South Peace Clinic Day 3 - Cross Country

On the third day, we worked on doing some banks into and out of the water and tying together mini courses for each of us.  Koda was again a super star, but you could tell he was getting a bit tired from the intense jump schooling we'd been doing in the clinic.  This day we took it easy and didn't push Koda too much, just brought him back to what was easy for him (starter and pre-entry fences) and setting the rhythm.  He was VERY enthusiastic about one bank complex and launched off, unseating me a bit but got it under control.

At this point I decided that yes, we're doing the competition, Koda is feeling good, I'm feeling good, and everything is clicking.  I was happy I had been schooling the dressage test elements already so the test wasn't a big surprise.  Stadium was going to be simple since we had no related distances or combinations, all single fences of a max height of 2'.  The only issue I could see us having was him getting overwhelmed by the show atmosphere.  One thing I did to help him out for that was for our evening walk, I'd take him up to the stadium and dressage rings for some grazing time and to let him just look around.  They had moved a couple cross country fences into the stadium ring (Prelim. cross country for the competition) which had him the most concerned.  He was snorting and glaring at them, and I couldn't help but laugh at the poor boy.  Silly gelding, the jumps don't eat you, you eat the jumps!!

Om nom nom nom nom
Grazing and cooling of the legs all in one easy step