After the past two shows and Jellybean’s mostly grown up behavior, I was expecting a similar trip October 22nd at Topsider. Jellybean, however, had different plans.
The week leading up to the show, Jellybean became increasingly difficult to work with. I blamed the slightly cooler weather, and we worked through it. Then Saturday came…
I arrived at the barn to find an adorable looking Jellybean sticking her head out of the stall she stayed in for the night. After putting her in the cross-ties, I put shipping boots on her and left her there to help the other riders find needed items. I returned and found that Maggie had put a blanket on Jellybean. At this angle, it fits, so I’ll let it look good.
After everyone was loaded in their trailer, we went on our merry way to Topsider. Jellybean was content with pulling out her hay all morning. Katy, Olivia, Tyla, Hannah, and I studied our tests, as our rides were in the afternoon, and we also ate lunch.
Soon enough, it was time to warm up. Jellybean was excited, so we walked around and did some trot-walk transitions to chill out. We had a few good canter transitions, then Jellybean was done with everything and started freaking out with every canter transition.
We chilled out for a little bit, then it was time for the Beginner Novice A test. Jellybean was wriggly as we walked in, especially by the judge’s stand again, and where the sun was shining in the arena. We trotted until the judge rang the bell and off we went. This test went well, as seen in the picture of the test below, except for one moment where we had “rodeo time.” When I asked for the right lead canter by the judges stand, Jellybean went sideways and we cut the circle nearly in half. We finished the test with a nice trot down the center line, and a square halt (even though it was slightly off the center line).
While waiting for the second test, Jellybean figured out a way to amuse herself. First it was bit chewing, then flapping her lips.
When time came, the warm up for Intro C was rough with lots of head shaking and explosive canter transitions. She calmed down a bit and I thought we would be okay with the test…Oh how wrong I ended up being. Stepping into that ring, Jellybean was semi focused and after the halt, she slowly but completely lost it. I’ll let the video speak for me on this one.
Overall, I would say that the show went okay. It also made me realize how much better of a rider Jellybean has made me, and how much she has to really work on.
Now for the schooling story from Sunday. Even though I am not going to do the High Point show in December, I went for the experience. This was Jellybean’s first visit to High Point and she did well, except for when there were ponies escaping riders. Then, Jellybean wanted to race with them as they ran away (we didn’t) and had to watch instead. She’s slowly learning her manners. When it was finally our time to practice, Jellybean was ready to go. We started with a small log type jump, which she went over easy-peasy. The next jump was a coop, which she also did fine at, and then we continued on to a bank.
At first, Jellybean did not want to go up, but after watching Joe and Knots do it she was fine. Then we had to conquer going down. Now, I’m not sure what exactly goes through a horse’s mind but I do know that going up should be as easy as going down. Jellybean disagreed, and we had trouble with going down for a bit before moving on. Knots and Amanda had to show her a few times before we got it.
We did another coop, then a green box jump. Surprisingly, Jellybean handled the box just fine. (from Amanda: the green box is probably the largest jump on course, and its the one that usually terrifies people.)
After doing the box, we moved on to a small wood jump (I’m not sure how to describe it?) When Jellybean comes up to a new jump, she first walks over it, then launches over the second time, then will relax and be fine with it…I, however, forgot the routine completely.
The first time, we walked. The second time, launch. I was not prepared and ended up in front of the saddle, holding onto her neck. (I do not recommend this position of riding at all.) After struggling to get back into the saddle, Jellybean shook her neck and I fell off. I’m tough and stubborn, so I got back on and watched everyone else finish. I couldn’t do much other than sit there since I was slightly dizzy and I couldn’t put my right leg in my stirrup. It ended up that I had twisted my knee, bruised most of the right side of my body, injured my lower back, and received a minor concussion. I should be good by next week and the adventure of No Stirrup November will begin again with the crazy mare. Wish us luck yall!
Diary of a Dusty Summer 