Well, I’m back in competing mode, if only for two events. I rode at VA horse trials this weekend in Lexington. It’s always one of my favorites. We got there early on Friday so I could sign up for the jumper class that afternoon. Oh So settled into his stall quickly while I walked a course in the coliseum.

The minute I put my jump tack on to hack him before warming up, he knew we were jumping. I didn’t have a very quiet stretchy warm up like I would have liked. He worked himself up quite a bit in the warmup. We just kept him moving and jumping to give him something to do. I guess it was a symptom of not being at a show for a month.

He jumped alright. The fences were quite small, and he didn’t get most of his leads, but I think it was all because of tension. We went for a walk afterwards and he seemed fine.

His dressage the next day was alright. He started out very tense, which I thought we’d kind of gotten over. I kept him moving and going until it was time to head in the ring, and I thought we held it together pretty well for the trot work, but the score of 40.5 didn’t reflect it. He always loses it after the free walk, and then gets tense into the canter transition, so that is what really brings down our score. Plus, he had no stretchy circle this time because of the tension. Oh well. We’ll keep plugging away. Someday I know he’ll put in a good test. It’s just frustrating to keep getting the same crap all the time.

Show jumping was pretty good, save for one cheap rail at 2. He hit it on the way up. But he did the combinations and turning questions very well.

Cross country on Sunday was also very good. We actually hit almost every fence out of stride, even the big table, which I seem to have issues with. Fence 4 was a big set of barrels going down a hill. It was a tough question for early on, but he did it. Then you had to turn left and jump a cabin at the bottom of the hill. He kind of took a flyer over that one, but it was small.

He did an angled combination beautifully, and a big open ditch on an angle rode well. He jumped into the water confidently, and finished feeling like he wanted to go around again! Overall, we finished fifth in a small training rider division. We’ll try Rubicon next week and then that will be it for the season. I can’t believe it’s over already!