Some coconino details

Overhead view. You come in from the road south of the track.

 

 

 

 

And here's two Novice jumps

The water is to the right in the back of this pic. I don't know what Novice does through the water.

Banana's First Event

Late Thursday morning my partner-in-crime and I loaded the horses, picked up her daughter at school and headed out to Flagstaff. We had our usual, "Thank freaking goodness we don't live on the Navajo Res" conversations and sang along to ABBA.

Yeah, sorta not the most pleasant place to call home.

Her daughter was in the back of the truck wishing she didn't know us. We got to Flagstaff in the correct number of hours (6) and were unloaded and set up before the sun set. Banana happily munched on the hay in her stall and wasn't pacing.

Friday morning we did a stadium schooling round. Banana did a lot of "What the heck?!" as we went around the course. Colored jumps! Oxers! I had to really ride. One we did end up circling, but otherwise all was well. After that we schooled XC. Thank goodness they have that option for pre-comp. It just sets a greenie up for a better chance of success.

We went to the water jump and she put one foot in and drank. And drank. And drank. I'm pretty sure she lowered the water level by a couple of inches. We did eventually get in. Then left, then went back in. Good first experience. Afterwards it was bath time and some quality stall hanging time.

Saturday we didn't have Dressage until 2:59. So, I braided! It only took me half an hour to get the first braid done as I had to ponder what style we were doing. She was tolerant and my speed increased after the first.

Ah, sewn in button braids how I love you.

So, dressage. We got to warmup and she some "What the heck?!" moments. She was listening to my aids, so I wasn't worried, but it's always nicer when she'll stand still on the buckle. The ring steward gave her some scritches and she relaxed and stood still.

I was quite pleased with our ride. It wasn't perfect of course, and we still have a lot to work on. We got a 7 on one of our trot circles. But, when I finish and have tears in my eyes because I love riding my horse so much there's just nothing awesomer.

We look like a real dressage pair in this pic

We got a 44.5 which put us in 2nd place! Unheard of for me and I was giddy. The Pre-Comp scores were really close. 1st had a 42, 6th had a 49. We all had a chance of winning.

Naners enjoys her post-dressage snack

Sunday morning: chilly as a cold front was moving into Flagstaff. Jump judge meeting at 7 am. But...

Best Volunteer Raffle Prize Ever! I won a free entry for next year. And, I got to sit in a meadow and watch people jump.

After jump judging prelim and training back to the barn I went and soon Stadium and XC.

Things were going well, then fence 6... no ground line, scary filler that had just been pushed to the sides of the jump. We pulled a rail. Then she jumped the next one really big

Then off to XC! Where we got around everything and within time. However...

You wouldn't think that jump would cause her to stop dead 20 feet out, but it did. She wanted nothing to do with it. I had to use my crop! She never stepped back though, so no refusal. I think her attention was on the other jump, not our little stick.

When the scores were posted we were in 2nd! Alas, they'd forgotten to put my rail in. So, I informed them of the mis-scoring and got pushed down to 3rd. Oh well. They were nice enough to give me a 2nd place saddle pad for good sportsmanship though. I really didn't want the 3rd place rope halter because I have zero use for one.

And that is the tale of Banana's first event. Where she got a banana yellow ribbon.

Finally the Flagstaff Pics

Bean, the fancy dressage horse:

Me, the horrible stirrup losing rider:

XC:

 Bean and I had a good, but slow, XC round. We took our time, I had decided solid round better than fast round. She gave me a crazy collected canter between fences 2 and 3 that just made me laugh. She spooked a bit every time she saw a person and did not like when we saw another horse through the trees, but she was really quite good. By about halfway through she stopped over jumping and I was able to ride proper like. I was shocked when we were approaching the last fence and there was a rope where there hadn't been when we walked the course, causing us to have to turn around, go back, and reapproach. Oh well.

Touching back on our stadium round: the Taskmaster had neglected to mention that Bean hadn't jumped a course of fences in ten years. And that she was the only one who had ever jumped her. Wish I'd known that Friday morning, as we could have schooled a stadium round and perhaps saved us the messiness of our one that counted.

All good though.

So Bean? Not going to be a long term event horse for me.

I like her, but I just don't have fun on her. We had an awesome dressage test and still only got a 41.5. For reference, that's Penny's best score. We got several 7s, enter working trot, working canter left lead, trot down center line, halt salute. Our best comments are "prompt" though my favorite is "frolicking"

Stadium.... well, I have to cut the mare some slack. We've never jumped more than one fence in a row and she did jump all the things. However, she jumps me out of the tack every freaking time and I lost my stirrup on fence 2 and never was able to regain it, so I did the rest of the course (through 8) with one stirrup. We had too slow faults, there was no way I could rock that course with one stirrup with a horse that jumps that big. The Taskmaster swears she doesn't over jump. I dunno... sure feels like it. She is 16.2 though and no matter how you look at it she's going to be a different jump than Penny.

I am really bummed about the time faults. We were in 3rd, now we're in 5th/last. I so didn't want to be last, but at least this time last will give me a pink ribbon. I've quite wanted one of those.

In other, even more horrible news, Meatball cut a foot long gash out of his leg to the bone.

The Pre-Comp Course Walk!

XC Fun!

Bean is being ridiculous. This morning we walked over to stadium schooling with Lover Boy and his people and she piaffed the entire way. The Taskmaster told me I was under no circumstances to not allow her to piaffe if she wanted to, because she needed to express herself and that was it. Okay, except leading around a 16.2 piaffing horse? Hard on my thoracic outlet syndrome arms. My right arm was regularly high enough that it's starting to not work. This is not good.

Then I lunged her... crazy horse. Bucking, airs above the ground, running at full speed. I was starting to think the Taskmaster was nuts sending me out with her! Then I got on, and she was her normal, quiet, obedient self.

The people manning the XC schooling looked at me like I was nuts when I told them it was her first time out. First jump: stop. I wasn't shocked, she had No Idea what was going on. She jumped it from a standstill, whacking me in the mouth with her neck. Mental note: remember to wear the mouth guard. Second and third jumps she paused, but went over. By four she got it and on we went.

Not my best equitation

We got to school the water. I let her stop at the edge and put her nose down to it. She realized it was water, took a drink, and walked right in.

The next time we went in though she jumped into it with all four feet. It was hysterical.

Totally good over the rest of the fences and they let me go back and re-school the first three, which she did awesomely. So glad we did that.