Brrr, so cold still. I have been back for a few hours, and I don’t think I’ll ever get warm again. Blasted weather.
Woke up to a persistent rain today, and got very close to not going, but Elio persuaded me by noting how much I’d kick myself later. So, off we went. Once we got to the stables, we found out that it had rained too much for us to use the paddock. This meant we’d have to change this around and build the course indoors once the dressage was done. We’d also have to do our warm-ups in groups since we’d have to do them indoors too. In short, we were in for a longer day than expected. And I was already pretty cold.
With my enthusiasm somewhat dimmed, I set about getting Fleur ready (while still moping a bit about not having gotten Murphy). Since I had expected a muddy outdoors ride, I had not tidied up my clothes too much or brought anything to braid her mane with. As a result, we ended up looking rather less polished than some of the other contestants. Of course, I don’t actually own proper competition gear anyway, but clean breeches and something white on top would have been nice.
We then started the warm-up for the dressage, and I was having stirrup issues again. Or rather, I convinced myself that I had tried shortening the left one when in fact I had failed to do so. Alas, this slight discrepancy between my right (which was just fine) and my left stirrup ended up being rather important later on. It may also have had something to do with my pretty shoddy warm-up. Then again, I can’t accuse Fleur of being terribly co-operative either. She was in one of her ‘stick my head up in the air and be a stiff-necked giraffe’ moods, which no doubt wasn’t helped by me being nervous and a little moody. I tried to focus, though, and to do something useful, but the results were ... limited.
Once it was time for the first person to start, we had to go outside and walk them in the paddock. Fortunately, the rain had mostly let up. And out there, Fleur actually seemed more inclined to do some work. Possibly because the soggy ground meant she had to use her hindlegs a bit more. Unfortunately, that willingness to work disappeared entirely once I got inside of the arena again. I had considered putting on spurs, but since I never use them otherwise, I was concerned about using them incorrectly and getting bucked off. I had already had her buck a few times from just tapping her with the whip, so we were clearly not in agreement on things today.
So, once I ditched the whip in a corner, it was a matter of using the energy she had then and trying to make it last for as long as possible. Getting her to work properly was pretty impossible for me. In particular, she was being very hard-mouthed and I ended up being a bit stiff in my hands and arms. I also didn’t really dare to ask for more collection or ask her to move out properly into the corners, as all the time it felt as if she could run out of gas and stop at any moment. I didn’t rush things as badly as I have in the past (I had a fairly good recollection of the program, so I was able to think ahead without rushing ahead), but I certainly didn’t take as much time as I should have. The end result? Well, no trotting in the medium canter this time, at least. We got around, did things in the right order and at the correct gaits, but it wasn’t too pretty. I think I came in second to last out of the 10 that took part.
Fortunately, the jumping went rather better. Once everyone had done the dressage, we quickly built up the course and then brought the horses back down for another warm-up. Fleur was rather more eager to work now for some reason and the test jumps went very well. I then went out again to wait for my turn, and managed to get myself nervous about her starting to become a little friskier than before as the rain and wind increased. Still, I managed the wait and the getting back in without any incidents.
The course was pretty easy, save for a couple of turns, and I suspected the main issue would be getting the correct canter at each change of direction. I didn’t think she’d refuse, as she’s a pretty solid jumper in that sense, though I did think she might have a fence down (as she did during the last lesson) if I didn’t get her going forward enough. So, I set up quite a brisk pace from the start. We took the first two fences, down one side of the arena, quite easily. I think we even came up close to the second, meaning she’d galloped on a little too much. The turn after there went okay, too, and the slightly curved path following it as well. We then came up on the broadest obstacle and I really tried to gallop on towards that one. The timing was, again, not great, but I knew we won’t be perfectly in sync so I anticipated it and kept my balance well. The last two obstacles were the trickiest, the first almost on the diagonal and the second curving back across the arena after rounding another obstacle.
As I had suspected, I got the wrong canter after the second-to-last obstacle and we ended up going through the corner at the wrong canter. I then managed to get her down to a trot and got a new canter just before the jump. Fleur, being a nice old girl, jumped it very well. Later I found out that several people had trouble with this obstacle, either coming up on it too fast and getting a stop or coming up on it too wide and riding past it. Fortunately, a horse with a short canter stride is much easier to take around a tight course as long as she just keeps galloping. I actually suspect I would have had a harder time with Murphy since we ended up doing it indoors and he really has a hard time keeping his canter going through tight turns.
End result for jumping? Well, it was a style-judged jumping event, with minus points for refusals or rails down. I think there was three or four out of the nine of us that went clear (of course, if someone had done really well they could have won even with some minus points) and I actually ended up placing second. At which point I, of course, ended up kicking myself for the mistakes I had made, since I might have had a shot at the first place. For example, a braided mane and a tidier outfit might have earned me two extra points. Yes, I get competitive. ;P Especially jumping gets my adrenaline going.
Still, I am pretty pleased and I had a great time, so I am glad I went. I just wish I could get warm again.