Gia - sessions 827, 828, 829 - Schooling and show!

 Gia and I went to the last War Horse schooling and show of the season - the War Horse Championships.  We had qualified in the Green as Grass division, so even though we had technically moved up already, we went back down, for one more show, to compete in the championships.

Friday was the schooling day.  Danielle lunged her, while I schooled a student, and said that she was pretty quiet and relaxed.  Under saddle, we trekked out to the cross country field first.  She warmed up pretty good.  I mainly focused on keeping her (looooong) body as straight as possible.  She was a little worried about the ground in a couple places, but mostly that didn't bother her this weekend.  She did stop at the first jump on course, but when we came back to it, she went right over it.  I think that was the only one she stopped at other than the new bank.  The Carolina Horse Park had added a new "baby bank" to the course.  They put it right next to a giant concrete tube that Gia has hated for a while now.  It took Ali leading her over it the first time for her to get over it.  After that, she worked to help all our other horses over it several times, so she went over it a lot.  She seemed good with it by the end, although wary.  She was pretty good for the rest of the jumps, but she did get antsy with all the stopping and starting, so her behavior could have been better.  There was a little bucking, and there was also a little rearing.  After that, we schooled the stadium course, which was in the "big ring", with a LOT of decor, for championships.  There was one jump in particular that had all the riders worried.  When I took her in the ring, I let her trot past the scariest stuff first, then headed to my jumps.  She jumped the course perfectly!  No bucking, and a nice even rhythm, and not even worried about the "scary" jump!

Saturday was dressage and cross country day.  I lunged Gia in the morning, and she was a little up, but obedient.  In dressage warm up, she was really good, possibly the best yet!  She seemed more confident, and knew what she needed to do.  She still looked around a bit, but stayed pretty focused on me.  Her dressage test went pretty good and uneventful.  She scored a 30.0%, and started out in fifth place out of 30 entries.  Cross country warm up went fairly well.  She was a little excited, but focused.  She did get a little "too much" a couple of times, but if I kept her walking, and eased her into the trot, she did better.  On course, she did great!  She didn't stop at anything, even the bank!  She trotted a lot of the course, but towards the last half she found her rhythm and cantered the rest of it.  It was a nice, relaxed canter with no bucking!  We jumped double clear, and moved up to fourth place.

Sunday was stadium day, and for championships, we rode in reverse order of standing, which meant that I was one of the last to go in the division.  On the lunge line, Gia was a bit more excited than the past two days, probably from being cooped up in a stall rather than out in her field.  However, in warm up she felt the best yet.  She was relaxed, focused and ready.  In the show ring, we trotted past the scary jumps again, then started our course.  She trotted a little, but most of it was at the canter.  She kept all the rails up, made the time, and was overall super and relaxed!  We finished in fourth place for the weekend!  We did get to do a victory gallop with the other horses who placed in the top six.  I got her started a little before the others so that she wouldn't take off after them, and she was a perfect lady for the gallop!  Earlier in the year, we had formed a team of four riders from our farm for the series.  We ended up in second place for the team awards too!