Sunday, February 19, 2012

A Team Riley Debut!

Yesterday, Team Riley loaded up the trailer and went down the road to the Horse Park for the February Snowbird dressage show. Will was entered in prelim A, prelim B, and intro B. 

The prelim tests were outdoors in what I can best describe as the warmup pad for the fenced-in ring right outside the covered arena. The footing was deep, sloppy, and a bit slick, which may turn out to be good practice for the wetter spring horse trials, but it was not what I expected. 




I was so distracted by the footing during prelim A that I didn't ride my best or even adjust my ride so that it was successful in there. Prelim B was equally distracting, since despite having ridden that test a MILLION times (because I was terrified of it all last season), I went off course. I can't blame Will though because despite being a bit backsore last week, he was really good and did everything I asked. I ended up with a 59% for 5th place in prelim A and a 64% for 2nd place in prelim B. 

Stupid Pony-Picture Time!


Then came the extra special debut I mentioned.... John's first dressage test! John rode really well for his intro B test. Apparently Will didn't want to turn across the short diagonal so he was a little inaccurate on that movement, but his 20 meter circles and halts looked great.



I had told everyone that if they wanted to watch, they better bring signs. Julie went above and beyond and made "10" signs for everyone to hold up at the end of the test. Unfortunately John pretended to not see his  cheering section, but it was still pretty awesome.



John ended up with a  69% (kicking my butt!!) and 5th place out of 18 riders. 

Will actually looks cute for Stupid Pony-Picture Time with John, further proving how much better he likes him.

Despite my "learning experience," all of us had a great time at Snowbird. My parents were nice enough to come down from Louisville to watch and we had a great tailgate going on the side of the horse trailer. I think my mom also got some good pictures, including some of Will's flames. Will didn't seem any worse for the wear when we visited today and I'm definitely starting to get excited about horse trials!

- Maggie

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