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Because I have no chill, I looked at the scores and knew we were sitting in 3rd heading into show jumping. Since we had more than two hours in between Dressage and Show jumping, I watched a few people go at BN, and I realized that, to me, BN still looked big. The course was simple though, and the same for Starter and BN. Except, they removed oxers at Starter. >.<

One things I have learned about myself recently, I ride better when I have a “count” to ride to. Sure, ride the rhythm and all that, but I know if my rhythm is good by how well we’re getting down the lines.

I got on May about 30 minutes before my ride time and walked for a solid 15 minutes. I just let her take in the atmosphere and look at all the activity before I asked anything of her. I would say that probably 10 minutes into this, she took a deep breath and relaxed.

Our warm-up went really well, she was in front of my leg and distances came up easy. I think we jumped two jumps. The crossrail and then a vertical, and we were done. I watched a couple of more people go, including my barn-mate, who had a smooth, clear round. I didn’t see any poles go down, and I started to get nervous. What if I was that person that totally screwed up the whole thing?

NT gave me a few tips before we went in. Number one? Get my pace early and keep it going the entire course. Number two? Sit and turn her with my seat, leg, and both hands – don’t just try to pull her around the corners. Got it. Got it.

Below is how it went:

[wpvideo mYOBo3uc ]

Things to note:

May tripped pretty good before fence one. The footing was just a bit beat up on that edge of the ring, and she was trying to look at the barn/horses in the small pens right next to the ring. This kind of messed up our rhythm and caused the short distance to fence 1.

I didn’t make a decision soon enough about the counter canter after fence one. Once I gave up trying to micro-manage it and just kicked on, she fixed it. Things to remember, just go forward.

The bending line rode pretty good. We got in tight to jump 2, but I picked a good line and moved her forward for a great jump over number 3. She swapped the front end before 3 (because I pretty much pulled her front end off the right lead) and landed crossfiring again. However, because I just kicked her forward after 3, she fixed it. Maybe lead swaps are in our future?

The outside line was my favorite part of the whole course. Over jump 4, I could hear my trainer go “Yes!” from the rail. It was a good feeling, and I just rode the rhythm over jump 5. I thought we got rolling a bit after the line, and I started to pull her around the corner. Then, I thought better of it, sat, and pushed her around the corner with my outside leg and both hands. The head flipping stopped, and we got into the line really strong. I pushed instead of steadied, so it was a bit tight on the out. However, since we had some pace, May had no problem making it work.

We landed on the left lead, and I decided to just roll with it. I kept the outside bend and moved her around my left leg and left hand to jump 8. She stayed on the lead, and I didn’t get the best turn to jump 9. I gave her a kick, she moved  up, and we finished the round double clear. Go May!

I knew we at least held our third place into XC, and I ran back to the trailer to grab my vest and pinny!

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  1. the_everything_pony

    Woot!! You two looked super out there! I love May’s expressions lol. She’s so cute! Congrats on DOUBLE CLEAR! You rode a super round 😀

    1. Emily

      Thank you! She’s so funny, as she clearly has an opinion about EVERYTHING.

  2. emma

    woo i love it!! she really is pretty clever about adjusting to jump from anywhere – unlike a certain bronto who will go unnamed lol. loved your forward bold ride to everything tho! and yea i definitely prefer knowing my striding down the lines too, tho i’m getting better about riding the canter instead of riding the number as we get more practice.

    1. Emily

      I guess riding the number is like a double-check that I am not lying to myself about the canter hahaha. If we are adding in the line, I am not going as fast as I think I am 😉

      As for the cleverness? LOTS of gymnastics and just riding her around awkward things. Someone knocked around the trot poles? That’s fine. we trot them anyway.

  3. Carly

    You guys look super!

    1. Emily

      Thank you! She was awesome.

  4. KC Scott

    Yay for double clears!!

    1. Emily

      Or as my husband said, “That’s the first time you’ve done that.” 😉 Glad he remembers and cares.

  5. nadsnovik

    She looks GREAT! You both do! Very well ridden! Its so easy to have one oops (like when she tripped) and have that ruin the rest of the ride, but it looks like it was no big deal for you and you got better and better!

    1. Emily

      Thank you! Even though we chipped to the first fence, it was the first time I really felt like I rode forward to the first fence at a show. #SmallVictories

  6. Centered in the Saddle

    Yay! Great job! It’s just the best feeling when you can actually start to think and make decisions while riding during shows, right?

    1. Emily

      Yes! I could see SO MANY improvements from our last horse trial in May. It was a really good feeling.

  7. Jannae Cox

    Such an awesome ride! I loved how easy you both made it look. Nice flow, and a solid, forward ride!! Looking forward to hearing about XC!

    1. Emily

      Thanks! After I was done, all I could think was, “The jumps could’ve been BN and still would’ve felt great.”

  8. martidoll123

    she and you both look great. And she is the cutest with her ears. Simply the cutest. That one photo looks like she is wearing the flowers on her body so I was like look how fancy she is then realized it was the jump HA!!

    1. Emily

      Hahaha she would love to be showered in fresh flowers everyday. Such a princess.

  9. Liz

    May is just the cutest. Great job in stadium. Can’t wait to hear about XC!

    1. Emily

      Thank you! She is pretty adorable.

  10. Elizabeth

    You guys look great! She is such a cute jumper, too!

    1. Emily

      Thank you! She prefers to jump all cute and tidy, but when mom screws up, she just nails me out. ?

    1. Emily

      Thank you! I was so proud of us!

  11. roamingridersite

    You two look great! She looks happy to be out there and yay for double clear!

    1. Emily

      Thank you! She was completely game to get out there and jump some jumps.

  12. HunkyHanoverian

    Way to go! Fabulous round! I love that even though there were some small mishaps you kept riding and got it done. I also saw you really sit and use yoru seat and legs in the turns- great job!!

    1. Emily

      Thank you! I wish I had turned my helmet cam on. I bet you would’ve heard me go “omg sit” at myself at least once. 🙂

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