An English Weekend at Pine Top

 

Rain, mud and cold! Flora was completely at home this past weekend at Pine Top. On Saturday, we made it through dressage with only light rain and then it got steadier for show jumping. The rain kept coming and by Sunday - cross country day! - the farm was covered in standing water and mud. Flora didn't care. She didn't even want to stand on the trailer and stay dry, she wanted to stand out in the rain. She's one tough girl. 

It was our first horse trial together and a great chance to get to know her. She was more in the bridle in dressage warm up than I was expecting and then more quiet in stadium than I was expecting and exceeded all expectations for handling the rain and wet footing. The feedback on our dressage test was that she was too low in her frame and didn't show enough bend in her 10 meter turns. 

For stadium, I rode very conservatively and added a stride in every related line which is unusual for us. i think the rain and the undulating grass ring caused me to ride a bit backwards, but Flora was great and didn't touch a rail. 

At 470 mpm, cross country was significantly faster than I have ridden for years. With the mud and being out of practice, I wasn't sure I was going to make the time, but I really wanted to. I knew my minute markers and Waylon gave me tips on how to ride forward in the wet conditions. He explained I had to be sure to support her in front of the fence with my reins which would help stabilize the takeoff and prevent slipping (big mud studs helped too). We caught some real short distances and some real long distances; Flora handled it all in stride and stayed bold throughout.

I landed after every fence and made a point to kick on (not exhale after jumping each fence and take breather). I watched my minute markers and we made the time! The only pair in our division to do so. We won our Senior Training Rider division, finishing on our dressage score of 31.4. It was very cool! 

Flora's training, experience, and attitude are all exceptional and training level is clearly super easy for her, so I guess it probably isn't that surprising we won. But it's still super nice!! I never take a ribbon or placing for granted - riding and horse partnerships are too hard to discount all the work that goes into it (whether you're riding a made-horse or still in the process of making your horse). Pine Top gave me tremendous confidence and I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of my journey becoming Flora's rider.