JJ's first show

JJ had his first show at the Waikanae Sports day on Jan 23rd! (Well, his first ridden show.) It was raining and the ground was getting wetter and slipperier as the day went on, but our class wasn't until about midday. We were entered in the 60cm SJ (optimum time), and although he'd been jumping great lately, we'd had a couple of off days recently and he'd never done a full course of jumps, so I was a little nervous.

He was good to bridle though and then I rode him up the hill to the park. Usually it's almost completely empty but there were horses, jumps, trucks, and umbrellas everywhere. JJ had to stop and have a good hard look at it all before he was able to proceed down the hill.

He warmed up nicely and jumped the practice jump well (got in a bit close a couple times though). I think the practice jump was at about 70cm and probably higher than anything he'd jumped before!

Then we did our round, and because we trotted most of the corners (either due to slippery ground or him disuniting after a failed flying change) we didn't place but we did jump clear and that's the main thing. He loved it, flew over everything without hesitating, even the scary wall :) What a star, so proud of him.