Well today was a great day at the office!
On Wednesday we went to the Florida Horse Park for a wonderful opportunity to school all three phases. I only did dressage with Woody. I had some good quality work, but at the cost of some anxiety in the movements that are worth double.
So, on Thursday, I went for the movements worth double and didn’t worry as much about the extended trot (which is our nemesis).
There is always room for improvement in dressage, but I was VERY pleased with Woody’s work ethic in the ring. As for show jumping, my wonderful groom Anne Marie and I had a plan and we learned from Wellington not to mess with it. So she and I went with the programs which had been so successful this past fall season and IT WORKED! Also, a big thanks to Rocking Horse for adding a fabulous warm up for show jumping. It made a notable difference in the show jumping scores and saved many horses legs I’m sure.
Friday was Derg Beru’s turn (aka King Brian) to shine. This was our first event together AND only our second time cross country together.
He performed beautiful in dressage, despite a CRAZY horse being lunged during his test. Sounded like a fire breathing dragon, biking and carrying on. King Brian just pointed his toes a little extra in our medium trot.
Show jumping he was fabulous and saved me on the second last fence I COULD NOT see a distance and he just soared into the air leaving a stride out with scope to spare. I told him “good boy” before the last very big square oxer.
Then it was time for Woody’s cross country. We went at a fun pace and I promised him I wouldn’t interfere at the galloping fences. I also did fence #2 on a slight angle in order to gallop the straightest line to fence #3 which helped out double clear. Woody was as honest as the day is long!
