Fall Fair Hill: Stadium

Thanks everyone for your kind words about our dressage yesterday! Sometimes I feel like I'm just gushing and gushing about this horse like an obsessed pre-teen over some boy band heart throb or something. Which like. Might be valid haha.

he's starting to look less lanky and more hunky these days, no?
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

But I do honestly take this sport and our training pretty seriously. We work hard at it. I invest so much into it - infinitely more than just time, money or energy. We're not perfect and that's 100% ok. But I do want to be the best we possibly can be. And it means a lot to me when the pieces start clicking together.

gosh i think he's just so cute tho

Which brings us to phase two of Fair Hill's September starter trials: Show jumping! This phase always inspired the most angst and trepidation when I was riding Isabel. Relatively easy and smooth stadium jumping rounds were not our forte.

getting a good shot over fence 1
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

It's funny bc I always swore Isabel was not a particularly complicated horse to jump. She just wanted a positive canter and steady, forward (but not flat!) pace. And a correct and quiet rider who could recite pi to the hundredth digit and solve for the mass of the Higgs Bosun. Nbd, right?

kinda awkward over 2, but no harm no foul
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

After bringing Charlie along from his most greenest of green introduction to jompies to where he is now - pretty damned confirmed at 2'6 - it occurs to me that, actually, Isabel was not an easy horse to jump. And compared to her, Charlie is downright point-n-shoot. I like it!!

this left bending line felt like old news to us after recent lessons!
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

Going into the jumping phases of this event, my mantra was: trust our training. Don't think too deeply about it. Don't get overly concerned. Trust the work and time we've put in, and trust that the horse is just gonna keep on jumping what I put in front of him the same as he always has.

tidy into the outside line
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

All the same, tho, I didn't quite like the stadium course upon first laying eyes on it. Two sets of bending lines, one that landed with a fairly severe roll back right hand turn past the warm up area to go up an outside line to another short approach for an oddly angled end jump. Plus that outside line walked in exactly 6.5 strides on the dot.

dis why we school the adds at home, kids!
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

I'd heard reports of issues with that #6 fence on the sharp angle after the outside line too - everything from lots of rails to spooky refusals. So the plan was to do a balanced 7 down the outside line that walked in 6.5 in order to ensure we landed well enough to prepare for the turn.

we see you, fence 6!
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

Per usual, I kept our warm up very brief. Fair Hill has about a mile of wooded path between stabling and the jump fields that's uphill for the whole second half. That's plenty sufficient for getting the blood pumping and muscles warmed and limbered, as far as I'm concerned.

uh, whoops.
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

So we were happy to stop and chat with some friends upon reaching the field before beginning to prepare for stadium. This was where Megan found us! Plus other friends who had already finished their rounds, and my parents, and actually the proprietor of the OTTB adoption agency where I got Charlie! She had come out to watch a few of her program's graduates strut their stuff at Fair Hill so I was excited for her to see Charlie go!

gosh but he was actually jumping pretty well!
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

After chatting for a few, we warmed up quickly with a little reminder that we still have our flat work in trot and canter, then a couple jump efforts. Trot the cross rail (x2 bc the first was a little silly lol); canter the vertical, canter the oxer. Easy Peasy. Then in for our round!

easy over the final fence. gooooood boy sir!
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

In the past at Fair Hill, Charlie has gotten a little agitated by the bigness of the field and had a strong draw toward warm up. With the way the course was designed I was marginally worried about that being a distraction from our ride. Luckily Charlie was alllll business once the bell rang.

quick video of stadium here

Charlie cruised around basically foot perfect actually - finding our first jump nicely, reaching the second a little stilted but absolutely nailing the left bending turn to an oxer, complete with auto-change. This makes sense since it was basically an easier version of the line we had just practiced last week in a lesson lol.

Managed the tough roll back turn toward warm up without issue. Cruised up to the outside line in a conservative enough canter to make the add for seven a cake walk (again, something we have practiced a lot in more challenging distances while schooling).

He did end up tapping that #6 fence out of the cups with a hind leg anyway tho, which was unfortunate. But I don't think he made a mistake at the fence - honestly I think he was just tired and a little lazy. He actually tapped quite a few fences throughout the course but only the one fell.

Oh well, nbd, just keep on going through that bending line then a long swooping roll back to the final fence, then finished!

all the treats for sir after that round!
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

Like I said, the horse just makes it feel so easy sometimes. For instance, this round had the same hallmarks and mistakes I often had with Isabel: Charlie was a little bit behind my leg, and maybe a touch flat. Plus I felt a little loose in the tack and often behind the movement.

Some of the jumps felt a little sluggish almost - like Charlie didn't flow as well and easily over the jumps as he normally does. So everything felt like it was just that little bit more extra effort for an already tired horse.

so handsome tho <3
photo courtesy of Megan Kiessling

And yet the round itself looks pretty darn reasonable! Plenty to be happy about with it! Lots as always to address - most of all with my own riding habits. But I was quite happy with it as a representation of Charlie's jump training. It wasn't our best, but it was representative.

The rail was a disappointment because I knew it would knock us down from 2nd place after dressage. But I was also pretty zen. I mean, we knew that fence was causing problems so I made a plan that seemed likeliest to set Charlie up for success. And we executed the plan well (the plan being: get the add stride down the outside to ensure time for a balanced turn to the bogie fence). It just didn't work out. C'est la vie.

So going into cross country I had basically no pressure, but also a horse that was tired and maybe a little behind my leg. Details on that tomorrow!