Summer is For Showing

For ONCE I have an actual show schedule set up, the means to participate and I am stoked about it.. Granted, this is probably because none of them are USEA-money-sucks, but still shows nonetheless. (For real, how do people have the means of doing more than 3 a year... eat ramen constantly? Not pay insurance? Walk to work?)

Favorite view because dat ass

Wow. That feels good to say actually. Eventing just isn't my jam anymore. It was for years, but its not anymore. Whew. Feels good to get it out. Feels good to accept that as reality instead of try and kid myself.

I still like dressage. I still like jumping. I still like galloping madly across varied terrain. I do not like participating in eventing.

Trailer manners installed

That being said...I wish my horse would be not lame...but alas, 4 days later he is still limping and pitiful and my feels are all fucked up. I don't know how to help him and I feel terrible. I don't know if turnout will help or keeping him in will help. I wish my farrier could get here earlier than a week, but thats now how things are panning out. So here he sits yet again, doing nothing after we made such progress last week with the foreboding task of fixing his actually ridiculously fucked up LF...

Le sigh.

In other news, and the real reason I am posting, is to elaborate a little on Yankee's first show of the year with his leaser!

Who you looking at human

Dressage is not the easiest to make exciting, so if you lack attention span or know that most show go about the same then feel free to skim the pics and bask in Sir Shininess glory and move on. A quick summation of the day would be, hot, windy, but good. There is much to work on, but productive things happened. Yankee was his good ole self and seemed to enjoy himself. I SO wanted to take the reins and it was a difficult watching from the sidelines, to be honest, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Looking back, I am pretty sure I was the classic helicopter parent for this show and I feel a little bad that was "that overbearing horse mom" to my leaser. I braided him. Wrapped him. Loaded. Unloaded. Lunged. Tacked him up. Then handed him over.

Lazy braids FTW

Essentially I was a groom.

I LOVED IT.

Not sure about anyone else but I am incredibly picky and particular when it comes to my horses and their tack. Sorry V, I am sorry! You are a saint for tolerating me, haha.

That being said, it was SO hard for me to not over-task V in warm-up and remind myself that they are still getting to know each other. It literally hurts my soul when Yankee takes advantage of her and flops around at the trot, but I grimace and let it go. V is literally one of the epitome of a perfect student. As a collegiate athlete she is incredibly body aware and is teachable. She listens and DOES what I ask her. She is promising rider and I am proud to have her riding my OG.

So the warm-up was productive and I was confident in their first test. yankee however, "lost his marbles" when  he entered the ring thanks to the dust bowl and the ring literally blowing around on the ground. I say that in " " because all it really entails is eyeballs and a sidestep, but tension is tension.

First test was...tense. Yanks was distracted and V I don't think knew all his tricks to get him back in the game. She handled the new horse she was riding quite well and the canter work was brilliant. The rest was....lackluster. He was all over the place and just not quite paying attention. Not his usual self, but I could understand with the wind, dust and ring falling apart around him. He handled it better than most horses did, to be honest.

Note the ring fallen over on the far side

He continued to be jazzed up right until the start of the second test though, and then he visibly relaxed into his work. Almost lazy. V could be more accurate, but she is new to dressage and that will come with practice and learning the horse. I will say the canter departures were incredibly well placed, accurate and fluid. A joy to watch. I personally thought the second test was better, but the judge had other ideas. Low 60s was enough to place and I couldn't be mad about that, first time out.

She was a fair judge and I feel they were scored according to the test that was ridden. V still has to learn how to ride him 100% through the contact and Yanks has to learn how to do that under her. They're a great pair together though, and even the judge commented on how wonderful they are together and how athletic Yankee was. So that was nice! I KNOW they are capable of scores in the 70s, not 60s...and we will get them there!

Yankees classic uphill canter

Overall incredibly proud of these two. V for learning so quickly and christening the partnership with satin, and Yanks for being the steady boy I know he always is. Soon we have XC schooling coming  up, a clinic and then their first event in July!

Swaggggg