I competed at Rubicon this weekend. It was hot and humid and I wasn’t feeling that well when we left home at 5:30am. I think the week’s heat finally got to me and I actually felt like I was going to throw up most of the day.

We did our dressage in the grass arena, but I was ok with that because the other ring they have doesn’t have a lot of room to make a circle before entering at A. I was able to circle and work close to the grass arena which always helps. He warmed up relaxed and stretching. I didn’t stress lateral work too much and in hindsight, I should have made some more transitions to sharpen him up. I did do quite a few lengthened trots and canters though. The test itself was calm, but he did slip once in the corner despite having studs. The judge was a bit harsh I thought and we ended up with a 36  and a tie for 11th place. First was a 32, so we weren’t too far off. After watching my video, he didn’t look as “put together” as he can be. He needed to be a bit deeper/rounder and push more from behind.

After walking cross-country, I wasn’t feeling well again, but once I got on for show jumping, I rallied. I literally drank three Vitamin Waters, one water, one Gatorade and two sodas and didn’t have to pee all day! We warmed up well for show jumping. I was seeing my spots and keeping a good pace. The course itself was almost the exact same as it has been in the past with a one-stride, two stride, triple bar and bending line. And we went clear! The course was on the small side, but we still had a really nice ride. He didn’t quite get his leads, but he did changes.

The cross-country course is always a bit big with lots of square tables, but the course pretty much followed the same flow as usual. There was a log on a mound, a half coffin, a corner, a two stride and a bank up. He did everything really well and I actually had to kick a bit. It’s interesting if I get a distance wrong, he’ll back off a bit to the next fence as if to say “Ok mom, you messed that one up, so what are we doing now?”. It actually helps me get back on track when he questions me because I put my leg back on and usually rebound with a good spot. He certainly isn’t going to stop, but he’s becoming a thinking horse now which is pretty cool.

We ended up third. We could have been second, but we had two time faults. That’s alright because the ground was pretty hard. Now on to Seneca this weekend!