This weekend, our local barn hosted their first ever true schooling HT. It was a 2-day show, with dressage & SJ on Saturday, and XC on Sunday. Banner and I signed up to do the Beginner Novice!
Our dressage test was mid-morning, and there was a storm threatening all day on Saturday. It was definitely brisk, and it was getting to a few of the horses, but Banner came out true to his unicorn status and warmed up like a champ. We are working on improving his transitions, and he gave me some of his best yet to date. His downwards tend to be a bit abrupt, and his upwards tend to start in the front with his back legs struggling to catch up, but on Saturday we got most of our transitions in great form - fluid and smooth!
He stayed relaxed and rhythmic in our test and gave me some great work. Our upward canter transitions could have been better, and our free walk could have been stretchier, but I was pleased with our test, and excited about the fact that I still think we have so much potential to be even better with more time!
We came out of dressage on a solid score of 31.1, putting us in first place for our division. We had a few hours to kill before SJ, so I killed some time chatting with friends, and perusing the local roaming tack shop (always a dangerous past time). Again, just like the superstar that he is, Banner hung out at the trailer without so much as a peep.
Banner and I did a 2'3" SJ round for warmup & practice, and he jumped like a seasoned pro. The course had some difficult turns and lines, but he took every distance and line exactly like I asked and felt truly incredible! We ended up taking home the blue ribbon in our 2'3" class!
Unfortunately, our 2'6" class was very full, and we sat around for the better part of half an hour between our classes, so he was a bit asleep going into that course, and pulled the first rail. The rest of the round rode well and we are really starting to learn how to bend over fences to get our bending lines to feel more smooth! Our rail in the 2'6" class added 4 faults to our dressage score for the HT, and bumped us down to second place.
We ended the day with a 2'9" round. He put in some great effort and felt like a million bucks. I rode one of the lines poorly (half halting is indeed important if you were wondering!), and we pulled a rail, but still ended up 5th in the class! I was thrilled with how he rode and felt. Super adjustable and responsive over all of the fences. Feels like I am finally starting to truly figure him out!
Sunday was CROSS COUNTRY day!!! I walked the course on Saturday night and it looked super fun and like a perfect balance of challenging and totally doable. Heck, I even took a look at some of the novice fences and they looked like we could have conquered them like no big deal!
Warm up on Sunday was easy and I quit after only popping the warmup fences maybe 6 times. He was doing so well that I didn't feel the need to jump his legs off for no reason. The grass was a little slick so I made sure to note in my own mind to keep our turns wide and loopy to make sure we kept our footing.
Banner continued to impress me with his awesome brain by walking around on a loopy rein for about 20 minutes while horses around him were galloping right and left. But once we left the start box, he was all business. We got an awesome start out of the box and had a great little gallop to the first fence - a simple hanging log with a fake "ditch" under it. Then up the bank and around to a show jump.
Then we popped the table to the rolltop which are both nearing maxed BN height, and Banner couldn't have cared less. He just kept rolling along in a lovely adjustable, forward canter.
Then it was around to a show jump in the far side of the field, and another show jump on a little mound. We splashed through the water with no issue, and popped another simple natural show jump. Then into another small field with a show jump oxer, around to a steeplechase jump! This field was the slickest, and I watched wayyy too many horses slip going around, so I made sure to really slow up the canter here!
There was a super wimpy little faux ditch after that, and I'm 99% sure that Banner stepped right in the black bark that is supposed to resemble a hole in the ground. If you listened hard enough, I could've sworn I heard him laugh at it. This brought us to the final big loop of galloping. An inviting log rolltop to an A-frame coupe. Then a triple log on the far side of the field and a gallop home through the same rolltop to table line, just going back the other way.
We finished up with the same faux ditch (he definitely laughed at it this time around) and a show jump to end the day. We ended up being literally 2 seconds away from being penalized for being too fast (whoops!). He came off the course and wasn't even sweaty or breathing hard. He felt like he could've run it 2 more times without even trying.
I keep thinking he is still out of shape, but he definitely proved me wrong this weekend. He is far more fit than I realized, and is feeling great!
Double clear on XC kept us on our 35.1 score, and ended up winning the class! Banner was one of the few (if not the only) horse in our division to go double clear! This horse has such a heart of gold and I am thrilled to keep learning with him. Now for a few well deserved days off, and a chiropractic appointment for him this week!
Our dressage test was mid-morning, and there was a storm threatening all day on Saturday. It was definitely brisk, and it was getting to a few of the horses, but Banner came out true to his unicorn status and warmed up like a champ. We are working on improving his transitions, and he gave me some of his best yet to date. His downwards tend to be a bit abrupt, and his upwards tend to start in the front with his back legs struggling to catch up, but on Saturday we got most of our transitions in great form - fluid and smooth!
He stayed relaxed and rhythmic in our test and gave me some great work. Our upward canter transitions could have been better, and our free walk could have been stretchier, but I was pleased with our test, and excited about the fact that I still think we have so much potential to be even better with more time!
We came out of dressage on a solid score of 31.1, putting us in first place for our division. We had a few hours to kill before SJ, so I killed some time chatting with friends, and perusing the local roaming tack shop (always a dangerous past time). Again, just like the superstar that he is, Banner hung out at the trailer without so much as a peep.
Banner and I did a 2'3" SJ round for warmup & practice, and he jumped like a seasoned pro. The course had some difficult turns and lines, but he took every distance and line exactly like I asked and felt truly incredible! We ended up taking home the blue ribbon in our 2'3" class!
Unfortunately, our 2'6" class was very full, and we sat around for the better part of half an hour between our classes, so he was a bit asleep going into that course, and pulled the first rail. The rest of the round rode well and we are really starting to learn how to bend over fences to get our bending lines to feel more smooth! Our rail in the 2'6" class added 4 faults to our dressage score for the HT, and bumped us down to second place.
We ended the day with a 2'9" round. He put in some great effort and felt like a million bucks. I rode one of the lines poorly (half halting is indeed important if you were wondering!), and we pulled a rail, but still ended up 5th in the class! I was thrilled with how he rode and felt. Super adjustable and responsive over all of the fences. Feels like I am finally starting to truly figure him out!
Sunday was CROSS COUNTRY day!!! I walked the course on Saturday night and it looked super fun and like a perfect balance of challenging and totally doable. Heck, I even took a look at some of the novice fences and they looked like we could have conquered them like no big deal!
Warm up on Sunday was easy and I quit after only popping the warmup fences maybe 6 times. He was doing so well that I didn't feel the need to jump his legs off for no reason. The grass was a little slick so I made sure to note in my own mind to keep our turns wide and loopy to make sure we kept our footing.
Banner continued to impress me with his awesome brain by walking around on a loopy rein for about 20 minutes while horses around him were galloping right and left. But once we left the start box, he was all business. We got an awesome start out of the box and had a great little gallop to the first fence - a simple hanging log with a fake "ditch" under it. Then up the bank and around to a show jump.
Then it was around to a show jump in the far side of the field, and another show jump on a little mound. We splashed through the water with no issue, and popped another simple natural show jump. Then into another small field with a show jump oxer, around to a steeplechase jump! This field was the slickest, and I watched wayyy too many horses slip going around, so I made sure to really slow up the canter here!
There was a super wimpy little faux ditch after that, and I'm 99% sure that Banner stepped right in the black bark that is supposed to resemble a hole in the ground. If you listened hard enough, I could've sworn I heard him laugh at it. This brought us to the final big loop of galloping. An inviting log rolltop to an A-frame coupe. Then a triple log on the far side of the field and a gallop home through the same rolltop to table line, just going back the other way.
We finished up with the same faux ditch (he definitely laughed at it this time around) and a show jump to end the day. We ended up being literally 2 seconds away from being penalized for being too fast (whoops!). He came off the course and wasn't even sweaty or breathing hard. He felt like he could've run it 2 more times without even trying.
I keep thinking he is still out of shape, but he definitely proved me wrong this weekend. He is far more fit than I realized, and is feeling great!
Double clear on XC kept us on our 35.1 score, and ended up winning the class! Banner was one of the few (if not the only) horse in our division to go double clear! This horse has such a heart of gold and I am thrilled to keep learning with him. Now for a few well deserved days off, and a chiropractic appointment for him this week!
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| I'm thinking he looks good in blue! |
congrats, you guys look great!
ReplyDeleteYou and B kicked ass!
ReplyDelete