Nationals- The Jumping

I pinched this one of Connie in the amateur. I'm planning to buy it though. This is courtesy of Darren Moore Photography.

I don't have any pictures as of yet but I'm hoping I will be able to get some from the pro photographer once I find out who it was of course. (I found them and now will purchase them!) Haha some are quite hilarious with the whole liverpool/ Kate hates them thing. Connie looks beautiful of course.

Anyways the first class was the amateur and it was a big un and I froze up like a stupid head. Had an awesome warm up and she felt really good but I got out there and just had no canter. I ended up retiring after a few stops which were intermingled by some fantastic jumps when I actually got there and, you know, rode! He next class was the first round of the 3 day 1.1m horse championship class. She was heaps better because I really focused on getting her going, not taking a pull on the corners and just ridng around them, and I had good rides to all three of the doubles (Thats a lot of doubles for one round!) It was a Table C so rails added 4 seconds to your time. Connie and I aren't the quickest and with our rail we ended up 33rd of 56. Her knee was really swollen but she was sound as a bell and I was that angry with her behaviour and after travelling so far I thought it was worth the risk. She got a nice back on track knee boot now for it anyway.

Kate had the 1m that first day after our debacle at Levin where we didn't actually finish a round. She had one stop at a oxer with fill after a pretty poor ride to it from me, (Don't throw the reins and chase to a bad spot, maintain the rhythm and the contact to keep the horse relaxed and confident, trust me it's the better option) Then straight out to the 1.10m over the exact same course and I rode her much better and she jumped better and we ended up third. Woo!In the photos I have too much contact with her face in the air but by the last day I'm looking a lot more confident haha! Trust is so hard to build and so easy to lose.

The next day Connie had the second day of the 1.10 Championship. It was run in reverse order of place so I was a ways down the list. It was walking the course that I learned that it was actually the 1.10m-1.20m horse championship and the only really 1.20m oxer was the first element into the first treble Connie has ever jumped in Competition. I was absolutely packing myself. But Connie actually jumped super super awesome. She had two rails when she shut down behind over the liverpool oxer and the last element of the treble but she jumped in so well and confident and all round jumped well that I was just rapt with her. Then the whole lot went through again over a shortened round. Connie had one rail in that when I got her a shocking spot but she jumped so well I couldn't be cross with her.

Kate had a ring 3 1.10m class and she jumped well though quite strong. She just had a lazy rail and overall I was happy. There had been plenty of carnage in the 1.10m championship that day so I was hoping I might sneak into the top 20 but alas it was not to be I stayed in slot 33. Having not made the top 20 I decided to scratch Connie the next day and it was Kate whom came out on the Sunday in the non- champinoship 1.10m in ring 2. The reason I mention the rings- ring 3 not much fill and what there was wasn't that spooky/small for the height/ uncomplicated course. Ring 2 was the complete opposite. I wasn't actually convinced I would get Kate around it after our Levin debacle. Luckily I was wrong and despite being a bit hairy Kate was clear and jumped really well and after a different name being called, I was called in 5th.

Now when I went to pick up my prize money they said I hadn't been fifth. The sheets they showed me had her time 6 seconds slower than the rider who was fifth. This can't be true though because my jump-off was quick and I took hardly any pulls. Certainly not 6s slower. I would love to have seen the other set of sheets, because they wouldn't have called me in at all on that time. So i have my ribbon and I'm a bit sad that now I don't know what I was but hey she still jumped well. That being said I was glad my show was over and I could relax.