The One with the Bestest Ponies Ever

I had a fabulous weekend. TRULY fabulous. In light of the fact that I was still very tearfully morning the loss of "Teddy," I am relieved to be blessed with such success as what we experienced in Savannah. My usual show nerves were shot, and I was basically determined to just have a good weekend with my horse.

I took off from work on Friday so that Tammy and I could have the horses unloaded and briefly ridden that evening before the show. Our very mature, very fabulous 14 year old friend, affectionately known as Jazzy, came along for moral support, videography, and basic grooming help. We were more than thrilled for the help! And I have to say Jazzy is one of the best grooms I've ever experienced! (Besides my fantastic mom, of course)

Our trip down to Savannah was pretty uneventful, although I was sure it was going to start pouring down rain at any instant. The weather held out, however, and was perfectly delightful for our afternoon hack. Tammy and I were able to take Willa and Sudi around the grounds and around the scary judge’s booth for the morning's dressage rounds.

I managed to school Sudi over a small cross bar and 18" veritcal, and he even showed Willa a thing or two about the ropes of jumping as well. Although, I have to say Willa was a bit dramatic about the jump and tried a couple times to fall on her face when she thought the jump might bite her. Tammy took it all in stride though, and schooled her excellently.

Friday night lent itself to cooler weather, and we dressed to head downtown to a fancy dinner at The Shrimp Factory. (A coworker of mine had put me in touch with our client contact there and arranged for us to have a nice gift certificate to the restaurant). If you ever head to Savannah, STOP by the Shrimp Factory for dinner. Our evening was simply delightful – could not have asked for a better time!

The latter evening was dampened however by the fact that Tammy's favorite Trakehner mare Bunny was experiencing colic type symptoms, but with lameness. Thankfully my mom was able to be with her while the vet came out for examination. (She didn’t have colic but rather bowed a tendon and severe pain)

On Saturday morning we were able to waken early to get over to Silverthorne stables to braid. I had never braided an entire mane by myself before, and Jazzy had never braided period, so we set to work on Sudi's mane (despite his best attempts to maneuver around us, squish us into walls etc.) Within an hour, he was completely braided and beautiful. Although the braids weren't perfect, I was not terribly worried since it was our first time, it was a schooling show, and Sudi is only three. There's only so much a three year old can take! (or his stressed owner for that matter!)

Sudi and I were the first to do our dressage rounds, and he was a complete hard worker! After a nerve wracking warm up due to his incessant whinnying for Willa, he entered the dressage arena and really focused. Or as much focus as he oculd muster as a three year old. I was even more thrilled when he actually EXTENDED at the walk and reached forward!!! WOW! He ended up with a 57%, placing us in second in the Green Horse Intro A class! (the first time we didn’t come in last! – Hallelujah!). Either way, I was so markedly impressed with his improvement, I couldn’t swipe the smile off my face. I would have been that happy even if we’d come in dead last.

My radiating mood indeed lasted into our next class where Sudi was so amazingly consistent. Although he was avoiding contact in certain areas, he was beginning to bend around his corners and circles – my main goal for the entire event. He came out of that class, Green Horse Intro B, with a 61.5%, putting him in 1st place! (Even above Willa!).

The Judge, Pam Kimbell, was amazing and offered me some really good insights:

• Even as a three year old, he needs to strive for contact. While we’re technically not asking him to be “on the vertical,” contact is essential for rounding.
  


• She also gave me a good thought from Klimke. Riders often ask in dressage “How much?” Klimke’s simple answer is: “Enough to make a difference.” Then we get to reward.

After our thrilling dressage rides, I was more than confidant to take on the Hunter Ring. I took Sudi back to his stall for about an hour break. He planted himself in front of his fan and munched on hay contentedly.

Meanwhile, it took me about an hour to peel off my dressage breaches and put on ones more appropriate for hunters. That was a CHORE - especially when there’s not a single room on the show grounds that has air-conditioning, and it feels like upper 90’s outside.

We made it safely back into the hunter ring for our Baby Green Hunter U/S walk-trot class. There were only four of us, so I knew we’d at least get a ribbon. ;-) My only complaint about the class was the footing. It was horrible. The sand was so thick, I felt like every last step was going to be our last. Sudi was a complete champ though. He went around the ring like he was made to be a hunter. We actually ended up, to my amazement and delight, winning the class. Tammy said that the clincher was our trot to halt transition. I simply laugh at this because halting is one of Sudi’s “rewards.” He LOVES to halt. (Gets us brownie points for our dressage halt scores too!). He would have been content to stay halted and not go get his ribbon too. ;-)

Our last class of the day was the baby green cross-bar class. There were a total of six-seven jumps (I can’t quite remember), and we jumped, or rather trotted happily over, four-five of them GREAT. We had a stop at the number three jump (a simple white cross-bar) because we came into it at a strange angle and he was sure it looked like a horse-eater. After a simple sniff he hopped right over it. I pressed on to the next two jumps with as much forward movement as I could possibly generate in the mile high sand. However, we had another stop at a flower box, where he not only stopped to smell, BUT eat the flowers as well. I gave a more than mild nudge and we hopped successfully over that one as well. While we ended up last in that class, I definitely came out laughing, and Sudi came out thrilled that he was done for the day.

All in all, we had a fantastic time at the show. Tammy came out the Lowest CT Score Champion as well – with a fantastic score of 33!

Now we’re on to bigger and better things: Lessons and auditing a Parelli clinic!