When the tables turn

Anyone who events knows that most eventer ideas about dressage fall somewhere along the line of  "we just need to survive dressage so we can go xc". I consider myself a dressage person that loves to event and take pride in my Wonder Pony leading events from start to finish. This weekend was our one day event and I got a little taste of the feeling of just wanting to survive dressage so I could go run and jump!

Hand walking Bentley around the dressage arenas the night before I was basically walking along with him standing on his hind legs. Not a promising start! Thankfully he is more manageable under saddle and tried no acrobatics come Saturday morning. Unfortunately he was basically a bug ball of tension ready to burst. I spent the test containing him and praying for it to be over! Thankfully it was BN test A which is the saddest dressage test next to riding an intro test so it was basically over before it started.

 

He did rock this manly sleezy over night though

I was disappointed after dressage but realize that it was his first one day and his first time riding a dressage test in an open field. Plus it helps when you get to jump next. He lived up to his reputation and jumped around stadium great. He was green to some of the combinations and I got him in bad to one fence, where he hung a back leg and pulled a rail, but overall he was rideable and couldn't have cared less about any of the full under the jumps.

 

Bentley not wanting to be very photogenic after dressage day 1 but still looking mighty handsome

By XC he was a little tired which in turn made him even stronger. But that boy had zero stop in him and he attacked every single fence, sometimes a little too much! He was having a blast! I have no worries about taking him to his first recognized event at the end of the month. He eats jumps for breakfast! Now we are off to work on opening up his gallop and bringing it back. He gets quite strong and doesn't allow me to rebalance him for the jumps very easily which will definitely need to change as we move up. I felt like I needed an oxygen mask after our 4 minutes BN course 😂 He ended up finishing in 2nd place! I guess I can buy that getting a dressage score of a 37 doesn't take you out of it now!

 

Unfortunately when I went to go ice and wrap him later that afternoon he had what look like two splints pop 😩. He was sound, happy, and didn't palpate sore to them at all but it still made me nervous. So this morning I came with the intention to show but not sure what would happen. They appeared smaller this morning and he was still sound so I tacked him up and went to dressage. After our hot mess of yesterday I really wanted a re do. He came out much more relaxed, rideable, and more mentally there. With lots of room for improvement the baby horse still scored a 32! I was super pleased with him and although that is not where I want to be in the long run I am very proud he stepped up and improved that much in one weekend. 

 

I decided to save him for another day, where I wouldn't worry about breaking him more, and withdrew after dressage. It was an unfortunate ending to an otherwise very successful weekend but his health and future are far more important then a little one day event. Plus, we all agreed he didn't really need to jump again today after seeing how super he jumped yesterday.

 

 

His entry is in for his first recognized show in 3 weeks and his entry for Rebecca Farms goes in on Tuesday! So excited for this boys future. He really is a special one!