In which half an event is better than none

The weekend plan was Rocking Horse 2 and Keegan's 2nd Novice event. Great jumping lesson, great dressage lesson. Ready to go. The new hay is great as far as brain, but a little tough on the tummy as it is very green. We are planning to find some less rich grass hay to mix it with.

The original plan involved an easy going, late start weekend, but then Hilda got in on the stallion going training level and earliest ride of the morning went from 11:00 am to 8:30 am. Leave the barn time correspondingly switched from 8:30 am to 6:30 am, but we are eventers, no worries. Off we set as the sky started to get light (yeah, spring is coming, spring is coming) and got up to Rocking Horse in excellent time. Hilda even had time to braid Duke before she rode. I wandered around a bit and then eventually groomed and braided Keegan, watched some of the training level SJ to learn my course, and in good time hopped on Keegan and headed to warm up. He seemed a little more reactive to the road this time so we moved the warm-up a bit further from it and he put in a good solid, focused warm-up. Yes, I rode with spurs. Yes, it helped. I think his dressage test was a definite improvement over last week although the score ended up the same.

Then wandered over and watched Missy come off xc on BG (Critical Decision). They looked great. Missy confessed being very nervous having not jumped xc since Rolex last year and heading out on the advanced track, but she said BG jumped great and finished well. I helped walk him around a little and chatted with Missy, David and Steph, then headed back to get ready to SJ Keegan. Got on, walked out, trotted and cantered a bit. Jumped 7 warm-up fences and went. If he didn't feel particularly green last week, this week he felt like a total packer. Which was a good thing, given that I needed some packing. He just loped (and actually loped - I pretty much failed to really get the engine going) around the course, making it all feel very easy and put in a double clear round.

Headed out to walk cross-country. The fences looked pretty small (amazing because a month ago, the novice looked pretty big). I saw a table through a tree line and thought, "hmmm...that looks really big. We probably aren't quite ready for training" It was, in fact, an intermediate table. Most of the training looked pretty jumpable, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Walked the novice course, unknowingly met someone I know through COTH who is getting into the eventing world (and has an adorable Jack Russell terrier), failed to find fence 15, but Cyndi told me where it was (so the plan was to rewalk from 11 to the end the next morning). Yes, it is true. I wandered out without a map - bad habit. But hey, the fences are numbered and I can count.... Wandered back toward the trailer, asked Mike Huber about Maggie Deatrick's run (completed her first advanced finishing on her dressage score), not realizing she was sitting right there (what happens when you know people from blogs and bulletin boards), stopped and chatted about saddles with Patty Merli, got back and helped load horses for the trip back to Ashmore.

Actually went out to dinner on Saturday night (because the stallion was done, so Sunday was a later start day with the first ride at 12:30). Interesting Turkish place. Didn't love the food, but it was really interesting hearing about Turkish food and customs from Annalise. Up Sunday morning and headed to the barn. Watched part of Peggy's lesson on Eddie and then went to get Keegan. Watched Keegan trot across the pasture, oooh - not good. Keegan does not look sound. Jog Keegan. Definitely off on the right front. Leave Keegan home as we head to Rocking Horse. Text Scott to set up lameness exam for Keegan (which will happen Tuesday morning). I enjoyed the day at Rocking Horse. Watched Missy ride both Bouncer (to 2nd place) and Ike (who looked fast, but wasn't always moving in a straight line) do cross-country, wished I was jumping xc because it looked like fun, chatted with Steph, picked up photos from xpress foto (including the one in this entry), watched Hilda and Olivia show jump. Chatted with Dorothy Crowell and watched her cute OTTB show jump (Dorothy really likes Chestnut horses as far as I can tell), introduced Hilda to Laura VanderVliet and helped get information on a mare Laura has for sale. Isabella - amusingly Susie Beale's Isabella's half sister. This Isabella came back to Ashmore with us. Teagan Star (she is for sale) won again. Olivia followed in Grace's footsteps and had a TE (stadium jumping this time), but jumped great around the stadium. It was once again great having Donna there. I like having a horseshow mom! Kim loaned her truck for me to pick up less green hay and Jordan schooled xc on Tribute. Riding would have been better, but it was a great day. Hoping the Keegan lameness is a short-lived one.