AEC's: Dressage Day

Oh dressage day..... Sigh.

Dan and I rode at 8:30 am! We were the second rider of our division. Which, is a little disappointing for a few reasons. One, that meant I had to get up SUPER early to braid because... Dan would likely rub them out if I had tried to do them the night before. And two, it would be less likely in theory for me to score super well because they wouldn't want to give me big marks in case others are better. (Which... only makes sense if we did a really really good test... which we are capable of... at beginner novice... in theory!). But... the good news is that I could then have the rest of the day to relax and eat. Ha! Aside from the fact that I knew the following day was XC day and might start getting nervous as soon as dressage finished. But whatever... I was up until about midnight but slept like a rock until my alarm went off nice and early! I got Dan fed, picked his stall, and put the bemer on him. Then we braided! I was smart and brought my headlamp so it wasn't too bad. My braids actually turned out pretty good! Especially since his mane is a teeny bit too short. So Yay! Then I bathed a tiny spot of his rump, groomed him, and peed again for the 12th time... and then it was time to get ready. I managed to get him tacked up and me all ready and off we went.

We got to warm up before most. I think there was only one or two people in there when we started. It was huge too so Dan didn't even make snarky faces. We were warming up with our stretchy loose work and he felt good. And then I saw a rainbow patch in the sky. I couldn't help it. I teared up a little right then and there. We were HERE! We were at the AEC's... in Kentucky! Our Rolex! And God was smiling down on us.... I thanked him profusely and praised him. And then we went back to work. We worked on some transitions trying to keep him sharp as he felt a teeny bit sleepy. Cindy showed up, which was super awesome. It was nice to have her moral support. She gave me a few pointers too about our halt. He felt great! He felt soft and relaxed and through and supple and so uphill! The ring steward was awesome and kept telling me how much time I had. It was great. And then.. it was our turn! We headed in and started our test. We had a decent entry and then a good trot circle. Then we went to do our first canter circle... and... he picked up the wrong lead. ACK!!! I pulled him back and asked again and he picked up the wrong lead again. DANIEL FLOYD BREAUX!!! What are you doing?! So we tried again and this time we got it... but now my circle was way too big. Sigh.. And... I tried, I tried to carry on, but... it messed with me. We did our trot across the diagonal and I asked for a hint of a lengthening and it was nice. Then we did our other trot circle... and our circle was a bit too big. There's no tracks in the GGT footing and with only have two riders before me (test ride and then the first rider) and then.. not having been able to practice in the small arena in awhile... I blew it. Sigh. So then we did our second canter and thank goodness we got the correct lead. We had a nice canter but then as soon as we hit the rail, he broke. And instead of letting him... I pushed and we picked the canter back up and then came back down... and then our walk was good. Actually our free walk was LOVELY! I thought! Then we had a decent trot back down centerline but not a great halt. Sigh. I was disappointed in myself. My geometry was awful. How on earth did I blow the right lead? On a freakin' circle? Sigh... I gave him pets but it was hard to smile and be happy for the camera when I was so disappointed in myself. Oh well. Cindy said the rest of the test was quite nice. And she was right. The rest was quite nice. Still, it's disappointing not to have given your best effort at the national championships. But we brushed ourselves off and he got cookies and then he got to rest and chill and eat hay.

I went and watched a few others go. I went and walked XC twice. We were supposed to have a course walk but it must have gotten changed or cancelled and I didn't realize. But no worries.. I walked it myself. It wasn't too bad but I really wanted advice in the water. You came in far right.... and then you could either go straight out and make a sharp right turn to a fairly decent sized table. Or... you could go straight in, turn left, go down the water and come out the far end and then have a long straight approach to the table. I asked Dawn and Marian and they both said to take the long route and get straight. I ended up calling Jacel and face timing her and she said to go straight through and take the tight turn. So I still pondered. And then... I checked our scores. Lo and behold we weren't too bad. We scored a 32, which... is great! Not our usual score, but considering... a pretty decent score. It ended up putting us 15th out of 51. So ... okay! That's not too shabby! I've still got a chance. Although, beginner novice tends to be mostly based on the dressage score. But that cheered me up a bit. And later that night, when I got my test.... the once judge at A had given us a 71! The judge at C, who obviously saw my horrific geometry and the break at the second canter, gave us a 66.5. But that judge also gave our free walk a 9!!! YAY!!! I thought it was a darn good free walk. :)

Dan got lots of grazing and walking. Unfortunately no turn out as we had to run XC at 9:14 and while he didn't have to be sparkling.. he definitely couldn't be dirty and I didn't want to have to give him a bath in the morning. So... I had "dinner" at the competitor party... which, sigh.. was not good. It was cold baked beans and potato salad... and pork... and no cornbread... no other vegetables... Ugh. But we did get to watch the advanced stadium riders go. And it was fun hanging out with Dawn and Marian. So after that I got everything set for the next morning and took Dan out for another quick walk. Then we both went to bed. I slept okay... but woke up at 2:30 am... started thinking about my XC course and my heart started to pound away in my chest! Like...wow! I'm really really nervous for XC. The most nervous I had been for XC in a long time. And it wasn't like the course was that scary. But I did manage to go back to sleep for a few hours at least.