GRS goes to Caledon HT

Victoria and Nina on XC

I was *so* proud of the girls at Caledon today!

We had Emily on Charlie (their first HT together), Olivia on Bella (their third HT - old pros really!), Rowan on Lissy (also first HT together), and Victoria also doing her first HT ever on her horse Nina.

Olivia and Bella in dressage

Rowan was, as seems to be tradition, first in dressage for the day -- but it was great as it meant we had the warm-up to ourselves.  The times were such that I was pretty much in the warm-up ring all day.  The only test I got to really watch was Victoria's, as she was last.  The snippets I saw though all seemed to go reasonably well :)

Steph walked the girls around xc as there really wasn't time for me to go with them and when I finished in dressage warm-up I headed over to help the first riders warm-up for stadium.  Stadium was a tough PE course, maxed and including a related distance.  But it was fair, set on good distances, and almost all on flat approaches.  We gave Lissy a "scary" fence in warm-up -- once again having the warmup ring to ourselves.  She wasn't too sure about that, but by the time she was jumping confidently in w/u, she was totally ready for the show ring.  Rowan jumped her around clear and on time!  Sweet.

Olivia was next in with Bella the Superpony :)  Bella likes this game and has been to Caledon often *g*  But Liv did a great job controlling her enthusiasm as they booked it around show jumping.

Olivia and Bella in Stadium

And then, moments before it was Emily's turn, the sky let go with its wrath.  The rain was torrential enough to shift my theoretically water-proof contacts in my eyes so I couldn't see (and was desperately hoping I had a spare back in my car after the last time I cleaned it!).  Despite thunder and the odd burst of lightning, the show wasn't called, so Em went in the ring.  Charlie was less than amused -- his contract does *not* include inclement weather.  But Emily did a fantastic job of relocating his brain, and once she got him pointed at the first fence he remembered he *likes* jumping and they put in a fabulous round!  Woohoo!

Emily and Charlie in stadium in the torrential downpour!

 The rain seemed to have scared everybody away, because even though it lightened significantly, Victoria was the only one left in the warm-up ring :)   So she too got to play with a scary jump before going in and entered the ring ready to tackle anything!  They had a brief drive-by, but other than that an excellent run with no drama -- which for Nina, is a good thing!

Victoria and Nina in stadium

Then off to play the XC game.  The warmup had a few natural fences spread around which made navigating more awkward, but jumping more fun and realistic for XC.  The first three girls all had a blast and jumped clean.  Time faults all around -- Olivia was fast but took a detour *g*   The other two took their time -- all good on the first show!  Victoria and Nina had a double look at fence four, but other than that and one minor temper-tantrum when Nina felt she should get to go home, they made it around beautifully!

Rowan and Lissy on XC

When all was said and done the skies opened once more and the ponies basically loaded themselves back in the trailer to escape it!  They're not stupid :)   Rowan and Lissy finished in 2nd, Olivia and Bella in 7th, Emily and Charlie in 8th, and Victoria and Nina in 10th.  Awesome job ladies!

Emily and Charlie