Saturday was the first IHSA show of the semester hosted by UMASS. Though the team pulled in many blues, UMASS proved the winners at the end of the day leaving MHC in second.
At the same time, MHC hosted the first two IDA shows of the season! My time spent around the shows leading up to my attendance at MHC has prepared me well for IHSA, but to be perfectly honest I didn't know very much about IDA when I joined the team.
The first day of showing seemed to run pretty smoothly as all the team members did most of the actual running! I never thought in the middle of winter I would be too warm to wear the coveted Big Blue, but I was!
I didn't get to show on Saturday, but I did warm-up one of the intro horses, Mackenzie, and ride him in the "parade". Everyone rode well and MHC team A pulled out a first place finish at the end of the day.
After we finished the daily clean up we had a short team meeting to announce who would riding the next day. I was told to come with my show clothes: MHC team B Upper Training!
With one exhausting day down and not nearly enough sleep day two began! A few touch-ups and the horses were ready for the day ahead. Like Saturday I warm-up a horse, this time one that would be in my division, Frenchie! It was my first time riding Frenchie dressage and he's way different when your not lugging him over jumps! But the parade went well and we were on to horse draw. As luck would have it, I drew Frenchie! (Apparently unlike IHSA, riders competing in IDA are allowed to warm-up horses in their division as long as this takes place before the horse draw.)
In IDA you get 10mins warm-up before you ride the test, which I so dearly needed. Becky was coaching another rider when my 10minutes began, and to insure that no second go to waste, Julie, a fellow Upper Training rider, helped me out until Becky was available. The last bit of our warm-up was eons away from the parade and after a quick last look at the test I was ready!
The test went alright. At events Dressage has always been something I struggle through. Putting in an accurate test with consistent connection and good rhythm unfortunately does not happen enough for me. And so was my problem at my debut. I ended up 6th, which is pretty good for my first, but certainly leaves room for improvement.
The rest of the day went pretty well. Becky had to leave in the shortly after my test because Jerry had been hospitalized! (Tooth extraction+infection=UMASS Medical) She was back in time for awards. Team B ended up ahead of Team A in final placings for the day coming in reserve overall!
A very tiring weekend, but it was so much fun!
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