Sunday September 15th was the last SMDA dressage show of the season as well as Otis and I's last show of the season. I was hoping to do the Pipestave event in October, but work just gets too busy this time of year, and I don't get to ride enough.
Otis had been having some left lead canter issues the last couple of times I had ridden him so I was thinking our last show of the season might be a bust. He just didn't want to canter in that direction at all, and when he finally would it was horrible. I even squeezed in a lesson the day before the show and he wasn't any better. He is usally a perfect angel at our lessons, so I started to worry that there might be something physical causing him to not want to pick up the canter. I figured I had already paid my money, so there was no point in scratchinig, I would go to the show and see how it went. We had done SO WELL all Summer, it would be okay if we had a bad show.
Otis was on his best behavior at the show, and was a really good boy in the warm up. He picked up the canter much better than the last few times I rode him, so I figured we might actaully do okay in our tests. He was great for Intro C, not the greatest canter transitions we have done, but not horrible either. We ended up winning Intro C!
He was just as good in Training 1 with the same okay canter transitions. There were quite a few people in Training 1 so after I got Otis untacked and everything packed away, I went to the ring to watch some tests. I saw a girl put in a flawless (to my eyes) Training 1 test on a beautiful buckskin horse and I knew she would win it. I was right, she placed first, and I placed third. I'm not sure who placed second, I didn't see her go so she must have gone while I was warming up, or while I was untacking.
Overall I we did MUCH better than I thought we were going to. We actually finished the year the same way we started, with a first and a third. I am hoping the canter issues were just Otis' typical fall naughtiness and that he doesn't have a physicall problem. I haven't had much time to ride him lately but when I do he seems fine and he has no problems running and bucking in his pasture. I want to start taking lessons ASAP next Spring so if the problem resurfaces we can get it taken care of right away.
Otis and I are really having fun learning about dressage and competing. I am very happy with what we accomplished this Summer!
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