Username Zenstar
Link To Horse HereHorse's Name Bid My Blood to Run
Gender Stallion
Breed Thouroghbred
Entry I walked out of my house and toward the barn. My many horse had their head sover the stall doors. Some were sleeping, some were waiting for brealfast. There was one in particular I wanted. As I approached his stall, Bid My Blood to Run popped his head out over the stall and neighed quietly. I patted him on the head before unlatching his stall and clipping his lead rope on. I lead him out to the pasture and turned him loose for an hour so he could warm up. While he was gallopping and trotting around, I went and got the ring set up. I set up open waters, ascending oxers, cross rails, verticals, and walls to jump. Once I was finished, I retrieved Blood and tacked him up with English riding gear. I lead him to the ring and mounted inside the gate. He was tall, standing at 17 hands high. Once I was up, I jogged him around the ring a bit to warm him up. Then I ran him through the jumps. He knocked a good few poles, and I could tell we would need more practice than that to enter in the competition. I set the jumps up again, and ran him through again. There was some improvement, but I had an idea. I turned him loose in the pasture after removing his tack. II then proceeded to set up the course with a single style of jump; the wall. I retrived him again and tacked him up, and let him to the ring. I warmed him up again and jumped him through it. There was some improvement in the jumps, and ran him throughh twice more, before turning him loose in the paddock for the rest of the day. He was definately getting better, and I was satisfied to leave it at that. I cleared the ring and gave the horse breakfast, before heading back inside to get changed and have some breakfast of my own before going to work.
Over the next two weeks, I drilled Blood in all the jumps, even the joker. He's pretty good at most of them, and I think we stood a fair chance at winning, or at least placing. I knew it was unlikely, so I continued regular practice sessions with him, but I never had the court set up the same way twice. He continued to improve, and I was happy with it. On the day of the competetion, Blood could certainly tell something was going to happen, and he was extra good when I saddled him up for the daily routine. I ran him through the jumps one more time before untacking him and scrubbnig him down. I paid special attention to his mane, which tended to get dirtty a whole lot. I washed it, combed it, and braided it a little. His coat gleamed red, and there was no mistaking that he was a cherry bay. I put on his leg protectors and his blanket and lead him into the trailer. The show jumping was early in the afternoon, but I wanted to get in early so Blood could settle in. I hooked the trailer up to my red pickup, and drove to the rink.
When we got there, I lead Blood to his stall and got him settled in. His tack was on the rack outside of his stall, and was easily accsessable. I groomed him one more time, and his coat gleamed red. I walked out to the ring, and got a feel for the lay out. It
seemed simple enough; two verticals followed by an ascending oxer. Immediately after that was a turn and then a triple combination. Two liverpools were next, followed by three walls. After them, there were two crossrails and two descending oxers, finished with a joker. It was a fairly unusual layout. After I finished checking the ring, I went back to Blood's stall. He was dozing, one hind leg lifted slightly with his head drooping. He heard my approach and looked over his stall. He nickered gently in welcome. I checked my watch and saw that it was about 11:39. The warm up ring would be in use now. I opened Blood's stall door and tacked him up. I led him to the warm up ring where I mounted and set off at a trot around the ring. A couple of other riders were there too, but I didn;t really care. After Blood had been warmed up, I started jumping him over the jumps. Slowly more people came in with their horses to warm up. Once it got kind of crowded, I walked Blood around the edge of the ring to cool him off before leading him back to his stall. It was 2:48 and the competition was scheduled for 4:00. I had some extra time, so I wandered through the stalls, looking at the horses. When it was 3:30, an annoncer came on and said that it was time to get the horses ready for jumping. Each person was also assigned a number. I was fifth. I knew it wouldn't pay well to be not tacked up when my turn rolled around, so I headed back to Blood's stall. His head was hanging over his stall door, an excited glint in his eyes. He neighed a welcome and I patted his neck in response. I grabbed my tack and let myself into his stall, closing it behind me. I saddled him up, and tightened the girth to a comfortable point, not loose. I slipped on his bridle and and settled his reins behind his neck on his withers. I lead him out of the stall when it was my turn, I mounted, and rode out calmly into the ring.
The ring was pretty much the same as I had left it earlier, except that now there was a crowd. Blood's muscles rippled strongly beneath his shining coat, yet I could tell his resolve was wavering. He was croud-shy. I nudged him gently forward, and he cleared the two verticals with ease. At this success, he gained confidence and focused on the ascending oxer. I lifted out of my saddle slightly with my gaze fixxed on the oxer. Blood's hoove's thudded a small rythm on the ground beneath. He jumped and clered the oxer fairly well. He landed on the other side, and I listened for the tell tale
thunk of a beam hitting the floor. I didn't hear his hooves clip against it, but that wasn't to be sure. I didn't hear it. Blood was approaching the corner, and the triple combination. He cleared them smoothly, but clipped the last one. I heard the dreaded
click of his hooves knocking gently against the pole. He landed, and approached the liverpools. He soared over them, and I thought that would make up for the fumble at the triple combination. The walls were that of brick, and he was relatively used to them. On his way over the second wall, his left hind hoof clipped against the wall, and the light-weught material thumped to the dirt floor. I winced inwardly. The crossrails were the basic ones and he had quickly mastered them while I was still training him. He still wasn't used to the descending oxers, and he clipped both of them. I was pretty nervous, although I tried not to show it. I knew Blood wasn't good at the jokers. He was almost
bad. I closed my eyes, leaned forward, and felt Blood's muscles roll and felt the sweat glistening on his silky fur. I felt that inward thrill as his hooves left the ground and we hung, suspended momentarily. My stomach clenched, waiting for the click. Miracolously, there want one! I opened my eyes and even though we didn't place, I was simply
thrilled that Blood had cleared that joker with ease. His few stumbles couldn't diminish my pride in him.
I know this is NOT the best one out there, and I doubt I will get a prize, but, hey! It was fun!
