[Feliche]

*Heheh LONG! :P Pictures will come later, but follow the link to see an exciting slideshow of me making a fool of myself ;P In a good way, I suppose...sure was a way to get noticed!!! Thanks AoT*

Whew! =P Well, we are BACK! Back from the Greenwood Farm HT in Weatherford, TX. This was both my personal worst event (not counting the first two...haha), and my personal FAVORITE event of all time!! What fun we had!! It was a tremendously good time, yeah. We started out from my grandparents' house...I think I've got a thread up about that--Feliche outside my window? Might link it up later for anyone who wants to see!!

Anyhow, I will try my best to pull out the exciting bits!!

I think I should start out by saying...the website LIES That course? Not easy. Oooh no. That was by far THE most difficult XC course I've ever tackled. I made some SUPER friends that helped me SOOO much. According to one lady though...and she's evented on the east coast...Greenwood's one of the toughest in the NATION :S She said "If you can ride Greenwood, you're good to go anywhere else"...so I'm super happy about that.

As you can imagine, I finished =) I finished that course. A course comprised of HUGE, FREAKY, TECHNICAL jumps! Yes, Feliche and I finished the event...dead *** LAST with a total of 168 penalty points holy COW!

Firstly, dressage? Was ABOMINABLE. I was absolutely disgraced and mortified and all other words synonymous with those...For the record? We event in EJ nowhere in bare sand arenas with the judges sitting in pickup trucks. Nuh uh. Here were fancy, decorated arenas, a huge (apparently terrifying) judges' box, GRASS turf, and *GASP* TREEEEES The HORROR! Yes, Feliche was not fond of the trees, SHYING as I trotted around the arena. I admit I turned to the judge and said "Oh, THAT'S promising". I ended up with a 42. Should have sat should have sat should have...*banks head on wall* But, back on track...trying to keep it brief so you won't go to sleep before the pictures

Stadium? Equally mortifying. I blame it on...well duh, ME! I had to go back and immediately switch to jumping tack, and I was still irate about dressage and MEGA tense. I didn't get off my poor horse's FACE the entire friggen round! =( Poor old soldier. Well we ended up pulling a rail...he was like WHEEEEE coming off a hill, and I tried to collect him, and he decided to listen at the last moment, we got frazzled, and took it. Oh well. It didn't make much difference in our score considering our...

Eighty jump + 32 time penalties on XC.

Here's the gist of it. Jump 3? Skinny, tree in FRONT of the jump on either side. Him tried to duck :P I was like NOOO and kept him straight, but we lost too much impulsion because I stopped riding. Then, the rest of it was GREAT, and we just positively SOARED over the MONNNSTER 3'3-6 brush box that I'd been so so so scared of. Then came the water complex.

****The Exciting Part****
Feliche and I came off the barn jump and turned too sharply to the water. We were off balance, and as soon as we'd like...re-combobulated ourselves, he was like OH SNAP there's WATER on the other side of that log!! See, it was a log, stride, water, and a jump out of the water. Neat
Bam. Refusal. Turned him around, and got another...wasn't RIDING darn it! Then I was like oh no sir, we're NOT getting our butts eliminated! I've embarrassed us enough as it is!! So, I sat down and RODE him over that silly log. After which, he promptly SPUN away from the water *not flagged, thank God*.

Here's my proudest moment of the event...
I pulled a Karin O' Connor *mosh*

I came THIS close to falling off: (7-17)
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/Orde...0773H0000&po=0

And recovered. I'm SO buying that pic 16 or whichever was the one where I was scooting back on. I was literally hanging by one ankle, and my adrenaline was like NOOO not coming off. There was a big crowd around the jump, and it was so funny hearing the reaction...GASP! And OOO OOO...then I got back onto his withers, and there's this ROAR of applause!! =P Then, (pic 18), we just trotted off through the water =P I was SO proud of us I mean hey, if I'm going to make an utter fool of myself at an event...may as well do something COOL to be remembered by Jk... but yeah that's gotta be one of my proudest eventing moments, I'm slightly embarassed to say. So, I squiggled back on and finished the course =D Absolute, utter VICTORY for us Ooo I like pic 28 too...that's pretty!

Yep, 11th of 11. BUT, I placed 6th after dressage =P So I DID get a really really pretty green rosette! How befitting...Greenwood ;P I could not possibly be more proud of my horse, and for some reason, I think it was somehow more powerfully symbolic that we were last. It showed that I just really clung on (ha literally) and finished when I was so obviously out classed. I just didn't know what I was in for was all. Now I feel like we can do anything

OOOH and mummy bought me a SPONGE A huge squishy sponge...and a bridle rack for the stalls and a stock tie and pin, and the matching earrings cause she was proud of me =D I was so happy. Especially because of how sad I was the day before about dressage!

Ooh and they gave us this horse body wash and a sweat scraper gratis, along with a $5 gift certificate to Dover!! =D Hehe!! Yay. Oh and when we got back to Mimi and Papa's, Mimi found one of those fancy WHEELYGIGS that measures meters!!! SUPER! I can walk all 'professionally' now! How cool is that? I feel all snazzy. She found it in the field one day, so she just gave it to us. Super!!

Ooh then the next day I got stuck in a tree. We were about to leave for the looong drive home. Feliche was happily munching bermuda in the suburban front yard, and I decided to sit on him. I did so. Feliche remembered our path we'd taken the day before to the meadow *to get back in his 'pen' I like...lifted the ropes and the great ole boy walked right under =P)* and he decided he really would like to go back! So, I had the rope in my hand. He marched over to the decorative gate, squeezed through it, walked on the gravel and square path to the PORCH, walked under it, over the vinca, and then realized the back gate was shut =( He was like awww...so I took the rope and made it to where I could steer. Mimi opened the gate for us and we went and played in the meadow for a while. Then Papa came out and asked if we were ready to go, but I said "yeah but watch this!" and hand galloped around the field (helmetless, I must shamefacedly admit) ...there's a big creek parallel to the field, and a little shallow irrigation canal thing, which he went down, up, and staight into a tree.

Rather than steering of course, I exclaimed loudly and ducked, whamming my head on the mesquite branch. Feeling the impact, wonderful Feliche stopped. Before the next branch. It was a lot thicker so I guess I should be happy...but anyhow, I was quite firmly lodged between these two branches, and finally somehow found a way for him to turn and slide out between them That was hilarious. Wish I had pictures.

I took a few fun pictures from those episodes...and I have another story to tell you tomorrow But for now, I have to sleep now haha...school

So, this is 'To be continued'...Pictures tomorrow!!! =D

Thanks so much for reading It was super fun and I believe it or not I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!!

[Jess!]

I love the the whole "slow mo" photo slide thing of you almost coming off, glad you stayed on!!

Lovely pictures! Sounds like it was a great experience.

[lilrider]

You and feliche look ready to go Pro!

Love the pics and good job on making it through... man I LOVE the water pics especially.

[Xiphias]

Sounds very comic! love the pro pics, I would have to buy the whole lot if I had the money....can't wait to see the other pics....glad you did not get hurt, getting stuck in the tree!

Cathy

[irideazip]

sounds like a whole lot of fun!!!! It is a good feeling to ride against such tough competitors and know that you have set the bar for yourself...heres hoping you get to do more of it!! Love the pics and the story is great

[Feliche]

Thanks!!

Yeah, I didn't have any idea how tough the course would be. I was all like ooh yeah no problem...but lil did I know :P I have pics of the jumps, but I'm at school atm and so I don't have em. I'd like to post them tonight

[foxyfuzz]

Awesome! Sounds like you had a good time.

[tucklove]

Alright Megs and Feliche! You guys look fantastic and you did great. I'm very happy for you.

[horseyfrk145]

Woo-Hoo, go Megs!! I love your attitude - you truly are the winner!

I NEED MORE PICTURES!!!!!!!

Congrats on the show, sounds like quite the adventure!!!

[oldhorsehome]

Originally Posted by horseyfrk145

Woo-Hoo, go Megs!! I love your attitude - you truly are the winner!

I NEED MORE PICTURES!!!!!!!

Congrats on the show, sounds like quite the adventure!!!

I agree!! What a wonderful adventure! Waiting for more pics and the rest of the story.....