The morning started with the Under Saddle with a impressive 23 opting to hack. The ring was crowded, But N gave Prair an excellent ride and they snagged a 2nd in some really nice company. Apparently Prairie had been calling, and calling.... and calling on her walk up from the barn, so she was.... distracted to say the least, and quite tense in her second direction.
Frankly she was tense enough that I would have been happy with any ribbon, so 2nd was a nice surprise.
After that we opted to send her back to the barn for a bit to chill the __ out, so the baby and I hung out and watched the other horses go. Not being a veteran horse show mom I foolishly forgot to pack enough things for the kiddo to chew on, so I slung Prair's martingale around my neck and let baby go to town. The kid got a little dirty but I assume that meant my tack got..... cleaner?
 |
| Girl knows good leather when she sees it |
Anyway, when it was time for our rounds, Prair looked much more sane. She had a very quick warm-up with a couple great jumps, two lead changes to the right, and then in they went.
The first round was gorgeous, until the far outside line (the only spot in the ring with footing that was still slick). Prair landed a bit off balance going in, then squirreled around in the soup and pulled a rail going out. All things considered, she handled it really well, and didn't escalate, but the rail was an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise lovely round.
The second round was BANANAS (in the good, Gwen Stefani sort of way) and I actually videoed it without jinxing the whole thing. Mare stayed soft, got her changes easily, and actually rounded a bit more over the fences.
The judge must have agreed because he pinned her first out of THIRTY EIGHT HORSES. (no split).
How fancy is that!? I'm so proud of the mare, and exceptionally grateful for how tactful of a ride N is able to give her.
That's a blue ribbon worth putting on the wall.
(not that I don't put every ribbon on the wall. SprinklerBandit can confirm that they are all. on. the wall.).
Afterward Prair got a nice massage and some acupuncture and cold laser (I shudder to think what that cost me at this horse show..). So she should be feeling as loose as possible headed into the weekend.
Tomorrow we start back with our 2' Hunter division and hopefully the mare's good mood carries over!
Woohoo on 1st & 2nd!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a bummer about the soup & rail, hopefully the ring continues to dry out for your rides this weekend.
Sounds like Team Prair are killing it at Thermal !! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteGaaaahhhhhh Prair is so lovely I can't even stand it :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the satin!
Thank you for forcibly sticking Gwen Stefani in my head 0_o Yay Prair! Love the improvised child chewing device.
ReplyDeleteRight?! Adding martingale? to my baby registry?
DeleteBeautiful! She's so shiny, correct and steady! Easy to see how she picked up that satin.
ReplyDeleteThat round was to die for. I'm definitely coming over to admire the satin haul this summer. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat round was simply stunning -- so even, relaxed and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely round. And 1st out of 36 is just awesome! And bonus points for parenting style. =)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on really earning that first!! Gorgeous round :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful round! She looks so good doing her job. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the chew toy, glad to know I am not the only one who lets my kiddo chew on tack lol!
ReplyDeleteOf course the mare looks awesome as always!
awesome round -congrats!!! Prairie makes it look so easy :)
ReplyDeleteShe makes it look easy-peasy! Well done!
ReplyDeleteI am going to show these to my horse and tell him this is what he needs to do
ReplyDelete