HDS Dressage Schooling Show || Magnolia, TX

We were on the road again and this time it was another overnight er with the new horse trailer.  We took Vana to show in the PSG class (2x), Jade in First level for some more show experience, and I coerced Roxanne into coming along with her Paint mare Splash to compete at T-3 and 1-1.  We had some excitement with getting dogs situated in the am due to some flight confusions but with that settled, I packed up the trailer with my horses and gear, drove over and grabbed Splash, and then headed to Haras in the mid afternoon.  

The horses were quickly unloaded and the much more simplified horse trailer living quarter's were set up and ready in short order.  Roxanne and I headed to get some food and resources before riding that evening and waiting to show the next day.

I knew Vana was going to be a hot mess dragon demon horse after not showing since January but was hoping being at Haras versus GSWEC in Katy would help but... nope.  It was a nice morning, he was clipped, and I'd finally taken him back to where he firmly thinks he belongs- in front of people to watch him DANCE!  Except his dancing is that he wants it to be a solo until he realizes he's forgotten the choreography.  #suchadiva

This was why his royal highness was at a schooling show.  Again.  Hoping to get all this silly nonsense out of the way and he might learn to listen and rely on my more during our shows.  He's 23 going on 24 so a girl can hope, right?  Alas, he was on fire and I consulted with the judge ahead of time to explain my plan.  I told her she didn't have to score it, I just needed her body there judging because he always knows when he's on and when he's not.  Bless her heart, she did score us (outside of our schooling moments) and scored it a 53% which I thought was generous considering I only tried for 4s on all the diagonals (by design) but when I read the comments I totally agreed with her.  Hmm, I guess he IS looking better the older he gets.  Go figure...

At the end of our ride, we'd made the show 5 minutes late as the first ride so I opted to scratch his royal goober from his second ride so I could school at the end of the show.  In fact, I scratched Jade too as she doesn't know that being in front of people is any big thing - I just had to get her working nicely in a strange place as well as dealing with NOT wanting to jump the dressage arena boards.

Jade ended in a good place after her ride and Vana worked wonderfully (maybe a lot too much passage for showing off at the end...) so we packed everything in after that.

In between my horses, Alex showed up with Moose (Dracthen bred dog that was donated to the auction in CO) to get one last outing with him before he headed home on Sunday to Colorado.  Judging by his thoughts on the heat at Haras, he's going to be super happy in Colorado!  He did all his puppy obedience things and was a star in the new facility among horses, people, and "things."  Moose is going to be an excellent companion for his family.

And of course, Roxanne showed too!  She had a blast in her First level test and worked on being more engaged and accurate in her Training level test.  Definitely a convert to dressage and especially at nice venues!  I'm always nervous about taking people for their "first" dressage experience because you either love it or hate it depending on if you "get" it so it's a thrill to see someone get turned onto such an exacting and disciplined sport.  Alex called her tests for her and it was so nice to be out again as a team.  Can't wait to see where we all head from here!

That was all Friday/Saturday and then on Sunday, Moose, Beth and her family headed to Houston Intercontinental Airport to wish him on his way (and then let the guys do Air Soft at  High Ground AirSoft in Spring, TX) before heading back home at the end of the day to work on some training with the pups at the house.

A bit too dark as it was late at night, but Zing and Zeta tethered and relaxing under my footrest while I finish out emails for the weekend.