Day Two

Forecast: Light rain in the morning, followed by sun and a high of 21. Possible thunderstorms in the evening.

Reality: Rain Rain Rain Rain Thunder Lightening Thunder Rain Rain Rain Thunder Rain Rain Cloudy Rain Rain Rain.

It was fun. Really. Hard to really take the day all that seriously when the rings are under water. Literally.

It seems other people's horses were able to be ridden in the warm up ring, but Tango just didn't feel secure with the footing...perhaps because she is barefoot? I figured if she was slipping a bit it was putting her tendons at risk, and so I kept her and Brie out of the warm up ring, instead just doing walk-halt-walk transitions to warm up for 30 minutes before our classes.

Clare went first for Hillside, and opted to just get on right outside the indoor and started her test. Mags was pretty good. Ok, it took her a while to get to X to start her test, but once started it went pretty well.

One more rider went...and then the thunder and hideously hard rain came and the show was stopped for about an our with all horses/riders sent back to the barn. The outside rings were hammered with rain.

At this point I figured I would scratch the afternoon class at least with Brie and called to let Shinaya know not to come to groom as the ring Brie was scheduled in was too mucky to risk her legs in.

The rain and break meant the show office had to scramble to redo and replan ride times. Many people scratched, and a few people complaining expecting the show office to work miracles and move all the tests either indoors or to the nicer CDI ring, but as it was they opted to move the CDI indoors for the afternoon which meant more reorganizing, kept a few tests in ring two, and moved two tests to the CDI (fortunately my afternoon tests were one of the ones moved!)

I do think the show office did a great job, both with tolerance and with being able to reorganize on the fly. The stewards also did a great job informing people of the changes and being ever so patient!

So finally I had my tests. Brie first indoors. Brie was going well, particularly considering no warm up. We were getting 6s and 7s. Then it thundered just as we went past the concession. Brie doesn't like thunder. And now she thinks the concession is the evil thunder maker. So our next trip towards the concession she wanted nothing to do with that end. We came across the diagonal and came to a full stop and reverse. I opted to just sit there and let her settle a bit until I felt her breath, and then continued. She spooked again at that end later on and I had no hope of getting her near C for my stretch circle...so not a good score for the circle. Interestingly I got a 6 for the diagonal she stopped at the end of. I guess the key is to have the big spooks between scores! I really need to stop messing up the double coefficient scores though, which seems to be a pattern this show! Even with the dramatic spooks, we got a 61+% for that test.

Then a 2 hour break to get Tango cleaned up before her test in the indoor. She was ok, but tense and I was having trouble getting her round through her back. I did have some steering issues with the canter serpentine, but I just didn't want to do some unplanned flying changes! I was still happy with her though and we scored 59% which is acceptable to me.

Then another break before Tango's class in the outdoor ring. This was First level test 4, and leg yielding, counter cantering, and doing the smaller circles was a challenge in the water, but at the same time it was kind of fun. Splish splash in the puddles! Brie went 35 minutes after Tango, and also did well. Both horses broke for the first counter canter...you think I would learn after the first one broke, but apparently I am a slow learner. Had some trouble with both horses in certain areas of the arena; the entrance and X in particular, so I tried to alter my paths a little, but still managed to get bogged down a bit.

My mares did well, but not as good in the mud as perhaps a younger horse would be, but I figure there is nothing anyone can do about the weather, so I may as well do what I can and enjoy it anyway. No point paying money to be miserable and whiny! There really was something fun about riding though the puddles when I felt confident in my horse's footing.

Anyway, Hillside ended the day with a second, two thirds and a fourth.

Now I am worried they will move the Freestyles indoors tomorrow...I really want them to be outside!

Ah well, here is hoping for nice weather tomorrow!

Karen
Fortunately though, for me, my first two classes were indoors, with Tango going first in her Second Level test. It went ok, and she is being better about the indoor that she was at the last show., but without a proper warm up it was difficult to get her round and loose.