Second Show.

I had another post in the works about a lesson where we trailered to another barn to work some actual courses outside...but I didn't get it done before show prep started again.

Our second show went much more smoothly than the first. I was better prepared for delays, mostly mentally, and had my show brain a little more in tune. It also helped that the entries were not as high because there was an A show in Quebec that a lot of our usual competitors were attending. I guess that should also tell me something about the competition I'm against!

I did the hack division again and took Reserve Champion with a 2nd, 2nd, and 1st (Road, Show, Pleasure). I have decided not to do the Hack div again...we do well at it but it pisses Armani off in a way this year. We hack in a ring full of hunter jumps and the entire class he's asking to go to them and I'm telling him no while trying to make that invisible. Obviously this isn't very obvious or we wouldn't do well, but I can certainly feel it and feel his mounting frustration with going around and around without doing anything other than changing gait. No serpentines, circles, figures etc. He seems bored and irritated with it. It's possible he's feeding off me too.

Don't get me wrong, I don't jump every ride, far from it. During the winter, I only jump once a week. The rest I flat, sometimes with various poles or cavelletti to keep things interesting or work my eye, but mostly my non-lesson rides are focused on flat work. In the summer, we have the jump field set up so I might pop him over something a couple times in a ride to keep his interest but I still mostly flat and only jump for real (several full courses) once a week.

So it's not about only wanting to jump. However, when I flat in a ring full of hunter show jumps and he is wanting to go to them all the time, it seems counter productive to constantly say no. Anyway, it as good experience for him our first two shows so he can get used to the atmosphere again, but from here on I will add the 2'6" Open Hunter division to our core 2'6" Adult Hunter.

Our hunter rounds this show were much better, although I still have a lot of finessing to do. I am not always sure of my distance and although I mostly get there in stride, when I don't I have a hard time deciding whether to take off a bit long or add. I've been trying to avoid the chip lately, so I'm still figuring out when it will be a chip versus deeper distance. Yep, I'm an ammy alright!

First course. First place. 

More to come...