Our first Jump show! UPDATE Video

Well Theo and I survived our first show this weekend.  I took him a whole 1 mile down the road to a local Hunter/Jumper training barn.  Saturday we had a lesson (video to come)  and he did awesome!  We just did low jumps since I really haven't been jumping him much and this was the first course work we've done in almost a year!  The sand was very deep which he wasn't used to so I had to work hard to keep him in the canter but he jumped great!  We even practiced some derby type jumps that were more natural obstacles.
He was a perfect gentlemen but did get a little nervous when he had to stay in his stall.  He spent the night and the next day we competed in 7 classes...yes I said 7!  Oh boy am I sore and tired...I'm sure Theo is just as tired he had no energy and I thought about pulling out but my trainer encouraged me to finish the last one as he had a long break.  So I did and we were doing awesome I thought wow I could place high in this one and then...

I jumped the wrong jump!!!  It never falls I always mess up at least 1 course at a show.  I'm a dork.

2 of the classes we did were just flat classes and two were small jumps for a warm up.  Theo did alright he still seems to have performance anxiety though.  The judge said we were in 3rd place in one flat class until he dropped from canter to trot and wouldn't pick up the correct lead then got all mad cause the horses in front were getting away...She actually told me he was great until he went naughty :-(  but this naughty is nothing compared to our last show he was really naughty then.  There is just something about those flat classes he just can't handle...weird thing is he is fine at home with horses all over the place.   I'm sure it's him feeding off of me though.  I had a little anxiety about cantering because we have been struggling with the right lead all winter and recently he has been getting it but it's not consistant. 

The best thing about the weekend though was he was offering lead changes in the corner without me asking!  Which means he is balanced and is getting that it's easier to stay balanced if he is on the right lead.

So Theo gets today off and Abby is busy making a baby hopefully so no riding today but I'll be doing some light work with Theo tomorrow because Thursday we leave for the Larry Whitesell Clinic.  I attended one of his clinics last year with Abby and although he is a gaited clinician he studies Dressage and promotes that for gaited riding.  This year I'm taking Theo as Larry helped to people last year with horses that were buddy sour and I'm hoping he can give Theo and I some tips.  Plus I just need to get Theo out more so he gets used to going places.  Each time I take him somewhere he settles in quicker and quicker.

That's it for now I'll hopefully get the video up tonight!

Video of one of our courses in our lesson can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwVi0qdt1mE&feature=youtu.be
It was the only rail he dropped all weekend