More horse trial stuff

Today was great!

This morning I picked up my friend to head back to Cobblestone, Joy was a pain to load again which is so disappointing because I really felt like we were over that, she was sooooooooooo good for awhile. My friend had stadium today and I had the option to ride stadium or try schooling cross country again. I decided to school, and I am so glad I did! I started at the beginning of the course and jumped the first two fences, she felt really good so I took her through and jumped the first 7.

Next we went by the scary water and watched another horse jump in and out for a bit and then I asked her to step in, she got all tense and I must work on not looking down at the scary thing. It was weird water being in a shaded hollow, not at all straightforward. But she walked in with some encouragement and in no time was trotting through comfortably. I went back to the trailer and got some water since it was another scorching day. She still felt good so I went to the startbox and counted down and did the whole course, Joy was fantastic! It was a perfect ride. Forward and energetic without being being tense or out of control. We had a nice canter throughout and she was looking for the jumps and enthusiastic about going over them.

I could have ridden stadium but instead schooled over the practice fences in the warmup and called it a day, we ended on a good note and both had a great time. I really enjoyed hanging out with eventing friends, everyone was so nice. I am definitely hooked!

Eventing University was a complete success!

Joy was perfectly wonderful. We tried cross country and stadium for the first time, got some great dressage tips and hung out with some really nice people, especially the owner of Joy's new boyfriend, Baxter (she likes them tall, dark and handsome!) I am officially in love with eventing and I love being able to take my horse to new places and enjoy her.

On Sunday it was cold and windy, spitting snow in the early morning. We had Cross Country first which I was unsure about simply because I haven't done it but I decided to have a positive attitude and try my best. I shouldn't have worried! Joy was perfectly happy and we jumped a lot of great obstacles. It was a mixed group so we started out slow, the instructor Amy was super nice and encouraging. After some little logs we tried a ditch, bigger logs, a coop, a bench thingy and big jumps. We did most of the Beginner Novice jumps on the course and a few Novice ones. Most of the big stuff was around three feet tall and fairly wide and Joy was perfect. We had one refusal at the tire jump but she popped over it second try,and we jumped a lot of stuff. I need to work on keeping my shoulders back and collecting her before the jump so she has support to get over it.

Stadium was with the same instructor after a long break (I ate lunch and talked, Joy got to flirt with her new boyfriend) I haven't jumped courses in years so it was good practice for me to try and remember everything, we started over some little cross rails and progressed to a small course with one in and out and an oxer. We worked on staying balanced and relaxed with our rhythm (hard! she likes to speed) and me keeping a good position, I think if I had a jumping saddle it will help me keep the leg back but right now I just want one saddle that fits perfect, don't care what it is!

Dressage was good, there were only three of us and my friend (riding Joy's boyfriend) left after her horse came up lame :( So we worked on relaxation, rhythm  and balance.I wish I had dressage early in the day since that is a true portrait of how Joy is on a daily basis and not when she is kinda sleepy and mellow. But I still feel we got some good feed back on the areas we need to work on and I got some really nice connection with her, she looks like a totally different horse when she relaxes her neck down, We got some really nice basic exercises to work on balance and connection so that was super!.
 

Everyone was super friendly and nice, so different then the dressage show we went to last year! I got lots of nice compliments on Joy, on what a cute little jumper she is and how much personality she has. The jumping instructor was very encouraging of us sticking with the eventing and remarked on what a strong bond we have and how much Joy trusts me.

I am glad Joe didn't come with me, he would have been freezing cold and bored, not to mention worried about some of the jumps we did, I think he might like it if we played "my little pony" instead and I just brushed them a lot although he is very supportive and happy I am having fun, he just worries about me getting hurt. There was a professional photographer there so hopefully will be some good pictures soon, although I reckon I will look like a super dork in all of them.

All in all a wonderful experience and I am very happy to have gone, now I just need to get a job so we have some extra money this summer I can do more events :) The day after I was so sore, actually still am in spots, especially my inner thighs, abs and shoulders. Definitely going to keep up doing Pilates and start doing the evil that is Yoga.