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| Oh crap! No one TOLD me there was dressage involved!! |
A local place does a very nice Combined Training series every year -- this is where you do both dressage and stadium jumping, but no XC. We arrived at some ridiculous hour before the sun even came up because OF course I drew like the third ride time and rode Beginner Novice. It is important to note that this was the first time Solo had EVER been in a dressage arena and the first time he had EVER ridden an entire dressage test (given my awesome skills of little to no actual preparation). We ended up in a phenomenal last place, but since my goals were (a) stay in dressage arena, (b) do test in correct order, (c) clear all the jumps, it was a WIN!
Doesn't he look nice and round? Don't be fooled -- we didn't have a clue how to be round or ANYTHING at that point, but hey, give us credit for showing up!
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| Our requisite George Morris pose -- with the blue bell boots thrown in just to piss him off! |
We also found a fun little winter jumper series and had much better success there, ending up with a 2nd place (we just couldn't outrun that scrappy little pony in the jump off!) in the 2'9" round!
We were on a roll! We were set! We were making strides! Little did we know, that evil little troll called Bad Horse Luck (or The Complete Certainty That Good Luck Will Never Last Around Horses, but that's so much longer...) was snickering whilst planning his attack from just around the corner...
I love how you are always smiling in your riding pictures...you look like you're having the best time! I'll admit to having this fierce facial expression in 90% of my pics, even when I'm having a blast! Dunno why...
ReplyDeleteI love hearing your story of your journey with Solo! Keep it up!
Ahh... other than the blue bell boots, George would approve!! Look at that shaped saddle pad, and dark colors! How nice and conservative you look. Not like one of those silly eventers....
ReplyDeleteHahahah, I believe I may actually be gritting my teeth -- or smiling, I don't remember, my brain usually goes blank once the adrenaline starts in the jump ring.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Molly, I know! Eventers are so, ugh, GARISH with their colours and UNRESTRAINED HAIR!
OK, so I take it you had "found" your canter at this point, right? I'm assuming so, since you were doing dressage and H/J shows. So, what was the magical cure?
ReplyDeleteI rode today for the first time in seven months! *sigh* Heaven!! I miss it horribly.