How we spent most of our first test at our first show, in March 2015.
First of all, when we arrived on Friday for our schooling round, we were rushed and running late, adding to my normal level of show stress; as soon as we got off the trailer we had to tack up and head straight to the warm-up ring. Sure, we'd been to shows before, but they had all been local circuit schooling dressage shows. This warmup ring was nothing like those we had experienced before: this was a jumping warm up ring, with three different lines of jumps and three different coaches screaming at who-knows-how-many riders. And then, our schooling round: the first time Charlie had seen such bright, colourful jumps with such loud wings (such as clouds and red maple leaves) - not to mention that the oxers were wider than we had practiced at home. Charlie took every jump like a total pro! It was obvious that our training and the development of our working relationship had paid off; with all the distractions, Charlie stayed tuned in with me the entire time, and jumped everything I pointed him at, no questions asked. This in itself was a victory at the show, ribbons or no.
Our schooling round at the Printanier de Bromont.
The next day, our first class wasn't until after lunch - something I wasn't used to. We spent the morning walking around the stables of the show grounds to get Charlie used to his new environment. The biggest struggle we faced all weekend was the first time we went down to the dressage warm up ring; it was in the Olympic stadium, with huge flags flapping incessantly in the wind, and the music for the freestyle blaring over the loudspeaker. All of these new stimuli at once seemed, at first, to be a bit much for Charlie, and I was worried for a second that we would have a flashback to 2015 Charlie - but, once again, he surprised, and impressed me, with his focus on me. We were schooling perfectly in no time. Our dressage rides went very well, much better than any test we rode last season; the critical errors were essentially all my fault, and there was minimal spooking at the Charlie-eating monsters at the judge's booth.
Riding the Entry level dressage test. Photo credit: Back Home in Bromont Equestrian Photography.
The weekend of the show was the first hot weekend of the year, so that took a toll on Charlie, combined with the stress of a show. He was very tired after our dressage rides, but we still had two Combined jumping/cross country rounds to go. Our first round went better than I could have hoped; while we struggled, but successfully made it, over some of the scarier cross-country jumps, including a terrifying skinny (which thankfully had wings), the stadium jumps proved to not even be worth a look. Charlie came alive in the ring; I could tell he was truly enjoying his job in that moment, and he was fuelled by our faithful supporters cheering us on in the crowd. I came out of that round just laughing, grinning ear to ear like I had slept with a hanger in my mouth.
Unfortunately, due to fatigue in both horse and rider and largely rider error - it was 7pm by this time - the line to the skinny came up faster than I had anticipated and I let him look at the jump just a little too hard, resulting in our elimination. But that did not bring me down from my high from the previous round. Charlie had done me so proud that day; my baby chicken Charlie, out there at an Olympic park, competing like that is what he was born to do. He had given me a glimpse of what I know he is capable of; he'd shown me how much he has grown in such a short period of time, giving me so much hope as to how much farther we can go. He tried his heart out for me that weekend, and I could not ask for more from him than that. And, to top it all off, we went home with a fancy 3rd place Bromont ribbon! But that's just bonus.
The terrifying skinny - no scope, no hope, right Charlie?! Photo credit: Back Home in Bromont Equestrian Photography.
Photo credit: Back Home in Bromont Equestrian Photography.
A shiny 3rd-place ribbon for Charlie!
Since the show, Charlie and I have been quite dedicated in our training, working on becoming more confident over jumps and through a course. With Charlie, I have really learned that I have to be absolutely 100% focused on our task, on my aids, and on the course. 99.9% is not good enough with Charlie. He's becoming increasingly honest over jumps, as he grows to enjoy jumping more and more, and as he strengthens and becomes increasingly fit (and boy, is he fit!). Even so, I still have to remember that he is a young horse who hasn't even been jumping for 6 months yet, and I can't let my focus or the sharpness of my aids slip; this is what got us into trouble in our last round at the show. Everything is a learning experience, and it is my job as a rider, and as Charlie's leader, to make the most of them.
We had originally planned for a show jumping show on May 28, however unfortunately, due to lack of entries, the show was cancelled; as such, our next show will, again, be a show jumping show, on June 25, where we will compete at 0.75m. We will be that much more prepared for our next show - we've even started to work on flying changes and changing leads over jumps, a big step for Charlie!
No comments:
Post a Comment