I think it’s a huge sign that things are going really well (as planned) with Arthur when I finish a competition mostly disappointed with my dressage — regardless of the fact that he won the dressage on a 29.1!!!! I chose Advanced test A because it had the most walking to do of all the tests — walk has been our weakest part of our dressage so I thought it would be a good idea to practice it. He was really super for the trot and canter work, but for the first part of the walk I kind of just “survived” it instead of riding it. Needless to say, there was a big chunk of my test that was not particularly good. The next day I had a walking only lesson with Oded!!!! I expect my walk to improve tons and hopefully leave my competition further behind!!! He was brilliant cross country. He skipped around and made time easily. I so wish the jumps were bigger and that there were a few more technical questions. It was a really fun course and the crew at Richland did a great job ensuring that the footing in the galloping lanes was great for us. My only complaint was that I was a little gappy to the coffin — and of course Capt. Mark was there to watch. I did, however, have a consistent forward thinking ride around the course and my horse made easy work of everything. It was great to have Katie and Henri Prudent at Richland to help all the US shortlisted riders. Arthur had a lovely smooth round so we finished on our dressage score with the win!!! Yay Arthur!!
The other two horses that I rode could not have been more fun to ride!! Running Woolfe finished on his dressage score in the Open Preliminary to end up 5th. He is only 6 years old and is one of the best jumping horses that I have ever sat on! Iron Cowboy, in just his third event ever, made his big move up to Training. It was a really tough Training show jumping and cross country. He show jumped very clear (leaving at least a foot to spare at every fence) and he had no jump penalties xc. We had some time as the xc had a lot of tough questions for a green horse and I wanted to ensure he had a solid and educational round. Now that he has received a qualifying result at his third recognized event he is now officially qualified for the AECs (he won in just his second outing at the Novice level).
Both Running Woolfe and Iron Cowboy are for sale — they are both tremendous athletes that are tremendously kind and fun!!! Check out my sales page!!! They will both be at the AECs!
