I finally crash tested my air vest……….I knew the day was coming…….

after jumping around the biggest course of my life………..

4 fences from home.

It was pretty funny because I was actually……..

ELATED!

We made it a lot further than I thought we would…….

my greenie was spectacularly brave………

he conquered the bounce that had me losing sleep all the night before….

When a 4 star rider asked it to be numbered separately at the rider meeting….. because he thought it was too much of a test “at this level” ……..that did nothing to ALLAY my fears!

We conquered the arena jumps that had wiped out half the division………

AND the jump where we fell……………. was  NO     SMALL      JUMP………

We actually fell on the BACK side of the jump……..technically……. we jumped it……

So what if we didn’t finish?

We happily walked back to the barn (uninjured)….. all smiles.

I passed a dozen riders on the walk back, and invariably everyone said, “How was it??”

and when I replied, “So much fun, he was fantastic!!!!” They raised an eyebrow and commented………but your air vest looks unsnapped????

“Oh yes!!, we fell, but he was soooo brave and he jumped the jump, it was just a green mistake…..”

They all seemed a little puzzled that I was so happy with my ride in spite of the obvious ending.

Seriously though.

What else should I have done???

Cried all the way back to the barn?

Played the “what if” game?

What if I’d stayed on and finished?
What if I’d entered the Prelim and not the 1 star?? (like I’d planned), and wouldn’t have had the jump on course that we fell at?

What if I took up knitting instead?

I jumped around 90% of the biggest course of my life…. in great form.

I refuse to be upset……

Even better USEA listed me as having an RF (Rider Fall) in the 2star.

Bahahahahahaha.

My note to them about the correction said, “While I appreciate the added street credit of having an RF in the 2 star, it was
actually the 1 star and that should probably be corrected.”

It’s funny, I got a text message today from a new acquaintance I met at an event. During our conversation he said, “Even with the air vest blown up you were still walking around…..with a big smile on your face no matter what happened.”

Apparently I made an impression on several people. I’ve gotten more than a few notes about being the “happiest rider there.”

Heck yeah, I’m having the time of my life.

For Bad Eventer, that’s what counts…………….