Sunday, May 24, 2015

Final Virginia CCI1* Report from Ella Groner

This morning was by far the hardest to get out of bed.  It was the earliest morning we've had, and we were all exhausted.  We got to the barn and iced Linus for 20 minutes, then I rode him (just a quick easy ride to stretch him out), and then we put him back in ice for 20 more minutes.  After that, I jogged him for Lillian and then just let him hang out in his stall for a little while before heading out to the 8:30am jogs.  Linus trotted right down the jog strip, and passed!  He was very excited to get back to his stall and hang out for a while before we had to start getting ready for show jumping at 11:30am. I got myself dressed and Linus all brushed and ready to go.  Skyler and I walked up the hill to show jumping where we met Lillian and walked the course.  I felt confident walking the course, but knew it would not be an easy task.  The rails are on flat cups and have been coming down all weekend.  We came back to the barn, tacked up, and got on.  It did not take me long to get up to the ring and I had some extra time to watch some show jump rounds to get a feel for how the course was riding.  It appeared as if there were a lot of rails down and it was difficult to make time.  They decided to put a break in the schedule to drag the ring.  The longer we waited the more anxious Linus became.  Finally we went to warm up and Linus was all business.  He jumped all the warm fences great and we headed into the ring with confidence.  The first seven fences rode amazing.  Going to fence eight Linus got a bit lazy and did not pick up his feet and knocked a rail.  We turned to go down the outside line and headed into 9A a bit speedy and picked up another 4 faults.  Even with 2 rails we moved up to finish 12.  My young riders team of Skyler Decker, Morgan McCue and Taylor Stewart got 3rd in the Young Rider Challenge. We headed back to the barn, took care of Linus, packed up our stuff and headed home.  Overall I was happy with our performance this weekend.  The venue was great and everything ran smoothly.   A huge thank you to my parents, Ryan, Lillian, and all those who continue to support me. 

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