Warren was AWESOME at the jumper show Saturday!!!! (nevermind the cold miserable weather we had to stand around in to get there)

This was a show put on by the local pony club - and schooling to boot- so that means lots of little ones with little horses.. but that's okay, they came later in the day. The morning was mostly adults and exp. riders; 3' to 3'9" classes; super fun to watch. Though I started to panic cause my first glance at the course my thoughts were "holy crap, Warren can't make those TIGHT roll back turns and then set up to jump again that fast!! eeeeek!!!" we had signed up for 2'3" and a 2'6" class.... heights are easy, its the turns I was really worried about!

So I set out to memorize my courses and just plan on having a clean round, time didn't matter to us any more besides,  it is a schooling show; we are there to school and learn, right?
well... it turns out my classes did not come till WAY after lunch the 2' to 2'3" 13 yrs and under classes were HUGE! they took awhile so there was LOTS of standing around. I am really thankful for the big huge roomy you can see out trailer we have. Warren was pleased as can be standing on the trailer eating hay and watching everyone pass by.

So 2:30 rolls around and its time to start thinking about warming up (did I mention it was a REALLY long day?!) We had a super light warm up (wanted to conserve his energy; ya know) and then went in for our 2'3" class.

Well Warren must have been watching the other jumpers and decided he was a jumper too. HOLY COW! The whistle blew and he was off at a strong pace; looking for the fences, everything I pointed him to, he was there and ready. He made the corners with no problem; in fact I had a hard time finding the course and keeping up with him! I did not do to well finding my next fence. So due to my lack of preparedness, I did not set him up to welland commit to the #3 blue oxer and so he ran out, we got 4 faults but circled back and did the rest of the course very clean, no problem.

And I still had TONS of horse left. he was just getting warmed up!

So back in warmup I practiced taking tight corner, doing roll backs and  LOOKING for the next fence, and riding AFTER the jump; what a difference! Warren was just perfect. So in we went for 2'6" and then it started hailing. It was so incredibly loud on the indoor's metal roof; I somehow managed to hear the whistle and then we were off  to our first fence! After that the noise was silenced for us; we were focused on the course! We had an amazing ride, tight turns, funny angles and all, he never broke stride and kept a beautiful pace! I am so proud of him; we rode the course clean and 61 seconds, (optimum time was 57). I was cheering him on and apparently so was the crowd; we had quite the following at that point.

we even brought ourselves home a blue ribbon. I must say I was thrilled. The ribbon I  could care less about, it is the learning experience we had; Warren is in way better shape than I expected and he really ENJOYS jumping and I don't have to baby him so much; he is perfectly capable of making the turns and moving out at this level. I need to get better at LOOKING for the next fence and staying with him and continue to ride after I have cleared one - we aren't done jumping till we get across the finish line!