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...
When I bought Ellie back at the end of 2017, I somehow came across the Morgan Dressage Association's Facebook page. Promoting Morgans in dressage is a cause I find worthy of support, and of course with a fun year end award program it seemed like something I might want to do with Ellie someday haha. They base their awards on rated USDF shows, so it will be some time before we are ready to show regularly at that level though. Schooling shows are life (and cheaper and closer...!) MDS also has a scholarship program and an interesting newsletter, so overall it seemed worth the small fee. Besides sending in my yearly membership check, I have admittedly not had much to do with the organization. However, back in November, I received two different emails from MDA about their scholarship program, as they were extending the due date by two weeks. Basically, MDA awards three to four $500 scholarships a year, to be used exclusively on dressage training on a Morg...