Reminiscing...

Since I'm cooped up inside for the next few days, I thought I'd blog about one of our shows from last season: the Mill Creek Pony Club H.T.

The MCPC H.T. is held at Longview Horse Park, which is barely 30 minutes away. We get the opportunity to school there at least twice a year, and they also have combined tests from time to time. It's a beautiful facility, and it really kind of feels like it's our "home" show, more so than Heritage Park.

When I did my first BN there, I had high expectations. I'd ridden there a lot, and I'd schooled the entire BN XC course twice! Our dressage was going well, our jumping was going well... I wanted to win and I felt like we had the capabilities to pull it off. Of course, that didn't exactly pan out.

Dressage didn't go so well. We ended up with a 37.9, and it was just a rushed, blah kind of test. That score pretty much put us out of the running, but I still had hopes to finish well. XC and stadium can really change things up sometimes.

We went off to XC confident and assured. From the very first jump, Val was fantastic. It was the first time I ever felt him "lock on" to the jumps and really take me to them. We went through a whole 2/3 of the course foot perfect before we were flagged down and told we were eliminated.

To make a long story short, we had jumped the identical novice-sized fence that was right next to our beginner novice fence early on in the course; it had taken them that long to relay ahead and catch us! We successfully negotiated the ditch to up-bank combo, which made me pretty proud, as Val had only seen a ditch once before.

Anyhow, I can't even really explain how disappointed I was. One stupid mistake and it was all over! I really wanted to ride the next day, though, and my trainer pointed out that I could probably get a courtesy ride, since it was just a technical elimination.

I went up to the grounds jury, who immediately agreed to let me ride the next day. We had one of our best stadium rounds to date, except the one at the AECs! That show really taught me a lot, and even though we were eliminated, I still had a good time. I can't wait to go there again this year; I really think we'll do better this time.

I think this is pretty much the line up for the year:

May 15-16 Mill Creek Pony Club H.T. at Longview
Jun 12-13 Queeny Park H.T.
Jul 17-18 Heritage Park H.T.
Jul 24-25 Briar Fox Farm Summer H.T.

None of those are over 3 hours away! There was also talk of doing one out of town show; maybe heading back to Lamplight for either Wayne DuPage or Maui Jim, or possibly doing Champagne Run again. My trainer also mentioned a desire to see the Colorado Horse Park, and that falls on Queeny Park's dates, so it's all very up in the air. I'm getting very antsy being cooped up inside. This season is going to be so much fun! :)