Octoberfest - The Pre-Greens

Prairie put in her most consistent performance in the Pre-Greens to date.  Prair is getting more trustworthy, and in turn is getting softer and quieter rides that (in turn, in turn) help her stay calm and have a happy experience.

Riding in the mist Day 2

One skill that S has (but I lack) is the ability to take a medium-stressed-out Prairie from the warm up ring into the show ring and get a quieter round out of her in front of the judge.

That never happens when I'm riding :)

Day one Prair warmed up pretty nicely.  Lots of emphasis on landing from a jump straight, and halting to get her a bit lighter in the hand and not rip-roaring around the turns.  Prair was decent (aside from wanting to oogle the wash rack area) so warm up was short and sweet.

Still Cute.

They started out with a warm up class at 3' that went pretty smoothly and landed her 3rd out of 9.
 
She went pretty much right back in for her first Pre-Green round which was good enough for 1st.

The Boy has started a new (not so charming) habit of looking at me in the videos, particularly at the end)


Then they were right back in for Hunter Under Saddle, which I really wasn't too sure how it would go.  There were only 3 horses in the division.  All three are super cute, albeit very different styles.  I was pretty sure that it was going to come down to the Judge's preference since I all three looked cute, happy and pretty comparable in terms of relaxation. 

Here's that super fascinating video.  We're working on asking Prair for more self carriage in these classes now.  She's still a bit too flat/long but much more balanced than previous HUS classes..
I like the direction she's going in...



Sunday started out f-o-g-g-y.  When we headed down to warm up you couldn't even see the far side of the arena.  Prairie was a bit on edge as the lunging area is behind the big ring, which was hidden in fog which in turn convinced her that the ponies trotting around in circles were in fact little demon monsters out to get her.  Not ideal, but not horrid.

Prair came out a bit more agitated and was much fussier to start than she had been Saturday.  Lots of bending, releasing and counter bending helped a bit but Prair was still veiny, tense and gnashing at her bit.  Not exactly the picture of fluid relaxation.

But, true to form, S somehow squeaked out two very respectable rides and earned another first place, followed by a slightly less spectacular round that landed her 3rd.

Second Round:




Final Round:



I was proud of the mare for her rides.  Even her "worst" round is light years ahead of where we were at this show last year..

May I remind you of our Baby-Green Performance here last year...

Very proud of the rounds the mare put in.  But very glad we can hangout in the Pre-Greens for one more season!