Pre-Training... here we come

I’ve been working towards Pre-Training for a long time. It may seem silly but Intro has always seemed just that one level too low, like somehow it wasn’t respectable for someone my age. I know horse riding isn’t about the age of the rider rather the rider’s experience but still, I always felt like I was just too old for Intro (probably because I always see a lot of younger children riding at Intro level).

Red never seemed up to doing Pre-Training in competitions. I could jump pre-training height easily in training and my dressage was respectable at that level but competitions were always our downfall. As you know something always went wrong in the Show Jumping. And I know that it wasn’t all Reds fault, obviously my nerves were getting to the both of us in Show Jumping which is probably why we performed worse then in training.

Well after all that I’ll finally be competiting at Pre-Training this coming weekend on Ghost! I am so excited but slightly nervous too. Especially about the Show Jumping phase. She’s a great jumper and very honest so really I don’t have much to worry about but every time I think about Show Jumping at a One Day Event I think about the embarrassing rounds Red and I had… and these jumps are bigger. I’ll be doing a little praying before I go in for my round. Hopefully my dressage will be up to scratch since Ghost is off to Taupo this week for some dressage schooling and we are having a dressage lesson on Saturday. I would’ve had liked some more Show Jumping practice on Ghost but unfortunately that’s not an option because of the dressage schooling. Thankfully I am not worried about Cross Country at all because Ghost is a machine.

Check back next week for the account of my very first Pre-Training One Day Event! And pray for me, in case my nerves try to overcome me.