Winter Break starting today!

So yesterday was the last show for a whole month! Next event isn't until January 8th! Don't know what I'll do with my time....

Dressage was wretched in the lower ring.... apparently the sight/smell of the camel in the next pasture was freaking some horses out (Drayco cantered down the first centerline and then did all his trot work in passage, Scamper spooked and bolted) and the footing in the is deep and uneven despite the reported removal of some of the sand. Revi got an uncharacteristic 41 (though to be fair, the majority of scores were quite high). I would have thought it was a mid-30s test. Then we had to wait several hours for showjumping, during which I watched some Third Charm riders warmup, do their tests, and showjump the lower levels.

Melanie and Drayco did their first Training and performed fabulously, clean sj and clean xc, just 2 seconds over optimal! Drayco was quite pleased to be able to go faster I think.... Marshall and Tempe, the FL mare rescued from starving to death in a chainlink doglot, finished 2nd at BN with a more-relaxed dressage test and showjumping round.

Denise O'Keefe, riding Third Charm-bred Answer That, aka Tibby, brought him out for his undersaddle debut. Tibby is a rising 4-year-old TB gelding by my late stallion, Lose That, out of our late mare Miss Ansorian (Spring). He was Spring's last foal and the last TB colt by my stallion and he is one flashy dude, bay with four high white stockings and a blaze! Other than jumping around a little when Denise got on, Tibby was a good boy.... for the most part he kept his head down and trucked around, and they stayed in the ring and circled in appropriate places.

Revi was NOT amused when it started sleeting just a couple of rounds before we were scheduled to showjump.... she started prancing around, quite miffed. I was not expecting to have a good ride! But she was a pretty good girl in her latex-wrapped bubble gag.... I didn't have to use the gag rein much at all, she tossed her head a couple of times to protest having to listen but she did, in fact, listen, and we jumped around clean with only a couple of so-so spots.

Not that "winter break" means much.... lots to do! More work on dressage with Revi, more mileage for Scamper so spooking doesn't involve idiocy, need to get in some xc schools before the spring season arrives (end of January! not really spring!), need to get Stormy going or sell her, need to get Jones ridden so he is ready to go Recognized in the spring.... very excited about that! And we have a new training horse in, a pony named "Huggy" who is a little bit naughty, apparently, but hoping for a low-level eventing career.... he is very cute, which is part of his sweet and innocent schtick according to his mum..... ;-)