This is going to be a short and sweet post.
WE DID IT!
Last Sunday, Brego and I went into our first show , or as it was called, mini event. It was a two day deal and is intended to be low key for training purposes. Not a huge turn out and very casual atmosphere. The first day was dressage and cross country. We did not attend those days. We only opted for one class on show jumping day. It was a 10 course fence, more than I have done with Brego so we entered into Smurf, which meant the fences were 18". Super easy, super inviting and super low stress for him and me so as to make our first "show" experience positive.
Ofcourse I made it into a much bigger deal than I needed to and got way more nervous than I needed to. More than anything I was concerned about remembering the course.
My class started at 9:00 . I warmed Brego up and he was completely cool headed. We jumped 3-4 times in warm up and he was super quiet , which surprised me because the night before when we practiced at home , he was anything but quiet. I anticipated on show day he would be just as bad. Luckily he decided to be good on this day.
We finished our warm up and I got to watch a couple riders go ahead of me. Then it was my turn.
I opted to trot him through the course for the first several and if he offered a nice canter at some point, I would let him stay in it. I think we cantered 3 fences.
Brego was absolutely calm , cool and made it super easy on me. I think we did most of the course on a loose rein.
I was happy, trainer was happy and Brego was like... ok ,, what's next??
*** I didn't get any photos unfortunately and I didn't get any ribbons because I only competed on the one day.. but it didn't matter. Our first experience at a "show" was very positive.
Maybe we will try for another in June!
WE DID IT!
Last Sunday, Brego and I went into our first show , or as it was called, mini event. It was a two day deal and is intended to be low key for training purposes. Not a huge turn out and very casual atmosphere. The first day was dressage and cross country. We did not attend those days. We only opted for one class on show jumping day. It was a 10 course fence, more than I have done with Brego so we entered into Smurf, which meant the fences were 18". Super easy, super inviting and super low stress for him and me so as to make our first "show" experience positive.
Ofcourse I made it into a much bigger deal than I needed to and got way more nervous than I needed to. More than anything I was concerned about remembering the course.
My class started at 9:00 . I warmed Brego up and he was completely cool headed. We jumped 3-4 times in warm up and he was super quiet , which surprised me because the night before when we practiced at home , he was anything but quiet. I anticipated on show day he would be just as bad. Luckily he decided to be good on this day.
We finished our warm up and I got to watch a couple riders go ahead of me. Then it was my turn.
I opted to trot him through the course for the first several and if he offered a nice canter at some point, I would let him stay in it. I think we cantered 3 fences.
Brego was absolutely calm , cool and made it super easy on me. I think we did most of the course on a loose rein.
I was happy, trainer was happy and Brego was like... ok ,, what's next??
*** I didn't get any photos unfortunately and I didn't get any ribbons because I only competed on the one day.. but it didn't matter. Our first experience at a "show" was very positive.
Maybe we will try for another in June!
3 comments:
Congrats! I'd have been a nervous wreck too, any competition is like that. But it makes you step up your game and you succeeded! So cool. I think memorizing the fences is the hardest part (other than the actual riding of course). I also love that the class is called "smurf", hehe.
Whoohoo! So proud of you guys:)
Thanks - yep Smurf is an actual term! I will definitely feel more confident next time.. might have another one the end of the month. We will see how things go.
@Mel- thanks! I was pretty tickled with lil' ol Brego. He was a trooper and totally surprised me. I envisioned much worse things.. love it when my fears are proven wrong!
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