Taking the Plunge: The (beginning of) the Road to Beginner Novice

They say a goal is just a pipe dream until you write it down.  And 5 years ago when I plucked Nova out of a field with all his semi-feral Haflinger brethren, I thought that he might be my Beginner Novice (or better) Event horse pony. That was a pipe dream which I have been slowly but surely chasing for half a decade.  

So, after having moved to Thalia Farm and riding with my new friends some of whom are now competing at Novice level, it was just the push I needed to make my pipe dream of Beginner Novice into a reality.  You may wonder what has been holding me back all these years. And here is the short list of things we now have that allow us to proceed:

1. We have a canter, and we can make 20 meter circles with it.  Yay!
2. We have banks, ditches, water, drops.  Nova a.k.a. Mellow Yellow does not blink an eye at the woodland obstacles at all.
3. We have won at Maiden semi-repeatedly.
4. Nova now knows his job and carries his often discombobulated pilot through hill and dale and doesn't complain.
5. We have someone to help aforementioned pilot with dreaded Stadium (more on this in a moment).

Here are the things we need:

1. Someone to help us with dreaded Stadium... check.
2. Jump confidently and consistently at 2'7" and above... in progress/trending green (green is good for the non-project manager that might be reading this).
3. Get my shoulders back so that we can accomplish #2... in progress
4. Develop a plan for the move up... check!

So- who is this wonderful human that is helping quite literally catapult us over BN?  The lovely Becca Macanas, that is... We have this plan where we are trading out lessons (me helping her in the dressage, and her helping me over fences).  So far it's been quite awesome.  I really enjoy helping her in the flatwork because it makes me think my flatwork through a bit more than normal, and she is someone who's been to the chicken house when it comes to jumping and pulled herself out of it so she knows the terror that I face cantering towards these jumps that seem somewhat massive (okay everything is massive in comparison to Tadpole and Maiden). (Okay just in my brain. We are only talking a 4" difference! sheesh!)

We both are pretty hard on ourselves and have a healthy dose of self deprecation.  I like to think we help keep our nerves, successes and non-successes (not failures! see I'm trying...) in perspective with a little whoop ass and understanding to help usher us along. 

So this weekend was a winner on the road to BN (which is happening this May at a Schooling Horse Trial Near You). Becca had a epic show on one of the boarder's horses, had great scores in the dressage and I was so proud of her, I wept. Seriously.

And, I found out that I can keep my shoulders back and ride like a real person through a 2'6"/2'9" gymnastic.  Also, Nova can jump 2'11" (with me on his back).  So it was a great ride and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish this year.