Well my last big show of the year was a little anti-climatic. Tango was on the one hand much more obedient than usual, but she just wasn't her usual self. I could NOT get a medium trot out of her and she lacked the flare she normally has. She was just...flat. And Tango is never flat. Maybe she missed getting to splash in the puddles? More likely though is that she hurt herself kicking in the trailer on our way there...we were stuck in traffic for about 15 minutes and she shook the trailer the entire time. She will get some time off now and hopefully time will put her back to her old self.

Brie was pretty good. Friday was definitely our best day though. Saturday started with a very muddy warm up ring so another class where I couldn't warm up. At first not being able to warm up was a novelty, but by show three it was just tiresome and frustrating. She went in the ring and promptly slipped on the lengthen across the diagonal which threw off her confidence for the rest of the test. Our leg yields were at their best though. The freestyle went well, and she won the red ribbon for first level. On Sunday she did first level test 4. I was happy with her effort, although we missed the one counter canter (nailed the second one though!), and it was a good improvement over the last show. She is getting much straighter in her neck and relaxed in her jaw.

Came home absolutely exhausted. Horses seemed happy to come home too. Although I think Tango liked the novelty of getting grain at the show!

As an aside, remember how the music failed Tango for our freestyle at the last show? Well, it happened again to a few of the other competitors at this show...only the judges didn't know how to deal with failed music so instead of having the riders just come back later they held the ring until the amp was fixed and had them start over then...making the other riders later and later...adding 8 minutes or so with each music failure. In a sport where we are used to riding on time and warm up is down to an exact science, this can really throw a horse and rider's performance for a loop!

Karen