C-Horse Event Team: Everyone wants to be friends with a winner

Not gonna lie - still on a bit of a high from the weekend. Ok, maybe that, and the two Pepsi's I've drank, but either way, I feel pretty pumped.

Friday started like any other event - with me and my three boys headed down good ol' US 1 to Southern Pines. Pete was jealous that his big brothers got spared my singing by being in the trailer, but he declined the offer to ride in the tack room.

Prophet was up first in the sandbox and put in a pretty decent attempt at a test. I figured it was ok when the judge complemented us, but, really, I never know when it comes to that horse how the judges will like him. I guess this one thought he was pretty ok, scoring us at 27.5, and in the lead by at least a few points.

I had plenty of time to soak in our success, as Flash's time wasn't for another 7 hours.... ugh.

Needless to say, Flash came out a bit over the whole situation. And being surrounded by several advanced/olympic riders didn't make me feel much better, as they went around on their beautiful, big, babies. Me and my little appy baby felt a bit... well... flat. And Flash doesn't score well flat - he scores well because he's pretty freaking brilliant, and our brilliance wasn't really with us. He put in a respectable, mistake free test for a 34 - which put us WAY down the leader board in 9th place. After winning the first by such a margin on my non-dressage horse, being that far down on my usually dressage-gifted horse made me feel... flat.

Oh well, JUMPING was coming up!!!

On day two I had some help, which meant I couldn't be too green feeling on the drive down to jump. For Flash it was SJ day - a day to play with the little jumps, and show everyone how little control I have of where he takes off. He jumped a spirited round, that only included two missed spots (success!) and zero penalties, to move all the way up to 3rd. Never did I ever thing there'd be that much movement in a novice class!

Then I had a short turn around to P's XC round, a course that I was excited to run, but a little apprehensive of P's fitness. If I'd known I was going to be in the lead, I would have done a few more galloping sets! Luckily for me, I barely had to touch P's bit the entire way around the course. After epic misses at my first two fences, we got our act together and P ate the rest of the course for lunch. He was pretty much amazing, coming in right at optimum time.

A quick glance at live scores as we drove home showed that we were the only one in the division to go double clear, to have the lead by 12 points. Once again, I was elated, and celebrated Saturday night by falling asleep on my couch at an embarrassingly early hour.

Now that my ponies were really in prime positions - I picked up yet another person to help, and so the two horses, one dog and 3 humans headed South on #1 Sunday morning.

Flash was once again first up. He made easy work of the jumps around the track, with only minor conversations about control/steering (picture me stopping in the middle of the track after fence 3... and fence 5... and fence 7.... when he sort of finally got the point). If only I could direct ALL his energy in the correct direction, he'd really be unstoppable. We managed a clear round though, to hold onto our yellow ribbon placing - Very proud of my little fighter!

P was my last ride, and the last show jumping ride of the show. He felt good in warm-up - so good that I did very limited jumps. Apparently I needed a few more as my eye was a little off to the first two in the ring. Luckily, P recognized my shortcomings, took the reins (so to speak) and jumped around the track with a monkey on his back. At that point we had 5 rails in hand (20 points), and we didn't need a single one. Landslide victory went to the Diddy man! I guess you can tell that I don't win often cause I did the victory gallop the wrong way, but oh well -- Diddy was even confused as to why he had to be the first one to go!

A super HUGE thanks to our new sponsors Draper Equine Therapies, IRH Helmets, and Custom Saddlery (expect a blog post shortly about these companies), and as always, the rest of our supporters - Cur-Ost, Animals to Wear, BonVivant Equine, Hoof Wraps, and Whinny Warmers!

Here are some pics from the weekend.