This was my first CCI and I had never had to jog a horse after cross country.

And yes, there was a lot, A HUGE AMOUNT IN FACT,  of hand walking involved…..

but honestly my horse looked great & I wasn’t worried.

Not even a little.

I’m going to say right here….. that was a mistake.

Yep, my very first 3 day was the FULL experience, and that full experience included getting sent to the holding box.

Of course I knew exactly what that meant. It meant my competition may be about to end right here right now………….

but my pony looked perfect so I was a bit perplexed.

The vet checked him out, had him trot, palpated his legs and checked his feet out with the hoof testers. She said that she thought he was fine. While this was going on my fearless leaders were telling me, “Don’t panic, he’s fine, you just need to jog him better.”

Yeah, unh huh, that instruction is a little bit like “ride better”…….

Sure thing!

And, exactly how do I do that?

I was told not to let him fall apart in the trot to walk transition. This particular skill had never really dawned on me as something that was even possible from the ground.

And the second jog at my first CCI was probably not the place to learn it.

But I was going to give it my all.

And while my downward transition did include a sliding stop – on my part……..

it would seriously have made the BadEventer-ness complete if I had FALLEN! But fortunately I didn’t, and I was thrilled to hear those glorious words, “Passed!”

https://youtu.be/3KFnprY_17M

Of course that meant show jumping was next……..