mini showjumping report

[emmanash]

Hi all, thought I'd do a report about our outing today. We headed over to our local indoor school for the mini showjumping. It was only the 2nd time we have entered a sj comp. We have no transport so I led my horse over as the route is along quite a busy village road. The weather was lovely and it only took about 20mins to get there, however, we were both sweating by the time we arrived - lovely! Anyway, popped madam in a stable and went to pay/ walk the course. The course was small but included a couple of spreads, a double and a narrow style-like fence. Got back to the stable and tacked up and realised my horse had transformed into a fire breathing dragon! Everyone else was sat on their horses nice and relaxed and then there was us, going around in circles to 'calm down'. This didn't work at first and we had a couple of naughty napping moments, eventually though she did settle a little. When it was our turn to go in we were allowed to go over the practice jump before the bell rang. I just wanted to keep things slow and steady but madam had other ideas and wanted to go hell for leather, cue a couple of disagreements. She did slow down enough for me to feel more in control and we were doing well until fence 5 when we had a refusal. Being new to this competing malarkey I turned her around and we cleared it but in hindsight I think she could have popped it from standstill and we may have saved ourselves 4 faults. Not sure on that one though so maybe someone could let me know? Anyway, the rest of the course went ok but I didn't feel as happy with my riding as the last comp we did and I felt like I was trying to slow her down a lot of the time and pulling on the reins. Overall, it went well and considering how excited she was, I'm proud that I stayed on her and went through with it to be honest! No placing this time as there were 7 who jumped clear, but plenty to work on and to learn from.
I had to lead her home and she was a nightmare, pulling, barging and jogging and paying no attention to me at all. At home she is as good as gold so I'm not sure how to handle her when she gets like that. I kept on tugging the reins when she pulled past me and prodding her on her shoulder with the crop when she barged me. I admit that I tugged the reins quite hard a couple of times and I'm not proud of myself but she was getting ridiculous and I was fed up of being pushed around. Back to groundwork I think, and have arranged some lessons too. Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks for reading.

 

[Kikke]

Well done for going and giving it a try and with regards to your refusal, sometimes it is better to come again for ourself so you learn to ride the jump rather then just sitting there.

Some horses do change to a different horse when out and about and I am sure with more practice she will settle down and you will have loads of fun together!