the lines that blur

In case you haven't been following along super closely - I've kinda been following a somewhat non-linear path with Charlie's introduction to competitive eventing. Maybe this is pretty normal, but for whatever reason it's kinda felt a little unusual. Idk, maybe it's not that uncommon tho?

Anyway, the gist is that - at least for the levels we're working on (ie: the lowest of the low) - I'm not holding hard and fast to any 'current competition level' for Charlie. We've been way more flexible about the whole "moving up" thing than seems to be the norm.

more pictures of isabel bc i wanna

Charlie's first competitive jumping experience (a 2-phase CT at Loch Moy) was done at the 18"-2' level. Then he did his first 3-phase HT at 2'3 at Loch Moy. Then back to 18" for his next HT at Fair Hill, then 2'3-2'7 at Jenny Camp, and 2'3 again at Loch Moy.

The variation in our record so far has very little to do with the "jump height" and everything to do with the individual venues and my experiences with them. Especially having to do with cross country at each venue.

novice ditch combo

And so I've kinda been planning all along to continue blurring the lines between levels as we see fit. Focusing less on "height" or "level" and more on what each venue has to offer (from my own experience) and how that relates to Charlie's current level of experience and schooling.

Naturally this thought process was recently somewhat challenged by the dressage judge who seemed to think that Charlie shouldn't even be jumping at all yet.... Uh... Sorry, not sorry?

benches, yo!

Lol... I mean. Yea. I believe in dressage in jumping. In fact, I've written about it extensively. Not even gonna bother linking to specific posts bc.... it's legitimately too frequently a theme in my writing to even try. But I also don't need to link to the individual posts that have demonstrated how much Charlie has learned about his own body and balance and way of carrying himself just by learning to jump. So. Ya know. It's a two-way street.

Anyway tho, back to the point. We are blurring some lines here at 'Fraidy Cat Eventing!

Charlie had a busy May for horse trials but has since had a couple weeks off to focus on steady, consistent schooling. We're about to gear back up for a brief "mid summer" season tho, coming soon. We have an upcoming MCTA event at Tranquility, then we'll return to Fair Hill in July.

jumpies in the woods!

You might remember that some of the jumps on xc at Jenny Camp looked pretty familiar. The vast majority of them were from either OF or Tranquility. Many, actually, from the BN Tranquility course. And Charlie jumped 'em all no problem.

Therefore, I went ahead and entered us for BN at that event. It's a familiar venue, with familiar jumps. Usually the water isn't on course (it's a bit small to handle a high volume of riders in one day), and the ditches and banks tend to be a non-issue as well. Plus, at last year's MCTA event at Tranquility, most of the jumps were flagged as high-low options for all levels anyway. So we'll see. It should be a good opportunity for Charlie.

she was a pretty great event mare

A couple weeks later tho, we'll be back to 2'3 Intro for Fair Hill. We did the 18" Elem last time at Fair Hill bc their Intro course is maybe the biggest baddest best Intro course in the area. It's got all the same stuff you're gonna see at BN (jumps set at related distances to ditch, bank AND water) - just more forgiving distances and smaller fences.

Charlie wasn't quite ready for all that last time, tho, and I think some of that might still challenge him today too. So I'm happy to stay at a height that keeps us feeling positive and moving forward even if he's seeing 'questions' that he's less sure about.

I expect both of these courses to be challenging in some regards, but also REALLY fun. At least, that's my hope haha!

charlie's ready to pick up that slack tho! we got this :D

For my purposes, I'm not worried about whether we fit solidly within the parameters of any one division or another. It doesn't much signify right now. Once fall season rolls around and the MDHT Fall starter series opens up, I'll want Charlie to be closer to confirmed for BN - since those 600m xc courses really are too short for Charlie. But there's time to sort that out.

For now, I'm just thinking about the next couple weeks. Pushing Charlie up a little bit in height for one event. But then dialing him back down in height - while adding complexity in ditches/banks/water at the next event. It's always a balancing act, right?