The Cold, Wet, Miserable Schooling Show

I took Misty to a H/J schooling show. Because why not take a major study break at a horse show on a day with the worst possible weather?

I had a lot of fun. The weather was really that awful (there was no covered area except the show arena so we all got soaked). ML came and rode a couple classes and did a good job for not jumping in 6 months. And Misty was only jumped once before the show after not being jumped since the little derby we did a month ago. So I was happy.

I rode the Hunter I class in the 2'6" division. It was rather bad. I didn't ask for any leads so we got lots of wrong ones. It was pretty ugly. We placed a deserved 4th out of 5. But Misty didn't try to refuse anything, didn't spook at the fun Halloween decorations on the fence and didn't pull any rails.

ML rode in Hunter II and did a very good job. She's been riding Misty occasionally since I don't have time. But she's never jumped her. Their only issue was a chip in on the very last jump. The lines were all set at 4 strides, but Misty was riding them at 5. She also likes to back off about 1-2 strides away so if you don't anticipate it and keep her forward, it messes up your perfect approach you had planned. Placed a 4th out of 7 in the class.



She also rode in Eq. over fences. It was not quite as good. Misty was losing energy. It was cold. She was backing off and chipping in to almost every fence.

Then we switched horses again as it started to absolutely pour. Misty was soaked. I was soaked. ML was soaked. It was miserable. I rode in the 2'6" jumpers. I am definitely not a jumper. I enjoy it, I love jumping, the courses are fun, but I love eventing. (I love having ride times or estimated class times at the very least!) and I find the different Tables weird. At least this wasn't the table where if you went clear, you rode your jump off immediately after your round. But we did go clear, only one other girl did.

Misty was great for the jump off too. She was being lazy and I was really pushing her to pick up the pace. She jumped clear again. The great thing about her is no matter how sloppy the distance I give her, she will still do her best to not hit anything. And we won the class! I was happy. There were six riders and only 2 of us made it to the jump off.



So it was a fun show. There was also Misty's mega-me twin there. I've seen her at several jumper show/clinics. The horse has the same exact coloring as Misty (bay roan tobiano) but is a draft cross. She's absolutely adorable. I don't know if she competes in dressage, but if she does, I think we need to get in contact to do a Pas de Deux. How freaking cute would that be?!

Videos!

Finally got some videos of Misty uploaded from the derby we did! Nothing too interesting. She's definitely got some stuff to work on with issues that came from being leased out, but nothing too hard to fix.

ML rode Misty the other night and hopefully will continue to do so every so often. I also rode, hopping on Jetta after she had 2 weeks off and then riding her in the field with Misty. Poor horse just about lost her little mind. It was pretty terrible, though I did at least manage to get a little bit of good work out of her and didn't get reared with, bucked off or run away with, though Jetta tried to do all three. Oh mare. She just really needs to be ridden consistently because then she's a near angel, and currently her nickname of monster pony really does fit her.