Back in the Saddle

      8 Comments on Back in the Saddle
 
 
I’ve always wondered about these upper level horses that have a bunch of time off……. for whatever reason…….
 
 
 
horse injury……………..rider injury……………………………
 
 
 
…………mysterious reason for time off but “it’s not an injury”…..and then you see a post that says something like, “First jump school in 12 months! Rockstar Pony feels great…. see you at the CIC3* in 2 weeks!!”
 
 
 
I always thought it was a little crazy to jump a horse once or twice and then go jump around a terrifying huge XC course……………..
 
 
 
And then…………..
 
Well…………..
 
 
 
Wonder Pony finally decided he’d had enough “spa time”.
 
 
 
 
We’d been doing flat work for months so I decided to jump him and see what happens.
 
 
 
It was like he had never had a day off.
 
 
 
Yes, yes he is named The WonderPony for a reason.
 
So after one XC school and one jumper show, I headed off to Tennessee to jump around at Prelim with exactly 2 jump schools under our belt………….
 
 
 
 
Dressage was interesting. WonderPony is always impressive but for the first time in history Bad Eventer got an 8 for Rider, and the judge wrote THIS.
 
 
 
 
Let’s be real……
 
 
 
I never imagined someone would write “Elegant Rider” about Bad Eventer……
 
 
The dressage was as good as I could have hoped for after 2 years without a spin in the sandbox.
 
 
Stadium…………..however………….
 
 
 
terrified me. Stadium seems to be my problem area with WonderPony and I spent the time getting ready trying to convince myself that death and dismemberment was highly unlikely during show jumping.
 
Stadium CHOKE…….. was definitely in the house.
 
 
That was the first fence,……..my poor horse. Fortunately he can take a joke and he cooked on around the rest of the round……….with just one rail.
 
 
 
Cross Country Day started with Bag Pipes in the Mist.
 
 
 
The fog was so thick you really couldn’t see anything. When I first heard the bagpipe music I thought someone must be playing it in their truck and how WEIRD was that?
 
 
 
When I realized there really was a real live bagpipe player out on the cross country course Wonder Pony & I really enjoyed it.
 
As terrified as I was about stadium……. the only thing I lost any sleep over on XC day…………….
 
 
 
was getting in the start box.
 
WonderPony is rather notorious for refusing to get in the box………
 
It turned out I was the first rider in my division so I took the opportunity to “school the box”. I had a dedicated new friend there ready and waiting to STUFF WONDERPONY IN THE BOX if needed.
 
THANK YOU!!
 
 
 
But thanks to 20 minutes of practice time I managed to get him in the box without any wrangling ………………
 
………5…..4……3…….2……1………
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bad Eventer and Wonder Pony – back in the Game!

 

 

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8 thoughts on “Back in the Saddle”

  1. Aoife

    Woohoo – so glad it all worked out after all the confusion before trekking to TN.
    Looking forward to future updates ☺

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