Whooo hooo!!! Today was our first recognized novice this year. It's also a good prep before AEC's. I figured that running novice would help the BN championship course not seem so big. So... we went! Jacel was supposed to be coming too but she ended up having to cancel because of Covid so it was just us. It was a one day, so we got up early and headed to Aiken.
Photo credits to Ainsley Jacobs
We got there and had enough time to check in and get tacked up and warm up for dressage. But then we had a long break so I figured I would walk XC and stadium after dressage. We had a good warm up with very little shenanigans. In fact, he was really quite tame. He did make me laugh though because he was making snarky faces at everyone but then suddenly he pricked his ears at this medicine hat mare and kept trying to make a beeline for her. I laughed and told the girl that my horse thought he was friends with her horse. And then I added "Or he recognized a fellow heather". She laughed and said that was definitely the case. And sure enough, later I saw her rearing in warm up. Ha ha.. Oh Dan! Luckily he didn't do any rearing and then it was our turn. We had a pretty good dressage test. It felt quite nice and didn't really have any bobbles. We ended up with a 27.6! Whoo hooo! And that put us in first place out of 13 people. Heck yeah Dan! Good boy.
photo credits to Chris Quinn
So then he sat in the trailer munching while I walked XC and stadium. It was a pretty fun course. Nothing too crazy or scary. (And yes!!! It was super exciting that novice XC wasn't scary!). There was a few big fences... a few that had some good terrain questions, but... nothing that I thought would be a big problem or made me clench up my cheeks.
Photo credits to Ainsley Jacobs
I then was grooming Dan and waiting around for our time when Ainsley walked up! YAY! It was good to see a friend and we chatted and hung out. She got some awesome photos of Dan too! So then it was time to get tacked up and get ready. I ended up getting on too early but we were hanging out a bit. We finally started warming up and Dan trotted around on the buckle a few laps. Then suddenly he lost his brain and went bouncy and reary. He was trying to buck and bolt. Good gravy. We sat a few minutes and tried again. Same thing. So then I sat him a few minutes and tried to jump. He jumped the tar out of the vertical, landed in a buck, then threw his head up at my face. Twice he almost gave me a bloody lip. Daniel! So then we sat in "time out" again. He kept making faces at the other horses. To the point that people were laughing at him. One girl on a chestnut mare even commented that his faces were ridiculous and her chestnut TB mare was happy and polite. ha ha. Well... yeah... So then he was fine and warmed up fairly politely after that. Then it was our turn and in we went. It was a great course! We jumped nicely I thought! There was only one fence I jumped up his neck a stride early but he went anyways. (Of course my photos were awful... he was hanging his knees. Poo!). We jumped double clear. Yay!
Photo credits to Ainsley Jacobs
So then we headed over to XC. We jumped two jumps and the ditch and then there was a hold on course for about 20 minutes. We chatted with the other riders and just sat and caught our breath. It wasn't hot at all because of the storm. And it didn't rain luckily, but it was overcast and muggy as all get out. I was soaked in sweat just from the humidity. We did the warm up combination line when they started sending riders again and then off we went. Unfortunately I forgot my helmet, but luckily had my navy show helmet. But that meant no helmet cam. Oh well. He was SUPER! He jumped that course like a rockstar. No hesitations anywhere and he jumped everything well I thought. Except.. the one fence. Ha ha. It was the second to last fence and was a mini corner. It was an option. I saw that Ainsley was sitting there ready to take a photo. And... Dan came up to it and then shot sideways. I threw my leg and managed to hold my line but he twisted over the corner like a fool. I was laughing at him for ruining my photo. ugh. We cantered politely over the finish line well within time. And so we had finished double clear again! Which means we should have held onto first. Yahoo! I dropped the reins a little to let him know we were done and the goober took off again! Not a bolt, but a strong gallop! So we did a few circles in the finish area before I could get him to trot and then he power trotted another few circles. Goofy!
Photo credits to Ainsley Jacobs
Ainsley was nice and chatted and hung out while we untacked and then she sat with him while I went and got my ribbon and test. :) Yahooo! Good boy. She got some amazing photos of him too. Such a fun day!
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