Show Groove

I'm a little late getting this post out, but I think I'm still celebrating :)  August 16th, I took Alex to another show.  This was a Combined Test and Dressage show, so no cross-country this time (I think Alex was secretly bummed).  In an effort to get him in the ring as many times as possible, we entered both the Cross-Rails and Greenie divisions with an additional Stadium round at Starter for schooling.  

It was quite a tall order for a horse who had only been to one show, been in one Dressage arena and had one very poor Stadium round, but no better way to learn than through experience!

I'm happy to report that Alex and I made great strides this outing.  He was much calmer off the trailer (not wide-eyed) which made for a better start.  Despite a wet grass field full of geese for a rocky warm-up, he had two much better Dressage tests, even earning a 9 for our last halt!

Our Stadium rounds we much better, much more forward and confident.  The only blemish of the day was a stop at a green and white oxer with two large bright white boxes underneath it in the Starter round.  Admittedly I would have been much happier if we'd had three clear rounds, but considering I only entered for schooling experience, I probably need to let it go.  

Here is a video of our Greenie Stadium round, which was our best :)  

We ended the day 5th out of 9 in the Cross-Rails division and 3rd out of 7 in the Greenie division. Alex got his very first ribbons!  I'm one proud momma :) 

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

While I'm not a Greatful Dead fan...that title seemed perfect for this post. I realize it's been a while, actually almost a year. There's several reasons for my radio silence, but mostly it was that with everything going on in my life, I didn't have the heart to blog.
Last fall was the beginning of a very rough time for me personally, as I struggled with a close family member's mental illness. At the very same time, Alex, who should have been my solace, was chronically unhappy and lame. I was miserable and didn't feel like articulating that and inflicting that on the blogosphere.
So, after treatment for my family member and for my horse, we've come out the other side a little stronger, a little happier and a little more sane :)

In exciting news, Alex went to his very first show two weeks ago! It was a big test for him, having to do a Dressage test, Cross-country course and Stadium round...had some unexpected trouble with Stadium, but we survived. Lots to work on, but also learned a ton!

So here's to getting back to blogging.
Kick on everyone :)