The derby is over and Simon is extremely relieved that he doesn’t have to wear braids for probably at least another year. We came, we saw and we huntered. For us, it was a personal best. Since we’re not exactly hunters, my goal for the derby is usually just survival and photographs. Mid-last week I texted my trainer and asked if she would be embarrassed if her fat client with the leadchangeless ottb was the only horse at the horse…
I have a jumper derby horse. Not like the cool kind of jumper derbies where we fly down banks or do anything remotely outrageous… because we all know by now that I’m a chicken shit and won’t be trying anything crazy. No, Simon is a jumper derby horse because we approach hunter derby courses with the gusto and enthusiasm of a jumper. A jumper without changes. I’ve been on the fence about doing the derby this year, because even though…
When we left off yesterday, I had just finished up the ticketed warmup and changed my goal from “hunter derby domination” to “survive hunter derby with a smile on my face.” Since I was almost at the end of the 2’6″ order of go, I put Simon in the trailer (since he could no longer be tied) and watched some of the horse show for a while. The course had a few “surprises” since we couldn’t school all the jumps…
Overall? We did the hunter derby! I had a lot of fun doing it and checking that (hopefully first of many) item off the bucket list. That being said, it was not without any shenanigans. I headed to the show grounds at a reasonable time to meet my trainer and the horses. Since this was a one day show, we didn’t have stalls… which usually isn’t a problem. Historically Simon has been great tied to the trailer. Historically. On my…