Orange Horse does Ocala and Red Horse does Rocking Horse

Old news is better than no news, right?

I took Hewie to his 3rd Intermediate this past weekend at Ocala. I had a long conversation with him about how he had to maintain his focus in the jumping, no more silly technical 20's allowed. He had his Bogey for the year. My working student Karen Shea also took the mare she has been riding, Razzmatazz, in her (Karen's) first ever event at Novice. Tazz is owned by my good friend and sponsorship coordinator Christy Hughes and has just been the best partner for Karen to learn to event on.

I felt bad because I rushed Hewie into the dressage ring and he didn't get a great score. I am still trying to figure out how to warm this horse up properly, too long and he gets sweaty and dull, too little and he's all jacked up. I was dissapointed in that, only to head into a fabulous double clear showjumping round. Way to go Hewie!

Karen finished her first day on a 39.5, finished the whole competition on that score as a matter of fact. Earned herself a pretty Yellow ribbon. I am so proud of her. She rode her cross country like a champ, looking just like an old pro.

Hewie was the most relaxed he's ever been on cross country, focused, attentive.. he was just fabulous. I'm so proud of the round he put in. We were a few seconds late so he finished on his dressage score and change in 6th place.

On to Rocking Horse this weekend.. the first Advanced of the year.. everyone at the barn is a little geared up. We had dressage lessons today and all of the girls at Buck's red horses (including mine) were a little fresh. I got some really good work out of Donald but I was pretty dissapointed, he hadn't blown up in a while and I had figured we were past it. Buck brought up a good point to me while I was wallowing in my sorrow. I had told him that I feel like if I can't even practice my dressage calmly at home, what am I thinking trying to go to Kentucky. He said that right now Donald is ready for Rocking Horse, not Rolex, he hasn't peaked yet and there is a lot of work left to be done before Kentucky. He told me not to get too hard on myself and just focus on the task at hand. He's right and I'm lucky to have him guiding me.

My other working student Jax is down here this weekend helping the students and I. Brooke and Lauren are taking their ponies BN and Novice at Rocking Horse as well. I got to introduce them to some fun Ocala locations, like Pepe's. It should be a fun and succesful weekend for all of us and I'm looking forward to it.

xoxox
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