As I mentioned in Monday’s post, we had two (count em, two) cross country adventures this past weekend as part of our “Knocking the Rust Off” world tour. Or Ocala tour. Whatever.
Sunday was the last POP show of the season, which is a bummer because I love the POP shows, so I wanted to take full advantage. These shows take place at Florida Horse Park an utilize the same jumps/courses as all the big recognized shows there, so their schooling show series is really a good bang for the buck. Plus they have a full 3-phase (starter through Training), CT’s, or let you do any phase a la carte. Yes, including XC runs. You can just show up, pay your $50, tell them which level, and out you go. It is the superior version of the sport if you ask me (and Henry).
They also offer an open schooling day the Saturday before every POP show, and typically those days are… busy. You really haven’t experienced an open schooling until you’ve experienced a POP open schooling. Typically it’s mass chaos, hence why I haven’t been to one in a while. But I really wanted to get Presto out and school a few things that weren’t on the Sunday course, so away we went.
The forecast was really terrible for the weekend. Rain was supposed to roll in around 10am and then it was supposed to just pour buckets for like 24 hours. Spoiler: the forecast was absolutely correct. But because the weather had so many people freaked out, this POP schooling was really lightly attended. We showed up at 8am as soon as they opened and it was the loveliest schooling experience we’ve had there.
Hillary brought Henry just for funsies and he was entirely too excited to be there. Bucking, I mean REAL BUCKING and yeehawing like the looniest dolphin. I was more amused by it than Hillary was. I jumped a bunch of ditches on Presto, then just ran through the waters, and jumped a bank combo then called it done. Henry was trying his best to drag Hillary all over the place so we switched and I jumped him over a few things and let him go for a little gallop to let off some steam. In the meantime I convinced Hillary to pop Presto over a couple things, and he was actually quite lovely about it.
After that we loaded back up and booked it home so we could make it before the rain hit. And when it started raining, it rained for real.
Originally they said we’d get 2.5 to 3 inches, but by the time it stopped 24 hours later we were at more like 6″. There was standing water all over the farm, it was a whole mess.
And then once it stopped raining the most ferocious wind swept through, and for the next hour it was just flying moss and lunatic horses. Even Argie got some wind up his butt and joined in the shenanigans.
I was very tempted to not go to my XC round. I was skeptical about the footing after SIX INCHES of rain, but my friend Emily is the organizer there and she said it was actually great since their soil is so sandy. Finally I was like ya know what, let’s do it, why not. I tossed all my shit into the trailer, loaded Presto up, and we rolled out around noon.
By the time I got there my trainer was already warming up her other Training level person, who was the last of her riders to go for the day, so I tried to boogie and get on quickly. If you’re doing XC rounds they don’t give you ride times, you just show up between 10 and 3 and work your way into the order. It’s really lovely. I got on, warmed up real quick, let the starter work me in, and away we went.
This is where I admit that I hadn’t actually walked the course.
The day before I’d walked around most of it on Presto while we were warming up, and I had jumped the mound combo and the water when we were schooling, but I hadn’t even looked at 10 or 11AB. Trainer gave me the rundown and said “yeah that hill combo is now a water combo, but the footing is fine”. Me: “hahahaha, ok”. Thinking she meant there were puddles.
Y’all. No. There was a whole new WATER FEATURE. Like the cabin at 11A was now IN THE MIDDLE OF A BODY OF WATER instead of at the bottom of the hill with the wedge at B at the top. Which I didn’t find that out until I turned toward the jump and was like WAIT WHAT THE FUCK, I THOUGHT SHE MEANT A PUDDLE. No time but the present to sit up and kick, I suppose.
Presto, for the most part, was a feral animal. He was actually quite good and bored at the jumps, but was looking around and spooking at everything in between them. Ya know. For funsies. We jumped a corner on an interesting angle because he was so busy staring at a bush. The stuff he jumped best was the harder combos like at the bank and the “never before seen” water.
He did level out by the time we got to… well, the end. It was the end before he leveled out. But I appreciate that even though he was being the absolute biggest freakin goober, he was still doing his job. I’m definitely glad I went and did the round, he 100% needed it.
He didn’t even have the decency to look remotely winded or focused by the end, and his not-quite-big-enough Santa bonnet was a whole situation. I feel like his post-XC look was a real summary of how the round was.
It ended up being a really nice day, albeit a bit windy and gloomy. Still nothing compared to how gusty and awful Texas can be, that’s for sure. Plus like… where else can you load up at noon to go run a XC-only round just hours after receiving 6 inches of rain? That’s a luxury for sure.
breedrideevent.com 
Henry and Presto having a dolphin contest. 😂
Super jealous of the footing. We had a bunch of rain up in MN (in December! 😱) and it just turned into slop that froze into a craggy mess.
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That weather was nuts! It worked its way up here and it was a mess everywhere. Roads closed, schools closed. Nuts! Glad it didn’t mess with your plans. Looks like both horses had a blast!
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