Well, I thought Middleburg was muddy, but it paled in comparison to Morven Park! A huge cloud of rain hovered over Leesburg and points north the entire day. Just 15 miles south, it was dry as a bone, and at home it was sunny!

I got stuck in the hedge ring where I had to warm up on muddy, deep grass. I as trying to stay positive and keep Oh So from getting tense, but nothing really could have changed him. I don’t blame him with it being 45 degrees, windy and rainy, but I was hoping for a more consistent test this week. Even his trot work was tight, and this time he flipped his head going into left lead canter. I made a conscious decision not to let him have much rein in the free walk, but he still got tense in the medium walk-trot-canter sequence. We ended up with a 38.2.

I didn’t have time to walk the show jumping, so I went in with no idea what I was doing! But somehow we went clear! There were two one-strides, a triple bar to a skinny, and a couple of bending lines. Maybe I was because I couldn’t feel my limbs and didn’t pull back, but whatever it was, he was jumping really well.

I went out on cross-country with the idea that if he felt like he was struggling, I’d pull up. He didn’t seem to have a problem with the deep mud. I rode a bit conservatively to some jumps and got either long spots or close ones, but nothing horrible. There was a three-part water complex that he jumped confidently, as well as a bending line, a one-stride, and a bank up to a skinny. There was also an interesting coffin with a ditch, two strides to a roll top, then two strides to another roll top.

We ended up fifth, but a lot of our division withdrew.

Today I had a decent jump lesson. We put up the fences to solid preliminary height. I was better about keeping the pace and he was figuring out how to use himself over the bigger jumps. It wasn’t pretty all the time, but it was a positive start.

This weekend I’ve got the NSLM Gala on Saturday. I also have to clip Oh So…ugh! It’s that time of year. Sunday I’ll be working at Loch Moy. It should be a beautiful weekend.