Getting ready for cross country

The walk with Phillip this morning went well, but I can honestly say, it is an incredibly challenging course! A CCI*** in no way prepares you for a CCI**** !! This is another whole league…………………..I just really hope that Isabella and I can pull it off tomorrow :)

OK, so I have walked the course three times, and I keep waiting for it to look smaller…………………hmmmmm, not happening!!! There is one challenging fence after another, there are 30 obstacles on the course but 8 of the jumps are combinations, so there are really a total of 48 jumps. Three difficult water complexes, a very difficult sunken road, this is a pretty big vertical, one stride, a drop down, 2 strides, a jump up, one stride and a very tricky angled jump out. Later on the course, after the third water jump, there is a HUGE log, after which the ground IMMEDIATELY drops away, and I really feel the only sensible way to jump it would be with a parachute! A bending line of about 7 or 8 strides to TWO enormous step ups that are a bounce, (this means the horse does not even take one stride, they just touch and take off again) one more stride to a rather wide, but narrow house. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! Very shortly after, come the double corners, the biggest corners I have even seen……….OK so I think you are getting the picture :)

Well Isabella and I took a ride out to a beautiful field way beyond the parking today. It was very windy, and extremely warm today. In her usual form, Isabella was spooking at EVERYTHING on the way out there, I was just trying not to fall off! Now that would be embarrassing:) But we survived the blowing plastic bags, flapping tents and all the other incredibly scary things :) We had a short gallop and returned to the barn with nothing uneventful :)

I ride at 10.55am which I think is good, because it is once again going to be very hot. I am both nervous and excited!