Friday night a friend and I went to the Washington International Horse Show at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. We made it in time to watch the Puissance competition, which went for only about 45 minutes because they only made it 2 rounds to 6’1″. Afterwards we ate at Fado’s outside of Chinatown, which was an amazing meal since we were both pretty hungry! It was a pretty fun night!

Saturday took Wanda to Morven Park in Leesburg, VA for the Morven Park Benefit Dressage Schooling Show. I had originally entered this show to ride the Training eventing tests in preparation for moving up to Training, but due to recent refusals at Seneca and Middleburg and an elimination at Waredaca, plans changed. So, I used it as a schooling just to see where we were in our dressage work. I had entered in Novice B (as a warm up), Training A, and Training B, but scratched from Training B because I didn’t want to over face her with all the lengthening and such. The judge was Evelyn Susol, a widely known dressage judge in the Virginia area. For the Novice B test, we got a 36.5%, best movements being 7’s on my trot and canter circles, and lowest movements being 5’s on my turns and medium walks. We tend to swing wide and lose momentum from her hind legs. For the Training test A, we got a 39%, which isn’t terrible for our first time riding this test! We got an 8 on our stretch-down trot circle, and a few 5’s on a 15meter canter circle and a trot lengthening. All-in-all I thought it was a pretty successful day, and I was really proud of how relaxed she was being there. I was even asked if she was for sale, and told by someone that they wished they had a horse that was “easy to ride”. (I said, “me too!”)

Saturday night I got together with my friends (dressed as a banana, disgusting feminine pad, chicken, and a kissing booth), and we jumped on the Vienna metro to the Clarendon Bar & Grill in Clarendon, VA. I pulled together a home-made S.W.A.T. team member outfit, and it worked out perfect. Unfortunately, I hadn’t eaten beforehand, so my night was spent thinking about how I could sneak away from my friends to get some food! We left D.C. around 12am and hit up Taco Bell on the way home. It was pretty hilarious sitting in the metro looking across the tracks to see a bull & matador, mario & luigi, chilean miner, fisherman, gumbi, orphan Annie, and numerous other oddities. There were about a billion people dressed up as miners. I’d say that was the most common costume this year. Gotta start working on next year’s costume!!