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Post by John Berkeley on Oct 10, 2011 14:29:27 GMT -5
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Post by Audrey Felicia McHenry on Oct 14, 2011 16:26:03 GMT -5
---------------------------------------------------------well it’s a big big city and it’s always the samecan never be too pretty, tell me your name--------------------------------------------------------- Without a doubt, the USEF Medal qualifer had the most difficult course of the whole show. At least in Audrey's eyes it did. There were so many options, especially near the middle of the course, for her own comfort. Norman didn't seem phased, but he hadn't looked at the diagram or walked the course.
"Next up, Audrey McHenry, riding Normandy, owned by Missy Clark. We're ready for you." Audrey nodded to whoever was sitting in the announcer's stand and entered the arena at a walk. She threaded through the space between jumps 13 and 3, then struck up the canter to approach the first jump of the course. The oxer was devoid of interesting fill, except for the rails. Audrey pushed Norman's stride up a little, urging him to a faster pace more suited to the jumps. He complied, and a stride later, pushed off to begin the course in earnest.
Audrey turned him close to 12 and 7. If she reached out, she could probably touch the brush filling 7. Norman's head came up when he spotted the next fence, practically in front of his nose. It wasn't the most gorgeous jump, but Norman saved them both from disaster by snapping up him knees and letting Audrey brace a little on his neck. The turn left them both a little frazzled, but the easy line to three was a recovery.
They cleared the vertical as if it were just a big canter stride; perfectly in sync with each other. Audrey had a sinking feeling that would not hold true for the whole course. The course map showed a bending line to four, but Audrey couldn't remember how many strides it was supposed to be, and the trash can she was using as a marker had been moved. As confidently as she could, Audrey turned and counted strides, paying careful attention to how far away she was. One foot either way wouldn't make much of a difference, and she knew she could look okay over two feet long, but if she was more than a little off, that risked blowing the round. She passed the flower pot, arranged herself and Norman on a straight approach to four, and noticed (too late) they had taken eight strides and there was still room to go. She turned her heels into Norman's sides and tried to keep her position as he took an extra-big stride and an extra-big jump to compensate. That was rider error; the horse tried as hard as he could to cope with what she gave him.
They landed with Audrey sitting back just a little too early, still caught unaware by the large jump. She tried to brush it off and make the turn around 10, and for the twentieth time that day, she thanked God for easy horses. Norman switched leads and followed her hand and leg to center ring, where 5 lay. It was a strange jump, confusing if one didn't go out and look at the course in real life. Audrey knew her plan, though, and that was to take what seemed to her as the harder option. She held Norman to the outside of the fence, angling him toward the B part, and let him handle himself over the jump. Audrey squeezed her right hand, hard, turning Norman to the center of 5b and giving him the best chance to make them both look good.
Norman succeeded, as he usually did, and when they landed Audrey started the long turn to 6, an oxer. Unfortunately, she wasn't paying particular attention to her legs, and apparently cued for a lead change from right to wrong. With no time to fix it, Audrey bit her lip and jumped the fence, almost puncturing her lip upon landing.
Ooh, this was an interesting next jump. It could go very well or very badly, depending on how she rode. Audrey had seen both just in the past five rounds, and she had an idea how to get over it best. She rode between 7 and the rail in a straight line, and once she passed 12, began a medium sized circle. She judged the size a little wrong, though, and had to correct herself and make more of an oval than a circle. In any case, they looped back around 12, heading for 7. Audrey pushed her heels down over the fence; she'd need a solid base for the next turn. Why was this course so jumper-y?
It was almost a straight shot from 7 to 8a, until just before the fence itself. There wasn't enough room to make a big turn, so Audrey had to slow Norman down a little to get enough space to approach 8a straight. It didn't quite work, but Audrey straightened him in the air so they had a clear shot to the second part of the combination. That went smoothly, a success in Audrey's book. More than half done, now.
Audrey guided Norman around to 9, then 10, then 11. All easy jumps, without too much thinking. 9 was a very wide oxer, requiring lots of concentration not to drop back into the saddle too early. Audrey took this little break to check up on herself, pushing her shoulders back, heels down, looking up, hands centered and thumbs up. Norman jumped 10 with a little extra vigor, wanting very much not to touch the brush filler. It came up above the top rail in a rather scary fashion, as if something was going to jump out at him any second. 11 was skinny, and although the turn was easy, Audrey paid special attention to hitting dead center. She had a horse that wouldn't dare run out or refuse, but it was bad form to take the easy way out just because of that.
Audrey, upon looking at the course map, immediately saw the two options. She had decided early on to take the more impressive one. Shortly after landing from 11, Audrey pulled Norman around in a tight circle. Just after they passed 2, Norman switched bends and leads, making a larger half-circle to approach 12 from the rail. While not as skinny as 11, twelve was more compact than most of the other fences, and with the turn right before, Audrey couldn't help but jump it a little to the right. It was unavoidable, but she hoped the judges wouldn't mind too much.
After 12, it was an easy ride to 13. Maybe the course designers wanted to give riders a chance to redeem themselves after the difficult course; maybe they just couldn't think of a hard way to end the course. Audrey checked her position again and found herself looking down. She wasn't sure when that started, but she fixed it promptly. 13 came into view, an oxer filled with hay bales. Norman didn't look twice before he jumped it, Audrey floating along on top of him.
Canter past 3, break to a trot halfway between 3 and 2, exit the arena. Couldn't be easier. At least, normally. Norman tripped through the transition, causing Audrey to fall forward, just enough to be noticeable. A bad end to a mediocre course. Audrey exited the ring, her face blank, going over the faults she had and how she could fix them.
--------------------------------------------------------- so if you’re crazy, i don’t care you amaze me if you’re lonely, why’d you say you’re not lonely --------------------------------------------------------- word count: 1 1 9 3 outfit: here lyrics from: whistle for the choir by the fratellis graphics from: coti-tastic of caution 2.0 template made by: ayla of north creek academy [/color][/sup][/size][/font][/blockquote]
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