Midsouth, and a Fond Farewell to 2012

Midsouth was our final show for the 2012 season, and although Zahra and I were poised to have our best showing of the season, it was not meant to be. Dressage, I was horribly late to warm-up. After less than ten minutes, we did our first canter circling the ring before we entered. The test was tense, we go the wrong lead at first try going both directions, but I still actually had quite a bit to be proud of! Zahra is a high strung four year old. She has boundless energy and enthusiasm. So the fact that she could just march into that ring with no warm up and go to work is still pretty impressive! Nothing fazes this horse, and I think with a little more discipline she'll be unstoppable in the sand box!

Show Jumping was not all I could have hoped for either. We flattened going into fence two and pulled a rail, then pilot error between fence 4&5 put us on a rotten line to have fence 5 down as well. I need to work this winter on slowing my emotions down in the show jumping ring, and supporting with my elbow to keep her from flattening. Ledges, here we come?

But thankfully, no one events for dressage or show jumping. Cross country is what its all about, and we completely smoked that!! This girl knows her job, and she loves it! Check out the helmet cam on our youtube page. Ears forward the whole way round! I wanted to push her a bit faster this ride, and she did it easily, coming back to me nicely before fences and accelerating away from them. At Otter we had 0.4 of a time penalty. This time we were just 2 seconds away from too fast!! A few jumps I really set her up to, while others I let her choose her own spot (to varying degrees of success). I think its important she learn now how to take care of herself out there!

Eric Dierks coached me over the weekend, and it was fabulous getting his professional eye on us, giving us good things to work on for the winter. His knowledge and guidance has completely shaped all aspect of my riding, and imbued in me the passion for correct and methodical training. It's never been about winning for me, only about getting the best ride I could, and that drive comes from his early guidance. So when Eric said he agreed with me that Z could move up to Training next year, I was thrilled!!! She's mastered the basics. Time to up the ante!

See you in 2013!!