Great first show!

So we survived our first show of the season!  It was a really great weekend and I learned so much.  Last week had started with extremely hot and humid weather, making training very difficult on both J and myself.  But thankfully a front came in on Wednesday night and gave way to beautifully cool weather.  On Thursday we trailered J up to Silverwood Farm, which is in Camp Lake, Wisconsin.  I am incredibly lucky as I live within a one hour drive of three dressage facilities that regularly host USDF shows, and Silverwood is definitely my favorite of these three showgrounds.  Shelley brought 2 horses that she was showing herself in training level and second level.  J and I were scheduled to show in Rings 3 & 4, which worried me as J has previously had issues where Ring 4 is now placed, but I knew that he would just have to deal with it.  I schooled him in the warm-up ring, Ring 3 and Ring 4 and while he was a bit tense, he held it together despite some of the other horses having some pretty spectacular meltdowns.  I was proud of my little man!  Shelley worked us through the test work and we called it a day.

Friday came with gloomy skies and cool temperatures, but that was great with me as I knew I would be sweating from all the hard work.  I braided J up, gave him a quick lunge to assess his "rowdyness" level and set off to the warm-up ring for our first 1-3 test.  I had paid for it to be a qualifying test and was in front of Curtis Sage, who has always had positive comments for J and I and has given us very generous scores in the past.  Shelley helped me warm-up, but some first-show-of-the-year nerves popped up and I rode my test with way to much conservativeness.  We had a few mistakes which resulted in a 60% (62% needed to qualify) score.  Curtis was very rewarding on our good movements- several 8's- but we also scored several low scores on different movements.  A few hours later I had rode test 1-1 in front of Curtis again, but this time was very different.  I decided that I had been a passenger in the first test and I was not going to let that happen again, I was actually going to ride my horse!  I sat up, made him half halt and used my aids much more clearly and directly.  Our test went really well, despite the fact that I went off course!  I had only done this once before, and much to my horror, I did it again!  I don't use a reader at the shows, so I was on my own and had a total brain fart.  But even with the 2 point errror, we still scored a 66.897% and won our class!  It was a major breakthrough and made me remember that I have to ride each and every movement and not to let show nerves get the best of me!

On Saturday, the weather was still gloomy with about the same temperatures.  My first test was 1-1 in front of Curtis again.  I went into the warm-up with the detemination to ride him well and make him carry himself.  The warm-up went really well and the test was smooth, except for ANOTHER mistake on my part!!  UGH!  I made a mistake on the placement of my downward trot transition!  I then decided that test 1-1 is NOT for me!  LOL!  But despite our mistake, we still scored a 67.931% and won the class!  A couple of hours later I showed test 1-3 in front of Kem Barbosa, who is a more conservative judge but has very fair and constructive comments.  J was tired for his second ride of the day, telling me that I really need to work on his endurance.  He was a bit dull and we had some moments when he was not through or over his back, which made the test very average.  We scored a 60% again!  Still no qualifying score.  But I was still happy- I felt that I had ridden him much better than the 1-3 test the day before and we were making improvements with each and every test. 

Sunday we had only signed up for one test- 1-3 and it was in front of Curtis Sage again.  Shelley wasn't there, so I was on my own for warm-up, and J was VERY tired.  I did my best to keep him forward and have some brillance in his movement, although it was difficult.  J tried very hard and I rode every step of that test, and for that we were rewarded with a 67.097%!!  I got my qualifying score!!  I was so proud of him and myself!  Now I just have to get a second qualifying score, which I will hopefully get at my next show on July 9th and 10th.  Here are some pictures from the warm-up on Sunday-

And here is J looking like Fabio after his braids were taken out