Adult Camp Adventures: MDHT & Pony Club!

Last Friday I wanted to keep the magic of Adult Camp rolling after a great day spent at Windurra. So I got up early to get that big bad bay boy ridden before the heat of the day, then set off in the afternoon to Loch Moy to catch the 1* and 2* show jumping!

Molly Kinnamon and The Diesel Boy were the final to go for Intermediate.

It started off super promising too - when just as I walked across the parking lot I passed Buck Davidson on his way to dressage, and Phillip Dutton coming back from show jumping.

Naturally, I smiled and said hi to both (remembering the friendliness of everyone at Windurra!) - and they were each kinda puzzled, trying to figure out if they should know me or not lol. #creepstar3000 strikes again!!

video of their lovely round here, with just the last one down

Anyway, I made it over to show jumping just in time to catch the very last rounds of the Intermediate - including watching Molly Kinnamon put in a nice effort with her handsome black horse, The Diesel Boy.

It looked like a pretty tricky but also pretty fun course - a far cry from the stuff that's usually set up in that ring when we show haha!

can we say #riggoals?

Since there would be a break in the jumping while they reset the course, I booked it back to dressage to watch Buck finish warming up and ride his test. Tho to my surprise, he was already in the court by the time I got there. Guess the horse didn't need much warm up!

the epic battle between the primal urge to run away from the storm, and the need to be fancy as fuck while doin it lol

Except, just as I arrived ringside, the skies opened and it poured, complete with lightning and thunder. Sigh. Buck kinda looked at the judge in the middle of his test and then.... just left haha. Trotted out of the court, out of the warm up, and around through the parking lot back to the barns.

"and i'm siiiiiiinging in the rain!"

Naturally, he was closely followed by the other horses in the dressage area. While obviously I was disappointed by the weather, it was honestly almost comical watching these very nice horses come zooming out of the arena at high-speed fancy prancing on their way to safety lol.

The storm was intense - but brief. LOTS of rain, then over quickly. Alas with apparently a long line of storms on the radar, show organizers called it for the evening to resume the next morning, rather than risk being shut down by another incoming storm cell.

Which, like, kinda blew since I drove all that way out there and only really saw one full competitor's test - Molly's show jumping above. Oh well.

check out that sky tho! also. this is the same jump (now repainted) that had been immortalized as this blog's header when Izzy sailed over it to finish our last novice back in 2015

I made it worth my while tho by walking the Novice cross country course. This event didn't offer BN, but I want to start adjusting my eye up anyway. Reconnaissance and all that good stuff. Plus I was curious to see just how different the recognized course was from the unrecognized.

Verdict? Honestly not that different. Biggest notable differences were in length (it felt longer, but that could just be me) and in the number of A-B combinations: 3, where I'd only seen 1 on the unrecognized novice courses I've walked there.

pony clubber? or impostor? you decide!

The combinations were all pretty standard tho - a plain old four stride line between two inviting jumps; the entry to the water flagged as A then a coop three strides out of the water as B; and the ditch three strides to another coop type thing. So. Ya know. Pretty reasonable.

And naturally most of the jumps on course were things I'd done before with Izzy. There were maybe three or four elements that looked reeeeeally squicky to me (mostly the stuff with uphill approaches, and a giant brush table ((but emma, horses love brush jumps!))) but mostly? It looked pretty good. The future, yo. Ahhh the future.

dis austen's wine face

Obviously tho there wasn't much use in hanging around show grounds any longer - so I did what any normal person would do: met up at Austen's barn with her and her wine bottle to watch some pony clubbers (and her barn mates) have a jump night.

definitely pony club approved, right Stephanie???

I mean, tail gating is tail gating, right? And pony clubbers are basically the next best thing to 1* show jumpers, right? Right?? 

see, we even had stemware!

So. Ya know. That was fun. Lol.... At least we kinda sorta made good use of ourselves. Two of Austen's barn mates planned on schooling their horses through the jumper rounds too, and Austen got to act as photographer.

does this little pocket rocket remind you of anyone?

I took a couple videos for the riders too, but mostly just watched (and drank lol). In particular, my eye was drawn to this little red dynamo, for maybe obvious reasons lol. Remind you of anyone?

can't forget Pig tho!

All in all, not a terrible way to pass an evening (esp with pizza at the end!). Tho I was sorry to miss out on some upper level spectating. Ah well. Next time!

just a cute barn. nothin to see here, move right on along

As it is tho, adult camp has officially come to a close. Work resumes, pony boot camp continues, and we've still got another full month ahead of us before returning to the competition scene ourselves.

definitely nothing to see here either, damn those boots have seen better days!

And I'm trying to use this time wisely. Not only in schooling the horse - which, actually, is going really well - but also in doing my own due diligence in making sure we're set up for success.

Some of this relates to taking care of equipment and gear maintenance or replacements. And some of it relates to my longer term plans for the horse and his needs.

just the handsome big bad bay boy, sporting his super classy footwear (and shoes, plz for the love of god charlie keep on those shoes!)

Plus, ya know, anything that involves identifying a need for shopping is always pretty fun haha. Latest acquisitions include schooling and show breeches, and new tall boots. And maybe some other stuff too. Ya know. The usual.

Anyway. It's back to reality for now tho - with just the hope and promise of more fun spectating events and whatnot in the future!

What about you - what are your favorite horsey things to do when time is a non-issue, when you've got all the free time in the world? Is it attending big events? Touring facilities like Windurra or the big TB breeding farms in Kentucky? Shopping? Smaller get-togethers at friends' barns? Hardcore riding lessons or clinics for yourself? Or lots of quiet time with your horse? All of the above? Or something else entirely?