"Lucky"

Show jumping was in a few hours, so Cap went back to his stall to rest, and I went to look at the course. This would only be my third time doing a jump class at a show, and I was paranoid that I would go off course.

I walked the course, and everything was simple as you'd expect at Beginner Novice. No combinations, and the "trickiest" fence in my mind was a plank jump on the downhill that was rather small. Everything seemed well within Cap's repertoire.

We got ready, warmed up over a few schooling jumps, and entered the ring.

I managed to wait for the whistle, remember my salute to the judge, and circled for the first fence. Cap hesitated and chipped in a short stride (which he did at every show thereafter with me) at the first fence, then we were cantering smoothly around the course.

Only once did he touch a fence... only once in all my shows with him. Wouldn't you know, it was the silly little plank fence (visible in the background in the first picture). Watching the video after, you see the top planking sway back and forth in the cups as we canter away.

You can hear Nancy's mom in the video, as the plank finally stopped moving.

"LUCKY!"

The Well Oiled Machine

I tacked my young guy and headed for the warm up arena. He walked along on a long rein, alert but well- behaved.

I overheard a woman right behind me saying,"Why can't you be calm and quiet like him?" I told her it was his first event.

She made complimentary noises about Cap, and somewhat disparging remarks about her own steed.

During warmup, Cappy felt awesome. He was full of forward and reasonably soft and perfect in straightness, both on the circle and the straightaway. But there was something very wrong.

Squeak. squeaak. Squelch.

What the hell? Why is my saddle squeaking? It's never down that before?? Is it my good boots causing that?

I rode over to Nancy, my face beet red and my legs off the horse.

"Was all that noise you?"

Shame-filled nod. "What am I going to do?"

Well, they don't mention noisy tack anywhere on the dressage test. After the bit check, we headed up to the main dressage ring.

Cap was on, chuffed up with that "everyone's looking at me" feeling that I love. He was pretty accurate, very smooth, and there were only a few moments trepidation at times that he might continue on out over the tiny dressage fence.

We did our final approach up center line, brakes a little catch as catch can...

I breathed a sigh of relief. We had survived, and not gone out of the ring (my worst fear. 'Cause cross country is where it's at, and you don't get to do that if you get eliminated in dressage), and it felt pretty good.

The judge's scores reflected my feeling of the test. Lots of good numbers; in fact, we were in second place! Not bad in our first real outing.

 And at the bottom, under remarks: What was all that squeaking?!!!

Shipping in

The day before the show finally arrived. It was hot and humid, and I felt bad as we loaded our horses into the trailer for the drive up. Even with the back top doors open and all windows and vents wide, it still felt like a sauna inside.

We arrived at the show grounds, and found our stabling. Nancy and I were stabled in a permanent barn, and we fluffed the bedding and got them settled for the night. Storms were predicted through the night, and I hoped that would allow for more reasonable temperatures for the days ahead.

The next morning found us in the barn, staring at the flooded aisle and partly flooded stalls. But the day was cooler, and I was ready to go.

We walked the cross country course. Nancy and Aries were doing Novice; although they had not evented before, they had done jumpers for many years and Aries was game for anything.

Nancy and Aries hacking at the park with us

The course looked doable, although some of the max height fences made me a little leery. I walked it anticipating what Cap's reaction would be to each obstacle, and while I felt we would make it around, I decided the best thing was for him to have a safe, slow, confidence building trip.

As much as I wanted to stew over the cross country, however, there were more pressing matters... Dressage!