Crap! I just deleted everything I typed.
So, here goes again. Legacy Stables Eventing show was yesterday, and of course, the weather couldn't cooperate and be as nice as it was on Saturday. Why? Because it's show day, so that means weather has to be really crappy. The temperature wasn't so bad, it was the wind that really went right through us. Anyway, we loaded up the horses, put the last-minute things in the trailer, and off we went.
Sara and I were in different divisions, so when we went to walk our courses, we parted the way after the first jump. My course was just a big loop and most of the jumps were logs. There was one vertical with leis around it, and some railroad ties stacked up. I'm thinking, This is easy. Just point Bella in the right direction and I'm good to go.
Sara's course was much longer and she said that some of the jumps were questionable as to whether Satchmo would freak out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Our dressage tests were different, as well. Sara's score was one of the best dressage scores she's ever had. My dressage score was as good as the score from two weeks ago, so it seems as if everything is falling into place for me.
Our statdium jumping course was the same, except my jumps were 18" and Sara's were 2 feet. I did a nice quick trot around the ring, and Bella was a good girl. Pointing her in the right direction and keeping her straight was my job. Oh, yeah, lots of leg right before the jump.
We both jumped clean on our stadium jumps. Onward to cross country courses, and we had to wait and wait and wait and wait. Apparently, the jump judges had to move from one course to another, but it seemed to me there could have been a better way. Every other portion of the show was ahead of schedule, but then we had to sit and wait until it was the official time for the cross country courses to begin. That meant I had over an hour wait to go. Sara had about 45 minutes to wait. Maybe they didn't have enough volunteers, but this last part was poorly administered.
Sara took off and did her course; we saw her go down the hill, around the corner, then she was not visible; we then saw her come up the hill, over a few fences, then she disappeared again. We waited and waited, and finally saw her coming back to the start gate with Satchmo in his cooler. By the way she was walking, Cathy and I decided she didn't have any refusals or got eliminated. She went through clean! She was very happy.
Finally, at 3:00 I was able to do my little 18" course. Bella was so excited. We did the loop, we went clean, too. After I untacked Bella, we got both horses back onto the trailer so we could see what we had done with our dressage tests.
When doing an event, the dressage scores reflect error scores; I had a 36.5, which comes out ot a 63.5% score. My one and only competitor's score was 44, which relates to a 55%. Whoppee! That means I got first place for all three parts of the event! A Blue Ribbon - My first in Eventing.
I don't know exactly what Sara's error score was, but I think she had a 63% score on her dressage test - A PERSONAL BEST FOR HER! She tied for second place, and Satchmo was very proud of himself.
Sara's personal best in eventing with Satchmo - a red ribbon.
My personal best in eventing with Bella - a blue ribbon.
The pride we had for ourselves - priceless!
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