Combined Test #3

Sierra had a nice break while I was gone on vacation, but after I got home it was back to business. We had a show the following weekend! The time off was good for Sierra, but it also made her a little cranky. She doesn't like to be left alone to long. (Mares...) She was fussy during our early practice rides that, making me a bit skeptical about our ability to show that weekend. Luckily, we had a great ride on the Friday before the show, so I felt more confident.

We signed up for the Baby Novice division (moving up!) which meant doing the Intro B test in dressage and moving to 2ft jumps in stadium. Our dressage went great! We actually got a standing ovation from those watching and even had two people come up to us and tell us what a nice test we had. I was such a proud pony Mom ;). Our score ended up being a 33%, which is not bad, but apparently some people felt we were judged down because Sierra isn't a fancy warmblood. The judge was kind of a stick-in-the-mud, but whatever. A 33% still isn't something to complain about.

Our stadium round was ok if you take out jump #2. It had these huge yellow wings with red ladybugs painted all over it and Sierra freaked out. We came around the turn at a nice canter, and when she saw the jump she went from 60-0mph in a sliding stop. Ridiculous! I got mad at her for acting so silly, and gave her a whack. She went over it, but we got 4 penalty points for a refusal (it wasn't a true refusal - she slid to a stop about 15ft from the jump and I had to circle her to get her mind reset). So, that was disappointing. I was mainly disappointed in me for not predicting her behavior and being proactive. But I have to keep telling myself that she's not a seasoned show horse - she's green and still learning! Time and patience is key...although sometimes (like in this case), I feel like she truly was just being a nut. *sigh* Oh well!

See, I told you we needed jumping practice :P Even though we didn't place, the show was good experience. The more shows we go to, the more experienced Sierra gets!

Here are a few pictures from our dressage test:










And a few from our stadium round:








This was the "scary" jump