Monday, April 8, 2013

Chatt Hills April 2013

Well...Chatt Hills didn't exactly go as planned!

Heath was great! I actually love his ride over fences when he is jumping new jumps...it is totally different than at home. We put in an okay dressage test...not great but not horrible either. I remembered my test and I felt like all was going well, but I got a 41. I should have shortened my rains and raised his poll a bit, but all in all I felt it was a positive ride.

Heath's braid job!
XC was spectacular!!! He was excellent and I loved the ride. We were clean and fast, and I trotted the last two jumps because I had a lot of time to kill...Optimum was around 5 minutes, and I was at 3ish minutes with only those two elements left!

Water Complex at sunset

SJ...oh. Show jumping I consider my strong suit. Having shown hunters and jumpers for over 10 years, not much rattles me, especially at 2'6''....but yesterday was definitely a new one for me! Let's just say that I really hope there are pictures of the incident.

He jumped around quite well and up until fence 9 I was super pleased with our performance. At the second to last fence, I couldn't make up my mind about a distance, and decided to let him sort it out (sorry bud.) I should have put more leg on, and as I felt him take off, I got into 2-point. He was long and weak jumping the vertical, and started to rotate over it. Fortunately, he caught himself, but I was already on the neck. Upon landing, I held on for dear life, and he began to canter away, I momentarily thought I was going to be able to save it, but when he turned left around the corner, I started slipping under the neck, and let go before I was completely under him. I got a little stepped on, but no worse for the wear! Ready to get back in the game at Poplar Place in early May.