Unfortunately, it just seemed to be a bit of an off weekend.
Dressage went alright. Rachel (Calypso MWF) and Ray (who was running his first Novice) did well, finishing 1st and 4th respectively. Elliot and Roxie (Roxanne) finished in the bottom, more due to rider inaccuracies and rightness than anything particularly bad on their part.
Day two started poorly when Jessie had some trouble with the preliminary corner. She started out the course strong. Elliot jumped the first 6 fences including the the first water complex like pro, but was held for 10 minutes with another horse at fence 7. However, Jessie had a hard time getting back into a rhythm after. The second water was a little rocky and the corner followed directly. She two blow-bys but got it done on the third attempt and managed to pull it together to jump the rest of the course clean. Roxie had a beautiful double clear cross country, jumping soft and bold. Rachel jumped a beautiful clear SJ despite the large flags and giant butterflies decorating the course. Ray peeked hard at the American flag jump and pulled a rail and had another green stop at an oxer later in course. It a disappointing round, but we must keep in mind that Ray would have come completely unraveled by this six months ago so the fact he pulled it together and finished the course was a big deal.
Day three continued to have its high and low points. We withdrew Elliot since it wasn't a qualifying run and there was no sense in jumping his legs off. Ray jumped around his first novice cross-country with a little encouragement but gained a lot of confidence. Jessie had a stop at a tough water question on the BN on Rachel. This dropped her from the lead into 6th; Not a bad finish for Rachel's second event, but always disappointing to lose a win. The weekend culminated in Jessie falling off Roxie in the show jumping. It was especially disappointing because Roxie warmed up so well; she was calm and quiet for a horse that can sometimes be strong and a pair that didn't know each other very well. They were spot on the first three fences, but good in close to four. Roxie popped up over is and kicked out hard to not touch the rail. Jessie got unseated. Good news in nothing was hurt but Jessie's pride.
This seems to be the way of horses some weekends you're on and others you're not. This wasn't our weekend, but on the bright side, everyone is saved for another day!
