Gia - session 1045 - Heather Ridge Farm horse show

So, I'm still trying to catch up on my blogs and this is the one from the show this past weekend. I took Gia to the Heather Ridge Farm Schooling Show. I had originally entered her in the Starter horse trial, but after her last performance I had been doing a lot of thinking. she had seemed very stressed out there, and I know we didn't really have our canter work together yet anyway. She doesn't really need to continue in the Green as Grass horse trial division, but the canter work is really holding her back in the Starter horse trial division. Her jumping is coming along very well in that division, however. So, I emailed the show secretary and asked her if it would be possible to ride unjudged in the show, and instead of doing the Starter dressage test could we do the Intro Test B which doesn't have any cantor in it? She was perfectly fine with that!

I warmed Gia up for dressage the same way I do at home. The familiarity should help her relax since it's what she's used to. However, this show has a very busy atmosphere, but also super friendly! But Gia was still stressed out. I am really happy with the decision I made to ride the walk/trot test only. We didn't have a great score, but we didn't have any bucking at least! The judge had a lot of nice comments and encouraging things to say. We did however get a score of nine on our medium walk! I don't think she's ever gotten that before! Definitely something to be proud of! 

The jumping phases were a blast! she was not worried at all once we went out to warm up for that. She seemed right at home and settled right in. She had no refusals and easily made her time. She was a bit fast in fact! But she was having fun and I wanted to encourage that since that's really important to help
her develop relaxation. She only got a  little squirrely whenever we had to turn away from the trailer, which is still where she would prefer to be. Overall it was still a good event for her despite how anxious she was in dressage. We were able to come away from it with a more positive experience than we did at the last competition.

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