First show of the season

After a winter that just WILL NOT DIE (it was 75 yesterday and it's going to snow tonight!) I'm more than ready to go horse show.  Or am I?

Where are my boots?  Do they fit?

What do I wear, did I bother to clean my show coat from last year?

New Dressage tests?  What new dressage tests!  Many thanks to Cobjockey for mentioning it because I would not have bothered looking.  I've been doing BN A for the last 15 thousand years and I had it memorized.  I think Annie had it memorized too.


OMG, my horse is mostly dirt and hair.  She looks like a clydesdale her legs are so hairy, her mane is filthy, her ears have sprouted tufts, and there is a layer of hay in between the hairs of her mane.  I have part of her mane braided in an attempt to train it over to one side but all the loose bits just stick straight up in the air.  Plus she keeps rolling in the mud.

Will it be warm enough to give her a bath?  Is there enough hot water for a 3 hour bath?

I've had two really great jumping lessons that are going to set me up for a good round at Starter and a move up to BN.  My instructor has taken it upon herself to push me, which sounds like a great idea until she starts making the fences bigger.  So I just try  not to look at the fences.

Sunday was a gymnastic day.  We built off one big gymnastic then added several other jumps that had canter placing poles in front of them.  A challenge for me, I hate lots of poles.  If you hit a bad distance to one then you cathunka down the rest of the line.  What started off as a sea of poles eventually turned into:  pole, pole, jump, pole, pole, jump, bunch o poles, jump. A one stride to a two stride ending in a sizable oxer.  Then around the corner over a couple more poles, a jump, bending line over two more poles and a jump, jump a single, jump the bicycle fence, then a long gallop to the scary wave fence (LEG LEG LEG LEG).

It was a challenging day, I want to override in gymnastics and my instructor wanted me to keep my hands on Annie's neck and make adjustments with my legs.  Eeeepppp.

Cantering down to the wave fence was a challenge. Annie had popped over it deconstructed two weeks ago, but here it was fully assembled and we barreled down to it.  I debated trotting then decided to just wing it and canter down to it.  Keep your leg on!  Don't look at the fence!

 She took a peek and jumped it a bit big (for her) but didn't think about stopping.

It was a good confidence building lesson before our show.  Now, to worry about that bath.