They were ready. I’d run through the test with both of them at least once. But it’s one thing to move your own horses up a level of competition. It’s another thing to do it with someone else’s horse.
The two someones in question are Amy and Bev, two wonderful clients. Amy’s horse Bo has been in our program for most of the last four years, since he was 6; he was knocking on the door of his first Prix St. Georges last year when had had a stupid injury that required a good chunk of time off. Bo came to Florida with me to make as much progress as possible, so I can hand over the keys to Amy upon our return from the Sunshine State and, with any luck, get Amy her Silver Medal this summer.
Bev owns Fiero, who I’ve had the ride on for 16 months. Bev doesn’t have any competition ambitions of her own, but she loves to ride Fiero, and I train him and show him and she rides him a few days a week and we’re going to go as far as we go.
Both are absolutely splendid owners, totally normal in their expectations; they don’t pressure me to show, they don’t want to know why their horses aren’t winning the Olympics on 822%, they’re wonderful. They trust me to make the right decision about when they’re ready.
And even with wonderful owners like these, even with their complete appreciation for how hard dressage is, for the inevitable ups and downs of training horses, it still always makes me hyperventilate just a smidge. Shows are expensive. What if the horse isn’t as ready as I think? What if he struggles? What if he doesn’t score well? What if the owner is disappointed?
But as I entered Fiero and Bo (and Fender as well) in the White Fences show for last weekend, I needn’t have worried. They’re good guys, and we’d all done our homework. They were ready.
ADVERTISEMENT
I staggered their classes so I wouldn’t ride all three on the same day, which meant Bo and Fender were entered on Friday, a day it absolutely poured rain. It meant I couldn’t really turn Bo up, as conditions were so sloppy. But he was such a trooper, totally focused on the task at hand. He made a few green horse mistakes, but Amy and I couldn’t have been more thrilled with his debut effort.
I scratched Fender because conditions were deteriorating rapidly, but by midafternoon the sun had come out and the footing started to dry, and by Saturday morning, the rings were totally rideable. Fender’s ring had a few puddles that caught him by surprise, resulting in a few bobbly moments, and one spectacular miss where I totally forgot how to count to three and Fender saved my butt anyway. (Good boy!) But he was just terrific, let me ride into him all I wanted, and was particularly fabulous in our canter pirouettes, something that was so hard for him before his injury. He earned a 71% to win his first Developing Prix St. Georges qualifier. Hoorah!
Fiero’s test was a little remarkable because I was thinking about how we did the exact same show last year… at Second Level. He couldn’t find a clean flying change if his life depended it on just 365 days ago. The pirouettes, the tempis, the half pass zig zag—all were a pipe dream. But there he was, cheerfully going around in his double bridle, doing his work. He’s still developing strength-wise, and there are plenty of points still left to pick up as a result. But he’s so solid and honest and not-emotional about it all, and he earned a 68.8 and placed third in a HUGE class.
I guess they were ready!
