Last Wednesday I competed in the Jumper Jackpot run by the
Hamilton Hunt Club. 27 entries competing through two jumper rounds in an
attempt to go double clear to proceed to the jump off.
When I got the show I went to put on my show jacket and
realized I had accidentally taken my hubby’s suit jacket instead… well that
wasn’t going to work. Luckily jackets were excused so I rode in my show shirt.
Not a great start to the day!
The course was challenging – set on grass after a day of
rain so it was a little slick. All my horses are barefoot and I have never
wanted shoes before, but that grass did make me think we may do better with
some corks grabbing into the ground.
I brought both Dreamer and Thetis to the show – originally I
was supposed to ride Thetis & Sabio, but Sabio ended up having an abscess
and was still a bit ouchy so that wouldn’t be fair to compete him. I tried
Dreamer after I knew Sabio was sore – I had already paid for two entries so I
wanted to see if another horse could go. In our practice session we were
clearing 3ft easily – it turns out Dreamer can be quite the jumper!
When we got to the show and I saw the triple combination, a
one stride combination, and a triple bar oxer, I thought Dreamer might be able
to survive the course, but it wouldn’t be ideal to have that be his first
jumper show. Instead I withdrew my second entry. It actually worked out really
well because Thetis had a buddy on the trailer, and Dreamer had a great
experience of coming to the show, riding around the warm up ring for a while
and then getting to relax.
Thetis was slipping a bit on the grass, but she was showing
me how she tries her heart out for me and was still managing to leave all the
rails up. We rode our first round less than perfect with a few chipped strides
but Thetis was good to me and left every rail up.
In the second round we had our act together a bit more and
nailed our striding a lot better as we were figuring out the class. Out of the
27 entries, only 10 combinations went double clear and advanced to the jump
off. My goal was to turn as tight as I could without slipping on the grass –
and leave the rails up!
We rode a clear round with a nice time – only 3 seconds away
from first place. We finished in third place and won $500. It was a really fun
day, so I have a feeling I’ll be back there next year!
Next time I will make sure the right show clothes are in the
trailer!
Check out our highlights https://youtu.be/LZ3POzevGuM
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