CTHJA Summer Circuit II – Sunday

CTHJA Summer Circuit II – Sunday

For Sunday, I decided to give myself a little more ring time by signing up for the 2’6″ Equitation medal. I had competed in this class once last year, and enjoy it because it’s the toughest course for the height at our local show series.

Adding this class meant that I had to get up early on Sunday to come school in the outside ring before the show started. My trainer seemed to think that schooling the jumps would be necessary versus getting an extra hour of sleep. I knew she was right, but… I love sleep.

Wait... did you say HUNTER ring?
Wait… did you say HUNTER ring?

After we schooled with no issue because good horse is good, I frantically switched my gear back to hunterland. My schooling bridle is my old hunter show bridle, but I had to swap a sparkly browband back to a plain hunter one. Then had to locate a fitted show pad (mine was left at my old house), swap my irons out from black plastic to silver metal and borrow gloves from someone. We were desperately unprepared and outclassed by the super nice AA warmbloods we were competing against, but I was having fun playing hunter again and wasn’t nervous at all.

No video of this class, but overall it went very well for what we can do as a hunter pair. Simon gave me a nice sitting trot entering the ring all framed up, but when I asked for the left lead to turn to the first fence (we chose a short approach) he did cut the turn a little bit like he always does going left. Next was a right rollback which went very nicely.

After the rollback I turned to my outside line, which I knew I needed a good pace to get 5 strides instead of adding for the 6. We got a very sticky/late/non-existent lead change after the rollback, so I felt like all our momentum had been lost when I slowed him down to catch the change. Therefore, after I jumped into 4 I totally did a little “Go go!” for the strides… and I didn’t need to do that. Instead of a nice 5, we got a 4.5. Whoops!

Our last two jumps were fine, nothing to write home about and nothing tragic.

Photo © Alie C
Photo © Alie C

Overall I felt like the class was a bit “jumpery” and fast, but pretty realistic for our abilities. Next show I will try to smoothe it out a bit more. It wasn’t competitive in a class of 25, but I left the ring feeling like I was a decent rider who doesn’t always almost fall off her horse at horse shows. Win!

After my equitation I went home to take a nap, because that’s what you do when you’re a 30 year old adult amateur who’s been at the horse show for two days already.

Post nap I came back for my last jumper class, a stakes 1st time round (aka the one with a jump off). At this point I was less nervous, but really tired. Remember, I moved the week before and have been unpacking/hauling my shit/adjusting the dogs to life in an apartment on top of being in and out of the office all week for a bunch of work shenanigans. The magical horse show distraction of real life had begun to break, and by the time I started learning my course on Sunday I felt a mix of tired/sad/ready to be done.

20070100280_e775d869c7_c
Photo © Alie C

Again, I bet you can see where this is going.

Simon warmed up fabulous and I made a plan with my trainer to not attempt any murderous super tight turns but instead concentrate on clean & organized trip around. We went over the course before I walked in.

“And then after the in and out I finish on 7.”

“No, finish on 2.”

“Right, 2.”

This conversation may or may not have happened more than once.

19635475474_ebfd1562ef_c
Photo © Alie C

We started off our course with a decent pace, although I’m still not quite forward enough to keep him for doing that one last add before singles. Still, we were able to get down the four stride without adding unlike the day before and I felt very in control and secure in the saddle. It wasn’t the best course or the worst course, but I ended my 1st round clear within the time limit and got buzzed to start my jump off round.

Sure, our turns weren’t super duper tight but they were decent. He was listening well, jumping well and I remembered to breathe more than once during the course which was a big improvement on Saturday. He got through the in & out for the second time beautifully and landed on the correct lead going “What fence next mom!?!”

19637192413_48805408c9_c
Photo © Alie C

And I said, “7 Simon!” while the crowd yelled “2! 2! 2!”

We did not go to 2. Instead we circled and came back to it, picking up a refusal for the circle and 12 time faults I think. Whomp whomp.

I was pretty bummed at myself for having such a dumb moment, but the round was really quite lovely otherwise. Simon was confused as to why we added a courtesy circle, but pranced out of the ring because he knew that he rocked that extra circle.

And he did. He is the best horse.

Did I win? Do we go home now? Am I champion?
Did I win? Do we go home now? Am I champion?

Thus ends my 1st summer circuit without any satin, but I had a lot of fun nonetheless. I believe a good attitude is a choice, but that’s a blog post for tomorrow.

30 thoughts on “CTHJA Summer Circuit II – Sunday

  1. If I remember correctly from a previous post, hadn’t you always wanted to go to this summer series but hadn’t yet? If so, I call that a win right there regardless of satin! ESPECIALLY after a tough week of moving and working. I do not blame you in the slightest for being tired. Naps are a glorious, glorious thing. Give yourself a good pat on the back too as well as Simon!

  2. I used to tell my kids in karate class, as long as you have fun and learned something, you were successful…my trainer in Texas told me that every time I rode into the ring…so glad you had fun!

  3. I just want to point out that even though you don’t like doing your hair nice for jumper classes it is on point, and your navy and pearl matchy-matchiness is perfect.

  4. I did the same thing on Sunday! Only I didn’t have anyone competing against me so I won anyway 😉 I think all in all you had the better experience. You two look great! And Simon is just as classy as those WB’s. For real. Look at him! He’s so handsome!
    Also the person who took your photos rides with someone I know who moved to TX. I don’t actually know said photo taker, but I see her tagged on Instagram in my friend’s photos. Does that make me a stalker? Potentially. Small world though!

  5. “After my equitation I went home to take a nap, because that’s what you do when you’re a 30 year old adult amateur who’s been at the horse show for two days already.”

    Truer words have never been spoken.

  6. Despite the lack of Satin, you and Simon look magnificent and it sounds like the show was successful for you two!

  7. It warms my heart to see that you are back in the ring and looking FAB! So what about the silly bobbles. We have all done that. It happens. Also, can we please talk about how SEXEH Simon looks? That warm up jumping photo?! What the what?! You guys look like pros!

  8. I just love this. Sure, you made mistakes but HOW COOL is it that you have a horse who can go in all three rings and give you good trips? How great is it that you are killing the 2’6″-2’9″? How fantastic does it feel to be rocking combinations?

    I am SO proud of you Lauren. You’ve worked really, really hard with Simon and you both have come such a long way. Even though the placings didn’t reflect it, you did a really amazing job 😀

  9. Awww, Simon posing! SO cute… he is the bestest! Glad you had fun, learned something, and got a nap. Naps during horse shows are the BEST.

  10. Congratulations. You definitely had a good time, learned some stuff, and left with a healthy horse. That makes it a win in my book. And I sooooo get the wrong fence thing. In dressage, you either track left or right at C. Every time. All the time. And yet … at my last show, I had to ask at least 1,000 times whether I was going left or right. How hard can it be to remember? Pretty hard apparently. :0)

  11. You guys looked great, felt great, and are walking away proud of yourselves…I think that’s way better than satin anyday!

    P.S. naps during horse shows=brilliant

  12. I love that last picture of him! Did we win? Am I champion? He’s so cute. Glad you made it through the weekend! I’ve totally had a brain fart in the dressage court like that. I told myself all day the last time I was showing 4-1 that I wasn’t going to forget my circle, I even said it to myself walking in. And sure enough I forget it. And we get the tests years in advance. Like there’s no excuse for that kind of stuff.

  13. Good riding and feeling good leaving the arena is always the best, you have been through the unimaginable latey and you are doing Awesome!!

  14. You may not have won any ribbons but it still sounds like a winning show to me. Good job! Also, that is totally why I can’t be a jumper… I get so lost and forget fences when they aren’t nice hunter courses. lol.

  15. Simon is always a champion! and i really love the ‘attitude is a choice’ philosophy and am eager to read your thoughts about it!! (and will so upon submitting these here comment lol)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.