The weekend of August 6th and 7th, Hennessy and I competed at the Penny Oaks Horse Trials at Hoosier Horse Park in Edinburgh, IN. This was Hennessy and my first ever recognized horse trials. Although Hennessy had been to Hoosier Horse Park many times, this was a little different with a lot more horses.
We arrived at the park on Friday afternoon to get Henny settled in. I rode him around when I got there and went in the arena to school him a little bit. After riding, I gave him a bath and let him chill for the night. My trainer and I walked the cross country course with a couple of other competitors.
The next morning I got there around 7:30 am, fed Hennessy, got him out and lunged him and then watched some prelim dressage. I then walked the cross country course again, which surprisingly was not that hard of a course to follow. I just wanted to have it down in my head. Later that afternoon, I finally got on Henny to warm up for our dressage test. We had a great warm up and the ring steward was really helpful on letting everyone know how long until it was your turn. I went in to the dressage ring and rode a great test.
After Hennessy and I had rested for a little while, I got ready for cross country. I went in the warm up and popped over a few jumps and then the ring steward told me to head over when I was ready. I went in to the start box and was cantering off as soon as the start box official counted down to 1. I went around cross country at a steady pace and only had one run out and no time faults. When I got to the finish line, my mom and trainer were waiting and cheering me on. The cute, young, very kind girls at the finish line tent handed me a tiny glass of water while I gave them my cross country penny. I had a great time on the cross country course!
The next day we got to the show grounds around the same time as Saturday - this was stadium jumping day. The show began with prelim and ran through all the divisions as fast as possible. The show officials were trying to keep the pace going due to high temperatures and humidity predicted for later in the day. We had time in the morning to watch some prelim jumping and watch their victory gallops. I got on Henny around 12 pm and just walked around until it was closer to time for my division to begin. The ring steward called my number after I was all warmed up and I went in to the ring. I had a clean round with no time faults - it was perfect!
I had a really good time at my first recognized horse trials. The people that ran the Penny Oaks show were all very friendly and helpful. Eventers seem more laid back and fun - I love the atmosphere. My experience at the show I will remember forever. I can't wait until my next recognized horse trials!
Cross Country !
Stadium Jumping !
Dressage !
The jumping man !
"Hey everyone look at me !"
Waiting to jump, ohhh do I hate waiting !
3 comments:
You and Henny were awesome! So proud of you :)
Did you place? And what level did you compete at? I've never been to the XC part of the Hoosier Horse Park. It looks very nice! Congrats on a great showing.
I didn't place , but i was very peased with how well Henny did ! I competed at Beginner Novic !
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