I needed to knock the rust off.
It’s been awhile since Bad Eventer & WonderPony jumped around a stadium course………..
After proving we still had what it takes on XC at the Doug Payne clinic…….
…..we decided to try our hand at a local jumper show.
The first mystery was figuring out what on earth Table II Section a/b meant.
Jumper “speak” was definitely a mystery to us……..
Fortunately everyone was very helpful and answered all of our questions about the rules & format………. repeatedly.
The warm up was just as terrifying as the rumors I’ve heard. As much as I hate the eventing warm up fields, I have a completely new appreciation for them!!
There were only 2 jumps, with no flags! They were being jumped in both directions……… there were giant concrete poles in the warm up area, along with a bottomless bog on one end. It was definitely death in the making.
The regulars were VERY curious about us.
We must have had signs on our backs that said, “WE AREN’T JUMPERS!”
They asked us about our saddles, bridles, bits, horses, boots, breeches…………
We could’ve charged admission!
I knew we wouldn’t fit in, but I wasn’t really prepared for the intense curiosity. It was very entertaining and we thoroughly enjoyed answering all of the very polite questions.
Several young ladies were even sweet enough to video for us, and reminded me to turn on the brand new helmet cam…….. after I kept forgetting!
Here is the VERY FIRST Bad Eventer helmet cam & the video of the same ride. My very first 3’6″ jumper round!
At the end of the show, I found out that I’d actually WON MONEY!!
What?! I took my horse to a show and not only did I have a fantastic time, I got paid to do it??? I didn’t even know the jumper classes at this show had purses!
Bad Eventer may visit Jumper Land more often!!
OMG! I know exactly where you are!!! I can't believe the one time I *don't* go to SC to take pictures and hang out with my barn you show up 🙂 Please drop me a line if you're coming to any of the other ones int eh next few weeks and I'll happy head over and take oodles of pictures of Wonder pony!
Me too! I had no idea you were local. I was like hey wait a minute, that's the expo center! Ironic, I was there most of Saturday afternoon but left right before the Opens. Figures.
Jumpers! Money! WonderPony! Sounds like a success 🙂
How awesome is jumper land!!!! LOVE!!!!!!!!!! Nice round BTW
Woohoo – $$$ is always a bonus.
WP looks fantastic 🙂
Can I ask what specifically the jumper land folks were asking about? I guess I wasn't aware that there were such obvious jumper/eventer differences!
In brief…..all the extra straps on a 5 point breastplate (totally shocking), non-knee patch breeches (what on earth is a full seat & why is the seat a different color), colored & matching jump boots (they thought those were very cool – my partner in crime has a teal polo with matching teal open fronts), what's the point of a Micklem bridle? (got to educate about facial nerves) and why does your bit look like that (a locking snaffle with fixed loops in the rings). In addition we had short girths without fleece lining (they all had long/fleece lined girths), square or ecogold pads instead of fleece fitted pads, and orthopedic 1/2 pads……..I don't recall seeing another 1/2 pad in the building. Not to mention our saddles that have front & rear blocks, whereas they were all pretty much riding in your typical no-block close contact saddle…… There was no doubt that we were not regulars!
But… your tack makes much more sense than theirs does. I still don't understand why the Endurance riders don't use the clearly-superior-design of the Eventer's 5-point breastplate. My next tack purchase is going to be a 5-point breastplate for my endurance prospect.
Signed,
A Tackaholic
I've been to the same show you were at and had the same "Wow, we're not in eventer land any more!" realization. I kept waiting for the judge to blow a whistle so I could start my round, lol! Looks like you and wonder pony had a great time and a great round, congrads!
Super cool!! Way to go!!
I love to visit jumper land, congrats on the money lol!