I PASSED!

Hey! Well I went for my C-3 last weekend and passed! So excited that that is *mostly* behind me. I didn't pass the longing because I fed Jazz a whole bunch of sugar cubes before going and then couldn't get him away from me! I never hand feed Jazz, or any horse really, because it makes them so pushy but I was so happy with how good Jazz was being that I fed him the sugar. My bad.... He would not go to the end of the line no matter how much I shook the whip at him/his shoulder and clucked him on he just turned right in and tried to come at me for treats. It kind of sucked. But he's back on a no treats not ever regimen so hopefully he will back back to my nice little longe pony by the restest in 2 weeks. Anyway, it was really fun besides the longing issue.

Jazz was really good for the flat portion and we got through Training Level Test A without too much trouble. For my switch ride I got to get on a super cute 5 yr old Clydesdale/TB cross who was really fun. Reasonably good marks all around from the National Examiners.

The next day was the jumping portion which is, of course, my favorite part. Jazz wasn't as good as he had been (very much wanting to run on the forehand) but it ended up working out really well. When he is being naturally forward and not as determined to travel on the forehand I have a tendency to get more layed out on his neck and be less active with my leg so it occasionally will get a touch out in front of me/not totally under me. So by him being a bit lazy I really had to sit up and ride him through everything. But he was still forward enough to blast off my leg when I needed it XC so it all worked out. I got an Exceed Standard in my grid work meaning I surpassed the standard of riding. The NE was really funny about it, I could hear her as I went over each jump correctly going YES!YES!YES!. It was the same woman who had had to fail me in the longing the day before so I was really happy to be back on her good side. The actualy course work was kind of annoying becasue there was this hil going through the middle of the open area with the jumps and that realllyyyy messes with how you have to ride a course. The hill and the fact that it really wasn't a jumper course to show off exactly what I can do got frustrating. Jazz and I don't look as good or stand out as much over spread out courses with wide turns as we do with snappy turns and bending lines. But we got really good marks so I'll take it. The switch ride was soooo much fun! I got a 16.3/17 hh green warmblood that had a bad bolting tendency but it worked out. We put together a resonable nice (safe!) course that I was ok with. He had school the practice fences so nicely (waiting for my direct of whether to hold or go to the fence and keeping balanced) that I was kind of shocked when it all went out the window after the first jump on course. Anyway, the NEs again had really good remarks. :)))

After that was cross country. I am not a fan of it. And probably never will be. But we got through it fine (minus a little galloping issue - I have very bad depth perception with anything distance and I let Jazz get into a big gallop only to look up and not be able to tell where the water complex was so after a little bit of a rough pull up we ended up being a good 100 yards from the complex). The NE was happy with the work and had the canidates check our horses pulse and respiration as an added fun test. Anyway, it worked out fine.

The last little briefing where they handed out results was probably the scariest and most depressing scene I've seen in awhile. 6 people started the rating and only 3 passed. Hopefully they will go for it again soon because they're all very talented riders.

So now even with the C-3 is out of the way, my next year is still packed with crazy stuff! I am planning on taking my H-B rating in Novemeber to complete the second half of the C-3 rating. After that I plan to take the C-3 Show Jumping Speciality in the spring (both the NEs said they would have passed me on it this weekend!) and might look toward the B Traditional before college. If I pass the C-3 Show Jumping I will be one of 6 in the country which would be SO cool! hehe! It would make me a good pick for the Show Jumping International Exchange that I would like to go on. It would also mean I could do some traveling instructor stuff with PC. While that opportunity would be fabulous I'm not sure if it can be done becasue of college NCAA rules and amature status things and weird stuff. I'm also planning on qualifying for show jumping championships this spring but possibly at a higher level! Can't wait to see how everything comes out

oh and we moved Jazz to my families farm FINALLY! So excited that he's out there. Can't wait to move there myself!