Eventing is all about ups and downs

Mill Creek Pony Club Horse Trials came quickly this year! We actually got some good opportunities for conditioning before we needed to head out. The weather report was calling for rain and storms all weekend, though, which is always a little concerning. I took Friday off work. I spent the morning cleaning tack, getting my trailer ready, and loading everything up. Chris got off work around noon and we headed to Longview. We got the stall set up, had a great dressage warm up in a hectic arena, and then we walked XC. The rain held out all evening for us. I hung out with Dezi as long as possible and then headed home for some sleep. 

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. 

Let the Show Season Begin

It has been a long winter!

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. 

Check out the YouTube videos of the GoPro for stadium and XC here!

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!

Purple purple purple

Windermere Run HT 2020 was Dezi and my second recognized novice event on October 23-25 after a 10th place finish at Heritage Park earlier in the month.

Kansas City and the midwest in general are known for crazy mood swings when it comes to weather. The week before Windermere was typical fall weather until Thursday when temperatures hit the mid-80s! I didn't even ride that day, because I was worried our planned ride would be too much for Dezi with her full winter coat and a full week of work. And then Friday came and the temperatures dropped. Mid-40s and cloudy all weekend were what the weathermen predicted. Great. I can handle the 40s. That's not that cold! I live in the midwest. We're used to cold. I neglected to realize that mid-40s were the HIGHS for each day. It was cold. 

Because of the number of entries, they made the show a three-day. Prelim would do dressage and XC Friday with stadium Saturday. Training & novice did dressage Friday, XC Saturday, & stadium Sunday. And BN & starter would do dressage & XC Saturday and stadium Sunday. So for us, it was actually a three-day show. We would ride dressage at 4:54pm Friday, XC at 11:45 Saturday, & stadium around 11 on Sunday. 

I took Friday off work so that I could get Dezi and the trailer ready. I got to the barn around 9am. I opted not to bathe Dezi, because it was cold and I didn't want her to hate me for the rest of the forseeable future. But I did braid her from the comfort of our own wash rack instead of trying to get it done at the park. Good thing, too, because it took me about twice as long as it usually does because of my cold fingers that constantly needed breaks for warmth. We left around noon and headed to Longview. 

We set up the stall and made it look as purple as possible before we headed down to walk the cross country course. Everything looked pretty doable. There was nothing we hadn't jumped before except for the novice corner, which of course they decided to put directly after a ditch to make it even more of a question. I walked the course a second time before we watched some of the prelim riders go. 

When it was time, we headed back to the stall to prep for dressage. Dezi had been napping in the fresh shavings and was very resistant to getting up. After I finally convinced her that it was time to ride, I walked for a while in the grassy area near our stall before we started toward the warm up. Dezi was doing really well! She felt soft. She was listening to me. I was actually thinking and keeping her in a frame and working from behind. We heard that they were running ahead, so we headed up to the warm up area. In the small arena, we were still killing it. And then they told us to head to the warm up behind the arenas. I didn't realize that heading to that warm up meant that there would still be 3 whole tests before we would get to ride our test. I did the best I could to keep the momentum going, but Chris had relocated to the stands thinking that we would be going fairly quickly. Not the case. I don't know what I was doing or if Dezi just became agitated at the long wait, but I didn't feel like I was doing anything right. Going around the outside of the arena, she felt like she could take a deep breath. We headed down centerline and we had a nice test. I struggled with the things I would have predicted I would have trouble with. Our transition from stretchy trot to medium trot was not pretty at all. Dezi was very bracey. And then there was the free walk. Thank god it's not a coefficient anymore. I have really been working on the free walk, trying not to give her too much rein to allow her to get distracted and slowly picking the reins back up to get to medium walk. Well apparently I got too complacent in the test, gave too much rein and then tried to pick her back up too abruptly. She threw her head in the air, truly offended that I would possibly ask her to finish the rest of the test. We worked through it and came to enough of a compromise to finish the test. 37.6. I know it was bad, but I didn't realize it was quite THAT bad. Other than those 2 mess ups (which were totally my fault), the test was actually pretty nice. We were sitting in 9th place. Make your own assessment of the ride on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/2TPN-zSY4kM

I took my time putting everything away. I fed Dezi and just relaxed a bit. We went for a walk before I called it a night and headed home. I took all my jumping stuff with me so I could clean tack in the comfort of my own home, on the couch, while watching TV. Anthony and Paul were playing in a pool tournament and it was kind of nice to have the house to myself. 

The 5:30AM alarm came quick. I did my usual QT stop before I headed to the barn. My dog, Sophie wanted to come, and with Chris coming for our rides and then leaving, it would be nice to have the company. I fed Dezi, walked her around the property for a bit, and then Sophie and I headed down to watch some of the training level XC. The course was eating people alive! There were riders falling off, lots of refusals, and several people that just decided to withdraw in the middle. It was a very technical course and honestly, made me reconsider ever wanting to move up to training level from novice. Although, I guess that's a decision that can definitely be made at a later date, after we've established ourselves a bit more at this level. 

I headed back to the barn to find Dezi napping. Silly girl! But we had to get ready. We headed down to warm up. Alone. Sophie got to relax in the warm car while I was riding. I hadn't seen Anthony or Chris, but XC was running early, and I wanted to make sure I was there when it was my turn. It was nice to see Annetta, a familiar face, when I got down to XC warmup. Chris eventually arrived and we had a good warm up. Dezi was totally game to jump all the things. She felt really good. We headed out on course and she absolutely killed it. We weren't as close to speed fault time as we had been at Heritage, but I think it was mostly because of the hills, which were really testing her fitness. She rose the first jump really well and then proceeded to cross-fire most of the way to jump 2. She did the bank up (5) well and then hesitated a bit at the bench at 6. She swapped leads all the way down the hill to 7. It felt funky and I wasn't sure if I should be worried about her for some reason, but she didn't do that at all the rest of the course. I think we need to incorporate more hills and inclines in our fitness work. She jumped the ditch like a champ and then had locked onto the corner before I even needed to ask her. It's so cool how she loves her job and just looks for the next fence. She was a little slow up the hill to the lattuce and jumped it a little funky. We got to the water and she started to hesitate a bit, so we made the joint decision to trot it. She the refused to pick up the canter in the water, so we jumped 14 from a trot. We were fine on the time, so I let her relax for the last 2 jumps and she came down to a trot as soon as we crossed the finish line. She was done. Good girl, Dezi. Watch the GoPro video of our ride here.We went double clear to end up moving up to 7th place. 

Dezi got the afternoon off, linament, and lots of hay for munching. Sophie and I went shopping and then watched some of the BN cross country to see the people we knew and then watched the prelim riders do their stadium rounds. It was a really fun environment with almost everyone from the show there to support the top level riders! Dezi finished the night with a good walk, some food, and standing wraps. I headed home for a warm shower (still feeling like I would never be able to warm up), and then went to a friend's house to celebrate his birthday. I made it an early evening so that I could comfortably wake up early on Sunday when the alarm went off at 6AM. 

Another QT run before Sophie and I went to Longview. I fed Dezi, walked her, and got her wraps off before I went down to watch some of the show jumping. Since we were at the end of the novice divisions, I was able to watch all of the training riders before I headed up to get ready. 

It was cold. That morning, it was really hard to take off my layers of clothing! The show was running super early, and Anthony arrived right as I was getting on. We walked for a bit until it was our turn to head into warm up. Dezi was being good. We had a good rhythm and she wasn't second-guessing anything. She was ready. 

We went in for our round and she was really good, but I think we were both maybe tired. Typically, we race around stadium with reckless abandon, and then get a stern talking-to for being too on the forehand and nearly out of control. Well, I guess I overcompensated, because this round was too slow. Maybe we were tired. Maybe I was working too hard to keep her slow and paying attention, but we knocked a rail and then proceeded to get short spots to almost every other fence on course. Dezi didn't look at any of the jumps or question anything. She was a total champ (you can see, too, at this link: https://youtu.be/PxFQPTO-Vu8 ). The announcer announced that we had a double clear round, whcih was definitely not true. I made sure to ride over to the judge to make sure they had my rail marked- I couldn't imagine finishing on a score I hadn't earned. As we watched the rest of my division, it looked like almost everyone went double clear, but there were a few rails. We would see. 

We headed over to the grass arena for the awards ceremony. Again, like at Heritage, there were no numbers called so I didn't know if I would be getting a ribbon or not. I decided to take a chance and go in with the group. They announced 8th and my heart fell, I assumed my rail would take me down in placings. I was totally prepared to be that loser that is at the back of the victory gallop without a ribbon. And then they announced 7th. It was me! What? I ended up in 7th place! I guess people had more trouble than it appeared. I forgot that they had not had us go in numerical order, so the people placed ahead of me must have gone before me. And the best part about a 7th place ribbon?!? IT'S PURPLE!!!! PURPLE!!! It was destiny!! 

We got the stall torn down and headed home for a relaxing evening. It was a long weekend. 

We definitely have work to do this winter. I need to get into the dressage ring as many times as possible so that I can work on not going brain dead and continuing to think when I turn down centerline. We need to work on our stretch to medium transitions at the walk and trot. We need to figure out the proper rhythm for our stadium courses and maybe even go to some hunter/jumper shows to get in the ring and get that figured out, too. But until then, Dezi will have some time off. I hesitate to take the foot completely off the gas, though, because we typically are forced to take the entire month of January off (because KC weather). We shall see what we decide to do. But it's definitely time to look at our goals for the year and start thinking about all the big things we want to achieve next season. 

I could not be more proud of Dezi and my work this season. We've worked hard, and I'm so excited for the great things to come next year. We're just starting to figure it out, and we are going to accomplish amazing things. She's my girl, and we're true partners. #badasswomen

We're big kids now!!!!

We are official! Dezi and I are officially a novice pair! A novice partnership! Badass novice women! 

I have worked hard to lose weight in preparation for this weekend.  My goal was to lose 50 pounds before I allowed myself to show at the novice level, no matter how much I wanted to make the move up from BN & how prepared Dezi might be. I blew my goal out of the water by losing 68 pounds between January & October of 2020. I'm still not at my goal, but I'm much closer and I feel like I'm physically in a place to be able to help my horse run novice instead of hindering her along the way. We have put a lot of work into improving our fitness, and we were ready! 

This weekend was our first recognized novice HT at Heritage Park (thank you, Mid America Eventing Association for making this weekend happen!). 

I took Thursday and Friday off work as a birthday present to myself and to prepare for the show. I had a lengthy to-do list including laundry, preparing the trailer, riding Dezi, and just making sure I had everything packed and ready to go. Chris was home from work and gave me an awesome dressage lesson on Thursday morning. We really were figuring it out! I also got to throw some relaxation & fun in there, including a fun birthday party my pool friends threw for me that was topped by me winning my match that night. 

Friday morning, I got all the stuff from home packed into my car, got my blood tested at the doctor,  bought a pair of clippers from Family Center (it's about time, honestly), and headed to the barn for a relaxing tack cleaning & spa day. I took my time cleaning tack and preparing the trailer. About the time I was finishing up, the horses had decided to come in from the field. Destiny! I grabbed Dezi and we had a fun spa day. She got a bath, clipped, tail untangled, forelock rebraided, & then got to relax in the stall for a bit before Chris got home from work to take us to Heritage. We arrived around 5:30 pm, and with only a couple hours before sunset and a good dressage ride on Thursday, I wanted to make sure we got a chance to walk XC. 

Luckily, Heritage Park is one of our two "hometown" courses where we get to school relatively frequently, so we had jumped most of the novice jumps before this weekend. They decided to make it more technical, though, with several combinations throughout the XC course. Mostly 4-5 stride bending lines. I'm going to be honest. I was nervous. This is the first novice course that matters. I walked it once with Chris and then a second time with only my Course Walk app and my mind to keep me occupied. The more I walked it, the more doable it looked. I would just have to make sure to ride every fence and not trust her completely. 

By the time I was finished walking, it was almost dark. I took Dezi for a walk, fed her, and headed home for the night. I got to bed relatively early and dreamt about that combination at 11AB, a faux trakaener with a 6 stride to the big table that has always freaked me out on its own, and now it's part of a bending line! But the more I rode it over and over in my mind, the more doable it was going to be. I had a plan. Sit back between the fences. Be confident. 

I spend Saturday morning reminding myself that Dezi and I are beautiful badass women who have worked hard to get to this level. We're completely prepared. We've been jumping this height and these questions at home with no problem. We belong here. I used Saturday morning as an opportunity to become amazing at positive self-talk. I pumped myself up. Hardcore. 

Dressage was at 10:20. I took Dezi to the trailer to start putting in her studs around 8:30. I wanted to have enough time to do studs and tack up before I got on at 9:30. After I had put in her studs, while I was chilling out, reviewing my dressage test, and relaxing before I had to tack up and get dressed, there was an accident by the trailers. A woman got stepped on by her horse, who was tied to the trailer. She was lying on the ground and obviously not in great condition. A fire engine and police car came down the row of trailers. In the distance, I could hear an ambulance making it's way toward us. In my head, I'd rather by on Dezi and warming up near the dressage rings than chance her "bombproof"-ness with emergency vehicles in the vicinity. I got dressed and tacked up quickly and headed out to warmup earlier than expected. We walked a lot. Eventually, Chris arrived and we had an amazing warm up. Dezi was listening to me, she was soft, and she was really using herself well. And I was riding well, thinking, and keeping my position with short reins. I had a few friends come to the show from work. I circled them and talked for a bit before I went into the ring. 

Even as we trotted around the ring, I was confident and ready. And then the bell rang and we turned down centerline. I went brain dead. Suddenly I had no idea what dressage was. What's connection? How do you ride corners? What's shoulder fore? How do you ask for transitions? What is rhythm? How short are my reins supposed to be? Literally everything about riding dressage went out of my head. All of it. I suddenly had no idea what I was doing. I could feel it unraveling, but I couldn't fix it. I didn't know how to recover. She was counterbent. She was running through my hands. We looked and felt like we had never had a dressage lesson in our lives. It was bad. I ended up with a 32.1. Not a terrible score considering how terrible it felt. It's just so frustrating to have a beautiful warm up and work so hard on dressage between shows and then get into the ring and blow it. We are absolutely capable of scoring in the 20's and yet I have yet for it to happen. See for yourself on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zZE535BZuLU

We didn't have a lot of time between dressage and cross country, so we hung at the trailer. My friends helped me get Dezi's braids out and then we scoped out where we thought they would be able to see the most on the cross country course. I gave them the insider info that you get to see the most when you're standing on top of a prelim jump, because you have the added height. Then I headed back to the trailer, tacked up, changed Dezi's boots, and changed my clothes before I headed up to XC warmup. We got there kind of early, so we walked a lot. Then when it was time to jump, she was killing it. She felt like she was made for this. She knew what she was doing. She was getting perfect spots and our rhythm was just right. We were ready. Chris warmed us up, told us we were ready and that we should take one more jump when it was almost our turn to head out, and she left us to find a good spot on the course. 

Then we were called to the start box. It's amazing how long 2 minutes feels. I started the GoPro at 30 seconds and my watch at 5 seconds. I had no idea where my minute markers were, but I ususally have to push Dezi through the majority of the course on novice to make time. The first three jumps rode beautifully. The 4th jump was the hammock. Dezi got a bit of a short spot, so it was kind of an awkward landing, but we headed to the 5AB 5-stride bending line with as much bounce and show jumpiness as possible. She took the combination like a pro. All I had to do was bend her a bit to the left and she knew her job. The water rode fine, seeing as they had not flagged the actual water and we had the option of taking the gravel to the side of the water without having to get wet. It's not that I didn't think Dezi would take the water (she's gotten much better about water), but I figured that if we didn't have to get her feet and boots wet, she'd have more sure footing for the remainder of the course. I think it worked out. She was confident and sure- footed the rest of the course. She didn't questin the ditch to the roll top. On the way to the "pick-a-side" jump, I had a moment of excitement that we were running novice and actually making it happen. She took the faux trakaener & big table 6-stride combination (the one I had nightmares about) like it was a walk in the park. Just another day. After that combination, I looked at my watch and it said 3:08... I did some quick math and figured it would take us at least a minute to get through the last 4 fences. Speed fault time was 4:01. She got a short spot to 12 because there were people playing frisbee golf in the woods on the other side of the jump. She also got a short spot to 13 because I was trying to slow her down a bit (thinking we'd be too close to speed fault time). After I realized that she jumps much better at speed, I decided that we'd just go for it on the last 2 fences. She jumped the 14 kind of wonkey with a weird move with her hind end, and then she focused in on the final fence. She's jumped that fence enough that she knew the jump we were headed to and that she was almost finished. She jumped it really well! I crossed the finish line (my watch said 4:08) and immediately reminded Dezi that we're officially a novice partnership. My GoPro video is on YouTube! Check it out here https://youtu.be/zvjG0i84fuc

We did it! Now all I had to do for a couple hours was wait to see if we got speed fault time penalties. I thought we should be good, but it was the only thing that might be able to give us some penalties. After the scores came out and I saw that our official time was 4:05, I definitely breathed a sigh of relief. Dezi recovered pretty quickly. I walked her, covered her in cold water, took out her studs, and then covered her in linament before I let her chill in her stall for a while. We were still sitting in a tie for 9th place, because apparently almost all of our division had also gone double clear on XC. 

My friend Jess and I went exploring out on cross country to watch some of the novice and the starter riders. Then she helped me walk stadium. She had no idea what she was doing, but it was nice to have a buddy. After she took off, I walked Dezi, fed her, and then let her graze around me while I relaxed by the trailer until it was too dark to see her anymore. I put her in her stall and said goodnight. 

I had a very relaxing Saturday night. I got home around 8:30. I started laundry to wash my white clothes so I could wear them again on Sunday. I watched my GoPro video and got it posted in a facebook post celebrating our recognized novice debut. And then I went to bed. Hard. 

I woke up at 6AM Sunday morning. I got my clothes from the dryer and made myself a snack in case I would need it and headed out. I stopped at QT for a cappuccino, diet coke, and a slice of breakfast pizza. It was all part of the plan. Breakfast pizza on stadium day is like cheese on pizza. I got to the park, fed Dezi, organized my stuff, and then took her out to the back of the trailer parking for some bonding and grazing. We hung out out there for about a hour, talked to a lot of people, stalked a lot of people on social media, and we even played a little. When I went to trot her, she threw her head and cantered next to me. She knew she was a badass. She knew she was important to me and that I love her. She knew that she had done a good job. When stadium started, I let her chill out in her stall for a bit while I watched prelim. So cool! Maybe one day, Dezi. 

When they started setting the jumps for training, I decided to start getting her ready. They were moving pretty quickly. And if worst came to worst, I could have a good walk on her or even handwalk her for a while before it was our turn to jump. I'd rather be early than late. Plus, I wanted to put studs in (which is much easier when you've done it the day before). 

We got to the stadium jumping area as training was starting the second division. Knowing that we 'd be in the first novice division, I decided to go ahead and get on to walk her around a bit before it was our turn. When they were changing the course for novice, I had the gate keeper and a recent friend, hold Dezi so Chris and I could walk and discuss the course. Square turns to everything. Ride everything (almost) as an unrelated. Keep her bouncy (especially going down the hill to jump 5) instead of letting her get long and flat. Take my time. Typical stadium pre-game talk. Now to see if I could actually execute it. 

We did our 2-2-2s and then started jumping. In the warm-up, knocked a rail (hard) on a tall vertical. I didn't have the canter I needed on the approach and got her too long and flat. We proceeded to jump that fence and a training height oxer without issue. We were ready. I was determined to ride a dressage-y stadium course. Keep her bouncing up and down instead of long and flat. Ride every fence. The course started out well. I rode the shit out of the first 3 jumps. And then I was so concerned about the downhill to jump 5 that I didn't focus on 4 the way I know I need to... and we knocked a rail. But you better believe that I rode the shit out of the rest of the course. I was determined to let that be our only rail of the course. And it was! (See the video here https://youtu.be/m5yXFwFeWUo). We finished our first novice on a score of 36.1. 

We ended up 10th in the division. They had all of us come in for a victory gallop even if we didn't get a ribbon. That was a little embarrassing, but it was a fun bonding moment with the other novice riders. We pulled up the rear of the victory gallop and as we headed out of the ring, we were informed that Dezi and I tied with Katie and her horse Lenny for the MAEA reserve novice horse of the year award. So we did get a big red ribbon! Very cool!

So there you have it. We finished. And with a respectable score. A score that might have been competitive in a rider division (at this show, novice only had a junior and an open division). I'm very happy with it. We definitely belong at this level. Dezi and I are a novice team. We are exactly where we're meant to be. And I could not be more happy with how we showed up, all the hard work I've put in to lose the weight to get to this point, and how amazing it felt to complete at this level. We are truly beautiful badass women. Dezi will have most of the week off and then I'm so excited to see what Windermere Run HT brings in 3 weeks.