After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...
This was the event where Babette was to ride Ellie to give her (and I) confidence around show jump and XC. It was super weird for me to have my horse at an event but not be her rider! But I was so excited for this and knew it would be good for me to see.
I also literally had just gotten a new saddle that week before this show and LOVED IT so much. So Babette was the first one to compete in it haha.
Ellie was great in the huge and chaotic dressage warm up. Babette rode her conservatively, which was fine. She never really got her over her back though (not an issue since she was there to jump the mare and not get some outstanding dressage score) and that meant her free walk was non existent haha. But it didn't matter as they put in a respectable test and were sitting 4th out of a BN division of 11 riders.
The SJ and XC courses all looked good to me, except honestly there was one fence on XC I was really glad Babette was going to be dealing with instead of me. The farm has a random small indoor off to the side of the XC course, which is bright and airy because it is a covered arena. One of the T jumps and one of the BN jumps were located inside of this arena, which doesn't sound scary but you had to canter up a hill to enter the indoor and only had about three strides before the fence had to be jumped. It just seemed like a bad type of fence had I been the rider because it was literally only visible for a few strides out and if Ellie fought me on entering the arena, it would have definitely been a stop.
Babette and Ellie rocked around the show jump course looking like the pros they are! It was so fun to see Ellie just do the thing. I was excited and nervous for XC and just wanted Ellie to have a good round out there.
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| photo used with purchase from Flatlands Foto |
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And she did! Of course, Babette told me Ellie had a few hesitant moments but she also responded perfectly to Babette just putting her leg on and saying nope, it's ok, we just jump the stuff. It was EXACTLY what Ellie needed and for me to witness!
photo used with purchase from Flatlands Foto
Going double clear made me figure they had held onto fourth or at least moved up a spot. To my utter surprise and delight, they WON! YAY! I was so excited to see their names on the top spot after I had taken care of Ellie and wandered down to the secretary's booth.
Of course, it would not have mattered what place they had come in at the end, as all I wanted was a confident trip around the two courses. But how sweet to finish first!
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| this was just after XC We were so proud and happy! And I even got Babette to wear my XC shirt to match Ellie haha |
What a great experience for Ellie, and how cool for you to get to play owner for a show 😁 Ellie and Babette look awesome!
ReplyDeleteThey look spectacular together! What a perfectly lovely mare. And congrats on the win! That had to be the cherry on top for a great day.
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