Saturday was an early morning. We rode dressage around 9:30 (just as the skies were clearing after the morning rain) and had a very nice ride. Chris and I were both super happy with it. We were both positive that it would fufill my goal for a sub-30 dressage score at a recognized event! It was seriously one of the most beautiful, effortless dressage rides I've ever had! Unfortunately, the score did not reflect our anticipations. I got a 33.6, but I was sitting in first place. The judge must have been particularly tough!
I didn't have a lot of time between dressage and XC. Despite the rain all week, the footing was still pretty nice. Chris and I decided to opt for some simple tiny grass studs and headed down to the warm up. I was the 5th rider in the novice division. Everything was running on time, which was awesome, because those pesky storm clouds were looking like they wanted to make another appearance. Our warm up went well! Dezi was jumping everything like a champ and just felt great overall. It was finally our time to head down to the startbox. We said goodbye to Chris, who was going to go out on course to get some video. As they were announcing my 2 minute warning, the TD came over the walkie talkies saying that there was a jump that didn't have a jump judge. They were going to hold me until they could get it figured out. From the walk over the walkies, it sounded like it would be a quick fix, so I just continued to walk around the box and the area near it. It probably ended up being about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't even think about doing another canter or going back up to the warm up to take a jump because I assumed it would be quick. So after they got it figured out, my 2 minute warning came again. We cantered out of the startbox and she jumped pretty sticky to the first couple fences, but the third fence rode perfectly and everything from there was nice! We ended up double clear with a time of 4:27 with an optimum time of 4:45. She even stumbled right up the baby bank out of water without a problem! What a champion. We maintained our first place standing going into the evening. Check out our XC ride at https://youtu.be/wZCrc5X3yU4.
I hung out with Dezi as long as possible. Hosed her off a couple of times. Watched some of the lower levels ride XC, walked her, fed her, and then headed home for the evening. It was a friend's birthday, so I got Jimmy Johns (not quite the steak dinner I had earned) and headed to the driving range for his celebration. We had a lot of fun. I went out to the horse park to check on Dezi and take her for a quick walk before bed.
I got up early Sunday morning to get to the horse park to take care of Dezi. The open novice division would be the third group to go. I was able to watch the prelim riders before I had to head back to start getting ready for my ride. We were the last people to go in our division, so I got to watch some of my competitors from afar. Some people were knocking rails, and the KC Chiefs jump in particular was spooking a lot of horses. Honestly, though, I couldn't stop smiling. I was so happy. It was one of those days when I just couldn't stop being grateful for all the opportunities I was afforded by being able to be here. I am truly living my dream. I'm making friends and having a blast. No matter the placing. I was so happy.
I went into the ring to start my round. It wasn't pretty. There were certainly a couple jumps when I got way too close to the base and there were definitely times when I let my reins get too long and didn't keep the pace I knew we needed. But somehow, we managed to keep it together and leave all the rails up! We won! First place! I don't think my smile could have been any bigger. We led our victory gallop. Then after I took care of Dezi back at her stall, Chris and I hung out watching some of the other riders do their stadium rounds. I wanted to enjoy this moment as long as I possibly could, because unfortunately, that afternoon, I knew I would be on the opposite side of the emotional spectrum when we went to the funeral services for a close friend of ours who was supposed to be in our wedding and passed away unexpectedly. I knew that I wouldn't be able to ride the horse show high quite as long as typical.
We had about a month to refine our dressage even more, practice our jumping, go to a couple more XC schoolings, & condition as much as possible before we headed to Queeny Park in Saint Louis.
Chris took off the whole Friday and we were able to leave her house just before 8am. We got to the National Equestrian Center around one. We got the stall set up and chilled in the camper with air conditioning until the weather cooled off a bit. It was going to be a hot weekend! The weather report was calling for highs in the 100s every day. I rode a short dressage warm up around 6:30pm. We had a really good warm up! I was starting to get really excited for the weekend. After it cooled down a bit more, I took Dezi out of the stall for a couple more walks and some grazing. I like to get her out of the stall as much as possible at these shows because I don't feel like it's fair to keep her cooped up when she's used to living in a pasture and roaming around all day. I'm not totally sure she cares either way. I think she enjoys the vacation and the security of the stall and the consistency of a fan with a constant breeze. I ended the night catching up with some old friends and posting up in front of Dezi's stall reading until it was late enough to head to bed.
It started getting hot early in the morning on Saturday. We decided it was probably best not to give her a huge warm up before dressage. She felt really good. And then she started jigging when I would ask for medium to free walk. And I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. And I started getting frustrated. And I totally got into my own head. I tried to calm myself down, but I couldn't stop thinking about how we had worked so hard on our medium to free to medium walk transitions and I was sure I would blow it. The test started out nice, but as we went around, I let my reins get longer and longer. And I wasn't thinking the way I know how to think during a dressage test. It was OK. She didn't jig during the free to medium walk transition. We ended up with a 34.3 to put us in 8th place. Check out our dressage ride here: https://youtu.be/JAlhntv1-m0
We had about an hour to get ready for stadium and the temperatures were really warming up. And riding in that sand arena was like riding on a beach. Everything just felt hotter. We gave her just a couple minutes of warm up before I headed into stadium. She jumped well! Our pace was good and she even took fence 3 well despite cross firing and me not being smart enough to get the correct lead. I got her too deep to fence 4 and she knocked it, but the rest of the course rode well! She's so cool. Our rail took us from 8th to 9th. In a class of 13! Oops. Check out our ride on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aKaygbLPibg
Chris and I let Dezi chill in her stall with her fan while we went over to Queeny Park to walk cross country. It was so stinking hot! There were definitely some questions on the course. The first was a bending line with a mound in the middle. Then there was the significant bank down that would be shared with training & prelim. And the last real question was a bank out of water. Like a real bank. Not just a tiny baby bank step out of the water like at Longview. The plan was to keep her going at a good pace through the water so she could have some momentum coming to it. She'd take it no problem. On our way back, we stopped at Quik Trip for a much-needed diet coke.
I spent the rest of the evening with Dezi. We went on a couple of walks and I finished my book from my chair in front of her stall. I only had to yell at her for trying to bite my feet (I was using my tack trunk as a footrest) a couple of times. I also packed up as much stuff as possible so we could head to Queeny Park as early as possible in the morning.
Sunday morning, I fed Dezi and took her for a walk early. Then we headed out to Queeny Park where we would work out of the trailer for cross country. We got there just before the modified riders started heading out to the course. It was very interesting to hang out with the other riders at their trailers during a recognized event. I didn't watch any of other riders, because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get back and get ready with enough time. I put in some baby road studs and headed out to the warm-up. Dezi was warming up like a champ. We walked a lot, because it was hot out and I didn't want to make her work too hard before we even got out on the course.
The timing was perfect when they sent me to the startbox because I literally got there as they gave me my 10 second countdown. We headed out. It was perfect, because I didn't have any time to overthink. I rode the plan and the course rode really well! The hardest part was the terrain! There was a lot of ups and downs and it was pretty easy to see that we're lacking in that understanding a bit during our gallops because she wasn't nearly as balanced during her downhill stints as she was uphill. Everything rode great! And then there was the water. It was really murky. She decided it would be safer to trot in, which was OK, until she decided that walking would probably be better. I kicked and hit her with my whip, but she didn't want to go any faster. She WALKED up the bank! But she did it. And didn't even hesitate. What a goofball! DOUBLE CLEAR! Ride along with me and my girl with our GoPro here: https://youtu.be/eFbmjAv8h1A
The majority of the other riders in my division went double clear, too, so we ended up keeping our 9th place finish.
It's amazing how eventing keeps you humble. After a first place result at both the schooling show at Heritage and Mill Creek, we got knocked down a couple of pegs with a 9th place finish out of 13 riders at Queeny Park. We definitely have homework to do, but overall, I still think Queeny was a successful show. We learned a lot and I now know how to plan even better in the future. I know to push her towards a distance that I can't see in stadium instead of holding her. I know that we need to work on banks out of water and galloping terrain. And I know that I need to learn to keep my head in the game during my dressage tests.
Next up (after a bit of a break because it's been hot and rainy)- Catalpa Corners in Iowa at the end of July/beginning of August. I'm so excited to have Catalpa back (there was talk that they might retire it)! We're definitely going to be doing our homework to make it as successful as possible and use it as preparation for AECs at the beginning of September. It'll all be here before we know it! And I couldn't be more excited. I'm so lucky to be able to share this journey with Dezi and to have Chris in my life helping me make it all happen.
