Stepping up

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Today Buddy and I did our first competitive 90cm show jumping class. It wasn’t pretty, but we did it. I’ve been wanting to step him up a level for a while. Our last few 80cm rounds haven’t been clear, so wasn’t sure if I should.

I was obviously having a good day when I put the entries in. And feeling brave (or stupid). The last time I competed at 90cm was with Murphy. That was at least 8 years ago.

This morning I wasn’t feeling like leaving the house (not even my house), let alone pushing our comfort zone! Still as I headed to the yard, I made a deal with myself. Go and do 80cm class and see how I felt.

Buddy was rather pleased to be out jumping and warmed up like a dream. Optimism was high! That quickly dipped when he entered the ring and spooked at the timing equipment. Cause he’s never seen that before!!

Still we jumped round in a lovely rhythm. Even jumped our first competitive triple too. The 2 we had down were my fault as I pushed him out of his rhythm. It was a technical course, so I was really pleased with him.

The last time we jumped in competition was at Hickstead. So not like we’ve been out much.

Then it was onto the 90cm. It was definitely a case of ‘we came, we jumped’. We left most of them up. Still had 5 poles though. Haven’t had a cricket score for a while.

So imagine my surprise when I was told we came 3rd! Apparently, we weren’t the only cricket score.

I couldn’t have been happier with Buddy. He tried for me and I know we’ll be getting clear rounds soon. We’ll both sleep well tonight.

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Published by langlep

So 2020 was going to be my year. The year I got my life sorted after being served redundancy notice from my job in November 2019. The year I ticked off more things from my horsey bucket list. The year I got my mental health back under control and reduced stress in my life. I had a plan. And it was a good one. Then the plan changed dramatically on 2 January. I came off my horse at speed and broke my ankle. Badly. Like all good equestrians, I got back on and rode back to the yard, sorted Buddy out and then drove myself to A&E. That’s where this journey really began... I was sent home from A&E and told to crack on, only to receive a phone call later to say they’d missed a fracture (and a rather serious one at that). Whoops! So fracture clinic on 3 January, surgery on 5 January and home to recover. I started this blog as a way to chart my recover back to the saddle. As I cleared clinics and competitions out of my diary and wondered what the next few months would bring, it's been a safe space for me to say how I'm feeling. The new plan was to get a new job, to keep Buddy is kept ticking over and recover from my injury. Another good plan! I didn't expect a global pandemic, lockdown and all that happened in 2020. This blog has changed over time but it's continued to be my safe space to share the things going on in my life, with Buddy and the cats. Enjoy!

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