On the last day of September, I received an email from the Vermont Morgan Horse Association asking if I would be interested in bringing Ellie to Equine Affaire in Massachusetts from November 7-10. I became a member of VMHA this year when I decided to compete at Vermont Heritage Days; so even though I live in Maine and not Vermont haha, I made a snap decision to say yes!
Honestly, it was 21 minutes after the email came in that I responded yes! Then I had to figure out how to actually make it all happen hahahahaha. Typical.
I attended Equine Affaire as a spectator a few times way back when and then for many years I ran the breed booth for the Standardbreds, including a four-day stint in C Barn with Dreamy back in 2013. It is fun and exhausting to travel 4+ hours one way from home to talk with thousands of people, walk thousands of miles around the venue (ok, not that far but close), and ride in demos on a horse that has never seen such a huge venue (though in her defense, Ellie was …
Honestly, it was 21 minutes after the email came in that I responded yes! Then I had to figure out how to actually make it all happen hahahahaha. Typical.
I attended Equine Affaire as a spectator a few times way back when and then for many years I ran the breed booth for the Standardbreds, including a four-day stint in C Barn with Dreamy back in 2013. It is fun and exhausting to travel 4+ hours one way from home to talk with thousands of people, walk thousands of miles around the venue (ok, not that far but close), and ride in demos on a horse that has never seen such a huge venue (though in her defense, Ellie was …
Intro D....hahahahahahha. I admit to being confused when I started reading. Like...did I miss a new test or something??
ReplyDeleteHahahaha yeahhh just me being a weirdo! ;-)
DeleteI really love the current training 1 test, but you're right, that last turn up to centerline is a bit of a doozy (especially on a green horse, which is basically all I own lol). I love your idea of calling it intro d to make it less intimidating :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I am hoping maybe next year that movement will change when they change the tests, but at the same time it is pretty decent other than that last centerline so I don't want anything else about it to change! LOL
DeleteAll of those reasons are why I went right to Training 1 and skipped Intro all together. It rides SO much nicer and slower and smoother!
ReplyDeleteYES it totally does! I guess I figured I might as well start on the Intro tests so see where we were at, but I think you made a wise choice!
DeleteThat's a really good way to look at it! And now I wonder if we would have better success schooling Training level rather than intros because of where the canters take place..
ReplyDeleteThis is something to mull over for sure!
Yeah, I would highly recommend running through both tests and seeing how your horse feels. For Ellie (and probably many other horses!), Intro C just wasn't working well for us! I feel much more confident about cantering in Training 1, even though the idea of moving to Training level makes me worried haha. But it is nearly THE SAME TEST so I have to get over myself LOL!
DeleteShe looks so cute in her bonnet <3 I'm sure you guys will rock Training 1...errr Intro D with no issue ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you!! We are trying it out at the end of the month, and I feel pretty good about it!
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