Half and Half

So the show was half good and half bad.

Cute stuff ready to show!

We got there in perfect timing, last year at the same show we arrived WAY too early and had to wait like three hours for our classes. This time we pulled in, I had plenty of time to leisurely get ready and then it was time to warm up. We started out at 2'6" and warmed up over the fences. We had two stops in warm up where I just wasn't using my leg enough.

We did one 2'6" jumper class that went well. It was a little scattered, Jetta was a little rushy and we had lots of counter cantering going on. We had one fault for hitting a rail and everyone else had clear rounds so we got last place - third.

Hello, release! Excessive much?

I was quite pleased with my riding

Then we had a flat class, hunter under saddle. Jetta was super well behaved. She attentively walk/trot/cantered and even did perfect walk-canter transitions. I was very happy with how she was and I didn't think one thing went wrong with our ride. But again, we placed last - fourth.

We warmed up for the 3' class and it went well despite pulling two rails in warm-up.

Our first 3' class was a hunter class. Jetta was PERFECT. I could not complain with how she rode. She was still a little fast but for us it was the perfect pace. She got all her leads, didn't rub or pull any rails, it was a great ride. But still, not hunter-y enough I guess and I don't think all of our approaches to the fences were perfect (I think we had one or two long spots, I can't remember). So again, last place with third.

Next was a 3' equitation over fences. Aaand I was the only ride. We went, but I forgot where my eighth fence was and almost missed the turn, meaning we approached it at a weird angle making Jetta bunny hop the fence (she literally launched straight up and over the fence) causing me to get jumped out of the tack, whacking my face on her neck and losing my left stirrup. I got my stirrup back and we made it over the last fence but it was embarrassing. Another girl ended up riding just because I was the only entry and she fell off but it was only because her saddle slipped because the girth was too loose. We got first place out of one, boo.

Last class was 3' jumpers. Jetta was definitely tired at this point and was losing her will to participate. She didn't want to play this game any more. She sucked back at almost every fence but I was on top of my game and had my leg on. Only problem in this class was that I didn't turn her enough from my seat (too much hand!) and we basically missed the tight turn to one of our fences so I had to circle her to take it. Other than that, we made it clear for the jump off.

I should have scratched but thought she still had enough in her for four more fences. Second to last fence she tried to stop but I pushed her forward and she bunny hopped again, I caught her in the mouth and she jumped flat, pulling the entire oxer down with her hind feet, but we continued on to the last fence. Fail. That was quite embarrassing. This was the only class we didn't get last place, we got second out of three.

Our only respectable 3' pictures:

Hey look! We're both looking where we're going! A+ for us :)

So overall, half good and half bad. I'm super bummed we didn't get our hunter round on video. My mom thought she did, but failed to press the record button despite my telling her repeatedly to look for the red blinky light. We got a one second video of the ground instead :( And no really good pictures over 3' which is what I really wanted. Though I was still glad that my mom came, I'm used to being a one-person team at all the shows I go to so it's nice to have someone there to talk with and help out.

Anyways, at least it was a schooling show and I definitely took a lot away from it - mainly that we need to practice, practice, practice and build up stamina over the bigger fences. We need to work on our jumper courses with tight turns (turn from the leg/seat and not the hand) and weird lay outs. I know Jetta's not going to make a hunter even though hunter courses are so much nicer to ride so we need to stop practicing hunter courses. I was pleased with how hard she tried and except for the last class (and jump off) I was pleased with my riding, but I need to work on basically throwing the reins at Jetta when she bunny hops to avoid catching her in the mouth because that causes the vicious cycle of Jetta sucking back at the fences and bunny hopping, thus causing me to catch her in the mouth again.

And we don't have to tell anyone that these are all basically last place ribbons.