Guess who just got a blue ribbon... at PRELIM!!!!!

That's right!!!!

Can I tell you again how freakin' utterly amazing my horse is?? What a freakin' rock star!  And what a great weekend. We had so much fun!

We hauled Friday to Jumping Branch. Flecky was a fire cracker again! I spent my ride giggling at how silly he was. How old are you again Fleck?? :) He was bouncing out of his skin again and spooking at the horses in the woods. At one point, he even did a flying change while half passing at the canter. NOT on purpose... I believe I was wanting to trot. ;) And then he spooked and in the process, hunkered down and squatted. Hee hee... Even Beth was giggling. Despite the antics, we did accomplish some decent work. The take aways were...

• Really make sure he's bending around my right leg. He likes to be stiff in the ribs on the right.
• Really ride FORWARD in my downward transitions. Keep the leg ON and ride him into it. 
• When tracking left at the canter, think of lifting the left shoulder and keeping his neck a little straighter. When tracking right, almost think overbend to help bring his shoulders around and his haunches back out. Ride shoulder in to the right ALL THE TIME! 

 So he got a bath and then dinner and then I walked XC and stadium. XC was a fun course. It wasn't that tough, but the jumps were decent sized and there was some technical stuff. It started off pretty easy with a hanging log stack thing. Then an upright skinny in the woods, to a very open picture frame. Then the two stride mulchies (where Fleck was annoyed with me a few weekends before), to the bullfinch. Then it started to get technical. A skinny chevron, sharp turn to a upright hay stack under a log to the drop, down the lane to the roll top, then left turn to the downhill half coffin (which was a fairly substantial roll top). Then up hill to the airy triple log, to the water with a small drop, then to the skinny on a bending line out. Then to the "honkin' log", then through the pastures to the up bank, over the "ditch" to the next bank, to the skinny and on to the dreaded ditch and wall! Then a sharp turn to a fairly decent corner, then to a stone wall then to the last fence which is a brushy thing. Then we walked stadium. It was a fun course, but nothing too exciting. However the oxers were fairly substantial looking!! Of course I had just run training, so I guess my eye had shrunk a little. But no triple :(  So then it was time for dinner. Then back to the hotel and to bed. Only... it was a bunch of giggling for an hour and a half before we went to sleep. Hee hee... And there was two songs... one awful (It's Friday, friday....) and one good (Pocket full of sunshine, take me away!!!). hee hee. It was fun!

Saturday am was GAME DAY!!! Bring it!!! It was chilly but since it was a schooling show I didn't have to braid. Yay! So we got on and headed up to warm up. Fleck was much calmer this morning but as warm up got busier, he got more amped up. He threw in a few bucks for good measure. Finally it was our turn and in we went. It wasn't a bad test, but it wasn't great either. He was a little scrambly and VERY much not off my right leg. Very haunches in and crooked. But we did manage a 7 and a 8 on our leg yields and another 8 some where. Oh, our enter down center line. BUT... he only jigged for two strides and then held it together pretty well for the rest of the free and medium walk. So we headed back to the paddock and I gave Fleck his beet pulp. I went to the bathroom, and then... Holy Crud... I had to jump in 45 minutes!!! I hadn't put in studs or anything! So I rushed to get his studs in, put on his boots, tacked him up, put on my gear, and hopped on. My stadium time was at 10:26. I think I left the trailer at 10:20!!! Needless to say we trotted to the warm up and then cantered once we hit the warm up area. We jumped four jumps and they let us in. Luckily, they were nice and I think they let me jump a little late. Fleck jumped pretty good in warm up but my hands were starting to get high again. So I concentrated on keeping the connection and... what a nice course!!!! Fleck was great!!! He jumped huge and cleared everything! We landed a little long and strung out before the roll back. Oops! But he jumped amazing and cleared it all. It was a gorgeous round! (I thought anyways!). So then over to XC we went. I was a little rushed, but it was nice... no time to get nervous. We jumped the roll top twice and he was a little behind my leg over it the first time but got amped up for it the second time. In to the start box we went and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...have a great ride! Off we went. And it was going to be A-ok!!! Fleck was on fire and looking for the jumps. I kept the connection and he was on! He cruised over the first 4 and then looking for the chevron. I managed to get him locked on and straightened out his shoulders and over we went. He leaped down the bank and flew down the path. We rocked the roll top and then... down to the half-coffin. I gave him a little tap with the whip about 5 strides out, but I didn't need it. He leapt over it, up the hill, rocked the water in the 3 and 4 and we continued on our way. He cleared the log and then bounced up and over the bank. The ONLY jump he even slightly hesitated/peeked/thought about was the ditch and wall. He was going, but I gave him a tap.. made sure to sit my butt in the saddle, wait my face and keep the connection. He went but maybe peeked at the ditch as we went over. Then onto the corner. He was on it!!! Not a thought of even running out. Yeah baby!!! Home free... He took the flyer over the stone wall (oops) and the we continued on to the final fence. This one I thought he might take the add/chip but nope, he took it long and I caught him in the mouth. Oh man... I hated that I got him on the final fence. But he got a TON of good boys and pats to make up for it. And.. we finished only 4 seconds over optimum time. 

 Since Fleck had been eying the sand pit... I promised him AFTER the show.. he could roll. So I had to keep my promise. I hosed him off after we jumped and walked him over. He was in heaven!!! He rolled THREE times...with much groaning and grunting with joy. Hee hee... Then he sat at the trailer munching on alfalfa while I iced his legs. Then I plopped myself down on my butt and took out his studs. He was such a cutie.. just stood there for me to de-stud him... after running prelim!

So... turns out... we were 9th after dressage. With 13 in our division. Probably about 5 were "pros". So, sorta disappointing, but regardless.. he jumped like a fiend and was on fire. So I didn't care one bit about that 39 dressage score. What an amazing horse I have!! He just ate up that course!!! So I took him back and got him iced. Then Beth texted me. Turns out... we were the fastest ride! We only had 1.6 points of time added to our score. I guess a few people had rails and/or refusals and there was a ton of time... so we moved up. TO FIRST!!!!!! Holy batman!!! What a good boy!!!

So yep... we made our comeback and we ROCKED IT!!! And Fleck had a blast too!!! I don't think I could have pulled him off those fences if I tried. :)