And the Finale!

Metal.

I always get soooo nervous doing show jump courses. I am getting better about this, but I am always afraid I will forget where I am going. So when I walked my course, I took pictures and then walked it three more times. I had it down. There were some big swoopy turns, and a few tricky little questions. Like a looong two stride to a looong five stride, a angled vertical that made you want to go right, but we needed to go left, and tricky natural or white poles lined up with the fence line that made reading the jump a little difficult.

Awkward

Once again, Bacon was dead asleep as she got tacked up. I tried to breathe and went Xanaxless for this day. Not on purpose. We were dressed to impress and then headed to warm up. This time with a car right on our ass the whole way up there. Thanks asshole! Warm up was not good. Bacon kept thinking about leaving the arena to go back to the barn and would throw her shoulder to it as if she was magnetic and it would pull her back to her stall. Blake came by to give me a drink of water and see how it was going. She did not know what standing still was and threw a mini fit. Our warm up jumps were real rushy and she knocked the vertical hard and then overjumped after that, so I gave. Literally threw my arms up, put her on a walk on the buckle and sang "Don't worry, be happy" and "Bury me with my guns on".

Look at me all looking where I am going.

People were creeped out. But that's too bad, because when you are at the Bacon and Slave Show, weird things happen. We actually went during our scheduled ride times that day and had a ring steward that was competent. When it was our turn, we headed out towards the ring through the forest trail and my horse seemed to get her brain back a little from our musical walk. I just shook all the competition thoughts out of me, went in there with a smile and assumed that anything could happen and that I would be ok with it. Annnnnd IT WORKED.

My favorite. 

Bacon did not even look at any jump. She went into a nice canter and started listening right off the bat. We had a few little awkward bobbles over two and three, but she didn't leave a whole horse length out and jumped them clean. She got quite a few of her leads, and I tried to keep my hands out of her face. I tried to remember the discussion from the first course walk with the friend riding prelim about where to square the turns and where to kick (that looong two stride) and I even counted strides between lines. For me to have any thought other than WHAT IS THE NEXT JUMP AND TRY NOT TO DIE is just amazing.

Bunnies are creepy.

Tricky oxer is no big deal.

After we cleared jump 10, I was beaming. The round felt very controlled and was one of the nicest we have had. I exited the ring to a grinning husband who was proud of the pony and waited for the next few riders. The person ahead of me had a stop, which put me into fourth place, and I stayed there. She was awesome. We got to go back in for the award ceremony to get our matching ribbon and do the victory gallop. Somebody thinks victory gallops are the best thing ever, by the way.

Jumping like a real horse!

All the loves!

All in all, my first recognized event was a total blast, just like I feared. I am already chomping at the bit for the next one, though funds will be a little hard to gather for it. I had qualified for our area championships in Aspen for next month, but we didn't have the money for it and entries just closed. Plus, I don't think we are quite at the caliber to compete against the best on the toughest courses and in the dressage ring. Perhaps we will make it to Spokane. But seriously, I am just so happy. My horse went out and performed each time. Of course, we have so much to work on, but now I feel like we are real eventers. She ate and drank and slept and never took a lame step. I survived a long horse show, and ate and drank and slept. My husband was the best at being a horsey husband and I had great people to help me while I was up there. We made it guys. WE MADE IT.

And just so you all know. My saddle got to go around the intermediate course at Rebecca Farms. And then I forgot to shorten my leathers, and I went around xc and sj with them that ridiculously long. Go ahead and laugh. I did.