October 24th, we went to our final Haskins show of the year. The weather was a bit gloomy and we were hoping to make it out of there before we got heavily rained on. Throughout the day, it was sprinkling here and there but the footing was good overall.
In all three in-ring classes, Jet was a super star! He was listening to me most of the time and we didn't break at all! In the pleasure class, we changed the tempo of out our trot alot. He did not like one particular side of the rail where the footing was really deep so he would rush that wall at the trot. Ofcourse, that was the wall the judge was watching. But, the other horses in the class did similar things or keeped changing their headset etc. He was really consistant with his head and neck carriage. I let him have the amount of rein he wanted that I was comfortable with. Since we were both relaxed, he kept his head ncie and low! In the trail class, we had the trotting poles (our nemesis) that defeated us yet again...something to work on...post coming about that later! The rest of the course went smoothly though. The obstacles included walking over poles, backing through the L, weaving and circling around cones, over a board, etc. In all four classes, we placed 2nd and got Reserve Champion in the Green horse division for the day!! Wooo! Pics coming!
The hunter pace was AMAZING. Jet was awesome yet again! I went there planning to just walk and trot around and maybe go over a few pre-elementary height logs. We got there, tacked up, and headed off to the warm up. We warmed up...okay. He was full of something...that's for sure. He just wanted to go! Well, atleast he picked to be the energizer bunny on the day of the hunter pace! He DEFINATELY did not get tired at all.
We were team number 30 (Mary-Kate and I). They called for our team and counted us down and we were off! We walked the first part where it was very hilly but then picked up a trot on our way to the field with the ditch. The ditch was covered in leaves but I attempted it anyways. Jet didn't quite understand the concept of the ditch but trotted over it just fine. We passed the team that went right before us because we thought they were a slow and steady type of team. Turns out...they weren't!
We had a problem with that team right away...they were either going 2 mph or trying to canter up our butts. We couldn't win in that situation! We stayed ahead of them for some time until they started yelling at us...then we let them pass. It is people like that who can ruin a fun experience for others.
Anyways, besides that one little inconvience, we had BLAST! There were tons of jumps to choose from and anything I pointed Jet at, he went right over! No hesitation! We even did a 2' raised log uphill and he didn't even think about stopping. He was amazing! Love my horse (: We did all sorts of jumps. We did the pre-elementary logs (even did a line very nicely!) and also did some elementary jumps! We did a larger log, a coup, modified dog-house?, and several other jumps. Inbetween our jumping escapades, we did a lot of walking.
There were tons of hills, but the excellent footing made up for it. We got to go past some beautiful scenery including a pond, a nature reserve, and much more. We thought we got lost a few times but we never actualy were, thank goodness!
If you ever get the chance to go to Apple Knoll for horse trials, cross country schooling, or a hunter pace.... GO! It is WELL worth the money and you will not be disapppointed!
-Emily and Jet
