At the end of the month Lucy, Allison Fink's pony, came to the farm for 2 weeks while they were on Spring Break for a little jumping boot camp. Over the two weeks she has turned into a jumping machine. I can't wait for Allison to get home and see what her pony can do!
For Buddy the month of March was all about getting him ready for Spring Bay Horse Trials this past weekend. On the 31st of March we went to the Paul Frazer Combined Test and competed in Novice and Training. In the Novice he scored a 36 in dressage and jumped double clean to just finish out of the ribbons on his dressage score. In the training he scored a 34 (shock to me) but had 2 rails (totally my fault) to finish 6th in our first training CT. I was very shocked when I heard the placings, but super proud of my pony. We will get the kinks worked out of the jumping and find the middle ground between whoa and go.
At Spring Bay this past weekend we competed in a Novice Rider division. I pre-rode him Saturday morning to get all of his nerves out. This worked well, as I had a calm horse for my actual warm up. The dressage is slowly coming together; every time he goes out he slowly gets better and more consistent, which is all that I can ask. A few points were lost on my part from not being accurate. I'm going to take him to Masterson to ride in their dressage rings so that I can get my marks on accuracy better. I think I get so focused with riding the horse I've got I just go thru the movements of the test not paying attentions to specifics. O well, this is only our 3rd competition in over a year and a half, so we will just continue to practice and improve.
Our division was the last to stadium jump, and I was 3rd to last to go. He warmed up a little nervous, but that's always the case. Lindsey does a great job of warming us up just enough, and then getting us out of warm up. Unfortunately the rider before me took a long spot to number 7 and went their separate ways. The horse decided to leave the ring as well.. Great way to start my round. But Buddy kept his cool and we went in and jumped a double clear round. Lindsey has been working hard in getting me to make decisions, and minus the last jump I think it went pretty well.
Sunday was XC day, and I've always been a little leery of Spring Bay XC. I've had a couple bad experiences. But never fear with Buddy...he ate the course for lunch. He didn't bat an eye at anything and was much more rideable then at Full Gallop. I had to have him be more rideable, as the course was wheeled really long. The optimum time was 6:09, and we came in at 5:02. I'd rather be a little fast then slow right now. We finished the weekend tied for 7th, but because of my fast time we lost the tie and ended in 8th.
Buddy was great all weekend and is really showing improvements! We have gotten the go ahead to enter training at MayDaze! Finally! The next 7 weeks or so leading up to the show will be spent in dressage boot camp, as well as lots of stadium lessons and a few XC schoolings. Wedding season kicks into high gear starting next weekend, but since I will be working Saturdays I'm going to be taking Mondays off so that I can have a day off that isn't spent recovering from a wedding!
So we will continue to work and improve over the next few weeks. After having 2-3 horses to ride a day for the month of March I will be back down to just Buddy, which will be a very welcomed change. Lots of lessons with my 3 current students to get ready for a few shows for them in May. It will be a busy month, and hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Until next time!
