As soon as we left the dressage arena, Hemie once again slid sideways in a naughty effort to head back towards the trailer. Bah! I promptly did the over-flex exercise and got him moving freely away from that direction. Then I decided it would be safer for me to dismount and walk us back rather than ride through the warm up area. Hemie was a good boy, walked like a gentleman and took a nice drink back at the trailer. He was great for un-tacking, grooming, and tacking back up with our jump gear.
The Good
Laurie still wasn't back by the time I mounted to begin jumping warm up, but my plan was to canter around and get Hemie nice and relaxed. But Hemie was actually quite well behaved, relaxed in his body, and walking and trotting freely. Laurie arrived soon after we started warming up, and we popped over some fences. We had plenty of time for a nice long warm up, and Hemie was acting very happy. Here's a short video from the warm up:
0.o
Uh, the sales lady did not mention this little tidbit. In the end we attached it to one of the saddle pad straps.
The Easy Beginner Novice division had a course of 10 jumps with maximum height of 2'3". It started with 2 stadium fences then 7 solid cross country fences, then ended with one more stadium fence. My goal for our jumping round was to ride more forward than our last jumping derby. When watching the video of myself later on, I didn't want to be clucking at us the whole time.
Well, mission accomplished. Here's the video:
Okay, its not quite as forward as I had imagined we would be. We trotted more jumps than I had thought we would, but that's okay. We got over everything and we both had fun doing it. And I didn't fall off, even when it got a tad iffy after the last fence.
We ended up with 4 jump faults (from circling before jump #6), and 48 time faults for the jump round. Combined with our dressage score that put us in 10th place. Last place. But we avoided the big E (elimination) which is good.
As we headed back to the trailer, I took a moment to dismount. Can you guess what happened next?
POP! Yep, my air vest. I had forgotten to unlatch it. Hemie barely blinked at it, so that's good.
Anyways, thanks to everyone for their supportive vibes and comments. The weekend didn't go as I had planned, but that's life with horses. I'm still mediating on the takeaways and new goals following this experience. As of now I'm grateful that things didn't go worse, and I am very proud of my horse and myself for coming back from a rough morning to do an improved job jumping.
You guys looked great!
ReplyDeleteAre air vests like air bags? do you have to replace them after 1 pop?
ReplyDeleteYes, like air bags! Here's their website: http://pointtwousa.com/
DeleteYou do not have to replace the vest itself but you do have to change out a small CO2 cartridge after every pop. As soon as the vest inflates it starts to slowly deflate via ducts (takes a few minutes for it to fully deflate). Pretty much ever upper level event rider wears them. I may be the only person who wears them at intro, haha! Hubs wants me to wear it for every ride period.
Hehehe! Yup; his is why you'll see people with AIR VEST written on their arms at events. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great Intro, even finishing in last. Better than the big E, and way better than a RF. Go you! Well done!
Looking good from what I could see. Bummer about the vest. I hear those cartridges aren't cheap!
ReplyDeleteGood job!! You finished and feel good. Sounds like a great experience for both of you!
ReplyDeleteI have only gotten off once without unclipping my airvest... BUT since I got off and stayed standing (and am freakishly tall) I didn't pull the ripcord out. Although, my immediate string of cursing which started as me leg swung over the saddle and I realized what I was in the process of doing probably spooked Pia more then the vest would have.
ReplyDeleteWhoops. Tricky things airvests..
What a great outing!
It looked like fun! :0)
ReplyDelete