Initially, we had all planned to go. Chris would take her 2 horses (Quill and Gemma), Leah would take Scooter, and I would take Dezi. Slowly, they started dropping like flies until Dezi and I were the only ones left.
When we had all planned to go, we were going to get stalls and stable overnight so that we could be ready to go at our ride times in the morning. Chris and I both had to work full days on Friday, so we didn't get to leave until later. It wasn't until we made it to Harrisonville that we realized that we could leave in the morning and still make it with plenty of time to spare and prepare. Even if we had continued on, by the time we got there, it would be too late for me to get a chance to school and Dezi would have to spend the night in an unfamiliar stall 40 minutes from my house. This way, she could sleep in her pasture with her buddies. Chris offered to load her in the morning and meet me at Sonic so I would be able to sleep in my own bed.
We got to Phalen around 9:30. Dezi and I did a walk about to check out the facilities and where she would be staying and I got her settled into her stall. There was plenty of time for us to watch some rides and check in before I had to worry about tacking up.
Our first ride was dressage: BN Test B, which I had never ridden before. I had looked at it intermittently throughout the week and studied it a bit on Friday night, but I took the time directly before I tacked up to make sure I truly had it memorized.
I got her tacked up and got on about an hour before my ride time only to find out that they were running ahead. We did a short warm-up. She was riding really well- listening to everything I was asking, using her body well, and really showing off in this totally unfamiliar environment. She's such a rockstar.
We went into ride our test a bit early. Dezi did a good job. We had decent transitions, decent geometry, and only one little spook in the corner near the judge. We ended up with a fair 33.3 from a tough judge. It put us in 2nd place in our division.
There was a bit of time between dressage and stadium, so I let Dezi chill out in her stall while I spent some time exploring, catching up with old friends I haven't seen since last show season, and helping set the jump course. There was a huge change in the course between starter and BN. As I was helping them set it up, it was obvious that the people doing the work had never ridden a jump course before, or not recently. The had us taking some obscene turns and impossible paths from one jump to the next. After I got a bit frustrated with the whole thing, I called Chris over to help and she worked it all out. The course was still a bit strange, but at least we got it to a point where it was rideable.
I proceeded to tack Dezi and get her ready to jump. After another short warm-up, she was ready to go. No need to get her all hot and bothered for one jump course.
She rocked it! We started out with a good pace but as the course progressed, we got slower and slower. I'm not sure if she gets tired or if I get tired... or maybe it's a combination and I'm just thinking too hard to be able to actually ride well. Either way, despite a less-than-perfect pace, we managed to leave all the jumps up! Double clear! Chris and I agreed that if I had ridden at that pace last year, we definitely would have had rails. Chris thought that all the dressage work over the winter had really helped her learn how to accurately use her back end. I also did a good job this round of sitting back, waiting for the jump, and letting her jump up to me instead of dropping forward over her shoulder like I used to do.
She rocked it! We started out with a good pace but as the course progressed, we got slower and slower. I'm not sure if she gets tired or if I get tired... or maybe it's a combination and I'm just thinking too hard to be able to actually ride well. Either way, despite a less-than-perfect pace, we managed to leave all the jumps up! Double clear! Chris and I agreed that if I had ridden at that pace last year, we definitely would have had rails. Chris thought that all the dressage work over the winter had really helped her learn how to accurately use her back end. I also did a good job this round of sitting back, waiting for the jump, and letting her jump up to me instead of dropping forward over her shoulder like I used to do.
Overall, it was a great first show of the season. We ended up with a pretty red ribbon to take home, and later I got a fancy reserve champion ribbon mailed to me!
And now, I'm sitting in my house getting ready for a Stay at Home initiative by Kansas City. I'm not sure what's going to happen with this show season. Coronavirus has already wreaked havoc on the 2020 Eventing season with every cross country schooling in March and April cancelled already. We haven't heard about the Mill Creek Recognized show in May, but given that we haven't been able to ride much recently and may not be able to school cross country at all prior to that show, I don't know if it would even be smart to enter. The maximum I would be able to do would be beginner novice, IF I can get to a cross country schoolng somewhere... maybe a private facility...?
So there are currently a lot of unknowns. I don't know if I'll be able to show at all this year. I don't know if I'll have a job next week (healthcare is pretty volatile right now). I don't know if I'll be able to ride when it's not considered "essential" (except for my sanity). I'm just trying to stay calm, keep my mind and body as busy as possible, and avoid eating everything in sight in the process. *FINGERS CROSSED*
