A 40-Day Crash Course in Eventing: I Trusted You!

Welcome to A 40-Day Crash Course in Eventing: A Prelim Mom’s Journey to Starter. I would like to invite you to follow along as I attempt to ride in my first … and only event, Jump Start Horse Trials in Lexington, KY. Sit down, pour a glass of wine (enjoy an extra one for me as I have all but given it up) and watch it unfold. Will I make it? Who knows! Should I even be attempting this? Who cares! There are no baby steps to be taken as we are short on time, but my not so trusty steed and I are taking it day by day. Come along for the ride!

Sunday, August 27

Today was my first ever cross-country schooling. It was Em’s and Loki’s (her horse) first outing since he had foot problems back in May. Needless to say, we were both pretty excited.

I hadn’t thought to ask Erika who would be joining us but much to my relief the first thing we saw as we approached was a red, cotton topped lady and her cute painted steed! Val! What a relief. I can fall off in front of her and not be too embarrassed! Erika and Jess, another adult amateur student, joined us and in record time we were headed out to the field to warm up.

After a bit of walking, I asked Romeo for a trot. That’s not right. What’s wrong? Is he bucking? Trantering? Is he broken? Oh God! He’s broken! The dream is over already! I got him stopped and quickly look to Erika for an explanation. Laughter between her and Val ensues. What the heck???

I look toward Em who coolly says, “You might want to take those hind boots off. I don’t think he likes them.” Seriously? I quickly dismount and remove the hind boots. Magically, he finds the ability to trot on. Later, I learned that Em had saved the jumping boots for Loki and she had put Romes in some ill fitted dressage boots. Note to self: Learn to tell the difference between jumping and dressage boots, and don’t forget to come back and get the boots once we’re done here.   

Our warm up continued with me cantering in circles, squeezing and trotting. No problem. I watched as the more advanced riders popped over jumps, Loki looked like a fire breathing dragon, excited to be back at it again. See, Romeo, we don’t have to do any of this. No need to get excited.

My turn. With instruction from Erika, we started jumping the things. There was no screaming but lots of laughter. Ok, there might have been a bit of screaming when Romeo latched onto and headed straight for a jump that was not only much larger but backwards! It was a laughable moment. We were having fun.  I felt good about it. My eyes were up and my heels were down. I’m not too sure about the kicking part but we were going over so it must have been right.

Em encouraged me to try a Beginner Novice combination. The first jump was spot on, the second jump … I don’t know. We went over it but I felt my back crack as we did. No need to call the chiropractor now.  

We were almost done. There was one more jump to go. It was a barn thingy. I knew this jump. Years ago, Em was schooling Romeo and I was on my horse, Loki. Em asked if we could switch mounts so she could pop Loki over it. I remember the look on her face. I remember Erika’s eyebrows lift as she said, ”Do it again.” It was the beginning of the end of my partnership with Loki.

Anyway, today, I didn’t like that jump. It didn’t look friendly. Emily sensed my hesitation. “You want to follow me over it?” I nod. Em and Loki went over. As I approached, my foot slid too far through my stirrup. ABORT! ABORT!  I pulled up on the reins and veered away from the jump at the last second. I heard Erika yell her disapproval! She explained that now Romeo would refuse it. For those of you who don’t know, Romes is kind-of known for refusing. Erika says he’s insecure. He has been accused of not being a team player. I don’t know what his problem is but for some reason, I thought he and I would not have an issue with this. It’s green as grass for Pete’s sake!

Little Emily and Romeo working on their refusal issues years ago: 

I approached the jump again, feeling more insecure than before.  Romeo felt the question in my confidence and he took advantage. He stopped. I went from fear to anger with American Pharoah speed. Thankfully, I had a crop (which I had tried to convince Erika I didn’t need). Romeo felt my wrath. How dare you??? I trusted you!!!  We circled back around and managed to get the job done.

It was determined that Erika needed to dust off her megaphone (Val and I can’t hear you!) and I needed to carry a crop … always. My first cross-country schooling was overI lived, although my pride and confidence were a bit shaken. I breathed a sigh of relief as we drove away leaving a bit disappointed and without those damn hind boots!  Before we headed home, Erika flexed Romeo and we decided to hold off on injections. He looked pretty darned sound.

Heels down, eyes up, leg on.

35 days to Jump Start

Read more on Julie’s blog here