I'm in my 4th year of showjumping now and although I'm not massively competitive about it - I'm more concerned about how I ride than the actual result - I won't lie and say I have never dreamed about how fantastic it would be to win something. But I never actually thought it would happen, as affiliated classes are big here (anything between 50 and 90 is the norm) and the standard of competition is quite high, there are some fantastic riders on the Amateur circuit and some seriously cracking horses too. Jam has a long and successful competition history with my boss, but I am not particularly great at jumping and also struggle with my confidence at times, and often the standard of Jam's performance far outweighs the quality of my own riding! But we've come a long way in these 4 years and put in so much work, I have finally started to feel like we have got a proper partnership going, and we have managed to get a few good results here and there - two 7ths, a 5th and a 4th as individuals, and a 2nd in a team competition. This year we've had a pretty cool start to the season, with two 3rds in 1.05m classes with over 70 entries each. I didn't think it could get much better than that... and then yesterday we only went and won 
The class was a 1.05m Progressive - a type of speed class where each jump is worth a certain number of points and the aim is to finish your round on the maximum of 65, by successfully clearing all 10 jumps including the Joker at the end. They had designed a really good course, with plenty of short / time-saving options but also a couple of long runs between jumps where many people will go too fast and have them down, and the Joker was fab - 1.10m high, with brightly-coloured poles and planks, VERY narrow, and rather distractingly placed right next to the water jump. It was the third class of the day, the temperature had gone up and it was getting quite humid, which is Jam's least favourite weather for jumping and usually pretty much guarantees one of his minimum-effort rounds so I decided to just go for it, take all the short options I dared to, and play the clock and hopefully Jam would play with me!
I had number 31 so watched the first few riders and then went off to get Jam ready. We kept our warmup short - mostly walk, a bit of canter on each rein, then two uprights and one up-to-height spread, and then it was our turn to wander down to the arena. After the bell we set off in a nice forward canter and I asked Jam to jump number 1 whilst turning so that he knew we were going to be playing... and he knew! We got a lovely tight turn for number 2 and jumped it off a long stride on a good angle, kept it tight again for number 3 (which he audibly clonked with a front foot but somehow didn't knock down), rode on for number 4 and took a stride out of the distance, sat up and held him together for number 5 as it was an upright over a water tray and his favourite type of jump to plough through! There was a short option to turn inside a jump to get to number 6, but I'd already decided not to try it as it was quite a big spread and the way the turn worked Jam would have probably dangled a front foot and had it down (I know him well!), so instead we went the longer way but kept it nice and tight around the jump, almost too tight in fact as I almost took the wing out with my knee! Flew over number 6 but then forgot where I was going so missed the really short option to get to number 7then remembered just in time to avoid going the reeeeeally long way and went at number 7 on a very sharp angle. I failed to ask for the long stride but Jam kindly put in the extra effort to clear it off a short one, and the angle had put us in a perfect position to keep our turn into number 8 really tight. Long canter down to number 9, and finally turned again for another long canter back up the arena for the Joker. Didn't try jumping it on an angle as it was so narrow it would have been a silly risk, instead I tried to keep the canter forward but bouncy, asked Jam to take the long stride and prayed he would pick his toes up - which he did, and we were clear
I was ecstatic as I am every time we go clear but they announced we'd taken the lead which just made it even better! But there were 84 entries, so with about 50 riders still to go, including quite a few people I know who usually do very well, I genuinely did not believe we would hang on to the lead. And for the rest of the class my boss and I were so busy sorting out her clients and her own rides that neither of us was able to keep track of what was happening in the class. I saw some fast clears that went into 5th, 6th etc and was so sure Jam and I had been slower than that I decided we'd been pushed out of the top 10 already. Never mind I thought, it was a fab round and Jam and I were both very happy with it. As the class finished and a few people rode down to the arena for the prizegiving, I tootled down on foot to listen to the results in case I had one of the lower placings... just got there in time to hear them announcing that Jam and I had won
Luckily my boss and one of her clients were at the lorry and we managed to throw Jam's tack and my hat and jacket on and I got down to the arena just in time as the prizegiving was starting and apologising profusely! Still at that point couldn't believe we'd won. It was only when they announced us and the judges came up with our trophy and prizes that it sunk in - my biggest riding dream officially achieved
Here's the round, I am disappointed with myself for forgetting the short turn for number 7 ((can you see the point I suddenly go OH CRAP TURN RIGHT NOW TURN RIGHT NOW)) but generally feel quite happy with how I rode. I hate coming out of the ring thinking I let Jam down!
The class was a 1.05m Progressive - a type of speed class where each jump is worth a certain number of points and the aim is to finish your round on the maximum of 65, by successfully clearing all 10 jumps including the Joker at the end. They had designed a really good course, with plenty of short / time-saving options but also a couple of long runs between jumps where many people will go too fast and have them down, and the Joker was fab - 1.10m high, with brightly-coloured poles and planks, VERY narrow, and rather distractingly placed right next to the water jump. It was the third class of the day, the temperature had gone up and it was getting quite humid, which is Jam's least favourite weather for jumping and usually pretty much guarantees one of his minimum-effort rounds
so I decided to just go for it, take all the short options I dared to, and play the clock and hopefully Jam would play with me!I had number 31 so watched the first few riders and then went off to get Jam ready. We kept our warmup short - mostly walk, a bit of canter on each rein, then two uprights and one up-to-height spread, and then it was our turn to wander down to the arena. After the bell we set off in a nice forward canter and I asked Jam to jump number 1 whilst turning so that he knew we were going to be playing... and he knew! We got a lovely tight turn for number 2 and jumped it off a long stride on a good angle, kept it tight again for number 3 (which he audibly clonked with a front foot but somehow didn't knock down), rode on for number 4 and took a stride out of the distance, sat up and held him together for number 5 as it was an upright over a water tray and his favourite type of jump to plough through! There was a short option to turn inside a jump to get to number 6, but I'd already decided not to try it as it was quite a big spread and the way the turn worked Jam would have probably dangled a front foot and had it down (I know him well!), so instead we went the longer way but kept it nice and tight around the jump, almost too tight in fact as I almost took the wing out with my knee! Flew over number 6 but then forgot where I was going so missed the really short option to get to number 7
then remembered just in time to avoid going the reeeeeally long way and went at number 7 on a very sharp angle. I failed to ask for the long stride but Jam kindly put in the extra effort to clear it off a short one, and the angle had put us in a perfect position to keep our turn into number 8 really tight. Long canter down to number 9, and finally turned again for another long canter back up the arena for the Joker. Didn't try jumping it on an angle as it was so narrow it would have been a silly risk, instead I tried to keep the canter forward but bouncy, asked Jam to take the long stride and prayed he would pick his toes up - which he did, and we were clear I was ecstatic as I am every time we go clear but they announced we'd taken the lead which just made it even better! But there were 84 entries, so with about 50 riders still to go, including quite a few people I know who usually do very well, I genuinely did not believe we would hang on to the lead. And for the rest of the class my boss and I were so busy sorting out her clients and her own rides that neither of us was able to keep track of what was happening in the class. I saw some fast clears that went into 5th, 6th etc and was so sure Jam and I had been slower than that I decided we'd been pushed out of the top 10 already. Never mind I thought, it was a fab round and Jam and I were both very happy with it. As the class finished and a few people rode down to the arena for the prizegiving, I tootled down on foot to listen to the results in case I had one of the lower placings... just got there in time to hear them announcing that Jam and I had won
Luckily my boss and one of her clients were at the lorry and we managed to throw Jam's tack and my hat and jacket on and I got down to the arena just in time as the prizegiving was starting and apologising profusely! Still at that point couldn't believe we'd won. It was only when they announced us and the judges came up with our trophy and prizes that it sunk in - my biggest riding dream officially achieved
Here's the round, I am disappointed with myself for forgetting the short turn for number 7 ((can you see the point I suddenly go OH CRAP TURN RIGHT NOW TURN RIGHT NOW
)) but generally feel quite happy with how I rode. I hate coming out of the ring thinking I let Jam down!
