Let’s talk about how much Clyde rocked this weekend. I entered him in the BN for Saturday and N on Sunday. I’m pretty sure I was insane when I entered him in Novice. I keep forgetting I have only been riding this horse since the beginning of March and that he’s only 5. But he’s so easy! And is such a tier.
Saturday didn’t go quite as planned…. Mostly because we competed in all phases with only one front shoe. I was having a wonderful dressage warm up and just as I was heading into the arena, Clyde goes horribly lame. I pulled up and we discovered that he had sprung his right shoe and was stepping on the clip. Poor guy. The “on call” farrier was not answering and no tools could be found, so a Pony Club Dad removed the shoe with a screwdriver. I did my test with only one shoe on. Definitely not our best. I waited around to ride show jumping until the very last minute, hoping the farrier would show. But still no farrier. I decided to give it a shot, but pulled up after the first fence because the footing was too much for his barefoot. Thankfully the shoer showed before XC and I headed out. Clyde had a small trip a stride out from the warm up fence, but I didn’t think much of it. I figured I needed more leg to help his balance….. Little did I know, that trip was him removing the shoe completely. I headed out to XC and had a great round. I had to hike out to XC warm up to retrieve my lost shoe after I discovered it was missing. It was stuck in the mud in front of the warm up fence.
I was a bit worried about Sunday when I walked the N course. The beginning was lovely and inviting, but the last few fences were solid N questions. We had to go thru the water then to a fairly large down bank (see photo below) and then to the hanging log over the natural ditch to a rock oxer with a fairly tight right hand turn to a max table. Sunday started with the farrier tacking the shoe back on and we headed to dressage. The day was already quite warm and the arena was running ahead, so I had a quick warm up and went early. Clyde was lovely, and only had one goof when he picked up the cross canter in the left canter transition. I’m still not sure how that happened…. But that earned us a “3”. But the test was decent with a few “8”’s and we scored a 35.
Show jumping was twisty and I was a bit worried about the one stride since I have never ridden Clyde thru a one stride. But I figure I have ridden lots of one strides, so we would be just fine. My nerves were put to rest as Clyde rocked around the course.
After our stadium I was feeling more confident about the XC. Clyde was focused and forward the entire ride. He trotted straight into the water and the only fence he was a little worried about was the rock oxer in the tree line. I closed my leg to support and reassure him and he sailed over it. Overall it was a much better day then Saturday. We finished on our dressage score of 35 in 4th place. Go Clyde.
Saturday didn’t go quite as planned…. Mostly because we competed in all phases with only one front shoe. I was having a wonderful dressage warm up and just as I was heading into the arena, Clyde goes horribly lame. I pulled up and we discovered that he had sprung his right shoe and was stepping on the clip. Poor guy. The “on call” farrier was not answering and no tools could be found, so a Pony Club Dad removed the shoe with a screwdriver. I did my test with only one shoe on. Definitely not our best. I waited around to ride show jumping until the very last minute, hoping the farrier would show. But still no farrier. I decided to give it a shot, but pulled up after the first fence because the footing was too much for his barefoot. Thankfully the shoer showed before XC and I headed out. Clyde had a small trip a stride out from the warm up fence, but I didn’t think much of it. I figured I needed more leg to help his balance….. Little did I know, that trip was him removing the shoe completely. I headed out to XC and had a great round. I had to hike out to XC warm up to retrieve my lost shoe after I discovered it was missing. It was stuck in the mud in front of the warm up fence.
I was a bit worried about Sunday when I walked the N course. The beginning was lovely and inviting, but the last few fences were solid N questions. We had to go thru the water then to a fairly large down bank (see photo below) and then to the hanging log over the natural ditch to a rock oxer with a fairly tight right hand turn to a max table. Sunday started with the farrier tacking the shoe back on and we headed to dressage. The day was already quite warm and the arena was running ahead, so I had a quick warm up and went early. Clyde was lovely, and only had one goof when he picked up the cross canter in the left canter transition. I’m still not sure how that happened…. But that earned us a “3”. But the test was decent with a few “8”’s and we scored a 35.
Show jumping was twisty and I was a bit worried about the one stride since I have never ridden Clyde thru a one stride. But I figure I have ridden lots of one strides, so we would be just fine. My nerves were put to rest as Clyde rocked around the course.
After our stadium I was feeling more confident about the XC. Clyde was focused and forward the entire ride. He trotted straight into the water and the only fence he was a little worried about was the rock oxer in the tree line. I closed my leg to support and reassure him and he sailed over it. Overall it was a much better day then Saturday. We finished on our dressage score of 35 in 4th place. Go Clyde.