Jolie put on a great show at Promise Acres in Sapulpa on Sunday, the first ODS/GCC schooling show of 2009. I was really looking forward to showing Splash and seeing how much progress we had made --- haha. I was in Kansas for work for the third week in a row and got home Thursday night in time to lay at deaths door for a couple of days. I even missed the party lesson on Sat. So, Slash spent the week plotting his revenge for having spent 2 days at the Will Rogers Classic. HE WAS BAD. We warmed up for our first test (Into B at 11:00am) without much incident but since the test has no canter, I didn't ask in warm up. Then, in the test, Splash was trying to push through my leg on every circle to get back to A (and the trailer with his hay). Vicki Sharp gave us a 68 which was better than the ride was although in his hurry to get through the test we had some nice impulsion at times.
Later that same day...... my second test scheduled for 4:20pm was to be Training 4. The show was running a bit late and I rode at about 5pm. I got a chance to warm up in the arena during a break and got some correct canter leads in the micro warmup area (slightly bigger than a round pen but square). Went into the arena for warmup just before my test and Splash was fairly good. I was not prepared for the toad he became as soon as we started the test. Trot with head shaking and at least one buck and wrong lead going clockwise (his bad side) about 5 times until we finally got the correct lead just in time to drop to trot at C..... add serious head shake, etc. Then, more head shaking for the rest of the test and agonizing canter depart going his good way. somehow, scored a 53. Add to all that - operator error. I went off course doing a second serpentine when I was supposed to change rein across the arena. Impusion was decent some of the time. Ugh. Splash may be pretty but he may never make a good showhorse for Ivy. The good news? I didn't fall off.
More good news! Marsha had some good rides on Miss Tender Lil and Christiana made her ODS/GCC debut with Ardemus doing a great job. Denise and Patty were fabulous on Jurgen and Silka and Elizabeth was looking good with her baby BaBay too. And, Ivy and Alaina really improved their performances with TC and Diez compared with last year. Ivy, Alaina, Zoe, and Roxanne played the day away gathering metal scraps out of the driveway gravel and playing wildly with every dog they could get their paws on. They were very dirty by the end of the day and had collected a bucket full of metal.
Finally, Ruthie and Shannean had been working with Pico in anticipation of a wonderful show season. Ruthie came out Friday night and Shannean Sat. evening to practice and were looking really good. Ruthie and Pico were first to go and had a lovely warmup. Then they started the test. Pico was suddenly very spooky and tense and fairly soon spooked big at K hurting Ruthie's hand which swelled up and was so painful she didn't finish her test or ride again - very disappointing. Then Shannean rode T1 and T4 and Pico was not fun. T1 was spooky from start to finish but T4 was somewhat better. Shannean rode him through both tests doing a good job handling all those spooks. So, things have to get better and if Pico doesn't shape up, we will call him GRADE instead of an Arab Cross.
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