I finally got out and about this past weekend after Oh So came up with a terrible skin allergy after I got back from The Fork. It took a week for his legs to go down and be less sensitive and I feel like I could have gotten more on top of it sooner and made it to the original CT I was entered in on April 13.

So after a missed lesson and gallop, we were back in business last week. I decided to give him a longer warmup for dressage at Morningside because he hadn’t been out in awhile. He was actually very spooky, which is not usual for him. In general, he was tense and I think this week at Loudoun I’ll try posting the trot for most of the warmup to see if I can keep his back relaxed.

I thought he held it together for the canter work in the test, but the trot work wasn’t the best. We ended up with a 35.5, which is not what we’re capable of, so that was frustrating. He could be scoring in the 20s if he just let go mentally a little bit. I’m not sure what else I can do on my part at this point. We’ve only been doing this for 5 years.

The jumping warmup at Morningside is pretty far away from the ring and it’s on grass. Because of the large amount of rain we had the day before, I decided to warmup on the track, which is actually worse. There’s only room for a cross rail and a vertical and you can’t really come off a turn to them.

As a result, our actual round was pretty inconsistent. I rode slightly backwards to a couple of the fences, but he kept jumping and trying and we actually had a clear round. I think I’m letting the fact that I don’t have another horse to practice on get to me. I need a way to strengthen my lower leg out of the saddle too and I’m finding it hard to do.

So, not the show that I wanted, but onwards to Loudoun this weekend. I’m bummed to be missing Rolex when it seems like everyone but me is there, but I’ve got an awesome horse and I get to go cross-country this weekend, so I can’t complain!