Virginia Horse trials - Lexington

April 1st : I am way behind on my blogging... sorry. So we went to Lexington for their starter horse trials. I thought it would be a nice first outing to test the back and the horse. He was very nervous when we were walking around and very happy to start warming up - sometimes walking just makes him more anxious. His Dressage warm up was FANTASTIC - 3 people came over to me to ask what kind of warmblood /morgan/ arabian cross he was (ah ah).
The moment he stepped in the ring he became tense - so the test was tight but obedient. I decided to just work on loosening him up and reassuring him (no fighting) and I think this was the right decision. All 8s and 7s with 3 6's around the walk where he stuck his head up in the air to look around and had a tight trot transition. We got a 30 - which I thought it was kind - with adulatory and encouraging comments but I guess that's what judges at schooling shows should do. For comparison I think other scores started at 34 (?). Its the first show of the season so I am not worried : I know we can do better !

Showjumping: I rode it like a hunter show: slow, concentrating on rhythm, relaxation, long turns etc etc. Only one minor hiccup in the end with a long spot, and a couple of going to the right but otherwise like a pro. I am not sure if I'll do it with the hackamore again though.

XC: what can I say? A blast. We need to work on startup box antics and slow down (time was 4:52 and we did it in 4:13). He was all business and I had no problems bringing him back when necessary - very obedient. And yes a few jumps were totally to the right, but I "set him straight" on the next jumps so there is hope. He didn't look at anything aside from "where is the next one?". This horse had more fun than me, he was eating it up. I though he would be concerned about some logs on top of the hill where we jumped onto the "void" but I was wrong.

Next post: you will hear how I forgot to jump the last jump in stadium and got eliminated last weekend after a 29 in dressage and awesome XC... stay tuned.