Last Sunday, Princess and I entered the final class of our division, Modified Amateur Jumpers 0.95m. The day prior, she took issue with one jump and stopped. Theories abounded why she had a brief anxiety attack and shut down with a slide stop like a reining horse. Was it the writing on the jump and she was worried that she couldn't read every word before completing the obstacle? What if it had stated, "Alligator Crossing, Beware" and we blithely sailed over, disturbing its mid day nap with dire consequences?
But we had a plan: jump something scarier in the warm up. I voted for taping up the NYT expose on Trump's latest misdirected directive, but instead Lindsay swung a horse blanket over a vertical in the center of the warm up ring. This is a notoriously unnerving obstacle for any quadruped. Moving gently in the wind, any lion or tiger or bear could crawl out and give chase. She must have cleared it by three feet judging by the g-forces I felt.
Ready, I spotted an open gate and asked Tyrell politely if we could enter. Just inside, the judge announced, "Hold on, we need a battery change at one of the timers." I picked up the trot and figured eighted the scary fence two times, side stepping ever nearer each pass. When feeling compliant, I heard the starter buzz and we could proceed. Her adrenaline level was still elevated from show excitement and the activating warm up, but there was no hesitation at all at the famous Kastel jump! A win and division championship to boot, Princess chose a doggy jacket for Winston as the prize.
