CAMELOT: A Journey- My Horse is a Badass

Just a gallop fence

I had forgot to mention that while in show jump warm up I was starting to feel dizzy and weak. Fortunately, I was able to get a drink of water and kind of shake it off enough to ride through the course. So when we started to tack up for xc schooling later that afternoon, I wasn't so sure how I was going to do because I still wasn't feeling so great. I figured I would just jump a couple of things and call it good, or just toodle if needed. Especially because my damn crazy mare STILL wasn't tired.

Splish splash

And launch

I also threw on a french link cartwheel bit because Bacon's gag was causing a rub and like stated previously, she seems to be getting a little grumpy with it (probably because it rubs!) and I need a little help with her pulling my arms off. I knew right off the bat that this bit was not the one to help my arms. She thought it was pretty great because it made me pretty invisible. We started with a brief warm up around the main water complex and then started splashing right in, practicing going off and up the the water banks and eventually stringing them together. Water is the best. I love water.

And up

Training water jump in

Just love the colors

I did the training line through the water again and asked E if I should try the prelim line. She advised trying the first jump, and if that went well, coming back through and stringing the combo together. First jump went fine, so I came back around and did the line, with the second jump a super skinny faced chevron out of the water (skinnier than we had ever jumped before). She nailed it perfectly, but stinky husband missed the shot. Turd on a stick.

Yeah, I know. She's attractive. But lost some weight on this trip. Sigh.

I had to jump the dragon

Coming down the hill from the drop. Loved the background.

We did the training drop again, and then E urged us to do the prelim drop because if we could do that one, then any future training drop we had on a course shouldn't ever be a problem. I gulped, my heart skipped a beat, but we headed up the hill towards the drop. Don't look down, just look ahead and ride where I want to go. And that sucker rode nicer than the training one. I was all smiles. We were going to move towards the corners, but I wanted to jump the prelim dragon wing, so Bacon and I tackled that too. And she made that seem like a novice fence.

Over the second element of the drop with potential storm coming.

Over the prelim water jump

And the most epic pic of the weekend. The prelim drop.

With the prelim dragon wing!

Off to the corners we went. The training corner is very inviting and open, so I wanted to try the prelim corner to get Bacon used to jumping corners without as much space and to see if she had a thought about running out at it. Of course, she did not. She trucked through the water, and aimed smack where I wanted her at that corner and pinged right over it like a pro. So many pats and good girls where cooed at her. After we were done playing in that area, we headed towards the coffins.

Prelim corner, check!

Bacon skipped over the coffin in the correct three strides this time, but next to us was the prelim coffin. It was comprised of a ditch, jump on a bump, and ditch on the backside. I had never seen a coffin like that before and really didn't know how Bacon would react to that one. E rode through it first and said it rode great and to give it a try. So we headed to it and oh lordy, it was hilarious. Unfortunately, as I was going over the middle part of it, the camera ran out of space, but Bacon's ditch efforts were hilarious and had me busting up laughing. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for me!

Mom, what the hell kind of gopher was over here?

C element of training coffin.

B element of prelim coffin.

We headed towards one last prelim combo to see what it looked like. E was pretty happy with her horse, but thought Bacon would do well over it and that we should give it a try. Really, I think she just wanted to make us do things. It was a vertical faced jump angled on some terrain followed by three strides to a large roll top also on an angle. We went back quite a bit to get a good gallop going and made a go at it. Bacon had a bit of hesitation at it, which made us come in to the next jump a bit long, but we flew. I had to take another shot at it, being unhappy with that, and there was no hesitation the second time but now she was feeling too strong and dragging me through the jumps. I knew I no longer had enough strength to properly and safely jump her over these things, so I called it a day and just galloped her out on the track for a minute and cooled her out. And she danced and jigged all the way back home.

My other favorite from this adventure. Except I don't know what I am doing.

OH GOD HOW DO I RIDE THIS HIND END

So, basically, my horse proved to me that she is even more of a bad ass than I thought. She will jump whatever I point her at. Doesn't matter what I am doing up there really. Just aim and hang on. I really loved all of the themed jumps at Camelot and the openeness of the course, as it is very different from the trees and terrain from the stuff we have done in the past. And, as you can tell, it was Bacon approved.

This is my mare and she is psycho but awesome.