Because work is terrible lately and they want me to restrict my hours, I have been making every effort to only work 4 days a week and spend that fifth day on something fun. Last friday I took Kaylee to the movies, the friday before I trailered to the indoor arena to get some schooling in before the dressage show.
This week promised temperatures above freezing PLUS clear skies and sun. I knew I was going riding, but the question came down to where. I had lots of options available, but with footing being questionable in a lot of places, I ended up settling on the Polly Ann Trail, at the Leonard trailhead so I didn't have to do any road riding to access the trail.
I'm pretty pleased by her body condition at the moment coming out of winter. Now to get her better muscled and not cresty with spring grass.
I had a doctors appointment Thursday so I left early. The appointment was quick and I got home SO EARLY OMG.
I had already kind of planned this and wore leggings and my ariats to work, lol. Then I called Eric and asked if I ran the dishwasher and a load of clothes if he would mind single parenting it for a bit so I could take Gwyn out for a trail ride.
He readily agreed. Muahahah.
So with the sky dark and sporadically rainy, I loaded Gwyn up quickly and we headed south to the Watershed Preserve. It's the second closest trail location for me, the first being the local trailhead for Polly Ann but I didn't want to subject Gwyn's feet to the rocks until I can get her other Megasus up and ready for her. It's measured out, I just have to trim it and get the clips in place.
This is the trail map. It's a tiny park but available for riding.
Thankfully, there were no big horse flies but there were plenty of deer flies. They were not that bad all told.
Starting out from the bathroom and trail map message board.
There's a lot of varied terrain over a very short course. There's edge of marsh riding, through pine tree groves, meadows, fishing ponds and deciduos forest. You pass through a couple biomes, it's part of why I love it.
Coming up to the fishing pond
Dude wasn't having much luck
Coming down into the marsh
Beaver dam
Slating Lake. There is a dock and you can portage boats in from the parking lot.
Trail was blocked so we rerouted through the woods and made our own path.
Saw another guy coming to fish.
Wide, grassy spaces for cantering
Trail splits. I went right the first time, and left the second. They meet up again.
Other side of the fishing pond.
The large treefall that Gwyn was very smart about navigating. I was so proud and happy.
I would try and jump it if we go again. It's maybe 2'6" ish? With decent footing and a slight uphill coming up this way.
There's a little historic school house at the parking lot
With a giant fucking wasp nest
And then we met a little boy and his grandfather. Gwyn was very gentle.
As you can see, there was a lot of overlap but I pretty much covered every trail available to me with a few exceptions that needed to be cleared.
So, let's move on to better stuff. I had a little less than 2 hours between dressage and my cross country and I used that time to walk my course. Note to self: My old Ariat Terrains need to just be tossed. They are no longer waterproof. My foot was squelching in my boot by the end. Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring a second pair of boot socks (one of my gift exchange pair!)
Casey hung out with Gwyn while I did the walk.
The course was being run while I was out there so many of the pictures aren't straight on because I was trying to stay out of the way while at least figuring out where I was going to be going. Novice and then Beginner Novice were running while I was out there so the stadium jumps are set to those heights. They were not as big for Starter. I'm going to use these pictures to talk about the course as it rode.
I had a little more time for warm up before cross country which was good. Gwyn was still excited. She refused the first warm up jump but the second time I pointed her at it (a simple cross rail) she launched over it. We mostly trotted and just worked on being in control in the warm up ring. The ground was soft too, since it had rained the previous day and I just wasn't feeling like taking the chance of getting out of control.
The girl before us had a hard time getting her horse into the starter box when we were called to be on deck. So we just stood there and hung out and chilled, which honestly I think was more valuable practice than flying over another jump in warm up.
A bonus, I guess, to this being Gwyn's first event, is that she has no association with excitement with walking into the start box. So at the 10 sec countdown she calmly walked in and stood there looking around, just... ready. That is something I want to preserve in schooling and future events.
Jump 1: Big X
And then we were off!
I saw some horses giving the first jump some issues because of the foxy log just to the left. This was not a problem for us.
Over Jump 1!
Gwyn left easily at a trot toward the first cross rail. I had my crop but I don't think I ever used it. I think I realized leaving the start box that I hadn't put boots on Gwyn but honestly, she was fine. For bigger jumps I'll make sure to boot her, but it would really only complete the purple coordination we have, haha.
This is a happy Goober Mare, by the way
The second jump I felt her waver a bit at but just a bit of leg and some verbal encouragement and it was all fine.
Jump 2: Vertical
Jump 2
Jump 3: Oxer (on the right)
Jump 3!
After the oxer I felt her start pulling toward the jumps as she figured out the game.
Jump 4: Log on Legs
Just before this one she gave a little jump into the canter. I was planning on trotting most of this since I knew she had the trot endurance to finish, but not necessarily the stamina to maintain a canter for the whole course (something we've been and will continue to work on). She has gotten a LOT better, which is another reason why I felt more comfortable coming to this show finally. I think if I had pushed for more canter she would have tired out on course and I didn't want that. We had enough time (and I was already eliminated, LOL) that I knew we could finish the course before the maximum allowed.
Plus many of the early jumps were on a steady climb. There was steady climb up through the first third of the course.
Jump 5: Stumpy Log
After the Stumpy Log the path went into the woods and past the scary Training Level Spider Log. Gwyn did NOT like this log. Not at all.
Behold the Very Scary Jump that we didn't have to go over but did have to go past.
Then through the woods and around a dip and over the ramp
Jump 6: Ramp
After the ramp there was another uphill climb to the upper field where a ton of jumps were. The sawmill timber was nice and simple and inviting.
Jump 7: Sawmill Timber
We curved around to the far edge and had the Bleachers and Ditch option.
Jump 8: Bleachers / Ditch Option
I've schooled the ditch option before and Gwyn was fine but I chose to jump the bleachers side.
Better view. We've schooled the ditch before.
Then a turn left to the Mulch Feeder. We had to pass a GIANT table and I felt Gwyn eyeing it again like "Mom, we don't have to do THAT one right?!"
Jump 9: Mulch Feeder
After the mulch feeder it was back into the woods and down hill hill. Gwyn, being the good endurance pony that she is, slowed to a walk on the partially wet downhill. I won't fault her for that. We've done a lot of trail work and having her be mindful of footing conditions and take care of herself is a very useful skill.
When I walked the course I was confused where I was supposed to go to have the approach for the next jump. There were three paths. One, to the left, was heavily trafficked but by the other levels. I felt if we went to the right, there wouldn't be a good approach to the next jump, or at the very least it would be abrupt. There was a middle path but it was not... cleared at rider height.
I opted for middle but strongly suspect I should have gone right.
Jump 10: Steppin Up
After this was another steep downhill section into the field above the dressage arenas.
Jump 11: Brush
Jump 12: Kibblet's Cabin
All riders had mandatory flags in this far corner and then down around the field.
Mandatory Flags
Jump 13: Log Mountain
After Log Mountain Gwyn saw the dressage arenas - WHICH WERE VOID OF HORSES - and decided we were going that way. So we had a bit of an argument again about turning left. This time I did remember what one of my trainers had said about turning and made sure to drop and open my left shoulder and brought both hands to the left.
We turned left!
Jump 14: Cutest Little Coop
And had a refusal at the cutest coop. I circled and reapproached and boom, over we went and continued. The path went into the woods through some goopy mud and then we were on the last two jumps!
Jump 15: Big X
Between Jump 15 and 16
Four feet off the ground!
The final jump she did bring down a rail with her hind leg and then we were done!
Jump 16: Vertical
Finish!
You guys, I was SO ELATED. That was our first official cross country course in competition and my first one back as an adult after 15 years. FIFTEEN YEARS. And I did with pelvic floor issues threatening everything and a stomach that decided it actually DID need to vacate its bowels moments after I got on my horse. And probably about 100 extra pounds.
The Optimum time was around 6:24 minutes and we were a minute over that but far from the maximum allowed of nearly 13 minutes. We finished and Gwyn was barely sweating. Granted it was a cool mid 60s and overcast with occasional little drops of rain, which was fucking perfect weather.
Have the HELMET CAM BADABOOM!
I rode her in a french link D-Ring snaffle and I felt she was very responsive to rating back when I asked so we'll continue to use that bit for now. Honestly she goes pretty much the same in all bits so while I want to find the right one for her, I've got no indication that one is better than another yet. Strange mare.
Casey said that we were flying around the course faster than she expected and we pretty much caught the rider in front of us. All of the photos of me on Gwyn were taken by her. I have more but I haven't had time to edit and upload them all given our slow country internet and my limited time after kids are in bed.
So there you have it. Someone asked me as I was grabbing my dressage test if I had a good show. I told her I had a good experience and I stand by that. It was a VERY good experience. It gives me a direction to work in and it lets me know what some of our strengths are with this discipline. Ever since I got Gwyn I've wanted to do eventing with her. And we have. That's a goal achieved! And now that we've passed those goal posts it's time to set new ones. Next goal: Don't get eliminated in dressage! LOL. But absolutely come back and try again.
This is a stitched together, zoomed in view. The GPS is NOT accurate, we did not have any water option, lol. You can see the one refusal and circle that we did.
The two goals posts on the lower graph show where I estimate my start and end time were. Blue gives you an idea of the elevation changes. It's a fairly hilly course for Michigan, which I appreciate!
The general stats for the time that I was running the app. I started it before warm up and stopped it after we got back to the trailer.
