jumper rounds at a dressage barn??

It's been a while since I've had a chance to get over to dressage trainer C's farm. Not for any real reason other than scheduling can be seriously tough sometimes, ya know? For instance, last year her farm started hosting a small series of combined tests. And I've been dying to go to one ever since!

the chariot awaits!!

But ya know. Life and stuff. So I missed all of them last year, and have already missed a few this year. BUT. Finally! This weekend it worked out. Actually, it was extra awesome bc a couple barn mates were going, as were other riding friends including some of my buds from Isabel's farm. It was gonna be a regular old reunion lol!

a charlie in his native habitat. also, heck ya for parking in shade!

This event is super SUPER inviting. Casual, low key, and inexpensive. It costs $65 for the full CT (dressage + show jump round). But you could also mix and match, $45 per dressage test and $20 per jump round. No limit to being able to do the same tests or jump levels repeatedly. Like I said -- very friendly.

every.single.jump is freakin adorable. the poles are all pvc tho which kinda sucks but oh well

And actually, I planned to skip the dressage entirely. At this particular point I don't need to spend $45 on a shitty dressage test when I can haul up to Hilltop for just $5 more, and get my ass handed to me for an hour LOL. Like... I already know we kinda suck. We'll deal with that later.

lots of camaraderie among competitors!

Honestly, at this particular point in my never ending journey to maybe at some point eventually if ever move up a level.... Honestly, I just need to break each phase down. Esp after falling in the show jumping at Full Moon, I wanted a couple smooth focused rounds with no other distractions.

No other warm ups to worry about. No juggling about "saving enough horse" from one phase to the next. Just one item on the to-do list: survive a 3'3 course in a competition(ish) setting.

behold, our seriousness

I signed up for two rounds: one at 3' and one at 3'3. Perfect, right? Charlie is perfectly comfortable at either height, but I can get a little excitable (and not in a good way) when the cups go up a hole.

Except, uh, small snag in the plan. Turns out the CT was running just like most other events in this area: Starting with the highest levels and dropping through the day. Which meant that my 3' time would be after my 3'3 round. So, uh, not exactly serving the "warm up" function I had imagined. Womp.

is this jump field not the absolute most delightful?

I fully admit to feeling seriously squeamish about this. But... Ya know. That's how it'll be at an event. That's how it was at Full Moon too. No warm up rounds at a lower height. Just get in there and lay down your at-height round. Plus, I expected the courses to be friendly and inviting.

just a little bit of terrain, with natural barriers

Obviously you never really know what you're going to get with a jumper course designed by dressage riders who may or may not plan on ever even jumping it haha. Especially when their primary competitors are mostly at the 2'6 and below levels....

But.... it turned out they did a seriously fabulous job. I was actually a little skeptical of one of the outside line distances -- for me it walked in EXACTLY 5.5 on the dot. Which, it's kinda hard to know what to plan for in that sorta situation. Tho trainer C pointed out to me that the line was going slightly uphill, making that distance appropriate.

guys my horse is a saint. also, we match the jump lol

And actually, after I kinda seriously buried Charlie at the in jump, forcing him to corkscrew over it, we ended up doing SEVEN in that line anyway so.... Ha, obviously it was fine.

I'm getting ahead of myself tho. Basically, everything looked really good and really inviting. There weren't even any in-and-outs on course. So I felt like this would be a really good way for us to just get a little more mileage in the show ring at this height.

when i talk about needing to work on our straightness in turns LOL.....

Warm up was a little challenging bc Charlie was ever so slightly LIT. Plus he was being extreeeeemely barn sour, something I hate. But ya know. My one job for the day was to execute. Ride my horse. Don't wait for a big mistake before I get serious. Establish connection, establish canter.

Ya know. All the good things we work on in our lessons, but that I sometimes will let slide when I'm nervous at a show. On this day, I wanted to do my friggin job in the saddle. Mistakes are ok, making the wrong choice is ok. I just wanted active not passive riding.

wheeeeee charlieeeee!!!

And so I actually spent more time warming up than I normally would at a show. Because again, we were just here for two courses. I wasn't gonna run out of horse, ya know? But I *did* want to take the edge off and really establish ourselves in a rhythm. I wanted to feel like we were improving as we warmed up, vs barely holding it together or even falling apart.

Finally tho, it was time. And? Honestly? Our first round was pretty much fine. I was a little tentative and some of our distances weren't great. The feeling I'm looking for is a more forward canter, feeling like I can ride Charlie's hind legs up into the bridle. It's just a bit tricky when he already sorta feels like he's running, and there are a lot of tight turns.

he's a good boy <3

But I think I did a reasonably good job of keeping my leg on. So even tho we messed up a few distances, Charlie never got to a spot that he felt was completely unjumpable.

So I opted to just go immediately back in for my second round at 3'3 too, since it seemed silly to wait for the course reset for 3'. I really really wanted the second round to fix some of the mistakes I made in the first round. And, in some ways it did. Mostly tho, the two rounds were pretty much comparable in efforts.

these end jumps came up fast!

Our first outside line, for instance, was better the second time. The turns were still kinda tricky tho. Especially because Charlie's gate sourness was still extremely prevalent. Turning away from the gate was a bit of a challenge.

Charlie really delivered, tho. Almost all of his jumping efforts were very very good, even tho I didn't have him as straight as I should have, and even tho I still missed a few distances.

nbd tho, charlie was all aces

We had rails in both classes (more in the second than the first, womp), but again -- the rails were all PVC. Which means that not only do they fall more easily, but they don't really feel like anything to the horse, so the horse might become a little less careful as he goes.

And anyway, the day was never supposed to be about rails. Mostly I just wanted to execute without any major errors. Like refusing or falling off LOL. Annoyingly tho, one of our worst fences was the last fence of the second round (below, lol). But like, honestly? I'm ok with it.

well, ahem, we did have a few bloopers in each round obvi lol.... can you believe he still jumped this? good boy, chuck!

In some ways, I actually find it reassuring to make mistakes and have things still basically be ok. Obviously I'd rather not haha. But mistakes are inevitable, and I shouldn't let my fear of them prevent me from continuing to try. So overall it was a net positive, even with experiencing some of the mistakes in these rounds, yet walking away feeling like we more or less survived.

video of both rounds here

It was also really useful experience for me in terms of information gathering for other things. I love horse showing. I want to go to a horse show. But have been conflicted about what sort of choices to make regarding which divisions to enter.

you're my #1 for sure <3

We've been working really really hard lately. We've been challenging ourselves, and pushing our limits. There are people who I trust completely who think we're ready. But.... Emotionally, even just getting out there to do these simple jumper rounds was very consuming for me.

So.... At least for the immediate future, while I'm excited at the prospect of continuing to challenge ourselves in lessons and schoolings etc, I think we're also due for maybe an easier run. Something that isn't going to give me so much anxiety, or make me lose sleep at night.

happy to chill back at the trailer with a buddy!

We'll get to that later, tho. For now I'm just thrilled that Charlie continues to be a horse who wants to grow with me, ready to tackle each new adventure. Small local stuff like this is so great too, bc so many more of my friends were also able to come and ride. And since obviously the best part of any show is the tailgate afterward, the more the merrier, right?? Lol...

So. Part 1 of my epic weekend plans concluded in a pretty positive fashion. That wasn't all we signed up for tho -- next up is Part 2, another cross country lesson with Sally. This time, with a couple riders and horses far more experienced and advanced than me and Charlie. Would we be able to keep up?? Find out soon lol...