WASJA March Show

 After a big morning Saturday at Dressage Club, Coolie and i had another big morning show jumping on Sunday. I was very grateful to be feel my normal self, full of energy and excited about jumping.

We had entered a 70 and an 80 round, because I had a baby shower in the arvo and the timing wouldn't have worked to do a 90. I had to keep reminding myself that we aren't out to jump the biggest and best, we are just going to have fun while we can!

We got a sleep in and arrived with time to feed Coolie his brekky and head up to walk my course. It was a nice flowing course, and the jump off looked hard to cut down on time. I walked both courses and had a solid plan, before heading back to tack up Coolie. 

Coolie called out to me when he saw me which was cute, but I think he was just trying to tell me he had finished all his food. We tacked up and headed off to warm up slowly. I like to walk him around for a while before we get to jumping, given his age. I timed it all about right and had a solid warm up without doing too much before we went into the ring. 

Coolie was again super steady and consistent, though our round maybe wasn't as smooth as last weekend. He jumped clear in the round and clear and fast in the jump off to set the leading time. We took inside lines and shaved off smart strides to put in a really fast round. I was pretty proud of him. The rider straight after me was clearly watching and managed to go a smidge faster to knock me off first. 

We ended up second for that round and I was really impressed with how well Coolie is stepping into his show jumping role and how much I am thinking about lines and jump offs and how to go fast without sacrificing the rhythm.

The 80 jumps looked even more fun, though Coolie felt a bit tired. It took me a few goes to get the right forward pace but once we got in the ring it was much easier to find the canter we needed. Coolie got a long spot to fence 1 and then proceeded to jump a beautifully clear round. He was brilliant and it was such a nice round. It just feels so easy!

The jump off started brilliantly, I took a really great line from 1 to 2 then around to the double. I cut a sharp turn to the next fence but didn't get straight and Coolie just tipped the rail. Damn! All my fault too, I needed to walk that line I think. We left the rest of them up, and though our time was fast, the rail knocked us out of the placings. I was a bit peeved with myself, but I know that next time I need to walk the line and not sacrifice a good line for speed!

It was a really fun morning and it was nice to have some more success. We are getting really consistent at jumping and improving at being show jumpers rather than eventers. Coolie seems to be enjoying his role as a fun, buzzy show jumper. Anything but dressage!