My first HT with my horse...

[katie+tru]

... was on Saturday, Erie Hunt and Saddle in PA.

And well, it was interesting. It had it's ups and downs.

We got there with plenty of time for warm-up. Lots of walking because my horse's cellulitis had his one hock swollen. So we put him through his paces and got him together and I went in for my test. My only major error was on my first movement, going up the center line. Trainer says I had him a bit too straight approaching C, where as I should've started to bend him to the right. He spooked at the trailer the judges where in, seeing as he probably felt like I was attempting to ride him into it. My mistake was that I cracked him with my whip, reasonably hard, instead of just relaxing and pushing him forward and turning a smidge early. We got a 3 on that. heh.

The rest of the test was the best I've ever done. I kept him pretty well together most of the time and tried my darndest at getting into those corners aswell. We finished 5th out of 15 with a 41.5.

I had about 3 or so hours before stadium, so we walked the XC. It wasn't too hard, basically straight forward, one thing led to the other, nothing very scary. Okay. No prob. We then walked stadium, also pretty easy. 9 fences. Nothing frightening. One 2-stride.

So I hung out in the family car with the AC for a bit and then we went to stadium warm-up. Oh my god, it was awesome! Tru warmed up better than I could've ever imagined. We jumped the oxer several times without a problem, even from the canter. Couldn't have been better. I was wearing spurs too, which I definitely think helped convey the message of "jump or die"... which is basically how you have to ride him.

Which leads me to what happened when we got in the ring. Complete FAIL. Picked up the canter, popped with him the crop as we lined up for fence 1. Refusal. Refusal. Refusal. Eliminated.

I wasn't sad or angry... just confused. After such a great warm-up we just fell short. My trainer came to the conclusion that something in my body language obviously changed from warm-up to in the ring. Stage fright I guess. Although I didn't feel that nervous.

Either way, I got permission from the president to take a go at XC. Warm up for that was awesome too! Not a problem!

And then we go out of the start box at a canter, spurring the whole way to the first fence and he refused. And I was done. :(

So I guess I have to work on my nerves and message I'm sending to him about jumping... don't know what else there is I can do besides work on myself.



In the end though, after checking the scores, I figured that if I would've jumped double clear both rounds I would've pulled 2nd place on my dressage score. That made me happy. :)

[BoysNightOut]

1. Why are you competing a horse with a case of cellulitis? My horse had it, and also has had 1 re-occurance, and was 3-legged lame both times. Are you sure it's cellulitis?

2. Why do you need to smack your horse while lining up to fences...."spurring the whole way to fence one" on x-country....smack him hard in a dressage test to what you said was your fault (didn't turn soon enough).

3. Why are you competing a horse with a known swollen hock, no matter what the cause.


Somethings not right here. Just my opinion from what you wrote. I don't know you, or your horse, but based purely on what your OP states, there's something wrong with that scenario.

[JER]

Everyone starts somewhere. :D Don't beat yourself up over the negatives. You had a good dressage test, you planned enough time for warm-ups, you got where you were supposed to be on time, you weren't too intimidated by the officials to ask to go XC. All that is good stuff.

There's nothing wrong with having nerves. You can't learn to deal with show nerves until you know how it affects you.

The real question is -- are you looking forward to your next outing?

:)

[katie+tru]

BoysNightOut, he has had chronic swelling in that leg since I got him 4 years ago. It has never caused him lameness. When I say it is cellulitis, that is only the best way it can be described. Walking and wrapping it has been the best way to reduce the swelling.

Infact, the girls who were grooming for me met another woman who asked if he had cellulitis and said that she too had a horse there with it. Perhaps cellulitis isn't the proper name for it, but it's chronic swelling.

[rhymeswithfizz]

You have my sympathy!! I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you know for certain that your horse wasn't sore. (I know another horse with mild cellulitis flare ups that do not slow him down.)

Do not discount your HORSE'S nerves too. Some horses do NOT do well leaving the pack. Next time, try hovering near the arena for a few rounds, and let your horse watch others do their rounds. I swear, this works. Same for XC - I *always* let my horse see at LEAST the one horse before me galloping away. I prefer to let him see a couple just in case the one before us has issues. ;) Sometimes horses will be so concerned about what everyone else is doing, that they never really lock on to the course, even those that do not act or appear herdbound. Not all horses are natural leaders, ESPECIALLY not their first time out! This of course never shows up in warmup, where they are happily surrounded by their "herd".

This is fortunately something that is VERY easy to school out of! Next time you go out schooling, ask your group if you can be the "leader", to get your horse to feel more confident leaving his buddies. Best of luck for next outing!!

[katie+tru]

Actually, he's always done well alone. I often take lessons alone and we've gone schooling alone or just with one other horse. We've done several mini trials up until now and he's been fine in the ring and out of XC. This is why we're all pretty sure it's just me.

[rhymeswithfizz]

I know, I know, mine have been the same - but trust me, it makes a difference. I always ride alone too, and you wouldn't think it would matter, but it does. Things are verrrrrry different when there is a large group like in a show environment. Just try it next time.

[scubed]

Riding alone is fine. It is the starting with the group in warm up and then having to leave it that often causes the problem :lol: