Jessica Bortner-Harris wrote a great article for EN about riding in her very first advanced at Southern Pines, and then followed it up with a fantastic story from The Fork. The articles have been a big hit and Jessica generously agreed to continue to write for us about her first season at advanced. Take a look at the photos, Bug can flat out jump! For more info on Jessica check out her website here. If you have a story to share, send it to [email protected]
Photo by Brant Gamma, used with permission
Learning to Laugh, by Jessica Bortner-Harris
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a hard worker and very dedicated to my goals and all of the work it takes to achieve them. They will also tell you that I am very competitive, and I work very hard to improve myself. In the past, I had a very tough time dealing with failure and any criticism that came my way. However, in the past year, I have learned one of the biggest lessons that horses can teach you. You MUST be able to laugh at yourself. So begins my story….
Fairhill was a string of firsts for me: my first CIC***, my first event at this level without my amazing coach there, and my first event at this level while competing another horse. I was excited about doing the CIC*** , and I knew that Bug was ready. However, I was a bit worried that I wasn’t going to be able to hack it all. Bonnie told me, “ I believe in your path. Now, just get on with it, will ya?” After the initial shock, (see above comment about taking criticism) I realized that so many people were behind me and believing in me. Why shouldn’t I believe in myself?
I arrived at Fairhill only to realize that I was #1, first on course, the trailblazer. Great. They picked ME to show them the way? I sucked it up and dove in head first. The weather was great for dressage day, and Bug was feeling much less tense than at The Fork. However, without Bonnie there to warm me up, I forgot to really ride for the brilliance. He was quiet and obedient, but I didn’t really get his trot uphill and lovely like I had it at The Fork. We did get some 7’s on our half pass and a few other things, which really made me happy. Our score was a 63.9. Not nearly as low as I am hoping to get in the future, but for where we are in our training, I was thrilled. I know that we have what it takes to get the low scores, but it is just going to take time.
Saturday morning brought a new adventure for us. The course looked good with a lot of tough questions, but I felt like Bug and I were prepared and ready to go. Being first on course, I knew that people would be watching so they knew what to expect for their rides in the 3 star and Advanced. The footing on course was like cement, even though the grounds crew had spent countless hours aerating. I had decided that I was going to let Bug go at his own pace, as I didn’t want to push him on the hard ground. I wanted to be as efficient in my turns as I could to help my time.
So, there I was…… I came out of the box and jumped fence 1 nicely and looked to make my direct right turn to fence 2. I had decided to cut off a bit of the field and then drop down to the second fence to jump it. Unfortunately, in my gusto to become this amazing rider who can make time, I didn’t cut down in front of the fence soon enough. This put Bug and I at an angle to the big bench, giving me a bit of a long spot to the fence. Bug left the ground and then decided to put back down on the seat of the bench before pushing off and jumping huge off the other side. During this excitement, I was tossed up into the air……*PFFFFFFFFT*……Yes, that’s right. My Hit Air vest deployed as I was sailing, only to land back down on my horse to continue on. I know what you’re thinking. She can’t be serious?!?! She rode the entire CIC*** with her air vest deployed. Yes, Folks, I did. I am really hoping that someone got the incident on film, because I’m sure it was quite a scene. There was NO WAY I was going to stop at Fence 2. I hadn’t even come close to falling off. I went on with gusto. I couldn’t breathe, my neck was held in one position due to the collar that inflates around the back of your neck, my arms were stuck out of my shoulders at a precarious angle, but darn it, I wasn’t going to quit! Bug rocked around the rest of the course without incident. After talking to some of the other riders, I think that the hard footing was causing him not to want to jump out of gallop stride, as it was harder on his feet. He was a bit slow off the ground at the big tables, but he jumped through all of the combinations like a champ. I figured that if he was going to put in his best effort, than I could do the same, deployed air vest or not! J I realized as the weekend went on, just how many people had heard the story of my XC ride. I guess that’s one way to get famous!
Saturday night left me with a lot of icing of legs and feet. I wanted to be sure that my boy was feeling good and taken care of. He trotted up beautifully for the jog on Sunday, and we were off to show jumping. The course at the spring Fairhill is in the smaller arena on the fairgrounds side. It is much smaller, making the turns tight and tricking you into being underpowered. I had my plan, and I was ready to execute. Bug and I ROCKED that show jump course. He is so amazing. He jumped the course beautifully, and I felt like I rode it very well. Our show jumping has been so great since we moved up, and I’m just thrilled to death, as I really struggled with it in the past. We had 3 time penalties, but I believe it was from Bug’s air time, as we were really going around the course and taking the short turns. We got quite a few compliments on our round, and I was grinning from ear to ear! What an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING horse I have! To make matters even more exciting, we finished 5th in the CIC***! What a brilliant end to our weekend!
What is the moral of the story, you ask? Well, was I ashamed of myself for totally messing up fence 2 on XC? Yes. Would it do me any good to beat myself up over it? No. Have I learned my lesson? Yes. Taking all of that into consideration, I think that laughing at myself is just the medicine I needed! I mean, how many people can say that they’ve ridden an entire CIC*** course with their vest deployed?? It makes for a pretty hilarious story, and it’s good for the soul to be able to laugh at yourself. If we take ourselves too seriously, life just isn’t fun.
I am now officially qualified for the CCI*** at Bromont in June! I am just over the moon about that! I have a lot of fund raising ahead of me. You can check out my FB and my website if you are interested in helping me on my journey! Bug will get a little breather from competition before he runs the Advanced at Chattahoochee in a few weeks. We will check back after that! Thanks again to all of our supporters! I feel very blessed.
