Heading into winter

We are on our way home from Chatt Hills CCI 2* at the moment. It did not go as planned however, I do feel like I was able to work out a few things on xc although in the end, I had three stops and was eliminated.
Frankie came out of the box and felt great. We jumped the big tables at 1,2, and 3 very well. I wanted to get a good pace going out of the box. This course started out big so I knew I needed to get going! The first question came with a turning corner question at 4a,b,c and she was brilliant! I was a little concerned about it because it encouraged a backwards ride and was very similar to the question at Fair Hill I was not able to get done the first time in the spring. Frankie came back to me well for the A element, turned right to the left handed corner and was on it, then turned left to a skinny brush out. We galloped three more big tables before running into a tiny pond to jump a log in the middle. We had our first stop there at the log because I did not ride it- I took it for granted! It was tiny and caught  me off guard for sure. We came back around to it and jumped it well and went on our way. Maybe I was still thinking about that jump as I made the turn to a big tiger trap type jump. I thought we were right on it so I did not add additional leg and she stopped but not dirty. I needed to react sooner- or at all. As I cantered away from it I wondered if she'd jump it now that she saw the huge ditch and knew how big it was. I looped around, she put her eye on it and took me right to it. From there we had another massive table over a ditch that I wanted to stay to the right of because the footing in front of it sloped downward and encouraged them to drop their shoulders. She sailed over it easily. We galloped up to the next question. I angled over a brush roll top, ran up the steep mound, had to turn off the path on the downhill side to a corner sitting at the bottom.  She held perfectly at the top of the mound, like I expected and I was able to keep a packaged canter down the hill, on the line I walked, to the corner. We galloped on and jumped a few more big galloping jumps. My final stop came at the A element of a house into the water. It was not the water, it was the terrain that got me. I jumped the log rolls at the top of the hill before the water and never put her back together as I cantered down the hill. I never pushed her back up and got her in front of my leg.
In FEI you are allowed three total stops and that was my third. I walked her back to the barns thinking about how amazing she felt at the corners and over all the huge tables she had jumped. She came off thinking she was amazing- and she was where I rode her. At this level I am realizing that she needs me to support her at all the fences. Bottom line. I need to ride her better to get the results I know we are capable of. She has shown me that she can do it. My three stops were at three different fences but all the same problem. I took my leg off and didn't ride her up to the contact.
I am disappointed for sure but only in myself. I am though coming home with an extremely healthy horse, knowing my dressage was much improved from last year, and the feeling of having fixed some issues with my gallop to allow her to jump as many big tables as we did- well! We didn't helicopter over anything!
From here we just keep pressing forward. I plan to go to Aiken and school with Jan and run a select prelim or two where I can focus on giving her a good ride and I will be setting up jumps at the bottom of hills at home to school frequently.
A huge thank you to Gail Jackson, Collyn Smitherman, and her dad Mr. Smitherman, for making it an enjoyable weekend! Collyn completed her second training as well!

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Gearing down then up again

I stayed on Plan A for quite some time this year.  Now I am not sure what letter of the alphabet I am on but I DO have a plan for that as well! 

The summer did not go as planned, nor getting to the 3* at Richland so I am faced with making a decision.  Do I put all of my eggs into one basket and go for a CIC3* this fall, if I could even find one I can get to, or do I play it safe and redo my 2* since that two year qualification runs out at the end of the year?  Well, without too much thought, I decided to redo the 2*, which gives me two more years to get the 3* done.  We are already qualified for the 3* but I just feel like Frankie and I need more exposure at the Advanced level. 

From there we will focus on our winter work and prepare for the February Poplar and Pine Top.  Jan will be in Aiken for the winter and I hope to get there for a long weekend before the Advanced at Pine Top. 

Here’s to hoping for another very mild winter!!