GO GO GO!!

Now that I can say I'm officially a prelim rider I thought it was time to stop the blogging ban...I was too afraid the blogging would jinx my prelim moveup...hence the long break in updates :). Let's see...I did a PT at Bucks and found out that my airvest works...there was a cordwood table into the water and I didn't sit back and ride and he ducked out at the last minute and I popped off. It was super disappointing b/c I didn't even get to showjump b/c they had switched the order..BOOO!! So then I had entered NJ HP to be able to get another Training in before I moved up, but I got waitlisted (things weren't going my way). Luckily I got into MD HT I on July 9-10 and did a Training. He was a nutbag in dressage warmup and I think we've figured out that it's b/c he could see XC. I had been warming up in a lower ring that couldn't see the XC course and he was perfect...as soon as I got up to the main ring, he flipped out...I thought I was getting eliminated for sure. We ran into a few other horses and almost crashed into the ring when someone else was doing their test. I got a standing ovation from the volunteers when we finished our test :). We pulled a 40 which was fantastic considering the situation.

So I was a bit nervous for the Prelim at MD the following weekend. I had my usual support system, Seth and my parents, but my brother and his friend also came to support me. It was awesome to have a fan club! Dressage went really well...34.6. He was calm as could be...no XC was running at the time. Before I jumped I was so nervous I was dry heaving...ridiculous...I had to give myself a pep talk and once I got on I was fine. There was a lot of trouble on stadium, but we had a clean round. He saved me on the last jump...I got him too close, but he jumped right out of it. Then he was so awesome on XC. There was a corner at fence #4 and it was sitting in the woods by itself and the Intermediate table made it difficult to get the line I wanted to it...plus it was a corner to the right which made me even more apprehensive. Well once I locked him on the line he attacked it. There was no hesitation at all at anything. I had to ride him into the waters, but as soon as a put my leg on he says, "OK Mom, I trust you". It was such an awesome feeling to finish the course clean!!

We had a dressage lesson with Linda Zang last week and it was great. She got me to get him really forward and connected to my hand. I will have to work pretty hard to get that kind of forwardness with sitting trot. She also helped me with my position...I need to get my hips under me more so that I can push him to my hand. I also need to stop using my hands so much and trust him to just respond to my leg. It was a short lesson, but so effective.

Then it was onto Fairhill yesterday. I had my best dressage yet, although I left the ring disappointed. It was a very consistent, accurate test, but I felt like I could've ridden him more. Stadium was a bit of a mess...it was our first time this year jumping on grass and I didn't handle the terrain well. After watching the video I think I had him forward enough, but he looked flat. So I think I was riding him forward but not collected...plus I didn't do a good job adjusting for the terrain. So we had our first 2 rails since I bought him :). There was only one clear round in my division and that was Bruce Davidson so I don't feel too bad. On XC I was worried about the in to the water...there was a red house and they had it set so a tree was in the middle and the obvious choice was to take the right side, but it looked inviting for a runout to the right. Well he was so awesome to everything. I screwed up and jumped the training fence 2, but they didn't notice...the eventing gods were with me. I would've been so pissed if I would've had to pull up b/c I was eliminated for something stupid like that. Anyway, he was so perfect...such a superstar. I had to jump the big Trakehner and he was great. I am learning how to see the distances to the big fences and the higher speed, but I still need to work on it. I picked into the corner, but he was a good boy and jumped it. I also didn't ride the water very well...I was too concerned with the in and I didn't think quick enough to prep him for the turn and get him forward enough for the out. Again, he was a good boy and tried his heart out to get out of the water. I do really need to learn how to ride more forward...I could tell at the up bank combos that I wasn't forward enough and the spots were a little longer than they should've been. It's all part of the learning process. We also had the big log to the down bank, right bending turn to a log at the foundation...the same combo that was Legacy's undoing last year. He was great...he didn't launch off the bank and I felt like we had sooooo much time in the 4 strides to the out. We were the only ones to make time in our division...I definitely was pushing him the last half of the course. He was tired, but seemed to be plenty fit.

So it's been really nice to be able to put last year behind me. Now that I have 2 clean rounds under my belt I feel like I can stop blaming myself and comparing to last year. Prelim seems really easy for Hobbs...I think both course were somewhat soft, so I'm anxious to get to a tougher course to test us a bit. I definitely need to catch up to his talent, but he's such a good teacher and he forgives me for my mistakes. I really feel like we are connecting more and more as a team and it's showing in our results.