2018 MDHT Opener: Cross Country!

Buckle up, guys! It's cross country time!! And definitely the kind of ride where a seat belt is strongly advised lol. Charlie was... Hm. Going, I think, would be the most appropriate term.

I knew from the end of our stadium round that Charlie was growing increasingly strong, but I didn't really realize just how true that would be.

The warm up area was small and on a slope, with all the fences pointed away from the trailers. I didn't really love the BN jump (a carved hanging log thing) so I opted for the N coop instead. We kinda ate it the first time, then slipped in the corner after.... which made me nervous about the ground out on course. But the second time was better so off we went to the start gate.

things started innocently enough

Charlie was antsy circling the start box, and we had a bit of a delay while the rider ahead of us had some difficulties. I could tell that Charlie's draw toward the trailers was maybe going to be an issue, although I saw it as a potential advantage in pulling him out of the start box and into a rhythm - vs the last time we ran xc when Charlie was nappy and sucking back out of the gate.

cantering toward the trailers like a very happy horse

Luckily this did indeed prove to be true, and Charlie finally was able to strike off into a canter out of the gate and reached this first jump - the "tootsie roll" - quite nicely.

That nice feeling would not last, however. Haha. Hahaha.

apologies for the shitty jump pics - early morning light was a little severe. this is just a plain brown pheasant feeder that charlie jumped last january

Basically right off the bat, Charlie was PULLING ME. I've spent a lot of time in lessons this winter working on getting comfortable riding Charlie in a more forward canter, and getting that feeling of pushing him up in front of my leg instead of riding backwards to fences.

aaaaaaaaand then we almost died haha

We've made a lot of progress, but all those good feelings went out the window when Charlie was essentially running away with me. I couldn't push him in front of my leg bc I had exactly ZERO success in shutting the front door to recycle that energy to Charlie's hind end.

In other words, he was running right through the bridle and I had nothing to push forward to. Plus he was flattening and dropping his shoulders, making it impossible to see a distance. He would lengthen and lengthen his stride to the base of the fence and rush right past his distance. At jump 2, he, tried to pat down a front leg then thought better of it, and then split his legs over the fence. I thought we might die. But somehow we got lucky.

the truck runs parallel to the trailer parking. this gave charlie FEELINGS

So. Uh. Ya know, that kinda set the tone for the ride lol. All my lovely ideas of a soft horse pushed up in front of me and taking leg to the base (as in our recent xc schooling!) flew past us in a blur, and we were galloping alongside the trailers with Charlie not entirely sure what in the fresh hell was going on.

must remember: the horse is still pretty new to this job. pc Steve Long

Luckily I took the hint and got more organized with my reins and position. And Charlie, for his part, was more civilized to this hanging log. Not the best distance in the world (it's kinda hard with the horse running behind the leg...) but sufficient for the task at hand.

the jump was placed almost identically the last time i jumped it with izzy - right into the woods. charlie agreed with izzy that this makes it spooky

We had a long-ish cruise to the above coop, and Charlie definitely gave it a hard look. It was finally jumping away from the trailers and he became less certain that this was where he wanted to go. He wiggled a bit to the left, but jumped it anyway.

It's funny tho, there's a bunch of sand or stone dust spread on the landing side to combat mud, and Charlie definitely wasn't expecting that haha. He took a GOOD LOOK craning his neck down while jumping lol.

charlie, looking gorgeous. me, looking like i'm trying like hell (and failing) to organize my reins.

The ground fortunately was not proving to be as slippery as I was afraid, tho you can totally see patches of snow all through the woods. It was interesting how they designed the course too bc I figured they'd avoid the woods altogether. But instead almost our entire course was out there - including on some newly cleared areas. It worked out quite well, and was nice for me to see a new part of the course!

jump too sma for charlie

Anyway, next up we weaved through some trees and between some higher level jumps to this little roll top that Charlie actually jumped quite well.

we saw this one in january too. it's a nicely substantial log pile. but still not big enough, apparently

Then a quick canter to the log oxer. While walking the course I had half a mind to add in the N log jump seen in the background here, but considering we ate shit and nearly died over this oxer.... I nixed that idea. Lol...

wherein charlie tries to kill us for the second time. he's got #norespect

Again, our recipe for disaster at this fence was a too-fast horse that I wasn't successfully able to slow down, so I resorted to riding backwards without leg. Ooh we had a left drift too. Ya know. Real good riding and stuff haha.

For his part, tho, Charlie wasn't slowed down at all by these crappy jumps. They didn't scare him or worry him or bust his confidence. Tho I think they could - as he really didn't feel as confident as I would have liked, and seemed to be a little too intrigued by the idea of exiting stage left.

down a small gravel hill to another little roll top....

Considering we were nearly dying over 1 of every 3 jumping efforts by this point, I opted to bring Charlie back to trot for this little downhill path section. Honestly mostly just to see if I could. And... it took a little effort lol.

He then trotted right on up to the roll top, spooked at the footing spread around the take off and landing sides, almost kinda sorta ran out, but jumped reasonably well enough anyway.

then a nicely pleasant uphill approach to Mr Course Creep, the skinny rolltop wedge

I'd probably never forgive myself if I let Charlie have a stupid run out for lack of steering, so since the next jump was an actual skinny fence, I got my shit together and rode that goddamn horse. And he jumped this wedge dead center and quite nicely. Gooooo figure haha, things go better when I actually ride the horse!

turning back around at the top of a hill, a simple nicely sized roll top

We cantered up the hill and around a u-turn to come back to this jump. The approach suited us well bc the turn gave me more brakes, and Charlie was too busy trying to lock on to all the other jumps to rush at this fence. We still fumbled the distance a little bit, but it felt marginally more settled. Maybe?

charlie's jumped the intro version of this jump

There were a couple really nasty sections of ground in this area that I had made note of during our walk, but that seemed like they would be easily avoided. In focusing on this and working on choosing my line with care, we ended up with a more balanced and measured approach to the fence, which Charlie tackled handily.

finally, a reasonable picture where death doesn't appear imminent haha

So if you're noticing a theme here, it's that "When Emma is able to put her leg on the horse, everything is better." Ground breaking thoughts here, guys. Haha.

coop going downhill back to the trailers. i predicted this to be.... challenging lol. 

Tho our problems on the landing side continued, as Charlie was most definitely not landing in the same canter he jumped from haha. And he basically landed running from the gate, got wind of the fact that we were headed back to the trailers, dragged me over the coop, then bolted straight down the hill. Nevermind that our track was supposed to turn left.

It quickly became apparent that we were headed directly towards a bank complex at the bottom of a hill - which was exactly the opposite of where I wanted to be haha - so I managed to get Charlie back to a trot and turn him back onto our path without skidding out in the mud. Phew! Tho there may have been some profanity involved.... lol

another small fence but i appreciated that it was going up hill

We started trotting back up the hill to this little guy which I was kinda worried would be too small for Charlie's attention. But Charlie actually did pretty well - picked his canter back up on approach and jumped it politely.

water looked fantastic (aside from the icy rim) - the water itself was not flagged with a simple roll top on the other side (middle element)

Then I brought him immediately back to walk at the water for a quick pause. Primarily bc I wanted to school the water first before riding the line as intended. But also because I was hoping to reset a little bit. Charlie wandered around the water for a second looking unsure about taking a sip. I knew he would want to tho so I waited him out and he finally stopped long enough to take a drink.

charlie handled this very well, after a brief pause to school the water (and take a drink lol)

It's unconventional, I know, but it seems to work for Charlie. I had hoped the drink would chill him out a little bit too, and also admittedly kinda wanted to demonstrate to the jump judges and officials that I *could* in fact stop the horse, in case they were getting nervous about our lack of control and risky jumps.

Which like.... You know that if you're thinking about proving to the jump judges that you're not as dangerous as you look.... You know if that's going through your mind, things probably aren't going super well.

yay another nice picture!!! legit one of my goals for the day was to end up with a high-quality picture of us over fences that i didn't 100% totally hate haha

C'est la vie, tho. I was already pretty exhausted by this point and literally could not believe we still had a whole 'nother section to the course, but onward we went. Charlie actually handled the water to roll top really really really nicely. THIS is the horse I know he can be on cross country.

he's a good boy tho, even if sometimes i can't control him <3

And we will get there. It's not unreasonable that we'd be a little rough around the edges this early in the season, but I was happy that Charlie really truly felt more educated on the whole, even as he made quite a few bad mistakes.

i was so convinced that bn wouldn't share anything with n for the sake of saving ground that i didn't even realize the ditch was an option here. so i jumped the table

Anyway tho, we made one last turn away from the trailers toward the table, and Charlie eased into a more settled canter. Our distance to the table was a little deep, but it was a very nice effort. Even strides all the way to the base. Much better, Charlie!

this boat was the only thing we missed in january that i had wanted to try

That flew right out the window again tho when we turned back toward the trailers and the finish line. Sigh. It's a work in progress, I guess.

lol. well. i guess we finally got our shot at it! we are grace. we are beauty. we are somehow still not dead yet.
pc Austen Gage

Because yea we jumped this boat verrrry baddddly and I briefly wondered if I would fall off...

lol let's see that from a different angle.... his face tho, omg. pc Steve Long

I did not fall off, however, and resolved in that instance that, dammit, we were gonna finish this course in once piece and NOT die trying.

at least he landed straight and in balance while i got my shit together?? lol.... pc Austen Gage

Because, ya know, we really do know better. I really can actually sorta kinda ride this horse if I try hard enough. Usually.

charlie: galloping like it's a 3*
emma: "but sir! it's only BN!! for fucks sake, we're circling dammit!"

Considering our close proximity to the final jump and Charlie's extremely strung out gallop, I opted to circle lol. And it proved to be just the ticket - breaking up Charlie's ability to brace against the bridle.

last fence, fucking finally

He came back to a civilized canter and handily completed the circle without mowing down Austen and Lyra (who you can see silently contemplating their mortality in the helmet cam video haha), and then approached the final jump reasonably well.

this picture pretty much looks exactly how it felt

Then one final little run away through the finish flags wherein I circled again to get him stopped, and we were done! I hopped off basically immediately lest he continue trying to take off into the sunset, and he dropped alllll the way down the excitement levels to his normal quiet self. Looking honestly quite pleased with himself for his exertions haha.

dis how you pet the horse while not really wanting to let go of the reins yet either haha

I, on the other hand, was exhausted. Omg. Literally could not breathe. My arms felt stretched out beyond limit. My lungs were burning. My back was tingling. And I was just so so drained. But happy. Honest to god happy.

This ride wasn't what you would call classically "Fun." Because.... wow it was a lot of work and some of those jumps were seriously fucking uncomfortable and could have easily become actual accidents. But there were also a lot of really good and reaffirming moments too.

helmet cam video here - enjoy!

And the video is pretty fun to watch, IMO, even tho I kinda get sore all over again just seeing it haha. So I hope you enjoy it.

Positive takeaways include the fact that this level is easy for us. I felt great about the course, and while Charlie had some issues with confidence, they were more about the overall experience vs any individual jump. And Charlie did in fact grow in confidence throughout the course, which is the whole point anyway.

and yup, i'm definitely still obsessed with this big sweet bay <3. pc Austen Gage

We're not ready to face bigger fences yet, tho. At least not until we can get through a course without 20% of our jumps terrifying nearby spectators. Bc.... yea. And I need to find a solution to our brakes problem. Charlie's face is crisscrossed with 8 thousand straps holding that big leverage bit in place. But he just runs right through it with zero regard. So I'll be experimenting with that soon too.

he's a good egg. even if i'm somewhat shocked that we lived to tell the tale. lol. pc Austen Gage

All of that is still ahead of us tho. It's all for a later date. For this particular day, I was satisfied to have gotten out and done the thing, imperfections and all. It felt good to remind myself that I can do it, and that Charlie can do it. And that, actually, I have the ability to handle the going when it gets tough - even if sometimes I need a kick in the pants to remember to do so.

we did it tho! <3 pc Austen Gage

So. The first event of the year is in the books. Complete with quite a few takeaways and lessons learned. Hopefully. And I look forward to our next outing, confident that we have the skills to do this, and resolute in putting those skills to work.