We had a great time at the Amberlea Harvest show this past weekend. The weather held, the horses were good, and it was a nice show. This year they split the warm up ring into two sides; one for jumping, and one for flat work/dressage. Perhaps one day they will also have a lunging ring as apparently some people can't get up early to lunge, and wait until the ring is busy to take over one corner with their close to out of control horse...
We had to go early on Friday so I had time to clean up and make it to my Dad's memorial (which went very well; heard lots of stories about him I had never heard before, and saw relatives I hadn't seen in decades!). Our schooling rounds were set for 11:30 and booked to be shared with someone, but we ended up having the entire ring to ourselves, and it was lovely! The horses weren't bothered by any of the jumps and we didn't even need the full 30 minutes.
The next day Lindsey and Nicole both placed in the 2'3" jumpers, and on Sunday they both placed in the 2'6" jumpers and Lindsey also placed in the 2'9". The classes were very competitive, so Nicole's double clear in the 2'9"s on Sunday wasn't quite fast enough to get in the top 6, but we were still quite happy with the horses and riders...we just need to work on inside turns and jumping jumps and angles. (We skipped 2'3" on Sunday)
Shawn and Magnus also did very well in Dressage, with some scores in the low 60's and so very good placings! Shawn took a little while to relax, so was tired by Sunday, but did he ever look fancy on Saturday; definitely strutting his stuff!
The show ran fairly smoothly, but as always there were some rude people who block the entrance and the barn, or who hog jumps in the warm up...or who are just plain rude. After watching some of the attitudes/reactions of some riders and seeing what other trainers have to deal with, I am very thankful I have such a great group of riders at my barn so I don't have to deal with the drama and pissyness!
Hopefully we can go to a few 2-3 day shows next year; they do have the advantage of giving you more time to settle your nerves, and learn from your mistakes so you can do better the next day. I definitely saw improvement in both Percy and Java by Sunday.
Brassy (and owner Kelsey) moved to Hillside after the show, so she is the big bay mare in Bre's old stall. The "new" black horse on the mare's side is just Tango...
So now show season is over, the weather is turning and the horses are starting to grow their winter coats, but it was a good year I think!
Karen
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1 comment:
Thank you for everything, Karen! I know we took you away from family time and we thank you for your dedication to all of us. We had such a great time! I am so very proud of all of us for the courteous behavior and the placing. For a small barn, I think we totally rocked it!! And, I agree. It is wonderful to be able to ride with people who are so supportive in both your challenges and successes!
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