Produce Stand - 0 Me - 1

FINALLY! I have finally conquered my produce stand fears and jumped successfully over it! For those of you who aren't exactly sure what I'm talking about here is a photo (not the same jump from last night or the show) of an example of a produce stand jump:

(Source)

My produce stand fence was not as big obviously and it was painted white and like a greenish color but the form of the jump is basically the same. Sadly I do not have photographic proof of me jumping over the produce stand but I do have witnesses!

For as long as I can remember I've been terrified of this type of fence (for no real reason) and it didn't help that the last time I attempted to jump a produce stand it was kind of traumatic. I was schooling at Loch Moy's competition course and kept refusing the fence. Finally I thought I was going to get over it when Smash literally stopped jumping mid-air and landed half on the jump half off (front end on the jump)! I was perplexed, and a little scared, and was starting to get really nervous about even attempting the jump and was instructed to just move on to another jump instead of getting over it. Now that I know what my bad habits were, I totally understand what happened (looked down, leg was not on, and I was probably pulling her reins back instead of being elastic with them), but it doesn't stop me from having a knee jerk fear reaction to the jump.

So jumping the produce stand last night was so therapeutic on many levels.
1. I finally got over the fence I got eliminated at proving I am capable of getting over it
2. I finally faced my long time fear of produce stands
3. Now I know I can jump any produce stand because no matter what color they are, I have successfully jumped it and can and will do it again!

Mentally this was SO good for me!

Last night we schooled most of the BN course again but added in a few other jumps. I added in a few Novice fences, too. Slowly I am figuring out the details to my bad jumping habits and working through them. Last night's big focus was using BOTH legs to keep Smash straight to the jump (seems like common sense but for some reason if she jigs to the left I was only putting my left leg on, so then of course she leaps to the right and I put my right leg on. Back and forth we go until we stop and I lose my balance). It helped tremendously when I just funneled her through both legs to jumps. (...duh.)

Sometimes it feels like I'm never going to get over my jumping issues but I know it takes time and practice - lots of it! Nobody woke up and thought "I'm going to go be an event rider today!", hopped on a horse, and was perfectly successful. I just need to remember it takes time and I am making some good improvements but perfection will never happen and getting close to it will take much longer than 4 months.

XC Schooling at Loch Moy

This weekend was quite a weekend! And it most definitely had it's highs and lows. Oddly enough the highs were not the normal highs and the lows were not the normal lows. Let me explain.

Sunday I was slated to meet my instructor and another rider at Loch Moy for 1 last XC schooling before this Saturday's show. The rated show. The one that costs a lot of money so I better not get eliminated show. So I got a text to meet at 3:30pm. Nick and I did a few things around the house and then headed to Waredaca in hopes of using our new lunge whip and chain rope to load Smash onto the trailer. I had the other rider's phone number as a back up in case we just couldn't get her on. We got to the barn and no joke, it took us 2 tries and she was on the trailer!!! We left the barn at like 3:15pm and I was worried we'd be super early and waiting for the other rider since the texts I was receiving were like "I'm already on and riding and have to ride another horse" which made no sense because why would you ride another horse at the barn when we're supposed to be leaving?? ...it was because we were supposed to meet at Loch Moy at 3:30pm...not leave then. *sigh* whoops. So by the time I got there and realized what I had misunderstood they were done riding while we were pulling in. Thankfully Steph was nice and stayed to give me a quick lesson.

Then more drama. Nick for whatever reason decided to start unloading Smash but didn't wait for me to help and next thing we know Smash has broken off the trailer and is running amok around the Loch Moy xc schooling area. I ran. A lot. Dumb horse was having a blast. Finally she stopped and was sweaty and tired. But guess what - I didn't care.

Once I got on we had a really good lesson! I practiced the crap outta the down bank and even did a few fences I was leery about (they looked big) before calling it a day. Thankfully Smash loaded right back onto the trailer without any issues! Our only problem was she did kick a fence and lost another shoe (she lost a shoe Saturday when she broke free and ran around the farm for 5 min...I don't want to talk about it) so now I need to call the farrier for sure so I can ride her at least on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for Saturday. Here are a few videos from the day.

We ended up back at the farm just in time for the boarder picnic and I had a great time despite being the only person still in riding clothes and not showered. I'm fairly exhausted today, too, but at least I got in some xc before the show.

Highlights:
* Smash loaded on the trailer with minimal issues! And under 10min!
* We had a great schooling O/F
* We managed to get to Loch Moy only 30min after the meeting time that I misunderstood

All in all a good day - hoping that one day we'll have a drama free experience. I'm feeling very thankful right now that the rated show is a home show!