So Wanda and I have been having hiccups at our events lately. It’s frustrating because we started off in the Spring winning everything, and lately we haven’t been able to complete an event without a run-out.

This past weekend was pretty busy for us. On Friday I trailered Wanda to Millwood and had an extremely productive jump lesson with Cathy. Saturday morning Christie rode with me to Waredaca to walk my xcountry course, then I competed Wanda at the Sandstone Farms Schooling Show in the Novice division to ride through a dressage test. With Lucy Eddins as our judge, we placed 1st in our class with a 26.9%, which is really good. We didn’t do the jumping portion (I didn’t want to jump her 3 days in a row), so we ended with a no-score finish. I was really proud of her though.

On Sunday, I competed Novice at the Waredaca Farms Horse Trials in Laytonsville, MD. My parents refuse to attend this event, because I have always had a rough time there. I’m pretty sure I’ve been eliminated or had major penalties every time I’ve been there in the past. Unfortunately, this time was no different. Our dressage test was unfortunate, because it was on grass footing on a slope, and Wanda was feeling kind of stubborn. We ended with a 39.5% putting us in 11th. Our worst score ever. ShowJumping went ok, but we were fairly unbalanced through a lot of the turns and I was lucky she was being good with her feet. We went double clear. Once we got to the xcountry, I was feeling pretty nervous about things and I guess she was, too. It felt like we were drifting left the entire first couple fences, and then we had a dirty run-out at a drop bank fence. I was able to circle and trot her down, and we kept going until we reached another drop bank two strides to water, and she stubbornly ran out left 3 times, eliminating us. I almost ran over the jump judge during the first run out because I was trying to avoid falling off, but she was extremely nice about it and even let us try again after we had been eliminated, just for schooling purposes. Unfortunately, Wanda wasn’t having it. Stubborn mare!

When we left Waredaca, I called mom and we decided to take her to Frying Pan Park to school some banks so she didn’t get it in her head that she could get away with not completing them. She balked a few times, but eventually went on, and then it seemed like they were no problem at all. I wouldn’t normally go schooling after an event, but I felt it was necessary for the both of us, so it didn’t turn in to a confidence problem. We just walked down the banks a few times, then packed up and went home. It was a very long weekend.

This weekend we are competing in 3 dressage tests at the Morven Park Benefit Dressage Show. Hopefully we can get our dressage sorted out, because the next weekend is our final event for the season, Rubicon. I’m also going to start her on a mare supplement to see if I can get some of her moodiness out. Stupid woman hormones!! We’ll see how it goes 🙂