Graduate Riding School goes to Equus SC

Got up super early this am to attend the short course @ Equus. Stephanie brought Nea in PE, and I took Sienna in E. It was early and while not riding, the ground still very wet and very slippery when Steph started to ride. Nea's dressage wasn't quite the brilliance they've shown at home, but it was accurate and reasonable -- esp as she took one step into the ring and went "ewwwww you want me to work in this?!?!" Warming up on grass is not overly conductive to competing in muddy sand... Ah well -- everybody faced the same issue and we saw lots of interpretive dressage today. hahaha

They went on to jump less than an hour later. Brilliant in warmup but sticky on course, nonetheless they were clear! Woohoo :) It was low in consideration of the footing, but a fairly tight course and they navigated it well, primarily at the trot. Once they got out on XC and Nia could roll along both horse and rider were happier and the course went well. They ended up coming home w/ a pretty 10th ribbon.

I loved the way the SC was set in that they did all the stadium and then all the XC. By never jumping back into the stadium ring, things could run much faster -- the next horse started stad as soon as the one in front went out on xc. A result of this we were done and gone by lunch :)

Sienna was starting to have fun w/ this game. Was rather high for dressage warmup, but settled in time and other than breaking in the second canter put in an amazing baby test. I was pretty happy w/ that. Jumping though -- well w/ the little ponies galloping and jumping around her she just wanted to play too. Control and focus were highly overrated and admittedly I was not riding particularly well (you know it's bad when your old coach takes the time to call you on it! sheesh :) Boo. Actually out on course was fast and not exactly the style one traditionally goes for but she did get around. As I want her to get around calmly and confidently rather than just flying around we'll be taking a month or so to go back to training basics and schooling. But on the plus side, she's definitely got the hang of the whole jumping thing! woohoo! Sienna ended up bringing home 5th -- not too bad considering it's her 2nd Entry run *g*

Also super nice to see was that Zel, babysitting her new owner, brought him home a 3rd in the CT later that afternoon! Wooohoo :) Congrats Wayne.

Thanks tons to Amyy for all your help!!!