In which I document my equestrian adventures!

It's always fun to get out and horse show for the first time of the season. Even after a long, rather dreadful winter and therefore having the possibility of slight unpreparedness, it is nice to get out and about.

Since this isn't an equestrian blog I'll keep it short and sweet! (For horse people reading my blog there are many details I am omitting like the details of my warm up, my prep, a blow by blow of each test....)

Dressage training and marathon training are very similar- I have said it before and I'll say it again. If you put the work in you will get results. You certainly might have an off day, or an off season but as long as you look where you want to go (literally and figuratively) you will get there!

I hauled to NY to take advantage of a great show grounds, excellent footing and to get the chance to see some pretty big classes of competition. (I'd rather see what I'm up against- and at this point in the season many people are still laying low. Still, this show was very well contested.)

Chauncy moved up a level this year and the demands of his new level are quite high. I felt that training at home had been going well and I felt confident that unless he decided not to play that we could put together a very professional test.

Professional Riding Attire

Day one, nice cool weather and a very respectable performance. A couple of minor early season bobbles and a few things that I knew could be improved on. Finishing on a 65% and 3rd in a decent sized class (12 people in 4th level is solid for early season) made me very happy.

Teeny baby ribbons.... Chauncy wanted NO part of this photo. Little stinker!

Day 2, hot as balls, like REALLY hot, we cleaned up a few of the bobbles and put forth a totally solid effort. BIG win in this class- 7 percentage points ahead of the 2nd place horse. A 69.5 had the little beast leaving the show as the high score 4th level horse. GOOD BOY!!! So much love.
He was a great little guy, he definitely thinks it's time to play with the big kids. I love it! There is nothing more fun than knowing that your horse is ready to rock it.

He did not want this photo shoot either but I bribed him with snacks.

I have about a month to get ready to show again, and if he feels ready we will have another advancement in the level that we are doing. I'm excited for the season and really pleased with the way the winter training is coming together.

Riding horses is fun, and I'm a big fan of getting a happy horse into the show ring and having things come together. Basically, no matter how many times I finish a great marathon nothing can beat the feeling of nailing a dressage test! (there are about zero people in the world who can directly relate to what I just said hahaha!)

Luckily for my running blog there are more on foot (human foot) adventures coming soon. More on that later this week!