Anywho, in addition to running Oops in the Training at GMHA, I was fortunate enough to be able to take my dads' horse Carson (Deacon Blues) in his first* recognized event! He even came in 3rd in open BN! It's his kind of first because technically the weekend before, he and my dad competed in BN at King Oak, but had an unfortunate spill during stadium and didn't make it to xc. So I guess it's his first completed recognized event. He was absolutely a joy to ride; ears perked the whole time, just loping around cross country, not batting an eyelash at a single fence. Dressage was decent, not my best effort due to forgetting where the canter movements came into play, so I didn't ride him in that as best as he could have, but I was happy with it nontheless. He's an 8 y/o solid APHA who we believe was started at a small H/J barn, then did a few solid years at a dressage barn until this May when we introduced him to the world of eventing. BN was a breeze for him, which means he's going to have a full year ahead of him next year if I have anything to do with it!
Oops also had a successful learning weekend; we didn't place very well (as is per usual) which never upsets me, I'm just so mad at myself for the totally preventable run out we had on xc. I had the invaluable help from Miss Ashley Adams, who I literally can't thank enough for imparting her wisdom to me. Having her take apart the course walks and break them down stride by stride opened my eyes to how I approach each phase of the show. It was like she had completely different lenses to look through. She showed me how to ride tighter and more efficiently in stadium, which produced one of our better rounds to date, and some of the subtler intricacies of the xc fences that gave me a new perspective. Besides my stupid mistake, we had a great round, and Oops was thankfully in better condition than I gave him credit for. He was also producing some fantastic jumps in warmup, to the point where I was getting tossed out of the saddle, something that admittedly doesn't happen a whole lot with us.
Our next and probably final effort this fall will most likely be Hitching Post schooling event mid October, and then Oops will return home from Thanksgiving through mid-January for a break. If all goes as planned, we should be heading down to FL for a couple weeks in March to get a good training session in and prep ourselves for the season, which I cannot wait for.
I predicted having Oops here this fall would (embarrassingly) mean I'd make it out to the barn every day or so just to ride and keep him in work, not really enough to motivate myself or make huge improvements. Basically, I expected school to take over and for my riding to take a back seat once again. A little surprisingly this has been anything but the case, and it's making me want to spend more time riding and less on school. Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance (sometimes) of graduating, but it makes me so antsy and anxious seeing everyone else having long seasons and getting to be with the horses all the time. I don't know if I'm going to end up changing my major, or if I'm going to become a total hermit that just does HW and rides all the time or what, but either way I know I'm going to have to make some major sacrifices soon to some aspect of my life. This, if you know me at all, is something I absolutely abhor, as I'm not good at making decisions because it means I have to not include something.
Apologies for the insane rambling on this completely unexpected post, but now I've very successfully avoided memorizing my fair share of nucleotide structures and pyrimidines. I leave you with a few snapshots of my weekend at GMHA and the ponies!
CP
Oops looking out over one of our incredible conditioning fields
Oops and Carson, who was too shy for the picture, at GMHA
We got to jump a squirrel! Just like Rolex! (right?)
Dad and Carson swiftly maneuvering the course at Coyote Springs Farm jumper show
