Only Forward

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post.  I've been avoiding writing because, well, things with Leo kind of suck right now.  The injection appears to not have worked, which was among the worst-case scenarios.  I've been playing phone tag with my vet for several days now, and have not been able to discuss what our next options are.  Leo has been living the pasture puff life, and seems perfectly happy...and I've been trying like mad to not look at any pictures or videos or reminders of the fact that I may never be able to ride him again.  It is truly heartbreaking to think about; I've had him for less than a year and already our career together may be over.  When I have more to talk about, I'll write a whole post about it, but for now there isn't much to say.  We're still in stasis.  And I'm trying to move forward.

MegaMare selfie

In the process of not-thinking-about-Leo, I decided to enter in a local jumper show.  I'm taking one of the lesson horses - a 19-year-old, 17.something hh Holsteiner mare named Jordyn.

She's something of a monster, but I love her

I've been primarily riding Jordyn and another mare, Fante, since Leo went lame.  They are both challenging and interesting horses, and I really enjoy them both (and appreciate, so much, the fact that I ride at a barn with an abundance of ponies for me to play with while mine is out of commission).  This will be my first ever time showing jumpers (aside from my jumper round at the mini event last year), and Jordyn is something of an old pro in that department - but still lively enough to make things interesting.

she also likes to make interesting faces

Our lessons this week focused on preparing us for making quick decisions in the ring.  Trainer K set up a single crossrail about five strides out from a line of seven different fences in a row.  As you were going over the crossrail, she would call out which fence you needed to take next.  And she didn't always call them the same thing every time.

awkward distance is awkward

Obviously, not all of these jumps ended up being pretty...and once we missed the fence entirely because my brain didn't catch up to what she said.

this mare is an actual saint.

Jordyn was incredibly game for this exercise, and took a lot of jumps that were definitely not approached well.  Trainer then moved the initial fence closer, so that there was even less time to think, and added a second step - she'd call a third jump as we went over the second one, and we'd have to come back over the row of jumps without crossing our paths and then go back over the intro jump (now a vertical).  It was...interesting.

and I didn't get any media of the whole thing, but look at how prettily this mare jumps!

On Wednesday, I rode Jordyn again for the same exercise with Trainer A, and she put some of the jumps up for us.  She also called out some extremely tight turns so that we could really practice for jumper rounds, and I was able to set Jordyn back and almost pivot to make things work - something that was incredibly impressive from a mare of her size/age (I had no idea that she could move like that, and it was awesome, and I have no media (naturally)).

always making things work

Riding this exercise twice with two different trainers and getting to practice fast decision making and fast turns really helped boost my confidence about the show on Sunday.  B and hopefully Leah will be there to cheer me on, and I am really excited to get out and go somewhere with a horse for the first time since March, even if it isn't with Leo.  

Prisma always makes things so pretty

I am trying, trying, trying to keep moving forward.  Leo's situation is less than ideal, but it isn't the end of everything, and I have to remember that.  This show is meant to be fun and exciting - my goal is to stay happy the whole time, and to not be too hard on myself if my rounds don't go as well as I think they should - and to remember my courses.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and it won't be horrendously hot.