After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...
Well, I am going to begin a recap of all that I have been up to since I last blogged. So many things have been happening, and most of them have been very good! Life has settled down to a very happy and positive keel, so I am a much happier girl. Sometimes you gotta take the bad with the good.
After the Isaac Royal show I last wrote about, we headed to UNH (University of New Hampshire, my alma mater!) again for a two day dressage show. This was our worst one of the year, and I believe it is due to Dreamy having her Potomac and Rhino/Flu shots just days beforehand. In order to gear up for the Standardbred National show in New Jersey, I needed a 30 day health certificate and I also give her a booster for Rhino/Flue and a yearly Potomac Horse Fever vaccine. I do not normally give the PHF, but I wanted to do that now (and last year) since we traveled so far south. Better to be safe than sorry.
I thought she would be OK, but she was sluggish and dull. She was also very stiff in the canter, much more so than she has ever been. She has not been that stiff again, thankfully. Never again will I plan shots to fall so closely to a show. Next time, shots will come on a Monday, our day off!
Also it was super difficult for her in the grass ring at UNH. We had a ridiculous amount of rain this past summer in Maine/New Hampshire and the one grass ring was horrible! And of course, I did three of my four tests in the grass ring. L Out of four rings, we got the grass one!
Here we are in the warm up...
Training 2 on Sunday
I love the freewalk picture! I am sorry it didn't go so well, and I am also surprised that they even had a grass ring. Clearly you northerners are much tougher because I think people would have thrown a fit showing in grass around here!
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