Spring National Inagural - Sunday Wrap Up

Easter Sunday fell on that last day (of the first week) of the show.  And true to crazy-horse-lady culture instead of fewer entries because people were at church... or with family.. or at least making brunch, everyone was out at the show, enjoying the sunshine and an excuse for a few extra candies. 

The Easter Bunny even found Prair, leaving a chocolate bunny on her trunk, and a cute Easter egg charm in her braids. 

Bundled.

 We adjusted our warm up plan slightly and scratched the 2'3" Low, having N ride the Low at 2'6" and leaving me two rounds for my Hunter Division and one more round for a fun 2'6" Medal.

The Boy and the baby joined me for the day, which made for lots of entertainment before/between/and after my rides. Cayla is proving to be quite the horse show baby and happily snoozed and cooed in her stroller where normally she's crawling out and trying to toddle off to explore/eat something inappropriate.
 

Anyway, Prair had a lovely Low round with N, and true to her predictable form, she was soft and quiet and needed a tad more leg to create some impulsion and stomp than earlier in the weekend. 

I pretty much hopped right on to start my rounds, and made The Boy attempt to wrangle both baby and phone to record a video.



I'm still very proud that this is the ride we get without me warming up at all (though it's becoming more obvious that I need the warm up more than Prair).

I didn't realize the outside four stride was set closer to the quarterline than the fence, so I sort of overshot the turn and that killed my distance, but we worked it out ok.  Our single oxer felt great, and the two diagonals were decent too.  Mostly I'm proud of Prair's mostly quiet lead changes (!!) and willingness to move up without getting stressed. 

I am loosening my shoulders and elbow more, but that hasn't translated to a better release.. so that I need to work on, and also not opening my hip angle too much on landing...

We got a 4th (out of 5, lol) for this round.

Our second round I fixed the turn and distance to the four stride, but everything else felt worse.  I guess it wasn't, since N thought we looked smoother and the Judge put us First.  The Boy started a video of this round, but it turned sideways and stopped about 20 seconds in when the baby decided to be difficult I guess (if I could only teach this kid to video rounds I'd be onto something...)

The 1st and 4th were enough to clinch a Reserve for the division, behind a really nice pair that consistently bested us down at Thermal.  One thing I have to say about the low level Ammys in our area is that (for the most part) everyone is so nice to each other.  Lots of "nice rounds" and "good lucks" exchanged at the gate and commiseration in the hilarity that is often bumbling along in these not so prestigious ranks.  I really appreciate that, and it definitely makes the whole process that much more enjoyable and worthwhile.

Two tricolors and a Bunny Baby (also, look at the mare's NECK)

Finally, I went right back in to put down the first trip for the little 2'6" Medal class.  I don't mind being first, but I didn't really have a plan for the two places where there were options for inside turns.  The extent of my planning was "if she feels good we'll do it, if she doesn't, we'll go the long way 'round..."  Not exactly precision planning, but meh, it's 2'6". 

The course started with a rollback, which we landed the wrong lead so I opted for a longer route.  worried about our balance and turn, I picked at her canter a tad and we didn't chip out - but I really wish I had moved up and shown a bigger, bolder canter and distance. 

That weeny canter and tight distance followed us around the rest of the course (through a 5 stride, the four stride, and another rollback). 

The course finished with a single, then a halt and a sit trot out.  By far the best part of our course was our TOTALLY still halt (the transition to it wasn't great though), our lovely turn on the forehand (not called for, just looking polished) and our sitting trot to the gate. 

There were about 15 (I think?) juniors and ammys in the class so I was honestly just hoping for a ribbon, but when they finally pinned the class an hour later, we won it! 

In watching the round back on video it doesn't look at underpowered or jagged as it felt.  So bless Prair for covering some of my mistakes.  I definitely braced my hands quite a bit in this round and really cut her off over fences with my non-release.  Other than that though, she felt adjustable, polite and lovely. 



All in all a great way to end the week!

 

My Girls.

Today the mare is off, tomorrow she's hacked, then because she finished so nicely, we decided to scratch her pro division on wed/thurs and just put her in one round a day to school. instead  I think saving the jumps is prudent right now, and as much as I want ribbons, I'm currently out of ribbon hanging space, so until more strings are hung, I guess I can stop hoarding like a maniac for a moment.   

more fun to come!