Event report: UNH HT day 2
Oct. 3rd, 2010 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
goddessfarmerThe short form - We finished 3rd, out of 6 starters, 3 of whom got eliminated in Show Jumping.
The good news first: We totally rocked Show Jumping. Nailed that course to the wall, yes we did. I was tight in my leg and seat and giving with my hands. We went forward. We had balance. Those jumps looked smaller from on Skip then when I walked it, but they were still big. It felt AWESOME.
Cross country, on the other hand, was not so good. The stop at fence 2 cost us the points, but I was, in general, loose on his back and tense in my body. Fence 1 was fine. When we got to 2, I saw a long distance and dropped his face on the ground and he saved my ass by saying 'no way can I jump that from here.' We jumped it just fine on second approach. 3 and 4 rode well, not sicky like I'd expected because there were lots of distractions around them. I came down to the drop over the brook going slow, and he launched off the top like it was a giant ditch full of alligators. A handful of mane was just the thing right then. I grabbed mane going up the 6a/b bounce steps too, which rode very well. 7 was a very maximum gray box, which I had been fretting over, but that one I actually rode well and we were good there. The up and down bank always rides well here, and the skinny after was fine. Then we had a long gallop where I asked him to keep going, even though I knew I'd have time faults because of the time taken on the stop. I made very little adjustment before the ditch to rolltop and that was good. I slowed perhaps more than I had to before the next drop, but we stepped off that gently and were able to go forward up the rise to the gray house. Forward to the smaller ditch, then slow into the U-turn to the log-into-water. We slowed there, and trotted out, sharp left, kick up into canter again to the log cabin, which went well. I kept up with the forward up the hill to the sawmill, sat up about 6 strides out, balance, forward, go. Oh, right, I do know how to do this! Straight on to the flower stand, same thing. Turn right, fly the coop, and truck on down the hill. I was breathing hard, but not feeling muscle pain, with one jump left. Left turn, straight run, see the sugar shack, balance and go. Through the finish flags. So, again, it took me several jumps to get my shit together on course, but parts of it were really quite good. Guess I need more practice.
And here are the pictures that Alice took:
The good news first: We totally rocked Show Jumping. Nailed that course to the wall, yes we did. I was tight in my leg and seat and giving with my hands. We went forward. We had balance. Those jumps looked smaller from on Skip then when I walked it, but they were still big. It felt AWESOME.
Cross country, on the other hand, was not so good. The stop at fence 2 cost us the points, but I was, in general, loose on his back and tense in my body. Fence 1 was fine. When we got to 2, I saw a long distance and dropped his face on the ground and he saved my ass by saying 'no way can I jump that from here.' We jumped it just fine on second approach. 3 and 4 rode well, not sicky like I'd expected because there were lots of distractions around them. I came down to the drop over the brook going slow, and he launched off the top like it was a giant ditch full of alligators. A handful of mane was just the thing right then. I grabbed mane going up the 6a/b bounce steps too, which rode very well. 7 was a very maximum gray box, which I had been fretting over, but that one I actually rode well and we were good there. The up and down bank always rides well here, and the skinny after was fine. Then we had a long gallop where I asked him to keep going, even though I knew I'd have time faults because of the time taken on the stop. I made very little adjustment before the ditch to rolltop and that was good. I slowed perhaps more than I had to before the next drop, but we stepped off that gently and were able to go forward up the rise to the gray house. Forward to the smaller ditch, then slow into the U-turn to the log-into-water. We slowed there, and trotted out, sharp left, kick up into canter again to the log cabin, which went well. I kept up with the forward up the hill to the sawmill, sat up about 6 strides out, balance, forward, go. Oh, right, I do know how to do this! Straight on to the flower stand, same thing. Turn right, fly the coop, and truck on down the hill. I was breathing hard, but not feeling muscle pain, with one jump left. Left turn, straight run, see the sugar shack, balance and go. Through the finish flags. So, again, it took me several jumps to get my shit together on course, but parts of it were really quite good. Guess I need more practice.
And here are the pictures that Alice took:
