Our next show

As I kick off my blog, there are some recent events I want to go back and document.  I will try to get to that this week. For now, though, I will start with the present. 

Yesterday, I entered Governor and myself in our first beginner novice horse trial at the Carolina Horse Park. We did attempt a beginner novice schooling HT at Jumping Branch in February, but it really was no bigger than most maiden courses. We also had a stupid runout resulting in a rider fall and ankle injury toward the end of XC, so I prefer to just forget that one ever happened.  I am excited about the upcoming competition, but mostly, I just want to get the first one under my belt.

In preparation for the HT, I need to do a lot of jumping. Not necessarily a lot of fences each time we jump, but a few fences most every day. Jumping is such a mental game for me. I have to do it a lot so that it doesn't get the best of me. 

Yesterday afternoon, Emily was at the barn with me, so I took the opportunity to jump a few short courses. When I ride every stride, we do very well. When I quit riding the last stride or two, we have ugly fences. I'm working on it. All in all, it was a good ride. We will work on more courses in my lesson this week.