Remember When I Said

That it was probably going to rain for two weeks, because I'd just written a two week training calendar? Well, guess what? You've got it - it's been raining steady since. It's raining right now. Then again, maybe this is the riding goddess's way of preventing us chronic over preparers (?) from always arriving at the show with a tired horse.

Never to be deterred in my type A approach, I'm studying tests, visualizing my rides, and running (in the rain, on the beach with the dogs). What Rogo and I really need is show miles. Until we get them, our competition rides won't be what they should be and I'll continue to be somewhat nervous. I made a promise to myself after all the good advice I got to my last post though - I'm not going to lose sight that this is for fun. 

For anyone reading who also gets nervous as we approach show season, and just to keep me in the right frame of mind, I'll reflect on Rogo's first show. He jumped out of the dressage ring in his first class and knocked one whole side of the ring down. How embarrassing is that? There was stunned silence for a few moments and I just froze and wanted to sink into the ground. Of course it all worked out fine, his other classes were good and now I have a funny (?) story to tell. Now, God help me, if I can just stay on I have no where to go but up. Hope I haven't jinxed myself...

Here is a link to arena figures that I find very helpful in learning where I should be when riding my tests. This site also has arena diagrams that you can print in multiples per page to use when memorizing.

Hope to have a ride / training update soon.