I have great news. Nova the Wonder Pony and I completed our first BN this past weekend. I took in a lot of advice and mainly focused on having FUN. We got down to the event on Saturday and my horse was in good spirits and happy to find his accommodations pleasing to him while me and my entourage walked the XC and Stadium Courses. I had been practicing some Novice Height at home so really the jumps didn't seem all that big to me. The Stadium was set for Training so that was great to see the jumps so large and knowing they would come down two levels by the time I was jumping around.
I cannot thank Tommy and my friends Becca, Brenna and Victoria enough for all their help. photography and encouragement, not only this weekend, but the support and instruction leading up to the weekend. This is not a sport that you succeed at alone. And it goes much deeper than just a rider, a horse and a trainer. There's a whole slew of people who are on "Team Golden Snitch" that set us up for success and for that, I'm eternally grateful. The list is too long to name everyone, but my hope is that I'm gracious enough day to day that these people know who they are and know they are so deeply appreciated.
Ironically, after all the worry about the jumping, the dressage ended up being the most difficult. It was raining, and Nova took one look at the people in ponchos and basically had a firecracker up his rear the entire time. After watching the video, it actually improved our trot work, but he was running through my aids in preparation for the canter departs so we blew both canter leads initially. However, the trot and walk work was so good, we were still in first after dressage! I seriously could not believe it.
Next was on to XC. There was one large hanging log at max height that was wigging me out a little, but once we got on course and he got into his rolling canter, I knew it was going to be fine. He is such a star on XC it's ridiculous. He just hopped over everything like it was no big deal and we had a blast. I did some trotting b/c they had a slow optimum time on the course and I didn't want to get any time penalties. So I mixed in some trot here and there and we came through with no penalties!
Stadium was immediately after XC, so I was a little concerned about his stamina and carefulness going in, but once again, he proved to be a rock star and just hopped over everything like no. big. deal. We had one very slight bobble with a jump under a tree so the lighting was a little funny to him but he jumped it anyway.
We ended up in 1st place on our dressage score of 36.
I could not be prouder of my boy, and I can't believe I was so worried about the move up. I have another schooling BN scheduled this fall. Not sure what's next after that... maybe onto our first recognized??Here are the videos from the day. Thanks again so much for all your kind words of encouragement and shared experiences. That is why I love this sport so much.
Dressage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX9vKrmORA
XC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-T4sU0E674
Stadium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd06FZ8FETg
No comments:
Post a Comment