Hunter Trial Time!

Another great weekend with the ponies! Took both Sparkie and Jack up to Ashwood hunter trials and they were both very good boys. Jack did the express eventing (show jumping and xc) and Sparkie did just the xc stage and after a last minute decision the night before to bring him along with us. The competitor before us in Jack's class was running late, so I only had about 10 minutes to warm poor Jack up as they called us in 10 minutes earlier so he really was thrown in at the deep end! Given the fact that he'd only popped a jump twice 2 minutes before, he was a bit on edge coming into the first fence, but after a tap on the shoulder, he soon settled down round the rest of the course and actually jumped really nicely given the circumstances! Just 4 faults as he took a dislike to a skinny fence and I made him jump it from a stand still rather than getting a run out or stop as I don't want him to learn bad habits so he had the pole instead, but still pleased with how he went as he had definitely not had a chance to settle down and warm up properly! 

Then it was time for the xc... when I first booked him in I was expecting a nice simple course which I thought would be great for his first event. Well. There were fillers at every jump including a mahoosive, life size Santa Claus! It was definitely a challenging course, so I went in with a completely open mind not knowing what to expect and I was really, really pleased with him. He had a few moments here and there napping away from jumps purely because of the scary things around them but once he came to a fence, he jumped everything first time and didn't stop or run out which I think was really good of him as he was clearly scared of it bless him! Once he got into a rhythm he went lovely and covered the ground really well, I definitely think he has potential to do well and the right attitude towards it so I was smiling when we came through the finish (and a little out of breath and emotionally drained haha, he did not make it an easy ride!) He did go straight through the water though and in a trot, which is a HUGE achievement and horses twice his age were freaking out just as much at the fillers so I was super happy.. to top it off he actually ended up finishing 3rd yay!!

I really do love this, what a happy baby!

clever boy! 

Sparkie was also a really good boy, had a few stops (one was just a really unfortunate moment and not his fault at all, my medical armband had slipped down my arm and fallen off onto my saddle so I had to pull him up!) but he jumped everything put in front of him including the skinny fence!!! Now, he has been to ashwood three times this year and we have had many an argument trying to persuade both him and Jack to go over it with absolutely no luck, so he could have stopped at absolutely everything else and I would not have cared, I was just so happy and shocked to have finally got him over the skinny, yay! He flew down the steps and through the water and all the other complicated jumps, including the scary Santa, with no problems and even though we didn't place, we both really enjoyed ourselves :)

Big, big thankyou to Lottie for taking photos and playing groom and to the team in general for helping me out so much the last few weeks and the whole competition season because I would be such a stresshead without you guys and you're the best, so there.