Strides & Tides: Ammy Days

Wrapping up our Sonoma show a solid month later! If you recall, our biggest challenge at Brookside in April was getting down those damn lines. So I started off the 2'6" Hunter division with some big spurs and a goal.

We dusted off some cobwebs on Friday and I realized that my left hand has a mind of its own (pulling + kicking = refusal). We got the strides in a few lines but Ellie's stop out of the tough diagonal line challenged my confidence. Ali suggested putting a colored band in Ellie's mane that I could reference for my hands when we got into the line- so on Saturday I added a little blue bow and each successful line was purely due to landing the first fence and "grabbing bow."

There was a tragic Flat class but I'm going to blame a saddle pad switch-up that left Ellie with a bee in her bonnet (even more so than normal). Something on that pad was incredibly bothersome to her- to the point where she looked like a large gray dog shaking off water.

We did have a Saturday class where we got ALL the lines (see Ellie round 1 video), a Derby with an accidental trot fence, and a Sunday Medal that we were busy killing until we trotted the last fence. So new goal. Don't trot non-trot fences. 

Paul came to watch on Saturday and he took tons of photos and video for me! I was excited to show him how far we'd come! He was a trooper and staying till the bitter end (my over fences classes went at 5).

And I realized that I have the most supportive friends who send you awesome texts (see Trot Fence video) in response to watching a video of your Derby round.

Hoping to squeeze in one more show before the end of the season so we can canter some full rounds!