Tomorrow comes EARLY!

Oh man, tomorrow is an EARLY START for Gogo and I. Plan is to roll out of bed at 4am, stagger into the barn to give her brekkie, stagger back into the house to get dressed and ready to go, stagger back out to the barn with a Clif Bar in one hand and a Monster in the other, and load up and be off by 4:30am. I better set like... 25 alarms. 4am is eaaarrrrlllyyyyyyy.

But then, the adrenaline will kick in! I spent the entirety of today getting ready for the show - cleaning tack, clipping, trimming feet, bathing, braiding, loading gear, hooking up the trailer, getting snacks, etc, etc. She is dressed and ready to hit the road tomorrow - she's already in her Sleazies and her shipping boots and halter are right outside her door. Poor thing was out of her stall for a very long time this evening while I was bathing and braiding, and when I left her alone in the aisle to dry while I was outside finishing packing, she peed all over the aisle. Seriously, it was the Niagara Falls of pee. I felt pretty bad, I had no idea she had to go like that!

I also spent time out at Mystic Valley Hunt Club today scouting out the lay of the land and the courses. Ti did not come with me this time, as her corn is bothering her again, but she'll come with me tomorrow and play not-guard dog at the trailer. The place is pretty nice, and pretty big - lots of horses. The dressage rings look pretty nice, even though they're a bit murky looking after all the rain we've had. No giant puddles, though!




Stadium looks pretty straightforward and nice. The fences look fabulous! It's relatively simple and not too big, and in a nice big field instead of a very tiny arena like King Oak - more room to breathe. It starts with a simple vertical at the far end of the field to a nice big oxer, curving around to three jumps on three sweeping curves in opposite directions, and then onto 6 and 7a-b, which are set as a triple combination, three strides to two strides. Then it's onto something resembling ANOTHER triple combination, but all numbered as single fences. I think it was a four stride and a five stride.. maybe it was a three and a four. I need to walk it again tomorrow. Tricky!





We have to ride our stadium in our XC gear, because it's immediately onto XC from there, 20 minutes after each individual's stadium finishes up. I was supposed to ride at 8:00am, 10:30am, and 10:50am, but I've been bumped back 6 minutes as the last person in our division needs to go ahead of me. Oh well, fine by me, 6 more minutes I can sleep in! The XC course looks nice and inviting, with a couple of little challenges, namely the speed. It's set for 400mpm instead of 350mpm (both reasonable Novice speeds). The speed time is 4:07, and the optimum time is 4:38, leaving a small window of 30 seconds to come in. There are some nicely built fences to start off, two simple loggy-things to begin with. It then goes on to these two very pretty fences:





Very well built. 5 is a simple ditch, and 6 and 7 are set as a combination - 6 is a very solid, very long brown coop that is a two stride to 7, which is a much narrower brown coop. 8 is a pile of logs painted green, and then there's a long gallop into the woods, which is where we come our first really tricky thing - the water crossing OF DOOM. Seriously, it's around a corner, down a hill, and through a whole MESS of giant, slippery rocks. There's nowhere to get around then, you just have to hope your horse doesn't slip all over them, even though they block the entire path. The water crossing itself is a running stream, and it has big rocks in it too, and the footing also seems to be inconclusive - I'll be sure to get my feet wet tomorrow when re-walking the course. It just doesn't seem all that safe to me, and I don't want Gogo to go running in with gusto and hurt herself. I think we'll be trotting this part so she can get a better foothold. There's also a log a little ways up a hill, exiting the water area.





You can't really appreciate the rocks because I didn't seem to get them all in the picture. But oye! 11 is a nice confidence building set of logs, 12 is a funky red table, and 13 you have to figure out how to turn yourself all the way around to get back to the famous picture frame fence - it's actually pretty narrow in the middle, but it looks very straightforward (and professional photographer worthy!).




From there, 14 is a funky elevated area in the middle of a flat field that leads to a drop (don't fall off either side please!), 15 is a biiiiiig table, 16 is a stone wall, and 17 (final fence) is a gorgeous curved log jump. The fences are quite nice, and dressed well. Area 1 is awesome!


I am sorry to say it's unlikely that I'll get any pics or video from this show, aside from the ones I take, and the ones the professional photographers get. I'll be going it alone, except for Ti and Gogo of course. Here's hoping for a R-E-P-E-A-T of last time!!!

Mystic, here we come!!!!!!