The good. The bad. The okay. Part II

After she finally came sound on Oct 5th, we had just barely over 2 weeks to prep for the very last show of the season. My only goal for the show is that we actually made it to the show and completed it, as it has been since Oct 2019 that we have been able to get that accomplishment. Sometimes you need to keep your expectations super low to get a win.

A huge pasture for the winter

I entered us in a local derby in Beginner Novice, not because I thought she needed to drop that far, but because with only 2 weeks to prepare, I didn't know if either of us could physically compete at Novice. Spoiler - we were not fit enough for Novice #GoodChoices Mia's weaknesses were on full display as we prepared, like during the canter, her haunches are either in or her head was drama llama-ing. While spend the time preparing with dressage, most was fitness and my main goal really was to just complete a show.

Mia likes her new digs

We did make it to the show at the end of October and while I am pissed at myself at a few things, I am very happy that we finished. The biggest thing I would have changed was approaching it like I didn't care. Because while my only goal was completing, I should have taken it a bit more seriously. Doing so would have given us a better score and I would have found the egregious error at the show versus at home.

A big and bright stall!

The dressage test rode well but I didn't ride hard enough. I didn't pay close enough of attention to geometry and my circles were too small. I was balancing Mia's haunches being in versus her head being up and being inverted so we lost points there. Mia had some slight trot steps in the free walk and tension as she wanted to GO. I left a lot of points on the table, which is something I had worked hard to fix over the past 2 years but didn't apply those skills during my ride.

This whole section had to be removed bc it was an empty flap from the abscess

The cross country/stadium portion went perfectly. Mia didn't touch any jump, we missed only 1 distance, and she was a machine. She was also a tired machine, she asked twice if we could stop cantering and I had to tell her no. I was so proud of both of us for finishing, and am 100% certain that entering BN was the correct call to make. I feel that going Novice would have pushed both of us further than we were fit for and there was no point in that.

 

A quiet ride in the woods

Was I disappointed in our placing? Yeah. We ended up 6th of 11 and I expected a better dressage score. However, see above. My goal was to finish and I had placed all of my competitiveness aside to made that goal. When I got home, however, I noticed the judge forgot to fill in a score for the collective marks. Instead of getting maybe 10 of 20 points, I ended up with 0 of 20 points. UGH! Even getting a 5 would have moved us up to 2nd or 3rd place with a low 30's score. #LessonLearned

I was still happy to get some satin!

But then I realized we got ZERO of 20 points and
would have gotten a much better score. UGH!

After the show, I moved to a new barn so Mia would have a stall for the winter. Her new situation is 24x7 turnout unless the weather is bad, then she gets to hang in a big stall. There were enough small things that bugged me about the previous barn that I felt a move was justified. So far things are good at the new barn so fingers crossed that this works long term!