Ready For Launch

Because I just love this picture! 

After our hugely-confidence-building experience at Flora Lea at the beginning of the month, as well as some spot-on jump schools over bigger fences both at home and in lessons, I bit the bullet and entered Dino and I in our first Beginner Novice level horse trial.

Eep.

The Bucks County Horse Park runs a casual schooling series called Friday Evening Eventing. The courses are designed as "move-up" courses, with nothing built to max height or width, and options for trickier XC questions like banks, ditches, and water. I decided that since it's on my comfortable "home turf" at Bucks, and the course will (hopefully) be pretty soft, and this is the last FEE show for the year, there's no time like the present to move up to BN.

Thankfully, my trainer and a few of her other students will also be at this HT, so I'll have friends there to slap me back to my senses and/or hand me a margarita to calm my nerves. Miss Trainer approves of my plan and thinks we can do it, (And I quote, "Do it! You've jumped most of the BN fences out there!") everyone else and their mom thinks we can do it, I just need to trust my awesome pony and git 'er done!

The course at Flora Lea just felt so EASY and FUN - and in thinking back to Amanda's recent post on how you know it's time to move up, that run was a real turning point for both Dino and I. The confidence was totally there for both of us, and I think now we're ready to add jumps with a little more height and width to the equation. I feel in my heart of hearts that we're both ready for the challenge, but it's still a little scary to think about!

We also have a XC school planned for Monday afternoon, so if all goes well and I'm still feeling confident, we will stick with our BN entry. If I have a total meltdown, I can always scratch or drop my entry down to Elementary.

I've been riding at or above the level of the dressage test required for years, and a 2'7" stadium course doesn't phase either of us. XC is really the only unknown factor in the move-up, and at this point it mostly comes down to the trust and confidence that I have in my pony and my own skill set.

Here goes nothing...