Flying Cross HT

I'm a sexy beast.

It's amazing how an amazing cross country round can negate all the tense dressage, rain, early mornings and back pain one experiences before hand! Looking back on the weekend, it's the part I keep replaying in my mind.  It was so FUN!  Going from riding a horse who may or may not jump for one reason or another to riding a horse that will jump anything she's pointed at (so be careful what you point her at) is quite a shock to the system!!!  It is both exhilarating and relieving.

Mia and I traveled up to Flying Cross Horse Trials with Stacy, her borrowed pony Doc, Carol, Crescent, Hazel, and my four dogs.  That's right.  6 dogs, 3 people, 2 horses and a LOT of stuff.  Somehow, we made it work! 



Where is MY stuff?

 It was Doc's first horse trial in a while and Stacy and Doc's first HT together.  It was Mia's first Novice and her second ever horse trial.  We weren't quite sure how our horses would perform but were excited to give them the most positive experience possible!

The Doctor is in.

The best part of the weekend was the fact that Flying Cross is near Louisville, KY which is also where Hub has been living for the last few weeks!  Hub was able to hang out with us!  That is, when he actually was there...
I made a list of the places Hub will most likely be when I ask "Where did Hub go?"
1. getting coffee
2. bathroom (too much coffee)
3. "store" (aka beer run)
4. nap (no amount of coffee will prevent it)
5. schmoozing

"Oh look,the program says ol' Ralph Holstein is here this weekend."

Mims' dressage warm up was interesting.  I sing the ABC's to myself when I ride her to keep a steady rhythm. Didn't work so much this time.  She would not settle did NOT want to canter on the left lead.  I looked at Hub like "Help!"  He reminded me to just relax and act like it wasn't a big deal or she would keep acting up (just to spite me).  As we trotted around the arena she was snorting and spooking at everything. The tractor started up. Then she saw herself in the mirror behind the judge.  Then the whistle blew.  Um, OK.  Here we go!  Ironically, she picked up her left lead but cross cantered when she picked up her right.  When she is able to relax a bit more, she will be awesome!  She is a cute mover and will stay in a nice frame when focused. It will come. 

Best butts around.

Show jumping started a little shaky (I could FEEL her eyes bugging out of her head), but as we continued we fell into a good rhythm and gained confidence. I had to laugh at her after the third fence and thought 'she is jumping out of her skin!' She was a bit unbalanced to the in and out (my bad), added in a quick stride and ticked the first vertical with her front end, but finished the rest of the course strong.  It was FUN and I was super happy with her attitude and ridability. 

What funnel cake?  I'm not eating funnel cake!

I was as happy with our cross country as....well as Opal was when she stole some one's funnel cake.  Mims warmed up super focused.  It was like she had been waiting for XC all weekend (how did she know?). I thought the course looked really fun but on the tougher side for the level.  I took pictures of a couple of the ones I thought might keep me up the night before.

2 stride in the woods

picture frame

half coffin

Now I'm going to interview myself about my cross country course.  I'm practicing for when I'm famous.

Favorite part of the course?
Half coffin.  She acted like she done it a bazillion times (her first one!!)
Part  you were most worried about?
Well, there were a few places.  I think I was most worried about the 2 stride combo in the woods.
Did anything take you by surprise?
Mia LAUNCHED off the down bank and we almost missed the table.  She landed waaaaay out and I had to quickly pull her to the left and pray that she jumped.  She did!
Funny moment?
After the near miss at the bank, a competitor walking the course yelled "Good save!!"

Here is a helmet cam of the course (pretty sure it's Margaret Kimmel's) I found on youtube.com (wish I had a helmet cam, Dad?). BTW, we had the fastest time of the level (3 divisions, about 60 teams).  Hmmm.

The End.