Ok, so I was definitely horrible about blogging while away. In fact, aside from keeping in touch via my phone (and I even forgot that at the hotel one day) I didn't open my computer once. So here's a recap of the weekend ...
Thursday: I was moving a little slow that morning because of the aforementioned touch of food poisoning. I hacked Lissell in the morning and then tried to do a little flatwork. Have I mentioned before that Lissell isn't a big fan of dressage? I can't really blame her. She was a jumper in her previous life and apparently wore some serious hardware while competing. But she tries. I ended up riding her for an hour, and promptly went and took a nap in the truck for an hour or so.
Then we packed up and went cross country schooling at a local farm. Now Miss Lissell hasn't been cross country since 2005, so I really had no idea what to expect. We were trying out the new bit/hackamore combination bit that Kelley created and it worked like a charm. Of course Lissell was just perfect. It was like she had never missed a beat. All was going well until we went to drop down a little drop into the water. Apparently Lissell's front feet slipped on landing and she just couldn't recover. I got pitched off as she went down on her shoulder and somehow landed underneath her. But Lissell being Lissell (aka the best horse in the entire world) she somehow contorted herself in a series of "yoga moves" to not step on me as she got up. Needless to say, falling off in the water sucks. I was cold, wet and shivering, but somehow escaped with only a bruised knee and jaw. I say this once people ... buy an air vest. I'm positive that my Hit Air vest took the brunt of this fall. I was able to take the top half of my wet clothes off and change into a fleece. I hopped back on to just hack around and ended up jumping a few more things just to make sure I still could.
That night I went back to the hotel and passed out while everyone else went out to dinner. Lissell got extra carrots and hugs that night.
Friday: Easy day. I had a flat lesson with Kelley in the morning and it was just what we needed. While I sometimes still get frustrated with how difficult she is on the flat, Kelley keeps reminding me that she's progressing at an extremely fast rate.
Saturday: Dressage for me wasn't until 3pm, so there was a lot of waiting going on. But with 5 horses in our crew, I stayed busy. Here's a brief recap. Rumble had a good dressage test for Rumble. Then Kelley did dressage on Athena, who did great for her first event. This mare is going to be a power house! Then it was off to cross country with Rumble, but unfortunately he whacked a stifle on a jump and Kelley pulled up. He'll live to run another day, but was feeling pretty sorry for himself that day. At some point Julie did dressage and rocked it with Tex per usual. Athena show jumped like a veteran. She came into the ring and acknowledged the crowd like the diva that she is. Comet had a super dressage test and show jumped greenly but cleanly later. And Julie and Tex had another super stadium round.
Lissell's dressage was good ... for her. Kelley helped me warm up with was a life saver. Unfortunately the judge didn't think so, and our score was a bit embarrassing. But oh well, such is life. We show jumped at 4:40 and after switching to Lissell's new bit/hackamore, we had a lovely warm up and jumped double clear. I have to admit that I was still a bit tentative about jumping after my crash on Thursday, but Lissell is such a veteran that she was like, "I got this girl, just hold on for the ride." Seriously, I love this horse.
Sunday: The day started a bit later since Rumble sat out his show jumping. Athena was the first horse on course, and she's just great. She has upper level written all over her. Julie and Tex rocked it and had a brief moment of miscommunication at the water, but the rest of the course was spot on. Then it was Lissell's turn, and she was perfect. She has a huge stride, and doesn't really know what it is to go 325mpm, so I just let her cruise along and then set her up for each fence. Perfection. I forgot how much fun it is to go cross country on this mare. I'm just so lucky. I know I say that a lot, but I am. As Kelley put it, she has a lot of wisdom and is happy to use it for our benefit.
