Our final day at Lexington continued our good fortune, though everyone—two-leggers and four-leggers alike—was pretty pooped.
Tres had a much better Grand Prix that wasn’t reflected in the score, and I rode Ella like her hair was on fire, with GREAT success… until the canter. The trot, piaffe and passage scores were all much higher, the walk was the same, and then I made dumb mistake after dumb mistake in the canter stuff. And hey, guess where all the coefficients are hiding in the Grand Prix test? The canter! Doh!
So her score was the same, but it was a HUGE ah-ha for me. I have to really attack the first section of test; it’s not enough just to float along on my pretty horsey at this level. Good news: I thought Ella would be toast after four days of horse show, even if she only showed two, but she was full of vim and vigor, and even recovered well to have lots of go back at home on Tuesday. Sometimes she’s still a little dozy on Tuesday after the show. So fitness camp is really paying off!
Landon showed his fatigue in the ring, too, but still scored 67 percent to place second in another gigantic class. I’m so happy with him—he behaved like it was all old hat. What a guy!
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And my gang had a big day, too. Heather rode her hair off to a HUGE 66 percent on her Bodie, a half-Arabian gelding who has made SO much progress since the spring, I can’t even say. Everyone else had a good learning day, and I realized that everyone got a ribbon at least once over the weekend. Considering the size of some of the training and first level classes, and the inexperience of our group—this was a first dressage show EVER for several—that’s a heckofa thing!
Traffic on 81 mostly held off, and we were home by 6, ponies tucked in shortly thereafter, and the trailer left totally packed and dirty, because we were BEAT. And that was that.
The weather gods really smiled on us for the show, but they’re frowning again; as I write this I’m watching the mercury creep over 90, and the heat index is well over 100 degrees. They’re saying it’s just a short heat wave, but with the next show just a few weekends away I must confess I’m having heart palpations—this kind of heat makes training for the next one no fun at all.
