A little TLC and voila!

Both Blu and I have benefited from a bit of work. For me, it is stretching and strengthening of my lower back and hips along with attention to my core muscles. For Blu, coffin joint injections and shock wave. Both of us felt the effects this evening. It is just beautiful when it all comes together.

I took a lesson and told Linda I wanted to focus on the bend since the past two tests have had similar comments about "not enough bend". So we did some work at the walk -- half pass to X then turn on the haunches and half pass back to the rail. We also worked on the turn on the haunches element required at 2-3. Off we went to trot and quickly turned that to canter and back to trot with transitions being of utmost importance. The canter work that followed was just spectacular. I rode him up in the bridle and had beautiful counter canter and simple changes. Linda thought if I could replicate these movements for my test on Saturday I could easily have a 67 - 68 ride. Oh please... all I want is a 60!!!

So coffin joint injections and shockwave did the trick for Blu. Continued stretching and strengthening for me. My knees are out of the saddle and my leg is hanging down his side. I can give the aids I need from my seat and core. What a beautiful thing! This boy has taught me so very much about feeling and riding correctly.

A tepid bath (Blu is not a fan of cold water...), lots of treats and love and then home to dream of the ride. Can I just bottle that and replicate it on Saturday?

Exclamation!

Here is Blu and his mom at their very first show together! Another milestone achieved and documented! He was the very best boy! How lucky am I! I think I need to pinch myself! Dreams do come true! I must have been very good in another life or is it that I have paid my equine dues so I am now entitled to all the joy a horse can bring! Whatever it is I hope it goes on forever!

Maintenance required for older models.

Both Blu and I require the occasional tune up. I get mine from limb bending physical therapists who delight in seeing how much open angle they can create in my hip. I was proclaimed to be at about 90% this past Monday when I started 8 weeks ago I barely had 20% of my expected range. Got to love those therapists. No pain... no gain.

Blu has shown some progressive ouchiness in the past month. Nothing really to write home about but when you look at it cumulatively, he has become plain sore. Dr. Liz was out to see him and confirmed my suspicions -- sore back and sore front feet. X-rays of his front feet showed no discernible change so she felt coffin joint injections and shock wave for his back were in order. In a week's time he will be back to full work.

We also talked about his strange episode the last day of the show. She said my instincts to load him up and take him home were correct and there could have been any number of things that caused his distress including the agitated horses all around. From now on he will continue to get the Gastrogard with each day of showing supplemented by 60cc of Maalox every 4 hours and Tums as his snacks. I would go to all sorts of lengths to keep this young man happy...

So us seniors have got our therapy and will prepare for the next show. Hopefully we will both be in the best of shape as we continue to search for those bronze medal scores.

Another show... another show experience

Off to Mystic Valley Hunt Club this past weekend. We were due to depart on Thursday afternoon but severe thunderstorms in the area kept us at home until early Friday morning. Getting to the barn at that hour I hoped Blu was clean and tidy like our last outing but of course that was not to be. He had brown spots all over him. So off to the wash stall we went. His braids were also a bit dicey but time was not on my side and I said to heck with it and went off to the show a bit tattered. Half way in the commute I realized we were not going to make our class in time. When I got to the show, I immediately went to the show secretary and luck would have it that there was a scratch an hour later so I took the slot.

By the time I got enough unloaded, Blu groomed and me put together we had 15 minutes for warm-up. Out went the long walk and a bit of trot. We walked to the warm-up area and went to canter. He felt good -- a bit tired-- but overall he was good. Neither of us were very anxious and that is great! He was still going into the ring but what are you going to do when the show must go on? Put on a smile and trot into the ring that is what you are going to do! And so we did...

The test was far better than our last outing. I was more confident and started to think more about the ride vs. the OMG I am actually in the show ring thinking. I had a heads up from my friend that it was a bit boggy at "X" due to torrential rains the evening before. Blu spotted it immediately as we entered at "A". You could feel his wheels turn -- "How am I going to get out of stepping in that slop?" I kicked and kicked... he fishtailed and bulged. I got him into the middle of it but the halt was plain ugly. For a horse who usually scores a 7-8, we settled for a 5. Sweet! For the rest of the test where I had to pass through "X" I simply tried to stay to one side or another but we had to come back through as we approached our final halt. Simply put, it again was not very pretty. He scooted through "X" and then landed in a heap with a few walk steps for the final halt. Not good for second level and it earned us another "5".

Our judge was of international fame -- how lucky could one get? My trainer thought my score was a bit low but her comments were certainly something to build on. Our score was better than our last show and we did place 2nd out of 6.

We have some work to do. I just have to get these scores out of the way so I can take a breath and begin to think about third level. With the month of August being show free, we will start back in the double bridle. I think we are both ready for it. Next show in 2 weeks... Get ready Letter Perfect Farm... Here comes Blu!!!