I was up at 6 on the morning of the Henderson ODE. I had to be at the Pony Club at 7 to get Red and Harlequin (my friend’s horse) ready to be loaded at 7.30. This proved to be a tad difficult as Red doesn’t like Harlequin much and would attack every time she came near. I got them down to the clubrooms, with the help of another grazer. We then loaded them and off we went.
Massey Pony Club had been designated a special place to park so we could spend the day together. It was quite nice having all my friends at easy distance. Red and I were about ½ way in the class. I thought we would have ages to get ready and warm up but as it happened we were on sooner then I thought. Our warm up was hurried and for some reason Red didn’t do his usual warm up in the trot cough. I should have known he would do it later. Once the previous rider had come out of the arena we started trotting around waiting for the starting horn. That’s when Red started coughing. He coughed all the way down the centre line and into our first movement. I couldn’t get him settled after that so our test wasn’t the best.
Show Jumping was next. Our warm up was amazing. Red was jumping beautifully. Unfortunately this didn’t go on to happen in the actual round. He refused jump 1 and 2 once each but we completed the rest of the course with no other mishaps. I was still quite happy with him.
Cross country was amazing. Red zoomed around! I almost came off over one jump when he did one of his HUGE jumps. My friends were by that jump and they were all yelling encouragement to sit back up and keep going. But he was so good the rest of the time. He took everything without batting an eyelid… that is until we reached the last jump. The jump happened to be immediately after a pretty sharp corner and I almost missed it as I was thinking it was a bit further up. I must have looked at the jump as we were coming up to it because Red slammed on his breaks. You won’t believe how frustrating that was! He went over it fine the second time. It was a brilliant course and I had so much fun on it so I was very pleased with him anyway.
All in all it was a good day. I felt much better about it then I did after the last ODE. We have a break until February. Then it’s another Massey ODE. I’ll be working on doing some consistent Show Jumping courses in the mean time. I’m determined to go double clear yet! Here are a few pictures Peter took. The picture at the top of this post is my favourite. My dad also videoed all my phases so if I can find the cord I’ll put a short video clip up sometime soon.
Massey Pony Club had been designated a special place to park so we could spend the day together. It was quite nice having all my friends at easy distance. Red and I were about ½ way in the class. I thought we would have ages to get ready and warm up but as it happened we were on sooner then I thought. Our warm up was hurried and for some reason Red didn’t do his usual warm up in the trot cough. I should have known he would do it later. Once the previous rider had come out of the arena we started trotting around waiting for the starting horn. That’s when Red started coughing. He coughed all the way down the centre line and into our first movement. I couldn’t get him settled after that so our test wasn’t the best.
Show Jumping was next. Our warm up was amazing. Red was jumping beautifully. Unfortunately this didn’t go on to happen in the actual round. He refused jump 1 and 2 once each but we completed the rest of the course with no other mishaps. I was still quite happy with him.
Cross country was amazing. Red zoomed around! I almost came off over one jump when he did one of his HUGE jumps. My friends were by that jump and they were all yelling encouragement to sit back up and keep going. But he was so good the rest of the time. He took everything without batting an eyelid… that is until we reached the last jump. The jump happened to be immediately after a pretty sharp corner and I almost missed it as I was thinking it was a bit further up. I must have looked at the jump as we were coming up to it because Red slammed on his breaks. You won’t believe how frustrating that was! He went over it fine the second time. It was a brilliant course and I had so much fun on it so I was very pleased with him anyway.
All in all it was a good day. I felt much better about it then I did after the last ODE. We have a break until February. Then it’s another Massey ODE. I’ll be working on doing some consistent Show Jumping courses in the mean time. I’m determined to go double clear yet! Here are a few pictures Peter took. The picture at the top of this post is my favourite. My dad also videoed all my phases so if I can find the cord I’ll put a short video clip up sometime soon.
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4 comments:
Wouldn't you know the horse would save up his cough until the most inapropriate time.
Congrats on what sounds like a pretty decent show.
Sounds like a fun day, even if a bit disappointing.
The last jump on cross-country always messes me up because I'm so relieved to have gotten that far that I think I'm finished!
Red is a beautiful horse.
I know what you mean. I was saw my mum as I was doing the XC course and I yelled to her 'I'm going clear' and then two jumps after he did his stop! Thanks! I like him alot :)
It sounds like you had fun, and I always tell myself that with every show Moon and I learn something. It's always good experience. I'm sure you two looked great!
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