Well lot's to update. Maryland was quite an improvement, but we did not achieve our result of completing an Intermediate. Dressage was solid and show jumping was soooo much better. I messed up the first jump, which was a training level vertical, and had that rail. I just lost the power in the canter, but we were clean the rest of the round and it was much smoother and I felt better. Still trying to get more in sync with him, but all in all it was a huge improvement. XC started out fantastic and he felt great through the entire first half. We had a brush to a right hand 90° turn to a corner...it was pretty slick out due to a lot of rain and guess what...he slipped in the turn and I had a runout at the corner. I tried to come back around to it, but I really didn't do very much and another runout. By this time we were both pretty shaken up and shocked and I should've hung it up, but I didn't and I got a big fat E! At first I was just happy that I had gotten a little bit farther in my quest to go Intermediate, but as reality set in, of course I was disappointed. I didn't get to try some of the tougher questions on the course including the water. So we decided to reroute and try and go to New Jersey. Now, I had officially banned the state of New Jersey from my show schedule. I had never had luck there...all the way back to Pizzaz and dressage shows...it was CURSED! But nonetheless, I decided things couldn't get much worse so why not try and break the curse. So I emailed them and found out they were still accepting entries on Event Entries after the closing date. So I entered and got ready to go. So the Wednesday before the show when times came out, I wasn't on the list...the damn curse. All day Seth was trying to get ahold of the organizers with no luck. At this point I'm thinking a higher power really just doesn't want me to go to NJ. Turns out there was a miscommunication and we were all good and I had my times by Thursday evening...but I was really having doubts during that time of uncertainty. And so off to NJHP we went to try the Intermediate. They ran dressage and stadium on Saturday and XC on Sunday which was a bonus for me. More time to digest the material and be more focused. I was not sure what to expect...I thought the XC may be a bit difficult knowing they run a 2* there, but again I didn't have much to lose. So of course I see the class list and it's all Advanced horses and professionals which was quite daunting. Then after my first warmup we decide to watch a little bit of the Prelim SJ....it was a bloodbath. We saw 2 falls, multiple refusals including knocking down standards. That got in my head (imagine that), so dressage was so-so, he got a little tense and we ended up with a 38. Honestly, considering the competition I really didn't care what my score was and I was freaking out a bit about SJ. We are still trying to figure out how much time I need in my 2nd warmup. At MD I felt like I didn't have enough time to warmup my shoulder-in and haunches-in with 10-15 minutes but at NJ I felt I had a bit too much time with 20 minutes, so it's still a work in progress. So after the Preliminary disasters I was feeling nervous about stadium...I didn't get a chance to walk it and it looked big. The triple was 2 huge oxers to a vertical, both 1 strides. I was the last Intermediate to go and watching others the course seemed to be riding much better.
Now came the "wicked" XC course. It looked very fair and upon first glance I was OK with it. I think I'm to the point that I know it's not going to be easy anywhere and there are always going to be a lot of tough questions...but isn't that what Intermediate should be? Or else everyone would do it!!! It was definitely tougher than MD, but over the course of the week leading up to the show I had gotten mad and I had a different attitude. It was basically my old self, motivated and excited to challenge myself and embark upon something new. We had done all the prepping and now I just had to get it done! Saturday night was a sleepless night for me. As time went the bad nerves came...the doubting nerves...the jumps got bigger and closer together in my head and I just got a little wacky. I was super nervous on Sunday morning. Seth and Mom were trying to talk to me and get me out of my head, but at this point I just needed to be alone. I got on and started to warmup but again things were a little different. The past few shows I just wanted to get on and get it over with so my nerves would be gone. I tried to embrace them this weekend and enjoy the tension and then relief from getting through and learning. I really tried to think about what I was doing and have a plan for everything and I think it helped. My warmup for XC was OK...I saw a bunch of folks come through the water which was pretty tough and it seemed to be riding well, so in this case it was good to watch others unlike stadium. I was pretty nervouse about #6 which was a left corner just like the one that got us at MD. We started out on course and again it was riding really well...#6 came and went and he was great. 7 abc was a table, bending 7 strides to 2 BIG skinny brushes 4 strides apart.
I always get nervous for these b/c he jumps so big over the tables I tend to get thrown around and then overcorrect and miss my line...it rode great he was perfect through it. He was a bit shifty at the coffin which I think was partly due to the new bit configuration but we were good through there as well. A few more big tables and then came the water. We had to make a right had turn sort of away from warmup and he got a little nappy, then it was a house down a steep hill to a big log into the water, left bend 6 strides, house in the water, 6 strides to a skinny brush out. Well there is no way I got any of that striding correct...it was a bit of a mess with him kind of jumping into the water on all fours trotting a few steps and drifting left leaving an extremely long spot to the jump in the water. But with my new attitude and Hobby's heart, we got it done...it wasn't pretty but we were clean. Then we had the trakehner and a long gallop to a shark's tooth looking jump on a angle to 2 offset houses on angles. Coming up the hill on a gallop I never really checked him back and got him straight...I thought I found my line, but I felt him shift to the left about 3 strides out and I knew I was done...another left runout :(. I actually used my whip and took my time to turn around and jump it straight...I had 4 strides until the next jump and they weren't big, so I knew I had time to sort out the line. Looking back I probably should've taken the in straight from the beginning considering the issues I had been having with the left side. So we got through and there was only one major question left...table to a corner...my favorite. Luckily it was a straight line and a right corner. He jumped in big over the table, but I just made sure to not pull on the reins and I sat up and kicked and he stayed right on the line and we got through. So one runout, but a completion of our first Intermediate. I can officially say we are an Intermediate team now!! It hasn't fully sunk in and although we weren't competitive this weekend, we are certainly ready for this level. I think I've realized that this moveup is harder for us because I don't have any experience at this level and I only ride one horse. I certainly would ride the water differently if I could do it on a 2nd horse which is what most of the riders at this level can do. It may just take me more time to figure it out and I have to be ok with that. I have adjusted my expectations and tried to not let the mistakes (runouts or E's or RF's) get me down. I got to compete at Intermediate and I feel pretty good about myself and my Hobby! It was nice to celebrate a success with the Beaventing clan...I know Seth and Mom feel my pain when thing go badly and they feel my joy as well. I can't always process it right away b/c I'm wound so tight on show day, but as the days pass I am just getting more excited for the future and looking forward to continuing my journey with Hobbs.
