FRVPC Mini Event

Well the good news is that we ended up 3rd. The not so good news is that I felt like I had zero control in the jumping phases.



She started out well for our school on fri evening, minus a huge spook at the dressage chain racks that were sitting at the edge of the woods. She felt pretty rideable on the grass, and we got to go around the rings which was nice. I still felt like I had more control of her body if I stayed sitting at the trot. so I decided I would probably ride the whole test sitting if she felt the same way the next morning. Walked XC and was surprised at the difficulty for it being (a) a mini event, and (b) so early in the season. The first fence was small, but on a turn and downhill approach, 2nd fence was off a weird turn going away from the barn and twice as big as the first fence. It was nice to see some normal sized Novice fences on the course, but not when the max height is advertised at 2'9".



She warmed up well on Sat AM, despite warmup being a zoo of oblivious riders and almost getting crashed into a few times. She was light in the hind end for the canter transitions, so we did about 15 of them until she settled. Had plenty of time to go around the ring and judge's car when it was our turn. She was very rideable during the test, but I just wish I was able to get that sharpness I have been feeling with her lately. She was obedient, but just a bit dull without that extra spark that can score a point better on each movement. I had a good feeling about the score since she was pretty consistent in her frame and tempo and I was able to ride deep into the corners. If I could change anything it would have been more bend on the circles and riding her into a more uphill trot with more push from behind. She also ignored my half halts a bit and was heavy in my hand on the downward transitions, resulting in me having to pull a bit harder than I should have. Scoring took forever so I had no idea how we did before I went out for XC.



She warmed up excellent for XC, jumping out of stride and bold/forward, but rateable. She came out of the box well, but looking at the first fence from the beginning, trying to back off a bit. I gave her a few kicks and taps with the stick and stayed way back and she popped over the first. Since it was a downhill landing and weird left turn away from the warmup and barns to get to 2, she landed and got much quicker than I expected, and wanted to fall out hard back to the right after she realized we were not jumping the BN fence #1 that was in the way. We avoided a near temper tantrum when I opened my left rein and she saw our fence #2, rode nicely up to it and launched over. She was peeking at #3, but I gave her a few taps again and accelerated towards it and she jumped it fine and landed way fast. I let her keep a quicker pace to #4 since it was so close to 3, and she got close but felt less looky. She was hesitant about going on the path into the woods so I slowed down and let her trot through. The cordwood was next coming out of the woods, and I felt her look so I sat back and accelerated up to it, and she jumped it well but landed going much faster than the takeoff speed. I let her keep the quicker pace to the barrels and she jumped them fine, but I slowed way down for the turn to the slatted ramp going downhill. She got close to it but popped over. At this point my arms were screaming because I was having to haul on her mouth on the backside of most jumps. I made her trot through the turn to #8, then picked up a slow canter and she jumped it nicely out of stride, except the backside when she took off again towards home. I was able to slow down before the turn to #9, but not by much. She jumped 9 well and back into the woods we went, less tentatively this time. Let her canter slowly through the woods and stretch her neck down until we got to #10. She was less looky than I expected, but I was worried about turning after it since #11 was close. I opened my rein and was able to get her to 11, but quicker than I would have liked. Big whoa after 11 and set up nicely to 12 and 13, which she jumped quietly and out of stride. Slowed down again after 13 and jumped 14 quietly as well. Overall I am happy with how she jumped, but unhappy with how she listened to me. She needs to be more rideable and listen better if things are going to be more complicated. I should not have to haul on her mouth after fences to get her organized and in a good rhythm. I can see now why Randi has had some stopping issues if she was coming up to scarier fences at that fast of a canter.



Waited a long time to SJ, walked the course before XC and even got a free massage in the meantime. Found out that we had scored a 32.6 in dressage and were sitting in 2nd behind Jenna Brown! I was happy with this as our division had 22 horses and I did not expect to beat a few of the other people on the flat.

The course was strange because they couldn't use the whole area like they usually do since there was a lot of rain and the ground was too soft. This resulted in all the jumps being clustered together with strange turns to get to each question. She warmed up ok but felt dull and a little tired. She kept wanting to jump across the warmup jumps to aim towards the barn. She didn't touch anything in warmup and felt like she was jumping well, however all of that went out the window once we got into the ring to jump our round. She locked onto the back of the stone wall jump before we went into the turn towards #1, so I felt like she was not paying attention from the get-go. The downhill approach and unbalanced canter to #1 resulted in her having it down with her front legs. She landed ok considering that and did an even 5 strides to the oxer out. I had a big whoa and slowed her to a trot going to #3 since it had been coming down all day and I wanted her to pay attention. I thought we had a nice canter coming to it, but then she started to back off so I had to tap with the stick and she accelerated and jumped it, but knocked the rail off as well. I was frustrated that she was not listening and also standing off the fences so much at this point, so I rode hard to #4, which was a bigger plank oxer going towards home. She jumped it well, but silly me turned left after instead of right and was barely able to slow down enough to correct the turn and get going the right way to #5. We got to 5 ok, but she added and popped over it, so I sent her forward down the line to the big panel that I figured she would back off at. She backed off but jumped it ok, tapping the rail but it stayed up. She landed like a banshee and grabbed the bit going to the stone wall jump, which she got over awkwardly but clean. The turn going to #8 was probably my favorite, because she was actually balanced and listening, although it was a bouncy, looky canter. She jumped it well, but then took off afterward and I had to do some major pulling to slow down enough so we could turn to the double. She added and jumped awkwardly at the first, but i kicked forward and still got the 2 strides to the oxer out. I was unhappy overall with the lack of control I had during the round. She is usually good about coming back after fences at home, but this is obviously something we need to address before the next show. I am thinking a different bit is definitely in order. I was also surprised at how much she was looking at the fences. I felt like I had to ride hard to get her over them, but the result of that was being out of control on the landing side. I was pretty disappointed after the round, but a lot of people had issues so we only moved down one spot to 3rd.



All in all it was a good learning experience, although I've definitely got my work cut out for me before the horse trials in June! Will experiment with bits and update with how that's going. Need to schedule a lesson with Cathy so we can go school some different SJ exercises/try bits out over a course. Planning to keep dressage work going in the same direction, working on more lateral flexion and riding the trot uphill so she puts more weight on her hind end. Our test had some nice comments and even two 8's for centerlines. 7 on submission and rider, which I was happy about. I think it will be easy to pick up points next time for showing more bend on the circles and getting better downward transitions.