Day 1 of a Real Eventing Clinic

So Pongo and I put on our big kid pants and rode in a clinic this weekend.  He was happy to not be playing in the sandbox.  I was tentative on how it would go.  I gave him last weekend off with the plan of dressage Monday and Tuesday, jump Wednesday, Thursday off, and dressage on Friday.  I got a text from S Monday saying he pulled both shoes.  He has super tender feet so there was no chance of riding him until they were back on which turned into Friday.  I hopped on him and did a little bit of flatwork to remind him that he did work.  It wasn't for very long because it was hot.  With the heat index we have been well over 100 F for a few weeks now.

Saturday rolled around and I had a dressage lesson in the morning and then stadium late afternoon.  The dressage went really well.  We really focused on straightness.  I need to stop over riding him, but overall Nick was very pleased with our flat work.  It didn't go the full 45 minutes but Pongo and I were both drenched in sweat and Nick didn't want to drain the tank since we were jumping in the afternoon.

I watched the other groups go and Nick set up some challenges (the prelim/training group had issues).  He kept just lowering the height and asking the same things from all the groups.  I thought he might let up for my group, but I was wrong.  None of the people in my group have jumped a lot, so the technical aspects were challenging.  I think instead of being at 2 feet we were closer to 2'3"-2'6".  Either way we all survived.

It started off with a grid that was a vertical, bounce, one stride, bounce, bounce, to an oxer.  Once we did that a couple times we added a right turn with a wide rollback to a pink jump then a sharp (to me) turn to a vertical.  Then we would swing around go through the grid again with another tight turn into an oxer and four strides to a vertical.  Pongo and I struggled with the turns.  We blew through several before we finally got it together and made them.  Unfortunately, we never managed to get a whole series were we got both turns.  With time, my riding will get better and his adjustability will too.

Sadly I didn't get any pictures or videos from this day.  Overall I was pleased with our effort.  My riding could have been better but Pongo was very honest and willing.  There were a few lines that I set up horribly and he still tried his little heart out.

Where are my cookies????