I had many great horsey experiences in 2019! I am really pleased with how the year went overall; nothing is ever perfect, but both horses are sound, happy, and healthy, which is really what matters to me. Some of my 2019 goals were met easily or with lots of hard work, and a few of them were utter fails haha. C'est la vie! Let's recap! Happy, health, sound Both mares are doing well in this regard! Dreamy will be 29 this year, and while she definitely shows signs of her age at times, she overall looks and acts much younger than she really is! Ellie has really matured this year, filling out as well as mentally becoming more comfortable in her own skin. As she will be eight this year, I feel like we have moved through the baby phase. having this photo shoot was definitely a highlight of 2019! Continue lessons with Beth and Babette This goal was met and then some! I took almost weekly dressage lessons with Beth and monthly jump lessons with Babette. Thanks to the
The third and final show at my lesson barn was this past Sunday! It was also a fundraiser for the Western Maine Dressage Association and a "team" show, which meant we were organized into teams for an awards ceremony at the end of the day. Each test was awarded 1-7th like usual, but then the team scores were averaged for a champion and reserve champion in each division. There were four types of teams: same test levels, same rider designation (AA, open, or jr/yr), mixed bag of nuts (any levels/designations), and free range (freestyle tests only). I paired up with two other riders from my lesson barn who were also doing Training level tests. Yup, that's right, I put on my big girl pants and rode our first Training level 1 test! Whoo! The plan had been to ride Intro B as a warm up and then Training 1. Now looking back, I kinda wish we had done a Training 1 and a Training 1 reride, which is something that is becoming more popular at shows here in the last couple years