It was a good run before the Southeast Schooling Show. We got up super early and hauled to Full Gallop for a Novice 3 phase.
I was a little bit later than I wanted, so I didn't get to walk XC or stadium before my dressage ride. I had plenty of time to warm up though. He was odd. I really felt like he was lame... doing that shoulder thing again. But we powered through and had a nice test. Not our best and at one point I really felt the uneveness. But I guess it was not as bad as I thought because we scored nicely. We were in second with a 26.2! Out of 12. So that was exciting.
So then I untacked him and rinsed him off. Even with clipping him, it was sooooo humid. While he chilled and ate his hay, I went and walked stadium and cross country. They looked like fun courses. Then I had to rush and get him tacked up for stadium. We went in to warm up and... he lost his mind!!! He was fine for about 4 minutes and then we jumped the cross rail. I think that we got to that funky distance so I held and he was pissed. So then he wanted to bolt and was all balled up and basically running at the fences. So I would try to hold him and he'd get under the fence and really had to use himself. And then he would buck and rear and try to bolt. It got a little bit out of control for a minute. He even broke my spur strap! I debated getting off in case he was reacting because he was painful, but... I finally just decided to go in and ride and hope for the best. And of course... he was fine. He didn't even get upset when I held too much to one fence and he had to get in deep. BUT.... remember how I said I was a little rushed walking the course?! Well... we did our 9 fences and I pulled him back to the trot and was just... meandering home.. thinking... why am I so far away from the out gate when I heard " FINISH!!!..... JUMP 10!). Oh man!!! There's a jump 10?! Dangit... of course by the time I realized where it was.... we had circled, so... our 2nd place score now had 34 points of time and 4 points for our "refusal". Well... there goes that. :) Oh well. The good news is ...he was ridable and it was a pretty decent course.
Stadium Helmet Cam
So then we headed over to XC and of course, he was perfectly fine and content. We had a pretty good run. He was great over the first few fences. My plan was to come back to a trot before the ditch, but he didn't want to so we just cantered over it. And he didn't even look! But then he bolted after (for fun) and it was right before the sharp 90 degree turn downhill to the cabin, so I had to get him back under control. We power trotted a few steps and then cantered down the hill. Then he spooked at the giant terrifying old ditch and ran me through some branches. But we managed to carry on. He was great for the whole rest of the course. And... maybe at the end we just cruised around a little... I wasn't riding for time as I didn't have my watch and since I had already blown it in stadium, we just had fun. Turns out we were too slow by a bit, so we added even more time to our score. Doh. ;) But oh well. He felt good and it was a good run.
XC Helmet Cam
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