The 2018 season’s gone out with a bit of a whimper and not a bang for me unfortunately. With Seneca being canceled and now Waredaca getting a few inches of rain, I decided to scratch today.
I knew at the beginning of the week that I likely wouldn’t be running cross-country because of the wet weather forecasted, but with reports and photos coming in yesterday of trucks being towed in and out and knowing that the dressage and show jumping warm up are on grass, plus having to get up at 4:30 a.m., I decided not to risk it for a combined test that wouldn’t count for anything.
My trainer asked me to consider what I would get out of it, and honestly, probably not much. We’re both bored with the novice test and don’t *need* to do it, and we’re looking ahead to some local winter jumper shows for practice. I hate to throw another $200 down the toilet, but that seems to be the nature of this year for everyone. I just wish Waredaca would have made that call for me. I was still undecided right up until I went to bed last night, and really could have gone either way, but I also think I needed a quiet day where I can get some stuff done around my apartment, have a nice ride and probably clip him again since he grew his hair back so fast!
I’m sad that I really didn’t end up having a fall season, since it’s finally my kind of weather, but I really can’t complain about the year we’ve had when we’ve actually made it to shows. While we had two events canceled because of rain, I withdrew from one day at a dressage show due to crappy footing from the rain, and he missed one event because of an injury, when I look at my wall, all I see are blue ribbons.
I accomplished my goal of getting my bronze medal, and I’ve been feeling less nervous about show jumping. We’ve had some really productive jumping lessons at home too, and he’s been feeling really good at age 18.
This is it for me competition-wise since I’ll be traveling a bit more in November, but I’m hoping to do the Loch Moy Donation Derby in December.
We did get to do the Maryland Horse Trials two weeks ago and finished second by a little over a point, breaking our winning streak! If I had made my trot serpentine more like a serpentine and not a turn from E to B we might have won! The show jumping and cross-country weren’t the smoothest I’ve ever ridden, but he was happy to be out after missing Seneca. We did get to go school at Seneca the week before, and the footing was still wet, but we found the good spots and had a nice ride.
This is a quiet week for me after a long weekend at Fair Hill. We lucked out with the weather, and it was just cold and windy, but sunny! I’m off to Scotland next week for a long-awaited vacation, then back for a few days and off to the Ocala Jockey Club event, then a few quiet weeks before the USEA Convention in New Orleans! I’m really excited to discover some new places this fall.
Everything Eventing 
Totally missed seeing you go at Loch Moy! I was scribing in the ring next door. So glad to hear your day went well. That sunken road was quite the issue for people!