Our Debut

Finally!! I finally went to a show. It has been almost four years and a baby ago that I have put myself out there and competed with a horse in anything. Today was the dressage schooling show.

I managed to stay calm and think about enjoying the day rather than stressing about it and I think it paid off. Tokaj was super. She tried so hard to do what I asked and she did it in fine style. It is somewhat intimidating to know that I finally have a horse of such talent. I am SO blessed, and I sure hope that I can do her justice and improve my riding.

It was also Tokaj's first ever dressage show. We competed in one class since I was comcerned about remembering the test, and about overdoing it the first time out. I just did not want to stress! We competed in Training Level Test 2...nothing fancy in that test, just very basic work. Tokaj received a 69.2%. In dressage anything over 60% is pretty good, and anything over 65% is pretty darn good! Wow! She ended up taking home the blue ribbon which was completely unexpected. I am on cloud nine. I could not have asked for a better partner, or a better day, rain and all... it was fabulous!

I wish I had some photos of the show to post. Perhaps next time I will remember my camera!!

P~

Here We Go.....

Tomorrow is the dressage schooling show. I did not end up entering Savannah, which was a rather crazy thought to begin with! But I did enter Tokaj and we are entered in Training Level Test 2. I was going to do more than one test, but then decided that between volunteering at the show, and lack of real preparation due to having houseguests for the last two weeks... I think one class is going to be just fine.

I am trying not to be nervous and so far have been successful. I don't know, there is something both nice and cowardly about going unprepared. On the one hand, there is no pressure to be awesome so I can chill out, on the other hand... it is kind of cowardly to have a built in excuse as to why it is not going to be good. So I will work on that next time and try to be prepared to wow the judge!

Other immediate plans include Tokaj's first cross country schooling session and first schooling horse trial. All that madness will take place on the 2nd and 3rd of May. I will amp up our training sessions the next two weeks so that we can make a decent showing at those outings.

I have found a prospective jumping coach and look forward to getting my first lesson with her in the upcoming week as well. I chose to try a hunter/jumper trainer since she is local, but also VERY good. Although she does not do cross country jumping, hunter riders are masters of creating an optimal jump each and every time. I have prided myself in the past on being able to stay out of my horse's way when jumping (like not yanking their mouth over the fence, or bumping their backs), but there is a lot more to it, and HELPING the horse a bit rather than being a polite passenger would sure be nice! I will write about our experience after we have it.

I better get out there and give Tokaj one last ride, and a nice cold bath (poor thing... but what do you do with a nearly white horse?). She is going to look lovely tomorrow even if our performance is just so-so!

Later....