When you compete in a jumper competition, you don't get a specific ride time. The class order is listed and each rider that has signed up for the class has an order in which they go. The 2' and 2'3" classes were about half way down the order of classes for the day so that meant I did not have to be at the show grounds first thing in the morning, but it also meant guessing at what time to get there. I wanted to be there in time to give Deuce plenty of time to get settled at the show grounds but I did not want to get there too early and have lots of time just standing around at the horse trailer. Well, despite my efforts, I got there too early. We had some time to just hang out at the trailer. But Deuce was actually pretty good. Every time he heard a horse neigh, he's stop munching on hay and return the call but he was rather content to just stand quietly tied to the trailer. I was even comfortable enough to leave him for a short while to go check on the progress of the show. (and as an added bonus, he and the trailer were still standing there when I got back!)
Eventually, it was time to get ourselves ready for our first class which was the Adult 2' class. I climbed aboard and opted to take a walk around the show grounds before going into the warm-up ring. One of the barns had a life sized horse and carriage silhouette painted on the side. As we road by, I thought Deuce was staring down the barn aisle, but no, as we went by the aisle, he continued to stare at the painting and then as we got up to it he jumped sideways and gave a loud snort at the wall. Funny horse! He relaxed when he realized he realized it was only part of the wall and we carried on with our warm up walk.
When we got into the warm up ring, I could not have been more thrilled with the spotted boy! He while he did look around quite a bit at the new surroundings and all the horses moving around, he was quite tractable and settled into work when we picked up the pace to trot and canter work. We hopped over the warm up jumps a few times working on staying straight and even to the rails. My coach came over and schooled us a few minutes then we took a breather at the rail to watch the other riders on course and go over our course again.
Then it was our turn to enter the ring.
I figured Deuce would get into the big, jump filled and empty of horses-arena and have second thoughts about going forward all by himself. Although he did give a slight hesitation and get a little wide eyed at the surroundings, he did not stop his big trot as we moved into the arena to acknowledged the judge and then start our warm up circle. The whistle blew, the music started and we were on course! The first 2' jump was a small vertical over the starry night themed jump I approached at a trot to give Deuce plenty of time to look at the big 1/4 moon faces on each side of the jump. Turns out that was not needed, all Deuce saw was the upcoming jump and he was ready for work. We hopped over the rail, landed in a canter and carried on. Next was a big sweeping turn right to the new poker jump. Each standard was a giant card and the filers were dice and planks. It was a really cool jump but also one that has lots to look at. I brought Deuce back to a trot and sat up kept my leg on, and again, he just popped over it like it was just another fence! What a good boy! He was feeling very forward and looking for the next jump so we cantered on. Then it was down the long side to another plank vertical, then a long loop around to the diagonal over another rail vertical then back down the opposite long-side for a vertical then a roll top the a left turn to the wall left turn to cross the finish line to stop time! Way to go Deuce!! We left the arena with big grins and huge pats.
Our next class was the Adult 2'3" class which was several rides away so I took him back to the trailer for a little break. He was sorta reluctant to leave all the action but happy to be at the trailer with hay to munch on.
Before long, it was time to saddle up and do another brief warm up and review of the course. Then in the ring we went for our second course. The jumps were only slightly higher (only 3"!) but for some reason they look so much bigger to me. But not Deuce. He hopped on course as he did before, ready to jump and looking for the next one. All was going well until we came back around going away from the in gate to the roll top in reverse. It was a combination of me not giving enough leg, going away from the barn, and a failure on my part to get him pointed straight as he canterd up and just stopped at the picket fence/roll top. arrg. I kicked and circled around and went again and screech again. Oh dear, one more stop and we are eliminated, Deuce, lets not have that! So we went back at it again, straight and eye up and leg, leg leg, and boing, over he went with a land and canter on to the next one. I focused on riding straight and keeping my leg on to the base of the fences and we had a clean rest of the round. phew.
Our next class was only a few rides away so we hung out and watched the other rides and then it was our turn again. This class was another 2'3" class but it was Open, so we would be riding against youth and adults combined. While the heights were the same, the course was different, this time it was the same as our 2' class. I was feeling pretty good about the course as Deuce did so well with that one. So off we went. Deuce knew his job at this point and he was off like a rocket! Big fast canter! All I had to do was sit up and look for my next fence and he took me there. Oh my goodness; here is a jumper horse. Each fence came up quick and sailed over them with ease. Then we were at the end of our ride and crossing the finish line.
So with jumping competitions, a horse and rider are timed. There is an optimum time set for each course. The rider and horses try to ride the course as close to optimum time as possible without knocking down rails or having a run out or refusal, both of which cost points and receive penalties.
I never saw what optimum speed or time was for our course... but I am fairly sure we should have gotten a speeding ticket. We were going pretty quickly.
On reflection I should have worked harder to get my half halts between fences to bring him back, but I let my nerves take over and sort of let him go. Well; there is always something to work on for next time.
So at the end of the day, we ended up with a First place in the Adult 2' class (clean round and good time), a Third place (which was last for that class) for the Adult 2'3" class (when we had the 2 refusals) and a Fourth (out of 7) in the Open 2'3" class. We had a clean round, but we were too fast from optimum time.
Overall, not a bad day for our first jumper show. The objective was to get out and practice what we have been learning in a new place and under a little bit of pressure from a competition atmosphere. Apparently I have some work to do in that department too...
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