Heading into day 2, Banner & I were sitting in 1st place! But to be honest, I had no expectation of keeping that placing or anything, and I was not worried about the placing we got at this show. Right now at Novice, XC is sort of our weakest phase. Banner eats up the galloping fences (rolltops, tables, steeplechase, etc.), but some of the tougher questions (1/2 coffins, trakehners, etc.) still back him off a bit at this height.
Unfortunately for the barn that puts on these shows, their tractor broke, which didn't allow them to move any of the XC fences, so our cross country course was the same as it was in July. Part of me thought "whomp whomp..." because this didn't mean really any new lines or new challenges (they did add one up bank out of water, but that was it). But then I thought about it and actually this was perfect! I knew the mistakes I made last time and we had done some XC schools to improve our weird ditch issue. The course being exactly the same gave me an opportunity to improve on our last show.
We rode a bit later in the morning this time (which I appreciated since it was about 60* at the time we rode last time). So I watched a few rides before getting on, and then I went to warm up B. I apparently had not defused the bomb the day before, and Banner was definitely still a bit forward and excitable with very little half halting ability. I accepted the horse I had that day and decided to still follow the plan I had made for myself.
My #1 goal was to get over all the fences on the first try this time out! I was going to ride positively, forward, and borderline a bit aggressively at the couple of things I knew would make him take a double take (2 ditches and the big trakehner). We also found out a good new trick for the fences that works for him at the fences that back him off. I have to rebalance him earlier, and harder (even bring him back to a trot for a step or two if needed), and then ride like my life depends on us getting over that question. It worked very well for him! I'm sure part of that is that I ride more positively to the base of the fence when I do this.
We wandered over to the start box and I knew I had quite a bit of horse on my hands, but I was hoping his boldness would work in my favor. We left the start box and went to our first fence, the faux trakehner. They opted to have our first fence out be the smaller trakehner this time and I really appreciated that! Banner was forward and bold to the fence, he considered giving it a little peek a few strides out so I gave him a little tap with the whip and he locked right on!
The up bank and down bank went perfectly fine and we got a nice little gallop to the A-frame. I had to fight pretty hard to get a solid half halt to get him balanced back up for this fence, but he eventually gave in and listened to me. I was pleasantly surprised that he was much less wiggly this time around as we headed to each fence. He locked on to almost every single one and he knew what his job was.
Over the little triple log, into the water, and out over the upbank this time! We got a bit of a funky stride to the upbank, but Banner loves banks & water so he didn't mind. He got a bit gungho as we headed to the rolltop and we had a discussion about our brakes again. Again he listened and all was well, and this gave me several really nice jumps after this little discussion!
After the rolltop was our first half coffin on course. Smaller ditch to a log rolltop. I brought him back almost to a trot and then I rode my butt off towards that ditch. He popped over it without any issue, and just like that we were halfway through the course, with a much more positive experience for both of us so far! Next on course was the big trakehner, which was probably the thing I was the most concerned about.
Again, I did my big rebalance and he did actually break to trot here, but I rode like someone had lit me on fire and Banner locked right on to the jump. He really appreciated my extra commitment to the big fences - it allowed him to trust me and understand these fences were okay.
His favorite jump was next, the big steeplechase style fence. For some reason he really likes this fence and always jumps it very well! Coming back home was the next half coffin. A slatted log to the big ditch. He took a peek at the ditch but one small tap of the whip got him right over it. And luckily we had no stopping of forward motion, so no 20 points this time!
Banner loves anything that has to do with water, so he really enjoyed our next bit. Down bank to a triple log about 1 stride out of the water, circle back around and splash right through the water and over the hanging log out of water! We managed to actually get a decent stride to the hanging log this time and not leave out an entire stride like last time (whoops!).
The next two fences are sort of in a line, the rolltop coming back home to a table. Unfortunately for me we have done this line a few times and Banner knew where we were going and got a bit too forward and bold. I had to fight him a bit in between these two fences but I got enough of a balance back that we made it out just fine!
Final fence over the bigger faux trakehner and we were done! A few trot steps and a lot of unfortunate time spent fighting my horse for his half halts cost us some time, and we dropped to 4th place with 6 time faults. Even still, I was thrilled!! I would have appreciated a bit more responsiveness from my horse when I asked for brakes, but we jumped everything and we jumped everything fairly well!
Next time, hopefully there will be a different course, and I can see if my horse will actually be nice & responsive to me on our next time out!
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