I rode Dezi as long as I could until the weather started getting truly unbearable, which was in January or so. From then, we would have weeks of being able to ride followed by a week of nasty weather that would make it unsafe to either ride out or haul anywhere. Starting at about the end of February or beginning of March, we were finally able to have some consistent ride time. Dezi and I have spent this time homing in on our dressage skills with our dressage queen barnmates. We had a couple of dressage lessons with Jonni Allen, where we worked a lot on walk/canter tranitions and the ever-score impairing free walk to medium walk transitions. We're starting to school first level dressage movements, like leg yields, lengthenings, counter-canter, & more honest lateral movements. Maybe one day, if I have the time and money and energy, I can start thinking about working toward my bronze dressage medal. But dressage shows AND events are quite expensive!
I decided to have Dezi clipped at the beginning of March when her thick coat and excessive sweating started to interfere with our ability to get anything done during our rides. And never again will I not clip a horse at the end of winter. Yes, the blanketing requirements and decisions were a bit difficult, but it was so worth it! We were able to have productive rides and didn't need hours to cool out. We have had a few jump schools in the grass jump field at Chris's house. We cross country schooled twice at Longview. It would have been more, but work and weather and prior obligations made that more difficult. We've had a blast, though. Dezi and I are starting to work on training level questions, and she's coming up with some impressive answers. The only hesitation we've had is at skinnies, but even those, she's starting to figure out what's being asked of her. She truly loves her job!
Today (5/2/21), we went to Heritage Park for a schooling show organized by the Mid-America Eventing Association. We were put into a big division of about 12 riders in the novice HT.
We left Chris's house around 7am and made it to Heritage Park around 8:40... just in time for a quick warmup before my dressage test at 9:14. We warmed up quickly and then went in for our test. It felt awesome, but I know better than to assume anything. I had Dezi forward but on the bit and our stretchy trot was decent, my square turns in the center of the arena were actually square, and she didn't completely blow up when I asked her to go from free walk to medium walk. Overall, I was very happy! We ended up with a 27.1 to put us in 2nd place after dressage.
We had a short amount of time to breathe after dressage before stadium and XC which started at 10:30. Chris and I went down to walk stadium and watch some of the training riders do their courses. When we got back to the trailer, I put in Dezi's studs and it was time to head down. My friends (Jess works with me and her boyfriend, Cotton) and Anthony had come to watch. Anthony had brought the dogs from home, and it was a lot for him to manage. We really need to work on leash training.
Dezi and I had a short warm up next to the stadium ring before heading in. She jumped out of her skin, even on the couple of fences where I didn't have a good approach. She totally saved me a couple of times. We had a hard rub at jump 7 but somehow the rail managed to stay up and we went double clear!
Then we headed out to cross country. Dezi jumped everything. And then she got to the second-to-last fence where she saw the trailers and decided she was finished, so I really had to kick her on to get to the final fence, but we made it happen. We ended up going double clear.
Unfortunately, the person in first place after dressage had some trouble in stadium, so finishing on our dressage score was enough to move us into first place! How stinking cool! I love that horse so much. And my trainer and friend Chris has been the glue that holds us together. We literally wouldn't be able to do half of what we do and accomplish a fraction of the goals we've been able to achieve without her. I will never be able to thank her enough and show her how truly greatful I am for everything she has done for me and my horse. And knowing her, she won't stop supporting us any time soon! Thankfully!
