Carolina Horse Park Pipe Opener - and our first show back since both our surgeries!

 Gia and I ventured out to the Carolina Horse Park this past weekend for our first horse show since our respective surgeries!  My long stretch spent out of the saddle gave me a lot of time to really think about my riding. And, when I was able to get back in the saddle, I was able to pick up pretty much where I left off without losing much, if any, ground.  I'll get more into that in my next blog, since this one is just about the show ☺.  But, suffice it to say, Gia and I felt ready and excited!  For the last few months, she had been looking longingly at the trailer leaving her behind a few times.  She would even run down the fence line, along the road, as the trailer slowly drove away without her in it.  And I was really missing showing, since I lost practically the last half of last year, including one of my favorite shows of the year.

We started the day off warming up for dressage.  The ring was quite empty at first, since we were one of the first to go Saturday morning.  Gia was a bit tense, but as I started working with her and sending her forward, she gradually softened, remembered that this is the same thing we had been working on at home, and relaxed.  Our warm up wasn't perfect, but it was still fairly good.  As we went into the dressage arena, I was feeling pretty optimistic, and very proud of how far the two of us had come over
the past 6 months, both physically, and training-wise.  Gia was a bit tense for the first 30 seconds or so of the test, but again, she realized we were doing the exact same thing that we have been doing at home, and she relaxed, and even performed!  She started to feel like she was even having fun!  It was an amazing moment!  I have never had so much fun in dressage!  I was smiling enormously, and even had some happy tears falling as we worked through our test.  I could have cared less what our score was, because we both had such a great time and such a great feeling!

Incidentally, we did score fairly well - 29.4%, putting us in 5th place out of 11 😁.

Gia felt much more relaxed in our jumping warm up.  She hardly picked her feet up at all to even jump, but I did manage to get her to do so at least a couple of times before we went in the ring.  She's never been a fan of the big, black, rubber mats they have on the ground as you go in the arenas.  That was no different, as she struggled to get inside the arena for a few minutes.  Because of that, she started out a bit tense and anxious for the first few jumps.  However, by jump number four, she started relaxing and
listening to me again, and we worked in fairly good harmony for the rest of the course!  She was FAST!  But VERY relaxed, fairly responsive and obedient, and EAGER!  We had a great time throughout the rest of the course!  The only bucking I got was a tiny one after we went through the finish and I stopped "riding her".  She is definitely a horse that insists that I stay correct the entire time I am on her back.  We jumped double clear and finished the day in fourth place overall.

But, the best part, was the feeling that she and I had formed an even stronger and better relationship through our simultaneous rehabs.  My surgery and recovery really sucked out loud for me.  And, I'm sure if we could ask Gia, she would tell you that her surgery and recovery really sucked out loud for her.  But we both came through it together, and for the better, on the other side!