Established, my trainer Hugh White, rides my horse Princess better than I do. But I can acknowledge that and still have fun. Take last weekend at the August Classic show, Sonoma Horse Park.
We had 4 classes, highly modified, but not genetically modified, 3'3" hunters. 9 fences each round, that is 36 jumps. I can honestly report that we had:
no stops
no rails
no chips
no launchers
no starting off on the wrong lead
no going off course
no spacing out and thinking I might go off course and looking at all the jumps to see which way the flowers are facing so I can guess the next jump.
We still have a long way to go. I was speaking to Mika, extolling Princess's virtue of putting up with my amateur moves and tolerating my mistakes. Her reply: well, at least you vary your mistakes and don't make the same one over and over!
In the last course, I was approaching the single oxer. I did see the impossibly long distance and demurred. "Don't pull a Pebble Beach!" I told myself, remembering the chip to the single oxer in the same situation. So I sat tight, compressed her stride a little without loosing impulsion, and jumped it fine. I also did not want to ask for a favor, the extra long one, because you on'y get one favor per round from you steed. After that, you are in favor-debt and they get real cautious. I knew I had one more favor to ask with a 38 foot 2 stride, vertical to oxer. We met it spot on, so I could ask for the 2 extra feet over the oxer without resentment.
Here's to a variety of incompetences! When will I ever get "there"? Hoping. JP
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