Good Day

Jetta was super good today for the show!

We did five classes - walk/trot on the flat, trot a pole, trot a course 18", canter a course 18" and walk/trot/canter equitation on the flat. I was very proud of my girl. We got three blues, a second and a fourth. The fourth was from our worst class, the canter a course cause she's still rushing! I think I could have changed how I rode that course to make it so she rushed less, but oh well. The trot a course was so good. So much better than last time. She picked up her feet, got her distances, didn't gallop around like a maniac. Very nice.

I felt a little bad cause some there were a couple little kids in my first two classes and they were doing so good! I wanted the judge to give them the blues :)

It was sooo muddy in the warmup arena. I definitely should not have bothered making Jetta clean at all. She was covered in mud. Her tail, all four legs, her belly, my boots, her chest, even some on her face. Sigh...

So now we know that we need to work on learning to collect and shift weight onto the hindquarters, especially before a jump. She kinda gets it, but I need it to be an automatic thing that when I ask, she collects, that way we're not all strung out and galloping around the course.
It made me feel better to watch some of the trainers and other experienced riders jump because I noticed they were having the same issues that I was, some were way worse than Jetta! One horse was a Speedy Gonzalez, just like Jetta, but had much worse brakes. A bunch of people were schooling a line and she came around the corner and her horse was fighting the bit and not stopping, ending up body slamming another horse. Yikes. Schooling shows are definitely a good way to boost your confidence about your own horse...

All of our pretty ribbons!