Once again I feel as if I’m speaking to the void, with everyone viewing and no one commenting (does no one like show recaps anymore?), but I shall deliver on the fun part today anyway. Good news: media abounds. Although I did forget my helmet camera entirely. Whoops.

Since I had an early dressage time on Thursday and it was a one day show, I went over to the Horse Park on Wednesday afternoon to pick up my packet and walk XC. I wanted to get an initial impression of it (and find my way, sometimes meandering aimlessly) on my own, and then figure out if there was anything I felt like I needed to walk with Ellie. Really, we’ve run Modified at the Horse Park several times by now, and an early season course won’t be as technical.

Overall I thought the course was pretty friendly. Definitely questions we’ve done before, and a few big/max jumps but it wasn’t anything crazy. What you’d expect for an early season course, really. There were two things I didn’t like:

1. That stupid new trakehner. My horse has been here enough times to know there’s never been a trakehner there, and it’s randomly plopped in the middle of a giant field with the water (aka distraction) on one side and warmup (aka another distraction) straight ahead. I figured if there was a place for him to do his little prop and spin maneuver, it would be there for sure. My guess was he’d clock the trakehner from far away, dismiss it because it’s little and innocuous, focus on something else, and then be surprised by the trakehner at the last second.
2. The location of a few jumps was right next to or off of fencelines with jumps/equipment, which are also historically famous things for him to spook at. Particularly 2 and 3, and then 6A. Lots happening off to the side on the approaches to those.

So I walked just those parts with Ellie really quickly before the jumping phases, and she gave me her thoughts on how to best approach things with Sir Sometimes Spooksalot. Basically, keep the stick in my left hand, keep him bent slightly left, and really send him out in front of my leg right from the start. He’s also just not really the type of horse where you can put your knuckles down in his mane and just let him cruise between the jumps. I have to constantly be moving him around and occupying his mind to keep him focused on what he’s doing rather than whatever demons he thinks he sees in the distance.

Ellie came over to meet me at warmup and we started out cantering politely over a little table, then opened up and sent him galloping over a bigger table and then a skinny. The jumps were pointing towards the treeline, so she had me landing and really sending him forward towards the trees, getting the “go on towards the spooky thing” programming installed right from the start. I got a bit deep to the skinny a couple times so she had me send him forward through the turn, then give him 2 strides where I just kinda sat chilly and let him reset, then straighten, close my leg, and send him forward again. That worked exceptionally well, since the turn itself works as a little half halt.

He came out of the box great, and pinged right over the first jump. I closed my leg and said “let’s get on with this thing” and opened him up to fence 2. Ellie said to not be afraid to “dare him” a little bit in the beginning, that it was more important that he be thinking bold and forward than have me too preoccupied with getting the perfect distance and have him end up underpowered or drop behind my leg. So I put on my bad bitch galloping pants at two and he pinged over it like a little (ok big) champ.

I kept him bent slightly to the left and busy all the way to 3, which included passing a truck and a flatbed that were on the treeline. To his credit, he didn’t even look at it. We jumped 3, and he was immediately so locked on to 4 that he did a little stumble through the footing change (there was a small depression/sandy spot there) and popped me out of my right stirrup. I was already too close to 4AB to go fishing for it, so I just jumped through the combo without it. He was superb. Clicked into heat-seeking missile mode, for sure.

Then we hopped over the log table, which again came up nicely out of a forward stride, then slowed down and rebalanced for the crater question. Here’s where I wish I had remembered my helmet camera so you could see the terrain. We jumped the skinny and had a couple strides on level ground before going down the steep hill, hanging a left and going back uphill, then over the corner. Again he was really super here and it rode great.

From there we had a little gallop over to the MIM table, which Presto has jumped so many times at T and M here at the Horse Park, but he always gives it lots of space just to be sure. This thing does tend to ride spookier than you’d anticipate, not sure if it’s the dimension or the plants or what. Either way, he jumped it fine, just… expressively. Like did we have to be 10′ in the air, probably not. Alas, there we are.

Then we looped back to the right towards the coffin. My only concern here was the potential for distraction as we made the turn, since we passed very close to 4B. He came right back though, and he was focused. I made the turn like we’d practiced in warmup, packaging him but keeping him forward through the turn, giving him a couple strides to himself to balance and half-halt as we came through the turn, then leg back on and forward to the MIM rail at A. I have to say, for as many times as we’ve jumped through this coffin by now, I think that may have been his best yet. Yet again I wish I’d had my helmet cam, he pinged through like it was an easy gymnastic (and jumped the shit out of the brush at C, because he still doesn’t brush through brush).

After that was a little gallop back out into the field toward the first water, but first: the trakehner. And man, I called it. Like I predicted the exact playbook of how it went down. He clocked the jump from far away, dismissed it as a little log and put his eye up towards warmup, and then like 4-5 strides out he went WHOA WHAT THE and did a little mini hesitation. As soon as I closed my leg he surged forward again and jumped it, but he was definitely surprised to see a giant hole in the ground where there has never been one before. That’s why we gotta pay attention, son.

Making it past that was a relief, not gonna lie. I’m always leery of the smallest, simplest jumps on the course with this horse. The rest was big or technical enough to keep his attention.

We turned right and headed toward the first water, which was the house with 5-6 slightly bending strides to a skinny. Y’all remember when he kinda struggled to understand jumps in the water? He’s got them down pat now.

I always feel a little better if the jump IN the water comes at the second water or when there’s a jump before it to give us a related distance, but he was super bold and – dare I say – professional through here. Easy peasy.

@breed.ride.event

I dunno what your average 40 year old does with their time, but here I am galloping farm animals over houses in a pond. #horsegirl #equestrian #eventer

♬ original sound – breed.ride.event

After that I very nearly did a booboo and turned a little too early to head through the treeline to the other field and the next jump. I had turned and found the jump and went “well this is def not where I’m supposed to be” and had to kind of weeeaaaave my way back to the left to come through the trees in the right spot. Heh. Whoops. Guess that’s what I get for only walking that part once (I think I turned in the wrong spot when I was walking too. I’m consistent?). It cost me a little time but Presto didn’t even break his rhythm, and he jumped the log oxer really nicely out of stride.

We landed turning and burning for the loooooong gallop to the next fence, the big collapsible table. So much frangible technology at FHP, we love to see it. That table is big but I heard Ellie in my head telling to not be afraid to dare him a little bit, so I kept rolling and what do you know it came up beautifully out of stride and he jumped the ever loving shit out of it. Again, wish there had been a photog there. The way he powered off the ground was chef’s kiss. I think he was having fun, too.

From there we had the second crater combo, the house on the top edge of the crater, then down through it and back up out over the skinny on the top of the crater. He was really easy through here, I barely even had to steer. After that was the skinny brush chevron in the middle of nowhere, which was really just begging you to come at too hard and fast and risk a runout, so I steadied and rebalanced and made sure he was straight. In hindsight I probably steadied and rebalanced considerably sooner than I needed to, and gave him way more straight strides than were necessary. I think I can be a little bolder with things like that and not waste so much time.

Then we had the second water, which he jumped through great, the bending line combo which he popped through looking very unimpressed, and a gallop over the last.

We had 2 time penalties (totally my bad with the errant path and the unnecessarily wide turn) which dropped us from 5th to 10th, but I was super happy with him. The jumps (aside from the trakehner which he swears just appeared out of the ether) all felt really easy, and at no point did he feel like he was contemplating a spook and spin or falling behind my leg. He stayed up in front of me, stayed balanced, and when I put my leg on, he went. At the same time he was also super rideable, which was great, because this was my first time running him XC without the curb strap on his bit. The changes in him are starting to become evident (at least to me?), and it’s exactly what I’ve been wanting to see and feel.

And we were back home for Presto to be rolling happily in his sand pit before 4pm. That’s the kind of horse show experience I can get behind. Long live the local one-day.

It was a hot day (as you can see from the lather on him in the pics) but Presto handled the weather great, his TPR came down fast, and he was cooled down within a couple minutes of standing under the hose. I always run him in FLAIR strips but especially when it’s hot like this, and I also tried Gallagher’s Water to see if it would encourage him to drink more (he did drink, but he was undecided as to how much he liked the GW. Jury is still out.). Either way, considering how frisky he was the next morning, I don’t think his long show day took much out of him, which is also great to see.

Next on the docket: Rocking Horse in a few weeks!