Show Jumping Day

 Today was a hard day. I had to put Emma down this morning. It sucked. It's harder than it used to be. But it was time. She was ready. It still sucked. We had signed up to do the show at Ashland so... I went. 

Luckily the weather cooperated and it didn't rain. It was sunny in the morning but then the breeze picked up and the clouds came out and it was a hair chilly. But good riding weather. Of course because it was a jumper show there wasn't specific times so I was rushing but ended up having plenty of time. I was so proud of Lyric though. She was settled and we went in the warm up and she walked, trotted and cantered quite politely. She was acting like a seasoned show horse. We jumped the cross rail, the vertical and then the oxer and then... I decided to go check in. I thought I was going to be up pretty quickly, but... not so much. Apparently there was a division I didn't realize, so... we hung out... warmed up again but didn't really jump anymore. Finally it was our turn and we did our two rounds at BN height. The first round was a nice huntery round and the second round was a twisty and turny jumpery course. 






Lyric was SOOOO good! She went in and jumped all the things. The first round had some bobbles, but nothing compared to what they have been before. She didn't stop or prop at anything but we got a few funky distances and she got crooked to a few. But she jumped them all. The second round was smoother and actually even quite nice. I was so proud of her!

 

So then we rested and chilled while the other divisions went and then... we warmed up a little bit again... but didn't bother jumping again. I didn't want to wear her out. We went back in for our Novice rounds. Which apparently were set at 3'. And we didn't warm up over bigger fences. But she didn't mind. Some of the oxers looked a bit big, but... honestly, not as big as I was thinking novice would look. And bless her... she went in and did her job! I didn't encourage her to stay forward as much over a few of the oxers as they were big and backed me off, so she put in an add step, but she went. And she didn't seem phased or bothered that the fences were bigger! But I wanted to fix that final oxer, so... I decided that she was still good to go back in for round 2. Of course once we started the course I could tell she was getting a little tired. Whoops. Sorry girl. But she still went. And I confused one fence so we had to circle, but, we did manage to get one of the three oxers out of stride. Doh! I do think some of it was just her getting tired at this point. 

 


But here's the thing.... she's not jumped a whole course at novice height ever! Heck, we barely have been jumping much at all, much less at that height. And some of those turns were tricky, although we did practice them in our lesson last week because the course was similar. And she was so brave! And so good. I'm so proud of her. She went when I asked, responded when I asked, and even had a motor. I didn't have to do any "shock and awe". The mistakes were all legitimate green bean mistakes or my fault. Although I am a bit proud of me too because she got a bit wiggly to a few and I just sat up and closed my leg and we got through it. I didn't give up and bail. And I (mostly) sat up and stayed in the back seat like she likes and I mostly supported to the base of the fence. I did "row" a few times and felt bad for catching her in the mouth. But for the most part, I'm pretty proud of my riding. Oh, and.... she got a lot of her changes! I didn't ask, she just balanced herself and swapped!!

And it was nice to have the support from my friends. Afterwards, Kelli and I took a short hack because I wanted to let Lyric get some water from the water complex. And once we got into the cross country field, I let her have some grass. She drank a tiny bit but then after I pulled her out... I had debated just heading back because I thought she was tired, but she just started walking towards the lake... on her own accord. Like... okay, we rode.. now we hack. She was seriously so chill today. I don't know if she knew I needed that or... she was just taking care of me... or she was just relaxed herself, but... I was grateful. Then back at the trailer, Kelli gave me a hug goodbye and Lyric tried to join in. She really is a sweet girl! She took care of me today and I'm so grateful and honored. 

Oh, and... turns out we got 1st and 2nd in BN and then 1st and 3rd in Novice AND ..... We WON A TIP RIBBON!!!! Yahooo!! I finally got the pretty navy, white, and hunter green ribbon. Good job girly!! 

 

She got some liniment and back on tracked and then we headed home for some turn out time before dinner. I'm so proud of her, so pleased with her, and.... we had fun today. 


 


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