Jumper Debut – Saturday 2’6″ Jumpers

Jumper Debut – Saturday 2’6″ Jumpers

After a brief break for Simon to eat some hay and me to change his bit back to our normal setup, we were on again for the 2’6″ jumpers.

Our first course was the same as my previous 2’3″ class, so I didn’t have to do any more memorization (score!).  Waiting for our round I was super relaxed… which is a big deal for horse show nerves me.  Therefore, Simon was also super relaxed.  None of the jumps looked big to me, and I had 100% confidence that my horse was going to jump them all.

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I repeat, 2’6″ did not look big.  Maybe I’m becoming a brave girl after all?

Heading into the round, the only thing I wanted to accomplish was staying over longer after the fence so I didn’t hit my poor horse in the mouth anymore.

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We definitely accomplished that, but we still didn’t have enough pace overall.  Moments were better, but we continued to add a chip in both the in and out and the two stride.  He pulled a rail during one of these, but I can’t be upset about that since the distance isn’t really there at all.

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Simon is a horse that thrives on consistency, and once he gets it in his head that something is “correct” he will do it again and again.  Since we started the day off so slow, he thought adding was “right” in these lines… and I really needed to drive him through it to fix that problem.  In the first 2’6″ class, I didn’t drive enough and we pulled the rail.  Even with the four faults, our efforts were good enough for 6th out of 10.

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Going into the second 2’6″ class and my final one for Saturday, I had a new course to memorize.  A new, super long course.  19 jumps total!  I thought I may die.

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Spoiler alert – I didn’t die, but I also didn’t jump all 19!

For the first round, we still had chipping issues in the one and two strides but managed to get around clean.

Then it was time for the jump off, and I really upped my riding.  I wanted to go clear!

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We headed towards the dreaded one stride and I kicked before and in the middle to get it in one stride… woohoo!  Finally fixed that boo boo properly.

In...
In…
and out!
and out!

Then as I headed towards the end gate I cantered up to a fence that I couldn’t remember if I should jump or not.   Hmm?  I chose not, and that was incorrect.  Even though we had a pretty tight turn to the last oxer, missing the jump caused our jump off to have no score.  We were clean, but off course.

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I’m still kicking myself a bit about this, because every rider in the class pulled a rail in the jump off.  Assuming he wouldn’t have pulled a rail (possible but unlikely) we would have won!  Still, we managed 5th out of 12 even with no score in the jump off and I was really proud of my pony.  He really tried his heart out for me and I can’t blame him for my mistakes!

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That ended day one with a ribbon in every class, despite some big boo boo’s from mom.  One third, two fifths and a sixth.  On Sunday we had one class left in each height, but I’ll leave those details for tomorrow!

24 thoughts on “Jumper Debut – Saturday 2’6″ Jumpers

  1. That was so awesome…you are really making me want to give up the hunters hahaha And look at Simon and mom landing right every time.

  2. So, so awesome! You look like you are having a BLAST! I understand how annoying it is to have those brain fart moments that can really steal your thunder, but hopefully you had a chance for redemption on Sunday!

  3. You guys are looking so good! I’m so amazed by the ability to memorize courses… I would forget after the first… 2 maybe. I may even get through 4 if the flow is there… But 19? HOLY CRAP!

  4. Ok, so maybe it stinks that you missed a fence but holy mackeral you guys look AWESOME! I think that jump off video was the smoothest course I’ve ever seen from you guys, it just looked so easy and “there”. Serious congrats to both of you.

  5. Awesome job! Remembering less fences is why I <3 speed rounds. No jump off course to try and remember! Were the 1 and 2 stride set a little long, or did they walk normal? Because you didn't seem like you were on a sluggish pace. I do like the course design though-seemed very friendly and rideable which is nice because I know at local shows in my area sometimes the low jumper courses are…questionable, lol.

    1. The speed rounds were definitely much easier on Sunday, even though the courses were longer! Honestly, I’m really bad at walking lines so I’m not 100% sure. My horse LOVES to be consistent, so I think he choose to squeeze one in in our first round even though the one was pretty much there. Once he develops a pattern like that, I have to make it REALLY hard for him to add if I want to get strides.

      These shows are put on by a couple who also does A shows in our area, and they do a really nice job. The courses are all great and the jumps are nice. A lovely change from some of the local shows!

  6. Love it! Go team….how to best combine your names…Laumon? Siren? Oooo, Siren. If you can wail and sing like Sirens you could sway audiences and judges and maybe even the course to love you! 😉

  7. You guys look awesome! I’m so impressed with you memorization skills, even with missing a fence. I’d never be able to jumpers for that exact reason.

  8. I am so, so, so in love with you guys in these jumper rounds! He looks so great with a more forward pace and you guys look like you are having so much fun!!! Congratulations on a great step up show!

  9. You guys look awesome! Congrats on a succesful intro to the jumpers!

    I have a question…I always do lol. Do you hold your reins outside your pinky? Is that a special thing you do…or are my eyes playing tricks on me? Just curious if there was a trick with that!

  10. I think you’re such a lovely rider!! And I forgot how crazy those jumper courses were… I don’t remember how I memorized them all @_@. Kudos to you.

  11. Looks like fun! Love the George Strait sign in the background–adds a nice touch.

    I haven’t shown in about ten years (and it’s almost 20 since I did it regularly) and I’ve only done hunters and eq. I always thought jumper classes had the really big fences. Was I just not aware, or have they added in smaller fence sizes more recently to get more people to try it out?

    Except for probably finding it a brain challenge to remember a more intricate course, I might actually give something like that a shot with my next horse. 🙂

  12. Nice job! It sounds as though you andy I had the exact same issues this weekend: sit up and add leg and stay on course. :0) I would always prefer the mistakes to me mine than for my horse to be the cause of the problem (Sydney …). You guys looked really great and that looked like a lot of fun!

  13. Nice! This is inspiring. I came across this looking for posts from someone like me – adult trying to get up to and beyond 2’6″ hunters or jumpers. That 19-fence course looks like the real deal to me. I don’t think I can memorize 19 fences. You two look great!

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