Not quite in the plan

This weekend was a much quieter weekend for us, Saturday was spent riding the boys at home and holding them for the farrier and Sunday Henry and I went show jumping.

We went just to have a bit of fun, but we had one of those days and were those people. We were up super early as the course walk was at 7.30. We were actually early so had plenty of time to piss fart about getting ready and walking the course. Henry was of course nice and relaxed at the float. I was 5th rider to go in the first class and headed to warm up while the ring was empty. Henry was pretty relaxed while we were on our own, until the small area was flooded with people. Then he lost his shit a little!

He did a little bucking, a little butt scooting and a whole lot of tense. It was awesome fun but I just stuck it out, working to get him on the aides as always. The ring emptied a little and I got him in a good place before heading into the ring for our first round.

The round was really lovely, smooth and the jumps all came up well. The only complaint I have about it was we couldn't get the left lead again but I forgave us for that since I hadn't been able to really work on it in the warm up. I was pleased with the round and we came 4th and got a lovely  rosette. Very pleased!

We had a short break to my 75cm class and when Henry came out again he was so much more relaxed. It made the warm up so much easier and I really worked on the left  lead and getting him straight. We went in and I had a plan on how to ride the course, and the first 6 fences went perfectly, we even got the left  lead. It was even better than the first round. Jump 7 was the only jump on course with fill in it, and I think it surprised Henry because he stopped, and to add a little salt, I fell. Boo! Not what I was looking  for at all for our outing.

Evil jump on the right 

We packed up and left and I  was pretty unhappy about falling, the worst part being not able to hope back on and fix it. We were done for the day and didn't have the opportunity to school the jump. I guess that's the shit part about competing.

I know everyone has off days but I always feel like that applies to everyone except me. I expect me to be perfect. Which is totally wrong but changing such things is hard. I hate that I fell, I hate that I couldn't fix it and I hate that Henry wasn't confident to jump it.

I honestly do think it was him just being a bit green, which was the same at the bank last weekend. I really hope that's all it is at any rate, and that more exposure will mean this doesn't happen much more. It's just hard when he is so confident at home and in lessons, and out competing up until this point.

I was planning to upgrade at our last show of the year but Henry clearly needs some more show confidence so we will just keep it easy and allow him grow in confidence at his rate. In the mean time we will continue working hard at home, and I will start saddle shopping. I know a new saddle wont solve all our problems, but I feel so secure in it on Coolie and I don't have the same feeling in it on Henry so I know we can do better with a different saddle.

I think I also need a better plan for the warm up, to get us really in the zone. I need it to be structured so I can stick to my plan and make the most out of the time I have.

I guess it just goes to show we all have bad days and they are always hard to take. Now if my brain would just stop turning this blip into a disaster, that would be great!

At least he makes it look easy