Jump Start HT: Show Jumping

I came out of the show jumping ring with a huge grin on my face, saying, "Well...we got it done.  We always get it done."

(Even if it looked a little ridiculous.  Less ridiculous than FRV, but still ridiculous.)

But a hunter round it ain't.  (Fence 1)
Photo credit: Xpress Photo

We had a game plan going in:

Discussing the plan in warmup
Photo credit: Mom

strong trot in, hang a right, make a serpentine past a fence so he knows why we're there, pick up a collected canter, head to fence 1 (above.)  As usual, he was sticky to fence 1 and then jumped up instead of across.  It's our jam.

Fence 2
Crdit: XPress Photo

2 was on an angle, and he didn't even give the gate a look, which IS PROGRESS PEOPLE!  REAL PROGRESS!

This is the last time we jumped a gate, and we broken shopping cart'ed it right down to the base and then leapt it like there were lions down there.
Credit: Mom's friend Laura

Cruising to 3.  They waived coats and I don't own a short sleeve show shirt, so it got real jumpery in there between the bonnet and my only show shirt, the printed collar Kingsland shirt I scored for $15 (thanks, Austen).
Credit: XPress Photo

3 is JenJ's favorite, because the fence matches her bonnet.
Credit: XPress Photo

4 was deceptive.  To me, I thought it would ride scary far away and normal up close.  Connor thought the exact opposite and jumped it huge.

Delightful equitation here, though to be fair, my equine partner didn't exactly make this one easy on me.
Credit: Mom

He was pretty tense and as a result, picked up the cross canter to five.  Our only rail in recognized SJ so far was at FRV when he cross cantered to a fence, so my score-protecting brain said NO NO NO NO and I went for a lead change, but we are slow at them, so it happened really close to the fence.  My trainer said I was too close to do that, in retrospect, but I did it.

He rubbed it so hard I thought it fell, but it didn't!  Magic.  The only way you can tell in the picture is he didn't get his knees up as high as he normally does.  My fault.

Credit: XPress Photo

I think he rubbed it with a hind foot, because he definitely cleared it with his front end.
Credit: Mom

He landed cross cantering after 5, so I fixed it again, and we almost trotted 6?  Or we did trot 6?  It's a little dangerous that I know that Connor can/will jump and clear whatever I point him at even if he's giving it the hairy eyeball.  He just does not like to hit fences AT ALL, and is athletic enough to get over them from most anywhere at this height.  It leads me to make bad  aggressive decisions in SJ.  That's not really a good thing.

Credit for the series: Mom

7 and 8 rode really well, he always pulls it together for the second half of every course, although he was still tense.  Also, it was about here that I realized I should probably think about time after two clunky simple lead changes, and apparently it was obvious enough that my trainer noticed.

Finally jumping across
Credit: XPress Photo

Credit: XPress Photo

Photo Credit: XPress Photo

Then there was 9, the last fence.  He's usually so good by the last fence, but not this time.  My trainer had warned me that he might look at the rails sitting on the ground on the rail about 30 feet in front of 9, ready for the next division.  I didn't disagree, but didn't think they'd cause him that much of a problem.  Well, they did, and this is the only fence he rode like a broken shopping cart to.

But the picture is magnificent.  Go figure.  50 years from now someone will look at this picture and say "My, what a willing, beautiful pair!" without knowing what led up to this picture.  Haha!
Photo Credit: Trainer

In the end, they don't give eventers style points, and we did leave all of the jumps up and came home under time.  The person I was tied with had a rail, so that left us as the overnight leaders, and me with the odd feeling of knowing that my fate the next day was ENTIRELY in my hands.  Come home clear and win, no relying on other people to mess up.  For someone used to looking up in the standings, it was a new feeling.

Photo Credit: Xpress Photo