Well... I went ahead and signed up for Poplar, even though we didn't get to jump yesterday. I signed him up for a BN three phase. And then splurged and added a 2-3 test! Why 2-3?? I have no clue.. because it also had the turn on the haunches and I wanted to see how we scored on those. But it's got the three loop serpentine counter canter! ACK! And then it dawned on me that I've only got three rides left before the show. Not counting our mountain rides. I can ride today.... I can ride next Tuesday and next Thursday. And then we show Saturday. Somehow that crept up quick. So then I panicked. ha ha. Oh well. In reality... it'll be fine. I'll just be sad when we score poorly. But again... I mostly want to see what our comments are so we know what to work on. At least that's what I say....
Regardless... I decided to go ride today. Even though it wasn't my original plan... But I felt like if I could pop over some jumps, my anxiety would be better. So I rode Lyric first... then did some packing and prepping for the trip, and then... before it could decide to rain... I caught Dan and we headed to Ashland. The radar showed nothing. But of course when we got there I noticed some big gray clouds amid the blue skies with fluffy white clouds. I got on and we did a warm up hack around the little lake, to the cross country field, and then up the hill to stadium. I hopped off and set the fences up a hair. I didn't measure but I think most were roughly BN height. As I was finishing I started to feel raindrops. Are you kidding me?? Luckily though, no thunder or lightning, just rain. And it rained a fairly significant rain. I was pretty much soaked through. Ugh. Oh well. I was already on... we're doing this buddy! Besides... it kind of helped cool things off. It was so steamy and miserable.
So we warmed up. I did try to do a three loop serpentine a bit, but it's hard in the jump arena to know your space. We did manage some more significant counter canter, but also got a partial change. I didn't do a ton but enough to warm him up. Then we popped over the cross rail a time or two and then.. we got to jumping. I started with four fences in a row... and he was great! I was not; however. I kept looking down at the fence and basically.. holding him. But he went and he even rocked himself back a few times to jump from the deeper spot. yay! Good boy! We then added some more fences and finished with a 8 or 9 fence course. And he was great!! Okay phew... I feel better now!
So then we went to hack but we somehow ended up in the cross country field. And it was still raining. So I thought... well, let's just pop over one or two. The banana jump was right there, so we popped over that. He was super. Then we added the cabin. Then I decided I wanted to do the brush fence to the hanging log. But then I realized it wasn't a brush, it was the fake ditch and wall. But... we can still do it. Then I found the brush roll top... so we did that, to the fake ditch and wall and then to the hanging log. And he was super! Then we added another cabin. He was great but wasn't quite jumping boldly out of stride. Of course it was so wet and squishy that it was literally squealching with every footfall. I wanted to end with something a little more positive so we did another cabin and poor guy slid at the base but jumped anyways. Okay... I'm crazy but not that stupid, so... I decided it was best to quit while we were ahead. I'm feeling pretty confident that we can do the BN 3 phase next weekend!
This is how we started the day!! Daniel! I had to hose him off before I left for Ashland.
But, this is how we finished the day.... We'll see how he looks in the morning though. ;)
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