Gia - sessions 621-623 - last show of the year!

 I took Gia to the last show of the season this past weekend for the Carolina Horse Park War Horse Championships.  She had qualified for the championships earlier in the year, and she was entered in the Green as Grass Championship division.

On Friday we  schooled the Green as Grass show jumping and cross country courses alongside Ali and Danielle.  Schooling went fairly well.  Show jumping was uneventful.  On cross country we schooled some Maiden jumps alongside the GAG jumps.  There was a boggy area in between a couple of jumps, and a wet area in between a couple of other jumps, that I had to really push to get her through.  We went back and forth through them a few times, until they were easier.  Apparently, we were fairly successful with those, because by the time we got to the water, she went in without much argument, just a little hesitation.  It was also extremely windy, so there was a LOT of stuff blowing around to spook at.  We took our time in these situations to work on some desensitization.

On Saturday, we had our dressage test first.  In warm up, I allowed her to relax and look around before I put her to work.  I felt that her dressage test was the most consistent and most relaxed test she has had all year!  She went right into work mode when we went in the ring, and really stayed focused on me throughout our test.  We ended up scoring a 28.4% and tied for second place out of 32 other riders!  I believe this was her second highest score all year!  Next we had cross country.  She also warmed up uneventfully there.  On course, she was a little nervous, but felt more confident than last time.  She was a tiny bit hesitant in the boggy areas, but she trotted right into the water obstacle this time!  She ended up going double clear, and we held on to our placing!

On Sunday, we had our show jumping round.  For the Championships they had riders going in reverse order of placing.  So, if you were in last place, you went first. Since we were tied for second, we were one of the last riders to go.  Gia warmed up uneventfully again.  I didn't want to ask for the canter, since I thought it might trigger some bucking.  But I also wanted to find out how she was going to behave at the canter before I got in the show ring.  So, I had Danielle raise the warm up jumps until she actually jumped them and landed at the canter.  I think she got up to about 2'6" before she stopped just trotting over them.  Her canter was nice and quiet, so I decided we were ready.  She went through the show course with no issues.  They were holding the Championship classes in the "Big" ring, but she had been jumping all year in the smaller ring.  The change in venue didn't seem to bother her at all.  Just like dressage and cross country, she stayed very focused and obedient, and did not buck a single time!  So, we held on to our placing again, and just had to wait for the last rider to go to see where we ended up.  

We ended up finishing in third place overall.  The other rider had a higher rider score on her dressage test, which is the tie breaker.  That third place finish still put us in the awards ceremony, where Gia not only won a ton of loot (saddle pad, boots, gift card, etc), but she also took home her first winnings check of $400!!  We also got to participate in the victory gallop (which is one of my favorite things)!  Of course, since I had to ask her for the canter, she did let out one small buck.  But she kept herself contained when it counted, so I didn't mind.  After the way her year started, I had no idea she would finish like this!  She's going to get the next week off, but stay tuned for her blog next Monday.