It was a one day show so why not make it a one and done recap? No cliffhangers of suspense this time!

My ride times for this show were fabulous – dressage at 8:15, SJ at 9:44, XC at 10:36. Less than 2.5 hours from start to finish is my idea of a horse show day. Originally the forecast was really shit, it was supposed to storm all day, but the closer we got to the day-of, the further the storms got pushed back, and we actually made it through the whole day before anything really came through. It was warm and very humid, but no storms, so we got really lucky with that.

I was on my own for this show since Trainer was at Tryon, but I don’t particularly mind that. It’s always nice to have boots-on-the-ground assistance, but I also feel like we prepare well enough for me to be capable of being an independent thinker on the day, and it doesn’t stress me out. We do a lot of “if this, do that” in my lessons, which serves us well for unassisted horse shows. Presto started warmup feeling a little bit against my hand and tense, but I knew what to do to improve it, and felt like he ended warmup a lot better than he started.

There were a few places in the test that could have been better – I particularly didn’t really “go for it” in the lengthenings as boldly as I might have on a different day, and that’s what several of the comments were about – but overall it was pretty obedient and consistent. Much better than a few weeks ago at Ocala, and close to the first test we had at Prelim at the last Majestic show. The score was similar to that one too, with a 29.5. Anytime the score starts with a 2 I’m pleased enough, and it left us tied for first after dressage.

I had enough time before SJ to go over the course a few times in my head before I had to tack Presto up again. It was a little twisty, with a couple kind of odd jump placements or lines that were just barely bending and walked a little weird. I wished I’d been a little later in the day or that there had been a division before Prelim so I could watch how it rode, but I was 7th to go for the day. I watched the first person go as I was walking to warmup and it seemed to ride ok for her, so… good enough.

The hardest part of showing without a trainer for me is SJ warmup. People tend to claim jumps these days, which I don’t mind, but it does make it necessary to have someone to set for you. Luckily Hillary and Lija were available, so our warmup went off without a hitch. Presto was jumping great, so we only jumped like 6 fences and then headed over to the ring.

The course was… ok. We just switched to this bit/running combo and I LOVE it, I can actually ride him up into my hand and take a real half halt when needed without him wanting to hide, but I’m still getting used to how that changes my timing and my aids. I was a little late/wishy-washy with a couple of half halts that resulted in getting him there too deep, one of which caused a rail. Totally my bad. Really though the rideability and balance is so much better in this equipment combo, I just have to get used to how it changes the ride I need to give him.

I was pleased with how he jumped though. He’s using his body more, he’s not wanting to drop behind my leg, and I can actually ride him UP so much easier. I just have to… ya know… get my shit together. Per usual.

We had a little bit of an awkwardly long gap before XC, so we went back to the trailer so we could do studs and boots, and I got all my XC gear together (which is really just putting my vest on and re-upping my sticky spray, tbh). I also had a time to go over the course one more time and make sure I knew my plan and could visualize everything in my head. Truth be told I have a perpetual fear of forgetting a jump so I always run through them multiple times by number, just to make sure.

I had walked (well, biked) the course the afternoon before, and texted a couple videos to Trainer to get her advice. I also happened to run into the course designer while I was walking, who is a friend, and he happened to be near 15AB, which is the combo I couldn’t quite figure out the line for. I asked if he could show me his intention there, which was massively helpful.

When I texted Trainer my comments were “do I go the straight/forward/more angled route at 15AB” (listen, I knew she’d say yes but I just needed someone to say it), and that I hated the upbank out of water with no related distance, and that I thought he might be a little looky at fence 3, which was a half roll with a massive hedge behind it. He’s not seen something quite like that before, and fences 1 and 2 headed the opposite direction with 3 turning back towards the big field. Prime territory for a lack of focus.

Her advice was to come out of the box really forward, put him out in front of my leg right from the start, and gallop the first few fences to set the tone. He def left the box a little bit with his head on a swivel, but he was willing to go forward and get out in front of me and 1 and 2 jumped great. At 3 I saw the forward distance from a ways out and was like “well I hope he doesn’t spook at that hedge” but he didn’t, he just jumped the absolute snot out of it.

He landed from that and I asked him to open it up and boy did he. I’m not sure he’s ever been as eager to gallop as he was up that hill. Maybe he’s starting to get it? We jumped through the first combo, a bending line at the top of the hill at 4AB, and I think he was in such gallop mode from the first few that he was a little bit like “oh crap there’s a B!” not in a dishonest way, just in a “whoops I forgot that those happen!”. He was super genuine and happy to jump out of the B, but it did kind of dial him into the fact that maybe he should pay attention and look for the next one.

Then we went up the hill to a table…

and then into the trees to the MIM oxer. That oxer used to look ginormous and now it looks small, so if you’re wondering if I’m getting more deranged over time, the answer is clearly yes.

Then it was another bending line combo coming out of the trees, back into the big field over the mulch bench thing (that is so wide) before we came to the coffin. The coffin was a MIM rail, one stride to the ditch, bending four to a big corner. It walked very dead-on one to four, and I was determined to actually get the damn four (adding in the coffin at Ocala wasn’t my favorite thing that ever happened). He hopped over the MIM rail, stepped over the ditch with zero fanfare, put his eye up on the corner, and popped right out in 4 like it was the easiest exercise in the world. Once again, the harder it is, the better he is.

Then we turned and went back down the hill over a ramp…

to another hedge down in the bottom, before turning and coming back up to the water. I hated the water the most, if I’m being honest. It was a house set like 3+ strides before the water, then we cantered all the way across to an upbank out of the water before turning left and going a ways out to a mound that had a skinny at the bottom. I wished that the house had been scooted in significantly so that there was actually a related distance to the upbank. When there isn’t one I always feel like they ride like crap, and it did this time too. There were lots of horses scrambling up it. Mine opted to leave a stride out and do a launcher, which also wasn’t my favorite, but ya know… we lived. He popped down the mound and over the skinny like it was cake.

Then it was over to the Palisade, which we’ve jumped many times before and is always a favorite. This time though it had waaaay more decoration than usual and he really peeked down into it at the last second, which made the 3 strides to the brush wedge kinda sketchy. I had to stay in the backseat on a long rein to get out of his way, and Presto did some magic (no pun intended) footwork to shuffle his way out of there cleanly. He was very clever there. The downside of showing at the same venues is that sometimes when something changes, the horses read it in a way you wouldn’t expect. Note to self. I should have been more positive all the way to the base.

After that we turned and went back up the hill again (I feel like we just zig-zagged up and down the hill for the entire course) over a table at 14, then we were to the angled combo at 15AB. Basically the line the designer was really wanting you to go for was a direct route from the right side of A to the left side of B, jumping both elements on opposite angles. That route was a forward, going 4 strides. You could theoretically ride them both center to center as a bending line, but the angle was awkward and it walked on more of a half stride. You just had to try to get your line right and find a forward one to A, then hold your line and keep kicking out to B. No worries. Not like our issue lately has been adding an extra step into combos.

By some miracle tho I did find a nice forward one into the A and committed to either making the 4 or I was gonna die trying. And indeed, he popped through that line in the 4 like it was easy peasy. Again with the hardest questions being where Presto always thrives.

Then we had another bending line combo down in the trees, to a trakehner, to another table, to the last hanging log, and voila – done! There were things I rode well, things I didn’t ride well, some things that were improvements, and some things that still need work. But for his third time out at Prelim, I was happy with how easy it felt for him, like he’s still not really having to try and honestly sometimes he’s barely paying attention. Like I’m still boring him immensely.

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We added like 7 time, which honestly considering how twisty the course was and a couple mistakes I made that interrupted the flow, seemed like not too bad. Only one person made time in either Prelim division, and I had fewer time faults than most. Progress maybe? The rail and the time dropped us from 1st to 3rd, which I’m still plenty pleased with.

Mostly it feels good to have another Prelim in the books, and to have done it on my own, and it didn’t feel/look massive or worrisome or anything like that. It felt like another day at the office, and that’s always a nice boost to the confidence bank for both of us.