Penny Oaks Horse Trials

Penny Oaks was a great adventure. First time taking my horse somewhere all by myself and being completely responsible and in charge. It. was. fun. I packed up his water buckets and feed buckets, bucket hangers, saddles, bridles, saddle pads, girths, whips, my helmet and gloves, his jumping boots, studs and stud kit, hick's shampoo, grooming things, braiding kit, fly spray, his grain, bales of hay, filled his hay net, loaded all of it and him up in Amy's trailer alongside her big black Percheron cross Cally (we had Cally-horse and Callie-person all weekend) and off we went! But not before we realized that Hickory's Indiana Health Certificate was MIA. Had to run over to the vet's office to get a copy, and THEN we were on our way!

It was not a very bad drive at all to the Hoosier Park. When we arrived we unloaded and made our sweet ponies comfy and set off to walk our cross-country course. By the end of the course, I was nearly in tears. We hadn't gone xc in over a year and goodness knows the last time we had a clear xc round. This course looked HARD. And unfair! Usually on a Novice course you'll have your Novice max height jumps and then also some jumps below the max height, say BN level. Nuh uh! Not here! These suckers were massive! And if they weren't massive they were tricksy! It was very Training Level-similar. Multiple bending lines, one bending line was a three stride, had a ditch four stride to a table, a table seven stride to a bank tight turn three stride to a log, a two stride with two angled barns... You've got to be kidding me, was all I kept thinking. I got really angry lol, at the course. And I think Amy thought I was crazy. But it was definitely way better for me to be pissed and ride the course mad like I wanted to kill it than be intimidated by it. Amy kept saying, "Just think how awesome it will feel when you finish THIS COURSE, what an accomplishment!" And I was thinking, "This course is going to kick my ass." So, we walked it a second time and made a game plan for each jump. We also stood next to some of the real Training Level jumps which made ours seem smaller and by the end I was feeling a little better about it all.

My mommy was sitting outside Hickory's stall waiting for me when we got back to the barn! We tacked up and took Hick and Cally for a walk and to see the dressage arenas. Hick was excited, but good. Then it was bath time!!! Have to love having a gray horse. There were several bathing stations but really nowhere to tie your horse. So I looked at mom and said, "Do you want hold or do you want to bathe?" as Hickory dragged me across the parking lot to a patch of grass he spotted. She wanted to hold. Seriously? Oook. It was an interesting bath. I'm really not sure how clean my horse actually got. I'm thinking not very! haha. Hickory dragged mom around and mom jerked on him and he was completely unresponsive and she laughed and laughed and I stood there with the hose and my shampoo a little disgruntled but ended up laughing some, too. I gave Hick a look and his look back said, "WHAT! I'm hungry! And I want to go dooo something!" Took him out for a graze, fed him dinner (half of what he normally gets) and tucked him in! And then we went to McDonalds. Yum.

The next morning it was time to enact our well thought out plan. My ride time was not until 11:00 am. We were at the barn at 8. Gave Hickory his breakfast and cleaned out his stall while mom went to buy him a stall guard so he would be a little happier being able to stick his head out of his stall. While she was gone I went to walk my cross-country course for a third and final time. Preparation, preparation, preparation! It was pretty early and I was the only one out on the course. So I talked outloud to myself and walked with my arms in front of my pretending like I was holding my reins and did the entire course just like I planned on riding it, imagining every half halt and sparkplug and leading rein! I was ready to kick the course in the teeth! But dressage first! Back to the barn, tacked up, and took mister man out for a walk/trot to see what I had that morning. A little ball of fire! He was so happy to get out of his stall. Rode over to a small field next to the dressage warm up and basically rode through my dressage warm-up with my emphasis on his relaxation and acceptance than accuracy or looking good. I was pretty happy after about 20 minutes so we headed back to the barn. Popped him back in the stall but left his saddle on. He seemed to like his new stall guard, but was maybe plotting escape? Made my mom sit in front of the stall with a whip to shoo him back just in case! Braided up his new super short mane. Changed into my show clothes and hopped back on. He was sooooo much calmer this second time out. So calm and good. We had a GREAT dressage warm up and I was extra pleased about how well he was paying attenttion to me considering how crowded and busy the warm up area was.

My test went about like this. Down centerline he got a little strung out, and we have some straight line issues, track left FELT a little lurchy, I was still nervous. First trot circle at E--the first half he sped up the tempo and that's when my brain finally started working and I started riding. Half halted and rounded him up and got a good steady rhythm and swing trot going. Down centerline the second time was good, right turn at C was much better than the left, 20m circle at B was great. Our downward transition at A was better than it has been, still a hair late but got good marks on it. Very big free walk down the diagonal, he stretched about 50% of the time and wanted to look around the other 50%. Medium walk was a success with no jigging! ALMOST hopped into his trot early without me asking but I caught him with my seat and we had a nice, round transition at C. Canter transition was great, our circle was good, and our downward was Greeeat. And the same in the opposite direction, no lead issues. Down the centerline and a nice square halt! I was soo happy! Gave him lots of lovin! It just felt like a good test!

And I forgot to mention that before dressage LAURA arrived!!

So, back in the stall for Hick. Took all those yucky, girly braids out. XC time was upon us and XC time means stud time. Whipped out my stud kit and succesfully got my studs in all by myself! Geared Hick up in his xc boots and fly spray. Geared me up. Sprayed down saddle and boots with sticky spray. Put my pinny on over my vest. Crescent noseband? Check. Excited pony? Check check check! Hopped on and off we went!

Hick was soooooo excited when we got to XC warm up. He had an extra spring in his step and his eyes were wide open and his ears were forward. But he was suuuch a good boy and was listening sooo well. We have a little deal, that if he listens to me then I WILL let him go fast and run like a little heathen at some point on course. So, he was upholding his end of the deal. We had a fantastic warm up. My big focus was making sure he was in front of my leg and man was he ever! It felt great! And with the crescent his canter was very much uphill. And he was jumping like a super horse! And Amy was a great warm-up coach!

I kept him outside the start box until about 10 seconds to go. He was too excited to make stand still. When the countdown hit zero we rocketed out of the box. It initially had been my plan to give him a reminder pop with my whip before at least the first jump. But he was soo forward and a little bit too hot for that I decided as we approached fence 1 (a big log). I settled for a little spur sparkplug instead as he tried to change up his canter a little on me on the approach. Up and over! Let him gallop out to the second fence, a rolltop that was no trouble. Fence 3 was a brush that was also no trouble. Couldn't see fence 4 from 3 as you had a fairly sharp left handed turn to it. It was an open oxer which we had never before attempted so Hick gave it a funny look and I sat back and clucked to him and he was like "not really sure what this is but I guess I'm jumping it!" Nice gallop stretch and a sharp left to fence 5, an optical illusion-y type of jump. Another funny look from Hick but I was prepared to ride this one strong and we had no trouble. Another gallop stretch to a cabin, which we've had past trouble with. Lowered his shoulders a bit to look at it and I did use my whip on this one for the first time and he said, "Well hell ok I'm going!!!" Another gallop stretch through some woods, into an opening up and down a very steep little hill and towards the into the water jump. Hick slammed on the brakes but then kept moving, though a little bit sideways, broke to a funky trot and I spurred him over. Came to a halt one stride later at the water, gave it a funny look and walked in. The fence judge said, "What a good boy!!!" And I laughed. We walked through the water, trotted out, and trotted over our out jump. The next question was the ditch to the table. Jumped the ditch without hesitation but decided to kick his feet up at it afterwards. Got pretty crooked, but quickly straightened out for the table. Onto the BIG table, I'm not sure how I rode that table, it terrified me. But we ended up on the other side of it without a hitch. up the bank and tight turn to the log, no problem. Galloping stretch, let Hick roll. Brought him back a little ways before the red barn combination. Rode him HARD to that one. Whip before jump one, whip in the air over jump one, whip inbetween 1 and 2, up and over 2 with a lot of relief!. Galloping on, into a new field, around the edge of it to the three stride bending line. Got a nice stadium arena canter, took my time and got us lined up nicely where I wanted us. Up and over 1 nice gentle, calm, bending line to 2. One jump left. Galloping on. Collecting and super engaging hind end for the last jump, a very upright log on a hill. Up and over! Woohoo!!! Clean round!!!!!!!!!