Sporting Days Horse Trial

First, let me say, we discovered the most amazing thing in Aiken on Saturday night: Cookie Dough Fried Wontons. DELICIOUS!!! We couldn't decide where to eat and ended up at this small bar/restaurant called Soiree. I'd make the drive back to Aiken just for those wontons.

Becca rode the prelim xc at Sporting Days on Saturday and had a great ride. Lilly has come so far. They had an unlucky run out at a skinny - element C of the coffin, but Lilly was very impressive all the same. It's a cool story, because moving Lilly up the levels has not been easy for Becca. At novice, Lilly would stop when she got to a slightly uncomfortable distance. Becca corrected that and was able to move up to training. At training, Lilly developed a water problem that resulted in several eliminations. Becca corrected that and after several successful training runs, moved up to Prelim. At her first prelim outing, Lilly had several refusals at skinnies. Becca has worked at straightness and adjustability all winter and it shows. Sporting Days was Lilly's second prelim. Even though they had a runout, Lilly's education has definitely grown exponentially. I think it shows that perseverance does pay off. Not all horses come out of the womb as superstars. Becca's first advanced horse would jump anything, anywhere, any time, no matter what ride she gave him. Lilly is not as forgiving, but still has the talent for the upper levels. It's great seeing Becca with an upper level horse again. It's been a long time coming!

Dressage

I was crazy nervous as usual come Sunday morning. I wish I didn't get that pit in the bottom of my stomach, but I always do! Leo received So-Kalm Saturday night and Sunday morning, but he was still more "up" in dressage warm-up then he was at Jumping Branch. I was definitely concerned we'd be back to our typical abrasive and resistant dressage test, but he settled down trotting around the outside of the dressage ring and put in a test I was really proud of. He was very focused and on the job. We only scored a 41.7 which I was disappointed about, but it was still a great test for us. The judge said he is holding tension in his back and is still too unsteady in the contact to receive higher scores. He has come so far these past 2 months though!

Stadium

The stadium course at Sporting Days is quite lovely. It's in a grass ring with tall, old trees that you ride around. The course itself was forward and you pretty much rode everything off your eye. Leo was jumping huge and I kept losing my reins between jumps. We ran past our distance to fence 7 which was after the in-and-out and he had the rail down with his back feet. I should have paid more attention because I knew it was riding on a half stride. I either needed to sit up and hold or push forward. Overall, the round didn't feel great, but the video didn't look too bad. I guess it always feels worse than it actually is.

Cross Country

Before xc, Ashley helped me practice jumping a couple xc warm-up fences. She wanted me to let Leo move forward in a bigger gallop, set up 6 strides out from the fence and then ride forward to the fence with my leg on. The first practice fence I screwed up because I was holding for the short spot, rather than jumping out of the forward rhythm. The next fence, I let him jump it out of stride. It feels fast and I'm not totally comfortable, but for cross country that is the name of the game. I also need to remember to support with my leg at the base of the fence, regardless of the speed we're moving, because he jumps so much better.

Ashley walked the course with me earlier in the day and told me to just let Leo gallop between his fences and not mess with him. But when I did need to set up for a fence, I had to insist that he come back when I ask; then let him alone again. My goal was to ride a forward, fluid round; to let Leo be in his comfort zone and step out of mine.

We left the start box and had our best xc ride ever! I let Leo pick his gallop pace and let him go. It ended up being the easiest xc ride we've had. I was not nearly as tired because I wasn't fighting to slow Leo down constantly and getting into a tug of war with him. We caught all of our fences out of stride - it was quite awesome. There was one combination: a bending 3 stride with a short approach down a hill. This was the only fence I was really concerned about. Leo was fighting me for control and was a little surprised by the first fence off the turn and started backing off. I mentally clocked in and told myself "Do not give up, drive forward, get the 3." I sat down, put my leg on and Leo surged forward. It was great.

The optimum time was 5:46 at 350 mpm, we finished in 4:36. Luckily we did not get speed faults, which I was expecting. So we finished on a score of 45.7.

I'm super siked now - I'm feeling really confident that we can move up to training shortly. The dressage has come so far in the last 2 months, I think we finally have the foundation we need to get through the training level dressage test. The movements come up a lot faster - like walk, trot at A, canter at K. We also need to continue to focus on our coursework so I can continue to develop my eye and Leo's adjustability. With xc, I'd like to school trakehners, tackle more xc combinations, and get Leo more comfortable jumping off banks into water. But I'm so pumped up right now, I'd go training next weekend if I could :)

Despite the colic and bruised foot, this has been a great year so far!