holzrokz
Well-Known Member
So the day finally came round for my first ever affiliated show jumping. We were starting at....wait for it......an extremely terrifying 80cm! To most this is nothing but I'm only just finding my brave pants for jumping again so got to start somewhere!
Preparations were good. I had a great lesson with YM the Sunday before and I am finally managing to get her 'between hand and leg' which is paying off with a much better rhythm, adjustable paces and no rushing! I feel like I'm changing everything about how I used to ride, particularly the fact that I never used to have my 'legs on' when riding. And funnily enough she goes so much better when I do this. Now just got to train my legs to stay there!
Gave her a good scrub with the failsafe fairy washing up liquid Friday night so she was looking her best. She was positively sparkling when I left but kept giving me funny looks and following my every move. She knew I was up to something. Woke up at half 4 (!!!!!) even though I meant to get up at 5, but left the house 20 minutes early (!!!!) at 20 to 6. Well there's a first for everything as I am never early and if I am I've usually forgotten something. It was already warm enough for just my show shirt so wasn't looking forward to putting my jacket on.
Got her ready and left the yard on time (!!!!) to hack down the road to Brook Farm. Still feeling calm so not sure what was going on. My friend was meeting me at the yard due to fracturing her foot a few weeks ago, so I decided to take my DSLR camera with me, which meant carrying the bag whilst riding, which was quite difficult; particularly in trot where I had to hold it with one hand to stop it bobbing around. She was so laid back she was practically horizontal, which was a promising sign.
Arrived at the show thinking it was going to be mega busy. The only person there was my friend sat on a bench. Got her warmed up and she was going great, better than she has been at home (she's more forwards at a competition). A couple more people turned up for the clear round. Warm up was calm. My first experience of BS so wasn't sure what to expect from the warm up. The jumps were being jumped from the wrong direction, however both jumps are set up to be jumped on the right rein so decided to follow the other two and jump it their way or risk confusion. Jumped it the correct way when they had left the arena though.
There was an arena set up next to the main arena for clear round so I popped her round that for a nice clear. Jumps were pretty tiny though! Then someone else went and did a clear round in the main arena. Had I known that I could have done this I would have done, but I'll know for next time.
Walked the course and thought it seemed pretty straightforward and most of the jumps were in almost the exact same place as they often are for the unaffiliated. I'm definitely getting more confident as I didn't think any of them looked too big! Got back on and popped over some more jumps in the warm up then took her over to jump. We were fourth to go so ended up waiting around as they were only starting the class as we got there. In future I will try not to leave the warm up until the last second but didn't want to make my friend limp between arenas. She's 20 now so is definitely better when not made to stand around for a while. Went in and picked up canter but couldn't get the lovely canter that we had in the warm up. I hadn't heard the bell go so I circled a few times thinking they would eliminate me if I started before it but still didn't hear it so thought they must had rung it and decided to start. Sack the jockey as we ended up with an avoidable 5 time penalties! Jumped the first one huge then had a curving line to the next fence which we got a good shot to. Right hand turn to a related distance where she also put in a big jump. She seems to enjoy giving the spreads some room just in case! Then a curving left hand turn to number 5 followed by a double. It walked as quite a long one stride so tried to push on to get the one stride. Instead what I did was fire her at the jump and so ended up getting two strides in. Landed after them on the wrong leg and unfortunately the next fence was next to the entrance and she started napping. Instead of riding her I sat there like a lemon so had a silly little run out. More frustrating as I know she would have jumped it had I not just sat there and flapped and we have jumped that same line during unaffiliated with no problems. Chipped in a stride to the next double but jumped it ok. Then another related distance followed by a curving right hand turn, left hand turn to a fairly skinny fence and left hand turn to the last.
Overall I was fairly pleased with the round, just kicked myself for the silly run out. Only 8 in the class as well so I might have had a chance of a placing but never mind. My friend got a video of the round so lots to work on with my instructor for next time. And all in all not a bad first time for affiliated. I have to say it was very well organised and much calmer than the unaffiliated there, which is usually mobbed by kids with me being one of the only adults so I think I will be sticking to affiliated.
Thanks for reading. Video and pictures below. cc welcome on the video, I know I have a lot to work on but for only being able to ride once a week I'm happy with the progress I'm making 
These photo's were taken by a friend with my own camera. The final two are pro shots that I have purchased digital copies for. Full credit to Ashlea Silk-Jones for the fab pictures!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYrLQXjDwuU&feature=youtu.be
Preparations were good. I had a great lesson with YM the Sunday before and I am finally managing to get her 'between hand and leg' which is paying off with a much better rhythm, adjustable paces and no rushing! I feel like I'm changing everything about how I used to ride, particularly the fact that I never used to have my 'legs on' when riding. And funnily enough she goes so much better when I do this. Now just got to train my legs to stay there!
Gave her a good scrub with the failsafe fairy washing up liquid Friday night so she was looking her best. She was positively sparkling when I left but kept giving me funny looks and following my every move. She knew I was up to something. Woke up at half 4 (!!!!!) even though I meant to get up at 5, but left the house 20 minutes early (!!!!) at 20 to 6. Well there's a first for everything as I am never early and if I am I've usually forgotten something. It was already warm enough for just my show shirt so wasn't looking forward to putting my jacket on.
Got her ready and left the yard on time (!!!!) to hack down the road to Brook Farm. Still feeling calm so not sure what was going on. My friend was meeting me at the yard due to fracturing her foot a few weeks ago, so I decided to take my DSLR camera with me, which meant carrying the bag whilst riding, which was quite difficult; particularly in trot where I had to hold it with one hand to stop it bobbing around. She was so laid back she was practically horizontal, which was a promising sign.
Arrived at the show thinking it was going to be mega busy. The only person there was my friend sat on a bench. Got her warmed up and she was going great, better than she has been at home (she's more forwards at a competition). A couple more people turned up for the clear round. Warm up was calm. My first experience of BS so wasn't sure what to expect from the warm up. The jumps were being jumped from the wrong direction, however both jumps are set up to be jumped on the right rein so decided to follow the other two and jump it their way or risk confusion. Jumped it the correct way when they had left the arena though.
There was an arena set up next to the main arena for clear round so I popped her round that for a nice clear. Jumps were pretty tiny though! Then someone else went and did a clear round in the main arena. Had I known that I could have done this I would have done, but I'll know for next time.
Walked the course and thought it seemed pretty straightforward and most of the jumps were in almost the exact same place as they often are for the unaffiliated. I'm definitely getting more confident as I didn't think any of them looked too big! Got back on and popped over some more jumps in the warm up then took her over to jump. We were fourth to go so ended up waiting around as they were only starting the class as we got there. In future I will try not to leave the warm up until the last second but didn't want to make my friend limp between arenas. She's 20 now so is definitely better when not made to stand around for a while. Went in and picked up canter but couldn't get the lovely canter that we had in the warm up. I hadn't heard the bell go so I circled a few times thinking they would eliminate me if I started before it but still didn't hear it so thought they must had rung it and decided to start. Sack the jockey as we ended up with an avoidable 5 time penalties! Jumped the first one huge then had a curving line to the next fence which we got a good shot to. Right hand turn to a related distance where she also put in a big jump. She seems to enjoy giving the spreads some room just in case! Then a curving left hand turn to number 5 followed by a double. It walked as quite a long one stride so tried to push on to get the one stride. Instead what I did was fire her at the jump and so ended up getting two strides in. Landed after them on the wrong leg and unfortunately the next fence was next to the entrance and she started napping. Instead of riding her I sat there like a lemon so had a silly little run out. More frustrating as I know she would have jumped it had I not just sat there and flapped and we have jumped that same line during unaffiliated with no problems. Chipped in a stride to the next double but jumped it ok. Then another related distance followed by a curving right hand turn, left hand turn to a fairly skinny fence and left hand turn to the last.
Overall I was fairly pleased with the round, just kicked myself for the silly run out. Only 8 in the class as well so I might have had a chance of a placing but never mind. My friend got a video of the round so lots to work on with my instructor for next time. And all in all not a bad first time for affiliated. I have to say it was very well organised and much calmer than the unaffiliated there, which is usually mobbed by kids with me being one of the only adults so I think I will be sticking to affiliated.
Thanks for reading. Video and pictures below. cc welcome on the video, I know I have a lot to work on but for only being able to ride once a week I'm happy with the progress I'm making  These photo's were taken by a friend with my own camera. The final two are pro shots that I have purchased digital copies for. Full credit to Ashlea Silk-Jones for the fab pictures!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYrLQXjDwuU&feature=youtu.be
