Apple Knoll Jumper Show

Ugh. Well at least I learned a ton!

So we land early enough for me to do a warm-up round. I go in and do a bit of walk and trot, and then go to pick up the canter. I go for fence one, a pretty simple vertical and Buck slows and then HOPS over it from almost a stop....Woah? What happened there?!?! He's been doing this a bit lately, like he can't figure out what the hell to do with his legs on take off??? The rest of the warm-up round was great. He didn't hit anything, we got the one stride in the combination and that was that.

Well I should've quit while I was ahead!

Our "real" round, I go in and pick up a nice bouncy canter. The good news is that NONE of these jumps look scary or big anymore! Bad news is that Buck feels this way too and feels like he can clobber them. We get in REALLY close to fence 2 and I think I must have been too far ahead of him, because he basically rearranges a few rails in between his legs. Time stops and I brace for a fall....well thankfully he finds his 5th leg and we kinda both stand there dazed and confused for a second. WTF just happened??? Well, we must go on. We regroup for fence 3, about 4 strides out and the rest of the course goes okay. He feels sluggish, but he jumps everything else clean. In particular fence 5 to 6 ride GREAT and I was VERY pleased with that. Fence 6 was on the short side, so we had to bend the line from Fence 5 to 6. Fence 6 was a fan oxer, which Buck had never seen before and it rode wonderfully. Fence 7A & B were a one stride, which we ended up trotting in and then getting two strides (hehe).

So the things I learned was that perhaps he might be a little more "surprised" at the first fence....I think I'll start beating his butt at the beginning, as that has gotten his attention in the past. I HATE starting that way, but it may be my only way to get him in front of me??? Also, I shouldn't be jumping 10 fences in my warm-ups, plus I shouldn't school the course before riding it in competition!

I also brought Cady with me and she rode in the leadline class. She did pretty well but ended up 2nd out of 2. She was pretty good though!