Pukahu Show- Day 2

I had a fairly leisurely start to the day on the Sunday I didn't roll out of bed until 7 o'clock which would have been a nice sleep i, only there was this fecking rooster that thinks that it is appropriate to crow from 2 am until 3pm. WTF rooster! you are lucky you are still alive. I rolled over at one point in the night and realised that in my fall I had bruised all down my left side- mostly thigh and shoulder though- because rolling on to it really really hurt. Not to mention it had been cold the night before so I went to bed in a pair of long shorts, a long pair of socks, a blue camo print polar fleece nightie and a kermit green jersey to make sure I stayed warm so I was pretty much sex on wheels lol. There are downsides to sleeping in a truck especially in September.

I was in the second class up- the 1.10m on Connie and Kate. Connie was first up and
I went the other way compared to the day before and I was too forward. Still she jumped well, just took the first and possibly the second rails. I'm not sure to be honest. Still though not happy with how I rode- too forward and still not as accurate as I should be. Then came Kate and I can recall so vividly sitting at the gate on her thinking that I really didn't want to be here and to do this anymore. I have lost a lot of faith in Kate after the end of last season. Still i sucked it up and got into the ring and got going. As long as I don't let go of her head we are ok and she will generally jump (even scary fill)- providing I also get her the base of the fence. And she jumped quite well. i was a lot more accurate. I had to get about stuck into her around one corner because she was spooking outside the ring so i didn't get a good ride to the double, but seeing as it was a fairly spooky fence in, having got on her case a bit, meant she knew she had to jump in and so she did. she actually jumped well and I just had the last rail. It was a bit cheap I'm not sure exactly what I did but it doesn't really matter. At least I had completed a round I was almost happy with.

Spent the rest of the morning mucking out yards and having a bit of lunch. Went to the secretary to find that Rascal had won the open welcome hunter and was third in the amateur hunter the day before. Yay! Thats 9 showhunter points in one show. I think I need 11 more to qualify for HoY. If she can be a successful show hunter maybe I will not sell her and she can be my diesel donkey. That being said it may have just been a fluke. Then I was almost late for my 90cm showjumping class on her. Cantered down to the ring, went straight over two warm up fences and went into the ring. Got the jump off numbers as I walked into the ring and learned the course as I jumped around it. It's so handy they have the numbers next to the fences. Rascal was so foot perfect as well. It was a relatively spooky ring but she jumped around almost foot perfectly and I had a lovely ride on her. She was double clear and as it was an A1 class in which all double clears are first equal, she "won" the class. Bless her.

Finally it was amateur series class time- thats 1.10m- 1.15m. I was pretty exhausted by now. I had forgotten how physically and mentally exhausting shows are! I also was getting more and more stiff and sore from my fall and couldn't left my left arm over my head. Still this is the series I want to do well in this season. I nominated Kate as my points getting horse as she had been jumping better than Connie. She warmed up well and Jumped really nicely. I am definitely starting to get more confident on her. The only really hiccup was coming into the first double- an oxer with fill under it to a plain upright- she kind of stalled at the gate and really wasn't that keen to jump. I didn't panic though and kept my leg on and the contact and dug the spurs in and clicked her forward and she actually went. She took the rail though. The is a goofy picture of her jumping this fence and keeping a close eye on that first oxer. It's good to know that I can be proactive enough and get her to jump even with how quickly things tend to happen on Kate.

So I was out on my nominated horse and it was time to get Connie. I didn't think Connie would go that well because she tends to not jump that well in the second round on any given day. She is a one start wonder. Warming up I jumped the oxer and my friend goes "Egg you can get her closer to the base" so I organised my canter a little more and suddenly it all sort of clicked into place. I got the right jumping canter for her, all my distances started coming up and it was all good. Had a great round with another strong ride to the double and a clear round! Woo. Go little Spanish. Only five in the jump off andI ended up fifth after taking a rail. I need to start training jump-off turns at home now because it's everytime I have a spin up that I blow it. She needs to be able to spin because she just isn't fast enough across the ground to make time up there. Still for the first show up I was rapt with her and finally I was happy with how I rode. All and all it ended up awesome. Long may that last. Fielding Show in a week and a half. Just hope I can remember the canter.