So finally the day of the show arrived and we were both excited and slightly nervous (more excited).
Got our horses ready for the Box and they looked all pretty and stuff… But it all changed when we struggled to get them into the box. I was honestly really feeling down after it took us 2 1/2 hours to get them to box. Lily who normally just walks into the box, it was really not a pleasant one for me. But that said, I was relieved when we got them into the box and went to the show.

We sadly got there too late for the jumping, so we missed our two classes. So the horses just chilled out and ran around at stages like crazy things, til our dressage classes. It was great watching some of the other riders of our team ride (Emma and Annemarie). They did our yard so proud by doing Awesomely in the Jumping and Cross Country! Well done to them

Anel and I in  the meantime were waiting to do our dressage from 12pm… We eventually got to do our tests after 2pm >.<
I by that time was really not happy and in the mood for anything anymore and Lily was upset and gatvol as well.
So the dressage didn’t go as well as I had hoped but it really was awesome for our first outside show
We managed to score 54.8% in Prelim 1 and 50.8% in Prelim 2. I am sure in our next show we will be back to normal, but that said, this was a mega improvement from our last show, which was a complete disaster lol.

The boxing home was a bit less of a hassle than when we went to the show which was a relief, but it was still hectic. Lots of Boxing Practise to be done now!

Thank you to everyone who came to support us and thanks to Pam for being there for us!
Thanks to Jos and Annemarie for letting us use your box and for your patience in getting the babies in the box.

Well done Team GAS

Of course the first person I had to go and greet when I arrived at the stables today was Teddy.  Unfortunately I was not interesting enough to him as he could not smell any carrots or apples on my person.

I made my way down to Diago to go and tack him up but he was almost ready and waiting.  I was checking his nose band and it seemed too tight.  I loosened it and then he could open his mouth.  Seems like the nose band is quite restrictive.  He was perfectly good after that!

Out we went into the arena and I hardly had to apply leg – Diago was going really really well.  So different from the last few sessions.  And then came the surprise… we trotted!  At first it felt really weird as I have not trotted since diago first got sore.  I “allowed?” him to go where he felt like while I was getting my rhythm  Then we tried circles which were so tiny for him he decided it was easier to walk them.  I walked him out into a big enough circle and we started trotting again.

It went well and so did the three loop serpentine well(ish).  We didnt trot for long but it was totally awesome when we did.  It’s like riding a bicycle I think that my hands were much better and more stable – not all over the place like before.  My rise wasnt as high either.

I did try to be soft on his back but there were a couple of times my bum disagreed with my head

Pam told me to lift my legs up backwards on Diago’s sides to stretch my thigh….. mmmmmmmm I am not so sure about that!  This afternoon the jelly started settling in *grin*  something in my legs worked albeit not the target group –  lol

Have fun always

it was good to start lessons again but the time spent with diago out of lessons was also awesome.  today all we did was walk and he did not ‘dip’ his hips like last weekend.  also from the shadows on the ground i could see his tail was up a bit better too.

so we did the spirals in and out with pam and i tried to practice my 3 loop serpentine not so much that as trying to keep diago straight.

still it was a fun morning.

after the lesson i was standing chatting to jay and rubbing diago totally oblivious to what he was doing with his feet when he stepped on my foot.  i have been hoping it wouldnt happen especially after seeing the damage to anels foot – but it did.  all i could do was say eina eina eina eina (naturally i must have looked an idiot lol).  diago realised his foot wasnt quite right so moved it and like jay said he gave my feet wide berth  diagos such a good soul!!!!!!!   of course from my stupidity comes some learning and next time i will be watching where i put my feet too lol. (on that note all i can say thank goodness it wasnt teddys foot )

luckily theres no bruising.

i also learnt what a carrot stretch is – amazing how the horses muscles can be seen quite well when its done.  pam showed me how to get diago to stretch and its something i should be doing after each lesson.  diago will be in carrot heaven!!! but as pam says – he has to work for it.

i almost think that diaog wanted to hot foot it around the arena today.  there were times when it seemed he wanted to trot but that fizzled down to a lazy walk… then again there was a spurt of energy and so it went like that until we did the lesson and after the lesson while walking around it seemed he wanted to take off again.   when diagos ready he will be the ever graceful animal and i will be the “penelope” trotter once more LOL

…. and you know what????       i look forward to it