meadow creek park schooling

austin eventing ventured north to meadow creek park this weekend for an XC school and one-day schooling show. i decided not to show, as our dressage is pretty dicey and i feel strongly that we have no business showing at this stage in our development. i’m glad i made that call, for a few reasons. we had an exceptional time on XC and auto was the most adjustable horse he’s ever been. we’re making progress!

this pic makes my heart so full.

here are some pics from our weekend, in which you can see our XC turnout (that’s really all that matters on XC, right?). our colors are grey and teal (and black), and this is about as bold as it gets auf der autobahn. wondering if that grey pad disappears too much and should be black. what do you think? you can also see our jumping tack here, and i’ll follow up this post with my second “what’s in your tack trunk” expose!

his canter was so balanced and adjustable.

hovering!

BN ramp into the water.

BN ramp leading into the water complex. he was getting pretty tired at this point.

into the water, thank god. the day before in the wash rack he acted like he’d never seen a puddle.

looking keen in the water.

BN log. love his tidy knees!

what’s with that butt dimple–it MUST be a spot of dirt, right?

pausing for a drink–it was hot.

i wrapped auto after XC and must have wrapped him too tightly. on sunday morning he had terrifying bandage bows on three of four legs. man, there is NOTHING worse than feeling like you’ve hurt your horse. i was devastated. by sunday night most of the inflammation was gone, but i’ve given him a few more days off and a couple doses of bute. crossing my fingers he’s no worse for the wear tomorrow. have any of you experienced this, and do any of you have experience/recommendations for quick wraps? i don’t think i’ll ever try to wrap again!

i jump-judged during the schooling show. it was so terrific to watch the upper division riders take on the weldon’s wall. jump-judging is a great way to learn by watching, and get schooling credits, too!

my tools for jump judging.

the MCP weldon’s wall