Thursday, August 18, 2016

This is What We Came Here For

More screenshots. I apologize. 2nd jump
When I went to go walk my course for xc, I really didn't know what to expect. I mean, I did, but this was a real event. With realness and things. It started off easy enough with two straightforward fences, although fairly upright (a popular theme for jumps here) and then bending towards the cutest little corner in all the land. Heck yes, a corner!

Weeeee tiny corner!

Next up was a cabin, and then a turn into the water. I thought the water looked not so inviting, as it was dark and kind of just appeared. But no fear, Bacy loves the water. A jump out of the water led us to a half coffin, and then disappearing into the woods. Some of the bigger jumps were back there, but it was a fun twisty ride through the trees, uphill and downhill. Finally, we were supposed to pop back out, jump a two stride line, up a bank and then head for home with a handful of easy jumps on your way out. I was a little worried about riding through the trees and possibly the jump judges, because Ol' Spider Legs has never done that before. And you know, since our last adventure over xc was in the beginning of May.
Christmas cabin!
Of course, she warmed up quite well for xc, despite the crazy children and adults flying around allover. She is always quieter for xc. Once again, they changed the ride times and bumped us up earlier, but we had had ample warm up, so that was ok. Before heading in, one of my travel buddies' pony slipped and fell on top of her in front of me, so that made me nervous for slippage out on course. I was also nervous about the Bacon Foot. It was pretty hard and bumpy out there and I had no idea what it would think about that. But, I remembered to turn my GoPro on, and my watch and headed out on course.
UHHHH ALERT ALERT
Oh just kidding. Tiz only water.
I had to laugh, because Bacon was totally confused and did not know which jumps to jump when there was a big line of them. I tried to guide her straight, and she would just barely lock on and jump. I thought she might be super distracted, but she was rolling along quite well. And then, the water APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE HOLY CRAP. An unsuspecting me felt my horse jam on the breaks, and then immediately put me back in place by charging through the water at a trot. No stops, thank goodness. Up and over the half coffin and into the woods we went!
Out of the water we goooo
Over the ditch and over the penis, er, I mean fox jump.
Right as you turn the first corner in the woods, a jump appears. No biggie. And then for a gallop to the big table. Bacon listened well through the woods, and that was probably one of the funnest things I have ever done. I took my time though, and really really slowed her down going downhill. I was a little spooked after watching our friend fall. We jumped all the things, popped back out into the fields (where she slipped, damnit) and jumped the two stride, up the bank, and out towards the finish. Except my watch started beeping louder beeps at me and I realized that our time was up.
I'M WILD
WILD I TELL YOU (this was the two stride line)...

Gah. Damnit.
This hardly qualifies as a bank to a giraffe.
I galloped her on a little bit towards the last two jumps and came home with 11 time penalties. I'm still bitter about that one. But I am ok with it for the most part because I was just trying to keep the pony safe. And I really had no idea what speed I needed to be going. Now I know!
Almost home. And about the time my watch started to sound pissed off.
I was so happy. The whole time, I was just smiling and having a great time and I didn't feel like death when I got off. My pony was great, and not even tired, which was impressive. She cooled off immediately and seemed very proud of herself. She should be. She was awesome. Later that evening, we went to check scores and I saw that four people had been eliminated in our division. And one person had two stops, so I was officially bumped up into 5th place! But could we hold it together for show jumping?
Not even tired. Not even a little.
Enjoy all of my sound effects...

29 comments:

  1. I love the pictures in the water! She looks so happy in the second one, and confident! :)

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    1. She swears. That water just came out of nowhere! But no fear, the Baconator is here!

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  2. I absolutely adore your smile in these! You guys are BAMFs!!

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    1. I couldn't stop smiling! Everyone always makes fun of me because I am always smiling.

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  3. Wahoo! I'm so glad it went well! Mikey would see all the jumps lined up, and instead of barely locking on, he'd panic about how to jump all of them and not go near them. I started walking my courses with a wheel to find out where the minute markers were because I was the slowest XC rider ever- it was the only way to keep me moving at a decent pace. But time penalties are totally allowed since it's your first recognized and the course was twisty, and you came home without jump faults- that's more important! Congrats!

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    1. May need a wheel from now on, that would probably really help me! I was so proud of that pony.

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  4. Yay, congrats on a fabulous outing!

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  5. I don't think adding speed will be a problem for Bacon ;)

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    1. Oh, most definitely not. She was wanting to goooooo!

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  6. Good job Eggs and Bacy!

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    1. Baconator, Shake N Bac, Nator, Sizzler, Spider Legs. She has all the nicknames.

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    2. You're Eggs. She's Bacy.

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  7. I've said it before but I'm saying it again - bacon looks unbelievable. After writing about how you were struggling with her weight, what changed? I ask mostly to take notes!

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    1. Thank you! Her weight is still a struggle, but we are always finding ways to improve upon it. I changed her feed to LMF Showtime, which I quite like, and added more beet pulp. So currently, she is at 4lbs LMF, about 2lbs beet pulp (all I can get her to eat), 1 cup of oil, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, Gleam and Gain, raspberry leaves and chaste tree berries for lady parts, SmartGut, all the alfalfa she can eat, and just recently we added 1c aloe vera juice split between two feedings and a ranitidine treatment. And apples, of course.

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    2. Have you considered adding in Timothy? I started feeding Stinker Timothy and he finally chunked up a bit.

      You guys are so awesome! I love Bacon :)

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  8. that is so badass - what an awesome horse and gorgeous venue and great ride!! :D

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  9. After everything with the Lyme, this is so fantastic to hear

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  10. You guys look awesome!! I even watched your whole ears video. ;-) You know what that means coming from me.

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  11. You both look awesome and like you are having a blast!!

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  12. You guys look great. I'm glad that you had so much fun!

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  13. Looks like she just ATE UP that course.

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  14. She's lovely. Looks like a great course

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  15. Ahh, I love Bacon. She is such a good girl on XC -- I love that about her. And it sounds like you rode her really, really well. No shame in being safe!

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  16. YEAHHHHHH GET IT, GIRL!! So so thrilled for you two!! :D

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