All of us went as a team, Doc with Hailey, Bailey with McKenzie, and my sister on Spy. We were all going one after the other in the rings. For the first dressage test, Brooke was first and had an amazing score with her not-so-dressage-y pony. Second, was Doc, and I wasn't able to see their entire test but I thought they did good. I was next with an involuntary pit in my stomach, and I was also carrying the horror of anticipating that incorrect left lead. So when we did get to that part of the circle we flew into the incorrect lead, but I was able to change it back pretty quick. Our dressage score was pretty pitiful, especially after my first 70% on Malachi. Bailey's test was well done with a few mishaps, and he took our lead right then and there.
The stadium was another obstacle I've not had experience with. Only only shown jumper stadium once, and that was about four years ago before we moved and horses came and went. It took us a minute to establish a rhythm because Princess is only used to flying around a cross-country course where she had never seen such decorated jumps. The first four jumps were very shaky, she was over jumping like crazy, and I was flying all over the place, and she just wouldn't let me help with her spots. Eventually, we found a pace at around the seventh jump, and had three nice, easy clears. Princess is not the kind of pony to refuse so we did make a clear round.
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| Princess over the last oxer. Her face is so cute! |
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| It is extremely blurry... This is one of the jumps where our rhythm was good. |
Everyone had a pretty good ride in the stadium except for Hailey, and she had a fall on the eighth fence where her horse just simply couldn't make the strides so he ducked and she lost balance and was pushed off by the fence itself. She got back on and finished her course, but was eliminated. Brooke and Spy were fantastic, a quick, clean round without missing a step. Bailey was super fast and soared over everything. I was by far the slowest.
So after stadium we hurried over to the cross country field. This is where all heck decided to break loose. Spy was first, and Brooke fell off over the second jump. It sounded like her pony couldn't make the distance, and she had planned on refusing so my sister popped her on the butt and Spy jumped huge over it. I think she was already unsettled, perhaps because her pony made a very deep distance, and in the end she didn't have time to do anything else. Second up was Hailey on Doc, and she didn't fall and made only a handful of refusals, if she hadn't have fallen off in the stadium she would have made a nice comeback. Bailey was third, and he cleared the whole round except for the fourth fence where she fell off. It sounded like he was bolting at it, and started swerving so he must have just missed it. Now that everyone was back and eliminated, I was horrified for myself and Princess. We'd already been over this course before and had a fantastic run, and I was worried if we could keep it up.
I was so nervous in the startbox that I had to think about things completely irrelevant. But once he said go, I was up in the saddle and ready to make a clear round. Princess cleared everything on the course, and was thirteen seconds away with the optimum. She had a blast, and I knew just then that this pony was a true superstar. All of the other Warmbloods and fancy horses placed behind me and we were 5th out of thirteen. We came from last place to fifth place. That made my day quite honestly.
Everyone did very well in my opinion. I had no time faults, no refusals, and we weren't eliminated in dressage. I feel kind of terrible since I was the only one who did not get eliminated from my group. But I'm sure everyone had as much of a blast as I did.
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