Yup, we finally made it to one -- and WOW, was it different.  After 6 years of hunter, I had no idea what we were in for.  The course was CRAZY, but so fun.  Very tough to do with all those tight tight turns and a jump about every 3-5 strides, there was only 1 straight line in the whole course.  But once again, my superboy made me proud!  I screwed up our first course (2'6") because I was a little freaked out by the complexity of the course and I kept staring at all the wild-looking jumps.  Solo was ready to jump them, but figured he'd better stop and see why I was staring at them so fixedly -- totally my fault!  So we ended up 5th in that class after two refusals, but made it 'round.  Then, in 2'9" -- shocker, we made the jumpoff!!!!!!!!!  Very exciting -- there was no way we were going to win because our competitor was this teeny little kid on a pony who was faster then heck and turned like a Ferrari, while Solo, while he did fantastic turns for him, suffered from "big horse in a little arena" syndrome.  But we still ended up 2nd in our second jumper course ever, wheeeeeeee, so exciting, I'm definitely going back for the next show in the series.

 So, enough yammering, horsey pictures!!!  Just a few, I have more but I won't torture y'all!!  What Solo lacks in style, he sure makes up for in sheer heart and exuberance -- he only tapped one jump all day and the pole stayed up.  I see gymnastic work in our future though -- and me?  Well, heck, I was just hanging on and pointing!

 Course start:

 This was a funky looking one that gave us a start in the 2'6" -- we got it now!

 I liked the chute effect here -- this was a long triple line

 Coming through the middle

My favourite jump -- a fan, which I'd never jumped before

 You and Solo look great. When Vodka and I were at our week long hunter/jumper show, we were always to fast in the jump off. It was optimum time, but you sure couldn't tell Vodka that. Of course, when we were close to first this little girl and her pony beat us out of first TWICE!!! On the last day we finally got a 1st. I love jumper classes. Manly for the dirrerent style fences you get. The courses get easier and easier as you go. I'll look forward to see pictures of you and Solo in future jumper classes!

Dang ponies!!  I'll just have to practive making more efficient lines and really using his big stride wherever I can! 

Yay! Congrats to you and Solo! You guys look great! What a difference huh? Lol! I love the pics, you seem to be smiling quite a bit.

Congrats!!! Looks like you were enjoying yourself! VERY nice photos!!! :)

Jessi

 Wow! You and Solo look great! Congratulations! Its always good to keep up with the judge if he likes your horse. It seems like Solo enjoyed a little break from the Hunters and jumped a course that didn't worry about his style over fences so he could just let it loose.

Great pictures! Go ahead and put up the rest of them!
 

 Congrats! You guys do look great. He's such a gorgeous horse!

Wow, I don't know how I missed this posting!  Congrats on your 2nd placing, that is really awesome for your first Jumper Show!! Those are great pics, Solo looks so happy and focused on doing his best!

Thanks so much!  I don't know if we'll make it to the next one, looks like that's the only day the saddle fitter is available and we NEED a new saddle, *snif*. 

WOW!!! You two have really made alot of improvement since the last time I saw pics. You look like your having so much fun. Jumper courses are much more entertaining than hunters. lol the "oh crap" turns are always fun.

 Thanks jj! Hahah -- you can tell, we are crooked in almost every picture, because my course went something like this:

"oh crap, a jump!!!!"

"oh crap, another jump!!!!"

"oh dear god, turn turn TURN, there another jump!!!!"

"ahhhhhhhhh, just jump something, my dear boy, so we don't die!!"

"oh crap, I hope we're still on course......wait, where are we?  AHHHHHH, YEAH JUMP THAT ONE TOO!" 

LMAO, I love your course commentary! I have had more than one of those in my couple of years doing the jumpers.....fun times:D Don't you just hate those ponies?!? I have the same problem, Traveller will be doing wonderful and I think we have it in the bag and then a little streak of lightning comes along- making all the super tight inside turns...oh well. You guys look great!

Thanks JC!  It was so much fun.  I had my first jumper lesson the other day and dang, we have a lot to work on.  My eye is slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww since I'm used to watching looong hunter lines, taking long distances and thinking about bends and lines across the whole arena and apparently staring at random empty parts of the arena.  Much to work on, but when the next lil evil pony comes along, we will BRING IT!

Oh I know where you're coming from. I came from an equitation/hunter background as well and I only switched to the jumpers because that is what Trav is suited too. For pretty much the first year I found the distances very hard, something I found surprising becuase I thought I had a pretty good eye, I thought wrong, lol. I found it super hard to convert to taking deeper distances, becuase like you said, hunter distances are usually much longer. Long story short, we took quite a few oxers at first...good Traveller is a bold guy! I would never go back to the hunters though, the jumpers are so much fun

 Yup, same here.  Only we are going the eventing direction because I discovered the XC addiction!  So far Solo just saves my butt every time in jumpers and I just hold on.  I've been surprised because I know he doesn't have a picture perfect front end but he's never pulled a rail at a show or warmup and only the occasional one at home if I give him a really bad ride to the jump.  But Solo loves it, I love it, I'll never go back!!!