showjumping tomorrow, way too excited! *update!

joosie

joosie

lifelong sufferer of restless brain syndrome
Oct 28, 2004
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New Zealand
Tomorrow is our first yard outing of 2015 and I've been stupidly excited for at least the last week! :p It's nice for us to have a winter break and of course the horses need and appreciate it too, but after a few months without the competition buzz both horses and humans start to get a bit restless. My boss decided to miss the first few shows of the year as it's a long, exhausting season for us and once it's started there's no reprieve, but some of our liveries wanted to do this one, so it's all systems go. The youngsters started going out training a few weeks ago (though my boss understandably avoided riding on the 1-year anniversary of her horrendous fall!) and the other horses have been practically breaking their stable doors down watching the lorry going off without them, they all love jumping and competing and clearly feel that their break has been long enough!

There's 9 horses going from the yard and all but one of our livery owners will be coming to either watch or ride. I'm riding Jam of course, my boss is riding 3 of hers plus 2 liveries, and 3 of our owners are riding their own. Everyone was around this afternoon getting their stuff and horses ready and there was a strange sort of excited buzz in the air - those of us competing are excited about riding, the two owners watching are excited about seeing their horses jumping, and the horses who have had their legs washed / tails plainted / hooves oiled are excited because they know that this means tomorrow is a show day! It's great that pretty much everyone's involved, really feels like we have got a proper team going :)

As for me, I have promised myself since it's my last season with Jam that I am going to make the most of it! Less time being hard on myself and beating myself up over every little mistake I make, more time focusing on just having fun and savouring the moment. I always love jumping Jam but have often found that being naturally critical of myself, and my competitive spirit kicking in, can get in the way of truly enjoying the ride. I've been so blessed to have such a great horse to learn from, and I don't think I'll ever have the chance of competing something like Jam again, so this is the year to appreciate him more than ever :D
 
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Well, it was a fab day! Not the weather, the weather was awful - it wasn't particularly cold, but was raining on and off all day and the wind was so strong it kept blowing jumps over and, on occasions, people came close to toppling too :p

Our first class was the 1m05 speed class with Joker - my favourite type of class. There are 10 single fences, no doubles, you start with 45 points and lose points for faults - so if you have number 3 down you lose 3 points, if you have number 6 down you lose 6 points etc. Then for number 10 you have two options, either jump the normal one (worth 10 points) or the Joker (10cm higher and worth double points). I like these classes because they really mix things up. You can clear 9 jumps and have the Joker down, and finish further down the rankings than someone who had the first 5 jumps down but cleared the Joker - if you don't try the Joker you won't finish with enough points to get placed, but if you try it and get it wrong, you won't get placed anyway!

Anyway we had 8 horses in it - me and Jam, my boss riding 3, 3 of our liveries riding theirs, and another of my boss's clients who keeps her horse at home. There were 72 entered in the class, which would usually give us more than enough time to get everything done, but as my boss had to ride her three rounds AND help 4 clients with their warmups (I don't count, when she's busy I sort myself out!) it was quite a rush. We were great on the teamwork though and everyone pitched in to help. Such a nice atmosphere, and so good for the nerves :)

Jam and I had number 61, and all but one of our horses jumped before me, so I was so busy sorting everyone else's horses I barely had time to do my own and by the time I got down to the warmup I had only 6 horses in front of me. We had a grand total of 5 minutes to do our entire warmup, and then it was time for us to go up to the arena. My boss had number 64 with her last horse so wasn't free to help me with my mega-short warmup, and not so long ago that kind of rush would have totally stressed me out, but I felt surprisingly cool and calm about it - I think my resolution to make the most of Jam this year is going to have quite a good influence on me. We pranced our way up to the arena, and Jam was on his toes and SO happy to be at a show again, he felt like a Duracell bunny beneath me not an 18-year-old horse! As we set up the arena in a nice forward canter he spooked at a flapping banner, slammed the brakes on and nearly had me off over his shoulder - that would have been embarrassing wouldn't it :p

Well all I have to say is that Jam was fantastic! We went clear, but it was more than that, it was just SO much fun, as we went around the course I couldn't stop grinning and telling him how wonderful he was! He absolutely jumped his socks off and put in a big effort over every single fence - he is known for being a bit too "minimum effort" at times, so for him to jump every jump with so much enthusiasm is a pretty rare occurrence - plus he did the tight turns I asked him for and as we came towards the Joker I could really feel him lock on to it and his canter pretty much doubled in power. I was thrilled to hear the commentator announce we had gone into 2nd place :D

So then with only a handful of riders left, my boss went in with her last horse, Toscane, who is known for being difficult and unpredictable and could either jump her socks off and win a prize or get eliminated at the first jump... well, just my luck that this was one of her good days, they sailed round effortlessly and beat us into 3rd by less than a second! Damn you Bosswoman :p We had a laugh and a joke about it and I really didn't mind, I was just so happy with my round and on such a high. 3rd out of 72 is not a bad way to start my year :DAnd I shall beat my boss one day if it bloody well kills me :p She said that I did a great job with the turns but was still riding with the handbrake on, I need to be less cautious apparently!

Aside from that we also had one of our clients finish 12th in the 1m05, my boss was 3rd with one of her horses in the 1m10 speed class, and won the 1m15 Grand Prix with a double clear. Great day despite the horrid weather and a fab start to the season!
 
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