I decided to enter the 95cm Amateur and the 1m Open. A few months ago the British Novice looked big to me, let alone the 1m Open which looked completely unachievable but our lessons over winter with Carl Belson and Chris Burton have really upped both of our confidence levels and British Novice seems a bit small now. I felt ready to tackle the 1m Open knowing it would be 1m10 in the jump off. I decided to use the dressage bridle with Neue Schule snaffle and drop noseband again as it worked so well in our jump lesson the previous day.
Got there just in time to walk the course for the 95cm Amateur. It all looked very doable height wise although there were some tight turnbacks in the first half of the course and not really anywhere to make up time in the second phase. Monty warmed up brilliantly - used all the techniques Chris has been working with us on - keeping everything soft, rewarding him for being soft, canter to halt and staying beautifully soft on both reins, then moving the canter forwards. He felt brilliant. Started to jump him and he was meeting everything spot on with plenty of power, staying straight and never touching a pole. Did what Chris suggested and did an ascending oxer then whacked it up and out to a big square one to try and catch him by surprise but he cleared it no probs.
In we went and he jumped superbly. I just fluffed up the first fence in the second phase which probably lost us a few seconds but other than that wasn't sure where I could have really made up time. Anyway, we're not really show-jumpers and I haven't practised jump off techniques as more bothered about leaving the fences up. Still, a little disappointed to not get placed given they placed to 13th as huge class of 65. I was pleased with him as he felt like he listened and he stayed soft and connected and met the fences in the right place.
Pro pics (starts with fence 2 which he absolutely pinged and makes it look tiny - click next for more):
Little break before the next class. Walked it and they had moved a few things around. The first phase flowed much better but the second phase had some tricky options which involved some seriously tight turns or some very long alternatives. Planned both routes just in case. Back on to warmup and more of the same. He was beginning to anticipate the canter to halts which is great as Chris said this is the key to getting him to listen to my half halts. His canter was big, powerful but soft and he was towing me into the fences - great feeling. Practised a sharp turn after the oxer and he made it feel easy.
So, in we went and he flew round the first phase clear so suddenly we were into the jump off phase and it all just came up a bit quick and I was concentrating on getting over the full up 1m10 fences and then it was too late to think about making the tight turn options so ended up going for a jaunt around the arena between each fence - probably had the slowest time ever. Unfortunately because of that he got a bit long and on his forehand and clonked the smallest little vertical on the course - argh! Got him back together after that and he pinged the final big oxer no probs. Really must stop having the smallest fence on the course down - not a good habit to get into! Fences looked tiny after Chris having us jump 1m30 the day before, all the related distances worked well, he flew all the doubles no probs and generally he felt full of confidence, keen and happy and so finished with a huge grin on my face. Our biggest course to date and it felt easy peasy and not a dodgy shot in the whole course. In the photos he's clearing them by miles. The homework is really paying off and the horse must be grateful that finally I've learnt to ride him and let him get on with the jumping! Now, I just need to work on thinking ahead and riding some tight turns if I actually want to be competitive at BSJA.
A few stills from the videos:
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