It Was An Amazing Weekend

Rogo's second competition (his first gold show) was great. It was one of the most fun weekends I've had in ages. He didn't do quite as well the second day as the first, scoring high 50's once (he was so lacking in forwardness I thought he was just going to stop at one point - bad riding on my part) and low sixties once. The thing he starred in was being well behaved. He was as steady, quiet and sweet as Savanah. One woman fell in love with him and spent about an hour at his stall door with him nuzzling and being sweet to her.

We got one first and three seconds for the weekend. There were more marks in the 50's than 60's I think. This was an FEI judge, and she had high expectations, which was good.

I can't believe I had the nerve to take him to a gold show at this point, but I'm glad I did. We didn't embarass ourselves and it really helped me realize where we need to focus our energy - connection! Bending was our last big push. Connection has to be the next.

I got tense in the warm up ring this morning and now my back is twinging - yikes! I must be careful or I'll be out of commission for days. There was no reason to be nervous because Rogo was absolutely bomb proof in there today, but there were a large number of horses and at one point we were in the midst of this cantering pack and I got tense. Rogo had only been in with one other horse at a time, and one he knew, before he went to the last show so this is still very new to him.

Just to note some things I want to remember - the judge told me Rogo is a very nice horse, I need to work on connection and moving freely forward, Rogo got too relaxed when he was on deck.

I need to decide whether to take him in the Labour Day show in Windsor. Doug and Savanah will enter.
Doug and I are lucky to have a trailer with living quarters and we like to camp. The horse show grounds at CNHP in Salmon River are wonderful. There is woods all around and it's so nice to be there in the evening barbecuing, visiting with other riders, etc. I heard a pack of coyotes the first night. There must have been a lot of them and it was like they were singing.