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
Through September, I felt as though Ellie and I had overcome most of our major challenges. This is not to say things were suddenly perfect, and I certainly did stupid things like forget to put my leg on at times, but Babette had helped me learn how to balance her before a jump so 1. Ellie stopped fussing and could SEE the jump and 2. I could put my leg on because she wasn't rushing at the fence. I stopped allowing myself to be fooled by the fact she would take me to the fence and feel so forward and then surprisingly grind to a stop. It wasn't a true forward and it was too unbalanced. I learned how to set the canter pace and use leg to ask her to go forward at the base. It sounds so much easier when I write it out, but honestly it took me some time as a rider to really iron this out with Ellie.
So, with that newfound confidence, we entered the Fall XC Derby at Rest & Be Thankful (RABT), the farm where we take our jumping lessons. I was excited to give BN another try on a course I knew well.
We had a great warm up until I failed to put my leg on and we had a stop. Uggggh I would get so frustrated with myself back then. Babette had me jump a few more times before we headed off for our course. The first round was timed and counted for placings, while our second round was just for schooling/for fun.
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| warming up |
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| jump 1 game faces ON |
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| also jump 1 just a different angle |
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| jump 2 made me so friggin happy |
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| jumping out in the field and coming back up to the top |
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| I love when she's galloping along and her fly bonnet does this haha |
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| Alright, we did have a stop at the smallest fence on course I let her lose momentum coming up the hill on the approach, and I never put my leg on So this was the re-present and ummmm she did NOT want to touch it haha |
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| So OBVIOUSLY, Margaret had to photo shop in a Rolex fence because clearly Ellie wants to be an Advanced horse hahaha |
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| this horse loves cantering through the water! those ears! |
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| second to last jump we had gone out into the woods for a few fences but no pics of those |
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| final fence! |
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| seriously so happy and proud |
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| despite the one stop (my fault!) I could not have asked for a better round |
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| jumping it like a normal horse haha |
I got teary at the end of the first course and could not thank Babette enough for all of her help and unwavering support. It felt so good to have a successful XC outing on a challenging yet accessible course. We ended 6th out of 14 in our BN Senior division due to our stop. Had we gone clear, we would've won because we were closest to optimum time. We joined a team with two of our Pony Club friends and we ended up 8th in the team placings. Of course, both young riders went clear and I dragged us down with our stop, but it was still fun to win a brown team ribbon haha.
Without much else available on the fall calendar due to COVID, this ended up being our last competitive experience of 2020. It felt like a solid success to end our year and give Ellie some much needed down time.
I love this post!!! Lots of amazing pictures of you and Ellie after a successful day. And, I have to admit- I forgot you were a green lover also! Your outfit is A+ on the matching green. What brand are those awesome green stirrups?
ReplyDeleteI hope you get some of those pics printed/framed!
The Rolex fence is amazing :D Congrats on a super successful day - you both look like you're having so much fun!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great round! Those pictures are amazing with your XC colors and Ellie's color and the trees.
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