little tired or if he was just being his normal lazy self that he is at home (no joke he is the laziest horse at home!) But once we started jumping Chimi perked up and had plenty of energy for the day. I think he's finally maturing :)

You can kind off see the chipped pieces of the log on the left side, scary stuff I'll tell ya

First warm up fence was over a little Starter log pile and no joke this was probably the scariest jump to Chimi on course. Every single time he jumped it he cracked his back extra and twisted his front feet to the right b/c there was a chip in one of the logs that he did not like. What a weirdo :) But I'm still happy that he jumped it, even if I felt like I had to contort myself to stay in the saddle. After warming over the log pile Trainer had us start to string jumps together. First we started out with the chipped log pile then up the hill to the green coop, left turn and back around and down the little bank. Chimi was really good for all of this though he did question a stick that was off to the side of the drop and sort of glanced at it as we were dropping down. Again what a weirdo :) After that we headed over to the water and played around with the various jumps around the water, which was basically nothing. Kinda disappointing that a lot of the jumps had been moved off the XC course and it felt sort of empty. There was stuff to jump but I'd say at least half the jumps were gone from the HT. Oh well, at least we still got to play around something!

As a side note, for Christmas I got the Cambox helmet cam and this past weekend was my first time really getting to test it out over jumps. I played around with it at home on the trails just to make sure I knew how it worked but otherwise this was the test run. Overall my only complaint was I'd forget to turn it on when I was riding so I missed most of the XC schooling, whoops!

After playing around in the water we moved up to the top of FENCE hill (which is massive, pictures do not do the hill any justice, it's something that needs to be experienced!) At the hill's peak there is a bank complex and the ditches for Beginner Novice and Novice and various jumps around it. I was getting a bit nervous about the top b/c I knew what was coming next, the dreaded Bank to Nowhere.

Pictures never do terrain justice, but this gives you kind of the idea of Jumping into Nowhere, but it's defiantly more daunting in person (if you're me at least)

The Bank to Nowhere really isn't that big but it feels big b/c you're basically jumping off a cliff and you have a huge view of the vista below. You do land on flattish ground but it does start to slope off down hill just 1 stride after you land so that also creates the feeling of dropping off to Nowhere. Plus on top of all of that Chimi would either stop and dance around at the top or leap off the bank leaving me praying to all the XC gods that my butt would somehow land back in the saddle and I'd stay on. And even add in fears of the days when Chimi was a real shit during XC schoolings and would spook at everything and freak out that there were horses somewhere else on course (schooling XC use to be scary as hell with Chimi). All of this together is probably what turned the bank into our nemesis and therefore the feeling of doom when we headed up the hill b/c I know Trainer was going to make us do it, and sure enough, she did.

The mountain views from the top of FENCE Hill never get old

Thankfully it was the last jump in our little mini course so I could get a good rhythm with Chimi leading up to the Bank to Nowhere. For the first course she had us head down one of the newer paths (they've bush hogged a few new paths to extend the cross country course. It'll be really nice once the grass finishes growing in but right now its a mix of grass and red clay) come up over the little gray roll top, over the ditch, and then loop around and up the ramp and down The Bank. I gave Trainer a look and she just said "you'll be fine, remember to look where you're going and go do it". So off we went. Chimi was feeling great and made easy work over the roll top, nice little gallop stretch to the bank, and then it was time to drop off the face of the world. I started to relax my elbows, count in rhythms of 4 (I was in band to long and can't count past 4 in a rhythm) brought Chimi down to a trot, and closed my leg, prayed to the gods of XC and banks, made sure I was looking down where I wanted to land (b/c if i look out into space Chimi leaps out into space but if I look where I want to land on drops he lands there, it's kinda cool actually!) and plop! Chimi just softly dropped off the bank. Well damn, WE DID IT ON THE FIRST TRY!!!!!!!! In the video you hear me cheer b/c I wasn't sure what to expect so when I tried to come back to the group Trainer said "Do it again!" so we did and it was another easy plop down, and then trainer yells out to us "Now canter it!" So canter it we did and another easy plop down to the ground! WOOOHOO!!!!!!! It's amazing how when you ride something correctly it can become pretty easy :)

We weren't quite done yet and had one last little course to do before calling the day over. Trainer sent us down to the far end of the field and had us come up over the little Novice house, turn right and jump the gray roll top down hill, turn left, up the ramp and off the bank, and finish up over the Novice ditch. Chimi was feeling great at this point and made easy work of the red house and roll top so when we were on the newer path I decided to add in the other rolltop b/c it just looked so nice and inviting. Trainer couldn't see it b/c it was hidden by tall grass otherwise I know she would of had us jump it too, so I just took the liberty of adding it into the course. After that we came up the hill turned left to the bank and I got a little cocky about it. Whoops. Chimi still jumped off of it but I didn't use my eye to tell him where to go and sort of stared off into the distance which made Chimi leap off of the bank and me land in a heap on the other side, sorry buddy!!! You can here me say Whoop! when I land on his neck, but thankfully I was still pretty secure in the saddle and we finished up over the novice ditch. (skip to the 3:10 mark in the video below if you want to watch the last "mini" course)

Video evidence of XC, please excuse the breathing, I probably should of muted it but I didn't. More cardio is in my near future!

Overall I was really happy with how the XC schooling went, especially b/c we successfully dropped off the Bank to Nowhere!!!! I'm not saying all down bank drama is cured but I feel much better about have the tools to successfully navigate drops, especially visually scary ones. I used to love drop banks and always found them really easy so I hope that I'll be able to get back to that feeling soon. But after this weekend I feel like it's actually a possibility in the near future!

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!

via GIPHY

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 :)