Thanks to a lot of help from some great people things are starting to come together for Odessa and me.
Dressage has always been an issue because she doesn't use her back and is always running around with her head straight up in the air. Her head is starting to come down, she's developing a topline, I'm not fighting with her, and she's starting to learn her job. Despite her usual initial moments of trying to decide if everyone and everything near the arena was going to eat her, I got her going and we scored a 47.33 putting us barely in the lead over Bonnie Hudson.
Marathon day was all about trying to do what works for Odessa. Section A's goal was to keep her calm and quiet and come in about 30 seconds under the maximum time, which we did. She was great on D and really moving forward and almost made the Intermediate times...the people at the end always really freak her out. We came into the vet box with a very low temp and 60 pulse and a nonplussed horse. Chester came over and asked about her and politely questioned if all of her babies had the big ears. Everyone comments on her ears and her lips. He then somehow managed to evade the massive amount of slobber that she had just pasted all over me and held her for us as I got back into the drivers seat after a bathroom run.
On section E my goal was to go big and flowing. So after a really helpful Pony Team funraiser obstacle walk with Randy and Keady Cadwell and some good insight from TJ, I thought we had good routes picked.
The first obstacle was a bit ugly as she and I tried to get in sync but we managed through it. The second obstacle flowed better but there were still some bobbles. We started to really figure it out on the third obstacle and she was awesome. I changed my route going into the fourth bull obstacle as I approached and went left instead of right out of A. I think we kept a better flow that way with her and my experience level. The turn out of D was a bit ugly but with TJs help we got through it and out. We made it into the water and through A but she put on the brakes going back into the water to B. After having watched some of the training level folks I knew I could get to B without going into the water so I regrouped and took the different route. We did get back into the water to go through D and out so overall it went well. The other two PSH competitors also had some problems at the water. The last obstacle was in the woods and we were OK in that. She is so sensitive that if I don't know 100% where I am going and stay in 100% communication with her she gets confused. So coming out of D I bobbled a bit which caused her to bounce around which slowed us down. We also forgot to put her studs in so I was concerned about letting her really rip. I believe I won 3 of the obstacles and Laura won 3. Bonnie unfortunately had to retire after the water because her horse has started playing mind games and pretending that he's exhausted.
So it was just the two of us going into cones. I walked and walked the cones course with hopes I didn't blow the 13 point lead. Odessa was pretty hot during the warm up and Bill told me to not do the practice cones and to just do nice and steady figure 8s to try and relax her. Laura is a very steady and consistent driver so despite her horse being a bit inexperienced, she had tons of show experience working for her. We went in and did the course as planned. No cantering, keep her steady and try to keep her calm and forward and I had my first double clear round ever!
So we won our first blue ribbon. :-)
Many, many thanks to everyone that helped at the show. Kathy and Christy were not only excellent stable managers but also a much appreciated encouragement team. Christy even drew smiley faces on Laura's butt so I could get the full moon experience. Thank you to all of the grooms/friends/spouses (TJ, Mary Ellen, Donny) that make these shows possible for us. I hope everyone else had as good of a time as I did.
I will post some pictures that I took later today and the Pics of You pics as soon as I get the disk. We wanted to get on the road so I didn't get one at the show.
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