The jog was yesterday and started at 5 p.m., so at around 2, I decided that I would start braiding. I did Ernie first, and the decision to pull his mane just a couple of days ago was a really good one for when he was just being ridden, but for braiding not so much!

Somehow I had managed to nearly bald him, but I did however get some good braids in and he looked adorable. For all his quirkiness, he is an angel to braid. I then moved on to Missie, as Will headed off for the briefing. Her mane does not look beautiful for just riding around—in my opinion, too long—but dang it if I wasn’t putting in some beautiful braids!

I was three-quarters of the way down her neck when Will came running around the corner. My first instinct was that they had moved the jog time earlier and that we had to have them out there in 5 minutes, but I then caught through his gasping that the three-star horses weren’t doing a jog and had I braided her?

“Ah, just about!” was my first response, and then “Oh, but they look so pretty!” We decided that as we figured she would have a morning test, what I had done we would leave in.

Will headed on down to the jog with Ernie at 4:45; we were 37^th to jog. As always, we were down way too early, but it was nice to wander around the main arena. Ernie didn’t really think so and thought it may be a much better idea to either stand still or attempt to drag me back to the gate to go back to the barns.

The jog went just fine. Ernie looked fabulous and we received a pair of Dalmar hind cross-country boots for completing that phase. Awesome, does that mean we get a full set if we complete another phase? We were wondering if we could just jog Missie to get a pair of boots.

Today was dressage day for the three-star horses. Missie went at 10 a.m. and was fabulous. She and Will really have come along way and apart from a bobble at the first medium trot she put in a stellar performance and got a 47.1 [which put them into a tie for 18^th place]. Sandy Phillips even gave the thumbs-up.

I’m not sure who is more excited about the summer in England and working with Sandy on a regular basis—Will, myself or Sandy. She really is a fabulous coach for Will, very supportive and positive. Good old positive affirmation gets you every time!

Ernie did a test run today to see if Will would ride him once before the test or not. That’d be a no! Lets just say, as fit as Ernie is, there is only so much dressage he can do in one day and he would like his limit to be 20 minutes.

As I sit here in the press tent, writing, I am with one of the best hand grazers and bandage rollers on the circuit, Shannon Kinsley. On top of all that, she matches me volume for volume and is one of the funniest people I’ve met. To finish off the comedy show all we need now is Colby Saddington; sadly she won’t be coming but we could really do with a life size cardboard cut out of her!