Going into River Glen this past weekend I was admittedly a bit more nervous about dressage than I have been because Annie has been quite difficult on the flat recently. 
After lamenting to Amanda and Karen and discussing like every amazing Little Debbie treat naturally I stocked up to eat my feelings should that be necessary.
This show was my first time sleeping in the truck tent and I have to say that it was pretty awesome. No long drives back and forth from the hotel and I also made some new horse show friends too. 
In dressage warm up Annie made it pretty clear she wasn’t super interested in playing. She wasn’t going to make any of it easy for me and actually threw a fairly impressive tantrum at one point. From there my goal was just to survive the sand box. I wanted to go in and out of my own accord.
Annie for the most part cooperated and I would actually say that the beginning of our test was not bad. But come time for the right lead everything went to hell in a hand basket. Despite knowing I would get an error I opted to circle twice and attempt to get the correct lead… we ended pretty tense and flustered. We got a very generous 45 but were still in last place. 
Annie knew the stoopid sand box portion was over and was a perfect little horse for stadium. Unfortunately I got a bit too far forward to fence 6 and had a rail. This led to Annie jumping the bejesus out of fence 7 and I got really discombobulated/ went out to lunch and kinda forgot fence 8 and had to circle back. Annie of course would have been great if I hadn’t had pilot errors. 
All in all we finished day 1 still in last place but with some good learning experiences. As I walked cross country I found myself wishing that I could have been running the novice course. Who am I?!
Can’t wait to share the pro pics once I have them as there are some winners for sure!
Sorry Annie’s been so poorly on the flat. Glad tent camping is working out.
Flatwork is hard, yo
In the words of my old hunter, “Flatwork is stupid.” (I swear he said this. Ask anyone…)
Hey, you can always fix the dressage later. So glad you’re enjoying the jumping!!
Yep – dressage will come. She is the most fun horse ever out on course so I would take that any day 🙂
I wouldn’t fret about the flat too much. Annie is only four and if she’s an OTTB especially, she won’t be foot perfect every single time in dressage. Just keep plucking away and you guys will get good scores. Yankee scored in the 40s for about a year and a half before he ever really settled into a dressage frame of mind and that was when he was about two years older since I didn’t start jumping him until he was 5. She will get there! At least she’s a good jumper, a lot of people have issues with that and not the flat, so that’s a positive takeaway.
Definitely a good reminder. She LOVES the OF phases. I just have to remember that she’s just a baby still even if she normally acts much older than she is.
I’ve always enjoyed having a solid jumper who is mediocre at best in dressage! It’s way better to have a horse you trust galloping down to a big solid jump!
Very good point!
Ha I know that feeling too – if it weren’t for that pesky stadium (bc actually Isabel makes for pleasant circles in the sandbox) I would be all about doing that next level up too. Glad y’all had fun!
Sounds like maybe she’s just doing some growing up and growing through a “what if I didn’t” phase. You seem like you are really patient and take all of the antics in stride so I’m sure you guys will come out the other side better than ever!
Thanks 🙂