A Great Last Minute Decision!

So I know in my last post I said I was done showing for the season. It felt weird to be done in August and to not be sending in my entry for the September show. I kept reminding myself how stressed I was about the September show in the past because of how busy work gets, and how my riding time dwindles in the fall. Well, an email from the SMDA president stating that due to low entry numbers, they had extended the closing date for the show was all it took to change my mind.

The morning of the show was a beautiful Fall like morning. I got up and fed Otis and went back out a bit later to braid his mane, it was nice to not be sweating my butt off while braiding!

It had warmed up a little bit by the time we got to the show grounds, but I was actually glad to put my dressage coat on for once!

Otis was kind of a brat at first in the warm up, I think the cool weather had him feeling a bit frisky. We warmed up for a bit longer than usual and he calmed down enough to focus on what we needed to do.

He was good for the first half of our Training 2 test, but towards the second half he decided he didn't have quite so much energy as he thought and he started to get a bit lazy. I wasn't feeling so great when we saluted at the end of our test due to some sloppy transitions, Otis was anticipating everything, I feel like he can read my mind sometimes. I am preparing for the next movement in my mind, but my body must convey that to him because he always seems to know before I really ask. We had to transition from canter down to trot between B and F in training two, well we get to B and I start thinking about a downward transition, and he trots just before B.. gahhh... I guess I need to learn to keep my thoughts in my head, unless he really can read my mind.. ha ha. We ended up winning Training 2 with a score of 67.3%

Training 2

There were only two horses in between my Training 2 ride and my Training 3 ride so I stayed on and watched the first Training 3 rider go, just to make sure I had the test memorized. Otis decided to start acting naughty so I took him back in the warm up ring. He was really bad at first, but started to listen a little better after a few minutes. We entered the ring for Training 3 and I was just hoping he would behave himself. Well our ride was awesome! He was such a good boy, he really paid attention and our transitions felt so much better than in Training 3. I just really tried to focus as much as possible on the test and give Otis the best aids I could, and the entire test felt awesome! At that point I didn't care how we placed, it was a solid test for us and felt like a much better way to end the season than our lest show. We won the class with a score of 72.8%! Our highest score in our dressage career! That score also earned us high point senior of the day!

Here is a video of my Training 3 ride. (I think my husband forgot he was taking a video, because Otis and I leave the frame a couple of times.. LOL)

I am so glad I decided to enter this show. I wasn't feeling so great about our August show, and this show gave us a little confidence boost. I am hoping to squeeze a few lessons in this fall, and we will see what Spring brings. (First Level??)