Grab life; Hold on.

Tottenham Equestrians Jumper Show!

I went to the Tottenham Equestrian show today- August 19! I went all by my lonesome and my good friend Nikki came to groom/coach and my boyfriend came because he’s awesome : ) I signed up for the 2’3 Table A, 2’3 Power and Speed, 2’6 table A and 2’6 power and speed

the first class we got eliminated…. LOL. I honestly don’t even know why.. they were so tiny but B just hadn’t clued in to what we were doing yet..

Fence 1-5 was beautiful. She was taking ME to the fences and she definitely knew what her job was. Then came fence 6, as she was fighting me around the whole turn, the jump had a liverpool under it… so that was refusal 1. We got over on the second try. We jump fence 7, which was a swedish oxar, and onto fence 8…. 

Let me describe this jump to you. white standards. white pole. weird white roll top coup. and it got the better of us, unfortunately. We tried it twice and she just wasn’t having it. and thus ended the 2’3 table A.

The next class was the 2’3 power and speed. This had a different course (and just so you know, the dreaded white fence, we were jumping from the opposite direction). We got around! I really got in the back seat to make a point of jumping the scary white fence… and did she even look twice at it? NO. Fricken chestnut, thoroughbred mare. The only thing was a mistake on my part, which resulted in knocking the last fence in the “speed” portion. I had lost my stirrup over the 8th fence and then the tight roll-back to 9 didnt help any so I’m going at fence 9 with only the one stirrup and I held her to the fence a little too much when I should have put my leg on to send her forward… Anyhow, we placed 6th on that one. Last.. 6 of 6 people who made it through but hey, we were there to school and gain some confidence and that’s exactly what we did!

After this we had a break because I didnt enter the ‘designer’s choice’ class. But afterwards, we had the 2’6 Table A jumpers. This class had the same course as the 2’3 Table A had so I got off easy only having to remember 2 courses in total, plus the jump-off!

She was a complete S T A R! The same course as the 2’3 course which meant I could focus a little more on her and myself as a pair and improving us. We got through the whole course - yes, Including evil white fence with the white box at the higher height (chestnut mare, remember)- and we made it through the jump off clear too!!! The jump off included fence 1, 2, 5A-B, 8, 9. (#8 was the scary white fence so we jumped it twice in one class!) I wasn’t even thinking about the whole “we’re being timed right now so we need to fly faster then the speed of light around this course” and we finished 3rd! I was actually so surprised, and obviously SO happy after the fact :D

Our next -and final- course was the 2’6 power and speed. This also had the same course as the 2’3 p&s class so again, I was able to focus on how we were moving as a team and again, B was really going great and she definitely knew her job. There wasn’t any hesitation in that horse’s strides before any of the jumps and even over the scary white fence, both ways, she was spot on. We, again, weren’t riding for time as the #1 priority… yet, we were the only ones in the SPEED portion of the class to go clear. HELLO 1ST PLACE RIBBON!!! I was actually dumbfounded when I was announced as winning first in that class. 

Needless to say, I’m completely impressed with the mare. She was a very tired girl afterwards and she got an hour and a halfs worth of grazing until the trailer came to pick us up. We also mozzey-ed on over to the ring to watch the 2’9 classes. B was quite content to munch on the grass around the grand stands and the medics deemed the ring happenings uninteresting and that my horse was waaay cooler. 

While we were standing around watching the 2’9 classes, the announcer comes over the system and says “Is rider 596 still here? You’re the 2’6 reserve champion…” I look over at Nikki who’s standing beside me and the realization hits.. “Hey that’s me!!!”

How I managed to get reserve champ on a 3rd and 1st without even entering the third class in the division I’ll never know. But that was just WAY COOL! 

Our next and final show for the summer is on August 24. It’s a jumper show at her home barn… Im thinkin 2’6 division and possibly a 2’9 class. we’ll see how spot on she is that day!

In addition to my previous post…

classes are $5 each… 

come on, Im paying less than $200 for AN ENTIRE SHOW.

IF ANYONE

from the Georgetown/Erin/Mississauga/Milton, ONTARIO area is interested in going to the Tottenham Equestrians jumper show on August 19, PLEASE COME GET MY HORSE :(

Its SUPER inviting, 2’3 / 2’6 / 2’9 jumper classes, jumpers guaranteed not to start until after noon…. so NOT an early show day, hooray! 

Its honestly the one show I want to take her to and no one from this retarded excuse of a riding stable where she is at wants to go… I also probably don’t have a coach which is fine with me but seriously…..

anyone..