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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

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

Green Acres Horse Trials - Sept. 12

Dreamy and I were so busy this year with other things, it was not until this past weekend I was able to attend a horse trial!  I miss eventing!!!  We competed at Green Acres in Madbury, NH.  It is a decent venue...while it was a little chilly last Sunday, it was still a good day.  And usually the organization is better than it was this past Sunday....I suspect they were short on volunteers. 

Here is Dreamy just chilling at the trailer...taken on my iPhone so not the best quality.  :)



There were 12 riders in our (senior rider) division of Modified Beginner Novice (at GA they call it Elementary).  Basically it is Beginner Novice with lower fences.  Instead of jumping 2'11", we just jump 2'3" which is where Dreamy is more comfortable.  As she is now 19 years old, I am not jumping her higher than that.  :)

Our dressage test was decent.  We did the USEA Beginner Novice A test, which is roughly comparable to a USDF Training 2 level test.  There is never enough space to warm up for dressage at Green Acres, unfortunately.  The warm up is tiny and there are always too many horses in the ring.  So there is a lot of halting and walking to avoid accidents.  SIGH


But still I was happy with our score, despite a test that I thought was not our best.  I was late with a trot transition and screwed up our last halt, so everything was rider error.  But still we scored a 37.5, which is not a percentage like regular dressage, as eventing is calculated in penalty points.  So it was the same as scoring a 62.5%, so I was pleased.  Lots of 7s and 8s to offset the two 5s on our right canter.  :(  At least our trot work is good, right??  And my rider bobbles were not scored as low as I had thought during the ride....LOL!


Our dressage score put us in 4th place going into cross country.  The course was decent enough, with lots of "skinny" jumps and lots of hills and rough terrain.  I wanted to ride it cautiously but still have fun.  There were a few areas where you could canter along and we did!  It was super fun.  Dreamy gave a few fences a look but motored right along.  She seemed happy to be doing cross country, since it has been since October 2009 that we did a XC course.  Her ears were forward and she was light in the bridle (in an eggbutt French link snaffle.....good mare!)


We went clear on cross country, which I was not surprised with.  Dreamy is very good on XC.  We moved up to third!  :)


Here she is ready to go XC!




PONY POWER saddle pad!  LOL!




The stadium course had some nice easy lines, two related distances, and a couple of tighter turns.  I liked the course.  One fence was causing a ton of stops...it was just a regular vertical but it had a weird red wooden filler thing under the two upper poles.  Dreamy went around the first four fences fine.....and as we came up to this fence she did give it a good look.  I kept my leg on, gave her an extra squeeze, and had my bat ready in case.  But she went right over, almost chipping in.

The professional photographer only took stadium pics (????) so I have two here:
http://carabell.zenfolio.com/p258288783/e367bfdd
http://carabell.zenfolio.com/p258288783/e9e6d25e


We ended up with third place overall.  So I am pleased that at our first event in almost a year, we placed so well out!  :)  Yay Dreamy!  :D

Comments

  1. Sigh.... I wish we lived closer, I so want to do this too but need someone to go with....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I KNOW!!!!!! We would have so much fun! Maybe I can take a long weekend next summer and come down to event with you! :D

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